Vermeen's visit to Bangalore and BMS-Elec's Dasara get-togehter at Sanjeev's home

Oct 1st, 2011, Saturday.


Vermeen had come down from Romania on a brief trip to India and took some time-off to visit BMS College friends at Bangalore. One of the pre-requisites of her trip was to enjoy an authentic South Indian Lunch apart from meeting us all.


Sanjeev and Surju hosted a 'propah' South Indian Authentic Lunch, and invited us all for a wonderful time off at their beautiful home. Archana and Shubha declared the dress code as Kurta and Jeans for men and Sarees for the ladies!.


Archana, Shubha, Vermeen, Tarun, Rekha, Navya, Naveen, Madhuri, Namitha, Janardhan, Sowmya, Srujan, Jaya, Sanvi, Jaya's cousin, Deepa, Soujanya, Pooja, myself along with hosts Sanjeeva, Surju and little Srivali, were able to catch up and have a gala time.


The event looked very festive and colorful. The ambience was just perfect and the kids had a great time as well. Lip-smacking food served on Plantain leaf tasted simply excellent and every bit delicious, thanks to Sanjeev's caterer! Overall a wonderful day to celebrate Dasara and catching up with old friends! BMS-Elec rocks!


Ramaneesh could not make it to the party and was dearly missed. Hope that the next time around he will be definitely be able to make it.


Here are some photos taken during the event.

Vermeen Visits Bangalore - Dasara Celebrations @ Nagehonolu

Independence Day Weekend Trip to Coonoor (Ooty)!

Visiting Coonoor (Ooty) - Aug 13th to 15th, 2011


Taking advantage of the long weekend on the 15th Aug 2011 (Monday), Rajesh and I planned for a trip to Yercaud! But with no availability of hotels during the holidays, we researched other places and settled for Coonoor (Ooty). Thankfully, we were able to make quick reservations at Hotel Blue Hills, Coonoor and also booked the 10 seater MaxiCAB.


13th Aug, 2011, Saturday:
Rajesh and team along with Dodamma, picked us (Souji, Pooja, Anna, Amma and myself) at 7 AM on the Saturday morning (13th Aug). Breakfast was at Kadambam's at Maddur. Realizing the huge weekend rush, the hotel authorities has put up tents and arranged for buffet breakfasts in adjoining open spaces, and the touristers were more than happy for the quick services offered. We drove through Mysore, Gundlupet, Bandipur, Gudlur and reached Ooty by 2 PM. We decided break for lunch and also complete one of the sight-seeing places in Ooty before the evening sets in and then get back to our Hotel.


First stop was the famed Ooty Lake. The weekend rush could be seen everywhere and business was at an all time high. Street vendors, Lakeside hotels, shops and local businesses were full of people crowding everywhere. But the setting was still serene and the weather was very inviting for a good boat ride! So we picked up a 10 Seater Motor boat and did a good 2 rounds of the lake. Very enjoyable and kids, as well as Kids at heart, had a great time.


We saw the Toy-train chugging along the banks and the mere sight of a it was just enough for Pooja to push and pull us to get on for a ride. From Pooja to Dodamma, all of us got into the 'Children only' train and realized how much fun it is to be a kid and enjoy along with them! Realized how much fun it is to SCREAM when the train gets into a tunnel!


By the time we were done with all the activities in and around Ooty Lake, the sun had dropped and the cold weather was setting in and everybody said that it was time to get to the hotel which was in Coonoor. So we reached Coonoor by 7 PM and after a bit of searching, we finally managed to get to our rooms by 8 PM. We had booked 3 Suites and all of them were pretty spacious and comfortable. These were the only 3 rooms on the top floor and this was good as we were the only occupants of the entire top floor!. Also, the floor had an extended balcony which  opened out to the valley of Coonoor town, making it a good view point.


We dined in the hotel itself and the food was quite tasty. Much better than the food was was this attendant/ server/crew, who was quite a character. This guy was definitely blessed with short term-memory. We named him Ghajini! This guy used to make atleast 10 trips to get even one order out!. This 'robot-in-clothes' was definitely inspired from Rajanikanth, but we wished he really had that 1 Terrabyte RAM. Despite very short and precise instructions, he made sure that he screwed up and got us what we did not want. For once we felt that we were greatly challenged with our collective abilities to get what we wanted out of him. He certainly made our stay very entertaining!


14th Aug, 2011 - Sunday:
Early morning Pushpa, Rajesh, Souji and I, went out for a walk through the beautiful roadsides of the winding hillock. The pure oxygen in the early morning was a quite a thing to feel. The road side Tea stall which served the masala tea was quite welcome and enjoyed every sip. We got back to the hotel and were ready for the day ahead at 9 AM. Breakfast was good and Ghajini's entertainment was even better as he outsmarted himself every passing day by 'raising the bar'.


Our first stop was Ooty's Botanical Gardens. This place has changed a lot (for the good) from the last visit I had made back in 90s. The grassy natural lawns which looked far and wide into the hills were such a treat to the eye. We spent quite a while going through the regular tracks, clicking photographs at every possible chance. Kids loved the place and spent almost till noon time. On the way, we stopped by for shopping the famous Ooty Home-made chocolates, Eucalyptus Oil and some Yellow Wild flowers that lives upto a month without wilting.


Starving for a good lunch, we went looking for a hotel only to find out that the whole town and all the visitors were standing in Queues to get to the entrance of the hotel!. So we chose the hotel based on the time it would take us to get to the entrance from where the Queue started and finally managed to get inside after half an hour. The linen on the table was dirty, but who cares when about those things when all you want is eat food. The food though was quite decent.


Next attempt was to get to 'Doddabetta' peak and we started climbing the hill and with the clouds flowing all over the hillock, the visibility went poor and the caused traffic jams en route. So we had to detour and on the way back found that there was a Tea Factory and View Point, which was good compromise to have taken.


The Tea Factory visit was quite a tour, where we got to see how the tea leaves get Cut, Turned and Curled (remember 'CTC' Tea?) and finally gets dried, powdered, packed and shipped. The sweetest thing was a free cup of hot tea which was quite tasty and badly needed considering that it was quite chilly and really deserved a tea break. A good way to market their product and which surely made us pick up a KG of the famous Elaichi flavoured Ooty Tea. The tea factory also had another building which displayed a Chocolate making unit coupled with a view point. By the time we did our rounds, it was close to 4:30 PM and the next point of visit was the 'Dolphin Nose' point.


'Dolphin's nose' point required us to return back to Coonoor and go past our hotel and 20 KMS further. The scenery was breathtaking with heaps of clouds coming down the hills. The pleasure of walking through the clouds is worth enjoying every second. We briefly stopped for a few minutes at a vantage point where we could see the ghats ending  into an unending plateau. A really awesome sight.


We reached the Dolphin's nose 'Suicide' point and found it to be a very pretty place. The view of the water falls at one side and the green valley all around makes it a must visit. Apparently one of the dance song from the evergreen Telugu movie 'Saagarsangamam' (Telugu) has been choreographed at this very spot.


After sipping few pegs of hot tea under the cold and dark hillside tea shop, we hopped onto our van and reached our hotel by 8 PM. Late dinner at hotel and ghajini's entertainment kept us in good spirits.


15th Aug, 2011, Monday,  Independence Day!:
We checked out of the hotel early and headed to one of the restaurants in Ooty for a good breakfast. The idea was to leave Ooty as early as possible to avoid the return journey rush back to Bangalore. On the way back, we got down at a hillock just outside the town of Ooty. This place had huge grass lawns completely natural and was surrounded by the most beautiful views all around. Sanjana, Vishal, Pooja also did a round of Horse riding while all of us took a while to admire the beauty of this location. The name of this location did not register in my head, but it is definitely not short of a beauty point. No entry fee, no nothing! And everybody will know what I am talking when they reach this point on their way into Ooty or when leaving. We spent about an hour before we got back on the bus for the long return journey home.


We retraced our journey through Gudlur, Bandipur and stopped briefly for lunch at Gundlupet and then reached Mysore by 4 PM. The traffic was heavy right from Ooty and on Mysore road it got even worse. So without a break we reached Bangalore at 8 PM. Thanks to the traffic, the return journey was a bit long and strenuous. 


