GOA - A culture shock

Goa - the land of sun, sand, beaches, foreigners, rave, all-night parties, grass, narrow roads, seafood, music, Kings beer, cheap booze, beach shacks, water-sports. This is what I used to think about Goa ever since I visited the place in 2002 (around Christmas). Before I talk about the culture shock and the recent trip, let me just go down the memory lane and re-live those 3 days in Goa that I just described above. I don't think blogs existed then - even if they did, I was totally net illiterate to make head or tail of them.

Genda, Mota, Rahul & I planned for a very short trip to Goa in Dec 2002, after our exams of final year, 1 st sem and before our project's viva. A train journey on Goa Express from Pune - we reached Vasco station in the morning and by noon we had shortlisted our place of stay, just off Anjuna beach. Goa looked like heaven. As far as I remember, it was the 1st trip of Goa for all of us (I might be wrong). Started off with Kings beer, the local brew, available for around 20 bucks. The flea market - got international cigarette brands for 60 bucks, I think. Ok my memory is like really failing me, so I will just touch on the keywords of that trip.

Lunch on Anjuna where the 4 of us sat looking only towards the ocean and "things" happening around, Tattoos by Genda and Mota, a sunset shared amongst Kings, Rahul & me on Anjuna, Hired Luna & Pulsar, Rahul drove the Luna so that he did not get too high, rave party which we reached by following the foreigners on their zooming Bullets, 9 bar where I distinctly remember Genda dancing with his MTV blue sling bag and I don't know but I think we were dancing in a straight line, getting high @ Vagator, driving to Tito's, Rahul falling, Mota laughing, Genda indifferent, I panicking, Mota peeing on Baga beach, driving back from Baga to Anjuna, throwing away cheap vodka bottle, being high on our journey back to Pune in the train, and finally heading back to our hostel rooms early morning @ 5 am.

That was then, almost 7 years back. Ever since then, we have planning and plotting to make a trip to Goa. Wit everybody under the sun, old friends, new friends, not friends. But it never materialised.

And the way it did was like. . . just out of the blue. Thanks to Manasi. I landed on a rainy evening, just a few days after Phyan had rocked the Western coast of India. The moment i landed, there was so much excitement. However the journey from the airport to the hotel just wore me down. It took almost 90 mins to reach the hotel, and there was so much traffic on the road and it was raining.

Dinner was @ Cavala, a nice small place. 2 girls were playing music. And we tried the prawns and the squids. And it was nice, more because it was prepared like onion rings so you couldn't make out whether they were onion rings or squid rings. Prawns were really nice. Had a good time with seafood. Next stop was Tito's, in fact Mambo's. When we had come to Tito's earlier, the place used to be an open discotheque with all the 3 levels acting as dance floors and trance playing out in the open. Circa 2009, Tito's dance floor is a closed room with Hindi music playing inside. I was so so disappointed. Mambo's is a new place opened ahead of Tito's which plays English music. And we paid 500 bucks for the entry. Place was ok. Music was decent. The place was full of people. There was a dancer who was playing with fire. We had seen all that back then in a rave party on the beach. That guy was fantastic, not to say the girl was not good. But the "feel" was not there. Alas!

Next morning was spa @ Jiva. Nice, calm and relaxing. Had a good time. Evening time, we went to Baga. We sat in our cab and can you guess what song was playing - Tujhe Dekha Toh from DDLJ. I mean, that's 1 of my favourite movies, and its one of my favourite songs, but it being played in a cab in Goa. Disgusting! The cab driver could talk Hindi properly and clearly. What's happened to Goa, man - that was the thought in my mind. We reached Baga - near Brittos. The beach shacks were a lot farther from the waters than they were earlier. Foreigners had to be spotted on those chairs; when we here earlier, Indians had to be spotted. People were commonly talking in Hindi. In the evening we had dinner @ St Anthony's. They have a very lively Karaoke bar. Lobsters were tried. I enjoyed it very much. Probably, if I would have had less tequila than what I had that night, the taste of the lobster would have been completely different. Dinner, and the evening was fantastic. Lots of booze flowing, awesome tasting seafood, good music - great time spent at St Anthony's. Night ended unexpectedly with a very very early morning flight but the hangover lasted a few days.

