I had written here that there is something being planned and I didn’t want to jinx it-and that was this plan of an all girls outing over the republic day weekend.. It initially started off with 5 of us – U,C,T,Gundu and me but then U’s hubby met with an accident and she backed off and C ‘ gave haath’ in the last minute. But still the plan was on and we did go on this trip – Aha! Here’s the summary of the 3 days holiday without family,hubby,baby – My first ever with friends!
Day 1: We started at 6am from my home as I was the first pickup and by the time we eventually left bangalore it was nearly 7.30. Added to that was the holiday traffic and all restaurants were crowded. We eventually decided to stop for brkfast at 9 at KAmat Loka Ruchi, had yummy akki rotti and idlis and started from there again in about half hour.We chatted non-stop until we reached the resort and even told the driver that we have been friends since school so we have a lot ofcatching up to do! We reached the Windflower resort by 1pm and all doubts of how the place will be just vanished just looking at the reception area! Oh Man! That resort was bliss just bliss. And the suite my friend had boked was just short of heaven! Jacuzzi and rain shower in a h.u.g.e bathroom and comfy double bed with an additional roll-on bed. Despite all plans of going out after lunch, we ate so much that we just lazed around on the bed watching TV and internet,applying nail polish (yeah,I realised I hadnt applied one in God knows how long a time!) and talking just about everything under the sun! Despite eating like a pig at lunch (I should've made a note of all things we ate over the days!) we were hungry by dinner time - amazing! By dinner the temperature had fallen and it was cold enough for me to take out the pullover which actually occupied half my luggage :-) Again, we downed the dinner along with a glass of red wine. 2 sips of that wine and I had this light buzz that I was unhappy about - a kick for just 2 sips - Che! That was just not me. And I also worried that I would end up loosing control (which issomething that I hate) and so much to my friend T's embarassment and chagrin I ate curd rice to get the effect off :-D And then finished the complete glass quite comfortably. We then went back to the room by 10.30 and while the other 2 were contemplating the outside rain shower or jacuzzi I was in snoozeland in no time. Just the thought that I dont have to wake up in the middle of the night to give a bottle to Chutku or be aware of not rolling on him in sleep - whatever it was-I slept real peacefully and didnt get up until 5.30am when T suddenly shouted at her brother in sleep :-) (Another solace-Im not the only one who talks in sleep!)
Day 2: After which I couldnt go back to sleep no matter how much I tried, so I woke up at 6, opened the balcony doors - stepped out and saw the sun rise. The fresh chilly air, the chirping of birds and then a few really small yellow ones flitting here and there already. And then I came in to check my emails if any and while I sat there not really interested in the laptop looking out, a magpie came to the balcony,stood outside the door and sat staring at me for a few moments. Then it pecked at some dirt there,looked at me again and just flew away - it was such a peaceful moment-just thinking about it makes me sigh!
We had called the Spa in advance for a head,neck and shoulder massage at 9am and so Gundu and I went to brkfast at 8 and then walked to the spa. The massage was soo good that it gave me a buzz equal to being drunk the previous evening. Just bliss again...It was so good that Gundu decided to get a back massage too and since T was also getting it done-they convinced me to get one too! So all morning we were at the Spa getting massages done and comparing notes :-) It was a struggle to even walk back to the room after that! Unfortunately we had planned to go to Talacauvery, Bagamandala and Madikeri Raja seat in the afternoon so after a heavy lunch again we started at 3 to these places. Tala Cauvery was real cool with the clouds hovering just above us,covering the sun completely and there was hardly any crowd either.Spent half hour there and came to Baga Mandala which was a disappointment actually. There was hardly any water to say that there was a 'sangama' of 3 rivers there! But still-where there is water-I have to put my feet in there :-D So I did some climbing and jumping around to find a cleaner spot and put my feet in the chilly water for a few mins...A few photo ops later we started to Madikeri. By the time we reached Raja seat the sun had set and the crowd was waiting for the Musical fountain to start. We also roamed around the park a little, took pictures and waited for the musical fountain to start. Watched a couple of songs and then the crowd got too much for comfort and we just decided to walk away from there. Reaching the resort we directly went in to dinner at 8pm and by that time I had eaten so much that my stomach refused to take in any more food! I still had some rice, tasted my friend's wine, ate ice cream :-D and went back to the room. Any sleep that wanted to come just vanished while we did some channel surfing, loaded he photos onto my laptop and spoke until 1am. As we just slept, my friend T got a call from her hubby - at 2.30am to ask why she didnt call him before sleeping :-D Thinking about it now, I have a smile on my face but after that call we all took quite sometime to calm overselves and get back to sleep! :-D
Day 3: Saturday morning was depressing because we knew we had to go back! We once more went around the resort taking pictures and after another heavy brkfast (actually, you name it you have it kind of buffet it was through out the stay) we settled the bills and started from the resort at 11.45. On the way we visited the Namdroling Monastery and T did some shopping and bought a beautiful Buddha face to hang in her living room. We wanted to visit the Nimishamba temple (rather I wanted to) but then we were so hungry by the time we reached Srirangapatna that we just drove on to find a hotel to eat... HAd lunch at 3pm and coffee in the coffeeday at 4.30 :-) The journey back was more of listening to 90s songs and commenting about them rather than give away juicy pieces of our gossip to the driver. He too, I think, was bugged of our nonstop bak-bak by then :-D Though we dropped Gundu to her home at 6.30 it was past 8pm when I reached home after facing the sat evening traffic :-( cursing the same pollution and noise and the traffic was the first thing we did after enjoying the fresh air,chirping of the birds and cool breeze of Coorg...