Rajesh, Pushpa, Dodamma, Vishal and Sanjana continued to their homes after dropping us all at our house. All said, it was a wonderful opportunity for all of us spend some quality time together. Dodamma, Amma and Anna joining the trip made it even more special and the kids loved the trip and the overall company.


The highlight of this trip was Dodamma, Anna, Amma were able to join us despite the potential Monsoon downpour, Cold and other weather related adversaries. If not for them, the kids and all of us wouldn't have enjoyed as much as we did.

Here are some select photos during taken our trip:

Independence day weekend trip to Coonoor!

A day out to Confident Cascade Resorts!

The Sunday of April 10, 2011, Rajesh, Pushpa, Vishaal, Sanjana, Deepu, Asha, Nisha, Soujanya and myself visited the Confident Cascade Resorts near Bannerghatta National Park and had a wonderful day out.

The outing was thoroughly enjoyed by the kids and highly recommended for anybody wanting to make a quick one day outing without much planning. The higlight of the resort are its 2 Swmiming pools, one of them under the canopy of trees.

Here are some of the select photos from our outing.

Weekend getaway to Confident Cascade Resorts

About the resort:

1. Confident Cascade Resort was well maintained. Good greenery all around.
2. Costs Rs. 450 + taxes per person (Lunch and High-tea).
3. 2 Swimming Pools. Well maintained and is directly under the canopy of a lot of trees. (One specially for Ladies and kids). Swimming costume is mandatory to get into the pool.
4. Showers and Toilets were clean and well maintained
5. Admin Crew members were helpful and polite
6. Lunch was just about okay, no big shakes.
7. Lawns were well maintained.
8. 4 TT tables and 2 Badminton courts (Indoor stadium) were all in good condition. Raquets and TT Balls were avaialble in excess and was of decent quality.
9. Kids Play Park with Swings, See-Saw, and others were not available due to renovation.
10. Playing Tennis was a costly affair:-> Rs. 100 Per person / hour. Racquet and Tennis Ball were provided by Resort.

Touring Rajasthan - Palace on Heels!

This year's vacation plans were conceived sometime in August of 2010 and booked well in advance so that we got proper railway reservations. Flying turned out to be a bit expensive considering that there were no direct flights between Bangalore and Jaipur. Also for the fact that Pooja likes the train journey much better than the flights.

Starting the 19th Dec, 2010, 6 of us i.e. Harish, Lavanya, Sanjana, Soujanya, Pooja and myself explored the 3 J's of Rajasthan - Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur, during our 10 day trip, returning back on the 29th Dec, 2010.

Here are a few snaps that we took on our onward journey to Jodhpur.

Onward Train Journey to Jodhpur

21st Dec, 2010, Tuesday, Jodhpur:
The journey was quite comfortable except that we had to leave our belongings under the care of thousands of cockroaches in our compartment. It was nice to see that Railways now gives bedding for every occupant of AC coaches. Toilets were flushed, cleaned and vacuumed more frequently by some 3rd party company and Hand wash liquid was replenished more than often which really made us feel comfortable, considering that the journey was pretty long.

We also got good company from a family which lives in Jodhpur and during our conversations, we made sure we took notes of what to see, what to eat, and other nuances around it.

Getting down at almost every stop on the train was fun. Poori and Subjee at Ahmedabad, cup loads of chilled 'Rabdi' at Mt. Abu Road was simply Ummmazing!

After a full 48 hours of travel, we reached Jodhpur on 21st evening. Quickly got into a 'big' auto rickshaw and zipped to our hotel 'Chandra Inn'. Threw our bags there, freshened up and were ready to see the City under the lights. The first stop was to the 'Soazti gate - Nai Sadak' which is the most happening place of Jodhpur when it comes to shopping or dining. We got down right in front of 'Janata Sweets Home', supposedly the best place in Jodhpur for sweets. We tasted 'Mawa ki Kachori, Pyaaz Ki Kachori and Mirchi Vada'. While the 'Mawa ki Kachori was a bit oversweet, the Pyaaz Ki Kachori was outstanding and but the winner certainly was the 'Mirchi Vada', which demanded another try. Just too good. Half full, we quickly crossed to the other side of the street into Priya's Restaurant where we had Parathas, Gol Gappas and Rajasthani Thalis (another hotel on the top of the charts for Pure Veggie like us). Oh! - by the way, Rajasthan is full of Veg Hotels, and is a heaven for Veggies. Way to go Veggies!

The 'Nai Sadak / Soazti Gate' is a street tailor made for Tourists with wide variety of shops ranging from Rajasthani 'Bandhej' sarees, dress materials, Camel hide Joothis, Souvenir shops and others. Perfect place to go when you have 'Master Card in your hand' !!!

The City lights, Beautiful shops, Welcome chill weather, brilliant hues of Rajasthan left us all with a very warm feeling towards this part of India. After a pretty long day, we got back to our hotel and hit the sack, after striking up a deal with an Auto rickshaw guy for taking us out on a full day tour of Jodhpur for the next day.

22nd Dec, 2010, Wednesday - Jodhpur
After a quick breakfast at 'Sukh Sagar' we started off our day long Auto rickshaw tour of Jodhpur. First stop was the 'Umaid Bhawan Palace'. Situated high up on a hillock, this beautiful Palace is still being used by the Rajah of Jodhpur, 'Gaj Singh II'. Only 1/3rd of the palace is opened for public and the 2/3rds are held by the royal family. The palace has majestic halls, corridors and intricate carvings. As usual, a lot of exhibits belonging to the royal family are displayed in the halls. Situated over the hillock, this palace looks stunning from far and wide when the lights get turned on during the evening hours.

Next stop was the 'Mehrangarh Fort'. Again situated on a hilly terrain, the walls of the fort are as high as 200 feet! Simply gigantic in structure, very well maintained and has some great vantage points providing breathtaking views of Jodhpur city from over the top. One could see heaps of houses across far and wide of the city, painted in Blue and is why city of Jodhpur is called 'The Blue city'. Now you know!

Next stop was the 'Jaswanthada', Cemetery of Royals. No big shakes here, as this was just one another spot with a small kalyani and a few cemeteries. After a quick pit stop for lunch, we visited the 'Kalyani Sarovar', a huge natural lake formed in the valley of 2 hillocks. The last one on the tourist map was the 'Mandore Bagh', a government park, with huge area of greens, trees and thousands of 'black faced, long tailed Langoors'. Pooja and Sanjana were greatly amused with the rendezvous with their tailed cousins. Mandore Bagh also features a few other temples in Jodhpuri and Jain Architecture. Just outside this park was the 'Jal Jeera' gaadi with a Earthen Pot fully decorated with Pudina, Nimboo, and various types of masalas. Just the look of it was mouth watering and not to mention that each of us slurped a gallon.

The sun just set, so we hit back to the hotel, freshened up and again hit the Nai-Sadak, for a second visit to munch the Mirchi Vada, Pyaaz ki kachori and the Rajasthani Special Thali!. Later that night, we boarded the train to Jaisalmer, our next destination.

Here are some of the snaps that we took during our tour of Jodhpur.

Jodhpur

23rd Dec, 2010, Thursday - Jaisalmer
After about 5~6 hours of overnight journey, we reached Jaisalmer by about 4:30 AM in the morning. Pretty Chill, it must have been around 5~6 Deg C. We were fully under wraps and literally frozen. Thankfully, the hotel folks where we planned to stay had sent across a cab to pick us up from the railway station. We stayed at the 'Siddhi Vinayak Hotel' (With 'Roof top Swimming Pool' as they advertised). Room was pretty cozy and neat, and the crew were very helpful, friendly and supportive. They helped us plan our day by making arrangements for the city tour of important monuments and also for the Package tour to the Desert Sands. A Chevy Tavera was given at our disposal for the whole day.

A heavy breakfast (complimentary) of Alu Parathas, Bread, Butter and Jam, we gathered enough steam to explore one of the most beautiful places of Rajasthan. Jaisalmer is also called a as the 'The Golden City' as a reflection of the colour if the sand, forts and monuments. Now you know again!.

