Kanphused

me is back

2011-10-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

I realised I had not written in a looong time, lost my mojo? :-) or something like that.loads happening on personal front that I wanted to write about but just didn't have it in me. Guess somewhere I was not sure of my writing skills...coz I can get into verbal diarrhea :-) and honestly who wants to read a barrage of random thoughts not worded,phrased,paragraphed correctly.I read a few of my close friends blogs and they can be really crisp concise and yet beautifully portray their emotions.which is something I aim for...Amen!

During the self imposed exile from the "blogging" world, I was busy with my 2kids. We thought 2nd time pregnancy,post delivery will be simple...but never knew how wrong we wud be proved :-)

did manage to continue travelling which is our stress buster and boy! do we need it every week.

hopefully I can get back to writing about our trips, my new found passion and my joblessness.

Exotic Kenya

2009-11-08T04:15:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Nairobi (capital of kenya) on 18th Sept evening. Raj & Ramyani (our friends who had visualised,conceptualised this trip) had gone off on their own from the airport to the hotel.while we waited for our immigration clearance.The only country we have travelled this far, where I immediately felt welcome & at home. My first loo stop, was the one that triggered this feeling :-) no water anywhere in the airport in the toilets. Sawa Sawa!! (means ok ok in Swahili, national lang of Kenya. )
The next trigger was when we drove arnd 50 mins thru peak traffic to cover a 20min distance. \the driving was insane like b'lore. The driver tho was extremely sweet, friendly. Our first stay was at PanAfric hotel in main nairobi town. the hotel was very hep...somehow i had this image of African countries which shattered the moment I stepped out of the airport,for a developing country like ours it had a superb road from the airport right to the hotel. u can forgive the traffic jams,wake up Karnataka!!! u don't need to travel business to developed far richer countries to do ur studies
Ok, i shifted focus for a bit there. Focusing has always been a problem for me...so from hereon it will be only about our trip and nothing but the trip. Amen!

Our guide,friend,spotter and driver for the rest of the stay (except Mombasa) was Joel who was one of the best. he has nearly 30yrs gaming experience so who better to show us around.
Day 1, after a scrumptious breakfast we left Panafric (run by an Indian) for Naru Moru Lodge. This was around 3 hr drive we reached in time for lunch. The hotel was a quaint resort with loads of natural beauty with a small stream running thru. tho the food was nothing to rave about. Luckily finding vegetarian food is not a problem here.At the resort, we saw quite a few White tailed monkey. (Carabus) we saw loads of birds. ( spoonbill, hornbill, canary)\we took a nice nature trail around the stream, did a few obstacle courses to check our fitness levels :-)Adu was well behaved (tho with bouts of screaming) and he was surviving on banana most of the days.
Day 2 - 20th Sept After breakfast arnd 8am, we drove to Sweetwaters sanctuary our next destination. This drive was roughly around 3.5hrs.I must admit the roads all through was superb, wide,w without a bump,it was amazing.When we drove into the safari, the sight was breath taking. we saw Giraffes swaying by so gracefully. \our very first wild life sighting, it was an exhilarating experience. a few mtrs away we saw the Thomson Gazelle. Basically this is similar to a deer but it has a white/black patch running across it's back with huge antlers.Apparently a male gazelle can have a keep of arnd 20-30 female gazelles :-) which is amazing capacity, the male pride in it will shoo away any of the other males that will try to "hit" on it's females.Our hotel, Serena Sweetwater camp was wow!! there was a watering hole righ opp our tent with loads of birds.We saw painted stork, spoon bill, superb sterling(this bird has a shiny blue body with a red chest & white collar on it's neck). we as usual went crazy clicking away luckily the digi cams give us the option of clicking away without being bothered about reels. The lunch was an amazing spread of conti, african & surprisingly indian food with lots of chutney to spice things up.(which was very good) At lunch we had the view of the watering hole. Somehow words are not enuff to explain our feelings.An Ibis followed us all the way to the lunch table. It was extremely chilly and to our bad luck we were not carrying any warm clothes. even for adu apart from a flimsy jacket & few long sleeved shirt there was nothing else.We decided to go for a nite safari since in Masai Mara,night safari is not allowed. All the rates quoted was in $but I tried in a subtle way to get the rates reduced.naveenw as totally embarrassed but guess what??? it worked!!! they reduced it by 10$ per person which is quite a bit right.luckily no charges for Adu. We decided to walk around the place and soak in the sights. later arnd 3pm, Joel took us for our first official game drive. We went to the Chimpanzee Orphanage. Many chimps from either Congon region or other parts of Africa were rescued and brought here.The chimps share around 95% of our chromosome, hence closest to humans in their behaviour. Watchin them in their habitat was wonderful. They are extremely social but their expression is always full of remorse or sadness. Later drove to a Rhino area.where one Black Rhino had lost his vision during a fight and was being looked after by the caretakers. We were allowed to feed him. we also met Max an amazing White Rhino.who loves his caretaker so much...that he follows him everywhere. Surprisingly it was true. We saw plenty of animals en route. By the time we reached back it was arnd 6pm. Didn't give us much time to rest, so we strolled around. During dinner, a Rhino and her baby decided to visit the watering hole.it was an absolutely awesome experience. Right across our table we can see these 2 huge hulks (a baby can weigh upto 3tonnes). She seemed a wee bit pissed since people were clicking away with their damn flashlights on. She just turned towards all of us glared, raised her leg and just walked off...phew!!!! The nite safari exp was also great.We saw a pack of hyenas resting, they really look ugly,scruffy.Though they didnt like us flashing lights on them,since one of babies was suckling. again saw tons of zebras & gazelles just grazing our continuing with their migration.Nobody looked tired or asleep. Guess they all scared of being a prey. Such is life!!The best moment was when we saw a Lion looking majestic in his flowing mane.He was walking right beside our vehicle,slowly purposefully he seemed to be peeing an awful lot :-)when our spotter explained that lions do this to mark their territories.unfortunately after following it for a distance it walked over to the other side and we headed back...where we saw a dead zebra. The immediate reaction from all of us was "did we miss a kill,was it the lion?" the spotter quickly noticed all the ques written on our faces and explained (disturbing), the zebra had died during childbirth and he quickly turned arnd to show us the dead foal :-( it was really sad.after this we just drove back and returned arnd 11pm.jotted below a few animals we spotted in our stay at sweetwaters 1. Baboons (monkeys)3. Guinea fowl3. reticulated giraffe4. grevy zebra 3. Wart hogs4. Thomson gazelle5. water bugs(deers)6. impala (deers)7. LIon8. HYnae9 Rhino and baby10 Aardwark(Ant -eater)11. dead zebra12. Rhino13. Chimpanzee14. Camels Birds:
1. ibis2. spoon bill3. superb sterling4. hardingal sterling 5. Painted stork6.egret

