Road Trip to Madurai and Rameswaram

Kanyakumari was removed from the scope due to 11 hours return from Kanyakumari to Bengaluru. Travel freaks group was scaled down to only 2 families: Shenoy and Nayak due to unavailability of leave for others.

On 25^th Dec’17, 6:30 AM – Innova Crysta arrived at the door step with driver from Mandya by name Manju dressed in white and white. Later in the discussion we realized he owned the vehicle and has 2 more. Mandya people are rich!. Crysta was very much required to accommodate the healthy travel freaks except me who has maintained lean structure over the years.

Breakfast was at A2B on the highway with usual combo that is prevalent in Tamilnadu. Old Hindi and Kannada songs gave us company which made the drive soothing. On the way to Madurai we took short deviation to Nammakal to visit Hanuman temple. There is no roof over the sanctum and Anjaneyar has a unique iconography sporting a sword in his waist and holding a garland made of saligrama. In past centuries, many people tried many times to build roof for Sri Hanuman, but Lord Hanuman didn’t accept it.

Reached Madurai, 1:30 PM – Did not have patience to wait for one more room allocation on same floor. Quickly dumped the luggage in the allotted room and rushed to lunch. Gorged on Sambar Sadam with Pappad and curd rice. After lunch visited “Jigar Thanda” shop and requested for one ice-cream to taste and that was last one in the whole trip. May be that outlet was not good – first one left a bad taste in the mouth. As usual, diversity wanted to shop in the afternoon after heavy lunch. I excused myself and slept in the hotel. The group was not to be seen in the evening and was asked to meet at “Pothys” in rickshaw with upper limit of Rs.50/- as fare. The first bid was Rs.250/- and was reduced to Rs.150/- after crossing the road. After negotiation with multiple drivers, reached destination at Rs.80/-. My wife had zeroed down on A2B for early dinner and had to walk about KM to reach after sign language with people on the way since none of us knew Tamil.

Visit to Meenakshi temple was planned on 26^th morning. Again A2B was selected for breakfast since we knew only that place where we could get quality food. Driver sorry Owner lost his way despite google map. We stopped and asked, “where is Adyar Anand Bhavan?” he put his investigate hat and called one more person and slowly there was group discussion among 4. By then we slowly moved out from that place and found A2B on our own. We were early birds to A2B at 7 in the morning and had to wait for the food. Opted for special darshan in Meenakshi temple and more time was spent on photos in thousand pillars museum.

In North Gate hotel, to avoid the delay for lunch we preordered sambar sadam, biriyani and one more item for 7 people. At 1 PM we find that only 1 plate each is prepared then we realized that requirements must be explicit not implicit.

Reached Rameswaram at 5:30 PM which is around 4 hrs. journey from Madurai. Manager at Kasi mutt changed our entire plan in the initial discussion. 2 days Rameswaram stay was cut to 1 day. Visit to temple happened in the evening instead of Morning. Before taking bath in 22 wells there is pre-requisite to take bath in sea water. Sea has turned black and we did not dare to take dip but just sprayed little water. Even the 22 wells are unkept but we ignored it the name of divinity. We completed special darshan of Shiva in the night. “Saravana Bhavan” had mad rush for food without any queue system. We should help ourselves by shamelessly standing next to the table which is about to get empty.

27^th plan was to visit “Dhanushkodi” and return to Bangalore. “Saravana Bhavan” as usual had mad rush even for breakfast and we thought of giving business “Geetha Mess” which turned out to be better. Dhanushkodi was aha moment where straight road strip cuts across Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal. It is once in life time drive one must be part of. Spent some time on the beach and visited the temple where Vibhishana was crowned. On the way back the lunch at “Amman hotel” in vicinity of Madurai was good and first time we could see smiling faces serving the food.

4 days trip was cut short to 3 days but we compensated with movie “Tiger Zinda hai” and new year get together where entire travel freak folks were present.

Around Rajasthan in 10 days

----------------------------5 days before the planned start date --------------------------------

               Time really flies, the most awaited vacation is just around the corner. I will carry book and pen to jot down daily events which will go into travel memoir blog of mine for future reference.

On Sunday, cauliflower families were in deep planning on how to commute to Airport. Guru came up with multiple options and criteria to select was minimum cost and at same time carry both the families. This is in sync with today’s competitive industry faster, better, cheaper. On Monday evening, I receive SMS from SpiceJet. I opened it with expectation that flight must have been delayed but the message was bolt from the blue. The message read Dear Passenger, your flight SG 342 on date 22-Dec-12 from BANGALORE to JAIPUR has been cancelled. Please contact Reservation Dept on our 24/7 Tel No 0987.

               I dialed MakemyTrip who was unaware of the cancelation and top of it checked his database and said “tickets are confirmed” J. My next call was to SpiceJet reservation desk and I had to put up with some bad music for 2 – 3 minutes before a female voice responded. She took the booking number and confirmed that flight is canceled. I went a step further and checked about the return journey even that is canceled. She must be used to this low cost airline and advised not to worry “you will get full refund sir” L. At this stage I lost my temper, raised the voice unaware that I was at my desk. Does her organization know how they upset the plan, money is taken 4 months in advance and lead time for cancelation is just 4 days. I forced her for an alternative, usually the call centre folks become thick skinned over a period of time. The answer was we do not have any flights on 22^nd for onward journey and 31^st for return journey. Being pushed to the wall I canceled all the 9 tickets and got the good news from lady in sweet voice that refund will be available in next 48 hours from your travel agency.

