Chase Corporate Challenge Run

Ran and partied and danced after .. returned at midnight .. great fun!!

Escape from the Mumbai Terrorist Strike

We were in Mumbai on the dreadful and sad Wednesday, Nov 26 2008. We never thought we would be in Mumbai in the midst of the most dangerous terrorist strike on India ever. Yes, we chose the wrong time. Nevertheless, with luck on our side we were fortunate to escape unhurt from every possible place of firing and bombing. We were lucky to visit each of them a day before and the age-old saying of ‘Jo sowat hai who khowat hai .. jo jaagat hai so paawat hai’ (the awaken one gains and the sleeping one loses) worked in my favor in opposite of ways .. Simply because I was sleeping I lost something that I would have never liked to be a part of … not even in my dreams!!

We left Goa in the night on an overnight train from Madgaon to Mumbai CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus). Other than Darjeeling I don’t remember any Indian railways station so touristy as Madgaon and to top it above Darjeeling there was a dollar(Rupees 50) a thali (plate) of Fish Curry Rice! All we could manage in a dollar at the expensive restaurant at the Kristal Sands Beach Resort Hotel in Goa was a tiny tomato salad J

I learned that we are not going to stay in Chachi Nani's Vile Parle flat as a kid there had an exam. Mummy suggested getting a retiring room at the CST station itself as it would be close to the places we wanted to see. We couldn’t even imagine in our dreams that the same railway station would see the ATS chief die on the same night fighting the terrorists! I went in to the Deputy Station Master to enquire only to find out that although usually the retiring rooms are empty right now all are occupied because of an exam (I guess the same exam caused Naniji's flat to be occupied too ...). Of course we were sad that we didn’t get any room there. We never thought then that we would be grateful to God that we didn’t get a place there. That left us to find a hotel in South Mumbai, hopefully near Gateway of India.

However, after staying at the beach in Goa we were not in much mood to spend those couple of days in another beach-side resort of Mumbai. So, Juhu hotel went out of our discussion. We started calling at hotels to find out about mid-range hotels to stay in! 'Stay Inn' in Andheri (East) is what we got, which we liked after seeing a couple of others. It had a dining table with a couch in a suite like way along with not so exorbitantly priced room service breakfast, lunch as well as dinner! Wow … get that for me near my apartment in Manhattan please without getting me broke!! Stay Inn was a PGA i.e. Paying Guest Accommodation and it seemed better than star hotels … we were staying in Stay Inn now ... and eventually at a higher price than Goa even though we started with best of our intentions towards cost-cutting J (come on guys … we are in a economic recession after all)!!

I went up to put on clothes to dry under the sun. After so many years of electric drying in the dryers of my apartment I guess my clothes needed some Vitamin D and I needed some bouts of nostalgia! However, the appalling heat discouraged me inconsolably from venturing out. Convincing Papa-mummy not to go out was a no-brainer as I just kept sleeping ... :P

When I woke up it was too late to go to any place in South Mumbai: Gateway of India or anywhere.. we decided to go to the Juhu beach and Isckon temple in Andheri (E). Juhu beach Chowpatty is an eat-out heaven … bhutta, nariyal-pani, chai … and what not. The chirping of playful kids, the soft gushing sound of Arabian Sea waves and the soothing breeze at the sea-side I am sure it would have taken a real sadist to have imagined anything related to terror could happen at the chirpy yet serene and beautiful place like Juhu Chowpatty. Yet, just after we left on that same night we saw on TV that terrorists opened fire there! Yes, we went there … on the firing day … luckily before anything happened.

Even in the night my DSLR camera could capture the architecture of the temple. Thanks to the night view, tripod, larger aperture and all the cool techie things about my Sony DSLR, all pics were cool too. I bought souvenirs, drank thandai,(cold milk and nuts drink), gorged on gulab jamun and rasogulla.

I bought the Lord Krishna souvenirs from the Isckon temple. My mother reasons that it is because Lord Krishna was with us that saved us from any attack on us. What about the others who were martyred? Was God not with them? Is it God’s way of allowing a war like Mahabharatha … I strongly doubt that line of thought …

Whatever happens … happens for the good. God is there to save us though we must work towards peace and harmony in our lives as well that of others as much as we can.

We visited my cousin’s family who lived close to the temple. He warned us to stay indoors once we get to our hotel I guess he heard that news on firing at CST railway Station. The following day we stayed indoors all the time with our eyes fixated on the television screen following every detail. Early morning we left Mumbai on SpiceJet via Delhi for Samastipur my home. I wish the nation, the army and the Police force of India all the best in the combat operations against the terrorist.

Goa Trip

We started to decide on where to go about two months ago planning our vacation in India: Nainital, Mussoorie, Darjeeling, Gangtok, Jaipur, Agra, KanyaKumari, Poorie … all went through our minds … no city seemed to exist in India where we have not been to! Suddenly somebody says Goa .. and whoa .. there is one place in India where none of us have been to. We decide on Goa … let’s take down that final unexplored fun place in our long list of places we have visited. Next year of course we have to go somewhere outside India for vacation … stepping up on the annual vacation that we have undertaken as far as I remember.

Airport, Taxi

Should we book all? Yes, no, maybe … We book flights and train reservations and leave the hotels for the on-spot price. We reach Goa from Delhi on Nov 20. Yes, there are different kinds of people in the plane … a nice mix of Western and Indian tourists. Goa is a tiny airport with a five star restaurant at a floor above. We start looking for hotel deals … from the Goa Govt tourist helper to even a cleaner who gave a phone number of a person to talk to!

The package tour

After about two hours of moving around and looking at the available deals we decide on a packaged tour including hotel, dinner, transportation, day tours and everything else.

Hotel at the best beach of Goa

Calangute Beach we hear is the best beach of Goa, I don't know in what respects though :). A hotel at the beachfront definitely sounded good. On top of it, it has a pool too … reminded me of my life in Cyprus near the beach and the pool at my apartment in Austin. Wow … nice getaway from Manhattan.

Next we visit Panaji, the city. I am in the pool most of the time whenever I return from time out in the city or the beach. Our Day out – temples, movie shooting spots, boat ride, Portuguese old house, Anjuna Beach, Calangute Beach, Church and Film Festival IFFI.

Ritz Classic Restaurant

Fish Platter – Zoo of sea animals: Squid, shell fish, prawn and two more kinds of fish like looking fishes.

Papa got stuck on the un-priced section Special Seafood on the menu! One ‘excuse me’ got the waiter who sounded more like a zoo instructor than a restaurant worker: “What sea-food (animal) would you like? … Do you want to look at them before eating in their uncut version? … arghh!!”

The horrible, grisly scene of lobster, tiger prawn, king fish, of course all animals dead … along with crab and whatever crap … definitely left my twin sis Aditi’s appetite shooting southwards and my lips simmering out ;) as she said “‘yuck’, I can’t eat this … I can just eat chicken”. My mother was probably considering to leave from the city itself J

For my vegetarian inside me this was a R.I.P. moment for him. I asked him to take a vacation until I am in Goa enjoying the plentiful choices of seafood.