Peel, skin, peel - Part one of the trilogy

Every year my hands follow a trend. Every year, they like to throw away the old layer of skin and get a brand new one. Apparantly, I have some vitamin A deficiency. This is how it works:

1. Get ugly red rash on hands (and sometimes on feet, this year only my hands have been affected.
2. Rashes burst, thus making skin break.
3. New baby skin below opens up to the world outside!

ROUND ONE - THE RASH!

Lakme Fashion Week

My friend, Siddhesh and I, went to the Lakme Fashion Week yesterday and before I could (or wanted to) blog it, he wrote about it himself. So here are his two cents:

Its an opportunity and experience of life time. Got two passes for LFW's day-2, 9:00pm show. Designers Anand Kabra and Vineet Bahl @ NCPA.Took Alpana along with me, my MBA Partner in crime.

The event doesn't involve too many things and it happens in a jiffy before you get to your senses. We reached an hour before and were waiting in the lobby where all high life page 3 people who don't have anything to do in life but wait for such events!!! Aspiring models and fashion designers were around. Obviously HUL had set up a salon of Lakme and Sunsilk for brand placement. The show before our show got over and oh my god...goddesses came out!!!!! Long legs, sexy body, size -ve 10 (which trust me looks bad, at least doesn't interest me!!) and those attitude flaring women. Plus added to it, gay fashion designers ye they are real!!!!
As usual Page 3 event has to start late. 9 pm shows and we get entry at 930 pm. And guess what we are in fourth bench from the ramp.
The setting is very unglamorous for what it looks on TV. Thanks to the special lights and camera work that makes it looks too good. Setting is in a big hall with an almost 20-25 mts long ramp which might be just 5 mts wide. Seats are just by the side of the ramp in form of benches and in the front are all the worlds camera (which catches the wardrobe malfunction).
There was a sexy firang chick who passed by and sat in a row behind me. I was stumped as usual. For once my Kismet thought like me. Due to fewer people in front of us, our row people moved ahead and bingo the chick came and sat beside me....I was shhhhhhh......shhhhhhhh...and I looked at her.....oooohhhhh myyyy GOD....current passed by...she was toooooooo cute.
The show starts beginning with Anand Kabra more of indian Ethnic wears. And the goddesses...I mean the models were coming out one by one struting their stuff...and trust me all you beautiful gals those models are not size zero they have fit bodies!!!! 15mins and Anand Kabra comes out!!! Next was good show of Vineet Bahl...were trendy rainbow colors used...there was one dress which was very simple and looking great!!!and there was one model who was strutting her stuff very nicely, you all know what I mean!!!! 15min and Vineet comes out...thats it. 30 min pleasure to eyes over!!!! get your assses up and move on!!!
Got to see Rahul Bose who is shorter that me!!! And Kelly Dorjie.
One thing I observed is for us its models who attract us...the designers sitting in first row have a team work one clicks the snaps of footwear, the other tops and they actually are there for business and check out the years collection!!! The passion with which they check out is appreciable.
The night ended with a nice dinner at Out of the Blue at Bandra with nice sizzlers.

Gati - They consider!

Hyderabad is the place for food. Period. I have not seen so many restaurants serving so many cuisines in such less spans of distance! In old Hyderabad, there are hordes of biryani and muglai joints, while in the new city (outside the walls of the fort), its just all types of food. E.v.e.r.y s.i.n.g.l.e t.y.p.e!

And I was in Hyderabad during Ramzan. Which means there's awesome food everywhere. And there's the mind blowing haleem. Haleem is a preparation of lamb which is cut in very tiny peices and cooked in ghee for really, really long (sometimes overnight). And what better an item to bring back for my man than food. So I logged on to www.pistahouse.in which is the website of one of the oldest bakery in Hyderabad which serves Haleem only during Ramzan. They courier haleem to 8 cities in India and so i sent one across to Bombay.

This is where my story starts. Pista House is using Gati's service to courier the haleem. I ordered and paid online and got a confirmation email with an order number. The next day I wanted to check on my order and called Gati's toll free number. Here's the conversation:

Phone rings.
Gati Guy 1: "Hello, Gati...blah blah."
Alpana: "Hi...i ordered for haleem yesterday. I wanted to check on my order."
Gati Guy 1: "Did you get an email with an order number?"
Alpana: "Yes. I got one email with..."
Gati Guy 1: "Did you get the second email?"
Alpana: "Uhh...no. Am i supposed to get a second email?"
Gati Guy 1: "Mam, if you didn't get the second email, then your order is not confirmed!"
Alpana: "What??? So I'll have to order again??"
Gati Guy 1: "No mam, today we have stopped taking more orders as the offer."
Alpana: "But i made the payment!"
Gati Guy 1: "Sorry mam, the order has not gone through if you have not got the second email."

So i hang up and i wonder if the site can help me. No help. You can't track haleem orders. I decide I'm gonna try calling and speaking to someone else who might give me better news.

