DragonWoman

Dunedin to Te Anau - New Zealand Feb 2011

2011-09-21T12:42:00.001+03:00

Driving from Dunedin to Te Anau and on the days that followed, I finally understood why people say that the best way to see New Zealand is to do a driving holiday. One JUST doesn’t get bored, not only is it beautiful but the landscape changes continuously. Later in the trip, as we drove from Queenstown to Franz Joseph in a span to 2 hrs we moved from mountainous landscape to a beach to a desert!!!

We enjoyed magnificent coastal scenery on our drive from Dunedin to the Otago peninsula. The breathtaking views and sheer cliff faces over the Pacific Ocean made me recall something I had read, which seemed just so right - The CNN website lists the Otago peninsula as one the 10 best places for a fairytale marriage proposal on Valentine's Day!!!

Brief stopover at the Albatross center, where we managed to see one flying around. But that started Stephen with his ‘Albatross around the neck jokes’! We were not be left behind, where we? So we cracked some of our own about the albatross being the husband!

We were visiting a farm owned by the Reid family on the Otago Peninsula headland. Called Nature Wonders, it is a self funded conservation effort to ensure that the land is preserved for all future generations to enjoy, by protecting the penguins, fur seals and other wildlife. The wildlife are living in natural environments the way nature intended it to be.

A thrilling thrilling cross-country adventure in the ultimate all terrain vehicle, an 8-wheel-drive ARGO followed. Adrenalin rush plus stunning scenery!!!

Our first stop was at the mythical "Maori Footprint" location which offers as they say 720° panoramic views - because you will look around twice!!! But I would multiply that several times over as one just can’t get enough of the view!

Next was a very close encounter with a breeding colony of Fur seals and their pups basking on the rocks and swimming in the pools in front of us. The sea weed in the pools looked more like giant flat noodles or rubber strips! And from there we were taken along a beach-front to an area from where one can look down on to Penguin Beach – no humans allowed here - to view little penguins in their nests and spot the rare and shy yellow eyed penguin on the beach. We managed to see one baby penguin in its nest and 2 penguins – but only using binoculars. No close encounters here!!!

There are many, many sheep in New Zealand – as is often said 40 million sheep population against a 4 million human population, but they always seemed so far away in the fields. It was here that Nalini and I had our only REAL close encounter with a sheep.

From there began our longish ride to Te Anau, which basically meant lots of new stories from Stephen! There is a famous section of State Highway 1 between the southern towns of Clinton and Gore known as the scenic "Presidential Highway". Though the towns do not get their names from the American President and Vice President, the Presidential Highway was so called after Bill Clinton and Al Gore’s visit to that area…though Stephen’s nose didn’t grow, not sure if this story is true! As with his other tale of the Richest man in the world who hires planes when he has excess baggage. He never did tell us the name of this fellow though!

In Gore town, went for a small walk and saw this amazing tree…more like several trees combined into one.

Evening we reached Te Anau - a very cute, little town. Our hotel was right by the lake. Stephen advised us to visit an internet browsing center – he said it was unique, but wouldn’t give any further details. Enjoyed a nice evening walk – slightly chilly but very fresh - to the town center, where we found the browsing center but unfortunately it was closed. Peeked in to find that it was just one of those luxurious places – nice, quite spacious yet cozy bays with comfy sofas that one can just sink into and sleep!

An amazing Italian dinner and we were all ready to call it a day!

Dunedin - New Zealand Feb 2011

2011-09-19T13:28:00.005+03:00

I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards! The antipathies I think… but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know.
Please Ma’am, is this New Zealand?"

- ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’

Our flight from Rotorua to Dunedin had a brief stopover at Christchurch so as the plane neared Christchurch I peered out of the window to try and catch a glimpse of the damage. But couldn’t really see any major damage...probably the route avoided the areas with the damage. But it also got me wondering...is that what our politicians do and see when they go to access the aerial damage when a natural calamity strikes remote areas in our country!

At Dunedin airport we were greeted by our chauffeur and guide, Stephen. The moment I heard him, with his typical Scottish accent, I went nostalgic about my stint in Aberdeen, Scotland - that sure was my favorite assignment!

10 minutes drive from the airport and we were treated with our first glimpses of the beauty of New Zealand that everyone raves about. The shades of greens in the fields, the mountains, the shades of blues of the ocean in contrast with the bright blue sky…colorful picture postcard!!

And we also got our first taste of Stephen’s knowledge as he told us about and pointed out a few of the different varieties of cows found there. This was followed by his incessant chatter and anecdotes which he assured us were the truth and only the truth and we could verify that by checking out if his nose grew like Pinocchio’s. Which we did - everytime he told us some unbelievable tale.

Like the tale about his pa in-law who was a hunter. In one of his expeditions he found bones of a Moa – an extinct New Zealand flightless bird endemic to New Zealand, in a cave. He came home and told his wife but didn’t bother to tell the authorities…for a good 20 years!!! The Cryptozoologists need to thank a nagging wife otherwise these bones may still be lying undiscovered! They are now in the museum where it seems due credit has been given to him. Though I personally feel that Stephen’s ma-in-law should get all the credit!

Soon we reached Larnach Castle. The Scottish lineage was evident. It was so like many of the castles that I have seen in Scotland. On the ground floor we read it’s exciting, scandalous and tragic history – perfect material for a masala bollywood movie, I say! The castle was quite quaint but I would say it’s worth a visit more for its gardens and the view from there.

There are actually nine different gardens, but the differing gardens seamlessly merge from one to another so that we didn’t even realize it then. It was only later as I read up more about the castle that I came to know about the different gardens. Against a magnificent backdrop of the Otago Peninsula, these gardens had just about everything - rockeries, perennial borders, deciduous azalea beds, forests, succulents, flowering plants especially rhododendrons.

I noticed a "Curious Door" in a tree trunk. Took a snap and thought would check out its significance later. After the Mad Hatters tea party in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice discovers a door in a tree. In line with the New Zealand connection the owners thought it would be fun to include the idea of a door in a tree trunk in the garden. The door is actually the original from the Tower and it has tremendous character and really looks the part of the ‘curious door’ of Wonderland".

A drive through the city of Dunedin till Stephen stopped at Baldwin Street, which holds the Guinness Record for being the steepest street in the world. We were to attempt climbing that. I looked up and it seemed impossible with my stamina. With encouragement and weird ideas from each one - better to use the steps on the sides, walk backwards etc – we finally made it to the top.

As we returned to Dunedin Stephen pointed out the city centre with its Octagonal plaza. In the center was a statue of Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, with his back to the church in line with him being a disbeliever of the Church. Incidentally Robert Burns turned out to be Stephen’s favorite poet and at one point of our trip he even recited one of his works for us, though I cannot rememeber now which one.

A rainy walk in the city center and eventually we zeroed down to a cosy Indian restaurant for a hot dinner.

Rotorua II – New Zealand Feb 2011

2011-08-04T08:15:00.003+03:00

This was a day full of touristy things to do and a missed opportunity for some adventure.

We started the day with a visit to the Agrodome Leisure Park for an entertaining sheep show featuring 19 champion rams on stage. The rams were waiting for the show to start in narrow corridor like lanes on the sides of the hall leading up to the stage, from where the showman would take them one by one from a gate. We were seated somewhere in the middle of the hall, but because I wanted some nicer pictures decided to move up in front. Next thing I know, he tells me to hold the gate shut and keep on an eye on the sheep and ensure he doesn’t come on to the stage. He had barely turned and the sheep jumped over the gate and was on the stage. I didn’t do a very good job, did I :-)

One by one the sheep took their positions on the stage and then the energetic presenter did some sheep shearing. It looked like quite a strenuous activity and later we came to know that it involves loads of exercise - a shearer who shears 300 sheep in a 9 hour day it seems does the same amount of exercise as a cyclist who does 2 marathons back to back.

