The Hindu Time Scale (Cosmology)

Before performing any puja or Yaaga, the hindu priest chants some hymns called SANKALPA. Basically Sankalpa is a kind of record of what is being performed with finer details of going down to the day and location of the ritual. It goes something like this:

 “dviteeya parardhe, Svetavaraha kalpe, Vaivaswatha manvantare, Ashta Vimsati tame, Kaliyuge, Prathame Padhe, Jamboodveepe, Bharata Varshe, Bharata Kande, Sakhabde Mero, Dakshine Parsve, Asmin Varthamane Vyavaharike, Prabhavadi Shasti Samvatsaranam Madya, Nama Samvatsare, ……Ayane, ....Ritou, ....Mase, ....Pakshe, ....Subha Thithou, ....Vasara Yuktayam, ....Nakshatra Yuktayam”

Most of us would have heard these verses but paid little attention to it. I too was wondering all these years to know about these. Recently I understood the meaning of this and quite amazed after knowing the details. It actually gives the total years passed so far after the creation of the Universe. Actually it details a complex time calculation according to Hindu faith. Let me first give word to word meaning of the above verse

dviteeya parardhe - in the 2nd half of Brhama's life
Svetavaraha kalpe - in the kalpa of Sveta-Varaha
Vaivaswatha manvantare - in the reining period of the current manu Vaivaswatha
Ashta Vimsati tame - in the 28th mahayuga of the current manavantara
Kaliyuge - in this kali yuga
Prathame Padhe - in the first quarter of this yuga
Jamboodveepe - this denotes the place where the ritual is performed. India was known as Jambudveepa
Bharata Varshe, Bharata Kande - in the land of Bharat
Sakhabde Mero, Dakshine Parsve - to the South of the Meru mountain
Asmin Varthamane Vyavaharike - in the current period now reigning
Prabhavadi Shasti Samvatsaranam Madya - among the cycle of 60 years starting from Prabhava
Nama Samvatsare - the name of the year in the 60 year Hindu calendar
....Ayane - Dakshinayane (Aadi to Marghazi) or Uttarayane (Thai to Aani)
....Ritou - denotes the 6 seasons or Ritus - Vasantha, Greeshma, Varsha, Sharadh, Hemantha and Shishira
....Mase - one of the 12 tamil months
....Pakshe - either Shukla Paksham (day after Amavasya till and including Pournami) or Krishna Paksham (day after Pournami till and including Amavasya)
....Subha Thithou - one of the 15 days between Pournami and Amavasya (Prathama, Dvithiya, Trithiya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shasti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dasami, Ekadasi, Dwadashi, Trayodasi, Chaturdasi, Pournami or Amavasya
....Vasara Yuktayam - one of the days of the week (Bhanu, Soma, Bhowma, Soumya, Guru, Brugu and Sthira)
....Nakshatra Yuktayam - the day's star or Nakshatram. 

So to make it understand more about the time scale, let me put it this way. According to Hindu belief everything which is present in this Universe has to die on some day. Even the creator Brahma will die some day. His life span is 100 years (but those 100 years is not same as 100 solar years). Currently, 50 years of Brahma have elapsed and this is the first day of the 51^st year. The dviteeya parardhe in the Sankalpa actually refers to the 2nd half of Brahma’s life. Each day of Brahma is called Kalpa. The present day in which we are living is given a name Svetavaraha. A Kalpa consists of 14 Manvantaras and Sandhi Kala. Within this day of Brahma already 6 Manvantaras have elapsed. Now we are in the 7^th Manvantara called Vaivaswatha. Each Manvantara consists of 71 Mahayugas (1 Mahayuga consists of Krita, Treata, Dwapara and Kali yugas in the ratio 4:3:2:1). Within Vaivaswata Manvantara already 27 Mahayugas are elapsed and in the 28^th Mahayuga already Krita, Treta, Dwapara are over. Now we are in the 1^st phase of Kaliyuga (Ashta Vimsati tame, Kaliyuge, Prathame Padhe explains this). Each yuga lasts for 4,32,000 years. This Kaliyuga began in the year 3102BC of Julian calendar. The other details in Sankalpa goes to the location where puja is performing, the current year, month, day, time etc… to the exact point.

To summarize

1 Yuga = 4,32,000 solar years

1 Mahayuga = 10 Yugas = 43,20,000 solar years

1 Manvantara = 71 Mahayugas = 30,67,20,000 solar years

1 Kalpa = 14 Manvantaras = 4,29,40,80,000 or 4.3 Billion solar years

1 Day of Brahma = 2 Kalpa (day+night) = 8.64 Billion solar years

Using the above calculations if we try to find the time elapsed so far after the creation of universe it comes to 155,521,972,949,113 (155.52 Trillion) solar years !!!

Hindu Cosmology and Time scale is really Interesting right……

2011 Nostalgia

Well it is been almost two weeks since New Year is started. We welcomed 2012 with usual joy, attended parties, made some resolutions (though mostly not fulfilling them) and so on…. But looking back at 2011 there were some ups and downs in my life. I think it is better to summarize the things happened during 2011. It goes on as below:

First of all in January (to be specific on 13^th January), I purchased a new cell phone LG P500, running on Android 2.3 operating system.  This is a 3G smart phone with many good features. With many applications running on it I am enjoying my smart phone. I think after started using smart phone, even I have become relatively smart J

Another important thing happened in my life was, I accepted the offer from Hyundai Engineering Company and gave resignation to my previous employer Yokogawa. I got relived from M/S Yokogawa on 21^st of January. It was really a tough decision to make as I had no justifiable reason to leave Yokogawa. The only reason which came to my mind was, working with EPC firm is better than working with Vendor firm, which may be correct in a broader sense but considering my situation now I think I made a wrong decision. No doubt I am getting a good salary, better living standards and environment, good colleagues and broader field of work, but I am really missing my family, Indian friends, my car and above all Mysore. The worst part is that, even if I plan to switchover now and go back to India may be it is very difficult to find a job in Bangalore L

After my relive from Yokogawa, before joining Hyundai I got nearly 45 days of break. The Korean visa processing is very slow so I got ample amount of holidays. It was a very long break time for me after my II PUC classes and I think it was a much needed break before my new assignment. During the first week of my free time, along with parents toured the Historical places of North Karnataka. Badami, Aihole , Pattadakal, Bijapur, Hampi and Hospet were on long pending list. Finally I used this opportunity to visit those places. It was really a very good trip. The cave temples of Badami, temple complexes of Aihole and Pattadakal, The ruins of Hampi an erstwhile capital of Vijayanagara, the engineering masterpiece Golgumaz in Bijapur and etc… are a must see places for anyone. I am happy that I captured many good photos of these monuments.

