This and that of Alleppey

As part of our "staggered"/"scattered" honeymoon, my hubby and I visited Punnamada resorts in Alleppey. The resort is a beautiful place with a lot of attention given to detail, so much so as to have wooden locks for the doors. Personally, I did feel that they've gone a bit overboard with the wooden interiors. That said, the place is very beautiful, peaceful, calm and serene, overlooking the Punnamada lake/backwaters. The staff there were very welcoming, everyone from the sweeper to the manager kept smiling always and were always willing to help.
We spent the first day on a houseboat. Well, I was thrilled - it was just Prashanth and me with the captain, a cook and a helper on the boat. Just before getting onto the boat I was cribbing about having to share the deck space with some noisy north-indian family. It was a welcome surprise when we were shown the way to our boat via the north-indian family's boat :). We were garlanded once we entered the boat and given a yummy pineapple juice. It was all hospitable and warm. We then set sail. The backwaters are very still and calm - smooth sailing :) I had a look around the boat and went to take a shower and to my disappointment was unable to get a single water droplet to fall on me :( Then hubby dear tried and he too failed. Finally, came captain to the rescue and all that had to be done was to turn the knob upwards :-P After a cold shower, it was time to enjoy the beauty of the backwaters - green rice fields, calm water body around us, other house boats passing by, noisy government transport boats, private boats with people ever willing to wave me a "hi", women busy at work outside their homes - they are so lucky to have a house just on the side of the river. Sadly, these people dont realize that they are polluting the water by bathing in the water, washing clothes in the river/lake, washing their vessels in the river. I wish they would realize this and instead of washing in the river/lake, take water out of the river/lake to do the needful on land with proper drainage facilities. Hmm.. this did sadden me quite a bit.

Anyways, forgot all that with scrumptous spread Syjeeth put in front of us. Once done with that, we played some carrom and I beat hubby dear 2 to 1. We then were joined by a very sweet couple from the US as we went in a row boat across the Venice of the East. Once back, we went a bit further and stopped the house boat for the day. Took a small stroll with Anoop[helper] leading us. We went near a lotus pond and saw a water snake... with its head nicely perched on top of a leaf - sadly we only got a glimpse and could not take a pic cause as Pras went closer to take a pic, it dived into the water. We walked back, played some cards, had another yummy meal and hit the bed.

The next morning, we awoke to the smell of pooris being fried. Once we ate, we set sail back to the resort. Back at the resort, we checked into our lake view room. The same had a view of the pool in the front. We took a shower, some snaps and went cycling. Once back, we showered and got into the pool. I tried to relearn swimming with Pras's help. We then had lunch, played carrom and table tennis at the activity center and then went on the speed boat.

I was very frightened when I heard the word "speed boat". However, not wanting to play spolit sport, I got into the boat and put my hands to my ears and looked down. We started and to my surprise I did not get the usual speed butterflies in my tummy. The person in charge also gave Pras and me a chance to try our hand at the speed boat. Was real fun. I never wanted it to end. Waterways are fun as you have no "right" way :)

Back at the resort, we took a walk around the nearby village with one girl coming out of her house and politely asking us to photograph her, which we willingly did so. We then had dinner, did another photography session and crashed for the day.

Next morning, we woke up, had bath and went in a row boat. Pras and I took turns with the one paddle given to us. It was a good exercise. One more bath and it was time to leave :( We were dropped at the alleppey bus stand from where we took a bus to ernakulam. On the way we got off to take an auto to "Fort Kochi". Fort Kochi is very much like Goa and you get to see a lot of foreigners in "short" shorts. ;) We visited the Maritime Museum whose caretaker was a very nice gentleman who asked me to take a look at his security guard when I asked him if it was safe for me to leave my haversack with him :) After walking around, we entered a gallery cum cafe, the manager of which was surprised to know that we were not from Goa - my thali confused him quite a bit. Infact, I think it confused many people since many of them kept glaring at it.

