Welcome 2010

2010 is going to be a big year for me, because this is the year when my life will undergo some radical changes.
Since I started working as a software engineer in Bangalore in 2004, life had become rather routine. But on the 1st of January 2010, I would be unemployed for the first time ever. By noon of the 31st of December 2009, I had completed all my last formalities at work, sent all the farewell emails, met most of the people that I’d wanted to meet before leaving, backed up all my personal data from the office PC and cleared almost everything from my cubicle. Doing all this had taken time, and now it was almost 1 pm.
Most of my friends were going to Gokarna to usher in the new year, and I had made a last minute plan to join them there. I had booked an afternoon flight to Goa, and arranged for my brother to keep my motorcycle at a place from where I could pick it up without having to go home (my parents were never too keen on my long motorcycling trips, so I didn’t want to tell them about my grand plans). My flight to Goa was to depart at 3.15 pm, and I got to the bus-station at 1.30 pm. On the best of days, the bus takes at least one and a half hours to get to the airport, by which time the boarding gates would be closed. There was no way I would make it to the airport if I took the bus.
So I got into a waiting cab and asked him to take me to the airport on the double. It was the cab driver’s lucky day because he could charge me any outrageous amount and I would be willing to shell it out. To my disappointment, he decided to make hay while the Sun was shining. But I was thankful that at least we were on our way. The driver seemed to have a lot of confidence in himself. So much so, that he stopped for fuel, and then again to buy bananas and cigarettes.
Vinay called me midway, and wasn’t surprised to hear that unlike a normal human being, I wasn’t all checked in and waiting for the boarding announcement. Trust me, for those who know how talented I am at missing buses, trains, planes and all other public transport systems, it wouldn’t be shocking at all.
Once at the airport, I ran all the way to get my boarding pass. The guy behind the counter urged me to hurry as boarding for my flight had already begun. After a quick security clearance, I reached my terminal just as the last person went through the door. I was going to get my flight, yay!! This round went to me, but I just know that there is going to be another duel with nature very soon.

After landing in Goa, I got out of the airport and immediately on a bus heading to Margao. Once there, I hopped onto a pilot motorcycle, that would take me to my brother’s friend’s place where my motorbike was parked. Once the bike was tanked up, I began the long 5 hour journey towards Gokarna. Regular updates from Meena, Shaarad & Thomas kept me up-to-date with the scene there. I took just one short tea break near the Karwar port, and it was close to 10.30 pm by the time I reached Om beach, where the others were.
I was quite tired by my long journey, and just one REALLY stiff drink of vodka that Lawrence poured was enough to get me in high spirits. I was just getting through my second drink, which by the way, was rum, when everyone around me was counting down. A quick glance at my watch confirmed that it was indeed midnight already. We hugged each other and wished everyone a Happy New Year and all that.
Since we hadn’t been too successful in finding a room in the already over stuffed place, we decided that we would just spend the night by the beach. We were not alone in this noble pursuit, as we saw revelers all over the place collapsing under the stars beside the sea. This peaceful, romantic setting was a pleasure to everyone except for, you guessed it, the damn cops. They were there in a flash shining their bright flashlights on our faces. Runu, who had promised to keep watch, told them that we were all Germans. But the cop was not convinced, so he asked loudly, “How many Indians are there in this group?” Somebody answered two, at which he bellows, “All the Indians get out of here.” Nobody moved an inch. I’m not very sure what happened next, but I vaguely remember some cop asking his mates to leave us alone as there are ladies in our group.
Once the cops had left, and the effects of the alcohol were wearing out, I began to realize how cold it was. I did not have any thick clothing to protect me from the chilly sea breeze. But Karla shared her shawl with me, thanks to which I made it through that first night of 2010.

Cochin – A beautiful coastal town

I slept like a baby and was well rested by the time Thomas woke me up. When I got ready and came to the living room, Shaarad was already there. Thomas' parents had gone to attend some function at Kottayam, but his sister Nilima had stayed back.

The 4 of us then went for breakfast, and later to the bus station to drop Shaarad off. Shaarad had to go to Kottayam to meet an old friend of his from London. Shaarad was just about to buy his bus ticket when his friend called and said that traffic on the Cochin – Kottayam route was moving at a snail's pace, and it would be better if he didn't go through the ordeal. This suited us just fine, and we spent the remainder of the day just walking about Fort Kochi, watching the Chinese fishing nets in action, having lunch with a view of the backwaters, browsing through books and postcards and finally sipping on some unique flavored teas. We met Thomas & Nilima's parents when we got back home, and were treated to an amazing dinner prepared by aunty. The next day Thomas was to drive his Mom's old car back to Bangalore, so we called it a day immediately after dinner.

