I wish all Indians a very Happy Independence Day....May we learn to appreciate this country a little more, and crib a little less....may we learn to give a little more and expect a little less...may we learn to truly understand how lucky we are to be free....

Vande Mataram!!

My South Trip - Part 1

I'm back...after a looong break. No, it wasn't intentional, but ever since I got back from the trip I've either been busy working or off sick. The first 2-3 weeks after my return, I was busy coping with the heaps of work that had just piled up, despite the best efforts of my colleagues. Then there was a bout of viral fever and now I've been hit by this stomach bug that does painful things to the insides....:-((

Ok, about my trip. In one word - incredible. I saw some wonderful places, had some amazing experiences...The plan now is to write a travelogue here, in bits and pieces. Since it was a study tour for travel agents, it involved a lot of hotel visits which I guess I'll leave out.


Delhi airport
It was a morning flight from Delhi to Chennai. Anyone who has seen the domestic terminal during the peak hours, will agree that it resembles a crowded railway platform. When will the AAI wake up to the fact that the terminals are operating way above capacity for a long time now, and measures have to be taken urgently?? The difference between Delhi and Chennai airports was remarkable.

Chennai
I've already written a lot about this city earlier, so this time I'll keep it short. It was a short visit anyway, we spent just a few hours in the city. Arrived in the afternoon and began our hotel visits straight away. Managed some sightseeing along the way - the famous Bronze Gallery at the Govt museum, and a drive past San Thome cathedral and Marina Beach. But mainly it was a day of hotel visits. We saw about a dozen hotels, of which the ones which impressed particularly ( in random order) - Taj Connemara, The Park, and Le Meridien. Finally checked into our hotel at 1130 pm. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow....

Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram
We visited these places on consecutive days. Kanchipuram is a 2 hr 30 min drive from Chennai, and is the former capital of the Pallavas. It is basically known for 2 things - temples and silks. We saw two temples here. The first was the big Varadaraja Perumal temple. Our first South Indian temple, but we were to really become familiar with the style - tall Gopurams, huge paved courtyards, stepped water tanks, pillared halls...
Personally I preferred the other temple we visited, the Kailashnath temple. It's smaller, not crowded like the other temples, really clean, and the sculptures are amazing. No tall structures here, just a beautiful sandstone square with a sanctum, surrounded by a walkway on all four sides lined with sculptures. Amazing.
Some of us also bought some silk sarees, and since they gave us a 50% discount it was worth it!!

I've already written about Mahabalipuram in an earlier post, so will skip it this time. But of all the hotels we saw in Mahabalipuram, I must mention the GRT Temple Bay. It's just 5 minutes from the Shore Temple, and is definitely the best hotel in the area. All the rooms have a sea-view, the coffee-shop faces the sea and the Shore Temple, and they have a beautiful infinity pool.The Taj hotel ( Fisherman's cove) was also good but only if you take a sea-facing cottage.

From Mahabalipuram we went to Pondicherry. It's a 2 hour drive and very scenic. More on that, in the next post.

Singing in the rain....

Ok, so it isn't raining that hard yet. But what the heck, at least it's rain!!Hope it becomes a little more regular in a few days...
My exams finished today...finally... and now I'm off on a South India trip.The program is very hectic as it is a study tour, but I'm still excited about it.
So, there won't be any new posts for 2 weeks at least.Amit , you got that??? :-)

I plan to write about it when I'm back and have some time.Till then, it's a break from blogspace.

Well well....

Your Birthdate: June 7

Born on the 7th day of month gives you a tendency to be something of a perfectionist and makes you more individualistic in many ways. Your mind is good at deep mental analysis and complicated reasoning. You are very psychic and sensitive, and you should usually follow your hunches. You may not take orders too well, so you may want to work alone or in a situation where you can be the boss. This birthday gives a tendency to be somewhat self-centered and a little stubborn.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Mahabalipuram - finally

As promised, the post about the Mahabalipuram trip.....The weather wasn't exactly perfect for a sightseeing trip, and we suffered mild heat exhaustion by the end of it, but it was worth the trouble.

Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram as it is also called, is a tiny hamlet about an hour's drive from Chennai on the picturesque East Coast Road ( there isn't any West Coast Road, so I'm not sure why the "East" was necessary). It's a good route, but at points along the way there are reminders of the tsunami that struck last year. You see the destroyed huts of former fishing villages, and camps set up by various national and international aid agencies. We also passed some nice looking resorts, and a big water park kind of thing.

