two thousand t(h)en: the year that went by :-)

2010. It was good, it was bad.

The year began with a long weekend, with JANUARY 1 falling on a Friday! Most of the month kept us busy house hunting. I had completely given up on blogging, and had not blogged at all, after 15 October 2009! Had joined a new company in November 2009, and was finding myself in a whirlwind. Though the designation and the job was the same, the medium was online (and not print) media and I was very new to it. Shifting from the house in J.P. Nagar, Bangalore, was a difficult decision. But the commute to work was taxing and we figured Koramangala was a mid-point for both me and the husband from our respective offices. By the end of Jan, we chanced up on the house we are at now – and the so-don’t-want-to-move decision became a can’t-wait-to-move one. To add to it, the owner of the previous house became a nag and started bargaining on the advance he had to pay back: finally, he paid us 15k less of what we had given! In a financial crisis ourselves, we almost wanted to smash his head, and waked out of their in fury 😀

We moved into this house in the first week of FEBRUARY and fell in love with the place. As for the owner, one gem of a person! A philanthropist of the highest order. Will need a complete post to describe him! 🙂 Anyways, most of Feb was spent settling in, and parents visiting, and making friends at work, and meeting neighbours, and other mundane stuff.

MARCH came in rather quickly, and I was completely settled at work. I made three real good friends there, and the 4 of us hung out like fevicol buddies! 😀 But apart from office and home, I realized I wasn’t having a life. And so, I came back to blogging. I had had one too many blogging breaks – and I was almost sure I’d be ignored, not read anymore and the like. But to my disappointment, most of the lovely bloggers I’d known and loved had left the blogville! That only made me more worried.  I’d have to start all over again, and make “blog friends”. I’m glad I decided to go ahead. Though I still miss the old “gang” (I still have ALL of them in my blogroll, in the hopes that they’ll come back someday, like I did), the new people I got to know are the best on the planet! 🙂 So, exactly 5 months after my previous post, I made my first post of 2010 on 15 March! It was also then that a school mate wrote me a lovely mail that took me all the way back to school. Thanks MC!

APRIL slowly rambled in and bought in its wake the loss of the husband’s dear mobile. I’ve never seen him so depressed! And I made a post out of it and got labeled ‘the wife who laughs at the husband’s misery’ 😀 Three days later – after a gap of 4 months – I called up one of my closest friends to know she’s pregnant! Again, all the way back to school I went. Those were the days! It made me think of how much I’ve changed in all those years—and I came to the sad conclusion that I hadn’t changed much. Andthat’s when I listed down some of my LOL stupidities in life—one of my favourite posts so far. April is also the month when the husband and I celebrate our ‘unofficial’ anniversary: and to spice up our life, we decided to go on a week-long trip. A getaway from everything else. Anyways, the father-in-law was retiring the next month, and he also wanted to go on a vacation with us: for gelling-better purposes 😉

We were on vacation all of MAY first week. We went to Coorg and from there to all of his relatives’ places in Kerala and then to Poovar, Tihruvananthapuram! We reached back, got back into the home-work-home lifestyle and I decided to go on a trip every month. Weekend trip, long trip, half day trip…I didn’t mind. I also took a few resolutions: swimming, driving, music classes, gardening and monthly trips. The first three didn’t work, while the last two worked for the most part. My parents relocated to Bangalore and took up the 1BHK on the ground floor of our house. So, we have the whole house to ourselves now! Yey! End of May, we also went ahead and booked our first-ever car: the Tuscan Wine Fiat Grande Punto 🙂 At work, things were getting bad. All four of us were fed up and was planning to move out. Personally, right from the day I rejoined after the vacation, I’d been fed up 😛

JUNE was an exciting month. My blog turned 2 and I was mighty proud 😀 At work, all four of us got new offers and things were being processed. We couldn’t be happier. I was the one who decided to move out, and pulled the other 3 into the bandwagon! So, when there was a plan formulated for a meet-up of us college friends, I couldn’t be happier. The day before our trip, I rushed out from office, requested a dog to excuse me and literally ran home to pack! We were off to Munnar! Cousins, Uncle and Aunt came for a week to Bangalore from Trivandrum, and we all had a great time! We went to Mysore and Srirangapatna – my first time to Mysore after I came to Banaglore 3 years ago 😀 Well, on the flip side, my uncle had a heart attack (!), my mom’s BP rose high, my aunt had a bad fall and my bro (alone in the UK) had a baaaaaad fever!

JULY came and saw us at Manipal: a most lovely place! It was also a month of so many changes: the Tuscan Wine Fiat Grande Punto came home, I got into IBM—new work timings, new sleep timings, new friends, new work profile… And I posted my first and last ever Thursday Challenge. It was ONLY to show off that photograph: I’ve never participated in a TC or a WW before or after that 😀

Starting 15 AUGUST, we celebrated the 10 days of Onam and made the pookkalams on all 10 days:
Atham, Chithira, Chothi, Vishakham, Anizham, Thrukaetta, Moolam, Pooraadam, Uthraadam and Thiruvonam. And after falling badly ill, the week after that, we went off to Wayanad: one of the best places I’ve been to! We trekked up to Edakkal Caves and the Wayanad Heritage Museum, went to Pookkode Lake, Banasura Sagar Dam and the Jain Temple @ Sultan Bathery and went for a safari to the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary.

