Bombay; My Surrogate Lover

The effortless seductress

Yet another Sunday, yet another week and soon yet another month.
I feel like the shy boy-next-door in love with the girl he watches from afar every day, the girl whose routine is embedded in his being, the girl whose idea he loves and the girl, who in spite of this intimacy he knows nothing about.
Bombay is my idea of that unrequited love.

It has been a little over three months since I moved in to this city. And it has been a love-hate relationship since then.
Was it the over-rated (or not) lust towards Bombay?
Is it that every day survival here seems harder than a successful attempt at CAT?
Is it that settling here makes me feel "I have arrived"?
Is it that moving around the city makes me feel like I'm a nobody?

How can a city elicit such emotions in a human being who is used to changing addresses every two years? Further, how can the same city elicit the same cocktail of feelings in the thousands that call it home every day?
Bombay is the sultry nymph with a galore of roadside Romeo's on one side fighting for a glimpse of her affection, and a row of jilted lovers on the other side hoping to find a way back to her fluttering heart.

Bombay is such a woman. She is unapologetically, wholesomely the woman I want to be.
She is beautiful. No, not the lush greens of Kerala beauty, or the rugged arid lands of the West charm. Not the beauty that comes with the history that embodies Delhi nor the naive old school charms of Calcutta.
But Lord she is beautiful. She is beautiful beyond definition.

Bombay is strength. Her strength lies in the fierce fire she stokes in everyone's bellies. Resilience is her middle name.

Bombay is fast and impatient. And the only way to deal with this woman is to be at her pace and yet patient at the same time.

Bombay will throw her tantrums, and drive you against the wall. And the moment you're on the brink, she will win you back with a sprinkle of love here and there.

Bombay will be tirelessly on your mind, even if she is not on your tongue at all times.

Bombay will become a part of you. So innocuously innocent at first and then, even before you know it, she will have your heart and soul in her clutches, leaving you writhing and pining for more sweet surrender.

Bombay is the poster girl of effortless seduction.

Bombay is the eternal surrogate lover.

Tourist in my own city: Delhi Shenanigans

"I asked my soul: What is Delhi?"

She replied: The world is the body and Delhi its life"

- Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib

My love

More often than not, we human beings take everything around us for granted. Parents, friends, family and most importantly our city! I started travelling around only once I moved out of Delhi after spending close to 19 years there. Once in a while i would think about the charm of the city and the splendour it holds in all the gallies and dhabas, but always wanted to explore outside. Only this time when I went home for winters, I decided to relive the beauty that my Delhi is, and boy I missed it!

You Win Some, You “Loo” Some! – Sulabh International Toilet Museum

Okay so how many of us knew that there is a toilet museum in Delhi? And that it is among the world’s weirdest museums? And that it is free?! (Well most amazing things in life are!)

So, well yeah, Sulabh International maintains a toilet museum in its premises which traces the history of toilets through human evolution. From double-decker toilets to ones disguised as book shelves one can find all sorts of potty pots ever used!

Not only is the museum entertaining but also educational! It was set up primarily to divert the focus of our policy makers towards the efforts that have been made in the past across civilizations to ensure hygiene and sanitation and given today’s status of waste management and environmental sanitation, the organization sure is a stalwart in many senses!

Futuristic toilet from Brazil! With arm rest!

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

On the toilet used by King Louis XIV in his court!

Double decker toilet used in america in early 1900s

Toilet disguised as a bookshelf!

Eat. Burp. Eat. Repeat. : Dilli Ke Pakwaan

Just as if having mouth watering roadside snacks on every galli and corner wasn’t enough, the Delhi Tourism Ministry also organizes an annual event which goes by the name Dilli ke Pakwaan and as it suggests one can find the most amazing of all foods found in Delhi! From Kashmiri Kehva, some 60 types of Kulfi (they had stuff like paan flavoured and black current kulfi), Daulat ki Chaat (50grams of heaven and milk and cream), biryanis, kebabs, nihari and naan and I cannot go on anymore without salivating like a dog sitting here in Bangalore! Usually held in the last week of every December, must visit for every foodie, hell no, every human being!

God bless Delhi Tourism!

Life is always better with some music, specially on a rustic gramophone!

HoHo Merry Dilli!

During my childhood, my parents did a pretty decent job of what the HoHo services does now, except they didn’t quite allow me to get out of the car and wander around Old Delhi at my whims and fancies. But guess what now you can! With two distinct routes (Red caters to historical / cultural sites and Green to mostly shopping sites), the Hop On Hop Off bus services is one of the most amazing, intriguing, charming, educational ways of discovering the secrets that the city beholds. Also a very good refresher to everything that you may have missed while you snored away in those middle school history lessons!

