Friends...who are they??

Its been roller coaster times for me since 3 months...Feeling lonely in a crowd and searching for friends. It makes me think have I been a good friend to anyone?

Weekend to Kodaikanal

Bangalore - Palani - Kodaikanal weekend trip

It was my grandma's wish that we visit Palani along with her last December. My son had a dream within a week after her demise. She called him to temple and I knew I had to go to Palani.

Erode:
With my mom-in-law joining us, we had to plan something that doesn't strain her much. We hired a qualis and left Blr on Friday night at 7 pm. The peak hour rush was bad till we crossed electronic city. We had decided to reach erode by mid night for the night halt. But, managed to reach by 2 am. For dinner, the only good eating joint on the way is the adayar anadabhavan A2B after hosur. We stayed at Oxford Hotel at Erode. Definitely NOT VFM - value for money (1050 - b4 tax for a family room - no hot water came and they delivered it in buckets). But, we all loved the restaurant there. The traditional filter coffee was amazing. Kids loved the Mango Shake with chocolate (I have never had Mango shake with chocolate). We left Erode at around 9.30 and reached Palani by 1.30.

Palani:
Though I have been to Palani before, this was my visit after 15 years and the first one after I moved to Blr. The weather as expected was hot. The kids were finishing all the water we had packed. The rope car is closed between 1.30 & 2.30 for lunch. I find this really strange. So we took the winch. It was a strange transport system...but enjoyable. Had an excellent Dharshan. We finished the panchamrutha abhishekam. With a thin crowd the Dharshan went great. Took the rope car back, skipped lunch and headed to Kodaikanal by about 3.30 pm.

Kodaikanal:
Reached Kodai by 5 in evening. Another place I am visiting after 20 yrs...The place was lovely.The weather too good. And loved the early dinner at 7. I had booked two deluxe rooms at Hotel Mount view through makemytrip. (For the second room when I tried booking for one chilld and one adult, by default it added extra charges for child, I changed the age to 1 yr, so that extra charges were not added). Dont get fooled by the name Mount view..there will be no view from your room :). I liked the hotel and felt it was VFM. The rooms were neat and the boys made us feel welcome and gave us excellent service..(though the men at the front desk did not make any such effort).

Me and Mahesha went hunting for an ATM. We missed the nearest one and had to walk more than one km...I realised how out of shape I was walking on those steep roads in my high heels. At night I regretted not getting sweaters. The thick blankets were not sufficient and the room has no heaters. So be careful to book one with heater if you are going in off season.

We strated the day with boating at the lake and enjoyed it..I had a little chit chat with the boatman and realised it was best to hire a guide. Our driver acted ignorant of the directions...Mahesha tried his hand at rowing and I was busy praying ;). He almost lost one oar and our boatman quickly took the oars from him.

After boating we went to Byrant Park. The flowers were beautiful and I tried clicking a few snaps. We then hired a guide (at Rs.350 again NOT VFM). Visited the temple, upper lake view, pine tree forest, pillar rock, suicide point. saw the golf course and the 300 yr old tree from the car. Spent 500 bucks on spices, the customary shopping at hill stns in South India. With the rain starting as we began our late lunch at woodland, we were more than happy with the day's outing and my MIL and kids retired for the day...

Mahesha and myself went back to the lake as the sunset and enjoyed a nice cycle ride around the lake. The two seater cycle is the best I could come to cycling in this life. The mist on the lake was wonderful and so was buying sweaters for 70 bucks each. The next day we had to check out by 9.00 per the hotel rules and we headed back to Bangalore. After a couple of hours at my uncle's house in chennimalai, the long trip back to Bangalore ended at 10.00 pm. I guess the drive was for about 10 hours. The longest one in the trip.

Driving directions are available in mustseeindia site. Online hotel booking works and the user ratings and feedback were very helpful. I liked the feedback put up on oktatabyebye site. Travelling with kids - take lots of water, fruits and other eatables, napkins, a small knife to cut fruits. The mangoes sold on the way to Kodai were delicious.

I would give a 4/5 for this trip.

Crazy Summer Trips

We are off to Palani and Kodai tomorrow. The initial plan was to cover Madurai also, but looks like it is not feasible..hope to write all about it when I am back. But, I have a crazier plan for May...going to Delhi by train in mid May for a 4 days stay in Delhi and Agra. Can I get any better !!

Last year it was US of A...This year Delhi, Agra and Kodai at 1/6 th cost! It is indeed tough times..But I am happy that I can still have my annual outings. BTW, my original plan was to visit UK this summer. But......

Life lesson from a Pencil

I heard this interesting story on the Sri Sankara channel last night.

There was this guy who was manufacturing pencils. He would put best of the material to make the nice dark pencil leads and safely put them between fine soft wood and sell it. One day as he was packing a box of pencils, he asked on of the pencils, if he can give the pencil some lessons that it can remember when it is out in the world. The pencil was happy to hear what ever its creator had to say.

That man shared five life lessons that he wanted the pencil to remember,
1. The greatness of your existence is not because of you, but the person who uses you. Without him you cant write a single word. So be humble.
2. You will have tough time when your wooden cover is shaved off. But, remember it only makes you better and sharper, so you can write well. This is painful but important for you life.
3. You may be in the hands of an artist or a carpenter, but do a good job, else you will be replaced with a better pencil. So do your best whatever the circumstance is.
4. Be not afraid of your environment, it could be a hard surface like a wall or a smooth paper. Fear not of your environment.
5. What makes you is not the beautiful wooden cover and the colourful prints on it, but your inner self that makes you an excellent pencil. So be not proud of your colourful exterior but be happy about your inner soul.

Just like pencil God wants us to know the 5 life lessons,
1. Be humble
2. Life hardships are painful but essential
3. Do your best wherever you are
4. Fear not, god is there to take care of you. Do your duty.
5. It is your inner soul that makes you what you are

I loved this story....

Summer hols - 2009

With summer hols on, aadi is hooked on to games. Aadi loves playing monopoly... it definitely helps him stay indoor and also understand the game of "business". I am impressed to see how many times he has beat most of us!

The next best hit this summer is his new find on the net. Disney's toon town. Some time earlier I was so thrilled to learn about second life. toon town is so much better and so much more fun..though the more advanced stuff need subscription..the free version is also something kids will definitely enjoy.

And of course, he loves playing Wii, though i haven't seen this myself, from what i hear from aadi, it is a kool stuff to play with and also doesn't make aadi a couch potato. I guess with his summer camp coming up and all these games and his dance classes, aadi is a very busy kid this summer.

I donno if i can squeeze in cycling and swimming. Abacus will have to wait for next summer...