The place where memories are created

A grandmother’s house is the place where memories are created. It is also the place of unbridled freedom, generous kisses and an unhealthy dose of pampering. After the weekend visits to my grandmother’s home, my mother had to un-pamper me.

I remember my grandmother’s home to be small. The garden which led to the house was big. The walkway to the house was lined with flowering plants. The plants came up to my height. I broke the branches from these plants, made a bow and arrow and tested how far the arrow flew.                                                                                                                                                              

I also kept a watch on the ants in the garden. I observed the big black ants crawl in long twisty lines, with a piece of food, twice their size. I obtained great pleasure in disrupting the line and maiming the ants. I was an ant and plant bully back then.

 

My other memories in that house were taking afternoon naps with my grandmother. She told stories about how Lord Krishna fought the demons. She dozed off in between. I woke her up and pestered her to complete the story.

I hunted for non-serious books in my grandfather’s library. He had a few abridged and illustrated classics. These books were about 100 pages, with pictures on alternate pages. I read the books like Tom Sawyer, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the The Invisible Man from my grandfather’s library.

I realize now that my grandfather bought these books for me and allowed me to discover them in the book hunt. He also had a rule that the books cannot be borrowed. I had to read them during my time there. I looked forward to another visit to complete those books.

For my hubby’s birthday I wanted to give him the memory of his grandmother’s house as a present. He told me that his grandmother’s house was made of clay tiles and had a big open space in the center of the house. I found a resort which fit that description.

We went to Angana Country Inn. The inn is built with the theme of a grandmother’s house. There was a big spacious garden in front of the house. The house had open space in the center and was decorated with antiques. The food tasted homely. It was a great place to unwind and relax. 

The open space in the center of the house. That's me sitting there.

The Hall on one side of house

View of the garden

The entrance to the house

View of the garden from the house

The Hall on the other side of the House

A gramophone. How antique is that?

The play area. It looks like a still from an Indian horror movie. 

Fisherman's Cove, Chennai and Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram)

'The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears or the sea', as quoted by Karen Blixen, a Danish author. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Fisherman's Cove and Mahabalipuram, on a team offsite. This quote clung to my brain during the time I spent at Fisherman's Cove. No matter how many times I go to a beach, I am always amazed by the vastness of the sea, the mysteries beneath it and the power it holds in its waves. I am also soothed by the touch of the grainy sand beneath my feet and the steady hum of the waves, like the heartbeat of the sea. We stayed at Fisherman's Cove, on the first day of the trip.

On the second day we went on a day trip to Mahabalipuram. It is also known as Mamallapuram. We visited the Shore Temple, Krishna's Butter Ball and another monument at Mahabalipuram. The guide at Shore Temple mentioned that the Shore Temple has been standing for 1300 years. The locals feel proud that the Tsunami in 2004, has not affected the Shore Temple, but rather revealed new ruins. 

There were many vendors at the entrance of the Shore Temple. Most of them sold multi-colored chains and they were persistent in their quest of finding a buyer. When one of my colleagues who is a North Indian said that he does not want to buy anything in Kannada, the seller demanded in Hindi, that he should speak Tamil. Well, I guess it will take a little bit more time for the Tamilians to forgive the Kannadigas after the recent Amma jail episode.

The trip ended with lunch at Sarvana Bhavan and return trip to Bangalore in the Shatabdi Express. Tamil sambar is indeed tasty and different. The train journey was comfortable. Sometimes, I got the feeling that I was in a flight. The texture of the seats, the arrangement of the seats, the luggage racks on the top, the food service and the good suspension system of the train gave me a false in-flight experience.   

On the whole it was a great trip with the team!

Fisherman's Cove. Apt to it's name, a fisherman was fishing in the evening. 

The beach at Fisherman's Cove.

Vivanta by Taj at Fisherman's Cove.

The Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram

The newly found ruins after the 2004 Tsunami

The sculptures inside the Shore Temple

Arjuna's Penance

Krishna's Butter Ball. The stone stands on an inclination without rolling down

A temple at Mahabalipuram

Lunch at Sarvana Bhavan, close to Chennai

Trip to Mauritius - Part 3

I know that I haven't been talking about anything else other than Mauritius for the past two posts. This is the last one, so bear with me. 

