Thoughts on a Train

We, Neel and I, just ended a 56 hours journey on a train, travelling from Bangalore to Guwahati. We decided to travel by train as we had time on our hands and it was long since we train travelled. Also, as Neel pointed out, it would be our first train journey together (silly :D, not taken into consideration those Mumbai locals). So, we set out for our three nights’ long journey across the south-eastern part of India, cutting through Karnataka,Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal.

As they say, train experiences are experiences one would never forget. Each person travelling on the train has a different story to tell, I am sure. Our story is also different; humorous, frustrating, irritating and loving in equal measure. A three day story of us in a train can be an extremely long blogpost (one realizes because one is still unable to finish writing that), so here are some of my thoughts/ observations while I sat on my side berth in a 3AC compartment atop the Guwahati Express.

• Cockroaches can crawl on ceilings, inverted, defying gravity. Guwahati Express gave us plenty of cockroaches to observe and conclude our findings. So many baby cockroaches were around that it made Neel “google” the word used for baby cockroaches. “Nymph” apparently. Sorry, ahimsa guys, but we went totally “nymph”-o-maniac on the train, killing, stamping, stomping all the nymphs.

• Books can be purchased for three reasons. 1. Kill Time 2. Kill Cockroaches 3. Make a table on your berth and eat food. (Sorry, Jhumpa Lahiri, I mean it.)

Jhumpa Lahiri: your book served a lot of purpose

• With a side view, watch the aunt from Andhra Pradesh wearing a saree, her hair dripped in oil and in a behaving braid, give the girl from Arunachal Pradesh wearing hot pants and dyed hair an awfully disapproving look. It was comic to see them sitting side by side, yet the disparity between them was a surprising blow. One realizes there are all kinds of people in this world.

• When girls have too many luggages, they fill up every nook and corner and then an entire berth and later on, two of them share a berth the entire journey! I envy their slimness; I had trouble fitting one body in a berth!

• There’s always a guy who never came down for 56 hours from the top berth!

• There’s always an unmarried couple who are stuck together in a berth for 56 hours with so much love and coziness it makes you wonder if love is body-odor too.

• It is compulsory to have a funny guy in your compartment, to lighten things up.

• It is not compulsory, but it is almost irresistible to let go the wares of any hawker who passes by. Everything looks better in a train… from bhelpuri to coffee to fruits to torchlights to saree… you get the flow!

• It is important that you know what is famous in which station and quickly go and buy. Like, mangoes in Malda and biryani in Andhra Pradesh. 



A Glimpse of Godavari

• When the pantry guy is Assamese, you receive an open invitation to join them for drinks. If you are not Assamese and they didn’t invite you, worry not, hang the railway blankets from the high-ceilinged rods, thus blocking other passengers’ view from your enclave, call your friends and quickly have a pass-the-bottle session. Only the smell is the proof and anyway, no one would bother to smell your cavities at 1AM!

• If alcohol didn’t bind your bonds of friendship, smoking would. That daring activity that everyone fears getting fined, yet everyone can’t resist. At midnight, half the man’s population are out of the AC compartment and standing next to the doors; crowded, jostling rhythmically and smoking cigarettes. Girls, if you can’t find a place there, try going two-at-a-time to the toilet with a room freshener in your hand (at first, I thought she was concerned that the toilet will stink after she shits; naïve me!)

• Don’t bother putting an alarm; not that you have work to do on a train. You will be woken up by the constant rumpus of “Chai, Chai” and “Breakfast, Nashta” of the hawkers.

• Understand that Hindi is our national language and you will hear different accented versions of it. By the way, even Bhutanese can speak Hindi, can you believe it! The reaches of Ekta Kapoor and Indian TV!

• Your lunch from the pantry will have a sabzi and a curry of the exact same colour. Same colour, different raw materials. In most cases, it will be a red hue and a lot of masala shall be put in it. Yet, I can’t help but wonder how the food, with so much masala, can be with absolutely NO taste! On second thoughts, don’t bother with the pantry. There may be “nymphs” there considering how many are lurking around in our compartment! Elementary mathematics of food v. cockroach statistics. Just eat from the hawkers or at the stations (I am presuming their level of hygiene, though low, will not be worse than the train’s pantry)

Entertaining us@Shantiniketan with his enthralling voice

• People are more accommodating in trains, willing to exchange seats. Especially if the Bhutanese-friendly guy is willing to exchange his 2AC seat for a 3AC seat. Aha… Upgradation… mann mein laddoo phoota! The Bhutanese guy and his friends liked our compartment so much, they exchanged seats with anyone who would come to sit there.

