It is possibly the worst possible terror strike as far as I remember .The all night gun battle in the top hotels of the city or the visuals of fire emerging from the central dome of the Taj Hotel , reports on so many security folks killed not to mention the 100 odd innocent lives that have been lost so far ... It is like a never ending nightmare. I watched the news coverage late last night and crashed in some time assuming everything would be fine by morning as there were no reports on casualties or hostage like situation yet. But this is turning to be very very ghastly, with so many people still trapped in the fire and held hostage by a handful of terrorists. As the news flashes in of more police men killed including the ATS chief ,my heart goes out for their families. Here we are watching the coverage on tv and then heading off to bed for our peaceful sleep while those guys fight it out all night and not just for them.Makes me realise suddenly , they are the real fighters while we are probably just a bunch that is contented in passing occasional comments and whining when such incidents occur . Sincerely salute them all and my prayers are with their families.
A strange disturbing feeling this is , as though we are not safe anywhere, expect anyone to start shooting anywhere. The threat looms all over even while we are on with our routine chores. And another question pops up as well , whats happening to our country, what went so wrong ?
I am at work now , but somehow still shocked , yet to absorb the fact that such a security breach can happen. Terrorists loaded with AK-47s and other ammunition in 5* hotels ! What is more scary is that there might be a lot of them still roaming free in the streets of Mumbai , ready to strike just as we get a grip on the situation at other places...
All that we can do now is may be just pray , for those trapped and for those fighting it out for all of us. But a tiny part of me also wants to just go an shoot those ******** right now.

There are 4 of them , each one more ferocious than the other and trying to scare me more than the other. Waiting for the office shuttle in the morning has never been a more terrifying experience for me :( I am sure the folks around have a neat time watching me jump from one spot to another , as my eye balls rotate at exponential speed in trying to keep a watch on those monsters! The other day I actually tripped and almost fell over on one of the flower sellers .
I can't believe it , this is my 3rd post on them, creatures that i am not too fond of. Somehow they make their presence felt in my life though and these days a gang of 4 has made the place near my cab stop their morning adda. Wonder why , there is no litter , no stray food lying around as well , then why me !Unless they feast on the terror in my eyes :((
In case you haven't realized what I am talking about .. it is the deadly 4 legged canines that haunt all Bangalore streets and lanes, and of course you must have realized my symptoms also , dog-o-phobia :(
Seriously , I have been thinking of excuses to miss the shuttle , thanks to these dogs ! It is literally mortal fear of life when I stand there for those 10 mins every morning. And I don't know how to overcome it , any tips ? At times I think I am entitled to a body guard as well :D

I know this is coming really really late considering that the trip happened sometime mid Sep, but I had to write this post ! Had to coz of a multitude of reasons , the adventure , the planning , the wait , the fun games , the amazing driver and on and on. So the story begins..
I think it was Pooja and Shilpa who came up with the plan all of a sudden and I said a yes to it as I had never been there and also coz Shilpa assured that we would not have to wait for long in the queue as she would arrange vip passes. Well when some one from The Deshmukh Family says it you do believe it :D Gattu also agreed , but the most surprising part was when Rahul also said yes! The fun just began as Shilpa clearly told at her place "it is me lipi and 2 couples " , well how are we to get 2 couples , and then started the various permutations/combinations and we were finally ready with the 5 of us and Pooja's friend Amrita. The D day comes and we are supposed to start sometime in the afternoon. Now let me mention this first , I have this weird night-travel-0-phobia (esp 4 wheeler) and desperately wanted to reach the place before late evening, threatening everyone that otherwise we halt on the way for the night. Though I was mostly engrossed in my book , it was fun watching the others struggle to guess movie names especially gattu , and that too accompanied by Pooja's enlightening comments during the journey !
Anyways after some 4 -5 hours and darshan at the Ganesh temple on the way we finally reached Tirupathi and then started the frantic calls to Mr(Basha/Pasha/Badshah) to confirm the hotel for us only to realise it was already full. And so the group spilt , me and shilpa with the driver in the car and the other 4 in another group. Something I would never forget was Shilpa's statement at one lodge "aap ghante ke hisaab se charge nahin karoge" !! Anyways , the others were luckier and after 1 and hr hours of hotel hunting we found a very good place to fit in all of us very comfortably.A good dinner and all of us tired souls off to bed knowing that the next day would be hectic.
In the morning we planned to visit the Lashmi Temple first and then head for the main temple on the hill where (lets call him this) Basha would be waiting for us with the darshan passes. While on the way we got to know it was Hindi Day , and started the game of talking in 100% shudhh hindi having decided that the one who loses would treat the rest at coffee day. Rahul was smart , didnt say a word , I tried and gave up, it was too tough for me. I think Pooja was the clear winner.
And so we reached the Tirumala town where Mr Basha was no where in sight :( and we kept waiting at MBC-25 , was that it ? Guys please correct me !
A lot of confusion , wait and finally we managed the passes. I would not go into details coz everything is well that ends well :) And then the darshan , it was truly amazing, despite the crowd and the wait. And by 6 we were done, also kinda dead tired .I must mention here that our driver was a really nice chap , did not complain even once as we kept oscillating from one place to another although did redirect us towards the free darshan queue couple of times!
And so we started back from there late in the evening , with gattu assuring me that night travel is absolutely safe and he would ensure the driver doesnt doze off, thx gattu !
Most of us managed some minutes of sleep before we reached home close to midnight . Oh yeah , we all did plan to bug Mr.Basha with missed calls for all the trouble he put us through :D , and believe me we actually did that !
Before I forget ,
@shilpa , I pity all those people you blasted on phone :) , but am so glad we all had the darshan.
@pooja, you are an awesome organizer, a must include for all outings!
@rahul, I agree with u , we must do these trips more often, and yes, sorry for the funny pic on the way :D
@amrita , amazing enthu and thx a bunch for arranging all the passes.
@gattu , thx for being awake almost all night during the return journey and taking care that the driver is awake as well and playing all those lovely songs :)

