My first (New) Family Vacation : Puri

 

Given the lag it takes for me to update this blog, in the interest of whoever reads the blog (mostly the friends I force to read and probably a few stalkers.. who knows I might be popular and unaware about it ) I have decided to skip whatever happened after the honeymoon and jump right on to what is the freshest in my memory.

Back in August, bored from the mundane and spotting dirt cheap tickets I thought why don't we pay a visit to my now second home Kolkata. And since forever we got married, my MIL wanted for us all to go for a holiday to Puri, and I never need any excuse to bunk work (My job is really taxing.. but it pays.. so I don't complain :P) Hence the plan was made. We were going to the beach in Monsoons! Sounds really absurd when I say it out loud, but bear with me it gets better.

Let me be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this place. I have been to very few places and never to the eastern coasts ( Just a stroke of luck that East came into the office and I got married to him, else I would have been stuck with someone as unaware of the surroundings as myself.. See I give you credit when its due :) ) Anyway, my husband was apprehensive, let's just face it, he always is.. one of the reasons I call him Palpy (Don't ask!) The trip almost didn't happen as my MIL was feeling a little unwell, but it all came together at the end and we did go. And I'm so glad we did!

First I'll talk about the sights and scenes.. and then I'll talk about the fights and scenes :D

I'm seriously amazed by the beauty this country has hidden in every state, each so refreshingly unique. We had reached Puri early morning at around 4, so it was still dark outside, but as the day started dawning I saw what I can say was one of the best beaches I have been on till date! Now you might say that how many beaches have I actually seen to lay such a claim. Fair enough: Goa,Mumbai,New York, Venice and now Puri. So I may not really be the authority on the beaches of the world, but I am still entitled to an opinion. The reason is pretty simple, it is clean (unlike Mumbai), not very commercial (unlike Goa) and very budget friendly (unlike New York and Venice).

This really understated coastal state has a lot to offer if you are willing to give it time. I'm pretty sure most of you would be aware that Odisha is the place of residence for our almighty lord Jagannath in whose honour the magnificent rath yatra is hosted every year. The English word Juggernaut is a distorted pronunciation which means the unstoppable deriving meaning from the Jagannath Rath yatra where the devotees throw themselves under the unstoppable in the hope of attaining moksha.

We were staying right on the beach, our balcony opened out to the beach, and as we were visiting during the week there wasn't many people there. The Bay of Bengal is seldom quiet, the waves are big and lustrous. The beach side shops are mostly fishermen catching and frying up the fish/crabs for you, as fresh as fresh can get. A few artists doing these amazing sand structures, which is amazing because it takes them hours to built them up and one brutal wave just takes it all away!

Enough about the beach, there are a lot of other things to see in this pretty place. First up the list was the Chilika lake, for the uninitiated this is the largest salt water lake (lagoon) in India and the second largest in the world. This is where I realised that India has the potential to be the one stop tourist solution to anything someone can have in mind. We've got the magnificent mountains which could give any range a run for it's money (here it is imperative to mention we just paid a visit to heaven on earth "Kashmir"), we have the deserts whose people would spoil you silly with their hospitality (Jaisalmer, never met more welcoming people than Rajasthanis), the mysteriously beautiful islands that I'm yet to set foot on (Andamans and the Lakshadweep) and then we have the envious coastal lines. And somewhere between all these was this quaint gigantic lagoon so rich with life, I just couldn't believe why no one had ever brought this one out to my attention. There is only one thing to do and is to take the boat ride in the giant water body. But don't think it to be an ordinary one, for starters its an unusually long one (4 hours) and you get to see how these poor fishermen make their living (life is hard outside of my comfort zone) but the best is that you get to spot dolphins!! Yes! In a lake! Yes jumping and shouting and in groups in their natural state of being! And the lake is serene and spread out for most parts you wont even see anyone around, your soul boat would be happily wading away. These are the places poets are made.

Up next was the city tour, as it was monsoons when we went, the whole place was such a beautiful shade of green it just transported me to a different world altogether. This was even before we got to any particular place. There are quite a few places for you to see around this modest town, I'll list them out for you to put on your lists: Konark Temple, ChandraBhaga Beach, the city of Bhubaneswar which is often called as the city of temples so goes without saying a lot of temples. But there is also one more place you must go to : NandanKanan Zoo. It has a lot more species and they are kept very well, you will not believe how many tigers both Royal Bengal and White did I see there. And no trip to Puri shall ever be complete without paying you respects to Jagannath temple.

