Over a hot cupp-a-chai

Shrine of the Miraculous Cross in Goa

2008-09-13T16:37:00.001+05:30

miraculous_cross_panoramic_in_goa
Originally uploaded by fabiolus

A panoramic view of the shrine in Goa

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So i went to see the chronicles of narnia...

2008-05-27T22:22:00.005+05:30

"My mother was a black dwarf" said the big, fat, bearded white man.
-by far the funniest line in a movie from the classic "put me off to sleep" chronicles of narnia: prince caspian.

2007-07-23T11:55:00.000+05:30

I came across this picture of Sindhudurg fort while going through some old pictures in the archives of my computer folders. I can't believe i had witnessed something so beautiful...
I had posted this earlier as part of my Malvani Odyssey but couldn't resist putting it up again...

Harry Potter and the Order Of Utter Boredom

2007-07-21T11:41:00.000+05:30

I went to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the day it was released; not because I'm a potter fan but because I was plain bored. There are just two antidepressants that work for me.... watching movies and eating chocolates.....So I paid the premium to be part of the elite multitude who flocked Theatre 1 at Inox in Goa to see the movie the day it released..... I buy nachos and that huge tumbler of coke which would be dinner and take my seat for the movie.

The movie was or I should say still is so bloody boring....

The best part of the whole show that night in Theatre 1 at Inox in Goa was this trailer......

Being a big Simpsons fan I just can't wait for it to release!

Talk to me, don't blow up the world!

2007-06-29T14:00:00.000+05:30

Whats with these so called action movies these days?

Movie makers have spawned a new breed of movies where after intense dialogue between the hero and the villain realisation dawns on the villain that what he is doing is wrong. He should not have kidnapped the poor girl or robbed the bank or plan to destroy the world. Its wrong, he should stop and listen to the hero and try to make this world a better place to live in.
I saw it in spiderman 2 (and 3 to an exent) then in Fanbtastic 4 rise of the silver surfer.
Is this the fate of our movies? are we going to have psychiatrists for heroes, men who don't feel loved for villains and a couch for the battleground....
Whatever happened to the good old fashioned crash, boom, bang.. KAABoom -batman and robin style or even the dish-kyaon dish-kyaon... I want to see the villain blown up...trying to be evil... not by his own doing, because he has just been enlightened with something everyone knew all along.

I take it all back.... I just watched Die Hard 4..... my faith has been renewed

Ode to my hot cuppa chai

2007-06-28T14:54:00.000+05:30

A long overdue tribute to many a cups of delicious chai!
(sung to the tune of Last Kiss by Pearl Jam)

oh chai, oh chai
wont u set me free
from my recurring dosing spree
Ive got to work its half past three
I need ur anti snooze remedy.

oh chai, oh chai
wont u refresh me,
im feeling so tired and so drowsy
i can hear sleep callin out my name
im gonna drift off, don't u put me to shame.

oh where, oh where
could the chai wala be
doesnt he know its time for my afternoon tea
im losing control, im about to snore
i need u now more than ever before

-chai-a-holic anonymous

In pursuit of chocolate

2007-06-25T02:58:00.000+05:30

Its 3:00pm, sunday afternoon, it has stopped raining and the power supply shows some sign of stability. Iam studying for a certification I intend to get, when suddenly i get this craving for chocolate... Impulsive as Iam i want to get out and get some. But then i think... i've got a dump of more than 400 questions running into some 800 pages or so to go through, i cant just stop to get some chocolate... be rational... i've got to be serious about this, continue with the questions and may be later...

On my way out as i walk towards my bike i think to myself....
its sunday + 3pm + goa= there's no way in hell shops are goin to be open

i was right my regular supplier was closed... I on ride still hopeful that the shopping center would be open

Im at Panjim... supposedly a city in Goa... the capital too... yet after 2pm everyday all shopkeepers will shut shop and hit the sack for a snooze... a city called panjim

As i swerve onto the main road i get hit by a few drops of rain... i think to myself "should i turn back... nah just a few dro...." Swooosh it feels as though someone has emptied a bucket of water on me... literally...

in one sychronised motion all the bikes on the road including me ride onto the pavement and stop under the parapet of the adjacent building... ALL of us.. as though its an unwritten rule ...bikes allowed on pavements only if it rains... off the bike and i wait for the rain to stop

i feel my tummy ...hmm... it has gone in... maybe if i don't eat the chocolate my on going efforts will bear fruit and it will go in further... but then, when i visit my aunt she'll look at me and say "U've lost so much weight... here... EAT!!".... it would be like removing a drop and adding a gallon...

either ways an ocean will still remain relatively the same ... the rain stops and i continue

I've been pretty depressed for the past two days... I wanted to go to my cousins place, but then decided not to.. i did not get much study done yesterday .... i need to complete these questions... now i've got to deal with the guilt of wasting yesterday and the depression while I continue studying... way to go...

