Photo Bombed By a Cow

Hi, this is Aadya. Since the last instalment of this blog, we have been on a whirlwind tour around this large country, going from Delhi to Jabalpur, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Thiruvannamalai, Chennai and then all the way back to Delhi.

 For me the most memorable of our many experiences was being photo bombed by a stray cow, and hence the title of this blog. 
   I would love to attach all the photos of us being photo-bombed by stray animals, but unfortunately tragedy has struck - all the photos taken on Rishabh’s camera have been lost! Something to do with an error in the process of importing it into the computer which wiped out the photos from the camera but didn’t take them across into the computer (so if anyone knows how to retrieve deleted photos from a camera, please share your suggestions). For now the only photos we have are those we took with our phones and those from Google Images.

   On a lighter note, Aarushi and I had a wonderful idea, that we would count all the stray animals we came across in our travels (excluding stray fish, because Aarushi confided to me her fear of stray fish). So here’s the tally for every city we visited:

• ·      Jabalpur, 3 days, 501 animals
• ·      Mumbai, 6 days, 410 animals
• ·      Goa, 7 days, 527 animals
• ·      Bangalore, ¾ of a day, 12 animals
• ·      Thiruvanamalai, 3 days, 400 animals
• ·      Road to Chennai, 5 hours, 500 Animals
• ·      Chennai, ¾ of a day, 5 animals

   The winner by numbers is clearly Goa with 527 animals. But please note that the count was over 7 days as compared to “Road to Chennai” with 500 animals in 5 hours, @100 animals each hour! If you really want, you can work out how many animals we saw on average for every day in in each place and work out fair and square which place had the most but... is it really worth all that?

"Please don't go on the other side of the railing"

   As shown in the tally, the first place to which we went was a nice town in the middle of India, called Jabalpur. Thank you to Kuljit Baba (Dad’s music teacher), Raj Dadi, Maneesha Bua and Jaspreet for being so hospitable and taking such good care of us. We saw many fantastic things there, like the spectacular Narmada river, the Dhuandhar (Misty) waterfalls of Bheda Ghat, the beautiful marble rocks, and the inevitable cow at the gate blocking our access to the outside world. We also came across many intelligent signs at the waterfall that cautioned us not to go on the opposite side of the railing. For the record, we weren’t tempted..      

Dhuadhar Waterfalls

We got a great view of the waterfall on the cable car and also on the ground (behind the railing)

After visiting the falls, we went on a boat ride on the Narmada river, to see the amazing marble rocks. We had bought a road map of India and Dad made us learn all the major cities, states, rivers and mountains. So we knew that the Narmada was one of longest rivers in India, flowing from East to West, and draining into the Arabian sea. The boat ride was hysterical, with the boat guy giving us a really funny, (badly) rhyming, running commentary on all the things we could see. Amongst other things, he told us that many famous Bollywood movie  songs and scenes were shot at this place.

   After the boat ride both Dad and Kuljit Baba ended up paying the boatmen, not knowing that the other had also paid. Most people would have pocketed the money and we would have been none the wiser, but one of the boatmen actually ran 400 metres up the steep slope to return us the money! Just when you think you have India figured out..

   Next stop on our tour was the bustling Mumbai, easily the most congested city in India. You can  imagine our surprise when we found it would take us only 40 minutes to drive the 30kms from the train station (Kurla) to Royal Bombay Yacht Club in Colaba. And then imagine our further surprise when we walked into our “suite” that was so large that you couldn’t see, let alone hear someone at the other end, along with a grand balcony overlooking Gateway of India! I was introduced to the Club Sandwich here, which I went on to order pretty much wherever I went afterwards. Thank you to Bakshi Nana and Mithi Nani (old friends of our Nana and Nani), whose membership at the club got us our accommodation there. 
   Now the last time that Dad was in Mumbai, someone stole his wallet on a bus. So Dad was clearly worried when Mum declared that she was going to take us on a one-day tour of the Mumbai that she had lived in, which was going to include rides on the local train and buses (and as it happened, also a tour of her beautiful house on Carmichael Road and a sundae from the very ice cream shop that she used to eat at). And so he tucked away his cash and cards, got a mustard yellow “decoy” wallet in which he stuffed a 10 rupee note and a “Dad special” hand-written note in Hindi saying “you’re an idiot for picking my pocket.” Sadly in all our travels, no one went for the decoy wallet.

