Pondicherry trip

Well, it's been ages since I went to Pondy but since I said I'd write about it, I'm sticking to my word. Had a holiday for Indpendence Day (Aug 15th) which happened to be a Friday so I had three days off in a row. Decided to visit Pondicherry lured by the thought of seeing wonderful French architecture, some old world charm and the Auroville community. Well, things didn't quite turn out as expected. The drive was lovely and thanks to my checking out some blogs, I discovered a route which was much shorter than going via Madras, the roads were pretty good too - what a change from Bangalore!! Unfortunately, Pondicherry didn't have much of the charm I expected - it was like any small town in India except for one area which had French buildings which weren't that spectacular anyway. It has a unique beach where there's no sand and just a bunch of rocks so you can't really go and take a dip in the sea - strictly for viewing purposes only. I saw only the shops in Auroville but loved the paper products they sell there and bought some stuff - there is a Mandir there but you have to book in advance to get a chance to see it so didn't end up doing that either, weekends are too crowded.
So, as a tourist, it wasn't much of a trip. But in terms of relaxation it was really good. I stayed in a unique resort started by some firangs. It was made up of individual cottages with your own private garden, each cottage had a unique theme. The cottage I stayed in had no AC and was naturally cooled - what this meant was that it didn't have any walls either. It was an open cottage - attaching pics so you get a feel of it - when you sleep you have nature surrounding you and when you pee or bathe, other than the thatched roof covering you, there isn't much privacy either. Which is why it was essential that each cottage had a compound wall and a door which could be locked so you don't have people wandering in. My cottage was called the Pop House coz it was supposed to represent the film industry - the only problem was that it was the Tamil film industry!! So everytime I opened my eyes when getting out of bed I was forced to look at pictures of some ugly Tamil heroes and heroines!!!! But overall, a really unique experience and enjoyable too.
Nice trip and I guess the next holiday I get, I'll take off to check out another place I haven't been before.



Front view of the bathroom
"Very private" toilet

Even more private bathing area!

The 'nature cooled' Pop house. To the right is the bed which isn't clear in this pic, so you end up sleeping almost in the open.

I'm back

After a long break from blogging, I've decided to dust away the cobwebs and restart this. Lots of stuff to write about - my trip to US was the first thing that came to mind but since two of the three people who read this blog were part of the experience there's no point and I've sent Maja a mail about it. My trip to Pondicherry is the next thing that comes to mind but I'm saving that for my next post.
This post is about "not judging a book by its cover", "appearances are deceptive", "beauty is only skin deep" and all other cliches of that ilk. To get to the point it's about the laptop I drooled over purely for it's looks - the Sony Vaio. Well, after picking it up from the US, I've come to realise all those cliches are true. It looks sexy but has pathetic battery back up - two hours at max. All those scientists who warned guys not to keep a laptop on their lap while working coz they may end up getting sterile probably worked with a Sony Vaio - it's sure to fry your sperm with the heat it generates while on your lap. And don't ever think of using it while it's charging (don't know whether this problem is specific to my laptop since I'm using the US laptop with Indian electricity, high voltage et al) as it generates a static electric buzz on the part surrounding the keyboard which you rest your hands on while typing.
The moral of the story: do some research with other users before you decide on buying something.
And btw, this was typed on my office Dell laptop which generates no heat unless used for long, is safe to use while charging and best of all has a 4 hour battery backup. So what if it looks ugly??!!!!!

This one's for you, Boy

Hey Boy, Mother wanted me to show you these pics so that you realise how good she used to look. She hopes that will encourage you to call her!!! Actually, I just realised that you kind of look like the Old Chap and Maja looks like Mother.

Weekend getaway to Wayanad, April 5 & 6

Every once in a while, it's nice to get out of town and do something different. So, earlier this month, since I had a long weekend (for those of you who don't know, that's a weekend with a holiday on either friday or monday), I took off for Wayanad with a friend. Wayanad is a hill station in Kerala, a 5-6 hour drive from Bangalore. This is tea plantation country and the drive was really beautiful with tea estates on either side of the road, not to mention the roads in Kerala which are really good compared to those in Bangalore.

View of a tea plantation

We stayed in a resort called Meenmutty Heights which was situated on a 300 acre plantation with the Meenmutty waterfall and a river on the estate itself.

One of the colourful cottages - really neat and comfortable.

I realised how unfit I am as to get to the room from the reception/dining area, you had to climb a bunch of stairs hewn out of the hillside. It was absolute torture and I discovered that there are muscles which are supposed to exist in the top part of the thigh - came to this sudden realisation when I felt the pain. The realisation further deepened when I discovered that there was no way in the world I could do the trek down to the waterfall, I went halfway on an almost non existent slippery path before realising I'd had enough - didn't have shoes that gripped and didn't have energy for the trek back up. My friend did go ahead though, and the photos I saw of the waterfall later were absolutely amazing, a real disappointment that i missed it but it's at least provoked me to start morning walks so I can lose the weight and increase my fitness. Attaching a couple of pics of the place - don't have the waterfall one though as my friend has just been too lazy to send it to me.

