The Goan experience!!

Rain danced around us playing hide and seek, more seeking than hiding, ugh, in our 3-day Goa trip. The vacation was officially over yesterday and we are touching reality. The experience was surreal, looking out into the rains that were as relentless as the waves hitting the beach behind our resort. Nevertheless at the first sight of rain slowing down, we donned our brightest blues and oranges that were packed for a Sunny Goa into the beach for a breathtaking picture session. Right after the rains, the waves still hitting huge tides and clouds teasing to come down pouring any moment, we hurriedly tried to make the most of our time- had an awesome couple of hours of the beach. The vast expanse of the ocean has always enthralled me; the sheer power and tirelessness and this time was no different. Except that it was my very first encounter with the Arabian Sea. Unconsciously I was always comparing and contrasting with my own marina beach. This one much smaller, with coconut trees on the shores was a much different spectacle I must say. In that aspect, it was also very different from the NJ beaches- Sandy Hook and Cape May and probably closer in comparison to the Portland beaches of Manzanita and Cannon, may be the west facing has something to do with it?

After the brief pause, Mr. Clouds again showed its might. As I sat on the balcony of a simple Udupi restaurant watching the rain and sipping Chai, I wished that time could be frozen forever. Indian Chai is best at the local shops rather than the multi star resorts. I remembered the morning chai that was served along with the breakfast in the resort. It was prepared for the firangi palate, almost black and flavorless. Soon after, we huddled back to the warmth of the resort suite.


Next day, braving the incessant showers, we took the city tour bus to take a south Goa sightseeing tour – so much unlike us. The first stop was to see the Old Portuguese mansion and museum. Pretty low key I would say if you have seen any of the mansions of Newport, RI. However what stood out was the generous ventilations that looked into beautiful gardens. The insides are pretty Spartan with furniture more functional than aesthetic. It included a little handicrafts museum showing the lives of yesteryear Goans and their livelihoods – wine making, pottery making and of course fish delicacies. Then we stopped at a couple of temples – these are reconstructed after the originals are destroyed by the Portugese invasion. One of the characteristics of the Goan temples is the Lamp tower or Deepmal or Deepa Stambha. Another characteristic is the Dome above the garbhagraha- probably a Mughal influence. St. Francis church is a major landmark in Goa, where the body of St, Francis is kept even today; he died in 1552. The architectural grandeur was apparent.
After a brief lunch stopover, we headed to Dona Paula, essentially a suicide point where Dona and Paula ended their lives. However the rain gods intervened and made the best spot of the day drown in its celebration. We witnessed the heaviest downpour at this spot. Except that there are no pictures, it truly was a breathtaking experience. Then the bus stopped at the Miramir beach to announce that it is the dirtiest beach in the state and that all the industry pollutants join the sea at this point. I wonder why! The last stop was at an aquarium, where the various sea flora and fauna were kept in captivity. Again, we aren’t great fans and hence could not wait to get back to our resort to unwind after a whole day of outing.

The third day was the highlight of the trip – nay the rains did not stop, however we decided to confront it head on, on a motor bike. What a pleasure?! On a Pulsar, under heavy downpour, with neither direction nor destination, we aimlessly rode on the deserted long stretches of roads, greenery on either side. Too bad there is no coastal road. However, we just kept going, until we got worried about the petrol in the tank. It was one awesome ride of our lives. We were reminded of our Martha’s Vineyard moped trek in September 2008, though the weather was much better then. Once again, the evenings were well spent with Jacuzzi, magazines from the resort library and plenty of football.

Any Goan experience is not complete without the mention of cashews. Apparently even wine is made out of cashews. We had sumptuous dinners every evening at the resort. Goan style pancake is a rolled pancake with the typical “poornam” (coconut and jaggery sweetpie)stuffed in it. The highlight was Bibinca, a layered pastry like dessert made out of maida, coconut, cashews etc. Was delicious!!

One of the most relaxing trips in a long time- simply because we had nothing to do thanks to the rains!!!!

Since we bade bye to Hyderabad.....

What a journey has it been? This last month, since we packed all our stuff into nine little boxes to Bombay! Since then we have time swapped our lives across Chennai, Madurai , Gangtok, Darjeeling, Bangalore and Tirupati. All along we have lived off suitcases – eeck! Always carrying laundry :(

Finally it is bliss to settle in a home which has my whole wardrobe. There is this t-shirt of mine, which is black, which is not very surprising, which creeps into my luggage trip after trip, destination after destination unfailingly. As much as I love the shirt, I hate to live off a subset of my clothes. At all points in time, I want access to my whole wardrobe only to pick the same t-shirt time and again:) This can happen now….

