I ended the year with loads of traveling all mostly on work. However it was great i was present in the top college festivals in India amongst students who were there to throughly enjoy themselves and root for their colleges and not to forgot the thousands of brands there to get their attention :)
Of course being the season December onwards we had a string of weddings to go to all really close friends. From our gang of 6 girls in college the first got married - Lakshmi. So off we all trotted to Cochin for the wedding and we had a blast. From learning a dance for the sangeeth to the food,shopping for sarees & not to forget the actual ceremonies of Nikhil and Lakshmi tying the knot. All except Tasha from our mad gang of 6 couldn't make it, but even just 5 of us being together brought back so many old crazy memories and created newer ones.
The next non work trip was funnily enough back in Cochin again - this time for Sethi & Babs wedding reception. We were only a group of 15 people that went from Bangalore. We decided to take the train since it had been years since most of us had done a train journey. We also intended on keeping the rest of the passengers awake - which of course we did much to their displeasure. We arrived greeted by Sethi and Babs at the station - they were of course already married so lots of commotion at the station wishing them. We then headed to where we were staying it was beautiful and all our rooms overlooked the backwaters. Organizing a group of 15 people was definitely not an easy task so at about 2 a bunch of us - chitra, rohini, sneha, pablo, krish, varsha,abhi,vijay kiran and myself headed out to fort cochin - a ride in the ferry and we spent the afternoon at a lovely place called the brunton boatyard - beer and food flowed abundantly at this waterfront restaurant, and then desert at this lovely cafe down the road. Back on the ferry in the evening and rushed to get to the reception on time. Came back from the reception at a decent hour, we stayed awake till 4 in the morning once again keeping people around us awake and also being told to shut up - they didn't like our singing apparently. The next day we were on a boat ride on the backwaters with cold beer and lots of fantastic malayalee food - off the boat in the evening and sadly bid adieu to Cochin & back to grind in Bangalore.
With a weekends break in between - i decided to surpise kiran and take him to Hyderabad as he wanted to see DJ Tiesto playing. Told him we were going out of town on thu evening - friday evening at about 5 he finally got to know where we were headed - not to mention how excited he was about it. Trained it to Hyderabad where we met up with challa and he graciously put us up at his place. At about 8 we get a call only to hear Neehal on the other end saying he'd was in Hyderabad - completely surprising us. Post lots of coordination the four of us were on the lake front eating breakfast post which we went to golconda fort, paradise for briyani, an afternoon siesta and then headed across town for the tiesto show. Post the show at about 2 we were back on the streets heading to eat again. The amazing thing about hyderabad is that you can practically get briyani all night - and unlike bangalore things stay open till 4 & 5 in the morning. Staggered back and the next day was comparatively peaceful with lunch at a place challa highly recommended & food from the place in andhra he was from. The afternoon we spent at the Salarjung museum which was extremely impressive - they seem to have spent a great deal of time on restoring the museum and working towards it being of world class standards. Back on the train and back to Bangalore, but we had a weekend that was superb and all thanks to challa for that.
Another two weekend break and Dipti, Gaurabh, Kiran & Myself found ourselves off to turtle bay - a beach resort on the Mangalore coastline - Kundapur to be precise. Beautiful calm beaches, a very nice resort, lots of DC on the beach and sleeping in the shack made an absolutely perfect weekend getaway.
I was in the Niligirs for the easter weekend with family, that of course is home for me. But a must do if you have not had a chance to do it. Don't know how much sightseeing one would want to spend their time on - but going to a tea estate, walking & hiking, golfing for those of you who like, quaint places to stay in - all of it provides for another place to get away for the weekend too.
I love the fact that we've been able to get out so much in just 3 months of the year starting. There is so much to see here in India that sometimes i think we forget how much we actually have to see & are missing out on. Kiran & I for one have put it down on our list of things to see - Much More of India. We seem to be making a good start so far :)
Trips that currently all seem to be on the cards are- Goa, with my best friend Bianca - this i can hardly wait for cause i see her once in 2 years. Post that we are thinking of Gokarna & Kovalam, so fingers crossed these materialize.
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