SEPTEMBER was a fun month, blog-wise. Chatterbox ran the Finish It To Win It contest, and it was a load of blogfun! I finished it to win some prizes! Was too caught up in this, had no time for a trip! 😀 😀 😀 😛

Now OCTOBER was horrid. Horrid, simply, indescribably horrid! Caught in a mad man’s world, we suffered a load of mental tension, sleepless nights, unproductive work hours and insult to injury! And if all those weren’t enough, there were even nightmares for rent! Was the WORST MONTH of the year, and filled us all with a lot of hatred and negativity! To ease some of that negativity and bad moods, uncle, aunt and two brats came from Delhi for a week-long vacation and we had fun. We went to Ooty and Mysore—didn’t want to break the trip-every-month vow 😀

NOVEMBER, every year, had always been my fav! That’s when my birthday is—and since the past2 years, the wedding anniversary too 😉 November 2, the day I turned 26, I got Pumbaa and the Canon EOS550 DSLR Rebel T2i: two of the most precious gifts ever…from a totally precious person—a husband who doesn’t just SAY “anything for you darling”, but DOES something about it too 😀 It was also the month when I ‘discovered’ an unknown relative through the power of blogging 😉 Of course, there were no trips in November—except the ones to the veterinary clinic with Pumbaa 😉

All of DECEMBER literally flew, with Pumbaa keeping us all busy—why, he even had visitors coming in, with appointment, to see him and play with him!!!—and the upcoming end-of-december vacation keeping me super busy at work—result? No time to blog! And on 24 Dec, wrapping up work and packing up clothes, food and Pumbaa, we were off to our Kerala-Goa vacation! Yep, travellogue coming up soooon!

So, a very good year in all, except for the dampner in October—which is like a dampner for life. Everytime we see the scratches on the Punto the blood boils!

Sorry for the boring post, but it’s a record of 2010—for future references, just in case 😀 😛

Anyways, here’s wishing you all a
FUNtastic, grace-filled, prosperous year ahead.  Let 2011 be the year of your dreams! 🙂

Ooty: a travellogue

When I signed into WP yesterday, I accidentally clicked on “Random Post”, and I was led to this post, where I listed a few things I had decided to do something about, to avoid getting back into the rut of a monotonous life.

And I noticed that I had written “Vacations are life’s necessities”, and had sworn to go on one every month 😀 And then I again checked up my blog to see if I had stuck to my decision, and I realised I did it without fail from April – August, and had failed badly from September – November. [September was a month of break from the monthly travels 😀 and November, well, Pumbaa wobbled in].

No, not December, because I’m off on vacation now: from 24 Dec – 1 Jan 2011! 🙂 It’s a B’lore-Kerala-Goa-B’lore road trip, with Dad, Mom, Bro, the husband and Pumbaa! 🙂

Anyway, while checking the blog, I again noticed (!) that there was a trip in October, to Ooty, and I’d completely forgotten to update my blog with photographs and superlatives. Well, it wasn’t mere forgetfulness. It was also the fact that the trip wasn’t all that great and I had no superlatives to remind me of it with. 😦

I had high expectations of Ooty, and they all crumbled down all the way to the valley! I think Wayanad is the culprit—the root cause for this “hmmm…this place is nothing in comparison with Wayanad” attitude!

Anyways, let me not let the trip slip into the little wedges between the neat piles of good memories and travellogues! 😀

So, here it is: the Ooty travellogue.

Uncle, Aunt and the two brats were coming down from Delhi for their first ever Bangalore trip. Their usual agenda is Delhi-Trivandrum-Adoor-Delhi; and it’s been just that ever since my aunt got married way back sometime in the early 90s 😀 Anyway, this time, they broke the spell and decided to get off the train before it touched Kerala 😉

Now, this is an aunt who loves being crazy – and has raised two equally crazy brat-girls. The elder one is the embodiment of the word ‘tomboy’ and the younger, as feminine as any girl can get. And the Uncle, for as long as I’ve known, is as strict as anyone can get and has successfully completed 50 years, in spite of living half of that in a house with three crazy women 😀 So, while I was soo looking forward to have them all home, I was a bit anxious about what might and might not upset him. Turned out, he’s a new man 😀 He was the most fun to have, this time!!!