First stop was the Jaisalmer Fort, (A.k.a. Swarnanagari). This fort was different in a way compared to that of the Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur as this fort is a 'Living fort'. About 5000 families continue to live inside this fort and this fort is a City in itself, with its own Schools, Temples, Clinics and Bazaars. The entire roads and gullies of this fort has various vendors and hawkers displaying and selling their artifacts. One can see the rich colours of the Rajasthan heritage in their dressing styles, the items for sale, the colour of the walls of the fort and the soil itself. Amazingly colourful! It was a great sight to see Musicians singing, playing Sarangi (the famed stringed musical instrument of Rajasthan). Pay them a few rupees and they will sing the Rajasthani songs in perfect Hindustani Classical Style!. Wish these folks knew of reality shows such as 'Meri Awaaz suno / Indian Idol' etc ...). The streets are adorned with folks selling Jeweleries, Colourfull Puppets, Dress materials, Bedspreads, Bags, Chappals, Joothis, unmistakable Rajasthani Pagdis(head gear) in resplendent colours and many more, all in traditional Rajasthani style and culture. A treat for any visitor, Indian or otherwise. A great place to shop if you know how to bargain!. One will really feel delighted to walk these forts with so much to see and explore. The forts encircle a lot of shops, temples and housing colonies. We also visited the Jain Mandir with intricate carvings on all sides and from top to bottom. There are so many such things to see around that one will need to use the process of elimination in order to be satisfied with the choices at hand. A small gully lead us to a huge 'Bronze Canon' placed on the edge of the fort overlooking the city of Jaisalmer. This spot gives a panoramic view of this Amazing city of Jaisalmer from over the top. The feeling is such delightful that it can only be perceived can cannot be expressed in words. While the pictures speaks a thousand words, it still does not do justice to being there in person!

The next stop was the 'Ghadisar Lake'. A beautiful lake surrounded by temples all around. We hired a paddling boat and enjoyed boating under the warm sun. Great views of the temples built in the middle of the lake and at the entrance to the lake. Worth the visit as Kids enjoyed the boat ride to the maximum.

Next stop was at the 'Patwon Ki Haveli'. Apparently 'Patwa' is one of the tribes of the Royals of Jaisalmer and they have their Havelis / Bungalows constructed in the city. They are very similar to the Havelis seen in the movie 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'. (Much more compact and crowded than that shown in the movie). Again, the kind of craftsmanship of the artisans who made such stunning bungalows is simply amazing. Its impossible to even describe the intricacy of the design and will let the photos do the talking.

A super-duper lunch at 'Riddhi Shiddi' a hotel suggested by our Driver as the best of the best in Jaisalmer for having an authentic Jaisalmeri / Rajasthani lunch. The special lunch offered us 'Desert Beans curry, Bajra Rotis, Kadi, Lassi and other Subjees and gave us a sample of the Jaisalmeri dishes. We quickly got back to our hotel and got ready for the next big thing of visiting the Thar Desert, the acclaimed 'Sam Sand Dunes' and the Desert camp.

We got back on the car and left for the Desert. The land terrain changes drastically and suddenly turns barren with only little shrubs here and there. That too because Jaisalmer had received 'over the average' rainfall this year. A totally flat, wide and zero traffic road that took 45 minutes into the drive with no civilization in between and then we reached a point where we saw a huge gathering of camels and loads of people. We got down and our Camp co-ordinator gave each of our families a camel to ride! Soujanya, Pooja and myself jumped onto one of the squatting camels with hardly any difficulties. The camel's lift off was pretty scary as the tall animal that camel is, lifted its hind and threw us up in the air. While Pooja and myself enjoyed the lift off, Souji was petrified and had to be consoled to hold on and continue.

Sitting on the Camel was fun! The person in the front enjoys the view, but has nothing else to hold onto, other than a tiny grip. Souji was our captain-in-charge! (The reins of the camel anyways were in the hands of the Camel caretaker guy, walking next to us). Pooja was in the middle. Very safe and in a very comfortable position. I was sitting at the back and really had to hold onto the camel as at every step, I was feeling like I would be thrown out of the makeshift saddle anytime. Wish I had an ejection seat with a chute option. One thing I observed of the camel was that it lifts and moves the front left and hind left legs at one time and then switches to the right side pair. This causes a twist and turn effect on it's spine and the person at the end of it's spine (me), got the greatest twists. Now I know why 'belly dancing' is a famous with the Arabs. You don't have to learn belly dancing. Just ride the camel and it will teach you not just belly dancing, but a few Latino moves like Shakira did on that 'Whenever Wherever' track. Some camel ride it was. Amazingly entertaining. (Long live Zandu Balm!)

Our camel caravan took us about 2.5 Kms into the desert towards the Sand dunes. 'Sam' (pronounced 'sum') is a village, where the sand dunes begin. The brilliant colour of the golden sand was a delight by itself. Hundreds of Camels, touristers and locals throng the sand dunes starting from here and ending somewhere in other side of Thar desert of Pakistan. (The India-Pak Border is about 15 Kms from here). We had a wonderful time playing on the sand dunes and the kids enjoyed the sand thoroughly. Cameras came out in the thousands and you could see pretty much everybody taking a snaps. The sunset was viewed from the peak of a sand dune. The huge golden ball of fire slowly drowned into the horizon and that's when we started walking back from the sands to the village nearby (1 Km), where our Cars would have arrived through the road. We found our cabbie, who then took us to the maximum possible stretch deep inside the Thar desert and then returned back. We drove back almost to the point where we started the camel ride and were lodged into the night desert camp.



The name of our camp was 'Prince Desert Camp'. A warm welcome by a lady clad in rich traditional Rajasthani attire accompanied along with a Drum roll. The perimeter of the camp had about 20 tents pitched for overnight stay. A red carpet was laid out till the central area, which had a stage in the middle for performing musicians and we were seated across the inner perimeter with soft mattresses and comfortable cushions. We chose our spot and quickly tucked into the warm cushions to beat the chill breeze and getting as much warmth from the campfire laid at the center.

The musicians (Seasoned vocalists, a dholak, a Sarangi, and another hand held rhythmic instrument player), started rendering traditional Rajasthani tunes. The salted peanuts, hot tea and coffee made the guests comfortable while enjoying the performances. A couple of dancers danced to the high energy songs and on one occasion pulled all the guests onto the floor and got them dancing as well. Soujanya and Pooja enjoyed their stints in the middle and had a great time. A couple of hours of music and dance, the traditional Rajasthani Dinner buffet was ready and staged in one of the tents. We just had enough space in our tummies to taste and later bade good-bye to the musicians and dancers and hit the road back to our hotel, after an amazing, adventurous and long day at Jaisalmer. A truly memorable outing.



Supplementary information: The Desert Package costs Rs. 600 per person (all inclusive of to-and-fro transportation to the camp, camel ride, Desert camp, music, dance and dinner).


24th Dec, 2010, Friday - Jaisalmer
We had our early morning breakfast of Alu Parathas, Poha, Noodles, steaming hot coffee and tea at a nearby hotel called 'Aangan'. Next we set on foot to explore the city of Jaisalmer by foot and almost retraced our route around the Jaisalmer fort which gives a lot of shopping options. We tried the specialty sweet of Jaisalmer 'Ghotuan', a sweet made out of Besan and Milk. Walking the gullies of Jaisalmer was itself a pleasure and we whiled away a lot of time in looking around small shops. Pooja and Sanjana were dreaming of getting into the swimming pool right from the moment we reached Jaisalmer, so we returned back to the hotel and got them into the pool. We adults were completely sure that these kids would not have the courage to get into the freezing cold pool. Well, kids are kids and adults are not. Pooja was more than happy to shiver and get into the pool and enjoy half an hour in near zero temperatures. Harish helped Pooja do the swimming, and his lower part of the body was almost numb by the time he got out. I tried to get into the pool but was out in the first 3 minutes as I could not sustain. Not sure how the kids managed this feat! Amazing!

Here are some snaps taken during our Jaisalmer tour:

Jaisalmer

We packed our bags and left to the railway station to catch the 5:40 PM train to our next city, Jaipur. The compartment was neat for a change with 'less' number of cockroaches this time. We had skipped lunch due to our hectic schedules during the day and hence ordered a meals our night dinner. On our way, we got to know that the train does not have a Pantry car as well. Our train had to go through Jodhpur and then to Jaipur and terminates at Delhi.