Today I am happy because I have something that resembles a home, and a decently equipped functional kitchen. I am happy my stuff from Hyderabad arrived in one piece and it was such a pleasure to just see all those things that I haven’t seen in a whole month! How materialistic am I? :(

Anyways, here is the detailed account of my Himalayan pursuit. After about 48 hours of train, plane, bus and van and sitting through a Bengali movie (called the Japanese wife!) to get a feel of true Bengali culture, we were finally in Darjeeling. The van dropped us off on the street and pointed to a building that was perched on top of a small hillock and said that was our hotel. While we were still taking in the panoramic valley view; we were confused as to how to reach that hotel with our luggage? At this point, a woman of about 50 years talked to us in broken Hindi that she will find a way to bring the luggage to the hotel and struck a deal. We were still perplexed but said okay. To our complete shock and embarrassment, she neatly packed about four suitcases on a crisscrossed rope and slid one edge of the rope like a head band on her forehead and started walking up the hill with the weight weighing her back down. We were simply dumbfounded. Human labor is just too cheap in India. We were about four of us each about half her age together spent Rs. 80 to shift the labor of lugging our own luggage on to her. I was truly ashamed….

And the next two days we spent ‘sightseeing’ Darjeeling- Mirik lake and Sunrise@ Kanchenjunga both of which refused darshan due to cloudy weather. Of course then, we went to patel points including Peace Pagoda, Ghum- the highest (7407 ft) railway station in India, costumed photo shoots in the tea plantations :D Funny experience!

The third day, we set off towards Gangtok. On the way, we decided the test the waters of Teesta! We got on to a raft and did what was called ‘white’ water rafting. Except for about two or three rapids, water was hardly ‘white’. It was more like an enjoyable boating on a sane and serene river.

Gangtok was more beautiful than what we had imagined - clean and upscale. Apparently everyone in the state of Sikkim gets free education till twelfth class and also given a loan to buy a taxi and taught driving if need be. And tourism is expensive here. Every city taxi is an Omni and adheres to weight limits. Without luggage only four people are allowed to travel in one taxi. Small shops and businesses have their earmarked districts and they all seem to be doing well. We observed an insane number of salons and spas in this area. The fine for littering is heavy and looked like people respected those rules.

Local culture was interesting - visiting local points of interest including Hanuman Tok, Ganesh Tok, Himalayan Zoo, Do Drol Chorten (a stupa) , a flower garden. We also enjoyed local cuisines - Thuppa a certain local noodle soup dish was particularly delicious.

And then the highlight was the trip to Baba mandir and Tsongo lake. Simply stunning views. Fairly snow clad and comfortably cold weather up above 14000 feet; awe inspiring mighty mountains- definitely a moment to cherish. A little above the famous Tsongo lake is the lesser known Manju lake which was no less beautiful. On the way back especially with needle like flurry falling outside our windows and land sliding traffic jams ahead of us, the snow covered yaks in the backdrop of fresh layer of snow on the lake water was such a pristine picture. Our cameras did not do justice to the splendid spectacle. Apparently the roads leading up to these points were opened only on that day after being closed down for about 10 days due to bad weather and earlier landslides. The rescue operations were still on. The people that guard the borders are true heroes. So it wasn’t exactly a safe journey; a tiny slip and you would be in pieces. However it was the fitting finale to a very enjoyable trip to the Himalayas. Thanks to the wonderful bunch of friends that made the trip possible and more pleasurable!

On the way back, we spent one day in Kolkata. We are still trying to figure out why?! Gardens around the Victoria museum and a buggy ride outside the Victoria museum, Saurav’s restaurant on Park street together may be can try and answer that question. However the culture of Kolkata lies in the maddening crowded streets of Bade Bazaar. The heat quotient made us opt out of shopping, however the rest made up for it!

That apart, the home made food and dear family took good care of us in the last month..... :)

When is the next vacation? :D

Hampi- Fascinated & fatigued!!

Two days later, here I am still alive from a trip that was both exhilarating and exhausting. The journey started in high spirits. Ten of us cramped in a cabin of a train played mafia. Between the first two games, mafias and villagers got even and were well fed to a delectable spread of dinner with cuisines from across the country. When we did realize that the whole compartment save us was trying hard to sleep, we hesitantly closed the session for a short night’s sleep. A woke us up at the ungodly hour of 5 am and said that the train was running ahead of time. Amidst skeptical looks, foul breaths and empty water tanks in the train, we passed the most difficult 40 minutes of the trip cursing A.

