Ferrara...the renaissance city

We did a very short trip to Ferrara, reaching there around 3:30 pm and coming back by 8:00 pm. Ferrara is truly a treasure chest of art of history as the tour guide quotes. It has a bygone era atmosphere and picturesque little streets that make you walk around and see more of. Ferra is also one of the cities with the highest number of bicycles in the world.

out side the cathedral

We walked from Ferrara railway station towards Palazzo Municipale to the Piazza Cattedrale. Town The Cathedral is way back from the 12th century and has an awe inspiring facade. This includes Romanesque style, sculptures from the New Testament and the Gothic style upper part. The interior has undergone changes across centuries and includes valuable art from various eras. The cathedral museum also includes robes of priests and other cathedral silverware and finery.



A short walk from the cathedral is the Castello Estense, to save time we did not go in, but the exterior itself is magnificent and offers a nice peek into history. The cannon displayed at the entrance, those small artillery windows and the mechanic castle door would bring out your child-like curiosity to know and see more.

Entrance of  Castello Estense

Gates of Castello Estense

From the castle we decided to take a look at the 'Renaissance Addition' as suggested by the guide we picked from the tourist information center at the Castello Estense. We walked by Palazzo di Giulio d'Este - this includes different architectural elements like the marble portal, brickwork in arch vaults of windows and a small balcony in a mezzanine position. Next was Palazzo dei Diamanti. The building is made of 8500 stones cut to in the shape of diamonds, and has a diagonal view from across the street. Inside this is a bygone era setting, with lush green courtyard, flanked by dilapidated walls. There is an impressive exhibition area in the ground floor as well.

Castello Estense

Piazzale Diamanti

Inside Piazzale Diamati

Right across the lane is the 'Orto Botanico' a small botanical garden maintanied by the University of Ferrara. They have an impressive list of plants including plankton, hibiscus, lotus,  varieties of aloe vera, cactii, and also carnivorous plants. Our daughter Avani enjoyed looking at the turtles here. They are said to have about 700 species of plants. If you take the exit on the other side you would reach Parco Massari, a beautiful little park with an ancient welcoming tree at the entrance and some lovely fountains. An amazing place to be in summer, if you have little kids travelling with you.

Carnivorous plants at Orto Botanico

Parco Massari - ancient tree at entrance

Parco Massari - founrains

In the interest of time, we decided to move to the Le Mura - Walls of Ferrara next. It is a walk of around 1.5 kms from Parco Massari. No sight on the way to the walls will be any less inspiring. Every little street has a story to tell, a structure to show-off and a sight to behold. The walls stretch for nine kilometers and surround Ferrara to a great extent. 

Le Mura di Ferrara

Most significant periods of Italian military architecture can be found here. The walls overlook a beautifully designed park, on side and an refreshing green zone, full of huge trees- a great jogging/walking path on the other. The walls stretch about 9kms, and I must say has been well maintained.

walking path near 'Walls of  Ferrara'

Ferrara has so much to offer, it is underrated from a tourism perspective. We are looking forward to more trips to Ferrara to explore and enjoy the city further.

Thanks to www.ferrarainfo.com for publishing a great tour guide 'Vist Ferrara and its province'

Masinagudi -2012

Jeev's parents were visiting us for Diwali and we were looking for a place nearby for a one day outing. Coorg was our first choice, but unfortunately the room bookings did not work out and a week before the actual plan we were left with no place to go.

That is when I recalled the place suggested by my friend Lakshmi, Forest hills resort, Masinagudi. In the matter of hours the plan was finalised, rooms booked and we started off. My iPhone was still new and the craze of using google maps was in full swing. To our surprise not once did we miss a single lane, till we reached this jungle resort. Hail Google Maps!!!

We reached there on the day before Diwali [those were the only days when rooms were available]. To top it being festival days it was like having the resort to ourselves. We stayed on the twin tree houses. It was truly a jungle experience.

After lunch and a small photo session, we decided to take a tour of the Mudumalai Forest. Not much of animal sighting, all we could spot were a few deers, bisons, peacock, elephants and langurs. Back in the resort, Jeev and I played badminton for a while, had some tea and snacks and then we thought of just relaxing in the room while dinner gets ready.

The rooms are a bit spread out and a little 5 minute walk from the reception area. We did not imagine that the walk would be in pitch dark. All we had was one of the house keepers guiding us with his torch. And his stories would just not end. This place being right outside the Mudumalai Forest Range has occasional visitors as wild elephants, beers and lesser harmful ones like deers are often seen right next to the fence. He would suddenly flash his light into the dark and show us a pair of radium lights staring back at us and say, you see the deers often come here. I could barely make out if it was deer or someone from the feline family trying to check out on its prey. The 5 minute walk looked like eternity.

Once we reached the room, we convinced the housekeeper to serve food in the room. Another 10 minutes in the darkness was close to unimaginable for all of us then. Well our tree house had its own share of adventures to offer us. We had left some biscuits in the room, which were now close to the door and been nibbled upon too. We had some more jungle rodents visiting us, another call to the housekeeper and he rushed back with a rat trap. And in between all this a baby bat also flew right into the room. Well we had signed up for a jungle experience and here it was absolute silence apart from the sound of crickets and a rhythmic drum beat supposedly from a far off temple where Diwali celebrations were on.

The creaky tree house was truly fun. We slept peacefully not knowing that a tusker had decided to pay us visit in the middle of the night. We saw the aftermath the next morning. Couple of branches were victims to its hunger and a stronger smelling evidence was right next to it ;)

The next day we spent our time in the resort until lunch time, and then started our journey back.

