CLIMBING ADAM'S PEAK... THE LOCAL EVEREST...

I spent the long weekend nursing my broken bones… aching ribs… crushed muscles and er… yes.. pampering the leech bites too.. We climbed Adam’s Peak! It’s fun in a way to recall the whole thing now, though we wanted to get back home as soon as possible at that time! But still.. it’s a place where you should visit once in your lifetime at least. We picked a wrong day to climb.. the result being the hard 15 hour climb uphill.. Yeah men!! It really took 15 hours! No kidding! Again.. it’s because we choose the wrong day. The last poya day of the season.. long weekend.. rainy days.. and worse.. the very day the local TV station SLRC wanted to do a live program there! The gates were closed for hours.

I just thought of sharing some tips that might help you, if you’re thinking of climbing the local Everest next time, so that you can go all prepared. The mountain, being 7,359 ft high, makes it one of the highest mountains in the country. I’ll just say it’s a hard climb.. Why? Just look at its shape and you’ll see why.. Buddhists call it ‘Samanala Kanda’, Saman being one of the four guardian gods of Sri Lanka. Hindus call it ‘Sivan Adi Padham’, believing that god Shiva left the giant footprint at the peak of the mountain. Catholic people believe that the footprint belonged their god ‘Adam’. So.. no wonder you meet all varieties of people climbing the mountain..

Another important thing… The mountain can only be scaled from December to April. That’s the official season where people visit the Adam’s peak. During other months… it is hard to climb the mountain due to very heavy rain, extreme wind, and thick mist. It is almost impossible to hike there through lesser known jungle tracks because of flooding rivers and animals. So.. don’t even think of an off – season visit!

There are 2 routes you can take. One; Rathnapura Road, being the toughest.. longest but the most scenic route. But most people choose the easiest route, the Hatton road, starting from Nallathanniya. We took Hatton Road too. Well… that’s about it and it’s time to start the actual ‘tips’.

Tip # 1 – Carry less. Your backpack should only contain the most essential things. A packet of biscuit, a small water bottle, a packet of glucose, an umbrella and a light snack is more than enough

Tip # 2 – Attire: It’s cold up there.. Ladies! It’s not a fashion parade. Just wear the stuff you need to get rid of the cold. A jersey.. or a denim overcoat (Mind it though, it’ll get wet and stay wet if it rains)… and if it’s raining… a rain coat… and a must…. Wear a beanie which covers your ears.

Tip # 3 – Wear rubber slippers or shoes. Slippers will make it easier to climb; but when you reach the top, your feet will get cold. Shoes are good in that case; but make sure they’re not heavy.

Tip # 4 – Don’t eat a lot before you start climbing. In the cold environment, the metabolism rate is high and you’ll end up looking for toilets!!

Tip # 5 – Medicine : Panadol… balms.. something to get rid of your tummy bugs.. lime… some plasters… These things are priceless out there!

Tip # 6 – If you’re climbing at night, it’s better to have a small torch with you.

Tip # 7 – Always stick with your group. You don’t want to end up getting lost in the middle of nowhere!!

Tip # 8 – Avoid weekends and poya days. Pick a weekday, so that the crowd will be lesser.

There you go!! Some tips. It’s worth a visit, believe me.. a lifetime experience!!

"I'M FEELING LUCKY..!"

Maybe you guys noticed this ages ago. But I’m pretty sure, still there are people who haven’t noticed it!!!. When you go to the Google home page, you will notice two buttons under the Google search text box… one reading “Google Search” and the other reading “I’m Feeling Lucky” We all know what the “Google Search” button does. You type your search in the text box, click “Google Search”, and a list of websites under the particular topic will be listed accordingly. But what’s this “I’m Feeling Lucky” for?? Ever wondered why??

Well…why don’t you keep the search text box blank, click “I’m Feeling Lucky” and see??? Your result page will read: “The "I'm Feeling LuckyTM" button automatically takes you to the first web page returned for your query. An "I'm Feeling Lucky" search means less time searching for web pages and more time looking at them.”

For all of you who noticed this before… Good! At least you guys are curious about simple things and you have enough time to wonder about them… plus, you people have some time for yourself. For all of you who haven’t noticed this before (jeez!!!)….Hellooooo…. Moon calling earth….!!!! Look around a bit…. You’ve been too busy!!!

FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE X-FILES... ALL OVER AGAIN...!!

