To Be In Delhi

(Cross-posted from Orange Peels, Ferris Wheels and Alpha Tauri)

What happens when a girl from Sandra’s Bandra moves to a semi-urban locality full of nouveau upper middle class Punjabis in saddi Dilli?

Even the community pet dog is named Monty. (I suggested the name Dogfather but Monty won hands down.)

Monty is a respectable name compared to Beauty, the name of the neighbour’s male German Shepherd.

The sanctum of the local Gurudwara is decorated with dazzling, blinding blue Christmas lights all year round.

If you are the sort who likes to listen to the voices of silence, life is unbearably loud.

The woman who lives diagonally across the street insists that the nickel-plated 5 rupee coin is actually gold-plated ["Sone da coin"].

The neighbourhood grocer agrees with her and refuses to give her the gold coin back. He hands her a 5 rupee note instead.

A seven-year old with 6 front teeth missing plays watchguard at a sangeet: "Ladies sangeet mein jants [gents] not allowed".

The Delhi Metro isn’t the Metro. It is the Matro.

Every celebration and ceremony – even religious ones – culminates in what is called a DJ night. Every DJ patronizes Munni, Sheila and Jalebi Bai. Excuse me while I quit blogging and go shake a leg.

Sojourn By The Sea

Alibag, Murud, Janjira on PhotoPeach

Guest blogger Mohsin Khan Pathan makes an unplanned trip to the coastal towns of Alibaug and Murud located near Mumbai.

A bunch of colleagues were transferred out of Mumbai and in the last few days of their stay here decided to visit Alibaug, famous for its beaches and forts. I being the so-called local, the responsibility of making last-minute arrangements for the trip fell on me. In reality, I knew no more about the place than my colleagues did.

On a lazy Saturday afternoon, we boarded a boat to Alibaug from the Gateway of India. The Mumbai skyline fading into the clouds made for a great sight. A flock of sea gulls hovered above the boat. What made our day was spotting a dolphin, a rare sight here. An hour and half later we landed at the clean and beautiful Mandwa beach. We were puzzled because our destination was meant to be Alibaug. We later learnt that a shuttle plied between Mandwa and Alibaug town that was just 20 minutes away. The pleasant weather and greenery ensured that the 20 minutes were over in a jiffy. After touchdown, the first thing we wanted was some food. We went to a restaurant near Alibaug bus depot, which turned out to be quite good. There, we inquired about accommodation and the tourist attractions located nearby.

A Date With the Coast

(Cross-posted here.)

To explore more of Karnataka I set off to Mangalore with colleagues for a team member’s wedding on the evening of January 25. We took a sleeper bus from Bangalore. The bus was far from what was portrayed on the website of the bus service but the journey was just about decent. After a long night's ride in the cold with no bed sheets and bad roads after Hassan, we reached Mangalore the next morning. Our colleague, the groom received us at the bus stop and took us home. His family was warm and welcoming, very simple yet sweet.

The place where we stayed was calm, serene, quaint and beautiful. After a shower we explored the city. We visited a store of local handicraft articles followed by a cashew shop where we all bought cashews of different kinds - cheese coated, honey sweet, pepper roasted. Then we headed to Ideal Place, known as the best ice cream parlour in Mangalore. We dug into flavours like Gudbud and had Falooda which didn't turn out to be as enticing as expected. Our next stop was an architectural marvel, the St. Aloysius Chapel built in 1884. The walls and ceiling were painted in two techniques: Fresco and Oil-based. Artist Anthony Moscheni from Italy takes credit for this marvellous creation. The central row of paintings on the ceiling depicts the life of Aloysius Gonzaga to whom the College and Chapel are dedicated. The floor is made up of brick that gives a 3-dimensional effect.

Srirangapatna and Mysore beckon

(First published on December 29, 2010 here at The Jaunty Albatross.)

Come December and I headed to Srirangapatna and Mysore with my aunt. A hot day packed with too much to see wasn’t among the nicest travel experiences during the peak holiday season. Nevertheless, it was an experience in itself.

A few pictures from the visit:

Nandi, Mysore