Some thoughts on Bharat trip
It was a bittersweet trip to India this time. So much crammed into five weeks and I was fool enough to think when I left that 5 weeks was ample time......some of the things I did, which I consider noteworthy, in no sort of order whatsoever......
1. Completed long-awaited giri valam in Thiruvannamalai, barefoot.
2. Dining out: Plenty, but still not as many as I would have liked. Maximum eating out in the newly-opened Saravana Bhavan in Mylapore (so new, I could still smell the paint). Restaurants highly recommended by me: Utsav (Hyd), Olives (Deccan Plaza, Chn). Of course, me being me, they are all vegetarian restaurants.
3.School re-unions attended: One major one - Vidya Mandir's 50th alumni bash on Dec 25, 2005, along with my brother, who is also ex-VM.
4. Movies: In the theatre: 'Bluffmaster'(in Hyd) and 'Aaru' (in Tiruvannamalai). Brilliant jobs by Abishek and Surya, but far too much violence in Tamil films nowadays. Not to mention tonal volume of lead actors in the Tamil movie, which ended up being unbearably loud.
5. Catching up with friends: The amount of time and quality of catch-ups was satisfactory with most friends, but still, some more time would have been great.
6. Family time: Good, once again more would have been better. But this was lots better than none.
7. Shopping: After deciding not to, I did go a little overboard. Loved the Charminar shopping especially. And also loved the fact that I didn't have to pay for most of what I bought:)
8. Temple time: Great, managed about 10 temples. I did have a couple more on my list, but hey, that's for next time. One of them inclues being in Mylapore for the 'Aruvathimoovar' fest, which happens in March, but that will be a tricky time of the year.....
9.Eating amma's cooking: Total disaster this time. Got hardly any of it. Firstly no gas cylinder for a few days. Secondly, the fact that all of us kept falling sick. And lastly, too little time.
10. Falling sick: Happened even to me, a hardened Chennaite/Indian, this time. I could not believe it. But even the locals were not spared by a severe virus that hit Chennai in the aftermath of the deluge. So, how could I and the kids hope to be spared?
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On going through this, I see the whole thing has a strong tinge of 'if only I had had more time'. That probably needs to be ignored as 5 weeks is as long as I am going to get in the near future! If only NZ wasn't so far away from India!
16 comments:
You did way more than I managed (but then you were there 3 weeks longer than me!) :)
By the way, you've been tagged. When you can find the time, of course...
Yup, I think it was pretty full-on this time. And however long you stay, it never is enough, so ...
Can you explain the tagging to me in such a way so that a technically-challenged person such as myself can makes some sense of it? *wink*
Copy/paste each question on to a new post on your blog, and answer them. Makes sense? :)
Looks like you had a good time all in all. Charminar Shopping? Pearls and Ittar? I haven't been to Hyd since 1987--and I'm very much in India. Distance has nothing to do with it. Sigh!
Wow Papji, I think you managed a lot.. I'm especially impressed that you were able to make it to a school re-union.. must have been good, were there enough people you knew well/your batchmates? Eating Amma's cooking - :( that's too bad you hardly got a chance .. I was lucky enough to get some of that - mainly to be able to taste my mom's rava kesari, kadambam, and most of all her satumbd with vazhakai curry...bliss! (even though I make most of this, amma's cooking is amma's cooking!) Shopping.. I have come to realize.. India is heaven for shopping.. you get really good stuff for great prices .. I bought a lot .. from clothes to shoes to cassettes to trays/utensils, other little items and what not..
Time with family.. great to know you got good time with them.. it's the thing all of us need the most...
Falling sick.. am sorry to hear that.. it's bad enough that we get so little time for vacations and then if you lose a a few days on illness it really feels terrible.
I've realized 2 weeks or 2 months, no amount of time is enought to do justice to an India trip, always some regrets, but guess you just need to think about what all you managed to do and be glad about it..
oops, forgot to add my name..the previous comment was from me .. but then I guess you realized since everyone else calls u lakshmi :)
-Vidya
Thanks Shyam, as ever my guru;)
Lak: Thanks for cheering me up. I guess distance doesn't matter if you put it that way. As for what I bought, pearls and all sorts of stuff, really!!
Vidhu, yup, when I saw that 'Papji' I knew it was you.:) In spite of it all, I am glad I was able to go. You are right, there just isn't enough time in India.
Confused: I like your new look:)
Yes, I think maybe I did do well, and should stop wanting more time as I can't get it. This is an NRI syndrome, I guess.
Did you notice that I've put a link to your blog from mine?
Hi! I love the title of your blog - wonderful alliteration :)
Even if you had much more time, it would have seemed like too less time, right? That's what happens when u come home! :(
Your kalyaana saappad list had me drooling ;) - though I could only guess at what half of those were!
Can totally relate with that. 5 weeks and still not enough. Hope you had a nice time back home. How is the weather out there?? Tooo hot I guess?
Shruthi: Welcome, and thanks.
Yeah, some of the kalayana saappadu items are very Tamil, so hard to understand if you don't know the language. I did promise to do a translation, but haven't got around to doing it. Do keep dropping in often.
Me: It wasn't hot at all, as it was in Dec/Jan that I was in B'lore, Hyd and Chennai. But as you (and I think everyone said), no time is enough time when you go back for a holiday.
Are you nandi's sister? ex stella?
Hey Anonymous,
Welcome, and what's your name? And sadly enough, I am Nandy's mom but not her sister!!! Btw, who is Nandi's sister and does she live in NZ?
Nandi is 34 years old, his nameis Krishnan. His sis Lakshmi was in Vidya mandir... then stella maris.. hence asked
Ok Anonymous. Who are you, btw, I may even know you. And do u know how old Nandi's sister is? I may know her too, although I am not her*grin*. Cheers
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