I joined basic photography class during my free time and learnt on how to effectively use and capture good pictures using DSLR cameras.  This is really helping me now. After a few days I brought new tele-photo zoom lens (55-250mm). Now I can capture relatively far distant objects also. My photo capturing skills are much better after the course and with new lens.

One more important thing I did during my free time is getting an approval from Mysore City Corporation for our proposed construction of new house. Totally I made 9 visits to the concerned office and without paying a single rupee bribe able to get the approval J

Just before coming to South Korea, I made a lone trip to Horanadu, Kalasa and Sringeri. It was yet another wonderful trip. This time I was all alone. The staying at Horanadu, the temple visits in Kalasa, Sringeri, Kigga, the discussion had with priest in Kigga on various topics were all good and be always in my memory.

After a long wait, me and Karthik received our South Korean visa and booked our tickets for 15^th March travel. Just 2 days before my travel, we started the construction activities for our new house. It was my parent’s intention to start the work before my travel and we made it.

On 15^th of March we landed in South Korea and from 16^th we started working for Hyundai. On the very first day we missed the company bus (Karthik got up late). Managed to reach the office with public transportation and instead of 8.00 am we reached office at 9.30 am (late on day-1 itselfL). New office, new faces, new project, new working environment and so on…. It took few days to get adjusted.

On 8^th of April, Korea Culture Club (KCC), part of Hyundai Engineering arranged a tour to Jeju-Do islands for all foreign employees working in HEC. The trip is so memorable. While going it was through ship and coming back by plane. 2 nights stay in Jeju. First time I did sea journey, it was fun and exciting. The KCC team is so good. In two days we made so many friends, involved in many activities. Indeed a memorable trip.

The months of April and May were very pleasant. Spring brought new color to Korea.  Leaves and flowers started to blossom (especially Cherry blossoms were too good to see).

In the month of June, we got 3 days of long weekend. I utilized this time to visit Busan, second largest and most beautiful city of Korea. Again I made this trip all alone. Experienced Korea’s fastest train (KTx) which travels at more than 300km/hr. Stayed at a youth hostel run by a Japanese woman, made acquaintance with Mexican, UAE, Irish and Japan travelers, visited beaches, mountains, islands and Buddhist temples. Finally yet another memorable trip in 2011.

Rakesh Chinnaiah, Vasudev Suresh and Sundara Srinivas become new friends in Korea. Rakesh and Sundara were from Accenture and Vasudev from Worley Parsons. Four of us made several mountain hiking, Nami Island visit (together with Ram and Radhika), Temple visits, Market visits and many more. Till they were here in Seoul, weekends were never boring J

Through Facebook contacts, become an active member of Korea Kannada Koota (KKK). KKK organized several activities like get-together of Kannadigas in Seoul, Gyeongpo beach trip and important one is celebrating Kannada Rajyotsava in Korea. I gave a presentation on Karnataka history, culture and tourism during Kannada Rajyotsava J

Had been to Mysore for vacation during Dasara time. 15 days just passed like that.

Read many books during the last year. Most notably Immortals of Meluha, Secrets of Naga, Simply fly, Karisiriyana, Vijayanagar-a forgotten empire and few more.

Watched a number of movies in 2011. Moneyball, Adventures of Tintin, Super, Mission Impossible-Ghost protocol, Sherlock homes-1&2, Jockey, Hudugaru, Zindagi Na miley dubaara and more.

Started playing Table tennis in the office during lunch break. It is a good way to overcome back ache problems which I started developing due to long sitting hours in office. Started playing pocket ball (pool) during weekends. There is a club called “Color of Money” near my apartment. Self and Anurag play every weekend.   Sometimes play NFS and Chess online with Vikas, playing chess is a fun J

ಕೊರಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ

೨೦೧೧ರ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಆಚರಣೆಯನ್ನು ಕೊರಿಯಾ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕೂಟದ ಮೂಲಕ ಸರಳವಾಗಿ ಮತ್ತು ಅರ್ಥಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ಆಚರಿಸಬೇಕೆಂದು ಕೆಲ ಸದಸ್ಯರು face book ಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಅದರಂತೆ ನವೆಂಬರ್ ೬ನೇ ತಾರೀಕಿನಂದು ಸೇಔಲ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಆಚರಿಸಲು ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ಸೂಚಿಸಿದರು. ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವವನ್ನು ಆಚರಿಸಬೇಕೆಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿ ದಿನಾಂಕ ನಿಗದಿ ಮಾಡಿದ ನಂತರ ನಮ್ಮ ತಯಾರಿ, ಸಿದ್ದತೆಗಳು ನಡೆಸಲು ಕೇವಲ ೧ ತಿಂಗಳ ಕಾಲಾವಕಾಶವಿತ್ತು (ವಾಸ್ತವದಲ್ಲಿ ೧ ತಿಂಗಳು ಎಂದರೆ ಬಹಳ ಸಮಯವಿರುತ್ತದೆ, ಆದರೆ ಸದಸ್ಯರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಜನ ತಂತಮ್ಮ ಕಛೇರಿ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಲ್ಲಿನವಾಗಿರುವುದರಿಂದ, ಕೇವಲ ವಾರಾಂತ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಬೇರೆ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಿಗೆ ಸಮಯ ಹೊಂದಿಸಬಹುದು). ಬ್ರಿಜೇಶ್ ಮತ್ತು ಕಾಂತರಾಜ್ ಅವರು ಫೇಸ್ ಬುಕ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಆಚರಣೆಯ ಕುರಿತಂತೆ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸಿ ಸದಸ್ಯರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲವರು ಇಚ್ಛೆಯಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಯಂ ಸೇವಕರಾಗಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಬರಬೇಕೆಂದು ಮನವಿ ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಅದರಂತೆ ನಾನು, ನವನೀತ್, ರಾಹುಲ್, ರಾಜೇಶ್, ದಿವ್ಯ ಸುದರ್ಶನ್, ಪ್ರಶಾಂತ್, ಹರ್ಷ, ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ್, ದೇವೇಶ್ ಮತ್ತು ಕೆಲವರು ಒಪ್ಪಿದರು. ಪ್ರತಿ ಭಾನುವಾರದ ರಾತ್ರಿಯಂದು ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಕಾಂಫೆರೆನ್ಚೆ ಕಾಲ್ ಮೂಲಕ ತಾವು ವಹಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿರುವ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿ, ಅದು ಕಾರ್ಯಗೊಳಿಸುವ ಬಗೆ, ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಆಚರಣೆಗೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲಸಗಳು ಇತರೆ ಸಿದ್ದತೆಗಳು ಮುಂತಾದವುಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಚರ್ಚಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆವು. ಈ ರೀತಿಯ ಚರ್ಚೆಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ನಮಗೆಲ್ಲ ಒಂದು ಸ್ಪಷ್ಟವಾದ ಚಿತ್ರಣ ದೊರಕಿತು. ನವನೀತ್ ಅವರು ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ನಡೆಸುವ ಸಭಾಂಗಣವನ್ನು ಕಾಯ್ದಿರಿಸಿದರು. ಪ್ರಶಾಂತ್ ಅವರು ನಮ್ಮ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕೂಟದ ಲಾಂಚನ ಸಿದ್ದಪಡಿಸಲು ಸಹಕರಿಸಿದರು. ದಿವ್ಯ ಸುದರ್ಶನ್ ಅವರು ಹಣಕಾಸಿನ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆಯ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿ ವಹಿಸಿಕೊಂಡರು, ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ್, ಶ್ರೀಹರ್ಷ, ಹರ್ಷ.ವಿ.ಎಸ್ ಅವರು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆಯ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿ, ರಾಹುಲ್ ಅವರು ಊಟೋಪಚಾರದ ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ, ಕಾಂತರಾಜ್ ಅವರು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಿರೂಪಣೆ, ಬ್ರಿಜೇಶ್ ಅವರು ವಂದನಾರ್ಪಣೆ, ರಾಜೇಶ್ ಅವರು ಅಥಿತಿ ಸತ್ಕಾರ, ದೇವೇಶ್ ಪಟೇಲ್ ಅವರು ಫೋಟೋಗ್ರಫಿ ಯ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿಯನ್ನು ವಹಿಸಿಕೊಂಡರು. ಮಗನ ಜೊತೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ದಿನ ಇರಲೆಂದು ಭಾರತದಿಂದ ಬಂದಿದ್ದ ಹಿರಿಯರಾದ ಶ್ರೀಮತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಶ್ರೀ. ನಾಗರಾಜ್ ದಂಪತಿಗಳಿಂದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಉಧ್ಗಾತನೆ ಮತ್ತು  ಧ್ವಜಾರೋಹಣ ಮಾಡಿಸುವ ನಿರ್ಧಾರವನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿದೆವು. ಒಟ್ಟಾರೆ ಸುಮಾರು ೪೦ಜನ ಸದಸ್ಯರು ತಮ್ಮ ಬರುವಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ಖಚಿತಪಡಿಸಿದರು. ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಆಚರಣೆಯ ಹಿಂದಿನ ದಿನದಂದು ಸ್ವಯಂ ಸೇವಕರೆಲ್ಲ ಕಾಂತರಾಜ್ ಅವರ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿ, ಮಾರನೆಯ ದಿನದ ಸಮಾರಂಬವನ್ನು ನಡೆಸುವ ಬಗೆ, ವೆಳಾಪಟ್ಟಿ, ನಿರೂಪಣೆ, ನಾಡಗೀತೆಯ ತಾಲೀಮು ಮುಂತಾದವನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿದೆವು. ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ್ ಮತ್ತು ದಂಪತಿಗಳು ದೂರದ ಗುಮಿ ಯಿಂದ ಮುಂಚಿತವಾಗಿಯೇ ಬಂದು ಕಾಂತರಾಜ್ ಅವರ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉಳಿದು ನಮ್ಮ ತಾಲೀಮಿಗೆ ಜೊತೆಗೂಡಿದರು. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಕೆಲೊವೊಂದು ವಸ್ತುಗಳ ಖರೀದಿಯನ್ನು ಸಹ ಅಂದು ಮುಗಿಸಿದೆವು. ಮಾರನೆಯ ದಿನ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವವನ್ನು ಆಚರಿಸಲು ಸಕಲ ಸಿದ್ದತೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆವು. 