In spite of all the jungle drama and a little worry that Jeev's parents may not be enjoying the rustic feel, we all had a great time. The very feeling of breathing fresh air leaves you with energy enough to sustain you until the next trip :)

I would strongly recommend this trip to all our nature loving friends.

Amazing Sri Lanka...

This year's anniversary trip was to the neighbouring island country Sri Lanka. Our first international holiday so to say...Jeev and I were pretty excited, as we started planning our itinerary. Courtesy MakeMyTrip our flight was booked. Thanks to the National Geographic site and multiple other blogs and travel sites, we could plan our trip without an agent. We have done this in our travel earlier, but doing this for a holiday outside India was challenging...we loved every minute of our trip :)

We started on 15th August, and before we realized we are in air it was time to land...and lo we were already in Sri Lanka. Hot and humid Colombo was considerably tolerable given that we landed at around 11 pm and reached our place of stay about 12 midnight. We had booked the cab from airport until "Indra Regent Hotel" through the hotel, so this part of the trip was taken care of. The cab driver had been an officer with the Sri Lanka Marine Cops and had been to Mumbai for a few months. He could barely contain his excitement while talking about India, cricket and old Bollywood classics. He was also part of this Hindi Songs Club in Colombo. Well we realized that we were fleeced soon enough, coz we shelled out 2700 LKR for this ride whereas on our way back, we paid only 1200 LKR...we did get smart through the stay and the art of bargaining just got better :). About the hotel, this is strictly a place to spend minimal transit time between your journey.

Colombo Fort Railway station

On 16th we started early to take the train at 7:00 to Kandy. We had booked the exporail tickets online. The distance from Indra Regent Hotel till the Colombo fort train station is only about 3 kms, and the rickshaw charged us 300 LKR. It was raining and was really difficult to find a rickshaw at this price. I had to wait at the station for a good 45 mins. while Jeev figured out the counter to get the ticket. The language problem kicks in, not everyone speaks English. While waiting I realized the tight security in all the major places. We had seen this on our way from airport too, a well guarded place must say. I really liked the cool bicycles that the commandos were using to take turns to go around the Colombo Fort to ensure the security of the place.

Temple of Tooth - Kandy

As we stepped onto the Colombo Fort railway station, it was like a flashback in India. The station had the old world charm and to add to it our train was pulled into the station by a Steam Engine. The 2 hour 30 mins ride to Kandy was nice, the last 30 mins especially gives you good glimpses of the terraced tea gardens. We spend a few hours in Kandy town and saw the "Temple of Tooth" and "Kandy Lake" before moving onto our resort in "Deltota". The Temple of Tooth was well kept and I noticed a mix of south Indian and Chinese influence in the carvings. Their way of praying also seemed very similar to ours.

Deltota is 30 kms from Kandy town and we got a good bargain of 1600 LKR for an auto ride. As we climbed up the hills the temperature dropped considerably and the view kept getting better. We stopped in between to click as many pics as we could, the expanse of green hills was extremely soothing. We stayed at "Mandira Taylors Hill Bungalow", a 120 year old colonial Bungalow, at the edge of the hill, deep inside a plantation. You could hear the wind gushing all the time. My first impression about the place and the care takers was not that great, but this changed completely in the next 2 days and at a point I wanted to extend our stay. If you go there do not miss the "Lamprais","Sambhol and Rice Hoppers". "Kandy Tea" all cooked by Mr. Gamini.


We took many walks around the Bungalow  to the Sandalwood Project nearby, Deltota Town and also to Galaha. Green and fresh air were the biggest advantage of being in Kandy, yet away from the regular tourist spots. We were drenched in rain a couple of times, but that did not deter us from going out again. We also found an Indian shopkeeper from Tirupur, I brought a Sri Lankan saree from his shop and he gave me a nice discount too :)

In the 2 days we figured out how to reach our next destination "Nuwara Eliya" and the bus to take us from "Deltota" to "Peradeniya Junction". On 18th we started at 5 to catch the bus, the security escorted us until we reached the main road. As we walked we could see the dawn approaching, the transformation from a silhouette of trees and hills to the pale orange of the dawn was beyond description. Though not a trek this short walk of about 2 kms was a memorable one.



As we approached Peradeniya Junction, we could see The Peradeniya University buildings stretched over an expanse of a few 100 acres. It was absolutely magnificent and full of manicured lawns and huge trees. This time we booked tickets in the observatory car. This is the last compartment in the train with huge glass windows and a full view of the rear, perfect for tourists to take pictures. This journey of 4 hours to Nanu Oya is a nature treat, especially the last 1 hour. At a point you only see hills until the horizon and all full of green, with of course the ugly mobile tower once a while to spoil the show. We passed by stretches after stretches of tea estates, water falls, a reservoir, those long roads placed beautifully between hills, tiny temples with multicoloured figurines decorating the roof...the list was long.

We took the state transport to go from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya. It got much colder by then and had also started to rain, we only had 1/2 a day to spend here, so we decided not to rest. We spend some time in Nuwara Eliya town, the botanical gardens, golf course, and some old colonial buildings. Our stay here was in "Hill View Resort". This was about 2 kms from the town and was up on the hill, we were actually amidst clouds :) I couldn't believe this. We could barely see things a few meters from us...it was heavenly.

The same night we started on our journey back to Colombo. As we waited for our train at "Nanu Oya", it was nice to interact with a few the locals. They helped us find the right compartment. We were back in Colombo by 7 am. We spent time at the Galle sea face, and headed straight for our last aim this vacation...shopping!!!  We shopped like crazy at Odelle, picked clothes, tea, souvenirs and so on.

