ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಭೂಕಂಪದ ಮುನ್ಸೂಚನೆ ನೀಡಬಲ್ಲವು!

ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ಹೊಸತಾಗಿ ಆರಂಭಗೊಂಡ ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಆದ 'CiSTUP Coffee Tea Club' ನಲ್ಲಿ ಟೀ ಹೀರುತ್ತಾ, ಮುಂದೆ ಆಯೋಜಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಪ್ರವಾಸದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹರಟುತ್ತಿದೆವು. ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಶೋಧನಾ ಕೇಂದ್ರದ ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕರಾದ ಪ್ರೊ. ಸೀತಾರಾಮ್ ಕೂಡ ನಮ್ಮೊಂದಿಗೆ ಟೀ ಹೀರಲು ಅಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಬಂದರು. ಬಂದವರೇ, "ಗುರುರಾಜ್, ಇವತ್ತಿನ 'ನ್ಯೂಸ್ ಪೇಪರ್' ನೋಡಿದ್ರ?" ಎಂದು ತಮ್ಮ ನಾಗಲೋಟದ ಮಾತಿನ ಧಾಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿದರು. ನೆನಪಿಡಿ ಯಾರೇ ನಿಮಗೆ ಈ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಕೇಳಲಿ, ಅದರ ಅರ್ಥ ಅವರೇನೋ 'ಹೇಳಬೇಕೆಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ' ಎಂದು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸುಳ್ಳೇ ಅದರೂ (ಪೇಪರ್ ಓದಿದ್ದು ಸತ್ಯ), 'ಇಲ್ಲ ಹೇಳಿ ಸರ್' ಎಂದೆ. 'ನಾಲ್ಕನೇಯ ಅಥವಾ ಐದನೇಯ ಪುಟದಲ್ಲಿ "ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಭೂಕಂಪದ ಮುನ್ಸೂಚನೆ ನೀಡಬಲ್ಲವು" ಅಂತ ಬಂದಿದೆ, ಓದಿದ್ರ? ಅಂದ್ರು. 'ಹೌದೆ?! ಖಂಡಿತ ಓದಿಲ್ಲ ಸರ್' ಎಂದೆ. 'ನನಗೆ ಭೂಕಂಪ ನೆಚ್ಚಿನ ವಿಷಯ, ನಿಮಗೆ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ನೆಚ್ಚಿನ ವಿಷಯ, ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ನೋಡಿ ಹೇಳಿ' ಅಂದ್ರು.
ಮುಂದಿನ ಐದು ನಿಮಿಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಗ್ರಂಥಾಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ 'Times of India' ದಿನ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆ ಹುಡುಕಿದೆ. ಹೌದು, ಅವರು ಹೇಳಿದಂತೆ, ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಭೂಕಂಪನದ ಮುನ್ಸೂಚನೆಯನ್ನು ಕರಾರುವಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಹೇಳುತ್ತವೆ ಎಂದು ಬರೆಯಲಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಈ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯ ಆಧಾರ ಹುಡುಕಿದೆ. ಕೆಲವೇ ನಿಮಿಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನನಗೆ ಈ ವಿಷಯದ ವೈಜ್ಞಾನಿಕ ಲೇಖನ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು.