 

The next thing a good blog tells you is how to get there, 2 simple ways.

1. Fly to Bhubaneswar it's 2 hours from there.
2. If you were travelling from Kolkata then train is your best options. Also, if you were travelling from Kolkata you wouldn't need me telling this because you would have already been there a zillion times. Don't judge me I'm a new recruit, still learning the ropes :)

Enough information on this blog, lest you start thinking it to be a travel blog. Now lets get to the fights and scenes.

So let me begin with a brief profiling of my in-laws, they are a careful couple. And by careful, I mean cautious, and by cautious I mean always imagining the worst possible scenario. Difficulty understanding? How about this: They have an interesting anecdote for every thing we do (that they don't approve of) and that mostly ends with "...and then he died!"

[I know you won't mind it If you read this dear in-laws, you know I love you still :)]

Now that we have the context right, here's what happened. In my Kolkata House the refrigerator is only meant to store fish or other grocery items which may go bad if not kept in cold temperatures. It is definitely not meant to cool water or store cold drinks or worse ice creams. Because you know Bengali children generally have tricky tonsils and hence they have increased susceptibility to cold. So now that we were in Puri and the darling husband could run around free, you know what he does? He buys a bottle of coke!!!! Ohhh My Gawwwwddd... And that too in front of my MIL! And all I could think of was.. does this boy have no sense? But my MIL was very cool about it.. she swallowed the shock and while he happily guzzled down the poison(What? What?) my MIL taught me a very important lesson about these carbonated monsters, which is: These things are high in sugar, which make you fat, which makes to easy prey for diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, weak heart all of these could be very harmful to your health. At that point I also wanted to point out that also given that it's chilled it might also give him a choked throat, and that it contains things a lot more harmful than sugar.. but better judgment prevailed. And in future, I was to make sure that he doesn't do such atrocities to his health, all this while he finished the bottle by himself and started out in the search of an ice cream. Yes.. marriage has really emboldened him. And it also makes me think, the version of son my MIL thinks he is and  what  I see him as isn't really on the same page.

Also I was stupid enough to say I wanted to eat the roadside seafood.. On which all three of them jumped on me as if I killed someone. What? This? Really? Have you seen the dust? Look at his hands? Look he just dug that crab out from the sand.. And me all this while saying <in small voice>.. but it's fried...

Anyway.. moving on.. Remember that awesome boat ride I talked to you about? So when we just reached about the middle of the lake where the boat was away from all the land masses, the cheery dextrous boys rowing our boats thought of making the ride more fun and started rocking it slightly. Now I could see that it was these boys, who just wanted to ensure we had fun. But to my father in law it was a warning for something more serious, it meant that we were in the middle of choppy waves which were being caused in the sea from which the lagoon draws water and if we didn't hurry back we might get stuck in a sea storm (in a lake). At this point, it actually became difficult for me to contain my amusement. But my FIL made sure to explain to everyone why what he thought was true. It kind of helped that those boys only understood Oriya..

And that's all the dirt that you get. Hey you.. What you laughing at? no one makes fun of my family except me myself!

Oh man... what fun... How I love my new family. And how I'm so glad that it's me who writes this blog and not anyone else.. as then I wouldn't have seemed so normal either! Takes crazy to know crazy :)

But an honest recommendation to all who read, this underdog of beaches is certainly worth a visit.

Until the next time I find something to sing about..

Lots of love and a Happy new Year in advance!!! (So confident won't be able to wrap up something before the new year's eve )

The Martian: The Nerd's Wife Reviews

I shall start on a very honest note, I was 200% sure that I would not like (understand) the movie. Why you ask? It had all the ingredients for being a bore movie:

 

• Spaceship
• Astronaut
• Same clichéd plot
• Astronaut getting lost
• Astronaut coming back

Then why did I go to watch the movie? Two reasons:

1. My nerd husband wanted to go
2. Matt Damon (For a good uninterrupted 2 Hours)

But as surprised as I was, this one I liked. Why the answer is pretty simple, it didn't aim to be overly complicated. Nor did it aim to shove too many hypothesised theories on to you. But before you start thinking I loved it... let me hold you right there... the most emotional scene of the movie was when the potatoes die.. No, there is no metaphor here whatsoever. This was it! He steps out to check on his crops, there is a storm, the door breaks, the Mars cold chilly evil winds get inside and his plants die.

