Escaping into the woods and beyond!

#Travel Diaries

Part 1.

My summers usually follow the same routine. During the first week of the vacations I generally have one movie date with my girl- friends and then we meet once more during the month long vacation. My entire friend circle being quite lazy, we find it extremely difficult to wake up and get our asses out of the bed. On the other hand, family trips are a very rare thing in my house; most of our summers are gone in contemplating where to go and how to go. I have been very much used to the tailored holidays I spend. The last time we took a family trip was about 2 years ago to Kerala which was of course phenomenal. But I will leave that travelogue for another time. Right now I have something more amazing and memorable to share!

However, this summer was quite different. No, not about the heat. It was as terrible as ever. I am mentioning about our vacation plan. Surprisingly, we had plans ready by April, tickets booked 2 weeks in advance, hotels booked way before the trip and we had company too.  Honestly, I felt weird as hell, because planned get aways were never our thing, and with both parents working, some quality family time is quite a thing! But somehow, this time we collaborated with three other families and decided to head to a jungle resort in Dharwad and then a road trip to Goa and Dandeli and back to Hyderabad.

Hesitation about the whole program was something I felt till I actually boarded the train. Of course, from then on it was all a happy phase. We and another family travelled together in the train to Hubli and then hit the roads for almost 2 hours to reach Dharwad, a place very much known for jungle resorts. Most of our road trip went in clicking pictures and loud chatter. All that I could think of was 3 days in a resort in the midst of a jungle, towards one side of your cottage is a lake and towards the other side a deep dense jungle. The thought got me jumping on my toes. My mind went for a toss and I just couldn’t stop imagining how it was going to be. 

Sai river view jungle resorts.

We finally reached the most awaited jungle resort, and trust me; the entrance to it was mind blowing. It was an extremely narrow road with trees and twigs and weeds and all of the other stuff that are found beside trees. We first had to walk through this path, very carefully and then get into a huge bamboo raft that took us into the jungle through the waters. The pleasant breeze, the sound of the water gushing, the slow movement of the raft and the swaying of the trees in the jungle, I could stay there forever. And good god, the view. Fog filled mountains that seemed to be touching the                                                                                          clouds and trees and trees till as far as you can see.

 A group of 15 members in such a place of scenic beauty, with no signals in our mobile phones, no internet, no practical connection with anything or anybody of the outer world, you can definitely imagine how it must have been.  To be honest, this was a good and much needed break from a lot of things and this vacation did me so much good.

River Crossing.

With water surrounding our cottages, we got to do a lot of water sports like Kayaking, Banana rides (which was for me the best ride, I can do it like a thousand more times), speed boat, water scooter and most importantly river crossing. Let me just illustrate this last one to you. Imagine hanging upside down over a 40 feet deep river pulling yourself from one side to the other. Terrific.  Till today, it was the best thing I have ever done. Really.  Of course I was dead scared and did not want to do it at the first place, but today I am so glad I did it. The amount of courage it gave me and the thrill I had after doing it, irreplaceable. Hanging above 40 ft. deep water and the fear of falling down any moment, that is what taught me that life could get over in any second. Just live the moment. Somehow, after that I was a different person to myself.  Of course with tons of perspective and excitement, this water sport also brought me an unbearable hand pain. Well, it’s not easy to hang upside down and pull yourself! To anybody, who is ever planning to take up water sports, do try river crossing.

With walks through the forest and occasional treks, some hot yummy soup on the bamboo raft in the middle of the lake and hilarious singing and dancing competitions, we never knew how two nights passed. It was time to leave to Goa, Well, before I move to that part of my travel, let me just say that this part of the journey was most phenomenal because life was entirely different there. 3 days to myself, no internet, no disturbing phone calls, nothing to complete and no deadlines to meet, it was all peaceful and calm and just as good as I ever wanted things to be. No complexities, no disappointments, nothing to worry about. The wheel just kept on moving smoothly. If I had the chance, I might even choose to stay back there for a long long time. But life doesn't work that way, does it?

The team. 

Wow. Now I have gone down the memory lane, and I am sure I am not coming back any time soon. So the other part of my travel should wait, maybe it will come up very soon as another write up!

To those who have accompanied me, CHEERS!  You are a part of my best memory and I am glad you were all a part of making it one hell of a trip. Today when I look back at all those pictures, I realized we thought we were just having fun, never realized we were making memories!

Chaotic Colours and my Choices.

It is that dreaded moment of choice, when you can feel the prick of stares slaying your back and the hair on your neck rise. Well, that is pretty much what happened to me when I was ganged up by the two toughest people to convince in my family, my very own grandmother and her very own sister. Assuming my summer trip to my home town to be fun filled and jolly, I was in for a shock.  What exactly does one do when you are shoved bundles of coloured cards into your face and are asked to choose one best colour to paint the exterior of your house? And what do you do when they subtly try to scare you by hinting tiny facts like, “I am not going to paint it again for 15yrs, choose carefully”, “Choose nice colours I won’t spare you if it’s odd”, “Make sure your mom and uncle would like it too, the last time I chose, they didn't".