ಇದೇ ಮಾರ್ಚ್ ೩೧ ರಂದು 'ಜರ್ನಲ್ ಆಫ್ ಜೂಲೋಜಿ' ಎಂಬ ವೈಜ್ಞಾನಿಕ ನಿಯತಕಾಲಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ಇಂಗ್ಲೆಂಡ್ ದೇಶದ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳಾದ ಡಾ. ರಾಚೆಲ್ ಎ. ಗ್ರಾಂಟ್ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರೊ. ಟಿಮ್ ಹಾಲಿಡೆ, ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಕೂತೂಹಲವಾದ ವೈಜ್ಞಾನಿಕ ಸಂಶೋದನೆಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಈ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ಇಟಲಿ ದೇಶದ ಲಾ ಕ್ವಿಲಾ ಪ್ರಾಂತ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಸಿದ ಸಂಶೋದನೆಯಿಂದ, 'ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಭೂಕಂಪದ ಮುನ್ಸೂಚನೆ ನೀಡಬಲ್ಲವು' ಎಂಬ ಅಂಶವನ್ನು ಬೆಳಕಿಗೆ ತಂದಿದ್ದರು. ಭೂಕಂಪ ಸಂಭವಿಸುವ ೫ ದಿನಗಳಷ್ಟು ಮೊದಲೇ, ಹೇರಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಗಂಡು ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು (common toad, Bufo bufo ಎಂಬ ಪ್ರಭೇದ) ಭೂಕಂಪ ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಬಿಂದುವಿನಿಂದ (ಎಪಿ ಸೆಂಟರ್ ನಿಂದ) ಕಣ್ಮರೆಯಾಗತೊಡಗಿದವು. ಭೂಕಂಪದ ದಿನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದೂ ಗಂಡು ಕಪ್ಪೆ ಆ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಭೂಕಂಪದ ತರುವಾಯ ಎರಡು-ಮೂರು ದಿನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಗಂದುಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪುನಃ ಕಾಣಿಸಿಕೊಂಡವು. ವಾತಾವರಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ಆಯಾನೋಸ್ಪೆರ್ (ionosphere) ಪದರವು, ಭೂಕಂಪದಿಂದ ಹೊರಡುವ ಅತೀ ಕೆಳಮಟ್ಟದ ತರಂಗಗಳಿಂದ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಹೊಂದುತ್ತದೆ. ಈ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಭೂಕಂಪ ಸಂಭವಿಸುವ ಮೊದಲ ವಾರದಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ತಿಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ. ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ಈ ರೀತಿ ಆಯಾನೋಸ್ಪೆರ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಆದ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಮತ್ತು ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯ ಇಳಿಮುಖದಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ಸಂಭಂದವನ್ನು ಗಣನೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು, ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು ಭೂಕಂಪದ ಮುನ್ಸೂಚನೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತವೆ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಈ ಹಿಂದೆ ಸಸ್ತನಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ಪಕ್ಷಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ಇರುವೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ಇಲಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಕು ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳಾದ ನಾಯಿ, ದನ, ಬೆಕ್ಕು ಮತ್ತು ಕೋಳಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಭೂಕಂಪದ ಸೂಚನೆಗಳು ಕಂಡಿದ್ದರೂ, ಅವುಗಳು ಬಗ್ಗೆ ವೈಜ್ಞಾನಿಕವಾಗಿ ಸಂಶೋದನೆ ನಡೆದಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತ ಸಂಶೋದನೆ ಪ್ರಾಯಶಃ ವೈಜ್ಞಾನಿಕ ಜಗತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೊದಲನೆಯದು ಮತ್ತು ಭೂಕಂಪದ ಮುನ್ಸೂಚನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಪಾತ್ರದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಡೆದ ಏಕೈಕ ಸಂಶೋದನೆ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಜಾಗತಿಕ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳು (ಉಭಯ ಜೀವಿಗಳು) ನಶಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ, ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಅರಿವಿಗೆ ಈ ರೀತಿಯ ಸಂಶೋದನೆಗಳು ಅತೀ ಮುಖ್ಯ. ಇದೇ ಏಪ್ರಿಲ್ ೩೦, 'Save the Frog Day'! ಬನ್ನಿ ಕಪ್ಪೆಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಇನ್ನೂ ತಿಳಿಯೋಣ, ಅವುಗಳ ಪರಿಸರ ಉಳಿಸೋಣ!!

ಆಧಾರ: Grant, R.A and T. Halliday, 2010. Predicting the unpredictable; evidence of pre-seismic anticipatory behaviour in the common toad. Journal of Zoology (2010), 1-9.

Earth hour celebrations: The BESCOM style

Majority of us heard a lot about 'Earth Hour' in last one week. People celebrated 'Earth Hour' by switching off electricity between 8:30pm to 9:30pm on 27th March. And many in Bangalore burnt Candles (not their fingers, I believe) to celebrate. I was wondering, is there any better way to celebrate. One thought occurred to my mind is to have 'Full night' cricket match at Chinnaswamy Stadium with flood lights on. Do not mistake me, although at the outset I look very satirical (why flood lights to celebrate earth hour), but it is not so. We could have played without light in the night, but cameraman cannot see those elite people in the VIP stand and major complaint will be from the spectators for not seeing anyone on the ground. I also thought of providing infrared spectacles to all, any way this is how I think.