It really is a topic to crave about!! Isn’t it??? The X-Files!! These days, what I live for is to watch the X-Files series. I’m watching the 8th season these days. There are 9 seasons in all. I got the series from my X-Files crazy friend Vish.. and I fell in love with the X-Files…. All over again (Thanks a LOT Vish!!)

I never was a TV person. So.. the hours I spent in front of the TV were veryy less. Those days, back when I was schooling, the 2 things I never missed watching were the Millennium series and the X-Files series, the creator of both being the same person: Chris Carter. The story line in both were somewhat alike.. but the X-Files is light years ahead of Millennium, simply because of the charm Scully and Mulder bring to the series

Oh.. by the way.. here’s what wikipedia has to say about the X-Files: “The X-Files is an American Peabody, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning science fiction television series created by Chris Carter, which first aired on 10 September 1993, and ended on 19 May 2002. The show was one of the American FOX network's first major hits, and its main characters and slogans (e.g., "The Truth Is Out There," "Trust No One," "I Want to Believe") became pop culture touchstones. The X-Files is seen as a defining series of the 1990s, coinciding with the era's widespread mistrust of governments, interest in conspiracy theories and spirituality, and the belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life.

In the series, FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are tasked with investigating the "X-Files": marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder plays the role of the "believer", having faith in the existence of aliens and the paranormal, while Scully is a skeptic, initially assigned by her departmental superiors to debunk Mulder's unconventional work. As the show progressed, both agents were caught up in a larger conflict, termed "the mythology" or "mytharc" by the show's creators, and developed a close and ambiguous friendship which many saw more as romantic than platonic.” There you go…!! The X-Files is short.

These days.. the voice in my head is the common vocabulary in the X-Files.. I hope you guys too can remember them as well: Autopsies… Abductions.. Abductees…Paranoia… The black oil… The alien bounty hunter… Aliens.. Area 51… You remember them too, right?? Back then… us schoolgirls were so crazy over it… collection stickers.. wallpapers.. paper cuttings.. pictures and all. I used to draw the X-Files logo in my friends books and hands. Why… The X-Files theme??? There was no other ring tone to beat it those days. Now too.. I hear it here and there… meaning… the people still love it.

That’s just it… The X-Files.. You never get tired of it.. Everybody loves it. Just thought of adding this post to bring back your X-Files memories back!! I suggest that you might want to watch it sometimes… Do I need to say how worth it is guys???

SUNSET IN AHUNGALLA...

The location - Heritance- Ahungalla

Date - 16th Feb 2008

THE WEEK OF THE CUPID....

The Valentines Day just passed by. Cupid must have had loads of jobs within the last week. As a matter of fact, cupid really did a lot of making and breaking for some of my good friends, within the last week. Giving a thought about the whole scenario… I thought it’s good if I can share a lil bit of it with you all….

So.. did you get any roses last week?? I didn’t. But last year I did get yellow roses. They were from my best guy friend who passed away recently. I found myself thinking and thinking about it… But… in the end… he’s gone.. and he’s never going to come back again. What’s sad is…. Even his grave lies thousands of miles away from me. I really wish I could place some flowers on his grave… which I couldn’t do… So.. however.. let’s get back to our story.

They say… that you never know when love comes around.. and before you know it… you’re completely in to the whole thing…. Why?? Just listen to this.. The girl in the story is a very good friend of mine.. who works in the same company which I too work… She has never been in love in her entire life. Being such a dedicated follower of Lord Buddha… her mind set was clearly settled to follow that path for her entire life… Considering the dangerous situ in the country and many other factors… she decided to leave the job… She gave the resignation letter to the HR and took leave for one week. Ok… the people in my company.. you know who the girl is now, right?? Well… After the week passed… here she comes to me.. red faced… and telling me “I found a guy”… Whoh… I was like… petrified!!! It was a proposal…. and they are so in love with each other now. She asked back for the resignation letter from the HR… and she’s happily working again. She used to surf the net like a maniac… play online pool… chat… watch movies.. download songs and stuff…. But that was earlier… All she does now.. is spending her time on the phone… wow! I’m so very thankful to the lucky guy who brainwashed this sweet girl!! There you go people… Love comes around in a totally unexpected moment… and changes your life in the sweetest way!

