attu

You bite, you pull my hair,
You always move here and there;
Your kisses are wet-
Your eyes are moist;
I like you the way you are,
I love the honesty in your love.

The French Connection, Pondicherry

Beaches, French style brick roads, laid back lifestyle, French cuisine, sari clad aged women on bicycle...Pondicherry. We stayed in the house of a French lady, Patricia Michel. There are many more available in the net. Her house was on Rue Francois Martin;- the second lane from the sea-shore and a minute's walk from Aurobindo Ashram. We wanted to visit Pondicherry the French way, trying to take in the flavor of the French life there; food, home, alleys with their name written in white on a blue board, the Aurobindo Ashram and the sea.

One can spend hours on the Rue Goubert (Beach Road) eating, buying small-little things or just sitting on the rocks. We sat on the rock and watched the sea slowly moving closer with the tide and moistening our eyes, face, camera lenses. Night fell and we went to 'The Promenade' for dinner. They were doing barbecue in the terrace restaurant with a view of the old light house and the sea of course. Amazingly romantic place.
After the dinner it started raining and we walked along the empty Beach Road in the drizzle. It was fun. Even if you are not so lucky to get rains, try to come to the Beach Road at night when it is empty. You will never forget it.
Next day we visited Auroville, the self-sufficient village with handicrafts, pottery and eco-friendly lifestyle. After seeing the Matrimandir, we went to the Quiet Beach and took bath in the sea. Though Podicherry has no beach for bathing, you will find a few like this within 10 km from the city. Then we came back to the city to see the Ashram. There was a few shops in the Ashram and around it; we did shopping. The evening we sat on the rocks watching the sea again.
Today's plan was a French dinner at the most popular place among the French here; 'Satsanga'. service, ambiance, food;-were great. We spent hours drinking and having dinner.
Next morning we had French breakfast at Patricia's house and started our journey back. We were on the highway with lot of stories and memories of our French connection.

Hampi - a dynasty in ruins!

It all happened in the 15th century. Muslim sultans became united to capture the capital of Vijayanagara Empire and destroy the historical Kishkindha, the Vanara (monkey) kingdom which finds mention in the Ramayana. The city is now in ruins due to invading Islamic aggressions that treat idol worship as blasphemy.
We, a group of seven, decided to visit Hampi over a weekend from Bangalore, so booked Hampi Express, an overnight train to Hospet. We took an auto-rickshaw from the railway station to Hampi.

If you reach Hampi without any plan, like we did, believe me, you will enjoy it more. Yes, we went to the big hotels, including the KSTDC one, did not like much and followed the suggestion of the rickshaw driver and landed in Hampi Bazaar. We arranged a hotel on the bank of the river Tungabhadra, in the ruins. The rickshaw driver took hundred bucks and we got a hotel with very basic amenities in rupees three hundred per day. The great ambience was free of cost. We were happy!
The hotels have restaurants at the terrace, we went for breakfast. They don’t serve drinks, hard ones; and it’s a no-non-vegetarian place; - a sacred place for the Hindus. We were sad; - no party in this trip!
Our hotel had a great view of the river at one side, and at the opposite, the famous Virupaksha Temple.
It was a hot day; we took bath and came out of the hotel; saw a shop renting bicycles and scooters for the tourists; - we rented four in rupees 125 per scooter per day. We visited the KSTDC office in Hampi Bazaar and collected the tourist guide with a map in it and started. We had two days in hand, so we planned to visit the places on the same bank of the river where we stayed on the first day and next day to cross the river and see the places there. We loved the old structures, almost destroyed; we loved the stone pillars, big stones lying beside the road, we loved the stone gates and temples and palaces; but what we liked the most is riding through the vast ruins, the unusual combination of green land and brown stones, the smell of mystery on our every step.

On the way, we heard of a restaurant named ‘mango Tree’ on the bank. In the afternoon we went there to see the sun set and have dinner. Yellow lanterns, the moon light and the darkness; - it was a nice experience. After dinner we started riding the same roads again, to feel the night fall on the ruins. Late night; - we were sitting on the bank of the river, watching the silvery stones telling the old stories to the river, which is carrying the same to the unknown lands. ‘Nandi’ sat in the middle of the river and admired the beauty with us.
Next morning we crossed the river with the scooters with us in a small round boat. Again in the ruins, on the roads little less traveled. We came back to hotel in the afternoon, had lunch and packed our bags; - it was time to board the return train to Bangalore. That is how we ended our trip, but still now, after one year, I day dream about Hampi.

Birthday

Day passes by,
Night falls-
A new day begins;...
We cherish the yesterday,
But we love the today.

Gurudongmar, North Sikkim

We reached Gangtok and booked a Gurudongmar trip with a travel agent. It is necessary because you have to cross a lot of army check posts, so, you have to collect a lot of passes before you start. If you are not clubbing any other place with it and you can travel on hill roads for long, you can do it in two days. So, they packed food for all for two days, oxygen cylinders (if you want as back-up, we didn't take), and we packed our bags with as less things as possible, because the less the load, driving is easy.
Next morning we started for Lachen, a small village at a height of approximately 8900ft. around 120km from Gangtok; it would take 6hrs. We reached Lachen at around 2 o'clock and visited the monastery. But it was almost dark!