 

I had been to Cochin a couple of times before with my parents, but I saw it in a new light in this trip. It looked like a sprawling metropolis in some parts with giant high-rises, while in others there were large aristocratic bungalows besides the backwaters. It was such a harmonious blend of the modern with the old. The weather at this time of the year was quite pleasant, but I was warned that it could get quite hot and humid in summer. Nevertheless, I liked Cochin a lot.

To Cochin for Christmas

The one thing that is common to most of trips is that they are seldom planned. And this was true of the Christmas trip to Cochin as well. I learnt only on the 24^th of December that Shaarad was planning to visit Thomas at Cochin for Christmas, and since I wasn't doing anything over the long weekend, I thought I might as well head to Cochin myself. I remembered Sushil mentioning that he was going to some place in Kerala during the Christmas weekend by car, so I asked him if they had place for one more person. Not only they did have place, but they were also going to Cochin :) I had assumed that Sushil would be going with his relatives, but there was another pleasant surprise in store for me. He was going with a few of our seniors from MIT, so it was already promising to be a fun journey!!

The plan was to start early, and the cab was to pick me up from the Sony World junction at the ungodly hour of 4 am. I didn't remember the last time I had seen that time of day (or night), but I didn't want to be the villain in the plan, so I somehow got myself to the pickup location at 4. If you have already read "Christmas dinner & midnight mass", you know that I had had a late night the day before and had gotten into bed at 3 am. Having slept for barely 25 minutes, I couldn't wait to get into the cab, sink into some remote corner, and doze off. Imagine my horror when I call the cab driver and he says he was still asleep. He hurriedly apologises and promises to come in another 10 minutes. It was close to 5 am when he finally reached.

Having been totally impressed by the way Jonathan Yevin travels, I was carrying as less stuff as I possibly could in one light backpack. When we got to Vinay's place, he asked me to come up to his apartment to help him with the luggage (Note: This is a completely new Vinay, taking the number of Vinays I now know to 4). I almost fainted of shock when I saw the amount of luggage he was carrying. I think it was enough to start a small, happy family. The cab driver nearly fainted as well when he got a load of it. From here we went to Harish & Manjushri's place who had a few bags of their own. Then we went to pick up Sushil who wasn't traveling very light either. There was no way we could possibly fit all that luggage along with our unhealthy fat bodies in the interior of the vehicle, so most of it went on the luggage carrier atop the Innova.

Manju was having a bad day, and suffering from travel sickness, so we took frequent breaks along the way. The journey itself was a lot of fun, because the guys were super chilled out. We played Taboo and 20 questions along the way, endured Sushil's newly discovered PJs, had a MASSIVE lunch, got lost getting into Ernakulam, and reached quite late to Harish's parents' house. After spending some time with his folks, we headed out for dinner.

Thomas came to pick me up from the restaurant, and I said goodbye to the guys. Then we proceeded to Thomas' house which is a beautiful flat in a posh residential apartment complex next to one of the backwaters. If the exterior of the apartment is brilliant, the interiors are simply breath-taking. Thomas' folks have decorated their home very aesthetically, with a lot of interesting pieces of furniture. After a quick shower, and a light dinner prepared by Thomas' mom, I was off to bed.

Christmas dinner & midnight mass

We (Lawrence, Meena, Shaarad, Stag, Nishanth, Monishca & I) went to Koshy's for this year's Christmas dinner. I have always felt that Koshy's was an expensive, overly hyped eating place. It's true that some very interesting people from all walks of life meet there often, and it has a noisy but rather nice feel to it in the late evenings, but I think the food is still ridiculously dear.

They had a special Christmas menu, and the items on it did sound exotic. What caught our attention the most (at least that of all the non-vegetarians at the table) was the roast turkey dish, priced at a whopping 400 Rupees. I imagined that it would be a large carved turkey roasted on a fire (ala the wild boars in Asterix comics – especially on the last page). I think the other guys were also thinking such wondrous thoughts, because we decided we would order one for the table, and split it among us 4 non-veggies.

When the dish finally did arrive, it left us spellbound by its sheer size. I could probably finish the entire thing in under a minute with my fork hitting the plate a maximum of 3 times. Lawrence couldn't believe it, and had to confirm with the waiter if this was the turkey we had ordered. The waiter nodded his agreement with a large smile. The guy must have mistaken our looks of disbelief for pleasure.

Us non-veggies grumpily finished off the miniscule roast turkey dish, while the veggies had a good laugh at our cost. Now when I think of it, since the veggies obviously enjoyed that turkey more than we did, they should have probably paid for it as well.

 

After dinner, we headed home and chilled for a bit. When it was close to midnight, we walked all the way to St. John's medical college, and went to the chapel within the hospital. The midnight mass was in progress, but my body clock was already complaining. There were some pretty girls in the rows, but their beauty was no match for my sleepiness. I was leaning against some counter and continuously nodding off. I had a feeling that people around me were more interested in my comically bobbing head, than on what the Father was saying.