I had a certain image of Goa in my mind, and with the liberal dosage of Dil Chahta Hai sprayed on it, I expected the place to something of an Anglo-Indian city. Unfortunately, commercialisation changes everything. From more jobs to prefessional cab service and most definitely, Hindi Bollywood music catering to the hordes of Indians travelling to Goa nowadays. I am not saying its bad, but it has just marred the image of Goa in my mind.

So I wonder, was it a good idea to visit "Goa" after all?

And let me tell you, it was, since the time I spent there was FANTABULOUS.

Things I love & things I HATE about Bangalore

Bangalore is 4th city where I have been posted in the last 4 years ever since I have been working. I have been to many others before where I have spent a substantial part of my life - Delhi, Pune and of course Guna. Just thought of putting Bangalore in perspective wrt other cities I have been at:

1. Bangalore is blessed with awesome weather - the summers are not that hot and winters, not too cold (sad). You can sit out, laze around, go for a picnic on any day, in any month, and in any part of the year, Bangalore doesn't disappoint on that front.
2. The city is very close to the Western Ghats, hence weekend getaways are aplenty. You can leave on saturday morning and come back by sunday night feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
3. Bangalore can host its own Beer festival (just like the Oktoberfest)- thanks to KF. The place has innumerable pubs all around - at every galli-nukkad, a pub can be found. And the price of the beer will suit everybody's pocket - right from the miser to the well-to-do.
4. Rock Rules! I have seen some really cool joints which play fantastic rock music out here. Any rock fan would be proud to be living in Bangalore. Besides, most of the celebrities who come to India for their shows would definitely have Bangalore on their itinerary. It is a must-visit for all of them, towering above Mumbai and laggard Delhi.
5. Bicycling is serious business here. There are dedicated clubs in which members go out every weekend to explore new places all around Bangalore.

I think its over. I have been thinking about the other good things in Bangalore for the last month or so but I failed. So let me start with the things that I DONT like about Bangalore:
1. Everybody has an ATTITUDE out here. Right from the rick-wallah to a normal guy on the road. I have failed to figure out why is it so, but that's how it is.
2. The Great Bangalore Auto-wallah: First of all, he will show attitude. You need to get used to that, since you don't have any other option. They will always ask for extra money. Be it any time of the day, you will be asked for extra money. The reason given would be that he won't find anyone while returning back. And that from a place like MG Road, which is like the heart of Bangalore. Man, it is so frustrating. Best part is, after 11 pm, it will be 1.5X + Rs 10/20, depending on the mood of the driver. Somebody has to make them understand the concept of Supply & Demand.
3. Bangalore ROADS names - Bangalore prouds itself of having roads named as 100-ft and 80-ft roads!!! I was speechless when I heard such terminology. Cant write any more to that.
4. Bangalore ROADS conditions - Except for the ring road which connects various parts of the city with the new Airport, roads are very very ordinary. Potholes and sewage bursts are commonly found all across Bangalore.
5. You can't imagine the no of 1-ways that Bangalore has. I have taken the longest to get used to this city due to these stupid 1-ways. You go from one road and you come back by another. Its killing. I am not sure whether I will be able to drive myself to Koramangala all alone, if given a chance.
6. BANGALORE CLOSES AT 11PM. Daily, repeatedly and without fail. You will not find a place to eat after 1130pm max even on weekends. The Government can definitely close pubs if they want to (I dont want them to, but whatever) but why eating places. There's no logic. But then i have told you so many illogical things about Bangalore so that's just adding to the list.
7. Road names and bus routes on buses are written in Kannadiga. I thought Bangalore was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India with a sizable expat population. But there it is - road signages are in local language all across the city.