It was in the year of 2006 and tourism was not at all developed at this part of the world. We stayed in a hotel (Siniolchu Lodge) run by a Nepalese family at their home. They prepared food for us with our vegetables and rice. We roamed around in the village after dinner at 6 o'clock in the evening. It was freezing cold outside with nobody to see on the road. A small shop was open round the corner selling 'Tongba' or 'Chang', a local drink which keeps you warm. We sat near the fire and drank till night.

We planned to start for Gurudongmar at 4 o'clock in the morning because the wind becomes strong after eleven near the lake making it difficult to breathe. Anyways we were shivering in cold with all the jackets on, under two layers of blankets. We could not remove our shoes as well. We could see the frozen Tista river from the window of our room. After an hour our window was covered with snow. Temperature was -10 degree. We woke up at 3.30 and freshened up. Water was cutting through our fingers after they were melted using heater. And we started as planned. Roads were difficult, after a few kilometers, trees became short in height. We climbed more and there was no tree. Then the snow filled terrains started to be seen.

It is called cold desert. One side, there is nothing, other side is full of snow. Finally we reached the lake at a height of 18600ft. Our bodies took some time to get adjusted to the cold. They did not switch the car engine off otherwise the army diesel will freeze. Splendid it was.

There was a monastery with a board written 'Sarva Dharma Sthal' on it. We had our breakfast there, enjoyed the altitude, the snow, the low pressure, we knew for the first time the source of river Tista.

One night in Jaldapara

Tista, green fields, tea gardens, forest, deep forest; our car was cruising on a thin road. Nobody was seen. The strong smell of forest, the wild tune of wind blowing through high Duars trees, chirping of birds at a distance, the melody of silence; we were taking in every bit of it.
We reached Jaldapara forest bunglow at lunch. Booking a room was a bit difficult but the service was nice. Wooden bunglow, with a great view of the forest; Bengali cuisine was served. We loitered around the bunglow after lunch. A stream of sweet water flows near the bunglow where you spot animals at night. We were excited.
In the afternoon all of us went on a Jeep safari into the forest in the hope of spotting some rhinoceros or a leopard. And lucky we were to spot a fight between two rhinos. Evening falls, we roamed in the area which was within the electric fence of the bunglow. Sudden sparkling of eyes of wild animals behind the darkness, roar of a tiger from a distant forest; we were enjoying the cold stream of fear going down our spines. After dinner everybody went to the watchtower with a spot light and waited to spot a radium eye in the dark and to focus the light on the animal to see it. We were out, near the sweet water stream; because the animals come to drink sweet water and salt at night. Hours passed, suddenly we spotted a pair of eyes in the far. Within half an hour we spotted a few more.They kept a group of eight guys motionless and silent for around three hours beside the stream before they came near and become visible to us. And the spot light was on from the watchtower and we have seen the beast from a distance of 6 feet. It was a little surprised at the beginning but then ignored the spot light and started drinking water from the stream and moved to the heap of salt near it, put by the forest department staffs in the daytime. We were afraid, but we could not move.

Early morning we went for an elephant ride inside the deep forest, this two hours ride gave us a picture of deep forest, we have seen sunrise in the far end of a meadow, a lot more rhinos from a distance of 20-30 feet, the mahout smelled the smell of urine of the rhinos and followed then to show them to us. It was a wonderful experience. After that we left the place, tired from lack of sleep but overwhelmed by the forest and its habitats.

Chicken Sizzler Recipe

Ingredients (For 2 people):
1. Half cup of rice
2. 4 portions of chicken breast
3. 1 Carrot, some beans
4. 1 Capsicum/ (Green, red, yellow) pepper-1/3rd each for it to look good
5. Cheese
6. Ginger, garlic paste
7. Green chilies
8. Soya Sauce
9. Salt
10. Potato, onion, cauliflower, cabbage
11. Butter

Process (30 min):
1. Boil the rice and keep.
2. Cut carrot, beans, capsicum, potato, cabbage into long thin slices.
3. Make onion rings and cut some cauliflower into big pieces.
4. Marinate the chicken breasts with ginger-garlic and green chilli paste and salt.
5. Saute the vegetables with very little oil in a frying pan. Add salt to taste.
6. Separate out carrot, beans, cauliflower.
7. If you don't have sizzler plate, take out a tawa.
8. Roast-fry the marinated chicken with very little oil till the chicken gets golden red.
9. Put the vegetables (other than carrot, beans, cauliflower) in the tawa beside the chicken. Continue roasting.
10. Add soya sauce to the chicken and vegetables. Continue roasting.
11. Put carrot, beans, cauliflower on the tawa on the other side of the chicken and put some cheese on them. Continue roasting.
12. Put the rice at another corner, add little soya sauce to it.
13. After 1 min, take out the butter (liquid) and add good amount on all the sides along the periphery of the tawa. It will start to sizzle.
14. Take it directly to the table.

Abhimaan...

Charcoal with love...