Day 3 - Sept 21st Only person who looked well rested the next morning was Adu, since he slept off right thru the safari. We were still groggy, tho I woke up at 5:30am(didnt want to waste a min sleeping) and walked arnd try to spot animals/birds at the watering hole and also get a glimpse of the sunrise. All this in while it was arnd 13deg outside and I didn;t have a jacket too. So kinda froze myself but wht it was worth it. The sunrise was really nice with Mount Kenya in the backdrop it was sheer joy to click away. I awoke the other lazy bums who were snoring away to wake up.the obviously did curse me a bit, but when they saw the fotos they knew it was well worth it. After a scrumptious breakfast, we left for our next stop Masai Mara, which the resort owners warned was a good 10hr drive. While Joel our driver was more re-assuring he kept saying it wud take 6hrs lil unconvincingly tho :-) more in the next post

Andaman Trip Contd....Bare Foot & Cafe Del Mar

2009-05-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

To start off where I stopped earlier....22nd Dec we again had an early rise,reached the jetty at 5:30 only to knw the ship was going to be late by an hour since some buggers were fighting for space...why can't they have a Q system!! The foreign tourist had a disgusted look...Honestly, we ourselves were disgusted "old,middle aged" ladies and men fighting to get in, for a seat.....uffffffff wanted to slap them..

Luckily we had a nice family sharing seat with us, they had 2 daughters and Adu was enjoying playing with them.Since Naveen decided last minute to apply for the Scuba diving course, our original plans were (tickets also booked accordingly) that Adu & me wud return on 27th dec on our own to B'lore. BUT the moment I sat down and started njoying the cool blue waters and the bright sunny weather started feeling puky, forgotten to carry my tabs as well....so I squeezed myself some place and immediately closed my eyes, the damn journey took us nearly 5.5hrs and that was killing. But Adu was njoying his time, he wud go stand on the deck for a while, come back play with the girls. Finally after the torturous 5.5hrs, we saw the beautiful sight of our island-Havelock. It was a mesmerising sight....crystal clear transparent blue water. Like the Japanese tourist we quickly started clicking away :-) didn't want to waste a min of precious memories. That's when I decided to change our travel plans and we wud stay back with Naveen.

Barefoot had arranged for a Jeep pick up, the first view of the resort was so heavenly simply can't describe that feeling. We were given tender coconut water to cool us down and taken to our "Nicobari" Cottage, it was nice room with thatched roof. After a quick refresh we went to explore our home for 1 week. The resort is on "beach no 7" at Havelock also called "Radha Beach" (they have some funny numbering system for beaches) This place had no network & no TV, totally cut off from the world. It was paradise! Our package was on CP basis, hence had to pay extra for Lunch & dinner. The Kanjoos in me wud always insist on looking at the RHS of the menu, while Naveen wud look at the LHS, It took an hr for us to be served, simply coz they r sooo laid back and relaxed and somehow that rubs off on u as well....we learned to wind down,it was such a difficult thing to do but gradually we learnt the art, city life makes us so mechanical we forget to stop and soak in.
Our itinerary for the next week was to simply chill. I wud rise at 4:00am (It is sunny by 6am) go for a walk in the beach get back, wake the "men",have breakfast, arnd 10am go to the beach with book,towels and shovels. Swim for a while, read/play for a while,and get back to the room by 12, lunch time till 2m, take a nap till 4pm and again dunk into the shallow blue waters. This was my best holiday till date..so different from all the rushing to catch tourist attractions, click fotos. It was a Super feeling!
23rd Dec Morn- we decided to go snorkelling, The cost was arnd 1500/- which we initially thght was a bit steep but they took us to 3 sites for snorkelling which was great. We went first to Elephant Beach(commong snorkelling place,Lighthouse,and Aquarium. For the first session, we decided to take turns to take care of Adu. I went right upto the reef, the view was simply amazing...fishes in all hues and sizes.Adu was swimming arnd with Naveen and njoying it immensely. On our way to "Light House"Adu dozed off...so we placed lots of life jackets below the seat (incase he rocks over) and both of dunked into the water..leaving our yet to be 2 year sleeping child in the boat.Our Parents wud have thrown a fit if they heard of this :-) but for the aqaurium ride Adu was wide awake and waiting to jump into the waters. The 3hrs snorkelling was tiring and exhausting but the view was breathtaking.We saw many jelly fish, large clam, star fish and more
We decided to hire a bike on 23rd eve to go to town :-) or the main market to make few fone calls and change our tickets. After 1 hr of fone calls we decided to have dinner there. On our way back we informed the staff to arrange for a small cake for Adu's bday on 24th.
24th Dec-The moment Adu opened his eyes, I clicked a foto and he was scared :-0 We took him on an elephant ride to celebrate his BIG 2. Later for dinner we celebrated over vodka..ofcourse for him it was just another day. We cut his cake (which the staff had arranged) on the beach at arnd 9pm, it was pitch dark with only the waves for company...it was actually very romantic, but we had to focus on our 2 yr old. We think he enjoyed his special day.
The highlight of Barefoot is, they have a "scuba dive with Rajan" program Where a 58 year old tusker (only known surving swimming Elephant)scuba dives with the participants...per dive is 10k approx, so we obviously didn't opt for it...instead we took video and foto shoots of this. He obviously follows his own mind. That day (un)fortunately he was in no mood for a bath, but just to pacify his mahout(who was a tribal) he dunked in and immediately got out as well. :-) the whole scene was amazingly cute.