All these thoughts were taking some shape in my mind, suddenly my wife came running to me and said, 'Guru, street lights are on!' without allowing her to complete the sentence, I told 'so what?'. She is more patient than me, she politely said, 'it's ON even now and the time is 9:30AM'. I was about to tell! 'Eureka', controlled myself, did not express the feeling, otherwise she might ask for the copyright of the thought. Indeed, this is the most fascinating way to celebrate Earth Hour. It's a common practice in Bangalore to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava till December 31st of the year, although officially it must be on November 1st. So I thought, 'what an idea' these BESCOM people have, they are in fact celebrating Earth hour, although not on 27th, but on 31st March (Important to note here is that they have not forgot, applause for their memory!) and more importantly, it's a brilliant idea to keep all the street lights on in broad day light, which is quite innovative and impressive than switching off them in late nights where nobody would have noticed. Simply keeping all street lights on during day (point to note here is that these street lights are not our CFL's, or tube lights, they are sodium vapour lamp, consumes just 70% more power) and tell the world 'We also celebrated Earth hour' in a typical Desi Style. Congratulations BESCOM, you did it and made us proud!!

Pushpak: The Mythological Aeroplane in Bangalore, one can see heaven in Rs. 10.

I am quite fortunate to have migrated to Bangalore from a not-so urbanized city called Shimoga, so does many more Bangaloreans, to get to know 'heaven' from close quarters on earth. I feel that we who geotag many places should also geotag "Pushpak" with "heaven in Bangalore". Oh, sorry, I dragged you guys somewhere else like our godly swamijis and politicians do. Thanks to our conductor cum driver saheb in these Pushpak, who is the agent directly descended from Indraloka. In fact, I felt quite often to prostrate in front of him, for his godly actions, behavior and above all for 'his driving (s)kills'. oh yes! I just forgot to tell you, as the name suggests Pushpak is divine aero-plane from BMTC, rendering help in getting connected between God and people.

I will narrate an occasion, where in, I was taken to heaven and just because I am very humanly, I was sent back to earth to lead this meaningless research life. It happened few weeks back. I was walking very fast rather it was a kind of running to catch '276'(It's just the route number, nothing to do with similar looking numbers).

As I stood near the entrance arch of Sri Kalika Durga Parameshwari Temple at Vidyaranyapura, a gray coloured aeroplane (looking something like mythological Rakshasa/demon) with LED display of Vidyaranyapura to Majestic scrolling from right to left and 276 displayed at the centre of the board 'landed' before me. Oh God sent! I thought, thanked god and entered the vehicle. Soon it turned out to be true, such things are made in heaven, packed in heaven and even drove by heavenly people.

As I just put two steps into the bus, the Godly agent sitting on the driver's seat uttered 'tigiet'. Since there were no one behind me nor in front of me, I told myself that he was talking to me and realized there was no additional conductor in this bus. Meanwhile, he had already pulled a ticket and was pressing Accelerator peddle, both hands being free from the staring wheel, fully occupied with notes folded horizontally and kept between fingers (imagine how we used to write Sun's diagram, few lines radiating out of circular body, similarly currency notes were emanating from the spaces between his fingers)in one hand and other with booklets of tickets. He two hands looked like Vishnu's 'dasha hastas'. There was a pen tucked between 2nd and 3rd finger in the same hand which has currency notes between all fingers. The first two fingers are lingering to pull the ticket, which is in the other hand. Simultaneously, these two hands are also on steering wheel and the gear lever. Now, I feel you must have also felt 'the Vishnu' I saw with naked eyes. I am not as good as Sanjaya to describe Sri Vishnu. Please do not mistake me of comparing you people to Dhrutarashtra, my conversation ends at Sanjaya as a story teller and nothing beyond. At this instance, I felt, he cannot be human, because he is doing so non-humanly activities. My eyes became wet, voice got struck in the throat, tongue unable to utter, I was shivering.

Soon, few bikes/cars honked as though some one has ran on their foot. This brought me back from the deep trance. I looked around to figure out, why such nuisance, why people won't allow for some one to experience heaven in Rs.10. Probably, I was not so immersed with his godly act, to me the pushpak seemed have taken some diagonal path and was ready to squeeze two bikers and a car (Alas, these guys did not understand that if they had crushed under Pushpak, they would have directly landed in heaven). But this god man was unfazed by such hue and cry, honks, etc, he was as cool as cucumber!, composed and did not even see the side mirror so as to know why the vehicles honked. He simply turned the steering wheel with his multi tasking hands, it automatically aligned itself to the road. See his magical touch. I was again astonished with his skills.