• Hate all beggars in Howrah! They may appear hopeless but underneath that shawl or shirt the beggars carry stolen articles from passengers. Can you believe Neel’s Lumia 720 got stolen at Howrah?! We didn’t realize beggars would enter the AC compartment. Next thing you know the phone is nowhere to be found! When someone accidently picked up the phone while we tried connecting to it, we heard voices negotiating the price of the phone at a chor bazaar!

• You restore faith in humanity as total strangers try to help you find your phone or to cheer you up or to generally ask you about any update. One guy came and told this funny incident of how his cousin had tea (mixed with a sleeping tablet) on a train and next thing you know, he woke up in his underwear! Everything stolen! He had to sweep the train floors to get a few cents to call his mother! Now, he doesn’t drink any beverage on a train! The way he narrated it was hilarious! He tried cheering us with this story and we are so grateful for that J

• When Rasgullas are Rs. 20/- for four  (!), share these with the rest of the co-passengers in your compartment. In fact, share as much as you could. Food and anecdotes and joys and opinion.

• By the second day, feel at home. I did, I also felt a bit sad to leave those fun-loving passengers yet the longing for a clean toilet and my own bed was also getting stronger.

Horror film makes the bond stronger!

• To bond further, as a last and final act, watch a movie together, preferably a horror one. We watched The Conjuring. It was midnight and there was a storm outside; the train rattled and Annabel became alive… our co-passengers were glued to their seats, except the Bhutanese guy who almost jumped 2 inches everytime there was an unexpected scary scene! Oh… watching horror movies was never this fun!

So, after 56 hours in a rhythmic chaos, we reached Guwahati. Stinking of our own sweat, but with so many mixed memories. It’s not in a while that we shall do another long journey of this sort; not with the recent stealing of a phone that was so close to Neel (:D) but no denying, with all its shortcomings, train travel is fun in the end.

The Scarlet Flame, IORA, Kaziranga

While passing Kazirange, taken from the backseat

This was purely an accidental delight. We were on our way from Sibsagar to Guwahati and we happened to pass through Kaziranga during that time of the day when your tummy squeals and groans for want of food. We were in search for a proper place to lunch amidst the dozens of “resorts” that had sprung up in Kaziranga over the recent years. Then my dad said, “Should we go to IORA?” and I answered with a resounding “Yes!!!!” while my mother tried to decipher what exactly was this place whose name made her daughter spring up mid-air from the backseat of the car.

I had heard of IORA in the recent months. You know, friends on Facebook being quick to discover this place, and the promotional activities surrounding it and the latest wedding destination being IORA, Kaziranga instead of the faraway palaces of Udaipur or the sun-kissed beaches of Goa. Apparently, people love taking a swig and being the master of his own jungle at Kaziranga and IORA provides a safe retreat… no elephant or wild buffalo would stomp you while you do your victory dance in this newest resort in Kaziranga.

The tea-estate near Iora

We followed the road signs leading to the resort; the resort was the last property at the end of a narrow, yet well-built road and as we entered the sprawling property, to our right was a tea estate on a hilly terrain that looked quite lovely. 

Once we entered, my mom spotted a couple of “phoreners” and I could almost see that that was the precise moment when she nodded her approval for choosing this place. She believes that whenever you see foreigners, you know there’s something of value: they apparently can sniff anything of value far quicker than the elehua oxomia (and yes, that includes Bangladeshis coming to Assam because Assam is, indeed, valuable and far richer that you and I reckon).

Anyway, entrance to the resort was nothing very grand; it was open and airy though and I quite liked the informality. Stiff ambience and people are not exactly among my favourites. And when asked the direction to the restaurant to the staff in Assamese (quite intentionally), the staff greeted me and replied in perfect Assamese (I like this place already!). Usually in my numerous, bad experiences in Assamese restaurants, I’m constantly annoyed with staff who reply in a different language in an effort to alienate what’s their own, sometimes they will even give a condescending look that says “Madam, my eatery is too hi-fi for Assamese to be spoken here” (KFC, Guwahati, mind it!)

Pillars from reclaimed wood. Good job.

