Wayanad.

We had a trip to Wayanad two weeks ago. We (classmates of B.E), eventually arrange trips to outstations. It was a four-day trip. I would say this trip was quite different from others. Started from Chennai central on Friday night (1st Oct). Reached Bangalore on the next day morning (2nd Oct)…. Bullshit, I hate this way of writing traditional travel blogs. So, will simply give some highlights in bullet points.

• We went to Kamat Lok Ruchi, a kannadiga hotel located on Bangalore – Mysore highway. I visited the same hotel, one month back (on 7th Sept. For more, refer the post: ). On that day, I told my friend that I may never have a chance to come back to this nice hotel in future. Great to my surprise, I visited the hotel back within short span of time. (looks like a chaos theory or some crap theory, isn’t ? :) )
• We went to a wild life sanctuary in Wayanad (TholPatti Wild Life Sanctuary is the name, I guess). Damn it, I won’t even believe my eyes, the circumference of the sanctuary was 24 km. We took a safari ride. It was really cool. It was a dense forest. We could see only elephants and spotted deers. We couldn’t see tigers, but we were told tigers would be spotted eventually. I asked one of the guards whether they allow any trespassers in to the forest. He said there was a trekking program which allows a group (five people in a group) to trek through the forest. A guide and a gun man are sent along with the trekker group. And the trekking costs 800 R.s. Listen, it is not yet over. Before starting the trekking, all five persons in group have to sign in a paper that the sanctuary is not responsible for bringing them back safely.  Anyway, I am very eager to go, let me know if any four of you are willing to join me :)
• A fabulous but dangerous water falls was MeenMutti. We had to invade through steep rocks and dense forest. Need to walk for almost 3 to 4 km, down the hill and take a return path then!. The water falls was so tall and nice. I took bath and tasted the water. It was so fresh and clean. I felt so exciting when the water was pouring right top on head.
• Kerala cuisine. Mallus eat a lot of fishes. I too like fishes than any other non-veg dishes. Their ghee rice was too good. I liked their life style. (FYI, Ravi! You missed it all!)
• Last but not least – we could easily figure out in the trip that our excitement and interest had degraded little bit. Because, we all turned almost 24.5 years old, and seems getting aged gradually. But I tell you what, you always need to keep your life engaged in same way. Otherwise, you will see it decaying in front of your eyes! I recall this poem quite often: (better readable in Internet Explorer)
  "ஏதேனும் ஒன்றை சார்ந்திரு.
  கவித்துவம்
  தத்துவம், காதல்
  இங்கிதம், சங்கீதம் - இப்படி
  எதையேனும் ஒன்றை சார்ந்திரு.
  இல்லையேல் இந்த உலகம் காணாமல் போய்விடும்"
  

Mail Goggles - Stop sending mails you regret later!

This is really a nice gmail feature from Google Labs. When we are not conscious or emotionally charged, we tend to do things we regret later. Sending hate mail, or offensive mail is an example too. So, this feature 'Mail Goggle' will test your conscience, before your mail is sent! Yes, it will present you simple maths problems to be solved, before your mail is sent (this feature is active during Friday and Saturday late-nights! ). Your email will be sent only when you give correct answer to the problem. Otherwise, you will be advised to have enough bed and water :)

Funny feature, read more and try it out!

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-stop-sending-mail-you-later.html

Case studies on highly scalable architectures.

This site has a lot of articles on scalability. Especially, the case studies on amazon.com, google.com, ebay.com are good!

Nice link to go: http://highscalability.com