Thursday, September 23, 2010

The journey to a small paradise in Indian Ocean - Mauritius

To celebrate the journey from being committed to being married, we planned another journey - to Mauritius. And when we flew after wedding, all we knew was that it was a beautiful place and that we were on our own. We did not have the time to do a lot of research and hence had absolutely no presumptions.

Day 1 - As we arrived at Mauritius, all so sleep-deprived with the 12am check-in, 2 am flight and nearly 6 hours of flight, we very much tired. But the resort(there is no other word - it was just magnificent) was so very inviting with the beach view that we almost forgot about sleep (well, temporarily!). And after a hot shower, we remembered all that we temporarily forgot and slept like logs. We woke up right in time for dinner, and after an African buffet, we walked around the resort and really appreciated it for what it was(in a woken-up mode). The room was lovely with the balcony opening up to the pool, garden and a fragment of the beach. The beach there is formed by coral reefs, and the area is so very clean that we fell in love with the place.
View from lobby:

 This was what I loved the most at the resort (the bridge to heaven, as I called it...):


Day 2 - After an English breakfast, we decided to go through the various options available for us to spend the day, and after a lot of thinking decided to take the submarine ride - which according to the catalog, is available at only 3 places in Indian Ocean. The Blue-safari was indeed breath-taking, where we went 35m down the surface, and saw fishes kissing(I guess that's what they did) against the window-panes and the wreck of an old Japanese ship. The beauty of coral, the white sand and the uninterrupted calmness of the ocean surprised us.

 After the submarine ride, we visited a public beach (which sadly had a French name which if I had to learn would not have given me the time to absorb the beauty surrounding me!). Then followed a walk along the roadside shops(which again were quite few in number and very clean), and visited a mall there - 'Jumbo'.
On the long ride back, we noticed how the driver sped the car carefully and swiftly across the tracks, and followed all traffic regulations(which again is quite a sight for someone living in Bangalore :)
Late evening, we took a long walk along the beach adjacent to our resort, and checked out the view from lobby, the Spa and the sports center.

Day 3:
This day was reserved for city(North Island) tour(that is - a day when we will not get wet), and did not turn out to be all so exciting. We visited the capital town - Port Louis, where there was a beautiful church atop a hill, and a fort close by it. After that we visited Apravasi Ghat, where Indians were brought by British to work on sugarcane fields in unhygienic conditions and very low wages.
After this we went to the Le Caudan Waterfront which is more like a small city by itself with its French buildings and wonderful shops which included Souvenir shops. We also walked around the China Bazar nearby with its many streets reminding us of Commercial street.

The drive back to the resort was wonderful as it was along a road by the side of the sea. I have no idea how an hour swept by and we reached back home - it was a truly beautiful ride.

Day 4:
This was most definitely a great day and off we went to the South Island. We first visited a souvenir-ship factory where they made souvenir ships(I can hear you say that it was obvious, but nevertheless..), and Adamas outlet where diamonds imported from South Africa are cut and polished.
The crated of an extinct volcano was quite nearby and once we reached there - the view was indeed breathtaking. The place was soooo very beautiful that I think we spent a lot of time gazing around and taking pictures. There was also a Siva temple nearby opening to a small river which they call as black Ganges. From the volcanic eruptions had formed Charamel - seven colored earth (I can swear that I counted more than 7 colors though!), and near to the Charamel ground was a beautiful waterfall (between - did I use the word beautiful again?).


We decided to call it a day and embarked on a journey back to the hotel (again along the beach and which indeed helped him as his lens would not have allowed him to take a nap and any journey along boring roads would have been a trauma since it was a drive of nearly 2 hours).
But hey, the most exciting part of the day was yet to come. We took a pedal boat from the beach and chose to ride along our resort, and as we pedalled rigorously we quite crossed our resort, and another, and well, another! But this was a wonderful ride with the current and as we were thinking of going back, a speed boat came to us(which had the boathouse-keeper in it), tied our boat to it and pulled us back to our beach (by them - it was dark, and he decided to give us a ride back since it was nearing the boathouse closing time). Oh man, the ride was wonderful and as he saw we enjoyed it, he took us a little further into the sea on our way back. It was too good and very much like the water sports we were to see in the next day.
And during the course of our dinner, we saw girls taller than me walking as a hoard(well, that captured my attention), and later got to know that Ms Mauritius 2010 was happening at the resort we had picked. Entertainment followed :)

Day 5:
We were all set for water sports, and off we went, straight to the dock from where we can do under-sea-walking. Here, they put a square-glass-helmet around our neck(which makes sure that our face does not get wet and that we get enough Oxygen), and stones around our hip to make us stay under water and experienced divers pull us down and straight to the bottom of the sea. Once we get used to the pressure levels there, we could walk around with fishes sniffing us(do they really, now?), white sand under out feet and corals all around. It was a different and un-worldly experience and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially the part where the diver pushed a piece of bread to my hand and I felt all the fishes swarming around it. It was just magnificent. After the 45 minutes under-sea-walk, we sped off in a speed boat to see a waterfall in an island. That was (again) a beautiful sight in itself, to go by a waterfall in a boat with water splashing all over you(and knowing that you are no longer in WonderLa but out in the sea!).

