Deccan Trails - Outdoor adventure fun

Here are offers of Deccan Trails that you may be interested to avail.

As part of the office picnic we went to this outdoor adventure fun place that is about 75 km outside Hyderabad near Vikarabad called Deccan Trails. Its a camp site that is situated on the edge of a forest and it's about 40 acres of fun and activity. We reached there at about 4 in the afternoon after driving through the heaviest rain that I have seen all season so far. The road was good and the drive there very nice.

We were welcomed with some mint flavoured lime juice and some hot pakoras that tasted very good. The rest of the evening was spent monkeying around on the rope ladders and the nets and swinging on the numerous swings there until we finally started a game of football in the light drizzle. The evening was spent enjoying the serene calm fresh air until it was time for dinner that consisted of a very homely meal. There was a bon fire started to add to the lovely evening. Music is not allowed as it is close to the jungle and it disturbs the peace of the place.

The sleeping arrangements consists of tents that are setup quite wonderfully. There are 2 community tents that consist of 15 beds each and there are some 2bed and 3bed tents that have an attached toilet and bath. There are cots and mattresses in the tents with lights and fans. After a restful night the morning started early with some hot tea and a long 5 km trek through the jungle. This trek set us up perfectly for the breakfast that was simple and nutritious.

After breakfast it was off to try out all the adventure games such as walking the burma bridge, balancing planks, tight rope, rock climbing and zip lining. All fun games that can tire both your hands and legs fairly quickly. There are other games such as archery and table tennis. The setup again basic and rustic but fun at the same time.

After some nutritious lunch where the meat is given out in measured portions it is time to say bye and leave the place so wanting to never go back into the hustle and bustle of the city that is just a few minutes away.

The good things about the place is the games, the setup of the tents and the general conduct of the activities there. The not so good things of the place is the toilets, they can do with some improvement. The mattresses and pillows are hard - so those not used to sleeping on hard pillows may be advised to carry their own. The kitchen and dinning area can do with some improvements - there are a lot of flies and ants around and those not used to the outdoors will find it a bit uncomfortable.

On the whole a great place to go - I will surely be going back there soon.

Chowmahalla Palace

About a week ago I was going around the old city when I chanced upon the Chowmahalla Palace just next to the Charminar. The entrance to the palace is very unassuming and boring but once inside the world is so different. Lovely gardens, beautiful buildings and well done up interiors when just outside the palace is the hustle and bustle of Charminar. The palace belongs to the Nizam's of Hyderabad and gives you a very upclose and personal view of their lifestyle and their history. There is a lot to see here and you can get all the details of what there is to see on this wikipedia web page.

I would advise everyone who is visiting Hyderabad to visit the Chowmahalla Palace. It should be a must visit even before one goes to Charminar, Salarjung Museum, Qutub Shahi Tombs or Golkonda Fort. That is how highly I rate the visit here. The history of Hyderabad through a lot of old photographs is captured on the walls of the palace. There are very few people that visit this palace and that adds to the whole unhurried charm of the place.

Below are some photographs that I took during my visit to the palace.

Dialogues in the dark

A few days ago I went to have dinner in the new themed restaurant "Dialogues in the dark" which is located at Inorbit Mall, Madhapur, Hyderabad. Having read about the restaurant at the website and a few reviews in the WOW Hyderabad magazine I was quite excited. So gave them a call to make a reservation and was told that I can choose either a non vegetarian meal or vegetarian meal.

We arrived there at about 8:00 PM and paid for our meals which needs to be done in advance and it costs Rs. 750 per person all inclusive. Any cold drinks (no liquor is served) purchased in the restaurant were to be paid for after the meal. We were then asked to deposit our mobile phones and any other bags we were carrying in the locker there. We were then escorted to the door and then handed over to a visually impaired person who guided us into a pitch dark place. It is incredibly eerie when you walk in first as you cannot see anything not even your finger if it is a centimeter from your eyes. You are guided to your seat and the table is already set when you get there.