 

But all this while watching this movie, every time he made some smart discovery like, stapling up the wound to stop the bleeding for example or realizing he needs to stay alive 4 years before being rescued and hence he needs to grow his own food.. I could only wonder.. Man.. this guy is so smart I would have never known how to make water. I would have never been able to survive on Mars. But then, WHY WOULD I EVER NEED TO?

 

Also, what's with all my favourite actors growing so old. I still remember Matt from The Departed, and I'm pretty sure it's a very recent (NOT) movie! does this mean what I think it means? Am I also growing old? Am I?

 

Anyway, even though digressing is my speciality, the movie also used it quite well. You know changing track and not entering the gravity stuff. Either they dumbified the movie for everyone or I'm growing smarter in the Nerd's company. I'm pretty sure it's the former because I'm still waiting on the inter dimensional plot from Interstellar to make sense. Also noteworthy is how subtly a few present world facts have been incorporated into the movie; prime one being "Vincent" Kapoor, a very African looking Indian surnamed man born from a cross cultural wedding, which indeed is common place. Then we have the obvious fact the most of the employees in NASA were either Indian (or Indian Origin) or Chinese. Matt very cleverly used the left behind equipment from the earlier expeditions. And the subliminal messaging that, the countries should stop bickering over space supremacy and just get together and exploit the outer space together. Clever.

 

For all the good things, this movie is a strange cross over between a documentary and a science fiction, let's for the lack of better words call it a Docu-Fiction :P . While I am aware that outer space is the place to be these days, what I don't understand is why? Its been long enough we've been looking for life outside the earth. The fact that we haven't located anyone makes me believe that we have been spotted long time ago by alien life understood to be a threat to anything tangible and thought better left alone. Come on.. can you blame them?  Have seen what have done to this planet? So much so that we're trying to set up a colony in Mars.

 

Now that I have rambled on enough without offering any reviews about the movie, why don't I sum it up? The movie is watchable, the whole setting is believable. The film is based on Andy Weir's 2011 novel by the same name, would have told you if it's a good adaptation, except I haven't read the book (Nor do I intend to!). But the visuals and the comic timing is just impeccable. I really have to know where they shot the scenes on Mars (Please don't be green screens) because that looks just amazing. And goes without saying watch it 3-D, just because 2-D is just so last century :P

 

On getting married, staying single or whatever it is one chooses to be

It's amazing how time just flies!!There I was an year ago.. all confused with mixed feelings about marriage. Didn't know what to expect. And look at me now, one whole year (and more) as a married woman! Not enough to earn a pro at marriage degree, but enough to bust a few myths I see flying around. I don't know if it's just targeted advertising by FB or that is the general sentiment of the people these days, that being married means the end of life as you know it. If I didn't know any better, I might have even believed these random blog posts (any one can write these days ;) ) But luckily for me (I write this as I expect my husband to be back after a drink with his friends any minute now) marriage by far hasn't been that bad a decision. Of course it took my mother's persistence and boredom from the single life for me to take the leap, but I did it OK? So let's just leave at that and get on to the bits of wisdom that I have to share.

So you've heard the bad things that come with marriage, here are a few good things :

1. Shopping would no longer be treated as a waste of time by your parents, they would actually ask you to take days off from work to help them do it!! (Yeah! No Kidding!)

2. Endless gifts and cash and gifts and cash and more gifts ( Truth be told you'd think you would want more cash, but it's those thoughful gifts that make you smile and those absolutely useless ones which make you roll over of the floor laughing) Long and short of it.. It keeps you entertained

3. You will never need any other plan partner. Imagine this: You could just wake up in the morning feel like doing something, you dont need to plead. Just drag the jail bird with you (easier said than done... But it mostly works)

4. You can add one more guy to your bully list. Now this is by far my favorite! I mean how can it not be? You can ask a guy double your size to clean up the bathroom after himself or he would not get his food. Where in the normal world can you do that? I know where in the normal world would you need to do that, but that's another discussion

5. Till when will you procrastinate growing up? Or growing fat while we are at it..

6. Double the fun in getting anything done, even for the simplest things like buying groceries. Now that is a different thing that when I was living with my parents I didnt even need to bother about these things, but now that I have to do them it's better with someone to do it with

7. Half the pain, even for the most mundane things like buying groceries. I'm sure you've got my point :)

8. There are places to visit and your friends may have other plans (but your husband's got no other life but you!)

9. The obvious <wink wink>

10. As mush as this may sound, marry for the love... as the real magic happens once the wedding guests are gone and you have a home to build.

