Thursday, September 17, 2009

Feeling hot hot hot

I haven’t traveled for a while now. I only dream about traveling. I watch shows on Travel & Living and sulk. My travel plans flop the minute I get excited about it . For this reason I have stopped planning my vacations. But the future does look bright and hope my travel plans don’t bomb like Harry Baweja’s next movie. I h.o.p.e!

The last I traveled was to Chennai on an official assignment, that too for a day. I couldn’t really look around the place as there was no time at all. But the good part was I got to eat some yummy food at Saravanaa Bhavan. What a fine place! I thought of getting a Xerox copy of the cook’s feet but they didn’t let me inside the kitchen. Can you believe that? Apart from this minor regret the trip was fun, thanks to my colleagues who were with me.

*note: dare you say- “official trip but traveling by train-aa?” hmph. I work for a start up. This justification should suffice, no?*

The train journey turned out to be uneventful, for us. Our fellow passengers felt otherwise. They almost threatened to throw us out as, they thought, we were talking too much. One man after tossing and turning for hours lost his sleep (poor chap, you’d think) and with nothing better to do he kept scowling at us. What nonsense. Another guy threw dirty looks at us every time we burst out laughing (which by the way happened every 2.67 minutes once). We did not feel guilty though. It was only 11 PM; tell me who sleeps so early?

Talking about sleep it is necessary to tell you that I normally can’t sleep while traveling. And so when everyone went to sleep, I put on my headphones to listen to music. I got bored listening to my own playlist and let my thoughts wander. I remembered the time when I had first traveled to Chennai. That was eons ago.

As kids we never had a choice. We had no decision making power (unlike today’s kids). We were happy with any kinda outing. “Trip-aa?” we’d ask our folks eagerly. The place didn’t matter to us as long as we had company.

That’s how the first Chennai holiday took place. I remember going to the beach and walking down the street feeling clammy. I remember having tough time sitting inside the van coz there hardly was any place to stretch my leg. I remember going to VGP from Chennai. I remember waiting to come back to Bangalore, coz I couldn’t take the heat.

Technically it was not a vacation. My uncle had some official duty there and with nothing much to do after finishing his work he thought he might as well throw few stupid kids into the water. No, he didn’t do that. He very sweetly asked us (meaning my entire crazy family) to accompany him on his trip. Amidst all the excitement we forgot it was the month of April. Need I say more? We realized it would be extremely hot and for us Bangaloreans any place above 25 degrees Celsius is considered hot. But none of us kids wanted to back out. Well obviously, how can you say no to a sponsored trip? Besides summer holidays were meant for fun. So the thought of beach in Chennai/VGP got us very excited.

I don’t recall the rest of the tour, except for the humid climate and as a result the urgency to get back to Bangalore.

While we are on the subject of hot places let me also narrate to you about our other expedition to another hot destination. During one such summer vacation we (my family and another friend’s family) traveled to Bijapur, Aihole, Badami and Pattadkal. Summer in North of Karnataka is hot. To put it mildly, we thought of cooking hot BeNNe dosey (Butter dosa) on top of our car. As we didn’t find butter on the highway we decided against it. But seriously, it was burning hot. Coming back to our trip, despite the heat and dad’s friend falling sick we had loads of fun. We all traveled in our Premier Padmini. All of us (eight people including four sweet 'little' kids) were squashed inside the car and we didn’t really mind (more so coz there was no choice). The heat didn’t prevent us from having fun. Between our journey, there was an unexpected stop over at Koodalasangama and with no hotels around we took refuge in a small dormitory. I still remember we slept on the floor and found everything exciting -the spookiness of the night, the dim lit room, the whole idea of an adventurous trip and the constant “ssshhh sumne malkoLI” (shut up you crazy little monsters) uttered by our elders. We even made up a song on Kudalasangama. Boy! What fun.

Now when I look back I don’t understand why most of our summer vacations were spent in places such as these- hot, dry, sultry and humid. Well who cares as long as it made us happy.

This post, my friends, was a leaf out of my travel journal. I do hope to write some more some other time.

