General Archives - The Curly Braces

Hike around Jhumka dam and reservoir

The Jhumka dam and reservoir are located in the Chandaka forest in Khorda district, Odisha. During the rainy season, it’s impossible to hike on the bank of the reservoir, but the rest of the year, the water level subsides and one can have a nice walk along the shore of the lake. The reservoir is a short drive for me and I usually go there with my dog, Bongo, once a month for a hike.

Every time I have been to Jhumka reservoir for a hike, we walk on the grassier side of the lake for about a couple of kilometers and then turn back. The other side of the lake is covered by a thick forest with uneven terrain extending to the shore of the lake. On multiple occasions, the thought of hiking around the entire lake has popped into my head but pushed it away due to not being adequately prepared or there not being enough time before nightfall.

Checklist to rent a house in India

I like checklists. They give me confidence that I’ve covered everything of importance, and if I did miss something, I can go back and update the checklist so that I don’t miss it the next time. I recently shifted cities and had to look for a new place to rent. I prepared this checklist to keep track of things we want to have in the new house.

In the last decade, I’ve lived in 3 rented houses. This list reflects my preferences. Please conduct your research based on your requirements. I’m sharing it here with the hope that it helps someone and that others can build on top of it.

Royal Enfield Himalayan – 13,000 KM ownership review

I bought my Royal Enfield Himalayan BS3 on January 26th, 2017. It is a 2017 model with quite a few tweaks made to the 2016 version. My bike is mostly used for longer rides, and once a week or two, I drive it to office.

I’ve done a couple of long rides on the bike and quite a few shorter rides. My long trips include a trip from Hyderabad to Odisha and one to Maredmulli. The shorter ones include trips to Warangal, Srisailam, Kurnool, Adilabad, Kavali, Vijayawada and Mallela Theertham waterfalls. Roads on all of these trips have been good for the most part.

This is my ownership review after covering 13,000 KM on the bike over a 19 month period. I’ll go through the good and the bad experiences that I’ve had with the bike.