Old is Gold. Can you guess which place is this?

Just right now, I am upset, sullen, sulky, gloomy, morose, feeling specially stupid. And what's the best way to beat the blues? Write I must, and off course about something good.

I have written about my love for history and by extension for forts, palaces, havelis and all things ancient ( just things i.e. :)).

And by now, I have changed my mind. Why write, when pictures speak a thousand words?

Miss blog! can you guess which place this is?

The 'lush green' desert place 

 Small domes, some algae covered walls and the Ramparts

Ah! the blues against the olds. Such details often take my breath away

Do you even know that I am a blue fan?

Let's call this - The beauty and the Beast (when the husband gets to know of this, I am killed:)

The new in the land of the old

The aquamarine

 Reflect and Reflections

Soliloquy in the solitude

The 'View'

The 'if the Wishes were horses' door. Why? JLT

Since the View has been covered. Lets call this one 'Panoramic View'

Stairway to heaven - Led Zeppelin I miss you.

Sleeping Beauty (and where is the beast? Behind the camera)

Pretty. Postcard pretty!

Arts 

Alwar - an encounter with the Cat!

I had wanted to write about Madurai today, but when I checked my Hard disk, I realized the photos are missing and it’s no fun writing, unless I have pics to share. So instead, I will write part II of the Rajasthan Series.

So, Alwar it is today. I have spent 3 years of my life in Alwar. However, that was when I was 6 years of age and so I really don’t remember much from that era.

However, I revisited Alwar, around a year back, sometime in January.

A small town, situated amidst craggy, old rocks of Aravalis, in North-east Rajasthan, the place is in some sort of time-warp, as nothing really changes here and if not for the natural beauty of the place, one would have hardly heard about it.

What to do, if and when you are in Alwar:                                                                                                                           

•  Visit the beautiful Sariska Palace and the Sariska Reserve. The big cat is a resident of this place and if you are lucky you may get to meet them - up, close and personal. 

This reminds me of an incident that happened, when I was an engineering student. Myself and a friend were being driven from our college to Delhi via Alwar, in a Wagon-R. We had started out quite late and were passing through the Sariska reserve at around 9 PM, and like all girls, were talking nineteen to a dozen, when the driver suddenly put the brakes and then simply froze.

We did not know what had struck him, so simply looked in the direction he was staring into and then terror struck. It was a TIGER, in all it’s magnanimity, staring right into our eyes. The driver told us to simply do nothing and keep waiting and so after what seemed like a long long time, the tiger just as randomly walked off the road, as it had appeared. We told the driver to just dash off and he did. I still remember that cat. I really do! If it was to happen today, I would have thought of it as an adventure, but at that point of time, it was just a big scare.

• Visit Siliserh Lake, picturesquely set amidst the forested slopes of Aravalli hills. The open terraces of the Siliserh Palace provide a mesmerizing view of the water spread of the lake and its surroundings 

• Pandupol, which is said to have been a resting place for Pandavas, during their hide-out years, is a beauty in the monsoons, although at the time I went, it was only good not great

• If you have a sweet tooth, then do try the milk-cake - a local favourite

·          And now for the pictures:

The Siliserh Lake

The Siliserh Palace 

 A cow-shed on the banks of the lake

What to do?

Dear Blog,

I have work to finish off. Like seriously (why else would I be awake so late in the night) and I also wish to write to you. Infact, specifically speaking, I wish to tell you about Madurai. I went there some time back, but I don't think I have spoken to you about it.

So what do I do? Do I or don't I? Ok! so I'll leave you  with something to ruminate. Madurai has the most beautiful temples ever and Taj Madurai is an absolutely amazing property to stay in. That's all for the teasers. I shall write to you in detail, when I am done with the works.

This night is going be really long!.

Go Goa!

Dear Blog,

Just came back from a weekend Goa trip. I love Goa in monsoons and specially love the fact that it offers me so much more space in this non-peak season. Things however are changing, since I first visited Goa in the July of 2006. Back then, even a place like Calangute beach used to be absolutely peaceful even on a Saturday evening and one could take a leisurely stroll and gaze at the beauty of the setting sun - uninterrupted, unfettered and most definitely unhurried.

Today the scene has changed, what with throngs of people descending on the weekends and sort of depriving me of my own private monsoon haven. Sigh! such are the ways of this world.

Well back to the point, the rationalist in me is asking me to draw a list of the highlights of this visit (otherwise I would go on and on with my ramblings). So here it is:

• This beach side shack called 'Sunny Side Up' on Candolim beach which serves the most awesome food ever and the most potent cocktails ever (Warning: Don't you get too swayed by my adjectives. I have a gift for overdoing stuff, but you get the drift - right!) along with a fab view of sea.

•  I love travelling without an agenda and have discovered some of the most amazing places through my meanderings (so you know where the title comes from!). This time around one of our 'absolutely- don't- know-where- we- are- heading- to- drives' took us to this place called - 'Foxes Retreat'. Let me give you a brief background on how we landed there.