Last week too.. This other friend of mine called me.. saying that she wanted to break free from her 6 year old affair… The reason?? She didn’t even know why. She has just felt that the relationship is not going to work anymore.. The guy too.. was a friend of mine. Talking to them both.. what I realized was.. the reason for it was the lack of time… They’ve been busy with work all the time… so they couldn’t even talk to each other for a long time. After spending hours and hours in the chat.. I was able to make them realize that they still love each other and they still need each other very badly. After the entire thing was over, they were wondering why they even wanted to think of a break up. There!! People just get too busy… and they even forget how to love… Don’t do it..

This time.. I’m going to tell you about a guy who did every single thing he could do for his girlfriend… and well.. let’s hear it. The guy was extremely rich.. and the girl was not so rich, let’s say.. He was the one who looked after this girl… paying her tuition fees… buying her stuff… picking her up after classes.. paying her bills.. you name it…. He did it all. After the girl entered the university too.. this guy was the one who payed her boarding fees and everything. Last week.. she came to him and told him… that she wants to break up with him… Reason being she needing more space in her life.. (Ya.. right!! “space” you call it!!)… and the other reason being… she’s developing feelings for her senior lecturer.. Well.. what do you call this kind of girls?? I’m giving you all the freedom to think about it…

This time.. it’s a girl.. She moved to US after her marriage.. and last Friday.. I met her online. We were talking about crushes and love stories. She started to relate her own love story. The guy she married was one year junior to her. They used to study in the same campus. It has started out as a good friendship… But since the guy was junior to her.. she was not even thinking about him the other way.. Things were getting complicated.. and later on.. Before it’s too late.. they’ve understood it’s love. I can’t relate you the whole story; sorry about it. But it’s a very nice and interesting story. In the end… they’re happily married now. If things are meant to happen… they happen anyway… no matter what comes in between.

This guy… he had an affair since he was schooling.. I think it lasted for more than 7 years or so. They just broke up… I still don’t know the real reason. But the guy was very upset over it. He left the country. Last week.. Thursday, I think… I met him online and he told me the same thing… If things are meant to happen… they happen anyway… True enough!

This guy… a friend of mine too.. He was having feelings for me over an year. But knowing it won’t work out… I gently had to refuse. So.. we’re still good friends. 3 months back.. he had his eyes on this girl.. who works in the same company. The girl had a troublesome past and was 3 years senior to him. After a couple of calls.. they started going out. As per the last week.. the situation was this… She was telling him that the relationship won’t work out… One reason being… the guy not having a degree.. and she herself… having one. There were so many other excuses too. After listening to all the things my friend said… I realized that the problem with the girl is.. she’s looking for the perfect person.. regardless her tragic past. No matter where we stand… most of the people look for the perfect match… Sometimes we have to settle down for less than perfect. Otherwise… if we keep on looking…. we would have to search till we die. By then it’s too late. Nobody’s perfect, right??? So.. personally… I think.. less than perfect is perfectly alright.

Last week… I was able to locate some of my long lost school friends through facebook. Boy… life is quite a surprise. Most of them are married and living abroad. Some are even having kids. How the years pass!! Well.. the way I ended the week of the cupid was… spending the weekend at The Heritance – Ahungalla.. with the bunch of people of our project in the office. The hotel was cool and the weekend was simply superb!

Well then.. that was all about the cupid and the rest of the world.. As for the cupid and me… I’m doing fine these days!!!

X-MEN....

Last weekend.. I downloaded the whole X- Men animated series from You Tube.. I used to love the series .. back in 90’s. I was a biig fan then.. The creator of the scene… Marvel Comics of cause..!! Ok.. for those who don’t know the story.. and for those who don’t remember the series… here’s a lil more detail… The X-Men are fictitious mutants who, are born with superhuman abilities.. as a result of a sudden leap in evaluation… Yeah.. like superman or Spiderman.. they have those abilities.. unique to each and every one of them. The mutants were considered as a great threat to the human race.. because some used their powers to create violence.. The X-Men were formed by the benevolent Professor Charles Xavier, (a.k.a. Professor X).. The X-Men are the good guys in the story. The bad guys are Magneto and his followers. (Called “The Brotherhood”..

X-Men consists of Jean Grey (born with telepathic and telekinetic powers), Gambit (A great combat fighter.. and uses poker cards as explosives), Beast (possesses ape-like superhuman physical strength), Jubilee (has the ability to generate explosive energy sparkles), Rogue (she can fly and can absorb any other mutant’s super powers), Storm (she can fly.. and control the powers of the nature.. and if I was asked to be one of the X-Men.. I’ll choose to be her), Wolverine ( this fighter guy has long razor blades coming out his knuckles…. Steel blades) and the leader.. Cyclops (produces powerful "optic blasts" from his eyes, forcing him to wear specialized glasses at all times).. Ok.. That’s about them.