               At this stage I had two options in mind

1.      Go for different air agency and absorb the higher fare

2.      Push the vacation to Jan or Feb end to avoid high price tickets

2^nd option was shot down by Roopa saying children have exams and Rakesh – no leaves. Left with only one option called my partner in crime who brushed it saying “why are involving me”. On my way back from office, brilliant idea struck – “why not force spice jet to provide alternative or threaten them with consumer court”. The moment I opened the gate, Tv9 came running down from upstairs saying problem is solved. Her mother had turned into “vanke obavva” and had done tomato chutney of spicejet.  

               I had my dinner and then went upstairs to find Seema with poses of “Chak De” supported by Guru and Roopa. The problem is solved by connecting flights with a pit stop at Delhi in onward journey and Hyderabad on the return. The most eventful day 17^th Dec came to an end with one open item of food and shelter for one night in Delhi. This was quickly taken care by Guru through his CID contact (I should stop pulling his leg). We now have 3 rooms booked in GSB mutt.

               Roopa got a gift from her magic cabinet for Seema next day for being savior in critical situation. If I draw a parallel to professional life, savior takes away the goodies by handling critical situation and others will just watch with an open mouth. In this situation, similar to me and Guru who are putting their best effort to make vacation success and Seema gets the praise for one sixer. Just kidding, Thanks to Seema to bring back the travel on track and Guru CID for shelter and food in Delhi. Kids get chance to sit in 4 planes at the same cost – faster, better, cheaper and one more longerJ

-------------------------------------DAY 1 (21-Dec-2012) Bangalore to Delhi -----------------------------------------------

               Seema had outsourced take away for munching during air travel to her mom. Take away comprised of Tepla and Buns. SpiceJet continued pouring salt on our wound with multiple flight delays from 4 to 4.40 PM and then 4.40 to 5 PM.  At the airport, 9 members (6 adults, 3 children) were on eating sprint of Tepla, Buns, cake, dilpasand, bread butter jam before boarding the delayed flight at 5 PM. I was awed with metabolism of the group who purchased food on the flight. There are two kinds of people “who eat to live” and “who live to eat” and James party belongs to latter kind.

               After alighting at IGI airport Delhi, Nitya mam magically packed people and luggage in Maruti Omni and drove towards Kashi mutt. It looked like livestock being carried to butcher’s shop. After relishing Konkani dinner [surna kuta, valla biye sanga] the plan of shopping and eating gol gappa disappeared in thin air. Nitya mam gave a jatka by giving only 2 rooms; Roopa was quick in splitting into 2 groups based on gender. 3^rd room came up as a surprise after a while which split into 3 groups based on family. Kids had become active and started burning their calories by running around while adults queued for hot water bath in the common bathroom.

               We came out safe from doomsday 21^st Dec 2012 which was hyped as end of the world since Mayan calendar has ended but our trip had just started.

--------------------------------------DAY 2 (22-Dec-2012) Jaipur to Pushkar------------------------------------------------

               For person like me who has never seen dawn was forced to wake up at 4.30 AM to catch the flight at 7.15 AM to Jaipur. I wished my wife who turned 9 years old after marriage, cannot reveal women’s age. Breakfast in airport was at branded outlet at premium price with less quantity. Second breakfast was in Jaipur which comprised of basket of varieties of parathas and again costed a bomb. 

First sight seeing spot at Jaipur was “City Palace” and some of the highlights:

·        4.5 kg kalash (2 in number) to carry “Ganga Jal” by one of Sawai during his Europe trip

·        Massive outfit of one of huge Sawai

·        Paschima shawl which can be pulled into one ring

·        Muslin cloth which can be folded into matchbox

Afternoon lunch was thalis from all around India [Punjabi, Gujarati, and South Indian]. Cook showed unity in diversity by adding extra tamarind in all thalis.  After peta pooja which had higher priority we drove towards Pushkar with Rajput [Inder Pal Singh] on wheels. Antakshari was kicked off with ace players Seema and Roopa in Hindi film song category, kids gave outside support.

The next visit was Khwaja Mohinuddin Chisty dargha at Ajmer 20 km before Pushkar. I and Guru created our way into Dargah after push/pull with able bodied men. Both of us were wrapped under chadhar for a minute and prayers were made on our behalf. Rajat got his demand of shoes [with lights] fulfilled and Seema got her birthday gift from Ajmer market.

Everyone was excited to visit the only Brahma temple in India at Pushkar. Guide explained the reason behind the uniqueness in brief: 

“There was communication gap created by Narada between husband [Brahma] and wife [Savitri]. Brahma gets into additional knot with Gayatri to comply with the prerequisites of Yagnya. Savitri instead of filing divorce curses Brahma that his worship will be limited only to Pushkar”

Guide showed us the halwai stall where the popular serial “Diya aur Bathi” was shooted. After our visit it is famous for clearing up the stock of the sweet “Mal Pova” [Jamoon in flat structure] at one go. The night stay at “New Park” was good but spoilt by dinner since kitchen was outsourced to James relatives. We had to bear with Knorr soups, half boiled rice, moist masala paapad, Dal floating in diluted Dal Makhani.

--------------------------------------DAY 3 (23-Dec-2012) Pushkar to Udaipur----------------------------------------------

 James relatives continued to be spoilt sports who were unaware of complimentary breakfast. Bread butter jam, Puri and Alu gravy were prepared at last minute. On the way to Udaipur there was free dance show by Seema, Smitha, Prajnya and Shriyaa. Gents got up and freed their arms and legs which were counted as dance steps. Roopa stuck to her seat.

Sheikh Saab [Guide] at Udaipur was full of energy and became famous for his liners “follow me”, “no technology only gravity”, “first thing is to visit palace and rest later for any query”. Udaipur in words of Sheikh Saab is famous due to:

·        Rare combination of nature and heritage

·        Mewad dynasty has resisted slavery against Moghuls and later British.

