A lesson learnt!

So, last monday I had an off, because half my class visited wonderla , and the other half decided to idk, do something by themselves. Then, there was a third group of a few of us who decided to do a trip by ourselves. After a lot of contemplating, we decided a place close by and not very commercial or explored. So that effectively, ruled out pondicherry, coorg, ooty, coonoor etccc. So while googling up places , i stumbled upon this thrillophilia list (btw, the internet is SATURATED with thrillophila articles , if ever you decide to google) and i saw YELAGIRI as a destination. Excited, i searched the internet for articles about the place. The websites boasted of paragliding, trekking, parks and a lake. Which, we figured was enough things to do , as we were planning ONLY a day trip. HOW UTTERLY WRONG WERE WE! First off, against all sensibilities I paid no heed to traveller's review of the place which claimed "nothing to do here", "boring!!!" "Dont waste time here" .. and still proceeded to travel here. Yelagiri is a hill station in Tamil Nadu and unless you have a car at your disposal (which, i didnt) this journey will prove to be very tedious. I caught a train to jolarpettai from cantonment - from buying general ticket and  travelling in LADIES COACH (for rs. 75 /- it was a bargain) and having to jostle with hostile ladies for space to climbing up on top berths , it was nothing like anything we ever experienced before.We further caught a bus from jolarpettai to Yelagiri hills. And once we reached the place, what can i say? To put it simply, it was a disappointment. It was not chilly at all, nor were there any tourists about. We didnt speak the language, so it was not easy to communicate. We headed towards the hills only to find that the main attraction (the temple on top) remains closed on Mondays, and the swami malai hills aint tall enough to offer a great view.WHAAAAAT! We decided (half way the trek , mind you!) to abandon the trek and head downwards towards the village where we got the chance to draw water from the well and wash our faces. After that, we decided to head to the main city and whole we were waiting for an auto to pass us by, a tractor passed us by and by some sheer luck, he agreed to drop us off at the desired location. This is something, i've been meaning to do for a longgg time and i'm so glad it happened! :D Blah blah blah. Turned out that even para sailing doesnt happen any more and that it actually stopped, 3 years back! And the website false advertises even now!! Sigh.

So basically, the trip was a flop. But the purpose behind it wasnt! I still got to get out of bangalore, bonded with my girls, and somehow still had fun .

This trip has taught me to do my research properly, and not to land up at a place completely lost with different expectations and most importantly DO NOT BELIEVE THE ONLINE ARTICLES 100% and yess. 

Till then, keep galavanting folks! :D

Sojourn through Andaman and nicobar islands!

Have you ever been to a bachelorette where the "bachelor" missed the flight and couldn't make it to her own bachelor party? Have you ever been to a bachelorette where the bachelor's 19 year old younger sister was present and managed most the arrangements (think ; WILD party games and dirty hampers!)? Have you ever been to a bachelorette where there was a married couple along with their toddler? Have you ever been to a bachelorette where there is a soon-to-be-married, very-much-in-love couple? Have you ever been to a bachelorette where there is a guy who no one has ever met, heard about or seen? 

WELCOME TO ANUSHREE'S BACHELORETTE! :D 

This was the motley bunch of people who were attending my sister's bachelor party. And the events that followed is an adventure of epic proportions.

NO KIDDING!

From the 2 and halfhour journey to Havelock island, to the first gasp of surprise after seeing the water that’s so blue, to “Baywatch tours & travels” , to the famous birayani episode , to the idyllic location of Munjoh Beach Resort,  to having our own private beach (disappointing!) , to the moment boys bonded over on a ‘dry’ day (14^th august, geniuses!) , to having the bride finally reach the resort and to find all her friends missing, to bonding over meat discussions, good music, “neon” generation .. the trip was damn near perfect.

<--- b="">Munjoh beach resort

After casual intro’s at the airport, and care-free banter that soon flowed between the group .. there was a sense of ease, even though the people I was with were easily 7 years elder to me. Sure, I had met them before and got along fine but then I always had my sister around.  This time, it was different. A good different!  At some point i found myself completely forgetting the age differences completely and just having a blast! 

