We Like Crocodiles

Day 21

There was no rush to get up early this morning, as we had decided on a more convenient form of travel back to Chennai: taxi - yay!  We had time for a leisurely breakfast and then Gagan took the kids swimming while I packed our rucksack.  The taxi arrived at 11am.

The driver was uncharacteristically careful and not the least bit aggressive.  Thirty minutes later and we had reached our scheduled stop at Madras Crocodile Bank.  http://www.madrascrocodilebank.org/cms/
This is a phenomenal conservation centre, that is expertly run (NGO) and dedicated to research and education. We had taken R and M there years ago, and wanted to recapture those precious moments.  S was so excited to see all the crocs!

After about 1.5h roaming around the zoo, we bought some snacks, hopped back into our A/C taxi, and headed into Chennai for our 5:30pm train.

These are a Few of My Favourite Things...

Day 20

Our hotel booking included a buffet breakfast, so we enjoyed our breakfast of fresh fruit juice, cornflakes, dosa, idly, coffee and pancakes, poolside.

Then we made plans to visit the Shore Temple, an ancient structure built ~ 700AD, when the area served as a busy port for southern India. We had a guide give us a brief presentation of the history and present condition of the temple.

Then we went exploring the beach nearby.  Kids looked at the fishing boats and hunted for unique shells.

 And later we did a little shopping...

Bangalore to Chennai to Mahabalipuram...

Day 19

Today we had to get up at ungodly hour of 4:30am, to be at Cantonment Railway Station for our 6:08am train to Chennai.  It was not pretty.  The taxi was early, then left without us, then came back for us, so we made it.  "Thanks god."

We arrived in hot, sticky, hard-to-breathe Chennai around 11:00am.  Desperate to find a way to the bus station, we made a rash decision and hopped in an auto without setting a price - big mistake!  Forty-five minutes later, and through thicker traffic than we have seen thus far, (if that is even possible), we arrive at the bus terminal, and Mr. Auto demands Rs.300. No threats of getting the police involved even phased this guy. So we parted ways; him Rs.250 richer.

The kids were losing mobility fast, the heat was so intense, so we searched for bus info.  Much to our chagrin, all the signage was in Tamil!  No English.  Not even any Hindi!  I was astonished.  And annoyed.  Anyways, we found an info desk, and a nice man told us there were AC buses to Pondicherry via Mahaballipuram hourly.  Gagan freaked for a moment, as it was 12:01pm. I reminded him we were in India.  We got on the bus and were on our way.

The bus dropped us off just at the outskirts of Maha, and an auto quickly grabbed us up, and took us 5 min to our hotel.

We were tired from all that travelling.
We spent the rest of the day at the beautiful hotel, having lunch, swimming, talking to the pigeons, and sweating in the coastal heat.

Cunningham Road has Lost it's Charm

Day 18

Did some shopping today.  It was a bust, mostly.

Cunningham Road is just not the same.  This is what remains of Casa Picola.
And Sigma Mall? Empty.  Seriously all the stores gone and ripped walls and light sockets remain.

At least we found Fab India in Garuda Mall.

 And this fine gentleman selling his bubble guns...

Under the Weather...

Day 17

Today we all slept until 11am!  We needed it, I guess, as now Gagan woke up feeling sick, and M's eye was swollen shut!  After all those times I touched wood, now all this is happening!  We had some breakfast at home from leftovers from Manju and our lovely meal at Nana and Nani's house last night.

CM Nana is Gagan's mom's uncle, I think you will remember.  They moved to Bangalore from Bombay while we were here, and we visited them a few times in Dollars Colony. One son, Mohit, is here in Bangalore (married with 2 boys) and the other son, Amit,  has been in the US for 20+years (now also married with 2 kids).  Hopefully we will see Amit and Seema and their boys (bit older than R); Gagan needs to call them.

I worked on M's eye with hot compresses and massaged the tear duct, in case that was the problem.  Gagan's throat was killing him, and he felt a fever coming on, and we had no Tylenol!  After all that meds shopping, we overlooked buying pain medication for adults!  Oh, and today is a holiday, so the on-site doctor was not in.  Just great.  We did find out that Reception had paracetamol, so at least we didn't have to walk to Sahakara Nagar to get some.

