It was Topa who introduced me in twitter. Since then twitter has been my major online presence other than this blog. Its was my way of sharing the tips on the go. Including getting some tips on how to eat dal baati

Its been an amazing ride until now. But I am still wondering why 700 of them are following me. What interests them in my twitter stream? I am curious. If you follow me on twitter please answer else follow and then answer

Year 2008 was more eventful than 2007. I am happy that I met  more interesting people and visited more interesting places than 2007. 2008 was an amazing year for me in terms of traveling. I am yet to blog about places like Milan, Rome, Hampi etc. There were hundreds of interesting moments this year. Here are some of them

1. Year started with interesting visit to Bangalore’s biggest kitchen Akshaya Patra . Truly inspirational social entrepreneurship at work.
2. In January I also completed my five years at Infosys. Its been an amazing journey until now. Its only my primary school where I have spent more than five years. In that way Infy takes second place after my school.
3. Then came “milan me milan“. Like my any other decisions it didn’t take much time decide to spend my savings on traveling. Thanks to all my friends and specially to Mathang for making it possible. I visited most parts of Italy, Paris and Dubai. With out my friends and my family it wouldn’t have happened.

4. Myself and KV are still doing YAPodcast. Its an interesting project that I am part of. I am sure I will be able to give more time in 2009.
5.This year I completed five years in blogging world. Its been a roller coaster journey until now. Expecting a lot in the year 2009.
6. I didn’t do many long rides this year until Valparai happened. It was an amazing ride with my very close friends.

7. Then Nokia OpenLab happened. I never in my dreams expected it. Thanks to Nokia and WomWorld for that opportunity. I met interesting people and had very interesting conversations. Also got some time to explore Helsinki. Also thanks to Bangalore Mirror for putting me on front page.

8. Got too many happy news by year end. Three of my close friends got engaged. One got married. Two are on the way to become fathers
9.This December did a long drive with family. Drove to Durga, Hampi, Mantralaya, Bijapur and Badami. Drove around 1600kms in total.

10. Towards the year end did another five days of traveling with cyclists. It was again another amazing occasion to meet interesting people and get inspired. Now I have plans of buying a bicycle. I don’t have to tell I met very inspiring people.
11. I am really proud of Nano and Chandrayaan that showed world what India is capable of. One thing that bothered me was Taj incident. I am sure Major Sandeep will be in our hearts for long long time. I just wish peace for the world in 2009.

Personally I haven’t yet found answers to all my questions. I am yet to decide what I am supposed to do. Confused and still searching for answers like a kid. I hope 2009 has some answers for me.

Wish you all a very happy new year. May all your dreams come true in 2009.

Bijapur capital city of Adil Shah dynasty is famous for Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Rauza which inspired Taj Mahal (Yes you read right. It is said that the design for the Ibrahim Rauza served as an inspiration Taj). The weather is normally hot and dusty, hence the best time to visit would be winter (Oct-Jan). For any traveler first stop in Bijapur would be Gol Gumbaz.

Gol Gumbaz is the mausoleum of Adil Shah 1. Structure consists of massive square block of 160ftx160ft. Its covered by the massive dome of 124 ft in diameter. Its the second largest pre-modern dome in the world (after the dome of Hagia Sophia). The four corners of the dome has corner towers. The corner towers also has steps to reach the top of square block.

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• I will be visiting hampi, badami and other places in north Karnataka starting Dec 10. North Karnataka has too many beautiful and historical places to cover within a week. I will try my best.  I will be driving myself and will live post pictures and will tweet too.
• I am going on Tour of Nilgiris. The tour is happening between dec-25 and Jan-1, which means I am going to miss xmas, gajini and new year. I am not complaining just because of the variety of participants we have in TFN. I am sure I will have lot of inspiring to stories to listen and lots of crazy ideas for future. Most probably I will be driving one of the supporting SUVs (Yay I love it). I have lots of ideas for this tour. Lets see how far I can go. But for sure you can catch me live on my twitter and on this blog. BTW I will also be accompanied by Prashanth and Meenakshi winners of TFN blogging contest.
• Planning for a motorbike ride between 20-22. The route is yet to be decided. Lets see if we can make it between this tight schedule.
• Two of my close friends are getting engaged this month. Two of my other close friends are on the way to fatherhood
• Met founders of latlong.in Bangalore based startup by ex-colleagues. Very interesting SMS based application for getting routes in Bangalore.  I have already started using it.*
• Got a sip account. Now you can call me or leave me a voice mail at i @ thejeshgn dot com ( same as my email id) using your VOIP phone.  I will write a detailed blog post once I get time.
• Started reading Nandan’s Imagining India. You can buy it online in India . The rest of the world has to wait this time. I have just started so wait till I finish.**
• And yeah started working on Bangalore Travel Guide. Lets see how soon I can complete it.

Note:
* and ** I work for Infosys.

Its very common for myself and my friend Manju to explore something new on Sunday evenings. I had heard about Naganatheshwara temple at Begur but had not seen it. Since it is very near to my home we though it would be a good place laze around on a sunday evening. Manju’s mom had told us according to legend the temple is of the era of Pandavas and Pandawas used to offer Pooja to Shiva. Me and Manju reached there early on Sunday evening. The temple was still not open but we got some amazing pictures of it from outside.

Collage of all the pictures I took on that day.

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