The "New" Delhi

We landed in Delhi at 12:45 am yesterday. A full 2 hours behind schedule. Our flight from Baroda was delayed due the standard reason "late arrival of the aircraft". I mean how stupid does that reason sound? And its the same reason every airline dishes out for the delays.

Fortunately we were informed of the delay over SMS and we used up the time to catch up on some shop talk with colleagues over a few drinks. Baroda was also cold but we were warned that Delhi would be worse.

12:45 is not that bad a time to reach a metro, but it is horrible if you need to drive another hour to get to your destination, in our case, Faridabad. A colleague of mine took nearly 2 hours in the morning the previous day and I was praying we would take less. Fortunately there was no traffic and we zoomed into Faridabad and reached the hotel at 1:30 to be welcomed by our colleagues who were up & about with their 3rd round of drinks. I had a cup of tea and crashed into bed at 2:30.

I am getting to Delhi after nearly 2 years and the changes are amazing. The roads are really wide (which still results in traffic jams, I am told. Thankfully I saw those roads in the wee hours of the morning sans any traffic), the metro work is in full swing and from what I understand it will eventually be the lifeline of the city, there are still enough trees lining the roads and the winters are nice & cold.

Gurgaon on the other hand is still seeing so much construction & the infrastructure is inadequate. Public transport is woeful and the traffic sense is still absent. So you are damned if you are in your own vehicle and damned if you aren't.

I also happened to drive on the newly opened toll expressway from Gurgaon into Delhi. Its an awesome piece of engineering with lovely signages but the exit points are crowded beyond belief. It took me 45 mins to traverse a road which would have otherwise taken about 10 mins & I ended up reaching the airport 15 mins before the departure time. Fully convinced that I would miss the flight, I was relieved like hell when my check in was accepted at the Kingfisher counter.

Ironically I landed in Mumbai at 12:45 am (same time as Delhi the previous day) which was an hour behind schedule thanks to air traffic congestion at Mumbai airport. Whether its air or road, traffic problems are here to stay.

On a totally different note, the food on Kingfisher is exquisite!

Peacock Bay, NDA, Pune

Peacock Bay
Originally uploaded by Vijay Basrur

We took off for Pune last weekend and drove down the Expressway. After the usual stop for vada pav & chai and another for petrol top up we finally made our way to my friend Arun's house in IAT, Pune. Institute of Armament Technology is near the Khadakvasla Dam and is quite a pain to get to, especially if you are wading through peak traffic. But all the pain of driving melts within minutes of arriving as the surroundings are absolutely stunning. Lush green areas, lovely roads, cute houses and most importantly no mobile connectivity.

Arun & Mugdha are the folks who got Snehal & me introduced and the rest is history. We are eternally grateful to this lovely couple who set things rolling for us. Ironically all of us could never be together ever sicne I met Snehal. Since they moved to Pune recently it was a good time to catch up. We talked for quite a while over some Royal Stag 7 Smirnoff and after polishing off a lovely dinner, we crashed into bed at 2 in the morning.

We were chaperoned around the campus & then the sprawling NDA campus in the morning. It was my first time inside the NDA campus and boy was it amazing. We also made our way to Peacock bay where the cadets practice various activities like sailing, surfing etc. They have some amazing equipment here right from sail boats, surf boards to water scooters.

We also had a lovely time lazing on the verandah which overlooked a small patch of green and sipping hot tea. Ideal holiday environment.

We are planning to make another visit soon.

Happy New Year

Jr UBG
Originally uploaded by Vijay Basrur

The Engg college gang had planned to meet up at Durshet Forest Lodge for New Years. Durshet is about a 85 kms drive from Mumbai & just 15 kms from the first toll naka on the Expressway.

Snehal, MJ & me drove in my car. We were joined by 3 other families. To say we had a good time would be an understatement. The kids, even though they were only 2 girls, had a swell time too. Snehal & me even won a prize in the New Years eve function. It was crazy.

Our poison was a bottle of Glenlivet which was pretty good. Given the chill in the air, the single malt was perfect.

The place is very rustic but very homely. All the staff are very helpful and went out of the way to help us. The food was finger licking good. Though the main fare was mostly vegeterian we were more than pleased. Definitely a place we could go some other time.

Happy New Year everyone!

Bars in Goa

I am in Goa for a day on work (yeah..I know its a bad time to come here on work while half of the world comes to Goa this time of the year to party party..but lets get to that issue). On my drive from the airport one can't miss the hundreds of bars that line up the main road.

There are fancy bars (with lovely sit outs under coconut trees), average bars (which have some amount of food on the menu), mom & pop bars (with the owners house right behind the bar), cheap bars (the only food they serve is chips), wine shop bars (the retail sale of liquor is as good as that in the bar), grocery store bars (you can pick up biscuits, detergent etc. while you finish your drink) and god knows how many other types.