Phone rings.
Gati Chick 1: "Hello, Gati...blah blah."
Alpana: "Hi...i ordered for haleem yesterday. I wanted to check on my order."
Gati Chick 1: "Ok mam, when did you order for it?"
Alpana: "Yesterday at around 5 pm."
Gati Chick 1: "Then it will reach today, mam."
Alpana: "But i want to confirm this. I have an order number."
Gati Chick 1: "That will not help, mam. We don't have them on the system."
Alpana: "What? Then whats the use of sending me an order number? And how does the system not have order numbers that it generated??"
Gati Chick 1: "Sorry mam. but did you reply to the email?"
Alpana: "Reply to which email?"
Gati Chick 1: "The confirmation email. You have to reply to that."
Alpana: "Why?"
Gati Chick 1: "If you don't reply, your order is not confirmed."
Alpana: "How was I supposed to know this??"
Gati Chick 1: "No mam, its written on the email."
Alpana: "Uhh...no! The email gives me order details, address details and has a note saying Order Confirmation is subject to Payment confirmation."
Gati Chick 1: "Yes mam, that means you have to reply."
Alpana: "What?? No it means my order is confirmed if the payment gets through!"
Gati Chick 1: "No mam, it means that you have to reply."
Alpana: "Listen! I know enough English to know that it does not mean that!"
Gati Chick 1: "But mam..."
Alpana: "I'm sure my order number can be found in some system of yours and I want you to find out whether my order is confirmed and on its way."
Gati Chick 1: "Let me check, mam."

So i wait while she keeps me on hold for 5 whole minutes.
Gati Chick 1: "Mam, we can find the order number in the system through the backend. But it'll take 10 minutes."
Alpana: "I don't think it'll take 10 minutes. I'll wait."
Gati Chick 1: "No mam, you can't wait 10 minutes no but!
Alpana: "So when I call back, i wanna talk to you. I dont wanna repeat all this to someone else."
Gati Chick 1: "Of course, you can call and ask for Vijay."
Alpana: "Vijay?"
Gati Chick 1: "Yes, Vijay."
Alpana: "Your name is Vijay?" (well, id never heard of a chick named Vijay!)
Gati Chick 1: "He he he he...no he's the backend guy."
Alpana: "Ok. I'll call back."

So for 10 minutes, I do some timepass and then call back.

Phone rings.
Gati Chick 2: "Hello, Gati...blah blah."
Alpana: "Hi. I ordered for haleem yesterday. My order number is xxxxx. I want to speak with Vijay."
Gati Chick 2: "Certainly, mam. What's your name and order number?"
Alpana: "Alpana. xxxxx."
Gati Chick 2: "Please hold the line."

Phone on hold for half a minute.
Gati Chick 2: "Vijay's phone is coming busy. You can tell me your problem."
Alpana: "I want to check my order. It was confirmed by email, but there seems to be some confusion."
Gati Chick 2: "Did you reply to that email?"
Alpana: "No!!!! It was an order confirmation! Why should I reply to an order confirmation???"
Gati Chick 2: "But mam, if you don't reply, then it will not be delivered."
Alpana: "I don't wanna discuss this again! I didn't reply. Therefore, i want you to tell me what is the status and what is my next step."
Gati Chick 2: "Ok mam. I'll check."

On hold again.
Gati Chick 2: "Mam, your order is on its way. It'll reach by 10:00 pm today."
Alpana: "Really?" (I actually couldn't believe it!)
Gati Chick 2: "Yes mam."
Alpana: "So now stop telling people to reply! We don't need to reply!"
Gati Chick 2: "No mam. You need to. They considered. So they sent it."

THEY CONSIDERED.

How considerate. I didnt reply to a system generated email. Poor system. Must have felt so bad. But they considered. How absolutely amazing Gati is.

Come to think of it, this should be their tag line. GATI - WE CONSIDER.

Single in Singapore

What do you do when you're really pissed with life and all you wanna do is get away from it all? Well....you get away from it all! I was working on the same project for ages which was getting really boring and my personal life was...well...frustrating. So on an impulse, I searched for the cheapest tickets to anywhere outside India. Bangkok or Singapore - I had to make a choice. After a deliberation of a few minutes, return tickets to Singapore were purchased, I had a look of glee on my face, and finally I had something to look forward to!

While I waited for the flight on 27 April 08, I met a really annoying chick who just wanted to yap with me about things I didnt wanna know. Where she was from, what she did in Singapore, how much time it took her to get from her native place to Mumbai to catch the flight, yap, yap, yap. She even gave me her phone number to call and come visit her sometime during my trip. I thankfully wiggled my way out of giving her mine...saying it was a Mumbai number and would be an ISD call for her so I'd rather call her. Phew!

I'd done enough research on Singapore by now to figure my way around places. The moment I got off at Changi airport, I walked to the MRT (metro) terminal and bought myself a EZLink pass. These are access cards that you can use to pay for the MRT and public buses, at a discounted fare. More information at www.ezlink.com.sg

I had booked rooms at a hostel called City Backpackers at Kallang for a week. I chose this place because of the rates and its proximity to the Kallang MRT. It's a 2 minute walk and in fact, you can actually see the MRT station from the hostel. Was a small place, I mean what do u expect for SGD$18 a night, with enough common bathrooms and toilets, AC rooms with 6 people sharing one room, a reception with lots of brochures to read from, internet, TV and DVDs, books and a couple of bean bags.

