Day 1 : Reaching Eagle Eye Holidays

4:45 : The alarm goes off. I switch it off and we finally wake up at 5:45.

7:00 : It already 7 by the time we leave home. We reach Tumkur Road via Yeshwantpur at 8. It has lot of traffic mainly trucks. We finally get past Neelamangala.

9:00 : I am hungry and there is no restaurant in sight. We stop to eat biscuits and notice that the bags which we had hung on the bike were not holding well. So we tie the bag to the saree guard and hang the second bag on the other side. All of this takes around an hour. We decide aganist stopping at Shravanbelegola or Belur because we wanted to reach the estate before dark.

11:00 : We reach Kamat near CR Patna. The first thing we notice after reaching is that the bag which was hanging on the silencer side has burnt from the bottom. If we hadn't stopped here, things would have started falling out of the hole burnt in the bag. We access the damage. Our mobile chargers, camera cell charger, our sunglasses everything is burnt. It is a good thing that we had removed the camera from the bag. We eat idlis and dosas there and then use newspapers to line the bag so that things don't start falling out. Now Anurag hangs the bag around his shoulders towards the front so that it rests on the fuel tank.

12:30 : We reach Hassan and try to buy a new back pack but do not find anything good. Hassan is such a dusty, dry and hot city. And the roads are little patches between potholes. It was a pain stopping at Hassan.

1:15 : We finally leave Hassan and decide to move on without a new backpack. Belur to Chikmagalur was the best part of the route according to me.

3:00 : We are at Chikmagalur. The estate is 50 kms from here. We stop and call Eagle Eye for directions. We are on the hilly roads now. The roads have more and more bends and curves as we move ahead. At one stretch there was the hill slope on one side and a little bit of careless riding could land us into the valley below. Crossing some villages and coffee estates on the way, we reach a forest gate and the road after that was even worse. The final stretch was a mud road climbing up. All of this was keeping up our adrenaline and we thought to ourselves 'the estate better be good. The last patch was really steep and I decide to get down and walk to give Anurag and the bike a little less trouble. (Maybe to save my life too ;) )



5:00 : We are at Eagle Eye. Phew! Finally. I am in no mood to appreciate the scenic views greeting us. I am busy panting from the climb. We are offered the welcome drink. It was a strawberry drink and never before had strawberry juice tasted so good.



5:15 : We are shown our cottage. It was pretty good and neat. Anurag spotted a black lizard on one of the windows. I want it out of the cottage. The attendant says "It is ok. No problem". I have a problem. Please get it out. I say. The attendant seems to be more than half blind but thankfully with Anurag's help the lizard is out. After the much needed bath we feel better. As luck would have it, there was a problem with electricity at the estate. We sit outside in the open near the reception area. We are given snacks and tea. Some people are playing badminton and Anurag joins them while I sit with the cool breeze and the views.

8:30 : Dinner time and thankfully they had solved the electricity problem. After dinner we retire to our cottage. It was getting difficult for me to sleep between 12:30 to 3:30. I was surprised because I was one of the people who could sleep without any problem anytime. Some sleep is better than no sleep especially after all that happened that day.

Happy Diwali

Hope all of you had a great Diwali and enjoyed your time with family and friends. I had a different diwali this time. I and Anurag had gone to Chikmagalur on a four day holiday. Details on that coming up next. So watch this space.

Ras malai

I tried the ras malai recipe from this blog.
http://snackorama.blogspot.com/2007/10/paneer-with-saffron-two-ways-low.html

I added MTR badam fest to the milk. It is excellent stuff. Also added some milk powder. And finally some pistachios.

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary and KRS dam

Yesterday was a holiday! yay!! And it has been a long time since we went for a ride, isn’t it? So there, we went to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary and KRS dam. But this time, we didn’t go alone. Wondering how two people go alone? Well, Its not about people, its about their bikes. ;) 2 bikes, 4 people and lovely roads. It doesn't get better than this. Let me introduce you to the characters involved (in the ride).
2 bikes - our beloved Royal Enfield Electra and Yamaha RD350
4 people - Anurag, yours truly and Savita, Jai
Lovely roads - Bangalore-Mysore highway

