Beckoning Mullayangiri hills

Chikmagalur is a popular tourist destination located about 250 kms from Bangalore. It is described as a perfect weekend getaway with cool climate and lots of greenery. After researching about what we could do or see there on the internet, we decided to take our much needed family vacation in June. So in went our warmest clothes to ward off the apparently cold weather there and left hot and sweaty Bangalore.

We initially decided to drive up to the place but finally ended up taking a cab after a fight over who was going to drive. It took us around five hours to reach and felt Chilmagalur is an over glorified place, because to us it was no different from Bangalore. It had the same weather if not hotter, crazy drivers and worse roads. This was not anywhere close to what we imagined Chikmagalur to be. Well its climate change we figured or global warming that had changed the place to what it is now.

We found out about surrounding places and decided to visit Mullayangiri, Kemmangundi, Habbe falls and the Bhadra wildlife sanctuary. All these places were astounding but one place which is a must see is Mullayangiri Hills.

We started off almost at daybreak with bottled water, fruits and some snacks as we were told no refreshments were available anywhere on the hills. The drive to Mullayngiri was pleasant and smooth and as we got closer to our destination the weather got cooler and windier. We could finally feel the fresh cool air as the sun slowly disappeared into the clouds.

The view was what one would call a perfect painting. The mountains look like someone has unwearyingly covered every bit of them with beautiful lush green carpet and the clouds were perfectly placed on the tip of them to enhance the picturesque view. This is only the beginning of the soul stirring experience which we felt on the way to the beautiful hills on Mullayangiri.

Looking around at the place, no one would ever imagine that this was our very own Karnataka. The Mullayangiri hills are located 25 kms away from Chikmagalur. The hills are surrounded by the Baba Budan Giri Range of thick forests of the Western Ghats.

Mullayangiri is one of the tallest peaks in the vicinity and is a dream for most trekkers with evenly laid out grasslands covering the hills and the breathtaking panorama around. For others who just want to enjoy the scenic view can drive on the smooth roads to the place.

We drove almost to the top and were informed that there is a tiny temple right on the top of the hill. Neither the stairs nor the temple was visible as the thick white clouds had swathed the whole hill. And as we started climbing we could feel the clouds moving towards us and an overwhelming feeling of awe took over the fatigue we felt climbing the stairs.

Soon, we were over the top and on cloud 9, literally. We finally had reached on top of the highest peak of Karnataka and the view is to die for. A small idol of Nandi is sheltered by a concrete hut on the edge of the hill which completes the spectacle. The temple on top is a small one but the view is indomitable with pure white clouds passing by, a cool breeze blowing around and the fresh pure air enveloping us.

The experience of visiting the Mullayangiri hills is definitely a memory we will treasure for a lifetime. The place is untouched by the outside world which is rare in our over polluted cities. Highly recommended, take some time to visit the place, if you are a nature lover and even if you are not you should still visit, because you will become one, overnight.

have a Humane face, N Ram tells media students

Editor-in-Chief, N. Ram called upon media students to always have a humane face both as journalists and human beings.

He was delivering the key-note address at the UGC sponsored seminar on ‘The Emergence of New Media: Opportunities and challenges’, organised by the department of Communication in association with The Hindu.

“There is no use going for academic excellence unless you put in the centre the values of social justice, equity and caring for all human kind,” Mr Ram said.

Mr Ram highlighted his reflections on Indian Media growth trends, its quality issues and the ethical challenges of the same. He questions the term ‘New Media’ as media were always evolving and what was new today would be old tomorrow.

Talking about the state of the mediaduring recession, Mr Ram said, “Journalism is in crises across developed countries. There is a gloom in most developed countries over the future of newspapers and broadcast.New York Times, the world leader of print industry was in major crises and had to take a loan of $250 million during recession. Circulation and readership is declining and the impact of internet and new media has accelerated the downfall.”

He further raised the issue of newspapers losing readership due to the newly developed e-paper, that most popular newspapers had introduced on their websites ed on their websites which attracted a wide global audience. However he said that though internet use and broadband access were growing rapidly across developing countries, traditional media still held importance.

Mr Ram opined that the media had three basic roles to fulfill. Firstly, he said that all media should aim to be credible with respect to the information it disseminates. Secondly, it should be analytical, critical and investigative and thirdly he said that the media had a big role to play in education. He said that it was through the media that masses could be educated about science, technology, history, medicine etc. “Every country which values press and media has broadcast law to govern it. But India does not have any such rules for media. There is no framework of regulatory mechanism,” said Mr Ram commenting on media ethics.