ನವೆಂಬರ್ ೬ನೇ ತಾರೀಕಿನಂದು ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ೧೦ ಗಂಟೆಗೆಲ್ಲ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಡೆಯುವ ಸ್ತಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಸದಸ್ಯರು ಆಗಮಿಸಲು ಶುರುಮಾಡಿದರು. ಮಳೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಕಾರಣ ದೂರದ ಕಡೆಯಿಂದ ಬರಬೇಕಿದ್ದ ಕೆಲ್ಸವರು ತಡವಾಗಿ ಬರುವುದೆಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಅದರಂತೆ ೧೦.೩೦ ರ ಬದಲಾಗಿ ೧೧ ಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಶುರುಮಾಡಬೇಕಾಯಿತು. ಕಾಂತರಾಜ್ ಅವರು ನಿರೂಪಣೆ ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿ ಮೊದಲಿಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಕೊರಿಯಾ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕೂಟದ ಮೂಲಕ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳನ್ನು ಕೋರಿ, ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯಂತೆ ಮೊದಲಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನೆ ಮಾಡಲು ದಿವ್ಯಶ್ರೀ ಅವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ದಿವ್ಯಶ್ರೀ ಅವರು ಒಂದು ಸೊಗಸಾದ ಭಕ್ತಿ ಪೂರ್ಣವಾದ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನೆ ಹಾದಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ಚಾಲನೆ ನೀಡಿದರು. ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನೆಯ ನಂತರ ನವನೀತ್ ಅವರು ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಭಾಷಣವನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಭಾಷಣದ ನಡುವೆಯೇ ಕೊರಿಯಾ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕೂಟದ ಕಿರು ಪರಿಚಯ, ಶುರುವಾದ ರೀತಿ, ಸಾಗಿ ಬಂದ ದಾರಿ, ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ ನಡೆಸಿದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳು ಮುಂತಾದವುಗಳ ಪರಿಚಯ ಮಾಡಿ KKK ಯ ಒಂದು video ತುಣುಕನ್ನು ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸಿದರು. ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಭಾಷಣದ ನಂತರ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ್ ಅವರು ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತ್ಹಿತಿಗಳಾದ ಶ್ರೀ. ನಾಗರಾಜ್ ಅವರ ಕಿರು ಪರಿಚಯವನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಟ್ಟು ಅವರನ್ನು ಕನ್ನಡ ಧ್ವಜಾರೋಹಣ ಮತ್ತು ದೀಪ ಬೆಳಗಿಸಲು ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ ಬರುವಂತೆ ಆಹ್ವಾನಿಸಿದರು. ಶ್ರೀ. ನಾಗರಾಜ್ ಅವರು ಧ್ವಜಾರೋಹಣ ಮಾಡಿದಾಗ ಎಲ್ಲ ಸದಸ್ಯರು ಎದ್ದು ನಿಂತು ನಾಡಗೀತೆಯನ್ನು ಹಾಡಿದೆವು. ನಂತರ ಕನ್ನಡಾಂಬೆಯ ಚಿತ್ರ ಅನಾವರಣ ಮತ್ತು ದೀಪ ಬೆಳಗುವಿಕೆಯು ನಡೆಯಿತು. ದೀಪ ಬೆಳಗಿಸಿ ಮುಕ್ಯ ಅಥಿತಿಗಳು ಒಂದೆರಡು ಹಿತನುಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ನೀಡಿದರು. ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಉಳಿಸುವ ಬಗೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತನಾಡಿ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರು ತಂತಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರೊಂದಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಆಪತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಒತ್ತಿ ಹೇಳಿದರು. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ದೂರದ ಕೊರಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವದ ಮುಕ್ಯ ಅಥಿತಿಯಾಗಿ ಮಾತನಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವುದು ತಮಗೆ ಒಂದು ಮರೆಯಲಾಗದ ಘಟನೆ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿ ಕೊರಿಯಾ ಕನ್ನಡ ಕೂಟದ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಅಭಾರಿ ಏನು ಹೇಳಿ ವಂದನೆಗಳನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅಥಿತಿಗಳ ಹಿತನುಡಿಗಳ ನಂತರ ಶ್ರೀಹರ್ಷ ಅವರು ಚೆಲುವ ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡು ಎಂಬ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಪರಿಚಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಡುವ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಿ ನೀಡಿದರು. ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡಿನ ಹೆಸರು, ಇತಿಹಾಸ, ಕಲೆ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ, ಭಾಷೆ, ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮ, ಉನ್ನತ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು ಮುಂತಾದವುಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬೆಳಕು ಚೆಲ್ಲಿದರು. ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಉತ್ತಮ ಪ್ರೇಕ್ಷಣೀಯ ಸ್ತಳಗಳ ಒಂದು video ತುಣುಕನ್ನು ಸಹ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸಿದರು. ಆ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಿ ಬಹಳ ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿ ಮೂಡಿಬಂದಿತು. ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಿಯ ನಂತರ ಕೇಶವ ಪ್ರಸಾದ್ ಅವರು ಅಣ್ಣಾವ್ರ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಬೇಕು ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಬಹಳ ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿ ಹಾಡಿದರು. ಅವರ ಹಾಡಿನ ಮೋದಿ ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿತ್ತೆಂದರೆ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಸಹ ಅವರ ದನಿಗೆ ಜೊತೆಗೂಡಿದರು ಮತ್ತು once more once more ಎಂದು ಕೂಗಿದರು. ಕೇಶವ ಪ್ರಸಾದ್ ಹೇಳಿದಂತೆ ಇದು ತುಂಬಿದ ಸಭೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರ ಮೊದಲ ಹಾಡಂತೆ. ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಸಹ ಅವರು ಮೊದಲ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಹಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರೆ ಎಂದು ಅನಿಸಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಉತ್ತಮ ಹಾಡಿನ ನಂತರ ರಾಹುಲ್ ಗೌಡ ಅವರು ಕನ್ನಡ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಪ್ರಾಮುಕ್ಯತೆ ಒಂದು ಅವಲೋಕನ ಎಂಬ ವಿಷಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರು. ಅಂಕಿ ಅಂಶಗಳ ಸಮೇತ ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಸೃತಿ, ಭಾಷೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ದಾಳಿ, ನಾವು ಇದನ್ನು ಎದುರಿಸುವ ಬಗೆ ಮುಂತಾದವುಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬಹು ಆಳವಾಗಿ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ಮಂಡಿಸಿದರು. ರಾಹುಲ್ರ ನಂತರ ರಾಜೇಶ್ ನಾಯರ್ ಅವರು ಪುನೀತ್ ರಾಜಕುಮಾರ್ ಅವರ ಚಿತ್ರದ ನಿನ್ನಿಂದಲೇ ನಿನ್ನಿಂದಲೇ ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿ ಹಾಡಿದರು. ಈ ಹಾಡಿನ ನಂತರ ವಿಶ್ವನಾತ್ ಅವರು ಕೊರಿಯಾ ನಾ ಕಂಡಂತೆ ಎಂಬ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾಪಿಸಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿರುವ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ವಿಚಾರಗಳು ಅದನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಮುಂದುವರಿಯಬಹುದು ಎಂದೆಲ್ಲ ವಿವರಿಸಿದರು. ನಂತರ ಸಭಿಕರು ಇದೆ ವಿಷಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂದೆರಡು ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ ಅನುಭವಗಳನ್ನು ಹಂಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕೆಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದಾಗ, ದಿವ್ಯ ಸುದರ್ಶನ್ ಅವರು ಕೊರಿಂನರ ಸಮಯ ಪಾಲನೆ, ಅವರು ಹಿರಿಯರಿಗೆ ನೀಡುವ ಗೌರವಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿ ನಾವು ಇದನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿಕ್ಕೊಲ್ಲ ಬೇಕೆಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ನಾಗರಾಜ್ ಅವರು ಕೊರಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರು ಕಂಡ ಅಧ್ಬುತ ಸಾರಿಗೆ ಸಂಪರ್ಕದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾಪಿಸಿ ನಮ್ಮ ನಾದಲ್ಲೂ ಇಂತಹುದೇ ವ್ಯವಸ್ತೆ ಬಂದರೆ ಹೇಗೆ traffic ಗೋಳನ್ನು ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು ಎಂದು ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ ಪಟ್ಟರು. ಈ ಚರ್ಚೆಯ ನಂತರ ಕಾಂತರಾಜ್ ಅವರು ಡಿ.ವಿ.ಜಿ ಯವರ ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮನ ಕಗ್ಗದ ಒಂದು ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಮನಮುಟ್ಟುವಂತೆ ಹಾಡಿದರು. ಇಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಊಟದ ಸಮಯವಾದ್ದರಿಂದ ಊಟದ ನಂತರ ಉಳಿದ ರಸಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಡೆಸುವುದೆಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿ ಸಮೀಪದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಚಕ್ರ ಹೋಟೆಲ್ಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಹೋದೆವು. ಮೊದಲೇ ತಿಳಿಸಿದಂತೆ ರಾಹುಲ್ ಗೌಡ ಅವರು ಮುಂಚಿತವಾಗಿಯೇ ಚಕ್ರ ಹೋಟೆಲ್ ನವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿ ವಿಶೇಷವಾದ ಅಡುಗೆ ಮಾಡಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಊಟದಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ನಾಡಿನ ಜನಪ್ರಿಯ ಮಸಾಲೆ ದೋಸೆ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ವಿಶೇಷವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಊಟದ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಸದಸ್ಯರೆಲ್ಲರೂ ಆತ್ಮೀಯವಾಗಿ ಒಬ್ಬರೊನ್ನೊಬ್ಬರು ಮಾತನಾಡಿಸುತ್ತ, ಪರಿಚಯ ಇಲ್ಲದವರ ಪರಿಚಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತ, ತಮ್ಮ ಕೊರಿಯಾ ಜೀವನದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತನಾಡುತ್ತ ಆಹಾರ ಸೇವಿಸಿದರು. ಊಟದ ವಿರಾಮದ ನಂತರ ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಸಭಾಂಗಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಸೇರಿ ರಸಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಂಡೆವು. ಹರ್ಷ.ವಿ.ಎಸ್ ಅವರು ಬಹಳ ತಯಾರಿ ನಡೆಸಿ ರಸಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವನ್ನು ಯೆಶಸ್ವಿ ಯಾಗಿ ನಡೆಸಿಕೊಟ್ಟರು. ಎಲ್ಲ ಸದಸ್ಯರು ಬಹಳ ಹುರುಪಿನಿಂದ ಬಾಗವಹಿಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಸ್ಫೂರ್ತಿ ಮೆರೆದರು. ವಿಜೇತ ತಂಡದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಸದಸ್ಯರಿಗೂ ಒಂದು ನೆನಪಿನ ಕಾಣಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟರು. ರಸಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮದ್ಯೆ ವಿಶ್ವನಾತ್ ಮತ್ತು ಅವರ ಶ್ರೀಮತಿಯವರು ಸಿದ್ದಪಡಿಸಿದ್ದ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಒಂದು video ತುಣುಕನ್ನು ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸಿದರು. ನಿಜವಾಗಲು ಒಂದು ಅದ್ಭುತ video ಸಂಗ್ರಹಣೆ ಅದು. ತುಂಬಾ ಸಮಯ ವಿನಿಯೋಗಿಸಿ ಅರ್ಥಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ video ಸಂಯೋಜಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡಿನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದವರಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತುಮಾಡಲು ಈ video ಒಂದು ಉತ್ತಮ ಸಾಧನ. ಈ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳು ಮುಗಿದ ನಂತರ ನಮ್ಮ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವದ ಅಂತಿಮ ಭಾಗವಾದ ವಂದನಾರ್ಪಣೆಯನ್ನು ಬ್ರಿಜೇಶ್ ಅವರು ಬಹಳ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ನಡೆಸಿಕೊಟ್ಟರು. ವಂದನಾರ್ಪನೆಯ ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತ್ಹಿತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ನೆನಪಿನ ಕಾಣಿಕೆಯನ್ನು KKK ವತಿಯಿಂದ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ್ ಅವರು ನೀಡಿದರು. ವಂದನಾರ್ಪನೆಯ ನಂತರ ಎಲ್ಲ ಸದಸ್ಯರ ಒಂದು group ಫೋಟೋ ತೆಗೆದು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವನ್ನು ಮುಗಿಸಿದೆವು. ದೇವೇಶ್ ಪಟೇಲ್ ಅವರು ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಮೊದಲಿನಿಂದ ಕೊನೆಯ ವರೆಗೂ ನಡೆದ ಘಟನಾವಳಿಗಳ ಸುಂದರ ಕ್ಷಣಗಳನ್ನು ತಮ್ಮ camera ಕಣ್ಣಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸೆರೆಹಿಡಿದು ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ತಲಪುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಒಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ದೂರದ ಕೊರಿಯಾದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದು ಒಂದು ಸುಂದರ ಮತ್ತು ಅರ್ಥಪೂರ್ಣವಾದ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಆಚರಿಸಿದ ತೃಪ್ತಿ ನೆರೆದಿದ್ದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಲ್ಲೂ ಮೂಡಿತ್ತು. 