Once inside the in-house continental restaurant named The Scarlet Flame, we were politely escorted to a table. The staff who waited on us was patient and answered our queries politely. We were told this was the continental restaurant and there was also an Indian restaurant if we would like to try. My dad decided he would like to try continental for a change (What?! At mid-fifties, that’s quite a change from his usual fare!), so continental it was. I was allotted the responsibility to order. The menu was quite impressive, the continental fare in particular. I ordered quite a suspiciously named dish called “Chicken Supreme Prince Davis” for my father. Maybe Prince Davis liked chicken crumbles, baked veggies with buttered rice. My mom went for a simple red-sauce chicken pasta and for myself, I ordered the Chicken Caf’real (just because I liked the way it sounds).

While we waited for the food to arrive, I quickly scanned the facts on Kaziranga and Assam printed on the placemats and also noticed that the huge pillars of the restaurant were made from reclaimed wood. The décor was simple, spacious; not overpowering. There were French windows on one side of the restaurant that overlooked the garden and my mom, being a green thumb, persuaded that the time till the arrival of our food should be utilized in walking around the garden and inspecting the blooms. Dad was too tired to be persuaded so I went along with her. 

Doors leading to the garden

The garden was quite lovely and well-kept. Flowers in fanciful bunches were in bloom. The orange of marigolds bunched together, the lovely bougainvillea pinks together, the red poppies together. I feel that any flower specie when kept in huge numbers start looking more beautiful than hap-hazardly arranged flowerbeds. There were small straw huts shrouded with white flowers that almost gave a private feel. I assume the huge lawn in the middle of the garden is used to host parties; I saw a straw hut that doubled as a bar, a few empty liquor bottles placed there. 

Private and Confidential

On the periphery of the lawn were the rooms, some clustered together, others being private cottages complete with a chimney. We walked further to the end of the garden which gave way to the view of the swimming pool below. The Jacuzzi was gushing water and in the swimming pool, a kid played with his father. Sigh… I would have loved to take a dip in the pool in this 2pm heat that was beating down on us.

On returning to our seats at the restaurant, the dishes were brought in. Dad’s “Prince Davis” landed first. He (if food had a gender) looked handsome, to say the least. A perfect sphere of buttered rice, baked and slightly spiced veggies on the side, the chicken crumbles were more like chicken patty with a crunch (delicious!) and toasts had a melting layer of cheese. It looked so good!

Mom’s dish was understated. A globe of red pasta; but it was one of the best pastas I had. We didn’t expect such a simple and known dish to be so impeccably prepared and differently delicious.

My Chicken Caf’real was the last to arrive. Don’t judge a book by its cover and don’t order a dish because of its fancy name. My dish was chicken chunks enveloped with dollops of minced greens and pita bread. I love pita bread and the bread here was freshly made and really nice. However, I never liked chicken with greens, so though this dish might appeal to others, it didn’t do much for me.

Even though we didn’t order starters and jumped straight to the main course, let me tell you it was a good decision because the quantity here is ginormous. We had to skip desserts and just to confirm if we could still walk after such a heavy meal, we did an idle round of the garden once more before we headed out of the resort.

Last thoughts?

The resort is lovely; I would also say in the same breath that the resort is for people who would like to stay in luxurious concrete houses amidst the jungle. Iora can be a property in any part of the world, it didn’t have anything Assamese except perhaps a few bamboo and cane artifacts and furniture. I guess for Assamese tourists, this is quite a hit; it being a place that doesn't have the traditional Assamese style décor. Also, I reckon it is a perfect place for tourists who can’t live without pools and scented candles. It is modern and well-kept and beautiful and looking at the cars in the parking lot, it is doing extremely well. However personally, I like the concept of a bit of Assamese air thrown in whilst in Kaziranga. But who am I to say? I’m a gaonlia girl who speaks Assamese in KFC and gets glared at.

The restaurant, of course, undoubtedly, has a fabulous chef. But I’m still skeptical. Most restaurants start with a bang and deteriorate right after that; similar to most buildings in Assam that starts with a blinding whitewash and starts to gather moss after the first monsoon rains. I can hardly begin to comprehend the amount of determination required to maintain such good standards in the middle of a wildlife sanctuary (kudos!), yet I hope that this place retains its chef and its whitewash the next time I visit it.

Café Cherapunjee

It was our first trip after marriage. “Trip”, not honeymoon. We are not much of the mooning type. We are “more-the-merrier” type. So, two days after our marriage, we along with four of Neel’s friends booked an Innova and headed to Meghalaya.

