Eurotrip 2.0: Day 3,4,5 - Berlin!

The train from Munich to Berlin was a fairly comfortable one. About 60 euros for a sleeper ride that was about 10 hours. We deliberately took a train that takes longer so we could sleep more. As the train started to approach Berlin, I remember some rather foggy bogs and horror-movie-set like dark, empty fields. Fingers crossed, hoping for bright & sunny weather in Berlin!

Berlin Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) though was anything but dark - a 5-floor mega structure with trains coming in and leaving at different levels, bustling eating places with people stuffing themselves with breakfast, and best of all, a glass front façade that helped the sunlight spectacularly illuminate the entire building!

We had booked ourselves into Wombats Hostel, which one of Berlin’s best rated ones. It was indeed impressive with a classy yet cool reception area, 6 floors worth of clean rooms and a nice bar on the 7^th. The folks at the reception were quite resourceful and had answers to pretty much all our queries.

The plan for the day was to do a ‘Free’ Walking tour of the city. We took a day pass for 2-5 people for ~15 euros so we could use any train or bus for the entire day upto 3am the next day. Only later did we realize that we could have taken a 3-day pass for much less and saved some moolah.

The ‘Free’ tour is actually free, but the guide calls out quite clearly that they ‘work on a tips-only’ basis and you’re pretty much ‘supposed to’ give a tip at the end of the tour. The group size is about 25 people, and a 5 euro per head tip means that’s a cool 100-150 euros for our ‘free-tour guide’ for 4 hours of walking and talking stories about each monument! Of course you could just give him 2 euros at the end of it, but wanting to demolish images of ‘chindi’ Indian tourists, the three of us paid a massive grand total of 15 euros. The trip also serves as segue for several ‘paid’ trips that our guide never failed to mention once every 20 minutes.

How was the tour? Well, it was alrightish, led by a humorous guy named Sebastian, who spoke QUITE a bit! We started with the BrandenburgerTor at Paris Platz - A nice ‘little’ gate on a nice little square with the Goddess of Victory (formerly Goddess of Peace) on top of it. It was the anniversary of the re-unification of East & West Germany and there were bands playing behind the gate which was not open to the public on that morning. Right next to the Paris Platz is the hotel where Micheal Jackson famously held out his son from the balcony. Room rents can go up to 15,000 euros a night. I mean, really? It doesn’t even have like a stunning view, duh!

Then there was the Jewish memorial, a photo of a soldier jumping over the Berlin ‘wall’, a car park which was formerly where Hitler’s quarters were, a memorial to the dead ‘sons’ in the war (both the Jews who were massacred as well as the soldiers of Hitler’s army – lives lost, are lives lost, I really liked the concept), Charlie checkpoint, a gay king’s palace, and that of his brother’s, a couple of museums and a restaurant where we had a snack break. Sebastian told us some interesting stories behind every monument/landmark/non-landmark and since I wasn’t exactly taking notes, I hardly remember any of it. But it was fun while it lasted.

The sun was really beginning to belt down and Sebastian’s humor was starting to turn into a bit of a rant. We wished it was over sooner rather than later and finally we got done by around 3. I was quite famished, and once done, we rushed to the nearest restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet and helped ourselves to a sumptuous meal.

We headed back to the hostel, got some rest, took a shower and headed back out for dinner. Berlin has innumerable good restaurants and bars to choose from and we didn’t go too far from our hostel, which itself is in quite a good area, and had a good meal. With me trying to keep off meat, it was usually a pasta or, at most, a fish dish that would be on the menu, with always a new beer to try. I found a particular liking to the taste of the dark beers and quite enjoyed sampling them at every meal (Yes, quite the ‘drunkard’ I was).

Berlin’s pubs are deserted till about 11, or so said many sources, so we drifted into one just after 12. It was called White Trash and was just a 2 minute walk from our hostel. Some really random music was on, and they for some reason I will never understand, had a screen showing some soft porn. We had a beer each and moved on to another place. Turned out later it was actually a café… The next place, was actually a pub with college-goers dancing away to glory completely out of sync with the music. I looked at them and went “Hahhaha! Idiots!”, at the same time realizing that I was laughing at myself 3-4 years ago doing the exact same thing J. The beer continued to flow, and after I was sufficiently sleepy, I made a beeline for the hostel and fell into a deep slumber almost just before my head hit the pillow.

The next morning started with the project of finding an awesome breakfast place. Out came the Lonely Planet Guide 2008 and we were off on this walk. And we walked, and walked, and walked. We must have gone up and down the same street some 7 times I think. Finally we figured the place had closed down. After all, it was the 2008 edition of the book, and the recession had since come and not quite gone! So we ended up having breakfast at around 12, and it was a cheese and salmon overload as our hungry stomachs gorged on anything in sight!

Then, while the ladies took a tour of this place, I took a 2 hour nap on the grass under the sun, contemplating the meaning of life & such. It was also the moment when I realized I should be writing my blog entries lest I forget what all has happened. So I headed back to Wombats to write this blog and the ladies went off to see a Nazi concentration camp! I had no intentions of doing that; it was way too creepy for me!

Dinner & drinks was further away from the hostel this time, in a place called Kurfurstenstrasse (I hope I got that spelling somewhat close to what it is)! We walked out of the station and felt quite out of place, as the place was teeming with ‘escorts’ just standing pretty much in the middle of the road. We walked for about 10 minutes to get to our destination – Einstein Café. The desserts were outta the world and we filled our tummies with unlimited quantities of raisins, ice-creams, and such. Not very friendly on the pocket, but I guess it was worth the walk.

We then headed up to catch a glimpse of the Reichstag by night. It is a truly imposing structure and has a huge open garden right in front of it. This is what I loved about almost all the buildings in Berlin – they were huge, magnificent, built by probably fairly megalomaniacal rulers, and they completely and utterly dominated the surroundings they were in. And they stood in complete contrast to the drab, aesthetically not-so-pleasing buildings of Capitalist backgrounds in the Western half of the city.