We reached Jodhpur and so did the meals arrive. About 10 minutes into the halt, while we were having dinner, we heard from our Coach attendant that there were news of our train getting re-routed to Delhi and would not be touching Jaipur. Apparently, the Gurjar agitation was in full swing in one of the stations between Jodhpur and Jaipur and the fish-plates of the railway lines had been removed by the protesters and hence the train journey to Jaipur had canceled. Harish and I and almost the 90% of our train's commuters ran helter-skelter trying to understand what was happening and reached the enquiry section on Jodhpur railway station. The 'Enquiry' attendant had only one thing to say. Folks going towards Jaipur should make alternate arrangements to reach Jaipur as the train will now not touch Jaipur. Any other question regarding what will happen to our tickets, refund, cancellation, e-tickets, continuance of journey on other trains, arrival/departure of next trains to Jaipur, fell on deaf ears. I have always thought of Railways to be very responsible organization at least during situations like these but this time I felt very agitated and very embarrassing that they had nothing to offer us. Absolutely no support from Railways in times of crisis.

Harish and I ran back to the coach, where the rest of our families were still on and asked them to unload the already heavy luggages and sleeping kids in the middle of the night, under freezing temperatures. Just when we got our luggages on the platform the train marched and departed to Delhi. Many of the people inside the trains may not even know what was happening. We had 20 minutes between the time we got the info from the cabin attendants and the time the train left Jodhpur.

We counted our bags and found that one of Harish's luggage had remained on the train going to Delhi on a different route. Harish approached the Station Master and appraised him of the situation and Quick arrangements were made by the Station Master who asked the Station Master of the next station 'Merta Road' to unload the luggage so that we could go and collect the same from that station.

Next we lodged our folks in the station waiting halls and starting thinking on alternative plans. Harish and I went outside and found a Taxi operator with whom we struck a deal to get us to Jaipur for Rs. 7000 on a Chevy Tavera. There was a lot of confusion and chaos before getting onto the Taxi as there was another Taxi guy that we had enquired in parallel and got into a huge fight on who would be driving us. 2 hours later we finally managed to leave Jodhpur in the middle of the night towards Jaipur. Wait! We still had to pick up the luggage from an unknown, nondescript station called as 'Merta Road' in all assumption that the station master takes the initiative of finding our bag from the train and unloading it in the middle of the night. Thankfully, our road trip to Jaipur did cover 'Merta Road' which was about 15KMS off from the 'Merta town'. About 2 hours into the ride, we got a feeling that we may not be able to find the railway station itself, forget about the luggage!. It was pretty nervous as there were no directions to the railway station, freezing temperatures and absolutely nobody on the street. Somehow the driver was able to make calls to his base station and get us to the railway station. The biggest surprise and a breath of relief came when we found the missing baggage at one of the offices of the railway station. Talk about luck!

25th Dec, 2010, Saturday - Jaipur
We reached Jaipur in the morning by 7 AM, starved of sleep, and got lodged with the 'Jaipur Youth Hostel'. Much wanted breakfast and Tea arrived and we were ready for the day's proceedings by noon. We hired an Auto rickshaw for Rs. 600 and asked him to show all the important places and monuments in Jaipur.

First stop was the 'Jantar Mantar'. We bought a composite entry pass that covers Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, Amber (Amer) Fort, Albert Hall and other points for Rs. 50, valid for 2 days. We marveled at the accuracy of these astronomical contraptions and how the accurate the readings were related to Time, Zodiac, and Planetary positions. Next stop was the City Palace where we saw many fine halls, Sheesh Mahals, 2 huge Sliver Jars weighing 135 Kgs each ('Gangajali') and many other artifacts.

A quick lunch at a local dhaba, we reached Amber Fort (Amer fort). When I saw Jodhpur fort, I thought it was the best. Then I saw Jaisalmer's Living fort, and thought that was better. Now I was on Amber fort and starting to think that this was better than the earlier ones. Every other fort seemed to out beat the other! Rajasthan has been simply awesome! This fort starts out with a small pond in front and takes you over a hill through multiple gates at varying elevations and providing great view of the city at each stage. Every landing has a huge open veranda the size of a half-football ground covered with pink porticoes and other buildings. Amazing fort. It took us at least 2 hours to get to see this fort and even after that we found that we still had a lot to see. Every other corner you had one or the other view or important sight to see or cover.

The sun was dipping as we got down the fort and the next stop was Rajasthan Tourist Development Corporation (RTDC) Shopping plaza. A huge building where one can do all the shopping from Bedspreads, Shawls, Razaais, Dress materials, Paintings, , Antiques, Marble items, Carvings, and other things. After about an hour and Five thousand Rupees lighter, we walked across the street to the Jal Mahal.

A magnificent Mahal built at the middle of a lake makes a beautiful sight. The evening lights made the palace even more beautiful with and we spent time taking a lot of snaps.

By this time, we were all mostly exhausted due to the long travel, lack of sleep the previous night and the full activity during the day. So we got back to the hotel and hit the sacks early.

26th Dec, 2010, Sunday - Jaipur
A good sleep overnight and heavy breakfast of Parathas, we set out for the day's tour of Ajmer and Pushkar. We struck a deal with a Auto rickshaw guy who led us to a Tata Indica travel agency for the day's tour for Rs. 1650.

We reached Pushkar by about 1:30 PM and had a full course meal before getting to the World's only Brahma temple (Attested by the 'original' Brahma himself, as there are other Brahma temples around India). I wish they have put a board saying 'We have no branches' board at the temple!. The road to the temple were adorned with a lot of small shops selling all kinds fancy and beautiful. The moment we got of the car, we were hunted by packs of the 'dalals' who would want to offer their services as a guide and explain in detail about the temple with stories, which we were not interested in. Entry to the temple was easy. Cameras, Mobile Phones and anything other than wallets are not allowed inside the premises. The temple is kind of old, decently maintained. As you reach the sanctum-sanctorum, the light and disciplined queue disintegrates into a chaotic confluence of human race as if the only standing Brahma temple is going to vanish in the next few minutes. Learning from the adage 'When you are in Rome, be a Roman', and going by the name 'Pushkar' which for a Rajasthani means 'Push - Kar' ('Start Pushing'), we got pushed from behind and we pushed the people in front to get the darshan of the most intelligent 1/3rd partner of the holy trinity, Lord Brahma. A major achievement it was to see a Temple with a Superlative attached to it. The temple itself is very ordinary, the Prasad ...Well, will keep my mouth shut here. Overall, it was fun.

We then waked past the gullies of Pushkar and a kilometer inside to get to the Pushkar Sarovar. A holy lake, very serene. Pooja loved this place as she was able to chase and shoo away the pigeons of Pushkar in hundreds.



We next left for Ajmer about 20 Kms from Pushkar and visited the Dargah there. The streets wore a festive look with beautiful lights coming in from the shops with hundreds of people buying flowers, sweets, offerings and head gears. Again, a huge rush inside the dargah. Very suffocating and no-order. No cameras, mobile phones inside the premises. Visiting a dargah for the first time was a unique experience as we did not know the nuances of visiting an Islamic place of worship. People from all religions converged here, mostly tourists and mostly Muslims. People who waited patiently till the end of the 'namaaz' suddenly rushed to the entrance of the dargah almost creating a stampede. It was very suffocating and was very uncomfortable.

We started our journey back to Jaipur on our car and we had already put ourselves into Panic mode as we had gotten the news that our train to Bangalore from Jaipur may have been canceled due to that Agitation. Sitting in the car, we made hundreds of calls to every one possible back in Bangalore so that we could make alternate arrangements to reach Bangalore in case it got confirmed that the trains were confirmed to be canceled. We headed directly to Jaipur railway station and got the confirmation that the trains will not be canceled but will be re-routed through Ajmer and will be reaching Bangalore late up to 12 hours. The mere confirmation that the trains would run and are not canceled gave a lot of cheer as we could not risk getting stuck in Jaipur for longer.