On the first day, I had decided to go for a Chinese Orchestra that was taking place at the Botanical Gardens. Now I must suggest that before you go to Singapore, you check out the Singapore Calendar of Events to see if there is anything special to do so that you waste no time on Day 1. The Air India flight from Mumbai reaches Singapore at about 1000 hrs so I had the entire day with me.

Oh by the way, Singapore in summer is as hot as Bombay so beware! It’s a humid place and you should carry a handkerchief / tissues at ALL times, coz you are bound to be sweating.

So my first day was not too hectic and the next day I planned to go to a beautiful island called Pulau Ubin to the north of the main island of Singapore. If you are into nature, this place is a must-see. But if u must see it, it must be at the right time. Chek Jawa in Ubin shows its underwater fauna and flora only during the lowest of tides. And on days when the tides are really low, you will be provided with free guided tours. To get to Ubin, you have to take a Bumboat from the Changi Jetty to the Ubin Jetty. A bumboat is a small boat that will ferry you across with a maximum of 12 passengers. Here's the bumboat I travelled in.

This place has three ecosystems – mangroves, forest land and the ocean. Each has its own unique flora and fauna. Once you reach Ubin Jetty, you can hire a bicycle for SGD$4 for about 4-5 hours and cycle your way along the island. Make sure you also ask the cycle owner for a lock and key for when u need to park your cycle and walk ahead. Eat up before you reach Pulau Ubin coz there are no real eateries here. And carry a lot of water with you coz your last chance to stack up on water is where they give the cycles on rent.

Tip: There are many restaurants close to the Changi jetty that serve really really good food, right near the bus stop. Have a late lunch there after you're through with Ubin.

The next day I went to Singapore Zoo in the afternoon. If you want to visit the zoo + night safari, then it’s best to go in the afternoon at 1500 hrs and you can finish the entire tour by about 2200 hrs. Great place for animal lovers. Visit their site for facts and pictures. My favourite part of the zoo was when I saw the orangutans being fed by the zookeepers. The animals in this zoo are so close to you, you feel like playing with them. Of course, common sense prevails and you don't! I wonder when Indian zoos will be as good.

Now this is something that the official Singapore tourism site boasts of – the Kaya Toast at the Chin Mee Chin Confectionery. It is the best Kaya toast I ate anywhere in Singapore (oh and the toast at the airport sucked the most). Kaya, also called srikaya (from the word meaning "rich" in Malay based on its golden color) or coconut egg jam, is a coconut jam made from coconut milk, duck or chicken eggs which are flavored by pandan leaf and sweetened with sugar (courtesy: Wikipedia). Even the tea has Kaya in it. This place is in Joo Chiat which is the traditional Katong area in Singapore and has some very beautiful old buildings that you can walk around and enjoy.

Joo Chiat is a wonderful place to walk around, with its old architecture. At night, however, this place is popular for its prostitution and you'll see many hookers on the street. So depending on your comfort, choose the time of the day you wanna visit here.

Joo Chiat has many Gujarati people living there, almost like an ethnic quarter. I saw a Gujarati school, a place called Shah Backpackers, and quite a few Gujarati shops. So Gujjus, you should make a trip to this part of Singapore.

Also, the laksa is Singapore's famed traditional dish, so if you're here, you should try it. While I feasted on some Katong laksa, I asked a few locals what was different from this kind of laksa and a regular laksa. I was told that the main ingredients remaining the same, the Katong laksa is a more localized version, which is less oily and has a few different spices. It sure was tasty.

My tip: Eat breakfast at Chin Mee, walk around Joo Chiat, take lots of pictures, tire yourself and then have the "Famous Katong Laksa" a few shops away from Chin Mee.

The rest of the day, I spent lazing around. I walked to the beach (which is quite far, about a 30-40 minute walk) and slumped at a beach side bar with a beer in one hand and a book in another. Trust you me, it was really hard putting that book down when I had to leave.

After the beach, while walking back to the MRT, I passed through the Malay Village. A big shopping area with delicious looking food and traditional clothing was across the Malay Village. If I wasn't full, I'd have grabbed something to eat there.

For dinner, I was to go to a nearby food court where you get amazing food for just SGD$2-3. Two Thai guys had just moved in to my dorm and I took them along. They were very sweet guys and soooo shy!

The next morning, I had to meet dad's friend who lives at Jurong and I had lunch with them. When I came back to my hostel, a new girl from Holland was in my dorm and we hit it off instantly. We decided to go to Clarke Quay for the evening to have a few drinks. A lot of people had told me about the Swissotel and so we decided to check it out. At 741 feet, you must go to the New Asia bar at the top floor. The view is spectacular, but the bar is expensive. So we just took some pictures from the top.

Back down below, we saw the Merlion, took some pictures and then headed towards a bar to have the famous Singapore Sling. It's a really sweet cocktail that none of us liked. But well, somethings you just gotta do!

The next day, I decided to see Chinatown and Little India. Chinatown is, btw, the best place to shop if you're looking for little mementos to give to people...at great bargains. I had a good authentic Chinese lunch of pork and rice.