After this, we went to an island and went for para-sailing. That was the first time for both of us, and we truly enjoyed the panoramic view from the parachute. In between was a dip in the sea after which we were raised back to the air. This was indisputably the best part of the trip and as were dropped back to the land, we made a perfect landing. After that we explored the island for some time and then decided to call it a day.
(Between - that's us in the pic :)


Day 6:
Not a great start to a day, since it started with a Tetanus Vaccination(I had a small scratch on my leg caused during under-sea-walk and by no idea what but most probably rusted iron from the ladder we used to climb back). Since we had to fly back that evening, we decided to just spend the day in the resort, and did just the same. Walked round the place, said bye to everyone and everything, took a few last-minute pics and hopped in to a cab to the airport.

One of the things we said bye to ( from the beach with its many elements):



Day 7:
You might be wondering why day 6 came to an abrupt end at the airport - well, the trip ended there and on day 7 we were at Bangalore - he, at office, and me shopping for household stuff with my father and aunts. We thought that the chapter called 'honeymoon' in the book named 'life' has come to an end, and as we look at life now we know that it's not true - it never ends!!!

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

The fun of being "committed" :)

To all the workaholics around, I am NOT talking about being committed to work.. I meant "Committed" as in engaged to be married. The fun and joy of being committed is beyond words and cannot be jotted down in a few points - but then, I thought of penning down a few things I love the most (not necessarily in any order):

* Being fussed over - for the silliest of things!
* The fun of rushing to movies together - both planned and all so unplanned
* Those loong bike rides. Oh, how we love them!
* Shopping and swiping (his card!!! ;)
* Dine-outs : be it at Chettans Appakada, or at new places we experiment (some of them soo very drastic that we don't even think of eating out for next few days, and a few others enter our fav list)
* Corner house Ice creams (even without chocolate sauce!)
* Calls whole day - by which I do not mean calls which last for a whole day. Rather, calls throughout the day
* The wonderful feeling of having someone to listen to any crap you say (while he repeatedly says that he hates the word crap!)

Well, that's my list and now before you think that love is all about just happiness - let me clarify. There are flip sides of these coins too. (Exceptions: The movie and bike-ride coins have heads printed on both sides, and the shopping coin actually has heads minted all over it - but again that will be flip side #1 if he decides to print his list :) But then, forgive and forget is the rule of the game. Forget the fights, the words of anger, credit card and telephone bills and live the moment. That's the game called love, or is it called life???

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

@amazon.com

Joined Amazon, and now trying to go to bed by 11 and wake up by 7 - both tasks seem to be Herculian. The environment here is very different. People are so very involved in what they do - I think most of them are really passionate about what they do and this makes it very different from what I have seen around me in the service industry. Well, I do not how I will fare here, hoping for the best.

And as about this blog, I found a widget from Amazon Associates programme which we can integrate with our blogs to download and play songs from Amazon, and as you can very well guess I have done that to my blog with a rapid selection among a few Bryan Adam MP3s. Do check it out!
Meanwhile, All the Best to myself :-)

Monday, May 10, 2010

A decision made is a decision made!!!

I have(had ?) been thinking that am too good at decision making and recently discovered to my utter dismay that am not! I had 42 days of utter chaos in my life playing "aar ya paar" - not knowing whether I should move along this comfort/safe zone at IBM or move to 'amazon.com' which everyone around me says is great and I have no idea about. However, I have cleared 7 rounds of interviews there, and I have made my decision(after troubling myself and others, ofcourse) - am not looking back. There a lot of things about IBM that I will definitely miss, including walking up to the floor at 12:00 pm remarking that am quite early today, fights for cakes and chocolates, and fights for misc reasons. But more than these stuff and flexibility, its people whom am definitely gonna miss.
Rohan - ever-ready to help - be it keeping my MBA books safely locked in his cupboard or saving sweets for me on the days am late - he is the one I look up to for almost everything here
Sandeep ettan, who fights with me more than talking with me - but changes very serious and very attentive once he senses tension or fear in me
Raj - with his silliest of comments and fear - one of the very few whom I get to counsel (usually, am on the patients chair!)
Sree - The one who had only smiled at me earlier but became quite close when she was across the oceans, the one with whom I lovve to pose for photographs and shrieks "kollum njan athine.. " ;)
Prasanna - The "Damager" who can embarrass anybody with his comments and ofcourse, "The Paa Effect" is patented under his name.
Siba - the food-lover who will believe any cock-and-bull story if you say it with a straight face (me n Prasanna once even told him that Prasanna is gonna get married to Trisha and this fellow believed it ;)
Gayathri - the person with a Scooty, currently on diet, and whom I can never forgive for digging onto the center of my choco-lava cake and scooping out all the chocolate in one go! And yeah, I think she tops the list in the number of lifts anyone has ever given me
Abhishek - who is now pooling info from 'Manoja' about her guy, too very good at taking treats and my competitor in number of hours spent on phone
Siva - whom I can never thank enough for the wonderful collage he sent me for my birthday last year, and whose excitement in sharing Krishna songs and movies always inspire me
Ilay - who for some reason hides his mouth while speaking. You know, the typical "shy-type" :-)
Soumil chettan - who goes thinner day-by-day
Neeraj - The ever-so-demanding fellow. If only Microsoft knew how much he made other people use their products, they would have made him Marketing Division head for sure
Pradeep - who doesnt forget to wish anyone on all occasions and the official secretary for CTP
Karpagam - Our "chechi" whose fish fries are sooo very yummy
Radha - with her kiddish looks and serious talks
Suresh - who fell down from the bike on hearing a dog barking elsewhere
Apurba - Bengali sweeeeeetssssss