On 27th Dec we checked out and went to Cafe Del Mar to spend another week (In havelock island itself)The basic room was a far-cry from our barefoot with just a room. So we decided to opt for the cottage on stilts. It was basic room with the loo downstairs but with a splendid balcony facing the ocean. The loo being downstairs is a slight hitch especially if you have kids, but for the rate it was fantastic :-)Naveen's open water scuba dive course was to begin at 10am (1st day being just theory) which was just across from our room(this was the reason we shifted resorts). This resort was located on Vijaynagar beach which not as clean as Radha beach but it was still pristine and white sandy beach.While Naveen was away I wud read on the hammock while Adu wud play, later we went into the waters...back in time for lunch. slept for a while, by 4-5pm Naveen wud be back. Here the highlight was the chef, one insane old chap..he has some injury on his head that explained his erratic behaviour. But he was funny to watch. Luckily for us he liked Adu so he was decent with us. We had to place an order nearly 2 hrs before and the food was nothing to talk about as well. In the evening we wud venture out since Naveen wud be back and try diff stuff for dinner.

On 29th Dec, it was Naveen's last dive by the time he got his certificate it was arnd 3pm. Our ferry was at 4pm, I had finished our packing by 1pm checked out from the room at 1pm itself (managed all on my own) His experience was awesome obviously I can't describe that you might need to coax him to write about it sometime (which is generally never :-))
Our return ferry ride was for just 2.5hrs, a nice small ship with smaller seating capacity but I was fine didn't feel sick, all the while was on the deck itself. The same driver Shahid came to pick us from the jetty and was really sweet enuff to drive us arnd Port Blair in search of room.This time we checked ourselves into Hotel Rishabh, which was a nice hotel(just opened a few months back) most imp had a AC and TV...after 2 weeks of being cut off from the world it felt nice to get back to the idiot box :-)
On 30th, we went to Cellular Jail (this time during the day) inside it was really depressing. The thgt about what our freedom fighters went thru was simply terrible.Now we can be so callous about it and take things for granted. It was a nice experience.After this we went for lunch to favorite hotel and later in the eve went to a beach called Corbyn's Cove, it was swarming with junta...we had a small walk down there and headed back to the hotel to pack. 31st due to change in our travel plans..Naveen left by the early morn flight to Chenai (at 7am) while Adu and me whiled away till 11am in the hotel and caught our flight at 1pm(which was again delayed by an hr) reached Chennai where Naveen was waiting for us. Later took the Shatabdi to good old B'lore. By the time we reached home it was arnd 10:45pm.
As is my nature, immediately got down to unpacking putting clothes for washing, sorting,
by the time I slept it was 11:55pm. Our new year celebrations had begun from 20th Dec, didn't want any other celebration to bring in 09. Dozed off and wished each other on 1st Jan.
A new year, new places to visit,to explore, to soak in.