The temples and ruins of M’puram mostly date between 6th and 8th centuries AD. All local granite, some made into bas-reliefs and some into monolithic "caves". Arjuna’s Penance is the best and most famous of the friezes, and a very good specimen of the Pallava work. A large number of “Manadapams” are also scattered around it.

Then there are the 5 Rathas – each dedicated to one of the Pandava brothers. The first of the lot is quite crude and shows not much ornamentation, and you can clearly see the improvement in workmanship as we move to subsequent Rathas. Apparently work on these Rathas was stopped after the death of the king Narsinhvarman.

The pride of place belongs to the Shore Temple, a World Heritage Site. Apparently, it is the earliest known example of a stone temple in South India. It stands bang on the beach like a lonely sentinel, and makes a pretty picture. The interesting thing is, the entire temple wasn’t made at the same time. Apparently in the beginning there was just a small shrine with a monolithic reclining Vishnu and a large but somewhat crude Shivling (I’m still not sure which of the two came first). Later on the larger temple structure came up, along with a compound that contained water tanks etc and was surrounded by a wall on which sit several granite Nandis. Apparently the ships coming towards the port at that time used to set their courses by the temple. There’s a lighthouse not far from there as well.

It must have looked impressive from afar, standing guard on the shore of this former royal port. You can still sense some of that awe-inspiring quality, but unfortunately there’s been a lot of erosion of the stone by the salt-laden winds. We did see some restoration work going on, though. I would have loved to see the site where the other, apparently bigger temple has now been discovered after the tsunami. However it’s not open to visitors, as they’re still digging it up.

There are the usual hawkers pestering you with stuff you’ll never want to buy, and one man even followed us around for a while because he was convinced we needed a guide, but the harassment really is of the manageable kind. I’ve seen much, much worse in Agra…..

We ended the trip with a stop at Taj Fisherman’s Cove for lunch and some much needed liquid restoratives…Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to Dakshinachitra, which is less than a kilometer away from this resort. Apparently, typical wooden houses from all 4 southern states have been transported here and then re-assembled to create a beautiful multi-cultural South Indian crafts village. Well maybe next time…

I would recommend Mahabalipuram to anyone who’s visiting Chennai. In fact if one is driving to Pondicherry from Chennai, you can easily stop here for a couple of hours. Just remember to get a sun-hat, lots of sunscreen, and yeah, as much water as you can carry !!

Summer holiday...

I've just returned from short a trip to Chennai, visiting my sis who's working there. It was quite interesting, if you can overlook the fact that it was hot as the proverbial hell and humid to boot.

Chennai is a city of such contrasts, it's amazing. Some parts of it are so traditional, so conservative, and then there are areas which are so hip and modern that it's difficult to believe that this is the same city. Adyar, where my sis has a flat, is a very nice kind of place. The houses are usually just 1-2 storey high, and the roads are tree-lined and quiet. It reminded me of our place in Bangalore 10 years back.

We did some sightseeing, including the mandatory visit to Spencer Plaza which is the biggest mall in the city. Spent one early morning at Besant Nagar beach. It's smaller and not as famous as the Marina Beach, but it's also less crowded and therefore less dirty. But my favourite outing was the half day trip we took to Mahabalipuram. More on that later, perhaps in a separate post.

Sis took us to some wonderful joints as well. The first evening, we went to the Park for drinks and dinner. They have a very popular bar called the Leather Bar. The furniture is leather, the floor is covered in leather ( or was it faux leather?? couldnt make out in the dark), and even the pillars are covered with the same stuff. They have these rather cute guys in tight black tees and leather pants ( what else??) who bring you first a lit candle, then your drinks. Quite nice. But as we 3 ladies were by ourselves, we seemed to be attracting some curious stares. Apparently unaccompanied women at pubs and bars are a rarity in Chennai. But still, unlike Delhi, the men don't sit back and leer at you non-stop.

Park also has a very nice rooftop restaurant called Aqua. They have these canopied beds arranged around the poolside, and the sound of the water is apparently really soothing. They have a live band on Wednesday nights. Unfortunately we went on a Wednesday, when it was not just loud because of the music but also crowded because of a large Korean group. Too bad. Maybe next time.