Be it, laughing like an idiot with Varun bhaiya over his many 'Punny' jokes which i still maintain ONLY i would find so funny and listening to his amazing music choices or talking to Tulika di about meaningful things to her helping me out with the arrangements, or be it with Pratik bhaiya trying to teach me how to be with nevaan to disappearing to eat with Priyank bhaiya without the knowledge of others, to swapping stories with Kesha di.. I never had a dull moment :') 

****

Sitting behind on the bike pillion, speeding on the streets of havelock with a bowl of nutella in my hand procured from a cafe called Fat Martin, and breathing in the warm, sultry air and feeling the blast of sun on my face, no worries except avoiding monitor lizards and other lizards . (ohh, priyank bawwa!)

Fat martin cafe @ night! So pretty :')

You haven't quite gotten the 'tropical' holiday feel until you're at one of these cafe's eating pineapples with salt . Also! This place is exactly what my and priyank bhaiya's retirement plan looks like :P 

Nothing else would be better than owning your own scuba diving store attached to your own cafe where you own a mini-home theatre set up.

Sigh! SO PERFECT :')

Witnessing a football match between the locals, and envying their simple yet fulfilling life where food is plentiful and nature is abundant. Woh kehte hain na? Thoda hain, thode ki zaroorat hain. Just that! 

Lying on the beach on our backs after a session of scuba diving, with waves gently lapping at our feet, getting baked like a cookie in an oven.. while checking out cute boys on the beach :P and i cannot forget the embarrassment we faced, when we convinced a cute dutch guy to do a funny "dare" with my sister, only to find out she had already left the beach without us. (Diiii, whatte epic fail!) 

Walking back to the resort, realizing what a long way we have to go to eventually reach there , so what next? Hitching a ride from an andaman local and going triples on his scooter, of course! :D He was more surprised at us or we were, i still don't know. 

Playing a mad, crazy game which resulted in lots of laughter, open declaration of love (ahem, ahem tulikaaa di! :D) and surprisingly, the intellectual conversation that we had and how we became UN, UN general, USSR, and Pakistan by the end of that night.  To spewing "love" (reference to context!) all over the room and the other "love" discussions in the morning we had trying to figure out who-dun-it. 

But..

I'll tell you my most favorite moment? Rather i'll 'show'  you :

When didi walked in, and saw this :

^^^ Her friends dressing up for her, and wearing this :

Her reaction was so instantaneous, it just made all the hard work worth it all! The survival kits, the presents , the hamper.. everything! 

Oh anu diiii, You beautiful, incredible thing! 

Doing anything for you is rewarding. 

The Andaman & Nicobar are a group of picturesque Islands, big and small, inhabited and uninhabited. Andamans is such a breath-taking place, with clear blue waters that run quite shallow and with its charming beaches which are devoid of filth and trash which you generally associate with any beach in India. It is actually, quite unlike any place in India. 

For many, Havelock islands is Andamans and havelock is a backpacker's paradise! Make sure you visit, Vijaynagar Beach (Beach No. 5) and Radhanagar Beach (Beach No. 7). Though I didn't actually get to trek due to monsoons, i've heard trekking is also an interesting option in andamans. 

Also, there are many other islands around andamans that worth quite a visit! Neil island, bartrang islands, viper islands .. 

 I can't wait to travel some more, till then.. that's all, folks! 

Please drop in any queries and anything else that you need to know and i'll be happy to help! 

Keep galavanting, peeeps! :D

P.s Will do a separate blog piece on Scuba - Diving and its wonders. 

"WHAAAT? No . We DONT do that in India.." Sigh, here come the stereotypes.

Stereotypes can be a funny thing. It gives you a wholly misjudged ideas about a thing, a person or a destination. Stereotypes make you want befriend a certain kind, or ostracize another. It will have you book your tickets instantly, or shake your head and vehemently deny. 

SO WHAT IS A STEREOTYPE? 

¹ste·reo·type transitive verb \ˈster-ē-ə-ˌtīp, ˈstir-\   : to believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.

Inspiration for this post, are my students. The first question i asked them was, 'So, what do you know about India? What comes to your mind when i say INDIA? ' And ohhh, the answers i got! 

'Do you really keep snakes as your pets?'      ' Uhh, do you like, always eat curry?'' 

So here are some common misconceptions that a foreigner has about India ( source for this, a lot of russians that i spoke to, the students, and of course the internet!) 

1. 'India is a land of snake-charmers..' 

The biggest stereotype that I know of is that Indians are snake charmers! This is so not true. First of all, its illegal in india to even use captive snakes for entertainment. And we, the regular folks are as scared of a snake like any person on this planet. Its not like, being an Indian will get the snake not to bite us. 