View of the river from my vantage point on the balcony outside my room. The distance indicates how far I had to reach for all meals everyday as the river was right beside the dining area.

"These are a few of my favourite ...."

Remember the good old "People I like" days??? Well, it's been eons since then but this time I feel the need to share "Music I like". I have a one hour commute each way to office and back and what better company than the radio to while away the time. It's also come in handy so I can plug out of what's happening around me in office and my team's chatter. Once again thanks to my Sony Ericsson mobile with radio (to go off on a tangent, I spent a bomb to buy this phone for only 2 reasons - to listen to the radio and coz i liked the orange backlight!!).

Anyway, here's some of the music I'm really enjoying these days. The sad part is I hardly ever get to see music videos anymore and have to rely on Google search to figure out who the artists are.

In no specific order, the songs are:

Sun Goes Down by David Jordan - just saw this guy on YouTube and he looks like a cross between Prince and the Michael Jackson of old. But all is forgiven once you listen to this real peppy foot tapping number, thoroughly enjoyable.

See you again by Miley Cyrus - The 15 year old daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus whom I remember only for the one number I ever heard of his "Achy Breaky Heart". Another real catchy tune and the girl has an amazingly grown up voice.

Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis - she's absolutely gorgeous and has a voice to match. Sounds quite like the Mariah Carey of old before she took on her "I'm so sexy and sing crap avatar".

Mango plucking - Easter '08

Mango plucking with the Old Chap has taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes, youth and strength DO NOT compensate for experience and technique. This is the second time the two of us have been plucking mangoes together and I'm still totally inept at it. That pole in Papa's hand is akin to Sergei Bubka's pole vault pole with a Papa made contraption on the end into which mangoes can be pulled and collected. I can probably hold aloft and balance the pole for a lot longer than Papa can but unfortunately till date my ability to pluck a mango from the upper branches of the tree is non existent. A 77 year old, frail man can still manage to pluck mangoes with a mastery I can't comprehend. Well, that's a humbling lesson for me indeed!!!
Btw, can't forget to mention this - the photo was taken on my mobile cam, I love my Sony Ericsson.

Kyle's First Communion

Kyle makes (or is it takes/recieves) his First Communion on May 4th, '08. Being the great Godmother I am, of course I intend to be there. Of course everything depends on how fast I get cracking on the visa interview and the US consulate's opinion of me. Wayne put together all the paperwork from his side and it's winging it's way over here but I've decided that should be Option 2. If I apply from a visa from my office (which they expect me to do in case I have to go on work sometime), the consulate usually issues a B1/B2 visa which means I can go on holiday as well. This is a 10 year multiple entry visa. Seems easier to get so I've decided to try my luck this way. Started the initial work when I came upon a HUGE stumbling block - need to provide my original degree certificates which I couldn't for the life of me find anywhere. I finally decided to search again today but this time with a difference. Never been one to have specific prayers for specific purposes but Aunty P has a prayer she says everytime she loses something and she usually finds it so I decided to try that way. And, would you believe it, IT WORKED. So now I take that as a sign that I'm destined to be there so going to try and finish the whole procedure this month. Fingers crossed and prayers required!!

Sexy Mom

This is the same Mother who insisted that my skirts should be below the knee!!!! Very creatively done photo I must say - nice one, Old Chap - very romantic!!

"On Air"

A major highpoint of the last couple of weeks - I've been "On Air" on the radio channel Radio City twice. The first time, I'd guessed the answer to a question correctly so I won a goody bag - the question was easy seeing as I'm a huge Aerosmith fan. But even better is that they seemed to like my voice for the 30 seconds I was on air and the RJ (Radio Jockey) called me a few days later to come on again (She introduced me as "the sweet voice of Marlene"). In the span of 1 hour, they called me 4 times and asked me a whole lot of questions about myself - required a lot of spontaneity since they give you no clue as to the questions beforehand. Based on my answers, listeners were supposed to guess my favourite icecream - yeah, there's absolutely no connection between what books, actors, sports etc I like and icecream but hey, I didn't plan this show!! I didn't get anything for this show other than lots of people listening to me. I obviously didn't inform any of my friends I'd be on air as I didn't want them to be listening in case I said something stupid!!! But, I've now realised, I'm pretty much a natural at it - no jitters and lots of witty answers, even if I do say so myself.
Oh yeah, the goody bag was nothing special - a Tshirt, Cap and a mug but then again, I WON, that's more important!!!

Farewell and Welcome

Goodbye to an eventful 2007. Can't say it was too different from the last few years. The highlight of the year was the Rodrigues family visit - once in a couple of years just ain't good enough. The only dramatic change was the change in job in July. Left my Tata leanings behind to join another company obsessed with ethics, Genpact which still has all the GE values it was formed with. Therein ends the similarity however. While the Tata group has always given me my best friends and loads of friends too, after 6 months on the new job, I'm yet to make a friend, only a few good colleagues.
Welcome to 2008. Another year which will pass as fast as the last few. Brother dearest just turned the BIG 30 and I'm going to be 33 this year. Feels old to see it in numbers!!! Hopefully the updates on this blog will be more frequent but that's it for now.