Checked into our rooms; we had a relaxing morning coffee. Overlooking a scenic and rustic garden interspersed with little cottages, under a cool early morning sun that was still making up its mind to peep out or hide back in, we lived our life rich :) (Now, that’s a term I picked on the trip thanks to a certain Laadanandji) Soon after that, complying with Indian Standard Time, we were ready by 8am for a 7:30am call at the breakfast table. That’s the convenience of being in India eh?



Treating the tummy to steaming idlys, toasts and corn flakes, and indulging ourselves to a few quick shots under the camera, we left promptly for the day’s sight seeing. In the first stop, we saw a partly restored monolithic statue of Lord Narasimha. There is a Shiv ling next to it. I wonder if this was the age when Shaivaites and Vaishnavaites lived in harmony with each other.

As the sun ascended in the sky to scaring heights, we were sheltered in an underground temple that housed some more Gods. The guide narrated the story of Kannapa Nayanar – see pic.



Sun continued its ascension. And we continued to brave the heat. The Zanana enclosure- the harem for the royal and the dancing women housed a center courtyard where various cultural compositions were played for the amusement of the kings and the queens guarded by eunuchs on three watch towers around the area. Architecturally advanced, these open air courtyards had the effect of an Air Conditioned auditorium due to the water lines built within the structures.

Another interesting observation is the communion of Hindu and Muslim styles in these structures. Vijayanagara kingdom was really a religiously tolerant empire that employed a few thousand Muslim soldiers in its army. They were eventually defeated by an insurgency from within on the face of a rare unity of four deccan sultanates against the empire. For some reason instead of taking control of the region after conquering the army, they plundered and reduced it to a ruinous state which is only partly restored to this day.




This slew of structures though architecturally superior, was aesthetically average. The ornate designs and minute carvings were missing. One of the other temples, the hallmark of Hampi has musical pillars. Apparently, the carnatic swaras could be replicated by tapping on these pillars. There were also certain pillars that could create the sounds akin to an instrument. The highlight of the day was the sunset view. From the uneven rocks across the plain ruins we could see a brilliant ball of golden yellow slowly losing sheen and sinking for the day. The sunset I thought progressively sped as if in a hurry to flee from the throngs of people marveling in the spectacle.

In sometime, we were back in the resort for a dip into the swimming pool. Though it seemed like it was relaxing, the moment we got off the pool in the late evening, we realized we were really exhausted for the day. We had a fairly quick dal-chawal type dinner. I was probably asleep in less than thirty seconds after eyeing the bed.

The next day dawned early, but beautifully to a hubby-ordered chai on the verandah of an exquisite cottage with the most delicate warmth of the sun. This is such a simple and a primal pleasure that everyone could indulge in every morning, day after day. Yet we usually choose the cozy bed and a lazy sleep. I wonder why?



That day, we decided to be more sensible in our sightseeing escapades, so we settled for a visit to the Virupaksha temple followed by a slow and soothing boat ride across the Tungabhadra. The best part of the day was the ten of us taking an auto ride together with the men doing the acrobatics and women getting squeezed and cooked in the heat. Quite a bonding opportunity :D When the sun was directly above our heads and when the sun screens and water bottles were getting emptied at the same rate, we decided to call it a day and headed home to a game of Pictionary and random rants nestled in a cool room.


After sun down, A & I had our first experience with a camel ride and with Rajastani food. Both the experiences were unique and satisfying. Thus ended our two day sojourn to the heat capital of South India.

In these two days we managed about 1000 pictures from various crazy angles, permutations of people, and combinations of coolers and caps. Why compromise on our little treasured keepsakes?

Merry Christmas From Hyderabad!

Under the star lit skies
Reflected off the moon lit pool
There is joy in the air

With Santa behind you
Tucking neat presents under the tree
There is joy in the air

Hubby honey baking
A Christmas cake
There is joy in the air

Darling kids singing
Christmas Carols
There is joy in the air

Happy families skating
On the sheet of white ice
There is joy in the air

Serene Sunrise
On a misty winter morning
There is joy in the air

Wish you a Merry Christmas!

Btw, In Hyderabad we have White Christmas!
The sun scorches you until you blanch white!

Memoir of R2I

How long is the blog due?!

ISB is beautiful. Hyderabad is enchanting. The growth I see around the city is remarkable. I am truly happy to back! Back to the city where the old and new live in harmony.