Contented by the 4 days of nature and shopping we headed back to the airport. The cab driver this time too was a big fan of India. His son had been to Bangalore for a cricket tournament and wanted to know all about our vada, religion, different states...the list was long.

A word of caution to all who plan to use credit card for their transactions. We got messages from our bank stating that the card was used in a high risk location and that it would be replaced. I did not realize that I had to sms to get this done, and in the meanwhile my card was already skimmed and swiped in the US. Thanks to citibank for recognizing the fraud and for reissuing my card.

I would want to go back again...the northern and eastern provinces could not fit into our agenda this time...Jeev are you listening??

12 months ...12 trips...what a year that was!

2010..what a year that was! Every month we had a trip and most of it was planned just a week in advance.
The year started with a bang with our first big trip post wedding...and the choice of destination and timing were the best...Goa and my birthday. This has been our best holiday so far...sunset at Sinquerim beach will be remembered forever...and the ride all the way from Margao to Panjim and back was no less than an adventure. If you have never been to Goa..you have missed a lot already...
Then came other trips like our home trip, Kerala trip et all...family and travel were the highlights here. May was the time to go to another beach..ya I agree not really the best time to go to Om Beach @ Gokarna, but our elite gang had their own plans...We had pure fun at the beach and one of my best trips with friends would remain Gokarna...
While our parents were here we had two short trips, one to see the city of the sword of Tipu Sultan, Srirangapatna. History came alive at the different monuments there. Second was a day trip to Banerghatta zoo. After being in Bangalore for 5 years, I finally got a chance to be there. The safari was amazing. Seeing the tiger, lion, bear and white tiger at less than 5 feet from the safari van is a humbling experience.

The next big trip was to Vythiri, Wayanad in August...to celebrate our 1st anniversary. It was the first time that we let ourselves be pampered by the comfort offered at the resort. The view of the forest from our cottage teamed with the sound of the stream flowing right next to it was heavenly. It was raining all the while and this made the experience all the more special.
We had short trips on our own, Ujjeri being the one from my office. Isa and I became very good friends thanks to this trip. Jeev had his own away day at Royal Palms and was happy to have participated in the war cry :)

Velankanni trip was more road than sight seeing or the beach. I was happy to visit the shrine though.

Finally in December we went to Pondicherry to celebrate the New Year! This was fun again, bike rides, following the map and Auroville too...

Hope 2011 has much more in store for us!!!

Majestic Mysore!

Jeev's parents were here, and we planned this trip to Mysore. The November weather was just right for the trip. We started at around 7, stopped at Kamat's for breakfast. I can't stop admiring this place, amidst all the crowd and chaos, your order reaches your table on time, in good quality.


We went to the Mysore Palace. I have been here twice before, its grandeur leaves me awestruck. We were inside the palace, admiring the murals, the ceiling, glass paintings, pillars, the doors the furniture...and what not. Its nice to see that the place is well maintained.

The next halt was the Mysore zoo. It sprawls across 6.2 acres of land. The first animals to welcome you are the silently meditating giraffes. I craned my neck to get a good view like a 6 year old. The variety of birds was an interesting watch as well. We spent nearly 2 hours seeing the white peacock, white tiger, snakes, crocodiles, hippopotamus and so on. Most of the animals looked healthy too. The sponsorship of animals is a great idea, but having the board right in front of the cage is an annoyance as is the cage itself.

We went ahead for lunch, and then came an interesting visit. This was to a handicrafts emporium run by the government of Karnataka. The huge Ganesha Idol at the entrance, was priced at around 3 lacs. We saw a dining table worth 2 lacs. We were curious to know why the table was so expensive. We were also allowed into their workshop upstairs, the speciality of the table was again the pattern carved on it. Each of the colours used were from a different kind of wood. The detailing of the art left me speechless. Most of this finds value abroad.

This majestic trip thus concluded...

Vailankanni road trip...

I call it road trip as we spent more than 24 hours on the road, and about 17 hours at the destination.
Bad vehicle and irritating driver were the start points of this trip. Broken taillight, dirty seats and horrible condition were the highlights of this cab that we had hired.

We started from Bangalore at 6:30 am on 27th November 2010. The wait just before Hosur, to get the paper work done, itselt took more than 30 mins. We were having breakfast close to Krishnagiri at around 10:30. From Krishnagiri to drive straight to Salem, Namakkal, Trichy, Tanjavur and finally on the way to Nagapattanam you would take a diversion to go to Vailankanni. The whole onward journey took us about 13.5 hours, yes we reached our hotel in Vailankanni past 7:45 pm.

A tiring journey, I would advise you to take a sleeper or train or at least a vehicle that can go beyond 120 km/hr if you plan this trip from Bangalore. We stayed at VPN residency, it was a good hotel, the only saving grace for the days travel.

I wanted to go and see the sun rise, as I have never been to a beach on the east coast. I woke up only after 6 am to see the sun shining at me :) (which I did not regret after seeing the beach). We had breakfast, and went to the Shrine of Basilica". The church was grand, and the shrine well maintained. It was not crowded, so we spent some good time within the church premises. After this we went to "Our Lady's Tank", I must admit I could not see anything from the small holes. Some said it was water, others said they saw a cross. I failed to see either.