Some of highlights of city palace:

·        Built over length of 1 km from old palace to new and took 400 years for gradual extension by one generation to other

·        Seat which was reserved for Udaipur king in Delhi as mark of slavery was unoccupied and today is show piece in museum

·        Sun idol which was worshipped by king during days when Sun was shadowed by clouds

Next was boat ride which gave glimpse of Jag Mandir where current king visits for daily worship and Lake palace operated by Taj group. Sahelio ki Bari (Friend’s garden) has interesting trigger for creation where the King goes extra step to fulfill the demand of daughter to get the feel of rain in non-rainy season. The architects of that period created natural fountains out of Pilocola Lake.

Dinner was in fast-food street and dug into Aloo Tikki, Paani Puri, Ragada Petis, Omlet, Boiled egg, Tawa palav, idli sambar, faluda, kulfi. We were happy to cut down the cost but at the expense of hygiene. “Vatika Inn” was congested and given a chance the hotelier would have made us sleep in the bathroom with room freshener sprayed.

--------------------------------------DAY 4 (24-Dec-2012) Udaipur to Mount Abu-----------------------------------------

Breakfast had Poha, bread toast and aloo parathas. On the way to Mount Abu, pit stop at hill point view in Udaipur. Reached spot one hour in advance and were in dilemma whether to skip and proceed. After general consensus, waited used the “Udan katola” to reach the hill peak. No camera can catch the nature at its replesent best, one has to enjoy the moment through the eyes. Rakesh summed it well saying “it was worth the wait”.

Dilwara Jain temple at Mount Abu had exquisite marble carving and was spread over a large area. We were not able to appreciate the history and intricate details due to non-availability of guide. Surprise elements were no entry fee and silence which is difficult to imagine in sight seeing venue. Nakki Lake was skipped since it was small and nothing in comparison to Fatefur Lake of Udaipur. Air balloon ride dropped due to safety concern followed by tea due to unhygienic surroundings.

Seema and Roopa dropped off from visiting “Sunset Point” since they had to walk 1 km and Seema was disappointed with Mount Abu who had drawn parallel with Ooty in mind. After sipping hot tea and burning the tongue took horse ride with Rajat towards Sunset accompanied by Pai family [walk] and Guru in pushcart with cauliflowers. At the sunset point, monkey snatched the butta from Rajat and Chiu but was intact in Rakesh’s hand. This shows monkeys are intelligent enough to hit soft targets. Return journey was on horseback with Daddy and kid on each. It is difficult to balance the body weight sitting on the horseback when it is walking, just imagine if starts running.

Dinner was planned to be served in open place which was then shifted to one of our rooms since it was freezing cold. Everyone was terribly hungry and pounced on the home made delicious food – soft pulkas with less oil, Dal fry and Jeera rice. The scene was very much similar to movie “Sathe pe Satha” where brothers clear up the food in no time as soon as it is served.

--------------------------------------DAY 5 (25-Dec-2012) Mount Abu to Jodhpur-----------------------------------------

I had persuaded the team to leave Mount Abu at 5 AM in the morning to reach Jodhpur post lunch. It was difficult for me to step out of the bed at 4.30 AM due to dipping mercury. This made me realize why Mount Abu is famous for Honey Moon. My demand of Omelet was fulfilled in the highway restaurant and Prajnya for first time had food (omelet) without any fuss. Usual scene would be Roopa pushing the food down the throat.

Ranakpur temples on the way had same architecture base of Dilwara temple at Mount Abu. This is similar to Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore and Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum. Reached Jodhpur at 4 PM, courtesy our Sarathi (Inder Palji) who hesitates to push the gas pedal more than 80 km/hr even if highway was free. We had requested KK Holidays and Vacation for a good mannered and safe driver and what we got is more than required. Inder Palji is safest driver who loves his life more than passengers and worried about parking than the comfort of passengers. Being a saccha Rajput he never used to take our orders with a weakness of turning backwards and driving during conversation with us.

 We picked up local guide for Mehrangarh fort since we had reached Jodhpur in advance. Guide was professional and some of the highlights of the fort:

·        Two Rajas and One Rajakumari story where Rajakumari commits suicide since war broke out to possess her. Krishna Kumari was a beautiful damsel and created Yash Chopra love story during that period

·        36 hand impressions of Sathi who gave their life for husbands died in the battle

·        Tomb of a Muslim soldier who died in the battle and on the other side human sacrifice for well being of the fort

·        King with 30 wives, how did he manage is million dollar question. Guru was quick to inquire on accommodation of multiple wives

·        80 kg of gold converted to paintings and 20 kg gold given as gift to painter’s family due to untimely death. Seema clarified with the guide that it was grams or kilograms and even today she is not able to digest the number “100 kg of gold”

Rakesh had to manage kunwar Rajat Singh since maharani Smitha was down with fever due to hectic schedule. On the return to heritage hotel “Marvel Umed” consumed Jodhpur specialty sweets: Mava Kachori and Paneer Jeelabi.

At the dinner table, Guru fell down with the chair in slow motion may be looking at the prices for spoonful food. Seema ordered Khicri for the patient and had to eat herself since patient was given to pick food of her choice. Chiu hurt herself on the feet while playing and Deepak had to manage the after affect.

--------------------------------------DAY 6 (26-Dec-2012) Jodhpur to Jaisalmer -----------------------------------------

“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper!” Heritage hotel reversed this adage and provided frugal breakfast which is just enough to walk out of the hotel. Even Real juice was rationed which is a healthy drink. Inder pal packed us and drove in the direction of Jaisalmer unaware of the fact that even Nano had overtaken the tempo traveler on the highway. It looked as if we were having slow camel ride.

