The same old sorry post of Dec : Yet Another year - or was it?

I hate to see the stats, but yeah, they are there to speak the truth - 7 posts so far in year 2011 and this is the last one. Bloggie Dear, I am just too embarrassed to say sorry again! May be I have lost interest to write long posts! And that is why I come once in a while and scribble two lines, conveniently tagging it as 55-fiction (or sometimes even less) and leave 55-fiction cross and confused :-)

Anyways, there is no point saying anything now. Its all over the blog to see. I have lost interest and yes, I do feel guilty!

Year 2011 started well, in fact. If you remember, I got the DSLR as a surprise gift. We took off to Ooty to spend a quiet weekend soon after. A rather uneventful trip, but, nevertheless, enjoyed it as all we did was laze around. Had somebody told me then that that January-trip would be the first and last holiday of 2011 I would have "Bah"ed and laughed it off. More on it later!

We lost somebody dear in March. It was the first time I saw death before my eyes. There was something very eerie about it. A feeling of defeat, yet, something calming about the silence. I wouldn't want to face another one in my life! No wonder literature loves to personify death so obsessively.

Two back to back weddings in April. The March and April travels took a toll on my poor back and I declared I wasn't going to travel anymore for another few months. I guess I had not really meant it literally. But that was indeed my last train I saw this year :-p

I can't remember what happened in May and June. Oh yeah, I inched another year closer to 30 in June! And I tried my hand at baking. The result was not bad and I was quick enough to announce it all over the online media. And going by the Gemini trait, I haven't touched the oven much after that! "Just like the DSLR" - S would have loved to add!


June-July had us earnestly planning for that big holiday of the year. Only, this time, there was more planning than usual. We didn't even have a place we could go to. Project Budget Dreams wasn't moving anywhere even after weeks of browsing and estimates. By early July, all we had was a go-ahead for a week's leave from office - usually the last bit to fall in place on all our other vacations! Surprising! And we should have guessed everything happens for a reason and He was having his own fun here!

So began the roller coaster ride which makes 2011 not-just-your-yet-another-

year. Needless to say, the holiday plan didn't work out. We nevertheless took the 1 week break because, well, I had to. Meanwhile, we realized to our pleasant surprise that the next trips will have to wait until an infant ticket is booked too :) I have no idea where August to December got lost!

Ride so far has been good, though my to-do is filled with "Take doc's appmnt", "Take scan appmnt", "Meet doc"s! Hoping to have an exciting 2012! And I hope I won't be doing this sorry-post again in Dec 2012 too!

Happy 2012 :-)

A vacation, hangover and a movie

Those 3 words sum up my days pretty well. In fact, I realized, I don't have anything to write after I wrote the heading!

We took a break and flew to Thai land for 5 days. Considering the fact that my leaves were tentative even on the eve of the weekend, it was a miracle that it did happen!

And more importantly, am glad that it did. Thailand was chosen because it promised to fit snugly into our small pockets. To some extent, it did and was worth every penny (baht!) shelled.

We spent 2 days in the city of Bangkok, watching the bustling city co-exist with the historic Wats (Buddhist temples in Thai) with seamless ease; like India, may be! Since English speaking Thai are a rarity, we found our self playing Dumb Charades, most of the time, right in the middle of the roads! "Could you tell me why the Palace is closed today" is deftly translated to "Why (2 palms facing skywards) closed (2 arms crossed)? King coming?"!! Was fun, I tell you!

Among other interesting places in Bangkok, we found this amazing food court in Siam Paragon ground floor where you will be spoiled for choices. OK, I found just one veg counter among, probably, 500 counters. Being a hard core non-veg helped! Khao pat, Pad Thai, Tom yum are the common signature words we learnt in this quest! As for me, I preferred to check every thing that had a mention of gai or kai (chicken)! In the end, it would all boil down to any one of the famous red/green or yellow curry, as R said!

The next 3 days were spent at Phuket. To my surprise, Phuket showed striking similarity to Kerala and Goa. The typical Portuguese style houses (a search on the internet now confirms my guess - Phuket indeed has lot of Sino-Portuguese architecture), the beaches, the relaxed locals, the coconut-influence in the Southern Thai cuisine(rather the Thai Muslim curries), the surplus cashew and rubber plantations,the massage parlours(!!), and not to mention, the tide of Western tourists. But I heard Sand drifting off to a "When-I-was-in-the-US" style "Reminds me of Florida" :-)

Phi phi islands getaway was our #1 in the agenda. I had ogled at the turquoise colored water on the Google maps for too long to miss this one. And it didn't disappoint at all. Cliched, you might think, but there is not a better way to describe it - Pristine beaches, turquoise water, right-out-of-a-lost-world hidden bays, and the most beautiful corals and fishes. It will make no sense me describing. I won't do justice! Check it out yourself. I rest my case!

Khai Nai island. (click to enlarge)

So thats about a short write-up. Being back in Bangalore faced with the chore of unpacking, washing, grocery shopping and cooking; worst of all, the fast coming Monday turned me a maniac for the weekend. This week trudged on with me still thinking I was waking up at Phuket each morning and then realizing that I had a job to attend to :-( This has been my worst, lengthiest hangover ever. Sand says one look at Shanthi Sagar got him to back to real life. But for me, Shanthi Sagar also reminds me of exotic Thai dishes :-((

And to break the monotony of the week, we friends planned an OPT on Wednesday. Movie chosen was Kerala Cafe. A half-burnt Innovative Multiplex still lured us all with a ticket priced Rs. 100 (a jackpot in Bangalore!). If you can comprehend Malayalam, then just don't miss this. I'm not going to give a detailed review (like this *don't click that if you plan to watch the movie* crazy guy at rediff who didn't leave out any spoiler from the review - sue him!) or even a basic one. If you badly want one, may be you can wait for it to appear here. All I say is just go for it. Its a rare experiment of Anthology movie, done by 10 talented Malayalam directors and crew. Each story is woven in ten minutes with skill unmatched. One movie which tells you Malayalam cinema is still in safe hands! Made me feel a proud Keralite.

PS : Interesting Thai trivia - 'Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit' is the full ceremonial name of Bangkok, the world's longest name for a city!

Take me..

Have been dreaming of a holiday since last week.
Am tired of seeing purvas, shobhas and rohans standing brushing one another's shoulder, looking gray and dull, with hundreds of match-boxes style houses...

Take me,

Where the grass is still green & moist with dew...


Where the roads don't lead to junction with signals..

Where the end of the rainbow is visible

Where the spring is a celebration.

Where shady trees meet..

Where you spend time blowing bubbles..

Where you notice that red flower among the yellows..

Where you walk hand-in-hand with your best friend, and its not exercise!

Where flowers don't have garbage dumped on them...

Where houses are painted pretty-pretty...

Where roads lead to nowhere, yet make a great journey...


Image Courtesy : flickr Creative Commons.