Weekend Getaway to Coorg

2009-05-04T02:16:00.000-07:00

When it struck us 1st may wud be the last long weekend till Sept, we decided we had to get out and njoy this holiday. Surfed thru thousands of places, resorts, homestays but it was the same argument 1. Not too long for a drive 2. Not too heavy on the pocket (recessionary times remember) 3. Shud incl lil sight seeing and more chilling. With so many self imposed restrictions began my search. Naveen was busy with deadlines and releases and I wud snatch time during work for a few mins to surf, finally zeroed in on Coorg in a place called "Silver Oak" at Ponnampet, simply coz it was the first site to pop up while googling :-) decisions made simple, Jai Ho Google! tried searching for reviews but seemed like a relatively new set up as there was no info on this place. We just went ahead and booked simply coz this place had a pool, so even if the rooms were really bad...we had a pool to fall into...hehhehe.
We tanked up the car the previous nite to save time....efficient process is put in place u see!
Started our journey at 5:55am, no there was no rahu kalam being followed, at 5:45 Naveen remembered he forgot his route map at home...so went back to pick it.
On the way we were wondering on our breakfast halt, I thgt we have had so much of LokRuchi's and Kamath's, MTR we must try something new...decided to try "Cafe Coffe Day" which advertised as having yuuuuuumy breakfast all day.On Mysore road we were cruising along at 100-110km, we saw hazaar KA gaadi's heading off on their holidays. We had a bagful of food...for a moment felt like a Gujju travelling with their dose of "theplas" and "khakras" but guess that's the mumbai affect. We reached Cafe Coffe day arnd 7:10am. Luckily I had carried food for my son else he wud have gone hungry. Never knew this place to be terrible and slow. Half the items on the menu was not available, it was late for us to find another decent stop hence decided to eat whtever was available. We got our food exactly 45mins later....45mins to make Dosa!!!!! Everybody losing their patience, yelling it was a sight to watch.Sincere advice...pls go to, the ever reliable Darshini's and kamath's for quick breakfast....here we paid 75Rs for a "nano dosa" and it didnt even fill my stomach. The food was also really bad, the sambar was spoilt. Our free coffee was taking forever so switched to Black tea, the staff refused to change our order since it wud create havoc with his system...What system???? I was wondering!
after a waste of good 1hr, we were on our way again. The roads were good all thru to Hunsur, where we took the deviation it started getting progressively bad. It took us arnd 5hours to reach our resort. The place was nice,small with very friendly owner answering all our questions.Since there were quite a few check out and check in's that day Bob informed the lunch would be delayed hence suggested a few places around,and likely itinerary we can plan. After discussions and consultations we decided, Naveen wud go pick up lunch from "Golden Gate" and after a nice nap we wud leave for nagarhole arnd 3pm. we decided to ditch Irrupu falls since there was 10min trek and the roads were also bad..with Amma achan being tired after the long drive didn't want to overdo.

After a simple but tasty khana of meals and curd rice we snored away till 2:45 with the cool breeze humming and left with a roadmap given by Bob around 3:10pm. When he said bad roads, we didn't realise how bad.....but trust me it was bad! :-) no exaggeration, we need to give our car for servicing after that torture we took it thru. The exasperating part was after driving on horrible roads for 1:15mins, when we reached there saw hazaar junta waiting there for a safari ride. Unfortunately they have some weird system whereby we need to register our names in their book for a safar ride and wait forever,If Jeep/bus available they will give us tickets. A state which has such natural & man made beauty in abundance shows such apathy that it is really sad. The Govt shows such callous attitude, it's surprising that they have the audacity spending money on advertising showcasing Karnataka. Bad roads, no district level maps made available, bad toilet facilities..how are u planning to entice visitors? tourists especially foreigners...There were few foreign tourist..I am not saying they shud be given special privileges but atleast they shud feel welcome.when we, as local tourist were grudging can't imagine them! Luckily saw a few deers at the start of the forest reserve which gave us some foto opps :-) we then decided to drive to Tholpetty.This reserve is the extension of nagarhole into Kerala-Wayanad. 13kms stretch was even worse then to nagarhole, but the moment we stepped into Kerala the roads miraculously became decent.
Honestly, the Tourism dept shud wake up and take control before they lose more revenue. Drive along that road will get ur BP up, why are the coorgis not complaining? why are they not fighting for their basic rights of decent roads? Is that too much to ask?
With no luck at Tholpetty, we did the next best thing ate pickled pineapples and mangoes and drove back :-) The ride back was pleasant and trust me the roads were still bad but the weather was absolutely plesant, light showers had miraculously changed the weather and temp.really nice!
Got back to the resort tired with bad back's. There is a small pond in the resort and paddle boat kept, good idea especially for families with kids some entertainment, we went paddling around. There are 3 cute ducks who either fight or play all the while. Adu was charmed by them and ensured we fed it breakfast,lunch and dinner. Dinner was served around 8:30pm but luckily they provided some dal rice for Adu at 7:30, very sweet staff indeed. The dinner was really good,again simple nothing fancy but tasty.We just had to hit the pillow and the snooze button was already on :)
On 2nd May, Amma and me went for an early morn walk arnd the estate and outside. We decided to chill in the resort itself, so after a lazy breakfast we went in the peddle boat again, fed the ducks and dunked ourselves into the pool. It was nice relaxing time...we went to Gonikoppal Silver Sky for lunch, dozed and later in the evening drove to the Tata tea estates....it was scenic, Tea estates somehow have a very calming effect...not sure if it's just for me. Our plans for the next day was to leave arnd 8am, head to Dubare,visit the Monastery and head back home. As planned we left on schedule
headed to Dubare which was jam packed so we saw elephants being bathed from afar and left :-)Drove to the Monastery which is always the highlight, since Amma & Achan loved the place (As expected) after spending arnd 45mins in there we headed back home. The roads from Kushalnagar to B;lore was fantastic, we cud touch a speed of 120-140kmph. For lunch we stopped at Royal Inn a new place opened just before GRS Fantasy park, the food was good, service fast but tad expensive. They didn't serve meals, so be prepared for a longer wait. But the food was nice so no complaints.
By the time we reached back home it was alomost 5pm. It was great being back home but the idea of washing, cleaning and cooking really sucked!!! But such is life, The trip was great and luckily the weather god was on our side as well. Already looking forward to our next getaway

Andamans Calling-At port Blair from 21st to 22nd Dec

2009-04-13T04:12:00.001-07:00

Another year passes by, with nothing substantial done except for blowing up big money. Nothing to remember the year by. We wanted to celebrate our "nothingness" and of course Adu's 2nd big day someplace outside this crazy city, away from traffic which mutes our own thoughts, away from the organised chaos. Zeroing in on any place was becoming so difficult, should it be S'pore with family? or should it be Bali...finally we decided on Andaman & Nicobar Island simply coz it kinda-sorta fitted in our budget (which we later realised how, totally off track we were!) After this was our next set of challenges (solvable of course, generally things are never sooo bad like we make them out to be) accomodations? stuff to carry or not carry ;-) date of travel, ticket for adu. The PM in me took over, made a Task list of things to do alongwith action owners for which of those task items, together with legends etc :-) We finalised our itinerary,tickets, all bookings by end of Nov 08. This is what we did

20th Dec we left for Chennai via the day train, which would reach Chennai at arnd 9pm. This gave us enuff time to have dinner and sleep off till arnd 2am.