That was end of day 2 and day 3 was going to be a trip up to Potsdam, about 1 hour from Berlin to see a pretty little castle. I wasn’t too impressed with the place, but it was a bright, sunny day and good time to just soak in the atmosphere. We came back the hostel sometime in the evening and our stay in Berlin was about to come to an end. But not before we had made the long walk along the East End Gallery which has some really cool paintings on the last remaining piece of the famed Berlin Wall. It was an absolute delight to walk this stretch at night (it was about 9 pm), with absolutely no one around and a cool breeze floating around. I also saw my first spots of rain on this walk and I guess it was a sign that winter was just round the corner. My gloves, monkey cap and jacket were about to come in really handy in Prague & Krakow!

The train to Prague was at 5 in the morning and despite my relative lack of sleep in the days before, I was up, excited and wide awake in wonder as the train rolled by mountains and rivers and forests and about the most awesome train ride one could ever have!!

Eurotrip 2.0: Day 1,2 - Munich Oktoberfest!

My train to Munich from Darmstadt was slated to leave at 8.37am and reach in 3 hours and 37 minutes. Talk about being sticklers for time!! It’s a wonder the Germans don’t add seconds as well to their timings! I didn’t have a reservation (as is the case usually for anyone traveling by the Deutsche Bahn as its not really ever ‘full’), so 1 hour into the journey a whole bunch of people were standing as they had quite clearly overbooked the train. I went past the Hockenheim station which reminded me of the Hockenheim race track that I so used to love (driving on my F1 2000 PC Game) for the endless straights!

As the train climbed towards Munich, the beautiful German countryside was on full display! Bathed in sunshine (probably for the last time in quite a few months), the pine forests and agricultural fields rolled by…

The entry into Munich station was fairly undramatic, and it looked like a cleaner version of CST station (!!) at around 5 in the evening on a weekday. The rush was of course for the last summer weekend and the last 2 days of the OktoberFest!!

By the time I stopped at the tourist info shop, bought my train tickets and made it to the hotel, it was nearly 3pm! Its best to take a day ride ticket in Munich, and if traveling in a group a group day ticket for 2-5 persons (9.80 euros). But after 2 days of roaming around I didn’t remember anybody asking for the ticket. I’d imagine the adventurous ones would opt not to buy one or buy a cheaper one and pass it off as another.

Once Richa & Tanvi were also in and ready, Munich awaited!

Saturday 4.30pm, and the agenda was quite clear. Get into the Oktoberfest and get out on Sunday morning. The crowd, as we reached the ‘English Gardens’ was maddening! The Oktoberfest has several ‘tents’ and each tent can house more than 2-3000 people I’m sure…! There’s the usual fare of giant ferris wheels and rides which will make your stomach really woosie, but ALL of that was to be for *after* of course!

As we excitedly got into the line of one of the tents, after about 1 hour of waiting, we realized something was amiss. The line wasn’t moving, and the 2-3 people that were getting in in about every 10 minutes were all holding some tickets!! This was NOT good news. Mustering courage to go and talk to a massive guard, we asked him what the scene was? And when were we going to get in? He replied, in typically curt, to the point, economical thickly German-accented English “NEXT YEAR.”… I was shocked! Surely there’s not SO much of a crowd that they can’t let people in!?! Tent after tent it was the same story. Hordes of people queuing up only to realize that they weren’t going to get in! I sensed the making of a disaster, that I went allll the way to Munich and did not get into the Oktoberfest!!

Someone suggested that our best bet was to come and queue up early next morning. Disheartened, but with the determination to not go back ‘empty handed’, we swore to try our luck again the next day. But before that we still had the entire evening to walk around the main Marineplatz area of Munich. Its absolutely littered with cafes and bars and people are out having a fantastic time. We had a relaxed sit-down drink followed by dinner. By the time we headed back to the hotel, it was nearly 2am and the early morning next morning looked ominously impossible!

My jetlag was luckily still not completely gone, and I woke up sprightly as a prairie dog on a savannah morning, at 6 a.m! After several minutes of pestering so that everyone was up, we finally got ready and were out by 7.30! It was 8.15 by the time we reached, and the crowd in the train just made my heart beat that bit quicker. It was going to be touch & go…! As we entered the festival grounds, the difference versus last evening was quite clear. The crowd was much lesser, but there were huuuuuge lines in front of EACH tent. We picked the first one and just joined it. Fingers crossed. We waited for about 15 minutes, and then there was a huge collective roar. The gates were open… What was going to happen? Were they going to ask for tickets? Were we going to go back ‘dry’ from the OktoberFest???

Within 2 minutes, literally, the entire line had emptied out into one of the biggest tents you will ever see. With rows upon rows of tables & chairs, much like a school mess!

And we were IN!

No questions asked.

We just went and grabbed the seat closest to the entrance and swore never to let go! After about a 10 minute wait, the band started, to a thunderous roar from the crowd!

The waitresses in their Bavarian dresses swarmed in with the first round of stuff to eat before the beer. White sausages are supposed to be the specialty but I didn’t quite feel up to trying one. I got more of the salty vegetarian stuff and a fish sandwich.

And then, came the beer. In tall glasses of 1 litre each, with a waitress carrying upto 6-7 at a time! ‘Prost!!’ we shouted, and off the mark we went! Within a few minutes, we witnessed our first ‘entertainer’.

So basically, anyone can just stand up on his table and announce to the rest of the crowd that he’s going to go ahead and down his, or her, beer in a single go! Luckily the first one to do it was sitting right next table to us, and as he started, the roar from the crowd was unbelievable! As he swiftly gurgled down his 1 litre (mega-) glass, the crowd went ballistic! THIS is what I had come for. NOT for the 400 different kinds of beer. NOT to see the Bavarian women (well ok, a bit, yes :P ).