This was followed by a hilarious sheep auction. He spoke so fast, it was almost impossible to follow what he was saying. The next bit I found particularly interesting, when they released some working sheep dogs or Border Collies on the stage.

These dogs nimbly jumped over the backs of the sheep and ran from one end of the stage in circles in such speeds that I am sure several people must have felt dizzy! People from the audience were also given an opportunity to jump up on stage to feed milk from bottles to the lambs and hand-milk a cow!

At the souvenir shop noticed some interesting stuff – candy and sweets with names like Sheep droppings, Squashed possums, Kiwi Poo sweets and the like. Nalini even bought some for her grandson!

As we left this place, noticed some Zorbing on the other side of the road. I was in 2 minds on whether I should try that. I wasn’t scared, but somehow being in a ball, rolling down on a small hillock seemed claustrophobic to me so I decided to give it a skip. Now I wonder if I should have tried it!

A short drive and we were at Rainbow Springs. As we entered we were asked to pose for a snap – we could decide if we wanted to hold a Kiwi or a Tuatara- which looks like a lizard but actually belongs to the dinosaur lineage and so is considered the magnificent living dinosaur. These would then be superimposed on our snap! So looking like absolute jokers we posed with either our hands cupped or majestically holding out our arm for a lizard! While in most places they show us soft copies of our snap and if we want we can print them, what bothered me here in the end was that they had printed the snap – and not just one but an entire kit consisting of a few postcard snaps, 2 large snaps etc. Unfortunately none of us wanted that kit, so what a waste!

We enjoyed a serene walk under the shade of towering Kauri, Rimu and Californian redwoods and amid spring-fed pools and streams teeming with Rainbow and Brown Trout. Enjoyed some native wildlife including Skinks, Geckos and the Tuatara. But the stars of the show were the Kiwis. Since they are very shy, they have a special dark and silent enclosure for them and it was a bit difficult to spot them, but we managed.

The last scheduled stop for the day was at Te Puia, also called the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve and Maori Arts & Craft Institute. There was a guided tour by a Maori lady, whose ancestors belonged to the tribe settled there. She even showed us snaps of her aunt and grandmother in a collage there. She began by telling us how to pronounce Whakarewarewa. Not very easy, believe me.

And then gave us an enlightening tour of the village and walked us to the Thermal Reserve. On the way she showed us the Silver Fern, the national tree which gets its name from the silvery-grey underside of the leaves. They light up in the dark and were used by Maori tribe people to light the way. Young fern fronds are tightly coiled in a spiral and resemble the traditional Maori form called the Koru. She pointed these out to us too. Both these symbols are wildly used in NZ – like the NZ airlines logo is the frond and they fern is used by the national netball team.
Finally we reached thermal reserve which has boiling mud pools, gentle hot springs and violent geysers.
The most famous geyser, of the 65 geysers found in here is the awe-inspiring Pohutu Geyser, meaning big splash or explosion. Pohutu erupts up to 100 feet high, depending on her mood, and as frequently as 20 times each day. It is the largest active geyser in New Zealand and the southern hemisphere.

We were told that the eruption is a sight worth waiting for, but we were lucky. The moment we finished our guided tour and reached there, she erupted! What a magnificent sight!

While the rest decided to move to the souvenir shop from there, Indu and I decided to explore some more of the village. Rotowhio Marae, the fortified village had some awesome carvings. Saw a Kapa Haka, a short cultural show. Also got a chance to make some traditional Maori symbol postcards using some blocks and a pencil as souvenirs. Visited Te Wananga Whakairo, the Carving School, and Te Rito, the Weaving School.
Back at the hotel, I received an SMS from a friend asking if I was OK...went outside and asked and came to know that a major earthquake had hit Christchurch. Switched on the TV and saw the chaos. Unfortunately the epicenter was quite close to the town centre and all that area had been cordoned off. We were to be in Christchurch 8 or 9 days later so though we were a bit worried as to what would happen, Anita reassured us that things would be closer to normal in a few days.

With that in mind, Nalini, Hema, Anita and Indu decided to go to a spa for a mud bath and sulphur water dip. They found it quite relaxing and came back with glowing skins! To end our day and holiday in the North Island we had a Thai dinner in the town and by the time we reached the hotel we were all ready to crash out.

Rotorua – New Zealand Feb 2011

2011-08-01T12:44:00.003+03:00

Rotorua, one of New Zealand’s premier tourist destinations is known for its thermal activities. We knew it the moment we entered. The distinct smell of rotten eggs due to the sulphur was omnipresent.
We started the day with some sightseeing and adventure. Our itinerary said 'Gandola Ride' and even though the itinerary said ride up to Mount Ngongataha, I had something like a Venetian Gandola in mind...with a serenading handsome man!
However, the Skyline Skyrides Gandola here was just a cable car! Enjoyed some spectacular views from up there of Rotorua and Rotorua Lake.

There were some activities available and I had decided on a Luge Ride as soon as I read about it. The Luge is like a go-kart, but the interesting thing was the track which we had had glimpses of when we were coming up on the cable car. Winding hairpin turns inside what looked like a dense forest and quite steep too. Quite obviously for adventurous New Zealand, this is the world’s FIRST concrete luge track. Hema too was keen...rest all seemed in 2 minds. So the 2 of us bought the tickets and geared up with our helmets. Slowly I noticed, one by one, the others too joined. I guess it looked too tempting! Initially I was a bit apprehensive and went quite slowly. Moreover, the huge redwood trees around us were beautifully distracting. But by the end of it I was quite comfortable and managed to speed up a bit.

After the Luge ride, a UFO flying saucer awaited us - a 4D simulator known as the Voyager. There were 2 shows - 'Scenic Adventures of the South' and 'Xenopod'. The 1st was quite exciting and enjoyable and made me decide instantaneously that we should try the Shot-Over Jet in Queenstown (more on that in a later post). The 2nd was like most 3 movies and as usual gave me a headache!

From Skyline we went to visit Kiwi Orchards called Kiwi 360 at Te Puke. When we reached, there was a Maori traditional dance called Maori Haka going on and we decided to watch that. Men and women in traditional costume consisting of a Flax Piupiu Skirt thumping their feet and emanating war calls were quite entertaining.
Nalini and I also decided to join them on stage for a wee bit and try some Poi - a performance art in which balls are suspended from a length of flexible material, usually a plaited cord and are held in the hand and swung in circular patterns.

After the show we went for a very, very touristy KiwiKart Tours. And like most very, very touristy things was a bit of a letdown. A ride in a toy train designed like a Kiwi through orchards of Avocados, Oranges and of course Kiwis. Unfortunately the Kiwis were raw and we couldn’t taste any fresh fruit. But Nalini had alternative plans so that we would always remember this part of the trip with giggles. The lush green carpet grass on small hillocks was too tempting for her and she decided it would be fun to roll down on the grass. Soon the rest of us also joined her and there we were having the fun of our life. As if this was not enough, she decided so what if no Kiwis, let’s try some oranges. It is true, stolen fruit is the YUMMIEST! Truly, we were KIDS that day.

That was the end of the official itinerary for the day, but the ever adjusting Barry was more than willing to take us around for some more time. I had read of some nice walking tracks near Rotorua and we decided to go to Blue Lake or Lake Tikitapu where one can enjoy one of the most beautiful walks in Rotorua by walking 5km around the lake. It was really a very scenic walk. Dipti was a bit tired halfway through the walk and suddenly she turned to Soldier Mode – walking with a purpose and no distracted talking, posing for snaps! She just wanted the walk to end.
At the end of the walk, Indu and I decided to walk inside the lake – it was like a spa for the tired feet.

From there Barry took us to the Kuirua Park, an informal public park with a lot of geothermal activity. What a steaming, hissing and bubbling walk that turned out to be.
It was now time to retire and what better way to end the day than with ice cream. Barry suggested the Hokey Pokey ice cream, which is the local flavor - plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of toffee, which some of us tried. Quite nice but I preferred my berry flavor!