The penultimate day of our trip was filled with mammal interaction. We started off to Dolphin Bay, early in the morning (6:00 AM), to watch the dolphins. It was an hour and 20 minutes drive from our hotel. Once we were at the beach, we got into a boat and went a bit far into the sea. Five or six boats, waited for the majestic creatures to appear from the deep blue sea. The dolphins did come out, but they were quick. By the time we caught a glimpse of them they disappeared into the water. One little dolphin was soaking all the attention it got from the boats circling it. It made a flip several times, as everybody gasped and paused for a second. A few people got into the snorkeling gear and swam with the dolphins. It was a wonderful experience.

After the dolphin interaction, we went to the Casela Park. It is a wild life reserve, which had zebras, giraffes, lions and cheetah. We spent 15 minutes with a few lions at Casela Park. There are only two points on this trip when I was scared, one was just before para sailing, the other one was the lion interaction.

We went into the lion enclosure with a group of people, along with the trainers. There were 4 lions in the enclosure. Two of them were resting; two of them sat and looked around. The trainer guy looked like a lion himself. He had tousled hair and sharp incisors. Spending so much time with lions does change people! We were given strict instructions, not to shout or run around. We were also given waist length sticks, which had to be in front of us at all times, to show the lion that we were not its food. We went close to the lion in pairs, sat behind it and rubbed its back. I did not touch the lion directly, but I touched my hubby who touched the lion. As per transitive law of Mathematics, I touched the lion. I know that the lions are tamed, but when we can’t even predict the behavior of a fellow human being how can we predict the behavior of a lion? I was ready on my haunches, geared to run out, just in case.

We spent the next day relaxing in the hotel. The day after that we arrived in Bangalore.  

                                                      The End.

                                             The playful dolphin that loved to show off. 

Dolphins at Dolphin Bay.

Chumba, the four-year old lion at Casela Park.

Two lions sunbathing, with their feet raised. How much cuter can it get?

Casela Park

King Lemur sitting on top of the tortoises. What an attitude!

The Sega dance

Photographs: courtesy Pradeep Kumar Gouda

Trip to Mauritius - Part 2

The next three days we did a variety of activities. We did get a local flavor of Mauritian shopping. We were made to roam around malls for one and half day. The guides made sure that the tourists spent enough money to boost the economy. We went to two malls, Le Caudan Waterfront Mall and Riche Terre Mall in Port Loius, Mauritius. The malls looked a lot more spacious than in Bangalore. I was more surprised to see the youngsters there. Most of them were in pairs, holding hands, kissing in the privacy of the trees. The guys hairstyles were commendable, lots of gel and many innovative hair spikes. The youngsters looked very fashionable. They looked like a different breed of Africans, of Indian origin, were fair and spoke French. 

I had flavored sugar cane juice at the mall. I had sugarcane juice with mint and my hubby opted juice with ginger and lemon. The sugarcane juice acted like a base which took on the flavor of whatever ingredient was added to it. My juice tasted as though it was made of Orbit mouth refreshers so I drank half of my hubby's sugar cane juice.

We saw a lot of places. The dead volcano crater, which did not look like a volcano. We went to a Shiva temple which was located close to Ganga Talao lake. The lake and the surroundings were beautiful. It was a perfect location for the temple. We also had a fun excursion at House of Illusions. There was an upside down room and a room of mirrors which reflected the image in multiple directions. The last stop was the seven colored earth at Chamarel and the waterfall.    

                                                 A fruit stall at Le Caudan Waterfront Mall

The dead volcano crater

                                                              View from the Volcano Crater

The Ganga Talao Lake and the temple located on shore of the lake

Mona Lisa portrait made of dice at House of Illusions

The seven colored earth at Chamarel

The Waterfall at Chamarel

To be continued ...

Trip to Mauritius - Part 1

Mauritius looks like a tiny speck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, located below the Equator. You really have to zoom in google maps to identify the island. My hubby and I reached the island after a 5.5 hours flight from Bangalore. There are a few things that I noticed during the drive to our hotel. The island was full of sugarcane plantations and the ocean looked marvelous. The color of the water was different shades of blue which ranged from aquamarine to turquoise, with patches of dark blue close to the beach. During our stay, we observed that the color of the sea changed throughout the day and she looked her best in the afternoon. Most of the Mauritians were third or fourth generation Indians, with Indian names but spoke French.  

Our hotel was located in Trou Deau Douce. This part of the island was lined with hotels which had private beaches. The ocean added glory to the otherwise mundane hotel. There were a lot of foreigners in our hotel, most of them Europeans, who loved to get tanned. They lay on the beach chairs from morning till noon and applied loads of sunscreen. Well, our Indian skin does not need further tanning, so we gave up that plan of relaxation.