Coming up next: Love in Shimla


40 plate meals:

Swaram said...

Gr8 to c a post from u :P

Wil b bk to read n comment!

Drownedddddddddd in work :(

All I cud c was Saravana Bhavan since am damnnnnn hungry :P

Anonymous said...

Same words echo from me. Not much travelling :(

SG said...

Nice one. You made me homesick. Chennai has only 3 weather seasons. Hot, Hottest, Murder. Still we love going to restaurants, have "hot spicy" tiffin, and even more hotter filter coffee and then walk in the Ranganathan Street.

Maanasi said...

heheheheheheheh...* guffaw * * guffaw * and other snorting noises....vaaery funny....I know the felling, our family went to Rajasthan once, in May..can you beat it?...we visited a desert in middle of summer..But I remember having a lot of fun...It was hot, that's an understatement..but man! was it fun.

Shruthi said...

@Swaram, Present-aa? ok. come back you wont be spared ;)

@Swat, same boat we are on :(
but I hope you get to travel soon :)

Shruthi said...

@SG, heheheh.. yes it is HOT! please give me a list of places in chennai where I can go have slurp slurrp food and filter coffee :D

@Maanu, heheh Rajasthan in summer eh! abbabbhaa thats heights machaa!

Swaram said...

ROFL :D So many travel tales ;) Njaay maddhe ;)

Navu hogidvamma May nalli Chennai and Mahabalipuram sometime in 98 and again last May :P Ya, we don't learn from our mistakes ;)

U r welcome to Hyd next summer kano Shruthi :)

BTW, Benne sikadru adhu bega thuppa agthithu ;) So, it wud be Ghee Masala Dosa :P

Badami, Aihole Pattadkal adhru swalpa budhi bandhu I visited during Diwali ;) Nice places alva :)

Shruthi said...

hehehehhe ghee masala dosey :P
hyd in summer-aa! heheheh sure will come. railway station - Nim mane - railway station - back to BLR (will be the itinerary ;))
Badami, Aihole Pattadkal are louly places to visit :)

Nautankey said...

Cool one..just bought back memories from my summer vacations in madurai,which incidentally wud make chennai look like swiss in peak summer :-)

And maan I envy you bangaloreans for the weather..and yes the weather alone,looks like god gave all the good things to chennai[great food outlets,beautiful beach,shops,temples]and finally cursed it with the weather.

You shud try Delhi/kolkata/ hyderabad in peak summer.I was in hyderabad this time and can you beleive it ..seriously missed chennai's climate...

and the word verification is lacycons..is that the band of the beedi :P

Aryan-Arjun said...

saravan bhavan is amzing...aadhai and aviayal....

Shruthi said...

@N'key, yeah Bangaloreans that way are blessed. but wish we had a beach here, minus the humidity of course ;)
and hahahaha@ lacycons! sounds like a local lingerie brand to me :P from now am curious to know your word verification; you seem to get some interesting ones :D

Shruthi said...

@Aryan, and the varieties of chutney you get there is amazing! i feel like having them now :(

Anonymous said...

oh man! i am missing india now..

great post..

shraddha

Shruthi said...

@Shraddha, aww.. come to India this year :)

SG said...

I am not that familiar with Chennai. But when we visit Chennai (which is very often), we make it a point to eat in certain restaurants. If you are not particular about ambience and taste of food is the only consideration, then I would recommend the following:

1. Mylai Karpagambal Mess. Opp. to Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, near Kapaleeswarar Temple, Mylapore.

2. Triplicane Ratna Cafe. It used to be in Triplicane only. Now they have 3 more branches in T.Nagar, Velachery, and Tambaram.

3. Murugan Idli Kadai. They have many branches. Your choice is limited to Dosai and Idli only. But very tasty. Can eat on a banana leaf with several chutnies.

We don't go to Saravana Bhavan in Chennai. One of their branches is located here in the San Francisco Bay Area and we go there twice a month.

Shruthi said...

@SG, thank you so so so much for the list. next time I shall attack these places :D
thanks again :)

kanagu said...