Waitomo Caves and Rotorua – New Zealand Feb 2011

2011-07-21T13:17:00.003+03:00

Next day saying bye to Auckland we started travelling south towards Rotorua, the Thermal Wonderland. Barry, our new chauffeur was quite amused by our group – a noisy, garrulous group of 6 women. He himself was quite quiet but every time I looked at him he would be smiling at our girly conversation!!!

As we drove along Barry pointed out some places with very Indian names like Bombay Hills and Coromandel Peninsula. These names have their origin in events like British ships called Bombay and HMS Coromandel landing there.

We had mentioned to Barry that we wanted to buy the local Wine and Cheese and the efforts he made for that was truly praiseworthy. First we stopped at a Cheese place and a little later at a Wine place. Both were closed. But Barry was not one to give up easily...he knocked on the doors, peered inside the windows, tried to look for back doors to get us inside, but no such luck.

So wineless and cheeseless we continued our drive through the Waikato region following the Waikato River, New Zealand’s longest river. Had heard a lot of raves about the beauty of New Zealand...the undulating green fields with cows and sheep looked very beautiful and fresh…but nothing unique. I have seen similar sights in Scotland, Europe and England. The real beauty of New Zealand that people speak about is in the South Island. But more on that in a later post.

Close to lunch time we reached the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. The glow worm is unique to New Zealand and a boat ride under thousands of these tiny creatures radiating their luminescent light was truly, truly magical. Everyone was totally mesmerized...no one made a sound!

A cute picnic lunch in Waitomo and off we were towards Rotorua.

After a short rest on reaching Rotorua we grew restless and decided to go for a walk into town till Rotorua Lake. It was a longish walk - a good 2 kms walk either way from our hotel to the lake but the light cold breeze made it really refreshing. Sitting around at the lake reminded me of a joke someone had told me – “2 women decided to go on a pilgrimage and walked from Kanyakumari to Varanasi. After several weeks they returned and as one was going to freshen up she says – you wait here only I have something to tell you. Inspite of several weeks of yapping they still had stuff to gossip about!!!
The whole day in the van from Auckland to Rotorua we had yapped and the yapping continued at the lake and once we returned to our rooms also!!!

Auckland - New Zealand Feb 2011

2011-07-20T13:40:00.001+03:00

Though the initial experience of waiting in the loooooooooong and slow queue at Auckland airport (since we were carrying some food items) was quite frustrating, it was only later in our trip that we appreciated the reason. The economy is primarily agricultural and one bug into their country can cause havoc.
However, the whole trip was so fantabulous that this was quickly forgotten by me...in fact I remembered about this long wait only when I revisited Indu’s notes on our trip.

Kiwis - a funny but amazing word for it can refer to the country, the people or a fruit!!! Tells something about the people though – no hassle, no ego, people who can crack a joke on themselves as Sussane our driver cum guide in Auckland demonstrated.

Adventure activities, Wine, Sheep, Cheese and Maori land...few words that come to mind when one thinks of New Zealand. We got a taste of adventure on our very 1st day in Auckland.

At the famous Sky Tower one gets to walk around in 360 degrees on a 1.2 meter-wide walkway at 192 meters above the ground. No handrails and nothing but air on either side of you!!!
Heart missed several beats as we reached the reception or Mission Control as they call it, and saw the videos and understood what we had bargained for. Only Nalini seemed totally unperturbed. As 2 of our group decided to give it a skip and a third one was in two minds, I tried to put on a brave front and encourage them, though deep inside I too wanted to join them!
Finally the four of us went ahead...what an exhilarating experience. Not to be missed I would say. We had a really nice instructor who was quite patient with us while at the same time kept encouraging us to try several things like a ‘Titanic Pose’ standing at the edge and the other way around where it was like ‘Hanging over the Edge!’ After the initial hesitation, 3 of us did try all that, though Dipti just hung on to her rope. We were quite comfortable by the end of it and just before we finished the walk, we were just standing and chatting when we hear Dipti shout – guys can we just finish this and get to the landing platform. Looked like she had had enough!

A quick lunch and off we were for the city tour towards Mt Eden and the Green Crater! New Zealand is part of the ‘Ring of Fire’ and Auckland is considered a geologists paradise with as many as 50 dormant volcanoes - you can climb their peaks and enter their cones. Mt Eden is the highest of these from where you can get expansive views over the city, the famous Eden Park Cricket ground and the Waitemata Harbour But what was more amazing was the greenery there...not something that one would associate with a crater!

From there we passed in front of the Auckland Museum where I saw an interesting sign – ‘I AM OUTRAGEOUS I AM AUCKLAND MUSEUM’. And of course the Forsyth Barr, which is a bar for people from the Legal profession...but only MEN!!!

Other interesting sights included a Parking Lot for Boats, a huge tree struck by lightning lying across the park and the Harbour Bridge with its 'Nippon clip-ons'. It seems the bridge was originally built with four lanes for traffic but due to increasing traffic levels (nothing new there!) it was soon necessary to increase the capacity of the bridge So ten years after opening, two-lane box girder clip-on sections were added to each side, doubling the number of lanes to eight. The sections were manufactured by a Japanese company, which led to the nickname 'Nippon clip-ons'.
2 recreational buildings built in the shape of cruise ships were also quite unique, especially since they were on the sea front so actually looked like some ships have run aground. From the city we followed the route taken by the famous the Ports of Auckland Round the Bays fun-run around the contours of Waitemata harbor.

A stop at the Winter Garden with several varieties of flowers and fruits bought the tour to an end. A warm day, Susanne not able to get AC of the vehicle running...just the ingredients for an Ice Cream break.
Later in the evening we took a ferry to Devonport and walked along the sea, paddled in the water, posed around for snaps, collected some shells and whet up an appetite. Good for us as we had a lovely dinner at a place called Mecca …lovely being an understatement. It was the best vegetarian meal I have had outside of India! A starry sky and glittering lights of Auckland on the return trip was just the right way to end the day.

Behaviour!

2011-03-15T09:39:00.002+02:00

"Tell me how you will measure me and I will tell you how I will behave."

Heritage India Visits

2011-02-07T10:08:00.002+02:00

2010 was year of Indian heritage site visits.

It started with Hampi, Pattadakal, Aihole, Badami and Bijapur in January. Wonderful company, great guide and a change in my mindset. I always thought that we Indians didn’t know how to maintain and preserve our heritage. But the visit to Hampi and Pattadakal changed that. These sites were impeccably clean and well maintained. No loitering in the parks around the temples and most surprisingly, no Lays packets flying all around! There is a scope for improvement in Hampi as the way to the sites were quiet dirty. But still, kudos!!!

There was one thing that bothered me a lot though. Isn't it a shame that the sites have to be UNESCO protected and only then will we maintain them!

Loads of temples and ruins of palaces amidst vast stretches of boulder-strewn hills makes Hampi quite interesting. Matunga hill is a must climb for its beautiful view from the top …we went for the sunrise. People say sunset is even more beautiful that the sunrise. It wasn’t intentional, but I remembered one of our group commenting much before this trip…she was fed up of sunsets…sunset in the desert in Rajasthan, sunset over the ocean in Oia and what not! So I guess, for her sake, sunrise was a change!

2 days in Hampi were not enough….I know I could have spent some more time. But we had to move on to Pattadakal. Incredible India adverts and tickets have a picture of a temple, which I often thought was one of the Hampi temples. But it is actually the Pattadakal one. From there to the Aihole and Badami caves. Guess after Hampi and Pattadakal, these were a bit of a let down. Not that well maintained.

Bijapur…not sure why we had that one in this itinerary. It was far and tiring. And all we got time to see was the Gol Gumbaaz. Though no doubts it was awesome, specially the guide there, who thought he was next best to Jagjit Singh. To demonstrate the famous whispering gallery, he sang some nice ghazals for us. It did sound nice, I must say!

