I realised that loads of links on my travel page were not working. Finally got around to fixing them and have also updated my 2007 travel section. I still need to add some of my latest travel reports from Agumbe and Bhutan.

I often have people emailing me or leaving comments asking for suggestions etc. on travel. I’ve also created this page with travel related links that I hope you will find useful. In case you want to suggest anything useful, do leave a comment or email me (anitabora5 at rediffmail dot com).

Another thing I realised is that many of the links in my blog roll were defunct or not working, so I’ve cleaned it up and also added a lot of my recent readers. If you’ve been a regular reader and want to be added, and I’ve left you out, please do let me know. I have also removed the drop down and changed them into normal links for easier access. The only problem is that it’s terribly long, but I think I’ll have to live with that for a while.

The Bangalore Ultra is on December 16 for those of you who want to register for it. It will be held at Hesaraghatta and the distances are 26, 52, 78 and 104 kms. It is apparently the first time the ultra is being held in Bangalore (India?) and there are a few very brave souls who are also attempting the 104 kms.

You can register here. The Fuller Life guys also have a “Runners for Life” (RFL) group who run on weekends at Cubbon Park, Lalbagh, GKVK, Bellandur etc. If you want to join in or you can prepare on your own as Sathish is doing.

Arvind Krishnan has some interesting tips here for first time runners.

I joined a couple of friends on Saturday morning at Cubbon Park for a run and of course, as expected, I couldn’t really go more than 2 rounds of the park. The RFL crowd was also there in full force and had already finished about 3-4 rounds while I puffed and panted through my second one :)

One round of Cubbon Park (around the periphery) is around 4.5 kms. I’m thinking of attempting the 26 kms at the Ultra (even if I have to run, walk and then crawl to the finish) as I’ve been trying to run for a long time and I need to start somewhere. But something or the other always seems to come my way. I had started jogging in the morning with the very enthusiastic Cyberscorpion but managed to get an ankle injury to add to a (bad) knee injury that I had sustained in 2004.

I’ve also bothered long distance runners Kiruba and Sathish (whose stamina and determination I admire immensely!) several times about running tips but never managed to get off the block. I guess there’s no better way to learn than to start somewhere. I’m going to give it a serious attempt this time. Wish me luck!

Update: November 21: Finally, after more than a month of running around the BTM branch managed to return the money back to my sister. Thanks to all the readers for their suggestions and advice! And also to the reader who had left the email addresses of the concerned people at ICICI who we emailed. (He had asked for his comment to be deleted). The saga is over but it has definitely left us with a really bad taste in the mouth.

Update: November 20: As of today, after about a month, my sister still awaits closure and return of her money. She has written to mostly everyone including Kamath, and someone from his office actually called, listened to her story and assured her that they will resolve the issue. We’re hoping it happens soon!

This seems to be a time for sharing horror stories. But in times when you feel no one is listening, I think at least we can resort to one outlet. That is, blog about it so at least others can come to know before they do something similar.

Last month, my sister who’s down from the UK and made the very big mistake of opting for ICICI to start a bank account. She went to the nearest branch in BTM (off the Udupi garden lane). That’s where her trouble started.
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I’ll start with a story that actually ended well but I missed a few heartbeats in the beginning.

On my return from Bhutan, I had a return flight from Bagdogra to Calcutta at 2.40 pm in the afternoon. When I reached the airport around 12.10 pm (early fortunately, I was to realize later), the Air Deccan folks told me that they had switched to winter timings. The flight had already left in the morning. Of course, they had tried to contact me but I was not available. As I was travelling in Bhutan out of cell phone connectivity range, they tried calling but couldn’t get through.
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A very happy and safe Diwali to all of you!

This season, do spread the light around and not the air and noise pollution please. For a lot of reasons, including environmental and social. Indulge in your favourite sweets and celebrate with friends and family. And if you do have to light crackers, please do so responsibly.

I was talking to Ravi when he suggested that I do a teaser on my Bhutan trip to start off with. I was telling him that since I’d taken loads of pictures (as usual!) it would take me some time to upload everything and write my travelogues. So here it is, just a little sneak peek into the lovely and exotic kingdom of Bhutan.

We started our Bhutan trip from the border town of Phuntsholing and travelled to the little but charming town of Paro, where there are more street dogs than people.

The scenic approach road to Paro

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i met a lot of these lovely characters on this trip. bhutan (i am happy to report) is filled with dogs and cats.

the dark mysterious stony interiours of the dzongs and the monasteries seem find favour with cats especially.

the streets are filled with dogs - some rather cute and furry - with hair all over their eyes. they also sleep during the day and bark their heads off at night.

This is an effort to increase and encourage rural tourism and sounds like a pretty good idea by Rural Zing.

According to the tag line, it’s “an Initiative to connect urban and rural economy”.

They have day long trip starting from Bangalore on Saturdays and Sundays.

Contact for details:
Mobile: 9886201103
Email - reservation@ruralzing.com

You need to send in these details -
No of people:
Location in Bangalore:
Will you drive (Y/N):
Can you accommodate more people (Y/N):
If Y, Nos. that you can accommodate:

If you do go for a trip, do post about your experiences and send in your link also so I can put it up here.

Some write-ups:
- Journey to not so known parts
- Another village on Tumkur Road