I hope that's about it. I can't think of anything else right now. But I am sure there would be more things about Bangalore which I hate. Will keep you guys posted

Queen of Hills - A trip to Ooty

1st weekend of July was destined for Ooty. After shortlisting the whole of South India for a 3-day weekend trip, we finally zeroed in on "Queen of Hills" in the Nilgiris. The plan looked like going down the drain since my "connections" were facing major problems in Haridwar due to the ongoing festival there. By the way, Maha Kumbh Mela is scheduled to happen in Haridwar in Feb-Mar 2010. Sorry for the irrelevant information.

We were supposed to leave Bangalore @ 5 am on saturday morning & I had taken a day off on monday. After a lot of hard work and coaxing, we threw ourselves out of the house at around 0615 hours. We had decided that we will not be stopping anywhere so that we reach Ooty within 5 hours. But, of course, if things are supposed to stick to plan, then what's the fun planning. 1st stop - Shell Shop, 2nd stop - Chai Tapri, 3rd stop - Mc Donalds.

After these breif stops (except the McDonalds one), we reached Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. The reserve is a part of 3 states - TN, Karnataka and Kerala. In Karnataka, it is called Bandipur Tiger Reserve. In Kerala it is Waynad Tiger Sanctuary. The last tiger sighting in the reserve was on 13th june. We were fortunate enough to sight a tusked elephant, but that was an achievement since I have never seen the tusks from such close quarters.

After crossing Mudumalai, we started our ascent to Ooty. 36 hair-pin bends take you from 950m MSL to 2250m MSL. Kalahatty Falls are on the way, and the 'falls' looked like the tiniest spec due to deficit rainfall this year in this part of the country. We reached Ooty at 1230 - found Taj Savoy, with some difficulty. Property was beautiful, situated atop a small hill with a nice view on one of the sides. Rooms were big, and since we were upgraded, it was fun.

We started off from Botanical Gardens. Flowers were in full bloom, there was constant pitter-patter, and it was all muddy. How I wish Government could increase the entry fees to such public places from Rs 5/person such that these beautiful places can be maintained in a better way. We do an Incredible India! campaign to invite foreign tourists to these places and scant attention is paid for development of these gardens, parks, lakes etc. Sad!

From there, we moved on to the Rose garden which is famed for the Black Rose. Looking at the condition in which the garden was, it was least expected that rose would be there. I checked with the authorities and I was right. The day ended with watching the finals of Wimbledon's womens' final and then dining at Taj itself.

At midnight, flowers and cake were served by the hotel staff (service, which was not at all complimentary :-) ). Orchids were amazing and they gave some 2 giant flowers which I have never seen before.

The next morning, we were on the toy train from Ooty to Coonoor. It started its service between the 2 towns in 1908. It is a heritage train featuring in UNESCO's list. The experience is breathtaking with beautiful views of the Nilgiris on one side and tea estates with silver oaks on the other. It feels like you have gone back in time, travelling by train, primitive seating, spewing smoke. Awesome!

Reached Coonoor in an hour or so. Coonoor was pretty. Since we were away from the city centre, we enjoyed every bit of the place. First we went to High Land Tea Estate, where we were demonstrated how tea is manufactured, and what do they mean when they say CTC, dust, long leaf, darjeeling etc etc. There is something called the White Tea which costs Rs 3000/kg. Had some medicinal properties but what the heck. How can somebody buy such expensive Tea. Anyways, the estate was pretty, got some tea tasting also.

Next stop was Taj Coonoor - 2nd celebrations began. We ordered a bottle of Camelot at some 1130 in the morning. The waiter was pretty surprised to see that. It was a 2003 Red, and very very nice. After finishing the bottle of wine, and becoming heady, we headed back to Ooty to go to the Ooty lake and to do some S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G. Wherever you go in Ooty, you will find a board saying "Home-made Chocolates". There are more signboards declaring these chocolates than actual homes in Ooty. They taste all the same, the only difference is the size of shops which keep them. Bigger the shop, higher the price. We tried 1 Khadi Bhawan, Mohan's department store, Sarkar Supermarket (totally filmy it was with pics of Karisma, Kareena, Feroz Khan being welcomed in the shop). Once we were back, I had arranged dinner at Taj itself, which was nice, and very English (in terms of setting) and very Nilgiri (in terms of cuisine). Had a good, sumptuous dinner.