Divya, I year Mass Communication Student from Mahaveer Jain College said, “Mr Ram’s speech was very informative and inspiring. He explicitly brought out the ethics of media which every journalist should follow and practice. As future journalists it was very helpful.”

Kannada Sangha

It was an important day for the members of the Kannada Sangha of SJC as the Sangha was inaugurated on Friday. Kannada Infomedia, the portal, and the new venture, Cycle Day, were also kickstarted at the function.

Fr Ambrose Pinto, the Principal, said, “I have been observing the Kannada Sangha since it was started and I am very glad to see it progress. Every year it has been improving and has organised many cultural programmes like Dollukunita and Natakas.”

Fr Pinto also expressed his concern about the fading Kannada culture. “ Majority of our students don’t have the interest to learn Kannada. People prefer English language to our regional language. Our culture and language should become our pride and we should try and spread the language. The Sangha is trying to do that and I hope they organise more activities like this,” he added.

Mr Vijay Ragavan, HOD of the Kannada Department and the Staff Coordinator of the Sangha said, “This Association is a student initiative and I am only guiding them. We are inaugurating ‘the Cycle Day’ today and every Friday we will celebrate it in the Campus.”

Bharti S of III PMC, the Vice-President of the Association, said, “We have planned to organise a photo exhibition, games like Kunte bille, Gilli Dandu and Janapada.”

Ravikiran of III PEM, President of the Sangha, spoke on the Association’s aim and said, “Kannada Sangha is not only to promote Kannada language but it is a platform for different cultures. We are planning to organise kite flying competition, photo exhibition etc.”

College cricket team gets a renowned coach

The College has appointed a new coach for the boys’ cricket team.

He has already become one among the favourites for the students. Popularly known as Baba Sir, he has coached some of the country’s best cricketers like Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Robin Uttappa, Venkatesh Prasad, among others. Baba Sir has been coaching for the past 25 years and thinks that cricket is his religion and a way of life.

“I have been a Josephite throughout my student life and now have come back to be of some use to the College,” he says with glee.

He further says, “I am a service oriented, action oriented and result oriented person. I am coaching the lads, but I am still learning and I don’t consider myself as a Guru.”

When asked about the College cricket team and his expectations, he said, “They are a promising and an enthusiastic team, but still there is always scope for improvement. It’s been only three days since I’ve come and I still have to get to know their potential.”

campus painted GREEN

Go Green day’ was an awareness campaign organised in the campus by the Social Work department REACH on Tuesday. REACH stands for Research Education Action Change which was formed earlier this year. The students came together wearing green in support of the cause. 25 students volunteered for the cause and performed a skit to alert people about conserving energy. More than 100 people supported the volunteers by walking around the campus and shouting slogan ‘Go Green, Save Earth’. The volunteers talked to the students and explained about Go Green.

Mr Benson, a lecturer of Social Work department said, “Go green is a larger process. This is just a teaser. Green stands for sustainable development. Copenhagen concludes tomorrow and this is in a way related to it. This has definitely woken up the campus.”

“It made a lot of impact on people. We wanted to do something which is related to our subjects. The core members of the association came up with this idea,” said Gangamma of II MSW who is the president of REACH.
Simi of II MSW, a Volunteer, said, “We started by chanting slogans across the campus. We also spoke to people and explained the concept of Go Green. We are not against genetic engineering, but we are against it being used in agriculture.”
John Paul of I MSW who actively took part in the campaign explained about various issues related to environment. He said, “The response was good and people were curious to know what was happening. We are not trying to convince people to stop using plastic, but telling them to use less plastic. We are trying to discourage people from using genetically modified food and endorse organic food.”
REACH has taken up several activities to sensitise people about the use of plastic, aforestation, conservation, genetically modified food and other environment related issues as part of its agenda.

A holiday that cured my travel sickness!

Travelling and me, well we don’t go together! And it took five long years to convince myself that I should to widen my horizons, before I could go on holiday finally. From being accident prone to getting sick with motion sickness, I’ve had them all and you can’t really blame me for not travelling, as who wants to be sick on holiday? So, I decided to get over my phobia, but it was only after every living soul pestered me to do so!

One weekend, my sister and I packed our bags and left for Coonoor, a hill station in Tamil Nadu. We boarded our bus after a lot of planning and decided to take the precautions of avoiding buying water, food and we carried lots of medication. Twenty minutes through the journey half the people on the bus were snoring away to glory and the other half chit - chatting. The most amusing were two men around 24 years of age, who were sitting behind our seats, bragging about their girlfriends. Thanks to them I had a good bed time story and a good nap!