21st Dec- 2am we got re-packed, reached the Airport to board our 5:30am flight to Port Blair.which got delayed by an hour coz an idiot/jerk refused to disembark I was this close to throwing him off actually.

21st Dec- We reached Port Blair an hour late,but the moment we landed..our 2 week holidays just sunk in. That momentary/fleeting feeling was just amazing. We were picked at the airport by our driver (Shafeeq), this was part of the package deal organised by Barefoot our resort-our home for the next 1week. He was an extremely sweet chap, he dropped us of at a "dump" called Shompen.The room was small,dark and dinghy way up on the 3rd floor without a lift, had to lug our luggage all the way through some dirty corridors.. It was not even worth the price. didn't want to waste a single minute inside so quickly showered (luckily it had hot water atleast) and went out for real fresh air. We wanted to visit Ross Island which was a 20min ferry ride. buying the ticket was quick at the jetty itself but fighting to get into a boat was like a scene out of some hindi movie. Loud Bengalis,Maharashtrians fighting shouting as if in some fish market....it was such a dampner.We waited for the chaos to subside by when we realised the boat was already full. So waited for another one to come along. Luckily got a decent place to sit. Adu was totally enjoying himself staring into the water, running around. Once on Ross Island,we could stroll along the meandering path as our next ferry wud be in 2.5hrs. We walked around this beautiful scenic island. Deers roamed around freely without being intimidated by humans around, they drank our tender coconut water, walked arnd with us...almost like our personal tour guide.

Adu at 2 walked around with us without being tired or grouchy, that was quite impressive. There were a few old english barracks which was in total ruins,with trees growing all over it, made a pretty sight tho, saw an old church which was almost in ruins. Sometimes the beauty of places just cannot be captured, we need to soak in the moment and photograph it in our memories that last forever, sadly tho Adu might not remember most of this. After arnd 2 hrs of walking we just sat watching the waves lapping around for a good half hr, till we heard the gong of our boat. Ready for another journey....

We had lunch at this highly recommended place called "Annapurna" and it didn't disappoint, it looked neat and nice the food was good tho a bit expensive, but no complaints! we had ice-cream after all that hot sun had to cool off. We later went back to our dump to catch a well deserved nap. not to forget we were awake since 2am (adu was awake since 4am).We were planning to catch the sound & light show at the Central jail which was to start at 5:30. While we overslept, we got up arnd 5pm and realised we were late, quickly gave adu some milk and rushed to get an auto. At the Jail we realised the 5:30show had begun which was in Hindi tho, so we patiently whiled away an hour till the next 6:30 pm show at the garden opp the Central Jail. With the lightings the Jail looked grand and a nice place to be in, which obviously was nothing like it used to be in in the "bad" days. I have no clue why? but I was expecting something great and extra ordinary from the sound & light show almost like the S'pore one, (my fault purely) hence I personally felt it was a waste. The weather was nice and pleasant and sitting in the open air was fantastic. Adu wanted to jump around and follow the light. It was ok, so for anyone out there who is interested, please go ahead. Coz a lot of ppl I knw loved the show. By the time the show ended it was almost 6:50pm, we had to again find a place for dinner. This time we decided to try a new place which was a bad decision, went to "Annanda" just next to Annapurna and it was bad, the serive took forever, the food was not good. luckily we didnt order much so it was ok. Ice-Cream was the only highlight of the dinner. We got back to the hotel arnd 9pm. We decided to sleep off since the next day we had a ferry to catch at 6am and we had to reach by 5am at the jetty....so it was going to be another early day for us.
Our days at barefoot follows in another update

bug in me

2009-04-13T03:59:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to be a travel writer or a food critic simply cause I would get things for free :-). I envy all the travellers who cover the most seen or the unseen, explored/unexplored territories across the world.....just imagine the fun they must be having. Forget the nightmares of deadlines,crazy work hours...why bother of things I can't see :-) but I am "J" so just to quench this unfulfilled desire, I shall torture myself or whoever reads this on places I have visited,activities done etc......I don't intend spending precious hours detailing out stuff that's why there are proff websites, why deprive them of their livelihood...so if U looking for serious gyaan on wht to do? where to go forget it, move on buddy. For a lazy person like me this too is an effort but hope it is appreciated.
Initially I wanted to jot down my personal heart wrenching inner thoughts (give it a voice like they say) but with old age I guess I have mellowed :-) I do have my crazy thoughts on things and shall keep giving vent to them as & when.
Right now, it's the traveller in me who wants to be let loose and soak in the moment. I guess this is simply cause I am bored (not sure if this is mid life crisis) and want to desperately seek another land, somewhere someplace, sometime.....

Culture Vultures

2009-02-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

I have been in hibernation for a loooong while now. Simply coz doing a decent job of juggling between work and home was getting quite strenuous.
In the past days have been reading a lot about a few so called "culture protectors"
throwing their inane ideas, reservations on us. Who in the first place gave them the right...neither have they been elected via a democratic process to this moral policing that they have taken up as their cause NOR are we any way liable to change our outlook on life for these few hooligans.

