god's own country

I spent my saturday here:



But more on this later. Have to get earlier things out of way first.

The gift of long weekend, one week back, was very well received and very well utilized. When I was a young and dreamy girl, I saw an ad in the paper which showed a young couple in the rains under a canopy of lush green trees. The ad was for Kerala in the monsoons and my young heart melted looking at the picture and I have wanted to go to kerala since that day. If it's in the rains, better!

And I got it baby! More than 10 years later but I did make it happen. Yeah, I rock like that.

And just like that it was another awesome adventure. Adventure I call it because it was. Most of the drive was through forests; we even stayed in a foresty area though there were some houses nearby but it was in the midst of a forest; none of the doors in our house had latches!! What?? Yup! Midway through the first night, I thought someone would come in and slit my throat (I do blame a certain guy who put this idea in my head just as I was about to slip under my blanket).



It was officially accepted by my friends that lack of sunshine drives me nuts. So much so that it's not even funny. What happened was that the first day we landed there it was raining continuously and the sunshine person that I am, I was majorly depressed. I even suggested that we go back after all that driving we had done to reach the place. Nuts I know. Good sense prevailed my friends who put their foot down and that proved to be a good thing because sun smiled for us for the rest of our trip. Smiled less, burnt is more like it. And I loved every bit of the warmth on my skin which pissed off my friends further because it was HOT. I think they might have cursed all the sun drama that I do.

But I welcomed the sun and drank in every bit of its warmth. and my friends concluded that lack of sun causes serious harm to people around me.



As usual, we enjoyed lazy mornings of refilled tea glasses.



And evenings of friends huddled together and sharing and cribbing and laughing.



We went to a 5000 years old temple. Yes I went to a temple. I do that sometimes. Mostly because it was a pretty walk through a forest and the temple was 5000 years old. And I'm only 97% atheist. I even prayed.



It helps if the temple has a run down moss covered smaller ignored building that no one would come to.



We met the coolest old man with a pretty young wife who also happens to be the world's best cook. She made the most awesome fish curry and her chicken curry was to die for. Serious.



And I call him coolest because he drove his jeep over the most treacherous mud path right on the edge of a cliff. With all the ease and composure of a pro.



We met some of our jungle friends on our way. It was quite poetic the way deers galloped right in front of our car as we drove through the forest.



The icing on this trip was bluff. Yeah baby. My first real card game. I couldn't get enough of it, I'm dying for an encore. If you didn't know, I suck at cards. You should see me shuffling.



Another discovery was 'puttu', typical kerala breakfast, and that it makes me wanna throw up. yeckkkksssss!! You know what calls for another yeckkksss?? - leeches who tried to be our friends on our random walks through random forests. What were we expecting in a dense swampy forests after heavy rains, anyways?

The kerala ad in the paper years back had no mention of leeches or puttu (I wonder why). But it did show a good time and good time I had!

The adventure of dancing men

As I mentioned in my last post, I celebrated my birthday a while back, well, almost a month back, in Ooty. It was a last minute plan, like all other plans. I got my friends together, looked for a place, made a booking, got into the car and left.

The drive to ooty is a little longish and winding. Mostly because I don't want to risk taking my car up the 36 hairpin bends, so I take the longer but less steep route. On the other hand, the drive is a treat in itself as we have to drive through some amazing forests and if we are lucky, we can see wild animals up close and personal, like this guy:




It was three days of relaxing, having a good time with friends, of putting my feet up, of sleeping under the sun in the afternoon in a public garden, and just doing what I felt like. It was three days of (re-)discovering that I have great friends who love me and care for me. It was three days of going where your feet may take you. Nobody cared about watches or schedules.

Not to forget, it was three days of very chilly weather. Now the thing is that I went to ooty last year April and somewhere in my mind, I concluded that "ooty is not chilly this time of the year. It gets nippy in the evenings but otherwise it's fine". Turns out, not fine, extremely chilly. Note to myself: weather changes in two months. Not to mention, multiple layers of clothing followed.

There was lots of tea. Cue: cold weather, good times with friends.




There were conversations around warm fireplaces.



There were layers and layers of clothes and a beautiful property that made this stay all the more amazing.



Like I said, there were lots of moments that we stopped to savor only that moment. How many times have you passed by a field of sunflowers on a highway and said to yourself that "one day, I'll stop to admire them and take their beauty in".




I completely spoilt myself and indulged my sweet tooth way too much. (I ordered and finished both desserts on the right in one sitting)



I was gifted two gorgeous lenses for my camera and this trip was when I unleashed the babies. I came back with close to 800 pics in my canon DSLR and more than 200 pics in my sony. So we did take a lot of pics. I like to say we were perfecting our art.







Now to explain the title of this post. We stayed at this quaint and most awesome heritage property Sherlock. These guys have styled each room after a novel of Sherlock Holmes and the room that I stayed in was called 'Dancing Men' and needless to say, the theme was 'the adventure of dancing men'.

Since I've mentioned my last trip to ooty, I can't end this post without digging out memories from that trip - a trip that was in a very different zone compared to this one but is very special nonetheless.

medical tourism!

