Tuesday, August 30

Otty in Monsoons !!!

It was my 2nd visit to Ooty aka Utkamandalam.....monsoons of 2010...

my first vist to Ooty was in peak winter's , new yr 2007, 5 friends and an awesome driver made the trip memorable in many ways......
more days spend , more sites visited, many obstacles handled and it was one of its kind visit.

But the 2nd visit to Ooty or rather would say to Coonoor was short and sweet...
just 4 of us.... and a indica...just 2 days... a debutant driver for out of the city limits drive and monsoons.....

The trip was planned suddenly, arrangements made on the run and home stay booked after reaching ...
in all this nothing went bad, thanks to our luck :)

we planned to start very early in the morning , but one dear friend of ours always has the habit of challenging time and so we started almost 2 hrs late than our plans...
it was just dawn and 4 enthusciasts started for the long road journey...

it was very first time i tasted Muda Idli and i am a fan since then of Kamath's Muda Idli....
it was almost 9.00 when we crossed the city i adore - the city with the very beautiful , majestic and twinkiling palace , city of Mysore....

we started on perfect day with bit of sun and clouds sailing up in the sky ... but by the time we reached mysore it was getting hotter...
we were enthusciastically waiting for the Bandipur forest reserve to start in the hopes of some shade....

Bandipur came with all its pleasantness.... the winderness .... silence.... ocassional vehichles crossing.... many wild animals harmlessly roaming... and 5 of us enjoying the drive.. looking at the great western ghats in front of us at sky high range.....

Gradually we started gaining height and by the time we reached ooty we were part of the sky high majestic niligiris....

Now the tough call came... with all the rain and lunch and short-sweet pykara visit we had lost time ...
Ooty by 4.00 pm in Sept evening was almost dark and desserted....
We decided to go directly to Conoor in the hopes of covering at least some view points before it was completely dark ...

Looking for directions and asking the few lonely souls on our way we managed to guide our amateur driver to the mountains of coonoor..
By the time we reached Lamb's rock view point all we could see was clouds sailing below and sound of rain on our shoulders...

with 2-3 hot hot cups of local tea we got some warmth and hopes ..
and we started asking the shop-wala about some place to stay for the night...
someone overheard us and urged to help... and we became skeptical to appreciate his help, with so much unknown fears but with a "marta kya na karta" feeling we started following the person to the hotel location....

a home stay, name was not visible, no network on phone, and super hungry...
no energy to bargain the prices at those hours we decided to take one big room with extra mattresses arranged....

but it was one of the most amazing experiences i have ever had....
bon-fire , dinner arranged outdoors - a full buffet of local veggie delight and authentic food from the slopes of ooty....
as we retired to our room, there were discussions about old days.. college life.... happiness and miseries... the then life and hopes and despairs...
the fun... and what not....

we slept late , but around 5.00 am i woke up and when i tried to see outside the room which was all darkness the previous night was now "wowwwwwww .. breathtaking ...."
the whole of metupalayam city was visible.... our home stay all surrounded by lush green tea estates of conoor and the trail to the top of lamb's rock just at our backyards.....
it was truly an experience to remember my whole life.....

with not much time to spare and just the sunday available for all the sight seeing and return journey to cover we started getting ready....

a sumptuous breakfast.... a small walk to explore the local.... lots of photography...... and we were set to head to ooty...
with minimal time spent in ooty sight seeing we just sticked to boating in ooty lake ..that too from a back door entry :) ...saved us time....
shopped for chocolates and headed for bangalore....

but to our worries, it started pouring and the visibility was confined to less than a meter only...
with the fear that bandipur gates would be closed if it becomes late we just prayed for our lives while we descended the western ghats range....
somehow we made it safely to the plains and were back in our familiar cozy beds in our respective homes by 3.00 am....

a weekend full of stories to tell and experiences to share...
my 2nd ooty visit ..summarized here and the movie still playing in my head

Authenticity and Globalization !!!

U like "Agra ka Petha" , "Mathura ke pede" , "Bengali Rasogulla" , "Odisha Chenapoda" , "Chennai MysorePak" , "Gujrati Dhokla" , "Mumbai Bhakarwadi" , "Hyderabadi Karachi Bakery" .....

Some years ago .. these things were not so easily available everywhere....
When we name a particular thing and relate it to a particular place we understand the connection...

Someone coming from a certain place used to ger souverniers for friends and family... but now all we see is big brands and globalization....

Its not like that this new concept has not helped us in our daily walk of our lives but its worth understanding that it has also managed to vanish the charm of certain things...

Now you dont need to travel all the way to Kasmir to get a Kasmiri galicha or a pashmina shawl... it is now available in all the kasmiri emporiums across the country....

Some one travelling all the way from Hyd to a different city with a big box of the authentic Karachi Bakery bisuits if hears from the native of the other city " its available in our nearby supermarket as well" ... it breaks the heart for sure.....