And then another went up and downed one. The cheers kept getting bigger. The loudest ones were, of course, reserved for the women. There were a couple of guys who also lost their way mid way and they were greeted with laughs and boos. I’d imagine these people would be pretty scarred like for life! J Surely, their friends would continue to take their case for some time to come!

Now the beer was flowing and this is where my memory starts to fail me. The period from the end of the 2^nd litre of beer to lunch at 4pm is QUITE hazy. I remember, hmm, lets see, the pavement…, the metro ride…, and an inordinately long time in some toilet.

Then there was the BMW Museum and the hugely impressive OlympikStadion! On a clearer head day, I’d probably have been able to appreciate these EVEN more than I ended up doing. That said, Munich left me with some fond, fond memories.

Next stop, Berlin!

Eurotrip 2.0 : Day -3,-2,-1 - Frankfurt & Darmstadt

As my flight touched down at Frankfurt airport, there was almost a sense of déjà vu. Bright sunshine reflected off the humongous metallic building. It seemed for a moment that I was at the Hyderabad airport. (Bummer! :D) But that sense quickly disappeared as the size of the airport dawned upon me. The flight bays were there far & wide into the distance. As I marveled at the sheer scale of things, the lack of creativity, colour and focus on function over form was also immediately apparent. A 7-foot-tall police officer then stopped me (being one of the very few non-German/non-EU looking people coming out) and checked my visa and waved me on. Traveling without check-in baggage was a huge bonus as I was out of the airport in less than 15 minutes.

My pickup was waiting for me and it was a nice and BIG Audi with a pleasant driver. We were on the Autobahn towards Basel in no time, and the car zipped along at 150+ km/hr without the slightest complaint from the engine or the suspension. A right turn to Darmstadt off of the Autobahn and the ride was over in less than 20 minutes.

There was time to kill till the evening and I had a drink and went for a walk. The city was quite minimalistic with hardly any people around, and some rather boring looking buildings. I walked up to the central ‘platz’, as squares, I took it, are called in Germany. When you look at some of these squares in Germany you feel as though they really didn’t have any space constraints when they built them. Very unlike Bombay, and quite similar in fact to New Delhi.

Dinner & jet-lag induced sleep and early wake-up later, the next two days of meeting went by in no time.

On an evening walk on the 2^nd day, I stumbled upon the railway station and promptly booked my ticket to Munich! Oktoberfest awaited! :-)

Varkala, and the 'follow the monsoon' holiday

Kerala undoubtedly has some of the best places to visit in the country. But you go at the wrong time, and you could be in for a bit of a shock. Its quite clear that the best time to visit Kerala is from October to February. The weather's fantastic, the seas are calm, there's a festive atmosphere all round and the tourism industry's in top gear. But all this also means that the rush is near maddening, the hotel rates are pretty expensive and its quite challenging to find that quiet corner.

The next best time to go to Kerala is during the monsoons. I'd guess this is a great time for non-touristy couples to go there. The rain is obviously incessant and traveling a big problem. The only thing you do is sit in the room, sip hot chai, and watch the weather fog the windows. There'd be plenty of places offering rooms with a view, and, at throwaway prices. I'd bet there are quite a few people who'd want exactly that.

The summer's a real no-no, hot, humid & sticky. But then there's this period, between summer & the rains when things can get quite interesting.

I went to Varkala in the last week of May. We were to have a meeting there starting on a Monday. It was that time of the year... enduv summer and beginning of the monsoon. And I didn't want to catch either of them in full flow. Neither a hot Kerala summer day, nor a typical monsoon 'downpour', that could last the weekend.

I checked up the weather report and it said 'Chance of showers'! That pretty much meant that Kerala was going to receive its first rains that weekend!

There's something about that first shower after a long, hot summer.

The smell of fresh soil, the breeze caressing your face, the wind buzzing in your ears and of course, the water cooling the surface of your skin, as if from within.

GK & I arrived to a perfect Saturday afternoon, with a slight nip in the air and the warm sun beating down. A 1-hour or so cab ride from Trivandrum airport brought me to Varkala. GK was already there, after taking a rather fortuitous train journey from Coimbatore to Quilon (Kollam) where he missed his original train and somehow found a special train where he was the only person in the whole compartment!

The cab had been running along the coast for a while, and before I knew it, I was in Varkala. Going past the entrance of the city, I headed for the cliff & helipad, which is where all the action was! As the cab came out of the city and to the helipad, I had my first of several 'wohhhhhhhhhooo' moments in Varkala. On top of a hill top with a sheer steep cliff-face overlooking the mighty Arabian Sea with sunlight shimmering off the glistening water! I couldn't wait to drop off my bags in a room and head straight for a swim!

Hotels are a-plenty on both the North & South cliffs. I found the North cliff to be better off, in terms of view, price, general eating places etc.

Swimming just before the monsoons is quite risky and the coastguard (who're usually around) never let anybody venture too far deep. The water was quite choppy and I was circumspect throughout. Its a very different feeling, swimming in the sea when rain's just round the corner; you can almost tell that the sea knows there's a storm brewing somewhere far out and she keeps dropping these hints. There'd be this big wave from time to time, and it'll pull back just as quickly. Its exciting and scary at the same time!

After an evening swim, we headed back to our hotel which was bang in the centre of the North cliff. As dusk approached, so did the first signs of dark clouds and loud claps of thunder. The breeze picked up considerably, and before we knew it, the first monsoon downpour was absolutely drenching the landscape.

I think it must have rained all night. We awoke to a brilliant sunny morning with few clouds in sight. While having breakfast, our waiter excitedly pointed out a group of dolphins swimming in the ocean. It was my first sighting of dolphins free in the wild, and it was an exhilarating experience, despite the fact that they were a good 200-300 meters from shore.

