way to Goa...

After a long time we could go on a long vacation, actually supposed to be a vacation of 2 weeks got cut short to 4 days. So long vacation is still pending.

Place was decided by kumar, i think Goa is his favorite place. He insisted that we should go and that we should drive there. He has done this many times before, i am surprised he still wants to do the same thing given the variety of choices we have in India. My conclusion was the continuously flowing alcohol there was the reason for this liking. Without fail his every meal/snack/breaker was accompanied by few liters of beer.

We started early in the morning with the sad new of Mumbia terror attack.
As assured by kumar, the route was astonishingly beautiful. I felt like stopping after every kilometer to enjoy the scenic beauty. we were driving through fields, mountains, waterfalls, streams and sea side. Born and brought up in dry lands of Andhra, i had misconception that india is a dry land except of Kerala. I think those 'Gods own country' ads on TV made is believe Kerala is very green and beautiful.

Karnataka is very beautiful, on our way we came across numerous lotus ponds, lakes rivers, beautiful scenic spots. The scenic beauty is just so amazing, it cannot be put in such plan words.

Everyone warned me that Goa will be crowded at this time of year. But i think due to recession and bomb blasts, not many people came this year. We stayed near baga beach. I liked goa a lot.
All through the day we just sat on beach for hours enjoying the waves, getting massages, occasionally going on boat ride, water sports and ofcourse enjoying food. I had too much expectations about sea food, but found it normal.

I forced kumar to swim in sea water, after long persuasion he came and did enjoyed it a lot. Last day we were in water for many hours and i got a beautiful tan. We went to old goa on last day, and found out the goa is not just about beaches.

Overall goa was great experience.
We thought of taking a different route while coming back, but since we were told that roads were not good, we came back the same route. Reached home at around 8, after having dinner, i fell flat on bed and all the same old routine things which i have to do next day came into my mind. Planning the next day, i slept. phew!

Bangalore rocks

I never thought i will be living in the garden city. Life is full of surprises and this is one of them.

All my friends at one point or the other lived in this marvelous city and i always fancied about bangalore.

Bangalore is a beautiful city. whenever i say this, people give lecture about how beautiful it was few years back. They say the city is polluted, populated and all gardens are vanished.

My only complaint is traffic, which i got used to it now. I spend more time reading b'coz of traffic otherwise would have spent it infront of TV. My friends says i am too optimistic to look it that way. But health wise its still not good.

But other than that...morning jog at near by park boosts my energy like anything. Being a cooking maniac, i get immense pleasure in grocery shopping and more when i find all rare fruits/vegitables which i never thought of finding in india. cost is another issue which i will not go into.

Weekend, you have variety of options. Many attractions around Bangalore. Many activities to do from pony riding to trekking. I am planning to go on a trek some time soon.

There are exorbitant number of restaurants in Bangalore and the cuisines are fabulous. This weekend we are planning to go to a small dosa place which kumar claims to be the oldest restaurent in bangalore which was opened during world war II.

I am very content with life in Bangalore. But given a choice i will always like to work in my hometown. Nothing can replace my hometown.

Missing

someone once said "There is no sincere love than love for food"

I miss my grand mom's cooking. I was with my grand parents during my childhood. Making milk cova was such a tedious process then, almost takes a day. Since its made on stove with burning wood, it used to be not pure white as we get in shops today, but nothing tastes as good as it.

my grandfather used to get all sorts of fruits/nuts from our farm, baby groundnuts, raw custard apples, corn and my grand mom used to toss them onto hot coal and they used to taste like heaven.

Granny used to make curry out of dried cucumber and onions which used to be amazing. desert with bottle guard and snacks were so delicious.

I think i am too hungry now.

I miss those times when i was so carefree, when i used to catch fish from stream nearby with my frock, playing hide and seek on hay heaps, walking in freshly plowed muddy field, building and decorating doll house, eating fruits directly from trees, Swimming in deep wells, early morning, sitting in front of stove, wood trying its best to burn in chill air to boil water and give warmth to us. Taking bath with that boiling water which smell of mud and smoke. knowing everyone in entire village, pampered by their love and affection.

Today, that stream is vanished. I don't see any heaps. I see few muddy field but don't recognize their owners anymore. Granny now has an electric heated , gas stove etc etc. Life has become comfortable in my village now, but i don't recognize it anymore and i don't feel that warmth.

Weekend planning

Every morning after reading newspaper in company bus and dosing off for 15 mins before reaching office and wishing that 15 mins never end is the best feeling.

World transforms from busy polluted dusty roads to beautiful majestic gardens and lawns.Evenings on bus, after researching my phone for sometime, i close my eyes and think about many things which can easily graded as useless thoughts.

Among these, weekend always lingers on top. I do weekend planning so intensely, a virtual world is created like second life where i can transport to anyplace in seconds. I go on a virtual weekend trip. Everything seems perfect and after i open my eye near my stop, i feel like i have been back from a weekend trip.