After the mass, the entire congregation moved en masse to a garden where a beautiful crib had been made. The garden had a pretty fountain, and the crib had lifesize figures which made the entire setup a real treat to watch. Next we were served Christmas cakes along with tea/coffee. The coffees were indeed brilliant, and the other guys had 3 or 4 cups each. I didn't dare to have more than one, because I had to wake up early. By the time we got back home, it was 3 am which meant I had only about 30 minutes to sleep. I had to be up by 3.30 am so that I could be at the Sony World junction at 4 to catch my cab to Cochin :(

Zero bag traveler

It has been a while now that I have been an active member of an online travel related website called couchsurfing. It is mainly centered around providing travelers a "couch" to sleep on in your home when they're passing by your city. There are others like it, e.g. "hospitality club" or "be welcome". A simple google search might give you a few more. Check them out if it interests you.

Anyway, lets come back to couchsurfing. As in many online forums, almost anybody is free to join, so there are all sorts of people in there. Some very interesting folks, and some complete a-holes. There are many types of groups as well, with city groups being the most common. Accordingly, Bangalore also has its very own group (lovingly called the BangCS community). From my experience over almost 2 years, I have observed that the Bangalore community is among the best in the world – touchwood. We have a regular weekly meet every Wednesday evening at The Couch on MG road, which I try and attend whenever I feel up to it.

On the Wednesday of 23^rd December 2009, I was not feeling particularly up to it, so I thought I'll give it a skip. But then I got a private message on couchsurfing from one Mr. Jonathan Yevin, who introduced himself as an American travel writer. He had just come to Bangalore, and was looking for people to hangout with. I told him about our weekly meet, and then thought maybe I'll just drop I to say hello.

Jonathan turned out to be an interesting guy with many travel stories to share. He seemed like a genuine person, and since he still hadn't found a place to stay; I offered him our couch for the night. He took up the offer and came home, and we started generally chatting about our travels (mainly his actually). It turned out that he had been traveling for more than 7 years now, and had been almost all around the world. For 5 months in a year he would run his landscaping business in New York city, and then travel for the remaining months.

But the most fascinating part of his travel was that he would travel without a bag. Yes, you read that right, NO BAG. All he would go around in was whatever he was wearing, his passport, his wallet (with some money and a credit card), his cellphone and maybe a guide book. He had been traveling this way for the last 5 years!

Jonathan totally redefined traveling light, and will remain a major inspiration whenever I'm going to pack another bag.

The Cool Crusader

December 9th every year is International Anti-Corruption Day. I would probably never have known this bit of trivia had Shaarad, my flatmate, not been working for an NGO doing stuff to prevent corruption in India. His NGO, the Public Affairs Centre (PAC) was also one of the members of the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) forum. This year, the CAC was planning on assembling on MG Road and protesting against corruption.

Since I had no real work to do at my workplace, and since I thought that some beautiful women might turn up for the protest, I decided to join Shaarad at the protest. No points for guessing what the main motivation was. So we reached the place, put up some banners and signed a large anti-corruption poster. The protest started in full-swing with some village women shouting slogans in full earnest.

I had no intention of crying myself hoarse just for my voice to be drowned out in the incessant noise of the vehicles passing by, so I contented myself with holding one of the placards that read "Join the fight against corruption to free India". I proudly displayed it to every curious motorist who bothered to slow down to see what was going on.

After a while, when my delicate eyes that were used to staring at a computer screen all day couldn't take it anymore, I took out my aviator sunglasses, and continued to combat corruption. The small grins on the faces of people around me and in the vehicles gave me the impression that I looked real stupid, but I didn't care.

So after a few hours of doing his bit, the cool crusader called it a day, and headed back to the comfort of his beloved little cubicle.

<- check out the determined look
(short event writeup: http://pacindia.org/news/international-anti-corruption-day/)

Royal Mysore Walks

Royal Mysore Walks is Vinay's new venture. He quit his IT job in mid 2008, and decided to be his own boss. He took up English classes at the IMS learning centre for a batch of students planning to take up the GMAT. But this didn't hold his interest for too long, and he relocated to Mysore to start the Royal Mysore Walks. I had helped to promote it to a few of my acquaintances, and had also sent him a few clients. But ironically, I'd never been on any of his walks myself, and today that was going to get fixed.

A vacationing couple had driven from Bangalore for a weekend getaway, and had seen an article on the Royal Mysore Walks in Mint, a popular business newspaper. Vinay was entertaining his clients, and I was just trudging along. We went along the Palace Wall a bit, checked out a busy marketplace, walked along narrow forgotten lanes, bought Mysore Pak at the shop where it was first made, visited a small holy shrine and finally wound up at a historical heritage site. All along the route, Vinay kept us keenly interested with his trivia and small anecdotes about the places around us. It really felt as if we were taking a stroll through a slice of history!

Got back home and waited till Vinay's Dad had performed Ayudha Pooja on the vehicles, and then bade goodbye to them.

