corbetto

At 7 45 pm, the infamous Western Express Highway showed no enthusiasm in getting us (me and Kishore) to the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminal (forget getting their on time!). The copious one-ways (a small rusted board indicating that it is a one-way has anyway been used as a barricade), the would-be flyovers (hopeful to shine above all of us for quite a few years now), the policemen on the road, true to MTV's style (Dharthi ka laal campaign) chew up pan and color the road red, sometimes makes you wonder if that’s the only reason why Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation has employed them, edgy fellow drivers who refuse to consider that it is impossible to let a car into a space which is less than 1 ft width, and of course the never-ending phone calls that our taxi driver was receiving seemed more like God's way of saying "How dare you think of having a vacation…!!!"...yeah sure, I didn't need a God to tell me that, it was already 20:50! So much for the countdown that I was religiously following for a month, it was definitely not to go through a moment like that@@@ If not for anything, I needed this desperate break from work…from deadlines and revisions, I just wanted to check what was the big hullabaloo about in my Geography text back when I was in Class VI, listing some 500 odd species of birds...some 200 tigers...1200 sq km of area... which I never managed to remember or show some interest in…now now... getting back to where I was stuck...it was 8 55 pm and we were still outside Mumbai airport, after a lot of struggle (between me, ki and taxi driver). After a lot of arguments (between the taxi driver and some son of a bitch who decided to unload his 100 ton weighing cargo in the middle of the road) after a lot of fight (of course between kishore and Taxi driver...kishore walked out of the taxi…while I was enjoying all of this!) The taxi driver started inching his way ahead. It seemed like an eternal wait… Took our flight at 9 10 pm and we made it to Delhi!!!

Flight journey was...well...ahem...safe...that's the only word that comes to my mind when I think of my journey with Spice Jet (my suspicion started when the pilot announced) "If anyone is found using their mobiles in flight, the flight will return back to the security gate and the concerned person will be arrested. Hope you have a nice journey with Spice Jet"...imagine this in a rusty, drunken voice...it sure gave me the creeps.

So we reach Delhi safe and sound.

There were three possible ways of reaching Corbett National Park, Ram nagar.

a) By train: Train leaves at around 10 30 pm, we reached Delhi at 11.10 pm, so obviously not an option!

b) By bus: The last bus to leave Delhi to Ram Nagar is at 8 pm, will have to wait for an entire day if I want to take it...obviously didn't have all the time in the world, so of course it was never an option.

c) By road: Out of 100 people we asked, 99 of them told its unsafe (dacoits, "terror-prone area"(now, which area isn’t?), risky at nights, not-worth-the-risk)...too bad I decided to get adventurous and take the road, my husband called it "bad planning" and slept through the journey.

Bantoo, our driver was one hell of a guy...knew all the right places to stop and was an excellent driver. At 1.10 am we stopped at road-side dhabha called "saarang". The chill breeze was the kinda appetizer I wanted... rushed inside the dhabha, which is actually on the road, but it has a roof! Had a piping hot chai. Followed by which I had one of the most delicious dinner after a very long time. Alu Parathas with a wedge of "amul" butter... Dhal Makhani with butter floating on top, raw onions (wonder if it was buttered?!)... Paneer burjee and of course Vegetable Kadai (yeah baby…buttered all the way till last helping)...I was so happy that I decided to postpone my diet plan by a week. I could eat guiltlessly...rotis came one after another..., we had to reach Ramnagar by 8.00 for us to get inside the park (ah…well zoo…ah...wild life place, whatever it was) on time. and that’s the only reason why I stopped eating.

The journey to Corbett was truly magical...the roads were long and winding... thick fog playing its way with Bantoo (remember my sweetie driver!)...forests got deeper and denser as we drover further...unable to see anything that was less than 10 mtrs ahead of us...it was more like playing a video game...you never know where the road curves and turns until you actually get there...the only source of light for this long road stretching till Ramnagar was our car's headlight. Lazily, the sun rose along our side to give us some company at around 7 am. To watch the sun rise as we were zipping across the country side was a visual delight. It surely was one of the most beautiful drives of my life. So far so good.

We reached our hotel "Wild club" adventure...true to its name, the place is set in the middle of lush green farm, small huts with make believe beds was where we were going to stay for the next two days in Ramnagar. The cottage was a self sufficient place. Water comes from the river flowing below us, vegetables from the farm behind us, were an entirely family of cow was grazing happily. An equally wild chef lived right there. Oh…the chef….,mmmmm

Couldn't wait any longer to plunge into the forests ...Corbett National Park, there we go. The bus that took us around the place was a very cute one...to go in a bus like that was by itself great fun. It was supposed to be a whole day safari....as the bus set off...the cool breeze kissed our face once in a while, reminding us to make a conscious effort to unwind and let go off everything back in aamchi Mumbai...

an hour into the journey we didn’t spot a single animal...

