dr.vishwas k pai

COVID CHRONICLE

2020-07-11T10:38:00.001-07:00

NOTE: The following article is a recount of my experience with covid-19 as a patient. The idea behind this is to share the experience and throw some light such that the apprehensions and doubts of people are sorted to some extent. This is an honest attempt at that and was arrived at after a lot of persuasion and encouragement of friends and well wishers.

Day 1: I have been blessed in a way that I have never complained of HEADACHE ( many do joke : no head , no headache). But jokes apart, I have not had headache in 35 years of existence. It was a quiet Saturday evening when I had my first ever headache! And a terrible one too. It was unbearable beyond a point and had to pop in a paracetamol tablet and I slept early thinking it was due to lack of sleep.

Day 2: I woke up fine , that is with no headache. Paracetamol does work I thought. Tried to get off the bed but my lower back did not let me do that. There was excruciating pain . Now what the Hell happened, I thought! Did not want a Sunday spoilt because of backpain. Applied some ointment, hot fomentation , etc to no avail. Popped in a muscle relaxant. Spent the Sunday lazing on bed with Netflix and chill.

Day 3: Monday morning I woke up with only a niggle in my back. The pain was much lesser , I thought. After lunch on Monday afternoon was when I first coughed , a gentle one. That being the only one till evening. About 4 pm, I felt feverish , very slight rise of temp 99.2 on the thermometer. Associated it to my back pain, ppl do get fever when they have pain. After a couple of hours of sleep, woke up fresh without fever and pain. Both had disappeared. Slept well on Monday night.

Day 4: Tuesday was a busy work day. No symptoms whatsoever

Day 5: Wednesday morning my wife woke up sneezing. She has allergic rhinitis otherwise too. She sneezed till noon which is kind of a routine whenever he gets a allergic attack( or so I thought). I was fine the whole day. Wednesday night was when she developed fever and my dad had some neck pain, occasional cough and 99.3 temperature. It was raining incessantly ,so may be a seasonal flu (we thought)

Day 6: Thursday morning , I was taking shower when I first noticed that my body wash which has a very strong odor otherwise was barely noticeable. I took a big amount on my palms and kept at my nostrils and to my utter disbelief , I had total anosmia (lack of smell). I then used a lot of perfumes and sprayed in the air , on the body , on the dress and tried to smell but the sense was missing. My first panic bell rang. Dad and wife continued to have fever the whole day but were otherwise ok . No cough, running nose, body ache, anosmia, throat irritation, throat pain, lack of taste. So none of the covid 19 symptoms other than fever. One more thing about this fever was both never felt feverish except for thermometer readings, there was no pointer. Their body was not hot except very slightly at the forehead but the mercury was at 101/102^o.

Day 7: Friday morning, anosmia was status quo. Both dad and wife had quite the same day as Thursday. Fever when checked with thermometer was similar but no other symptoms.

Day 8: Saturday morning, I continued to have anosmia. Their fever would not come down. I said to myself , enough is enough and told both of them lets go get a covid test done. I did not want to further delay in case it turned out to be covid and given my dads age it would be foolish to wait anymore. We went to the designated covid hospital and gave our throat and nasopharyngeal swab. The arrangements at the hospital were just top notch and everyone knew their role and went about it like clockwork. It was really impressive. (for people who are hesitant or reluctant to go to the setup thinking its a govt hospital, trust me, its at par or even better than some of the private hospitals). Report would be available only on Sunday, so it was a long wait; mentally. But miraculously by Saturday evening both my wife and dad were afebrile(fever gone). We thought , it wasn’t covid after all.(hoping).

Day 9 : reports still awaited . after breakfast , we were watching something on tv when the phone rang and the news was broken to me , all 3 were positive. For a moment it feels like someone just pushed u off a mountain but when reality sets in , u need to understand that u need to act fast. U need to get ready and pack things, u need to go for a quarantine. As a healthcare worker , I had the option of home isolation but my wife and dad did not have( rules have changed now and asymptomatic /mildly asymptomatic patients can now avail home isolation if certain prerequisites are fulfilled). Finding a room at a private hospital was quite some task as hospitals were not yet fully prepared to take in covid positive patients. After a lot of deliberation and efforts , we did manage to find a couple of rooms at a convenient hospital both for us and doctors treating us. Intimating district authorities about our decision to opt for private treatment and getting their permission was important. We did it and followed the protocol of getting to the hospital and to the room without exposing others.

Day 10: day 2 at the hospitals , all necessary tests were performed and everything was within normal range , which was a relief. My anosmia persisted. Dad and wife had no fresh symptoms.

Day 11- Day 15: same thing , different day. My anosmia was still total , dad and wife were asymptomatic , we spent the days keeping ourselves busy with one thing or the other.

Day 16 : I was discharged and back home for isolation for another 10 days. They would be discharged in 3 more days i.e on day 10 of the swab.

Day 17-day 19: anosmia continued. They got discharged and continued home isolation.

Day 20 : miraculously enough, I was sensing the smell of the perfumed sanitiser. It was 15 days since my sense of smell had disappeared and to be able to smell again was a great feeling. Food doesn’t taste all that good if the aroma does not stimulate the olfactory apparatus.

Day 24: today I decided to pen down my experience with covid -19 . stay safe ,stay healthy!

Other important notes:

1. Covid 19 is not a death sentence. The mortality rate ( no. of people who die after getting the disease) is very low . so do not get depressed or feel shattered just because you turned positive. U are a fighter and u can fight the disease, everyone can. We need to be mentally strong .

2. Do not let your mind be perturbed by thinking about what others will think (neighbours, friends, employees, employer, public ,tom , dick and harry). Do not bother about anything. Just concentrate on yourself and your loved ones.

3. Whatsapp and other social media may humiliate you, spread real news/rumors . DO NOT CARE. The news spreads a zillion times faster than the virus itself and in no time one can become VIRAL due to a VIRUS. U need to fight the disease currently, to fight the news there is a lifetime. Just enjoy the creativity of the few who will come up with stories which will make Shakespeare look ordinary, and conspiracy theorists mundane.

4. A lot of people will call you out of concern/ love/ care/ inquisitiveness / time pass / just for confirming etc. it’s a personal choice to attend calls , reply to texts but yes it does give u a reality check on who really cares for you.

5. Quarantine period gives u a lot of time to introspect. Use it accordingly. To each his own. Some find solace in spirituality and reading religious texts. Some with meditation and yoga. Some read books , some just slept their time off.

6. A lot of people will then send various suggestions. why did u test? Just do home remedies. Well , if I had done that probably I would have been a super spreader given my occupation. Isolating once u are reported positive is different from without being reported. It is not possible to isolate at home for 17 days without a proven disease.

7. HAPPY HYPOXIA: lot of deaths reported have found this as a astonishing finding. Without a pulse oximeter it could be dangerous to simply isolate at home. Seen in covid , happy hypoxia is when a persons oxygen levels are so low that they should be experiencing fainting / organ damage but instead they are seemingly well until they collapse eventually. There s a thin line between being brave and stupidity , so arm yourself with facts before demotivating or ridiculing others. ( for people who send such messages)

8. Eat and drink as much as you want was the dictum. Very few patients have reported diarrhea as a symptom , but otherwise majority have had no Gastrointestinal issues, so eat well. Hydrate well.

9. Gargling/ steam inhalation/ and a 100 other ‘sureshot’ remedies will be advised by whatsapp covid warriors. Studies have shown no major benefits with many of these but I would not dismiss it totally as well. If one wants let them do it ! i did not. But I know a few people who have burnt their tongue/ throat doing this in excess!

10. There is no repeat swab at the end of quarantine period . this is because it has been found that viral shedding does not happen / viral load is very low after 7-10 days . swab tests might still be positive as it might show RNA from dead virus and RT-PCR test which is done picks up RNA of the virus.

11. And please take medical advise from your physicians before trying any hearsay/whatsapp/ television suggested cures.

12. Do not spend(waste) a lot of time watching ‘news’ channels which are creating a lot of panic and fear of epic proportions. Deaths have happened but people who have recovered are manifold. And deaths have been noted in people with many co morbid conditions including diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, cancer pts, etc. So DO NOT PANIC.

13. Most important aspect which gets neglected very often is the mental health. It is of utmost importance . so please realise this and help those who are in quarantine/ isolation . a simple text or two , a short call goes a long way in making a individual feel good about themselves. Isolation can be taxing on the mind and mentally weak might crumble , so be there for them. That’s the least one can do. Tell them you are with them.

14. Appreciate the efforts of all healthcare workers who are serving the cause. Doctors , nurses, support staff, canteen staff ,housekeeping , security personnel.

15. Last but not the least follow all precautions as advised. Wearing of masks, social distancing , avoid going anywhere unless if it is absolutely necessary.

16. Lets fight the disease , not the patient.

17. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. REMEMBER THAT.

DR.VISHWAS K PAI

MANGALORE

email: divika08@gmail.com

DAY 11- MELBOURNE ... AUSTRALIA HERE WE COME

2012-12-17T08:49:00.003-08:00

outside melbourne library

NZ today , a national news channel was wrapping up the international news for the whole day and it primarily constituted of news reports from various parts of the southern island and people were expressing the fear of the aftershocks that might come and clips of destruction it had caused. we had finished our packing as we had to leave early in the morning at 4 am as we had a flight at 7 am. vathika was asleep in no time and i was immersed in the news. KFC big bash australian domestic t20 was going on and Chris gayle was in full swing as he smashed the bowlers to all parts of the ground. match was as electric as it could get and that meant my sleep getting delayed lil more. at 2318 hrs, i had an experience of my lifetime.. the tv went off , we were getting dragged to the edge of the bed, almost fell of it, the tremor was strong enough to take the living daylights off me!! all this happened in less than 5 seconds. but it felt like a hour and the stress beyond measure.. it took an hour more for me to fall asleep..waiting all the time with eyes wide open and ears very alert to sense even the slightest of quake..it was 330 am when vathika got up and felt me pushing her and she to her horror found out it infact was another tremor. we got up soon , freshened up and were at the foyer of the hotel by 355 am. we collected our breakfast packet which was waiting at the reception counter. our only prayer/wish/hope was to get to the airport as soon as possible and fly out .. the pick up vehicle came at sharp 4 am and was a young lady at the wheel. she collected the voucher, put our luggage in the drag cart and we hopped into the car. she was pretty fast as we reached the airport in 15 minutes which to us was told as a 30 minute drive. we finished our check in formalities and after some duty free shopping we waited for our turn to board the flight and soon enough the announcement said AIR NEW ZEALAND christchurch melbourne open for boarding... this flight was by far the best flight in this trip and was a mile ahead of rest of them in every department.. from the cabin crew to the seats to the on board entertainment, on board cuisine.. a flight to remember.it was a 4 hr flight and time passed real soon as i had an aussie sitting next to me. we discussed a lot of things from india to australia to cricket to the air hostess !!! he was a thorough gentlemen and at the end of it he turned out to be the australian cricketer Peter Siddle s uncle.

