Google Page Test, CloudFlare and W3 total Cache

Installed all these three on pamela.santm.com and blog.santm.com which are running on wordpress 3.6 trunk. moved the dns details to cloudflare. While Pamela's hobby site did very well Google page test result our blog result was not great. Looks like the culprit is inbuilt gallery of wordpress which is re-sizing images and seving them on fly causing high server time. the command that helped me a lot is "mogrify -strip *.jpg" which is part of imagemagick tool kit and removes exif data from images.

Aarush~nama

Last Saturday, it was father & son time again as Pamela in school after a long summer vacation. Aarush was doing his part to keep my hands busy and asked him are you a Nut for being such naughty? And the apt reply was “Yes, I am; I am a coconut”. I could not stop laughing for a long time. Even though we call it a nut but coconut is not a nut botanically?

Handshake

A great gesture of being humble by Mr. David Thomson today.  He did shook-hand  with the entire front row as we officially inaugurated of our new Office today.    Luckily I  was there early bird :)  and was touched by his firm handshake. He is the  wealthiest man personally saw in person  he used to be ranked in top 10 richest man according Forbes few years back.

BookShelf

This was complete DYI project. Theses books are not going to be touched soon.

10 years hitch

Wow it is 10 years already for a blog/web site  which has always been early adopter of WordPress trunk :)

Opinion - does it really matter ?

Opinion – a simple word everyone has one. Thanks to new social media which makes it so easy to spread it. They express it say it is personal (me included). Does it really personal once expressed ? I am not a social science expert but there are some opinions heard, read in recent time wondered what to do with them.  Tried argue with few at the beginning but at the end ignored them all. Hope you will do the same, if not leave your comments.

Scene-1 Mr. President visiting CA and ends up apologizing for a comment which sound natural but did not go well in media. Sorry Mr. President wrong choice of words everyone has such high expectation from you. If it was your predecessor may be we have not read about it Newspaper’s opinion page.
Scene-2 One Chief Minister of India decides which countries are allowed to play in one Indian state for IPL. Well she is not the first one to do there was a stage set for the same in Mumbai long time back. Looks like it is not impacting cricket much and everyone is happy with IPL Season –Six.
Scene-3 One Indian minister comments on drought. I am leaving it out and saving myself from typing.
Scene-4 In Facebook, there are opinion on Aloe-Vera to politics, economy, technology, history and what not. Well like top 3 example I could just ignore them or comment or hit the humble ‘like-button’. Not sure why there is dislike button ? May be it is more “Gamification process” than “engaging”.
Scene-5 in a recent party heard people refusing airline based on their country of origin. Does it really make sense ? 

The same person avail other products/services of that same country directly or indirectly for sure in today’s connect world. Just for the record I was drunk and wise and remained mute :)
As said in the first really thinking on the digital/social context as here I am expressing my opinion without any heart-full argument on the same.

Mangalore

As mentioned we split  the travel in October with a week in between at Bangalore  Durga Pooja.  The destination for part two had to have sea and beach to cleansing the body and soul. Personally more of sea person if I have to choose between hills & sea.  We settled for Mangalore.  We booked for one hotel in the city which had maximum discount for 3 nights. We tried SumerSands the number-Uno destination for Managlore on travel. Now a resort with private beach was actually made for Expats community.

We started from Bangalore at 5 AM Sharp this time after loading the car with bags and baggage previous night. We were running low with cash but opted to find an ATM along the road and left Bangalore in hurry. This time road to Nilmangala  via Yashwantpur was more pleasant compared to last week and soon we were on NH 48. Till Kunigal  the road is now a proper 4 Lanes with tool. We paid toll twice on this part of the road but I was not complaining as I was doing constant 110/120 Km/Hr. The road from Hassan was old  undivided two lanes. But as we left early we did not face any traffic and we were soon near Sakleshpur. It was only 7:45 and I could not believe myself  that we crossed 223 KM in 2:30 hours in Indian road.

We stopped for ATM and got the dough, but missed the petrol pump next door. After breakfast, we wanted to fill fuel as the fuel needle was touching “E”. but to our surprise we crossed the small town of Sakleshpur and was already  started  the famous  Shiradi Ghat section. Soon we realized our mobile phones are out of network,  panicked little bit as there was no way to find out how far is the next petrol station. Switched off the  AC to gain one/two Kilometers of extra millage. The road condition detoriated as the pot holes got bigger and bigger.  The fuel needle was touching “E” but luckily the LED did not glow constantly. It became ON once or twice. We asked few groups of truck drivers  and their answer were very promising.  The milestones were not that comforting as they did not tell us how far we are from Gas Station.