I thoroughly enjoyed the silence...the wholeness it creates and the emptiness that it recreates in me...the silence that urged me to do something about everything around me...the silence that I never knew of could contain so much meaning...silence like I have never heard of...hmm….I was lovin it!

Around 2 in the afternoon...we had spotted a couple of deers...monkeys…trees here and there...may be a peacock…

I could see us getting restless…disappointment that was suppressed. Blame it on national geographic and animal planet.. when I headed to the forest I was geared up for some hard core....errr....action!

Wild thoughts chasing my mind, maybe a tiger chasing a deer...maybe elephants bathing and tigers pouncing for its attack.,...or ..or...maybe a group of deer’s hopping its way to defense...from the clutches of tigers...never got anything of that sort.... or at least a couple of bees or lizards mating… something WILD! I was waiting patiently...for that defining moment...a picture perfect snap that I can show-off to people at work (well... we never carried a camera with us J heheh) . Nothing worked…we got bored. And what’s the best thing to do while bored…EAT!!!

We head for lunch in the middle of the forest...a place where. other than the group of ppl who came with us in the bus...a lot of monkeys gave us company...as we went to attend nature's call, we saw this bloody monkey (read male) aggressively protecting its counterpart (read humping) every time any of us got near it) and this happened as long as ppl were near that area. So the monkeys humped their way to glory! I thought of this to be a good sign...rather god’s way of saying...baby there is more in store for ya!!! Oh n I sure know intuitions come right!!! So we head for the rest of our journey with a lot of optimism and of course eagerness!!! After a full three course meal (wait a min more than that)....a long drive to nowhere (at least we didn’t know where) ... thick green land...deer’s hopping...birds perching...fresh air (now I know what pollution is!!!)...no sidey ring tone noises...it was bliss....I wake up to realize WE DIDNT SEE any tigers...but that’s Okie...that was the best nap I have ever had in my life!!It was so "Nice"...yes I was a lil disappointed that I didn’t see any tigers in a tiger reserve. but what the hell there is no democracy left in democratic India either...so it' fine! so we head back to our resort after that lovely long safari!!! The only reason why all of us happily got back to our cottages was food. The chef had these magical fingers which churned out delicacies after delicaies...he must have thought we were some kind of wild boars deprived of food for our lifetimes...

We had a 10 30 train to catch....chilly dark night...kurkure...and a cozy night's sleep was sure something I looked forward to. Especially travel within India, I feel is best experienced while going by trains. It’s an amazing experience by itself...the kind of energy the chai waalahs and wada walaahs exuberate is something else! Our train journey was quite exciting...with Kishore and Darshini doing some mind numbing math...not that we would have cribbed to chip a few extra silvers...nevertheless they took up that mind nerving exercise...we reached Delhi much earlier than the scheduled time.

Our next train to Mumbai was at 7.00. We bid each other goodbye after a nice cup of chai and promised to meet again at the Gir forest. having 3 more hours in our hand ...Kishore and I lost complete control over our bowels...and started our “clean toilet” hunting in Delhi...ended up in a "not so" clean one/....and decided to have breakfast right after that...some simple Bread and butter...and we were off to our station. Right from the beginning kishore was extremely averse towards the idea of traveling in a II class... I thought it would make traveling a lot lot better...people to chat with...the typical railway scenario. Reality came crashing on my face...It was horrible...sticky. Stinky...noisy.... lousy!!! :-( It was sad...nevertheless....reached Mumbai well and safe. It felt good.

It has been three months since I have been writing this post...not that I have put in as much thoughts or ideas or my prolific writing skills in it...have been busy and equally lazy to complete this task. By the way the Gir forest mission hasn;'t happened so far. Murali and Bhavani...have already moved on to UK for their studies...me and kishore very much in mumbai... Darshini & Saurabh: Very much in Hyderabad, although globe trotting! Mandar has got married recently@!!! Scott and Greg must have gotten back to the US!!! Anyway...managed to finish it atleast today :-)

I woke up today morning to see a truck zipping across the highway right in front of my house, while the sun was slowly rising up above; I told myself, your life is no different. Running past all beautiful things in life, I have failed to enjoy my journey (however brief it has been)... I have realised that I have more number of things on my "I hate" list than on my "I simply enjoy" list....

I hate deadlines
I hate frowns
I hate Hypocrites
I hate Pseudos
I hate wannabes
I hate foul smell
I hate crowd
I hate rush
I hate swearing
I hate shrugging
I hate sulking
I hate phones
I hate malls
I hate crows
I hate deaths...


