Agra...

Taj..
Mental Asylum

Some how since my childhood Agra has always been associated with the above two. There was a time when i thought there was only one mental Asylum in India.

The journey to Agra was long and tiring but it brought back a lot of memories. More so because this was the first time I went on a holiday trip with my kid brother in a lot of years now....

The rush that this trip started with, Vicky not making it to the airport on time and still we fighting it out to get him on the flight. Let me tell that felt like one of those movies where the entire airport is running to hold a flight. (It was not as dramatic, but was close). That rush lasted until the end of the trip where we were trying to balance n-number of things at the same time in the last couple of hours we had in Gurgaon.

Rahul's wedding is what actualy triggered the trip and than Dharma and Vicky came along to see Agra and finally even Chotu said chalo why not...


Saw Taj again and refreshed my memories of the Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sekri....it's a beautiful place...sometimes i want to go to this part and walk each street and see the local areas around.. there is so much waiting to be discovered..to be found...to be understood...

It sure was an action packed weekend !

And we went again.....

15th August 2007 and we were off to Goa again and this time, we took the Konkan Railway. I had heard so much about it and hence went with really high expectations which as it always does lead to some disappointments but still it was beautiful......

the drive from the station to Gomes Villa, felt better than last time because this time we knew exactly where we were going. Sad that Mr. Ashley Gomes mentioned, he has sold the place and we might be the last guests there.

Celebrations were on the cards with Vicky's birthday cake cutting, by the beach along with candle lights and sea waves singing the birthday song followed by gambling at Caravala and Herman's birthday starting with gambling at Caravala and a brunch at O’ Coqueiro (where Charles Shobraj was captured twice)

The high point of this trip was Caravala and the amount we gambled it was loads and loads of fun. Specially the two consecutive days of hitting the jackpot on the slot machine, followed by Vicky, Herman and Me going berserk on roulette tables !

And sleeping on the beach at night while the boys walked to the sea all drink !

Goa has an amazing affect on me....:)

Ananya

A few weeks back I found my self in a state of mind where I wanted to go away, not physically but at least mentally. I wanted to disconnect my self from the world I had known to be mine, for some time and do something different which would give me peace. But at the same time I did not want to be alone I wanted people around me people who will have no expectation of me people with who I will be able to just be my self without thinking if what I do or say might hurt them .....

Strange how people who are dear to you some times unknowingly drive you so much away by doing nothing, I am sure I do that to people too......

Any way, this is when I was reading through Pritesh's blog and one in particular caught my interest. When I read about the kids in Ananya and the Birthday party that Pritesh had I buzzed him and told him next time they are visiting the place I would like to come along hoping that this would be soon.

It was my lucky day, he called me 2 days from than asking me if I wanted to come along to Ananya for a celebration as the kids who had appeared for the exams had passed. Of course I was more than happy....

I had the most amazing time playing with the kids there, they were just so loving and their smiles were contagious. They did not want to know why I was there, or if I will ever come back again, what was important to them was that I was there at that moment and they wanted to make the most of it.

We played some games saw the classrooms and some of the work they have created on the computers followed by some speeches by the kids who had appeared for the exam. I haven't been there since than but would surely love to go.

What I learnt from my visit to Ananya--- Don't hold on to people, hold on to happiness.....

Wellington

Some time back I wrote about the places i have lived in, and the list in not short thanks to my defense background. This is the first in a series of posts I intend to write describing what I remember of those places.

I was 3 years old, I am not sure how much a 3 year old is expected to remember of a place she stayed in for a year and a half. But I have faint and very scattered memories of Wellington a town where my father was posted to to pursue his degree from the Staff College.

We stayed in a house located on a hill top. With a small kitchen garden in the backyard, we only had to climb a small hillock from the garden to reach the children's park.Where there was a slide with broken steps, every time some animal (I think it was a bull, but might need to confirm that with my elder sister) came into the park all the kids ran to climb from the sloping end to the top of the slide (as I mentioned the steps were broken) to be safe and I remember never being able to reach the top myself.

There were pony rides we went for every Sunday. And than there was the ride to School on a "shaktiman" truck which collected us from our bus stop, which was a leveled land closed from 3 ends by hills.

On those Sundays when dad would be around he would sit out with his friends and have beer rolling the empty bottles down hill, behind which we went rolling to fetch the bottles.

On days when dad would not be in town and I only remember one such time though, there would be guards out side the house all night and I wondered if we were prisoners.

On the base of the hill we lived on was a graveyard somehow I can still close my eyes and see the place, a little ahead of the graveyard were more multi storied homes. I remember visiting someone there once but can't recollect who. Some times we used to walk a long way, to check on our house maid who had a tent like house in a valley.

Than of course there were times when we went to Ooty lake for boating and this one time that I remember clearly is when Nani ( of course that is what we called her) fell in the lake because she would not let any one help her get off the boat (and she was my age), we only realized that she was missing when we started looking for the car keys, which she had.

I would love to live in a place like that again !

Kalwar Betta

It had been a while since I stretched my self.

So after hosting an elaborate dinner party at home I had half a mind to call Aditi and tell her I can't make it for the trek at Kalwar Betta, this was @ 12:45 pm when suddenly I realized there was a time when I could go on a trip without even half an hour of sleep. So I got up made some food and asked them what time we leave ?---I am glad I made the choice I made.