We marched to the beach. My cousins and Jeev were excited about having fried fish there. The way to the beach is extremely crowded, with a lot of shops. I was still expecting to play on the beach. Just before you hit the sand, you get to see a lot of tiny shops displaying raw fish, marinated with spice and ready to be fried. The surrounding did not make it attractive though. The beach I must say is not the cleanest one I have seen. There was garbage everywhere. I could not stand the stink of all of it put together with the smell of raw fish. Nausea made me run back to the shops, to avoid the sick feeling.

On our way back we had some fun in the vehicle. Our driver uncle reached a record 90 km/hr speed and we rejoiced. Jeev was renamed Raj by my cousin's son (nicknamed Koutons). The memory of this trip would be incomplete if I dont quote few of our talks here. Koutons says "This man wont allow me to yawn properly" after our driver uncle jams breakes at the last min for the umpteenth time. We had some song and dance in the vehicle as well :). Apart from the church and the fun we had on the way back, the trip was not one of my great outings.

...a learning experience!

This was the follow up trip, of my earlier blog "Motivation is the outcome of Frustration", yes some of us decided to accept an offer to vising Selco Labs and see innovation first hand.
After a tiring journey of 9+ hours we reached Ujjire, near Dharmasthala (Karnataka). After a quick check-in at the hotel, we started off to meet some of the customers of Selco. We met three happy customers happy to show us the solar light installations in their little homes. There is no electric supply here. They rely on the Solar panel to light up their homes. The basic installation containing 1 light and 6 LEDs costs them 14, 500 and the loan EMI comes up to 330 Rs a month at the rate of 11% p.a.
Most of us enjoy electricity at our homes at subsidised rates and misuse it. How many of us would be ready to give off the subsidy, and use some greener energy at home? Forget going green, for the sake of the subsidy given to us, let us use electricity only as much as we require.
I experienced "Athithi Devo Bhavah!" first hand, at the homes of these customers. They offered us some sweet for being there, which would perhaps shaken their daily budget (remember they earn for the day). The exemplary service provided by Selco needs to be highlighted here. The Selco representatives, reach out to their prospects try to understand their problems (read requirement gathering) and propose a product (read software) most suited to them (read customizing). How many of us software engineers know of the end user using our software, and if it really makes their life any simple?? Innovation is embedded into the system. In one particular instance the sale representatives, realized that the customers were finding it difficult to get loans to buy the solar equipment. They suggested Selco deposits an amount equivalent to the price of the equipment in the bank as guarantee, and as the customers pay off the loan Selco can withdraw an equivalent of the amount from the deposit.
This is social entrepreneurship, not merely preached but followed passionately!

Hot and Humid Hogenekkal!

My parents were visiting us, and we decided to go to Hogenekkal for a short trip. We booked easy cabs vehicle, the drive was super boring, it took us about 4 hours to reach there.


The first sight was not really appealing. Dad went ahead and commented, if we were to see this muddy water while walking under the scorching sun, we would rather not hire a cab and travel this far. I was dissapointed. This was the first trip that I planned for and wasnt working as planned. The time we went was not really the best time to visit Hogenekkal.

We spoke to one of the coracle riders, and got a deal for Rs 400 to go see the falls and get back. This was inclusive of a bit of walking along the river side. As we were about to get into the funny round thing, I could hear a policeman calling out to people who were playing in the river. He was saying, all the rain from the previous days had raised the water levels, and that it was no longer safe in there. I almost went pale, looked at Jeev and told him, lets not go. Am not sure how convinced he was of the safety, he pointed me to others who were going in coracles as well, and told me only swimming was risky.

We started our ride,the sight was nice, but the sun was irritating. We soon reached a point from where you would have to walk for a while and then take the coracle again to reach the falls. So far it was only the sun, coracle gives u the "Chinna Chinna Asai ..." feel though. Jeev was tempted to eat fried fish that they were selling close to the river banks.
After all the sun and exhausting walk, the sight of the falls was simply superb. It was soo refreshing for me to stop admiring it. I sat on a rock, my feet being massaged by the water currents. It was such a relazed feeling. On our way back the water levels had risen further, though there were no rains out there, the water currents were strong enough to sway the coracle away from its riders control. I left it on God, to bring us back to the shore.

Fresh fish served at a restaurant near by was yummy!!!
I wish to go back again but when its not so sunny for sure.

Vythiri Resorts..Wayanad

We saw this on the travel channel and the plan was made for our first anniversary...and the place did not dissappoint us one bit. A resort tucked in the forest...with the stream flowing right under the room , and crickets for background score.

The whole resort is designed around this flowing stream, with rooms designed such that the balcony opens out into the jungle with the stream seperating the two. The rooms are built to match the traditional standards of a kerala home, complete with tiled roof and the small porch. Wooden furniture too seems to be from the era of the Royal family.

The same stream separtes the restaurant from the rooms and to cross it is a nice hanging bridge. All in all a jungle experience. The stay often includes an ayurvedic massage and a trek to the nearby cofee plantations. The trek was amazing, we saw the fresh cofee beans ready for harvest, the silver oak to provide shade and a whole strech of green mountains. Our visit was during the monsoon and the view of the western ghats was breath-taking.

The service was beyond doubt the best we have seen. The staff is empowered to take on the spot decision to provide the guests a hassle free stay. I am waiting to go back to Vythiri...

Environment Day...

At Jeevs office they have a group of people who work towards making the planet greener, by planting trees every weekend. Last Saturday(June 5th) coincided with the world environment day, and they decided to plant trees along the outer ring road. This being a convenient location for us, we decided to join hands for this cause.