In September, it was Ajanta & Ellora Caves and Hazoor Sahib near Aurangabad. I was asked by my friend if I was interested and I said yeahhhh, still in 2 minds. There was an exchange of emails, which went to an email id I was hardly checking and before I knew it, bookings were done and I was part of that trip. No regrets though. Again, wonderful company, new friends and some adventures.

Recommendation for all….no need to climb the Daulatabad Fort and drain your energy if you don’t have sufficient time. We were so tired after the climb in the hot sun, that we didn’t have enough time and energy left for the Ellora caves.

It was disappointing to see people loitering around eating food and making a mess in the caves. But they didn’t know what was in store for them when Meera went and complained to the officials there and made them clean up after them. And the mouthful that they got from the rest of us!

In Ajanta though I was in for a pleasant surprise. A man seemed to have some paan in his mouth and so the guard wouldn’t let him into the cave. When the man denied having something in his mouth, he made him open his mouth and checked it. I couldn’t resist appreciating this and giving him a ‘shaabash’

Ellora sculptuues and Ajanta paintings are mind-blowing. The 3D pictures, where as you turn around , the face of the child / bull seems to move with you were specially very impressive.

In November it was Amritsar. I have often been there on religious visits with my family. But we always just went to Harmandir Sahib and the surrounding Gurudwaras. Since this time I went with friends, I got a chance to visit the JallianWala Bagh. As if the site itself didn't make you shudder, the light and sound show in the evening in Amitabh Bachchan’s voice sure gives you the Goosebumps.

And finally, last but definitely the icing on the cake was Belur and Halebeedu near Chickmangalur. Having a guide makes all the difference. As they explain the detailed ornate carvings, which otherwise would make no sense you are left in awe…what details, a small sculpture can explain an entire mythological story.

All these visits filled me with pride…

PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN!

Arguments

2011-01-04T14:33:00.002+02:00

Why do I still linger
Over these problems, unresolved,
And why do still I revisit
All of these arguments, yet unsolved?

Why do I rewind them
To play back in my head,
And why do I unearth them,
These things, buried and dead?

Why do I try to fix
These things, which are still broken,
And why do I still try to recall
All of these words, long unspoken?

Why do I try to resolve
All of these differences that remain,
And why do I try to ease
All of this misunderstanding and its pain?

Why do I try to make them better,
These things that went wrong,
And why do I try to change the past,
Instead of moving along?

Why do I try to make some sense
From all of this confusion,
And is my hope just in vain,
Is it only just an illusion?

~Anonymous Poet

2011…A New Decade!

2011-01-02T14:24:00.000+02:00

Hobbes:   A new decade is coming up.
Calvin:     Yeah, big deal! Hmph. Where are the flying cars? Where are the moon colonies? Where are the personal robots and the zero gravity boot, uh? You call this a new decade?! You call this the future??
HA! Where are the rocket packs? Where are the disintegration rays? Where are the floating cities?
Hobbes:   Frankly, I’m not sure people have the brains to manage the technology they’ve got.
Calvin: I mean, look at this! We still have weather?! Give me a break!

Jana kahaan tha, pahunch gaye kahan!

2010-12-28T15:57:00.002+02:00

We had about half a day in Åndalsnes and the visitor center had several leaflets outlining the best hiking trails through the Romsdalen Alps, a string of mountains enveloping Åndalsnes. It seems there are 200 hiking trails there, unfortunately not very well marked! I guess Finland had spoilt me as in Rukka the variants of the trails were so well marked.

There was a “city peak” …the Nesaksla (715m above sea level) which starts in the center of town and has spectacular views over the Romsdals fjord and is supposed to peak after only one hour hiking. As I looked up to the peak, I was like this is going to be very steep since they say it peaks quite fast. I was a little hesitant, but my friend was we’ll go till we can. This is a picture of the peak we climbed…or at least attempted to climb!!!

Every time we go for hikes or in the forests my friend is is looking for trees to climb on. We jokingly call her ‘Jane’. And this trail was her fantasy…we would stop every few minutes to climb trees. The blue berries on the way too kept us occupied. I think we would have easily eaten 1/2 kg each that day!

After about 2.5 hrs of trekking, the peak still didn’t seem to be in sight. And the trail also didn’t seem very steep. An old couple with their son had crossed us on the way when we were on top of a tree.

When we caught up with them again, we asked how far till the trail finishes. And he was like another 30 mins…but when we mentioned Nesaksla, he couldn’t stop his smile. We were on the wrong trail!!!!

We wanted to go to trail no 7….and we were on 8…not much difference in number but….:-)

We decided to return from there…while going we were so occupied climbing trees and eating berries that we didn’t keep any landmarks. So while returning there was this V and we didn’t know which way to go. And we had a train to catch at 4:00!!! We tried the right side…after few minutes I was like, this doesn’t seem to be where we came from. So back we went and started walking on the left side of the V. Again I felt that this was not where we came from!!!!

Confusion….when suddenly P noticed the orange mushroom that we had seen on the way. Whew…relief! But its so funny, when returning we just seemed to think that we hadn't crossed that place before…it looked different and we couldn’t seem to find many of the things that we had stopped to look at earlier….like my HIDEOUT!

As we returned I had no regret that we were on the were trail, we enjoyed this one quite a lot! And it wasn’t steep at all so we didn’t tire out also. And imagine if we had got lost on the steeper trail, going back and forth wouldn’t have been very nice when one has a train to catch!

So for once I was glad we lost our way!

Trollstigen Mountain Road and Geirangerfjord- Norway

2010-12-23T18:22:00.002+02:00

For search, I am a Google fan. But I definitely visit Bing once a day…to check out the beautiful home page. They do pick up the most tempting pictures!!! The Trollstigen Mountain Road was added to our Norway itinerary thanks to Bing…it had the most awesome picture, coincidentally when I was planning this trip!

Hurtigruten cruises are another very popular way to experience the Norway fjords. They have a several day cruise from Bergen in the South all the way up to Kirkenes in the North. Though we didn’t have the time (and money!) for that, there is an option to join the cruise for a day in between.

So the plan was to get from Molde to Geiranger via the Trollstigen, from where we could join the cruise and experience the Geirangerfjord, which is famous for ‘The seven sisters’ waterfalls and the fact that is is on UNESCO’s world heritage sites list. From there cruise goes to Ålesund and back to Molde.

The Molde tourism office runs a bus trip from Molde to Geiranger and you can get an all inclusive trip which would includes the Hurtigruten leg also. Purrrfect!

What is Trollstigen and what is so special about it. You have to see it to believe it… its steep…very steep with an incline of 9% and 11 hair pin bends up a mountain side!!! And encircling this are the mountains I mentioned earlier also -The King(Kongen), the Queen(Dronningen) and the Bishop(Bispen), now easier to recognize from the bus. The road winds all the way up to Stigrøra (858 metres above sea level).

At the top of the mountain, there is a viewpoint. On the way to the viewpoint and all over in Norway we noticed these piles of stone…(even in my earlier trip to Nordkapp I had noticed and wondered what they were). It seems that this is Local Graffiti….’WE WERE HERE!!!’. Honestly we didn’t make one of our own…there were already so many and some were really artistic!

There is a wired mesh…strong one on which can walk above a gushing Stigfossen waterfall. As you stand on it and look below, it feels you are going to get swept with the water, Nice effect!

From there the bus goes through Valldal, know as the strawberry village. Strawberry farms on both sides of the road and it was peak season so we caught many people picking strawberries. At several places, children were selling these fresh strawberries and cherries.

Children will be the same all over the world. They love getting their snap clicked, whether they get the snap in the end or not. So as I was about to click a snap of one boy selling the berries, and suddenly a girl from the other site, just dumped her basket and came charging to get into the snap!