 At that point it struck me, I was given the responsibility that once my mom took up, and another time my uncle. Now it was my turn and I had to do what I dread the most. CHOOSE (which I absolutely suck at.)  Facts show that a normal human being finds it awfully difficult to choose amongst the things he likes, be it clothes, materials, food etc. And to prove this point wrong I have tried to choose food from the menu card every time I have been to a restaurant, but In vain. I end up ordering just the same food I order each time.

But May 3^rd, 2016 was different. I was choosing exterior wall colours for our house. No guys, I am not being silly neither did I freak out for no reason, I am trying to tell you that there are chances it can feature on the list of what one finds tough. Why don’t you give it a try? Of course none of us want to recall the nursery lessons on colours and their shades, but however, at one point of time most of us have to, and it is certainly that point when you hold the shade card of Berger/Asian/ or any other paints in your hand. Never in life, have I imagined that the existence of multiple colours can frustrate me. Yes, colours add joy to life, but the existence of their multiple shades, according to me, was only an artist’s confusion when he had to bring to life his work of art, until three days ago. I repeat until three days ago. This time I decided to do it, I decided to choose and make it happen.

Let me tell you, three days after that day,I am still trivially mocked at by a few, a victim of not so very cold stares from a few others and a receiver of mild appreciation from a few kind souls. Inducing an element of flashback here, let me take you back to the events that occurred after I was shoved the colour cards.

The moment my eyes witnessed about ’50 shades of colours’ I kept my cool, and chose the three best ones, and without a second thought brought samples of each of those. Ignoring every ounce of criticism that came my way, the buying, the testing, and the confirming happened in a day.  Yes, you guessed right, I had people telling me that it didn't look good, and that bad just begins to describe it. But this time, I choose otherwise, my choice is the choice. With the responsibility streak I was having, I bought 20 litres of paint and asked the painters to begin work. I should have noticed the perplexed look on their face, but I didn't. I should have paid heed to what my elders said, Nah, I didn't. I should have spent more time on choosing carefully, neither did I do that.

Work began. Colour looked awful. Phone blew up. 

The simplest description of my situation in the last three days.

Well, to every curious reader, I am not revealing the colour I chose, I wonder what was running on my mind when I decided to finalize it. For the next years it’s clearly going to be the brightest coloured house in the neighbourhood and for eternity and for generations to come this is going to remain. Somehow it makes me proud, but also a little guilty for having chosen the worst colour.

Choosing between a group of things has never been my thing. I can’t choose between important things such as best friends, vital things as food and trivial things as colours.  Who imagined exterior wall painting can turn to be my headache?

Well, for now it is done. This might be the most petty thing I might ever write down, but to everybody who is reading this; it ate up my mind for a good three days.

Meghana. Lanka

Dreams that matter!

May 1st, 2016- Like any other day I woke up early in the morning and proceeded with my regular routine, scanning all the social media apps on my mobile. Everything was absolutely fine, the regular pictures and statuses on Facebook, annoying good morning Whatsapp texts from relatives and some very interesting snap stories on Snap chat, everything absolutely fine,  until I opened Instagram. The first post I saw, I learned that my only favourite celeb and the only person I ever go gaga about – Virat Kohli was in Hyderabad the previous day and that too, in a place that is just 3kms away from my house. Boom!! That’s when I sat upright. In a regular situation, this write up would have been about how happy or how excited I was to have met “Virat Kohli”, but quite annoyingly, I chose just yesterday to travel to my home town.

To all those who know me, they are all quite aware that I have always wanted to meet him and they have all left no stone unturned to make me feel excited about the idea. (including inserting images on birthday cakes)

And to all those who don’t you would have very surely understood by now.

It was during the World Cup of 2008, that I first saw Virat play, and since then I have always been an ardent fan. Dedication and commitment has always appealed to me and that’s one of the biggest reasons I absolutely adore Virat Kohli. Most of the cricket maniacs would know his stunning performances and match winning knocks. Honestly, as a game cricket never interested me very much, till I saw this young player show his mettle on the pitch. Stories about his vice-captaincy, his World cup victory as the Under 19 champion, the tri-series 2012, Asia Cup and tons of others. From being an amateur player once upon a time in the team to becoming the youngest player to score 25 ODI (One day international) hundreds is most certainly a commendable feat.

I can keep bragging on and on about his achievements but today what caused me to write this is the extreme disappointment I experienced when I missed the chance of meeting him. 4 months back when I was in Delhi on a college trip, I remember getting excited just because I saw his house and that day I promised myself that I would meet this man someday. And this morning it all came back in a flash.  With all the pictures he clicked with a few lucky fans, my news feed was filled with Virat’s visit to Hyderabad.

Had I stalked his social media profiles day in and day out, I would have surely known about this, and had I inculcated the habit of checking for the schedule of the IPL matches rather than depending on my brother(who generally gives last minute info), I would have known that his team is scheduled to play in Hyderabad. To the anger and disappointment that ran through every drop of blood in my body, and to every source of outlet I chose for it, be it my friends or my parents, so far this has been the best platform to vent.

Exactly like 4 months ago, today once again I promise to myself, there shall be a day when I meet this man and when I am going to write in this same blog, the amusement and excitement of that experience. 

P.s: Biggest thanks to the few who tolerated me today. After all, like in the movies, hardly can I stalk him. That only Gaurav (Sharukh in the movie FAN) can do!