Goa UnOfficial Trip - March09 : 3

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We had touched Mapusa and were readily bundled into a taxi - Maruti Omni converted into a Taxi and the cabbie readily agreed to smuggle in more than 4 of us for off course some extra incentive or I must say higher fare. Anyways, it was still cheaper for us as our per person contribution would drop while the cab driver would get higher than his normal fare. So a win-win situation if you consider economics! The taxis started moving when they felt their graph and ours met at optimum.

The ride from Mapusa to our Hotel was a new experience to me. Not only were the roads unknown but also the destination hotel. Luckily the driver nodded when we said the name of the resort. We were going through some nondescript tinsel town-villages with fields and intermittent houses showcasing the famous liquor bands. I dunno how Oka was sitting at the back of the Omni meant for baggage. I am sure my ponch would have disapproved of it! After passing fields and fields and fields and some houses and many winding roads, we finally reached our destination. I was praying this time at least the hotel is more nice and respectable unlike the one in previous trip. The present destination hotel boasted of swimming pool though it is not a factor for a non swimmer like me. I hoped for more clean rooms and having at least satisfactory basic amenities !
The Wild West Gang and Rakshas Gang( Nagu(c) ) had already reached a day earlier and were already acclimatized to holiday living. Some of them had just got up while many were still in their beds. We had to wait more than an hour to get rooms and settle. While others waited in the lobby for their rooms, Codec, Lebedev and myself decided to check out the beach nearby.
Finally we checked in, regenerated and did our brunch in Indian Spice hotel. We hired Honda Activa bikes and a maruti 800 for rent and bought some local petrol that looked wose than crude.

More to write but no time right now. Later on !
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Goa UnOfficial Trip - March 09 : 2

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So while the movie went on painfully, I tried my best to look out and kill time gazing the sky for signs of any star. However the moon ensured that I could not! Finally the movie ended though it would be long time before many of us could catch a wink of sleep. The ghats and hair-pin curves (CCR enlightened me to this term) along with some rough driving ensured that we continuously slip from our seats. Even the seats in front lacked anything to hold onto in case of a jerk or a sudden turn. All that was present was a small mutilated lasso bottle holder that reminded me of rodeos and their wild horses. We talked over a multitude of issues and topics that included even Monica Bellucci! Finally tiredness overcome many of us and peace and tranquility prevailed in the bus. While many slept like Kings, some like Codec and myself were denied sleep. Codec was sitting in the middle seat of the last row with just the narrow bus walkway in front and more seats to the sides. Poor guy had nothing to hold onto and couldn't sleep even an iota. I was sitting next to him and found myself being dragged along with the forces of the bus. After a while the bus made a pit stop at a derelict canteen for early morning tea. The only nice thing about the place was the soothing music being played on the loudspeaker. It was like Kenny G special but some instrument that I don't recollect. The canteen owner surely has a nice taste!

The bus started moving again and like Jason Bourne I fail to recollect anything next. Next I remember waking up to daylight and the bus is about to make a brief pit stop for a morning tea. I remembered the place from my first Goa trip with my parents. The long stretch of highway dotted with conical trees on both sides, the same canteen and tables and the TV. Speaking of TV, India-New Zealand match was going on and we were hooked onto it. I don't remember whether I had tea or coffee but the match was nice!

We were closing on our destination, Mapusa and the change was visible. The laterite soil, flora-fauna was all different. Not that I have not been to Konkan regions or Kerala or even Goa but the change was quite visible and pleasant. Better than the smog, SPM filled Mumbai skylines and the chemical stink filled Navi Mumbai skies! Sawantwadi whizzed past us and finally we reached Mapusa. We were already sweating in Goan summer heat and we bundled ourselves into taxis. The Omni taxi meant for 4 was ready to carry more than that for higher rentals. Though it was a win win situation for both of us, I dunno whether we were testing the Taxi to its limits. I Dunno; but that's the way it works in India especially outside Mumbai.

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Goa UnOfficial Trip- March09 : 1

This weekend I made a brief trip to Goa (Saturday to Wednesday) along with many of my fellow Chemical BEs. The Official Goa trip during Third Year(TE) left much wanted. Also, much of Goa cannot be explored under the pretext of Industrial visit. So as many others we decided to revisit Goa!
Mumbai To Goa Journey - March 09    Next→

• Start      
  5:00 pm 7 March09, Saturday from Neeta Travels, Borivali(W), Mumbai.
  