 Jaisalmer is poorly maintained with no drainage system, unorganized structures, narrow lanes where four wheeler cannot enter. The only way to commute is either by walk or two wheeler. Horn is used as headlight which will be always on after the start of the vehicle. We were ahead of schedule at Jaisalmer and had to adjust the itinerary.

The first point to visit in the evening was the lake. The entrance to the lake was built by prostitute by name Toli. Toli invested her retirement savings into real estate which created ego clash with the king. King immediately ordered for demolition which was avoided by installation of SatyaNarayana idol. King made it a point not to enter the lake with this entrance and entrance is remembered as ‘Toli ke Pol”.

Before moving on to puppet show, team members gulped aloo tikki, Bhel Puri, Dal vada (Dal vada nahi kaya to kya kaya), biscuits of kids and road side tea. Puppet show by NK Sharma team was good.

Some of the highlights of Puppet show:

·        Nimbuda song where child loses ball becomes sad and jumps back in jubilation once he gets the lost ball

·        Man and Women show where the one puppet used to get flipped

·        Horse and rider, Snake and Charmer where animal tries to attack but rider/charmer are in control

·        Bangladesh magician/Joker who removes his own head and dances with it on his own legs and hands

NK Sharma’s closing comments were good where he says the objective of life should be “happiness”. Today’s world is running behind money which is one of the enablers for happiness.

Zanani team continued the shopping spree in narrow lanes similar to chickpet, avenue roads in Bangalore. The dinner at recipe hotel was excellent and decided to visit once more for next day’s lunch. The only open item was desert safari package since Guru and I were inclined for belly/bollywood dancing.

--------------------------------------DAY 7 (27-Dec-2012) Jaisalmer -----------------------------------------

At Breakfast, waiter was shocked by our appetite and got tired serving loads of bread toast and Poha. On the way to Sonar fort, Guru called up the hotel and confirmed on Rs. 800/- desert safari by swallowing the grief that we missed belly/bollywood dances which was compensated by north Indian girl with hunter shoes.

Our guide, Kundan with double MA, B.ED and passion for tourism was caught red handed in Jain temple where he was not able to explain the details when other experience guides were at ease. Sheik Saab had already raised the bar for guide profession; Kundan was not in the league. Kundan continued his display of flaw by giving info which was very visible to naked eyes; e.g. this is Raja’s bed and that his pillow.

Some of the highlights of the fort:

·        Jaisalmer is different in comparison where people are staying inside the fort with all necessary essentials

·        Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner was on verge on being taken over by Pakistan during partition of 1947 but king Raghunath Singh avoided

·        One of the kings, Jawahar Singh was strong enough to erase the print on the gold coin just by pressing it with his thumb

Patwon Ki Haveli was very congested with steep stairs and cannot imagine people living there. Better halves shopped till they dropped at recipe hotel for lunch. This time we squatted instead of sitting on the chair. Seema quickly converted into birthday treat which will be cherished for food quality and eating in Rajasthani istyle.

At desert Safari, it was Kodak moment where women folks were screaming with animated faces as the camel stood up for the ride. We went the extra mile beyond the intended Sunset point. Kids and Deepak enjoyed by playing in Sand dunes of Thar Desert. Smitha danced with local women, sipped tea from Kannadiga vendor (It’s a small world and cross paths). Seema had to endure with small finger injury when two camel carts rubbed against each other.

Some of the highlights of camp fire in the evening:

·        Rajasthani girl welcomed by applying tilak on the forehead for having returned safe after camel ride. Smitha pinched herself to make sure it is not a dream.

·        Folk songs and dance which involved girl picking the 100 rupee note by bending backwards and picking ring on the floor with her eyes

·        Male dancer displayed the balancing act with pots on his head, fire in the mouth, rotating cycle spoke on the head and nose

Some VIP was a spoilt sport who high jacked the traditional program and converted into pub with drunken people dancing to bollywood music. After Rajasthani dinner, we also shaked our leg for item numbers and returned to “Imperial” for night sleep.

--------------------------------------DAY 8 (28-Dec-2012) Jaisalmer to Bikaner -----------------------------------------

Inder pal created world record by reaching Bikaner at the time of lunch in heritage hotel “Harasar Haveli”. Being addicted to fast food culture of Bangalore, We were disturbed with slow serving in heritage hotel. Guru irritated by service exempted 10% Service charges from the bill.

Guide SS Bhati was more on mobile than explaining the details at Junagarh fort. Palace was royal and beautiful in comparison to other palaces. The interiors had mix of mogul and Hindu architecture. Aircraft which was damaged in world war is reassembled and displayed in the museum.

We had to pick “Camel Breeding farm” or “Umed Bhavan” since we were running late and near to closing timings. The team had overdose of palaces and unanimously chose “Camel Breeding farm”. Camels weigh about 750 kgs, life of 25 years; gestation period during birth is 13 months and can carry weight in quintals. Roopa and Seema were relieved since they did not create any crime in going for camel ride but the fact is Camel in the Thar Desert  was struggling  to drag the cart uphill and only after Seema got down it was relieved and moved forward. Nobody dared to taste camel milk since shelf life of is just 30 minutes from time it is drawn out. Visited painting gallery with Bikaner art and learnt that using vegetable colors lasts long in comparison to chemicals. This is secret behind the paintings in the palaces which appear brand new even today.

Evening was spent eating rasagolla, gol goppa which are famous in Bikaner. I had roadside boiled egg to complete my dinner. Shenoy, Pai family along with my Tv9 had dinner ordered in the room.

