Is what I feel like right now – lots of things happening, time slipping away like sand through a sieve… trying very hard to catch my breathe and recapture the last 3 weeks.
Deep end of the Ocean…
Is where I was floating in couple of weeks back – nay, actually 3 weeks back. Sis, me and dad decided to go catamaraning (read I decided to go and dragged them along, but they are such wonderful company! :) ). After a let down in MGM, we drove to Fisherman’s Cove which still offers catamaraning as an “adventure sport” and charges a hefty 500 bucks per head for it. And needless to say, I had ‘anjaane’ running in the back of my head, and there was just a touch of fear and a bit of awe for the Sea dashed in to spice the occasion… We rode the waves with the salty spray hitting us from every direction - then the guy stopped the catamaran and told us to jump in!!!!!! or rather jump out .. Scary huh? Anyways that’s exactly what we did – and what bliss! Floating on the huge waves in the middle of the sea with the blue sky up above…
Later, when we were discussing how it would have been nicer to swim without the life jackets, my dad mentions that we could have actually removed them if we had wanted too – his argument is that the 2 of us would have been scared anyways , so his omission is of no significance. Grrrrrrr … But it was good fun anyways…. And not SUCH a life threatening adventure…but hey, u need to respect the sea, never know when she will turn around you just to prove her point!
Ooty trip…
Went to Ooty on an Official team outing the weekend after that… tiring… but the place was Bea –uu- thi-ful… and extremely cold…. Some common sense forgotten… some new resolutions…some new contacts and I should hopefully be able to find emeralds soon!
Salsa night
Our batch officially finished ‘Basics level’ in LA Cuban style salsa…
My 24 and half years sunk in when I actually turned down salsa-ing away in Havana to being a good daughter, returning home at what’s called a ‘decent time’ and hitting the bed early – This is apart from all the time I talk to other people and realize they are all younger than me (but hey – I feel like I did when I was 18, So I figure I am still going good :D ).
I ofcourse made it to the salsa night on 22nd. All the women were decked in pretty skirts ;;) and twirling around :)
Highlights of the day
- finally was dancing without counting 123-456 all the time , even in my head
- finally got to wear my ‘jagged edged’ black skirt !!!
- could successfully follow new steps without falling flat on my face
Road ahead…
Last week has been full of mails between 5 people trying to hitch a gokarna and dandeli trip for the coming weekend… Looks like this is one trip for which I got no return ticket ;) …
Monday, September 25, 2006
Saturday, September 09, 2006
sexy Salsa...
Lots of waiting, a bit of cold feet ( seems like a regular pattern in my life now), me and moi friend ms.u have enrolled for level 1 salsa classes... at the Russian culture centre - we are having fun and hopefully on our way to become atleast some weak shadow of JLo!! Dancing is so much fun, i wonder why i put it off so much - dont know what it does to men, but it sure makes us women feel a helluva lot more gracefull, sexy and confident... these guys teach upto 6 levels i think and they follow the LA plus New York style is what i was told.
And by the end, we women will learn to follow any step of the guys ( if they arent tooo complicated!) which will be fun... so this time around when someone asks me to salsa, i'll be prepared!!!
FYI : Russian culture center is in kasturi ranga road, behind Chola Sheraton. These guys also organise salsa nights - which is something i am looking forward to! Apart from salsa, they also teach jazz, tap dance and ballet. Theres also a pub of sorts ( which is what the Russian center is quite famous for)which is open late into the night ;)
And by the end, we women will learn to follow any step of the guys ( if they arent tooo complicated!) which will be fun... so this time around when someone asks me to salsa, i'll be prepared!!!
FYI : Russian culture center is in kasturi ranga road, behind Chola Sheraton. These guys also organise salsa nights - which is something i am looking forward to! Apart from salsa, they also teach jazz, tap dance and ballet. Theres also a pub of sorts ( which is what the Russian center is quite famous for)which is open late into the night ;)
On two wheels to tada
'Things always look good in retrospect' - is what a friend told me and i think thats true... after-the -event recollections tend to weigh down the "bad" while the "good" always dominate... maybe as a part of the process to console ourselves - which makes me wonder, people who want revenge must find it so difficult to hold on to all that anger going for years and years ... anyways i am digressing and all i wanted to say was this effect surely applies to this trip also... in the safety of my room, the heat, the buzz in my head doesnt seem all so painful!
