A trip to the South Eastern tip!

The last leg of our trip was Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. We were staying at our friend S’s ancestral home, which was about 35 km before Rameshwaram. 

We had S’s friend A who was staying at S’s place. A had a Royal Enfield and we thought if we could get another bike from somewhere in S’s town, we would all go to Dhanushkodi in bike. But unfortunately we couldn’t a bike and hence, decided to take a bus to Rameshwaram and then from there, another bus to Dhanushkodi. 

As we were prepping up for the journey, V was just wondering if we would be able to get an auto from here to Dhanushkodi for a decent price. It so happened that S’s grandpa knew quite a few auto men in the town and that’s how he set us up an automan who would take us around to Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi for the whole day. 

So, Rameshwaram was about 35 km from our place and Dhanushkodi another 20 km from Rameshwaram. In total, it would be a 100 km for the day, in auto! Yayyy!! 

We began our tour with the visit to the Memorial of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. It was neat construction, with a lot of photos of Dr. Kalam, his certificates and the items of the last baggage that he had carried to Shillong. It had a couple of Safari suits, diary, slightly worn out sweater, a pair of shoes, normal hawaii slippers and a couple of combs. The man was surely very simple and humble. There were a lot of photos of Dr. Kalam, taken on various occasions. It would have been better if they had captioned those photos about the time & the event when it was taken, would have been more relatable. And people, please note, cameras are strictly not allowed inside the premises. Mobile are allowed though. It’s duh, but that’s how it is! 

A statue of Dr. Kalam outside the Memorial,at Peikarumbu 

Our next stop was for Lunch and then straightway to Dhanushkodi from there. Dhanushkodi is the town which was completely destroyed in the Cyclone in 1964It is the south eastern tip of India and is at a distance of less than 100 km from Sri Lanka by water.

All that you see at the tip is water, water and water, whichever side your turn. The water was “naturally pristine”. (V coined this term, when I told him that it wasn’t pristine because the water had quite a lot of sea plants). Pictures couldn’t do complete justice to what we saw, but still, go on, look at these pictures! 

We left Dhanushkodi at around 4 and headed towards home. Enroute home, we decide to stop at the ever famous Pamban Bridge. We were lucky enough to be there at sunset and oh my, what a sunset it was. For those who don’t know, Pamban Bridge is a railway bridge connecting Rameshwaram to the rest of Tamilnadu. This bridge was destroyed during the 1964 cyclone (the same one that destroyed Dhanushkodi) and reconstructed within just 45 days. Google on, to read more about this! 

The Pamban Bridge

View of the Pamban Railway Bridge from the Pamban Road Bridge. This junction opens up when a Ship has to pass through

Sunset at Pamban Bridge

Many thanks to the auto driver who patiently waited and gladly took us around to all the places we asked him to go. And we were done for the day. 

Today morning, we spent sometime at the Kathadi Beach nearby S’s place and had some home-made Aapams by the beach. 

We were back to home post breakfast. After a sumptuous meal, it was time for us to pack our bags and head back home! 

End of vacation and incidentally, end of the year as well! 

This trip shall always be remembered for the innumerous bus journeys and all the west coast sunsets :) and of course, for the state of Kerala, the people and the aroma of their Biriyanis :) 

Signing off, J!

Back on the roads again!

Today was back on the roads again. I think after that one time I went to Karaikudi from Chennai and returned back to Neyveli the very same day, I have never traveled in bus for so long until today. 

We checked out of Hotel Reech in Nagercoil at 10.30 A.M, and had breakfast the same Hotel as last night and headed towards the bus stand. We had to be in Rameswaram by today evening. 

As we didn’t have any direct bus from Nagercoil to Ramesawaram, and hence took a bus to Tirunelveli, which was 1.5hrs. Having survived on the narrow State Highways of Kerala, where it took 1 hr to traverse 30 km distance, it was a bliss to cover 30 km distance in 25 minutes. Thanks to the broad highways of Tamilnadu. 

So, Nagercoil to Tirunelveli in 1.5 hours. Next was Tirunelveli to Tuticorin, which was another 1 hour. And after that Tuticorin to Ramnad, which was close to 3 hours. By the time we reached Ramnad it was 4 P.M.

We had a friend who had an ancestral home enroute Rameswaram and decided to crash in there for the night. So, we had to take another bus from Ramnad to this place called Uchipuli, which was around 20 km from Ramnad. 

We reached his home by 6.30P.M and called it a day!

Last Sunset of the West Coast Trip

After quite a heavy breakfast, we started off early in the afternoon from Trivandrum towards Kanyakumari. 

Guys, some real piece of advice! If you want to go to Kanyakumari from Trivandrum, make sure you either take an A/C Volvo or an express, and ensure you don’t take up the last seat. 

Yes, you guessed it right. We took a passenger bus and a last seat in that as well. Starting and all was nice only. Just when I was thinking that this driver was driving well compared to the yesterday’s A/C Volvo driver, he proved me wrong. With roads full potholes and no roads in some places, it became one roller coaster of a ride. Wasn’t able to sleep either, because I wouldn’t know when the brakes would be applied and I’d end by banging my head of the seat before me. 

It was supposed to be a journey of 2.5 hours, but by the time we reached Nagercoil it was well past 3 hours. 

We had booked our stay at Nagercoil as the hotels in Kanyakumari were way too pricy due to the holiday season. We walked off from the bus stand to our place of stay, Hotel Reech. 