Melbourne ... looked like any other major indian city from 15000 ft in the sky and it felt great as our flight made its landing .. we were on aussie soil... oz oz oz hoi hoi hoi...we got our luggage and had our breakfast at the mcdonalds outlet in the airport lounge. we were to be joined by my brother vishal shenoy who was flying from hobart . his flight was delayed by 2 hours and instead of him reaching first to welcome us, we were waiting in the airport. the airport was brimming with people from all ethnic backgrounds and looked l,ike a melting pot of different cultures. it was christmas eve and the world comes to australia to celebrate it here. the hobart flight finally arrived and we met bro . sunil kamath and supriya kamath were at the airport to pick us up. 30 minutes drive and we reached manmiths house. we had a wonderful lunch there with dalitove, potato upkari and piyava odi, typical konkani food thanks to manmiths mom. its a real great feeling to eat homely typical simple food after 10 days of burgers and pizzas and kebabs and spicy oily food. we spent some time there and then went to sunilannas house where we were supposed to stay for next 3 nights. we met dhiren shenoy and his family there. after a quick shower , we took the metro to the city as we planned to explore the CBD or central business district of melbourne. we went to Royal melbourne university campus where my bro had done his masters, the place where ned kelly was hanged till death, the melbourne state public library- which was like a palace, built and maintained like one, it had 50 odd pcs with internet for free usage. a repertoire of books in all fields for reference and reading, a activity center where playstation, xbox etc were all free to use again. wish such wonderful libraries would be a reality in india too sometime!!

caricature artist at his best

we then clicked some photos at the melbourne exhibition centre and then walked down the road across the bridge over the yarra river from where we could see the MCG. we then crossed the street and walking towards the eureka skydeck88.Skydeck 88 is the only observation deck in the world that can thrill you with 'The Edge' - a glass cube which projects 3 metres out from the building - with you in it - suspended almost 300 metres above the ground!Eureka is perfectly positioned for 360 degree, floor-to-ceiling views encompassing Melbourne's CBD, sports precinct, Port Phillip Bay, Docklands and everything in between. Come by day for brilliant views extending to the Dandenong ranges, and by night to see the spectacular Melbourne skyline nightscape. we were told that indian cricket team was put up in some hotel nearby. india was touring australia and dec 26 the famous boxing day test at melbourne was to be played. i was walking with my eyes wide open to catch glimpse of any cricketer but none to find. as we were passing through a small time bar , i told my bro hey thats ricky there... he asked who ricky? .. i said ponting!!! ponting was all over the news in australia and many wanted him out of the team and the sword was hanging over his head. they could not believe that it indeed was ricky ponting!! we started peeping .. he was sitting there withn a beer in his hand and a old couple with him. he got conscious and asked us what we wanted and we very sheepishly said ... sir one photo.. he obliged and we clicked.. we were numb!!! he told us that couple were his parents and they were celebrating christmas. we were on cloud nine!! and soon enough we were 88 floors up in the sky and definitely felt on the cloud. eureka 88 was a great experience and to see 360 degree view of the city .. excellent.. we then were going towards CROWN casino when we met Chang , the famous caricature artist who instantly captured in his net of words .. we were getting ourselves drawn.. mohinder amarnath and his wife passed by and complemented him and us too!!! he did a good job. \

atop eureka skydeck 88

we then went into crown casino , which was as grand as it can get. the rich and the famous were all thewre and winnong a lot of bucks and some losing a fortune as well. we tried our hands and burnt our fingers. 5 $ went down the drain in no time !! we decided to get out and waited for the fire show outside crown and it indeed is a must see.. beautiful to say the least , magnanimous to mean it.. truly breath taking. it was already past 10. we still had some way to get to flinders station to get our train to where we were staying. one hour later we reached home, had some wonderful pulao and hit the bed .... tired to the brim....

DAY 10-TRANZ ALPINE EXPRESS-CHRISTCHURCH

2012-08-07T10:08:00.002-07:00

a view from the train

Last day of the wonderful trip in this amazing country called New Zealand and you only wish it had been longer. We were asked to be in the foyer of the hotel by 915 am which simply meant we did not have to get up really early. It was a nice cool morning in the glacier region and after a nice heavy breakfast and packing we were waiting at the foyer for the bus to arrive. We departed from the glacier region and travelled further north along the rugged west coast to greymouth. The journey took us through some spectacular countryside with the rough Tasman sea to the west and the stunning Southern Alps to the east.

in conversation with bro about earthquake

The journey took us through the goldrush sites of new Zealand were at one point of time a lot of people travelled here and dug ground in pursuit of gold. We reached greymouth town at 1230 pm . we were at freedom to do some shopping or catch some snacks before alighting our train at 115pm, we just walked around the sleepy town of greymouth and found a Indian restaurant called Priya. We packed a couple of chicken biryani for lunch and came back to the place where the bus was parked and had our stomach fool sitting on public bench. The biryani was just yum . the bus started at 1 pm and made its way to the greymouth train station where we were to catch the Tranz Alpine Express to Christchurch. The train station looked like any other train station in india but the security and the system inside was similar to the airport standards in india. We had to check in our luggage an we could carry only handbag into the cabin while rest of the luggage goes into one cargo compartment and the whole thing works the way it does in an airport.

the wonderful train

awesome view

food aboard the train

The Tranz Alpine Express is described as THE GREAT NEW ZEALAND RAIL ADVENTURE and is rated as one of the top six scenic train journeys in the world. It ascends through lush beech forests past the beautiful Lake Brunner via the alpine village of Arthurs Pass situated 737 meters above sea level, before crossing the spectacular southern alps, the tranz alpine then winds its way over massive viaducts through spectacular river gorges and the \stunning Waimakiriri River valley . The train was a beauty by itself reminiscent of the palace on wheels of India with plush luxury seats, wonderful upholstery, nice big glass windows to get a good view and a mouth watering menu on offer in the pantry. The journey was indeed one of the most scenic journeys ever as we pass through breath taking locations and mountains and really high bridges and green landscapes. The public adressal system on train makes sure that the captain of train keeps us informed about the places and info that make sure that we don’t miss out on anything. We were midway through the journey when my brother Vishal shenoy called from Australia to find out if we were safe.. we had no clue what had happened until he told us that Christchurch where we were heading to had just had an earthquake of intensity 7.3 on richter scale. Christchurch earlier that year had a massive earthquake which had virtually destroyed the whole city and had killed over 3000 people. This was the first aftershock of such high magnitude and the fear was that there will be a deadlier one soon. Everyone in the train in no time came to know about the shock. And everyone was out with their ipads and Iphones trying to get more info from the internet. The most shocking info for us was the airport was closed after the quake. We had a flight to catch at 4 am the next morning and airport getting closed meant a lot of problems.the train captain then explained the situation to us that the quake was a major one and we did not feel it much as we were passing through a 10 km long tunnel which is carved out of a huge rocky mountain. The train was asked to travel atmuch slower speed which meant a delay of almost 90 minutes. The train then finally arrived at the Christchurch station. We collected our luggage and soon met the chauffeur who had come to pick us up. We asked him if we were safe in Christchurch and he said I have been here all my life.. what do you think?. We had no answer , he said what you see in media is a extrapolated picture and the condition on ground zero is not that bad after all. He dropped us to the chataeu on the park hotel which was as awesome as any other hotel we had stayed during the entire journey.

After checking in , we tried contacting the different hotels for food but most of them had been destroyed after the first earthquake. We then took a walk down the streets to find a restaurant called ELEPHANT which was a nepali restaurant . we had some indo nepali food and got back to the hotel . we had to catch a flight early in the morning next day and it only made sense tohit the bed soon and catch some sleep……..

DAY 9- FRANK JOSEF GLACIER!!

2012-07-27T09:37:00.004-07:00

Certain things irritate and disturb you most when you are trying to catch that extra 5 minutes of sleep when you are expected to get up relatively early. The alarm sounds like a enemy siren and you feel like using all your strength to destroy it. But in my case it just cant happen as the alarm is set on my lovely phone which I take care of very dearly. But yes, cursing is risk and tax free and I make full use of it. Cursing not the alarm but self for not having made the effort to try and sleep early the previous night. But one really cant brood over spilt milk!! And you finally succumb to the fact that you have no other go but to get up and get off the bed!!and when you are on a vacation and have a bus to catch at 0740 hours there is enough and more reason to get to your senses.

As we had packed everything previous day itself it was just a matter of freshening up and having breakfast . bus journey was proposed to be 7 hours long with one lunch stop and a couple of comfort stops for respecting the bladder. We travelled along the shores of lake Wanaka and hawaea to the Haast Pass which is the gateway to the World Heritage Westland National Park. And continuing past the spectacular mountain ranges, native forests and lakes of the glacier region of Fox and Frank Josef glacier.