You are then served a 4 course meal starting with soup, a starter, a main course and a dessert. The meals are served slowly and there is a lot of time for one to munch on their food and wait. The meal itself wasn't much of a surprise, to put it simply there was tomato soup; chicken nuggets for starters; biryani, romali roti, dalh, chicken curry and some stuff i never even found on my plate; a custard kind of a dish for dessert. The food is eaten completely by touch and feel. There is cutlery to be used but again one has to feel for it. After a while you get a comfort in where everything is and then it becomes quite easy. The water is served in bottles and one can order from a variety of soft drinks to be had with the food.

Since the restaurant is completely dark you do not know how many others are there in the restaurant or how far apart they are. The two tables next to us seemed to be quite close to us as we could hear all the conversations quite clearly.

The experience was interesting for just the one visit. The food was not exciting - with the first taste we knew what was on the plate. The food was not very tasty. The chairs were quite uncomfortable. One interesting thing is that there is an verbal interaction going on between the people as no one knows who is there and how many people are there. The noise levels are quite high - conversation is quite loud and animated.

What in my view will make the experience more exciting? All the food should only be bite sized helpings - they should feel the same but when you put it in the mouth each bite tastes different. There should be a surprise element in every bite. Serving regular food does not really enhance the experience. The chairs should be super comfortable so that when you sit in them it should feel like you never want to get out of it. The music at times was a bit loud - the music should be very faint in the background.

On the whole an interesting experience for that one time and its worth going there to understand what happens when one of the senses is taken away.

Ooty once again

Having visited Ooty the last time in the rainy season with a lot of the activities not operational we decided to go back to Ooty this time in the summer. The weather was great - bright sunshine with a cool breeze blowing. We had a couple of showers in the evenings but that did not dampen any of the fun, in fact it added to the whole experience of being at a hill station. The only downside of this trip was that it was quite crowded as against the last time we went there. But again as long as we spent most of our time in a secluded resort we did not experience much of the crowds except when we went into Ooty town.

We wanted to travel by the Nilgiri mountain railway train from Mettupalayum to Ooty but this was all booked up well in advance and we tried almost 2 months before our travel date for tickets on this train. So plan well in advance if you want to experience this train ride.

We spent about an evening in Ooty town doing shopping this time and there are quite a few good things to be bought in Ooty. Top of the line is chocolates, spices and oils. There are a lot of shops selling chocolates but the most famous among them are Modern Bakery near the Botanical Gardens. There is a good selection of leather goods such as wallets, jackets, shoes and handbags available. Warm clothes are not too expensive too.

We got to do a lot of adventure sports this time such as trekking, rock climbing, horse riding, zip lining and rappelling. We did all these at the farm stay Destiny.

India finally wins the world cup

And I was there right through it. Through all its ups and downs.

And my advise to all those leaders out there is take a leaf out of Dhoni's notebook and start leading your teams from the front by stepping into the firing line. We need a lot more leaders like him.

Mantra of successful apps - Simple yet engaging

I have been downloading and playing quite a few games lately and I started to wonder what is it that makes these games so addictive where as there are a million other games that just come and go. What I realised is that the key to the successful games such as angry birds, ninjump and so on is to keep it very simple so that it is easy to learn and start playing yet keeping it just hard enough to keep you engaged to try again and again as you always feel that you are just there.

I tried to extend this same idea to some of the applications that I use and I found that there is a similar trend. The applications are very easy to learn and become useful in a very short span of time yet they are feature rich to make you want to come back and use them every time.

Its the same for the android and apple devices - they are so easy to use they do not even need a user manual but there is so much available on the market place/app store that there is never a boring moment as you can go there and find something new to keep you engaged.

For all the app designers out there the idea is to keep the entry barrier so low that the user feels interested to try it out but then it is important to subtly introduce features to the user that will keep the user engaged and interested.

Motivation at the workplace

IT companies have a reputation of paying very well but they still suffer from very high attrition. Why is that so? I was watching some videos on youtube and came across the one below that validates my thoughts. Motivating employees is not just about paying them well...