The rest of the gang joined in during the day (Sunday), and brought with them the full wrath of the monsoon, as the rains plundered the coast. We didn't have much to do until Monday morning, when we made our way to Kovalam, for the national meeting.

--

This trip had me thinking about a 'Follow the monsoon' trip, from the South to the North, as the monsoon broke across the country. Starting end of May in Kerala, right up to the first weeks of July up say, in Jammu. It'd be a nice trip to make. Getting to places just before the rains lash, joining people in becoming kids as they celebrate the end of summer...

(Completing this post exactly a year after I started it... Procrastination. Says the critical half. Combined with loads of work, says the other, lazy half, of my little head).

Books, short ones

A much needed break, time with family, time to ponder & time to write (a little; for this one, type on the cell-phone actually)...! Its about time I caught up on my average # posts/year.

Having my first go on the Shortest Books series... can't remember where I read them first (RD perhaps?). They always cracked me up good.

So here's a list of some of the Shortest Books you'll ever read...

• Quick Speeches - Atal Bihari Vajpayee

• Public Image Management - Suresh Kalmadi

• Burnout Explained - Sachin Tendulkar

• All Men Are Born Equal - Jose Mourinho

• Complete Guide To Short Haircuts - Abdul Kalam

• Staying Out Of Controversies That Make Headlines Only In India - Salman Rushdie

• Behaving Responsibly - Lindsay Lohan

• All Things Natural - Pamela Anderson

• Indian Accent Made Easy - Katrina Kaif

• Impossible - Rajnikanth

• Conservatism - Hugh Hefner

• Avoiding Wedgies While Playing Tennis - Rafael Nadal

• How To Quit Smoking - Shah Rukh Khan

• Choosing Your Brands - Amitabh Bachchan

• Life Outside Father's Shadow - Abhishek Bachchan

• Clean Tackling - Nigel De Jong
  

• Sportsmanship - Didier Drogba

• Managing World Cup Campaigns - Raymond Domenech

• Writing Short-Stories - JK Rowling, Co-Authored By JRR Tolkien

• Winning Tosses: Flip By Flip Guide - MS Dhoni

• Early to bed & early to rise (Anonymous Spaniard)

• Culinary delights without wine or cheese (Anonymous Frenchie)

• A warm, bright, sunny, happy day (Anonymous Englishman)

• Bland foods: The complete guide (Anonymous Indian)

• How To Get Rid Of VVS - Ricky Ponting

Feel free to add...!

Facebook People

There comes a time in peoples lives when they ask themselves the question; "WHO AM I?!".

They're thinking and thinking... agonizing... and the answer just starts taking shape... They're close...

But then laziness takes over, and they end up wanting other people to tell them who they are. OR, they want others to start thinking about them as what they want themselves to be.

And, given that pretty much everyone is on facebook these days, it all begins with 'What do others (read 'friends on facebook') think of me?' OR 'Hmmm... Cunning plan... so if I do this, people will start thinking that I am like this... Cunning plan indeed.'

--


The Addict

• Obsessive, compulsive facebooker. Feels the urge to update anything and everything.
• Could be an absolute newbie who’s just wowed by facebook, or an old-timer with no social life, or too much of a social life and wanting to advertise it; or, someone who has an opinion on everything related or unrelated to all under the sun, and even over it (usually a bong :P )
• Typical status update: “Saw a plane in the sky… awesome!!!”

The Reformist

• Believes in facebook as the medium to air his/her voices on subjects of critical importance to humanity.
• Actually covertly using facebooking as a medium to show the world what a super brain s/he is.
• Typical status update: “The recent tree-felling in Costa Rica has serious implications on atmospheric temperature half-way round the world. With global warming now becoming a burning issue, I feel it is time to………” Aaaaaahhhhhh zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…….

The Gamer

• The sole reason for the Gamer’s existence is to devour all facebook games.
• They have separate game facebook id’s which become their regular id’s coz they never use their regular ‘regular’ id’s!
• They have 1000+ friends, NONE of whom they’ve ever met for real
• Typical status update: “Just bought a Bazooka and walloped Skeleton-Man’s a** … on Mafia Wars”

The Video Dude(tte)

• Spends half the day on Youtube, and the other half in sharing those videos on facebook! From bloopers, to old songs, to ‘OMG!!’ & ‘LOL!!’ videos, they’re all there in procession
• They have a strong inclination to ‘like’ and comment on their own video posts
• Typical status update: “Tooooooooooooo funny… Hahahaha!”

The Quote-er

• Perpetually buried in reams of quotes, or so it seems!
• Every other status message is a quote, from JFK, to Sallu in the latest flick. They could probably write a book of quotes, stolen of course!
• Typical status update: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country …!”

The Emotion-er

• Always either majorly whining, or, completely over the moon happy, about something
• These extreme emotions find their way on to their facebook pages and end up being commented upon by
• Typical status update: “Feelin’ sad coz I’d asked my brother to get me a Snickers, but he got me Kit Kat instead :((( ”

The Birthday-Wisher

• At any given point in time, 7 out of their last 10 updates would be writing on walls of people wishing them a happy birthday
• For this, obviously you need to have at least a 1000 people on your friend list first. That makes it 3 birthdays a day on an average. Sometimes you’ll find them posting twice to the same person wishing them happy birthday!
• Typical status update: xx --> yy “Heyy! Happy birthday! Long time.. How are you? Where are you these days?!”

The Like-er

• Too lazy to comment; instead take the easy way out by ‘Like’-ing pretty much anything and everything that comes their way – photos, comments on photos, links, quotes, jokes, and random like pages like ‘I love my Mom’
• Could make thousands of dollars a month if they take up an ad-clicking job instead which pays on number of clicks per day!
• Typical status update: No status updates... but their profile will show that they have 746 likes

The PDA-er

• Love birds who can’t get enough of each other off facebook, so, on facebook they fill each-others walls with links to songs, photos, vacation ideas, lovey-dovey wall-posts and general PDAs
• May have entire conversations as comments within a span of 3 minutes
• Typical status update: “Thinkin’ about you… and smiling! : )))) ”

The Shape-shifter

• Characterized by a photo change every other day. From the corner of their left eye, to that cartoon pic they found so funny – anything could end up as the profile pic!
• It’s that itchy feeling they get that (facebook) things aren’t happening, not enough updates, everything looks the same, et cetera, et cetera.
• Typical status update: “xx changed their profile picture” … followed by a few comments on how great the new pic is.

