Another trip to Heavens

After 2 days of celebrations we have taken our trip forward to heavens of Deity - Madurai Meenakshi Day I: Now not unusual for me, Durunto (22205) was again late by another 15 odd minutes. Hopefully we would be reaching on time. Unlike the last time am technically am more equipped with iPad also. Minute updates would be easier than laziness creeping in. And hope to keep up with it.

For a change I realized how important is to have parents along with us when we travel. They would look after our needs, desires and we would sleep like logs and enjoy every eatable crap that comes our way. The empty seats, the type of company made us realize the vacuum more. Rip Van Winkle looking oldie, a drunkard being coerced by the railway official formed the part of the pre-sleep activities. However, managed to climb over and dragged myself to sleep. Couple of awakenings in between to check everything is in place.

For a change we landed right on time at Madhurai station. The time we took to brush was enough for the entire platform to go empty. By the time we landed on platform 1, the scavengers (in form of taxi and auto drivers) were hungry to carry us over to anywhere we would have wanted to go. We managed to walk outside the station and luckily got a better auto and he suggested us Hotel Padmam. This name rings bells is what I immediately told Chaks. By the Tim we reached the name changed to Hotel Kaveri Mahal. This hotel stands next to Hotel Padmam. This was the same place where we had stayed during our last visit. Good room and in nearest proximity to the temple. Around 8:30 am we left for the temple. The Goddess has tested us once again as I was the only one who would be taken on remand by Her. We managed to reach the temple around 9 am. Believe me the temple is as huge as the periphery. The crowd was far less than last time. However, the greed to have a closer proximity look and grievance counselling by Her, green Gandhiji helped me. Once I reached inside the shrine could find another 10 people with Gandhi passport. Seems there grievances were settled faster. I managed to stay there for the maximum possible time. The idol's beauty and aura needs to be felt rather than be described in few words. It was quite peaceful around the shrine. All that needs to be said could be spoken twice and time till I and Goddess got bored of each other. Once thru went ahead into the maze of pillars and small Gods around the main shrine marked in small temples and pillars. Shivji temple was in the same premises and yet another Gandhi helped me get thru the straight doors faster. This Gandhi helped me to be almost at touching distance to the Almighty. A flower necklace and a little vibhuti were given to be carried over as blessings. Within half an hour after having told everything that I could was out. We immediately retreated back to our rooms. A series of bomb blasts across various cities in Gujarat by Chaks was enough for me to retreat and go to sleep. Around 1 pm we proceeded for lunch at Hotel Sabareesh. Managed with curd rice and lemon rice.

The second half of the day was pre-decided shopping and shopping. Every gold store in the market was surfed and scanned and shopped for. Believe me; Chaks gathers enormous energy to go thru all these shops to gather absolutely perfect things as per her choice in the next 4 hours. By 5.30 pm with juice glass in our stomach we came back to our rooms. The ride back to the hotel was on the traditional cycle rickshaw (suddenly remembered the cycle ride of Becharbhai from Asia School to IIM way, with Ajit, around 25 years back).

The earliest that we realized that we need to catch the train at 7.50 pm was around 7.05 pm in our hotel room. Chaks firing people in office and Manoj enjoying a good bath and watching TV. Finally we checked out and reached the same hotel once again for our supper. Double coffee, puri and rava masala order and realization of the time being around 7.25 pm came together. We bogged what came to our table and were out around 7.40 pm. The autowala realized our hurry and took his opportunity in the best manner by charging Rs 40/-. We didn't fall prey to it and walked further till we got hold of somebody who gave a discount of Rs 10/-. Rs 30/- and we were thrown at the station. The railway staffs were prompt in announcing that the train is arriving at platform 2. 7.46pm on the clock was enough for us to make us run. Luckily the train hadn't arrived. For a change I realized that my bag was weighing almost equivalent to me. By the time we reached our platform it was 7.50 pm and the lungs were out of our chests. The puri and rava dosa that we had few minutes back seems to have evaporated by this time. Once in train we have found some Marwadi old ladies for company. A lady sitting next to Chaks seems similar to Nalini of the Sriperumbathur fame (go back to 1991). An oldie sitting next to us seems to be getting down fast by the posture that he maintained. One thing common among them is that all of them were hi-tech, coz except for us all of them presented their tickets on their mobile including those old ladies. However, sleep will take over us in some time due to the excessive shopping time that we allocated during the day.

