Goa to Bombay (2)

The day after the next, we hired a WagonR and started off for Kolhapur.
The journey was fun; with the driver playing just the one CD he had on loop. By the time we stopped for lunch, I knew all the Kishore Kumar songs on that CD by heart.

We passed through some scenic points, which were like all tourist spots crowded. The crowd spoilt the view really with their insane chatter, when they should have been staring at the horizon peacefully. Breathing in the smells of the forest that lay below us.

By the time we reached the Goa-Maharashtra border it was 1. We stopped at a small roadside restaurant for lunch. They said the food would only be coming at 1.15. This idea of food being bought form home to a ‘restaurant’ was quite novel to me.

It was delicious! Piping hot, home cooked and very different from what I usually have back home.

By four that evening we had reached Kolhapur.
Getting to the hotel proved to be quite exciting. No one seemed to have a clue about where it was located. The locals would point to the right and say go to the left and vice versa. We went round in circles for over half an hour before finally finding the hotel.

 To my delight the hotel we were staying in had a Baskin Robins store right in the lobby. We made plans to go to the Mahalakshmi temple the next day.

The Crazy Class Trip (2)

After spending two days and a night in Mysore, we headed back to Bangalore to shop some more.  Stopping at a stadium opposite the entrance to Commercial Street, we were told to get back by 7 pm. That gave us around 3 hours to shop. We spilt up into many groups and went different ways. We all got back to the bus on time and started off for Pizza Hut, to take pizzas so we could eat on the train. After getting the pizza, we started off for the station.

One of the teachers just happened to take a look at the ticket. It was 8.50 pm…and our train was leaving at 9 pm!!! Apparently out guide had though 21.00  meant 11 o’clock. A mad rush for the station took place. Many of us, seasoned travellers tried calling the station. And then we suggested instead of Yeshvantpur, why not go to Bangalore Junction, where the train’ll wait for more time. But no, the teachers were stubborn, and by the time we reached the platform, our train was gone.

Now what would happen normally in a situation like this? Teachers would take charge and calm parents, guardians and students down right? But then my school is not normal. They started weeping!! And our sir disappeared somewhere! I must say that is one time my class was at it’s best. Dividing wordlessly into groups, some started calming the teachers down, two of us contacted friends in Bangalore to ask for tickets, and while I did that I also had the honour of calming down a classmate and calling up his grandfather.

We sat at the station till 11 ‘o’clock, waiting for the teachers to come to a decision. It was 15 degrees C. Two girls didn’t have jackets, and the extra cardigans were greatly appreciated. Phones were switched off to conserve the battery.

Trip to Karnataka (5) THE GRAND FINALE

After the most uncomfortable night (try sleeping with the fear of falling off your berth in a BUS, and getting your nose squashed against a window) we finally reached Bangalore! Unfortunately the hotel where our friend was going to stay at (and we were going to use the shower and have breakfast) was quite a distance from where we had gotten down. Still an ‘autowalla’ agreed to take us there.

The cold morning air, a bad road and too much time in getting there was having quite an effect on my bladder. I do think I might have seemed a tad odd to the receptionist, who saw a girl run into reception, ask for the bathroom, and run off in search of it.

After leaving our luggage in the room, we went to have some breakfast. On the way we saw the pool. Big, with three water slides, a pool bar and water polo nets. It was decided that a swim was in order before we left for the city.

What a breakfast it was! Doughnuts (yes you read that right!), pancakes, fresh cut fruit, cereal…right I better stop. After breakfast, we played a little ‘table’ tennis. Thing is, it wasn’t just table tennis. I managed to bounce the ball off the floor, the wall, the ceiling and even the window frame before finally hitting it out of the window. A little game of one on one basketball followed. The court was absolutely gorgeous.

After a brief shopping trip to a nearby mall, Mom I and started off for the airport. We reached at one for a four PM flight. Three hours at the airport, especially a cool one like Bangalore, no biggie right? One hour passed, then another, then another half. Mom got up and asked a guy already troubled many times by us what was going on. He said the flight had been delayed till seven. And there was no other flight before that. Security check done, we visited all the shops, had some food and sat down and relaxed. I called up my best friend and described the airport to her. And then I saw Deepika Padakoune (yes I just wrote Deepika Padakoune). We finally left at seven and reached home at ten thirty. I had spent a total of seven hours at the airport. And thus ended the most fantastic trip one could ever have!