We were dropped at the scenic hotel franz Josef glacier at around 1530 hours . after check in at the wonderfully located and beautifully decorated hotel, we went to the heli tour provider outlet as the last tour would go at 1700 hours. Heli tour means we are taken on a helicopter showing us the beautiful mountain range, the breath taking ice capped glacier and finally lands on one of the glaciers , where we can get off the helicopter move around on the ice capped mountain, capture some fabulous moments on camera, play with ice and after all the fun we are brought back to ground zero. The cost involved is a bomb of course but then having gone that far not going for a heli tour and land on top of the glacier would be termed as frank foolish. Deal was simple 200 dollars for 2 for showing one glacier and landing . 300 dollars for 2 for showing 3 glaciers and landing one one. We took the first option due to economical reasons. But God had different ideas. As it was the last trip of the day they planned to combine 2 different groups into one heli tour. The other group had 3 people in their late 60s from UK on their post retirement tour. And they had the bucks too so had opted for the latter package. The heli tour guy told us you are lucky you will see all 3 glaciers at the cost of one thanks to the other group.. and he also told us shut your mouths about this its between us, let the oldies not know how much u paid ;) we could not ask for more!!.

We were then taken to the helipad and after all the security features were explained to us and putting on the heavy protective headphones, the helicopter took off. This was the first time I was sitting on a helicopter and it does feel scary unlike the aeroplane which feels much more safer and secure. But then that is one great experience everyone must have!! We witnessed a sight beyond imagination, Nature could not be more beautiful and to be flying on top of it like a carefree bird with no boundaries, no limits …just priceless…totally out of the world!! The chopper then landed on top of the glacier and we were given 10 minutes to feel what heaven felt and looked like. If there is paradise on earth it is here, it is here , it is here!! Whoever said that about Kashmir had definitely not been here I am sure. The colour theme crystal white due to ice , sun shining in the sky influencing the temperature from becoming low, making it absolutely perfect to sit and absorb as much of the feeling that you could of being in a place beyond comparison. We did play in the ice, photos were captured and then finally unwillingly got back to the helicopter and after having a aerial tour of the other 2 glaciers finally landed back . the heli tour ended but the EXPERIENCE stayed!! And will stay on forever..

We then freshened up and wanted a good massage to liven us up . we got appointment at the Rainbow Forest resort and spa which was pretty nearby from our place. Emma gave both of us a good refreshing massage and also 2 $ per hour internet meant we could catch up on some developments back home via internet. It was dinner time and we found ourselves in the Priya restaurant, the only Indian restaurant in that small town village. This little village has a population of less than 500 people and every thing has to come from a town not less than 200 miles away. We were talking to the Indian owner of the restaurant and he said even water comes from elsewhere and there is nothing which they can use from the locale. And that’s why the cost is generally higher compared to other cities. After a good heavy dinner we traced our way back to the room and let the sleep gods take control over us……

DAY 8- WANAKA EXPERIENCE

2012-06-28T11:12:00.001-07:00

When you know that you are at leisure some day In A long vacation and you are not expected to get ready really early in the mornings its a beautiful feeling . One it gives U time to sleep for long next day and secondly U can sleep late the previous night. We did get up relatively late this morning at 930 and rushed to lap up the breakfast which if little late would ve been missed. But luck was on our side and we did have our stomach full. We got back to the room and freshened up and got ready to explore wanaka. Wanaka is a small town about 60 odd kms from the bustling Queenstown. We had seen a few pamphlets about wanaka and things present there attracted us. We went to the tourist information centre and gathered more info about the same. Bus would leave at 1130 and last return bus was at 3 pm from there and we need to book the return tickets too. We had our lunch at McDonald's some burgers , French fries and coke. The journey from Queenstown to wanaka was one more scenic journey with breathtaking views of the mountains and the township below. It has to be experienced to be believed. No choice of words can express the awe of the natures beauty when at its best. It just needs one to be there look at it to feel it and etch it into the memory forever. The blue skies, humungous hills, numerous sheeps, valley with small creeks flowing crystal clear water, the pleasant cool weather , silence of the valley all put together truly makes it a sight to remember. We reached wanaka at 1 pm. we took a taxi to go to the puzzling world.Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World is a world unique attraction specialising in puzzling eccentricity. For over 35 years this remarkable business has entertained and amazed visitors of all ages attracted to this beautiful part of the world. Puzzling World offers the world’s first "3-D" Great Maze, incredible Illusion Rooms, a Puzzle Centre/Café, large Gift Shop, eccentric architecture and the intriguing Psychic Challenge.When we arrived at Puzzling World we immediately noticed the crazy architecture. One building has four eccentric Tumbling Towers. Another one is called the Leaning Tower of Wanaka. This tower has been pulled out of the ground and is balanced on one corner at an unbelievable 53 degrees! The Leaning Tower of Pisa only leans six degrees.The Illusion Rooms of Puzzling World have to be seen to be believed.

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Each room is an illusion in its own right. On entering we passed through the Hologram Hall. Moving on into the Hall of Following Faces illusion room where 168 giant models of famous faces seem to turn and follow us around the room. there were millions of puzzles in solve on your own section and we spent quite sometime there. then there was a big man made maze with a lot of challenge attached to it. we tried solving it but then we were running short of time too. we then got a cab to drop us to the TOY AND TRANSPORT MUSEUM.The museum is the result of one man’s dream and 50 years of collecting and preserving pieces from the past. The transport collection boasts rare and unusual aircraft, cars, trucks, motorcycles, fire appliances, military vehicles and tractors.A nostalgic selection of toys has something to fascinate the child in everyone, such as clockwork and battery powered toys, porcelain dolls, teddy bears, pedal cars and money boxes.The Museum offers indoor and outdoor playing areas with pedal tractors and trucks for the kids. The Museum shop has thousands of models and gifts. Light refreshments are also available.the cab driver when he dropped us there had promised to take us back at 240 pm. we ran through the wonderful museum and came out by 240pm . but there were no signs of the cab !! the museum being in the outskirts no cab was around and even if we call for one it would not be there in time for us to catch the bus at 3 pm. we desparately ran on the roads and started waving randomly at every passing car for a lift. noone would stop of course. we felt like we were in big trouble and would haveto arrange for a cab to queenstown which would dent a huge hole in the wallet!!. minutes were passing by and every passin second made us feel more miserable and then suddenly from nowhere we saw our cab approaching and it came and stopped next to us!! driver very coolly asked if we got tensed.. i controlled myself from slapping him!! the cab reached the bus stop right in time and we hopped on to it na dtook us back the same route to queenstown.

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after reaching queenstown we did some local shopping atthe chinese market and local new zealand shop. and then had great tasting food at a indian restaurant called tandoori palace. we had dinner early today so instead of cab decided to walk back to the hotel.we had to the packing as we head to next town in our journey....

DAY 7-MILFORD SOUND CRUISE

2012-06-10T11:09:00.001-07:00

on way to milford sound

Eye lashes protested from separating , they did not want to be traumatized by the light of the dawn this morning, so did the muscles of the body which wanted to lay down undisturbed for some more time. The weather , the calm, the peace, the serenity of the place sent such positive energy through the spine that one would feel like being in the same state of trance for as long as possible. But every fantasy has its villain and so did this one. The alarm. It was set at 0545 hrs and very religiously it rang breaking our unfinished symphony. We had to get up early because we were expected to be in the foyer of our hotel by 0700 hrs to get into the bus. We performed our morning rituals and had a heavy breakfast and were all set to go when the bus picked us up and we were the first ones to get into the bus .

we managed to get good seats by default as we were the only people in the bus then. The seating would be important in this journey because this was supposed to be one scenic rendezvous with exhilarating natural beauty. The first 2 seats in the left half of the bus had the privilege of us sitting. The bus then made its way to different hotels and picked all others who were traveling to the same destination. The co passengers were from diverse backgrounds.. from india, france, Japanese, Korean and a few from UK. Japanese and Koreans were given headphones which could be connected to the port on every seat. And translator would speak in those languages whereas the majority of us who understand English the driver cum guide would speak. The journey would last 6 hours with one comfort break which in simple words means toilet stop. The journey was as beautiful as it was promised with landscapes so beautiful and breathtaking with cameras clicking continuously to capture as much as one could. We followed the southern arm of lake wakatipu to lumsden and onward to lake Te Anau. The scenery changed dramatically from tussock covered grasslands to glacier hewn valleys as we entered the Eglington valley and travelled through the breathtaking man made Homer Tunnel to reach Milford Sound.

Once here we completed security check and booked our lunch on board and waited for our cruise liner . the view of milford sound is better seen than read. Rudyard Kipling had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World. Milford Sound is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity with water in valley. The weather was just fine luckily for us with the sun just out not too warm not too cold. The cruise started its journey and we got into the top open deck of the liner. It was so windy that we almost struggled to hang on in there but definitely clicked some nice pics . we then went into the covered portion of the cruise and had our buffet lunch. An awesome array of buffet options laid in front of us ranging from prawns to mussels to chicken to beef to ham. We ate all that we could and wanted and went to the front deck of the liner. Luck was on our side again as we saw lots of dolphins and seals . we spent almost 2 hours and on the way back we were taken close to the cole falls . once the liner docked at the miniport we felt we still needed to spend more time on board but it was not possible as we had to get into the bus.

milford sound

We did just that and the bus took us back to queenstown another 6 hour journey . but the time was well spent with driver entertaining us firstly with a dvd on making of homer tunnel which was interesting and then a movie on life of a whalechaser which was a good watch.we reached our hotel at 730 pm in the evening . we freshened up and went to the city centre to a restaurant called india:once upon a time. Some good Indian food after a long journey was all that was needed to recharge our senses. We crawled back to our hotel and after some washing clothes session retired to the bed satisfied with the day that just passed by……

DAY 6- QUEENSTOWN CALLING

2012-05-05T11:12:00.001-07:00

The dawn of Monday the 19 dec was as lackadaisical as a lazy hippopotamus ling down in a slushy pond. Too lazy to even stretch our legs , breathing is involuntary or else probably we would complain of that too. We were leaving rotorua today and proceeding to the south island of new Zealand to the adventurous town of quenstown. The thought of queenstown was exciting for it offers arguably the worlds best adventure sports and breathtaking nature . Phone rang breaking the pleasant silence which was hovering in the room, it was indeed the wake up call but we were kind of already up just waiting for the call to actually get off the bed. Human psychology is so amazing that even if we wake up 5 minutes before the alarm we will still wait for the alarm to ring and try to catch up 5 minute sleep as if it is going to make any difference. Some amount of packing was left which we did after freshening up and proceeded to the restaurant for the buffet breakfast . there was a huge confusion between the pork and chicken sausages and we ended up eating pork ones assuming it to be chicken. Human psychology again here.. when we ate the sausages we relished it like we had not eaten for years but when we did come to know it was pork and not chicken it felt like we were having reverse peristalsis and were about to puke out the whole thing out!!! Nonetheless it was yummy and we didn’t care much. The shuttle to the airport would arrive at 0730 hrs and we were in the foyer by 0725hrs with our luggage . the airport was was a 20 minute drive to he suburban part of the town .