Before leaving Mysore, I went back to the old places that I used to frequent when I stayed in Mysore for a month during my "Industrial Training" period at the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) sometime in early 2003. For the return journey, I decided to avoid the Mysore-Bangalore highway, and instead take the longer, and not-so-well-made road through Bannur, Malevalli & Kanakapura.

<- The alternate smaller roads

The countryside ->

It started pouring almost as soon as I reached Bannur, and I stopped at a small tea shop and started chatting with the chaiwalla. He asked me where I worked, and I told him I worked in Bangalore for a company that made mobile phones. His next question was how much did they pay me. That made me a little uncomfortable, so I pretended not to hear him. But he was persistent, and asked me again. So I lied to him, and gave him a smaller figure. I had estimated correctly, and he was impressed but not overwhelmed. The next question he asked me was whether I was married yet. When I answered in the negative, he was surprised and said that I ought to be married when I'm already earning so much. I told him that I wasn't prepared for marriage just as yet, and that I wanted to go on many more motorcycling trips before settling down. That's when he started advising me on why one should get married, and how one should choose his wife carefully. He also gave me a lot of advice about how one should not be too greedy for money, and how one should identify fair-weather friends. I was a good listener, and he was happy to find someone to dispense advice to. Not only did he give me 2 cups of tea when I was there, but also refused to take any money for the teas. Finally when the rain had stopped, I took a picture with him, said goodbye and got on the bike again. If you're ever passing through the small village of Bannur near Mysore, do ask for Syed Mudassir Kadir's tea shop and have a cup of tea there!!

<- With Syed, the chai-walla

It was wonderful feeling riding through the small roads with hardly any traffic, looking at the bright green fields on both sides and breathing the fresh clean air that was non-existent in Bangalore. Eventually I got onto a tolled freeway going towards Bannerghatta road. I was riding on a freeway for the first time in India, and the feeling was very similar to being on one of the Interstate highways in the United States.

100 kms to home ->

Reached home around 8 pm with the odometer reading 33478. I had covered 434 kms in the last 2 days.

A hot shower after a long and tiring ride... aah, bliss!

Dassera @ Mysore

I had been to Mysore many times before but never during Dassera. There were crowds everywhere, and there was some activity happening everywhere you looked.

After lunch, Vinay & I went to an exhibition called Cava Mela in a famous arts college. The students had put up some very creative stuff, and organised some fun games. We decided to play an observation and memory game called Mind Mixer, which involved spending exactly 1 minute inside a room and then answering 5 questions asked by the organisers.

Vinay went in first, but could manage to answer just one of the 5 questions. But I was there when he was aked those questions, so at least I knew the kind of questions to expect. When my turn came I entered the dimly lit room and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of items in there. It would take someone about half an hour just to get a good look at everything there, but I had just one minute. So I did the best I could before the lights were switched off.

Once outside, my question-answer session began. I don't remember exactly what was asked but I got the first 3 answers right. The fourth question was, "Where was the snake in the room?". Now I didn't even remember seeing a snake in there, so there was no way I could tell where it was. Looking at me fumbling, Vinay came to my aid and whispered, "Near the statue...". Unfortunately, the whisper was loud enough for the guy asking the questions to hear, so he canceled the question itself and ask me a new one. But the smart bugger asked me an extremely tough question that I couldn't answer. I got the last one right, making it 4 correct answers out of 5 questions.

According to the rules of the game, I was eligible for an additional bonus question as I'd got 4 correct answers. The last question was something like, "What was the shape drawn on poster # 4 on the left wall?". I remembered seeing various shapes drawn on 13 posters on the walls, but I simply couldn't recall what was on poster 4. I blindly guessed that it was a vertical straight line, and guess what, it was the right answer!!!

I had done it. I had proved all my critics and detractors wrong. I had achieved what other men only dreamt of. Where others had failed and given up, I had kept the hopes of mankind alive. I had finally arrived. There was nothing more left to be proven. This was truly the pinnacle of human achievement. And for this, they gave me a sapling. Duh!

I gave the sapling to Vinay's Mom, and I think she was glad :)

Vinay & I then went to the Mysore Palace, and reached there just in time to see the Palace light up. We could feel a wave of sudden excitement come over the crowd when the lights came on. Over 27,000 lightbulbs are used to light up the Mysore Palace. Earlier, they used to be normal lightbulbs, that people would steal to use in their own homes. So it was decided that special lightbulbs manufactured exclusively for the palace would be used (these won't fit into the normal sockets present in Indian homes).

<- The lit Mysore Palace

There was an Indian classical music programme going on, and Vinay knew someone in the light and sound console thanks to which we could gain access to the VIP area!

Indian classical music programme ->

Later in the evening, the 4 of us - Vinay's parents, Vinay & I went up Chamundi Hill to check out the lit up city. We also saw from up close the huge "Welcome to Mysore Dassera" sign made from lightbulbs. Roaming around Mysore city on the motorcycle, Vinay showed me all the famous buildings around Mysore, and how well decked up they were for the festive occasion.