But the best thing I saw here, while walking the by-lanes of Chinatown, was a place called "The Time of Tea". This place not only sells various Chinese teas, but also has classes on the art of making tea. I got a crash course by a sweet lady on how to make tea. Here it is, picture by picture.

This is the place - "The Time of Tea"

Step 1: Pour warm water in the tea-making bowl to heat the ceramic bowl.

Step 2: Pour the hot water on the drinking ceramic bowls as well. The idea is that not only the tea, but the bowls should also be hot.

Step 3: Drain the water from the bowls, put in the tea leaves and pour hot water into the bowl. Make sure that the hot water does not fall directly on the tea leaves, but on the side of the bowl. This saves the leaves from getting burnt.

Step 4: Keep for 2 minutes and serve! Your tea is ready.

The teas that were available there. Ranging from SGD$25 to 100.

It was lunch time and I went to a small Chinese restaurant. Since I couldn't make much sense of the menu, I asked for a recommendation. The waitress suggested a rice and pork dish and asked me if I wanted it in soft rice or hard rice. Well, I figured...who wants to eat hard rice? So I ordered for soft rice. And turned out, soft rice is what we call kanji!!!! Add to that some chopsticks and I was lost. How the hell do I have kanji with chopsticks???? This is what my plight looked like, until I asked for a spoon!

After Chinatown, I went to Little India with my Dutch friend. Looks pretty much like India. So I'm not posting any pics!

That night, we went out for some drinks at Boat Quay and had some good Satay dishes on Satay street. This is an entire street that becomes a food joint from evening to 2 am. There are many stalls that sell assorted Satay dishes - chicken, shrimp, beef and pork in one big platter. We filled ourselves with Satay and beer and then went to Clarke Quay again, coz that seemed like the more happening place. Once there, I had to do the reverse bungy. It was scary at first, but then it was 2 minutes of good fun. Then we were off to drinking. Met some guys who gave us company as we went clubbing. There's a bar called the "Clinic" which is a wierd but funny place to be in. You can sit in wheelchairs and drink off a plastic bag that's kept on a pole next to you, with a tube hanging out of it. Except, the place is expensive and a drink can set you back by SGD$50. If you're a girl, trust me, stop being proud, accept the free drink offers.

The next morning, my friend and I went to Sentosa where we saw the aquarium and the dolphin show. The rest of the day, we lazed on the beach and didn'd do much. Sentosa pics are aplenty online. Check them out.

Finally, it was time for me to leave and I took a few pictures with my dorm roomies. The cute Thai guys and a good friend I'd made on the trip. One of the boys even gave me a 2 Bath coin for me to keep. Here is the last picture taken.

And that was the end of the trip. At the Singapore Changi airport, I think I was the only Indian that was not carrying a plasma TV back home and even the airport staff was surprised! All in all, it was a great trip and an amazing mind freshner.

Wyclef Jean rocked Hard Rock Cafe!!!

Last night I went to the Wyclef Jean concert at HRC...and what a concert it was!!! I have never had this much fun at any concert! The man can make you dance! He started with some great guitaring, playing with the guitar on his back and then with his mouth. After a while, it was getting really hot (not in a good way!) and he took off his shirt and played the rest of the evening in his vest. He sang Marley's 'No woman no cry' and 'Redemption song', and did the Shakira 'Hips don't lie', where he asked all the women to come on the stage to dance with him. Too bad I had a good spot to stand in and didn't wanna lose that so I stay put.

'The sweetest girl' was one of the highlights of his show....he sang it for at least 15 minutes....he had a nice way of letting the band play and do some freestyle rap, scream a little "India! I hear Mumbai is a crazy city....where are the crazy ppl???" And the crowd would go "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". Haha it really was crazy. He did the same thing with another song....though I don't know which song that is. But it really got the crowd get a workout! It was a Jamaican style song where all I heard was "We wanna party....we wanna party"!! He connected with the crowd with the whole colored skin issue...said "Why are we called immigrants? I say Columbus was an immigrant! I say Marco Polo was an immigrant!"...WE WANNA PARTY, WE WANNA PARTY..."When I was new to America, they asked me..why u wanna come here...you can't even speak English! And I said...I wanna be President of the United States of America!"...WE WANNA PARTY, WE WANNA PARTY..."They ask me what do you think of the presidential race...you know with Hillary and Barack...and I say...look like we gonna have the first non-white president of America!!"...WE WANNA PARTY, WE WANNA PARTY!!! It completely got the crowd rolling....we were almost in the "hood"! In fact, at one point, Wyclef introduced his bodyguard on the stage and told us that his bodyguard was different from all other bodyguards....and then he started again....WE WANNA PARTY, WE WANNA PARTY....with his bodyguard abruptly starting to dance crazy!

I had just found out that day that Wyclef had made a song with Aadesh Srhrivastava called "Hollywood meets Bollywood" and so Wyclef called Aadesh on to the stage. Aadesh played the Latin drums, Wyclef played the Congo and there was another African drumset that one of the band members played....and they almost did a jugalbandi! The new song is awesome....hip hop and bhangra are a potent mix anyways and Aadesh was really really good....he hit notes Wyclef had to scream for...and he even made Wyclef sing some Punjabi!