26th Dec, 2010, Monday - Jaipur
We got up early and had a breakfast of Poha and then picked up an Auto to go around Jaipur for those places we could not cover on the first day. First stop was the 'Hawa Mahal', an important Landmark of Jaipur, right in the center of the Pink City. Surrounding it was the shopping areas called as the 'Pink City Shopping area'. A whole set of Streets tailor made for the wandering tourister. All things that were found in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer could be found here at almost the same cost. We shopped for some bedspreads, bags and other small stuff. Next on the line was the Johari Bazaar where the ladies tried to their luck with Jeweleries (mostly imitations). The gullies around these shops lead into the vastly unexplored heavens, apt for a foodie of Jaipur. Innumerable Sweet Meat Shops adorn these streets. From Jamoons, to Bhujias, Mirchi Vadas, to you name it, you have it.

While the rest of the herd was busy helping themselves, I got into the by lanes of this gullies where another heaven opened up!. The lane that sells 'Kites' in wholesale! Thousands of them. Man! I was overjoyed looking at the umpteen colours, ranges, sizes and shapes of Kites, being sold in thousands. A sight uncommon to the people of the south. Varieties of kite threads ('Manjas') wound over 'Lathis' was stored in various sizes and prices. Me being a devout of kite flying, this was one of the points of pilgrimage that I happened to visit by chance. I bought 'mini kites' just 3 inches X 3 inches, made of plastic and guaranteed to fly! How cool!.

The next stop was the Laxmi Mithai Bhandar (LMB Sweets) on Johari Bazaar. We tried the 'Paneer Ghewar'. Apparently LMB is the most renowned and internationally acclaimed for this sweet. We packed half a KG back to Bangalore, as I seemed to enjoy the taste of this sweet. We also tried the Dodha, Dhoklas and a few Bakarwadis as well.

We tried the famous Gol-gappas of Jaipur before we walked over to the Albert Hall Museum. An important landmark of Jaipur, it houses many artifacts worth seeing. The most interesting for me was the 'Mummy', which has been kept on display. It is authentic (certified by the Museum that it is authentic). Different musical instruments, Pagdis, Illustrations of Kings of Rajasthan are some of the nice things on display.

We reached back the Youth Hostel by 4 PM, packed up and checked out by 5 PM to catch our final train back to Bangalore. As expected, the train did take a re-route and after a long, long, really long travel of 51 and half hours (2 days and 3.5 hours) later, we touched down in 'Namma Bengaluru' at 11.20 PM on 29th Dec, 2010 (Wednesday).

Here are some snaps that we took during our tour of Jaipur.

Jaipur, Pushkar and Ajmer

A fantastic tour of Rajasthan. A full 10 day extravaganza of beautiful places, amazing food, good and warm people of Rajasthan, breathtaking views and great company of Harish, Lavanya and Sanjana, made this trip a grand success.


Supplementary Information:
The total cost of the trip for 2 Adults and 1 child came to about Rs. 32,000 for 10 days. Inclusive of Train travel, City Travel, Entry and Parking charges, Food and Lodging, expenses. Not inclusive of Shopping!

Auto Rickshaws generally demands between Rs. 70~80 for point-point, but should be negotiated to Rs. 40~50 (For a distance of 4~5 Kms). An approximate charge Rs. 10 per KM.

Rajasthan is a state where Vegetarians hotels are in abundance where ever you go. Jain hotels and food is available everywhere. On an average, Rs. 75~100 per person per Lunch/Dinner in a decent hotel.

Temperatures during the Day across Rajasthan was between 20~25 Deg C during last week of December. Thermals are not needed. During the nights, it would go down to 7 Deg C or a bit lower.

Did not see many Cybercafes kind of shops, but every hotel has its own Internet Kiosk.

Below is the map of Rajasthan:

Deepavali of 2009

Ah! The festival of those wonderful lights, bursting crackers, meeting people and the wonderful food during the 3 day extravaganza! None of the festivals in the Hindu calendar can beat this one, at least for me.

17th Oct, 2009, was the "Naraka-chaturdashi" day.

This year, Amma had to leave to Chennai for Abhi's Upanayanam ('Cross-Thread ceremony' for those who don't understand our rituals ;-) ). So her absence was definitely felt during the festivity all through.

So Soujanya, Pooja and myself along with Anna, got up early on the 17th for the "Enne Shastra". ("Enne" as in "Oil" not "Alchohol", you perverts ;-) ). For the first time though, Pooja did the Aarthi to all of us. Brand new clothes bought the previous day was waiting for us and we wore them all, looking bright and cheerful for the rest of the day.

Our in-laws had invited us over for lunch along with a whole bunch of fun loving family members including Souji's Chikamma, Chikappa, Kiran, Lavanya, Harish, Sanjana and Soujanya's eldest uncle from Hyderabad.

Delicious food after noon was followed by huge discussions on every single topic under the sun and kept us awake for the rest of the afternoon. All of us then migrated to our house in Hanumanthanagar for the simulated war-zone experience "Deepavali@Vinayadeep" session, which lived up to it's name for the rest of the evening. Every kid on the block was making sure that there was more cracker papers for the next day morning sweeper to clean.

Souji and Pooja decorated the house compound with neat looking "Deepa" (Diyas). Our home looked so beautiful with all of these lights. It was definitely a pretty sight.

Nisha, Deepu and Asha too joined us for bursting a whole lot of night crackers ranging from just ordinary to the ultimate fancy ones. From the hissing snake to the Swastik ground chakras to the whistling crackers to the North Indian imported "Anaar", one after another, the marathon session continued non-stop for 2 hours. Pooja loved the night crackers and wanted more! So did the young at heart.

The most hilarious one was a cracker which looked like a "Post card". It was marked - "To NaraGasura", "Address: Hell". Costing 50 bucks, this was such a hopeless let-off after realizing that it was a rip-off.

Overall, the day went pretty well and all of us had a great time together.

Here are a few photos and videos that we clicked during the event.

Deepavali 2009

Photos from Deepavali of 2008

BMS - ELEC catch up @ Kuntz's place

Sunday, the 6th of September, all(most) of us - BMS ELEC - folks caught up at Srikanth's place @ J P Nagar.

Attendees included Sudheendra, Meera and Shruthi, Sanjeev, Sarju and Srivali, Naveen, Madhuri and Namitha, Sudhir and Jaya, Janardhan and Sowmya, Pooja, Soujanya and myself along with hosts Maaya, Chitra and Sreekanth.

The day warmed up with some major discussions around Sudheendra's recent invasion of China and how much he loved that place and his (mis)adventures with pure vegetarian food he consumed over there. Post that, we had some discussions going over with Education and Schooling in Melbourne, Bangalore and elsewhere followed by Alternate forms of Schooling, latest trends of schooling being adopted in Bangalore, followed by a few ideas on starting our own schools with the only motto of making money. With gray matter utilization reaching 100% and no space left to think more, Srikanth and Sudheendra went in search for Food for thought.

A super duper lunch with Spicy and Steaming Pulav, Raitha, Thair-Vada, Jamoons, Curd rice and Pedhas were just what the hungry souls wanted. Bur-rrrp!

The kids hijacked most of the lunch session and the next two hours afterwards, by a very good practical demonstration of how to bring the roof down with their tantrums. We (poor parents) were made mere spectators to the sunday matinee show of their amazing display of how easy it is to take control of the parents. Time was the only weapon the parents could bank on and we regained some strength when the sedatives worked to our benefit!

While entering the house, I remember the neatly ordered magazines, the creaseless bedspreads, all the cushions decked in place, chairs ordered neatly across the dining table. Well, need to admit that this was not how we left the house after the meeting! Thanks to our kids!

The tea-time soon followed where a new thread of discussion on Sudheendra's IIM college exeperiences which triggered off the nostalgic college days @ BMS, which continued till the late in the evening. Starting off with our exploits with various lecturers, our exam scores (and re-scores!), Copying stunts during tests (and its fallouts!), expectation of results after exams and consequences after results, Basketball days, amazing experience with our favourite lecturers starting from MNV, MM, Meena M'am, Alasingar, GG, RSD, SR, DRK, 'Crowbar' and many more!

By the way, no BMS-Elec discussion is ever complete without talking about the beautiful girls who have made BMS college of what it is today. The full list of girls right through our college days was discussed in the minutest detail. A few of them I guess are still being tracked even till today!. With all these discussions coming without any filters, I am sure newly married Sudhir and Janardhan would have a long drive back home. Sudhir, Janardhan, take care buddies and all the best. We will discuss about your 'traveling back home' experiences in our next meeting!