The beauty of democracy is that one can choose their own path without being answerable to anybody. As long as obviously it doesn't hamper the peace of the society in large.
Within the largest democracy in the world it is possible that there will be a few extremist trying to push their ideas on others. I believe that is also ok. The means of pushing or rather advocating their ideas is questionable.In a country with definite wealth disparage, people struggling under poverty line, growing rate of crime, religious intolerance...these handful of IDIOTs use their collective strength for such regressive issues it is very saddening. If they have a following of like minded "idiots" why can't/dont they instead go around spreading message of peace, form a NGO for addressing Gloabl warming and more important issues that affect our existence (that is probably stretching it too far)

I still don't understand what is "culture" Is our culture the ones shown in Horrendous soaps like " Kyunki" etc...(can't think of other horrible serial names...should probably speak to Ekta Kapoor, who btw s also responsible in a lot of ways in spreading regressive attitude among the millions who watch that crap.) Or is "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata" our culture, where it was ok to stake your wife in a game of "glorified" poker? or give your wife an "agni pariksha" the same wife you trusted and who left her world of pleasure to go alongwith her husband? What is it???? forget issues about Noodle strap, slim fit jeans...I think if we first understand and reach a consensus on the meaning/definition of "culture" it would do a world of good for all of us.Isn't culture always evolving? haven't we moved from traditional Joint families to Nuclear families, haven't we moved from child marraige to letting the adults decide when is the right time to marry. Haven't we accepted people's choice of sexual practices as well. wasn't "Hijras" or enunchs present from our ancestrals days where they had their own prefrence and infact few communities seeked their blessings on auspicious occassions.

We should stand up to protect our choice of freedom, we must stand up to "GoondaRaj".
And no Mr home minister you can't get away with saying " Parents need to protect their kids" what the HELL is ur JOB? to give staid comments? what if this incident had happened with your near or dear ones? Mr Muthalik, first understand the meaning of culture and how our representation about culture, of culture has changed over the past many years. We will accept people telling us "Use cloth bag, throw away plastic" coz it something the country needs, but dont u dare tell me how to live the one life I have.

LIVE and Let live should be the motto of ur Goondas as well.

Jain Hind! Cheers to a progressive, independent India in a true sense.

Escapism

2008-06-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

"Our father in heaven, holy be thy name" I was saying this prayer to my aunts & uncles who were keenly waiting for me to talk in english..after all! their niece was in a convent school.I was enjoying all the attention from my malayalam speaking relatives. who would not!!! This was one of the many hyms we learnt in school and I am proud to say that I still remember 80% of them.
back then (no I am not really that old) convent education was a craze. Standing in long queues overnite for that admission was almost like a passport to eternal happiness. But not anymore, now it's the age of yoga,horse-riding, swimming and if these basic facilities are not there, it's almost like the child will be not turn out to be an all rounder, of course not drinking Complan/Bournvita or eating Parle-G(G maane Genius, the most corniest ad I have seen in recent times) would not help either or so the ads make the young innocent one believe. Poor child already confused among so many choices to make, add to that the woe of choosing which drink will give them that extra bit of energy. Constant thoughts of using the right detergent,right shampoo to impress other loony bunch of "friends" It's a crazy world out there for the young ones these days.
I remember going to the school chapel & praying for things, innocent things like let the teacher fall sick (in retrospect they weren't really that innocent thoughts :-)) let my friend get 2marks lesser than me in Maths. My principal would always say pray to "Lord Jesus" and your worries shall vanish. Today I just want to be honest to her, though the hymns were all for Jesus Christ, in my heart I would visualise Ganesha and pray. I don't know why I used to do it? probably since I am a hindu, I feel I had a better chance to connect to the Hindu lord .As he would understand what I am going through better. NO! I wasn't taught all these by my parents at all...my parents beleived in enjoying all festivals, so we would celebrate all festivals Diwali, Christmas, Holi etc at times neighbours wud wonder if my parents had an inter-caste marriage :-)
Even now, when I visit Churches,Gurudwara's I pray sincerely but with another "higher up" in my mind. Anycase I feel relieved to finally confess to my principal, incase she ever decides to read my blog. Which is unlikely but hey I am praying :-)
It may sound too profound, but sometimes wonder why do we really pray? do we really believe there is someone up there? What about Evolution theory then? Darwin must be really thinking "why the heck did I waste my life trying to write the theory" or wait a min was it the higher up who actually helped him write it :-)You think he is going to confess in his grave....
Honestly, don't we all ,Me included use it as an escape route, to relieve our stress, our fears, trying to push the blame onto someone else, making the unknown responsible for our action absolves us from everything isn't it.Scientist who have been pursuing Darwin know about the "mutation theory" even then a few will still insist of breaking a coconut before the launch of a missile :-) If the disciples of Darwin can do it, then I guess meagre souls like me can continue seeking relief in the form of "escapism"