And then of course, he ended the day with 'Gone till November'....which everyone sang along with...it was a fantastic end to the night! What got the energy going was that he was constantly jumping, moving on the stage, moving amongst the crowd (and I touched his bicep...yayyy!!! lol), dancing on top of the speakers, dancing on top of HRC's sofa-tops, pulling the "ladies and fellas" on to the stage. At one point, he saw a man smoking and he said.."That man is smoking during the concert!", acted offended and pulled him up on the stage and asked him to dance with him. That man was a total uncle types but he pulled it off and had fun...which is what it was all about!

So it was great stuff....the venue was perfect....I don't think a big ground like MMRDA would have been ideal coz not so many people here in Mumbai really listen to his music. And the people who did come...were people who knew him and enjoy his music. I read reviews on how the gig in Bangalore was not managed well (Here: http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr182008/metro2008041763217.asp ) but the one in Mumbai was great! There was a lot of crowd and it got really hot, but I haven't been to a single concert where that doesn't happen!

Finally....thanks to my friend Siddhesh who got free passes from his company Unilever (I'm sure he'll be crazy happy if he sees me branding for HUL lol) and took me along. And Mandar who bought me most of my drinks coz the bar was not accepting cards when I asked and I wasn't really carrying any cash. To more gigs like this one...cheers!

Beautiful Konkan Coast - This new year!

One more year, one more trip with friends. This time things were really shaky at the beginning. People (including me) kept canceling – rejoining – recancelling for the trip. Our first plan was to make a trip of Sikkim and adjoining places. That got moved to Rajasthan. Finally, to accommodate most people, we decided to travel nearer to Bombay since that way, people could join in at their convenient date. Even then, a lot of our people didn’t show up. Some because of personal rivalries (what can I say?), some because of girlfriends and some because they could not get a holiday from work.

And so we started out – a road trip along the Konkan coast, ending up in Goa for 31st December. Later, I would realize that I will always avoid road trips around ghaats as much as I can!

December 24, 2007 – Day 1
Me, Manish, Chandan, Gayatri, Ajinkya

Manish and Chandan picked up Ajinkya and me at the Fantasy Land signal on the JVLR (that’s where Aji and I stay). Ajinkya wasn’t there on our last trip. He’s my old school friend and lately he’s been hanging out with my Bhavan’s gang. And I also think Rajesh has fallen in love with him.

Anyway, there we waited for Gayatri who came with both her parents who dropped her in their car. Many kisses and hugs later (it was like she was going to Africa on a UNICEF mission of something!), we left for our first stop – Shrivardhan. Now this is one of the beaches on the still under-hyped Maharashtra coastline, about 250 kms from Bombay. It takes around 6 hrs to get there are good local joints to have breakfast on the way. We left JVLR at 0630 hrs and after many halts to eat and pee, we reached Shrivardhan at 13:00 hrs. We checked out quite a few places to stay but they were all full. Thankfully, we got a place where someone had just cancelled accommodation and it was one of the cheapest motels. Rs. 500 a night per room and 50 bucks per extra bedding. It wasn’t such a great place, but it was clean and had clean washrooms. What else do we want anyway? Booked for two nights, we freshened up a little (which means we opened cans of beer and sat and played on the beach like little kids)! Manish found a poor little centipede like insect on the beach and ‘Pearl-Harbor’ed it with sand to its probable death. If that wasn’t enough, Chandu picked up our football, and pretending it to be a UFO, landed it right on the spot where the insect was buried, thus killing it for sure. Brutes! Anyway, I guess they made up for it with the tomb that they then made for the insect.

Shrivardhan beach

After we were through being 5 year olds (and after Gayatri was through sleeping all this while), we went into the water and spent the rest of the afternoon in the sea. We then decided to try out the hookah we had brought. Manish has a friend who owns a hookah joint and he lent us one of his hookahs. Kashif and I had bought flavors from a store in Bandra for just 30 bucks each (each flavor makes about 4 hookah joints). After a little help from the internet, our hookah was ready and smokin’!!!! One more feather in our hat…we’d done something new again!

A bonfire in the night and a lot of personal talks between me and Chandu finished the day for me. At 0200 hrs, we finally went to sleep.

December 25, 2007 – Day 2 – Merry Christmas!!
Me, Manish, Chandan, Gayatri, Ajinkya + Kashif

The next day, we woke up quite late and had breakfast at the motel itself. It was a ghar-guti place which means that the food cooked by the owner (his wife usually) is served to us. So we get to each authentic local food. A lot of poha later, the guys went to pick up Kashif, while me and Gangu took showers and changed into more holiday clothes.

Kashif came at about lunch time so we immediately went for lunch to Hotel Shrivardhan. This place has an amazing artifact – there’s half of the bone structure of what they claim to be a dolphin that was found dead on a beach many years back. But it looks so huge, you’d think it was actually a small whale! If you’re at Shrivardhan, you must have a look at this.