Just before I left on this trip, there was a lot on my mind and I realise that I was on the verge of depression-having crying bouts and was feeling that I couldnt handle all the things that life was throwing at me from all directions. Now, at the end of the holiday -Im back completely refreshed and a lot more energetic and with a confidence that I will be able to handle everything that comes my way!
And for some of you who,Im sure will be thinking how Chutku handled this 2 nights seperation - he was a trooper. I had been telling him for 2 days that I will be going to 'Ooru' with my friends and though he kept saying that he wants to come too-he didnt really bother much while I was not there.With 2 sets of doting grand parents and Dad to take him around, he has enjoyed the 2 days as well as I have, I think. Yes, he did cry in the office on friday apparently because
I was not there but otherwise was fine. On saturday night when I reachd home-he got so excited that he did not even eat his dinner fully and kept hugging me and coming back for hugs :-) making me feel that he had missed me somewhere. And on sunday morning, he rolled towards me,slept on my arm and kept careassing my arm and stomach and sighing in his sleep - as if ensuring that I was back. Isnt that a pretty good reward to know that your baby missed you while you were away :-)
I thought I had learnt a lot about myself (introspection?) during this trip which unfortunately I have forgotten now..So was that all really a learning, I wonder.
Thought I will add some pictures to this post, but unfortunately Im unable to access Picassa from work - so that has to be done from home.Hmmm... I think its time I moved to a more upgraded android phone than the same old Samsung that I have... What say?
Edited to Add: I had written the post a week or so after I came back from the trip, but deciding to take a break-I didnt publish it then...so, putting it up here today. Better late than never,huh?
Day 1: We started at 6am from my home as I was the first pickup and by the time we eventually left bangalore it was nearly 7.30. Added to that was the holiday traffic and all restaurants were crowded. We eventually decided to stop for brkfast at 9 at KAmat Loka Ruchi, had yummy akki rotti and idlis and started from there again in about half hour.We chatted non-stop until we reached the resort and even told the driver that we have been friends since school so we have a lot ofcatching up to do! We reached the Windflower resort by 1pm and all doubts of how the place will be just vanished just looking at the reception area! Oh Man! That resort was bliss just bliss. And the suite my friend had boked was just short of heaven! Jacuzzi and rain shower in a h.u.g.e bathroom and comfy double bed with an additional roll-on bed. Despite all plans of going out after lunch, we ate so much that we just lazed around on the bed watching TV and internet,applying nail polish (yeah,I realised I hadnt applied one in God knows how long a time!) and talking just about everything under the sun! Despite eating like a pig at lunch (I should've made a note of all things we ate over the days!) we were hungry by dinner time - amazing! By dinner the temperature had fallen and it was cold enough for me to take out the pullover which actually occupied half my luggage :-) Again, we downed the dinner along with a glass of red wine. 2 sips of that wine and I had this light buzz that I was unhappy about - a kick for just 2 sips - Che! That was just not me. And I also worried that I would end up loosing control (which issomething that I hate) and so much to my friend T's embarassment and chagrin I ate curd rice to get the effect off :-D And then finished the complete glass quite comfortably. We then went back to the room by 10.30 and while the other 2 were contemplating the outside rain shower or jacuzzi I was in snoozeland in no time. Just the thought that I dont have to wake up in the middle of the night to give a bottle to Chutku or be aware of not rolling on him in sleep - whatever it was-I slept real peacefully and didnt get up until 5.30am when T suddenly shouted at her brother in sleep :-) (Another solace-Im not the only one who talks in sleep!)