The story (ride) begins with our meeting point on the highway. We thought of meeting at 7:30 but we finally met at 8:30. There is a marked difference in weekday mornings and holiday mornings. On a weekday at 8 o'clock, there is a lot of hustle bustle. But on a holiday at 8 o'clock, hardly a soul on the road. Within half an hour after meeting, we stop for breakfast at Kadu Mane. Super soft idlies and chai. Good food but costly. Tummies and fuel tanks get filled and we proceed. Jai's bike has new engine parts which impose a speed restriction. So our speeds are limited to around 50-60. I am not sure if we would have done better in terms of time without the speed restriction because we like going slow. Speed does have its thrill but slow is good too. At Mandya, the farmers had blocked the road by spreading sugarcanes on the road. Thankfully, we had only two wheels and could maneuver our way out. ;) We reached the Bird Sanctuary at about 12:15.
Took a personal boat for 250 Rs. The good thing about it was the roof on the boat protecting us from the sun. This apparently is the season of White Ibis and we saw a lot of them. One or two other kinds of birds here and there. And of course, the crocodiles. They looked like they were having their afternoon nap.
1:30 to 2:30 is lunch time at the Sanctuary. We reached in good time to catch the pre-lunch boat. After that, we had lunch at the restaurant on the premises. Food was quite ok. Most importantly, the place looked clean.



We decided to go and see the KRS dam as it is further down the road. According to http://www.mysoretourism.org/krs.htm, it was built in 1924, and is India's first irrigation dam. I like visiting dams because of the contrast you see on either side of the dam wall. This dam had still and calm water on one side and water flowing down rocks at great speeds on the other side. I wonder why we couldn't see the Brindavan Gardens because it supposedly is adjacent to the dam. Maybe we had to go further down but we wanted to reach back home around 6:30 so we didn’t think of exploring. And it is a good thing because it is really not fun riding in the dark. Dark after sunset that is. Dark before sun rise is a pleasure because watching the sun rise is so beautiful.



It is 3 o'clock when we leave KRS dam. Stop on the way at Coffee Day near Channapatna. Back home at 7:15. Savita and Jai still had to brave some more city traffic before they reached home.
Good trip especially if you are enthusiastic about biking because most of the time was spent sitting on the bike.

Directions :
Keep going on Bangalore-Mysore highway till you reach Srirangapatnam. Keep going till you see a sign on the right announcing the right turn for Ranganathittu bird Sanctuary. Take that turn and keep going till you see another sign on your right. Take that right turn and you will reach the Sanctuary. It is around 3-4 kms after you take the diversion from the highway.
To reach KRS dam, do not take the second right turn for Ranganathittu. Instead keep going straight till you reach a forked road. Take the road on the right and keep going straight. The dam was around 5 kms from the bird sanctuary.

Every city has a character of its own

It’s been two weeks since we had to go on an urgent visit to Mumbai. I had thought of writing about it but many times I just do not feel like writing. Now I have gathered up enough motivation to write. Just a week before we went to Mumbai, I was telling Anurag that I have really started liking Bangalore. Mumbai was never on my list of favorite cities. But another visit to the city and a week later, it miraculously appears on the list and that too very close to the top. It is not that this is my first visit but some things were different this time.
The experience started from the airport itself. We take a pre-paid taxi. The person escorts us to the taxi and we are in an air conditioned Honda city. Compare this with Bangalore airport where we take the pre-paid taxi slip and one of the cab drivers takes it from us and asks us to wait till he gets his cab. This takes 10 mins easily. Maybe the Mumbai cabs take more money but seemed ok to me considering the distances there.

I also got to travel in public transport systems. I used the famed local train, buses, and auto rickshaws. The local train was not a first experience. Maybe I was in a better position to compare it with other road transport systems. The thing that struck me most was that life would be impossible without local trains in Mumbai, for people who travel large distances daily. Yes, I had heard this before but this was the first time I experienced it. The journey which took an hour by car was done in 20 mins by a local train. To me, that was amazing. If you are just a little bit ready to accept the local train, you can be very impressed with it, like I am. Yes, you have to stand during the journey and if you are lucky, you will find a comfortable place to stand. I was lucky. It was afternoon and I was in the ladies coach. But to me, standing in the local train is far better than sitting in the bus. One, it is amazingly fast. Two, it is quite entertaining. People getting down, climbing the train and keeping track of when and on which side their station is going to come. I was looking at the other women in the coach. Some of them catching up on their sleep, some cutting vegetables. Most of them dressed with impeccable fashion sense. On my previous local train journey, I saw people selling things ranging from hair pins, earrings, fruits, vegetables and what not, on the trains. And people were buying them.