The destination? Café Cherapunjee.

It so happens that one of the partners comprising the new management of this place happens to be Neel’s pal from his St. Anthony’s days. When he first started managing the place, he invited Neel to visit the place and so we headed there for the weekend.

Our first impression of this place was – “WOW! Are we in India?!”

Rightly called 'Scotland of the East'

Rolling landscapes, a semi-circle of pine trees surrounding a heritage bungalow, smoke rising from the chimneys… this place looked straight out of a calendar. 

Raja, the friend who partly manages this place, met us and guided us through the rooms in the bungalow. The bungalow was an old British Post Office, restored as a resort now. They have a restaurant with a fireplace as well as a lounge room. The décor was warm and woody, made all the more beautiful by the Christmas decorations that adored the place.

A Christmas tree here, bells there, woolen socks hung at the mantle and mistletoe hung at the front door. Old movie posters hung on the walls; I specially liked the “Singing in the Rain” poster (also, there’s Audrey Hepburn looking fabulous in Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the ladies room!). An old gramophone was set against one wall, a statue of the famous Old Monk was against another wall. There was also a small vintage-looking telescope propped above the fireplace mantel. In other words, fabulous old-world charm.

After a quick tour of the bungalow, we were led to our cottage. It was a tented structure, propped on wood stumps. Outside the wind blew cold, but once inside the tent, it was relatively warm. The cane lanterns gave off a warm glow and the décor of the room looked very inviting. White bedsheets, soft blankets, pillows and cushions, a rug on the floor, wooden floor, western toilet with all amenities… who thought a tent could be this luxurious! 

Wise, Old Monk

Outside the tent, the afternoon light was getting dim and the boys quickly settled on the verandah for their first drink. Old Monk, no less!

Smoked and delicious

Raja got the bonfire ready and we all settled around it. Dishes of finger-licking food appeared magically and we devoured them all! As the evening progressed, the wind blew bitter and we got merrier. After some time, we dragged ourselves away from the bon fire and settled besides the fireplace in the lounge room. 

The fun continued. It continued long after I crawled into bed in exhaustion. It was -2 degrees outside and a hot water-bag was sent to my room. With three layers of clothes, a heater and my feet placed on the hot-water bag, I slept like a log till 8am next morning.

Next morning, Neel and I had cups of steaming Assam tea on the verandah of our tent with the sun warming us. The others woke up one by one, groggy but up for some more fun. We had breakfast on the lawns, pasta and parathas with more tea; then we headed to the Sohra view point which is just a kilometer from the resort. 

After Sohra, we went towards Shillong Peak. Since Shillong Peak has become way too commercialized, Neel suggested that we go to the half-peak. It was a place Neel frequented during his college days. It’s basically a meadow overlooking the city. We rolled around the grass for a while, talked, some of them started drinking early and soaked in the mid-morning sun. 

After some time, we headed to Shillong. It was shopping time! In record time, I bought my annual supply of bags and shoes while the others sat at Cloud 9.

It was around 7PM by the time we reached the resort. That night, Raja’s wife, Raisa arrived with their little angel, Saira. We all entertained the baby doll who was having fun throwing the Christmas decorations around!

While the others enjoyed, I curled up in a cane sofa and tried to sleep by the fireplace before Neel pitied me and escorted me to my tent at midnight. There, in seconds, I fell asleep. The others partied till 2AM.

After two nights at Café Cherapunjee, we said goodbye to Cherapunjee early the next morning, reaching Guwahati by lunch time. The boys kept on wishing that there were surveillance cameras in the resort so as to capture their antics of the previous nights; they swore the material could be used for the script of the next Hangover sequel! In short, the first trip after marriage was a grand success!

And Raja and Alan, you guys are doing a tremendous job! Thanks for inviting us to Café Cherapunjee… We shall return soon!

I don't think they have a website up yet, but you can check this place at their fb page: https://www.facebook.com/CafeCherrapunjee

So long!

Skandagiri: Conquered

Won't you love being here?

For starts, I'm no trekker. I'm lazy. I'm hedonistic. I am not interested in trekking but I love seeing new sights.