decorated mother Kannadambe photo and Karnataka flag

speech by Sri. Nagaraj

my presentation

various slides of my presentation

superb song by Keshav

lunch time

singing of Kannada nada geethe by members

yet another group photo

Deepavali Celebrations in Seoul

Deepavali popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-November for different reasons. For Hindus, Deepavali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. "Deepavali" (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī), which translates into "row of lamps", involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas or dīpas) in Sanskirt: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. These lamps are kept on during the night and one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome. Firecrakers are burst in order to drive away evil spirits. During Deepavali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.

Since I live in Seoul, I thought I missed Deepavali celebrations until I received some invitations from friends and Indian group in Seoul. The Indians in Korea (IIK) group celebrates deepavali on every year in a huge scale. I got an invitation from their group for the same. The program included few dance programs, childrens fancy dress program, Indian dinner and crackers bursting. Since I am not a person who usually enjoys such programs I decided not to attend. Meantime I got a call from Ram sir. He organized dinner party on 19^th of October at his residence on occasion of Deepavali, called several guests and he wanted me to join as well. I readily accepted his invitation and assured him my presence for the dinner party. On 19^th after my office work I directly went to his residence. Already a couple were present at his place and were waiting others to join. After I joined them in less than 30 minutes, every other guest arrived and joined us. Totally 4 couples and I were invited for the dinner. Before the dinner, everyone was served some snacks and wine. Eating snacks we talked on various things including the importance of festival, our ancient tradition, few travelogues etc etc….After we talked for more than an hour, we were served dinner. Dinner was excellent. Radhika madam prepared a variety of dishes like Sevige bath, rava uppittu, coconut rice, chapatti, palya, plain rice, tireboondi and many more and the taste was too good. After the dinner shavige payasam with ice crème was served as a desert. My stomach was so full that I had to take a little rest after the dinner! Thanks to Ram sir and Radhika madam for such a healthful treatment (I feel I am one of their family members).