Day II: Mysore The drama continues...

Hunger can't be controlled and has to be satisfied. This realization made me stay awake till almost 12 am. However then I couldn't stay awake for more. Morning by the time I got up for the first time it was Bangalore City. 15 mins of stoppage time, yet the old ladies sitting next to us didn't realize that this was the stop they had to get down. For some reason they peeped out and found the station name and ran out with their luggage. Even we had second thoughts of getting down and going to Priya Akka's place. However, we are moving further.

Around 10:20 am we landed at the Mysore station. Collie landed right inside the cabin to pick up our luggage. Charges for this favour was Rs 150/-. By the time we picked up and started off the rates slashed drastically to 100, 80 and finally at Rs 60/-. We managed ourselves to travel outside. We caught an auto which took us to our hotel Adi Manor. Everything is in advance over here. Room booking Rs 2000/- in advance. We landed in our lavish room with bright blue colour on one of the walls to make us feel brighter. We ordered for coffee and sandwich. Bill to be paid in advance. No accompanying business with room tariffs. We had booked our taxi for the city tour for Rs 1200/- and had to be out by 12 pm. Once we were out even this had to be paid in advance. We skipped this one at least.

Round one of our visits started off with a visit to Zoo. The truckloads of animals and birds welcomed us to this place. Something pleasing about the zoo is that there is enough space allotted to each animal to roam around in wilderness and temperatures are absolutely tolerable. By the time we finished off with the zoo we were dead tired. Cucumber and mango refreshed us on our journey to our next destination (Our driver Mushtaq nicknamed Baal ki dukkan) Silk sari showroom. 1/2 hr and a damage of almost 8k with more luggages to carry forward for our onward journey. The drive then to Chamundi hill. Right on top of a hill a closed temple, Mahishasur statue, Nandi and U-point photography location, and we were right in our way back. I fear that we would wind up visiting everything by evening itself. We reached our next spot The Mysore Palace. This is really majestic spot. An enormously huge palace stood in front of us. Beautiful is the best way to describe this spot. We had huge company. College students, couples, foreigners and people from all parts of the country were with us. This place is a treasure trove. Amazing relics, antiques are stored here. Many of them aging beyond even 100 years. There was a second palace which had a separate ticket. A  Chinese immediately referred to some book in Chinese to re-confirm the need to visit the 2nd palace. We Indians went ahead, paid and roamed around the rest of the palace. By the time we were thru with the palace we were absolutely hungry and needed to have something. And by the way the driver was happy to inform that the time to visit Tipu Sultan's remains was already over. Hotel Siddhartha quenched our thirst and hunger. The energy recouped was immediately at the next shopping destination. In the pretext of shopping for sandal we entered the showroom and by the time we were out the extent of damage was another 10k excluding the price paid for sandal. It's worth mentioning here that the entire episode was finished within the stipulated time of 1/2 hr given by the driver. Around 6ish we proceeded towards our last destination Brindavan gardens. By 6:30 pm we were inside the south garden to see the music fountains (with appupan taxi, thanx to Chaks). The dam nearby has added scenic beauty to the location. Finally around 6:45 pm the music fountain started off. A couple of Hindi songs, regional language were played and the fountains played to its tunes. It was really memorable. The 35 odd minutes of this show was really superb. We took off from their around 7:30 hrs, with stoppage time for withdrawals from ATM. The partial reimbursement saved me from being broke for next part of the journey. Back to our rooms after booking our car for the next morning journey to Coorg. Our legs for a change made us realize that they are a part of our own body. Ordered dinner at our room and cash in advance scheme continues. This day ends major part of our hectic touring programs. Tomorrow onwards would be our relaxing days, hopefully.