So obviously, I must have been bored out of my brains by city-life when I said 'yes' to a trek to Skandagiri. Before going, I did my usual research online and found that Wikipedia mentioned the trek as 'moderately difficult' (which sent shivers down by spine). Also, my friends' account of their trek to Skandagiri filled me with dread. But braced with a lot of self-motivation and false courage, at 5:30am on a Sunday, I bundled into a car. Yawning, doubtful, worried and sleepy. My biggest worry was death on the mountain, the second worry was slipping and losing some of my front teeth (I have my own marriage to attend in a few months and losing a tooth or two would create havoc on my already jittered family).

Anyway, you'd be glad to know that none of the bad things happened. I survived to tell the story of my trek.

I know that Skandagiri appears to be a favorite for night treks. You start the climb at 3am and try reaching the peak in time for sunrise. But we did a day trek. We weren't sure if night treks were still allowed after a mishap (re: murder? fall?) happened last year and treks were banned in Skandagiri.

Reaching Chikballapur took us an hour and a half from the city, with breakfast in between to boot ourselves up. It was 10am by the time we reached Chikballapur. At around 10:30am, we started on the incline. Lucky for us, the day was pleasant. Sun and shade in parts. The first 30 minutes of the trek was the most difficult for me. My body is not used to climbing huge boulders on an incline. But we were taking frequent breaks. After the first 30 minutes climb, I was feeling so sick and giddy that I let one of my co-trekkers carry my stuff. Yes, I felt miserable that he had to carry extra load from me, but I'm, as it is, a fat female and carrying another 6kg on my body was too much on my constitution! I think my head would have burst if I were to carry that load for another minute. After shifting the load, it was easier to carry on. The frequent stops gave me enough time to steel myself and motivate myself to carry on.




Besides my self-cribbing, the views that the trek provided was gorgeous. The clouds shifting through the valley, the fields at the distance, the constant breeze... it felt good. At one point, we came across a sort of cave, naturally formed by three huge boulders. We sat there, chit-chatted and sheltered from the sun for a while. Then again we went... Aage Barho! The higher we went, the higher my spirit soared. I knew I would be reaching the top soon and hopefully, in one piece. It gave me josh! With our snail-slow climb with very frequent rests, we managed to reach the peak at 1pm.

At World's Edge

The Roof was our Picnic spot

The view at the top was absolutely mesmerizing. All the fatigue we carried to the top disappeared in a jiffy. The peak had ruins of a fort along with an old temple. It was green all around with the ruined structures providing added beauty to the place. There was no one present except our group. Earlier there used to be vendors at the top selling food at exorbitant rates but the police stopped these activities after the mishap. In a way, this was good for us... we had the peak all to ourselves!

After enjoying the green panoramic view, we climbed on top of a ruined structure and had our lunch. We had carried our lunches; bread-omlet, puris, biscuits, beverages and Vachana's Kaya (all the way from Malaysia) with bread.

After that satisfying a meal, who doesn't want a nap? Some of us fell flat on the rock and rested our tired bodies. We laid down on the flat rock and let the breeze blow across us. It is a feeling that can't be expressed, but only felt. I remembered feeling this sort of serenity when I laid on a rock at Athirapally falls in Kerala. These moments are so rare, so tranquil, they make you forget every worry and just be in the moment.

The Wind chimes...

While meditating on my thoughts, I must have dozed off a while; when I did wake up, I realised Vachana was clicking pictures of me! Bad, bad girl!

Afterwards, we explored the area for a while longer and at around 3pm, we started our descent. The descent was, of course, faster. Notwithstanding a few slips here and there, we were intact when we reached the base at 4:20pm.

We were at the top!

At the base, we looked at the hill that we had climbed. 1350 meters... it towered like a giant... I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe mixed with pride. Awe at the hill and proud that I conquered it!

If you are looking for a moderately difficult weekend that is very, very rewarding (in terms of views and calorie-burning), I suggest you take the trek to Skandagiri. ;)

While on it, you might want to carry (i) light jackets (ii) water and (iii) food. Happy Trekking!

Encouragement note # If I, a lazy slob, can do it, then you can definitely do it!

I want to turn the whole world upside down!

And if you require musical motivation, the song "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson should give you a nice, comforting push to the top.