A wild river runs through the Valldal valley creating several nice waterfalls, many of which are next to the road, so that we could stop and see them close. Though small, the force of the water was too much and it’s a very quiet place, so that one can actually enjoy the sound of water.

We follow the Eagle road, which has the most awesome views of the Geirangerfjord before we reach Geiranger and get on to the Hurtigruten.

We had just settled down and the cruise people were announcing some names…when we said, “what if our names are announced?”. And next thing…’Ms Daxini and Ms Nurpuri….please report to the reception immediately!’.

:-) False alarm…they just wanted to give us the boarding cards.

The Seven Sisters was a bit of a let down. It seemed not enough rainfall this year and so there were not the 7 distinguishable waterfalls. But the overall beauty of the fjord more than made up for it.

Molde - Norway

2010-12-17T18:17:00.004+02:00

Next destination – Molde …an overnight train journey from Bergen to Oslo and then another train journey from Oslo to Åndalsnes. The latter was divided into 2 parts…Oslo to Dombås, which was beautiful…as expected of Norway. But the Dombås to Åndalsnes journey on what is called the Rauma Railway was breathtakingly, mind-blowingly beautiful. Not only for the sights but also because it was like a guided tour with a recorded voice in the train pointing out sights and providing information. The train actually slows down at some places for us to enjoy the sights. So much so that we did same journey on the way back but there was no sense of boredom. As if that was not enough, they also handout these very pretty brochures with the highlights of the journey.

Dombås is at the highest point on the railway line so very soon into the journey we experienced such sheer mountain precipices. The River Rauma runs along the railway line and train crosses the river on quaint wooden,granite and stone bridges several times in order to cope with the huge change in altitude. At one place its like hair pin bends using both sides of the valley…now the river on your left and now on your right and me as usual jumping from one side to the other! The Kylling Bridge is quite spectacular in its height especially considering was built by the local people with only the help of bridge experts.

The whole line was quite impressive – especially the Stavem Turning Tunnel which is really an engineering feat. The train almost completes a circle inside the mountain within this1340 mt tunnel. It emerges out of the tunnel pointing in the other direction only 19 mts over the place from where it entered the tunnel!

And finally in the last leg of the journey…the impressive Troll peaks. Trolls are creatures from Norwegian fairy tales. Said to live in the forests and mountains, they are enormously large, ugly and stupid and turn to stone if they are exposed to sunlight. Trolltindene (Troll Peaks) are massive at 1800 mts above sea level and legend is that these are actually trolls that were turned to stone when caught in sunlight and so many of these peaks are named after Trolls. Trollveggen is next…Europe’s highest perpendicular mountain wall …total drop is 1800 mts and 1000 mts is a sheer precipice.

At Åndalsnes which is surrounded by peaks, we are asked to look for the Bishop, the Queen and the King! I honestly could not make out the King or Queen, though the Bishop was easily identifiable.

From there to Molde by bus - the town of Jazz and Roses. Guess we were visiting at the end of the season, so we didn't see as many Roses blooming everywhere as expected. But we did see the famous Rose Maiden – a bronze statue of a girl with a basket of roses!

The town itself was quite beautiful and we decided to just walk around using the map which showed 2 trails to follow to cover the sites of the town. Eating berries, playing on swings and posing among roses, we finally reached the Romsdal Open Museum…even though it was past closing hours a gentlemen said we were welcome to explore around inside!!!

From there we climbed up to the Varden…initially we couldn’t find the way to go up, and nearly decided to give up…but eventually we went and it was so worth it - the Molde panorama was awesome. There are 222 mountain peaks in this panaroma…and using this map like thing one can point to and see each one.

As we returned to town we saw this really nice statue. The sculptor had captured the glee on the child’s face so well. From there to the pier where I felt one can see one of the best panorama-views in Norway… a large bay with hundreds of high mountains and various islands.

To end our day was ‘an eat all you can Pizza time’. Because we ordered vegetarian and I guess we were the only ones…so we didn’t get slices…just one HUGE pizza. We were so wrong when we thought we wouldn’t be able to finish even half. That’s what fresh, mountain air does to you…we cleaned it all up!

Swami and Friends

2010-12-05T06:53:00.002+02:00

An adaptation of R.K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends – I knew I had to go for this. I know not one Indian who is not a fan of Swami made particularly famous by the DD serial ‘Malgudi Days’. I can hear many of you humming ’taa na na nana ta na’

The brochure said…’faithful to the novel but adapted and directed with a fresh perspective’. I would so agree with that for this one time many will come out as fans of Mani.

Mani, with his curly hair and idiotic smile just stole the show. As the ‘sutradhar’, when he was telling the anecdotes to Rajam, the faraway, dreamy look in his eyes was so natural.

“What is the holy trinity?” Swami’s ‘Vishnu, Brahma and Shive’ bought out laughs in the audience, but Mani’s ‘Swami, Rajam and Mani’ along with that idiotic laugh, had the audience roaring.

This is not to say that Swami was not good. The helplessness and ‘I can’t understand the logic of the Arithmetic teacher’ came out brilliantly.

For the history teacher all I can say is my biggest regret is why I didn’t have him as my teacher - with his enacting classed would have been very interesting!!!

A well spent Saturday evening!

Our Destiny, Life and Prayers

2010-12-03T09:11:00.002+02:00

From Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Overall, an OK book, a one time read. But there were these 2 or 3 bits that I just loved …Simple words…but so profound.

Coincidentally, all are from the Pray section of the book….surprising because I wear this badge of being a very unspiritual person!!!

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Better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody’s life with perfection. So now I have started living my own life. Imperfect and clumsy as it may look, it is resembling me now, thoroughly.

God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are. God isn't interested in watching you enact some performance of personality in order to comply with some notion….

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Richard found himself praying all the time. His prayer was always the same. He kept begging God, “Please, please, please open my heart.” That was all he wanted – an open heart. And he would always finish the prayer for an open heart by asking God, “And please send me a sign when the event has occurred.” After a few months of praying constantly for an open heart, what do you think Richard got?That’s right – emergency open-heart surgery. His chest was literally cracked open, his ribs cleaved away from each other to allow some daylight to finally reach into his heart, as though God were saying, “How’s that for a sign?” So now Richard is always cautious with his prayers, he tells me. “Whenever I pray for anything these days, I always wrap it up by saying, ‘Oh, and God? Please be gentle with me, OK?”

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Of course God already knows what I need. The question is – do I know? Casting yourself at God’s feet in helpless desperation is all well and good – heaven knows, I’ve done it myself plenty of times – but ultimately you're likely to get more out of the experience if you can take some action on your end. There’s a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, “Dear saint – please, please, please ….give me the grace to win the lottery.” This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, “My son – please, please, please…buy a ticket”

A Wedding Album

2010-12-01T13:47:00.002+02:00

Maybe it would be unfair if I said that this play didn't meet my expectations, probably because I had recently seen Miss Meena - a creative masterpiece and this set the benchmark quite high.

Moreover, just by virtue of it being a Girish Karnad play, directed by Lillete Dubey, boasting a star cast with Lillete Dubey, Ira Dubey, Suchitra Pillai, Utkarsh Mazumdar, Amar Talwar one really has some high expectations.

The acting was brilliant – no doubts about that. Guess the story line was not very intelligent and that’s why we didn't see any of the expected sharp and witty humor one associates with Girish Karnad. In fact I think the story was more appropriate for a B-class Bollywood movie than a play with such a brilliant cast!

It reminded me of one of those Govinda-Karisma Kapoor movies, which were a rage in the 90s. There were several of them, but I am sure no one remembers which one was which. There will definitely be confusions on which scene / dialog / song was in which movie. The movie made you laugh for a bit, but nothing that stayed with you for even a minute after the movie was over.

The theme is how the traditional Indian Wedding has changed in today's globalized, technologically advanced world…a subject which maybe could have been handled more innovatively. But the characters where stereotypes.