Yea, so they reached Bangalore on a Friday morning. After loads of hugs and laughs and leg-pulling, I came to work, dreaming of just a trip to Mysore on Saturday. At about 8pm, the husband turns up at office and says, “we’re going to Ooty tomorrow early morning, so come home early. I’m here to pick you.” Ooty!? Yippeeeee! The first and only time I’d been there was in Dec 1999. Over 10 years! I was super excited—and immediately wound up for the day 😀

We had planned a quick Bangalore-Ooty-Mysore-Bangalore trip for the weekend. and set off early Saturday morning. The four of us ‘kids’ in the Punto, and the four oldies in the Alto 😀

As is customary, we had a quick stop at Srirangapatna, to pay respect to Tipu and his ‘tharavaadu’ 😀 Well, with the senior brat around, respect was just NOT a possibility! 😀

The body of TIPU SULTAN was found here

Entry to Colonel Bailey's dungeon

The dungeon's story...

The King's Battery -- now called "Sultan Batheri" -- which hides the dungeon.

A view of the many arches "under" the vault. The stone slabs on the far end of the pic, where prisoners were chained to. the part of a canon, just a decorative piece (per what I overheard a guide say :D)

After a quick tour of Colonel Bailey’s Dungeon, we stopped at Tipu’s favourite mosque, the Masjid-e-Ala built in 1784 (whoa! 200 years before I was born :D).

Twin towers of the Masjid-e-Ala

The open terrace, near the entries to the prayer hall.

After a quick tour of the mosque (it was closed), we drove on towards Ooty. The weather was splendid, and we had a good drive—light drizzles, sunshines, rains, drizzles and more sunshine.

The harbinger of rains...

Rains that splashed all around...the car 😀

View from the shielded side of te windshield 😀

When the rains left, and only the droplets remained 😉

Anyway, on the way, we passed through Bandipur National Park and spotted a few animals (unlike the experience at Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary.Oh, but nothing “wild”, anyways 😀 😀 😀 😀

The elephants and a little one.

The "dears"...

The monkeys...

The python that crossed the road...

...and the long, winding road.

The brats were thrilled to see the animals, the various other animal safety signboards, the sexy, winding road and the greens on both sides. And of course, that was no python. It was just a piece of log, which did NOT cross the road 😀

And it was then that a trip plan for December was formulated and agreed up on. I was explaining to the brats how this National Park was spread across 3 states—Bandipur in Karnataka, Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu and Muthanga in Kerala—and the name Muthanga just COMPLETELY avoided me! We all kept wondering what the name was: one that starts with M, had a tribal case in Kerala long time back in the name of that place, a tribal female involved, etc. And finally, the husband said some name and was sooooo sure he was right. I was soooo sure he was wrong, knew it was a longer word, though I couldn’t quite get the right name. Finally, he agreed for a Delhi trip end-of-Dec if I could prove him wrong.

The next 15-20 minutes, I was super silent. All I had in mind was a violent and sad tribal police case known by the name of this place, the letter M and this tribal lady’s face and her curly hair :D.  It was almost a half hour later, while in the midst of photographing a group of hyper active monkeys, I dropped the camera, dug my nails into the husband’s shoulder and said “Muthangaaaaaa”!!! For a moment, he was so blank-faced, I felt like apologising! 😀

I won the bet. So, the plan was on for Destination Dilli in December 🙂 “Before that, where to, in November?”, I asked. To which he smiled slyly and said “That might not happen, and you might not even want to”. It was a mystery to me then. But when Pumbaa wobbled in, I knew! 🙂 Of course, Dilli plan changed the day Pumbaa came in—and just a week back, we finalised Goa plans:D

As we began the climb to Ooty, the beauty of the Western Ghats slowly unveiled. It was soothing and a prelude to better things to look forward to.

First sighting of the Ghats...

The mingling rain clouds and the emerging sun gave a captivating image...so we stopped for a few clicks.

This is when, the teenage senior brat got into the ro-ro-romantic mood a love song and a backdrop of cloud capped hills can get one into. And she, in a most dreamy way, said “I think I’ll come to Ooty for my honeymoon…with a horse.” “You marrying a horse!?”, we asked, to which she said “Yea. Free horse ride all over the place.” “Hmmm…and horse power advantage too”, I said. She was shocked, and immediately regretted the horsey honeymoon idea. And we teased her no end about it.

We stopped at a view point a little further up to see these:

From the viewpoint...

We reached Ooty by about 6pm and settled into a decent hotel.

Oh, in between, let me not forget to mention that Amma was feeling nauseous the previous night and feared dysentery—and her fears were met the next day! In spite of which, she was trip-ready! 😀 The poor thing threw up so many times, and was totally exhausted by the time we reached Ooty! 😦   After freshening up, we took Amma to the nearest hospital. Bad news greeted us: Amma was badly dehydrated and had to be put on a double-bottle-drip treatment! Poor thing 😦 We stayed with her at the hospital till about 11, leaving only to have dinner, that too, in shifts! Took her back, and we all had a good night’s sleep.

Amma was all healed and completely rejuvenated the next day morning, and we set out to see Ooty: which wasn’t much. We went to the Honeymoon Boat House, had a good round of boating (throughout which I, highly disappointed in the scenery, kept bragging about the boating we had at Pookkode Lake, Wayanad).