--------------------------------------DAY 9 (29-Dec-2012) Bikaner to Jaipur -----------------------------------------

As promised, Inder pal took us to the unique rat temple which is about 40 km from Bikaner. This sightseeing spot was outside the itinerary. Long story short for origin of this temple, human beings after death take form of rats. Inside the temple the rats are free to move around and fed with sweets, ground nuts, Jeelabi and have privilege to enter sanctum sanatorium. This place was unique after Brahma temple in Pushkar.

Everyone had good sleep in tempo traveler during long journey from Bikaner to Jaipur and happy inside that it was last place with home sweet home next. KK Holidays and Vacation representative welcomed us in Arch Inn hotel at Jaipur and promptly got the balance amount transferred to tour operator account.

I do not know where the energy comes for female folks to do shopping. Evening was spent in Johari bazaar purchasing salwar, bedsheet, sari, and chappal at reasonable prices. At last Seema and I had to bear the tantrums of Shriyaa for not getting chappal of her size while her friend Prajnya got one. 9 of us were packed in Tuk Tuk (Big Auto) and after long search reached Arch Inn to dump the purchases. We were disappointed for dinner since the famous Neros hotel had big queue with waiting time of 1 hr. The laid back service at Arch Inn continued but this time order taker was Kundan’s brother who had to be taught the basics of placing the empty plates, serving, sequence in which dishes had to be served. The aha moment came when he brought the starter when we were done with dinner.

--------------------------------------DAY 10 (30-Dec-2012) Jaipur -----------------------------------------

The first spot was Jal Mahal where we carried out the photo session and interesting fact is that palace was built and then surrounded by water. The water level is controlled by nearby dam. Used the local jeep of standard price of Rs. 260/- for to and fro between Amber fort and parking of TT. 

Amber fort is named after Amba Devi and is situated on the hills. Usual “Deewane Khaas” – private place of king’s meeting, “Deewane Aam” – public place to hear the voice of citizens were shown. We made our way into ancient tunnel which was used by king to escape during crisis situation. Guide Phool Chand was not interested to explain the details in comparison to others, bad luck continued.

Jantar Mantar observatory which accurately shows the time 12 hrs during the day just by shadow of the pillars was exciting.  I liked the big pappad which are sold by vendors which is oil free. I missed the Albert hall due to severe headache.

Afternoon dinner was at Neros where priority was given to foreigners. Thirst did not quench and ladies went for afternoon shopping. Gents and Kids rested at the hotel and kept an eye during room clean. Guru and ladies got into queue of Raj Mandir in the evening to watch “Dabaang2”. Guru explained about Salman and the movie to foreigners in the queue after which came the bad news the tickets are sold out. Meanwhile Rakesh and Kids were busy in eating burgers of Mc.D. Dabaang2 was quickly replaced by visit to Birla Mandir and peta pooja at sweet stall.

After disappointment with Dasprakash on the steep prices and waiting time, again took the calculated risk of having dinner at Arch Inn. Lemon Soda ordered did not have fizz and had to be filtered for foreign particles floating. Seema took the ownership of writing the order and explaining the sequence in which dishes have to make it to the table.

--------------------------------------DAY 11 (31-Dec-2012) Jaipur to Bangalore -----------------------------------------

Flight was scheduled at 3.15 PM from Jaipur to Hyderabad and subsequently connecting flight from Hyderabad to Bangalore. “All good things come to an end and cannot go on forever”, there was smile on everyone’s face in the morning that home is just few hours away and wait is over to relish home food.

Seema took a chance and requested the hotelier to allow her to prepare “Khara Bath” in the kitchen since we are tired of eating the usual hotel food. To everybody’s surprise, request was approved and we had Khara bath and hot tea before leaving to airport.

On the way to airport we had sweets at yet another sweet stall and completed thanks giving in tempo traveler. Wished Inder pal for keeping us safe during Rajasthan journey and thanked Nithin, representative of KK who had come down to see us off and welcome the next guest.

Thanks for your patient reading till this point if scroll bar is not pulled to reach here.

Burfi - Movie review

In the recent past, I attended the first year birthday party of my colleague’s adopted son. Magic show was organized for kids. Magician was ace but entertainment turned out to be mediocre since he did not package it well. He could not catch the pulse of the kids and at the same time interaction with audience was poor.

Cut to Barfi, Anurag Basu took the age old triangular love story as the subject but the film is a hit. Why? Narration, Editing, Cinematography, intersperse by comic scenes, deaf and dumb, autism characters. In nutshell, one more love story presented well. Bill Gates says “If something is not good enough, make it look good enough”, In the age of cut throat competition what differentiates is the presentation.

New breed of directors have yet again proved that script is the hero. “Push and Pull” editing is fast catching up in Indian cinema what I mean is the film does not flow in sequence. I do not want to spoil your curiosity by revealing the story of Barfi film but would like to list down the subtle messages I could gather.

               Deaf and Dumb – Ranbeer

               Autism – Priyanka

               Normal - Ileana

1.      Happiness should come from within and should not be tagged to any external event/circumstance –Ranbeer is full of life, he does not cry on his shortcomings.

2.      Parents love their children irrespective of what they are – Father of Priyanka tries to keep away the child to keep his social status intact but finally admits that he truly loves her.