The Tagger

• They have 960 photos of them on facebook. And they continue getting themselves clicked and tagged. Even on photos where they’re not there!
• They also go around tagging other people in photos that they may or may not be present
• Typical status update: “yy just tagged themselves in the album ‘Awesommmeee Friday nite partyy!’”

The “I’m too busy for facebook”-er

• Their reason for existence on facebook is rather questionable. They never have ANY activity on their accounts, no likes, no comments, they don’t even let other people write on their walls
• The only thing you see on their walls is that they’ve accepted 23 friend requests in a go, and 11 a few weeks before that, etc etc.!
• Typical status update: “xx is now friends with yy and 17 other people”

The Analyser

• They’re the ones who think they’re too cool / busy to be seen on facebook too regularly. In actuality, they spend hours and hours poring over what others are upto.
• Every once in a while they’ll have a comment here, and a like there, but the whole idea is to ‘look busy and yet somehow being able to find the time to make enough appearances on facebook’
• Typical status update: “xx added a new note: ‘Facebook people’”

(Disclaimer: Of course all of this was strictly for reading pleasure! Don’t automatically stereotype yourself; or worse, start wanting to kill me for telling you who you are or want to be. That's a question that only you can answer :))

PS - Thanks to Harshita, & Sharma for their valuable inputs on this post :-D

Hampi

There's enough and more good stuff that I had heard and read about Hampi. Several people, including my Dad (who had been there exactly 42 years ago!) had told me that it was without doubt, a MUST SEE. It had once been the capital of the great Vijaynagar Empire stretching across current day Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and even a part of Orissa!! Capital of a land mass and kingdom that big - now that really must have been grand.

On the flip-side, I wasn't too excited by the photographs I saw online. They didn't 'look' as grand as the description of the place. It was just brown all around and conveyed a middle of the desert feel to it!

So when I unexpectedly found myself in Hyderabad on a Thursday with a 3-day weekend approaching, Hampi suddenly was in contention! Being the first week of April, I was a little apprehensive that the heat will be too much. The summer had not yet reared its head in Hyderabad, but Hampi, being further south was bound to be warmer. Then, there was, the very attractive, option of going to Tadoba Tiger Reserve.

But in a fit of excitement after a call with my Dad (who reiterated that I go there), I booked myself on a very circuitous route to Hampi. Buses were full to every imaginable place from Hyderabad (being the long weekend).

I found a single ticket on a 10pm bus to Ananthapur. I had to get down at Gooty at 5am. Somehow, I woke up at the right time (just 3 mins before my alarm went off!) and got down from the bus on a rather stranded area about 100 meters from the APSRTC bus-stand. At the bus stand, there were signs of civilization though, and my next bus was to be to Guntakal. I waited for one of my DSEs (P&G salesman), to arrive and guide me, although it would have be quite alright even without him!

We took the short bus ride to Guntakal where there's a 7am or so train to Bellary. The train ride was a bittuva party with a bunch of college kids chattering away and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Oldies with short fuses were having their go at them, but to no avail of course!

A very dusty Bellary, and a short walk to the bus stand later, I found myself on a bus to Hospet. Hospet was to be my base for the visit, as I wasn't sure I could get a place to stay in Hampi. I later found out that there were decent places in Hampi as well, but staying in Hospet at Hotel Malligi was pretty comfy.
A bath and brunch, and I was off. The rick ride to Hampi was quite a surprise. The brown and dusty Hospet quickly gave way to an oasis full of green palm trees and thick folige! And before I knew it I was in Hampi!

As I entered the historic city, the rickshaw sped by gigantic ruins and led me right into the colourful market, which was not exactly bustling with activity. True enough, Friday was a local holiday, and hence most of the market was empty.

I looked up to see the imposing Main Tower of the Virupaksha temple standing before me. It was visible from a distance itself, and its something that can never come out true to its size and grandeur in a photograph!
I decided to take a walk round the temple. Like most temples in the South, it had some intricate art-work, with each slab telling a story of its own. One could spend months discovering Hampi, I was told, and this is why... each structure had a lot of thought behind it and the place was spread over some 30 sq. miles with tens of buildings!

The sun had started blazing down, and my plan was to get myself a motorbike to go around. For about 500 rupees for 2 days, I got myself a nice Honda CBZ (I think it was). After the longish walk round the temple, I made my way back to the market for the bike.

On my way into the city in the rick, I had picked a detailed map of the city and also spoken to a guide, who claimed to be a government appointed one, but his license had expired! I informed him that I was about to get a bike and then he could take me round the place. I was a bit skeptical if this guy knew anything, but in the end it turned out to be a great decision! This guy had been a guide for over 15 years and knew Russian, French, German, apart from English, Telugu, Hindi & Tamil! His fees, 400 rupees for the entire day was a steal!!! The idea for the day was to take the help of the guide and cover as much as possible, and then the next day, I'd come back and visit the ones that interested me the most.

I took the bike and headed to pick up my guide. On the way I could see quite a few totally exhausted, burnt red, foreign tourists - mostly Japanese, on foot or bicycles. It was only going to get hotter, I thought to myself... these folks were in for a tough day! I was quite comfortable of course on the bike with the breeze providing the cooling. There were quite a few rickshaws which were ferrying tourists around the city. This is probably the worst way to see the city as these guys are in a hurry, and also don't know anything about the history of the place. So you'd probably end up being shown fewer places and also not quite knowing what to see there.