So we have this EDUCATED, LIBERAL, MODERN urban middle-class family – an elder daughter who lives abroad with her professional husband, a son who is a software designer BUT the younger daughter is willing to marry a suitable boy from the US whom she has never met. The play starts with the brother making a video of his younger sister to showcase her to the prospective groom. Not theatre material…I say… Bollywood material!

But not to take everything from the play …it does have some charming moments and witty dialogues. Utkarsh Mazumdar was brilliant – his portrayal as Appa who still lives in the past had everyone laughing, especially when he would repeat the dialog about ‘had his brother been alive…’

The prospective groom from the United States (not sure of his name) was super….his American twang was just out of the world. His talk, his body language, accent… everything was just so USA returned!

Maybe if the play stayed in this one theme, it would have done better…but me no expert. This is just my personal view, but the play tried to raise too many questions and in the end leaving some of them unanswered…as in what was with the dead uncle. And the most ominous one…did she find happiness getting married to that obnoxious creature or as advised by her siblings..that if things didn't work out, she could always come back, did she return?

Remember…

2010-11-30T14:05:00.002+02:00

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.

An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.

~Will Rogers

Bergen–Norway

2010-11-29T14:41:00.002+02:00

We reached Bergen quite late in the evening and were trying to find our way about and asked directions from this really sweet Chinese girl. She offered to show us the correct bus stop and we started chatting, asking her what according to her as a local (she was born there), are the must see sights in Bergen etc. She just hoped for us that the weather would hold up…then quizzically looked at us…’You have heard about the Bergen weather, haven't you?’.

Few conversations later with locals and guides, and we come to know about the famous (or should I say infamous?) Bergen weather. Bergen gets an average of 80 inches of rain per year and boasts only 60 days of sunshine in a good year. Typical days are the ones with an all-day downpour!!! In fact there is a famous saying in this part of the world… “There’s no such thing as bad weather – just inappropriate clothing.” And we were inappropriately dressed…no umbrellas, no rain jackets!!!

Small wooden houses characterize this city and the no 1 touristy thing to do is visit the part of the city called Old Bergen. So that is where we headed the next morning. Old Bergen has been reconstructed along the harbor with wooden houses from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Dating back almost 900 years, these old wooden buildings along the harbor front in Bergen are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

A short walk and we reached Bryggen’s Museum. They have a 90 minutes guided walk that starts at the Bryggen’s Museum, then walks through Bryggen and ends at the Hanseatic Museum.

The guide was very informative but what we realized here is that unlike some other places where the guides tend to have a great sense of humor and make the guided tour very interesting with anecdotes and just some off the top of their head comments and have you giggling all the time, here they take their guiding very, very seriously. It was like one big monotone. I wouldn't say he had mugged it all up and didn't have any knowledge apart from his script because he was able to answer all the questions that we asked.

Viking land…it finally hit me as I saw a huge Viking Ship the moment we entered the display section of this museum. Bryggen’s Museum has been built on the site of the archeological excavations or the remains of the first settlement at Bryggen. The oldest buildings are from the 12th century, and the various finds have been left in the ground where they were found by the archaeologists. Bergen has been ravaged by fires and they have used the layers of housing to determine the age of the buildings. in spite of many fires over the centuries, Bergen still has one of the largest collections of wooden dwellings in Europe.

On our way out, saw this interesting Metallurgy on the wall of the museum. Looking closely one realized that they were Viking Ships.

The wooden buildings in Bryggen are in the form of double tenements (row houses) which are very colorful and tall but at the same time very narrow and lean haphazardly across the narrow cobblestone streets and planked walkways. They have nice pulley systems to pull the stuff up to the top floor.The narrow lanes and by-lanes dotted with quaint little shops and workshops in this area means its quite easy to go around in circles. But the beauty is that every time, you end up peeking inside some other shop so it looks like you are in that lane for the 1st time! We did see one very interesting building…it had been partly reclaimed. So one half is higher than the other!

The Hanseatic Museum shows how the German merchants from The Hanseatic League lived and worked and is the only house on Bryggen which has kept its original interior. Quite an interesting (but stinky) museum, with it’s piles of dried Salmon!!! The way they utilized space….narrow beds in a small cupboard like enclosure…made me wonder…were they slaves? But what I liked most here were the beautiful water color paintings.

Now on our own to discover some more of the city, we were walking around when I noticed that the drain holes were quite decorative and interesting. Later in Oslo we were told that the ones there show the Saint of Oslo. Not sure what the one in Bergen represents though. We did manage to attract quite a few smiles as we tried to get a shots of ourselves against a backdrop of Bryggen from across the street– we wanted to remove our sweaters and jackets and we didn’t want any vehicles in the background…so wait, wait, wait for the prefect shots!

Walked through the next most important place in Bergen - The Fish Market, though I guess we weren't in any mood for shopping so we just walked right across to the ‘Baguette Place’, where my friend got such an interesting one done…that the guy behind the counter commented…This is the 1st time I made something like this!!!

Enough of aimless walking, we decided to go for a City Walking Tour. It starts at the Tourist Information Center- which is also known as the Fresco Hall for its beautiful frescoes which are now recognized as a national treasure. The 3 walls have 3 different themes – as you enter the wall on your left is the North Country Wall representing fishing near Lofoten in North-Norway, the wall in front is the The Bergen Wall which shows the heavily loaded vessels arriving at the Bergen harbor and their trade to the world market, and the wall to your right is the The World Wall, showing man's importance in the busy machine age. Interesting information, which I wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't pointed it out. But what really made this walk worth it was the walk through these narrow staircase like pathways between the houses. I don't think we would have ventured there on our own! Or even known that those ways existed. All along she gave us interesting facts about Bergen. Like the city is built on seven mountains and straddles seven fjords.

At the end of this walk we had planned to go up to Mount Floyen. The only difference we had was…should we walk it or should we catch the Funicular or the Floybanen. There were numerous paths through beautiful woodland terrain to reach the top, but I just didn't have the energy. So finally we decided…we take the Floybanen up and come down walking. In hindsight, I would say that it was a brilliant decision. The views as we went up the funicular were magnificent. And it gave is time to explore the woods at the top. There were several walks and we decided to take the one which goes to a lake. It was a beautiful walk but soon it started drizzling and as we were returning fog enveloped us. I was in 2 minds, maybe we should take the funicular back. But P was hell bent…she wanted to trek down and so off we went, with me nervous like anything….I know its not like India where we don't have railings etc. And I possibly couldn't fall off the cliff. But I was worried that we would get lost. But I should have rest assured because as we were walking down we saw so many locals. This was a normal route for them, something they probably take everyday to and fro from work, school etc.

Tired feet…but still craving to see more of this beautiful town. Compromise…we see the sights as we walk towards the railway station. We had only a day here, but to others I would recommend at least 2 days here.

Norway In A Nutshell

2010-11-26T13:49:00.002+02:00

During the initial planning for Scandinavia visits, we started with Copenhagen in Denmark, Norway, Stockholm and Helsinki. As the costs started escalating slowly, slowly we started dropping off places. Helsinki went first, then Denmark. One of things that made us sure that Norway wont be the one that will not go off the list was the ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ trip. The description, pictures and videos had us totally floored.

This trip is like one of those hop on, hop off tourist buses…expect its not just a bus. But various modes of transport – train, boat and bus rides are used as one moves from Oslo in the South East to Bergen in the South West. The trip traverses through beautiful and ever changing landscape and one gets to see some of the most spectacular fjords, breathtaking waterfalls and also get a taste of human achievement when the bus takes the Stalheimskleiva road

The trip starts at 8:00 AM from Oslo…so packed breakfast munched at the bus stop as we rushed to the railway station to start the first leg of the journey on ‘The Bergen Railway’ from Oslo to Myrdal.

