The Indian odyssey

We are back from India ... atleast physically. The flight back was definitely long.... and I am yet to come in terms with the fact that the vacation is over and its time to work. I'm sure, more that the jet lag.... the vacation lag is sure to linger on ....

We had our share of problems with travel plans and visas... But on the whole our trip to India was pleasant and enduring. The longest vacation of my life ( a month) , only next to the long summer holidays we enjoyed as kids in school. It was good to be back home... To the house you grew up.. The roads you cycled as a kid, the grounds you grew up playing and ofcourse among the lush greeneries of the serene and ever fascinating Goan country side. The rains ensured that we stayed home for most part and had a great time with acchan, amma and sreeraj.

It was nostalgia all the way and was glad I could atleast speak to a few of my old buddies over phone (Tojo, Zubin, Rajiv, Raul).

The drive to caba-de-rama was fun .... so was the trip to kesarval springs, lunch at colva and watching the movie - "Yahaan" at the new Inox theatre in panaji. It was good to see a good theatre finally come up in Goa. Just a word on the movie - We thought "Yahaan" was easily one of the best hindi movies to be released in a while. A beautiful movie set against the backdrop of violence in kashmir... well directed and shot well.. apart from some lovely songs.

The train trip to from goa to jabalpur was fun... especially with the beautiful ghats it travelled through and a digicam in priyanka's hands. The journey also was an opportunity to visit Khandwa (priyanka' native place) - A small dusty bustling town with loads of interesting characters and hospitality. Can't forget the wonderful food we had at Sonu's place and the hour long chat with the guys at the railway cloak room at midnight.

We also had loads of fun at jabalpur with pallavi didi, ranji, papa, mummy and ofcourse the little talkative angel - ishika. You get some wonderful chaat in jabalpur, not to forget some lovely chinese food and we were not going to miss out on them.

Last week in Mumbai was all work with hardly any play. The floods had cleansed Mumbai and for once marine drive did not have its trademark smell and the window at kunjamma's place did not open to filthy slums. Its funny - may be it was god's way to clean up the city which the BMC has been unsucessfully trying to do for a long time.

Inspite of the problems we had with the visa... we finally managed to travel back on August 28th. The busy schedule in mumbai rushed us through the last week and before we realized we were on the flight back .... leaving us with lots of unspoken words, sadness and ofcourse a long wait till our next trip back home.