If u go to any small town in india by bus the bus stand u would see will resemble the rotorua international airport. It was a one storey building not more than 30 metre in width with a board displaying the name of the airport. We looked at each other in utter shock and surprise as we could not digest the fact that it indeed was the airport. Nevertheless we bid bye to the shuttle guy and dragged ourselves and luggage into the lounge . the ticket counter resembled a village cinema theatre like set up with two ordinarily dressed middle aged women asking u for ur check in formalities. She would also sell you tickets in case u needed one.

After checking in the luggage we proceeded to the lounge which ended before it started. It was a tiny lounge which could accommodate not more than 75 people at its maximum. And the café made sure that space was lessened but then it was a must there. We would get our boarding pass from the counter after paying a 5 $ airport development fee!!! Indeed they needed more of it looking at the state of the airport there. We made ourselves comfortable in the lounge couch and then bought some potato chips to munch. We had never come across a chicken flavored chicken chips and we bought it and had it . we loved it and had one more;) . our flight did arrive soon and we embarked it . the flight was a small 60 seater ATR operated by a low cost operator called mt.cook airlines.

The on board air hostess greeted us with a smile which outlined the wrinkles she had on her face , a minimum of 20. Her age must have been not less than 55 by our wildest guess. And to see her serve us water and biscuits did not feel great but we had no option. The flight was a scenic journey ever since we entered the territory of the south island of new Zealand. Now for all those who are confused let me explain. New Zealand comprises of two big islands. South island and north island and each island has different cities. We had complete all the cities in north island except wellington where we did not opt to go and were now proceeding to the south island. The flight was a 4hr journey and we decided to spend time by playing NPATC( Name, place, animal, thing, cinema) a game which we played last when we re probably 10 year old. But we had great fun doing that. Queenstown is a beautiful city with lot of mountainous and hilly terrain with large rivers bisecting it and the birds eye view from the aircraft is truly exhilarating and out of the world!
We were just soaking in all of it when the flight started its descent and it was like a Indiana jones movie with the aircraft cruising between hills at considerable speed. It’s a sight which one must see to believe !! the flight then finally landed and we disembarked. It was windy and chilly although it was sunny and the airport just beautiful like the city itself. We collected all the pamphlets and brochures available for activity there and collected our luggage and proceeded to the pick up . the shuttle took us to the city giving us a nice panaromic view of the city and finally dropped us to our hotel which was scenic suites queenstown . the hotel was beautiful and classy and had only suites on offer . we freshened and then went walking to the city centre and found this amazing restaurant called Bombay palace which promised tasty authentic Indian food.

We ordered for chicken biryani,butter chicken and chicken tikka. The host was friendly coming from a town near delhi and told us a few things about the city. The restaurant was nice and peaceful till a group of gujarati elderly people entered. A group of 4 couples made enough noise to destroy the peaceful ambience of the restaurant and all they ordered were 3 rice and 2 paneer butter masala. They then asked for complimentary onions ,papads, pickles and complained that curry had less spice and rice was half cooked and then asked for little extra gravy and then told the hotel guys not to charge etc. We were having fun looking at their behavior but they got a lot of stares of disgust from some of the non Indians in the restaurant. We were filled upto our throat and went walking back to the restaurant to digest a little whatever we had overeaten. We then slept after a morning full of travel and food etc. the next thing we know was it was 7 pm and we were disoriented .. it took a good 10 minutes to get oriented and after a quick shower we went to the city center area..

we had heard about a concept pub run by ABSOLUT called Below Zero and went hunting for that and we found it. Below Zero has been hand sculpted by two of the worlds top ice carvers from North America. The Walls , bar, furniture, sculptures, and even the glasses they serve our vodka cocktails in - all created from Ice. Below Zero is the first bar in the world to feature a real gas fireplace and a life size gondola. With the bar being a controlled temperature of minus 5 degrees they fit us with super warm jackets, gloves and boots so that we can enjoy this incredible experience while still being cosy and warm.they charge a 30$ entry with one drink free . for subsequent drinks we need to pay additional 8 -10$ each.

We clicked a few pictures and had our drinks and just spent some wonderful time there. We then went to a nearby restaurant for dinner called Freiyas bistro. The dinner was excellent as we had ordered some grilled prawns and steamed rice with chicken kolhapuri. It was late and time to retire and we soon got a cab which dropped us to the restaurant. We did all clothes washing and stuff and hit the bed tired but not exhausted and looking for more…..

DAY 5- ROTORUA EXPLORATION

2012-04-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

pohutu geyser in the background

It was a very cloudy morning as we woke up and chilly too and this combination usually makes a person too lazy to get up from the bed and that’s what exactly happened to us. After half an hour or so of snoozing we finally managed to pull our bones together and started freshening up. The breakfast was ready in the restaurant down and we would have only 10 minutes to gulp the wonderful spread down as the shuttle would arrive at 0750 according to the itinerary. A grand continental breakfast and a few Indian tourists in the restaurant was quite warm reception. There was a family of sardars and a family from Bangalore along with us and we would all travel in the same shuttle for the sightseeing.

kiwi replica @ rainbow springs

The shuttle was on time as usual and we got into it .it was much smaller than the coaches we had travelled till now but nonetheless was as luxurious and comfortable as the other mercs. The first destination was just a 10 minute drive to the TE PUIA GEOTHERMAL RESERVE. The drive was beautiful as we crossed a few golf clubs and geysers and mud pools on the way. It started raining heavily as we got off the coach and the wind made it worse and we were shivering like nuts!! We ran into the memoirs shop and bought some utility disposable plastic raincoats . the te puia reserve is a protected area which has a lot of maori historical objects, photographs and cultural things alongwith boiling mudpools and cascading Pohutu geyser, one of the biggest natural geysers in New Zealand. The guide explained us a lot about the maori culture, how they came there, difficulties they faced , culture they follow and also showed us some rare pictures of their ancestors who were famous for their existence. Then we took a walk around the reserve and saw the natural boiling mudpool. A half an hour session of sitting in that pool supposedly detoxifies the skin and protects it for many years. The rain was getting harder and the wind faster but the enthusiasm to see the geyser kept us going as we reached Pohutu. It’s a natural geyser which shoots up around 25 feet in the air and the sight is just breathtaking to say the least. Maori arts and crafts institute a part of the reserve itself showcased some amazing sculptural architectures and wooden carvings and there were people live at work. Some sight that was the speed and precision the men had would make even a plastic surgeon jealous. We were given 10 minutes to shop some of the goodies they had.

@agrodome

maori arts and crafts institute

lunch @ skyline restaurant

Our next destination was the agrodome which was a 20 minute drive to the outer part of the town. Here we had an entertaining show featuring sheep dog demonstrations, cow milking and an introduction to the stars of the sheep industry. Different breeds of sheep and their wool etc were on display and here again we could shop for any memorabilia to take back home. Next stop was 10 minute drive to the Rainbow springs which is a protected are for conservation of wildlife and fishes and birds. A huge nature park with all resident birds including the soon to be extinct kiwi birds and some rare insects and animals was definitely worth seeing. After clicking photos with some of the wildlife we decided to see off the coach and hung around to go to skyline restaurant which was based on a hill and a gondola aka cable car would take us up the hill giving us a eye popping view of the city !! and the light drizzle just made the setting out of the world. Once atop the mountain we were amazed to see the things to do there. We first watched a 4d movie in a theatre ..the movie was the count Dracula. And then we went for LUGE which is a must do for anyone who will visit rotorua. Its basically a lastic platform to sit on with wheels under it and a handle to maneouvre. There is no engine whatsoever. And the journey is downhill. Gravity is your accelerator, if u pull the handle up the luge moves and if u push it down it stops because of ur weight. We had an amazing time doing it and once downhill we are brought up the mountain via a open cable car. Absolutely adrenaline racing activity it was. Once up ,we went to the skyline restaurant and bought tickets for the awesome buffet that was spread there. There were 80 different things to eat in that and had everything from egg to fish to mussels to chicken to lamb to ham to beef and of course some veg as well. One and half hours and 10 plates down I felt a little heavier as I went to get the desserts . 20 odd desserts one better than the other meant another 5 kg increase in weight. Who cares!! I ate till I could only breathe , any mention of food from there on would mean puke out of my mouth. We dragged ourselves to the gondola to go down the mountain now. And once down we asked for a cab which arrived in no time and we got back to the hotel to take some much needed rest. After a good 3 hours sleep we got up in the evening and took the hotel shuttle to the city center and then walked around to explore the city and look around a few shops and restaurants and some pubs. We were accompanied by the bangalorean family as well and we chatted the whole time till we found the restaurant we were planning to go to. It was called the Indian star and bangalorean family wanted to try thai so they went elsewhere. We had a wonderful kabab platter with some steamed rice and butter chicken with some coke. We then returned to the city center and waited for the hotel coach to arrive. The coach did arrive finally after a 10 minute wait and we got back to the hotel and slept to glory …..