Travel woes & excess baggage

2008-05-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

"We are going on a summer holiday,no more working for a week or 2" whoever wrote these lyrics didn't obviously intend travelling with a 16month old. I had been humming this song from the time we decided on our destination, Norway-Country of Fjords. The images conjouring in my head was filled with romantic fantasies, a cool get-away, adventerous travel, life on the wild side. Ha!!! That's when the door bell rang and the voice in my head sang "Wake up to reality" but we still decided to travel knowing our limitations with our zestful 16month.We were adventerous in our dreams atleast. The whole process of deciding the itinerary, tobooking of hotels, to budgeting was left to the able shoulders of my better half (nopes not my right side :-) but hubby dearest.This way I always had someone to flare up at if anything went wrong :-) My expertise was in deciding what to take, how much to carry and shopping. This my friend is an art! before deciding on wht,how etc we first need to decide on a bag that is easy to lug around, big enuff to hold clothes,food,toys for 2 weeks. hmmmm this was going to be a challenge.Waded thru all our bags big,small,medium,large and finally we found one that kinda sorta met our requirements. The bag had this sore look of " No, I refuse to carry all that weight"

but tuff luck buddy I said, u r the "chosen" one.One task done and striked from our list of things to do. Preparing excel sheets, color coding and formatting guess runs in the family. .But Naveen (my knight in shining armour) was happy using a very basic mode, so it was left in my able hands to color code, change fonts, add some zing to the otherwise boring sheet. I was in charge of making the "To carry" list, which in 2 days I realised was running into sheets, so had to use some Vlookup for quick reference (highlighted just to show off). Now that plans were getting firmed up. There lay the ultimate challenge convincing all of our destination, We were sure it wud turn into a Ooty-discussion :-) but neverthless this too had to be striked from our list. So here goes the fone conversation "Amma, heheheh Naveen here hehahehhe, nothing much here oh yea we planning a Norway trip.huh!!! no no pleasant weather, many years have been thinking. what what ?? line is not clear...ok talk later bye" phew!!!! that wasn't bad, it was smooth. Jackson dada was crooning in our heads "Smooth operator" but that was only 1 hurdle. the main was still left....convincing ourselves and parents that Travelling with a 16mth is not a big deal. Many options were given. leaving Adi in parents place, not going at all since it wud be freezing But Google was giving us some different picture, we read up nearly all topics n events related to Norway, it's 10year old weather forecast, the coming 10year forecast, the airline documents, blogs of ppl travelled to Norway. Food in Norway.U name it and we, I in particular wud have read it. With Google to support us we were an informed traveller.Taking decision that was not just whimsical but actually do-able & most importantly enjoyable.

Next was getting a visa for Adi and me. Naveen luckily already had a Schengen visa (so some money saved) mother & son flew to Chennai, got our passport stamped and got back on the next flight. But the travel to Chennai & the attitude of the Embassy staff...an Indian that too was bloody pathetic will give details in a later blog. So things were getting struck from our list at a racy pace. It is surprising how you will think of hundred things you might need in that 1 week which u probably never use in one year.Now for our biggest & final hurdle the packing. I wud religiously dump stuff on the bed, things that needed to be carried..crossing it off from my color coded list.The packing duty was left to Naveen. We were carrying just 2 pants, few tops and 3/4th of the suitcase was filled with Adi's clothes, his medicines, diapers.phew!!! does a 16month really need so much? but we were carrying clothes to suit all seasons. Sleeveless, full sleeves, shorts, full pants. Jackets.Caps...wow!!!! Oh yea in midst of this called the airlines to ensure we get a bassinet seat. AS an FYI always remember if ur kid is less than 2 year try and confirm your seats much before.so that you don't have to suffer later.

Shoes bought, diapers packed, print outs taken (of our itinerary, hotel booking, car booking etc) we were ready to fly.

The details of the our awesome trip will be posted in the next blog. Since I have delayed my writing for so long. It is hard to remember all those names of places we travelled. Will refresh my memory a bit and re-live those beautiful days yet again. Cya in a while.

Passing thoughts

2008-04-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

I shudder to think what is it that we are leaving for tomorrow's gen,apart from latest gizmos which in anycase becum
obsolete in another year.
With every passing gen, our loyalty to earth,to this planet is slowly diminishing....almost like "give a damn" attitude
nah seriously think about it, our forefathers left us ample land, plenty of trees, vast open spaces.While our parents and their parents
in order to protect the next gen, that is us decided to widen the road for faster transport, increased the no of houses, moved out of joint living for a more selfish nuclear family, cut down trees to accomodate the growing poplulation.was there a thought, a planning into this unorganised growth. Clearly NO, what did we do...we took over added more ACs, smaller computers, smaller mobiles, smaller cars introduced more gadgets to make lives simpler.

but honestly...has our life becum any simpler? and how much can u simplify. We have becum a more stress prone society provoked at minute trivial issues. Where are we heading? Where do we really want to escape?

In the bargain not only have we lost out an eco system which co-existed for billions of years but we endagered species never to be seen again except in our memories. The effect of all our creation is glaring in our face.
Global warming is no longer a myth created by publicity seeking fools but is evident so clearly. glaciers melting,water level rising.
I dread to think in another 15-20years that our children will no longer know what was Kilimanjaro or Antartica?
We need to act & act NOW to protect our earth,the only home we know.

Of Wantons & Idlis

2008-03-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

"truly global" this is the new buzzword all around, but what does it really mean? can we really show our ignorance by asking such blatant questions?
so here is my take on it...for the less informed. (I don't mean this as a jibe)

"Truly global" the meaning, the ,myths, the origin, the slang
1. Your dressing sense "sucks" and friends/family don't want to hurt ur sentiments (if u have any) and since it's hard to categorise bad dressing. "Truly global" style fits in well
u r happy with the label, bu t since it sounds cool & hip-hop u don't really want to ask wht the hell does it really mean? My English teacher always told me learn the meaning of "euphemism", now I understand why :-)

2.You are a hard core rice eating,sambhar loving mallu from the mallu land of Kerala
but when you reach US of A, pastas & burgers becum a regular affair. You even eat dosa served in a frightfully expensive Indian restaurant with fork & knife and 10 other cutlery kept on your table. Now that is truly global. While attacking the dosa you make an occasional dig about the "villagers" on the next table polishing off the vada sambhar with their hand.How "LS" can people be? (LS=Low in style)

3. A scientist from Hyderbad braggin to his colleagues about greatness of science and NextGen technology, all set to cross the 7 rivers to fulfill his dream of working on foreign soil (even if it is Bangladesh)breaking a coconut to ward off evils on his journey.
hmmm did someone stop to check the science behind breaking the coconut?

