Into the blue waters

Oh wow, guess what? We won we won, she announced.

It was one of those SMS contests run by Airtel. I wasnt an Airtel customer back then, and so had sent in an entry through my friend A's phone. And much to our surprise we'd won the 1st prize. It was a one day all expenses paid stay at Taj Fisherman's Cove. [it has been rechristened as Vivanta by Taj Fisherman's Cove]..

She then went on to say "am thinking of giving this prize to P & C [ a couple friend of ours] since it is for 2 people.  I replied "yes" and forgot about it till a few days later. As we were winding up for the day, my friend said "C has just discovered she is pregnant and so they are not keen on taking up the one day at Fish cove, what say we take off and go?"

Whoopie, i was excited. It was the 1st time i was getting such an opportunity. Soon after, we called and booked the date, packed our bags and drove out to Fisherman's cove along ECR.

Greeted with a garland made with shells and a welcome drink, soon showed to our room. It was beautiful, the walls were Blue, with a fish painting and another landscape adorning the other wall. The room, like every other opened out to the ocean and what a view that was....

We strolled along the beach, did a bit of work out in the gym [before dinner] and enjoyed a "on the house" dinner. A night stroll and an hour or chatting up while the waves lashed made the day magical. We decided to do something fun the next day, and as promised, we did. 

The morning dawned bright and beautiful, and we were high. Enjoying the luxury, pampering and the chance to unwind, we soaked it all in. Around 11, after breakfast and some walking, we walked along the shore, further ahead where a guy jumped down from a tower of sorts and greeted us. He then took us to a catamaran and introduced us to Senthil, the guy who was going to be our guide/and saviour... :-)

 

We were gonna go on a Catamaran Ride... Took off our shoes, i removed my specs, handed over the camera, and bags to the man in the tower and headed off towards the Catamaran. With butterflies and their grandparents doing the tango in our bodies, we hopped on to the wooden plank, holding on to the rope praying we got back safe. Oh, i forgot to mention- we were wearing life jackets and Senthil promised there was nothing to fret about.

"Ya right, tell that to 2 very frightened gals, neither knew swimming".... Within minutes, we forgot our fears and were screaming away in excitment, atleast i was. The water lashed onto the catamaran, drenching us, it was cool, it was sweet and it was salty. Boy, what an experience. After about 10mins, Senthil stopped rowing, and said "This is it, Jump"

"Say what?"

"No way, i aint jumping into the ocean, what if that is the last time i see anybody... what if i jumped, and went straight in and never came up.... "

A bit of coaxing was all it took for us to slowly slide outta the catamaran into the deep ocean. Senthil gave us the rope from the boat to hold on to, and in a matter of minutes, we were floating in the ocean.

I could feel the chill from the water under me, while the Sun blazed down on my face. The only glitch was i couldnt keep my head down straight, the water would go into my ears, and that was not a pleasant feeling. I kept my neck a bit above the water, and well, did end up with a slight catch. Allowing the silence to engulf us, we got quiet, i was holding onto the rope tight and listening to Senthil talk [he was generally chatting away, letting  us know he was right there]...

Closed my eyes, and allowed myself to relax, and that was it... Time went by, and i felt like i was floating. 30 -40 mins must have passed, i opened my eyes to see the boat was well, quite a distance away and i was safe and sound.. Paddled my way back to the boat and not too gracefully jumped onto it... Phew, what an experience that was.....

The next few hours were spent talking about it, how awesome it had been and how scared i had been... Few hours went by, we were back home and slowly i noticed my face turn a deep shade of beetroot, thanks to all the sun soaking i had done... :-)

Ah, good ol memories............