The journey is about 5 hrs over Europe’s largest mountain plateau and quite a bit runs through harsh mountain terrain….but one doesn’t tire staring out of the window to catch the panorama of spectacular scenery with the waterfalls and greenery! No wonder that this ride has been voted one of the world’s most beautiful train journeys. 2nd week of August is nearly the end of the tourist season so we were lucky, the train wasn’t very crowded. And so like a little kid I would hop from one side to the other, from back of the coach to the front, to shoot picturesque memories. I just couldn't get enough - I have 172 snaps from only this one day!

All the pamphlets said…glorious views of the snow-capped fjords and glaciers. But by beginning of August most of the snow has melted, leaving my friend a bit disappointed as she kept waiting for the snow capped mountains to appear!!!

As we got off the train in Myrdal, there was a distinct chill in the air. Since there was lots of changes in transport and we didn't want to be lugging around a lot of luggage, we had decided to leave a major part of our luggage in Oslo. But I don't know why, I had carried a sweater, shawl, cap and a thin jacket. So on came the sweater, shawl, cap…while my friend had a double layer of jackets on as we waited at the Railway Station for the next leg of the journey – from Myrdal to Flåm on the famous local Flåm Railway, a beautiful 1 hour journey.

Considered a masterpiece of engineering, the Flåm Train glides through tunnels and open stretches on its way down to wild Flam valley. The mountains were mighty impressive…really huge and with these hundreds of waterfalls, many of which were not very voluminous but their depth was amazing. A long, long trickle, that falls over these gigantic mountains.

Though there was this one thundering waterfall where the train stops to let you enjoy the waterfall. As we were just soaking in the beauty, we heard surreal music. I was looking around to see if some person had some kind of a music system, when suddenly everyone was pointing at the rocks just next to the waterfall. A lady in red was dancing on the rocks. Suddenly she disappeared and reappeared at another higher place!!!Actually that was another one. They did this beautiful duet between them, when one would go down another would come up and take over from where she left. It was so smooth, and gave the intended effect, of a fairy flying about!!!

I was just so impressed with this idea. Why couldn't we in India do something like this. Imagine…Jog Falls and a lady doing some Bharat Natyam close by. It would be awesome!!! But if wishes were horses….

A short stop at Flåm and off we were on a 2 hr Fjord cruise to Gudvangen. There were these plastic chairs that you take and put them on the deck where you want to sit. We did get 2 chairs and placed them right in front of the cruise boat, but didn't sit for even a second. There is just no way to describe this journey. A fjord is described as narrow deep inlets of the sea set between high rocky cliffs…high rocky cliffs doesn't even sound half as impressive as they are. They were massive and the water just kept changing colors.

The place that we had made for a wonderful place to pose and get pictures. We were constantly being requested to take photos for people and soon we were joking around and demanding 10 bucks!!! Our joviality, though had a side effect when one Russian fellow got after my friend and kept on chewing her brains. He insisted that she try a sip of his Russian Vodka…that also neat, that he had been sipping constantly from a coke bottle. Normal circumstances I would have walked away from him. But our spot was perfect…gave us spellbinding views of the fjords as the boat cruised along, so much so that I decide to just tolerate him!

The boat goes from Sognefjord into the Naeroyfjord, which is one of the narrowest fjords in Europe, surrounded by mighty mountains of up to 1800 meters. Often the boat would move closer to the shore and slow down to give us closer views of the waterfalls or scenery. We even managed to see some seals! And some solitary homes at the top of the mountains!!!

At Gudvangen we disembarked to continue our journey by bus through a mountainous valley to Voss. Here we noticed in the Norwegian landscape, houses with grass on the roofs. It seems, this not only keeps the houses warm, but is a good alternative to the tiles. The last bit of the bus ride is on the Stalheimskleiva road, where the driver zoomed down the twists and turns to cover 13 hairpin bends! It was quite steep and a bit scary…actually quite a bit of an adventure. It wouldn't do justice to our reputation if we Indians got scared on a bus… after all we have experience with the Calcutta Taxi and Kerala Red Bus Drivers!

It is absolutely essential to experience the amazing Norway in a Nutshell as it leaves you completely dazzled. And my friend wasn't exaggerating when she said that Norway is a beautiful picture perfect country.

Oslo or Jullandhar!

2010-11-18T19:02:00.004+02:00

Norway finally!!! It seemed at one point that it wasn't happening…several plans with different groups of friends just wouldn’t materialize. The worst was the plan cancelled by 2 of my friends because of the volcano in Iceland and the subsequent disruption in air traffic. We had done just so much r & d on the net.
Luckily all the research didn’t go waste when suddenly one day quite close to my return from Finland, one of my friends decided she was coming to Scandinavia.

Her tickets were blocked, we were awaiting the visa when suddenly we had another scare. My company nearly cancelled my leave! But I managed to convince them by cutting short the trip by 2 days and deciding to visit only Norway and give Stockholm and Helsinki a miss.

But I guess there were still more surprises in store. All train tickets, hostels and guided trips booked, we were getting all excited when for some reason I revisited the bookings. And thank god for that - my friend had by mistake booked all hostels for 2011 instead of 2010!!! I had a strong feeling we wouldn’t get hostel bookings for 2010 since we were making bookings too close to the dates, but fortunately I was proved wrong….and am I glad. Most of the hostels changed the dates and only in one place we had to book another hotel.

So finally after our share of adventure we landed in Oslo. Though initially Norway beckoned because of its natural beauty and fjords, I was sure we were in for a lot of culture too. It was evident from the tails of the Norwegian airlines planes!

Luckily there was a direct bus from the airport (nearly 50 kms from Oslo city) that left us quite close to the youth hostel. Otherwise living up to its reputation as the most expensive city in the world it would have cost us a bomb to take a cab!

If I had to describe Norway in just one word, it wouldn’t be that difficult. There is just beauty everywhere. Even the ride from the airport to the city was beautiful. I wondered, do they have any industries and polluting factories?

My friend had reached a couple of hours earlier than me and so she had already left for city center when I reached. She has picked up some of the tourist books and maps…1st glance…this place has soooooooooooooooooooo many museums! There are 50 museums and galleries in Oslo itself!!! We marked what we wanted to cover and immediately took off exploring Oslo.

I saw this beautiful statue outside the Opera House. It is another statue of the playwright Henrik Ibsen that is more famous and visited by tourists, but I personally feel that she deserves more recognition when I heard about her. Her name is Wenche Foss, an actress who had a child with Down’s syndrome. At a time when people hid about their differentially abled children , she openly took him out and felt no shame. She was also diagnosed with cancer and felt no embarrassment in being photographed bald. She is also the mother of the Oslo Mayor!

The square outside the National theater was like in most cities with live singing by 2 ladies and jugglers etc.

From there we moved to Holmenkollen, the ski jump arena and museum, which honestly was a let down given the amount of publicity it gets. Its in the top 10 attractions in Oslo, though I beg to differ. Infact I preferred the cute wooden church close by, even though it was closed and we couldn’t go inside.

Back to Oslo city center, where we heard there was some Mela! Artists from all over the world would be performing that weekend. As we moved towards our destination, we were shocked to see many, many Indians. It was like every 2nd person is an Indian. As we reached the Town Hall, we realized that day there were Indian and Pakistani artists performing and so the crowd of Asians. And then there were the stalls of Jalebis, Samosas, Kababs etc. It was like we were in Jullandhar and not Oslo. I was starved of India…I had been in Finland for last 6 months, so was totally excited at seeing all that jhim jham. My friend was like…I want to see Oslo, not India!

And true Indian Mela Istyle, one could get ones picture taken outside the Taj Mahal or standing alongside a jazzed up truck straight from Pakistan!

Calvin’s Serenity Prayer

2010-11-17T18:11:00.002+02:00

The strength to change what I can,
The inability to accept what I can't,
And the incapacity to tell the difference.