The iconic Shivji sculpture of the caves

Dad's note to the pick-pockets

While staying in South Mumbai, we visited the Elephanta island, for which you have to go on an hour long boat ride over the sea. The boat guys decided to blast music into the crowd, featuring classy songs like a woman singing about how she loves money. Looking around, I saw everyone was so into it - the woman sleeping on a sack, drool dribbling down her chin, the guy playing on his phone with ear buds jammed in, and Aarushi with her hands over her ears. The only thing we could do to get away from the blaring stereo and the overly enthusiastic D. J was to go to the upper deck, for which they were charging money. Smart way to get rich! But the famous cave sculptures and rock carvings at the island were simply amazing and well worth the painful boat ride. We sat and soaked in the atmosphere there for a long time, pondering over the civilisation that could produce something so magnificent and intricate thousands of years ago. Coming back out, we saw a guy jostling with a monkey who was claiming first dibs on the guy’s food. The monkey won.

   We spent the second half of our Mumbai stay with Mridula Dadi (my Dadi’s sister) and her family (Amar Baba, Akash Chacha and Mitthu, the screeching parrot). Aarushi and Mridula Dadi worked painstakingly on Aarushi’s self-initiated online family tree project, and managed to increase the count from 436 to 600! Aarushi made her call at least 2 dozen relatives every morning to dig out names, birthdates, spouses, siblings, children etc., managing to capture every member of 4 generations of Dadi’s clan. Each conversation started with, “Listen, I’ve got Didi’s 8-year old grand-daughter insisting that I call you”. I wonder what they all thought of Aarushi!

   Billu Mama (a long-time family friend of my Nani’s) who lived nearby, was roped in to be our driver and tour guide during our stay in Kandivali. Poor Billu Mama seems to be a magnet for ridiculously funny experiences, which are often entirely self-inflicted. One time Dad was on the phone trying to place a pick-up order for 8 Kathi rolls (Sandwich wraps) whilst Billu Mama was driving us. Billu Mama must have asked Dad at least half a dozen times to check if the shop was near some Hong Kong Bank. Dad was having enough trouble communicating with the girl on the phone, who finally turned around and said, “So basically you want 80 Kathi rolls delivered to your address at the Hong Kong Bank?” That was when Dad gave up.

   We caught up with so many more people for lunch, dinner and tea during our stay in Mumbai. Big “Thank yous” to Sumit Uncle, Amrita Aunty and Aishani, Mandar Uncle’s parents, Leela Nani, Baldev Nana and Sunil Nana, Bakshi Nana and Mithi Nani, and last but not least Brajesh Baba and his family. We loved meeting all of you.

   Next stop on our trip was Goa. At the airport, we decided to test Aarushi on her ability to buy things in India. So we sent her to get us Hot Chocolates and bottled water. The test went so badly that Rishabh and I had to step in after 15 minutes because so many people had pushed in before her. We gave Aarushi a D minus for not being assertive enough. All this inspired Rishabh to set a goal, to help at least one tourist travelling through India with the little Hindi that he himself could speak. Unfortunately he couldn’t accomplish even this small goal, given that most tourists in Goa are in fact Russian.

Just before take-off

   But Goa was SO much fun! We were either in the pool or at the beach for the best part of our waking hours. Rishabh and I went parasailing at the beach, which was undoubtedly terrifying, but exhilarating all the same. Being the only children in the whole resort had its down side, but also had its perks. It meant that we were the only participants in the daily competitions and games, so one of us would inevitably win the prize at the end. By the end of the week we had 5 coupons for free drinks, a T-shirt and a mug.