3.      You can never forget your first love –Ileana falls in love with Ranbeer and cannot forget it for rest of the life

4.      When you are in true love you accept the person as is – Ranbeer falls in love with Priyanka and accepts her as is even when he had choice to select Ileana

5.      One needs to count on the blessings – When we look at the challenges faced by disabled children, we should take a moment everyday to thank God for giving healthy body and sound mind

6.      Adversity  makes you do strange things – To save his father, Ranbeer plans for Kidnap and bank robbery due to lack of money for operation

Article: Just for fun 14/7/2012

               I had this idea for long time but busy and lazy to pen down the thoughts. Couple of weeks back, I had escorted chiu to the movie “Chota Bheem and curse of Damyan”. It was real fun to see the children all round with their parents with those innocent chats and laughs. I was thinking adults should not be allowed to children’s film since we do not allow them to view films of our category. Adults enjoy both the world similar to you non-veg guys who can enjoy veg too.

               The gist of the movie was good fights evil and peace prevails at the end. What caught my attention is chota bheem entering time machine, kill the evil and come back to the present. We have always been taught and agree that past is history and cannot be changed. What if we had the chance to go back and alter the history and come back to present to see its impact. There are zillion ways to alter the history, but I chose one just for fun.

               I would go back in time machine and do not allow British to colonize the east and come back to the present. How would India look today?

1.      India is the richest country and the kings are discussing to stop the jobs moving to third world countries in the west. We have increased the VISA fee to US to protect our borders.

2.      Samskritam is national language and west is learning it fast to get the jobs in India. European and US parents send their children for studies to India in Nalanada, Takshashila universities

3.      Western countries would have aped our Indian dressing [dhoti, jubba, salwar-kameez, pagadi/peta] and food habits such as Masal Dosa, Idli-vade sambar, paratha….. India would have allowed the western restaurants to taste the food of west: burgers, hot dogs, pizza

4.      Bill Gates would have been famous to setup a large back office in US similar to Narayana Murthy and would expect 24x7 service from west

5.      West would adore the rich Indian music and dance. India on the other hand would patronize their less known pop and disco.

6.      Indian scientists would have the pristine clout and the world would eagerly wait to get an award similar to Nobel Prize

7.      Indian films would have world as stage where as English films relegated to regional language film status

8.      The birth of Olympics would have been in India and kabbadi, cho-cho…. would have international games

Don’t you think it’s fun to imagine. Let me know what would you do given a chance…..Please share

Travel Memoir - Belur, Dharmastala, Subramanya (BDS) - 24/8/2012

               “Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans”, this adage is more than apt for our Chickmagalur/Hyderabad trip. Seema and Guru did the initial planning, Deepak introduced rain forecast as spoilsport.  Smitha tried to pull everybody at the last minute but did not materialize. One third of James party got pulled to Nanjangud, Srirangapattana, Hima betta and more important Vasudeva Adiga near Maddur. The remainder James party was pulled by Mulki Maye to Subramanya. Slowly the trip got stretched to Dharmastala and Belur which was not in itinerary.

________________________________Day 1_________________________________________________________

               I and Chiu never open our eyes before 7.10 AM everyday but on 8/19 (Sun) dragged out of the bed @ 5.45 AM. Master plan was to leave Bangalore @ 7.30 AM but as per IST (Indian Stretchable Time) left at 8.30 AM. Seema had told mom that they will have breakfast with Sheviye [Konkani dry noodles] and I had to settle only for a cup of coffee. As our wait for TT got prolonged, I emptied some of the dabbas in the kitchen.

This time driver was Velu with sweet tongue who had to be guided in major part of journey by people inside TT and also outside. We requested Mr. Velu to stop for  breakfast and he selected “Shark food court” where food and beverage was served in empty space and many of tourists were enjoying idli and coffee. We ordered for coffee and tea and opened Mahalasa Sheviye from Shin mam. Mavu (Seema’s father) brought down the entire package of Kaju barfi, oondo… to pick nontche for Sheviye. 35 pieces disappeared in matter of 10 minutes and Seema for the first time got pat on the back for planning the good breakfast, usually she gets cornered. We resumed the journey, Seema & Co. were unhappy that Shin mam took Rs.100 in transportation for transportation  without anticipating a time bomb in store. After a while, Smitha broke the bad news that package of  Kaju barfi, oondo… is missing and we had left the place 30 min behind. From Rs. 100 the conversation got diverted to the worth of the package and number came out to be Rs.500+. Shark true to its name had gobbled the package and we paid heavy price for using the open restaurant.

“Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan”, blame game started with Shilpa as scape goat. In the blame game, son-in laws were untouched which is an advantage of being born male. Imagine the same situation with daughter-in-laws, they would have been cornered easily saying “ma baap ne kuch nahi sikaya bas bejadiya”.  To add to this heat, Seema and Smitha had tiff on planning to go to Shirali for cousin’s wedding. Rakesh intervened and made bhat sisters to sit apart before it got physical.

We disembarked for lunch in Sakleshpur at “Osoor restaurant”. There was no space in my stomach and was not interested to input. “Looks are deceptive”, the restaurant looked posh from outside. Menu had lot of items but waiter had only few items to serve. For the first time I saw Mavu and Seema ordered for veg meal , I pinched myself to make sure it is not a dream. Mulki Maye would have recorded the date and time since such instances happen very rare. I ate buns and shared little bit of rice with Seema. Before exit everyone checked if they have left anything but the fact is everything was lost at one shot. Seema took camera from Smitha but soon we realized that it was not charged and our aim of capturing scenic beauty of Sakleshpur went for a toss. Murphy’s law applies to the onward journey "If anything can go wrong, it will".

               After Sakleshpur it was raining in the ghat section and next pit stop was at Gundiya junction for tea. If I remember correctly, reached Kukke Subramanya in the window of 4 to 4.30 PM. Got the Naga darshan at two places, one being the moola stana. In the queue, I continuously ragged Rajat who was not ready to take of his shirt. Outside the temple I observed someone had left the package of prasad and it took me back to Shark. Seema’s window shopping started but luckily she purchased tool to draw Rangoli. I headed the pack to peta pooja at “Neo Mysore”. After lot of discussion during travel and at restaurant, finally we came to agreement that

night’s halt is at Subramanya and will visit Dharmastala and get back. Seema checked with hotel owner and he referred his lodge “Krishna residency”. Plan was to go for 1 room per family but landed with two + additional beds.