6th morning, we visited St Stephen's Church, one of the oldest in the town (foundation stone laid in 1829). Amazing architecture with beautiful stained glass windows. Had a very DDLJ like feel when I got inside. (Filmy, man). Felt like just sitting there for hours. Unfortunately, had to head back to Bangalore.

All in all, a great trip and very quiet and peaceful Birthday celebrations. Very un-Manasi like Birthday Bash. Guess we need to compensate the silence next year.

Hard Water to Hard Rock to Hard Facts

Back after some time now! I don't why can't I find the time to do this. I won't say that I don't have the time, so don't know why.

Anyways, yesterday was fun. Genda was back in namma Bangalore, for professional advice (Not from me, obviously). Was here since thursday but something or the other was happening on thursday and friday, so could not get the time to meet him. So saturday lunch was IT. We met at Hard Rock for lunch, since we could not think of too many places to go to have food (Thinking of Hard Rock for drinks is understandable but food, huh). Mamme and Genda were aiming for Salvation after watching the Terminator, and had already had some colored waters at Firangi Paani.
There was this guy who was showing off his freinds that he was on the poster of KISS (some band, which i didn't know). A couple came in with a small 1-year old kid to have lunch. The watchman was stinking. It was raining outside, so the view from the window was pretty cool. By the time I ordered, these guys came in and the slugfest started. Obviously they were down a pitcher and I had come from office so I was the ones whose legs were getting pulled the most. I tried to divert but it was in vain. Being a salaried individual was my crime for yesterday and I wouldn't even be considered for the grand restaurant they will be opening in some time. If we would have sat slightly longer, they would have decided the location and the menu as well. But the combination of theirs was looking awesome. 6 ft Genda + 5ft 4in Mamme! Comical, to say the least.
We ordered the Chocolate Brownie Sundae, which came in a huge bowl. Fantastic, it was. According to Genda, the brownie was not as hot as it was supposed to be but he ended up eating more than half of it. After having my Grilled Chicken Sandwich, I realised it was actually a burger, but unfortunately it was late. After saying bye-bye to Genda and Mamme, went back to office, worked for some time and then was ready for New York.
The movie was ok. No great songs, no great locations, the story was good, the actors were looking good. But it did not have the typcial Bollywood feel to it. Infact, Kabul Express by the same director was also on similar lines exploring the humane side of terrorism. Kat is good, John is ok and Neil is pretty good. He excels in these kind of movies. If they could have kept 1 item no from Katrina, that would have been great. I would give some 3 stars to the movie.
The issue handled by the director about detainess post 9/11 is pretty emotional. If that's what people went through, it must take a lot of courage for a person to get back to normal human life and proclaim "God Bless America". And I am sure, things would have been worse than what have been portrayed. 9/11 must have definitely shaken up American citizens in their hearts and minds. But the admirable part is that America has not had any terrorist attack on its soil post 9/11 - ButI don't that's the right thing, since they are involved in so many countries fighting terrorism that they would be losing more of their citizens fighting the war than many other countries who are hosting them. Let's not get into the politics of war and terrorism. All in all, a good saturday spent.