day 4 JOURNEY TO ROTORUA

2012-03-31T11:01:00.002-07:00

driver cum guide john

As the lashes of my eyes were separating in ultra slow motion ,the mind was in a state of confusion ... it was trying hard to make itself familiar with the objects that were falling in the limits of visual perception…it was dark and cozy and most importantly cold.. and this combination is ideal to snooze and snooze more… after a lot of deliberation and compromise in the grey matter of the brain I got up and came back to reality it was 6 am. i slid the screen and found out that it was bright outside already! Less than an hour to brush, bathe, dress up, pack, eat breakfast and so much more. We did manage to do most of it in 40 minutes and then rushed to have breakfast at one of the highest restaurants in Auckland. The view from the restaurant was breath taking and the breakfast spread was amazing to say the least!! I am not gonna list it here or else every reader will drool till they get dehydrated! With 5 mins left for departure of the coach we were rushing towards the lobby blaming each other for the delay(ego defense mechanism I must say). We reached the lobby one min before the scheduled time. we promised to each other we wont mismanage time again on this trip…

The coach looked majestic with its gigantic frame and the huge Mercedes benz logo on the bus was an absolute jaw dropper. We excitedly got our luggage placed safely inside the luggage stow and got inside and occupied the first seats so that we could get the best view during the journey ..the coach had 30 odd people in it with 24 of them being indians.. home away from home… we were driving towards the volcanic city of rotorua via Hamilton. The coach driver cum guide was a man in his early sixties who kept giving us info about new Zealand and Auckland and every other possible things on sides of the road. The roads in new Zealand are some of the best in the world and the traffic density probably the least , which means if given the liberty I would drive at 160-180km/hr uninterrupted but the tragedy was the speed limits and speed cameras installed made sure that 100km/hr was the maximum speed allowed. Such a pity!! Why are such roads not in india!!! In a few hours we reached Waitomo where we would sojourn to see the wonderful glowworm caves . . we were taken on a guided tour of the caves by one fellow chris.. ppl were dividedin groups of 20 and each group would have one guide. The caves were extremely cold inside as the whole cave was formed from limestone over the years and after showing us different formations of the limestone we were taken on a small boat trip inside the cave to show us the wonderful glowworms.. photos were a s strict no no as flash would dim the glowworms.. the site inside was out of the world with millions of brilliant glowworms shining like stars in the sky.. I would rename the place as glowworm galaxy if given the liberty. I would rank this as one of the must see things in life if u are a nature enthusiast. We came back to the reception counter of caves and we were instructed to have lunch before we proceed further. We had some fabulous butter chicken and steamed rice .

view from the room with hot geysers behind

Rotorua was 2 hours drive from here and we made use of it with a refreshing nap. different guests were staying in different hotels and once driver made sure he knew where all he had to go he gave us the order in which he would drop us. As we entered the thermal city of rotorua we could smell something really bad on the bus. We had no clue where it was coming from and the driver put an end to our speculations by informing us that it is nothing but from the air of rotorua. We were also told then that rotorua is standing on top of a huge volcano which can erupt anytime destroying the whole place but it has been dormant for a few years now. The presence of the geothermal mud and the natural hot water spring rich in sulphur gave the rotten egg smell to air of rotorua.. it was stinking and we had no clue how we were gonna bear it for 3 days..

Rotorua welcomed us with heavy rains and temperature was 5 degree Celsius . the bus halted in front of the lobby of the Hilton holiday inn where our stay was arranged. A quiet place situated next to a hot spring which was visible from the room in which we were put up. It was 3 pm and we were dying of hunger. There were no restaurants closeby and the one in the hotel had closed. All that was available were a few pizzas and fries. Hoping we would get to eat yummy pizzas like in Auckland we ordered a veg pizza(as they had only options of veg) and fries. Pizza came in flat 15 minutes .. looked amazing 8 piece huge thing… one bite and next thing we wanted do was to puke it out. The pizza stinked of horrible flavors and tasted of canola oil which is the primary oil used in nz. Fries were smelling of the same oil and all the food found its place in the bin in no time. 20 dollars down the drain…

The information booklets we picked up from the hotel info centre came in handy and we found means to kill time and experience rotorua. We found info about Polynesian spa, one of the worlds top 10 spas and we picked up the phone got a booking made for a slot for thermal massage . we took the hotel shuttle to the city tourism centre and once here we exchanged a few dollars and recharged the phone . it was raining hard and eventhough spa was hardly 100 metres across the road we had non option but to hire a taxi. The cab driver was harry from india.. must be harbinder or hardeep in reality but for nzers he was harry. Polynesian spa ambience was very inviting and people gentle. We paid for the massage (a bomb of an amount) after which we were introduced to our masseurs. They gave us our kit with slippers, towels, robes, soaps etc. we changed and went to the massage rooms which was filled with the aroma of oils and scent of flowers. The massage was best ever and done by a nepali who had done his bachelors in physiotherapy from Bangalore! After this we were free to get into the natural geyser hot sulphur water pools and sit for as long as we wish. The sulphur and other minerals are supposed to add a lot of medicinal value to the skin. It was a great experience to sit in the pool built with rocks alongside a river and what made it better was that the weather was rainy and cold but the hot pool just felt awesome and especially because the person u love the most is in your arms. If there is paradise on earth ,its here ,its here, its here!!

After an hour or so we took shower and came to the lobby . we had heard a lot about new zealands best ice cream hokie pokie ( amix of carmel,chocolate and vanilla) and had vanilla coke zero. That was all we had in our stomach and it was dinner time too.. we called harry who then dropped us to KFC for dinner. Wow! KFC in NZ had to be good ! hungry we(as always) rushed in for a good meal.ordered a pretty huge meal. Our teeth were all set to sink into the chicken. Our first bite and we yelled..phew .. bad food was following us but we had great expectations at least from KFC. This was the worst KFC we ve ever had in our lives!!! The flavors were horrible , the ketchup also tasted different. It was time for food to go to the bin again.. don’t like doing that but we were optionless.

After having gone through such traumatic experiences with food we just wanted to get back to the hotel, which we did and thought sleep would be the best medicine and did just that……

DAY 3 - AUCKLAND WELCOMES US....

2012-03-25T10:32:00.002-07:00

Travelling on a long distance flight for about 14 hours is an awesome experience in itself if you have a lot of patience or have the gift to fall asleep even in sitting position or you have a great company with you... and luckily i had all the three with me.. i and vathika spent some time watching movies on board and playing a few online onboard games, slept, ate, slept,ate till finally strong sunlight woke us up...and soon we were informed by our pilot that we were about to land in auckland in 25 miunutes ...

ramp near kelly tarltons

from top of sky tower

Auckland city looked beautiful from 10000 ft high .. not dense at all more like a hill station than a major city. we landed at 10 past 1 in the noon, the airport was beautiful to say the least and the weather outside chilling thanks to the rains that welcomed us in new zealand. the immigration officer was fascinated to know that we were on our honeymoon and was more so wen i said i was an otolaryngorhinologist.. in new zealand ent surgeons are the third highest paid professionals..new zealand has strict rules for things which u can carry into it as it is isolated from rest of the world.. they dont let you carry any food articles of any sort, if ur shoes
are muddy u are made to clean it and wash it dry before u are let out of the airport.. a 7 ft 150 kg customs officer was interrogating a 5 ft hardly 50kgs chinese student who had packed 10 odd kgs of ready to eat noodles in a bag!!! after getting out of the immigration and various scans and frisking we collected our luggage and reached the lounge looking for our chauffeur.. we did not find him anywhere and when we were still searchin g for him we bought a vodafone prepaid sim card , exchanged few dollars for nz dollars and also collected some auckland information booklets.. and thenm i found a chauffeur with my dad name printed on it and realised it was for us ... he was dressed in a 3 piece suit and with a ford falcon he looked more like an executive from a top level corporate office and we looked out of place in tracks and some silly looking dress..nevermind we got into the car and a well behaved gentleman he was... gave us all details about auckland and a few aspects about new zealand.. it was raining very heavily and it was summer there..so much for the weather in nz..

we reached the sky city hotel in auckland and checked into the amazing room .. a 5 star hotel with a 24 hour casino , 5 restaurants , world famous sky tower and an awesome discotheque... we needed a shower after the long joureney and in no time we were on the road looking for a taxi to take us to kelly tarltons underwater world.. the drive showed us the whole of auckland and it indeed looked heavenly. the underwater world had and artificial setup for the penguins and a lot of fishes and underwater life.... we spent a couple of hours and then got back to the hotel and bought tickets to get on top of sky tower to get panaromic view of the whole city.. the panaromic view of the whole city was fantabulous.. and a couple of mocktails later we were back in the room . we ordered for a pizza from dominos and garlic bread was the best ever i have had.. we then got dressed for the casino and tried our luck at a few .. lost the bucks and then entered the disco and let music take control of us.... it was 0000 hours .....

DAY 2- BANGKOK,THAILAND

2012-02-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

wall paintings of ramayana at grand palace,bangkok

15 dec 2011, 0030 hours coffee day lounge, Bangalore International airport limited(BIAL): Get up its time for check-in , please get up, pleaaaaaseeee…. The words left such an impression on my tympanic membrane that my eyes opened in a flash and it took me not less than 25 seconds though to get oriented to time, place and person but the moment I did I behaved like a bull on rampage ; come fast, fast, damn, give the passport, where is the ticket, shit .. what the hell..slept off.. I did not even realize it was time I said ..I was going on when vathika said chill !!! its ok ..we ve not missed the flight!! We are on time..

at the grand palace, bangkok

Regaining senses, we crossed over from the arrivals to the departure lounge. Kahaan ghumne jaa rahe ho saab??? asked the security official at the gate. Aise hi ghumne I said not willing to give any details of my plan. He wished us all the best… The check –in gates of TG 425 Thai Airways flight from Bangalore to Bangkok had just opened and we made our way to the big winding queue and waited for our chance all excited..Alongwith us on board were also a group of school kids from Ooty. The students were Chinese, Thai, Indian but all of Thai origin from a residential international school in Ooty.. We got our tickets processed, checked in baggage, collected our boarding passes and proceeded towards immigration.. The scene at the airport was a familiar one with lots of people and the excitement of their first trip abroad was evident on a lot of faces and then there were people on job who had loads of pressure and were so expressionless that you would feel like cancelling trip and going back home.

