North Karnataka Trip 2007 - Part 2

22nd

• This is a day to remember in my life
• Though we were late to start the journey, once it began, it was one of the best of my  lifetime as of now
• We went to Hudkal dam. It was filled with large amount of water. They didn't allow us inside the gate to stroll across the dam, but I took few photos. It was great sight.
• I saw the statute of Mr Neeravali Tagna Balekundri and what his vision was, in all the display!!
• From there, we went to "Godche Malki" falls. This falls can rival with any other in the world, i tel you! This was really a great sight and a privilege to stand about 5-10 feet beside it.
• I was stunned by its beauty and did not have any words to describe it. Whatever I say is really very little.
• I decided here that sometime in future, I will bring all my loved ones here to visit this place. :)
• From there, we went to Gokak falls, with light disappointment because of lack of water in it. The dam hadn't filled. So, they wouldn't let water in it. We also wanted to walk across the dam. As it was sunday, it was heavy rush and thought of going the next day
• Then we went to temple beside it and from there we went to Vishwas anna's home, a lovely big house with all facilities and security. We had tiffin and tea there and were on our way back to home
• Vishwas anna promised me that he would show us ( me and Veeru)  the working of the Gokak mills.
• We were over joyed by this and came back home very happily :)

North Karnataka Trip 2007- Part 1

I dont remember which month exactly it was and I have not noted it down as well. You may not follow some of the things. Its okay :) it is because most of below was written sort of note-to-self kind of mode :)

19th Night 930 PM

• Left Bangalore for Gokak

20th Morning 8 50 AM

• Arrived at Gokak
• Weather is bright and Sunny
• Uncle had come to pick us up
• This day was Gokak Bandh
• Took rest
• Had been to Kalahalli Uncle's home
• Then went to Lakshmi temple (Grama Devata)

21st

• A cloudy day it was. Thought it would rain. But it never did!!
• Went to Bazaar with Veeru
• Had been to Janata hotel, had fruit salad and "Mix"
• Evening-had a look at Veeru's home
• Night- we went to Hetel Anmol and had a nice meal!
• Really enjoying here
• No tension whatsoever, slept 3-4 hours in the afternoon, it was ages befor I did that before this
• Felt I had peace of mind here
• To be frank, I am having "0" remembering of bangalore except that I am missing chatting and fighting with Chaitra (my little sister)
• Read few works of Vivekananda and Abdul Kalam to understand their perspectives, felt Kalam's was a bit better (Practically realistic)
• But would like to fulfil both of them!! I Shall do it.
• Just got hints that what I wanted to do these days was indeed the need of the hour, and I should work far more harder and earlier that I intended to.
• For this, I will need to sacrifice a bit, a bit more than I would have liked, but its all for a good purpose. So, I think I should do justice to myself
• my country, my family -both are important to me now. And also to reach nirvana. 

A trip when I was 18, that shaped my life!

Sometime during the year of 2007, I went on a trip to few places in North Karnataka. I was accompanied by Veeru during the first leg of the journey to Gokak. Rest of the journey, I went from one place to another on my own.

The reason this trip is so important is because, during this journey, I spent some time gathering my thoughts which has had a great deal of impact on how I turned up in the next few years.

To my pleasant surprise, while cleaning home today, I happened to get hold of a bunch of neatly stapled sheets of paper (12+ sheets back-to-back) of size around 4"*5". I had totally forgotten that I had written a a mini-diary for myself during those days and was curious to read it :)

Once I started reading it, I felt so nice that I was able to find this long forgotten treasure.  To my young friends out there, do travel! It helps you shape who you would be later on in your life :-)

Will be sharing day-to-day account that I read so that it will never be lost again! Most of it are in form of brief note-to-self. May be soon, I can write in detail about them. Read and understand what was going through Varun's mind when he was 18 years old. 

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

SIT Tumkur - Sweet Memories

Although Siddaganga Institute of Technology (SIT), Tumkur is not a college that went for engineering or masters, I have profound memories of this institution :). Being inside SIT is a calm and enriching experience. SIT is known for its hospitality and I am happy to say that I have experienced it each and every time I have been there.

My first visit was as part of MSRIT Chess team back in 2008. It was my first university level competition and I was super exited about it. Learnt a lot during those days and was introduced to the genius of Bobby Fischer by Abhishek and Suhas. :) Learnt from awesome game play of Inchara! Made lot of friends :) and, I did manage to win the only match I played :D. Overall, it was very exciting and enriching experience. Later, I revisited for VTU Chess team selection and had a challenging time where I went thru a steep learning curve. :) Each of these two times, we were taken care by the college very well memories still run fresh in my mind!

 After a gap of 4 years and 2 degrees, I revisited SIT for presenting a paper in an International conference. It was professionally organised and I learnt a lot during this 2 day event while staying at the campus itself. I met few other research scholars and professors who were working on various research areas.

Association with SIT did not stop at that. SIT, recently got autonomous status under VTU. As part of their M.Tech curriculum, they introduced a component for evaluation by industry experts so that they get industry perspective and mentoring. I was called upon as one such industry expert and was given task of mentoring and evaluating 7 projects. This evaluation happened in 2 stages; first one was mid-term evaluation and second evaluation was final evaluation. This was the 4th and 5th time when I visited SIT. Last two were by far the most challenging and most important visits for me. :) I always look forward to my next visit to SIT, when ever it may, whatever may be the occasion. It will always remain a place, very close to my heart.

A holistic approach to education

I listened to Dr K V Acharya Sir when I was 16 year old. Those words still reverberate in my ears. He is one of the persons who has sub-consciously shaped my personality and the reason I spend time on national awakening activities.

Sir, also introduced me to Bharatiya Shikshan Mandali - An organisation that works towards ensuring education be a holistic personality development of students in context of national resurgence.  As Value based education is my prime area of interest, I attended several meetings and discussions as part of BSM. Since couple of years or so, I even became a life member in the organisation assuming higher role as well are responsibilities. Early in 2014, we organised a national conference on "Education- A National Mission" to mark 150th Birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Since then, I personally have thought about it  from different perspectives. Such a meaningful title it is. Yes, education is a national mission. It continues to be.

BSM has been working on an integrated and holistic education policy for our country and an initial draft has been prepared. Mukul Kanitkar ji had come to Bangalore in Febuary this year in order to give a presentation on same. I have been given a task of taking this message to people in our region and gather consensus and feedback. In coming months, I would be doing the same. Hope that one day our education policy ditches Macauleian thought and moves towards a more holistic approach makes us responsible sons and daughters of our nation. :)