This also made us start our weekend early, for us early means 7 O clock ;) We reached there at around 8:15. People were already in action. We started off carrying saplings from a car to the median, where they were to be planted. Every one seemed to be self motivated and were busy digging holes, carrying saplings, tree guards, water, twines et all... I did the less strenuous task of carrying saplings, removing them from their covers and helping with fixing the tree guards. Jeev did the more macho task of digging holes...

We managed to plant about 5 saplings. It was truly a satisfying experience, especially as we took the U-turn and rode past all the saplings that were planted that day.

On our way back as we came by my favourite "Old airport road" we thought someone might have planted these trees way back, and we are kinda repaying this debt by planting some more...

Gokarna!

Scene 1: Coffee Corner discussion..

Its been so long since we all went for an outing...lets plan for 1. The usual coffee corner gang rack their brains..places are suggested..debated..dates are planned and re-planned..people keep joining and dropping out..and finally the plan is in place...Venue: Gokarna, Date: 8-9 May 2010, People: Elite ++..*++ refers to family and friends where applicable..

Scene 2: Packed bags, traffic and heat!

10 of us packed in a Sumo set out for Gandhinagar to board the bus...(Deepu and PJP came directly to the bus stop). Friday evening traffic is as bad as ever, plus the tiring temperature rise...and to top it all the Sumo kinda gives up somewhere close to Residency road...Sita and I start imagining ourselves scampering for autos amid honking traffic while the stronger of the lot push the Sumo to a start. We reached the bus stop before time...yes we had full 8 mins to spare ;)

Our first halt on the way at Kamats for dinner at around 11... All 12 of us settle around a round table in the A/c part..and the orders start to roll..the list is big and it had to be coz most of us had eaten only the jilebi that Vishal got for us since evening. There comes a small figure shouting..Sreekumar Sreekumar...it takes me a good 10 secs to register that this was the name of our travels..he wants us to finish soon when we had no order on the table. Few orders come up and few of us are left with hope alone. There comes the bus guy again..and the smartest of the lot tells him "Bhaiyya saare juice cancel kar do"...he leaves as if to comprehend that as "aap chalo, humare seats cancel kar do"...


Scene 3: sand and water!
Fighting the centrifugal force (ours was a sleeper and we would roll from one side to the other at ever turn throughout the ghats)...we finally reach Gokarna! Namaste Cafe mein humara swagat ..is not really worth mentioning..I would save that for another review blog of mine. We settle in our huts..hogg lots of breakfast and head straight to the beach.

The beach is beautiful. Its comparitively clean and has a few visitors. The beach gets its name OM from its shape. Looks like a giant "3".
We play a lot in water...play with sand, made 2 jalparis.. I am super scared to go inside the water... gather courage and venture, twice...and both times get my system cleaned with salt water. The second being especially scary with 3 back to back waves.

And with this was the time when we start donating stuff to the sea...starting from 'shades' to hair bands to cell phones.

We come back clean and the sand off ourselves...and ya the bathrooms were are dirty after this (guys remember this joke?).This is followed by lunch, a walk on the beach and a trip to Gokarna town.

I had to stay back coz of my watering eyes :'(

Scene 4: Tides on one side, us, food and drinks, a cow and a dog!

...we decide to have some liquid diet on the beach.

Now I can’t disclose all jokes about philosophy jhaad ne wale, animal lovers, gou baba or goose bums and turning around cows ok...kuch suna???

Scene 4: Sunrise at OM beach!

I do not want to miss the rising sun and wake Jeev to join me. Deepu wants to jog..the 3 of us set for the beach...the sea is not calm as usual..perhaps a side effect of the new moon last night. We have a nice walk along the beach went over to the other side and saw the sun rise...it was marvellous to see the small orange ball rise up from the mountains !

We meet Vishal and Shikha on our way back, and now decide to walk westwards towards Kudle beach...for a darpok like me...this walk was no less than an adventure...imagine walking on a tiny path along the mountain side, with a roaring sea and rocky shore on the other side...with slippers on... Thanks for the breathtaking view...I was speechless...

We already have a couple of business ideas and a financer for this place…

Scene 5: Kudle beach!
We take autos to the beach this time. We meet a "Tourist friendly" auto driver. He plucs a fruit for us, which tastes like dates, plucks figs and also shows us a fish bone..the size of my palm... we also see a peacock out in the wild

This beach is nice and refreshing, but for the sun!...the beach boys(PJP, Harish, Kiran)remain in the water most of the time, Jeev, Vishal, Mani and Rahul..are also in the water for lesser time. Rest of us prefer to munch at the Gokarna restaurant. Most of our energy has drained, but the sea breeze and the Beach boys' antics are refreshing.

Scene 6: Packed bags, no traffic, no pollution, only heat!

Back in the bus, lots of heat, some mango showers and some soulful singing my Sita and Mani....ya ya and rest of us as well in chorus :)


Scene 7: Back to life as usual...with memories of this trip to cherish forever.

Guys did I miss any other interesting part…please feel free to add in your comments.

Hogenekkal trip

This trip was not really well researched and well planned...

While mom dad were here this time, I decided to take them to Hogenekkal falls. Dad wasnt too happy with the idea of the trip. He doesnt really like to be seated idle for a long time.

We began on a good note...munching on my sandwiches..then it was already about 3 hours on the road, and we were not yet close to the spot. Finally we reached there only to be welcomed, by brignt sunlight, sultry weather, and flowing muddy waters...