After lunch, I convinced Gagan to rest, and he was able to sleep for a few hours.  The kids played soccer with some NCBS kids, and then I took them for a swim.  S also spent some time taking some pictures.  Some turned out to be pretty good, too!

M's eye got a bit better by the end of the day.  We talked to Gagan's mom, who recommended some drops we picked up for her, so we put those in before bed.  See how it is tomorrow.

Catching up with Manju...

Day 16

Woke up today with a brutal sore throat.  I should have expected it, as the night before my ears were cracking/popping.  R had a touch of a cold in Hampi, and M is just starting.  I always think I'm more robust than I actually am.  Anyways, I slept through breakfast (intentionally) as I wanted to feel good enough to make it through a very important day - today we were meeting Manju!

We made arrangements for her to arrive after lunch, and we met her at NCBS Reception.  She was with her daughter Girija. It was so good to see her!  We walked to our guesthouse to have a visit.

Gagan made us some tea, (I wanted it to be US to serve tea to HER, and not the other way around), and Manju, very generously, brought out some jalebi and rasgulla from Kanti Sweets and some palak paratha that she made just for us. She even made sure it was not spicy.  She was so happy to see us all, especially the kids.

Girija graduated with her Bachelor of Business Management last year and has been working for IBM as a financial analyst ever since, earning Rs.15,000/month (for reference, we were paying Manju Rs.4000 at the end).  She is now 21 years old.  Her English is very good and she expressed much gratitude to us.  She is such a lovely young woman.  Someone else must think so too, as Girija's marriage is fixed for November 1st. He's a business graduate from Hyderabad and she will move there after the wedding.  She feels she will have enough work experience to find a good job there, and is not planning to have children for some time.

Manju's son Ashok did not go further with his studies, and is working with his father in construction. They borrowed Rs.1.5 lak from Manju's recent employer (a post-doc at NCBS) to get the materials to begin their own business.  They have paid back the loan and are now construction contractors.  The family seems to be doing very well.  Have I told you how great it was to see them?

Unfortunately, Manju has not been well.  I could see she was not as sprightly as she used to be, and appeared to be walking slower than I remember.  Girija explained that her mother had been in an Aruvedic hospital for a week for tests about 6 months ago.  A year ago, Manju began to experience pain in her back and legs, and these tests indicate it is nerve related.  She has not been working for 1 year.  She kept telling me "Chana gi do, Madam.  Chana gi do," meaning, "Everything is fine, I am fine."  She has insisted that she come back to give us dosa for breakfast next weekend.  It was so good to see her.

I Love Good Coffee

Day 15

Today, after a quick lunch with Geoff, we walked over to Sahakara Nagar to run some errands.  We picked up some staples and snacks at Namdhari's and also did our medicine shopping (Crocin, Iodex, Chawanprash, face wash, family requests, etc).  We let the kids use some of their money to buy some candies (Gems, 5 Star, and KitKat).  They were absolutely thrilled.  Then we headed to the Laundrex to drop off our clothes for washing and ironing.  The prices have got up, but they have also changed: now they charge by the kilo! Interesting.  There was even an ad promoting "for the cost of a pizza, you can have your clothes washed and ironed"!  Wow, the demographic has really changed here.

At the end of all our running around, the kids were patient and well behaved, so we went to the new Cafe Coffee Day (2nd floor).  It was more of a treat for me, really.  DELICIOUS cappuccino. The kids also got themselves a dessert.  The place has wall to wall windows that you can watch everyone below go about their business.  Would have loved to meet my girlfriends there for a chat...

We came home and I called you, but you were heading out the door.  So we went to the Sports Centre to fit in some fitness before dinner.  Gagan and I got some cardio in by playing some squash.  After eating at the canteen, we came home and I call you.  So good to talk to you.  Later, I started to feel like I was coming down with something so took some Ibuprofen and went to bed.

Back in Bangalore!