The certification is important.. people are counting on me for the benefit the certification brings.. what is it about me that makes people think they can count on me?
is it my not so broad shoulders..
my huge belly..
or the blank expression on my face when someone asks "could u do me a favour?"

..i will never know

i reach the center... its open... maybe it is a city after all

i find the chocolate counter to be unmanned ... i go behind the counter to get a better look at whats there and whats not....i hear a voice coming at me ...."could u tell me where i could find a shirt of my size" he says plucking at his shirt....
Im wearing a crumpled T-shirt..semi soaked jeans..with wet, messed up hair and my trademark ... a stubble u can spot from a mile

.....what makes u think i will be able to find u ur shirt? do i look like i work here... look around the guys who work here look a whole lot decent..

think...person...think... some people i tell u cannot be rational at all...

i said i had no idea, he aplogises and walks on to the next unsuspecting customer..

Damn "the one and only chocolate that i would want and eat" is not available.....

thats me being picky

i walk out to my bike.. ride around the city ... nothing is open ... or "the one and only chocolate that i would want and eat" is not available... but i could buy some fancy pajamas or have a dosa....

after a while i give up and settle for baskin robbin's chocolate mouse royale.... only the most yummiest and creamiest chocolate ice cream in the whole wide world.... but it will have to do ...tsk tsk

moral of the story... im not sure ... not figured that one out yet.....its back to page 159 question 76.....

Life ain't that bad...... at times

2007-04-12T17:07:00.000+05:30

The bright side to having a mango tree grow INTO your house!

Its Mango Season!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-20T13:03:00.000+05:30

Malvani Odyssey

2006-11-09T02:48:00.000+05:30

Here is the plan- get up at 5:00 am, leave by 5:30 am, reach Querim for breakfast, continue to Shiroda and from there on upto Malvan for some mouthwatering malvani food...umm... fish. Check out Sindudurgh fort and head back by 3:00 pm. You see I am a very organised man and absolutely agree with what my aunt says, "everything should happen, time to time."

Here is what happened, I wake up at 10:40am by the sound of a friend's phone call, still decide to carry on with the trip (what else did i really have to do).

I take the really smooth road to Saligaon from Porvorim, head on to the road parallel to that leading to Baga. The roads get narrow but they are not all that bumpy.

Stop. Breakfast. 2 glasses of sugarcane juice.

Continue to Siolim,the motorcycle ahead of me suddenly stops. What? there is a snake darting accross the road. I swerve right to avoid crashing into the motorcycle and then further right to avoid the snake now back to the left to avoid the motorist coming towards me..... phew...... that was fun.

But why did the snake cross the road?
Maybe it went after the chicken.

Accross the bridge and through the hills to Arambol.

The road swerves left around the hills making way for a beautiful view of the river below.

Avoid the first ferry crossing and continue riding, Querim.

Querim Beach. Beautiful, deserted and clean. But there were people bringing in Coconut leaves (to be used as roofs), and there is a bamboo framework in the shape of the houses I used to draw for art class in school.........Shacks!! There goes the deserted and clean. But its still beautiful though.

Just ahead the road ends at the ferry. Onboard the ferry I saw this huge, multicoloured turtle swimming into the river from the sea. At first I could'nt tell, the outlines of the sections of the shell was a mix of red and green. And its motion was masked by that of the boat but as we passed it, it became more clear. Huge Turtle. HUGE.

Off the ferry, and the road ahead leads to Tiracol Fort, now Tiracol Fort Heritage Hotel. It houses a church within and from the top you get an amazing view of Querim Beach, I could also see the ferry heading back.

A few pictures and onward to Shiroda. The road gets pathetic, with pot holes big enough to be lost in for a week and trucks thuding along, creating a mini dust storm before my eyes. Its like an extension of No Mans Land, No Mans Developmental Hassle, I thought to myself. Goa must have said, "the land belongs to Maharashtra". Maharashtra said,"the land maybe ours but the road belongs to Goa". Just then I see a number of trucks, all bearing Karnataka registered number plates. Karnataka must have said,"I don't understand what you say and you don't understand what I say. Just the way I like it."

But that stretch does end and soon I am turning left to join MSH 4 or Maharashtra State Highway 4. An amazing road through the ghats alongside the coastline, which is visible as you climb higher. The ghats are green with little traffic, mainly the locals on scooters, some cars, very few tempos and the occasional ST Bus. Be very careful of the buses and tempos though, the roads are narrow and for some reason they always pop up at the end of a blind turn.