The event can be treated as one of the most 'rarest of the rare' in the recent past. Not because, it was difficult to get everybody under one roof with a short notice, but because, Sudheendra made it !!! 'Everybody' which included himself, wanted a photograph with him. A great group photo did the trick. Click on the snap below for a few other snaps.

BMS - Elec meeting @ Kuntz place

Well, at the end, It was just another fantastic day to spend time with friends and hope many more do come by. It simply brightened up my day inspite of the outcast weather, the recession hit IT industry, and the rising price of Dals and Sugar.

Thanks so much everybody for taking your time off for keeping in touch with each other. We definitely missed Tarun, Rekha, Navya, and families of Archana, Shubha and Vermeen. Thanks Kuntz and Chitra for hosting us all. (to be read: for being patient till we all left)

Folks - It would be great if you can send across snaps from your camera as well. I will add them onto the blog.

Summer trip to Adoni for Latha's wedding

This summer, 9th and 10th of May 2009, we had been to Adoni, a mid sized town which belongs to the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.

Well, you may ask why that place and on top of it why at that time? Latha (Soujanaya's maternal cousin) got wedded to Sri. Phanibushan and Adoni being their native place, the wedding was arranged there. The wedding was on the 9th and 10th of May, but Soujanya had left to the party a couple of days early with Pooja, Lavanya and Sanjana, while Harish and myself joined the function on the 9th. Harish and myself stayed @ the Hotel Bhima Residency in an A/C room which was pretty close to the wedding hall and acted as a cooling waterhole to beat the heat.

The wedding went pretty well and gave us a chance to witness the Andhra style of wedding tradition. It had pretty much the same rituals but with it's own flavours. The Andhra style food preparation was a delight but the take away was the 'Mandige', a pretty rare North-Karnataka dish which only few folks from Bellary know how to prepare.

Other highlights apart from the wedding was the simmering heat of the summer and I was told that we were running 42 deg C the last few days over there. A few of us took some time off the marriage hall and visited the market area of Adoni. Memorable were the gullies of the market where we saw the makings of 'Kadlepuri' which are a kind of rice puffings used which in great quantities for a lot of dishes. One of the primary ingredients of Bhel Puri as well! Check out the video, along with pictures. We stopped by at a Soda-parlour in the middle of the town and must have tasted about all the different varieties available over there. That shop was supposed to be the Soda-capital of Adoni, serving various flavours.

The last important or not-so-important information was that on our return trip on the 10th of May, Soujanya surprised me with a Birthday cake cutting ceremony on the Train, along with Harish, Kiran, Lavanya, Sanjana and Pooja. A very special moment that will be there for a long time to come!.

A few photos of the event captured through the eyes of my camera.

Latha's Wedding @ Adoni

Pooja turns two! Happy Birthday Pooja!

The Sunday of Jan 11th, 2009, turned into a festival for us as we celebrated Pooja's 2nd birthday. This time we decided to do the function over our Apartments and leverage the flat's basement area for dinner/lunch while we can do the rest of the party in-house.

Here are the snaps from the event. Thanks to Harish for his set of snaps.

Pooja turns two!

So it all began with our buying the Birthday dress for Pooja while we were on our Trip to Udupi and other places. On a brief stop over at Mangalore we bumped into this Kid Store where a beautiful dress was hung on one of the window panes. That's it. One thing led into an other and before we knew, we had bought this silk-ish white and glossy red-brown Midi-frock for her.

Back in Bangalore, Soujanya had this desire to distribute printed birthday invitation cards and so we fired the Internet to find some cool applications that we could use. Thanks to 'Smilebox', we were able to create our online invitation in a jiffy.

After successive discussions (a.k.a. arguments with fist fights), we finalized on the caterer (Kaveri Caterers) and most importantly, the menu. The same day, we also booked the cakes from 'Kaggis', the new posh outlet that has started close to our house. Pretty good range of designs I must say.

Soujanya always wanted the birthdays to be filled with loads of balloons and colours and cartoon characters. So we called up these event management folks to come over and give us their designs. Even before I disconnected the phone, the folks from 'Showtime' was at our door, ready with their portfolio of all kinds of designs and decorations. After an hour long discussion on the specifics, we finally decided on a design that liked and customized to our requirement.

On the early morning of 11th, we decked up Pooja and visited home and along with Anna and Amma, visited the 'Panchmukhi Ganesha Temple' at Hanumanthanagar. In one hour, we were back in the apartments for getting ready for the function.

The 'Showtime' folks were on time with their stuff and started working immediately. With a Vacuum cleaner fitted with a modified/customized air outlet, they started filling the balloons one after the other for about a thousand or more. One of the other person, got down to do decorating the stage. This went on for about an hour and before we knew what was happening, the full house was decked up with wall hangings of colourful balloons everywhere. The stage was decorated with a Blue background canvas fitted with a whole lot of cartoon characters from the little mermaid to snow-white to other angels. Tall pillars of Balloons mounted on a frame were placed on each side of the Diaz. Just at the door entrance of the door, another angel cutout stood there calling out loud that Pooja's Party was here. The blue-orange-green-white-pink-red-yellow balloon drops continued from our door and stretched on till the main gates of our apartments. Overall, it was such a beautiful sight and I have to admit, it was looking very pretty. Soujanya was delighted to see the way the way our house had transformed. It was a riot of colours everywere with an atmosphere of festivity all around.

Pooja had slept for a couple of hours by then and woke up completely fresh. Very vital for kids to have a decent nap before this event. By 3:30 PM, All the kids in our flat came down and the party began. To the cheers of all the kids and to some good music, Pooja cut her cake all in smiles, while lighting a candle. The kids had a great time with Samosas, Chocolates, Chips, Ice Creams and cakes. A few games of Passing the ball kept them occupied between another round of snacks. Soujanya had pre-packed and readied the return gifts for the kids. Pooja had a great time playing with all these kids even though most of them are elder to her by an year at least.

Once the kids left, we got ready for the next set of invitees. All our families, relatives and friends. And by 6:30 PM, our house had turned into the most festive place ever. Everybody turned up for the birthday and it was a very happy occasion for us. Pooja was looking grand wearing the new dress that we bought from Mangalore. The good thing was that she was not perturbed by the presence of so many people around and was as normally naughty as ever. For her it was just another day! But one thing for sure, she was enjoying all the attention she was getting and maxed it to the limit.

All the lights in our house was switched on and the Diaz was looking bright. The L-Section in the hall provided just the exact offset that was required for setting up the Diaz so that we had the Diaz on one side and the folks on the other.

The birthday cake was prepared in the shape of a Book with one of the cartoons on one page and the greetings on the other. By about 7:30 in the evening, Pooja cut her big Birthday cake to loud cheers and wonderful birthday song and to the claps, blessings and wishes from all the family, relatives and friends who had gathered around. Such a pretty sight. Flash lights did not stop for the next 5 minutes till every movement from every angle was captured from the folks. (Including mine!). As always, my camera was working overtime to capture the best moments. From Kids, to kids at heart, aunts to uncles to grannies to grandpas, all were there for the photographs.

Checkout the Video here:


By 8 PM, we all moved downstairs for the dinner. Avarekai-Alu-Methi-bath, Cucumber Raitha, Dry Jamoon, Rava Vada, Rice, Rasam, Curd-Rice and IceCream along with Cakes were served on buffet. Coffee was made available right from the early evenings so that people don't have to escape the building in search of one or a 'by-two', having traveled a whole lot of distance to our house. Not to mention the cold outside would have warranted to go in for the other 'by-two' as well!

Pooja collected a whole lot of gifts from everybody. Not sure if she understood why she was getting all the gifts, but anything was okay, as long as she was on the receiving side! We were delighted to see the way she carried herself without any hassles.

Overall, a wonderful day to remember. All of us liked it. And it would not have made the event such a success without all the people who came over to bless the litttle one. Thanks everybody for making Pooja and us feel so very special.

The next day, with most of the balloons on the floor, we moved about a 1000 plus balloons into Pooja's room. Pooja enjoyed a great deal playing with the balloons and it was an awesome sight. She had not seen (including us!) that many balloons and infact she gets lost under them while playing.