I could go on...but I am making a conscious decision to take a look around...at that lil sparrow that sits right outside my window, desperately waiting for my attention, I am going to watch Roman Holiday (like how i used to when i was in college) with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and a bowl of popcorn (butter should ooze out) phones switched off...calling bells plugged off... I will backpack and set on the roads aimlessly (me, my bag and my book)...I am going to take a nice walk in the evening in the park behing my house and watch happy people have happy time (u know what i mean,....the ones who manage to get outta work by 5 and plans dozen of things for the rest of the evening and their biggest worry would be that they didnt close the tap in their bathroom)... there are just too many to list. Am so happy that Me and kishore have moved into this new house...iuts HEAVEN IN DISGUISE. pics coming soon

cheers,
sowmya

Taunts and rants ... (i like rhyming sentences :-))

It's been a while since I visited my blog, last I came here was in an absolutely f*** all state of mind. My state of mind is not any superior right now....when I know I cannot handle as many things as I have right now, it beats me how I continue to trouble myself with more and more work (Not just wrt office). Our house is still in the making...the pleasure of going everyday from lower parel to Wadala (where our new house is gonna be) to Andheri (where we stay right now) is so overwhelming that me and my husband forget that it takes a toll on our daily chores. When we see "our home" getting planned for us to live...suddenly everything around me seems magical and romantic. Bombay seems to smell good....trains seem to be a pleasure ride for me...the carpenter knocking on our wall feels like led zeppelin jamming just for our ears (the delight of getting a complimentary concert right inside our house obviously triples the pleasure)...the sawdust and junk all over our house against the white walls and grey tiling seems like fresh bougainvilleas in its distinctive colours beautify the pathway of an endless road wherein an old couple pick all the fresh flowers along their way to decorate their lil' vase back home... the smell of paint seems to liven up our spirits even after 14 hrs of work...back to back meetings (read cold wars)... to-be cleaned mess at home...everything in life seems attractive. If only we always had something to look forward to... Life sure would be extremely inspiring...On the other hand, they number of things that are in the "yet to comlete" column in my life is so endless that lectures and the assignments that used to attend back then in college seem a lot lot better. To start with my feet have been howling for a pedicure (and I completely empathize with it...poor thing, carries me everyday of my life and gets walked-over by some moron who cannot differentiate between a feet and floor)...my hair (though kishore insists "It's just fine" needs a SOS cut...it is "so" all over the place that I forget to notice its my hair!!!Though I like to call it my style...ppl around me say its just plain simple untamed...so be it... wait till I get back with those long tresses ...just like the one’s in garnier and sunsilk ads ... I need to lose weight...I mean I really hate doing this to myself...punishing myself with things listed below just to shed a couple of kilos (well not just couple..much more than that. nevertheless) ....1) sprouts(If only I tie my mom's eyes and ask her to identify what she is sniffing into am sure she will mistake it for a friggin dead rat) nonetheless she will vouch her life for that god forsaken sprout…she says it tastes lot better with curd…but my point is why kill the taste of curd. poor thing.... 2) salads (C'mon other than the Page 3 items (read models) my fitness trainers...I don't see any sane person wanting to have salad) 4)Juices (haaan...something i will never say "no" to...but these guys ensure that they deprave me of even that lil bit of contentment ...why will I have fruit juice if am not supposed to add any sugar or milk to it...what has happened to this world) 5) Work-out (yawn... I don’t even want to think about it...I have quite an interesting logic as to why it does not make a difference whether I work out or not) firstly, in terms of appearance...Married and happy,...my husband...amazingly sweet guy that he is...doesn't really bother asking me to lose weight or gain any!! Now getting to the more important aspect of work-out. in terms of health...let me assume that I work out for 2 years continuously to lose weight (yeah I roughly need to work out for that long to lose weight healthily) I will probably live five years longer...but think about what I will be losing on for those two years (prime time of my life as everyone says…) if I work out...

SLEEP...DREAMS (somehow my best and fav dreams happen only between 4 to 7 in the morning)...SLEEP...DELICIOUS BREAKFASTS...SLEEP....READING THE NEWS PAPER WHILE SIPPING A HOT CUP OF COFFEE AND LISTENING TO "SHRUTI" IN WORLDSPACE (c'mon I obviously wont get time to do all this on a normal day after work out)...SLEEP...to fight with my husband in the wee hours of the morning...SLEEP...GAZING AT THE SUN ENDLESSLY...SLEEP...SPENDING HOURS TOGETHER IN THE LOO READING THE NEWSPAPER AND SOLVING SUDOKU...and for all this what do I get in return??? four more years of feeling guilty that am ageing...boy...I rather be this way... piping hot aloo parathas on my table with fresh curd...cant care less...off for lunch :-))))))))))))