Dad was annoyed, and even asked me...'Did we really have to come so far to see this?' :D We then realized that to see the actual falls, we had to go in a coracle..walk for a while and then take the coracle again...all in the hot sun..I did not have my umbrella, cap or sun screen to my rescue. All I had was a pair of sun glasses.
I was feeling dizzy and low on BP too :( We finally made to the spot, and the sight made up for all the minuses of the trip so far. It was amazing, I only wish we were go there when the weather were a little supportive. The coracle ride was interesting and adventurous too, coz on our way back, the person rowing the coracle, didnt really have to do anything, we were at the mercy of the water currants.

All in all, not one of my best outings, but I would want to go to this place again.

Ooty coonor trip

I have been to Ooty umpteen times, but this one was special. Not only because it was our first trip together after being Mr and Mrs. Rajeev, it was a pakka traveller trip.
We planned it in 1 day. Just booked the to and fro bus tickets and off we were.

The bus travel was nice. The food at Kamats in Mysore was perhaps the first thing worth mentioning :) We had North Karnataka thali...Jawalad Roti with butter and moong sabji. I loved it. The whole stretch of Bandipur was nice and green just after the monsoons. We saw some dear, pea-hens, elephants, monkeys and so on. The stretch from Gudalur to Oooty was divine. The hairpin bends leave your head whirring while the tea gardens and tall Eucalyptus trees mesmerize you. I love d to see the setting sun play hide-n-seek between the trees.

We reached Ooty at around 8 pm. Found a place to stay facing the Udagamandalam station. This is the station meant for the small mountain train..yes yes the one on which Chaiyya Chaiyya was shot :D.

The next morning we started our journey from the boat house, which was only about a km from the hotel. The pedal boat ride was fun. The next destination was Coonoor. I had always wanted to go here, coz thats where my mother had spent some of her best days as a kid. I had heard a lot from her, and wanted to see it for myself.

I loved the city for its old-world charm. We took the mountain train to Coonor. The 1 hour ride to cover 19 Kms , is truly worthwhile. The view from the window, was no less than watching the travelogues on travel and living. The tiny squares of vegetable fields, tea gardens, small green houses...and the best of them all, the wild flowers. It was a dreamy ride for us.

We then went to Sims park. It was peaceful, and away from the usual tourist hustle-bustle that Ooty indulges in. We spent a good 1-2 hours there, as we got the news of a new addition to our family, Shreya, jeev's neice was born.
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We decided to walk back to the station, about 2.5 Kms from Sims Park. It was fun. The churches, markets and the people were typical of hill station. To our surprise when we got back to the station, it was deserted. The good part was that there was a soul, perhaps meant only to guide us, at the station masters office. My panic meter raised an alarm, we had to take the bus from Ooty back, that very same night. Lucky enough, we got a bus back. This too was good, for the picture perfect view it has to offer.

Now the last lap, I bet you can never guess where we went. :D the municipal market in Ooty. Jeev promised me to turn veg for life, if he were to get fresh vegetables like they sold there. And me a pakka shopaholic, did some shopping there as well. I brought carrots and grapes :) and some home made Ooty Chocolates.

We could start our return journey at 10. Then came the Sholay "kitne aadmi the..." moment. The bus was halted. It was pitch dark. You could hear an argument from far. I was s*** scared. For a moment I thought our bus had fallen into the valley. I gathered my senses and woke up jeev. He was startled, but was soon ok and tried to console me....and then. The bus door opens. All you hear is boots...tak tak tak tak....and then the light comes up. I wanted to scream aloud no no wait...am ready to shell out all my credit and debit cards. phew!!! It was only the cleaner of the bus, confirming that all was fine. Thanks to the new rule that no buses can ply in the jungle zone between 10pm and 6am, we were stuck right before the jungle. We reached Bangalore only at around 1 pm.

Be it the beauty of nature or the natural fear in me...this is one of most memorable outing for sure!

Karnataka tour -- 2007

It was October 2007. I had moved in with Anusha, so Amma Achan came here to stay with us for a while. I had planned two trips in advance. One to the golden temple at Vellore and another spanning quite a few places of interest in Karnataka.

Our trip to Vellore was of one full day in itself, Amma Achan liked the temple. We then went on our two day trip. We started off with Shravana Belagola, the huge statue of Gomateshwara. We had to climb around 450 steps. I was a little worried that it would be difficult for them. We took small breaks but were finally up there, and the view is so beautiful. The statue reminded me of the poem 'Gumataraya' we had to learn in school.

We went to Belur and Halebid. Though the temples are not in their perfect state, there are some things which amaze you. At Belur there is a huge stone carving of the "Nandi", its a masterpiece, also the bell around the bulls neck is so intricate.

We went to Kukke Subramanya, stayed close to Dharmasthala. The next morning, we had Darshan at Dharmasthala, and then went to Shringeri. Like most of the temlples in Southern India, they seve free meals to the Pilgrims, we too got the chance to do the same. Achan just loved the food.

That was our sight seeing and pilgrimage.

Dubai...the shopping destination

...they were showing the making of the Palm Jumeira in Discovery. Thats when I remembered that a blog on my Dubai Trip has been long overdue. This was in the beginning of 2008. A family trip to my sis's place, ya she stays in Sharjah. The first International flight for my parents and me. It was a long awaited dream for me, to take them there. The entire process of immigration, visa stamping et all, I was a little nervous. Finally we got into our AI flight on 25th Jan 2008, the plan was to celebrate my birthday there.

I was spellbound by seeing the Dubai airport..remember this was my first international trip. We took our own sweet time to go through all that caught our attention, at the immigration counter the officer was pleased to hear we are from Mumbai, he even spoke to Amma in Hindi. We finally finished our first sight seeing of the airpor after an hour, my sis, neice and my bro' in law were waiting for us, they even called us to check if something was wrong.