The first stop was (not surprisingly), a Ganesh Temple. Standing on top of one of the many hills, it had a great view of the city and the Main Temple. Each pillar had different carvings, saying their own stories, about Rama, Krishna and n number of Gods! One could literally spend hours and even days here deciphering each story. The place gave me a strong positive vibe which I really liked, although the temple itself had stopped being a place of worship since the city was pillaged by invaders.

Then started a 3-hour flyby of almost all the monuments.. the Ugra Narasimha, the humongous sister stones, the Lotus mahal, Queen's bath, stunning Hazara-rama temple, the elephant stables, stone chariot, the ancient marketplace - it was almost dizzying!! At each monument, my guide would stop to give me a story and some weird, usually comical, fact! I would never know how much of it was 100% true, but I sure did love it!

The last stop for the day was Sunset Point. No prizes for guessing what one could see there. A bunch of tourists had gathered to watch the sunset and it was very very quiet and peaceful. The cool breeze flowing across the Tungabhadra with the cool heat of the brilliant setting sun helped form a surreal atmosphere. The golden monuments and hills simmering in the horizon will remain an unforgettable sight!

No trip to Hampi is complete without a visit to the Mango Tree... This restaurant, set on the banks of the Tungabhadra, has a nice relaxed feel to it, and serves some good food too..! I had a nice supper/dinner there, before a starry night drive back to Hospet. I actually turned off the headlight for a few seconds on that drive. A bit scary, but the night sky was just like a million diamonds sprinkled on a black velvet cloth!

Back at Hotel Malligi, I caught up on some football highlights from last weekend, and the preview show for the forthcoming weekend before absolutely crashing flat on the bed!

Next morning was going to be an early one. A short drive to the Tungabhadra Dam, breakfast and then back to Hampi, was the plan.
The dam is colossal. There's also a splendidly maintained deer park and garden right on the other side which reminded me of some gardens I'd seen in France & England. It was almost too perfect to be Indian!!

Then I went back to Hampi... Being a Saturday, the market was bustling with activity and tourists from all over. I had decided to go back to the Hazara Rama temple, Pushkarani & Mahanavami Dibba for a closer look. These places had really caught my eye the previous day and I just had to go back to get a better feel of them. It was easy for me to imagine how the expansive Hazara Rama temple would have been flooded with ornaments and jewels and thronged by devotees. The Mahanavami Dibba gave a super view of the city. Its difficult, standing atop this thing, not to feel like a king looking upon his kingdom. The Lotus Mahal was intriguing with its 'secular' architecture - the first that I have ever seen, with Islamic, Hindu & Jain influences in different parts of the building. That was the strength of the Vijayanagar kingdom... Everyone was equal, no caste, colour or creed. But sadly, even this Utopian society saw its downfall to the hands of plunderers... Hampi is a gentle reminder that even the best of things see their end, and the cycle of life continues...

A lazy 2-hour late-lunch (at Mango Tree) later I had had a stomach full, of Hampi. An evening bus from Bellary was to take me back directly to Hyderabad where I could relax and recount the last two days of time-traveling that I did...

What struck me in Hampi was the sheer scale of everything. And the whole place is stuck in a time-warp. It reminds me why I cant for the love of God feel anything in a museum.. They're just not there with all the jazzy lighting and elaborate write-ups. At Hampi, you're there, walking amongst the kings and queens, in a trance, surrounded by elephants and a thousand horses and bustling colourful markets. The magic of this place has to be seen, has to be felt, has to be lived.

The Matrix

Its something so many people, at least in my friend circle, seem to be obsessed with these days. Its also something that always brought a smile to my face because I knew, and I believed, it wouldn't ever bother me. I was WRONG!!

2006. Bangalore. My roomie & I used to go for dinner. There was this small place at BTM Layout 2nd phase, where we'd get nice steaming hot chappatis and curry. To watch that butter floating on the chappati and melt before my very eyes before I tore and gobbled it up with a generous helping of the curry... ahh absolute bliss.

My friend on the other hand, would have dry chappatis, exactly 2 of them, and wait for me to finish.

One day I had 12. The average was around 8.

"HOW!!!??" he would ask aloud. "How can you have 12 butter rotis and not put on even a gram of weight, while I, after having just 2 rotis and gymming for 1 hour still put on a kilo in no time!!!!??!"

I felt blessed. People around me had to make so much of an effort to even maintain their weight. And all the sacrifices! No butter in chappatis! No ice-cream with gulab jamun! And here I was, blissfully eating away to glory, with not a worry as to what I eat, how much I eat or when I eat!

Those, were the days.

All was well, until December '09. That was a month I put on (a staggering) 5kgs. For some relative measure, that was 9% of my body weight! (Boy I love using News Channely words like 'staggering' :-P)

I knew my lack of sport after I started work was making me unfit, but I was okay as long as I was thin. But the 'launch of the paunch', as I call it, got me a bit concerned. That's when, in a conversation with a colleague, I hit upon the Fit-Fat matrix...

One usually starts out at the centre, or even on the FIT side. (Remember babies doing backflips, putting their feet in their mouth etc etc?).

But pretty soon, you start moving towards the fat or the thin side - this is mostly in your genes... The amount of sport and exercise when young determines whether you're on the top half of the graph (FIT) or the bottom (UNFIT). For me, I was more towards the pink spot there, thin and fit with lotsa sport. There are a few people who're on the heavier side, but still quite fit (towards the purple spot). Their genes mean they will be heavy but they still get some good exercise, so they stay fit. I have a few friends who're in that zone. Not entirely bad.

I moved towards the blue spot quite quickly after I joined work. The lack of sport and exercise (entirely my fault), dragged me along into this zone. But I still wasn't all too worried. Some exercise here and there, and I'd be back into the green zone, I thought. What didn't ever occur to me was I could get into the deep red zone!