After lunch, we headed for Harihareshwar, which is very close to Shrivardhan and is supposed to be very beautiful. However, I didn’t find it great. It’s a small beach with water not as clear as Shrivardhan, but its probably amore popular destination because there is a beautiful MTDC resort there. On the beach, there was one guy with a small jet boat who was giving 2 minute rides for 50 bucks per person. It was really fun and I got to see this cute little fish jumping in and out of the water, which the boat guy told me was a boi (which I googled and found is also called the grey mullet).

Ajinkya at Harihareshwar beach

Night was about to arrive and we needed booze, raw food for barbeque and ice. So we went hunting for those. After picking up the booze and chakna, we couldn’t find ice anywhere. That’s when our friendly neighborhood ‘Spiderman’ came to our rescue and got us ice and loads of shrimp for the barbeque, and at crazy low rates – easily one third the price of what we get them in Bombay for.

Kashif and Manish, our all time designated chefs, marinated the shrimp and some veggies that we had bought. I was as usual, the fire girl, or as we decided to be gender neutral later – the fire person! Chandu and Ajinkya made the hookah and Gayatri did the jacket potatoes.

At 0330 hrs, two inebriated girls wandered on to the beach to wet their feet. Two very bad men came running from behind, caught hold of our hands and took us into the water. Although Gangu and I didn’t want to get wet, the water was so warm in the cold night that we didn’t curse Kashif and Manish for their folly. After half an hour, the boys were bored / hungry and left us to fend for ourselves. I had learned in an earlier trip to Shrivardhan that the sands there are therapeutic. So Gangu and I started coating our exposed parts of our bodies with sand (Now I’m making this blog sound good! Haha!). On one such occasion, as Gangu scooped up some sand in the cup of both her hands, we saw a medium sized crab resting on the sand over her palm! We screamed loudly and threw the crab back into the water. After a few seconds of shock, we both laughed loudly and continued with our “therapy”.

After a lot of waiting for the guys to come back, we lost hope and walked back to the motel for a quick shower and a change of clothes. A lot of fighting over bathroom space ended up with Gayatri biting Manish on his forearm (which he later had to explain to Roopali). Sleep time had come!

December 26, 2007 – Day 3 – A day of traveling
Me, Manish, Chandan, Gayatri, Ajinkya, Kashif

This whole day went with us traveling from Shrivardhan to Tarkarli, which is a beach on the Sindhudurg coast. This has been by far my most favorite beach in India till date. It’s about another 250 kms from Shrivardhan and took us almost 8 hours to get there. This was the time I realized I’m not made for traveling in ghaats coz I kept feeling queasy and I finally felt better when I induced myself to throw up in the nice and clean loo of a Reliance petrol pump on the way.

We reached Tarkarli only at night, had dinner at a restaurant of some big hotel on the way and found that the place we were supposed to stay at was a wretched house with no place to sleep in peace. Ajinkya had to sleep on many chairs put together and Chandu slept in the car.

December 27, 2007 – Day 4
Me, Manish, Chandan, Gayatri, Ajinkya, Kashif

Ajinkya and Chandan got up in the morning and went looking for a car mechanic. Chandan had mistakenly used up all the battery power in the car and the car wouldn’t start. So they took the neighbor’s bike (that had no break) and wandered the countryside. Like a honeymooning couple, while all of us were asleep. The rest of us went to the beachside a while later and witnessed totally clean sea water. I don’t know why I am still obsessed with clean water…seeing the Bombay ocean has really corrupted my opinion on the oceans!

Tarkarli beach at MTDC

When Chandu and Ajinkya were back, we all did a dhakka-start to the car (yeah we girls helped too, we Macedonian women!) and were on our way to find a good place to stay. Our first stop was the MTDC resort which was beautiful but too expensive for us. Rs. 2500 for a couple and not more than two in a room. Period! We had breakfast there anyway and had a lot of fun on their beach. Aji had some work back in Bombay and had to leave so we dropped him to the ST stand where he got a bus at 1500 hrs. We went back looking for a place to stay in and found a really nice place called Sumati Resort right at the end of the road and facing Tarkarli beach.

Directions: Get out of the MTDC Resort and take a right, then take a right again when you get a board saying MTDC Houseboat. Go straight on this road and the road becomes really bad, but keep going ahead. At the end of the road, you’ll find a board with a dolphin picture and Sumati Resort written on a board.

Sumati resort is owned by a really nice guy. And it’s a cheap but clean place. We got a big room with two beds which can hold four to five people for sleeping, each. It’s got an attached toilet, but outside the room! And all this for 800 bucks a night! The owner told us we should go snorkeling between 1100 hrs to 1300 hrs the next day since that’s when the sun’s rays are perpendicular and we get the best view in the water. We could also do a dolphin ride, but he had fishermen friends who he said he would contact and only if they spotted dolphins in the sea on that day, then it would be a good idea for us to take that ride. It’s always best to see dolphins early in the morning at about 0700 hrs.