I was on a vacation...a looong vacation...a long unexpected unplanned vacation.

First it was my birthday and I and my friends went to ooty. I thought that was the end of my vacation and I started making plans for my next mumbai trip. But no, that wasn't how it was gonna happen. I started seeing this black cloudy shape right in the centre of field of vision of my right eye. Scary right? I ignored it for a couple of days thinking it'll go away just how it came. But when it stayed for 3 days, I went to see a doc.

That was the start of my extended vacation. The docs here ran tests after tests after tests including an MRI. At the end of a lot of money and two complete days of waiting for the doc and doing all the tests, I was sent home with "come on thursday or take a second opinion if you like". Not very re-assuring, I must say.

So, I did what every home sick puppy does. I took this as the cue and flew to mumbai and saw a doc at lilavati. Long story short, I was in the hospital for five days and outside for some more which totalled to 2 weeks in mumbai. I can't remember the last time I was there for this long. It felt nice.

Also, I learnt something. I may be a little claustrophobic. I thought I was going to suffocate and die inside the MRI machine. I haven't been this scared for as long as I can remember. I thought they would never take me out and my heart was beating so hard, I swear I could feel it move.



Moving to life outside the MRI machine, what is the one thing that you have to have to have in case you are stuck inside a hospital. Let's see, you have tons of time on your hands, you are mostly immobile because of your IV line and you can watch only so many re-runs. Ofcourse, you need a good book. A good book can make hospital time seem worthwhile. And I was lucky that way. I had this book in mind that I wanted to read for a long time but I was waiting to finish my other books.

In the hospital, after a lot of grovelling and begging, I finally made abs bring "The Emperor of all Maladies" for me. And it quickly became one of the best books I've ever read. There's a lot of biology, history and genetics and there is hell of a lot of information but the close to 500 pages kept me glued. As you read, cancer becomes a character, like someone you wouldn't want to know.

Till I finished the book, I was only thinking about cancer. I still do. But it was really bad when I was reading it. Three days in a row I dreamt about cancer wards or that I had leukemia or I was getting chemotherapy. That's how riveting the book is. When I was not reading the book, I was thinking about the book. I was a tad disappointed because I believed that we had made a lot of headway in our cure for this "distorted version of our normal selves". Turns out, not so much. There is only so much science can do when your own body turns against you.

And on the last note: The time I was in the hospital and was reading the cancer book, I really felt I should have studied to become a doctor. Like, seriously. It's a good thing I can't get stuck in some other places such as the parliament or a plane or a spaceship or another planet! Ha! That would be fun.

chai chai...garma garam chai!

I can sum up this post in one line - i love my tea and i love my tea time. Done!

Tea time is the most precious time of my day. I do NOT like to be disturbed during my tea time, not even to open the door. I like to enjoy every sip of my tea, relax and savor the tea, the time, and the quietness of those moments. After all, tea time symbolises the break between all the rush of the day. (I'm guessing that is what a cigarette is to smokers, atleast in part).



After all these years, I've finally settled to a routine of 4 teas a day. For whatever reasons, I used to try to limit myself to 2 teas or try to have green tea (YUCK!!!) and all that jazz. What with all that hoopla about tea not being good for us and messing with our brain activity and stuff.

But, I guess , my brain activity is finally messed up enough to allow me 4 cups of tea without thinking about any negative effects. And, I hate people who call green tea 'tea'. I mean, seriously?? Did they ever take a sip of a 'cutting' or 'tapri' chai?



I like my tea well brewed and with ample sugar. Yeah, sugar is the part that hurts me the most. I'm a true desi and I like my tea sweet. All the maths makes it 8 spoons of sugar in one day which translates to a lot of unwanted and useless calories which translates to more cardio in the gym. And god knows I hate cardio. (I just meant that as a phrase. I'm sure that god, if such a thing existed, couldn't be less bothered about one girl's gym preferences).

So, I'm trying to ration my sugar in the tea that I have at work. Though, tell you what, I cannot compromise on certain things and so the tea that I make at home still gets 2 spoons of sugar. I'm quite non-flexible that way. Bring on the cardio! Or cut down on dinner!



One more thing that needs mention when talking about my tea is the ridiculously and annoyingly low temperatures at which i enjoy my tea. I begin to test the temperature of my cup only after others (if any) have finished their cups. It's a good benchmark. Then also, if I feel that my tea needs more cooling time, I wait some more. It annoys my tea time friends (again, if any). But, I just can't help it. If the tea is too hot, it just burns and numbs your taste buds and you just cannot taste it. Also, it has the added advantage of prolonging my oh-so-good tea time. :)

I need to end the post here. It's time for my chai :P.

biceps schmiceps

This month marks one-year anniversary of me joining my gym. That deserves a post, no?

Me sticking long enough with anything to celebrate a one-year anniversary deserves a post. (I don't blame me, it's the zodiac that says I'm a fickle Geminian)

Coming back to the topic, I have been hitting the gym regularly, 4-5 times a week, for one year now. whoa! Leave out the two months I was yellow with jaundice and the small vacations I took here and there.