Sadly, that's exactly what started happening last month. I've been warned of this by my pot-bellied uncles. "This is the age when I started putting on weight, especially this is when the Paunch was launched.." And surely enough, its hit.

But I'm fighting back! Almost entirely stopping my rice intake was the first thing I did. For any self-respecting Tam Bram, this is a tough thing to do. Rice is like water for us, a necessity! The stomach feels incomplete without rice in a meal... But then I HAVE to start getting back towards the blue spot at least, if not in the green zone!

The fight on the Fat-Fit matrix continues........

Day 15,16,17: Home stretch - Marseille

As I walked along to Sants station (Barcelona) to catch my bus to Marseille on Thursday morning, it suddenly hit me that my vacation was going to last only another coupla days. Marseille was on the cards so that I could meet up with Amelie, who I'd promised that I'd see when I came to France. As it happened, she was away all the while, holidaying in Israel on the exact same days that I had my trip (which is how I got an empty house for myself as well when I was in Paris! - Thanks Amel!). So.. somehow, we managed to squeeze in a day so we could see each other in Marseille on Friday, the 14th (Aug).

The bus from Barca was at 9am and it was a splendid 9 hour ride along the coast. Traffic was a touch high on the highways, with the weekend approaching and all that.

We stopped at some sort of a resort for lunch. I had had a heavyish breakfast, and the lunch looked rather bland, expensive & uninviting, so I decided to eat just some Snickers from the vending machine.

I mostly slept all the way. The vast blue sea to my right remained blue and the vast green fields to my left remained green. The bus would, every now and then, stop at a town to drop off some passengers and pick up a bunch. Between my naps, I kept myself amused by playing hide-n-seek with a cute little girl in the seat in front of me. Her mother kept asking me the time, and each time it provided an opportunity for me to revise my french!

The clock struck 6pm and a road sign said Marseille was still 74km away! The bus was late. By the time it drove into the bus station, it was 7pm. A 15 minute baggage check followed. They didn't trust Indians apparently. But the officer was a really cool guy and was joking around. Once he finished the baggage check, he said with a smile "I just ask this because I have to, but.. are you carrying cash more than 10,000 euros".. I just burst out laughing, and replied.. "I wish, I wish! Wouldn't I have come by my private jet then, yeah!?". Then he went about laughingly explaining how he feels like a fool to ask the question every time, but still as per protocol he just has to do it.

So I had finally arrived in Marseille! On the way, I'd caught a glimpse of the port and wished I could go out to sea sometime.

Amelie's house help, Aga, and her boyfriend, had come down to pick me up in his car! Amelie was due to arrive the next morning. It was a short ride to her (Aga's) place, where I would sleep for the night. It was a pretty house, with a direct view of the magnificent Church of Notre Dame on one side and the seaport on the other! She prepared a nice dinner for me with some fried fish, veg balls (sorta like manchurian, without the red), and some wine. It was nearly 10pm and we decided to call it a day. After she left, I was sitting around blogging, admiring Notre Dame by night and... watching 'Jaane bhi do yaaro' & 'How I met your mother' on my laptop till 3am ;)

I woke up leisurely and prepared a cereal breakfast and some eggs for myself. By the time I got refreshed and ready, Amel had arrived, and I waited for her to come and pick me up to go to her new apartement, that her family had just moved into.

Even she was coming there for the first time. And it was great discovering the place. The apartment was spread over 3 floors, with a hall, 4 bedrooms, study and store. It was the top 3 floors of a 9 storey building, and on the top floor was a personal swimming pool!!! I immediately asked Amel what her father did :D - He was a World Rally Championship (WRc) driver and had won the Monte Carlo Porsche 911 rally in 1978-79!! He now had his own insurance firm!! I was in total awe!

I was in presence of greatness here. An actual racing car driver!!! He showed me miniature replicas of his cars, the Porsches, the Alfa Romeo... I was totally dumbfounded! I realized much later there were so many questions I could have asked.. How did it feel to drive those cars?
How was the competition? Saftey issues, etc. etc. etc. But I was just speechless and in rapt attention!

After a while, I sat around talking with Amel & Stephane, and Amel's sister, Marine, waiting for lunch to be served. Amel's grandmother was trying to converse with me in French, and speaking very slowly and it was fun! I was telling her about Hinduism and why I was wearing that thread on me, and that the ring on my finger was NOT an engagement ring :D We had a sublime lunch with two fish curries, rice and wine. There was also this drink which was supposed to be a speciality of Marseille and NO-ONE is supposed to like it the first time. Its not that I didn't like it, but my drinking it slowly prompted Amel's Dad to ask me to stop drinking it and just have some wine!

The weather was like a warm Bombay day without as much humidity in the air. After lunch, we stepped out for a coffee by the port.

After we were done, Amel tells me "My dad is just going to take us for a drive now"

The next 1.5 hours was the most unexpected and amazing experience of my entire trip. Amel's Dad took us for a spin in his BOAT!!! HE HAD HIS OWN BOAT!! Yes, I'll say it again, HE HAD HIS OWN FRIGGIN' BOAT!! It was a powerboat and flew along at maybe a 100km/h. And with a racing driver at the helm, it was exhilarating!! He moved the steering around like a toothpick, and the boat twisted and turned and splashed water at exactly the people he intended to drench! It was super cool!!!

Amel showed me the best-known of Marseille's sights visible from the sea, where Dumas based the Count of Monte Cristo, where Zizou's face was painted, (and now an Olympic Marseille painted was put up), the Champs Elysees of Marseille, the Notre Dame, of course, and much more..!! A most memorable afternoon!

Amel then had to leave with her family to go to Cavalaire for a family get-together. So I decided to make a quick trip down to Aix-en-Provence, which is like a 1/2 hour bus ride from Marseille. Before I got to the bus, Aga & I made a trip to the Palais Longchamps, which is a stunning palace in the heart of the city. Then I was off to Aix.