Also . the so called Rasgullas of some big brands if try to match the local taste from Bengal and Odisha then i will laugh at it for sure....

So, i still have these random thoughts about this Authenticity Vs Globalization and i will still have apprehensions for all the readily avaialble things which are named authentic by the makers and the takers....

A year after !!!

A year... 365 days...

at the same time last year, i had some apprehensions , confusions, irritations and aggression....

But gradually i am becoming a part of all that ....
I have become a part of someone else's same kinds of frustrations... to help them know this place better....

So here is the list of all the good things about this city...
1. street shopping - good
2. bargaining - ample choice
3. street food - good , specially the pani-puris which have aloo masala are abundantly found...
4. lots of alternative roads for vehicle owners (no choice for public transport users)
5. good bus route coverage
6. international food is good, more varieties
7. loads and loads of flower vendors everywhere
8. cooler climate, pleasant breeze always
9. spring is colourful... even with all the pollution and cutting of trees, it definitely has its own charms...
10. small ventures and budding business people have more oppurtunities in this city
11. more number of coffee shops everywhere
12. every locality has a small park / gardern / joggers track / playground for sure.. sometimes its more than one....
13.

To New Friends !!!

The city of gardens.... though not much of it i can see now....
standing on the 8th floor of my office building when i try to see towards the horizon, all i see is blocks of buildings forming the skyline of bangalore...
no green ... just some orange and yellow from the outer ring road....

but , in all this there is still something new and good to cherish...

i have met some nice people.... genuine , fun, caring, loving, and worth knowing...

all this great feelings at the cost of some jams is definitely OK.

so , to all the wonderful people i have met in this year of my bangalore stay...
Thank You for making a whole year of mine more meaningful then i thought it would be and for accepting me with all my good and bad...

i owe u a big bow...

Wednesday, March 23

6 months in New city !!!

I arrived in this city in Monsoons but didnt see much of it ....
May be i didnt see because i was preoccupied to see something else....or may be it didnt happen for me to see....

But now its 6 months and its Spring time ....
the Heat is increasing, the glare of sun is more dominant...
but there is spring in the air....
the breeze jsut about the correct temperature...
pink, blue, purple and orange wild blooms everywhere....

i am not yet a true banglorean but i have started liking it for the things it has and not anymore am hating it for the things it doesnot have.....
There is no relative ranking hence forth, just the absolute measurement...

There are things which make it special...unique and differnt from the rest palces....
and now i am here to find them, feel them, treausre them, measure them and create new memories....

Wednesday, March 16

The Year that was 2010 !!!

it has to be good or it has to be bad or is there a possibility that is was nothing....
May be nothing is a big word to sum up a whole year, let me take it back....
so, it has to be something.... lets me sum it all up...

January , my b'day, i was sad to grow up one year, sad to have more yr of experiences which are not easy to share...

February , my only vacation during the yr 2010... Samy's marriage , Sumi made me an aunt...it was all so wonderful to be away from work for a while...thank god my lonely V'day ghost didnt come scaring me while i was enjoying mom made food .....

March, welcoming new roomies, it was not so tough but we were skeptical..it was a while i had seen any change at my flat...

April, it was getting hotter and hotter in Hyd, and i was waiting for my mom's and sis's short visit ....

May, i felt a lot helpless this time with the heat increasing and my cooler not working made me run a lot to electrician and hardware stores.... and the more i hated it the more i felt like a typical gal.. other than the bad things, mom was with me in Hyd for few days and i was happy to come back home from office every single day....also may brought good luck to few ppl when 2 of my good friends tied the knot on one day and somehow managed to attend both the functions...

June, just like that i got an idea to come to bangalore, though i hated the city but there were few things which were forcing me to leave hyd and come live here ...
The idea of 2 sisters staying together was a lot scary also... what if we could not bond the way were thinking , what if we start hating each other for the rest of our lives....but with the faith that all will be good i asked for a transfer...

July, it was again time to look for more flatmates, many things were changing and i also got an approval for my transfer to bangalore but with a clause... but i was happy and accepted the clause...

Aug, Time for change..time to meet all friends in Hyd before i left the city... time to set up everything new , fresh , i dont know if should sound exciting or should sound like too much work to do....Hyd saw a good rain after i left and wished i was there to enjoy the monsoons....

Sept, Shifted to the new rented apt with sis and now it was time to prove myself as a sweet big sister.. both joined hands to do all the shopping and to setup our lttle home here in the hustle bustle of bengaluru... it was tough ...new things at home, new ppl at work, new assignments, new manager, new city and one old me.....
Oct, me and sis had our first big fight...both were maybe doing too much to appear normal for the one month and we both snapped....but like good sisters we patched up...

Nov, happily celebrated my sister's 25th b'day...It was also time for Happy Diwali...I was getting tough by this time in office....and i missed nidhi and udit's marriage....i regret it till date.....

Dec, time for planning to welcome the next new year....with lots of confusions and questions we headed to Wayanad..not a great trip as expected but a change is always welcomed.....