Taking this notion a step forward, in the famous sitcom "Big Bang Theory" , Sheldon tries to scare Raj (who is an Indian)  by hiding a snake in his drawer, and but then Raj starts playing with the snake instead, and Sheldon says that it was stupid of him to try to scare an Indian with a snake. WTF!  I mean, we ARE scared of snakes ! Who isn't?

Here's the scene :

http://youtu.be/0IZnRYj0JRs

2. ' Don't you have elephants as pets?' 

Sigh, no we don't. The closest most Indians have come to seeing an elephant is either in a circus, or maybe a temple. And this made me laugh the most, when a girl asks me .. "doesn't Hindu marriages last for several weeks, the bride rides an elephant?" Oh boy, you've been watching a lot of KJO movies there, lady! 

         3.'Are ALL of indians vegetarians?'

-  Sorry, but no. In fact i know so many people, who'd die without meat. Literally, die. >insert names of people<   . Meat consumption in India is quite high. By meat, I mean.. Chicken, pork, seafood, mutton and yess, even beef. 

This is almost always followed by,

4. ' But don't you pray to COWS?' 

- Cows are sacred to us, yeah. But put in that way .. I don't know what to say. Cow is an embodiment of 33 Crore Demi-Gods, we consider cows holy and the importance of the cow goes back all the way into our cultural lineage. Beef isn't as popular here in India as in other countries . 

5. 'It’s basically just like Slumdog Millionaire, right?'

- This again is quite oftenly asked. Sorry to disappoint, mate. It isn't! Though some parts of that movie is authentic, rest of it is just made to look so in order to make it cinematic worthy of the whole ," rags to riches" theme. India is also the country where you have high-fashion labels like, Louis vuitton, chanel and et el. Lets not forget that, shall we?

6. Indian society is very conservative. 

 -  umm, This is a yes and no question. Yes, we are conservative! Definitely more conservative than west. At the same time, Am I not in Russia traveling alone? And didn't I do the same, last year in SriLanka? Its different for every family, but  it cannot be generalized. Times have changed. 

7. ' Curry everyday?"

- Indians dont eat rich, spicy, masala curry everyday. The staple diet of most Indians consist of dal , rice, rotis with cooked vegetables. And there are other food too, you know? Idlis-dosas, rasam rice , chole kulche with dal makhani  . . . 

To know an Indian you got to be an Indian. I absolutely disagree with most of these stereotypes. I would not go by Russel Peters all the time. He is a comedian.. But let us get down to facts now.

Some stereotypes, unfortunately or fortunately still are true.

Yes, cows roam our streets. 

-   Yes, cows are allowed to walk around towns. Often you'll see the pedestrians and other people on the roads making way for this gentle creature. Its not uncommon to have a traffic jam because of a cow here.

 “Do people in India really sing and dance all the time like in Bollywood movies?”

- YES!  Out of the blue and for no justified reason, all Indian movies suddenly break into a dance and singing scene. Indian movies are pretty long (more than 3 hours) and usually half of these 3 hours are all about singing and dancing.

"Indian head wobble?" 

- Yes, Its second nature to us! We wobble our heads a lot while talking. Here's what i mean :  http://www.storypick.com/curious-case-great-indian-headshake-yes-dont-know/

Before we make a hue and cry about this is so wrong, lets take a look at ourselves. Knowingly, or unknowingly we partake in stereotyping too. Don't believe me? Let's see... 

Most common ones, 

 She is a Punjabi – She will be loud, and a confirm yoyo honey singh fan.

She is a Goan – She has to be really cool and will be a beer lover

He is a Haryanvi – Goon, run for your life. ' Issko sirf gaali dena aata hain '

She is from Chandigarh – Her ultimate aim in life is becoming a roadie.

She is from Meghalaya/Tripura/Arunachal – Momos, Momos these guys only eat moms

Its time to change, guys! Here, i'd like to give a shootout to the  trulymadly.com initiative that talks about breaking stereotypes. 

Kudos! 

Here's a funny song, basically listing all stereotypes from different countries :

The stereotype song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCgx8zM3woQ

DO YOU AGREE? OR DISAGREE? LET ME KNOWWW! TILL THEN, KEEP GALAVANTING! :D 

P.S I AM GOING TO BE UPDATING A LOT OF POSTS IN A QUICK ROW, KEEP TUNED.