Its almost a week now, as I type this blog. There are a few balloons still hanging over the walls and we have let it hang there, just so that we can keep remembering and relish the good time we had. Every time I look at the balloons, my heart goes Happy Birthday Pooja (and Soujanya ;-) )

Trip to the Beaches and Temples of Coastal Karnataka

This time around, I wanted to enjoy the annual vacation (of 2008) to the fullest. Initially, the plan was to spend a decent time at Kanyakumari, but with the 'Aiyappa' season @ Shabarimala, all the tickets to everywhere on all modes of transport was booked and very few options were open for us to choose. Finally, we decided on visiting a few beaches and temples on the coastal side of Karnataka.

Following, is the travel-log-commentary of our Trip to half-piligrimage, half-sun-sands-beaches tour. We (Soujanya, Pooja and Myself), were accompanied by Souji's parents and my parents.

Click here for some of the best snaps and a few videos of our trip.

Trip to Udupi and other Places

22nd Dec, Monday
~ Departed Bangalore by 7 AM.
~ On the way, visited temples of Yediyur (Siddalingaleshwara), Kaala Bhaireshwara (Adi Chunchungiri).
~ Roads till Sakaleshpura are fine. Beyond Sakaleshpura till you reach Dharmasthala, God save you and the vehicle. 100s of hairpin bends with 1000s of ditches all set to give you a bumpy ride. Welcome aboard the Shiradi Ghat section of the Western Ghats.
~ Spent about an hour at the Nethravathi River, next to Dharmasthala temple. Really good and clean water. If anybody wants to enjoy lazing around a river, this is the best place to do so.
~ Visited the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple by about 6:30 PM. Temple reopens for public at 7:15 PM.
~ The queue was pretty long and took about 1.5 hours to complete and come out.
~ *__ Important __*: If you are visiting this temple (or any other temple on this side of Karnataka), you will need to be dressed in a dhoti and a shalya. Trousers, Shirts and Banians are not allowed.
~ Yes, you will need to pull of your banians too! Any questions, you can get the divine interventions from Lord Manjunatha himself.
~ Left Dharmasthala at 8 and reached Subramanya Temple at 10 PM.
~ Got accommodation at 'Sri Niketana' Lodge, just 50 meters from the temple.
~ Took two 2-bed rooms. Each costing Rs. 250. Decent place, *Clean* toilets, Spacious, and good enough for spending a night. Hot water facility for Rs. 8 per bucket.
~ *__ Important __*: Only 1 medical shop for the whole of the town. Closes at 8 PM itself. Just couldn't believe it. Pooja got travel sickness and my assumption that there will be some medical help available (at this time and age) proved us wrong and costly.

23rd Dec, Tuesday
~ Visited Subramanya Temple in the morning
~ River Kumardhara was good, but not as crystal clear and beautiful as we had seen when we visited this place 20 years back. That time, there was nothing except the temple and the river, but now, a town itself has come up, totally contrary to my expectations.
~ After a good breakfast, we left for Subramanya by 10 AM and headed for Mangalore.
~ By noon, we were in Mangalore. Didn’t expect this much of heat and sultry weather in Mangalore. Unbearable heat in peak winter too. (That is probably because of being Bangaloreans)
~ Shopped a great dress for Pooja. Costed a bomb, but looks good on her.
~ Never thought Mangalore has such posh outlook. Good buildings, hotels. Every single hoarding atop every building is about Jewellery! So definitely a cash-rich population.
~ Lunch at Hotel Utsav was great. Highly recommended for budget minded travelers.
~ Cancelled plans of visiting 'Ullal beach' supposed to be good and ice-creams at ‘Pabbas’ (Highly recommended by others).
~ Left Mangalore at about 3:30 PM and headed towards Udupi.
~ Brief stopover at 'Panambur beach'. Nice and calm beach. Whole lot of fishing activities. Stayed there for half an hour and moved on.
~ Reached Udupi by 5 PM and headed straight to 'Sri. Krishna Dhama' just behind the temple, next to Geetha mandir. (Co-incidentally, the same place where we stayed 20 years back!).
~ Got this tip from our Driver that Malpe beach closes by 6:30 PM and Police would drive people from the beach by that time. So hurriedly left for Malpe beach.
~ So much has changed since the last time I came here (With Shashi and Ande (1995~96)). Not a single soul was around that time, and now, this beach is not short of any other beaches in Chennai (Marina), except that Malpe beach is 100X cleaner.
~ White sand, beautiful sunset, good mix of all types of people, no bad odour of dried fish [except passing through the fishermen colony, on the way to the beach].
~ One of the best beaches I have seen so far. Highly comparable to beaches in Goa. Not too crowdy, not steep. Highly recommended.
~*__ Important __*: There is a 'Pay and use', really neat and clean toilet facility just 20 mts from the Beach. Happy to see that there.
~ Beach also offers street-side coffee shops, snack bars and light foods. Mineral water bottles available everywhere.
~ By 7:30 PM, we headed back to our lodge and found it in good shape. Clean and tidy room and toilet. Costs Rs. 150 per day. Took 2 rooms.
~ Refreshed ourselves and had a quick tour of the temple town by walk. Nothing changed much around the temple. Brought back nostalgic memories of our previous visits to Udupi.
~ Dinner at 'Mitra Samaja' was good. Hit the sack by 9:30 PM

24th Dec, Wednesday~ Visited Sri. Krishna temple by walk.
~ Easy no rush, no mess temple. Ample time for darshan. No fuss or non-sense. Generally felt good visiting this place.
~ Parents and In-laws too liked the temple very much.
~ Due to 'Dwadashi', lunch was served at 9 AM itself. We were made to run around the temple from pillar to post, as nobody was guiding us to the location where the food was being served. Finally, we made it.
~ Free food, so no complaints. Very filling. Need to take off Shirt and Banian while having food. This was a bit strange considering the fact that people are allowed to visit the temple with Shirt and Pants, but for having lunch, we are supposed to remove Shirt and Banian.
~ Next we left again to Malpe, for visiting the St. Mary's island.
~ By 11 AM, we were at Malpe beach again. Got to know from locals that the ticket to St. Mary's Island needs to be bought at the port harbour itself.
~ It’s a 5 minute drive from Malpe beach to the Port. One straight road that you cant miss.
~ Inside the port, ask for the ticket counter to St. Mary's Island and the security officer will direct you.
~ Ticket costs Rs. 70 per head. No queue at all, inspite of the holiday period.
~ Got transferred into a ferry along with 30 other people.
~ Took 25 minutes to reach the Island. Very nice and comfortable ride. Clear blue water. ~ No foul smell over the ferry, no dirty seating, comfortable and enjoyable. Good crowd.
~ St. Mary's Island is a small piece of land. Beautiful place. Must see and highly recommended. Good white sand. Very clean and hardly any people.
~ *__ Important __*: The far side of the island is very scenic and beautiful. Good mix of rocks and beach. Pristine water.
~ *__ Important __*: Beach has a deceptively sharp gradient. Huge pull from the waves.
~ Pooja enjoyed a great deal here.
~ Unfortunately, misadventure by 3 schoolboys got them pulled into the sea.
~ *__ Important __*: No security guards, life guards, and very few people.
~ After huge efforts from the ferry operators, 2 were rescued early. 3rd kid was rescued quite a while later as he was farthest from us. Believe me, that kid was not looking good. Traumatic experience. Finally, the insane teachers/organizers of the school trip left the place back to Malpe in emergency mode as the 3rd kid had to be hospitalized due to breathing problems.
~ We spent about a couple of hours and posed for snaps. Inspite of the happening, this place is highly recommended for anybody visiting Udupi. It’s worth the salt.
~ *__ Important __*: Do not get into the water unless you are an expert in swimming. Otherwise, just relax and enjoy the view.
~ Our return ferry came back to pick us up and another 30 minutes, we were back at Malpe beach.
~ Visited 'Dianas' Restaurant at Udupi. Again, food was very affordable, delicious, no garlic, and ice creams were awesome! Highly Recommended. Good varieties on the menu.
~ With tummies full, went back to the lodge and packed just as much stuff required for our trip to Horanaadu and Sringeri.
~ Left Udupi at 3 PM and were at Agumbe by 5 PM. Waited for Sunset, but the sun was in no mood to get down and hence moved on wasting 30 minutes.
~ Touched Sringeri bypass by 7:30 PM and moved further towards Horanaadu.
~ Pooja was showing signs of travel sickness and dysentery.
~ Absolutely nobody on the roads, no other vehicles moving in the same direction as of Horanaadu made us believe, accommodation would be easy.
~ When we were just a kilometer away from Horanaadu, saw 3 buses standing one behind the other and that’s when the panic set in.
~ All this while, we had confirmed accommodation, except Horanaadu, and when reaching the town realized, it was turning out to be the mistake of the decade.
~ There were atleast 150 buses, same number of cabs and a huge Christmas holiday seeking crowd all moving helter-skelter looking for reservations.
~ All the hotels were booked and on waiting list.
~ Our cab driver asked us to enquire at hotel he knew and luckily, we got a single 3-double cot room for Rs. 600. In the circumstances we were in, we were more than happy to log in.
~ Accommodation was decent with attached bathroom. Hot water facility from 6 AM to 8 AM. Need to fetch water from a tap next in the corridor space just outside our room.
~ Pooja health seemed to deteriorate over the night.
~ *__ Important __*: Got to know that there is no pharmacy at Horanaadu. Really irritated me. So much people and not a single pharmacy / medical store. General medicines are available in shops close to the temple, but not the antibiotics or other types of medicines. Nearest pharmacy is at 'Kalasa' a bigger town, 11 KMS away. (It’s on the way to Horanaadu).
~ In-laws opted out to stay back with Pooja in the hotel, while Souji, parents and me, had a darshan, and prasad (night dinner) at the temple. Temple was as resplendent as ever.
~ Huge loads of people arriving every hour of the night.