This processes did happen in all stops, its not because all the bus stops in Bangalore are unscientific (what small thinking! if you also have thought so), it is because the driver was told not to show any racial, facial, sexual or intersexual discrimination for all the heaven seekers. For one thing, I must really appreciate, he was dedicated to his work. No matter whether ambulance passes by, signal shows red, people on the last step of exit, he mercilessly did his part of showing us heaven. Most surprising part was when I was made to depart from this heavenly vehicle. It was right in front of Sadashivanagar Police station, the driver took out his mobile and was searching for something in it. I requested him to stop at CPRI stop, but he wanted to show me much more. As the signal was red, he finally opened the door and asked me to get down, as though strictly implementing some ones suggestion. I felt, may be this is what he was searching on his mobile and GOD must have told him to leave me back on earth and take others along!!

No sense of sides, no sense of speed, no sense of priority and no sense of respecting signal, I think these are the prime qualities of this godly man to make him agent of GOD. Hope many of you must have also experienced the same! I am just worried, will we ever get a human being to drive these vehicles? Will they ever have any sense of driving? Will it ever happen? God only knows.

Auli ka Maulvi

Kushal Anand, our rope way operator from Auli to Joshimat said "Kya kare, bahot log Valley of flowers nahin ja paate hain, isliye mein Valley vahan dikata hun aur flower yahan dikata hun (What to do? Many people cannot go up to valley of flowers, so I show the valley there and flowers here)" pointing his finger to high mountain ranges through the cable car and to the flowers below the cabin. We all burst into laughter. More importantly, my mother too laughed, clearly and loudly. I was surprised seeing the smile on her gladdened face. While going up from Joshimat to Auli, which was precisely an hour back, her face was knotted with worry lines on the forehead and was uttering Krishnaashttotthara, Vishnusahasranama while holding the arm rest of cable car as though she is clinging on to the last stone on a cliff and will fall off at any time. She was so tensed that she did not even look far out from the cabin.

Visit to Auli was a surprise pack of our tour programme, so much so that even Sudhira, our tour CEO, did not know how much surprise was in store. We left Badri after having the awesome Poori bhaji from Hotel Devlok at around 8:30 in the morning, went to Mana village and were back by 11:00 so as to get the gate clearance at Badri. We reached Joshimat by 3:10pm. Ustadji asked us to hurry up, only to realise that cable car is at 4pm. Sudhira did the homework and told us that it would Rs.500 per head. So Sudhira, Aravind, me and my wife managed the show and got eight tickets. The ticket issuing lady asked "Aaap log waapas kab ayenge (at what time you are coming back?" I was about to tell "aaj..hi"...Sudhira said "Paanch baje". I thought I am saved! Sudhira, Anna and Aravind went to the hotel and got some "Aloo paranta" and "Achar". I was with my mother, making her feel good while climbing as many as 40 odd steps to reach the gateway of the ropeway.

This was also my first ever journey in ropeway, but it never occurred in mind, untill I asked myself after getting down at Auli, "did I ever travel like this before?". At 4pm on dot, cable car operator invited us to get into the cable. The signboards inside the car said, "no photography". I sincerely followed this, until I saw the first glimpse of Nandadevi peak. As soon as the operator pointed out, I just broke all the rules, opened the tripod and camera, went on clicking this amazing snow clad mountain. That's probably the luckiest moment in our Auli trip, after that, we could not get such clarity of the peak in the next few hours we spent at Auli. My mother saw the peak, yet she was tensed and her mouth was still murmuring some shlokas. We reached Auli, precisely after 22 minutes of journey over a kilometer of elevation.


Camera's clicked all around the place! Clouds were moving at our eye level, snow clad peaks were doing hide and seek, its really a strange feel to be with family on top of a hill. Though there is a famous saying, on reaching the top you are alone, but here it was quite reverse. We had two plates hot 'pakoras' with hot tea and coffee from the hotel at Auli.