@ grand palace, bangkok

We found a currency exchange counter of Thomas cook and got some Thai Bahts. Immigration forms were filled and at the immigration counter it took hardly a minute to finish formalities and soon we were in the departure lounge waiting for our flight scheduled at 0145 hrs. sitting in front of the kids, we felt so technologically backward seeing everyone playing on their I-Pads having I-phones with earphones plugged. What a childhood we had and what are these having!!! I ve never felt so jealous in life (trust me) of a kid/kids.
Row 41-60 boarding please… announced the official in a completely thai accent . we got up and walked like peole on a mission . We were greeted by the flight attendants in a thai manner. The host said sawadee.. and welcomed us with an orchid which Thailand is so famous for. We made ourselves comfortable in our seats. It was 3-4-3 style seating boeing 747 . Flight took off soon and we were served dinner . Thai chicken curry and jasmine rice with bread and salad . Dessert was apple pie . Bar counter was flowing and people had their hearts full.. A flight to Bangkok shows a pattern .. Lots of boys unmarried travelling with one intention … intention is evident if u read the name of the city slowly ;) Flight landed at the Swarnabhumi International Airport at Bangkok at 0615 thai time . We did not have to collect our baggage as we had done a through check in to our destination . Bangkok was only a transit stopover for us . Our next flight was @ 1940 hrs and we had more than 12 hours with us and we used it to the fullest by getting a visitors visa. Visa on arrival in Bangkok is easy ..just fill a form attach 1000 baht and u get a 15 day visit visa . It is like a maze to exit the humungous airport and having finally made it out we went and struck a deal with a govt authorized taxi counter. The deal was 1500 baht for the whole day taxi. The first stop was the Grand Palace. The driver Anirut(most names there are similar to the ones we have here in India) left us at the palace and gave his contact number.

museum@ grand palace, bangkok

We were hungry and entered a restaurant and on the menu there was meat of all kinds from chicken, mutton, pork, beef and some weird fishes. There was nothing on the menu which looked edible .Only thing we could settle for was French fries and we had it and not surprisingly even it smelled of different meat due to the oil I guess!! We ate a little left the rest and moved out . a lady was selling Thailand souvenir, the magnet with Thailand palace imprinted and Thailand written on it she said 100 baht for one. Vathika was bargaining with a lady for a dress..Guys suck at bargaining including me but I thought I could try my hand at it and bargained and bought a magnet for 80 baht and it felt like a wonderful bargain. When I told Vathika about my achievement (I thought), she laughed and I wondered why.. A couple of shops later one man was selling 3 such things for 50 baht only .. Ground slipped beneath my feet.. I had been day robbed and I willingly got robbed.. Moral of the story… Never buy anything at the first shop.. look around and get an idea of the price first or else u will be cheated..and finally listen to your wife!! We then went into the grand palace, purchased the tickets and entered. The palace was majestic and the walls had whole depiction of Ramayana on it and that too on gold. An amazing experience also to see the beautiful jade Buddha in the palace temple. Museums were big and a nice experience too.

jade buddha, grand palace,bangkok

After that we proceeded to have food at Kurry culture an Indian restaurant opposite the Indra Regent hotel .. chicken biryani , butter chicken and pepsi and lots of hindi songs later we had a walk in the Indra market .. bought some t shirts at throw away prices .. A familiar sight in streets of Bangkok is every third shop being a massage parlour…Some of them look so horrible because you will see lot of ladyboys. For those who don’t know who ladyboys are; they are men who have undergone a sex change operation to become ladies so that they can earn their bread by doing various jobs open only for fairer sex. After some shopping, we thought of pampering ourselves with a Thai massage.. We found a small massage parlour which looked pretty decent and economical and so we entered.. A thai woman welcomed us with a smile.. gave us details of the prices. When we were almost agreeing, she showed us our masseur.. and to our shock.. it was a ladyboy.. I just couldn’t stand the sight of her and jumped out of the massage center and pulled Vathika along.. We decided that henceforth we would see our masseur first and then decide on the massage.. We then found another massage point.. found it good enough..the masseurs were only men and women.. I was relieved. Vathika wanted a foot massage and I wanted a full body massage. Too much I thought at the beginning but the prices were tempting.. A big woman asked me to follow her upstairs.. and I could see Vathika sitting on a couch, worried, wondering why I agreed for a body massage. I was back in an hour and found that she was finishing hers.. Trust me, I just wanted to see her, take her and go away.. Why?? Because the big woman who gave me an excellent body massage told me at the end of it all that she was a man before… nothing could disgust me more than this.. the feeling was if I had been raped literally .. getting a massage from a man is fine but a man turned into a woman is not nice with due respect to the transgenders!! It was around 4 in the evening when we reached the airport.

samudramanthan monument at swarnabhumi international airport @ bangkok

We found our gate and navigated upto the Thai check in counter and validated our ticket. Flight TG221 Bangkok-Auckland was scheduled to fly at 1940 hours . We completed our security check and started clicking photos of the famous churning of the seas monument (samudra manthana) at the lounge. Duty free shopping at Bangkok is as big as the city itself.. If one decides to see all products in every shop a year would be less to do so. We were tired after exploring a few and decided to wait at the departure gate for our flight. There were hardly 8 people when we reached there .We stretched our feet and fell on the chairs after a tiring day. By around 1915 hours the same place had atleast 150 of them.. it was a mixture of a variety of people some young and happening, some people dressed in formals as if they had to attend a meeting on board, some middle aged least interested in life and a few people on honeymoon like us and a lot of oldies going back home or on a relaxing vacation. . In no time rows 20-40 was called on to board the flight and so we did .The flight was awesome with wonderful facilities on board,. The entertainment on board had a personalized interactive television which included 50 games, over 100 recent and classical movies in English and 50 odd movies of different international languages, 50 interesting documentaries, various language instructors, books to read . Hot face towels were very refreshing to use and soon the dinner was served .. chicken Thai curry, jasmine rice and caramel custard and bar was open for people wanting spirits.. 2320 hours Vathika fell asleep.. 2335 hours I remember seeing time on my watch …..

DAY 1-JOURNEY BEGINS

2012-02-09T10:24:00.000-08:00

DEC 14,2011; 0845 hours A brand new day has come... the alarm tone on my phone was ringing and for the first time in a long while we got up without cribbing. It happens to everybody i guess that when something really exciting is on the cards for the day you wake up a minute earlier automatically even before the alarm rings!! so much of a testimonial to the entity called the biological clock. After getting fresh and having a quick shower , a customary visit to the temple and last minute shopping of some essentials. afternoon lunch was a orthodox konkani snacks as it was sankashta chaturthi (a day of fast dedicated to lord ganesha). on this day its a vegetarian affair and that too veg minus onion/garlic. tough day for a thorough non vegetarians like us but then some sort of spiritual living is required for a balanced life they say . our first leg of the journey was from mangalore to bangalore by the evening jet airways flight at 7 pm. We started to the bajpe airport at 1730 hrs with all our luggage checked in the most paranoid way possible just to make sure we did not miss out on anything. the feeling on the way to the airport was like the one which a person would experience when he is going to fight a war. We were accompanied by our parents and the concern and tension on their faces were beyond expressibility. Parents will be parents ; no matter you are 2,5,10,20,30 or 40 they will still be kids for you and will always feel like you cannot do a thing without them. and if you tell them that you are grown up and not to get tense the evergreen dialogue one will get to hear is U WILL KNOW IT ONLY WHEN U HAVE KIDS.. and u really cant say anything then! maybe true that, i really cant comment on it ! so we finally exchanged a milllion waves till last bit of them could be visible and then we were on our own. we completed the check in procedures fast and hunger made us go to the fast food outlet and ordered for french fries ,paneer chilly and fried rice all veg .. garlic and onion were unavoidable though. decent food we had and then flight boarding was in no time and in an hours time we landed at the garden city bangalore..we collected our baggage and made ourselves comfortable in the cafe coffee day lounge ... 2359 hours ...sleep got the better of us and we dozed....

TRAVELOGUE- journey of a lifetime

2012-01-19T09:02:00.001-08:00

PROLOGUE

It is always thrilling to see the stamp of visa on the passport and the feeling to look at visas of 2 different countries has a double impact. The quintessential things when you are planning travel abroad is to have visas done well in hand , get flights booked, accommodation and tour package well planned out and reconfirmed, foreign exchange done, budget planned, bags packed and to-do list prepared. Being the kind of person I am getting me to do any of this is like asking the sun to rise from the west. Not gonna happen very easily. Is my tour gonna be a disaster then? am i likely to forget something important? am i gonna mess it up? well the answer to all these questions is a two letter word in english ..NO.. the reason is i m not going alone on this tour!! i m on my honeymoon with my wife vathika who is at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to being organised and disciplined. When it comes to travelling abroad she is far more experienced than me having covered half the world!! Not an irony that she has a international travels company which operates on her name and i swear i am not advertising the company using blog as platform!!

So, my work was all done and responsibility taken off as my wife did most of the things for me and I have no shame in giving all deserved credit to her. carry on minks!!

All the marriage related functions and programmes like temple visits were over by 10 of December and our travel date was dec 14. the anticipation and excitement levels could not be measured on any scale! it was just a matter of few hours that we would be going on an extravagant journey; journey of a lifetime!!

dec 13 2011 1900 hours... 24 hours to go before tour starts...

Journey- bhramachari to grahastha

2012-01-15T00:25:00.000-08:00

Out of the various stages of life of a man according to the hindu scriptures "Grahastha" is said to be the most important one as at this stage is when the whole purpose of ones existence i.e reproduction begins. Among the various duties of a man the responsibility of procreating and producing an offspring and taking forward the family line is of prime importance. Marriage is therefore the holiest event which marks the beginning of a wonderful journey ahead which learned men have described as a must for every person to experience. true that some people have bitter experiences, some sour and some not so sweet. but nonetheless it is an experience everyone falls for if you have not taken the path of celibacy much before the equation of marriage is laid in front of you. Being the foodie I am ,I would always compare anything in this world with food and marriage dos not escape it too. I describe marriage as a grape in front of u, depending on your luck and your karma, you might get a sour/bitter/bland &tasteless/spoilt from within or SWEET. and in my case I got a sweeeeeet one.