We also walked all around within the Greens hotel, and experienced its grandeur. If you're trying to impress a girl, you should take her to the beautiful little coffee shop within the hotel!

Motorcycling To Mysore

It had been quite a while since I'd been on a roadtrip on the motorcycle (the last long ride was probably to Pondicherry and back), and I was itching to hit the road again. Vinay had told me that Mysore was all decked-up for the annual Dassera (also spelled as Dussehra) celebrations, and had invited me to come there for the weekend. At the same time, Harish had invited a bunch of us over to his home for a mini get-together and to play some Wii games. With the addictive Wii unit beckoning, I was torn between Mysore and Harish's home. A quick phone call to Langdu tilted the balance slightly in favor of Mysore. Langdu and Balli had been to Mysore recently with some of their friends, and he said that the festive atmosphere in Mysore was worth experiencing. When I told Shaarad that I was having a tough time choosing between a roadtrip to Mysore and Harish's home, he looked at me as if I had lost my mind! I knew instantly that it simply had to be Mysore!!

Before you set off on any long ride, it is always a good practice to thoroughly check your vehicle (or have it checked by a reliable person). But since this trip was a spur-of-the-moment thing, I simply couldn't do it! When I checked the engine oil level in the morning, it was rather less, but the color of the oil was good, and that was a good thing. Next I went hunting for a mechanic but there was none to be found in Koramangala. So I rode to Indiranagar and found one guy just opening up his shop. He gave the motorcycle a quick once-over, topped up the engine oil, tightened the brakes and said that it was in decent shape to go to Mysore. So I was finally on my way at around 9.30 am.

<- Time to clock some miles

Due to the delays because of my unpreparedness, I got a lot of traffic while exiting Bangalore. I hadn't had anything to eat and was very hungry by the time I stopped at Kadu Mane, a popular drive-in restaurant between Bangalore and Mysore. I just wanted to have a quick breakfast and leave, but the service was really pathetic. It is here that I got a call from Kini who said that Paddie was getting engaged soon in Mangalore. So that meant another trip with the Breakdown Gang was on the cards :)

Lush green fields along the way ->

I took short breaks along the way to click snaps whenever I thought there was something worth being clicked; and it was during one such break that I met two guys pushing their motorcycle as it had run out of fuel. I offered to give them some from my bike, but we didn't have anything to transfer the petrol. They said that the next fuel pump was just a small distance away, and asked if I could help them pull the bike. I agreed, so one of them sat behind me and the other sat on his dry bike. They held each other's hand, and we started off slowly. This was hardly the safest thing to do on a national highway, with vehicles zooming by us at breakneck speeds. But come on, that's India for you where everything's ok!! Soon enough we reached a fuel pump, they thanked me for my help, and I was on my way again.

<- Just 35 more kms to go

The amazing Bangalore-Mysore highway ->

The rest of the journey was largely uneventful besides giving lifts to a schoolboy, a villager and a policeman but I enjoyed the easy ride on the amazing roads!

Finally got to Vinay's place around 2.30 pm, and after freshening up real quick, we headed out to get a beer and some food.

Boating in Alleppey

When I woke up, I found myself in the middle of a large open space with nobody else around. It was rather disconcerting, but thankfully there was Pavel just beginning to stir on top of his dinner tables bed. He looked like a King with his politician cap on.

<- King Pavel

We went to the private beach once again as Pavel wanted to take a dip. It was a big moment in his life, as he was swimming in the Arabian Sea for the first time. After getting ready and having breakfast, we met the rest of the gang who were in the process of deciding the next course of action. Some just wanted to laze around in the resort, while Vidya, Leena and few others wanted to go for a boat ride. I joined the boating group, and we went back to the backwaters where we were yesterday. After some negotiating, we agreed upon a price with one of the guys who owned a boat. It was a large boat, but without any shade to offer to its passengers. Nevertheless, it was a good ride in deep waters till about halfway to the mouth of the sea.

On the way back, Vidya and Leena made up their minds to have a dip right there. Once these ladies decide on something, its no mean task to make them change their minds. The boatman and his buddies had a tough time convincing them to hold back their swimming plans. Once the boat was close to one of the islands, Vidya and Leena just jumped off the side.

They were soon joined by Dilip and Tanya. Now this was too much temptation for me to handle! So I took off my shoes, gave my wallet and camera to Pavel, stood on the side of the boat, and made an immaculate dive into the cold water (at least it was immaculate in my mind!!).

