Hello

After my yesterday's conversation, I realized how little I know my best friends... they still surprise me... I also realized how little time I give them...

I vow to interact more with the important people in my life.

I am watching 'So you think you can dance" on AXN. It is one of the very good reality shows on TV. My sis is a fan and catches it on TV without fail.
Another good show is 'Project Runway'... they did show the re-runs on AXN but I wish some channel would screen the latest episodes. There was an Indianised version on Star One years back. It was quite good... the designers and the winner was also deserving. I don't know why they didn't have more seasons.
Another good show is "Step it up and dance" on AXN. The best part about it is the camaraderie between the contestants... they were laughing and cared about each other... there was no bitchiness.. no scandals or politics. The focus of the show was dance only... no cheap stunts here.

Fireflies in the garden

I was not sure if I should blog about this movie... KC and I wanted to watch some movie and headed to Colaba. There was only this one playing at a convenient hour. I was not keen on watching it since it seemed like a boring romantic movie but KC is a Julia Robert's fan. He has accompanied me to all kinds of 'girly' movies without complaining and I gave in.
Julia Roberts dies within the first 20 mins into the movie... the people left are ugly and old. We got so bored, we left before 30 mins.
Avoid it!!!

Married but available

Crap... crap... more crap. The author is some 'Abhijit Bhaduri' and the book is a sequel of 'Mediocre but Arrogant'. I think I have read it...
This book is another one of those... "Oh!!! I have done MBA and survived in the corporate world... people will fall over each other to read about my experiences... no matter how fictitious... and it does not matter that I don't have writing skills".
An impractical book about corporate life.
Khushi and I have been wondering if we should write a book like this too. After all, we are MBAs and working in the corporate world... and there are enough stories floating around to fill 200-300 pages.

Munnar Trip

I had been looking forward to this trip for months. I was stressed and so was KC.
RT, Appu and I had planned to go to Kerala after placements but it didn't work out ('coz I had dropped out). I have wanted to visit Munnar since then. The first time RT went there she called me and declared what a beautiful place it is.

It was decided then... KC put Lakshwadweep on the list but I campaigned for Munnar and took care of the details. The plan was to stay at Club Mahindra (which is the best resort in Munnar) for 3-4 days... next 2-3 days we could go to Thekkady, Backwaters and Cochin. But RT insisted that I travel less since it will be terribly hot and humid in Kerala.

We took an early morning (6 am) flight from Mumbai to Cochin and hired a cab from Cochin to Munnar. Munnar is 2.5-3.5 hrs away. The drive is amazing... greenery everywhere... I was reminded of Mt Abu and Manipal. I missed Manipal terribly and kept repeating over and over again; "Manipal is this beautiful" which irritated KC... don't know why. I forgot to ask.
Here is a pic of the first view of Munnar:

Everything is green as far as the eye can see. When we arrived there was fog/mist everywhere. Our room had a huge living room; bedroom; dining room cum kitchen with utensils, microwave etc; bathroom and a balcony with a view of the lake. Right in front of the window was a tree house where you can have your meals (at a higher charge, of course).

Day 1: The stress of the last months got to us and we slept all day after lunch. The food in the resort is freaking expensive and there is tax on bloody everything. We woke up to rains splashing on our window and the evening was spent playing Scrabble... I am bad at Carrom, Chess bores me to death (My sis used to make me play Chess for hrs as a kid... she didn't have anyone else to play with... I would lose asap to end the game), badminton was not available, kids were playing snooker and air hockey.

Day 2: We went early morning sight seeing to Munnar. The resort is 20 kms away from Munnar. We headed to Periakanal falls, Mattupetty Dam for a ride on speed boat, elephant ride (didn't do that), flower garden (totally avoidable), echo point (avoidable). We didn't get the opportunity to go to top station. It is the highest peak in Munnar.

Tea plantations
Matupetty Dam

The evening was spent playing Scrabble, Pathwords and watching IPL. It was raining again and the weather was so good.

Day 3: We headed to Gudampara estate which is a private estate. From the top of the hill we could see Kerala and TN border. There were lot of opportunities for clicking pics. There is a lake where we went fishing. Obviously, we didn't catch anything. The last stop was at the hanging bridge. As soon as we reached it it started raining. The evening was spent playing Scrabble, Pathwords and watching IPL. This is the first time in my life that I am watching cricket. Cricket is so boring. It should be banned.

Kerala TN border

Path in the estate

Lake where we fished

Day 4: We skipped Night Safari... there is no point going to a jungle from 11 pm-6 am. If we don't come across animals also we would get irritated. We skipped the tea plantation tour... everywhere we looked there were tea plantations anyway. We headed to Thekkady for a visit to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Thekkady is 2-2.5 hrs from Munnar. There is a boat which takes tourists into the sanctuary. The view is breath-taking. There is a cool breeze blowing and you can easily fall alseep. But our eyes were wide open on the look out for animals. We spotted elephants, wild buffalo and deer. There is a resort in the middle of the jungle and trekking is regularly organized. We decided to come here again just for trekking. Thekkady mein ek aur trip banta hai.