No smoking ? !

So since Oct 2nd , smoking has been officially banned at well defined public places , and that includes the reserved for smoking spaces in our campus also. This place is now well guarded , not just by a security guard but a sign board bearing the amount one can be fined for smoking there. So that helps ? Am not really sure . The EGL campus , has a lovely golf course and the walk along it is just an awesome feeling , I guess it is not going to be so anymore. For a stretch of about 50 mts along it , all that one can see now is plastic cups , chloromint wrappers , and cig stubs. Yes ,that is the new habitat of all the smokers in the campus. And despite a huge bin sitting there (it was installed after observing all this litter there ) , I doubt anyone uses it since it is actually open space and unlike the closed smoking area within the office premises that we earlier had.
I have no idea if the new rule helps/does not help , active/passive smoking , but if this is what is going to be the consequence , definitely not anticipated for. Makes sense to revert back then , atleast public places would be a lot more cleaner !
On a completely different note , most of my friends have left for their diwali vacation , me is the last to go , missing the gang already :) Suddenly had a feel of how days would be without these folks around !!

The new face of terror , operation BAD , more bombs diffused ... and on and on , we have seen all of it grabbing most newspaper front pages and TV channels breaking news off late. I must admit it hit really close in the last few months. Whether it was the Bangalore serial blasts or the ones in Delhi market or just watching how security has been tightened all around .. at times brings a feeling of helplessness. Especially the thought of so many people losing lives or possibly handicapped for the rest of their lives , just coz a bunch of inhuman people wanted to prove a point , a point that no one really understands . Panic , fear , distrust.. is wide spread. Suddenly one is safe nowhere. This definitely is not the even remotely ideal world we want out future generations to be a part of. I can see the change right now , we think a lot more before visiting any mall in the weekend , weekdays is less crowded , so lesser chance of someone blowing it up.
The victims of 9/11 or the London/Mumbai/Delhi bombings bear physical and mental scars that might never fade. Wonder how many more people are going to bear them.Wonder if there is a solution at all. I am reminded of an MTV mock interview of a Mr. Terrorist , who when asked on why they revert to bombings had absoultely no answer . All that he stammered was we will keep doing it , but we dont know why. If thats in reality , it certainly leaves us with a sad and scary picture of how things are going to be...

Ps: I wrote this post after having read what Anu and Rahul had to share on similar topics..

This one is funny!

Someone forwarded this to me , hmmm.....

whats in a name..

Thats what people say , but then a name does matter ! Lipi Tripathy , now how difficult is that to spell /pronounce ? I would say quite simple , short and simple in fact. Apparently Airtel folks have a problem with this , how else does my name transform into Mr. Lee Tirupathi one fine day !! The dude on phone drastically changed my gender , nationality ...
Or the polite lady who wanted to speak to Mr. Lips , ahem ahem . commonsense please madam , what is the probability of a Mr.Lips existing on this planet ?
I have seen quite a few modifications of my name , lips,lipsy,lipsiku but Lee Tirupathi beats them all !