Reunion @ Goa

30 girls passed out together in 1998. And 15yrs later eight met in Goa on November 22, 2013. My first all girl outing after college.

It started with a Whatsapp idea and ended with a Goa trip. Absolute fun & relaxation. Thanks to Guaan for making all the arrangements in advance for us and coordinating whole lot of things at Goa....from our stay at Casa-de-Goa to making arrangements for airport pick-up & drop and our local sight seeing arrangements. Since the gang had a combination of pure veg & non-veg eaters, special research was done in finding out good places for us to eat. And I must say that this was the best veg food I have ever had in Goa.
Six of us met up at Blore airport. Another friend N, from Delhi was to join us, but last minute changes in plan and her seat got filled by Surprise element..C, another Blore friend. So seven of us from Blore. The one hour that we had before we could catch our flight to Goa was used up in making noise and catching up on all the old memories. At Goa 2 Innovas were waiting to pick us up and take us straight to Casa-de-Goa. Situated at a walking distance from Baga beach, this place has is done up well, rooms are comfortable for 2 people stay, complimentary wine bottle and complimentary breakfast. Since we booked it 2 months in advance we got it real cheap (Rs.4850/- for 2 nights on twin sharing basis + innova charges)

Casa-de-Goa

For me personally it was a reunion with my best pal M. Not planned, yet we got to share the room and catch up with all the talking we hadn't done in the last 13-14yrs.

Together again

Just 2 days, yet one could make out that no one has really changed. Each one was still the same person- happy, temperamental, wild and beautiful smiles...nothing has really changed us in the last 15yrs, except for the people around us, husbands, kids. Friday evening is when we reached Goa, decided to do some shopping on our way to the beach and dinner at Souza Lobo. Delicious food by the beach..candle lit place and music playing and sound of waves in the background.

Dinner@Souza Lobo

Saturday morning started with a walk at the beach followed by heavy buffet breakfast at the hotel and then we were off for sight seeing. Five of us chose to see Old Goa and three decided to rest back and enjoy the beach. With just 2 days in hand these were the only places we could see apart from enjoying the Baga Beach & food at Souza Lobo.

• Christian Art Museum,

• St. Augustines Tower

St.Augustine Tower

• Basilica of Bom Jesus

• The Church of our lady of the Rosary

On our way to Our Lady of Rosary

Convent of St.Monica

• Se Cathedral

• Church of St. Francis of Assisi

Tomb of St. Francis Xavier

Each one had its own beauty. December is supposed to be a better season to visit Goa, but at 12:00PM, everything seems hot. Some of us had out caps/ hats on, and some chose to buy woven hats at shopping centers. Panjim Inn is where we stopped for lunch as we were told that those interested in Mario Miranda's work of art at a place below Panjim Inn.

I picked this

Table made of waste wood and tile looked perfect for a green corner. Saw this at another place that we went hunting for close to an hour.

Lunch @Panjim Inn

 

Post all the shopping and sight seeing we went back to our hotel to rest for a while. All of us met up in G&P's room. G had picked up some goan specialities for us..the Coconut cake, Gud cake (made with jaggery), Bebinca, Brownies. After a long day outside we hogged. Cups, tea bags & sugar packets had been smuggled into the room and M made hot tea for all of us. After about 2 hrs of chit chat and laughter went down to have dinner at the hotel. With all the goa guddies inside our tummy, all of us chose to eat light. I went for a short walk with P & C and then straight off to bed at 11.00PM. Although we were tired after all days walk, M & I ended up talking till 2.00AM.

Sunday morning began with a beach walk..all of us wetting our feet, 

Pilate Live

P & C busy with their Pilate session, S searching for Star fishes and helping fishermen pull with their boat, S, R & G searching for shells and M & I searching for pebbles.

S helping the fishermen

Star fish

Last day@the Beach

My favorite shot

Special Mention...Happy G.

Sunday afternoon was our return flight. G helped us with booking our return cabs and we were soon on our return flight.

Planter's Club, Sakleshpur

A last minute trip worked out well.

September 27, 2013- Worked like a dog from 5pm to 10pm- no break. Reached home at 10.15pm and sat back for work at 11pm, worked till 5am. Got up at 9am to find kids awake and playing with their dad.

September 28, 2013- 10.15am we decided we should take a short break away from Blore and Sakleshpur was decided upon. 

And there we were on the NICE road...Blore Hassan road paying at all the toll gates and enjoying the wide highways.



He called up the Planter's club which has affiliation with our club here...and found that they had rooms available. Good weather, quiet and neat place, large room, yummy home made hot food that is what welcomed us when we reached there.
Since it was already evening when we reached, we decided we will visit Sakleshpur town and see some places around it. We visited the Sakleshwara temple later that evening.

Kukke Subramanya

Next day we decided to visit Kukke Subramanya which was just 60kms away from this place. Unfortunately post monsoon, the roads were in terrible condition and we took close to 3hrs to reach kukke..just in time for the last darshan. At the temple, Boys n Men are expected to bare chested, even the baniyans are not allowed. It came as a surprise to me that, my son who is all the time looking at himself in the mirror was all shy to walk around the temple without shirt. :-) Well, we managed a good darshan without much fuss from the kids. 
By the time we returned from Kukke it was already 4pm, but folks from Planter's club had kept hot food ready for us. Post (late) lunch we headed back for Blore. Hot coffee at Oosoor estate and our next break was straight at Blore.

Looking for a quick break out of Bangalore, Sakleshpur works out just fine for a 1 night 2 days break.