We were on our way to Sharjah and the roads, the buildings, cars you name it and I had questions for all of them. I spent a fortnight there, and had a great time, except one day I went out to see some place or the other. We went to Corniche the day after, Its a stupendous sight to see date palms in their full glory, right in the middle of the desert.

We also went to the E-max, I am told this is the largest electronics showroom in the whole of Asia. I brought quite a few of the gadgets. We also got some tool sets for Achan.One day we went to see the Carefour outlet in Sharjah. There was also a shop similar to the 1$ shop, where you get everything priced between 1 and 5 Dirhams..what a bargain. I went shopping also at a local mall Al-falah and Sharjah Co-op. In Dubai I did some more shopping at the Lulu hyper market and the Carefour outlet there. The shopping bug showed up only in my credit card bill the next month.

We went on a City Tour of Dubai on one of the days. Malik uncle as my Ammu calls him was our tour guide. He explained the history of the Emirates. Abu Dhabi is the capital of UAE, Sharjah is the cultural capital while Dubai is the financial capital. The ruler is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum . He explained that Sheikh was used as equivalent to 'His Highness', Mohammed the name of the ruler, bin meant 'son of' and 'Al Makhtoum' was the family name . Wow my first few words in Arabic :). We went to Ibn Battuta Mall first. This is to signify the journey undertaken by the famous traveller Ibn Batuta. It has different wings representing China, India, Egypt and a few other countries. I liked the ship and the red dragon effect for the China wing, and the traditional decorated Elephant in the India wing.

Next was the Burj Al Arab, yes the second tallest hotel with a helipad and an amazing sealine as backdrop. We did not go in as the entry itself was almost as expensive as our whole city tour. We saw Burj Dubai under construction. This is the ......
We went next to an Al Madina Souk...it represents the old style of Arabian markets, they play the kind of desert music that adds to the ambience. I felt as if I am walking down the lanes shown in 'Aladdin' (remember potli wale baba that would come in DD1 while we were in school). We also drove down the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah, the biggest land reclamation project undertaken ever.

Next stop was at the Mall of Emirates, this has the biggest indoor snow park in the world.
We went to Gold Souk..yes the Gold Market. How could I come back from Dubai till I had seen if not brought a lot of gold. After coming out of the Souk, my eyes still felt yellowish...so much of Gold at display. That was our citi tour.

The day before I came back we went another shopping spree...at the Global Village where the shopping festival is to be witnessed the most. This as the name suggests, has pavillions of different countries, and they display the best of their wares. From Jordan to Pakistan, Egypt to Singapore, India to Turkey you can just walk it down. I did only a little shopping here, was busy most of the time clicking pics. We had some desert delicacies as well. They were really out of this world.

The only thing I missed was a desert safari...next time I will for sure.

Coorg ...

Deepti'wedding trip to Coorg 25-26th August 2007, that was the only outing that we from our PG Gang went to. After all the planning and replanning, we finally decided to book an indica and go to Coorg. Pinkys friend (now husband) Pravin knew this Cab driver and thats how the plan was close to execution.

The final list of people included Vidya, Pinky, Komal and me. We were ready by around 4:30 am only to realize the cab had not come, also the drivers number was not reachable. Was the plan a huge flop right away??? We kept trying his number, even woke Pravin to check more about the cab driver. He finally came around 5:30, his cell was not reachable as he was out of charge.

We started off cribbing that we were late, but the excitement of the gang finally going out was at its peak. Our first halt was at the famous CCD off Mysore Road, the very look of CCD is so pleasant. The ambience remains same everywhere, be it Mumbai, Pune or Kolkata. Vidya is a huge patron (pun intended) of CCD and loves to feast at the cafe Mocca. After this short break we speeded off past Mysore. We passed the Infy campus, I was so excited about the very thought that I was in front of the INFY CAMPUS, I made the drived stop the cab, got off and try to click as little as I could(hardly 2 snaps which cover only about 2% of one of the buildings)

I had just got my Digicam about 2 weeks before this, was in full josh. My album for this trip includes photos of the road, coconut palms, grass, clouds, stones...to an extent that my friends had to remind me that they too exist, and I should also try clicking homo sapiens for a change.

We went through the Tibetan settlement, it was as if u have entered Tibet. The houses are different, the poople their robes, wind mills wow....after driving for a while you will reach the Namdroling Monastery. I wouldnt attempt describing the splendour of the Monastery, its a treat for a tourist and a perfect place for meditation for a pilgrim. The golden statues of the Buddha, entrall you. The guarding Monsters, Paintings on all sides, and the cloud and angel motiffs on the roof top, each of it has the minutest detailing.

After the monastery, we went to Nisargadhama, you see the Kaveri flowing. We went past the hanging rope bridge, climbed the tree house, sat on an elephant ..well a tiny stone one. We even tried a variety of cow boy hats at the shop there. The drive from here on was a bit long. We went to Abby falls next. The best thing at the falls was that you could feel the droplets on your face. It was so beautiful. I wanted to just close my eyes and feel the falls to the fullest.

After this we went to Marriage hall where we were to meet Deepti. She and her family gave us a warm welcome. We had lunch, went to the hotel and had a nice nap. In the evening we were to again go for a function on the previous day of the wedding. we were all dressed up, Deepti was looking like a 'gombe' (doll in Kannada). We feasted on the traditional Coorg dishes, and had some homemade wine as well. They danced the traditional Coorgi dance.

The next morning, I got up early and went for a walk. It was so refreshing I was in awe of the place, and thought to myself, I will comeback...We got ready again to attend Deepti's wedding. We had a great time there.