For the very little obsessive compulsive inside of me I like my lists even numbered. And while these random rantings may not be enough to steer your decision anywhere, but I had very openly told that this blog aims to offer no advise(ever!) So why did you even try?

But trust me when I say this, it is a leap of faith. Also, you just have to experience it for yourself. No amount of advise good or bad would ever prepare you for this, except your mother's, because moms are always (have been and always will be) RIGHT! For everyone else who asks you to wait till you are <put any age here> to get married, slap them across the face. Wait till either of these two things happen to you to get married

1. You found that someone special, the one you can imagine yourself growing old with

2. That someone special finds you :)

Everything else is just hogwash... you know stuff and nonsense..

Good luck and lots of love!!

The Honeymoon Part 4: Italy, the journey ends here..

Yes this will be the final post where I bore with the non-important details of my honeymoon!

We "did" quite a lot of places in the land where the food is colourful and the people more so!

To list them down they were Venice, Pisa, Florence and Rome. Each place gave me something to come back for, like every other place I've talked about. Now I know in all lags of the journey I have stated I liked the next destination as much as the last. This could mean 2 things, either the entire Europe I saw is brilliant or that I'm easily impressed. I think it's a healthy mix of both J

Why don't I begin with the one that amazed me the most. Before I saw the place I had no idea what it's claim to fame was (Well I never said general awareness was my forte, did I?) It was Florence.. for it had the most amazing and picturesque cathedral I have ever seen,  Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore: Popularly known as Il Duomo . It was magnificent! I'm not lying when I say this, it is a sight to be witnessed, no camera would ever do it justice, we tried from every angle, none could capture the brilliance. Such was the stature!

I'm not sure if I'm breaching a religious line here, but it's even prettier than St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. But before you raise your eyebrows, a brief history: This Cathedral in Florence is said to be Italy's addition to the renaissance, the original structure was only half finished for a very long time until two architects, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi (A goldsmith by profession) came to the rescue and completed the dome, whose design and ingenuity even to this date is a mystery to the best architects in the world. The locals say this beautiful structure was the inspiration and competition that drove Michelangelo (Who was born in the city, and is rumoured to have been buried there, another local story. And his most prized creation the David is also housed in a Museum here). He vowed to make a bigger, better, more magnificent counterpart which we now know as the Vatican City just to match its beauty. All that might be true, but then there is some beauty that only come from spontaneity that is visible only in Florence. Another claim to fame this brimming with romance place has is, it is the birth place of the enigma that was Leonardo da Vinci. It is also the birth place of Amerigo Vespuci, the explorer where America got its name from. Enough said about the place, lest I give out information on this blog! It is totally against the very essence of this blog. My motto: No info, no outflow J

Oh I completely forgot the best thing about the place. The most amazing, I repeat the most amazing ice cream.. ooops!! Gelato I have had in my entire life!!! No Kidding!!! It was like everything before that scoop of ice cream was just a scam. You have to believe me, don't go on believing anyone else who says it's over hyped, they have got no taste buds. If you ever happen to be in Florence around that square where all the fancy statues and the fountain is, I think it was the Museum complex or something. The street that comes from the cathedral to the fountain, just at the turn is that divine scoop of ice cream. The flavour you have to try musk melon, Yeah our humble kharbooja... but only one lick would tell you how it has been transformed into this frozen delight!!! It was like love at the first lick! This and the passing comment that a really pretty assistant in the shop communicated to me despite the language barrier by finding an Indian assistant who spoke Italian (Surprisingly easy to find, we are everywhere) in the shop, that I've got really pretty eyes <blink blink> J

It was such a cool place, in the fountain complex, a band randomly came and started playing. For no reason! And then as if by design there is a group of some amazingly good looking couples (What else do you expect? It's Italy!) come and start dancing! Are you convinced I'm in love? Or I need you bore more?? 