• End      
  Around 9:30 am 8 March09, Sunday at Mapusa Bus Stand, Bardez, Goa.
  
• Mode     
  Non AC Bus.
  
• Agents
  Taj Travels / Neeta Travels
  
• Cost    
  Rs 400/- per head (includes body and the luggage)
  
• Route
  Borivali to Goregaon via W.Expressway, then Powai and LBS Marg and finally on NH17

We had made reservations with Neeta Travels for Mapusa from Borivali for 13. The 13 includes SBF(myself), Labaad brothers (Labadoku n Lebedev), Red Indians (CCR, Spidy), Oka, Vivek, SriRam, Stegaya aka Bansi, Codec aka Ashish, Swati, Kiran and Siddika. Our seats were reserved on the last rows, much to the disappointment of many. However the cacophony and pandemonium that comes along while travelling with friends makes one forget of all such trivial matters. The bus was supposed to leave at 5 pm from Borivali. However, Stegaya and Swati ensured that the bus leaves only by 5:30 pm. This left Ashish, our spear header at the receiving end of fellow travellers' ire and of the driver's outbursts.

Finally Modek aka Swati and Stegaya arrived and the bus moved forward. We were then informed of last minute change in bus route. The bus was earlier supposed to go via Ghodbunder Road and into Thane. Due to feeble booking response on that route, the bus was now going to go through Western Expressway - Goregaon - IIT Powai - LBS Marg -Thane - Navi Mumbai. The bus crawled through the slow and sick traffic along the Powai and LBS Marg routes throwing us behind of schedule by hours. Bhandup, Mulund all seemed to stretch miles and miles along the LBS Marg. The bus started picking up pace and we were going through the industrial zones in Navi Mumbai and Stegaya quickly corrected us about the smell in the surrounding as that of fertilizer chemicals.

We constantly changed the seats as some seats were very bad (I will avoid Taj travels in near future). My seat had lost its reclining power while CCR's was stuck at complete recline position. The last row sitters were constantly tossed up, down, left, right, lurched forward and backward. I must say the Sigma mixer in our Nuke Bunker (SFMO lab) comes no way near to this mixer cum Bus! After Navi Mumbai, with fast approaching night; the temperature began plummeting. I was hoping the bus would make a pit stop at Hotel Visava, Mahad. However Mahad seemed too far and the Bus stopped in some Ghost Town cut directly from a Clint Eastwood Wild West Movie. The Dinner was better than my expectations. However the loo seemed like a NH4OH storage tank and repelled many. Only the brave survived! Dinner was followed by a movie session in the bus. The movie was Ghajni, a Hindi adaptation of Tamil version which in turn seems to be an adaptation of Hollywood movie, Memento. The movie began with a statuary warning like the FBI warning for Hollywood movies, warning against screening in Buses/coaches. Ah! Its India where IPR is still Intellectual Property Rips and where Copyright is understood as it is right to copy! The sub-quality speakers blared at max decibels driving me crazy many at times. The movie began and ended after a painful maybe 2 Hrs. It was painful not only because of the movie but the sound speakers, stiff chairs and the bus wish to turn into a sigma mixer of high efficiency made it a painful experience!

Much more to write but later. Meanwhile enjoy a batch of pics from the journey! Next→

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Kerala Train Trip : a trip that tripped me !

..contd from prev.

Afternoon changed into evening and night and still the tunnels were far from over. I had a peaceful Malayali dinner of Lemon Rice and Kaiypekya Theiyal, to which I silently protested but ate minimal to survive. It was late for many and the lights in the coach were quickly going off. Being a nocturnal Mumbaikar, I prefer to stay wake at nights and gaze out of windows upon the starry night sky - pure and unpolluted by city light until I fall asleep. I was determined to utilize the night hours and use it to reflect upon the credits and debits of my life and meditate upon the my decision to shift to IT from Chemical. I had plugged my ear phones and connected it to my Motorola SLVR L7 mobile cum MP3 Player to reduce ambient noise and disturbances.