I work for Hyundai Engineering Company where there is a presence of more than 20 Indian engineers. One afternoon while we were taking lunch, Sunil Punde asked me on an idea of celebrating Deepavali from our group (in fact Sunil and few senior engineers are celebrating the festival in Seoul from 2007 regularly, but this time many were on vacation so they really not decided before this discussion). I showed my interest and assured him my presence. Friend Prashant Talware also showed his interest and gave some suggestion on how we can proceed. So it is decided that all guys who are here with family have to prepare one dish from their side, and the bachelors will have to give contribution in bringing the disposables, light refreshments and cool drinks. The next day, Talware sent a mail to everyone explaining the details of time, venue and expenditure. All guys were marked their presence and gave the contribution. Same day evening me and Talware went to Royal India restaurant gave orders to 30 Samosas, also we went to Home plus (supermarket) and purchased the disposables (like plates, cups, tissues etc…) and other stuffs. The next day evening was the celebrations. On the day of celebrations, after our office hours we all gathred at Asif’s apartment where the party was held. By the time we reach Sunil, his wife Aparna and Asif were decorating the room. They were pasting Deepavali welcome lights, collection of photos of Deepavali celebrations from previous years and balloons. They decorated the room superbly. Everyone gathered within 15 minutes. All family guys came with different dishes prepared at their place. Sunil Machala and Chandu brought crackers. So it is decided to burst the crackers in Lake Park. Everyone was served first Samosas and cool drinks. Immediately after that we head to Lake park (it is just opposite to Asif’s apartment).  Sunil Machala had already taken permission from authorities for the cracker bursting. We started bursting flower pots, rockets and fireworks. Korean people who were walking / jogging in the lake park, stopped for a while to see our celebrations and enjoyed J after a gap of few years I was bursting the crackers (actually from last few years I quitted firecrackers as it creates lots of pollution and nuisance in India). Abijit dared to launch the rockets from his hands. Though the first one burst when he was still holding (luckily nothing happened), he dared to continue the same and successfully launched others. We started teasing him to join NASA or ISRO instead of HEC J after we finish with fireworks, took a group photo and back to Asif’s place for having dinner. As I mentioned earlier, each family guys came with different dish. So there were quite a lot of items to taste. Chapatis, pooris, dal, potato curry, lemon rice, rice and sambar, jelebi, pulav, kheer and many more. The items were so much that I could not even taste few dishes L
 Totally it was a great dinner and best get-together. Thanks to Sunil Punde and all others. It was the best Deepavali and most memorable Deepavali celebrations in my life.

Dinner Served at Ram Sir's place!

Deepavali Decorations at Asif's place

Abijit and Vijay launching the rockets from bare hand :-)

Bursting of fireworks

Group photo

Variety of Dishes (so many.....) served for dinner

MYSORE DASARA

2011 Dasara was a special one for me. After a gap of nearly 5 years I happened to be in home during Dasara. Actually as per my earlier plan, I had to take my half yearly vacation from Sep 14th till Sep 28th. But when I told this to my mother, she insisted me to postpone the vacation by 10 more days so as to match according to Dasara and be in home during the festival. As a Mysorean Dasara festival is always special for me. It is actually our State festival too. The Dasara festival starts on the 1st day of Hindu month Ashwayuja and celebrated for 10 consecutive days. The festival ends on Vijayadashami. In Mysore during Dasara, all the ten days city will be decorated and main buildings are lighted. The dasara festival is inaugurated from famous personality of the state by performing special pooja to Godess Chamundi (deity of Mysore) and lighting the lamp. Followed by this will be several cultural events, music shows, folk dances, children performances etc.... for 10 days at various places within Mysore. In fact these days government is celebrating dasara with more events viz Yuva dasara, Raita (Farmers) Dasara, Makkala (Children) dasara, Kavi (poets) dasara and many more. Every night music programs are being organized in the Palace. Famous musicians from all across the country are being invited to perform. 8th day of the festival is dedicated to Sarasvati, godess of Knoweldge and education. This one is special for students and teachers. 9th day is celebrated as Ayudha Pooja. On this day people worship of implements used in daily life such as computers, books, vehicles or kitchen tools. the effort to see the divine in the tools and objects one uses in daily life is central to this celebration. It is belived that any new venture such as starting of business or purchasing of new household items on this day is bound to bring success and prosperity. The 10th and final day is celebrated as Vijaya Dashami, day remembered as the victory of good over evil. On this day a special world famous traditional Procession (Jamboo Savari) is held in the streets of Mysore. The main attraction of this procession is the idol of the Goddess Chamundeshwari which is placed on a golden mantapa on the top of a decorated elephant. This idol is worshipped by the royal couple and other invitees before it is taken around in the procession. Colourful tableaux, dance groups, music bands, decorated elephants, horses and camels form a part of the procession which starts from the Mysore Palace and culminates at a place called Bannimantap where the banni tree (Prosopis spicigera) is worshipped. The celebrations end with a special torch light parade. 2011 procession was 401th Dasara procession held at Mysore. The city was nicely decorated and many building were lighted superbly. 

One more special thing about Mysore Dasara is that, traditionally during these 10 days dolls are exhibited in most of the houses. There is a legend related to the exhibition of toys that is known as "Bombe habba" in Karnataka, A Kalasha is kept in front of the Pattada Gombe and lights are lit and the dolls are worshipped on all the 9 days. An Aarathi is performed in the evening after all the people invited assemble in the hall accompanied by devotional songs. Delicious snacks are prepared and offered to the dolls and are distributed among the children and ladies.

One evening I went along with my parents specially to capture the beauty of Mysore during Dasara. Also one evening I went to Yuva Dasara program with my uncle. Famous playback singer Kavita Krishnamoorthy performance was there. The program was too good, but rain did not allow me to enjoy much. Here are few photos which I captured during Dasara. You can appreciate the beauty of Mysore captured from my camera J

The decorated Mysore Palace

Temple Complex within Mysore Palace

Front view of Mysore Palace

Chamaraja Circle, West gate of Mysore Palace

Big Ben of Mysore

City Hall, Mysore

Appa, Chikkappa and sister in front of Mahishasura

Chamundeshwari temple, Chamundi Hill

Yakshagana performance during Dasara

Illuminated Chamundi temple

Illuminated Palace as seen from Chamundi Hills

Giant Basava, Chamundi Hills

Dolls arrangement in my Uncle's place, Mysore

The main Dolls pair (owner and lady of the house)

TRIP TO SOKCHO AND SEROK MOUNTAINS

On Chuseok occasion we got long holidays from September 10^th to 14^th totally 5 days. A month before we got this information. Dheeraj suggested me to go out of Korea during these holidays. My plan was to go to China and see Beijing and Great wall. I enquired few travel agents, but all of them gave the quotation of their tour programme in China excluding air ticket from Seoul to Beijing. They told me to arrange for tickets by self. Checking at the tickets, most of them were sold out and few remaining ones were high priced (more than double). So dropped the plan of going to China during this holiday. Dheeraj insisted to go to Vietnam. Again same thing happened. No tickets in short time. We should have planned well in advance for overseas travel! So finally we decided to visit Sokcho and Seroksan mountains on the eastern coast of South Korea. I had never been to Sokcho but visited Seroksan Mountains two years back through adventure korea tour group. It is such a lovely mountain range which is designated as National park. Once decided to go, without any delay I browsed through some websites and selected a hotel for our stay. Abijit who holds a credit card booked the room in the hotel. I checked with Karthik whether he is interested to join our group, but since he had other plans with his friends he said no. Three people confirmed for the trip. Abijit booked the bus tickets from Seoul to Sokcho on 10^th morning. We were all set ready to travel :-)