           On a random route, we spotted a signage (really non - de-script one) 'Foxes Retreat -nature at its    best (or some such thing) and the lane which the signage pointed to was seriously romantic - ziggy- zaggy, lush green  and so our hearts and minds chorused - Let's Go! and then we spotted this chottu- mottu track, which was hardly big enough to accommodate a Maruti 800, leading to the resort. 

So in short we landed at the place, were greeted by three ferocious dogs - I am petrified of any dog and these were big ones at that, had a long chat with the owner and he told us that the retreat was a 100 year old property- is mostly shut down- he has a Russian wife who's currently delivering a baby in Russia - he loves dogs etc etc and I took a long walk around the place. Liked it!

•  We hired this cab to drive us back to the airport at 4:00 AM in the morning, and the driver decided to be specially chatty. So initially I endured him, but soon got interested. He told us some fun facts about Goa - Russians are the ones who constitute the biggest chunk of foreign travellers or that Goan hoteliers have discovered a new found love for domestic tourists who unlike the foreigners love their 5 course meals, 3 times a day) or that Dawood Ibrahim has set up a casino in Goa. Guess the whole world knows that, but for our sleeping beauty of a Government.

And now some Photo time:

The place I stayed at

The next door art gallery- absolutely gorgeous!

Fort Kesroli- frozen in time (Rajasthan Series / Part1 ))

There is no particular reason for writing about Fort Kesroli today, except that I am missing my 'mitti' today.

Rajasthan, the land of my birth, is a part of me in ways I can't even comprehend and so sometimes when I close my eyes, I see vividly, the lanes and bylanes of Jodhpur, the lakes of Alwar, the colors on the streets of Jaipur, the sandstorms covered skies of Bikaner, the scorching sun shining on the magnificient waters of Kota, the blue pots of Barmer and the forts of Jaisalmer.

So when I got married and wanted to share my life with my husband, I did think that I must take him down the memory lane and show him some of the places I grew up in. I must have shared this with him in passing, and then to my utter surprise, he planned this whole trip around some of the most beautiful places in Rajasthan, some seen and some unseen, but all of them from a  landscape that I so well understand, know and relate to.

Fort Kesroli is a 14th century property, restored by the Neemrana group (by the way, did I tell you I am the hugest fan of Neemrana hotels. I sometimes plan my vacations, around where I can find a Neemrana hotel.).

So nestled atop some beautiful rocks, the hill fort looks like a lone warrior, which has fought and won many battles and survived long enough to tell the tales. The morning views from the numerous balconies (to reach which, you'd have to actually climb and jump a good amount) are simply breathtaking.

The winter fog settled on the endless mustard fields, the sleepy little village waking up and stirring to action with the sounds of the whirring grazing machines, the parrots and the sparrows chirping around, and my cycling trip through the farms, sipping in the unadulterated beauty, of all this. The memories of the trip are imprinted in my mind.

What was also special was that the husband had ensured that he did his bookings at a time when there were no guests other than the two of us(don't ask me how he managed to do that). Fabulousness!

And now the important bit- the Photologue

The Haveli from Afar

The Mustard Fields

The early 'January' morning view

The 'Old' world's charm

In the dark of the night

The 'bike' ride

A neighbourhood home

.

Shaheen Bagh - The middle Earth

I was watching 'Mere Brother ki Dulhan' today and my heart jumped when I saw the movie. Not because I liked the movie that much, but because I recognized the place that was being passed off as Imran Khan's home. It was none other than 'Shaheen Bagh'.

Shaheen Bagh is this beautiful bungalow  or should I saw rest home,  in the middle of nowhere, somewhere between Rishikesh and Mussorie.

It is the most gorgeous piece of property I have been to and I don't mean that in the five star/seven star sense. As much as I am creature of luxuries, I love the quaint and the quiet, and this place is just that.

The serenity, the beauty, the quiet, the solitude, the magnificent view by the pool side, the absoluteness of silence- Aha! what else does one want in life. The place is poetic.

I promise to add some photos when I am little less sleepy. Meanwhile, here's remembering all the fond memories of the place - from the blue room to the library to the movie watching marathon to the scrumpdiddlyumptious meals.
                                                                  The poolside

                                                          
                                                              The entrance:

The lounge

 

The dining hall

The view of the room I stayed in from outside

The moments

They were just moments
  filled with much love and shared laughter
    They had their own special fragrance
      that of abundance and a passion that set my heart aflutter

 The moments were simple
    devoid of pretense, honest in their nakedness,
     standing tall amidst the world's clutter

Sometimes they brought pain
  the type that could be compared to sheer sweet agony
   sometimes, there was anguish and hurt
    the kind that bounded us by the weight of our tears
 
And then magic happened
  and I discovered that the moments had become months and then years......