PS: These photographs were taken during a recent visit to Fish cove [well, i think it was over a year ago]... This experience happened way back in 2004... :-)

Glitters, closed gates and an encounter

Am submitting this post for IndiBlogger’s  Expedia - Around The World Contest

Across the road from the ocean we saw was a towering wall and a board that read -Dutch Cemetry and Fort which was the sign we had been looking for.  A fortress town located on the Coromandel Coast in Kanchipuram District, about 70 km from Chennai on the ECR  is Sadras, also known as Sadurangapattinam, and we were standing at the gates [which were shut] of the Sadras Fort. 

It was a blazing hot day and i was dead tired, we had been on the road all day and had just returned from a visit to Kanchipuram and few other places . The gates were all we could see through the locked gates, we took some pictures when we saw a funny looking man come running towards us.. 

He came over and said he was "Anand, the gatekeeper, and that he was a Furniture doctor".. Had golden glitter on his face, was wearing blue shades, pink nail polish and a orange whistle around his neck.. we had a bit of doubt about him, but just played along trying to get rid of him... When Lakshmi asked him about the glitter, he replied- "Oh,today my daughter's bday madam, i am coming from the party" and he even posed for a pic!! i clicked while she was taking her shot !! :D

He said he will take us inside thru the back door[which we had passed by and knew there was no way into the fort there...:)].. this was when a policeman walking past told us "Madam, he is mental".. 

Our man heard this and was like " Tamilians are the reason other Tamilians dont prosper, you come madam, i take you"..."that policeman is only mental madam, see he is not even wearing shoes"... We beat a hasty retreat, trying to sneak into the car and out, but not before he suddenly said "give me Rs10, if i had taken you inside, it would be Rs 30" ... We hopped into the car and asked the driver to speed away... had a good laugh!!!

Phew.. the things we see and people we meet... never ceases to amaze me!  

Skywatch Friday- Through the ruins

With apprehension, i got out of the car and checked to see if the gates were open.. Phew, they were! This was my 2nd time here at Sadras Fort [well, technically 1st since the last time i landed here the gates were shut and i had an interesting encounter with an interesting character.. anyways, that is another story]... For now, i was eager to explore the grounds within the Fort... 

Sadras or Sadurangapattinam is a fortress town situated along the Coromandel Coast, about 70 kms south of Chennai. The Fort originally built by the Dutch for commercial purposesis today just a land of ruins. The fort walls have crumbled and so have the structures within. There was a huge granary, a stable and smaller structures that were apparently used to mount elephants. The British in their own style raided the fort around 1818 and took over possession. Today, this dilapidated structure is protected monument and cared for by the ASI. 

Near the entrance of the fort is the Cemetry, with tomb stones and an internal chamber that was part of a secret tunnel passage. As we walk through the narrow corridor, a sudden burst of sunlight caught us by surprise. What was once a majestic pillar is now only a small stump, with a gaping hole on the ceiling through which sun's rays sneak in...  

For more beautiful skies, visit Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday... Fiery Skies

 

I walked out of the room towards the beach, there was nothing on my mind and all i wanted was to spend some time in the company of Me! It was December 5th or 6th, and we were on a mini holiday at Mahabalipuram. 3 friends who just wanted to get away from the city, and spend some time along the ocean. The evening sky was beautiful, i was glad to have brought my camera along. Infact earlier when i was getting out of the room, i recall going back to pick up my camera. "Just in case" i told myself.

The cool sand brushed against my feet as i walked along the shore, with the occasional wave gliding over my toes. The evening sun had just gone down for the day, leaving behind a trail of fiery red in the sky. I wondered what the Sun must look like now, and wondered who or where it was hovering about at that point of time.

My mind wandered to the last time i was at Mahabalipuram. It was too long is all i could remember. This 7th century port city that was once part of the Pallava Dynasty is just about 60kms from Chennai, and a treasure cover of history and heritage sights.  There is the Shore temple, the Tiger Caves, Arjuna's penance, Five Rathas, Butter Ball and so much more scattered across a few kilometers that it would take a day to explore them all. I promised myself i would come back and spend some time around these sites and with that settled down near the edge of the water to soak in the surroundings... 