OK I'll leave it at that, and then move to Pisa. It was alright, the leaning tower (It should just be that called that here..) is not as leaning as the movies or the caricatures make it out to be. We ate the pizzas there, had to! You go to Italy and not eat a pizza? That's sacrilege!! It was alright, nothing to write home about.. Let's just it was a bit too bland for my tastes.. but the restaurant was fancy enough, it was worth the experience that's for sure!

And then there was Venice.. For reasons I can totally relate to Venice is amazingly expensive in terms of real estate. One more local gossip that was shared with us by our local guide was that Johnny Depp had once tried to own a house (while shooting for The Tourist) overlooking the square, and turns out it was so expensive that even he couldn't afford it!! Ya! That much! Then he took solace in some other by-lanes of the pretty city, but even that cost him 8.6 MM pounds! How's that for expensive? Now that I've laid the premise, let's move on to understand what makes this place so worth every pound the star spent. Venice is a city in north-eastern Italy consisting of a group of 117 small islands separated by canals and linked by close to 400 bridges. There is no way to get around the islands except your own two feet, or two wheelers! You seamlessly glide from one islet to another without realizing much difference. Every little piece of land is beautiful, general tourist entry begins at the Piazza San Marco, which was the principal public square and housed all the monuments of historical importance like the parliament, the court, the prison, the church. 

During it's time in history Venice was the centre for all sea trade owing to its ports and strategic position. There is enough evidence to showcase that dominance even today. The entire city is a declared world heritage site, if that doesn't get your curious on, nothing will J



All the history and world awareness lessons aside, let's get to the obvious: The gondola ride! Worth every bit of money you would spend (and trust me it's a lot!!) the highlight of the ride for me was when the gondolier broke into a song (this of course costs money, but then this was another gondola with richer riders. You never understand positive externality quite as much until you experience this one), Of course I didn't understand the lyrics, it a scene straight of the movie! And then when he suddenly at the end of small rivulet we suddenly turned into the huge grand canal.. it was just magnificent! A word of advice though.. don't get too carried away and start splashing the water in the canals, it’s as dirty as the Yamuna if not worse (How they keep the appearance up, that's something that probably we can learn) I dipped my hand for a brief moment (and withdrew it almost immediately when someone shouted at the sight of that!), even though it was barely a second and I sanitized immediately it still itched long after the ride was over. Just a friendly advice.. feel free to experience it first person if you must J. And what to buy from this pretty city? I can tell you.. Those amazing papier mache masks which are the staple for the carnival. You can see them everywhere! Adds to the magic. The authentic handmade masks are (goes without saying) a bit on the higher side, but then you will have to see them for yourselves and decide whether they're worth the keep (I decided they are :)).

And now for the last stop of my not long enough holiday: Roma!! This is the first place I have seen where I actually felt I was walking through history: a ruined temple, a half there half gone Colosseum at one street, a still functional Trevi fountain at the other. And a slightly modern monument Il Vittoriano bang in the middle, it was a huge Marble monument which shone amidst all the worn out brown. 

And yes.. The Vatican, frankly speaking for someone who does not follow Christianity would miss the point. I was feeling bad on being all touristy in St. Peter's Basilica, there they were praying with all sincerity, and I was staring at them trying to guess how it’s done, and again staring at the ceiling and marvelling at Michelangelo’s ingenious design and art. But then as I said earlier, it’s not as beautiful as its older cousin standing in Florence, but still you can’t go to Rome and not visit the Vatican City. But for all the faith in the city, my heart belonged to all the old world relics that were so liberally scattered at every turn. Goes without saying even this place deserved more time.

Writing these series of blog posts (Albeit over a period of almost an year) to recount those 10 days brought back so many pretty memories. And also that it ended too soon and left me with this urge for travel. This urge would not be quenched until I have hopped all around the globe. But for that.. I need some money.. and for that I need to work.. and because of that I can’t take a vacation at the drop of the hat.. and therefore I can’t travel as much as I’d like to! Man! Talk about a vicious cycle.

But even so I’m so glad that I finally finished this post! It has been in my drafts for like EVER!! While I’ve been contemplating on what to write here, so many other things have happened. I’ve taken 4 separate mini-vacations around the city and almost forgotten enough to not be able to write back about them. But guess what? My anniversary is up next month.. How time just flies… and before I start losing my trail of thought let me conclude this post by saying: And I’m done!!