The Honeymoon Boathouse

The lake and more...

The brilliantly blue sky is what made the lake look this good!

They grazed the occasion 😀

And that’s when the senior brat noticed a few horses nearby. “Horse ride next”, said she. In between peals of laughter and more leg-pulling, it was then rounds of horse rides for the two brats and the uncle! And me, the photographer, had to trot, gallop and out-race the horses to get pics from all angles. Phew! Was that tiring!

The boat house was maintained very well, and had some really beautiful flowers that adorned the place. The blue sky and the towering trees added their bit too 😉

We then headed for the toy train which we spotted from the lake and had a joy ride–yelling “chayey…chai”, “vadey vadaa vadey”, “meals meals meals”, etc. We created such a din that the folks in the other “bogies” were either laughing, or cursing us 😀 No one joined us, though. Kill-joys!

Spotted this from the boat, and just HAD to have a ride 😀

As we chugged this way and that...

...and even went squealing through a tunnel!

Then, we headed to Doddabetta, the highest peak in Tamil Nadu (2634 mts above msl) that lies near the meeting point of the Eastern and Western Ghats! The thing I loved the most there were the bisi bisi bhajjis and the cold cold ice creams 😀

The view tower, which promised a telescopic view of the Coimbatore city, was a complete scam. I even told the operator that much. Said “Anna, even without my glasses, I can see the city more clearly than through your silly, unfocused, scam telescope.” He soooo didn’t like it, and almost shooed me off the pedestal, to make way for the next! 😀 But seriously, such a waste of time and effort, I tell you! Why, there was even a long queue to be eligible to view. Bah! I even discouraged quite a few people joining the queue, much to the operator’s chagrin 😀

The scam centre 😀

This is what we COULD NOT see through the telescope! 😛

Way to Dodabetta...and back.

Ooty was done. We bought a couple of bunched from the dry-flower vendors outside the Botanical Garden, and were on our way to Mysore, stopping only for a quick lunch.

Mysore was brilliantly decked up: all lit up and crowded. It was the 10-day Dussehra period. And to add to it, this year it was specially special. It was the 400th Dussehra being celebrated!Thanks to a stupid camera and a milling crowd, all pics taken were blurred!

One of the two royal "chariots" on display

One of the two royal "chariots" on display

But honestly, the palace stands like a real jewel when the surrounding areas are dark! It seemed to lose some of its splendid beauty in all the light! But beautiful it was, nonetheless. The crowd was overwhelming, and we decided not to go into the palace, after the disappointment a couple of months back! I recently got this by mail…a 360 degree view of the Mysore Palace—interiors and exterior. Probably filmed ages back, or maybe as a means of getting people to visit, in spite of all the missing artifacts!

So, after more pics , by about 7.30pm, we decided to head to the Vrindavan Gardens which was slated to be open till 9pm, thanks to the festive season. But well, like last time we tried to reach the Palace from Chamundi Hill to catch it lit up, we went around in circles for almost an hour, with every single of the 12 people we asked directions for, sending us in opposite directions! That all the roads were blocked up at different parts because of the festival, traffic and finding the route became a chaotic nightmare! Finally, by the time we were given the right directions, it was just too late and we’d have no way reached the Garden before closing time 😦 We gave up! And by about 8.45, took the road back to Bangalore. We reached home tired, exhausted and unbelievably sleepy by about 12.45am!

.

The trip was not just disappointing, it was hectic as well. Our mistake. We should’ve either taken an extra day, or left Mysore for another day. But well, even the time at Ooty wasn’t all that exciting. Sigh.

Minuscule world, this blog world!

Yea, so we blog. We and post stories and fiction and memoirs and pictures and rants and leg-pullers and all kinds of stuff.

We make friends, and ‘sisters’ and ‘brothers’ and ‘soul mates’ and all kinds of relationships.

And there are times when you come across a blog through another’s, read through, like it and comment on it. And that person comes back and reads through, likes it and comments on yours.

And it’s all the normal bloggy stuff.

Until.

She (evidently a dog lover and still nursing memories of Goofy) shows pictures of your long lost pet to her husband. And, is in for a surprise when the husband, instead of noticing the pet that was intended to be noticed, notices the man standing by it and says (not verbatim) “Oh! I know him. This is xxxx who lived behind the Vanchiyoor Court (Trivandrum, Kerala). I’m sure.”

So she mails you and asks “Hey. I was showing pictures of Pumbaa to my husband when he looks at your dad and says he’s very familiar. Did he live in Vanchiyoor”? And so, a trail of mails goes to and forth till you realize you’re no longer just blog-friends, but relatives too!

And my dad knows not just her husband, but his brothers, the house they lived in, and even knew one of the brothers who was in the Income Tax!

This weekend, I realised Shail (Shail’s Nest) is my dad’s uncle’s brother-in-law’s wife’s first cousin’s wife! 😀 😀 😀 Yey! How much closer can we get?

