Iruttupallam,siruvani,sadivayal and coimbatore ramparts...

Monsoon is in full swing. Running, rising water is beginning to block roads. We decided to show the dog a good time and got lost in an elephant frequented route and saw the warning board only after we were past it. Fresh elephant droppings - the dog went under the car seat and peed. We were able to turn the car around and return back with no incident!

Kerala was humid but punctuated with heavy monsoon rain - on the way back via the high ranges, there was zero visibility near muvattupuzha thanks to the heavy rain.

India trips are always roller coaster rides!

Will upload trip pictures once I'm back.

Any progress is happenning only in the cities - rural areas are largely untouched. Don't get me started on the reservation mumbo jumbo - i'd support it if it were only economic basis. Foreign car brands are a common sight. AFAIK, noone has altered the Camry engine yet. Kudos to my first employer - Reliance Oil pumps are everywhere,even in the Kerala high ranges!Reliance Mobile is ubiquitous as well. Weekend buses between Bangalore and Coimbatore are brimming with Software Engineers in their 20s. It's quite a ritual repeated every week - folks seeing off and picking them up.

The highlight was my cellphone picking up local coverage even in interior Kerala - it's a 3G CDMA phone:)

Falling dollar

Interesting times - the cycles are getting shorter. I felt the pinch as I countdown for my India Trip - this is the lowest rate I've gotten for the dollar since 1998!

Tim Berners Lee on net neutrality