The place looked neat and sophisticated. The door locks were Smart Card based and doorbells touch-sensitive. We had booked a Deluxe double occupancy room. It was smaller than the usual deluxe rooms, but was compact, and minimalstic! 

Personally, I’m proud of our choice (mostly V does the work) of hotel stays. It has almost always happened to be good and economical as well. 

We took rest for sometime and refreshed and started off to Kanyakumari. Its 20 km from Nagercoil. We took a bus at around 4.45 P.M, keeping in mind that the Sunset was at 6 P.M. 

Reached Kanyakumari at around 5.45 P.M. The sunset point was on the Kanyakumari Kovalam side, about 3 km from the bus stand. We had to take an auto as we were running out of time. The auto drivers capitalise such times and charge a bomb for a 3 km ride. With no other option, we had to pay the price. 

The sun was preparing for the descent as we reached the place. Having had a heavy breakfast, and no lunch, we were super hungry. Gobbled on some masala poori, poris and boiled peanuts and settled ourselves comfortably on a rock and saw the sunset. This was the last sunset of our West Coast Trip. 

In all the 4 sunsets that we saw in 4 different places in this trip, I love one thing - the way the Sun becomes a perfect ball of yellowish orange color a couple of minutes before setting. 

Once done with the sunset, we walked back from the sunset point to the bus stand in the road adjacent to the sea. The color of the sea, the breeze, the evening sky were all mystical. 

We took a bus back to Nagercoil. We had dinner at a small shop near our Hotel. They served some hot dosas with a tasty sambhar and chutney. Finished off the dinner and retired to the room for the night.

On the Roads..

Well, today is day of bus rides, more bus rides and only bus rides!

We had Aapams, Egg Curry, Christmas cakes and home-grown bananas at my friend’s place for breakfast. As most of you guessed it right, we were heading towards Alappuzha (Alleppey). 

We got an A/C Volvo from Vytilla to Allepey, a journey of 2 hours. Once there, we took another bus to Champakulam, which was a good 40 minutes through the picturesque backwaters and lush greens of Alappuzha. This is not called God’s Own Country for no reason. It is simply beautiful. 

All we wanted to see was the Church that was featured in Vinnaithandi Varuvaya movie. Well, frankly I had no clue how the Church was or where was it. I’m pathetic at remembering scenes and locations from movie. But V, on the other hand, would remember them to the T. It was he, who kept insisting we visit this one. 

So, the over excited kid V, while trying to navigate to St. Mary’s Forange Church, Pullinkunnu, ended up navigating to St. Mary’s Basicilia and which is why we landed at Champamkulam. We realised the mistake only after reaching Champamkulam and seeing the St. Mary’s Basicilia Church. The guy was like, dei, indha Church andha movie la vandhadhu madiri illaye da! 

Then we figured out that Pullinkunnu was another 13 km away from Champamkulam. Thankfully, we hadn’t gone in a completely wrong direction altogether. We took a bus from Champamkulam to Mankombu. And then, a ferry to the other side of the bank. And lastly, an auto to the Church. 

We reached the Church at 12.15 P.M. and to our dismay, the Church was closed. We had to return back again. 

Back to Alappuzha, we had lunch at a restaurant near the bus stand and began waiting for a bus to Trivandrum. 

Trivandrum was a 5-hour journey from Alleppey. We got an A/C Volvo at 2.00 P.M., but the seats were all full. Considering that waiting at the bus stand was futile, as we didn’t know when would the next bus be, we decided to board the bus. 

Traffic was at full peak and it took more than an hour to leave Alleppey and standing wasn’t making it any better. We finally got seats after a couple of hours. The bus ride was really slow and we reached only at Trivandram at 7.30 P.M. 

Once there, we had to go to his cousin’s place which is in the outskirts of the city. Required quite a bit of haggling with the auto drivers to agree to the price for the drop. 

After about 20 minutes, we reached our destination. The house is in a multi floor apartment complex just behind the beach with a lot of recreation available. It was a different kind of experience for me, who has never been into such a place before. 

The night was spent talking about trips, work and walking around in the lawns and parks within the complex.

All in all, today was all about bus rides across the state and some hearty conversations at night.

A small snippet of our travel for the day till the Pullinkunnu Church. Post this, we came back to Alleppey and took a bus to Trivandrum which was further down!

Kochi, Ernakulam

Hi! 

Continuing from my previous post.. We took a bus from Kozhikode to the port city of Kerala, Kochi. Luckily for us, I had a friend of mine who was from Kochi. He was kind enough to let us stay at his place while in Kochi. 

I was so exhausted that I slept off during the whole of the bus journey without the slightest budge and didn’t realise we had reached Kochi until the conductor came over and woke me up. It was 3 in the morning. We took an auto to my friend’s place and reached there by 3.30 A.M. Crashed on to the bed straightaway, only to wake up at 7. 

His house was minimalistic yet classy. Very thoughtfully built. And hey, they had a garden too, where they grew Seppankazhangu (my love), Brinjals, and Bitter Gourds. There were Plantains, Jackfruit and Coconut trees as well.. And six little rabbits and a Dog. It was a really nice Home. 