               I donned the hat of MJ (Mobile jockey) to play melodious Hindi numbers of the past during onward journey to Dharmastala. There is generation gap between us and kids and testimony  to it is both Rajat and Chiu were fast asleep, today’s generation wants everything fast, loud and dance numbers. Senior citizens enjoyed the music and some of romantic songs would have taken them to their yesteryears. Got down at Dharmastala at 7.30 PM, Children were cranky since they had exhausted all their energy. Mothers took decision to stay back with kids and Senior citizens followed them. 3 Musketeers(Rakesh, Deepak, Shilpa)  took brave move of not selecting special queue and get into general one. In the queue, planning started on the places to visit coorg during return journey and unaware of how much time would take to get darshan. It took 2.5 hours in the queue for 1 minute darshan and small quantity of nimboos in the stomach.

               Folks who had camped outside did not had food and children just wanted to hit the sack. Mothers took advantage and decided to hit Bangalore and skip Coorg. Again MJ played the songs for folks on empty stomach with pit stop at Gundya junction @ 11 PM. Only two choices on road side restaurant, Kerala parata and omlet. Everyone zeroed down on omlet since kerala parata was served with left over gravy. The numbers started with 2, incremented and stopped at 8. The moment we reached Krishna residency, there was pump in chillar party and they became active. Rajat was asked with whom he would like to sleep with on the bed and as usual answer was annu accompanied by chiu. I had to settle on the ground on additional bed. Bhat sisters (Smitha and Shilpa) who are allergic to AC settled in the room with windows open and fan above.

_______________________________________________________________Day 2_____________________________________________________________________________________________________              

               Seema was the first to wake up in our room and take bath since she knew that hot water will stop at 8 AM. She is trained by her father on time sense but he cannot do much with son-in laws who are lethargic. He has still hopes on incoming third one. Mavu, Maye and Shilpa were already out for pooja at the temple early in the morning. I got up 8:01 AM to complain that there is no hot water and will take bath after hitting Bangalore. Took help of Velu and went to Neo Mysore for breakfast. It was self-service in the morning with fixed price Rs.25/- for food and Rs. 10/- for beverage. Poori was so good that two plates went in and others went for variety.

               Rakesh ordered for hot water and I increased the count to 2 and I was informed that it is Rs. 20/- per bucket. I pulled Seema’s leg that we will get discount when finally expenses are divided by 3. When Mavu returned from temple he added Rs.40/- of rickshaw and Seema started laughing at me. After packing our bags with soiled clothes and started return journey to Bangalore. Again I was asked to play songs but this time I shifted to fast and new numbers, Mavu was unhappy and told that yesterday evening songs were pleasant to ears.

               Mulki maye wanted “Pathorde pana” which grows abundantly on the road side. Staggered approach was taken by stopping the TT at multiple places, Velu must have got pissed off. When everyone was hunting for the leaf, Velu inquired what we do with leaf and had to explain about filling the batter and steaming it. Rakesh next started targeting “taikile pana” and again the TT was made to stop near muslim place where it had grown in abundance. Velu looked at me and said no leaf is a waste, you consume everything. I did not what to answer but according to Seema, next time travels will publish “Konkani’s excuse us” since most of time gets wasted on the highway. After a while, Velu got in sync and started showing croton leaves and stop. Mavu had to explain the difference.

               We stopped at a junction to have tea which was also decision point. There were two ways, one to coorg and other to Bangalore. After lot of discussion, consensus was to visit Belur on way to Bangalore. Visited Belur where one can see more foreigners than Indians admiring the architecture of the past. The next stop was at “Vishnu Regency” for afternoon lunch, again I go back to my earlier point “looks are deceptive”, looks posh from outside and poor maintenance. One highlight of this ordering Veg Sizzler to understand its definition in Belur.

               Watched Singham in Tamil which was nowhere in comparison to Hindi remake. May be Mavu got inspired, stopped the TT and went in search of lost package in Shark. During his return, he looked like Singham from far with sword in hand  but as he neared it was small knife recovered. All the food items were distributed, eaten by hotel folks. They had good Iftar party but shameless ones charged for the tea Mavu had.

               Reached Hanumanthnagar at 8.30 PM and hit the sack at 9.15 PM. 3 of us fast asleep when Guru tried to reach us. To be frank got tired of typing and stopped. Thanks to all for memorable trip and if I have not covered any fun moments, please feel free to add.

Why are we giving in for Sensationalism 7/7/2012

Does it ring a bell when I say Urmila and Yashoo? How about Poonam Pandey, Sunny Leone, Nithyananda…

Please read the snippet below:

The ATR 9760 flight lost one of the nose wheels during takeoff from Silchar airport, 235 km from Guwahati on Monday. The technical snag developed moments before the plane became airborne from Khumbirgram Airport in Silchar at 9 am. After the plane gained altitude, its automated alarm cautioned passengers to be prepared for any eventuality. Captain Urmila, however, flew the plane to Guwahati which has better landing facilities and the aircraft landed under emergency conditions at the Lokopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport. The plane hovered over Guwahati airport for some time to burn the fuel in the tank to reduce the chances of it catching fire during landing under emergency conditions. Even as fear and anxiety gripped the 48 people onboard, the pilot Captain Urmila Yadav and co-pilot Yashu kept their cool and took a couple of crucial decisions that prevented any loss of life.First, they flew the plane to Guwahati, which has better landing facilities, and the aircraft landed under emergency conditions at Lokopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport. Second, the team kept the plane hovering over the Guwahati skies for more than two hours to exhaust excess fuel and ensure that it did not burst into flames in the event of a crash-landing.