Okie! In simpler terms, the brother-in-law mentioned above is just like my grandpa to me. So, that makes us pretty close relatives! 😛 😛 😛

And to think I’ve seen the name “Shail” and noticed her comments in many of my blog friends’ comment sections since a loooooong time, but never bothered to link through and read it… and the week that we actually linked to one another, we realize we’re relatives.

It isn’t just a small world, it’s a rather minuscule one!

Blogging rocks! 🙂

Contest, stories, comments and character

Chatterbox, lovingly referred to as “CB”, ran a contest at her blog. Named Finish it to Win it!! (yes, you see the badge on my right panel here?), she gave us one half of a story…and asked us to complete it the way we liked, in less than 1200 words. Check out the contest, the rules, the first half of the story CB wrote, and the entries by a bunch of enthusiasts at the Finish it to Win it!! page of her blog 😉

It was a load of fun. Or, should I say it is a load of fun, since the entries are still being posted as per the order she got them in…

What’s most amazing about this contest is the fact that ONE STORY — of a husband, wife, daughter, an ex-girlfriend and a particular situation — could end in 19 different ways! The husband, Will, now has 19 personalities; Rose (the wife) has over 10 (‘coz she came out as a loving, innocent wife in more than one entry) and Mary (the not-so-virgin ex-girlfriend) has over 15! 😀 Betty, sadly has only two: one of a sleep-a-holic and one where she’s a naughty poet! 😉 Isn’t it stunning, that the same people and the same situaton, can end in uniquely different endings when different people look at it?

Some of the entries are so transparent of its authors’ characters: you read them and you know who wrote them :D, while others have tried to portray a scenario which so does not portray them. Some of them made it humourous, some went for unexpectedly awesome twists, some tried the romantic route, some the whacky! And one, the utmost nonsensical ROFL-material: indeed shows his/her “Will Power” !!!! 😀

Now, I guess the only sad outcome would be that I went mad when it came to comments and was highly critical. I’m sure I’m gonna lose ALL my blog readers for the comments I’ve put up on their stories. Sigh! 😦

If I’m allowed to defend myself, let me tell you: I was only being nuts. The past few days saw my most jobless and crazy days in office. Though not entirely jobless, I made more friends there, and became close to quite a few crazy ones 😀 Which effected in us having internal chats on the most craziest, LOL topics ever. And in between all those chats would come up one of the new stories. Well, crazy chats can be contagious over to WordPress too!

And when Gyanban commented, I think provoked by my looong comment, in one of the stories about how people turned subjective about these things and said “we cannot not like this story because some of our personal belief system disagrees with the concept. “, I realised maybe I went overboard! :DFor an argument’s sake, I can certainly say “I can not like something because it’s against my personal beliefs”, but well, it’s not a point to be arguing about in this context.

I apologise if I’ve been rude and have hurt any of you authors (no, no one gave me a hint that they’ve been hurt; I’m saying this because I felt I may owe it to some people).

Again, let me tell you, I’m not against any of you personally…or your thoughts, for that matter. It being a contest, and it being about having fun, I was just conducting postmortems on the different characters portrayed by Rose and Will and Mary and the rest. I reread some of my comments and felt I sounded awful — well, at least to the authors, I must’ve sounded awful! 😀 Those authors — whose story I criticised too much — must think “And she’s so good to me when she comments on my blog: because she knows it’s me. Here, when she doesn’t know, she’s being honest and herself. Hypocrite”

No, am not a hypocrite 😀 If I don’t like a story, I’ve been honest about it. If I’ve liked it, I’ve been honest about it 😀 Just like I do when I comment on your posts on your blogs too 😉 If I’ve said “I don’t like this story”, that’s all I’ve meant: that I don’t like the story; it does not mean I don’t like you or your character. In one particular story, which was against my ideals and principles, I’ve been vocal about it. Again, that does not mean I dislike the author; it only means I don’t necessarily agree with his/her idea. Again, maybe that was just a twist the person came up with, irrelevant of his/her ideals. Except for one or two stories, I have no clue who wrote which 😀 So, there’s NOTHING PERSONAL about any of my comments.

If I’ve inadvertently hurt any of you, I seek your apology!

P.S.: I’m honestly not as bad as I sound in my comments 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
And pPlease vote for me, for I wrote the best one 😛 😀 😉

Finish it to Win it!!

Protected: Wayanad: clean, friendly and breathtakingly beautiful (Travellogue Part 3)

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Protected: Wayanad: clean, friendly and breathtakingly beautiful (Travellogue Part 2)

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Time to say goodbye

and I said it all yesterday: my last day at work! 😀

I’ve never seen anyone being made to work so much in their notice period! Bah! I used to be real tired on all days…too tired to even blog! Why, even weekends were spent brainstorming (alone!!) and coming up with new ideas. But yes, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

It was a nice job, the work was super, the team was (mostly) great. But somehow, I reached that point of exasperation real soon. And I decided to quit. Two of my best buddies at work also decided the same thing. So, there was no feeling of ‘leaving good things back’ 😉 But within two days of giving in the resignation, some real cool people joined the team…and the last three weeks were SUPER FUN!