His mom had prepared us a breakfast of Pooris and Potato Masala, and a couple of boiled eggs and home grown bananas. I’m slowly becoming a fan of dishes containing coconuts and coconut oil. The Potata Masala had coconut / coconut oil, and I absolutely loved it. Lipsmackingly good it was. 

With breakfast getting done and a little of lazing around the home, we decided to head out for the day. To Fort Kochi. 

You can go to Fort Kochi either by bus or by boat from Ernakulam Boat Jetty. We decided to take the ferry ride and took a bus from Vytilla Junction (its the Kochi’s most prominent transport terminal) to Ernakulam Boat Jetty. Once there, we had to get tickets for the ride. 

I think I have an affinity for queues and every time I stand in a queue, it gets jinxed and stops moving. No points for guessing what happened today. I joined the queue at 12.40 and it didn’t move an inch till 1.20P.M. Forty whole damn minutes and zero movement. So much for wanting one ferry ride. We were already starting to feel sorry for not taking the bus. But hey, the ferry cost only 4 rupees per head and half the time that you’d take, had you gone in bus. Well, that was the only solace. 

Apparently the ticket counter works in such a manner that the tickets are issued only when the boat arrives at the Jetty which is why I had to wait in queue for such a long time.

We got the tickets for the 1.40 ferry. The sun was in its full peak and the waters shining with the golden glow of sunlight, a sight to behold.

Since it was too sunny, we thought of visiting the Mattancherry Palace first and then head down to Fort Kochi for sunset.

The boat cruised along to Fort Kochi first, and then to Wellingdon Island and finally to Mattancherry. It was a 30 minute ferry ride.

It was 2.15 P.M. when we reached Mattancherry, and you guys should by now know what I would be doing next. Yes yes, scout for a restaurant to satiate my hunger. Gave in to some full meals and felt all sleepy the moment we started walking out of the restaurant.

Started walking off towards to the Mattancherry Palace. Considering this being the holiday season, the place was a little overcrowded. The Palace had a lot of Mural Paintings depicting the events of Ramayana and Mahabharata. It also had the whole history of the town of Kochi. How Kochi was first captivated by the Portguese and then later on by the Dutch. The details of all the kings who reigned the kingdom across various centuries. Of all the 42 rulers, there was just only one Lady, Rani Gandhara Lakshmi. She was made a Queen at the age of 85 and was captivated by the Dutch in the 15th year of her regime and died at the age of 100.

Once done with Mattancherry Palace, we hopped on to the ferry to go to Fort Kochi. At the Mattancherry Jetty you didn’t have to wait in queue for getting tickets. You can right away board a boat and get a ticket onboard later on. 

Reaching Fort Kochi, I felt totally drained because of the scorching sun and a little sleepy as well. It was around 4:30 in the evening. I see this building from a distance and get excited thinking it to be a Church. Only as we got near the building did we realise it was a Hotel and not a Church. I did wonder why wasn’t there any cross at the top, when I first spotted the building, but chose to ignore that thought and proceeded further. Tough luck. 

Also, this building was in the opposite direction to the beach, meaning, now we had to walk 500 metres in addition to that actual 1 km distance between the boat jetty and beach. 

As I reluctantly walk on, we spot on the Pepper House Cafe. It is the place where Celine goes to order a Red Velvet Cake in the Premam Movie. The place was appeasing to the eyes with uniform wooden benches around a lawn and a view of the backwaters. 

Walking down further, I spotted Maritime, the hostel crowd, a place that looked quaint and had a wonderful door at the front. 

After about 20 minutes of walking, we spot the Chinese Fishing Nets. This is a mechanism used by the fishermen to catch fishes. They have a setup where the net is attached to parabolic wooden logs and balanced with a couple of rods and ropes tied to stoned. The net is lowered in to the water every 10 minutes and pulled back up and the fishes that have been caught are picked and sent for selling. Sometimes you end up catching a bomb (a lot of fishes), and sometimes it is only a handful. 

And then we spot freestyle wrestling competition happening at the beach. It reminded me of Dangal. We watched around 4-5 matches and went to perch ourselves in a good place to see the setting Sun. But then the Sun decided to vanish off into the clouds very early today. And soon enough, it started growing dark and we packed off back to the jetty.

Fort Kochi Jetty wasn’t any better than the Ernakulam Jetty. And me and queues being a match made in heaven, never wanted to part. Queue time was 30 minutes now! Finally boarded the ferry and reached Ernakulam at 7.30P.M. 

We thought of taking a Uber from there to my friend’s home, but they were really pricy. So we settled in for an auto. After around 20 minutes of trying to stop every single auto crossing us, we boarded into one and reached home at 8.15 P.M. 

Aunty had made Chapathis and Dal for dinner. And Uncle had prepared a Schezwan Gobi of sorts which had my taste buds go mad asking for more. Dessert was Ice cream with home-grown Bananas and Nuts fruit salad. 

After having a chat with Uncle about his Badminton Games, High Court life and life in general, we called it off for the day. 

Any guesses on where would I be heading next?

Impromptu Plans are the best!

Ever since our bike ride was cancelled, we did not make any plans for the vacation other than booking onward ticket from Chennai to Kannur and return ticket from Rameswaram to Chennai, a week later. We decided to decide on the next place of visit on-the-go.

So after a relaxed evening at Kannur, we planned on going to Bekal Fort today. Google be our sole and very trusted trip guider! Hit the Google Map search for Kannur to Bekal, it throws up not just the distance and time but also the various other commute options available. 