For more beautiful skies, visit Skywatch Friday

[Skywatch friday] Heaven indeed

As the sun sets, the clouds dance to the colours in the sky....

The Puri Jagannath Tempe in Chennai on ECR had us all captivated with its beauty, pristine marble, and silence that enveloped us..... 

For more beautiful skies, go to Skywatch Friday

Quick Getaway.. Pondicherry!!

Sometimes you dont know which direction you are headed till you actually reach!! 

For us, it happened literally..It was the Christmas long weekend, and the plan was a trip to Karnataka, but Murphy came into action, so we did a U turn and breezed towards Pondicherry instead and what  fun the 2days were..!!

Completely unplanned.. no agenda... infact we dint know where we were gonna stay as it was the Christmas weekend and all hotels and guest houses were full, err lemme rephrase, they all had rooms available for 24th but we had to scoot on 25th morning... since we were planning on getting there on 25th, we took the only alternative available, and decided to gate crash into Apar's aunt's place!! 

Shimmering waters along the ECR

Every time i go to Pondy, its a whole new experience.... 


Different company, different atmosphere, different discoveries .... !! This time was no different.. Not only did we try a new restaurant - Lunch @ Haveli in Hotel Annamalai International, but also managed to fulfil our dream of having Baileys irish cream [@Rendezvous with yummy pasta dinner].. 

Part of the Christmas decor @ Ananda Inn

One of a kind experience was witnessing a whole brigade of people at the beach and on the streets [ had me wondering why, till my friend said - its Christmas/ long weekend-Duh!!] ... 

Windmill peeping from behind the walls of the cafe/shipping arena @ Auroville

Discovered Pondy had a Sringeri Sharadambal temple [ had to share that bit of news with folks at home and the instant words were out, they were all yelling - go visit the temple]... 

A canopy on the beach [ pic taken during my earlier visit]

Took friend and her son to Auroville, only to be told we cant go into the Matri mandir any more, not unless we had prior permissions or knew some big shots.... ;o) [Only big shot i know is Me...:D] .. we were shown a video footage of how the whole project began and has evolved over years.. the last few times i'd been to Auroville, we had gone inside the Matri Mandir, right up to the top, to see the crystal ball... !! but now, rules have changed!! for the better am sure!! 

Matri mandir at a distance... Auroville... after a lovely 1km walk!!

Had the most yummmmiest lunch @ Ananda Inn- buffet, the spread was delightful- starting with salad down to the desserts... Only disappointment was they were out of Chocolate eclairs and my friend wanted one, asked a couple of people, but alas we left without savoring one of them eclairs...!! Always a next time!! 

Waves lashing against the rocks at the beach

We did make a quick stop at the Aurobindo Ashram, sailed along the queue and swished right out.. never seen such a crowd in Pondy, ever...!! 

The lighthouse, standing guard

I truly believe - 


1.Travel to explore unexplored sights and scenes...


2.Get lost - literally and otherwise, for only then will you learn your way around and unravel hidden truths about yourself... 

The evening sky, moon shining bright..

3.Have no set agenda, that way you can go with the flow and see more... i love visiting unheard of, out of the order, non touristy yet interesting places...! 




4. Walk... thats the best way to enjoy a new town..
If you cant walk, use local transport.. good fun and you learn so much more about the place/history/must visit places and so much more..

Matri Mandir, in all its Glory @Auroville

We took the bus from CMBT, Koyembedu... not the volvo, but a regular one, costing about Rs55 per person.. and within Pondy, we walked or took the auto.Mind you, autowalas are as bad as in chennai, so be ready to haggle... 

Return was also via bus, except this was wee bit better, and airconditioned, so tickets were Rs145 each... Bus takes about 3.5 to 4hrs, with one pitstop... And buses ply from Chennai & Pondy every 15mins!! 

Off i go to yet another familiar yet unfamiliar town tomorrow... Will come back with more stories.... Till then, adios!!