The knight in shining water ->

But swimming with my jeans in the salty water took a Herculean effort, and I soon got back into the boat to dry. Once everyone was on board again, we started our return journey. This time Vidya and Leena had a tough time keeping the boatman and his buddies off of them :D

On the way back, Rex took all of us in multiple batches to a small toddy shop for lunch. It was an extremely sidey looking place filled with drunken shady men, but the food... that was something else! I tried various types of meat from fish, prawns & squid to chicken, pork & beef, and everything they brought to the table was delicious.

I don't remember much of the rest of the trip, except that we stopped somewhere for dinner, and reached Bangalore early on Sunday morning, for yet another boring day at the office :(

To Alleppey for the Snake Boat Race

The Bangalore Couchsurfing community had been to The Nehru Cup, the annual snake boat race held in Alleppey, Kerala in 2008; and they had had a lot of fun there as was evident from their pictures. So some of them decided to repeat it this year as well, and a lot of us who'd never been there decided to join them. It was a huge logistical challenge to arrange for travel, accomodation, food and sight-seeing for the enormous group of 50+ people going from Bangalore, along with many others joining us at Alleppey from different parts of the country.
But Dilip, Tanya, Pramila and a few others coordinated brilliantly and made it look like a walk in the park.

Our huge Bangalore delegation was packed into two 23 seater buses, and we were off on Friday evening. The evil genius that I am, I made sure to board last, which allowed me to make a good guess of which would be the "fun-ner" bus to be in... haha!!

<- Our bus

With the backseat girls! ->

Boy, was it a fun journey, or was it a fun journey! We had an absolute blast on the bus, playing antakshari for most of the time. This is when we discovered what a good singer Leena is. We reached Alleppey in the morning, and after some effort spent in searching, finally located the Pozhiyoram Beach Resort.

<- The lawns of the resort

The private beach ->

During the trip planning stage, Dilip had calculated that each of us would get exactly about 7 minutes to freshen up before we go and get into the boat that would take us close to the finish line of the race. But we were running behind schedule already, so we had just enough time to dump all our bags in some random room and run for the bus. Despite the time crunch, some people decided to use the loo, while others decided to shower and stuff, thus seriously pissing off the trip organizers. In the end, it was quite late by the time everyone got on board our boat and we sailed off towards our parking spot. We couldn't get as good a spot as we would've liked, but it was the best our boat guy could manage.

The chief guest of the occasion was Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, and there were a few opening ceremony rituals, including a brief acrobatic display by the Indian Navy personnel. Maybe the stunts being performed were actually very difficult, but it seemed to me like they were no big deal! After what seemed like an eternity, the first boats started emerging from the distance. Each of these snake boats is a long thin boat with about 100 rowers. There's one guy who stands almost bang in the middle of the boat, and beats a fat stick to the base. This is apparently a synchronization technique so that all the rowers are in-sync. Besides this, there are also about 4 to 5 men that stand and shout - once again in-sync. Each of the rowers exerts a tremendous amount of energy into each stroke, and the boats move really fast as well.

<- Energizer bunnies

One-by-one many different sub-races were held for both men and women competitions. Maybe these were qualifying races, or maybe just different competitions. We simply couldn't follow, because all the annoucements were made in Malayalam; and we were too far away from any of the loudspeakers.

After about 20 minutes of watching the same type of races, I was beginning to get bored. So I got into the boat, met a lot of new people and had a sumptuous meal prepared specially for us. Periodically I would get out to watch a few races, but would promptly get back in as the Sun was quite harsh out there. If you ever go for these races, make sure to carry loads of sunscreen, a good pair of sunglasses and a large umbrella.

<- Houseboats on the backwaters

Random stunts ->

Got back to the resort in the evening and had a shower after a long time (there was a coconut tree inside my bathroom, and it sure gave me a complex, hehe!).

The coconut tree inside the bathroom ->

The hotel guys had arranged for a small traditional song and dance performance at dinner time, after which we all headed to the small private beach for a beach party around a bonfire.

<- Partying on the beach

Some of us started playing poker after the party, which went on till 4 am or so. It was almost dawn when Pavel and I, the last guys still up, headed towards the large common area reserved for the boys. Unfortunately, we didn't have any place on the floor so Pavel joined two dinner tables together and lied down on top. I was not so confident of not rolling off the tables in my sleep so I got into my sleeping bag in a cramped up awkward position where I could still see some floor space. At least a few hours of sleep would be better than nothing at all.

The evolving Bollywood heroine

When PH & I were looking for "Chota Rajkumar", one of our stops was Odyssey in Indiranagar. Here we came across some Hindi movies in the DVD section, and when I was giving him my thoughts on the evolution of Bollywood cinema, he had a brainwave of arranging the DVDs in chronological order and clicking a picture.

