The Great Indian 'Ric' Challenge

So runs the banner at Indian Rickshaw Challenge.

The race will take you deep into the heart of Tamil Nadu. Once there you'll travel through an incredible course of misty jungles, balmy coastlines, flooded streets, monsoon rains and overpowering Indian crowds.

Auto rickshaws, fondly called as a 'ric' now into the league of racing (Now wondering when will there be F1's for this) is digressing from the a mode of transport onto the race tracks. Yes, this was the most bizarre race of all to take place, was, wondering when it would and it has finally happened and with a winner.

Ian Bayles and Rachel Bayles of the team Pukka Tuk Tuk are the world’s first Auto Rickshaw world champions

But after seeing the grit and foxiness (first hand) of how the Indian ric drivers ride on the "crowed" streets (roads??) wondering how did we ever lose to a outsider!! (Something similar to losing the kabadi and the hockeyOlympic medals after the initial years, but in this case the first race itself!!).

So, speaking about the race, probably a good tourism stunt, but reminds if the otherIndian transport modes like the tonga pull, ox pull or the even the hand pull would get such endorsements as a sport. :)

Well, Arise, Awake O, Schumi's (Michael Schumacher), Senna's (Ayrton Senna) of India, win thou crown and make thy India proud.

Something to ponder...

One of the days, a couple of prior weeks, received a mail from a colleague, requesting blood, as his father would be undergoing surgery. This mail, was posted on to the official work group [consisting of 90+ people], added to this, this colleague is quite a popular figure in the group. So, one can expect atleast 30+ people would have volunteered.
But, the outcome was a revelation.... Only 4 people [including him] were the donors who volunteered. This is the saddest part. The hospital was not looking for exact blood match donors, but wanted to replenish the used stock with (any) donor's group. Not sure of what the stigma could be for the volunteers but, so is the reality.

If so is the state for a well-connected person in the group then pondering about others.

Below is the list of places where one can reach out for people.
India Blood Donors [looks like a dead link]
Lion's Blood Line

Well, though a lot has written on blood donating, wikipedia has one such a informative link.

Hosa-HohLaaLu

Hosa-HohLaaLu, a vibrant town near KR Pet was the next stop for Bhatta's research on the Hoysala Architecture. A trikoota style temple had intricate carvings of gods and the goddess. But the main theme of them been the legend of Ramayana running across the temple walls.

Travel Summary
Distance : 155 Kms from the Outer Ring Road of Blore.
Route : Blore-Mandya-Melekote-KR Pet- Hosa-HoLaaLu.
Road : Roads were generally good, but the 29 kms strech between Melekote-KR Pet is metalled.
Food : Hosa-HoLaaLu is 2 kms from KR Pet. KR Pet, a bustling town could host some good eatries joint. We had breakfast at Kamat Loka ruchi, Ramanagara (forward leg) and late lunch at Amaravathi, Mandya (return leg).

For more details check out Bhatta's experience




Was trying some modes on the HP's camera, yes, need to learn about it. But one evident problem was, the battery gets drained out too soon, Probably the lens machinery and the CCD eats up most of it. The other snaps could be check here.

A Parody

India, shook again, ripped with the blasts rung the news and some channels too prided in saluting to the "Get back to life" attitude of the mumbaikairs and in the blogosphere, opinions...Sentiments such as 'Enough is enough' echoed. Well... Was swayed in with these posts.
But recently bumped into Ravi's post. The links posted in the article sounded like a parody, but were quite true too [link1, link2]. Utlimately sounding like the (comic) scene of Hungama a Hindi movie where both the heroes trying to impress the lady just yap, threaten to strike repeatedly... and later just move on.... Probably, so does life.