Day 2: After which I couldnt go back to sleep no matter how much I tried, so I woke up at 6, opened the balcony doors - stepped out and saw the sun rise. The fresh chilly air, the chirping of birds and then a few really small yellow ones flitting here and there already. And then I came in to check my emails if any and while I sat there not really interested in the laptop looking out, a magpie came to the balcony,stood outside the door and sat staring at me for a few moments. Then it pecked at some dirt there,looked at me again and just flew away - it was such a peaceful moment-just thinking about it makes me sigh!
We had called the Spa in advance for a head,neck and shoulder massage at 9am and so Gundu and I went to brkfast at 8 and then walked to the spa. The massage was soo good that it gave me a buzz equal to being drunk the previous evening. Just bliss again...It was so good that Gundu decided to get a back massage too and since T was also getting it done-they convinced me to get one too! So all morning we were at the Spa getting massages done and comparing notes :-) It was a struggle to even walk back to the room after that! Unfortunately we had planned to go to Talacauvery, Bagamandala and Madikeri Raja seat in the afternoon so after a heavy lunch again we started at 3 to these places. Tala Cauvery was real cool with the clouds hovering just above us,covering the sun completely and there was hardly any crowd either.Spent half hour there and came to Baga Mandala which was a disappointment actually. There was hardly any water to say that there was a 'sangama' of 3 rivers there! But still-where there is water-I have to put my feet in there :-D So I did some climbing and jumping around to find a cleaner spot and put my feet in the chilly water for a few mins...A few photo ops later we started to Madikeri. By the time we reached Raja seat the sun had set and the crowd was waiting for the Musical fountain to start. We also roamed around the park a little, took pictures and waited for the musical fountain to start. Watched a couple of songs and then the crowd got too much for comfort and we just decided to walk away from there. Reaching the resort we directly went in to dinner at 8pm and by that time I had eaten so much that my stomach refused to take in any more food! I still had some rice, tasted my friend's wine, ate ice cream :-D and went back to the room. Any sleep that wanted to come just vanished while we did some channel surfing, loaded he photos onto my laptop and spoke until 1am. As we just slept, my friend T got a call from her hubby - at 2.30am to ask why she didnt call him before sleeping :-D Thinking about it now, I have a smile on my face but after that call we all took quite sometime to calm overselves and get back to sleep! :-D
Day 3: Saturday morning was depressing because we knew we had to go back! We once more went around the resort taking pictures and after another heavy brkfast (actually, you name it you have it kind of buffet it was through out the stay) we settled the bills and started from the resort at 11.45. On the way we visited the Namdroling Monastery and T did some shopping and bought a beautiful Buddha face to hang in her living room. We wanted to visit the Nimishamba temple (rather I wanted to) but then we were so hungry by the time we reached Srirangapatna that we just drove on to find a hotel to eat... HAd lunch at 3pm and coffee in the coffeeday at 4.30 :-) The journey back was more of listening to 90s songs and commenting about them rather than give away juicy pieces of our gossip to the driver. He too, I think, was bugged of our nonstop bak-bak by then :-D Though we dropped Gundu to her home at 6.30 it was past 8pm when I reached home after facing the sat evening traffic :-( cursing the same pollution and noise and the traffic was the first thing we did after enjoying the fresh air,chirping of the birds and cool breeze of Coorg...
Just before I left on this trip, there was a lot on my mind and I realise that I was on the verge of depression-having crying bouts and was feeling that I couldnt handle all the things that life was throwing at me from all directions. Now, at the end of the holiday -Im back completely refreshed and a lot more energetic and with a confidence that I will be able to handle everything that comes my way!
And for some of you who,Im sure will be thinking how Chutku handled this 2 nights seperation - he was a trooper. I had been telling him for 2 days that I will be going to 'Ooru' with my friends and though he kept saying that he wants to come too-he didnt really bother much while I was not there.With 2 sets of doting grand parents and Dad to take him around, he has enjoyed the 2 days as well as I have, I think. Yes, he did cry in the office on friday apparently because
I was not there but otherwise was fine. On saturday night when I reachd home-he got so excited that he did not even eat his dinner fully and kept hugging me and coming back for hugs :-) making me feel that he had missed me somewhere. And on sunday morning, he rolled towards me,slept on my arm and kept careassing my arm and stomach and sighing in his sleep - as if ensuring that I was back. Isnt that a pretty good reward to know that your baby missed you while you were away :-)
I thought I had learnt a lot about myself (introspection?) during this trip which unfortunately I have forgotten now..So was that all really a learning, I wonder.
Thought I will add some pictures to this post, but unfortunately Im unable to access Picassa from work - so that has to be done from home.Hmmm... I think its time I moved to a more upgraded android phone than the same old Samsung that I have... What say?
Edited to Add: I had written the post a week or so after I came back from the trip, but deciding to take a break-I didnt publish it then...so, putting it up here today. Better late than never,huh?