Who's to say/ What's impossible/ Well they forgot/ This world keeps spinning/ And with each new day/ I can feel a change in everything/ And as the surface breaks reflections fade/ But in some ways they remain the same/ And as my mind begins to spread its wings/ There's no stopping curiosity

I want to turn the whole thing upside down/ I'll find the things they say just can't be found/ I'll share this love I find with everyone/ We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs/ I don't want this feeling to go away

Who's to say/ I can't do everything/ Well I can try/ And as I roll along I begin to find/ Things aren't always just what they seem

The Family Visits-Part I-Goa

I have been complaining to my mom for close to eight years, bi-annually, of not coming and visiting me in Bangalore. I mean, people just don't dump their wards in Bangalore; people come and visit their wards once in a while. Yet this was not in my case. I have been living here since eight years and the only time she came to Bangalore was during my law-school admissions. Once admitted, she never bothered. Or rather, she did bother and felt guilty, but she is a working woman and she couldn't find the right time to visit me.

Goa: anticipating rain

But now, in a few months time, I shall be leaving Bangalore and so I told her to visit me and see Bangalore before I leave. For some weird reason, she agreed this time.
And we booked her ticket (#happy)
... along with my brother's ticket (#incredulous)
.... and my brother's friend's  ticket (#twomangateens?!)
... and my brother's friend's mom-and-dad's tickets!  (#facepalm)

After tickets were done, there was a frenzy of plans happening in Guwahati. All wanted to go to Goa. Brother wanted two days to be with his friends, the other family wanted to visit another place besides Goa, mom wanted to do some wedding shopping, auntie wanted to go for saree shopping... they had five days in hand and I had a handful of hair in mine!

This vacation was NOT going to be my vacation: I was to be their guide. I don't make a good guide.

Nevertheless, this is how it happened:

It so happens that Indigo airways have started operating a direct flight from Guwahati to Bangalore that lands at Bangalore right at 8pm. The flight landed 20mins early (which is unheard of!), yet my group trickled out at the very end of the flight-crowd.This was a warning of how things could get hold up when there are five people from the "land of laahe laahe".

There was no time to lose because we had a bus scheduled for Goa at 11pm. I packed the entire bunch in a hired Innova and asked the driver to speed it up to Orion Mall for a quick dinner. On the way, we caught up on the news of everyone from Assam, from Assam politics to neighbours' politics and reached Orion Mall by 10pm. They gaped at the Mall like it was a thing from another planet. Frankly, I had never been to Orion Mall and damn, it was huge! I would have gaped too, but I pretended as if every other mall in Bangalore is just as big (*grins*).

For the next 45mins, I became the ring-master of my group, keeping a timer by which they need to finish the dinner and arrive at the bus stop. And sharp at 10:45pm, we reached the bus stand. And the bus? It was late!

Customs Govt. Guest House- Rs. 100 a night!!

The bus showed up a good 30mins late; however, we were all too tired to complain. They were impressed once again seeing the cleanliness of the "night-super" and the cleanliness of the public toilets in Karnataka!

By noon the next day, we were in Goa, settling in the Customs Guest house that my uncle had booked for us. It being August, the Goan rains were in full swing. The rain came and cleared for brief periods. For people getting scorched in the Guwahati heat, Goa was a blessing!

The first day, we decided to visit the Baga and Anjuna beaches. At Baga, I took them to the famous Britto's and made them taste the Pepper Prawns. That was a huge hit! Another bigger hit was the shandy I prepared. A crowd-pleaser everywhere!

The famed Pepper Prawns @ Brittos

The beach had a crazy effect on The Bunch. I guess it is the fact that they don't get to see the beach that often that made them go so crazy! Because of the monsoons, the waves were huge and the beach was wet. Yet it didn't stop them from enjoying the sea. It was just lovely seeing my mom and aunt screaming their lungs out to the sea... the sea must have turned partially deaf :/

Anjuna

Dona Paula

After the beaches, auntie voted that we go on a Goan cruise. I was extremely skeptical but 'course, they voted me out of the vote. So we all went. It was my first time on a cruise and it was extremely bad. The MC sucked, the music sucked and for the cultural experience, they provided three Goan dances with the same dance troupe. Well, it didn't suck for the families present there. They were dancing on stage. Brother and his friend (let's call them the Manga teens) gave one look at the stage and went upstairs on the deck and never came back. The cruise was an hour long excruciating affair; nonetheless, in the end, I was actually beginning to enjoy the part when auntie went up onstage with a group of married ladies to dance. Painful for her son, yes, but fun for us! ;)

The next day, we covered Dona Paula, Basilica of Bom Jesus, Fort Agoda and Calungute Beach. I haven't been to Dona Paula before and I quite liked the place in the early morning. We were almost alone, without tourists around, with the sea surrounding us. It was nice.