On the 10^th morning got up early, took shower had a cup of coffee and left home around 6 am and head towards subway station near my place. As planned Dheeraj and Abijit also joined me a few minutes later. We took a subway and head towards Express bus terminal. Around 7.20am we reached Express bus terminal got our reserved tickets and ate some snacks. Sharp at 8.00 am bus arrived at the station and we were bound to Sokcho. The bus was almost full and there were many expat travellers like us going to Sokcho and Serok. The bus gave a stop in the middle for refreshments where we had a cup of coffee and few snaps. Already thick clouds were covering the sky. As we proceed towards Sokcho it started raining L it was really a disappointing thing for us as it would derail our plan. We hoped that the rain will stop after a while and we can see around as per our plan. But it was not so L Around 11.00 am we reached Sokcho express bus terminal, we got down from the bus took a taxi and reached our hotel. We booked in Ritzcal hotel on the outskirts of sokcho. The location of the hotel was nearer to Serok Mountains and from the hotel balcony the view of Serok Mountains was beautiful. We checked in hotel dumped our luggage, got refreshed, took some rest. The next destination was Waterpia a water game resort on the foothills of Serok Mountains. It was around 15 minutes’ drive from the hotel where we stayed. We took a taxi and reached that place.  Checked with the entrance fee, per head it was 46,000 KWR too expensive. But having come so far, we decided to pay a huge entry fee and enjoy the water games. We assumed that there will be plenty of exotic water games, but our assumption was totally wrong. There were hardly any good water games. Worst thing was having paid a huge entrance fee; again we paid extra for cap and life jackets (too pathetic). Amongst the selected water sports, the open pavilion tides, the big funnel and sauna were quite ok kind. Almost all others were for family and children! After spending 3~4 hours at waterpia we decided to go back to hotel and then to Sokcho Beach. We took showers (like in many Korean common bathrooms, we happened to see many naked men walking aroundJ), changed the cloths and reached our hotel at around 4.00pm by taxi. It started raining badly, so our next programme of visiting Sokcho beach was delayed. We took a small nap in the hotel and waited rain to stop. Around 6.00pm rain stopped so without a delay we decided to go out to beach. Took a taxi and headed towards Sokcho beach.  Sokcho beach is one of the fine white sand beaches on the East coast of Korea facing Japan. The waves and wind were pretty good. It was already dawn by the time we entered the beach. There were few people playing in the beach (mostly Indian crowd who were there like us). I captured many photos. I liked the small island a little away from the sokcho, the light houses on the shore and long paved path all along the beach length. As it entered night, some people started burning fire crackers. That gave a nice feeling. After the beach, we walked down to another light house along the road parallel to beach. That is a small road with one side full of traditional fishermen houses and other side beach. The road was deserted with only 3 of us walking. Walking on that street gave some good feeling (I just enjoyed the Korean houses with a small farm land almost in every houses). After visiting the light house we went to one super market, brought wine, beer, snacks took a taxi and reached hotel. We drank wine and beer with lots of talking till 10.00pm, after then went out of hotel for dinner. Unfortunately since it was late all the restaurants were closed. The only shop opened was GS25, where we brought apples and had it like our dinner. Reached back hotel and planned for the next day’s activity (hiking Seroksan Mountains at 8.00am) and slept. The next morning I got up at 6.30am, to my disappointment it was already raining. I hoped that rain will stop by the time we all get ready and start for Seroksan. But again my assumption was wrong. Mother Nature was against our will that day. We all got ready around 8.00 and waited rain to stop. It was not until 11.00 rains were continuously pouring without even a break for 5 minutes. When it gave a break we immediately checked out our room, took a taxi and head towards Mountains. Seroksan Mountains was at a 15minuts distance by taxi from our hotel. By time we reach Seroksan National park, it started raining again. But having come so far, we decided to hike in the rains. We purchased use and throw rain coats to hike in the rains, purchased the entrance tickets, kept our bags in the cloak room and started hiking. The first stop was at a very big seated Buddha statue on the foot hills. We clicked some photos, prayed Buddha for safe hiking (since we were hiking in the rains) and started our forward journey. We decided to climb Ulsanbawi rock instead of taking cable car and go to other side of the mountains. The next stop over is at one Buddhist temple on the way to Ulsanbawi rock. The temple is a usual Korean style Buddha built some centuries before. We continued our climbing. The climbing was moderately difficult. All along the length a stream was flowing with lots of small tiny waterfalls. We met many people on the way who were all climbing in the rains. We passed through a number of Korean styles small restaurants on the way. We stopped at one such restaurant and had cup of coffee. The shopkeeper requested us to visit her restaurant on the way back and have the lunch J after a height of 500m the elevation becomes very steep with lots of rocky structures. Many places, there were not having any steps; we had to climb on the rocks. It was slipper because rain. We decided to carefully proceed. We reached base point of Ulsanbawi rock after 1.30 hrs of start. The mist covered the rock and hardly anything was visible. The Ulsanbawi rock can be climbed with the help of metal stairs, which are put almost at an angle of 750. While climbing if we see the bottom, we would feel like we are standing on the platform with no base or nothing at the bottom other than a steep valley. If we actually miss a conscious and put a wrong step, we would definitely go to never return place L we carefully climbed the stairs holding rails on both the hands. It took more than 45 minutes to reach the summit. Since it was still raining and covered with complete mist, nothing was visible from the summit. On a clear day, view from the top is wonderful (I had seen it in my earlier visit). We can see Sokcho city, Beach, valleys, other mountain ranges etc…. we were unfortunate this time as we could not see anything. After taking a rest for 10 minutes, we again carefully climbed down. Visited the same restaurant, showed my vegetarian diet slip to the shopkeeper. She assured me that she will serve the food without any meat, fish or egg and she kept her words. The food was simply superb (that again proved if asked properly we get delicious Korean veg food). Thanked that lady and climbed down. Collected our bags from the cloak room, board the bus and reached Sokcho Express bus terminal. As per our earlier plan, we had continued our journey to next city (Samcheok) and stay overnight at that place. But since it was continuously raining, we dropped that plan, purchased the tickets to Seoul and reached back our place. Overall a nice experience (special highlight was climbing in the rains).... 