Recalling the members of the Brotherhood…I don’t remember them all.. But I remember Mystique, who has shape shifting powers… Saber tooth…. Avalanche, Blob and Quicksilver…

Anyways.. I think I missed the most important fact… X-Men.. is a 2D animation series… 3D animations were not so popular in the 90’s… So.. I donno if you’ll like to watch X-Men now… You must have enjoyed the movie trilogy… The movies topped the box office charts. Well.. X- Men is good for all teenage guys.. But in 90’s.. it was very famous. I even collected their stickers. My favourite was Cyclops.. Jean Grey’s boyfriend. He was so cute.. even for a cartoon character.

3D movies have entered the scene after the ever popular Toy Story… The latest I watched… The Bee Movie and Ratatouille… were far beyond excellence… Greatest 3D animation movies ever… Looks like I’m deviating from the topic. So… let’s get back to X-Men.. It’s not good as a 3D animated movie… But for to remember those good old 2D movie times… it’s worth to visit these raging mutants.

THE WOUNDED PERSON HIMSELF KNOWS HOW MUCH THE WOUNDS HURT....

This time.. I just though of answering to an interesting comment on my post “Best Friends”.. I thought the comment was interesting enough to talk more… You’ll find the comment as the 3rd one in the particular post.. I would love to hear what you all have to say about it too…

Well.. first I should say.. I’m very glad to answer the person who has given the above comment in my blog… because.. the answer I have to give is.. simple and easy..

First.. I want to focus on his/her statement “I am not much familiar in that area”.. But the most people in the world ARE familiar with love.. including me.. So.. let me answer it like this.. Love, my friend is the most heartfelt… the most wonderful and the most cherished feeling in the world.. Agree or disagree? It touches the heart in the mostly sensitive manner.. No feeling can touch the heart like love does.. Why do you think there are more love stories in movies than war stories?? Why do you think people sing about love this much? Love can change people in a miraculous way…

As people feel about love in the deepest corner in the heart… the pain of love is felt the same way.. You can hit your head on a wall.. it hurts. But the pain will go away in hours.. When love hurts you.. it hurts your heart..it hurts your heart’s deepest corner… Sometimes it takes years.. sometimes a lifetime to heal.. Have you heard of the saying.. “A wounded person will only know how much the wounds hurt”.. I totally agree with it. You can just look at him and just say.. “Oh.. it looks like it doesn’t hurt much”… but my friend.. you’re not THAT person.. So how can you say it doesn’t hurt??

You should be in love.. to understand how wonderful love is.. and you should once have a broken heart to understand how much a broken heart hurts you.. Sitting around here.. looking at it from the outside.. It won’t help that much, believe me.. For some extent.. you can judge some things from the outside… but this subject.. LOVE… you definitely can’t.. I personally believe it…

And I would like to reply for 2 more statements in the same comment.. One… He/she has stated that “but I think people just bloat around about love-affairs, love faiures”.. Well.. I personally don’t think people purposely bloat around with it.. They talk about it THAT much.. because it has effected their lives in such a way.. Love affairs can change lives for good (or bad in some cases).. as well as the wounded hearts from the broken love affairs would effect their lives in a very big way… The word ‘bloating’ is definitely wrong there… In simple.. people talk about love THAT much… simply because it EFFECTS their lives in a very large context. Got the point?

Two.. about the statement “You seem to mention your love failure often. Is that something deliberately done?” The answer I have to give to this is simple as before… When certain things effect a person’s life… they tend to talk about those things often. It’s natural.. You don’t purposely do it.. BUT.. the true feelings in you.. come out in a most natural way.. People have the liberty of their own natural feelings, right? So.. what’s wrong if they speak their hearts out?? I’m so over it.. and it’s a past memory.. But hey… hmmm.. I think it’s time to publish another post on love and heartbreaks.. I have many stories to tell you.. The sole purpose… you listen to them… learn a lesson.. and learn to move on with your life in a better way.. I did it too… Anyways.. I want to thank all of you for dropping in to my blog.. surfing through and leaving comments.. I love to read them and think of the contents.. This post was solely an answer for a comment in my previous post.. Let’s hear what others also have to say about it too….