Soon we crossed a forest check post, and we asked how far is the petrol station and got the best news the next one only couple of KM away. And just like that the Ghat section ended we filled full tank and headed for Mangalore. There was long queue for paying 5 Rupees Toll just outside Mangalore but with that we still managed to reach Managalore city by 11:30.  Nokia’s GPS was very accurate and we reached the major landmark (Hampankatta Circle) near our  Saffron Boutique Hotel  but from there it took another 10-15 minutes to reach there.

The hotel was great , newly renovated and we had a simple veg. lunch there. But the temperature and humidity was a killer and we decided for a nap.

After nap we drove towards Ullal ( 10KM south ) from Mangalore for Summer Sands. We reached soon and it was very hot at 16:00.  They charged us 100 INR per person at the gate and gave us some snacks voucher. Aarush was very impatient to get into the water. But after spending some time in the shade eating the snacks me and Aarush changed and got into the water. The beach being private was clean but it is  very rough where no one ventured to go inside deep water,  as back wave was really dangerous. I needed to keep an constant eye on Aaursh, as few times he got drifted from his seating place with the wave. He  really  played a lot;  was not happy to get out.

But now when he got out we were worried what to give for dinner as it was only 19:00.  Dinner was not  ready before 19:30 but with request the resort was able to serve us food little early and we   had a quick dinner for ourselves. On the way back, I had to stop in front of a shop which had street light to check my rear bumper which was making little sound. The shop owner was  true “Good Samaritan” fixed the bumper for free using his indigenous skills and technique which really lasted long.

Next morning, after breakfast we left for North direction  driving past Managalore port, Chemical factory and major refinery. We drove to  Panambur beach first, the beach was OK OK nothing great. There is one light house with little shacks. After that we crossed  Surathkal (KREC, Alma matter of my younger brother) according to guidebook Surathkal beach is one of the clean and hidden gem of Mangalore but we skipped it for Udupi. Udupi is famous for it Krishna Temple and during noon you get Prasad as whole meal. Udupi and its cuisine can be found across India famous for vegetarian  dishes.  The direction to temple was clear but as we approached, the road got narrower and parking became difficult. After parking the car in a designated parking lot we walked  to reach the temple. The Sun was a real killer. There was some queue in the temple but not very long. After paying our homage to Lord Krisha we were waiting for the special Prasad and after 40 minutes or so understood there was no Prasad that day as it was ‘Ekadashi (eleventh day of moon calendar).

We came out of the temple and walked back to car and not sure what to do next. We were hungry but the Sun and heat suggested stay inside only. So after deliberation  headed for Malpe beach. We missed the sign for beach and took a detour around Maple jetty oh! boy there was the smell of fish.  There was one nice big resort called Paradise. We stopped there had a long lunch intentionally and ordered desert and cold drinks in steps just to kill time we almost sat there for 3 hours. At last around 4 headed for the beach.

The beach was crowded but soon we realized this has one of the best ‘white –sand’ we have been to.  The waves were more gentle compared to its southern cousin and there were many adventure activities going on. You can go up in the parachute ride, the banana ride and water jet. Me and Aarush enjoyed a long stay in the warm water.  Once it started to get dark we left the beach and headed towards the car. We could not even leave Malpe when the thunderstorm hit us. It was heavy  rain with lighting. It caused havoc on the road. We continued driving and probably the worst rain driving for me. Ultimately,  stopped and pull over as it was little scary to drive behind red lights of other car with no visibility of the general road.  But any way we could not stop for ever - so after 10/15 minutes started and continued driving.  We reached a rain soaked Mangalore quite late.

Took an Auto from Hotel after getting fresh and headed  for a small fast food place called “Hot Bitez” Oppsite  Canara College on Jail Road. We picked this place from a blog with a catchy title .  Well, the food was OK OK  with fries and burger you can be never be wrong with Aarush, On our way back we enjoyed the festival of “Dusherra rally” where children to adult dress up like tiger and they are accompanied by drums and music. It is like a carnival. They start from the city center and go around. The party starts around midnight and last till wee hours of the morning. We were tired to enjoy this for long. But it was a shame of not having DSLR with us to capture the color and expression at that time.

Next day, after a breakfast we drove down south again and this time we drove for 70 KM south and visit the famous Bekal fort in Kerala. The fort was built around 1650 over 40 acres of land. In recent time it got prominent when famous director Mani Ratnam shoot his mega film Bombay in early nineties.  A very beautiful fort with many watch towers, with  breath taking view of Arabian sea as we walked along the parameters.