YES, its true!!! I am officially married now!!! December 5 witnessed me entering into an wedlock with Vathika .Rituals started from 4 december with a family get together t bharat scouts and guide bhavan at Mangalore which had some fun games,introduction of families and a tabla performance by vathika with renowned Sitar exponent Devdas Pai and follwed by a traditional Colombe jevan dinner. 5th morning had the orthodox marriage rituals like edurukansani, urad muhurtha, kashi yatra followed by lunch.

Marriage muhurthum was godhuli lagnam at 1805 hrs and was held at Dr.TMA Pai International Convention Centre in Mangalore and was attended by over 3300 people. The celebration was out of the world, only glitch being mother-in- law being a little ill with high fever and shivering which later was diagnosed to be malaria. Other than that the ceremony was nothing less than a dream in a fairy tale (perfect and fantastic).

Phew.. so here i am ...no more single.. married and happy..and more regularly blogging .. the next few blogs to appear will be more of a travelogue with details of the wonderful getaway we had in what is termed as honeymoon by the westerners...

So signing off ... till then happy readihng!!!

2010-12-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

This is entirely dedicated to the person whom i love....

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love

I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue

I’d go crawling down the avenue
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin’ sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn’t do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love

CONFESSIONS OF A LOVING MIND .... the real story

2010-09-24T04:57:00.000-07:00

Hero and his girl started with basic exchange of their preferences and choices and other trivial things. Knowing each other was fun because the more they chatted they found more similarities with each other. Hero was yet to discover a person who like him would not have caffeine and tannin containing concoctions on which people thrive at least 3 to 4 times a day and some freaks much more . she was one ;) it was more than just plain co incidence that two individuals could have exactly similar tastes; be it dream of learning salsa or going on a cruise or be it the choice of food or be it principles in life.

The more Hero and she conversed ,he was convinced that she was the one for him.He had found his soulmate of which he was sure. She is the best person he has ever come across in life. The maturity which she possess for her age is something unbelievable and that’s what attracted hero the most. Of course it goes without saying that hero finds her the most beautiful girl in the universe which she is! .. she s one of the most talented girls hero has met .. super smart is how hero would describe her intelligence, The dignity of the lady matches or even surpasses Her Majesty Queen of Britain. The way she carries herself makes people stand up and take notice. The aura around her is divine .. The eyes she has been gifted with must have been gods most proceed possession because there cant be anything much more beautiful than that. She does not need to use her lips her teeth her tongue her vocal cords to talk to hero… her eyes did all the talking,. They are the most expressive eyes according to hero.. the warmth he feels in her hands assures him more. Everything about her is perfect. Hero strongly believed that nothing can be perfect and after meeting her he s convinced about it as she proved to be the exception to the rule.

Hero had heard people using the word fairy tale like he had experienced it now. In a short time he had decided that she was the one for him. Hero has always been a person who has never taken long to decide on anything in life and he has seldom been wrong . So he backed himself and expressed his love to the girl. The girl being a true Libran that she is was diplomatic and unable to decide (that’s what Librans are supposed to be ) . she wanted time. He was sure that he has found his soul mate. The girl was nothing but a dream come true. If ever God would give a chance to hero to customize a girl for himself he could not have done anything different.

She had no dearth of guys who approached her and were crazy about her but destiny had other plans. She had to find hero to become committed.. maybe god had planned it all!!! Hero without an iota of doubt is the most luckiest person to have found her and according to her the vice versa is true too. Hero feels complete when he is with her. And when she is not around he feels very much incomplete and misses her badly. Hero has mentally accepted her as his wife for all practical purposes.. Signing off with a song…

Baby I never knew I could feel
The way I felt, when I felt the way
you were feeling me baby
I'm so out of control yeah...

Everytime you look my way
I realize more and more
How much I adore those pretty eyes
Of yours, I'm helpless baby

Baby I love you
Baby I need you
I gotta have you babe
Can't be without you

Blessed and cursed on the same day,
The day that I first felt the power of you
Inside of me, such a strong feeling
There comes a time in everyone's life
When you know, and everyone around you knows
That everything is changed,
You're not the same, it's a new day

Baby I love you
Baby I need you
Gotta have you baby
Can't be without you

Baby I love you
Yea yeah...
I gotta have you
Yea, yea yeah...can't be without you

Ooh... I love the way you kiss me
Oh, baby please
I'm about to loose my mind
Oh... talk to me, cause I'm beggin' for you and,
I'm down on my knees...
Baby I know you're the one that I need...

Baby I love you...
You know I need you...
Gotta have you...
Can't be without you...

I LOVE VIRTUALLY ANYTHING THAT HAS INDEED KEPT ALL KEEN ABOUT MY ACTUALLY TELLING HERE ;)

2010-09-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

CONFESSIONS OF A LOVING MIND

(PRELOGUE)

CONFESSIONS OF A LOVING MIND

2010-09-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hero always wondered how a person can talk hours together to someone until he experienced it himself. its an irony that a person who was so against the practice of his friends talking to their respective so called boyfriend/girlfriend for hours together now does the same.It’s a known fact that everything in this world has a reason and so does his change in attitude and behavior ..Its not been short of a fantasy the way his life has progressed.. from a guy running away from commitments to freeze on someone and find the soulmate in such a short time is amazing and unbelievable but true…and that’s why they say sometimes reality is stranger than fiction .. truly bollywood style this narration goes…and no good movie is complete without a little bit of flashback…

3 years back hero met this wonderful girl who stole his heart at first sight . she was unbelievably beautiful and gorgeous. They met at this party organized by Hero s uncle at a place whose name comes from one of the wonders of the world(Indian ) . It was a silver style party and that meant ppl are arranged in different tables according to some calculations. Hero was so lucky that she was sitting on the same table as his and that too right in front of him. Love at first sight ,now hero had heard this a zillion times before but experienced only for the first time.. he confessed to his cousin but he wouldn’t take it.. nobody would!!! But surprisingly enough hero did not strike a decent conversation also.. only thing which he could say was that he did not like chak de (srk starrer!!! How can a salman khan fan like it??) .. Its an irony that for over 3 years hero did not get to see her though she had etched herself in his mind.. she had become heros desktop background on his lappy.. in those 3 years no effort was made by the hero … he wasn’t a coward but he feared rejection… the 2 became friends thanks to the social networking site…

They wouldn’t meet online much too.. but for one special day that she pinged hero and the rest as they say is history… this is in short about story of hero.. his confessions about her will appear in the sequel of this POST… till then keep watching this space for more

Disclaimer- I CAN BE YOUR HERO BABY ;) OR RATHER I AM….

MUMBAI ADVENTURES DAY 7

2010-09-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

The trip was coming to an end and we had to catch a 0900 hrs flight.. considering santacruz is close to andheri we didnt have to get up all that early.. and meru cab was on time too... we reached the airport and checked in and waited in the l;ounge... so much for the spirit of mumbai i did not feel like going back.. in the airport lounge i came across a few known celebrities from bollywood... but noone there was even giving them a lil damn.. the flight was on time and we reached mangalore as per schedule... as the plane was taking off from mumbai airport only one song was playing deep inside me ... yeh dil hai mushkil hai jeena yahan zara bachke zara hatke yeh hai mumbai meri jaan.....

MUMBAI ADVENTURES DAY 6

2010-08-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Early to bed , early to rise makes a man healthy , wealthy and wise... taught in school. but this proverb/phrase(whatever it is called ) is tough to apply practically in case u are a traveler to mumbai especially... early to bed is out of question given the night life here and in case u come out of the disc or pub early the traffic will make sure u wont reach ur dwelling place not before midnight!. after a tiring 5 th day we slept quite late at around 0100 hrs and when that happens getting up at 700 hrs is also tough .. we did mange to get upa nd get ready by 1000 hrs. for the day only IMAX was a must visit place and the remaining time was to be spent in dadar market... traveling in mumbai is a headache or i can add backache or bodyache to the list. the estimated time for travel from andheri to wadala where this magnanimous theatre is located was 1 hour 15 minutes provided there was not much traffic..and 2 hours or more if traffic s heavy. man i thought i could go to baharat mall , see a movie and come back in the time that i ll take to reach this theatre itself!! traffic was not too heavy thankfully and we took a hour and a half to reach the place.. IMAX was screeinng Space Station that day and for the experience of 3 d cinema in a dome theatre that would be apt i thought.. i had seen i max dome in hyderabad and was very impressed and now to watch in a bigger dome was more than jus exciting.. to describe the movie experience in a word it would be BREATHTAKING.. an experience that lasts for a lifetime... we then went to dadar market for some shopping..the market is so huge that its not very difficult to get lost in it.u ll find everything for sale here from sand to building , from needle to sword .... time was spent in bargaining a lot over evrything more than buying anything. meanwhile my friend gautham had asked me to get a good make up kit from mumbai to gift to his fiancee... and i stumbled upon some quality stuff ... thank god..after all this we decided to head back to the den ...to andheri again .. we stopped at tunga paradise at andheri for dinner and had a hearty dinner... the last dinner of this trip as we were leaving the next day...

day rating ; 8.5/10

MUMBAI ADVENTURES DAY 5

2010-07-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

This was gonna be the D Day in mumbai.. it was called the sight seeing day. Mumbai has thousands of programmed one day tours for places in and around mumbai, but we wnted it to be customised as per our preference. so we hired a cab and struck a deal for the day. he ll show us some 25 must see places of mumbai and we pay him 2200 and that was indeed a nice deal we had struck i felt. We began the day early with our visit to the temple which gets all the bollywood atention Sri Siddivinayak Temple.. quite a secure place and sacred too..we moved to mumbadevi temple after whom the city gets its name.. and a few other temples including walkeshwar which was quite an experience.. haji ali was the next stop . outside haji ali is a juice centre which has a speciality preparation .. depending on the seasonal availability of fruits a preparation called seethaphal cream was offered to us. the fruit was ground into a thick shake like consistency and pieces of the fruit were mixed to give it a heavenly taste... something which needs to be experienced to be believed..it would measure 200 gms each serving and came at 120 per serving.. but each penny worth the taste.. after having seen the temples it was our turn to visit the financial centre of the city.. we had a walk around the bombay stock exchange and in the vicinity u could see each and every bank having a office ... being there feels richer!!!we walked around to ind Mahesh lunch home which was one of the recommendations as a must place to eat.. the place was filled with foreigners and the speciality there was sea food.. and surely it didnt disappoint.. was a touch expensive though ... but u really cant complain when u are at the financial heart of the country!!! someone there told me each square feet there is valued at 4-5 lakh rupees... holy crap!!!!after having a heavy meal we went to colaba and taj hotel and gateway of india which was under renovation after the dreaded terrorist attacks!!! the gateway as well as taj simply are breath taking... so bad to have targeted it!! the ride on the victoria ( which is a grand horse cart to put it simply) is a must if u have visited gateway... they take u on a small ride for a astronomical price but ya dont miss it... bargain a lil and get a ride...we also saw leopald cafe on the way.. from there we went to marine drive , wankhede stadium and to hanging gardens... bandra band stand and linking road for a lil shopping... we ate some mcd and kfc there and got back home bravingthe traffic which had just swollen up to enormous propositions.. quite a day!!!!