We started off at 5 in the morning ... my friend had a map ( can u believe it, someone in india uses a map! :) )so we decided to ride via beach road - ennore - nh5 - tada and we started off. How come tada??? it was a place a class mate of mine had suggested for class 8 excursions and she described it as 'lush place with waterfall'... and now that i am in the explore chennai mode, it was on my list... while my initial interest had wanned, my friends was sparked and i thought ' what the heck, i might never get a chance again'.... so we were off!
The day was beautiful and hot... all the clouds conviniently dissappearing and dashing my hopes of a pleasant weather - the early morning and the sun over my head were already creating a buzz in my head and i kept hoping it wouldnt get worse. The NH5 is beautiful to cruise on.... smooth sailing is the word that comes to my head .... one thing that i noticed ( and i seem to be noticing very often these days )was the dull blue cludy sky becoming a beautiful azure blue with the whitest of clouds... looks like my demand for beautiful blue skies in India also got answered tht day!
Everybody around the place seems to know of the waterfall , so getting there wasnt a problem .... what was described as a dirt road is nothing like that - its more a stony road covered with rocks, small ones, with smooth surfaces , evenly laid out into a road- and a pain to drive on... at the end is small pond (??) and this is where u should stop- driving beyond here is a pain, which we soon discovered the hard way.... then we started up on the second road- more a trail... no trees, it was sweltering! Then came the temple, and the lady over there who told us the falls was just 1 km away - my heart leapt with joy. But she forgot to tell us that the 1 km was going to be a rock climbing expedition and not a cake walk ...
After half an hour of "rock walking", drinking crystal clear water from the river, some snaps, and some breaks, you come to a point where one needs to climb almost vertical rock faces of 7 ft in height. And this is where i stopped...just like that - and nothing in this world would induce me to move a step forward, and for soome reason i didnt mind it - not mind coming all the way and not seeing the falls! my friend tried goading me... unfortunately something that doesnt work when my heart has no regrets i have to say... so after chilling out for a while we turned back.. ( i did tell my friend to carry on ... but he didint!)
The trek back ofcourse was much longer than the one to the place... as always! on the way back, we saw lots of people, some chilling out at the initial river crossing with lots of booze... the one thing that did spoil the trip for me was the encounter with couple of guys who passed lewd comments about me and were acting funny - and while i had my swiss knife open to slash him i realised, ' i never ever want to use it'! The combination of my tiredness and my headache just freaked me out that moment - and in saner moments i thanked god that i hadnt made this trip with just another girl... things like this is what spoils the adventure of travelling alone, for women especially! yea, please come in big groups - and this place is certainly not family outing spot. and yep, pepper spray - ur on my shopping list...
We did manage some nice snaps over here as the water was ammazingly and beautifully transparent with lovely shades of green...and ofcourse, the stop at ennore, both in the morning and evening was something i'd never regret!
PS 1: biking isn't all that easy as it seems!
PS 2:
My dad when i told him i was going biking with a guy
D : ' who is this friend - he has a name'?
N: '...'
D: 'ok ... you want to take the car? its more comfortable '
N: 'dad, u are givin it to grand ma'
D: 'yes... cool- carry on! dont wake me up early morning when u leave... cos i cant sleep after that ' :D :D
and after the trip when i told him the story..
D: cant stop his 'i-told-u so' laugh 'Good good... go on more trips - how will u become tougher otherwise'
my mom...
M: ' you are going off with a guy on a bike?? why dont u understand ... u understand , but act like u dont'
typical of moms :)
Well, if only u knew .... ....
We started off at 5 in the morning ... my friend had a map ( can u believe it, someone in india uses a map! :) )so we decided to ride via beach road - ennore - nh5 - tada and we started off. How come tada??? it was a place a class mate of mine had suggested for class 8 excursions and she described it as 'lush place with waterfall'... and now that i am in the explore chennai mode, it was on my list... while my initial interest had wanned, my friends was sparked and i thought ' what the heck, i might never get a chance again'.... so we were off!
The day was beautiful and hot... all the clouds conviniently dissappearing and dashing my hopes of a pleasant weather - the early morning and the sun over my head were already creating a buzz in my head and i kept hoping it wouldnt get worse. The NH5 is beautiful to cruise on.... smooth sailing is the word that comes to my head .... one thing that i noticed ( and i seem to be noticing very often these days )was the dull blue cludy sky becoming a beautiful azure blue with the whitest of clouds... looks like my demand for beautiful blue skies in India also got answered tht day!