The many new malls that have been added to the landscape showcases the young money flooding around here. Stand in IMAX and you could be in Hong Kong, there is absolutely no difference. Wealth is splurged with no reverence. Right from Ratna Deep to City Central, goods and brands from the consumer country USA rule. Even the guarded secret of Durgam Cheruvu is highly commercialized. It is one rich city is a really poor country. Anyways, I have to applaud the corporation for having maintained clean parks, roads and safe pathways. Of course, my experience is highly limited to the “shuttle route” that ISB bus takes ok, that means that we don’t own a personal vehicle of any kind. Right now, not adding to the carbon footprint!

Life at ISB has been a delight to say the least. Except for the constant scare of snakes, and all kinds of wild reptiles, insects and may be even boars it is the place to be. The luxury of hiring a house maid! Wow! Without sounding condescending, I should say that this is the best part of being in India. While India is largely poor, I also have to admit it is largely lazy. Hence good workers in this part of India continue to impress me, right from the auto rickshaws, house maids to chai wala, they seem to have good work ethics and I really respect them for that. Touch wood.

My job here entails me to interact with a few people from the academic circle and it is quite an experience. The hours are awesome. The work profile is quite unstructured and the hence the scope of learning is way better than what an industry job offers. Besides, there are a zillion things on campus to do. Fitness workouts, Spanish classes, public speaking sessions, yoga, magazine publishing and photography – there is just not enough time to do all of these. Plus, I have made some dear friends that make the place even more endearing and enjoyable.

In all, exactly three months after I set foot outside the United States, I am not disappointed. While the emotional attachment to the first life I had as a home maker raises its head from time to time, I think I truly enjoy the transition back to my home country! There is definitely no regret! R2I is here to stay!

On a different note, I am glad India lost in the world cup! Hope this gets A off the couch!

Indians as a race....

Olympics 2008 is well underway.... Opening ceremony was simply an awesome visual and intellectual treat; it was a massive human effort and a display of perfection and timing; India has gotten itself her first Gold; Phelps has created history with 8 on 8 wins; Bolt’s record sprint - this Olympics has proved to be the best ever sports array already.

In the opening ceremony, when the different participating countries walked down with the field carrying the flags, the commentary covered details like the population of the country versus the number of people representing the country. As we already know, this ratio is staggeringly low for India.

Since then, I have always heard my folks talking about how embarrassing it is to have such a low representation from a country that houses one fourth of the world’s population. But I have been thinking about this for a while now and I differ.

I am ashamed about a lot of things that could have been better in India, but this is not one of them.

Think about this – every year, I mean EVERY year the record for fastest sprint or the heaviest weight has always been re-set for the better. How is it possible? How is it that the mankind is becoming faster and smarter by the day? When I do acknowledge that the part of the reason for this is advancements in science and technology in terms of better tracks, shoes and swim suits, I cannot be blind to the nutrition that comes in capsules. Is this healthy competition? And are Indians’ genetic, physical and cultural make up allow this?

While the excessive importance given to academic education as against sports or arts is a big reason for the lack of competitive sportsmen from India, for a nation that is in its age, size, needs and challenges, it is a natural choice. One of the two has to be true for somebody to take up competitive sports. Either his family is so financially stable, that he does not have to worry about winning the bread for his children, or his learning capabilities in traditional academics is so bad, that he will not get a stable career to make his ends meet. While the second point might be true for a large section of Indian populace, by the time people acknowledge that they will not have a stable livelihood, they are past the prime and their dream of a stable career is passed on to their children.

Also, competitive sports calls for a very well balanced diet and good nutrition, which can be very hard to come by for a country that feeds only half a stomach for a big section of the population. Also as vegetarians, the balanced diet we get is meant for Saatvik lifestyle. As history shows, Indians have produced great astronomers, computer scientists, doctors, economists and scientists; we have not invaded outside of the subcontinent; though we have pursued sports for recreation, it has never been a profession of respect.

Our mental faculty is world class to compete in the International arena; and I am proud of that fact; but our physical faculty is not our forte and I willingly accept it. And hence, I believe spending vital resources in building sports infrastructure allowing all the corruption amongst the middle men (now this is something that I am essentially ashamed of) is not in the best interests right now; I would gladly allow the same to build various other things like education and empowering women.

I am not saying its never going to be possible for India to compete in Olympics, am just saying we are not there yet. We have been the ones that sit back and enjoy and not the ones that sweat it out in the middle.

Amidst all this, kudos to Abhinav Bindra!!