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary

It rained again but now it was warmer... the fog/mist had lifted. We spent the evening playing Scrabbles, Pathwords and watching IPL.

Day 5: A week earlier I had a discussion with KC and his friend, Rohan.
KC: She likes to plan her trips to the dot... there is a time table as to when to wake up, have b'fast, sight seeing... it is so tiring. Trips are meant to relax and sleep.
Me: Why the hell go all the way to a remote location just to sleep? Why not just take leave and sleep in your house?
Rohan: Obviously, you have to sleep on trips...
Me: Why???
KC: You won't understand... you have stayed in good places like Mt Abu and Manipal... I have only been in Mumbai where you can hear traffic even at 3/4 am. The undisturbed sleep that you can get in remote locations on trips is blissful.
He is right. We decided not to do anything that day. We clicked pics, took a walk and generally chilled.

Day 6: Last and final day in Munnar... I wanted to shop a little in Cochin. We left at 4 pm thinking we would arrive comfortably at 6 pm... shop at M G road and reach airport at 8.30 pm. We had miscalculated. It took us 3.5 hrs to get to Cochin. M G road was an hour farther. We shopped at the airport. Thank god, there are shops at airports.

All in all a wonderful trip... relaxing and fun. If I had to do it again, I would visit back waters first... then head to Thekkady... go trekking there and then head to Munnar to chillax... 'coz once you are in Munnar you won't have the heart to leave.

We reached Mumbai with a leaden heart.


PS:

• Munnar is covered with tea plantations owned by Tata, RPG, etc. You can stay in a cheaper resort/hotel and still enjoy the view
• There were mostly families staying at Club Mahindra which shows that their business model is very successful. And these families were middle class. It shows that the people find the membership economical and affordable. We were tempted to take up the membership but have decided to wait a few months.
• A bike ride around Munnar would be divine
  

Idiot Box

I came across 'NDTV Good Times' while switching channels. There was a program 'Highway on my plate' playing. 2 old, fat men with long hair had traveled to Ludhiana. After the initial introduction; "This is the city with max no of Mercs.... ", they proceeded to some pakora shop called 'Punnu ke pakore'. They ate pakoras and talked about pakoras for the next 5 mins. The owner of the shop was introduced and asked stupid questions in Hindi. The questions and answers were translated to English for the benefit of viewers. After all, it is an English program. A bit of Hindi just will not do. They then attacked some Kulfi shop and started eating again.

What a bore of a show!!! And where do they find such ugly, stupid, dumb hosts? Indian TV is going to the dogs... oops... sorry... didn't mean to insult the dogs.

Indians are bad with queues

Honestly!!!

This Monday at 4.30 am I was at Mumbai airport. The flight was at 6.00 am but I was expected to arrive before 4.45 am by the flight. I hate waking up so early. Anyway, bleary eyed I waited in the queue for a print out of my ticket with other passengers. There were long queues everywhere... print out, entry, baggage screening, check in, security, boarding etc. One smart, old gentleman cut the queue and moved to the front and asked the lady to give his print out. Everyone protested and he had to join the queue.

At the security check the crew announced the boarding. I got worried... I didn't want to miss my flight. I looked for a Go air employee, told him my dilemma and asked him if I was late. Do I need to move to the front of the queue? He assured me that I will reach on time. Another lady traveling on Jet gingerly moved to the beginning of the queue... I stopped her. "Excuse me, there is a queue".. "Yes"; she said "but my boarding has been announced".
"Same for us... we are still in the queue". She moved away.

I haven't come across such behavior abroad. There, people consider cutting queues rude and ill mannered. But in India discipline does not matter.

We had gone to Australia last year for a trip by the company. All employees above a certain level had come. At Movie world in Gold Coast, we were in a queue for a particular ride. There were 2 men who work at very high designations in the factory. They cut across ahead of me and went on the ride before us. I was disgusted... they were in their 40s... earned much more than me... but had no manners and acted like kids. I made it a point to approach them later and ask them not to behave like this ever again. It is disgusting. I didn't care what designation they hold. Kuch toh decency rakho.

Butter Chicken in Ludhiana

This is a travel book... atleast it declares itself to be one. I picked it up at some airport (don't remember which one... Cochin, Mumbai, A'bad)... The preface tells you that this book is an attempt to trace the upcoming middle class and their mentality in the teir 2 and teir 3 cities of India.
I was lost in the beginning itself... it was more of a travelogue than anything else. The incidents in the book don't shock or surprise. There is no learning. Maybe the way it is written does not bring out the thoughts behind the incidents.
The author was 25 yrs old when he published this book. It is quite obvious. I hope now he has written better and more mature books.

Avoidable. Borrow it from me if you want to read it.