25th Dec, Thursday
~ Pooja's health was really worrying.
~ In-laws did the early morning darshan of Annapurneshwari and once they were back, we did our 2nd round in the morning.
~ Idea was to get closer to civilization as early as possible, keeping into mind Pooja's health condition.
~ FIL administered doses of Homeopathy medicines to take control of the emergency.
~ Later called up family doctor and got some allopathic medicines administered at Kalasa on our way back to Sringeri.
~ By 12 noon, we reached Sringeri and made a quick darshan of the temple. The weather was getting hot and humid.
~ We stopped for lunch at 'Akshaya Mess', a home which serves pure vegetarian lunch just 500 meters from the temple. Same place we had visited 20 years back is now bigger and better. Food was homely, tasty and filling.
~ We left Sringeri by 3 PM and the tired souls opened eyes only when we reached Udupi by 7 PM.
~ Staying at the same rooms of 'Sri. Krishna Dhama' lodge, we quickly freshened up and got a quick darshan of Udupi Krishna.
~ Relaxed the remaining part of the day at the lodge.
~ Pooja's health started to improve. Very rare to see the chatterbox going silent for a whole day.

26th Dec, Friday
~ Pooja was looking better. But we all made a decision of cut down the trip to Karwar and Goa.
~ Instead, we planned to short-circuit the rest of the tour through Kundapur, Anegudde, Maravanthe, Murudeshwar and reach Saagar. (Heggodu, Asha (SIL) place).
~ We packed our luggage and said bye to Udupi by 9 AM and visited Anegudde Ganesha temple, a beautiful Temple on the highway.
~ Next was the wonder spot, "Maravanthe", where the national highway road seperates a river (Netravathi) from the sea for about a kilometer. On one side you have the Arabian Sea and the other side you have the fresh water river. Amazing sight. There will be very few places in the world like this. Must visit spot, right on the highway.
~ We reached Murudeshwara by about noon. The weather was hot and sultry. So wanted to take some rest. Inspite of loaded tummies, we went into the Naveen Beach hotel and had lunch by the Sea. Amazing view of the sea and a must visit hotel. Food is crappy, but the experience of having lunch over the sea was awesome.
~ Compared to my last 2 visits to Murudeshwar, one 10 years back and the other 5 years back, this place has improved for the better. The beach sand was clean with no human or animal landmines. Huge loads of people and children. Water scooters, Speedboats, and colourful fishing boats made a merry sight.
~ Overall, great improvement in cleanliness and tourism development. Highly recommended.
~ The queue at the temple was too long and hence opted to stay back with Souji and Pooja, while parents and in-laws disappeared into the long and winding queues.
~ While Souji and Pooja took shelter from the scorching sun, I pulled out my camera and click-click-click went the snaps.
~ By 4 PM, we were all done visiting the small hillock with the huge Shiva statue just behind the temple.
~ Pooja was getting stable but still had a whole lot of weakness in her.
~ We all got back into our Qualis and headed towards Saagar.
~ By 8 PM, we reached Heggodu's Honnesara, the residence of Asha's Parents. Thanks to Anna for his acute sense of direction and night vision in guiding us through untrodden roads under zero visibility.
~ We anchored at this place for the day and Asha's parents had made all arrangements for a comfortable stay. A good dinner followed. For the first time in 6 days, we came in close contact with a TV. Discussions on Politics, Mumbai Terror Attacks and Cricket Mania took over for the next couple of hours before we all hit bed.

27th Dec, Saturday~ Woke up lazily in the morning and spent a whole lot of time with Anil (Asha's brother) and parents.
~ Our idea of leaving back to Bangalore post lunch session was anulled the instant it was conveyed to Asha's parents and they wanted us to stay atleast till Monday.
~ Completely overwhelmed, we bogged down and Anil made all the plans about how to spend time in Saagar.
~ First Anil, took us all around the Arecanut/Beetlenut farm.
~ Next he took us to the headquarters of 'Charaka', the place where the cotton is weaved into a fabric and then later garments are made and export to Charaka outlets all over the country. This institution makes use of local people, talent and technology to create contemporary Cotton garments, wallets, pillows, dress materials, bedspreads and other accessories. The cost is very reasonable and stylish too.
~ The proprietor, who was Anil's friend, gave us a complete walkthrough right from the dyeing of yarn to the center where garments are exported.
~ Later he showed us the way to the location where we could buy a few of their products from their outlet nearby.
~ And that's exactly when the apocalypse happened. Souji shopped for a whole 2 hours, picking up whatever came into her sight and she had to be literally dragged out, just in time for me to escape bankruptcy.
~ With pockets bearing only vacuum, we visited 'Vardha moola' temple (birth place of river ‘Vardha’) about 10 Kms away. A small village fair was around the temple and made a brief stopover to check anything interesting.
~ We came back to our home away from home and had a sumptuous lunch and a much wanted nap.
~ In the evening, we made a quick trip to Saagar town and then took a stroll to 'Hongirana' a residential school close by where an annual day celebration was going on. Found that event not very interesting and also that it was getting colder and breezy, and opted to return back to home for another session of great dinner.
~ Hit the sack pretty early.

28th Dec, Sunday~ Last day of our tour.
~ Much needed break for Pooja, to get back to normalcy. Pooja was enjoying her stay.
~ We all got up early and had a fantastic breakfast.
~ With goodbyes and handshakes to Asha's parents and Anil, We left Heggodu by 10 AM on our way back to Bangalore.
~ The journey was comfortable and did a stopover at Tiptur for lunch followed by a brief stopover for tender coconuts on the way.
~ Reached Bangalore by 5:30 PM, all in good condition.

Overall, a full week of journey, temples, beaches, fun and wonderful memories, worthy of a vacation. Great company and a trip to remember.

Sincere thanks to Sri. Narasimha Murthy, brother of Gopi (Colleague at my office), who helped us out with accommodations at Subramanya and Udupi. Thanks to Priya (another Colleague at my office) for the accommodation at Goa, which we couldn't make it though. And our wholesale thanks to Kantaraju, our cab driver, who exhibited great and comfortable driving skills, support and adaptability both on and off the road.

Supplimentary Information:

Travel Period:22nd Dec ~ 28th Dec, (7 days - 6 nights)

Total Distance Travelled:
Approximately 1350 KMS.

Travel Route Plan:Bangalore -> Dharmasthala -> Subramanya -> Mangalore -> Udupi -> Horanaadu -> Sringeri -> Udupi -> Kundapur -> Maravanthe -> Murudeshwara -> Saagar -> Bangalore

Travel Route Map:



Mode of travel:Hired Toyota Qualis for the entire trip (Bangalore to Bangalore). -> Rs. 7 per km -> Driver Bata of Rs. 175 per day.