Sometimes, I regret having quit when things were turning to look good. But well, the not-so-good elements will always remain – high and strong – and that will eventually bring the fun down. For sure. So, maybe it wasn’t that bad at all…this decision. And it’s a small world. We’ll cross paths again.

We were a gang of four. Now one person’s left behind. Will always try for his best too 🙂

It was an unexpectedly good ‘last day’. Unexpected gift, a team lunch, a ‘token of appreciation’, lousy speech, photo sessions, formalities, signatures, handing over, farewell, party, hugs, goodbyes, laughs, work, yummy food, sad songs, last-minute proofing, chilling out, catching up, cribbing, LOLs, whining, winding up, coming home. And then, it was over.

One mutton curry, one fish pickle and two gifts pending. I haven’t forgotten, guys and girl 🙂 I’ll be back 😉

And now, I’m moving on. To IBM. To be an IBMer 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

their first trip to Bangalore…

…was awesome. And they’re coming back again, soon! 🙂

Semi-travellogue, this post is.

Relatives had come from Trivandrum. An uncle, aunt, and 2 girl cousins. What fun it was 🙂 It was their first ever trip to Bangalore. And I was excited to bits. Hehe, in the guise of taking them around, I planned an itinerary that included most of the places I’d either not been to in a long time, or hadn’t been to at all: Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha (because if you’ve been to B’lore and not seen Vidhana Soudha, then maybe you hadn’t been to B’lore at all :D), ISKON Temple, the 60-feet-high Shiva Temple behind Kemp Fort, LalBagh, Forum (only for the cousins’ sake), the Scary House at Garuda Mall, and farther, the Mysore Palace, Srirangapatnam (remains of the Tipu’s regime), Vrindavan Gardens, etc.

The girls were excited most about (read as only about) going to Commercial Street here in Bangalore.

The uncle and aunt were excited to be in Bangalore: excited to see a lovely park so close to the house; excited to be in a city with such ‘lovely weather’; excited to see a ‘sparkling city’. 😉

Day 1 was spent at Lal Bagh (most of the day was spent there) and then Forum Mall. We all walked continuously for almost 6.5 hours. Came home, had dinner and crashed 😀

Day 2 was planned for Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha and simple lazing about. Only the third happened. By evening a quick plan was put to visit another cousin who stays in Marathahalli, who’d recently had a baby girl (whom I hadn’t seen yet). Lil’ Avanthika turned out to be a real doll! 🙂

Day 3 was supposed to dawn early (by about 4.30) and we’d planned to leave to mysore by 5.30. But well, we managed to do so by 8 😀 After covering Srirangapatnam and finishing off lunch, we reached Mysore Palace. Oh! The beauty of it! I’d seen it once, about 10 years back, when we (Dad, Mom, Bro and I) had come to B’lore and Mysore. It still looks the same!

But we were a little disappointed. For instance, right at the entry, it said “Entry: Rs 20 for Indians; Rs 200 for foreigners”. How shameless, to sell something like that! They could at least write Rs 20 for Indians; $ 20 for foreigners! Anyway, we went in, and a lot of things we’d seen when we came last time were not on display anymore. Like the many clocks which were a sight to behold! Or the many swords of the King…

Anyways, after exiting the palace, we were forced to visit the “Original Palace”, at an extra entry ticket (of Rs 20 for Indians; Rs 200 for foreigners). Daylight thieving, I’d call it. Apparently, what we’d just seen was the Official Palace. My God, if what we were ushered into was the Original Palace of the Mysore King, the dude really must have been a Scrooge himself. It was the most pathetic building, ill-maintained and adorned at corners by bits and pieces borrowed from the Palace belongings. And, to top it all, not even lit up well. It was dingy and dark and oh-so-not-beautiful! And it was here, the swords of the king were displayed in the most uninspiring manner.

We were all royally pissed off by the time we exited. And to make matters worse, even at the exit, even though one need just take the steps to the left, they’d roped it all in such a way that we were forced to take some 5 steps up and 5 steps down to the right, walk along a corridor full of shops with salespeople who constantly yelled, take a u-turn, come back to the exit point, take the same 5 steps up and down again and go where we intended to go up on exiting. Bah! Humbug. I hate such commercialisation.

Post that, we went to Chamundi Hill, spent some time up there and rushed back to see the lit up Palace. They light it up from 7.00 to 7.30pm every Saturday. It was 7 already, when we left Chamundi Hill, and rushing back into town, after sunset, in an alien city is no joke. We lost our way and finally managed to reach the city a minute before 7.30. We saw it lit up, glowing like a piece of gold ornament, from a distance. And then, the lights just shut down. 😦 But it was a sight one shouldn’t miss. I’d go to Mysore time and again just to see the Palace lit up that way.

Day 4, which was also their last day in Bangalore, was the one they looked forward to the most. Because Commercial Street was slotted for this day 😉 The itinerary included the 60-feet Shiva Temple, Garuda Mall, Commercial Street and ISKON. And then, of course, the railways station.

