Temple Visits

But upset stomach it was in the morning and I would be relegated to a diet to recover. We drove to Snehal's anscesteral village "Masur" where we visited a temple and offered prayers and then visited a few people who had houses at locations one would kill for. Overlooking the Agnashini river the house offered a spectacular view and tempted us to just sit by and look at the river flow gently.

We stopped by at the "Shambu Lingeshwar" temple perched on a hill top where it was windy as hell. It must have been quite a feat to build the temple at such a height and it seems to have a huge following in the surrounding areas. Lunch was buttermilk and curd rice followed by a 2 hour nap and some numerous visits to the loo.

We drove to the Kumta beach in the evening. The beach and the views around it were amazing. We strolled in the waters and admired the simple yet tough lives led by the fisherfolk who live along the beachside. We managed to capture some nice snaps and got back home after about an hour. Dinner was 3 cups of buttermilk and I was feeling optimistic that tomorrow morning would a better day for my tummy. Amen

Kumta House

The Kumta House is quite a palace of sorts. Nested at the mouth of a large plot, it has all the makings of a beautiful breakaway resort.

The main facade looks lovely with a nice sit out. Old chairs give it a quaint look and you can sit here and look into the gardens or peek into the road that goes along the boundary which carries all the thin traffic that goes by.

The plot has over 400 coconut trees and various other fruit trees of mango, chickoo and so many other that I have forgotten. It has 2 wells, 2 small outhouses and a large rice field which has not been tilled for a few months.

Barely could manage to move around the entire plot. Have earmarked a few things I need to do when I go there next. Its fun to explore

Gokarn

The plan was to go to Gokarn to pick up Mom.

Gokarn is about a 30 mins drive from Kumta. We managed to leave at about 1 pm, post a wonderful sleep and an even better breakfast. We arrived just in time for lunch at my aunts place. There was fish, 'bendi' and a whole lot of good food and dessert was "kaiholge" (similar to puranpoli but with a coconut filling). A siesta was just plan necessary and sleep we did.

Our drive back was was wonderful, thanks to some torrential rain. The salt pans near Gokarn looked like they would be swept away any moment. Driving through rains is always a wonderful experience. The rains always leave a lovely fragrance of wet soil and the fragrance was with us till the time we reached back home.

Dinner was good and I gobbled up nearly 2 mangoes, all home grown. So all in all the day was all about eating and traveling. But I went to bed suspecting I would wake up with a bad tummy the next day. I hoped & prayed that I wouldn't.

Kumta Calling

A train journey, especially in an AC compartment in the summer, is a great way to catch up on sleep. I slept like a log for 5 hours straight and was woken up by the TC. By the time I woke up, it was dinner time & I made do with a highly reccomended "omlette parotha", which did live up to its expectation and a pepsi.

Since my destination would arrive at 2 in the morning, I ended up sleeping in parts. Unfortunately the train was running 2 hours behind schedule, which meant I needed to fight harder to stay awake. Finally the train arrived at Kumta at 4:15 am and there's nothing more welcoming than your wife's warm smile and a hug to make you forget the journey. Snehal barely slept in the night, anxious that she might oversleep and was smiling from ear to ear, a sight that makes me overjoyed, the minute she saw me.

We drove past sleepy lanes and empty crossings and reached home after a 15 min drive. Old style homes have a warmth which city homes don't and I settled in quite easily. After a brief chat with my in-laws we crashed into bed, dying to catch up some sleep.

While at it, here's a bit about Kumta

Bombay Traffic

I travel about 30 kms one way to office each day. So to say that I am used to Bombay traffic would be a fair assumption. But take away the comfort of your own car, the music system and of course the AC and Bombay traffic seems like a different animal. But taking public transport on Sunday is way better than week days.

Raipur

We made a overnight trip to Raipur. You can't do a day trip coz there's only one flight which goes there and the same one comes back.

Raipur borders on a rural city moving to a urban mindset. Ours is the first mall that is coming up in Raipur and everyone is very excited to see it operational. Almost like the 8th wonder of the world was being built. People are expected to come from 50 to 60 kms to "experience" the mall culture. OMG!

Quite a laid back city with bad roads and zero traffic rules. Spotted more buffaloes on the road than people. At one point we had to stop the car since the road was blocked by some 12 buffaloes. Also spotted a medical stores with neon signage & loads of lights.

The heat was terrible. It gets to about 45 degrees in peak summer. We were spared by it , thanks to some rainfall overnight. Overall a very dull place and we are really hoping that the crowds will come out to watch movies and embrace the mall culture, else we'll sitting there getting roasted in the middle of the desert.

On the move again

I've been able to hold back my official travel for a while. So as Snehal leaves for Kumta for a holiday (I will be joining her next week, more posts from Kumta later) I resume my travel with a 2 day trip to Raipur and a day stop to Kolkata.

Back to those boring queues at the airport in the mornings :(

Bryan Adams Live

As I mentioned earlier, the concert was quite good. Snehal was thrilled to bits seeing Adams in flesh & blood. Here's a clip I recorded on my camera. YouTube Rocks

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower
Originally uploaded by basrya.

The Eiffel Tower has to be the most clicked monument during our trip. This was clicked during our 2nd visit to the tower to catch the illumination, which was amazing.

This is a test post from Flickr