From left to right:
a) Daag (1952) -> only the faces of the actresses are shown
b) Abhimaan (1973) -> the actress is shown fully covered
c) Beta (1992) -> the actress seems to shedding her clothes a little
d) Fashion (2008) -> much bolder actresses (wonder where the heroes vanished)

Dal, dal & more dal

Woke up really late and went for some shopping at SPAR. Pappu was playing at some gig at Bangalore Central, and Meena, Lawrence & Shaarad were going. I was too lazy so I took a raincheck.
Watched the Royal Challengers defeat the Chennai Super Kings quite easily and enter the finals of the IPL.
Meena & co came home later and Meena made a LOT of dal for us. Danny also brought some of her home cooked dal, so we had a ton of dal to finish. I did the best I could, but there was just too much dal for me to handle.

I went to bed around 2 am coz I was too tired. Woke up in the morning to find that the others had managed to finish all that dal - very impressive indeed!!

Alvida PH

Today was just another boring day at the office. Came back to see PH packing all his stuff. Shaarad, Stag[1] & I went up to the terrace at chilled out for a bit. Then we came back down and had a quick dinner. PH said his byes to Shaarad & Stag; and off we went towards Majestic on my motorcycle. After the past few days, PH had become so comfortable on the bike that he could now easily carry his heavy backpack whilst riding pillion!

PH's bus was set to leave at 10.30 pm, but we left home at 8.30 pm. We had reached Corporation Circle within no time, and I was beginning to think maybe we had started off a little too early. But once we entered KG road, the traffic came to a near stand-still and I was glad that we had a lot of time to spare. The bus-stand was about a kilometre away, but it took us close to 45 minutes to cover that short stretch.

Finally parked the bike, and began the search for platform 25 in the KSRTC bus-stand. The night Volvo to Pondicherry leaves from platform 25, which is located in some remote corner of the bus-stand. It took us about 15 minutes just to find the platform, but we did get there eventually.

Chatted about random stuff over the next few minutes, and then it was time for the bus to leave. Said goodbye to PH, and got back home.

Found Adi B, Danny, Pammu & Stag at home already. Meena, Lawrence, Adi T & Shaarad joined us later and we had a good time singing songs and stuff. Went to bed at 6 am :)


[1] - Adi Y will be called Stag henceforth!

Dancing in the rain

As planned PH took it easy at home most of today, and later went out exploring the city by himself. He was actually looking for a particular tree in Lalbagh, and eventually managed to find it too. Once back home, he recounted his experiences of the day of being greeted by random strangers on the road. Entire families would sometimes come up to him and have their picture taken with the friendly white guy :)

Apparently, everything was not all fun and games for good old PH, as he got accosted by a gay who probably just wanted to try his luck. That ended up in a sour note with the two getting into an argument. I felt bad for PH, but couldn't help grinning from ear-to-ear :D
PH is a funny guy even with his limited command over English. I'm sure he'll have his French speaking friends in splits most of the time!

It started pouring cats & dogs in the evening, and Shaarad was itching to get out in the rain. Finally, he couldn't control his urge anymore, and against all warnings from our cook, off he went and stood in the middle of the road in the torrential downpour. PH was out of the house in a jiffy as soon as he had seen Shaarad. I continued to stand in Shaarad's balcony and look at them in the street outside. Finally, the peer pressure became too much for me to handle; and I jumped out from the balcony and joined the other two.

We could see so many people staring at the three psycho buggers from their windows and balconies; but we were too busy dancing and playing around in the rain to even care!

When we'd had enough, we got back home and had an amazing chicken dinner prepared by our cook. Later, when the rain subsided, we went to Legends of Rock where PH bought us a few beers, while we watched the Royal Challengers Bangalore beat the Deccan Chargers to enter the semi-finals of the 2nd Indian Premier League.

When we got back home, we saw that the entire basement parking lot was flooded; but fortunately the water hadn't risen high enough to cause any serious damage to the engines.

<- The tree PH was after

View from atop the hillock in Lalbagh ->

Busy day for PH

In the morning I took PH to my workplace and showed him around. Ramjee, PH & I went to the dhaba at Michael Palya for lunch.

Then we went to all the big bookshops around Indiranagar looking for the book "Chhota Rajkumar".
['Chhota Rajkumar' is the Hindi translation of 'The Little Prince'. It has been translated into more than 180 languages, and remains one of the best-selling books ever!]
Although we couldn't find it, PH gifted me the English version. He said that even though it is classified as a children's book, it has some very valuable lessons for adults.

Next, we went to the Vidhana Soudha and clicked a few pictures.

From there, we rode to Majestic and saw the KSRTC bus-stand, the BMTC bus-stand and the railway station from a distance. PH was fascinated looking at the huge crowds of people!

Then we went to Rex Cinema to book our tickets for the movie tonight (99), and finally returned home.

PH was exhausted by all the information overload, and slept through most of the first half of the movie. He's planning to take it easy tomorrow, and stay in and around home most of the time.


<- Ramjee & I at the Michael Palya Dhaba

BMTC bus stand (Majestic) ->

<- The crowds at Majestic

PH & I on the bike ->

More French speaking people!