We planned to hop on to a passenger train which was at 7:15 A.M. Craving for just another extra hour of sleep, as the alarm went off at 6 o’clock in the morning, I started lamely citing to V that the trains might be crowded today as it was Christmas and begged him that we take a bus later in the day. (Frankly, after that disastrous journey yesterday, I was a little skeptical to take buses again) But V wasn’t budging, so reluctantly, I got up and refreshed and set out to the Railway Station. 

We reached the Station at 6 25 A.M. and to our luck the Malabar Express was running late and reached Kannur at 6.30 A.M. Boarded on to the Unreserved Coach in the Malabar Express which wasn’t too crowded and settled in comfortably for the 2-hour long journey. 

Reached Bekal at 9. But for name board and people around telling it was the Bekal Fort railway station, I sure wouldn’t have believed it to be an operating railway station. Such was the state of it, with untamed plants and grass all around and non-existent platforms. 

We took an auto to the Fort which was about 2 km from the Railway Station. Breakfast was had at Hotel Sangam, opposite the Fort. Akka served the best Pattani Curry with Aapams and Idiyappams. All this was thulped down at jet speed and finished off with some tea at the Thinnai !

One look at the Fort and I was awestruck. It was humungous, majestic and painstakingly maintained in very good shape. History has it that this fort was built in the 17th Century and was widely used by the Vijayanagara Empire. It has a steep ramp leading on to a watch tower which offers a stunning sea of the Arabian Sea!

Side walls of the Bekal Fort. pc: @keepcalmandjusttravel

Yeppaahhh!! Epdidane ipdi beach orama sema sema fort lam katrangalo.. and Director Maniratnam never fails to utilise such architecturally brilliant and scenic views in his movies. (For those who don’t understand what am I talking about, please watch Uyire Uyire song from Bombay movie. That song was shot at this location) Enna oru view man! Its like water, water and water in all the 180 degree eye view! Absolutely stunning. The Sea looked unusually calm. After spending more than an hour and a half walking around the Fort we decided to wrap up the Fort Walk and start back to Kannur. 

A view of the Arabian Sea from the Bekal Fort

Since, there weren’t any trains available immediately, we choose to take a bus. Apparently, there are no direct buses from Bekal to Kannur. You have take a bus from Bekal to Kanhangad and another bus from Kanhangad to Kannur. 

Back in Kannur, we proceeded to have lunch at the same place where we had dinner last night. We randomly bumped into that hotel last night, but looks like it is one famous hotel in that area, as we could see people from all walks of life walking in and out of it all the time. Surprisingly, the place was always full to the brim, but never had anybody waiting for a seat. 

The place always filled with the aroma of Biriyani and guys, I must say, Malabar Biriyani is THE BIRIYANI. Even though I don’t eat Biriyani, I simply loved its aroma. Divine and mystical. We saw people coming in and ordering a plate of Biriyani, and heartily enjoy it. 

While at lunch, the discussion of where to head next began. Initial idea was to checkout of the hotel and leave to Kochi in an overnight bus. But since we had quite a lot of time to kill till night and that Kozhikode was just 90 km from Kannur, and also because I was constantly nagging V to take me to Kozhikode beach, we thought, why not check out trains to Kozhikode. Opening the tour guide a.k.a Google Maps, I hit on the source and destination and tada, pops the list of available trains. One at 2 30 P.M., another at 3.30 P.M. and one more at 3.50 P.M. It was a 2 hour travel, and since it was already 2 P.M. and that we wanted to be there for sunset, we planned to take the 3.30 Mangalore Chennai Express. 

But when we reached the station at 2 30 P.M., the 2 30 train itself had not departed and we rushed through to try boarding it. But guess what, Unreserved Coaches being free is once a lifetime luck and we already had our share of luck in the morning. This one was jam packed. Packed to the fullest that you cannot even keep one foot inside the train. With no choice left, we had to give it miss. 

While navigating through the platforms, we bumped into the Kannur-Ernakulam Intercity Express which was running 2 hours late. The train took off at 3 10 P.M and has been halted in no man’s land since 3.45 P.M. I write this post, as I sit huddled between a lady and 35+ man, desperately hoping to reach Kozhikode in time to witness the sunset. 

Continued...

After about 30 minutes, the train finally jolted into motion. It was already 4.15P.M. The man next to me told that it’d would take only an one hour from now to Kozhikode. As my mind tried to calculate if I would reach the beach in time to witness the sunset, I was relieved to know that there was a buffer time of 20 minutes. With the train chugging on, I impatiently kept glancing at Google Maps every 5 minutes to see how much longer would it take. If we don’t make it on time, this whole journey would be a waste of time! 

Yayyyy!! We reached the Kozhikode Station at 5:40 P.M. The sunset was expected to be at 6:11 P.M. There was still ample time. Quickly boarded on to an Auto and headed towards the Kozhikode Beach. As the auto navigated through the city, I could sense a feeling of familiarity with the surroundings. Kozhikode, to my eyes, felt like a quaint old city at first glimpse. 

Reaching the Beach Road, we could see the Sun ready to say a perfect bye for the day. The Beach road, the rocks, and the walkway remind us so much of Pondy Promenade Beach. We settle comfortable on the rocks close by the shore and get into a trance as the Sun sets into the Sea. 