Its 2:30pm no time to stop for pictures, besides, the camera I borrowed allows me to take just one picture before it says that the battery has died. So Iam back to my phone's camera.

The milestones along the highway are not meant to be taken seriously. I see a milestone saying 25 kms to Malvan. After 2 kms another says the same. Further down It says 20 Kms to Malvan after which I am back to 25 and then 22.

After a series of ups and downs I land up climbing again and then its flat with a totally different terrain. They are flat lands ... well more or less with dried grass which appear golden and you can see kilometers of it on either sides. Then its back up and down. This happens again for quite a stretch just before I turn left and head into the town of MALVAN.

Its 3:30pm with some directions I reach the fort its pretty simple to find actually just keep riding straight till a sharp right, when your there look on the left and you can see the fort.........Whoa its huge. Its out at sea and there are coconut trees growing inside.

The roads are very narrow and are labelled with ONE WAY, NO ENTRY and NO RIGHT TURN etc. But nobody actually follows them.

Now for that malvani food......ummm...fish.

Just my luck, lunch time is over, I was told. only breakfast was available .....what ??!!!

I had to settle for Onion Uttapam in Malvan...that sucks !
No I mean the Uttapam was delicious but there is no fish in uttapam.

A ferry service is in place to take people to the fort and it brings them back after about an hour and a half. It costs Rs 27 and they take 15 people at a time.

Its a small boat with a motor and a plastic can for a fuel tank.

The fort is huge. 3sq Kms some website had told me. As you enter there is a stall selling cold drinks and Kokum Juice. The kokum juice is very refreshing .... and I am still alive for those wondering how safe it is. There's like a village in the fort, one house even has Dish TV! There are atleast 3 mandirs that I have come accross along the cemented path.

A huge pedestle stands from where one can see the sea and the walls of the fort.
The sky looked amazing with huge clouds, which looked like rain clouds allowing sunlight to just seep through, illuminating the periphery of these clouds.

Coming back I have some more of that kokum juice and I climb up above the entrance of the fort. There I see it, a beautiful rainbow over the town of Malvan. A few others come but they are pre-occupied with something else. Apparently a footprint and a hand print of Shvaji was created and housed in 2 structures on the east wall of the fort."Who knows one of these locals only must have made these to attract more crowds, where there was cement during Shivaji's time" says one of the revellers.

It begins to rain. Those did'nt just look like rain clouds. They were rain clouds.

It stops raining back on the boat. There is a dead squid on in the boat. One person picks it up (I don't know why) another just says "Dil Chahata Hai" and this guy has got the squid over his mouth, which I manage to capture on camera.

As we get past the fort I can see the sunset. Now Iam almost at the level of the sea, the sun appears a deep orange in colour and its half swallowed by the sea. I take out the phone, click a picture and put the phone back in. When I look again the sun has set.

6:15pm. Back on dry land.

Here, two choices lie ahead of me :

Head back home with the ever dakening sky behind me, reach by say 9:00 or 9:30 pm, look for food, go home where there is no TV, nobody and nothing to do except sleep.

Or.

Find a decent Hotel with a TV (oh, how I've longed for thee), have authentic malvani food for dinner, sleep early, wake early and ride back with daybreak, on a road with no traffic.

In no time Iam watching James Bond's Never Say Never Again with a fish thali........umm awesome fried fish, in a clean hotel which goes by the name of Sonchafa.

I watch Jerry Maguire (again), and doze off.

7:25am. Off the bed, out of the room, on the bike and vvrrrroooooom.

2 hours 10 mins and 110kms later Im back home with the whole day ahead of me and lots of stories to tell.

Road Trip - Goa I

2006-10-30T20:42:00.001+05:30

Ive recently moved to Goa with a new job and rented accommodation at Porvorim. Have plenty of family here but not really had time to make friends. With friends I mean, crazy people who love to ride and enjoy going on road trips where after spending all night arguing about things that we won't really remember, heading out at dawn to climb the highest peak in that State with no sleep, no food and 1 bottle of water between the 3 of us. Then taking twice as much time than a man in a wheelchair would take; reach the summit only to be chased down the mountain by lightening. Yes as I was saying Ive not been able to make any friends.

My buddies and I would go out often when I was in Bombay, but since Ive moved here we have not been able to co-ordinate anything and its been sometime that I enjoyed a good ride.