It was around 11 pm and my brain had pressed the log off button. I fell asleep in no time being softly rocked by the train. It was unusually cold and I had to adjust the thick blanket to maintain warm temperature. However my face was badly exposed and I was directly under the cold air blower. My nose was as cold as ice! In an hour, my body started giving indications of uneasiness and discomfort. It was 12:15am when i found myself shivering but my neck and brow were sweating. I was too sleepy to make sense of this anomaly and was busy trying to think of what is wrong and apply relative temperature stuff. ie. whether my hands are icy cold or is it my neck that's heating up ? Either could give the same sense or feeling. However I had neglected the shivering and sweating. In half an hour, i was shivering very badly and my stomach had started aching due to the violent shivers. The pain in stomach robbed me of the remaining sleep throughout the journey. My past experiences with gas trouble and stomach aches due to my sedentary life had made me hyper on even a slight stomach ache, making me drink all possible syrups and tablets. Suddenly my fever started shooting up and I panicked. I had a Crocin and hoped my sufferings would subside. I was praying for the dark hours to pass off swiftly. However the time had come to a screeching halt and I found it crucifying to see that only five minutes had passed since my previous observation! My disaster management board in my brain activated Operation Valkyrie to prevent chaos and panic mask my better senses!

I popped in an another tablet and exchanged my berth with my mother's. She was more than happy to exchange as she found the region around her berth to be extremely hot. I thought it must be another of her usual notions she has due to her thyroid fluctuations. I was more than relived to be away from the icy cold Arctic like berth of mine. However my joy was short lived as this berth was indeed getting hot and I started sleeping without any extra insulation. However the shivers started again and my tummy started paining again. I started understanding the seriousness of the issue and started thinking of whether it could be an appendix inflammation or hernia as my friends have described it? However my shivering was still unexplained for!

I decided to relive myself in the loo and went out of the Ac cabin. Just moving out of the cabin itself was a relief. Somehow, the constant cool air step input on my face initially triggered a body rejection of the temperature condition inside the cabin. I spent most of the night outside of the cabin like I was on vigil while others pondered at my decision to spend money for the Ac and spend the night outside. I still do not completely know what possibly went wrong but my parents point at my nocturnal study life as the culprit. I dunno!

I had pleaded with God before commencing the journey to make it eventful and it seems He ensured it in His own way! My idea of clicking pics next morning of the beautiful Kayals and back-waters on North Kerala failed as I had lost all energy and enthusiasm with the events of previous night. I simply wanted to reach my Uncle's place at the earliest!

Revisiting Kerala!

So, I am back after a session of self regeneration and visiting some temples in Kerala.
For many Kerala might mean Backwaters (kayals), Beaches, Tropical Climate, holiday destination etc. while it means a lot more to me. Kerala in a few words would be Greenery, coconut trees, rivers and seas, beautiful and majestic temples, churches and mosques, set-mundu, GOLD and SILK (unfortunately its an eye sore for me. Malus seem to be obsessed a little lot over Gold and Silk. Print media, TV commercials and ever increasing no of branches of their outlets are the proof), schools, SPEED (Man! the roads are small in width but speedometer never goes below 60-80), Marxists, literacy etc.

I had visited Kerala after a gap of nearly 3 years. That's a long time for me! So has Kerala changed in the meantime. Well, Yes! and No! Power-cuts are still there but it was bearable as it was winter. Vehicular Speed and Overtaking is still the same and I imagine it inspires F1 racers. Where else would you see a car being overtaken by another, while it being overtaken by a third vehicle? All happening simultaneously on a thin but smooth road while you are coming from the opposite direction. You need nerves of steel to drive in Kerala! The Government is still the same oscillating between the Congress led UDF and Communists led LDF. Roads have improved and even the smallest of roads are better tarred than the ones in Mumbai. Buses, Cars, Autos and Trains are clean and beautiful. Well, I have seen this only in Kerala. Every day early morning the transport buses are washed and Sandalwood is applied. Compare this to the ST buses of Maharashtra!
Temples are more crowded and more houses have popped up in my native place. Old thatched roofs and walls have been replaced by aluminium roofs and brick/concrete walls. The old rice mill which was something not less than a wonder in my childhood days has disappeared and the village temple has a new perimeter wall. The Varna theatre still remains with no significant change at least from outside. Many Old faces are missing while many new ones have emerged.
Moreover I can read many signboards in Malayalam, though at a disappointing rate. I had wished to see at least one strike or hartal but to no avail. Seems like Kerala is changing for sure! Kids and teens wait for buses or walk the road to schools/colleges in humongous numbers that I have never seen in Mumbai. Surely, I could sense a feeling among the parents and kids as to how important education is!

Kerala is changing and that is a relief! It has changed my perspective of a lazy and politically incompetent kerala to one with hope!

So, I will begin posting from my next post as to how I spent and what I did in Kerala and what I learnt in Kerala.
Meanwhile you can glance at some of my kerala visit pics that I have posted in Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/prashantmaxsteel
Till then,
Bye!