Sunset at Kozhikode Beach

Another day, another marvellous sunset. I never take some things off my bucket list ever. One of which is a Sunset by the Beach. I would see it a hundred times over and still not get done with it. 

End of Day 2 with Dakshin Special Rava Dosa :-) Exactly the kind of Rava Dosa I would love to have with a fee carrot shavings and coriander leaves. 

Keep watching for where I am headed to next !

Jhumka Girl goes to Jimmiki Kammal State

Even before V got this Thunderbird (TB) and even before Accham Enbadhu Madamaiyada hit the screens, we used to discuss a lot about bike tripping across the country. And when he finally got the TB this June, we sure wanted to put all our discussions to action, i.e., go on a bike trip. We did go on a 2-day trip to Jawadhu Hills, which was about 200 km off Chennai, but we wanted to do a 10-day proper trip in bike. After a lot of deliberation and contemplation, we finally decided to do a road trip across the South West Coast starting from Mangalore and finishing it off at Rameshwaram during the year end Christmas - New Year Holidays.

Leaves booked and granted... Itinerary jotted down.. Bike ready, we were eagerly anticipating the day of the journey. But of course, when everything is so perfect, things have to get jinxed right? And that's exactly what happened. V fractured a bone in his left ring finger while playing Cricket. Now since I didn't know how to ride TB and because V can't ride with his fractured finger, we had to ditch our bike plan.

Since, leaves were already booked, we didn't want to drop off the vacation entirely and hence decided to cover the itinerary as much as possible by public transport. Went ahead and booked the bus tickets from Chennai to Kannur.

We started off from Chennai last night at 8.30 P.M. Chennai to Kannur is around 650 km which took around 14 hours in Bus. So we expected to reach Kannur at 10.30 A.M. But wait wait, its the Christmas weekend boss, and the traffic in Chennai during long weekends is so unpredictable and unbearable. And yesterday was no exception. By the time we reached the outskirts of the city it was 12.30 A.M. Close to 4 hours to cover a distance of hardly 30 km. Koduma pa! Thank God, it was an A/C Volvo, else would have been drenched with sweat within 15 minutes into the journey.

And so, the drive kept continuing. I woke up at 7 in the morning only to realise that we had just reached Coimbatore. We were another 250 km away from Kannur and I was told that since the roads in Kerala are quite narrow, it would take us another 7 hours to reach our destination. As I was bracing myself for another 7 hours journey, I was hoping they would stop somewhere for a Tea / Breakfast. I was already starting to feel the hunger pangs. When the bus didn’t seem to be stopping anywhere, and since it was already around 9 45 A.M, I went ahead to enquire the driver when would he stop for breakfast. Alas, he said they wouldn’t be stopping anywhere and that they would reach Kozhikode in a little more than an hour’s time. I was aghast. Kannur was another 80 km off Kozhikode, and took another 3 hours. Dejected, I came back to my seat and tried to doze off. But the lurch in my stomach wouldn’t let me sleep. Finally when I started to doze off, we had reached Kozhikode and they shook me awake.

For those wondering why would I been woken up at Kozhikode, here is the answer. Kallada Travels has this amazing concept where they let you book a ticket from Chennai to Kannur, take you in that amazing Multi Axle A/C bus till Kozhikode. They de-board you from the bus there and board you into another Tempo Traveller which takes you to Kannur. And since it was time for us to get on to the Tempo, I was woken up. My hunger was at its peaks. I hated  myself for not carrying even a single packet of biscuit while boarding the bus. Owed to myself that I would never again board a bus without something to eat. So, back to the story, the Tempo glides through the winding roads slowing down occasionally at the busy town junctions. It was sunny afternoon and the not-so-effective A/C of the Tempo was adding fuel to my hunger woes. For the first time ever,  I wished we had opted to take a train instead of bus. Finally, we reached Kannur at 2 30 P.M.

We had not booked any rooms earlier and decided we would crash by any place that was available and affordable. We get off the bus, and as yours truly keep staring at the road and the buildings around, V calls up a Hotel and checks for room availability. It was a hotel nearby and they had just one room available at the moment and yay, we got it. We take an auto to the place which was about 1.5 km from where we were and the Auto guy didn’t charge a penny more than what the meter showed. That was quite surprising becuase we were used to people charging exhorbitantly or asking more than what the meter showed at Chennai.

We check in to the hotel and rush away to grab food at the nearest Hotel as it was quite late for lunch already. We go into Hotel “Hotel”. Luckily they still had something for us to eat. I hog off like I have never seen food before and finish off super quick. From there we decide to go to St. Angelo Fort. An auto again. This Fort was apparently one of the first forts in Kerala and had been built by the Portguese. Nothing fancy here, just a partially ruined Fort along the coast of the Sea.

View from St. Angelo Fort

From the Fort was visible the Aayikkara Sea View point. It reminded me off the long row of rocks in the Sea in Royapuram. We walked off to that place and spent quite sometime there.

Aayikkara view point. PC: @keepcalmandjusttravel

As the sunset wouldn’t be quite visible from either the Fort or the Aayikkara Sea View Point, we decided to go to the nearby Payyabalam Beach. The beach was quite crowded with lot of people waiting to witness the sunset. It could have easily been one of the best sunsets that I have ever seen in the West Coast had the Sun not gone inside the cloud at the last minute. My search to witness the best sunset still continues. Nevertheless, the hues of the sky post the sunset were beautiful.