Kids having a good time in Car

My First Time

I had been wanting to blog out my Cauvery camp experience for a long time, but all of it was more than three years old. I love the JLR experience…have visited Galibore twice, Bheemeshwari once, Dubbare once. These camps are cut off from rest of the world…no newspaper, no TV/Radio, no cell connectivity. This camp atleast has a fan & a Zero watt bulb inside the tent…Doddamakali does not even have that! Experience here brings a lot of peace within..being with the nature…away from crowd & noise.

This Saturday we made another trip towards Galibore- A camp beside river Cauvery. Just 3hrs drive from Bangalore to the camp. This time the roads were in good condition & with our Innova the drive was fast & smooth.

We were welcomed with fresh ‘neembu pani’ meaning lemon juice. Check-in was at 12.00PM, we were there by 11.30AM. So had a 2hr wait for the lunch to be served. Simple Buffet with one dessert. Son loved the space this camp had to offer. This being breeding season for butterflies we had varities of butterflies flying all over…close 50 odd butterflies sitting on a small shrub!! Monkeys jumping from one tree to another.

At 5.00PM were taken on a Coracle ride to the other side of the river. Had a nice time watching friends fishing, son playing in sand and getting our feet wet. Around 6.30PM we returned back to the camp to enjoy the bon-fire. But unfortunately it started raining heavily. So we had to make do with just the snacks in the cafeteria. We were served hot Onion bajjis, Aloo bonda, Mirchi bajjis, and for the non-veggies some Chicken kabab I think. We planned to return back to the tents once the rain stopped….pitch dark, with just one lantern hanging outside each tent. The fear was what if we stamp some snake passing by…but we didn’t see any J. Because of the rains, dinner got served only post 9.30PM.

Next morning 6.15AM I was wide awake…feeling fresh after a good undisturbed sleep (well Sonny boy slept well J). Was well prepared with 2 bottles of milk just incase he woke up at night. After a cup of Tea & Marie biscuits(that’s standard), both of us went out for a short walk towards the river. At 7.00AM I was to leave for Rafting…yes River Rafting. I refused initially, but then our friend was all excited about it, so I joined her. Husbands stayed back to do their fatherly duties. At 8.00AM the jeep was finally ready to take us upstream. That’s where we were to start rafting. We were totally 17 of us split into two rafts, 15 people from one family. I was amazed at the participation from this family…from chitti(aunty), to appa, to husband, to cousins…all were there. Wow!

Shashi (the manager for the adventure sports) briefed us on the usage of equipments we were using in river rafting. And we set out on our expedition.

Here is where “My First Time” story begins J

We chose the middle seats to be safe. Both of us don’t know swimming, so did not want to risk it. Start was quiet with all of getting used to the water around us & learning to row. Just 10 mins of rowing we were asked to stop and suddenly one of the fell into the water in the middle of the river. All of us panicked. But this was a demo for us to get familiar with water & to learn floating. I did not volunteer. One by one all the guys tried it out, the guys who knew swimming were the first ones to try it..rest also tried. Suddenly then one of the ladies came forward for the jump, I just kept watching with fear. Then my friend stood up saying she would also like to try it. She jumped in and looked very comfortable in water, making me feel that I was missing out something. That’s when I decided that I shouldn’t be missing it either. With my heart racing fast, I held my breath, closed my eyes & jumped out of the raft. When I opened my eyes, I was still inside the water, felt water passing near my ears, body going down. Few seconds passed…felt I wasn’t coming up, should I be shouting for help, were they watching me…questions raced through my head…and bloop..I came up. Shashi asked me to open my eyes, keep my hands apart and relax…legs automatically came up…I was floating(with life jacket ofcourse). Enjoyed the water for a few minutes then the fear of Crocodile coming up made me go back to the raft. Tried to climb in on my own, but then had to take Shashi’s teams help to be lifted back to the raft. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE IT WAS!!

Once we all were back into the raft, the real experience of rafting was awaiting us. One, two, three and all of us coordinated our rowing with the leaders sitting in front of the raft. We passed through about two rapids before we stopped again. This time we stopped at the banks of the river and were asked to get down. What do you think we were expected to do?? Walk up, get into the river and flow down with the river to place where we had two of Shashi’s people standing. Goodness, this was something I would never do. What if I miss these guys and flow away with the main stream which was joining the Sangam. Shashi guaranteed that something like that would never happen. He was leaving us towards the flow which was going to his people. Wow again…WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. I don’t know how to express this….but I had my heart beating again hard, I could feel it through the life jacket. I tried it just twice, but the guys went on with it again & again. I relaxed sitting inside the water…I think that’s what tanned me J Again all of us were back into the raft and started on with our rafting. The leaders in front had no coordination this time…may be tired of all the swimming & playing in the water. We decided that this time the ladies should try leading and here my friend & I volunteered to be the leaders. Sitting right in front, taking instructions from Shashi we went forward facing the rapids & the current. Splish & Splash everywhere from all sides. I realized that we had missed out all the fun sitting in the middle of the raft earlier. This was like challenging the water, cutting through it…feeling the rocks suddenly under us, the sound of the rapid water…all of it was exciting..Even without knowing swimming, I had this sudden courage to fight the waters J We achieved it….we were good leaders who crossed all the rapid water screaming…yet without fear. Rs.600/- for this…all of it was worth-it.

In all, this was a great gift…and experience I will never forget….my first time in the deep & rapids. Am going to do this again….very soon.