We got ready to sleep in our not so comfortable seats. The bus we took was till Udhaamangalam which is popularly known as Ooty. Surprisingly the journey was smooth and we reached our destination early next morning. As I got off the bus it was a relief to a Bangalore eye, to see greenery and breathe fresh air. Bangalore has become so polluted it’s a relief to get out for a few days. The journey wasn’t over and I kept reminding myself that we had another 20km drive to reach Coonoor.

We had to take the local bus from Ooty. The roads on the Ghats section are curvy and precipitous. But the scenic beauty makes up for all the pot holes and rash bus drivers. There were tall trees and green grass on either side of the road. The dew drops on the grass looked like little drops of heaven, which glimmered at day break. It took us more than an hour to reach our hotel. We chose to stay in Hotel Gateway which is on the Church Road among the other hotels.

Coonoor is a small town, with few houses and commercial shopping area. Most of the people work in the tea estates and have tiny retail shops. It’s a great place if you are looking for a serene vacation. The place itself is so beautiful that you can just go for a walk and feel good. There’s hardly any traffic, other than public transport. Most of the local people travel by foot.

Apart from this, the weather is an added bonus. The wintry breeze makes you want to wrap up every inch of your body. As the sun comes out at dawn the thick fog fades away leaving a tinge of mist in the air. The crest of green mountains looks like it’s wrapped with a clean white blanket. In the night the warmth of the fire place makes you want to snuggle up and snooze peacefully.

There are not many places to see in Coonoor other than few parks and tea estates.

Sims Park is one of the popular tourist attractions in Coonoor. It’s a huge park which appears as though it’s in a valley. A lot of steps need to be ascended and descended in order to see the entire park. We could see tall trees covering the entire area and a children’s play area occupied the hub of the park. Even though this is a tourist attraction which a lot of people visit, nothing could compare with the natural scenic beauty of the place.

People travel from Coonoor to Ooty back and forth as it’s just one hour drive. And a better way to travel is by the toy train, which are scheduled at regular intervals. These trains cost hardly anything to enjoy – just a meagre ticket of Rs.3 and they pass through some of the most scenic places of the Nilgiris. These trains are not only taken by tourists but also the local people and school children.

Ooty is comparatively more developed than Coonoor. It’s a popular tourist place and is commercialised to a great extent. The Botanical gardens, Doddabetta, Rose garden, Fernhill Palace are some of the popular places to visit in Ooty. The Botanical gardens is a must see in Ooty. It’s a 12-hectare garden with colourful flower beds, lawns, rare trees and exotic plants of different countries are found here.

Doddabetta is another famous tourist place. It is the highest hill in the Nilgiri hills. It is surrounded by forest reserves and the view from the hill is stunning which makes it a pleasant experience.

Ooty is also famous for yummy home made chocolates which are found in most of the shops. You can everything from plain milk chocolate to fruit and nut or liquor chocolates. The choice is yours.

A vacation is all about relaxation, being lazy and not worrying about waking up on time or being late. You can laze around the whole day if the company you are with has the same ideas as you. Sadly for me, it was the not the case. My sister woke up at 6am everyday, over enthusiastic, wanting to explore the place. So I went along the plan for two day, then we decided we better stick to our own plans and do our own things before we bite each other’s heads off. So she took off early and I couldn’t convince myself to get out of the cosy bed till 11am.

I would wake up, get ready and sit in the garden outside my room reading a novel, taking pictures of the mountains and birds, sipping a hot cup of tea..

We extended our stay for two more days not wanting to return to our regular lives. But finally we did leave promising to return in three months.

On the journey home, we decided to have some fun and adventure before coming back to our confined lives. So we cancelled our Volvo bus reservations and took a local bus to Mysore. The bus was jam-packed, and we sat crushed in between people. We passed through Bandipur on the way back, and I must say this was the best decision we made, though my sister wasn’t very happy about it.

We saw deer, peacocks, elephants, wild boars and orang-utans which completely ignored the anxious spectators and were busy doing their own thing. The only sad part being that we couldn’t capture those moments because the battery of the camera had given up on us.

The people on the bus were friendly but were very inquisitive to know why two girls were travelling alone and where we were from.

We reached Mysore by 8pm, tired and exhausted and couldn’t wait to get back home. So we took the Volvo bus from Mysore to Bangalore, which seemed like heaven after the rough journey earlier from Ooty back.

It took us just three hours to reach Bangalore in comfort. And sadly with this that was the end of our vacation, but, now having had a taste of travel, I will see that I do so every once in a while!