Sunset at Payyambalam Beach!

A quick dinner and back to the room !

End of Day 1.. ! Tiring but ended with a very good Malabar Parotta and Kerala special Lemon Tea ;-)

J

First Love

I was never a believer of love at first sight until I laid my eyes on him. Neither did I know that first love is forever until I met him.

We were first introduced when I was around 7-8 years old. He came along with my uncle from the land beyond the seas. Our first meet was very brief and minimal, nevertheless I adored him. 

I longed to meet him again sooner, but fate had other plans. Memories of him kept coming back and they made me a little desperate every time, to meet him. The wait was long, but it was always worth the wait.

And finally, after 6 long years, he came again. And this time around, even more adorable and lovely. And the moment I saw him I knew ours would be a forever thing. 

He never stayed with me forever. But he kept coming back, every year. Each time a little different from the previous, but underneath still the same I had met for the first time when I was 7 years old.

Introducing you to my first and forever love, Hershey's Hugs and Kisses :D

Source: Google

Go Goa Gone!!

I was supporting the investment banking business in Japan and Japan has this 3-day holiday in the first week of May. You are lucky if those 3 days happen to be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - it would be a really long weekend. I got lucky this year. Hence, V and I planned to have a leisurely holiday at his cousin's place in Bengaluru and booked the onward ticket. We, being the really smart people that we are, were mighty sure that his cousin would be home and informed him about our plans only after booking the onward tickets. It so happened that his cousin was planning to be in Chennai the very same day that we were planning to crash at his house. Our plan collapsed. Me having a really long weekend of 5 days and V having booked his leaves at office, didn't want to miss out the opportunity to travel somewhere. Off we open the Google Maps and start scanning for places near Bengaluru where we could go for a holiday and that is when we bumped into GOA!

Goa, The land of parties, beaches and foreigners. Unlike every other guy who has Goa in his must go-to bucket list of places, V wasn't quite keen on going to Goa, but given the time of the year and the number of days that we had to spend, Goa obviously seemed to be the best fit our holiday plan.
And thus began the Plan Goa.! As the case is with all the groups where 10 people make a plan, and finally it is just one person who will be there in the plan at the end, we had around 5-7 people who were willing to come, but ultimately it was just 3 of us who actually made it to the place.

Since we had booked onward tickets to Bengaluru, we went there and took an overnight bus from Bengaluru to Goa. We reached Goa at around 8 in the morning and took a taxi to our place of stay. Ah, the place of Stay! How can I not mention about how awesome it was. Dorms have always been our thing ever since our Mathura trip. I was mighty impressed with the way they operated. You would be charged not on a room-day basis but rather on a per-bed per-day basis depending on the capacity of the room. Say, if a room has 8 beds, the rate might be somewhere around ~ Rs.500-600 per bed per day and if it has 6 beds, the rate might be ~ Rs.600-700 per bed per day. So, coming back to Goa, we had booked at our accommodation at Backpacker Panda (BPP) in Candolim, North Goa. The place was just around 500-1000 mts away from the actual beach and was cozy and secluded. The 2 best things about this dorm was the Common Area and the Kitchen. Common area is where there a couple of cots and sofas for you to chill out and have your food / drinks (There was a Guitar even, which you could play, if you know). And the kitchen, yes, you can cook your own meal if you don't find their cafe interesting. (It has only Poha and Maggi & Eggs and a couple of Fritters and Fries) It had a mirco-wave oven, an induction stove and the a few utensils, crockery and some mugs.

Wall art at Backpacker Panda. PC: @keepcalmandjusttravel

Day 1 - We reached the dorm at around 10ish and found that ours was an 8-occupancy room. It looked very cozy and clean. Had poha and fries for breakfast and set about to look around the place. We decided the best way to navigate  about this town was to get a 2-wheeler. Since we were 3 of us, we had to take 2 bikes. Luckily for us, the dorm itself rented out bikes as well and so, we took 2 Honda Activa(s).

First stop was Aguada Fort which was the bottom most point of North Goa. It was just a small fort along the coast which has a small lighthouse (entry to which was blocked). The view of the beach from the fort was incredible. Before you reach the fort, there is a small detour in the left
which will take to you the backgate (?) of the Goa Jail which is just off the beach, you could see the giant waves crashing on the walls of the Jail constantly.

Aguada Fort Beach view. PC: @keepcalmandjusttravel

From there we went to the Sinquerim Beach. It was a beach bustling with people all around and was bit noisy. This beach is the one that you'd see from the Aguada Fort and exactly behind Hotel Taj. We were there almost around the sunset time and but it was partly cloudy and partly sunny. And the sun disappointed us by setting behind the clouds. This beach did have a few water sport activities like para sailing, banana boat rides, but the price seemed a little too much for us given that May is "not-at-all" the season time in Goa. So we skipped it and headed back to the dorm.

Sunset at Sinquerim

Having found about the Kitchen at BPP, we decided on self cooking and bought some packaged tacos, eggs and Maggi  from the nearby supermarket. Well, I doubt if you can even call that a super market because all it had was, alcohol, alcohol and more alcohol and a small portion of other grocery items. To be honest, I was a little surprised that supermarkets had alcohols. But who was I even kidding, I was in Goa, the party city. It was only right that you could get a drink at all places. Once the dinner was done, we decided to head out for a walk along the beach. I have always loved beaches and this one was no exception. Walking along the beach in the night to the sound of the crashing waves and noise (or rather music?) from the distant shacks was absolutely bliss. We roamed around there for close to an hour or two and crashed off the night.