4. Mix & Match, no I don't mean just wearing a kurta on jeans or Bindis on tank-tops. Even cuisine these days are going places..literally!!! caviar with Idli chutney, bolognese with desi daru. some of the creations are a gastronomic delite tho.

5. When you find it difficult to realise who is the majority community in a state or country :-) wonder in the US if the mexicans,chinese and Indians are taking over?
probably very soon the Americans might be missing and will come under the minority sect who knows!!!!

6. When your kids know the location/food/people of other countries better than his own

7. You know many languages but your mother tongue is not one of them :-( sadly true

I realise this is a big topic, I might not do justice in only one post...So watch out for more!!!! until then Adios,Amigo,Sayonara,Shabba Khair.
do I sound "global" or what???

On the other side

2008-03-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

"Money,Money,Money in this rich man's world" croons ABBA from my radio set. It was quite eerie....nahhhhh not coz the song was sung in some weird Ramsay brother movie kinda style, but it was my exact thought at that exact moment. Funny right! do I reflect the song? or does the song reflect my state? hmmmmmm

One has all this noble intention a la Ms Universe style, "I want to change the world,remove poverty,bring about change,charity" blah blah!!!. The only problem tho... I don't have that crown,neither the money!:-) Acceptance of reality is something I never had a problem with. Success to survival!

I am on the other side of life, ufffffff nothing very dramatic just that when you HIT 30, your clock gets into some kind of panic mode. All those dreams yet to materialise. I thought by 30 I will atleast be a "lakhpati" but I know for sure I have a very "lucky -pati" :-) oh yes, another downside for touching the 30,as the humor quotient in you reduces you resort to sidey corny one liners :-) so if you see someone saying some really bad PJ, don't fret you know his/her problem. Long back during my school days (sounds ancient) there used to be an ad of Jitendra promoting 30+ wonder if those medicines are still in stock? or did Jitu bhai himself buy out all the stock?What is it about this magic no?Now that I have openly admitted to myself and to the world that I am 30+ I really don't feel like some old hag either. Or was I supposed to?
I am enjoying this phase of life, settled with family, a hyperactive kid to ensure I get my daily dose of exercise & workout to keep looking 30 forever :-) if not 20..siiiighhhhhh
a wisdom that comes with age, A maturity to handle all that life has to offer.Not that when I was 29 I lacked any of these or within one year of hitting 30 I suddenly developed these virtues. It is just that I feel I am the enlightened" one.

I can truly say... like wine life only gets better!

"Maids" of honour

2008-03-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

Demanding,Authoritative...no I am not talking about Mother in laws
but of the problems we all share (or so I think) the ever increasing tribe of maids. Without them neither will the house run nor our lunchtime conversations. The constant bickerings and bitchings with friends & colleagues over hot cuppa or lunch is always a stress buster. Bad day at work, ego clash with boss...no problem you can alway get away with one word "maid".
"sorry buddy bad day today, maid giving me trouble". Ego clashes forgotten, bad feelings drained. One becomes sympathetic,empathetic towards your worry. Coz it is no longer your lone battle, but one where every one fights it silently.

"Didi advance 5000Rupaiya.bacche ka fees, pati ka bimari" the demands for advances never end, but over a time one can create a book of reasons--for the advance! the common thread tho is they always harp on the emotional string. Either your conscience pricks you or the nagging worry "what if" shantabai discusses your life with ur neighbour. Whatever your reasons 8/10 you will end up giving the advance..some never to see it back, some to write it off after much fighting.

The other day, during one of my emotional outbursts at the clear disparity between "have" and "have-nots" I started wondering what if my maid got into the "have" brigade?? then I will move into "have-not" maid :-) This got me thinking...do I really want social & economic empowerment in true sense for my maid, or for that matter for the weaker section? am I just being a hypocrite?
or do I really know what I want?

The reason we all get away paying maids cheap, (I mean this is relative terms..ie if you compare the cost to a maid in US or Europe) is because of this huge economic divide that exists. We can suppress their desire for a better life by blaming it on their illiteracy,their ignorance.BUT they are ensuring a better future for their children. OR So I hope & pray.when that happens!!! (this day is not too far off)god bless all of us, we will be left to do things on our own, no more shantabai or kantaben's to pick up plates, sweep the floor or ask for advances.

Are we ready for life without maids yet? I say, better start preparing ourselves, think of alternative conversations to entertain us. :-)

Kanfused

2008-03-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

of the many states man "can" be in, I love the state of confusion.I guess coz I am or look like I am in one nearly 90% of the time.
I am not a writer,nor a poet actually not even an aspiring writer :-( then why the heck did I create this blog...no idea!!! guess was too tempted to try my hand at something
especially after seeing couple of my close friends and cousins writing so beautifully.
what I forgot in the enthu of writing tho was, neither did I have creativity that was waiting to be unleashed (sadly true) nor do I have the command over this funny language called English.
Toot Toot!!! but try I will. Never say never...or so I read somewhere,someplace.