Nandi Hills- Awesome Destination for a Quick and Dirty Trip

I had been last week to Nandi Hills with my fiance. The place seems excellent for a short weekend getaway. We were there only for a part of the day, but ideally its a nice place to stay. There are 2 hotels to stay. One being Mayura Pine Guest House and the other being the horticultural bungalow in the hill. I am not too sure about the rates, but I guess it wont exceed Rs 500 a day. Its ideal to go there in the monsoons when the mist makes it lovely to wander around the park.

The only turn off there are monkeys who would scare you to death, by holding you at gun point and ordering you to give any food material you have. You should be careful, in not having a light bag, as the monkeys know to pick your bags. The monkey tried my bag, but thankfully it was very heavy due to my disorganised packing.

The place is lovely for long walks in the woods, and is commutable by public transport from Bangalore. Its 2-3 hours by road and its advisable to take the State Transport buses directly or go to Chikbalapur and then go to Nandi Hills.(Majestic Bus Terminus), as it gets difficult to drive a Car/Bike in the mist on curvy mountainous terrain.

We had our brunch and Linner at Mayura and it was a fairly inexpensive place, with basic food items being cooked. Lunch doesnt have too much of a menu, as they make what people consume the most. Roti Dal/Rice wins hands down. For people looking at Alcohol, Mayura also serves alcohol, which to me appeared strange as all through the journey, i saw signs saying Nandi hills has prohibited consumption of alcohol.

It also forms a good weekend break from Chennai, if you are tired of trips to Ooty, Pondy, Mahabs and Kutralam.

Umbrella Diaries

Its scary walking in Mumbai from the station along the footpath with the mass of umbrella's that stare at you. You see nothing but colurful umbrellas all over and for a moment you feel like celebrating the rains, but the problem comes with people in a hurry with those umbrellas.

The edge of the umbrella either comes close to brushing your eye/forehead or scratches at your umbrella, throwing you out of gear sometimes and at times, exposing you in the heavy rains. You cant even see whats in front as the upper view ensures you see a mass of humanity in holding various umbrella's and a score of Mumbai's ubiquitous Black Fiat Taxis. Below you see footwear and the slush, and cant really plan your way through rain's to carefully tread the slush that lays ahead. More than that, one needs to hold the umbrella at angle so that the maximum regions of the Shirt, Pant and my carry bag, doesnt get wet(Its a got a heavy 3 kg IBM Lenovo lugging behind). So much so for travelling in the rains and singing as the Indian movie industry shows it! You do this twice a day, and I am sure all that love of rainy day songs just remain an MP3 number on your music device and do no special effects when it actually rains.

Its comfortable staying in Bandra now, with not too much water logging, but at some stage I would need to stop paying rent and buy a house. On the lookout daily in classifieds to get a house here. That would need a detailed post, so I'l get back later on that, till that try "enjoying" the rains wherever you are!

Wanderlust?

I happened to stumble across Anita Bora's Photo set on Flick R "Infy by Night" and it immediately opened the floodgates, for some nostalgia of my first employer. Infy Bangalore, was a treat to the eye, and in my honest opinion, I bet no company has spent the way Infy has, especially for the way the Infy campus is structured. Given that my Mainframes Training happened in Bangalore, some of the best moments in life happened at night, when the otherwise 15000 strong workforce was reduced to a mere 5%. The Long walk from Block 12,Trainig Room to the dorms near the Amphitheatre, the lovely moments boating in the pond, the secluded benches amidst the greenery, walks around Hosur road(gate1),the slow cycle ride with a walkman on....these are some vignettes that I would forever cherish in my life.

I had plans of visiting the bangalore campus this weekend,but I was too busy finalizing the laptop, raising funds for the remaining portion of the fees, and getting started with Micro economics. I needed to be in Chennai for a few domestic things and so the bangalore weekend plan did not happen.

I really admire Anita Bora, as she is one person to whom I look up to for her travel blogs on all offbeat places.I am still smitten by Gokarna, the sleepy hill side resort town(where Malgudi meets Baywatch), that she featured on her blog.I've been to Gokarna twice now, and time permitting, I may make a quick visit next week.If I do get to Gokarna, this time its a midnight trek across the sands.Gokarna beach is also an ideal monsoon holiday destination too, unlike the fake monsoon holiday world, I live in. I would love to do what she is doing, in terms of exploring offbeat places and setting a trend. As of now, my biggest roadblock is organizing trips with college mates, who seem to be vacillating between coming and not coming.I guess with, online travel communities, its time for finding travel partners online and enjoying trips, rather than known friends.