   After the heavenly week in Goa, we went further south to Bengaluru (or “Bengaruru” as we liked to call it given we sometimes affectionately call Aarushi “Ruru”). We stayed at a hotel which I decided would be my future home (between stays in Goa’s Haathi Mahal of course). The hotel had such great security that when Rinki Bua, Shantanu Chacha and Pinku Mama came to visit, they were escorted to our room by a guard, and Mum had to confirm that she knew them and also sign them off on the log book.

   Next on the whirlwind tour was the small spiritual town of Thiruvanamalai. We stayed in a place called Sparsa resort, which claims to be an an eco-friendly Hotel, or an Eco-tel. We took advantage of the many free activities there, like the parrot astrology (for the record, “good times ahead” for all us), a pottery wheel, the private swimming pool, and also a henna stall. Obviously catering to a large non-Indian demographic, the Eco-Tel had taken to describing many curious things with the all-purpose “ethnic” label. So we started our own little list of other things that could benefit with the “ethnic” label:

• Thing                                       Ethnic Version
• Tomato Chutney                       Ethnic Ketchup
• Peanut Chutney                        Ethnic Peanut Butter
• Bullock Cart                             Ethnic Taxi
• Uttapam                                    Ethnic Pancake
• Meditation                                Ethnic Sleeping

Dad and Rish in their ethnic wear

   We also went to the famous Annamalai temple, where our guide seemed to have some slightly shady inner connections. We were escorted straight into the inner most sanctum of the temple, and seated right in front of the Shiv Lingam where the priest performed a special puja for us. Let it be known that other people paid 250 rupees (approx. 5 dollars) just to be able to run past the building, with some of them yelling, “But I am special, let me in!!” We were also given flower garlands which must have weighed about 2kgs. Mind you all this only happened after Rish and Dad were first rejected entry for wearing shorts and so had to go and buy and wear the South Indian Lungi! 

Mount. Arunachal

   I guess I should mention that the next day Dad did the full 14 km walking-parikrama  (“going around”) of Mount Aruhachalam at Thiruvannamalai, which is meant to confer many blessings. It was a mighty effort on his part, as we discovered the next day when we did the same parikrama  in our luxurious, air-conditioned taxi... hopefully a more efficient way of picking up the same blessings!

   Next stop was Chennai via the famous sea-side town of Mahabalipuram which has the 1400 year old Shore Temple and impressive rock sculptures called the Pandav Chariots and Arjun’s Penance. Transitioning effortlessly between the ancient and the modern, lunch was at the swanky new Radisson Blu that was so big that there was a fleet of golf carts to help people get around! I then added this to my list of future homes. But I can tell you where we won’t ever be staying again– at the Deccan Plaza hotel in Chennai.  I guess it would have been OK if not for the fact that the hotel wreaked of wet dog, and the carpet in the hallway hadn’t been cleaned since dinosaurs were around. We lost count of how many times we asked them to clean it, but they just came and sprayed some air freshener on the walls!  After repeatedly hounding them for a spare bed for Ruru (having booked one from before), at about 10pm two guys (one of which looked about 12) eventually lumbered in carrying just a floor mattress between them.  Dad gave up at this point, and started laughing hysterically.

The hastily taken picture of Aarushi

   At the Chennai Airport on our way back to Delhi, we met someone who we like to call ‘Aarushi the Business Woman'. She was very busy as she was leaving to London for work but we managed to take a picture before she sped off. 

   That’s it from me. Thank you for keeping up to date with our travels, and look out for the March edition of the blog written by my Mum.


Endnote- if your head is spinning from all of the hindi names for relatives, refer to the end of the last blog for a quick crash course on these crazy relations.