Day rating: 7.5/10

Mumbai adventures : day 4

2010-01-01T22:23:00.000-08:00

Lucky that we decided not to get up too early to take bath before water ran out as we were going to andheri that day and water would be running 24 hours there. The cab came at sharp 9 and we set out to mumbai. As expected we were greeted in mumbai by nerve racking traffic, senseless parking and irresponsible driving. everyone was in a hurry to get to their offices/shops/airport/where not??? a journey which would take 1 hour 15 minutes if all driving sense would prevail and discipline is followed took us 2 hours 15 minutes. good waste of 1 hour and the driver actually was feeling proud we could make it in that time;so much for his sense of humor! We got to work, took bath had a light snack and hit the roads again. We were on our way to crawford market and manish market ,places of shopping.It was 1 30 by the time we reached the place and the hunger centres in the brain were already signalling us to satisfy it by having food. We had to eat authentic punjabi and so we went to Sher-e-punjab ,a uptown restaurant. we were greeted with a chilled glass of jal jeera , truly refreshing till the last drop. Choosing the right stuff to eat in a retaurant is the quintessential thing and when u go to any place for the first time it becomes real tough and so I decided to rest the onus of menu to the person who attended us and he made sure we had some real classy punjabi food that would keep us licking our fingers and wanting us to have more and more. chicken lasooni had that wondreful flavor of garlic in it and tendre boiled chicken was just perfectly cooked and blended well with gravy which was onion and cashew based and a rich desi ghee taste and aroma to it making it simply irresistible.noone prepares tandoori roti better than a punjabi kitchen. rotis were extremely soft, mouth watering, absolutely fibre rich ,oil free and served hot right out of the clay oven(tandoor). Dal makhani , a preparation made form whole black urad dal with lots of spices added to it again is an authentic punjabi dish and was awesome . chicken reshmi kabab had these boneless pieces of chicken coated with spices and cheese and oven cooked leaving it light brown in color and a must have. veg do pyaza, chiken makhanwala were also very tasty. to sum up lunch was worth the drive! We then made our way to crawford market and did some shopping especially leather stuff and dry fruits. We found SADANAND a restaurant which has a branch in suratkal back in mangalore and communication in tulu meant us we got great service. manish market is a cheap shopping place were u get all imitation stuff foir real dirt cheap price. a ray ban glass looking original was initially priced 3500 and by the time i left the counter he had come down to 35. i offered 30 ,he would not budge further and i left the counter..We found a fellow selling tender coconuts there which were priced a whopping 25/- and we were thirsty and did not mind paying 2x the amount for which we would have got it back home. After a tiring day of shopping and roaming around we finally decide to head back home and rest and so we did...

Day Rating: 8/10

The mumbai adventures : day 3

2009-12-20T09:39:00.000-08:00

After a good nights sleep we were forced to get up at 6 in the morning and not because we had to get somewhere reaaly early or see the sun rise or catch a flight.It was because we had to take bath and finish early morning activites before 7. wondering why? because the city receives water for only 1 hour in the morning.the hosing society does not have a tank provision for the whole apartment but each flat has its own separate ank and tank is obviously not big enough for 9 people to do all the things with limited supply ,so get up early and finish water consuming activities by then... something like make hay when the sun shines... this is take bath when water comes!!I had bath and hit the bed again to catch some pending sleep.We had early homely lunch by 12 and then proceeded to Ulhasnagar, a nearby town which is also famous as USA(Ulhasnagar Scindhi Association) due to the predominant scindhi population . this town is famous for shopping from clothes to imported stuff, leather articles,dry fruits and what not.but it is also famous for its chat stalls .The next 4 hours were spent shopping and buying some real good handy stuff.we then returnedto our base and after getting fresh we went to anubhav a bar and restaurant for dinner. and not so surprisingly the restaurant was run by a shetty and my tulu came in handy and we got great service.Chinese bhel was a lip smacking discovery .It was made of fried noodles with chilly sauce, vinegar, tomato sauce and garlic sauce all mixed in relative proportions to leave your taste buds craving for more..the other stuff we ate aws regular biryani,tandoori etc...and then we got back and called it a day..
Day rating; 7.5/10

The mumbai adventures : day 2

2009-12-18T05:38:00.000-08:00

After a good nights sleep i got up early as we had to attend the wedding of my relative and by 630 we were alll dressed up and were waiting for the bus that was chartered to pick us up. It did come on time anhd we began hour 45 minute long journey to the venue. The same distance would have taken us 2 hours during peak time. What fascinated me about the roads of mumbai were the use of interlock tiles which are used primarily for footpaths and in the compound premises; majority of the roads had these in place and were functioning very well but later i found out they were custom made heavy duty tiles and not the ones which we used for our backyard. once we reached the mutt at wadala , there was this all familiar sight of people settled in footpaths with concrete walled house made for themselves and surprisingly enough every 10*7 feet house had a color tv with cable connection, electrical meter,fan, most had refrigerators, some even had air conditioner!!!only thing they lacked was a place to wash stuff for which they resort to the sides of the roads and toilets for which they find some bushes nearby or do it very early in the morning before sun rises and exposes them. terrible the way they are living but believe me they have no complaints or regrets about how they are living! supposedly the 'mumbai spirit'.we then decided to check out Dadar market and we had a tough time cos it was december 6 and apparently it wa the death anniversary of father of constitution dr.B.R.Ambedkar and his samadhi happens to be in dadar! we had the world famous Batata vada at Shri Krishna and it was worth its fame. we then returned back to the hall.marriage got over and a grand buffet lunch was served which was really lip smacking and finger licking good(as good as kfc) . from there we had to go to kal;yan in thana district for which we hired a innova and took to the highway in less than a hour and a half we reached our destination passing through 4 tolls which cost 150 bucks !! but no regrets because the roads were worth the toll. after refreshing we proceeded to see the birla temple and ganapati temple at titwala. both were nice one was more architectural in appeal and latter more spiritual.we came back home and had homely dinner and hit the beds.

Day rating : 8.5/10

The mumbai adventure- day 1

2009-12-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

Of the innumerable must see tourist places in the country if I had not yet gone to were kolkata and mumbai. but not anymore, mumbai is explored. so that leaves me with only one more holiday to cover INDIA and I am proud of it. the next few posts will trace my journey. on 5th dec which could safely be called as one of the relatively(this word means a lot) cooler mornings in mangalore, I got up early and thats by 7 o clock not because i had a early flight. my flight was at 1115 but still the excitement of visiting the financial capital of the country,the city that never sleeps, dream city and what not did not allow my senses to take rest for long and then i finally succumbed to it and got my quintal weighing body out of bed and was ready to catch the flight by 830. my cab arrrived on timeat 930 and was at the airport by 1015.check in was smooth and i rested in the crampy and suffocating lounge at the mlore airport. it definitely needs some improvement.the worst part is walking in the hot sun for half a km is punishment of sorts ,they could do good with a bus or two(every airport has 1!!!)air hostesses were cute though and as hot as the weather outside.the artificial smile on their faces could not be more deceptive i thought.i quietly settled onto my seat controlling my emotions and snapping my fantasies short.hit by recession (flight was running full though) airlines decided not to offer anything other than a bottle of water free. i had to shell out 170 bucks for a cold stale chicken croissant, a good 6cm*6cm piece of plum cake and a 200 ml carton of froti and thats called as a non veg meal!!! not even a terminally ill patient would have a low appetite sop that u could call it a meal!!! but they do; and i found out why people say prices have reached skies! 170 for 25 rs stuff thats 6.75 timesu are charging and they say they are hit by recession! what the.....anyways i should ve been smarter not to have been tempted to try it but then temptation got the better out of me and i gave in.

the flight landed at mumbai at 1220 and i was out by 1250. as i was attending a weddibng they had sent a cab for me and i got into it and proceeded towards gorai in the suburban mumbai. I had my first taste of mumbai and its traffic, buildings and people. it took 2 and half hours to reach the destination twice the time i took to travel from mlore to mumbai! after lunch and refreshing , we (me and family) took cabs and went to ISKCON at juhu and then to juhu chowpatty beach, had some disgusting chat. it was supposed to be famous but i would give it less than 1 on 10.it sucked. but what i ate next cheered me up, it was the famous ice gola in which the crush ice and put it in a glass and top with flavours of your choice so you could suck the juice and dip again and suck the juice again till all the ice melted.it was good and i sucked for a change not the food!!! we then went to borivili from there in search of authentic gujrati meal and I was not disappointed. It was nice rotis soft, chutney tangy, sabu vada crispy, dal and subzi tasty but sweet(u cannot complain about food being sweet when u eat gujrati meal apparently) . all in all a day with lot of activities ended with a good meal. we went back to gorai picked our luggage and went to borivili were arrangements for our stay was made and as soon as I got there i obliged to the bed and slept off to glory....

DAY RATING : 7/10