Its a pretty little town. There're absolutely tons of eat out places, a beautiful fountain, church, merry-go-round and the usual entertainers et al. I walked around from 8pm to 11pm, had a pizza and a beer and the caught the last bus, at 11.30pm, back to Marseille.

Aga took me out for a spin on her bike again, this time to show the Palais Longchamps by night, and it was absolutely magnificent. The next day was going to be spent packing, traveling back to Paris, and then eventually flying back to Bombay.

My train was at 1pm from Marseille, and was to take me directly to Paris Charles de Gaulle via Lyon. I met a charming lady on the train - Frederique. She had a cute Jack Russel named Enjoy, and I was trying to tell her in Freninglish a little bit about India, which was like a dream destination for her.

Before I knew it, we'd blitzed past Lyon, all the way across to the North of France, to Paris. At the airport, it was quiet. I had arrived at 5pm for a 10pm flight! With nothing to do and 100 euros in my pocket, I shopped for chocolates, wine and desperately searched for Made in Europe souvenirs (all of them were Made in China! X( ) It was time to board the flight then, and I realized I had forgotten to take my tax money back. When traveling in Europe, you pay VAT on everything, which is reimbursable at the end of the trip. But by then it was too late - a loss of about 50 euros (GRUNT!).

I was looking forward to getting back.

--

It has been the trip of a lifetime! So many fond memories...! I'm glad I penned at least some of em down on this blog. My laptop has been a faithful companion on the trip. Not once misbehaving, and light enough never to trouble my back. I've returned with at least a few shades darker skin, thanks mostly to my time in Spain. It would be next to impossible to pick a favourite place on the trip... All I can say is I loved EVERY moment of it!

Au revoir. Goodbye. Adios.

Day 14: Barcelona - THE CAMP NOU!!!

Today was going to see a dream come true for me. I was quietly excited as I poured myself some milk in a bowl of cereal at breakfast. Accessing the Barcelona website on my phone, I checked what I could do at The Camp Nou. A bit of a scare was that to go on the tour inside the stadium, the website suggested that I'd have to book one day in advance to be safe. But given that it wasn't really peak season, I was pretty sure that I'd get in without much trouble.

I was in a bit of a trance in the morning, still unable to believe that I was actually going to be at this place that I saw so often on TV, with the likes of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi running riot on opposition defences. If there was one thing I had come to do in Barcelona, it was to visit The Camp Nou. I took a short 1-station ride to the station 'Badal'. From there it was about a 15-20 minute walk.

I got my first glimpse of the stadium from the south side. And it was colossal. With a capacity of 110,000 people, it had to be! I had to head to the west side for the entrance. It was here that I first saw the actual stadium complex - with stores, restaurants, parking, arrangements for ticketing, etc. The excitement was building, and I had unknowingly quickened my pace. I headed first for the ticket counter... only to find that that was not the one for the tour. It was actually for season tickets. There were a few old people hanging around there, smoking cigars - the kinds you'd expect to see at every match, watching it from box seats and the like.

So I had to head past the parking lot, to the place where the Barcelona Club Store was. The ticket counters for the tour were right next to it, and I had my 17 euros - PEANUTS - ready with me! Upon entering the stadium, I'm offered to rent a pair of 'walkthrough guide headphones' for 5 euros. I didn't see anyone taking it, and also the write-ups on the internet didn't really think it was worth it. So I head right inside. The path for fans is well laid out, and leads first directly to a mini-theatre. There's a wait of about 10 mins of wait, where I manage to get a few strained glimpses of the pitch.

Upon heading into the theatre, everyone is provided with a pair of 3D glasses! There are about 130-150 seats I'd guess. I plonk myself right in the middle to get a good view of the screen. The video is, if you haven't guessed it till now, of course, about the club, with a lot of stunning 3D videos of some goals being scored by the current team. And it is just MAGNIFICENT. The emotion the video managed to serve up with all the music and the fantastic camera angles combined with the collective ooohs and aaahs of the audience ensured that I had my eyes full in the end. It was MAGIC. I was COMPLETELY in a trance now.

The next 2 hours or so is etched in my memory and I can just press 'play' in my head whenever I want.

The line of fans move on to the locker rooms from there. Messi stood here a few months ago, and will again in a month's time. Guardiola was at the board, drawing out plans on who plays where, and will be again. Xavi was there, pitching in with his experience. And will be again. My hands were living a life of their own, clicking random pictures, which are like a blur in my memory...

Then we headed towards the pitch, walking through the players' tunnel... My mind was making me hear sounds of crowds roaring around me. I felt like I was there, right there, when a game was being played, walking out with the players... I sat on one of the seats for a bit and let myself come back to the real world. What a sight it would be to watch a game here!

Then I moved on back inside through the Champions gallery (with all them trophies that Barca has won)... Past the room where the post-match interviews are held... and onto the next (higher) tier of seats. And then onto the top tier with those cushion seats, glass box and air conditioning! If there was a place to be when a game was on, this was it! It would probably set me back by a coupla hundred euros at least, but I'd be more than willing. Some day, I will come back and watch a game here! Dream on... as they say :)

After absolutely drowning myself in the atmosphere, I headed through to the museum which has videos of Barca's greats playing. There are even memorabilia from other sports - handball, basketball.. and you realize there's much more to the club than football.

The museum exit heads right back to the Barca Store by a bridge. There's absolutely everything that you can imagine with a Barca engraved on it - from underwear to cups to caps to tees.

Its 3pm by the time I finish. I head back to the hostel, siesta, and in the evening head out to see La Sagrada Familia and a few other astounding Gaudi works. Since I have a bus early next morning, to Marseille, I return early (11ish) after another tapas filled dinner at Tapa Tapa, which's good, but a little bit more expensive than last night.

The day, though, clearly belonged, to The Camp Nou. Gaudi or no Gaudi, THIS is what calls me back to Barcelona more than anything else!