Run Maadi Run

Sunday was physical. Right from getting up at 5 am to cleaning the kitchen, and the clothes - man, it was taxing.
For starters, Bangalore hosted its second city run - Sunfeast 10k marathon run. Although marathon has got little meaning to the actual kms run these days, but city marathons have become really popular. Winner of the professional race here has won the Ottawa and the Boston city runs recently. And these have decent priz monies given to winners. Yesterday's booty was $155,000 with the mens' event winner pocketing $21,000. There is money out of running. Infact, there is money out of anything and everything - but more on that later!
I practised on friday and saturday for the run (if running for 2 days can be called practise, that is). On friday, we ran, walked, jogged close to 7 kms - which was good, considering the weight and girth gain that I have witnessed in the recent months. On saturday, it was 10kms which was sort of an achievement, since the last time I must have commuted 10kms by foot was in 1993, I guess.
Sunday was early. From getting up to reaching the venue, it was damn early, man. But the venue was exciting. The runners got the adrenalin pumping. And when the Open 10k (for people like me who wanted to tun 10kms but not time it due to shame), a swarm was let out by one of the exits. The race began at 8:10 am and by the time we started from the actual starting line, it was already 8:25 am. We crossed Kasturba Rd, Dickensen Rd, Vidhan Soudha Rd ( Vidhan Soudha looks majestic) and the rest of the road names which I have already forgotten. There was this angrej wearing the american flag and star-shaped goggles. And Ravana running with us (since there was a wacky dress-up competition also). There were people all around, I imagined that there would be a time when roads would get deserted at some pt of time. But that never happened. In fact, there were momnets when we had to actually stop jogging since there were so many people right in front of us.
Completed the race in 1:14.44 hours. Some achievement I guess. And to top the 10kms, we had to walk for atleast 2 kms to get a rick back home. More events like this would def get me thinner in a couple of months. Now I am planning to start some jogging or squash everyday. Lets see how achievable it is!
Back home was a bad story. Manasi had a full day office and the maid didn't come. And there so many 'bartan'. Shit, its not funny. That completed, all those sweaty Tees and shorts were to be washed - in a washing machine, obviously.
Looooooooooooong looooooooooooooooong day but worth it in the end...

You can't always get what you want - Rolling Stones

I saw her today at a reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man
No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you needI saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need
Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh...
And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
Sing it to me now...
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Oh baby, yeah, yeah!
I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to himYou can't always get what you want, no!
You can't always get what you want (tell ya baby)
You can't always get what you want (no)
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need
Oh yes! Woo!
You get what you need--yeah, oh baby!
Oh yeah!
I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need
You can't always get what you want (no, no baby)
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need, ah yes...

International - Hard Rock

Went to watch 'The International' yesterday with friends. Hitesh told me that he didn't like it coz its not your regular thriller kind of a movie. Not that fast-paced + lots of quiet moments.
But I enjoyed it. One reason could be that I almost love all movies that I watch, and also I like both the actors - Clive & Naomi. I would have def liked more of Naomi in the movie, but Clive was all over the place.
I am talking abt Clive & Naomi as if they are my chuddie-buddies.
Organised terrorism - is what I would call the theme of the movie. Guns, missiles, money, power, war (not necessarily on the ground, but virtual). I mean what is the world coming to. There is a shoot-out inside a museum in NYC (Taj shoot-out in Bbay might have inspired it). Potential PM of Italy is shot down. And these kind of things look like they are very much possible these days. Look at Pakistan, man. Taliban is all over. PM Manmohan Singh says that terror is right next to our doorstep. I am sorry Mr Singh but you are grossly mistaken. PoK is a glaring example of having terror literally at our doorstep. And what do we do? Practically nothing. We give dossiers to Pak on Mumbai attacks and wait for them to revert back. Fantastic. Look at what Israel did a few months back, or even Sri Lanka recently. They have also been frustrated by LTTE for ages now. But us, Indians, will just wait for things to happen. We will only TRY to attack when someone has entered into our territory. Always on the defensive - docile Indians. With all due respects to the political strategists of the country, we have been entangled in this Kashmir controversy since early 90s. And you can't blame the Congress only. BJP was in power for 5 years but they hardly acheived anything. I don't need Hindutva from BJP but I want that my borders are secure, terrorists, extremists are just not able to get into the country and create another 26/11 Bombay.
Jai Ho!