The bus and autos also deserve a mention. The bus conductors were very helpful. Anurag also told me an incident where a passenger had to get down before the conductor could give him ticket. So he just gave the money to the conductor and got down the bus. The conductor threw the tickets out of the window while he was in view of the passenger. The auto drivers, neither do they say no to you nor do they ask for more money. Both these things need major improvement in Bangalore.

Overall, it was the energy of the city which struck me more than anything else. I could just feel the energy and pride the people of Mumbai felt. Anurag rightly said you should always be aware if you are in Mumbai. Also, their attention to detail and their motivation to do their work the best they can. Well, this might not be true but I deduced this from seeing the shop keepers. The shopping complex next to our apartment had a single vegetable and fruits shop. That guy need not worry whether his shop is looking good or not. People will come to him anyway. But he had taken pains to arrange the fruits and vegetables in an appeleaing manner. All people are very courteous unless you do something wrong. I have heard tales of how people get beaten up if caught with slightest misbehaviour towards females. Another thing I noticed that people stand up for what they believe is their right. Compare it to the 'adjust madi' attitude in Bangalore where most things are tolerated.
It is true that every city has a life and character of its own. I am not trying to say that one city is better than the other. Every city is unique.

Old should be gold

I am writing after a long time but the incident I am going to write about happened around a month or two ago. I very rarely go to beauty parlor. It is not that I am so beautiful that I don’t need to go there. ;) I am just plain lazy. I never find the motivation or the drive to go there and spend at least an hour. Getting a hair cut is the maximum motivation I can draw. Anyways, the last time I had been to L’Oreal beauty salon was a month or two ago. An old lady had also come there. She had short hair and was nicely dressed. I was amazed to see her come for a hair cut and some other beauty treatments.
I was thinking, at this age, she has the enthusiasm to walk to the parlor and sit through hour long sessions. I admired her silently. But what I didn’t like was the attendants at the parlor were speaking of her in the manner of making fun of her. Old people need to be admired for not letting age come in the way of enjoying life. Older people also have a right to live the way they want to. Just because they are old doesn’t mean they have to sit at home and sing bhajans.
Weekend activity update: Anurag gets a card in office which can be used for purchasing food items. Mainly it is for buying lunch, snacks etc in office. But the remaining amount lapses this month end and so we went to the FabMall located inside his office and picked up as much food stuff as we could see, without looking at the cost. It was fun. We ended up with one and a half kg of pasta of different types, olives, olive oil, custard powder which makes 100 bowls of custard, pasta sauce, salad dressing and all the things which I would otherwise never buy. But looked like many people before us had already raided the place as most of the shelves were empty and we still managed to spend 2000 Rs. on food items. :)