It was a holiday on the occasion of Id,  complete Kerala was closed. We made a big fool of ourselves by not having food at Bekal Fort before leaving from there. We reached  Summersand again and had a late lunch there. After spending time on beach we opted to leave early and have a proper dinner in Mangalore city. We asked our hotel reception to suggest a Mangalorian restaurant and they suggested one. We went by auto and the place was nice, crowded with families waiting for their turn. We were really hungry and ordered  lots of food. The food came after some time but it was so spicy that Pamela who normally handles hot and spicy food well could not handle too. It was a disaster in simple words, Aarush was very sleepy and we could not force him much.

Next day, was our last day in Mangalore and we started slow. We visited the famous ‘St. Aloysius Chapel” which is inside a educational campus. There are beautiful stained glass and the floor is simply awesome with mosaic. We went by auto and after spending sometime went to picture butterfly in near by Tagore park. After that we just walked back towards our hotel . We stopped at the famous Ideal Ice Cream Parlor and tried  their famous “Gadbad”. Aaursh really liked it as it was his breakfast and soon we ordered the Dilkush,  after the big ice-creams we headed back to our room, packed our things, payed the bill and started for Bangalore.

This time our tank was full when we cross Ghat section but as we crossed it around mid-day there were traffic and driving uphill had its own fun on those curves. Just after crossing Chikmanglur town we stopped for lunch. It was very crowded. Post lunch we drove straight to Bangalore without any stop.

Bijapur-Chitradurga

Day-5, Woke up at 4:30 in the morning as I could barely sleep whole night. Had mu bath and got little bit packing down to ensure we leave Bijapur at the earliest. Woke Pamela & Aarush around 5:30 and we started to walk to Gol Gumbaz. Unfortunately the lady who manages the ticket counter did not show up till 6:30. We were the first one to enter. After the local guard gving us little more history lesson asked us to climb the steps quickly before anyone. We climbed the seven story building using medieval steps which gets steeper as you climb. Aarsush did a great job of climbing all by himself. We were the only one at thw whispering gallery and able to whisper between ourselves across the hall. It is a amazing feeling of hearing the slightest of sound across football field. But after 10 minutes of so we got lousy intruders and we called it a go. Climbing down was more difficult at times.

Reaching hotel we had breakfast and Aarush and Pamela took shower and by 9 headed out for Bangalore. The drive was again on newly constructed NH-13 and by 11 we reached Hospect. We did not stopped and continued driving and by 13:30 reached Chitradurga. We first tried Hotel Aishwarya Fort which was just a dignified bar bar and bar. We left it as me and Aarush even could not use their rest room. We came to Naveen Regency which was a pleasant surprise. The hotel was clean and there was no drinking in the restaurant which made it more comfortable.

After a nice lunch we headed for ‘Chitradurga Fort’ – Chitra(picture) durga(fort). This fort was built between 10-18th centuries by different rulers and at last post independence it was part of Mysore dynasty before handing over to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). As it was weekday there were hardly any tourist there. Once we entered the fort one guide approached us and after little bargain he agreed to be our guide.

As the fort was built over many centuries it was like a mini town within the fort itself. There are many layers of walls to cross to reach the fort entry. To minimize any attack there are sharp turns, narrow but strong doors which can withstand attack from charging elephants. We kept on climbing as we explored the beauty and history. After a climb of 40/45 minutes we reached a plateau where there are the main temple and swing area.

From there we again climbed down to go to the back side of the fort. The back side of the fort is not that fortified. But it has natural boundaries. And most attack on th fort has been on the front as the accessibility is very poor. The attraction is “Onake Obavva”, where one lady managed to kill many soldiers of Hyder Ali as they tried to enter from the back. You can read it all here.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onake_Obavva)

Now after many steps and ups and downs Aarush was tired and so are we. A day of climbing steps with history which started in morning in Bijapur. We started around 5 PM for Bangalore and did not make any stop as we missed one decent Kamat near Tumkur L . The traffic was horrible as usual and it got only worse as we approached home. We stopped at McDonald just in-front of our home as Aaursh was not happy with this trip at all .. all the temples .. daemons and mythological figures. Any way it was a long drive on the last day but very much doable.

Badami and Bijapur

Day-4, Morning we woke up early and headed towards to Bansankari Temple to start our day. Bansankari has lady idol with eight hands which is worshiped meticulously around. We saw one lady rolling herself around the whole temple periphery with wet cloth which signifies she just took a bath in the nearby holy-pond. We got a good darshan of the devi idol as there was not much crowd in the morning.

