Thej sent me this link.

Seems interesting. And something that is totally up my alley. Can blog, can take photos, can drive!

But one small hitch. It’s only for couples so that pretty much rules me out unless I find a willing man (or woman) soon :-p

I see fellow blogger Charukesi there already. And a surprising number of enthusiastic couples!

Want to take part? The details are here.

Of course we all know what happens on Bangalore roads when it rains. But I was the least prepared for the events to unfold that night. After dinner with friends at Indiranagar I set off towards Koramangala. It had been raining for around an hour but I didn’t really realize how bad things were outside.

The Intermediate Ring Road had gotten fully water logged. Worse still the water on one side was sloshing over like huge ocean waves into the other side (the side I was on!). As a result, there were cars trying to move through higher than knee deep water on the same side of the road in two different directions. In Bangalore, traffic is disastrous enough even on different sides of the road. So you can imagine the scenario.

In front of me, stretched an endless stream of vehicles all trying to negotiate the high waters and not having much luck. Some vehicles had gotten stuck adding to the woes of those behind.

Suddenly, I felt a gushing sounds inside my car and realize that water had begun to enter the vehicle. I decided that panicking would not be the right thing and weigh my options. Going ahead and getting stuck in the water with no way out of the car. Or jumping out of the car and letting it go down instead. Smartly, I decided on the latter.

I tried and park the car somewhere on the side though there was considerable water there. Some chaiwallas were having a great time laughing at what was happening around. What did they care? I looked with slight dismay as the car started getting submerged with the water rising every minute.

A guy who was at the chai shop helpfully pointed out a lane just behind me and suggested I should try getting back into the car and reversing into it. A smart suggestion in hindsight. I dove back into the car, now with water covering the base of the car, and said a small prayer. The car started and I reversed quickly into the lane. Thankfully, there wasn’t any vehicle immediately behind me.

I found higher ground and decided to stay put for a while. This was a dead end lane and there was really no way out. It was past midnight now. I looked out into the main road – cars still honking, and utter chaos as people were getting stuck everywhere. I decided that I didn’t want to get back there in a hurry.

Just inside a lane, I found a few service apartments and one of them let me use their rest room to freshen up (I had also gotten drenched after all my adventures). A friend called suggesting I try and reach her place in Koramangala. Another friend gave me his colleague’s number - she happened to live across the road (but I couldn’t even think about crossing the road!).

There was absolutely no way to get out. Finally at around 1 am I decided to stay put and got myself checked into the Golf Inn which looked like a decent place. From my window I could get a glimpse of the chaos that still ensued outside.

At around 6 am in the morning, I checked out and finally drove home. My Zen didn’t let me down and actually started even after the night’s lashing. The ring road bore a rather worn out look with garbage scattered everywhere.

It was relief to finally get home!

After hearing of my rainy night adventure, a well meaning friend (instead of rescuing me from my night stranded out!), said I could avoid what happened by getting this instead.

The weather was hot and balmy. It was our last day in Kerala and we were looking forward to spending the night on a houseboat.

On my previous trips to Kerala, I’ve only gotten within drooling distance of a houseboat. It’s a rather expensive proposition. There was one time when Steph was down from Switzerland and we did some sightseeing on a small boat, and then went around in a little canoe (that was fun!). But I hadn’t been on a big boat…
(more…)

“But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.” ~~ Kahlil Gibran

Ever since I’ve known R – she wanted to find the man of her dreams and get married. I’ve rarely met someone with that objective so clear in their mind! I remember watching the movie “Life in a Metro” and telling R how much Konkona’s character reminded me of her.

Over the years and our “singlehood”, R and I have had many discussions on finding “the right man”. One question she often had was how she would know for sure when he came along! How does one know, really? Much airtime has been wasted (or not) in discussing the lack of good men (really, where are the guys?!) and the fact that our good years were slowly fading away.
(more…)

In my perfect world, I will be surrounded by a lot of teapots and kettles of varying shapes and sizes. There will be steaming hot cups of tea in different flavours waiting to be tasted. Tea strainers, tea pots, tea cosies and the intoxicating smell of the dark brew everywhere.

When I chanced upon TPot on Petercelli street one afternoon as I was wandering around aimlessly, I had to pinch myself to make sure I hadn’t walked into a dream or a scene out of Alice in Wonderland!

(more…)

The Aero Show is on in Bangalore right now and it’s worth a visit. I’ve never gone for the air show and I am glad I made it this time. The pyro technics of the airplanes made my heart stop for a moment. Lots and lots of different kinds of planes on display and the thunderous sound and gymastics of some of the fighter planes is enough to keep you spellbound!

It’s open to the public on Sat and Sun and well worth a visit.

A few pics are here. More later…

The Mumbai run was an exciting event for me. The registrations start way in advance so there is quite a build up over the months. It was another story that I wasn’t too prepared and hadn’t put in any long runs in the month prior to Mumbai.

But I was excited, never the less.

My mom expressed her surprise when I said I was going to Mumbai. To run. I had after all lived in the city for well over 5 years and she couldn’t quite figure out why at this stage in life, I was suddenly travelling all the way to another city just to run. Some things are just too hard to explain.

(more…)

A quick update… It’s been a hectic few weeks. My blog looks a little forlorn. I have a tea story from Cochin in my head and I haven’t managed to post it. Besides running a 5K in the women’s corporate rally at the Midnight Marathon on Jan 9, I haven’t really done any long runs mainly out of laziness and the cold (it’s a nice excuse!). So, I am definitely not happy with my preparations for Mumbai, but it’s too late for hindsight and after thought…

But, on the bright side, I’m looking forward to:

~ Catching up with old friends

~ Eating (no trip of mine can be complete without this anyway!)

~ Window shopping (somebody will need to stop me from splurging)

~ Running in Mumbai for the first time!

And so, here I go…