Destressing in the lap of nature

Last week had been really hectic for Anurag. Late nights in office, work even on Saturday. So a de-stress break was much needed. As for me, I am always ready to de-stress (read I am the eternal travel bug). Here’s what happened:
Sunday morning 7o clock: Unusually early for me to be up. In half sleep I ask "Are we going to Big Banayan tree today?" Anurag replies "Yes. But you can sleep some more time. We can leave after 10".
I remember the heap of utensils lying in the kitchen sink. And the fact that maid servant is on leave. I finally get up at 7:30 and tackle the utensils in the kitchen while asking Anurag to take care of the camera and get the bull ready. Then prepare tea. After tea and biscuits, I go to the kitchen again to prepare parathas. We will take these with us for lunch along with the jeera aloo prepared the previous evening. And my favorite mom-made chundo. Lunch packed and oh dear..its already 10.
Anurag asks me to hurry up. Take bath and get ready.
11:00 am: We are out on Bannerghtta and fill up the petrol tank. We were armed with printout of blogs for directions to the Big Banayan tree. We have to hit Mysore road. The Mysore road passing through Banashankari is a pain. If all the speed bumps there are added up, it might equal the speed bumps in rest of Bangalore..me thinks. Anyways, we soon reach Kengeri. Blogs say we have to turn right after Kengeri on Kumbalgod junction. I see no Kumbalgod junction. We keep going straight to cross Wonderla and reach Bidadi. We realise we have come ahead. U-turn and go back some 10 kms. Ask some people on the way and take the correct turn. Here's some help so that you won’t miss the turn like we did. After you cross Kengeri, you should see the Rajarajeshwari Medical college on your side of the road(left side). Go further ahead and you should see Rajarajeshwari Dental College on the right side of the road. It’s a huge white building. Right next to it is a road which goes inside. You have to take this road. There is a railway crossing and it is an industrial area. Keep going straight for around 6kms and you will reach the Big Banayan tree. The ride suddenly gets bumpy once you leave the 'makkhan jaisa' Mysore highway.
12:30 pm: We are there. Go around the Big Banayan tree. We took lots of pictures and admired the amazing maze of branches all over the place. I had read that the tree is spread in 2 acres of land. There is a small temple inside the compound. The sad part was people had written their love proclamations all over the tree. We were really sad to see that but otherwise the place is maintained quite well. Many people had come there and we also saw some sign boards mentioning some resort nearby.
1:00 pm: Leave Big Banayan tree and go towards Manchinbele dam following the directions on the blog printout. There aren't really detailed directions except, keep going straight and when you reach a forked road, take the left. Be prepared for a more bumpier ride. On the way we saw huge satellite receivers....that’s what I think they were. They were like dish antennas..only they were HUGE. We were going forward on the bumpy road which was still good due to the landscapes around us. Full of greenery and the weather was also good. The clouds were following us wherever we went. The road takes some twists and turns and dips and climbs. Suddenly on a dip, we see a newly paved out road. Wondering if its a mirage, we go ahead. It really is a new road...Overjoyed we move ahead.
Now comes the most memorable moment of the day: On reaching the top of one of the climbs, we see a lake below. The road almost dropping into the lake. It was an amazing sight. Took pictures and moved ahead. We saw the dam on the way but there was a locked gate telling prohibited area. And we wanted to ride some more on the new road so we just went ahead to see where this road leads us to. But after a while the new road stopped as abruptly as it started and the same old bumpy road stared at us.
So U-turn it is.
2:00 pm: We should have lunch. See 2 trucks parked on the side of the road and go and park there. Open our packed lunch and eat it. 2 dogs look at us expectantly. Give them a paratha and go back to the dam. This time lots of vehicles parked on the sides of the road near the locked gate. So we ask people and they tell us to park the bike and walk towards the dam from an opening next to the gate. We walk up to the dam. It is amazing. Lot of water on the one side of the dam and lot of greenery on the other side. The watchman comes and tells us this is a prohibited area but as you have come from far, give me 20 Rs and I will allow you to see the dam. Ok, so here goes 20 Rs. Whether the deed was right or wrong...we loved the sight from top of the dam. Finally the watchman drove us out. But we collected some information from him like the water released from the dam goes to Makedatu. And the dam was built 35 years ago.
3:00 pm: Out on the road. On the way we see a car going down onto a road. Below we saw the lake and lots of cars and 1-2 small buses there. People were going into the water. We also went down on the pathway. Had a nice time there. Went into the water and took pictures. Climbed some rocks around. It was good. It had turned very cloudy and we decided to leave.
4:15 pm: Back on the road and a little while later we see the rain approaching us. That was a first. To see the rain at a distance while we are still in the no rain area. And what a rain it was. Falling on us like little pieces of stone. But we got used to it in a while and really enjoyed the ride in the rain. It was lovely and from then on...the rain followed us where we went. The dry roads told us that it hadn't rained there but when we reached, it started drizzling.
5:15 pm: Back on the mysore highway. There is one diversion there near a petrol pump, saying towards kanakpura and hosur road. We took that diversion. Kya road hai. Too good. On the way, there is a meteorological observation center and around it, Freedom garden. Many vehicles were parked there and it looked good so we also stopped there. Spent some time roaming on the grass and admiring the water fountain. From the slope we could see the road, the fountain and the black clouds. Some sight it was. Anurag says this tells me India is shining. See the cleanliness, the roads and the discipline. Then I felt India is not too far behind the other developed countries.
6:00 pm: Reached Gottigere on Bannerghatta Road. That new route which we tried helped us bypass the horrible banashankari road with its mad traffic, jp nagar and we are near home. We stopped at Uphara Bhavan hotel in Gottigere and had tea, coffee and snacks. Back home at 6:30.
What a day! Completely de-stressed at the end of it.