Everybody around the place seems to know of the waterfall , so getting there wasnt a problem .... what was described as a dirt road is nothing like that - its more a stony road covered with rocks, small ones, with smooth surfaces , evenly laid out into a road- and a pain to drive on... at the end is small pond (??) and this is where u should stop- driving beyond here is a pain, which we soon discovered the hard way.... then we started up on the second road- more a trail... no trees, it was sweltering! Then came the temple, and the lady over there who told us the falls was just 1 km away - my heart leapt with joy. But she forgot to tell us that the 1 km was going to be a rock climbing expedition and not a cake walk ...
After half an hour of "rock walking", drinking crystal clear water from the river, some snaps, and some breaks, you come to a point where one needs to climb almost vertical rock faces of 7 ft in height. And this is where i stopped...just like that - and nothing in this world would induce me to move a step forward, and for soome reason i didnt mind it - not mind coming all the way and not seeing the falls! my friend tried goading me... unfortunately something that doesnt work when my heart has no regrets i have to say... so after chilling out for a while we turned back.. ( i did tell my friend to carry on ... but he didint!)
The trek back ofcourse was much longer than the one to the place... as always! on the way back, we saw lots of people, some chilling out at the initial river crossing with lots of booze... the one thing that did spoil the trip for me was the encounter with couple of guys who passed lewd comments about me and were acting funny - and while i had my swiss knife open to slash him i realised, ' i never ever want to use it'! The combination of my tiredness and my headache just freaked me out that moment - and in saner moments i thanked god that i hadnt made this trip with just another girl... things like this is what spoils the adventure of travelling alone, for women especially! yea, please come in big groups - and this place is certainly not family outing spot. and yep, pepper spray - ur on my shopping list...
We did manage some nice snaps over here as the water was ammazingly and beautifully transparent with lovely shades of green...and ofcourse, the stop at ennore, both in the morning and evening was something i'd never regret!
PS 1: biking isn't all that easy as it seems!
PS 2:
My dad when i told him i was going biking with a guy
D : ' who is this friend - he has a name'?
N: '...'
D: 'ok ... you want to take the car? its more comfortable '
N: 'dad, u are givin it to grand ma'
D: 'yes... cool- carry on! dont wake me up early morning when u leave... cos i cant sleep after that ' :D :D
and after the trip when i told him the story..
D: cant stop his 'i-told-u so' laugh 'Good good... go on more trips - how will u become tougher otherwise'
my mom...
M: ' you are going off with a guy on a bike?? why dont u understand ... u understand , but act like u dont'
typical of moms :)
Well, if only u knew .... ....
To travel for the sake of travel...
"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move; " -Robert Louis Stevenson
The words seem to mirror my thoughts right at this moment - a restlessness which steals up into an otherwise peaceful existence after just a weekend of routine... there seems to be this burning desire to see new places even before the memories of another experience simmers.... to do new things and experience new feelings ... to meet new people ... a need to be in unseen destinations - even if its just another beach, just another sunset ... the eyes seem to bee seeking something unknown to the mind , unknown to the heart, driving away all sane thoughts, crushing valid inhibitions to dust ... well, i havent truly become that 'wanderer with complete abondonment', need for security and control is there... but that doesnt stop me from hoping i ll get to the stage where i can jus pack up and just roam around for months...
anyways , its become like a race against time to an invisible deadline... like times running out- for what i dont know... but life certainly hac become exciting :) !
The words seem to mirror my thoughts right at this moment - a restlessness which steals up into an otherwise peaceful existence after just a weekend of routine... there seems to be this burning desire to see new places even before the memories of another experience simmers.... to do new things and experience new feelings ... to meet new people ... a need to be in unseen destinations - even if its just another beach, just another sunset ... the eyes seem to bee seeking something unknown to the mind , unknown to the heart, driving away all sane thoughts, crushing valid inhibitions to dust ... well, i havent truly become that 'wanderer with complete abondonment', need for security and control is there... but that doesnt stop me from hoping i ll get to the stage where i can jus pack up and just roam around for months...
anyways , its become like a race against time to an invisible deadline... like times running out- for what i dont know... but life certainly hac become exciting :) !
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