Another transformation takes me from busy Bangalore roads to beautiful and peaceful house.

My body clock keeps tracks of weekends and i get up only at 9 on weekends. With fresh hot coffee, eyes half opened, i settle in sofa. Browsing through all channels on TV, i get reminded of weekend plans i made in bus. Since i have been on my trip already i feel watching TV is more exciting than doing what i have done yesterday in virtual world.

Another week, another planning another virtual visit. I usually end up doing what kumar has planned which is usually on the spot. Why do i plan so much and not do it? I think i have too much time and i am day dreaming too much.

Marriage: reverse reaction

Its been a year i got married and i am writing a blog about it now, that says it all.

It was a roller coaster ride. The preparation started 4 months before marriage.

All i remember now is that i was blushing too much during my engagement and i was very sad while walking towards marriage stage. I felt that i am leaving my parents. Usually this moment comes after marriage.

I teased my sister a lot when she cried after her marriage, before leaving to in-laws house. My mom was crying like anything, even my servant was crying then. My sis said that seeing all of them crying, she also cried.

I did not understand at all. why will close relatives cry when a married girl leave to in-laws house? what will change? mom can be excused, but why others cry? grandmom, auty, all other relatives.

But somehow at that moment, when i was walking towards marriage dias, i felt like crying. I kept on saying to myself, "Dont cry, you are getting married, its happy moment" but like a flood, tears are gushing towards my eyes and I was trying by best to stop them there. I think its the feeling that i am not going to spend much time with parents. I kept on saying to my self "you are mad, you are crying before ur marriage, it is happy time".

Atlast i was on stage surrounded by all close relatives, happy, cheerful and busy in their own world. Kumar saw me and gave a look like "whats wrong?" A tear escaped my grip to hold them back. I said to myself "I am mad to feel like this". That tear did the trick and i was back to normal. Puraji asked me "Is this the same guy you saw in pellichupulu (formal meeting before deciding on marriage)? If not this is the time to speak"
Everyone there broke into laughter. I think only kumar and pujari observed me being little sad.

After that everything went as usual.
With 4 months of preparations, i think nothing can possibly go wrong. Especially with my moms planning. I think she has been planning this for years. Her planning was so intense that she ordered flowers for decoration matching my dresses. She made a dress timetable for us starting a week before till week after marriage. She should be a marriage planner instead of teacher.

After meetings hundreds of relatives whom i am meeting for the first time, we sat to have dinner. One gentleman came to me and said "If kumar misbehaves anytime, just give me a call...i will fix him". phone number is far, i don't even know his name. kumar told me he is his relative and does not remember his name well.

After all the cousins teasing kumar and fun activities, time has come for us to leave to in-laws house. i was very afraid of this moment. Then the crying started. Oh my god, everyone was crying.
even our servant was crying. I was asking myself again "why, why all this crying?"
The worst part was my sad moment was gone, i was happy cheerful and all that crying is not affecting me at all. I was telling myself "Its a sab moment, be sad, atleast pretend to be sad". saying this to myself is made me laugh more. My mom hugged me and was crying more. I digged my face down and laughed a lot. Luckily everyone was so sad, they did not saw me. The more i think i shud be sad, the more laghter i was getting.

Finally after a solid one hour of crying, we left. While going back kumar was like "you mom will miss you a lot i think, she cried a lot". I confessed to him that i was laughing inside all the while.

This was my reverse reaction. When i am supposed to be happy, i felt sad and when i was supposed to be crying , i was laughing.

mysterious thoughts returns!!!

Like every success movie sequel, this blog has one: MT returns!!!
Usually movie sequels are not up to their expectation. how about expectations on a sequel to a flop movie?


Its been so long, so long that i read my own posts and started laughing.
I felt very happy that i could capture at least some of the precious moments in this blog.

Reason for this long gap, Marriage.Marriage changes everything, i am dedicating this blog for pre marriage state.

Best:
--> No need of alarms (wakeup call, office time call, office reached call, how is work call, pre lunch call, lunch call, post lunch call, afternoon call, timepass call, coffee call, evening snack call, going home call, pre dinner call, dinner call, post dinner call etc etc)
--> Shopping, shopping and more shopping ( comes under worst for a guy :p)
--> Living behind trees, rocks, deserted lawns etc (they dont want others to overhear their phone conversations)
--> Gifts, gifts and more gifts.
--> If you can record the conversation, i think nothing else will be as stupid as them :P
--> You are in a misconception that you found a right partner :P
--> Breaking the good news to friends

worst:
--> Exponentially increasing phone bill.
--> Telling life histroy.
--> Stupid fights, long discussions and very long sorry discussions
--> For 5 mins of time together, you wont mind driving for 5 hrs and also putting up with a huge group of stupid relatives asking stupid question.
--> Too much of getting ready before meetings.
--> No time for friends.
--> No time for home food.
--> Answering same set of questions posed by friends when told about marriage.

There is more to this list, but i want to stop here and go to marriage part.