And this list is still not complete. There are still so many people left!!!

God, aint I gonna miss everyone? Thanks all, for making my stay here worthwhile and happy and am sure gonna miss you guys. Do miss me and my "ee" smile in all the photograps you take from today...

Thursday, March 18, 2010

To my mother, who I know has read it even before I wrote it...

I can feel you all around me,
My mother, Who rocked me to sleep
And this makes this life more worthy
This feeling, this presence...

There were times, of tears and smiles
Of pain and love,
When I could touch you,
And whisper to you...

And one day, all of a sudden
As you faded behind the curtain
I could only look by
Not knowing where you went to

And today, my eyes get moist
And my heart even more,
When I think of you
And all these years without you

It would have been different
With you smiling at me,
But more than the difference
It's the smile that I miss...

I love you, my mother
And all the memories we hold
I love you, my mother
For hugging this crying child;

I can feel you all around me,
My mother, Who rocked me to sleep
And this makes this life more worthy,
This feeling, this presence...

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Bye-Bye Autorickshaws.. sob.. sob..

As I pull myself up from the bed and get on with my daily chores, I am generally not the least bothered about the long walk to office from home since I know that there will be Autorickshaws standing in a line just near the signal, looking for us, the TP-carriers. And once I get into one, they squeeze the vehicle through all the blocks, and take me inside the campus.

After a short bumpy ride from the gate till my block where they fill us all up with details such as which blocks have interviews, how the candidates do not know anything about finding their way in, and how sick the security people are, I am all set to get down. And in case there are friends with me, I will also be all set for the impending fight coz they ask for double the rate in such cases. And I guess they should by now be knowing my reply byheart (its always the same drivers) - "Does your rickshaw swallow double the quantity of gas in case one more person gets in?"

However, these rides have indeed made my days simpler since there are no fixed timelines for ricks. I need not pick them up at 8:23 sharp or anything like that. I am the king, rather, queen :) I still remember those days when I was down with disk prolapse, and all the humps made me feel sick, I asked the driver to go a lil slow and the next day, this guy actually called out to another guy(in whose vehicle I had got in then) and asked him to drive slow and safe. And another day when I could not find enough change in my purse, the driver casually remarked - "there is alwaya another day when you can give it to me".

And in the evenings when I did not feel upto a walk(which is quite rare), I just have to walk outside the block to find a parked rick. Well, they do lay out their rules and conditions - "I can take you only until the signal, cant park to the right, cant take u-turn, cant take service lane... cant do this, cant do that, give me these many bucks... ", but then, it was only until that point that I wished to go, and had no issues with it.

And on one lazy tuesday afternoon, as I kept refreshing my official mailbox for some unseen mail, I saw a new one creeping in. Little did I know then that it will actually be a letter bomb for me. "Traffic regulation at campus", said the subject line and as I was thunderstruck as I opened it thinking it will be another of a closing-gate or new-gate scenarios. The mail said that ricks will not be allowed inside the campus anymore starting the next week, for security issues. Well, I for one, have not seen or heard about an Autowala sneaking a bomb in, and so were the others around me. People with cars and bikes probably did not give a second look at the mail, but people like me could not even find words to express what we had.

And today, as I got into a rick knowing that this is probably the last time I can take a Rick to office, since today is the last working day in this week, I felt troubled - of the long walks I have to take if I miss the shuttle from the gate at 10:20 sharp! And as were riding, the driver whom I have known from many journeys said with a troubled voice - "I think this will be the last journey in this route for me"...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Madhuram Malayalam :)


(click on the pic to enlarge it)
Saw this picture in an e-mail forward and simply loved it, coz it brings back so many memories of my Kerala , and makes anybody respect this state for the unity she has among several linguistic families...

Friday, January 22, 2010

2010

It's 2010, and I just realized there haven't been any posts from me this year. Ohmy! Not that I cant get sleep without blogging, but 2010 has been really good to me - year of miracles, probably, I dont know, and I think I should keep that verdict to some post later in December ;)

The year started on a good note on the personal front (yes, am ringed and my grandma is much better now), the professional front (with new business coming in), and on educational front(I haven't had any exams until now, and missed the only one which came up ;) And still, I haven't made a post! Cant believe how lazy I am, so very lazy that I did not even wish you all a happy new year.. Ohoh.. So here I go, Happy new year :)