On Oct 25, 2007, ESG ran into trouble on the BMIC PRR at the Somapura Junction. From the pictures taken by the ESG members it is clear that Ashok Kheny was there and so was the police. So that was how serious this was. Now there are four versions to this episode, the NICE version, the ESG version, the police version, and the media version.

Even though Ashok Kheny is known for his talks and is known to bowl over listeners, NICE is not exactly known for their openness and this case is no different either. Nothing on their website when I last checked it. There is no direct way of knowning their side of the story. Only media reports. But ESG is quite net savvy and carries a copy of the FIR that Leo Saldhana (co-ordinator, ESG) as filed with the police along with photographs on their website. In addition Arun forwarded me an email from Leo Saldhana(coordinator ESG) that he received.

http://www.kar.nic.in/lok... first good thing: it is the first listing on google for lokayukta, ahead of even delhi :) now here is the downer the home page itself does not work!!! you gain entry into the website through the rules page. i went to the site looking for information regarding the suomoto powers granted for lokayukta recently but found no information.

I swear, I was not trying a sting operation here. Though I do wish our electronic media tried sting operations at these day-to-day levels as well, but they are on to bigger things :)

[photo credits - Dr Vivek M @ flickr]

I have done the "Bangalore - Hassan - Mangalore - Udupi - Kundapur - Bhatkal - Murudeshwar - Jog Falls - Sagar and back" round trip a couple of times in past, and will have some images of Hilly and Coastal Karnataka etched in my mind forever.

So I thought of visiting the region again for the end of December vacations. Called up a few travel agents, checked a few travel websites to look for places to stay. Asked around friends to check if its practical to do a pure road-trip and explore the coast for a week.