India Trip

Got back Saturday from a 3-week trip to India. Here are a few highlights...

Travel
- Made a 4 day Bangalore-Mysore trip a few days after we landed. Started off with a woefully short pitstop at Bangalore to meet a couple of friends. Spent the next day in Mysore where we visited the Tibetan Monastery and the Palace. The former, with its tall, shiny statues and the Tibetan monks, was a rather unique place. The highlight of the trip though was the visit to Kabini Resort, which is about 75 kms from Mysore. We did the 1-day package which included lunch, tea, an open jeep jungle safari and dinner on Day 1 and another safari, a parisal ride and brunch on Day 2. The resort itself was beautiful with nice views of the Kabini River, a few short hikes and some tree houses. It was really serene and peaceful and a good break from the hustle and bustle of city life. The accommodations were very comfortable and the food was sumptuous. The safaris were fantastic experiences as the jeep bounced and rattled along narrow, unpaved tracks - with greenery all around us - in the middle of the forest as we looked for wildlife. We saw monkeys, peacocks, elephants, deer, Gaur(supposedly the largest cattle in the world) and wild dogs but the most exciting was a brief look at a leopard as it walked off into the forest. The safari included an elephant ride, which thrilled the kids.

- The only other trip was a day trip to Vellore to see the new Golden Temple. It was more a tourist attraction than a temple, though. The gardens around the temple were well-maintained and the long walkway to the temple was bright and colorful. The temple itself, with its golden surface, looked rich and shiny.

Food
- Several restaurants have mushroomed in Chennai. Rather than just put food on the table, many new restaurants seem to be trying to make the food just one part of the whole experience. And it works. We tried out a few restaurants and my top pick was Mocha. Here we got to smoke Hookahs on some comfortable seats outdoors and then move indoors to a tastefully decorated room to have some very delicious snacks. Also enjoyed the ambience and the food at Rainforest, a tiny restaurant nestled into the basement of an apartment complex. The place was decorated to look like a forest with stuffed animals and forest sounds adding to the atmosphere.

Movies
- As the quick review indicated, saw Vaaranam Aayiram on the opening day itself at Abirami Mega Mall. Had cast my net far and wide to get tickets for the first day and finally managed to get them via my cousin's friend. The crowd was expectedly quite boisterous but they were there to actually watch the movie, as indicated by their silence during the serious scenes and their applause for Surya's performance at many places(in contrast, at any Tamil movie in the US, you will find quite a few who appear to have come just to make loud comments at inopportune moments).

- Also saw the Malayalam multi-starrer Twenty-20 at Sathyam. The theater was awesome with very comfortable seats though the sound was a bit too loud for my ears. The movie was pretty good with equal, well-tailored roles for all the major stars and an interesting story with a few good surprises. Got a little confusing and stretched towards the end though. The major attraction was ofcourse Mammootty and Mohanlal sharing the screen and the couple of scenes where they clashed was worth the price of admission. Suresh Gopi looked bloated but earned some claps with his trademark intense dialog delivery while Dileep stole the few scenes he was in with his comic timing. Nayan, along with Prithviraj, appeared for a single song sequence.

Rain
- Was trapped indoors by the non-stop rain the last few days of the trip. Streets turned into rivers and driveways turned into beaches as the rain came down in torrents without a break. Had to make a trip to the in-laws' house(in Mambalam, traditionally one of the worst-hit areas during rains) the day we were leaving. And even as we were bemoaning the lack of proper drainage and infrastructure, it was definitely an exciting and unforgettable experience to walk in the pouring rain, go on the bike on the flooded streets and wade through thigh-high water to reach their house.

The rain let up by the end of the week to allow us to get to the airport without any hassles. As always, boarded the flight muttering to ourselves that 3 weeks was just too short for an India trip...

A few photos from the trip can be seen here.