Trip to Karnataka (3)

The third day. We started off after breakfast for Hospet, where we planned to stay that night. The roads were grimy and dusty. Barren land for as long as the eye could see. A traffic jam at a ‘dam’ slowed us down. The reason dam was in quotes in the previous sentence is because I couldn’t really see any water in it! It was quite funny how in Hubli flights had been cancelled because of fog and rains when just 2 hours away from it there was a drought.

Lunch at a massive bus depot, with lockless bathrooms of course! A box of chocolate cookies tempted me. Temptation won. I got back into the car 60 rupees poorer.

After lunch, we heckled with a pair of women selling oranges. ‘2 for 50 rupees is quite a deal’ they promised us. Seeing our raised eyebrows, they hastily turned away to serve another customer.

We made our way to The State Bank of India headquarters in Hospet. Thanks to Mom’s contacts, we had a guide to take us to the preferred SBI hotel. It was quite comical as we met the lady. As I got down to give her the front seat, she opened the back door and pushed herself in. Attempts at smothering giggles were made.

To our delight, we found that even this hotel had a pool. Designed to look like the Queen’s Bath in Hampi, this pool was the best one I have seen to date. We frolicked around in the water, racing each other, scaring away a few guys who were learning to swim. Going to a restaurant for dinner was dangerous business. As it was just a day from Diwali, the people had already started celebrating, and the narrow streets were full of crackers. A yummy dinner complimented with Cola, made up for the walk.

Trip to Karnataka (2)

The next morning the real journey started. Rachel, Mom and I loaded ourselves into an Indica keen to explore Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal. (It took me a better part of the day to learn how to pronounce and spell these places.) Beautiful temples, badly maintained awaited us. The historians in all of us kicked in as we started discussing the architecture, acoustics, job opportunities created by the construction of the temples during those days and the life of the people in the different societies.
A climb up a trail into small hills gave us a splendid view of Badami’s lake, cliff and cave temples.

For lunch we had to literally hunt to find local food! ‘Hotel Venus’ had Chinese, north Indian, and if I remember right even Thai but nothing that the locals would have for an everyday lunch. Next was a joint where there was only chicken and beer (did I mention Mom and I are veggies?). We finally found a restaurant where there was a proper Badami meal.  I must mention the bathroom. Lock less and with a huge open window on the side, it inspired all 3 of us to make up a wonderful song, fondly nicknamed ‘The Bathroom Song’. It was supposed to keep people from opening the door and coming in, but friends now say that people must have been more curious and the chances of someone not walking in would have been better if we had not been singing!

Trip to Karnatak (1)

My journey of bathrooms which did not lock (aptly nicknamed) started on the 1st of November.  A 6 am flight had my father wanting to reach the airport at least by 3.30. I managed to delay this by at least half an hour. Having slept late the previous night due to numerous replays of the prodigious day I had had, it resulted in me waking up around ten minutes before our taxi was due. As it happens very commonly, our flight was delayed by one hour. Yet we reached Bangalore in good time and started our long journey now by car to Dharwad. For lunch we stopped at a local joint and my second lockless bathroom of my 14th year of life. Along with that there was also a huge window right behind me which faced another restaurant. Did I mention that the window had no glass? By 5 I was thoroughly bored. I had done everything one could on a car journey. Taken snaps, read, texted, called up friends, even some writing. My dad was fast asleep in the front seat, when a spectacular show of a sunset started. ‘Borrowing’ dad’s camera, I managed to get some great pictures! By 7.30 it was as dark as coal outside, and we had no clue where we were. Calling my mom didn’t help; it just confused us further. But finally we made it to the hotel in the middle of nowhere.  

the sunset :)

 The following day was quite lazy. I just read, wrote, watched some television and had a little swim. And when I say little I mean little! The water was freezing!! In the evening 8 of us went to a nearby hotel for their supremely appreciated ‘benne dosas’. Unfortunately for us it was closed, so we had to go to another one. It was an entertaining evening for me because along with the ‘dosas’ came true stories of a mother who had travelled from Poland to England during the Second World War.