Kunal, Aditi, Dharma and I set out for Kalwar Betta @ 2:30 am from Bangalore. The excitement started early on the journey when we realized it was a great time to call our friends living on the other end of the globe and had an amazing phone session with Sai and Niti.

After parking our car at a temple on the foot hill we started walking towards the base, not knowing which one of the many peaks in front of us was the main peak to be climbed. We chose the one which seemed the highest.

A lot of people warned us not to venture until day light said that there were groups stuck mid way not knowing what to do.

But we had adventure on our minds so, we set out to climb only to realize mid way that it was not the peak that we actually should be climbing and than we changed our course.

It was a beautiful morning and the gods painted one of the best sunrises I have witnessed.

Though...multiple times during the climb I gave up and every time Aditi and Dharma would not let me and than we finally reached the top and it was so beautiful that I silently thanked them both for not letting me stop mid way !

@ Photographs are taken by Aditi.

BR Hills -- K Guddi

This was one of those rare trips when we hired a SUV for our Journey. (only when I went through the snaps to upload here I realise we did not take any snap of the Scorpio)

We stayed at the jungle lodges. When we reached there, for a moment I felt sad that we could not plan in advance to get one of those tents or log huts.


But... as we went up and I saw a stretch of beds in front t of me it just seemed like the good 'ol college trips when we would all stay in one room and have lots and lots of fun.

The Highlights of the trip were...

1. The morning walk that Anshuman and I went on.

2. The Jungle Safari

3. Camp Fire along with the meals.

4. The Elephants

5. Lazing on the Monkey Net.

The monkeys surprised me by actually figuring out how to open a window if it is not locked. And the scary dark nights were just a little bit too peaceful for Paromita and Sana :D
May be some time it is worth doing this one again with more time at hand !

On our way back we stopped by at Infy Mysore for some urban fun :)

Long due trip to Hampi !

Hampi, known for it's architectural ruins of the Vijaynarag dynasty. If you are some one who likes history and architecture it is a place for you. Every road you walk has some monument and they are really pretty.

But frankly I am not the kind or at least was not feeling up to it when I went there.

It is the walk through "Hampi Bazar" with bright colours that i relished each day.

..the village took me completely by surprise. It was so full of tourists, nationals from across the globe and every hut (and I mean literally hut) has converted itself into a lodge to accomodate them. There might not be any cuisines that is not available , I even saw a German bakery there !




We mostly ate at the famous "Mango Tree Restaurant" another experience which was memorable. I would probably do Hampi again this time will stay in the village.



We also witnessed a procession of some kind, it was such a delight people dressed in all colurs and dancing to different tunes.


little girls with there bright colourful "lehngas". ( some even posed with us)

Places....

It seemed unfair that I list down all my travel trips in recent past here without any mention of the nomadic life I have lead for the past 30 years

So let me list down here the places I have lived in, and eventually I hope I get down to writing about each one of these....

1. Bangalore -- I was Born here
2. Barakpur ( a place i don't remember too much about) -- In Bengal near Calcutta
3. Wellington -- near OOTY
4. Adampur -- In punjab near Jalandhar
5. Suratgarh -- In Rajasthan near Yamunanagar
6. Jodhpur -- In Rajasthan
7. Delhi -- The Capital
8. Jamnagar -- In Gujarat
9. Secunderabad -- In Andhra Pradesh
10. Junagadh -- In Gujarat
11. Chandigarh -- UT
12. Pune -- In Manharashtra
13. Chennai -- In Tamil Nadu
14. Mumbai -- in Maharashtra
15. Bangalore -- Yes Back here !

The journey has just started.....

Kudremukh.....getting intimate with nature

Close your eyes and think you are traveling from the noisy traffic filled roads of Bangalore and as you leave behind the milestones saying Bangalore..50km...100km...150km...200km...250km... suddenly the air smells fresh.. and trees look washed...you can actually see the stars..... at some where around 300+km you are surrounded by hills lush green. clouds you could walk into...sun rays that make you smile...

that is how the journey to Kudremukh felt.....

Six of us (Vikas,Paromita,Anshuman,Herman,Sanghamitra and Me) in two cars drove through 320 plus kilometers for a 3 day trip to Kudremukh ( Horse Face).

Kudremukh is known for it's Iron Ore mines which are not operational any more...and gets it's name from the peak which is supposed to resemble a "Horse Face"

....but for us it was a place where Vicky grew up.

We drove every day from our hotel in Kalsa to Kudremukh humming to the tunes of the "woh lamhe" song .."kyun aaj kal neend kam, khab zeyada hain...lagta khuda ka koi nek iraada hai".. (these days why do i sleep less and dream more.. guess god's planning something nice)...crossing valleys with steep turns and a drive which was not too easy...in spite of the risky drive all the attention was grabed by the over powering beauty of what surrounded us.....

... the sounds of the wild ...the calm lakes... the endless green of the hills followed by valleys full of trees.. the Beer cooled in natural water fall...the Thalli (A complete meal presentation in India) at the club ... the old man at Sukh Sagar who refused a tip of Rs.10 because he thought Rs.5 was enough... the leach bite on sangha's leg...the "Anapurna" Temple.....the crackers on the hotel chandan terrace...the honking of the morning buss which could not pass by the small street due to a "tempo traveler" and our car parked on either side ( not every one will count this as pleasant but it was all a package after all).....to the camp fire we ( Herman and I) missed... it was fulfilling, beautiful and loads of fun.

I cherished the cramps..which lasted a few days..because they were a reminder that it was not a dream !