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

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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......

Some loose change, some haggard souls

Some loose change
 Some haggard souls
   the story remains the same
     of meaninglessness in the maze
       searching for things in the haze
The lights have just come in
   They are telling me to move ahead
     They ask me to tread the paths unknown
       The heart though is a different beast
         Singing its own tune
All it cares about is
 Some loose change
   and some haggard souls


!!

Indore- Here I come!

I have often said this and I repeat -

" The Indoris have only two states of being- either they are eating/cooking or thinking about eating/cooking"

I know that the same could be said about a lot of places/communities in India, but having married  someone born and brought up in Indore, I could say this with complete authority.

So I am travelling to Indore tomorrow, and whilst I do have a phobia of continuous bending exercises that I have to endure in the name of show-some- respect, I do love the place, my husbands folks and the general non-metro, non-rushed feel of the air (in no particular order please).

It's also a fact that while for 23 years of life, I only wanted to fly for my travels, now that the lord has granted my wishes and I am forever zipping in the air, for the works, I miss train travels and hence take every opportunity to board the 'Indian Railways' when I can.

So what will I do when in Indore ?

- Eat , eat and eat :

•  gorge on Johnny's benjo (they actually call a humble Veg Burger a 'Benjo'- now do the math    yourselves and figure out the love of Indoris for all things colourful - language inclusive) at    Chappan dukan,
• hog the awesomest Sawariya Sabudana Khichdi (though every second Sabudana Khichdi stall is named Sawariya, any blue blooded Indori will tell you who is the real 'Sawariya'),
• eat the Makke ma kiss(OK, so the only mouth to mouth contact involved is between the dish and your mouth. The 'kiss' only refers to the process of grating, by which it is made), with a vengeance 
• fill myself with a glassful of 'Shikanji' (and in case you are thinking that it is lime juice that I am referring to , well! ha! ha!!. Shikanji in Indore is actually more a relative of lassi than lime juice. Gotcha!)

- Sleep, sleep and sleep

What can I say - sleeping in Indore is more fun than in Mumbai. I mean, yes I do love sleeping anywhere, but still the air is just a bit more calmer and peaceful

- Shop, Shop and Shop

Non mall, small gully, intensive haggle, no brand, no need - shopping is just so much more fun

- Laugh, Laugh and Laugh

I love language and usually get upset when people abuse it, but in Indore they do it so lovingly, that I give it to them. So samplers here-

• Multi-Storey Building becomes 'Multi'. Hell! the world (basically, all in Indore. Come to think of it, is the WORLD) know what a Multi is!
• Namkeen becomes - 'micchure' (I think the genesis is this humble English word - 'Mixture')
• While Hindi is the go to language for everything, certain words are spoken only in English - so a Baraat is a 'procession' for even an illiterate Indori, all disposable items become 'disposals' and  all Malls become 'Maal'.

Books, Pages, Characters and Places

Books

Alluring, friendly, guilty, escape

And all the in betweens

I read, I comprehend, I imagine and see - saw between the seen and the unseen

Pages

Turned some, read some, reread some,

Imagined some, believed some,

But mostly I waited with bated breaths

To let the moments pass

Characters

Lived, breathed, believed

Went inside their heads, with places traded

Gave warnings, had premonitions,

Alas! I love them but they don’t seem to be listening…

Places

Explored red brick houses and palatial bungalows

The meadows and the slick city lines

The sky and the greens

The dull and the sheens


Returned older and wiser or did I?