Day III: En-route to Coorg

Somehow we managed to get out of our hotel by 8:30 on our route to Coorg. The cold has taken a toll on me once again. I regret the Mazaa, sweet lassi that I had yesterday. Everything cold that I had yesterday is flowing out of my nose today like tap water. The drive to Coorg is pleasurable, that too more towards the end of the journey. The Club Mahindra property is almost towards the end of the world it seems. Taj Vivanta is still further down the hill. The property from the reception desk looks absolutely pleasant. After waiting for nearly 15 minutes, one gentleman came with an offer of room up gradation without any extra payments. Chaks was already basking in the glory of business figures pouring in from various corners of Gujarat for the last few days and it continued even today. Now I feel I understand what and how business flows in the MF houses. Luckily after a 10 mins walk we landed in our room 1187. It looks more like a one room kitchen. But absolutely peaceful and cool place to stay. Chaks is already thinking of subscribing for the membership. I hope it's not as impulsive as her shopping at a gold store. Absolutely relaxing is going to be the rule for the next 2 days for the connectivity is the lowest here. Hope it survives this way for the next 2 days. The walk around the property itself is so relaxing. It's more like a maze of green forests speed across around 35 acres of land. The dinner options are exorbitant just like the prices of these items on the right side of the menu. Yet again in spite of having travelled so far from Gujarat we collided of Gujju families. One at the pool and the other on the lunch table. This is ridiculous they won't leave us anywhere.  The entire day we spent roaming around the property. During the evening somehow we managed to play some caroms and attended the DJ nite. Actually we got a bit late for the tam bola. The loud music is something that I relish. The entire property was rocking. Age no bar, songs no bar and the uneven granite no bar. They really stuck to the time and by 8:45 pm they winded up the event. The entire team proceeded towards the dinner. One shot of brandy on Chaks insistence along with dinner made me feel relieved of the entire cough inside. I just had a feeling that tomorrow would be better without any sneezing or cold.  By the time we could end up in our room, our 3rd room partner Note II was also tired. I distinctly started remembering the Bagpiper's Soda tagline Khub jamagi Jodi jam mil baitenge teen yaar , main, aap aur bagpiper. I would have modified this to aap, main aur aapka Note II. in these holidays without Chaks not stepping into her office could gather business of over 20 crores across the region. Harsha should insist on month long vacations for her so that the yearly target can be achieved in one go. Wait till she reads all this and I would be screwed. The amount of calls were exceedingly high this time and honestly what I said earlier  I would stick to it...aap, main aur Note II.

Day IV: Club Mahindra continues...

The day started around 8:30 am. We were quite lazy in getting up itself. Somehow we managed to get ourselves up for the only complimentary thing available at this resort...the breakfast. We hogged like animals. Half way down the breakfast I realized that the American breakfast corner was separately placed. However, it was quite enough to survive thru the afternoon. Got a chance to play badminton with a couple of oldies on court. Believe me one of them played well and caught me on the wrong foot. These guys have visited other properties of Mahindra and have a good opinion about this one. Well a major part of the afternoon after this was spent cherishing my anniversary gift...thanx Chaks. Someday this would be shared but this space isn't the right place to mention it. Got our car for our onward journey booked. After a light lunch were back in the room. Without much to do and extreme coercion had to resort to sleep. By 6:30 pm we reached the activity zone to see today's program. This was too good. The talent pool of the resort was displayed in full colours. It was something that everyone enjoyed. Kids on pretext of getting gifts reached on the stage to sell their sense of dancing to parents and on-lookers. The program was short and enjoyable for the evening. We had a good last dinner. A few names worth mentioning here is Zuala, Meri Bindu (Oophs its Mary Bindu), Nandhini, Swetha, Prakash, Rashmi - these are people whom you would meet during your daily food chores. Nice and quite hospitable. Once thru with dinner was back at our rooms and believe me that Club Mahindra fellow followed up with us till even 9:45 pm. We will have to nudge him even tomorrow. Hope we are able to do so.