The best discovery of my trip? A tiny place called Painted Platters, somewhere around Poes Garden. It's this tiny eatery in the backyard of an equally tiny French place ( La Madeleine if I remember correctly), with small benches and tables and a picket fence, beyond which you can see mango trees. They specialise in desserts. And when I say specialise, I mean that they only make desserts and they make them so beautifully that it leaves you breathless. We had the Mississippi Mud Pie, and I was in a chocolate-induced coma for the rest of the evening. It was like nothing I'd ever had before. Anyone visiting Chennai must visit this place.

One place I missed visiting this time was Bike and Barrel. It's a TGIF kind of pub, and I love it bcoz the DJ plays great rock music. And because the management takes very good care of unescorted ladies, which is something I don't usually see in Delhi.

Anyway, it was a short 4 day holiday but very relaxing. And now, I have loads of work to catch up on. But my next post will be about Mahabalipuram. And hopefully ( this is for my friend Amit L ) i'll put it up in just a few days' time. Ciao for now.

My birthday is coming up in a couple of days. And I've already started getting all quiet and introspective. Why the hell are birthdays so depressing when you get older???

The illness of a parent is probably one of the most heartbreaking experiences one can have. Someone you have seen in the prime of their life, you now watch going rapidly downhill, and there isnt much you can do. The person you looked up to for every need, the one whom you depended on for so many things, is now old and feeble and needs you.

My mom and her siblings have been dealing with this role-reversal for the past two years now. Their father i.e. my grandfather has a nervous problem that is getting progressively worse. It causes memory lapses like Alzheimer's. It gives him hallucinations, and all kinds of imaginary illnesses. There are days when he will be perfectly normal, and days when he'll regress into childhood. The whole thing is hard to describe, and even harder to watch. At times he gets so hard to handle, the doctor ends up admitting him into hospital. And after a few days, Nanaji is back to his old placid self and you are left wondering if the whole thing was a bad dream.

My mom suffers when she sees him like this. And I feel really bad for her. It often makes me wonder if someday I'll be in a similar position. And that scares the hell out of me. I cant handle the thought of my mom or dad being old and sick. Silly of me, I know, but there it is all the same. It's something that has been bothering me a lot these days.

Back again...

This blog has been in hibernation for too long. I feel really guilty about this, but life really has been busy. Anyway, thanks Amit and richa and Garfy and Simon for visiting and leaving scribbles for me to read.

Today I deleted some comments from my previous post. It has been my policy so far never to do that, and in the two years that I've been blogging I've never done it.But this time I broke the rule ( they're meant to be broken anyway, arent they??).... I just didnt want the tirade to go on, and as this still is my space the last time I checked, I decided to clean it up. If somebody doesnt like it, too bad.

There's a Blog Meet happening in Delhi next weekend. I'm planning to attend, and this will be my first DBM ever. Looking forward to it.

Will definitely try to blog more regularly. I seem to be saying that a lot these days....

I've recently been witness to a shocking incident. Shocking for me at least, because although I'd heard of such things happening I never imagined I'd actually see it for myself.

A close friend had put up her profile on one of the new wedding portals, the ones that have become so popular today. After corresponding with some guys for a while, she kind of developed an understanding with one of them, an army officer. They began chatting on MSN,and exchanged phone numbers, and basically began a funny long-distance thing.

He was posted somewhere in Rajasthan but his parents were in a big metro city far away. My friend and this guy used to talk regularly of getting married and stuff like that, the only problem being that his folks were against it. A caste/community issue according to him. Anyway they decided that he would keep trying to win his parents over, while she maintained a low profile for some time. This basically meant that he wouldn't tell anyone,even his best friends, about her. He never took her calls when there were people around, and used to keep his phone switched off for days on end.

My friend the innocent, kept her side of the bargain. She didn't tell anyone apart from her immediate family and 2-3 close girl friends including me. She'd call him daily, and put up with his unannounced absences and the uncertainty of the whole situation. I did tell her to find out a little more about the guy - she knew only his name, cell number and whatever little he'd told her. No unit , no address, nothing. Then there were a number of small, unrelated things.....And I being the kind of person I am, began getting suspicious.