               According to me this act of “Courage and grit” of two women pilots should have made headlines in the newspaper but sad part is that it landed in a small corner of 5^th or 6^th page. If the same flight had crashed snuffing away the human lives on board. TV 9 would have played the video throughout the day and the newspaper would be full of cries of the relatives and friends of deceased.

               “What we ask is What we get”, as audience we are giving in for a new “ism” called sensationalism and media is feeding us the same. Why not? When visual media’s TRP ratings go up, newspaper distribution increases more and more disasters, murder, dacoity, child abuse, infidelity… make it to the headlines. We are the folks who are helping to glorify the crime.

              Lets take  a step back and start appreciating good things in life so that encouraging makes it to the top. Media slowly will start feeding good news during prime time and newspaper first 3 pages will be void of anything that glorifies crime. What do you think?

Travel Memoir: In and around Tumkur 9/6/2012

               Yet another trip with fragmented (1/3) James party. Guru and family had already visited the place but short notice to Pai family. I needed this break very much.

               To everybody’s surprise this time I browsed the net to find the nearby places Tumkur and got a thumbs up from Guru. I had planned it for Friday but Chiu had advance booking to go to More with her cauliflower friend. The two cauliflowers used the new More outlet as playing ground and parents distanced themselves on fear of getting embarassed. I asked Seema to check whether Rakesh and family would like to be party for short trip. This was captured by in house Tv9 (darling Chiu) and she assumed that Rajat will join us and was jumping with joy. This happiness was short lived since Rakesh had to stretch on Friday and not advisable to go for drive on Saturday morning. Hell broke loose and Chiu took decision not to accompany us for the trip since her brother dropped off. Seema had to cajole her and make up her mind for today’s trip.

              

               Chiu and I got up at 6 AM today which we are not used to and Seema unveiled her innovation “Kanchi Idli” on the breakfast table. She first told me to enjoy aroma and then have it. Aroma was good but I felt like eating “Rulama Idli” which is prepared during festivals since Rice Idlis cannot be prepared. Seema’s expectation was that I would eat 6 or 7 idlis but I tried hard and restricted myself to 3. I spoilt the plan of packing the innovation to short trip and carry over to next day. For most part of onward journey, Seema was silent and just staring at me. I repeated dialogue that I had 3 and appreciated the innovation.

               We (including parents) hit the road at 8 AM IST (read as Indian Stretchable Time). On the way we made sure chiu’s school is physically present to send her from Monday (11^th Jun). It is difficult to engage her in summer holidays which has now stretched beyond the limit. As usual, good roads to Tumkur took a toll on my pocket. Folks inside the car pointed at Kamat and before they could decide I had whizzed past. Seema started asking Goravanahalli as we neared Tumkur since she knows I have the habit of getting lost. We took deviation from highway to reach Mahalakshmi temple 34 km away. On the way I had hit and run case with puppy which suddenly made its entry on the road.

               Gorvanahalli temple is at very remote place but enjoyed driving on the stretch which is well maintained, usually villages will have mud roads or roads with craters. We were stopped by a fellow for parking fees well before the entrance when parking was not in sight, good pro-activeness. At the same time, vendor put his hand inside the car and sold the coconut saying it is Rs. 10 cheaper than temple premises, this is overcoming the competition. To break coconuts inside temple (Rs.2), nothing comes free in life. It took us hardly 10 min to complete the ritual and hit the road again.

               Our next destination was “Namada Chilume” and deer park. I would re-name the place as “monkey’s adda”. I bought some biscuits and cool drinks, closed the car windows to eat the stuff even then a small baby monkey got on to the car to peep what is going on inside. Supreme court’s order of removing the sunfilm helped this monkey to see what is going on inside. After pet pooja, we visited the Namada chilume where water springs out of tiny hole. It is said that Rama during one of his vanavasa day’s did not find water to put tilak on his forehead and hit an arrow to get water. After that incident the place became known as “Namada Chilume”.

On our way back we saw lot of deers near the fence since caretaker had placed lot of leaves for afternoon lunch but could not take snap since Seema had not carried camera. There was one more set of deers (Jinke Marina) which I have informed Guru. Guru you missed it J

               Two more temples (Yogalakshmi Narasimha and Bogalakshmi Narasimha). Taking 250 steps to reach the Yogalakshmi Narasimha at the hill top drained our energy and we skipped Bogalakshmi Narasimha. Outside the temple there are eatables and cold drinks you name it sold by road side vendors. Hill top gives picturesque view of surrounding places of Tumkur. Next place was Sidaganga Mutt, after entering mutt we went around in the car and felt the place to be same as Dharmastala. We missed Sidaganga temple.

               It was 1 pm and was badly hungry. Raced the car to Tumkur city and started searching for a good hotel. Autorickshaw driver pointed to us Nanjundeshwara hotel. We had sumptuous lunch (2 Puri thali, 2 jollad roti thali, 1 fried rice). Fried rice was prepared by James and Chiu did not like it. We could not distinguish between Puri and Pappad. After lunch the driver demanded for sweet paan which was given. Seema became furious at the mention of ShivaGanga and PatalaGanga since it is her time for afternoon nap. The driver had to obey the orders and silently hit the road back to Bangalore.

               One thing to appreciate is the roads are good connecting interior parts and good picnic spot. Only thing we need to hire security guards to take care of ragging by Monkeys. Good place for drive amid greenery.