We came to hotel and waited for our breakfast which was bit late as we woke up early. After breakfast we headed for the Badami caves. Badami has 4 caves inspired by Ellora. There are lots of monkeys in the base and cave-1 (dedicated to lord Shiva). You must not carry any food or water bottle, we got ourself a guide who has been in this business for last 20 years and he explained in details each cave and allowed us enough time to take plenty of pictures. Though the objects are same as we have seen in Hampi, Aihole and Patadkal but as they curved them out of the rock and created temple in cave formed these objected remained in better shape as at least they are saved from direct rain.

Once we completed all the caves we took our car through the busy market, I just stopped at times for few minutes before moving another inch as there was no space on both ends. Somehow we reached the Bhutanatha temple again Aarush opted for staying in car and we quickly went around the temple.

We came to hotel to checkout and hotel guys suggested we should go to Mahakuta temple before headed in towards Bijapur. This is a Shiva Temple and there is a pond which is considered quite holy to take a dip. After spending a short time there we headed towards to Bijapur directly skipping lunch.

The afternoon sun was hot like last two days and we continued nonstop to Bijapur( 120 KM). Personally was not very favorable about this choice as thought of having a lunch at Badami before heading towards the highway.
Anyway reached Bijapur and we opted for Hotel Pearl on Station road. The hotel is a very basic one and does not carry any recommendation, some websites and friends mentioned about Hotel Madhuvan were we did enquire from Bangalore. Any way after a quick checkin we headed towards the attractions of Bijapur.

We started with Jod Gumbaz (twin tomb) and from there we went to Ibrahim Rauza. As we were shooting photograph one guide appeared to offer his service. We agreed for a town wide tour with whatever can be covered in the remaining sun light. It was good to have him in the car as we did not have to ask for any direction every non and then and moved from one attraction to another. We covered Malik-e-Maidan(the great canon), Barakaman, Jami Masjid , Taj Bawdi, Mehtar Mahal, Asar Mahal. The only key attraction that was left was Gol Gumaz and guide told us the history and asked us to get up early in the morning to get good experience of the same.

He left us around 6 PM next to the Barakaman in one restaurant where we three tired and hungry person waited for their service to start at 7. Aaursh did his best had some food and we also quickly finished our food and headed to hotel. There was no hot water anymore and we were told it will start again in the morning 4. Really hated the whole thing.

Pictures from Bijapur

Aihole and Patadkal

Day-3, post breakfast we hit the road, this time we followed the GPS voice of Pamela’s Lumia more attentively and with ease we head out of Hospet and join the highway. The highway NH-13 between Hospet and Bijapur is recently widen to 4 lane. It was a pleasure driving, the road was not at all crowded and surprisingly the trucks maintained the left lane. Was driving around 110/120 KMph without any trouble and soon reached Hungund. From there we took left turn towards Aihole.

There are plenty of sign for Aihole but when we reached we were greeted with a rustic village. There was no guides or local man asking us and by mistake we crossed the village and started with Jain Temple which is located on the isolated back side of the hill.

From there we came to village and visited – Hucchappayya Math Complex, Mallikarjuna Complex, Ravana Pahdi & Hucchimalli temple complex. Aarush had little snack while the car was under a tree shade. But the sun again was too hot and scotching hot. All these places we were the only visitor most of the times.

From there we went to Durga temple complex – the key attraction of Aihole. This time we found guide and after little bargain we hired one. After 90  minutes of tour we called it a day in Aihole.

The construction & sculpture at Aihole is considered the basic or primary for Karnataka. This is the very place where people inspired by Ellora started their love affair with stone.

From there we took the road towards Patadkal. The roads is a typical village road and the sun was very hard on us.  We reached there around 15:00; we did not had any proper lunch as there was no suitable place along the road to stop. We waited in the car had little more snacks & fruits that we had with us. We got in to the UNESCO Heritage site around 15:30 when the shadow got little longer. We hired a guide and without him the true beauty and history of this place would have remained unknown to us. There are seven temples dedicated mostly to Lord Shiva. Other than one remaining six is not functional as either the idol is broken or missing. The key of Patadakal is unique mix of South and North Indian temples. After 2 hours of trip down the memory lane we called it a day and left for Badami. As soon as we came out of the main temple complex we found the lone Jain temple on our right hand side and we did a quick stop there.

The road to Badami with orange sunlight with the backdrop of hills was very beautiful. The rocks were glowing with soft sunlight. We reached Badami before sunset and ordered some coffee and snacks as we reached our hotel Badami Court.

Dinner was a simple one, and after a long day we hit the bed early.