Another interesting thing he told us was that there was an island created during the tsunami nearby in the backwaters of the Arabian sea at Tarkarli and it was a good place to spend a few hours in. So that night, we picked up a few bottles of beer and went to the island on a boat with two boatmen. It was beautiful, although it was so dark! When we switched on the torch in the water, we could see all the tiny fish in it. The island is only sand and gets submerged in the water on full moon nights. On the island, the boatmen made us a bonfire, we gave them beers and we all sat down drinking. Unfortunately, that’s when we came to know that earlier that evening, Benazir Bhutto had been shot dead. For some reason, it really affected us. For the next two hours, all we spoke about was politics and how the world was getting worse, and all bad things. The news really screwed our moods. But then, there were these little creatures that kinda neutralized our moods – crabs! There were soooo many on the island, it was scary! We had to pee far away from the bonfire and getting far away was a scare! Thanks to our torch, we managed to spot and avoid crabs. But there was this one crab that wanted to fight with me and Manish! If we would go right, it would go right. If we would move left, it was moving right there, intimidating us! No amount of stomping on the ground made it back up. It must’ve been the alpha crab there. LOL. Few hours later, we hopped back on the boat, noticing the tide had swallowed up at least 15 meters of the island (and did I mention that the island itself must have been about a kilometer in length at a maximum).

The island at Tarkarli

The scary crabs!

December 28, 2007 – Day 5
Me, Manish, Chandan, Gayatri, Ajinkya, Kashif

The next morning, we were to snorkel at noon and rushed to the main market to buy ourselves snorkeling passes. An authentic Malvani breakfast of amboli ussal (which is ussal from ussal pav fame and amboli which is like a dosa, except thicker) and pohe and the not-so-authentic omelette later, we were ready to snorkel!

Snorkeling was a lot of fun! I love water anyway and this just made me feel like I was among the fishes and part of the sea! We saw so many colored fish – red, blue, yellow, white, black – and so many sizes – little ones in big schools and huge loner red snappers. The highlight of my snorkeling visit was this one red snapper who my snorkeling guide and I followed for about 2 minutes, and we were right above the fish all the time! The snorkeling was done close to the Sindhudurg fort and there was an area in the water that had a small trench. That was where we saw the most exotic of fishes…I had to ask my guide for another round of that trench coz it was just so beautiful! And how can I forget the coral we saw! It was just beautiful! There were only two things that could have been better in this whole experience – (a) If the water was clearer (sure it was clear, but I’m so used to National Geographic!) and (b) If the guides quit encouraging people to touch the coral. Being guide I really thought they would know the harms of doing so, and I even gave a piece of my mind to my guide when he asked me if I wanted a piece of coral!

By the time we finished, it was about 1400 hrs and we set off to buy material for our barbeque that night. I really think that it’s been too many barbeques in the trip and the novelty factor has now gone down to a level where I honestly think it’s becoming too much effort. Plus the guys (read: Kashif and Manish) keep making the preparation more and more elaborate. On this day, they made three kinds of marinade for the large amount of chicken we bought! This was so much, by the way, that the next day, we gave away quite some marinated chicken to our resort guy, so that he could cook it if he pleased! Anyway, so it was our regular barbeque – hookah – bonfire setting and we generally chilled out on the sandy ‘backyard’ of our room. Our favorite puppy, who we had been playing with all these days, was also with us, next to the warmth of the fire. The little doggie was really cute, but had a lot of ticks – so Gayatri and Chandu had bathed her the earlier day. When the fire went out, we looked at stars until we were really sleepy, and I eventually went off to sleep with only Manish and Kashif awake. Later I learnt that they took a walk on the beach nearby for really long. Having guy talk maybe?

Our puppy dog

December 29, 2007 – Day 6 – Goa!
Me, Manish, Chandan, Gayatri, Ajinkya, Kashif + Fahim

Goa is just about 3 hrs away from Tarkarli and we left our resort at 1200 hrs. The road was really good. Instead of taking the NH-17, we took a new route called the “Saagari Mahamarg” (or something to that effect) which has beautiful views all through the road. At a few points, it crosses gorgeous stretches of rivers (or backwaters…debatable) and at some places, there’s a striking view of the Arabian sea from the road. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a view from any major road before.

Backwater view from Saagari Mahamar

The beautiful view of the Arabian sea from the highway

Fahim was already waiting at Vagator in Goa when we reached there. Our hotel was pre-booked and Fahim was taking a nap. Prices were crazy high – Rs. 10,000 per day (not night) for two small rooms. Thankfully, this was inclusive of extra mattresses. Things were now gonna be really expensive!

After we all had lunch and a session of pseudo raping Kashif, the guys went off to Vagator beach while Gayatri and I took a small nap. We then walked to the beach which was about a kilometer away from our hotel, noticing that the lazy guys had taken the car. By the time we reached the beach (after checking out numerous shops on the way), it was dark and the guys were leaving. Nothing much to see on Vagator anyways. It was time to go to the Saturday Night Bazaar at Arpora, my favorite thing to do in Goa! Once in the bazaar, the girls and the guys split. So while we chicks were shopping, the guys were at the live performance being given by a band called Kundalini Airport. They were playing good music, so if you’re into Indo-trance-funk-reggae mix, you should listen to them.