We wrapped up the Basilica and Fort Aguada as fast as we possibly could and headed to the beach. There, the Bunch went mad, once again... Knee-deep in water, screaming, plunging... they didn't mind the rain... they loved the sea!

Nuts

For lunch, we went to Souza Lobo's in search of authentic Goan cuisine and we weren't disappointed. The shandy was becoming part of lunch ritual now. Later, we went to a cashew-nut and fenny wholesaler and bought "souvenirs" for people back home.

Late that night, we caught the bus back to Bangalore. They looked at the sea and made promises to come back and visit Goa soon!

Footprints in the Sand

On the 3rd day of their 5 day trip, weary and beaten by the sea, The Bunch reached Bangalore. Continue>

My first trek- Conquering Kurinjal Peak, Kudremukh

Obviously, destiny had better things in store when it decided to cancel my Chikmagalur trip. Destiny had decided that I shall go beyond Chikmagalur to reach the heart of Kudremukh and do my first, ever trek!

Like all good travel plans, this plan happened at the eleventh hour. Knock. Plan. Pack. Go. At 5AM, I met my friend's brother, who rode his bike at neck-break speed to reach the other end of the city where the others were waiting. It was one of those rides where your nose amazes you by still functioning while speeding against cold, freezing winds.

By 6AM, we four were seated comfortably in my friend's car and off we drove to Kudremukh. The landscape was beautiful and at one point, the view was so pretty that we stopped the car, walked up a small hillock and admired the windmills on the green valleys at the distance.





On our way, we also decided to stop by Belur and visit the Belur Temple. I had been here before but this temple's architecture can never satiate me. The extremely intricate designs, the flawless sculptures, the stories behind... It's one of the most beautiful temples I have seen till date.

Belur Beauty

Ek Garam Chai ki Pyali ho

For lunch, we stopped by a small, road-side restaurant serving Fish-thalis. I had to mention this because their hospitality amazed me. They knew we were not from their area, so they made us sit in the adjacent room which was their living room and served our lunch on their private dining table :)

After lunch, the next two stops were a tea-stop with a friendly dog who ran across the park in lightning-speed-rounds and rolling tea estates where we posed before the camera.




With all these breaks, we managed to reach Bhagawati Nature Camp, Kudremukh, by 5PM in the afternoon. It was my first experience of tent accommodation and I was super-duper excited!

But my excitement was nothing in comparison to that my friend who hurried us up as she took us for a "surprise". Ta-daaa....!

I have been here :)

Isn't this beautiful?! She discovered that the River Bhadra runs through Bhagawati's estate. We loved the quaint waters, glistening in the twilight and the serene silence of the woods. It was so very peaceful.

There was also a small 'activity' area where these guys climbed, jumped and swung about from nets, bars, tyres and what not!

At night, we entertained ourselves with dumb charades and  a 'crab' dance recital. Of course, like all night camps, it had to include the telling of ghost stories!

Dinner was simple and tasty, though a bit late. We slept like logs that night.

The next day, by 8am, we were good to go on the trek. Water bottles, eggs, bread-jam et al. We passed through grasslands, dense forests, carcass of a bison... The only rests were the ones that started with "Leeeeeeeccchhh! Remove!!" Yes, nasty leeches of Kudremukh. Blood Suckers! We donated quite a lot of blood to the forest. Salt water hardly helped to keep them at bay. At one point, I had around 20 of them rolled into a globe, inter-twined, partying on my sock. Yes, it was quite a sight! Woman v. Wild!

I walk alone...

The trek was long, but was easy. The only tough part being the last 5mins where the climb becomes really steep. By the time, we reached the peak, it was raining and I was miserably hungry. I felt faint. There, on top of the peak, we ate bread-jam-bananas-eggs with a ravish! We sat there for a while, enjoying the view, watching the dense white fog around us.

As we ascended

After a while, we started our descent. The rain never stopped pouring. Three hours of a continuous drench. Bheegi Billi!

We started trekking at 8am and returned to the camp at 1pm... From our site to the peak and back, it must have been a total of 20kms. I'm not too sure of metrics. But I'm sure my first trek was a whole lot of fun!

I am glad I did this trek... It was an experience I shall never forget.

Never wanting to leave for the city

Guys, let's do one more soon!