Day 2 - Early today morning we went back to the same beach and had a good time getting soaked up in there. Once back, we were so tired that we crashed off again. Later in the noon after a meal of self cooked tacos, we went on to the Chapora Fort, the one where the famous Dil Chahtha Hai movie was shot. I must say the Sun had no mercy on us and was on a full on mode. Undeterred, we climbed up the track to reach the Fort which was little slippery and had some works going on. Here again, there was nothing very extraordinary. Just a Fort with a brilliant sea view. Come evening we finally decided to venture into the water sports at Anjuna Beach. The price here was a lot (I mean really really) cheaper than the prices at Sinquerim for the same set of rides. Since we were just 3 people, we did not opt for the Banana Ride as that would require a group of 5-6 people. Personally, I was not too keen on the Jet Ski or the Bubble tube rides. So, we took the only other ride that they offered - Parasailing. It was super awesome. They take you on a boat into the sea and there they hook you one end of your rope on to a parasail wing and the other end is tied to the boat. Once the boat starts moving, wing flies up in the air pulling you up as well. To me it felt like being on a swing being suspended out of nowhere in the air. The sky, the water below, the nearby cliffs, the view was just mesmerizing. It lasts all of 60-80 seconds and if you want to either stay on air longer or get dipped in the sea you have to pay extra charges. We opted for neither. The experience sure was worth the money paid. Having said that, my only concern was that they could have let us on air a little longer, say 2-3 mins atleast.

View of Vagator beach from Chapora Fort

Parasailing at Anjuna Beach. PC: @keepcalmandjusttravel

It was a Saturday and on Saturdays, Goa has a night market which opens at around 9pm. We were all excited to go see what it offered, but unfortunately, out of nowhere it started raining like mad just when we were about to step out of the dorm. After waiting for more than an hour, we went out there only to find the whole place closed down because of the rain.

Day 3 - On our last day, we decided to see a bit of South Goa. South Goa is the complete opposite of North Goa. It was lined with small houses with pretty gardens and lots of coconut trees on either side of the roads. I was absolutely in love with the winding roads and the coconut trees. South Goa is full of Churches, and we went to Basilica of Bom Jesus and the adjoining museum which had the paintings of various Portuguese people including the famous Vasco da Gama. The body of St. Xavier's is still preserved here. You will fall in love with the church as soon as you see the entrance. The view of it is breathtaking. The high ceilings and the carvings are always an interesting thing in churches and this one was any different. We spent quite some time aimlessly going around the vast building and finally decided to pack off back to the dorm.

Bom Jesus Basilica. PC: @keepcalmandjusttravel

The ride from the North to South Goa was really pleasant and eye-appealing (if at all there exists such a word). You start with beaches and then reach backwaters and finally cut across the Mandovi river. So, on the entire stretch you'd be driving alongside one or the other water body.

Deltin Royal (Casino Cruse) in Goa. The place where River Mandovi meets Arabian Sea.

We had our return flight to Chennai at 6am the next day from Goa Airport. Goa Airport is at Vasco da Gama. This place was close to 40kms from where we stayed. We had to go from Calangute to Panjim and from there to Vasco. Note that the buses to Vasco from Panaji closes down around 7-8pm is what our guy at BPP said. Hence, we started off at 5pm from Calangute, reached Panaji at 6pm, took a bus from there to Vasco. Once we reached Vasco, we to took another share bus (basically a mini tempo van) to reach the airport. We were at the airport at around 8pm, but the security guys didn't allow us inside because we had arrived at the airport for a flight that was to depart 10 hours later. After a 15-30 minute of repeated requests and kenjing, they finally let us in with the condition that we would not be let out again. We were more than happy to enter the airport and found some seats in a cozy corner and started dozing off. Every hour, somebody or the other came over to us and kept enquiring why were we lot sleeping out on the airport. We kept on repeating the same answer when finally the boarding call for you flight was made. We made our way for the security check, enter the flight and settle comfortably. Since I got the window seat, I stayed up till the flight took up and cuddled off into a very nice sleep once it was in the air.

In my opinion, North Goa is all about drinks, beaches and parties. So, if you are someone who loves to party and drink, this is a go to place for you. Make sure you find a good place for food as well, as restaurants are generally pricey.

P.S: For all the party pubs and dance floors, hit on the Titos Lane!! You wouldn't be disappointed. And ladies, in almost all the pubs, you'd be allowed a free entry and would be required to pay only for the drinks. Sorry Guys, you have to pay for both the entry and drinks

Chaar Cheezhen!

Four Things - About me and my wishes!

1. I can doze off under the hot sun. Literally. Whenever I wait under the sun for somebody to pick me up while going out during the day, be it for a movie or anything else, I always, every single time, feel a little sleepy, even when I had had a sound sleep the previous night! Not sure if it is general human tendency or not, but I tend to feel drowsy when I am waiting or idle. I always love to have my day fully packed and bustling with activity, because empty days bring along laziness with it, which is something I am not very fond off. 