We reached the Kemp Fort SHiva Temple at about 12. The big sign outside said “Haridwar, Rishikesh and two other places in just 2 hours! 😀 And I thought, “I hate commercialising God”. The entry did prove interesting. they’d created a pseudo cave with a thred of a stalagtite and everything. But as we went down some 5-6 steps, we realised we’d entered a shop! 😀 Like one of those plastics + vessels section of Spencers/Smart/Nilgiris or so!!! 😀 😀 😀 And then, we went through a queue, paid for our slippers, paid for our camera, paid for the flowers and a coconut, paid again to get them to accept it, pretended not to hear them offering to take us through the cave at just Rs 160 per head, again pretended not to hear them offer to take us through a smaller cave at just Rs 30, and finally, pretending not to hear them offering to let us go around the idol for just Rs 10. Bah. I hate commercialisation. That too, in a place of worship! Though the idols were dramatic and awesome, we felt like they’d built two majestic idols only to mint money. Go there to see the majestic Shiva, with Ganga flowing off his head and everything. Not to pray.

The 60-feet statue of Lord Shiva, with the Ganga spearheading out of his locks. Apparently, this is made of healing stone! See those tiny heads at his feet? Those are the devotees 😉

Well, we ended up spending a lot of time at the temple, what with the queues and everything. The girls were getting worried their shopping time was being eaten up, and wanted to skip Garuda Mall and head straight to Commercial Street. But, I insisted we go to Garuda Mall, just to see the Scary House and the Scary Maze. Am so glad I did that. It was the most fun we had in those 4 days. How much we laughed! The dark, pitch black walkways, where dead bodies who rise up to scare you; skeletons that make a beeline for you; huge monstrous beings that brush against you; and ghosts who heave their cots at you even while they’re sitting on them… It was constant screams of fear, peals of laughter and bouts of leg-pulling. At times when there was nothing to scare us around the corner, Amma and I’d simply scream, scaring the rest of the group and rewarding ourselves with their screams 😉  Hehe, screaming, laughing, and getting scared out of our wits, we literally fell out of the place with tears streaming down our cheeks. We still laugh like crazy whenever we think of that day. We’re waiting for our next set of preys 😉 Kunjamma, you’re next in line. You’ll have a lot of fun there! 😉

Then we went to Commercial Street. We had about 3 hours to spend there, and had planned to go to Iskon temple from there, and then drop them off at the Yeshwantapura Station. But like Dad rightly put it, “Thunikandappol deivathine marannu” (chose clothes over God :D). So, we ended up shopping from 3 to 8. My younger cousin went crazy! She could be seen flitting about like a butterfly from one shop to the other. Collecting her and her things was tough! 😀

And finally, we were at a stage where we thought we’d miss their train. We reached the station at 8.55 pm to catch the 9 o’clock train. And that too, only bacause an auto driver was kind enough to show us a short cut and block the busses to let our two cars weave through! We have no words left to thank him: he was just too good 🙂 Anyways, it was a mad rush. I remember sending people flying for cover as I rushed into the terminal like a bulldozer and ran through the platform with two huge bags trailing along on both sides 😉 God thing trains have so many bogies and so many doors 😀 😀 😀 They all boarded from different doors, and finally met at their seats about 10 minutes after the train chugged off 😀

Four full days of fun, travelling, shopping, weariness, photo shoots and what not.

Their first ever trip to Bangalore was super! And they’re coming back again in a couple of months! 😀

us & them @ munnar: a travellogue

Till we actually set off for Kochi on Friday evening, I was dreading it’d be called off any minute. The couple from Dufaai Dubai might drop out, the couple from Kochi might want to stay back with the baby, the couple from Bangalore (me n the husband ;)) might miss our bus and not reach…etc. But we did reach Kochi at 5.30 am on Saturday. And it was raining like the skies had gone crazy! 😀 Anyways, the tempo traveller came to pick us up by about 10.30 am, and off we went. The tempo traveller had seats that were swaying like a boat. And a whacko for a driver 😉 So, when we started the climb towards Munnar, it was almost a 4D experience 😉 Well, we were moving in all 4Directions 😉 and even moved from within, by the pathetic PJs of the driver 😀

Of the initial 10 enthusiasts, 2 had dropped off. Well, it was 4 couples plus 2 single guys. So, when one of the guys dropped out, the other declared he’d be too left out 🙂 So, it was the 8 of us: (pic of us all) And of us 8, five were classmates. So, we were a bit anxious about how the other three would feel. We had back-up plans for everything else, but not if these 3 felt left out 😉 But well, it was all like the proverbial eggs of the same basket 😉 Probably why, the trip turned out to be as great as it was! Oh my. How much we laughed. All that laughing plus the boat-like motion in the bus finally made us all sick! 😀 Well, maybe it was also because of the 60 Ferrero Rocher chocolates that vanished in less than 10 minutes…mainly gobbled down by Gulfu, Jaya and me 😉