Mauritius offered a variety of water activities. On the first day we went for undersea walking and para-sailing. The undersea walking platform was quite far from the beach. At the platform, we wore the glass helmet which was connected to the oxygen tanks and jumped into the ocean. We were told to keep our feet planted on the sea floor. Walking was a struggle. Every movement took effort. Time passed slowly and the glass masks gave a distorted view. We were in a undersea forest of corals, surrounded by fishes with zebra stripes. I tried catching a few fishes, but they were quite nimble. Half the time, I expected to see a shark heading towards us and schemed about how I can run fast in slow motion. We spent 15 minutes in the undersea walk and by end of the 15th minute, the reluctant me had to be pushed on to the top of the platform.

The parasailing activity was close to the Ile Aux Cerfs island. The boat ride was very choppy. Given that we did not have life jackets, I held on to the boat, and prayed that we would not topple. On the parasailing platform, I almost decided to shun the activity because of my fear of heights. I hate the pull of gravity. One of the fellow tourists, pushed me to do it by saying that, you never know if you will get to try it again or not. I took a deep breath and decided to do it. My hubby and I were strapped to the parachute and then we were gently lifted into the air and dragged by a speed boat. We stayed in air for 15 minutes and the view was marvelous. The blue sky and the blue ocean enveloped us on all sides. We got a bird's eye view of the island. Para-sailing was my first favorite activity in this trip.          

    

                                                  View from our hotel room at Silver Beach

A beautiful sunrise at Silver Beach

                               

                               My hubby's photography skills are coming to my use :)

                                       The fishes which greeted us at the Undersea walk

                                        More fishes. Well, what else do you expect undersea?

We traveled to Ile Aux Cerfs from this Beach

                                                                      Ile Aux Cerfs

This is how people roll at Ile Aux Cerfs

Yes, I am on a secret mission to promote tourism in Mauritius

                                                  The cute restaurant on Ile Aux Cerfs

Yes, I did go for Para-sailing

Trip to Coorg - Part 3

We experienced the hospitality of Coorg in a good and also a scary way. I loved the verdant hills and the swelling greenery by the roadside. The scary experience was walking in the mist, going into the unknown, being all alone and isolated from the crowd. We had two such experiences, one at Mandalpatti viewpoint and one more at Nisargadhama. We started early in the morning to Mandalpatti. The sun was still sleeping and the mist surrounded us. As we walked to the viewpoint we couldn't see anything a few feet beyond us. We trekked for about 1 km and then we headed back, because the mist was not going anywhere. It would just be a futile trek up to the viewpoint. 

At Nisargadhama, we walked on the island in the wrong direction for about 2 kms. We met a few people along the way, who told us not to walk beyond. Did we listen, NO! We could hear River Kaveri gurgling in a short distance and we wanted to go to it. We did not realize that just the two of us were walking farther and farther into the forest area. We were walking along the dirt beaten path, lined with dead old bamboo trees and snake nests. We heard voices of people joking and laughing, coming from a distance. After some time, I got scared of the possible wild life (snakes) that could surround us and my hubby became apprehensive of the mysterious faceless voices. We decided to tread back the same path to the entrance, where at least we could see some people. Well, this is the irony of life, I hate to be among the crowds, but I also hate to be in isolation. I wouldn't survive even a few seconds if I went to Mars. 

The other thing that I loved in Coorg was the Golden Temple, which is located close to Kushal Nagar. It is a Tibetan settlement, which is the second largest outside Tibet. We saw a lot of tonsured monks roaming around in maroon robes.  The architecture of the temple was different from the Hindu temples. In the main hall of there were statues of three eminent personalities, Budha Shakyamuni, Budha Amityas and Guru Padmasambhava. The statues were gold plated and they decorated with pretty flowers. The Tibetan Monastery was the last place we visited in Coorg. After that we retired to our resort in Polibetta, in the midst of the mountains, in between the coffee plantation, away from all the humanity. Needless to say I was bored as soon I got into the resort and welcomed the return journey to Bangalore the next day. 

The end.

                                                    On way to the Mandalpatti viewpoint

                                                                   
                                                                                 At Abbi Falls

                                            
                                       Me walking into the reserve at Nisarga Dhama

                                                                     The Golden Temple

                                                   Cute Tibetan monks posing for a photo

View from the resort, Porcupine castle at Polibetta 

                                          The resort was surrounded by a coffee plantation

View from the resort 

The King Tortoise riding on it's subordinates