Red Fort and Delhi fog

Too much grandeur for my camera lens!

Chaddar bazar

Jama Masjid

Dilli 6

Period. One doesn’t even need to go beyond that description. Just saying Dilli 6 conjures up the most mystifying vision of food, parathas, noise, nondescript alleys, moong dal ka halwa, jalebis, Karims, Jama Masjid and haggling. Writing more about Chandni Chowk won’t do any justice. One has got to meander through the lanes to get enthralled by the splendour.

At paranthe wali galli

Going back to Delhi makes you realise how much you missed the wide roads lined with trees, steaming momos which can totally give the ones in Gangtok a run for their money, street shopping to one’s heart’s delight, Delhi Metro and its most entertaining set of commuters, winters and chai, couple of drinks at Hauz Khas Village and a stroll around the lake.

Makes you remember how the city is so much more than front page criminal headlines.

The city has a charm and history than can be shrouded by none.

Gingee: The Hidden Treasure of Tamil Nadu

“Half the fun of travel is the aesthetic of lostness” – Ray Bradbury

Every person, every traveler has that one that one kind of place that they keep going back to..in their journeys through time and physical places and their minds. For some it may always be finding that secluded spot on a beach and counting the waves as they slowly die and reincarnate again and again, and for some it may be spending hours studying and watching people in a bustling market. For me it will always be the ruins. Nothing gives me the sense of satisfaction, of discovery, of peace and calm, of humility as sitting alone in the midst of ruins, imagining how a century ago, that very same spot could have been used to sell fruits in a Sunday market, or by a courtesan enthralling her audience, or by a king making important (or not-so-important) decisions! Just the time travel in my mind gives a sense of awe that nothing can parallel.

So while we were on our weekend getaway to Pondicherry (and getting bored out of our minds by the second day...no offence to Pondy lovers!), we decided to check out Gingee (yeah Lonely Planet had like one paragraph about it in their South India section, but just those few lines were captivating enough).

Gingee lies almost midway between Chennai and Pondicherry and it’s close to a two hours drive from the latter. 

The town is located between three hills and the most famous attraction of this otherwise nondescript town is the Gingee Fort. Gingee Fort (also known an Senji, Jinji, Senchi or Chenji) is one of the few surviving forts in Tamil Nadu and was tipped as the “most impregnable fortress in India” by the Maratha ruler Shivaji and the British were so kind as to call it the Troy of the East.

The Gingee Fort

Within the Gingee Complex

One of the many corridors to take you back in time

The Venkataramana Temple in the background

The site originally built by the Chola dynasty in the 9th century AD, has since then passed through the leadership of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Marathas, Bijapur sultans, the Mughals, French and finally the British. The complex is nestled between three hillocks: Krishnagiri to the north, Rajagiri to the west and Chandrayandurg to the south east. Apart from the fort, the complex houses a 7-story building called the Kalyana Mahal (marriage hall they say), granaries, prison cells, temples and several tanks. If you’re lucky then you’ll have almost the entire complex to yourself to explore and relish in peace, otherwise like us you may have to share it with bus loads of weekend travelers and school kids!

Though the complex in itself is absolutely beautiful, but your mind really begins to get blown when you start the uphill climb to the fort. The steps are more like huge slabs of rocks and climbing those can totally replace the lunges one does in the gym and to top that the climb is at least 45 degrees if not steeper. And if this wasn’t enough there will be monkeys jumping around trying to take your belongings just for fun or kids trying to race each other to the top or to the foot! But still, despite all this, with every few steps when you just look around, without fail one ends up heaving a huge sigh (party due to breathlessness), but mostly because there’s nothing else that you’d do at that very moment but soak in the feeling of (almost) being on top of the world!

View from on the way up

And yes, you'll usually find company

Before the climb I had read the ASI description about the fort being impregnable, but I truly understood the meaning when I got on top and realized that there was a real draw-bridge across a massive crevice which separated the actual fortress on the top from the rest of the structure! And crossing that bridge is not for the faint hearted, or those suffering from vertigo like me! At that height, with the winds howling, you feel like you’ll be blown away like a stray kite with every step that you take!

Ranganatha Temple on the way

What's a fortress without a draw bridge!

But once you finally station yourself on top, and look down at the rest of the world, the complex which would have once been teeming with people, the granaries with produce, the chants of the priest in the temples, the two other hillocks guarding the complex and everything else takes a back seat. In those few moments lie the little joys of life which make the rest of the weeks and months worth going through.

Venkataramana Temple complex

The temple replete with monolithic pillars

Near the complex is the Venkataramana Temple which was built by the Nayakas. This is usually comparatively more secluded than the inner fort, maybe because this edifice is actually quite secluded. The entire temple brims with large monolithic pillars, which adds the Mummy Returns sort of eeriness.