And my worst fears did come true. We found out that the man is a cheat. Sure, he's in the army. But he gave her a wrong name and rank. Because he's already married and has a daughter to boot. When she confronted him with this, he gave her the usual sob story about having a bad marriage and wanting to get a divorce. He had the nerve to keep calling her and telling her he'd always cherish her memories. She kept getting swayed by his sweet talk, till she found out that he was trying that he was corresponding with other girls as well. God, I swear I can kill that man.
My friend is devastated. She comes from a conservative middle class family who were anyway not in favour of a love marriage. Now she loses face in front of them. And, being on the wrong side of 30, she feels she'll probably never get married now. I spend as much time as I can, telling her she's wrong. There isn't much else I can do. God, had I been in her place, that man would've regretted it till the day he died. The army can court martial an officer for such a crime. I'd have made him pay. As it is , I wonder how many other girls he's been cheating. May the b****** rot in hell.

This incident shook me. Agreed, some of the fault lies with my friend as well. She was too trusting, and too ready to fall in love. But that doesn't give anyone the right to do something like that. And an army officer !!! What the hell is wrong with this world??

If you or someone you know is into this matrimonial website thing, please please make sure that they exercise due caution. There are a lot of sick people out there. You're the only one who can protect yourself from unnecessary pain.

I'm feelin blue...

I've been down with viral fever for the last few days. Fever, chills, cough, cold, the usual. Have been feeling miserable. Meant to get some serious blogging done, but just don't have the energy. And now the thought of going to office tomorrow is adding to my depression. Unfortunately work waits for no one. Don't you wish sometimes that you could just give it all up?

Romantic me??

I found this quiz on Mistress of Magic's blog and decided to give it a shot. The result:

You Are A Realistic Romantic

You are more romantic than 70% of the population. It's easy for you to get swept away by romance...But you've done a pretty good job keeping perspective.You're still taken in by love poems and sunsetsYou just don't fall for every dreamy pick up line!

Soaped to death....

You hear it everywhere these days. In office, in buses, in friends' conversations, at family gatherings, even at your own home. The dreaded K words. The godawful K-prefixed soap operas that take up my mom and dad's time every evening are so popular it scares me.

Everyone I know and their aunts, seem to be so involved in these so called stories. What Karan did, what Tulsi said, what Pallavi planned, who married whom, who cheated on whom, who was shot dead, who was reborn.....The scriptwriters of these mushy, silly shows seem to have become more powerful than God himself ( or maybe it should be herself, but more on that some other time). They can resurrect dead characters from the grave, kill perfectly healthy ones thru instant cancer, give them a makeover thru plastic surgery ( mind you, not just the face but even the height and voice change.....). I've tried watching a couple of shows, but had to give up. Sometimes out of disgust, and sometimes because I was laughing so loud I couldnt hear the dialogues.

I refuse to understand how logical, rational people can get hooked on to stuff like this. And what's worse, they are getting their kids hooked as well. Don't they realise what they're doing?

I'm sure there are lots of people like me out there, who dislike these soaps and prefer more intelligent stuff. But from the looks of it guys, we are in a minority. What a shame.

Butterflies in my stomach...

My week of relaxation ends today. Tomorrow, I start my new job. Of course I'm jittery. I mean, it's not just a new job. It's a return to the way of life I'd left behind about a year and a half ago. The BPO I've been working in since then, has got me used to things like unusual work hours, late nights, cab transport, casual work environment and all that. Now, I'm joining this big corporatised travel agency where the work day begins at 9.30 am, the dress code is strict and there are no cab pick-ups.

It's going to take some getting used to. But I'm sure I'll manage. After all, that is what I was doing before the BPO stint.

Anyway, like my wise friend VC said, the only thing constant in life is change. So life, here I come!

New beginnings

2004 was a very eventful year. A lot happened, good as well as bad. MMS became a household world, for example. Camera phones came "into the picture", pun not intended. But the earthquake-tsunami of 26 Dec overshadowed everything. It was the worst disaster of recent history, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. The total loss to life and property is still being calculated. The scars will take a long time to heal.

But there is something about a new year that makes one feel better about things. A New year brings with it the hope that the worst is behind you and the best, yet to come. It's like a new page in a notebook, giving you a chance to make a fresh start to the story. I hope 2005 will allow me and everyone else to make that fresh start.

This new blog, the new job, are all part of my fresh start. Here's to new beginnings!

So here we are again

I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I've finally moved to Blogger and adopted a new blogger identity. 2005 is a new year for me in so many ways. New job, new hair colour, and now a new blog. Cool!!

This is of course a test post. More to come.