All my clothes worn in the rest of the trip were bought at the Saturday Night Bazaar. :-)

December 30, 2007 – Day 7
Me, Manish, Chandan, Gayatri, Ajinkya, Kashif, Fahim + Preeti + Gazala + Pedro + Roopali

The next morning, Chandu’s friends Preeti and Gazala had arrived with Manish’s friend and my acquaintance (now my friend…I can’t believe I never knew how funny this guy is in so many years that I have known him), Pedro. We went out for breakfast at this place called Mango Tree at Vagator which I recommend to anybody going to Vagator. It’s good for a meal at any time of the day. I can’t remember us doing anything interesting the whole day. We picked up Roopali from the airport and went to Baga in the evening, where Chandu – Preeti and Gayatri – Fahim joined us on rented bikes. The rest of the evening we spent finding out places we could spend 31st night in Baga beach. At dinner time, we went to a shack that had a lot of options of fish, crabs, calamari and shrimp to choose from, for an open air barbeque with our choice of preparation. Dinner done, we headed back to the hotel. Kashif, Chandu and Pedro went to Vagator beach to drink while the rest of us slept. The next morning, I woke up to Roopali telling me how Kashif came in the room (I was sleeping with Roopali and Manish) calling “Alpana” not so softly. Apparently, everybody in the room, except me, heard this! I do love the way I sleep hehe.

December 31, 2007 – Day 8 – Traveling in Goa
Me, Manish, Chandan, Ajinkya, Kashif, Preeti, Gazala, Pedro, Roopali

Gayatri and Fahim left the hotel at 1030 hrs coz they had a flight to catch. Poor Fahim only got a 2 day vacation.

Roopali had been working since morning and we kept bugging her. We went to Baga for lunch again coz Baga is the best beach in Goa (I’m soooo biased hehe). Kashif and I decided to take one of the bikes and leave a little after the other guys coz we still had to take our showers. For a first (or maybe second) timer, he was pretty good at riding, considering it was a very badly maintained bike. By the time we reached there, the other guys had finished a round of jet-skiing. After some well deserved lunch, we played some football in the sand and Kashif had a blackout. We are still making fun of him for that! Then it was time for the banana ride where about 5 – 6 people sit on an inflatable banana being pulled by a motor boat. Two times during the ride, the boat takes a sharp turn and we fall off the banana. It was so much fun that I took the ride twice. Roopali kept thinking she would drown and Kashif didn’t help her much in that – he once fell on both of us, pushing an already afraid Roopali in the water and giving me a black-blue mark on the arm that my mom questioned me on when I was back home! And to top it all, he doesn’t believe that he did it! He insists it was Roopali that hit me. What a liar, I tell you!

It was 8 by the time we finished the rides and playing on the beach. We went back to the hotel quickly and took our showers, many people having to do so while the lights went off! Roopali and I wore some really sexy outfits, only to realize later how it would come of no use. You see, we idiots decided to try out Morjim when we left the hotel at 2300 hrs.Yes, there was a good party there, but one that had a line that would take 2 hours to reach the passes-selling stand, and that would cost us 2500 bucks each. That’s not what we came to Goa for!! So we decided Baga was the place for us. But Morjim is in the other direction from Vagator that Baga is. So we had to travel even more and at 0000 hrs when the new year came in we wished each other Happy New Year in the car! Pedro and Chandu were on the bike and after a few minutes we asked them to stop at a nice spot on the road. We hugged and wished each other and saw a lot of fireworks at the distance. It was actually a great place to see all the fireworks from many distant places.

We decided to move on to Baga coz the parties would still be on anyways. But luck wouldn’t have it that way. Half a kilometer from Calangute (you see, all roads were made one ways, so to get to Baga, we had to get from Morjim to Calangute and then take another one way from Calangute to Baga), we got stuck in a traffic jam. So we parked the car nearby and walked to Calangute. OH MY GOD! It was like an exodus or a Ganpati Visarjan! Every 5 minutes, drunk people were having fights, some more violent than the other. We got out of there, looking for a restaurant off the beach to eat. Soon, we found a place that was open and had an open kitchen. By this time it was about 0200 hrs and most places were only offering booze. We ate and left for the hotel. That was our 31st night story!

January 1, 2008 – Day 9 – Happy New Year!
Me, Manish, Chandan, Ajinkya, Kashif, Preeti, Gazala, Pedro, Roopali

After brunch at Mango Tree, Kashif and I left for the airport at about 1300 hrs. Manish and Roopali were leaving by Manish’s car in the afternoon and the rest of the gang was to take a bus in the evening. They had time to go para-sailing that afternoon so they had an eventful 1st of January.

We saw Shaan at the airport. TV does put 20 pounds on people! He was such a skinny guy! On the plane, we took a lot of crappy pictures of the view outside. On reaching Mumbai airport, we wanted to eat so we sat on the lounge section of the Café Coffee Day and saw that the prices were astonishingly high. So quietly, we moved out and bought a coffee, brownie, sandwich and a sub from the more reasonably priced CCD below. We sat in a really quiet place in the airport and ate and talked. I think we had a great time there – so simple yet so fulfilling (don’t know if that was Kashif’s or the brownie’s effect!)

At Bombay airport

And so we finished another trip, as Kashif dropped me home and kissed me a cute goodbye. Next year, hopefully, I’ll have a bigger and better story to tell!