Ritzcal Hotel, place where we stayed

Sokcho Beach

Sokcho beach in dawn

a small island off the coast of Sokcho

a big seated Buddha statue, Serok National Park

Ulsanbawi Rock

a scary view of bottom

beautiful Serok mountains

KKK TRIP TO GYEONGPO BEACH

About a month back Navneet posted a message in Korea Kannada Koota (KKK) FB group about an idea of going on a trip from KKK to any beach near to Seoul. Lots of responses came to his post including suggestion from self. Many suggested to go to beaches near Incheon, as it is very close to Seoul and can be comfortably finished in one day. Majority suggested going to Eastern side beaches as they are better than the Yellow sea beaches in terms of cleanliness and tourist point of view. Finally Navneet again posted information about Gyeongpo beach on the eastern sea which is one of the longest beaches in Korea with white sand and a major tourist visited place. His idea was welcomed by all and everyone showed their eager to join the trip. He asked members of KKK who are interested to volunteer in the trip. I became one of the volunteer of the trip with this. We posted the details of the tour on the FB and requested the members who are interested to join the tour to sign for the same and gave a deadline date. Initially the response was not satisfactory. We were hoping a minimum of 35 people but when the deadline date was completed there were only 24 people on the list! With this number we had two options infront of us. One to go with 25 seater bus or second option was to include some non Kannadiga friends from IIK group just to increase the number. But we decided to book a 45 seater bus and anticipated some late entries from KKK members. We fixed the tour cost at KWR 24,000. Our expectation was infact right. Suddenly a week before the trip Sangam Swamy and more than 10 friends of him registered for the trip! Also few more showed their interest. Now the number becomes more than 45, which means no seat to accommodate all. Some late comers were disappointed to hear the houseful J A week before the trip, Navneet arranged for the conference call amongst the volunteers to discuss the activities. Volunteer were assigned different tasks. Navneet for arranging the bus and the trip plan, Divya Sudharashan incharge of money handling, Rahul with lunch arrangement and snacks arrangement, Divya Shree and Myself for in bus entertainment, Brijesh and Rajesh for the PR activities. I planned to conduct a small Quiz programme as a part of in bus activity. I prepared three rounds of questions and the game plan and shared with the team members. The idea was appreciated. So we were all set ready for the trip.

 On 14^th August got up very early at 4.00 am. Took shower, had two slice of bread a glass of milk, surfed net for a while and head towards subway station. Vijay and his wife were also coming for the trip. I met them in the subway station and we head towards the bus pick up point. Around 6.45 we reached the Gangnam, the bus starting point. Infact we were the last one to board the bus from that point, everyone were waiting for us! The bus immediately started, the next pickup point was Suwon. People were already waiting on the stop, by the time we reached Suwon. Everyone board the bus and occupied the seats. We head towards the Gyeongpo beach around 7.45 from Suwon. After the bus started moving, Navneet briefed everyone about the day’s activity and introduced himself to everyone. He also requested others to introduce themselves one by one. He put the condition to members while introducing to use maximum Kannada words which himself failed to keep! Everyone gave their introduction and as expected no one spoke in full Kannada. It is always Kanglish with more words of later. After the introduction everyone were served with water and little snacks. The traffic was moving very slow due to long weekend effect. Rahul who is the main host made his introduction and called my name to conduct Quiz programme. I explained the rules of the quiz and made the teams. Initially I had kept the team names as English alphabets a,b,c,d &e, but the members gave a suggestion to change the names to popular Karnataka food items. The suggestion was accepted and changed the names to Chow chow bath, Dose, Dharvad peda, Mysore pak and Golibajji. The members actively involved in the game, took seriously and answered with Great Spirit. When the first round got over, our driver stopped the bus at some road side bus terminal for a short break. After the short break (which lasted for more than 30 min, due to late arrival of few members) the quiz programme was continued. 2^nd and 3^rd round were much more interesting. At the end of all rounds there was tie between Dose and Golibajji team. To decide the winner put additional questions to each team. Finally Golibajji team were announced winners. They were given chocolates and cookies as an appreciation. People appreciated my efforts in conducting the quizJ After the quiz Divya Shree announced to play Dumb sharads. Now the group is divided into two teams. First half of the bus is one group and the rest are one group. This was a real fun game. Thanks to Roshan and Vinay Gowda for making it more fun. Roshan is unbelievable; he browsed through 3g and picked some unknown kannada movie names. People not heard of these names failed to recognise when their team member was doing the actions. The bus again stopped at one more station for a break. The traffic was moving very slowly. As per our original plan, we were to reach Gyeongpo beach by 11.00am but at 11 we were just half way through! To make the environment lively Divya shree conducted few more games. Again Roshan and Vinay Gowda pair were big entertainers. They coined the gay story between them and made us believe that, real funny guys. Finally at 1.30pm we reached Gyeongpo beach (2.5 hrs late than our plan). Immediately we had our lunch. The lunch was excellent. Rahul had ordered in advance to one Indian hotel near Gangnam, Seoul. The lunch menu was good. Two chapatis, 3 vegetable currys, vegetable biriyani, Gulab Jamoon, Salad and Samosa. The packing was excellent, and food was fresh even after 7~8 hrs of preparation. The serving and cleaning of the food items by the team members were to be much appreciated. After everyone had the lunch, the place was cleaned such that, there was no visible proofs that some had food at the place, so clean. If we follow the same practise in our India also, then our place also will be very clean and hygienic! Well after the lunch we changed the dress, and head towards the beach. Gyeongpo beach is really good. The white sand attracted me very much. The beach was fully crowded. We took two umbrellas and tubes for rent. Placed our bags and footwear under the shade of umbrellas and got into the water with the tubes. The water is shallow for initial 5 meters and immediately becomes deep. Unlike our beaches in India, due this waves are not much. With the help of tube, I was swimming and with the water current I was flown more than 50~60 meters away from the shore. I see my surrounding but there were no one, all alone. Everyone were playing on the shores. I don’t know much swimming and the tides were pulling me more into the water. I was scared at this moment and called for help. After a while a Korean safeguard came for my rescue. He drove me towards the shore. Thank God, I praised him for the help. After this I carefully restricted myself to play near the shore. Some people go for banana boat ride and bungee jumps. As I am scared of water sports and heights, I did not show any interest even in attempting L but playing in water for more than 2~2.5 hrs was fun. After the beach game, went to take showers. The shower places in Korea are weird. The place is so small for the number of tourists who come and it is an open bath. Korean men in their natural dress go to the shower in a public bathroom. Total embarrassing situation for me and my Indian friends. We never experienced this type. Somehow we managed to take shower (ofcourse we were not naked like Koreans in a public bathroom). After the showers, most of us were back to the bus and started waiting for others to return. Meantime some guys opened up Soju bottles and started to drink as some sort achievement! After everyone was back, group photos were shot. Around 7.00 pm we left Gyeongpo and head towards Seoul.  Back way some more games were played in the bus. Navneet conducted some funny game followed by Antakshari. Again Roshan sing some funny songs which were not heard by anyone but him. The traffic was bad this time too. Rahul asked each and every one share their experience. Everybody praised organiser for arranging such a memorable trip. Finally we reached back Seoul at 1.30am in the midnight. Me, Vijay and his wife took a taxi and reached our place around 2.30am. The trip was really good, memorable and conducted nicely. Thanks to the organizers and members.

Few photos taken from Divya Sudarshan, Divya Shree and Devesh Patel:

KKK members inside bus

me conducting quiz

playing dumb sharads

funny pair Roshan and Vinay

Divya shree conducting antakshari

playing in beach

taking rest

group photo to mark the event

Slowly moving traffic back way to Seoul