I finally gave up the search and decided to go out alone, found a map and planned the route on Saturday night. The destination would be Dudh-Sagar a mighty waterfall in eastern Goa; following a road that leads to the top of the waterfall where there is a spring -the source of the waterfall and a breathtaking view of the surrounding regions.

I rode out at 5 am with the usual combination of no sleep + extra strong chai.

First, Petrol. my bike, a red CBZ was on reserve since last evening with 2 and1/2 Lts as reserve I was good for another 100kms even after yesterdays ride back home from work.

Considering I live along a National Highway and near the City its a pity not to find a sngle 24 hr petrol pump. After a few enquiries with the local taxiwallas I headed out towards OLD GOA. A neat stretch of road along the Mandovi River leading to Ribander and from there a narrow road which keeps splitting into one ways around picturesque old houses to Old Goa.

With the Basilica of Bom Jesu on the right and Se Cathedral on the left, along the same stretch, I rode on.Its 5:38 and I find a petrol pump which opens up at 6am. But the attendant obliged and filled fuel.Having petrol tank reserve restored and I had an additional 5 Lt in to burn.

Onwards to PONDA. The road taken was National Highway 4 A, it wasn't in too great a shape with potholes scattered across the road and loose gravel spread across some other massive ones declaring that restoration had ateast begun. Riding on I start climbing up towards the ghats I reach FARMAGUDDI; up on a hill with a coolness and fresh air thats unique to it.
Down the slope and Im in Ponda. I stop for some Lassi and off again. Now the roads are hell with pot holes materialising from thin air and Dumper trucks which have just be relieved of their load passing by like vampires fleeing away from dawn.

Dawn was magnificient with the sun lighting up clouds which formed a blanket, that stretched from over my head across the sky right to where the sun was rising leaving a narrow horizontal slit for the sunlight to pass.

Finally after some really bad roads I reach MOLLEM. Take the right (you would have to look really, really hard to find that right) and head out to COLLEM.
I stop for breakfast, puri bhajji and chai. After consulting with the cafe owner I was on a bumpy path which ended abruptly in a stream and began again on the other side.
The stream is not too deep, Trucks and Jeeps go through, but a local who was washing his truck in the stream informed me of another stream further ahead which was even deeper.
I stepped into the stream to gauge its depth and decided against going ahead, the water reached my knees and i could not risk having water go into the exhaust.

Dudh Sagar was now just 12kms away. It was 8:30 in the morning not such a bad time for a hike I thought. So I take out my camera to load the roll to find that the film advance lever of the SLR is not functioning. Pissed off I decide to head back to Ponda to find a studio or a repair center which might be able to help.

On my way back the NH 4A wasnt the same that I had come by. There were some stretches which were like dirt bike racing arenas with the road splitting up into 4 or 5 paths and dust from the tyres of the trucks ahead of me filling the air. At one such stretch i was displaced off the highway and was on my way into a new direction all together.
I stop to check the map and I was right, I had just passed PALE and that was way off the highway.

I thought to myself "today is Sunday and this is 'susegad goa', its very unlikely that I would find anything open so fixing the camera would need to wait anyway" with that thought just leaving my mind I check the map and I see that there is another waterfall nearby. I land up on the road from Onda to Sanquelim and take a left further ahead. I reach Arvalem Waterfalls.
With steps leading down I find a temple and on the left the waterfall. There is a tiled path with benches leading up alongside the waterfall and then further up to where I had parked. Its not a huge water fall but the small hutments and the entire layout of the path alongside the waterfall looks classic as in from another year in time.

After spending some time there I pick up the map and find a lake not too far away, Mayern Lake.
I head out to BICHOLIM, an old man jumps on promising me directions in return for a ride. On reaching his destination he directs me to turn off left to find the lake further. The road leading down to it looks just like those around famous tourist spots with shops and stalls - I hate that. But the lake was calm, the near end of the lake being a man made construction with the top, motorable. There were a few paddle boats out on the water and the areas beyond the lake were hilly and green.

12:30pm Lunch: Fish curry rice. Very, very tasty fried fish.

Off to CHORAO. Chorao is an island with narrow winding roads and pretty houses on either sides, these roads are very inviting and they entice you to continue riding. Slowly admiring the beauty the island has to offer I travel to the end of the island.

End of the road. I ride aboard a ferry, onboard I meet an elderly man who had just hooked himself a huge kite fish.The ferry takes me across the Mandovi River to back to Ribander. From Ribander its back home and time for some shut eye.

Ive managed to capture a few pictureson my phone and Ive clocked about 175 kms, not too bad for a start. Next up ... Sindhudurg Fort, Ive wanted to go there since last year, but its too far from Bombay. From here, Its about 150 kms..... only. And this time there will be better pictures.