You will also spot numerous wine shops peppered along the road in addition to these bars. Going by sheer numbers its amusing to see how much liquor can help in generating employment and income for people not to forget the incentive to spend and get intoxicated.

Will try & drink to that later tonight. Cheers!

Train Travel

As children, train travel was always the most crucial aspect of our holidays. Thanks to Dad's LTA we would be nestled into the, long gone, first class coupes. My brother & me would enjoy ourselves thoroughly, playing cards being the main feature.

During Engg college, boarding the Sidheshwar Exp was a ritual we followed once every month in our first year and gradually once in the entire term towards the final year. Downing a couple of drinks before boarding at Solapur was a ritual we followed in the last 2 years.

My most memorable journey was in the 3rd AC compartment of the Kurla Bangalore Exp, sometime in Feb 96, for a site visit while working for Batliboi. In a journey that lasted 24 hours, I slept for 19. Pure bliss.

AC travel is the least stressful and most enjoyable as it forces you to relax. Look out of the window, read a bit, get tempted with the hordes of food vendors, fall for some of the temptations (I never miss the Soup) and the best of all... Sleep!

A ride on the Rajdhani is enough to convince you on the pleasures of train travel. A friend has highly recomended that I try the 1st AC on the Rajdhani. We plan to do so in Feb when we are hoping to visit the Mughal Gardens.

This is the first time I have blogged on the train. Remembering some of these train journey was indeed quite nostalgic.

KSRTC

Travel in and around Kumta usually happens in my father in laws Maruti 800. So went to Karwar for some amazing fish at Hotel Ankur and then to Gokarn to meet my aunt in the 800 with my father in law at the wheel.

So when I had to go to Shirali & Bailur, I decided to get there alone by bus. Shirali is where our Muth is located which houses our community's spiritual leader. It is about 50 kms from Kumta. My main purpose of going there was to meet my Dad's aunt who was very fond of me. She is 93 and lives in an old age home run by the Muth. The tears in her eyes upon seeing me, made my trip worth every bit.

From there I headed to Bailur where my mother's family temple Laxmi Narayan is located. I met my uncle, attended the puja and had an amazing lunch after which I headed back to Kumta.

Bailur is a lush green town nestled away from the highway and the approach road is dry and arid making the town a welcome change as the approach road end.

And this brings me to the subject of this post, KSRTC. I depended on the KSRTC buses to get me to & from Shirali. And eventhough they are rickety and all that (they are called Lal Dabbas in Maharashtra) but they run frightfully on time. The conductors are equipped with handhelds which dish out tickets printed on thermal paper. This must be an amazing efficieny move. Along with having a control on the money, it must be giving vital data to analyze traffic movements to add/remove buses on key routes.

Ironically I boarded the same bus both ways & was greeted by the conductor with a smile when I boarded the bus from Shirali.

So in all it was a nice trip. We ended the day with a stroll on Hedbunder beach with a few friends and had dinner at Kumta's only open air garden restaurant. I have never had such thick & juicy Surmai in a long time.

Holiday Woes

The week long break to Kumta started on a bad (disastrous) note. I forgot my laptop in the train while getting down at Kumta at 4 in the morning. I realised only after I woke up at 9 in the morning.

All efforts to get it back were in vain. My cousin even went to Mangalore station to see if anything could be done. And the loss was not only of the laptop. My haversack had my wallet with my driving licence, my credit cards and cash and my digital camera too.

Though I was a bit nervous initially but I cooled down after a while since there was nothing much we could do. Fortunately my office folks should be able to claim the insurance since we managed to file a FIR at the local police station.

My brother managed to block all my cards. So next week is going to be co-ordination & getting back to normalcy week.

Till then I am going to relax and try and make the best of the holiday. Thanks to my new phone and a blazing GPRS connection I am connected!

More later

Raipur Again!

Just a day's stopover at Raipur for some work. The city is just the same. You get a feel of an upmarket rural town. The only construction you see here is a few malls that are coming up. Quite a difference from cities where every available piece of real estate is being converted into a township or a housing complex.

Guess Raipur is a few years away from all of that.

My blogging has been lethargic. I am yet to update the Kerala travel.

We leave for Kumta on Saturday for a well deserved break. Snehal will stay back for a week more. AM really looking forward for some reading, walking and yeah eating some yummy fish!

Kerala Ahoy

So I leave for Kerala in a few hours. 4 days of fun & frolic. Agenda is some great kerala food, grog, a wedding, a day on the boat in the backwaters, sea food & REST. Will see if I can update the blog.

Indore

Did a overnight trip to Indore last week. After a late night at work we hit a local dhaba for some rustic food and a couple of drinks. Dhaba food is amazing. Its lip smacking good, cooked fresh and down right cheap. Most dhaba's have a wine shop right next door, where you are supposed to buy your own booze. So its as we call it "paisa vasool".

The last time I had dhaba food was in Raipur and it was great.

Must try and do this in the smaller cities I visit.