Day 14

We arrived at Yelahanka Station around 5:40am.  We had set M's watch alarm, but it failed to wake anyone up!  Good thing Gagan's internal clock woke him up around 5:30am.  He was worried we might have missed our stop, so he woke us all up and we all got ready.  Turns out he was right.  In about 10 minutes time, we arrived; it was still dark.  All the autos were in cahoots, and wouldn't take us for anything less then Rs.200.  Vat to do?

When we got to our guesthouse, no one thought they could sleep, but I insisted we try.  We ended up falling asleep for at least a couple of hours.

We had a relaxing day of laundry and going to the Sports Centre.  I had a big workout at the gym and Gagan played squash with the kids and then a swim.  This creepy man (a real nosy body who always want to "advise me") that was there again!  The kids refer to him as the "bummish guy" - remind me to tell you why we found him so annoying!

We took some goofy shots that I'm posting here.

Monkeys, of One Type or Another...

Day 13

We had an overnight night train back Bangalore later Thursday night, so we had the day to kill.  We had already seen a good amount of Hampi’s famous ruins, so we decided to hang out at the Guest House until late afternoon.  We sat under the outdoor canopied restaurant and played some games (Bananagrams), played cards (UNO and Go Fish, mostly), and read.  Gagan and R bet each other a “lemon nana” juice for the winner of their final Bananagrams game.  Even though I tried to help R, Gagan won.  They shared the lovely lemon-mint juice together.  Later, they went for a walk through the rice paddy.

When we got off the boat that took us across the river, Patrick, the auto driver that took us around the ruins the day before, was waiting for us.  He told us his business name was Patrick, but we heard his buddies call him Mudhu. He told us he worked for 3 years without sleeping so that he could buy his own autorickshaw.  He also installed a fancy music system, but one of his speakers was stolen recently.  When we asked him if he is married with kids, he told us he was 21 and had four more years before marriage.  He is now working to save up to buy a house, where he will have extra rooms to rent to tourists.  Very focused entrepreneur, I'd say.

We went to a restaurant in Hospet for dinner, where they served the hottest daal and muttar paneer I have ever had in my whole life.  My mouth felt like it was on fire, really.  The waiters explained the chef was from Andra Pradesh, and very spicy food was the style of the food from this region.  I felt this was unfair, as there were none of those red fiery chilli peppers next to item on the menu to indicate it was going to be so hot!

We ended up waiting at the train station for a good hour, as our train was late.  The kids were so excited to be on a train again, they were climbing up and down like monkeys; and I had to send them to bed.  We set up our bed sheets and blankets on the beds and then hunkered down for some shut eye.

Yes, Now Happy in Hampi!

Day 12

Good news.  By the next day Gagan was much better, and we ventured out to have a look at the fabled capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, that ancient village that was most powerful in the 12^th - 14^th centuries.  We took it easy, though, and paid a rickshaw driver to take us around, much to Gagan’s chagrin (he likes to save his money).  It was better for the children and their flushed cheeks; even with the small amount of walking we did, we drank at least 5L of water in the hot sun.

Will update this more tomorrow -need to get to bed!!!

Not Yet Happy in Hampi...

Day 11

Why not happy?  First, we almost missed our stop on the train (me: “Hey, Gagan, I think this is our stop.  It says Hospet Junction.”  Gagan, sleepily: “Uh, what? No. Can’t be. Oh God, we need to go. Everyone get up, hurry! Crap!”). Then, Gagan looked a little pale on the 30 minute auto ride to Hampi.  Then, just before crossing the river, Gagan complained of a worsening headache.  Finally, after making the slow hot walk to our lovely Mowgli Guesthouse, Gagan began twenty fours hours of what can best be called “Delhi Belly.”  Oh yes, a meer eleven (11) days since he was last sick and throwing up all day at Heathrow Airport.  Poor soul; travelling is hard on him.

I won't keep you in suspense until the next blog.  I'm happy to share he is all good now.

Me and the kids explored the new digs.  Did some reading and resting outside on the jula (swing).  And let the lush, verdant surroundings take our breath away...

First Sleep, Then Play!

Day 9