We reached Elysium Garden Resort by 3.30 or so, because of the heavy and constant rains. We all trooped into all the 4 rooms and made all of them equally untidy 😀 And almost instantly, the cameras were taken out and the posing and clicking began 😉

When I clicked a pic of the three girls, Merlin said “Priya, you don’t even know how to take photos. Give me the camera. I’ll take.” And she clicked this one 😀

Every time we went out on to the balcony to click a group pic, it’d start raining and the winds would drive it in, right into the room. It was like the rain had signed a pact against us…and would make sure we stay indoors all the time 😉 Well, we weren’t complaining. It was quality time we spent, getting to know each other, having limitless fun. And, we had packed playing cards and Pictionary and Ludo and all. So, finally, we settled for Pictionary. And my god, the fun we had. There was just so much cheating and screams and finger pointing and red cards and yellow cards and everything! Hehe…here are a few snaps of what the words were…and how they were sketched. (For those who do not know the rules of the game, CLICK HERE! You should play it sometime…if possible, with a big group. It can be the best fun ever! High scope for cheating and calling names :D)

Well, it was fun! Prashant saying “oh…ithenikkariyaam…Aamayalle? Frog Frog Frog!”; and for “surfing the net:, drawing a cloud to indicate “foam…surf detergent…and surfing…” 😀 :D; and Leena slyly pushing their token two blocks ahead every chance she gets; and Jaya slowly writing the word itself next to her sketch (but me the dimwit still not getting it right ;)) 😀 😀 We had about 2-3 hours of pure fun!!!

There were times when we all laughed out so loud, it was deafening. Like when Prasanth ordered “naalu chappathiyum oru chakan curryum”; when Jaya kept asking “adimaly ethaaraayo” too many times, that Prasanth finally said “Ho! Enthonnithu. Ethumbo ariyikkam :D”; when Ragesh kept making the weirdest statements which we kept connecting with the gay community, like “Da, nee kaalukal ingane veche…njaan kaanichu tharaam” 😀 :D; when Merlin said, in a most serious tone “…Why do you all keep calling him Rakesh? It’s Ragesh…as in RaGEYsh”; when Leena asked “Pavaroor kalava ethiyo?”; I can’t think of anything I, Gulfu or Suraj said…but am sure there were enough and more 😀 Especially from me 😀

And then, after another round of photo shoots and everything, we all went off to sleep. Planned to wake up at 6 the next morn and go for sightseeing. We all slept through right till 8 o clock and woke up to constant rains again. Went back to the fun thing: photo shoots.

Leena had planned to have a black-n-blue and white-n-blue themes and everything….so we got all that done 🙂 Gulfu, or professional photographer, was driven to madness by me and Jaya, making him click pic after pic of us both, till we finally got a snap we both liked 😉

Gosh! We were having so much fun that we forgot to do the one thing girl-friends supposedly do the most: gossip! So, on the way back, when we stopped for lunch, we had a proper gossiping session as well. It was a laughing riot at the Maria International Hotel, Kothamangalam. But we got bored of it in less than 5 minutes. So we went back to what we were best at: making stupidly funny statements, one after the other. 😉

Like Suraj kept telling me before we left Bangalore, the day we were doing countdowns for and waiting ever so excitedly, just slipped through our laugh riots…and we were back in Cochin before we even realised it 😦 But not before we planned out next trip: Malaysia in May 2011. Yes, it’s a doubtful month (one that sounds skeptic), but we WILL go 😀 And then, little Ananya would be with us too! Yeyyyy!

We reached the same rainy Kochi that we left behind the previous day, at about 5.00 pm on Sunday; hugged, kissed and separated and went our ways—everyone back to where we belonged. And, on Monday, back to work. I couldn’t stop giggling now and then, even at work, thinking of the many funny incidents. I still am giggling! 🙂 Next time, we’ll make sure we carry a tape recorder along, so that the funnies can be recorded for later laughs 😉 😉 😉

A few good outcomes:

• Got to know Lee n Gulfu are finally getting married. Yeyyyy.
• Jaya quit her job, when she went back home and realised her baby had not missed her one bit the past two days! 😀 Between me and Jaya, we know why I say it’s a good outcome 😀 😀 😀 Sad though, that it wasn’t accepted 😀
• The 8 of us have become closer, and know each other much better (so much so that we’re actually sooo looking forward to the next trip)
• We’ve definitely decided to make this a yearly thing. Next trip: Malaysia, Truly Asia 😉
• Each one of us knows there are at least 7 people who’ll be there for us, at any point of time 🙂
• We’ve realised that one does not need to be constantly in touch to maintain the friendship/or to have limitless fun when one meets up. What matters is just the mental wavelength… 🙂

Oh that was one true-blue vacation. A real fun ‘meet-up’. The best fun trip ever. I can’t justify the fun with words. The rest of the gang who missed it: you guys missed a lot. And we missed you too! 🙂