At 5pm, we were literally "forced" to get back into cable car. We all felt a day is not enough to fill our eyes with those scenic beauties. It's precisely in this return journey, we met the Maulvi of the Auli, Kushal Anand. He is a great entertainer indeed, as soon as we entered, he said "Mumbai log gaate hai ki...'lift karaadeh'...hum yahan sabhiko 'lift karaadetehai'". Its from him, I learnt that the real name of Joshimath is Jyotirmat, for the reason that Adi Shankara got his enlightenment in this area and also that during winter, Badrivishal statue will be kept at this place. He explained how this place is being readied for 2010 commonwealth games and why the skiing at Auli is considered better than any other place in India.

He showed us "Queen" and "Elephant", which I personally consider the height of imagination. He carved out a queen face, pointing and moving his fingers over five peaks in front of us. Wow...its amazing, it really looked like queen's face. Hmmm...and youthful too. Then he said "I show her to many, but no one ready to marry!" Next was the Elephant peak, which he again carved out. I was just astonished to see that the peak was in front of us from 3pm, we did not even think of what it could be! Within a span of two minutes, we all agreed that it looked like an elephant.


To test his presence of mind or to test our nerves, power went off when we were two towers before Joshimath. He mentioned in rhyming words " the power is gone, but not to worry we will put our generators on". Yes, the cable car again moved within a minute. He talked so simple, yet his words were well weighed and said. My mother personally thanked him and said, "Aap agar pehli baar aajaate, mein itna chintit nahi hoti (If you had come during our upward journey, I would not have worried that much)". We all thanked Kushal Anand, for making us feel the 22 minute tour less than 2 minutes. He is such a nice person with great sense of humor, knowledge, dedication and great commitment to his work, who not only made us to laugh with his one liners, but also relax and learn a lot during this short trip in cable car.To me he looked more like a Maulvi in uniform and in a cable car! Hats off to you! Sir.

Uttaranchal Rocks! Indeed!!

Attige with her typical accent was telling to Sudhira at Rahi motel, Hardwar, while sipping the last cup of black tea from Garhwal, "Uttaranchal means Rocks"! There was a pause for few seconds!! Seven of us looked at each other, probably we all had similar feel within us and endorsed her view. For last six days the word "rock" has not only had its impact on our mind, giving a philosophical bent, but also on my hand, giving me a greater physical dent. And like a quick black and white flashback in a color movie, my mind too travelled back and forth, and I too said, showing my injured finger and nodding my head, "Uttaranchal Rocks".

Previous day was probably one the greatest learning day of my life and teacher was non other than "rocks". The first lesson we had was "Destination is driven by rocks and not by any transport mode". I had the glimpse of this lesson in 2007, while coming back from Rohtang pass, but teacher was not in a mood to teach me properly at that time. We left Karnaprayag and were heading towards Hardwar, we were in the truest spirit of returning himalayan trekkers, with crystal clear pride on face, of trekking upto valley of flowers, bowing to Badrivishal and roped away to Auli, to me it was equivalent to climbing mount Everest (importantly, I was with my wife and she was first timer to Himalayas). Amidst, such zeal and josh! our vehicle made a steady and slow halt. Our ustadji (driversaheb) stopped the vehicle hardly after an hour of journey. He suspected a traffic jam and simply parked the vehicle behind another tourist vehicle. Initial few minutes inside the vehicle was very restless, every one was anxious, excited, unsettled in the hope that road will be soon cleared and we will reach Hardwar by noon and/or in a hurry to convey this fantastic tour reports to our friends, to gain that extra pat on the back.


People did rotis on the roadside, some slept and some sang, a few even danced. Most common kind, threw stones into the river. Time passed by. First to go out of the vehicle was Sudhira, after an hour or so, me, my brother and Aravind came out of the vehicle to have First Hand Information. Ustadji was right, true to his guess, two huge rocks of a swaraz mazda size stood in the middle of the road since 8:30 in the morning and were in no mood to give way for over 300 of us on either way. They were clearly hitting at the pschye of any human being around at that place and we all looked too feable and useless infront of them. The only thing I could do was to take few snaps and movies of the "Rocky event".


After five hours of relentless effort by Border Road Organization (aptly called BRO), rocks slid onto the riverbed and we moved towards Srinagar. This five hours of wait, as I said earlier taught me (hopefully for others too) the first lesson.


After such an everlasting class, one needs a break and we hurriedly had it at Srinagar, thinking that there will not be any more classes like this from Uttaranchal. Ustadji drove to his maximum, pressing the peddle even in the turnings, squeezing and pushing through rolling stones of Shivaliks. I was nearly petrified on seeing that there were few stones coming down and Ustadji simply drove through them. As a seasoned driver, he must have made up his mind that smaller stones can be dodged and at most can cause a dent but larger ones, as that of the morning, one cannot do anything but stranded for hours together.