We had dinner at the "Abad Metro" hotel near the KSRTC bus stand. The food was very tasty and worth every rupee. We did not expect the bill to be just 115 rupees from the looks of the place. Got onto our bus and I slept through the entire journey on hubby's shoulder waking up for the first time when the bus had stopped cause there was a minor fire mishap due to faulty electrical wiring, which the conductor fixed in a few minutes. However, the bus got delayed and we were on the bus for more than 12 hours :(

I enjoyed this trip so much as I had Pras by my side at all times - the TV did not come in between us - not even once, which I had not anticipated. ;)

The world's fastest Indian

Well, so much for bikes with more vroom. My hubby and I were on our way back home after attending the intro to the landmark forum. Riding smoothly past us was a Bajaj Pulsar R220 cc bike. The guy riding the bike was wearing a helmet and the tiny guy behind him was holding onto the seat so that he does not fly away. We had stopped for a tender coconut on the HAL Airport road. When we started back, we saw that the bike was lying on the road having taken an exact 180 degree turn. The pillion rider seemed to have bruised his nose and was walking to the side of the road. The rider was looking very innocent and tried getting his bike up. The bike's front was not recognizable. Well, they had crashed into a poor cycle guy who was crying on the side of the road.

I wonder why people want faster bikes and other modes of transport. It is just a matter of a few minutes that will be saved and I don't think we are gonna acheive anything critical in a matter of a few minutes. Humans have weaved such a tangled web for themselves and are only moving rapdily towards spider's mouth by the day.

Back to Chennai

When I was a kid, I always told my mom that I would never marry anyone who is from a hot place like Coimbatore or Chennai. I had visited Chennai on a school trip and hated it. We stayed in a youth hostel and got brown coloured water to drink. However, I ended up doing my bachelor's degree from Coimbatore and working in Chennai - all out of my own free will. What's more? I can not stop praising these 2 cities. Coimbatore is a nice city to live in - kind of a prosperous place. Chennai is an awesome place compared to Bangalore, where I currently am put up. I felt very safe in Chennai. I DON'T feel safe in Bangalore.

Well, I convinced my husband, and we went last weekend to Chennai. I was so excited about the whole trip. I was on a high. The heat never bothered me except for 5 minutes on the way to Sathyam cinemas - we got lost and were trying to find our way[lot of diversions cause of the so-called infrastructure building]. Sathyam cinemas has changed a lot from when I left Chennai but it is beyond comparison with the INOX/PVR in Bangalore.

The beach is such a lovely place to go to. The vastness of the ocean makes me feel so small and my problems much smaller that I get back riding the wave. It does depress me to see that people don't keep the beaches very clean but is that not the case everywhere? I wish I was more bold to tell every person I saw throwing paper or rubbish onto the road, that he/she was doing wrong.

Lunch at Tiffany's in IIT was really good. Somethings never change. Oh, but they have increased the prices quite a bit.

We spent a lot of time with the NMSWorks folks - and it never felt like I did not belong there. Everyone was so warm and welcoming. I love this about the place and the folks there.

After dinner, I enjoyed getting out of the A/C restaurant - the warm, balmy air hugging every inch of my body. It made me feel so welcome. I was so happy to be back "on my turf". We rode back to the guest house in a light drizzle. Now, can you think of doing this in Bangalore? It is too cold to really enjoy it.

Somehow I don't think I will ever change my views about Chennai. I guess, you never realise the goodness of the place unless you experience it yourself. Who knows, sometime in future, when I move from Bangalore, I may end up saying Bangalore is a good place too...

Moody Moody

I know that I am a very moody person. I don't need anyone to second that. Infact, things are better these days. It used to be worse when I was in Chennai. My mood swings were very popular with the team in which I worked. People were always not sure of where they stand when it came to me. It irks me to have hurt someone unknowingly and I did it just yesterday again :( I am still feeling guilty. The funniest thing is that the whole morning I was low and spoke harshly to my team and the rest of the day I was my usual chirpy self. I need to learn and put into action, how not to be moody and even if I am in a bad mood, not to take it out on some poor innocent soul.