In short, Gingee is a jewel. When in Chennai or Pondicherry, it is a must visit!

Bidding Adieu to Summer, Bilbao style!

“Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God – Kurt Vonnegut”

This September I went back again to France (in an attempt to make this an annual thing, and make it sound all fancy!), and luckily for me, this year, the (European) weather Gods were in a much better mood! The 10 days that i was there i soaked up more sunshine than I actually ever have in Bangalore in the last 1.5 years!!

Since last year I had managed to cover a lot of places in France, so this year I decided to drive down further and visit the areas of the Basque Country which lie in Spain (obviously it’s a blessing when you have an adoring boyfriend willing to drive you down to wherever you want!)

Our first stop was Hondarribia.

Hondarribia, which in Basque means sand fort is a quaint border town located on the west shore of the Bidasoa river. The first thing that hits you when you step foot on here, is how different the pace of life is from France which is just a couple of kilometres away! Almost felt that the car ride was more than a ride, it was a journey back in time (or forward?!), to a space where good food, good ambience, walking by the beach, watching pristine white sailboats and colourful yachts on the deep blue waters, meandering aimlessly on cobbled streets define a way of life instead of the madness that consumes us as we run every morning from home to the gym to work to the local bar to back to bed. It was a Wednesday and we only planned to stop for a few quick hours to walk around the town, but it almost felt like in the middle of a festive season with kids running all over the place, people old and young sipping on wine and gulping down beer on the tiny bar stools that pockmarked every walkway and lively music floating through the air.

Apart from chilling, soaking in the good life and leaving all worries behind, the other things to do here would be to relax some more (!!) and maybe to visit the Ermita de Guadalupe, a small church situated on the hill top.

From postcard to reality!

Cobbled pathways of Hondarribia

Next up was the city, which is now a part of my ‘favourite cities’ list; Bilbao. Before coming, the usual things one would have heard about Bilbao were..umm nothing more than a small gritty industrial town, but it is magnificently surprising to see how culturally oriented the city has become with marvels of art to stumble upon at every second turn you take!

First up of course is the most famous attraction – the Guggenheim Museum. Designed by Frank Gehry, the building in itself is an architectural masterpiece. And even before you can enter the museum, you are hit by a blast of art by from the several installations around museum premises.

Installations outside the Guggenheim Museum

That moment of pride - Anish Kapoor at Guggenheim

The Guggenheim is situated right next to Casco Viejo, the old town which is full of charming streets, quaint houses, magnificent churches, boisterous bars, quirky shops and lots of good food!

When in Bilbao, one must try the pinxtos (Basque tapas), and we were just lucky to have landed right in the middle of the pinxto festival! This is when almost every pub (which double up as cafes during the day) serve their specialties and compete with each other to win the best pinxtos award!

Now since Bilbao is a valley town nestled between mountain ranges, it’s a pretty good use of one’s time there to take the funicular as it creaks and moans its way up Mount Arxanda from where one can get spectacular views of the entire city.

At Mount Artxanda

Sunset at Mount Artxanda

Finally on our way back to France, we decided to make on last stop at Donostia- San Sebastian. If ever you have dreamt of what the perfect beach would look like, then Playa de Concha and its extension Playa de Ondarreta would be the epitome of that dream! With the golden sandy beach stretching till the eyes can see, water more blue than you’ve ever witnessed, hundreds of toned bodies soaking up the sun, it is easily one of the best beaches I have ever been to! Walking towards the western part of the beach, you reach Playa de Ondarreta and if the sumptuous beach wasn’t enough to enthrall your senses, then definitely the sculptures embedded in the rocks would. The installations by Eduardo Chillida, create a mystical harmony between human art creations and the creations of nature. 

Playa de Concha

Installations at Playa de Ondarreta

San Sebastian, screams art, culture, history and positivity from every brick! No wonder it has been named as the European Center of Culture for 2016. One can spend hours walking around the old city, savoring the pinxtos followed by the churros, witness wedding celebrations at the Ayuntamiento de San Sebastian, laze around in the courtyard of the Plaza de Constitucion, walk up to the sculpture of Christ as the Good Shepherd or just check out the Aquarium at the end of the pier.

Plaza de Constitucion

It is true that visiting Spain is tantamount to a visit to India, it’s a collection of small nations working together, each with its own distinct art, flavour and culture and yet fusing together so effortlessly. A weekend in the Basque region will most probably be spent OD-ing on art and beauty and letting the smells and tastes overwhelm your senses.

These are not the most advertised European destinations, but by far one of the most beautiful and fulfilling journeys I have taken.