I had this rare opportunity to be the navigator of the vehicle on last day of our tour and with Global Positioning System in hand, was making countdown of distance to reach Hardwar, like 30 to Hardwar, 27 to Hardwar. I just said 7 km to Rishikesh, Ustadji stopped his vehicle again. I was very anxious, I was telling Ustadji that vehicles are moving! in a way that he too can squeez his Sumo and go ahead. Ustadji enquired a few onward travellers and found that the smaller vehicles can go but not bus and truck. A strange smile was on my face, but it did not last long.

Finally our vehicle came to complete halt at around 7:30pm. For the first time, an absolute negative vibration came to all the minds inside our vehicle. Are we going to make it (From Hardwar our train to Delhi was at 11:30pm, on this same night)? An hour passed by, as exhausted and learned travellers of today morning, we did not bother to go out and see. We all were thinking that, at least by 9pm, we will move from this place. No way!!! By 9pm, Sudhira, me and Aravind, with my minibrightlight torch, got out of the vehicle. I was just telling to my mind, "please not again", fortunately, it was again rocks on the road, but of smaller size. In addition, there were over 20 Sardar youths, putting their energy to move these stones. As we entered the scene, few stones came rolling down, one brushed Sudhira's feet, but none got hurt. Earlier in the evening, two from the road clearing team of Uttaranchal Government slid into the valley with minor injuries. So there were no support from machine or Government for us this time. Few of us made our mind, at least to push one of the stones into the valley. Eight to nine of us gathered around the stone, one put a small crowbar under the stone, in one voice we all uttered "Jo bole so ni hal, sat sri akal". Rock did move a centimeter or two, but in the next second, ayyyyyyyyyyooooo......! I was in utter pain, I was holding my right hand in lefthand, pressing the middle three fingers. "I must have lost three fingers, oh please, let it be only one, oh, its my right hand, oh please, nothing should happen to bones" I was talking to myself. After a few minutes, Aravind saw me holding my hand. He was shell shocked, so was Sudhira, but he did not show on his face. I made up my mind to loosen the hand and to see how many are gone? Fortunately, only my middle finger was injured and with the help of Aravind's first aid kit, I got it dressed. So was the second lesson for the day, "Do not muddle up with rocks". We marked our place for sleeping, Sudhira and Aravind on the bonnet, my brother and his son in the last seat, Priti in driver's seat, Attige in navigator's, Amma in the middle and me on the "Rocks". No need to say that we missed our trains!. Till 0:30hrs, I was sleeping on the rocks, keeping my right hand up and my mind was full of teachings, lessons and learings from the rocks, indeed "Uttaranchal Rocks".

Do you have both fun and earn! while you Run? We did it at IISc

"Are you in 55+ or other category?" asked one of the volunteer at the registration disk, engrossed in a document with the ticked list of registered participants, not looking at us. That was a surprise question to both of us. Me and my cousin looked at each other, though we are aged, but certainly not to the number that volunteer mentioned, smiled at ourselves and paused for a while as we could not digest it or probably in search of a fitting reply on a chilling Sunday morning. Probably annoyed and irritated by our no response or by the mounting pressure from the antline behind us, the volunteer got up from the seat and was about to say something to us, just in time saw our faces and uttered in complete disbelief "oh..oh...sorry! sorry! Sir, I did not mean in that sense, but if you tell your category that would be fine for us give you the specified ribbon, along with a t-shirt".

We smiled at the volunteer, got blue ribbon for both of us (orange for under 15, red for 35-55, green for 55+), a t-shirt and a green seal pressed on to our wrist as a token of registering ourselves. The organizers have requested us to assemble at 7:30am, since we knew that this is going to be a gala event, made ourselves at the spot by 7:17am. Even at that time, the antline to which we joined was well over 100 in each and was meandering like a river. Later, the number turned out to be well over 1500. With such an overwhelming response, and still hundreds in the line, naturally the event was delayed by an hour. As there were drums of tea and coffee to offer, for researchers like us, its more than enough to spend next 'few days' in that place. This was quite evident, even when the organizers told the registrants to assemble back at 9:00am, no one moved from the place or willing to do so. Such an electrifying, rich and charged atmosphere we had. We both put our t-shirts on, got camera from lab and within few minutes, a mini 'Club of CES' was ready with Alka, Boomi, Durgamadab, Hari, Rohini, Supriya and myself, additionally Aravind, Gowtam and Rajat too.