Pictures from Pattadkal

Hampi - history carved in granite

Day – 1, As planned we left Bangalore quite late in our standard after a big breakfast at home around 11, the traffic on a Saturday as usual was very heavy and it continued that way till we crossed Nelamangala. After that the traffic got better but there were too many diversions as there was work going on to build flyovers and road widening on NH-4. We filled fuel somewhere after Nelamangala, and noticed there were not many decent stops like CCD or others. We did make a quick stop after one of those toll-plaza before Chitradurga to have lunch inside the car with the home cooked paratha (stuffed bread).

At Chitradurga we need to take an diversion and left NH-4 and continued on NH-13 (Solapur Highway). This is a undivided 2 lane road. There are not many small vehicles but lots of big rigs. We found lots of Sunflower field and stopped in one of them for a quick photo-shoot. The road is full of pot holes and unmarked speed breakers. But it was not that bad and I got used to it after a while and reached outskirts of Hospet around 4PM. There we saw the many mining dump-truck but this is just a small part compared to its neighbor Bellary.

Finding our destination Hotel Malligey was easy as it is quite well known, we checked in before dusk. The room were very spacious and we were welcomed by very friendly staff there. After getting freshen up we fixed a guide from hotel’s travel desk for next day. Initially we planned for 3 nights stay with 2 days of Hampi but Hotel people suggested we could shorten one day. Later realized it was a good idea as one gets bore with stone after a while. But if you are coming from a distance it might be a good idea to spend second day as there are many sights to cover.

Day – 2, We started with complementary breakfast from hotel towards Hampi as our guide was waiting near his village. We picked him up and started with “Pattabhi Ram Mandir” . From there we went to “Vittala Temple” via “Talarigatta Gate”. From the car park there are golf cart which takes you to Vittala Temple (around 2 KM) via the historic market area. Tough it was just 10 on the watch but the Sun was too bright and hot. Our guide did a good job in explaining the details. From there we proceed to Royal Center.

We started with Saraswathi Temple, it was only us in this less visited temple. Next to it was Octagonal Bath, a place used by horse traders and other outsider. After that we came to Queen Bath a unique mix of Indian & Persian architecture. Each dome is designed differently. The peripheral verandah provided the required shade and privacy for royal women.

The ‘Mahanavami Dibba’ is a huge area with many sites within the key is off-course Dassara platform. The kings of Hampi used to celebrate Dassara a big way currently royal family Mysore celebrate the same. Aarush became bored with stones and fatigued with so hot sun, he preferred to stay in the car to play ‘angry bird’ ?

After this we moved our car to ‘Hazara Rama Temple’ a royal temple which depicts the Indian epic Ramayana on stone wall. This was a temple only for royal family to pray and enter. There is ‘Archeology Gallery and Office; which we skipped and headed straight to ‘Zenana(ladies) Enclosure’ . The key attraction inside is offcourse ‘elephant stable’ and ‘lotus mahal’ another key thing to notice is the watch towers. Each of them are different- one is circular and other one triangular. Now it was almost 12:30 and we agreed to stop for lunch and have a good break to avoid the sun which was really too hot to handle.

The number uno destination for food in Hampi is Mango Tree – a vegetarian place next to the Tungabhadra River under giant mango tree. You get all kinds of food which is a delicacy given the remoteness of Hampi. The best part was we ordered in parts to linger our stay in shade.

At around 3/3:30 we started again, and there is a road which connects to Virupaksha Temple. But looks like it is kind of private road where our guide opened a huge gate next to Mango Tree to let us in. Virupaksha temple is still a working temple and you will find Laxmi , the temple elephant there. After Virupaksha temple we crossed Hampi bazaar and drove uphill to Kadalekalu Ganesha. This is known as Hemakunta hill where many attraction can be covered on foot. But we skipped it as that would mean we have climb down the hill to Hampi Bazar again.

From there we went to Laxmi Narayan and Badavilinga temple. We drove past the famous two storied gateway. A perfect place to enjoy sunset among glowing granites. We headed to Krishna Temple and on route saw ‘Akka Tangi Gudda’ (sister stone) two giant boulders forming an arch. We visited underground Shiva temple next and noblemen quarter.

The sun was now dropping and we had a dilemma what to do next, our guide suggested we visit one more temple not so visited by tourist due to its offtrack location. The temple is Pattabhirama Temple a huge temple with stone carvings are still intact. We should have went to ‘Hemakunta hill’ to watch sun set but instead headed to Tungabhadra reservoir and got lost in Hospet town. It was a long day and Aarush went to sleep so headed to hotel.

Lots of stone, art and history at the end it at times feel heavy on head reminding touring Louvre museum of Paris for a whole day.