We also went to the Omkareshwara temple, and drove back. To mark the end of our trip we went back to the same CCD...oh the trip had come to an end, I was feeling so bad, but the memories of the trip will never come to an end!

a day tour of Bangalore

Amma, Achan my sis and my neice were in Bangalore in October 2005 for a short trip of 3 days. In this I could take them on a quick round of the city in 1 day.

We started around 10 am. The first place I wanted to show off was my workplace, SAP Campus. The Campus sprawls across 21 acres. The reception itself is impressive and the entrance to the "Developers Block" as it was called earlier is grandiose. We have gardens in the interior and glass roof. The Curved Stairs, and the caricature in the coffee area add to the hospitality. Mom Dad and my sis were happy to see the place, and my neice had a great time in the lawn.

We took the road towards whitefield, caught a glimpse of the Satya sai Medical Institute. They were not ready to believe that this was a hospital. We came to Kemp Fort, the 100 Feet Shiva Temple on airport road. Amma was pleased as she had read about this place and now she was there. My neice ammu wanted to play with all the soft toys at Kemp Fort (now Total). She finally picked a small doll for her.

We had a small lunch break and then headed towards Vidhana Soudha the legislative house of Karnataka. Its is admirable. The words "Governments work is Gods Work" at the entrance are Ironical though.

I could only show them the sign boards which read "Way to Cubbon Park" and "Way to Lalbaug". I wouldn't dare to take them there on a weekend ;)

The last spot on the list was the Isckon temple. We had to wait for long as the time for darshan was only from about 3:30 pm. It started to pour and we were half drenched. Ammu enjoyed the rains the most.

A memorable family outing for all of us.

Matheran

Our first PJ outing after TY..would be around October/November 2003. The thing we missed the most was eating dabba together. So we decided to get dabba and go to Matheran...what a plan! Sappu,Mandy,jeev nd me were the only people.


We started quite early, reached Neral, and took the jhuk jhuk gaadi from there to go to Matheran. We were playing dumb charade, and the entire compartment was getting entertained. We also ate our dabbas just like in college, it was pure fun.

After reaching the top, we decided to buy a map and venture out on our own. We kept going on and on, and did not see a single point. We were tired and relaxed in a so called childrens park, which looked more like a haunted place. Finally we reached a spot, that was not there in the map, but the view was too good. We named the point 'PJ' point!

We saw some of the known points as well Charlotte Lake, Panorama point, Echo point,Luisa Point...I dont remember the rest now.Sappu and I even attempted the "Koi Mil gaya" step on the way, and the boys refused to call us their friends. We have one of those DCH kinda fotos clicked on the hill top.

The best thing about Matheran is that no motor vehicles are allowed in a major part of Matheran. Its truly a 0 pollution zone. And the next thing is that its only about 2.5 hours from home. A perfect spot for a day outing.

Elephanta...

This was one of those pj reunion plans way back in 2004, which turned out to be one only for 3 of us run,jeev and me. We had a great time. We walked our way from CST till the Gateway of India. It was fun, we were recollecting all the fun days at college.

We took a boat from the Gateway, it takes about 30-35 mins. Midways our boat stopped :D. We were a bit puzzled, but less restless than the crowd, as we had loads to catch up on. We were busy with our own tp (timepass). They did some basic repair, and thanks to our strong lifeline, we reached the tiny island of Elephanta safely.

The state of the monument there is not really appealing. What I liked the best was the statue of Trimurti. People were busy posing with the remains of the monuments. Most of the elephants had no trunks, and the guarding demons on four sides of the temple without heads. I only wish the caves and the temple were maintained better.

We missed one trip of the boat on our way back, and had to wait for a good 30 mins, before we got into the next one. This time the tides played games with us, and we were half soaked in sea water, by the time we got off the boat.

Its definitely one of the memorable trips I have had with my best buddies.

...the weekend trip

It was one of the sudden plans, made by my cousin. We went to Ghati Subramanya.
We started around 3 pm and were there by 5 pm. The ride after crossing the BEL junction is peaceful. One can enjoy the country side ride to the fullest here. There is some road work going on the way, so the final ride of about 4 kms was quite a bumpy one. All that is worthwhile, to get a glimpse of the Lord.
The best thing about the temple, is that it was far off from the crowd and din of the city world. This being the so called 'exam season' there was less rush, and we could finish our Darshan in about 30 mins. The calmness of the place is refreshing.

On the way back we stopped at a lake. It was so quiet. I wanted to fill my lungs with fresh air as much as possible, and also to carry some to Bangalore. If only I could do that. If only I had the powers of Harry Potter, I could do an 'accio' on all the pollutants and transform them into something useful.

We reached the BEL circle, and were back amidst all the honking and smoke. All those flyovers confuse you to the core, to top it all there are hardly any sign-boards to guide you. Talking about the traffic and conjestion, I was impressed by the idea suggested by my cousins kiddo, he is all of 7 years. He says " I will ask newspaper man to write in the paper (his way of saying that I will announce this in the newspapers), that people should not go out of the house for one Saturday. They can go to nearby temples, provided they walk it down. On this day I will get work done on all the roads."

If a kid of 7 can think so much about bringing a difference...do we even bother as much, if not any more. Blame it on the practicality of solutions or to any other factor, the fact is the 'chalta hai' and 'wats the use of complainin' attitude. With the new "Vote for none of the candidates" we do have a chance to atleast say that the options we have are limited. Lets give it a try.

I dont believe my weekend trip blog went a way too off track and reached here..I better stop.