After getting back from work, I took PH to the Oasis Center and we did some clothes shopping. He had to meet a friend of his at Forum in the evening so I took him there. Met Claudine, invited her to Angie's farewell dinner tonight, and left PH & Claudine to catch up over coffee. Claudine's phone number is so much similar to mine, that its almost eerie!!

Later in the evening, PH, Claudine, and Claudine's flatmates Morris & Nabeel came over. So we had a lot of French speaking people in our home that evening!

Walked to Nandhini in the slight drizzle, and met Meena, Adi T, Angie & Sarah who were there already. Adi Y & Lawrence joined us later, so we had 7 different nationalities being represented at our dinner table!!

Shaarad - UK
PH & Claudine - France
Nabeel - Lebanon
Morris - Senegal
Sarah & Angie - USA
Meena - Australia
Adi Y, Adi T, Lawrence & me - India

<- Googie, Claudine & Morris at our place (sorry about the quality)

Angie's farewell dinner - Googie & Shaarad ->

<- Angie's farewell dinner - Angie, Meena & Lawrence

Beer @ Pecos

Today Shaarad had a sudden craving for having beef, and he sent me an e-mail suggesting we have some beef for dinner. I'm always up for any kind of meat, so I was game; and we chose to go to Pecos. As luck would have it, the cook called in sick, so it seemed like there was nothing to stop us from going out to get some beef for dinner - till we spoke to Adi Y. Adi Y in his usual manner made a long face, saying that he wanted to have Punjabi food. After what seemed like ages, we somehow managed to convince him that we also get some paneer in Pecos, and off we went to good old Brigade Road.

We parked our motorcycles near Crossword, and began walking towards Pecos. Thats when we realised that we were closer to Mojos, and since the management is the same at both places, the food & beer must also be the same! Moreover, Mojos is not as congested as Pecos. We were just about to get into Mojos when Shaarad got a call from Lawrence, who said that they were already at Pecos. So we decided to simply join those guys.

Met Angie, Meena, Lawrence & Ajay at Pecos, and had a very heavy dinner. Got back home close to midnight.

At around 12.30 am, I was just preparing to go to bed when I got a call from an unknown local number. I wondered who could be calling this late, but answered it anyway. It turned out to be Pierre-Henri Le Besnerais (PH) from France. He had requested to surf my couch sometime back, and I had agreed; but I had completely forgotten about him :) He said he had just landed in Bangalore, and was going to take a taxi to our place.

So I waited, and PH reached at around 2 am. We spoke to each other about our countries, our languages and our cultures till about 3 am. He was so excited to be in India, that he had to smoke a few cigarettes back-to-back to calm his nerves...

Bicycle Ride # 1

Woke up early in the morning on Sunday (after only about 4 hours of sleep), and also awakened Adi Y. Both of us got to the Oasis Center with our bicycles at about 7.15 am to find Eva, Ash & Megha waiting there already. The original plan to ride to Begur got canceled and we decided on an alternate route.

Read more about the ride here.

Came back home and crashed after the ride, only to wake up in the evening. Went to SPAR with Adi Y and did a lot of shopping for the house. I was wearing the red "Shiamak" T-shirt, thanks to which one Mr. Roomi came up to me and enquired about the classes for his kid. I took his card, and later e-mailed him the details he needed. Shaarad got back from Delhi, and we talked a bit about making a short trip to Bandipur the coming weekend. Lets see if that works out...


Photos of the bicycle ride (same as those present in the above link):


<- First break (Sarjapur Road, Outer Ring Road intersection)

Weed covered Bellandur Lake ->

<- The group at Bellandur Lake (L to R: Adi, Googie, Megha, Ash & Eva)

Riding along the narrow streets ->

<- The route (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2829565)

Saturday party & late-night movie

Woke up late on Saturday morning, and watched TV for a bit. Meena called sometime in the evening, and Meena, Lawrence, Anupam & I went to one of Meena's friend Ruchi's place for a house party. Today was a dry day (meaning no alcohol to be sold anywhere) since the counting of the ballots cast at the recently held assembly elections was to take place across the country.

But since our country is a place where all sorts of "jugaad" is possible, I heard that they did manage to buy alcohol but at outrageous prices. Anyway, reached Ruchi's house late in the evening to find an already well-stocked fridge. Helped myself to a small drink and a few munchies. I had to leave early (just when the party seemed to be picking up) since I had an early start on Sunday.

Since I was very close to Hashir's place, I thought I'd drop in to say "Hi" to those guys. But they weren't at home, so I came right back hoping to get to bed early.

But Adi B & Danny were at home already, and Adi Y was busy making something in the kitchen. Chatted with them for a while, and someone decided to watch a scary movie. "The Amityville Horror" was chosen, and I agreed to watch it with them - albeit a little reluctantly. The movie ended close to 3 am, after which Adi Y & I dropped Adi B & Danny home. Finally got to bed at about 3.30 am.