Day IV: Adieu Coorg & Welcome Mangalore

I was supposed to be woken up by Chaks today morning for an early breakfast before leaving. Anyhow as routine I was up and moving around. Another thing worth mentioning here is that there is a constant drop of power. And the inverter starts immediately. You might be wondering why after 2 days of stay this has been mentioned here. Well today I was caught without power supply on the throne (commode), so I realized that this has to have a special mention. Today in about 3 hours would leave this place. This place has the charm wherein the silence is enjoyed in absolute greenery. The guest attendant yesterday mentioned that a new property is coming up near Coorg. Don't get lured it's around 40 kms from this place.

Had a wonderful breakfast. For a change saw a jar full of bitter gourd juice for guests. The billing counter was full of guests. Post the final billing we happened to meet Zuala and Nandhini and shared our gratitude with them. So finally we are bidding good bye to one of the best properties that we have stayed on our holidays. I think I forgot to mention that The most alarming aspect of drinking water here is that it is available in the running tap !!! Something that we found quite strange after first holiday trip to Bangkok. And the second important aspect is that there isn't AC in any of the rooms. And we have survived with fans (on 1) and room heater.

Finally we left the resort around in a Mahindra Logan around 10:30 am. The route back to Mangalore was similar to a jalebi and believe me the driver was upto the task. He rode like a race track driver nudging every vehicle ahead of him. It was an absolute delight to see him drive in the manner he drove. More similar to the way I would have loved to drive. No brakes on turns and only acceleration most of the times. We landed at Moti Mahal hotel around 1:30 pm. We managed to reach the non a/c room which was no better than a dorm for some hostel student. On top of it when we decided to change our room to an a/c one at the counter, the staff started becoming quite rude. We expected courtesy and here we find the manager and so called owner sort of person not even apologetic about their room. Chaks was in full form and blasted them off and we gave our piece of mind to them and left for our next hotel as suggested by Gokul - Shan Plaza. Good a/c room for Rs 1500/-. Once in the room was able to download the mails, which took nearly an hour and the time was relished watching the test cricket match (Ind v/s Aus, 3rd Test, Shikar Dhawan 181 n.o. On debut). The lunch was a lazy one after a pulav and curd rice.

I continued with my laptop game Luma till evening when we decided to go for a stroll. The mall next to us was a similar one to the ones that we find in A'bad. Nothing new or interesting to offer except the usual stuff except they were priced very high. The crowd here is something that isn't attractive or friendly. Never knew that this normal stroll down the lane would prove expensive even. We landed up at Jos Alukkas showroom. Half an hour and once again Chak's impulsiveness took over her and she shopped, even to the wonder of the salesman on the counter. I am sure that by the appearance that we carried he would have never expected us to have shopped at his showroom. Well once that we were back in the room we didn't have the energy to go down once again to have dinner. We skipped it and went ahead to catch up on our sleep except the taxi booking that we needed to do.

Day V: Good bye Mangalore

Early morning getting up at 5 am was more like being at home and traveling for my branch visits.  By 5:30 am we were downstairs waiting for our taxi. By 6 am, Mr Nagaraj came with his Indica to fly us to airport. He actually was pretty fast behind wheels. By 6:25 am we had touched the mountain top airport of Mangalore. A guy almost identical to Loy was there in the airport. However, after a long time flying with Jet. Flight was right on time and mind well also arrived on time. At the Mumbai airport spotted an ace photographer, till time I haven't been able to recollect his name. To my surprise waiting at the airport has yielded good results again. Was able to get Shankar Madhavan's autograph. Am enjoying sitting at Mumbai airport.