Still, I never thought I could manage to follow the schedule for more than a couple of weeks. Infact, my realization of my short attention span to almost everything made me take only a 3-month membership. And, mind you, even now my renewal is for 3-months only. Because I trust myself to get bored and give it up. I spend almost twice the money but what the heck, I'm known to take up hobbies (with all my heart and effort) and give up on them in weeks or even days.

Too bad, I don't have any before and after pics :P. In fact, I do not have any pics of the gym. Going to the gym with my camera and clicking pics would attract a lot of attention and I do not want that. I like to think that I have a serious work-outer image in the gym and I'd like to keep that image (even if only I think that way!).

Then there is my trainer, Chethan, who wants me to become a body builder and develop some serious abs and lift some serious weights. He has the sweetest smile and keeps me in on any offers going on at the gym. Both these qualities help.

Going to the gym is one hour well spent. Take my word. I have, at times, so very reluctantly dragged myself to the gym, only to feel so damn great at the end of that one hour. Getting myself to the gym is sometimes not my favorite part, but after getting there, it is definitely the highlight of my day.

Do you notice the incredible number of monkeys on the middle tree? It looks like a monkey tree.

All the pics are from my trip last year to kabini. One of the most beautiful places I've seen. It's one anniversary of the trip as well. Other than that, there is no link between the pics and the post :P.

I'll end with the caveat that I'm quite confident that there won't be any 2-year gym anniversary. But, what the hell, atleast I completed one year.

hacker alert!

I came back from my mumbai trip without a phone. Yup, that's right and I survived without one for 2 days. That is commendable by my standards what with me spending the better part of my 'free' time on the phone.

To rewind, I actually thought of doing something good. I gave my phone to my dad and took his phone - that's an iphone for the cheapest nokia (just to give a perspective). Turns out, the universe conspires against my good deed. Damn it, nobody can see me upping my heaven score. I try to do some data delete because otherwise my dad would get confused with my contacts and his contacts. And, lo and behold, the iphone refuses to turn back on.

So, that was the end of my good deed.

I gave dad's phone back to him and brought the non-functional iphone back.

Well the most fun part was when I had to coordinate with nish who was supposed to pick me up from the airport and I made a call from a public booth. Well, I would guess that I would be the only soul but turns out there was a queue. I am ready to bet that none of them landed at the domestic terminal.

Now the good part started. I didn't trust my own self with the phone and I gave it to this guy from my workplace. And I waited and waited and waited. Then I could not wait any longer. I had to take charge of the situation.

I spent one day at work searching for and watching youtube videos on how to upgrade, restore, jailbreak and unlock an iphone. And I spent good part of one night downloading all the required softwares including a new version of itunes. And guess what? It didn't take me more than an hour to get my phone working.


I did this!

I didn't stop there. I learnt how to create your own ringtones for the iphone (yeah that is a task in itself though not very intimidating) AND I also got my wallpaper in the background. (Something I wanted since I first saw it, but was too scared to mess with the phone).

Long story short, I am thinking no end of myself and I am proud. Though I should have learnt to do all this some 2 years back. But, whatever!

feels like home

I am back from my not first, not second, not third, wait for it, fifth trip to auroville. Needless to say, I am in love with the place. When I say love, I mean loooove. If there is something like karmic connection or any such jazz, I would definitely have one with this place.

The first time I went to Auroville, I was looking for answers. I was going through a bad patch and I was in the why-me mode. My first memory of Auroville is sitting in the lawn of the crowded visitor centre and crying. I couldn't care less if anyone was looking.

I stayed at the most beautiful guest house Sharnga. The place is pure bliss. Everyday I woke up to the chirps of birds and the calls of peacocks.



Like I said, I was looking for answers at that point and answers I did get. I met Peter at Sharnga, a Canadian professor. We met casually over dinner at the guest house and I latched on to him like a leech.

I still carry our conversations as lessons which have touched so many areas of my life. Infact, I live by some of the rules I learnt from him an one of my trips to Auroville was only to meet him again.

He suggested me to read 'The Power of Now' and I loved the book. For one, the book describes how every negative thought is the creation of your mind and you can stop a free fall into negativity by controlling your mind and stopping it at the first negative thought.

I can't explain it well. You have to read the book. The main point is that you should be the master of your mind, not the other way around.

My fifth trip was a lot of fun (like all the earlier ones). I drove with a cool bunch of friends. The road trip is so much fun.

This time I was supposed to meet Ulrik, my bus friend from Norway. Long story short, I met him while going to the airport on the bus. And again while coming back from the airport. And just like that, we became friends. Fun fact about Ulrik: He does not know who Demo Moore is but he knows who Shilpa Shetty is beacuse he has seen hey yoga DVD :P.



We had hours of discussions on cultures, religions, constellations, history, yada yada



And we ended with stealing mangoes from an orchard. Hehe. It was so amazing: locating a mango orchard in pitch dark in the middle of nowhere along the highway, stopping and searching for a way to get in, taking the mangoes and finally, enjoying them by the side of the highway.

Talk about ending on a high note! Fun fun fun!