After having National anthem, few welcome notes and two minutes of silence for the recent trauma at Mumbai, run started at 9:00am sharp for our category with flagging off by G. Padmanabhan, our ex director. Subsequently with 5minutes gap for other three category. A total of 3.5km for us and for others, it was 1.5kms.



To me this run was merely for fun or at most to prove a point or two too for myself. After my school days, this probably my first official run. So, I was pretty much visualizing and bringing in that school composition into me, hence was highly excited. More so, with aging body, I was in self doubt whether I could run or not? This takes me into a recent movie, Cheeni kum, where in Tabu asks Amitab to run up till a tree, to show that he still is capable of. As field biologist, we have strenuous trekking, nature walks etc, but as an athlete the scenario is completely different, though the strain might remain the same. First two kilometer was real good to run with lots and lots of people seen in front of us, making us to push a bit more. It was more of a fast walk, since one cannot leap, in worst scenario we might stumble and lead to stampede. Fortunately, nothing happened like that. In all these length, our mini CES club was almost together. As the length progressed, I was left with Boominathan, and all others from our team either slowed down or took break. Few photographers at the corners, water bottles at our disposal, a videographer on a bike and importantly, claps and cheers from Mohan Reddy and co., have certainly added a few more calories for us to run.

It was last 1km, that took almost all physical energy and stamina from me, what was remaining was my will power. My body said, stop and walk, mind was supposed, but I blocked it. I said, come on, few more meters to go and that's it. Pushing literally, a foot by a foot, step by step, finally, I completed the run, without break in approximately 19 minutes 50seconds (which might look too odd for the professionals). Body asked for a complete rest and relax! Mind said "you did it". An Appy/Fruity at this instance was more than what one seeks at the end of a run and that's exactly what the organizers have provided. With every passing minute, one after the other entered the ground, completely burn out, yet bubbling with enthusiasm.



24 prizes were won. It was a strange delight when you see kids and elderly go to the podium and receive the prizes. That too when intellectual giants like Dr. Duttaguru, Dr. Balakrishnan, Dr. Balaram and Dr. Padmanabhan showing such enthusiasm in participating in the event as well as in prize distribution, I thought to myself, this is an event to remember for rest of my life. All these giants, at the fag end of the ceremony showed why they are called so, in announcing that "A gift coupon worth hundred rupees to all who ran". I was just touched.

Drushya, Hasya and Lasya

Mrs. Vani Ratnakar gave me an invitation, saying "Do not miss it! Its not typical, it has some thing different and a new trail too". I simply accepted her invitation and said I will make it. After having a very good cup of strong filter coffee, I bid farewell to her. I extended the invitation to my mother too, 'surprisingly' she too accepted it and we were at Kuvempu Ranga Mandir, precisely at 6:00pm on 8th October. The Event was " Yaksha-Drushya-Hasya-Lasya" - a special Yakshagana programme picking up comedy scenes, organized by 'Abhiruchi' - a cultural organization to mark its 5th annual day.


The programme began with an young boy, Sripada Hegde, doing "Harikathe" on Bhakta Sudhama. For a boy of 8years, the presence of mind, clarity in thinking, proper utterance of words and above all the confidence in communicating the delicate social issues to the public was just mind boggling. Here is an excerpt of his Harikathe. His Harikathe must have put many into trance.




After harikathe, next two hours was nothing but laughter, laughter and laughter. Sridhara Hegde Chapparamane, hails from Sirsi (Sneha balaga), settled in Shimoga and runs a pan shop for livelihood, was the key artiste. In search of lake hidden Duryodhana by Vyadha and Bhima, was the first part. Sridhara played Vyadha's role. My mother amidst of such humour, was constantly telling me to lower my volume of laughter. Second part was Bedarakanappa and Poojari, where Poojari was by Sridhara. It was an amazing performance by Sridhara, who is an actor par excellence!! It was also unique attempt in Yakshagana. I am far more happy for the very reason that I could able to make it along with my mother. Instead of putting my words to describe, here are the clips for you to enjoy. Thanks to Abhiruchi, for arranging such a wonderful programme.