2. People. People are my best medicine. If you find me sad or lost in thought, just bring a couple of people around and I would brighten up enthusiasm instantly. I love being surrounded by people. Its boosts me like anything. This doesn't mean that I need people around me to talk to all the time. I can be alone and still be happy looking at other people talking amongst themselves. My requirement is just to have people in my vision. I went on to a place called George Everest in Mussorrie. It was a viewpoint, but I couldn't see one single tourist soul around there. The view was brilliant, but I felt something missing there. In my opinion, even the most stunning views gain their charm only when people are around to witness it. 

3. Mumbai, the city that never sleeps. This has been my dream city. I have read, heard and seen so much about this city, the Marine Drive, the Local Trains, The Arabian Sea and lot more. And after so much of listening, reading and seeing, I am dying to go to this city. I love Mumbai for the way it is, always busy and running. I have been wanting to go to this city for a long long time, but never got the chance yet. Every single New Year, for the past 8 years, I have been wishing without fail, to make a visit to this city. Hope I get a chance atleast this year.

4. Beaches, Sunrise and Sunset are a part & parcel of my life. One of the biggest reasons why I love Chennai is because of the Beach, especially the Thiruvanmyur one. If you know me or follow me in Insta, you should by know my obsession for sunrise and sunsets (Because most of the pictures in it are of sunsets/ sunrises) 

P.S.: I had wanted to write about 5 things, but never really got around in identifying the fifth trait, so finished it off with four. 

D 63 Rajaji Road Block 25 Neyveli

I don't realize how fast time runs by until I see the date of the previous blog post in here. Its been 3 months since my last post, and so much has changed since then.

And the mother of all changes is my parents moving out of Neyveli. After a lot of deliberations and my father's untiring attempts at getting a transfer to Neyveli for my mother, which have only become futile, he finally gave in the letter for surrendering the house where he had spent the best part of his life for almost 25 years.

I never believed that changing houses would affect you mentally and emotionally until now. It is really difficult to accept the fact that I would no longer be running into Platform No. 1 in CMBT to board a rickety bus to rush home. I would forever miss breathing in the familiar cool air which would welcome me every time as the bust enters the town premises after the 5-hour long journey.

That house sure holds a million memories of all the years that were spent there. A few little things from my childhood times -

• We moved here when I was about 2-3 years old. I still remember how my grandfather and I would sit in the swing early in the mornings as my mother left for work. These were the days when I was normal and well behaved. On days when I woke up cranky, I wouldn't let my mother leave to work and would have to be literally dragged into the house by my aunt.
• During the rainy days, my grandpa and me would each sit on a chair and watch water flowing across the road, sipping our morning coffee and milk respectively. These are probably the only times I remember being close to my grandpa. As the years went by, age caught up with him and he was confined to his room for most part of the day, barring the morning newspaper and lunch time.
• Unlike the houses here in Chennai, where every house has a terrace, houses out in Neyveli did not have terrace. In fact, I never knew house would have terrace until I was in Class 5. All we had was a roof with Tar and Little gravels poured over. As the world moved from corporation tap waters to storing waters in tanks, we had a couple tanks installed at our home on these roofs. A ladder was laid from the ground to the roof to check on the water level in the tanks frequently. I fondly the summer holidays when me and my brother would climb on the roofs during the afternoons and pick the mangoes that fall off from the trees or simply just lie on the roof staring at the sky and the birds flying around. How I wish time had just stopped by then and there?!
• The house was always bustling with activity and there would be someone or the other visiting all the time. Panguni Uthiram is my all time favorite. It would literally be "house-full" during that festival as all the relatives would throng our house. 

The two best-est (if such a word exists) things about this house was -

1. The Thottam (Garden) - From tamarinds to coconuts to mangoes to Jackfruits to Musambis, the house had it all. Every summer, when anybody from Chennai came down to visit us, my father makes it a point to send along as many jackfruits as the vehicle could bear for all the numerous relatives in Chennai. 
2. The Oonjal (Swing) - Every single person who visited the house, would surely take a two minute time out to sit on this swing. It was pure bliss. Though I am not much of a swing person, I sure do enjoy spending sometime on it on a lazy weekend. 

This post can never do justice to all the memories that were created in that house, but it is just a small attempt to document a few things that will be forever be cherished.

Finally, a picture of the house! It used to be very shady, until a few years ago when we had cyclones destroy a lot trees in the whole town. From then on, the house kind of started looking a little barren.

And the Oonjal! This also had a asbestos roofing which again got damaged in the cyclone, nevertheless it was a pleasure swinging in it during the dusk.

Until next time,

G

Down the Memory Lane - I

I wanted to have a picture of this place documented somewhere and while I was thinking where could that be, I remembered this space of mine.





There are two main reasons why I wanted this to be documented.

One, I feel an unexplainable connect to this place. It typically explains how I want to be or where I see myself because this shop is situated right on a very busy junction, in a cozy corner, but people hardly know about it.  In the same way, I want to be in a place which is bustling with all the activity, but still be invisible to the eyes of others, i.e.  Away from all the center of attraction. 

Two, I hail from a town where the only ice cream parlor from when I started eating ice creams was of Arun Ice Creams. I always loved it, especially the American and Italian Delight. 

I, unconsciously or at times consciously, make it a point to bring my friends here while I stayed near this place. Of course, people struggled to locate this place even when it was right in front of their eyes. But yes, this shop does house so many fond memories of the times spent with my friends.

I no longer stay close by this place, but still I get a little nostalgic every time I pass by this shop.