Some of us prefer it to the original…which goes like…

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

The Guinness record for Talking goes to…

2010-11-16T15:14:00.001+02:00

This post is a request…I had mentioned to my friend that a certain gentleman was BLOG MATERIAL and then somehow didn’t get down to writing the blog. She reminded me…it appears to me that she is following my blog and has been eagerly waiting for this post. (Well..SJ if you read this, you better leave behind a comment as this one is for you!)

On a recent trip to Chennai, my friend and I were forced to share a cab with a gentleman from our office. Our manager mentioned as we were leaving…’he’s a real nice fellow…but talks a lot’. That from him should have warned us…as he himself talks non stop and nineteen to a dozen!!!

We had barely settled in the cab that he started firing questions at us. In about 1 KM i.e to someone who knows the route, I would mention till we reached from our office to the main DLF Park gate, he had gathered from us how long we had been working with QA team, which project we were in now, how long we had been with Logica, how long in Bangalore, how long in Chennai etc etc.

Without even catching his breath, he moved to the next topic. It must be appreciated that he was NEVER, not even for a second at a loss for a topic to converse on.

Where do I stay in Bangalore, is it my own house or rented. As I mentioned ITPL, he asked if my husband works in ITPL. The moment I said happily unamarried, his brain started working double time. Calculations…and as he started asking more questions on my experience I could feel he is trying to calculate my age. I saved him the trouble and told him my age. I couldn’t see his face but am sure his jaw dropped. But still that didn’t stop him from blabbering away. He was like ‘Look at the girls these days. And then he started telling us about another colleague of ours, who was also not married, saying that she says ‘ she is happy like this and doesn’t want to get married’. The saving grace was that SJ is married! I wonder what would have happened if SJ also said she was unmarried!

But she wasn’t to be spared either. She was hungry and this gentleman decided that the next topic of discussion would be food!!! It all started with where I was staying in Chennai? I was in a guest house and this place serves only vegetarian food and that was why he hated it when he was made to stay there the last time he was in Chennai. He was like “I need at least 15 non veg items on my plate when I am here in Chennai…chicken, muuton, fish…’. Had we been to XYZ restaurant (cant remember the name now)?” As we said no, he made it sound as if we had missed out on life itself. “What a place, so much food, chicken, mutton, gravy. He was like, I have told admin, I will stay only in the hotel. No guest house for me.”

The excitement in his words was infectious. SJ was like…should we go and have food there now?

Then he went on to describe the previous evening. He went to some bar and restaurant near his place…he refused to tell the name of this place as he began his anecdote. Not that he gave us a chance after that to ask him once again the name of the place!!! It seems with the beer the waiter came with…not one BUT 4 BIG bowls of snacks…and free!!! There was chips, peanuts, mixture…he ate and drank and ate and drank.

By now SJ’s stomach was growling and growling. She wanted to know if we could get anything to eat at the guest house. I was like I can ask the caretaker to make some idlis. That was it. Our conversation…

Him: for dinner?

Me: no snacks. (actually I could have Idlis for dinner but he made it sound as if we were crazy)

Him: At this time? (It was 7:00). If you have snacks now, when will you have dinner. What time do you have your dinner, what time do you have lunch? What time do you have breakfast?

Without even giving us a chance to speak, he was like…looks like you all eat the whole day long!

These are just some of the discussions we had that evening. But believe me, he didn’t pause for even a second in the whole 1.5 hrs journey. So much so that by the end of it, SJ decided that we would get off and take an auto.

There was one more person from his team in the car who was to get off in town and where SJ and I decided to get off also. And as all 3 of us got off, you could hear the disappointment in his voice…all 3 of you are getting off.

We smiled and nodded and at least SJ and I thought…poor driver, he’s in for it now!

I talk a LOT! So does SJ! And definitely our manager too. Well, he talks more than the 3 of us put together!!!

Growing old…gracefully?

2010-10-26T15:02:00.003+03:00

As we got off the cruise ship at Molde, a lady caught both my friends and my eye. At the risk of sounding ageist…she was, I would say, a senior citizen…maybe in her seventies.

Enchantingly dressed…what with matching shoes, bag, hat and chunky jewelry. A designer haircut – top half of her hair were naturally grey, she seemed to have dyed the lower part a black!

I would say… dressed to kill.

My ideal…that's how I would like to age. It reminded me of a poem that a friend forwarded some time back.

Warning – Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Quotable Quote!

2010-10-19T09:45:00.003+03:00

"Better to get a sore neck from aiming too high than a hunch back from aiming too low”

Anonymous

Miss Meena

2010-10-18T10:27:00.002+03:00

Finland was fun…a lot of fun, but one thing I really missed about Bangalore was the theatre scene especially Rangashankara. I returned and was dying to catch a play…it didn't help that Rangashankara was closed for 2 weeks for maintenance and renovation.
Finally, Miss Meena was playing one weekend. I hadn’t heard about the group before but it sounded good. Couldn't find any company to join me, so heights of desperation…I decided to go alone and that also the evening show. It was so worth it.

Miss Meena‘s script is loosely based on ‘The Visit’ by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. The tagline was "A Play In English and a Smattering of Other Languages". Only it wasn’t just a smattering. There was some Hindi, wee bit of Kannada and a bit too much Tamil for my liking and understanding.It was a bit irritating, but the play was so brilliantly creative that I would still recommend it to people who don’t speak Hindi, Tamil or Kannada.

The plot revolves around a film star Miss Meena (earlier Asha), who is returning to her native village Pichampuram after two decades. In the meantime Pichampuram has descended into a state of dire poverty. The play opens with the villagers hoping that Meena will rescue her village. The onus is put by the villagers on Ravi to plead their case since they had something going many years back and she must still have some feelings for him.

Ms. Meena arrives …and that was the 1st glimpse of creativity. So we have this group of people singing a song (Miss Meena, Miss Meena, avala pere Miss Meena) and it suddenly they converge into a circle in the centre of the stage. The lights dim a bit, but its not totally dark. The circle opens up to give us our first glimpse of Miss Meena who has apparated in the middle of that from god alone knows where. How the hell she reached there…I still haven't been able to figure out.

Miss Meena agrees to help the village…in totally filmi style she announces that she will make her final film here and that would boost the village as many people will visit it in her remembrance and to pay homage to her. The film will also star the villagers. But in return for that…she wants the life of Ravi. It seems he had dumped her…and as they say - ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’

And suddenly from the sweet Meena….she transforms to the bitter. Throughout the act effortlessly she reflects the pose-for-the-camera-sweetness and underlying bitterness.

What I liked best about the whole act was the creativity that shone in the usage of the props…simple props like iron bucket, brooms (the big bamboo ones used to sweep fields etc), winnowing baskets and other handicrafts, a roll of bubble wrap were used in such inventive ways.

I was just wondering what they are trying to achieve when the broom handle was used to suddenly lift the bubble wrap to a height…it was a waterfall! Complete with round winnowing baskets placed as stones to walk on!

A bucket and table frame turned into a cow….and believe me it looked really good. During the shooting of the film, a bicycle pump is used as a microphone, a broom and a churner used to create a boom microphone, and a bucket on stick represents a camera.

The bus scene was amazingly hilarious. A winnowing basket became the steering wheel, the brooms the handrails, the table frame the frame of the bus…this complete with the the slow-motion of the people moving backwards and forwards had the audience roaring.

But the most inventive was when right there in front of us, the cast constructed a statue of Ganesha using the brooms for this ears, sun glasses for his eyes, a length of red fabric(which was elsewhere used to represent a garland) his trunk…it was a very recognizable Ganesha!

Another interesting aspect of the play was the spoof on films and the parodies on movie clichés. So whether it was the rendition of a film climax with the gunfire and screaming or the ‘baaap ki beti’ sequence, they sure were a hit with the crowd. The father in the sequence is a cripple, and the way the actor enacted the crippling walk was hilarious.

And finally, a brilliant cast makes the play a must watch. Not only did they play multiple roles to perfection, but they way the enacted insects and winged moths accompanied with oral percussion was brilliant.