Wow.... nice one Shruti...

Chennai have 3 climates.. hot, hotter and hottest.... and you have chosen the worst..

come to Chennai by January.. I will ensure you... you will enjoy the visit...

and in summer holidays what else you expect other than hot, dry, sultry and humid.... ???

lol!!!!

lostworld said...

Hey nice to see a long post from u!

Saravana Bhavan made me hungry! Could relate to your story .. hehe..

I'm waiting for Shimla one. I love that hill-station!

Shruthi said...

@Kanagu, hehe yeah that's true. but i do feel my family could have chosen better destinations you know like Switzerland or something hehe.. no atleast, Ooty or Kodai :D

@Lostworld, Saravanaa Bahavan is added to my best eating joints of India. and yeah hope I can start writing that Shimla post soon :)

Aryan-Arjun said...

Award time lady.....collect it
Aryan's Mom

Shruthi said...

yey! thanks Aryan's mom :D

Manu Vyas said...

haha.. can totally relate to the "trip-aa" and "shhh.. sumne bidgoLi". Good one :)

Shruthi said...

@Manz, heheh I just decently put malkoLi but it actually was 'bidkoLi' :D
thanks :)

BrownPhantom said...

:). The whole post leaked humour by gallons. You can't be blamed for gettign excited for the trip to chennai; I've jumped 3 feet high for destinations which didn't even have sea, in fact didn't have anything at all worth mentioing.

And am forever indebted for putting up the voting sign. :)

Shruthi said...

@BP, thanks =) yeah an outing is what we all wished for and still do hehe..
and you deserve to win the contest BP :)

vimmuuu said...

First time here. and so you deserve a decent comment from me (contact Swarr for my irrelevant comments) !!

It was a nice read !!! and you are one of those who dont let people sleep in the train, huh? glad I wasnt here !! and for your summer vacations, you went in search for real bad summers !! :D :D :D

(guess this comment was decent enough ! Bah ! who am I kidding !! )

Swaram said...

Vimmuuu, u n such a decent comment :P
Swarr faints ;)

Shruthi said...

@Vimmuuu, hahahha you bet. and yeah next time look out for people like me, they might just blog bout you if you scowl at them :D
and please madness is accepted here in fact a requirement to comment :)

@Swaram, *instead of sprinkling water, shruthi shouts loud next to Swaram's left ear*

workhard said...

Hey.. im just like u.. i just watch the travel channel and wonder and wish and wish and then i go to sleep :|

Domain registration india

Shruthi said...

@workhard, oh you too :( we should form a community :D
btw welcome to my blog :)

Shruti said...

Ahhh!! My first time here! A blog written by a girl who have my name :)

Nice travel tales!! Hilarious :)

vimmuuu said...

Btw, Im blogrolling you, in case I miss out on your songs :D

Shruthi said...

@Shruti, welcome :) hope to see you around! will hop to your blog now :D

@ Vimmuuu, hey thanks and have blogrolled you too :)

Perspectives said...

i have spent a better part of my age till now in a place in Orissa called Sambalpur, here roasting a chicken on your car roof is not feasible only because of fear of burning it
and presently i am in Hamirpur(near Shimla), and to be honest friends make any place worth staying...

Shruthi said...

@Ajay, welcome to my space. and I agree with you :)
Hamirpur seems to be a great place. Maybe you can write bout it sometime :) I have been to Shimla though, once.

Shruthi said...

@Vinesh, Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

First time here in ur blog... But ur posts hasn'tmade me to regret for it... :-P

Chennai... a very good place to have fun... but comes with a condition that you should have the passion to bare the heat...

btw, nice post!

Shruthi said...

@Balasrini, thanks for your comments :) yeah it really is hot isn't it. and welcome to my space :D

Swapna Raghu Sanand said...

Awesome post. I felt transported to another era when things had been simple and innocent. The very mention of Saravana Bhavan made me hungry!

Shruthi said...

@Swapna, thank you :) yes, Saravana Bhavan has that effect. even writing about it makes me feel hungry :P