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.

Will Minnie follow Jasmine!

Jasmine...was the pet we had before Minnie came in. She was beautiful and understood my husband really well..had the magic in her to cure his cough by sleeping on his chest when he was unwell...But we lost her too early. To forget Jasmine's loss we got Minnie.


Minnie has been with us for the last 8 yrs now. Notorious & highly greedy for food as any other labrador you would know. She's veggie Dog, not that she hasnt tasted Non-veg. But being brought up in a house where only Veg food is cooked, she has adjusted well to our cooking & tastes. Her normal day would otherwise be with 3 day meal(rotis, rice & milk, Dosa, idli, Bread, Pedigree) with Biscuits in the evening and any other snack that anyone else would have in the house. Her favourites Mango, Papaya, Carrots & Banana. No one in the house is supposed to eat Mango/ Papaya without giving it to her, else we are sure to go deaf. Friends visiting our house would often say that she's huge, all we would do is talk about her.

She has been one member of the family who kept my mum-in-law busy and away from loneliness from the beginning. She is one key member, who gets attention at all times. She wants to be treated equal in the house, but behaves like a child all the time, playful, hungry for outings.

Last 2 months she has been getting her outings...Car tatas...for a wrong reason. She has been taking rounds with her Vet every 15 days. About 2 months back we detected a lump, got to know that it was a Mammory tumour, which was growing at a fast pace. We decided to get her operated and found that it was a malignant tumour. Chemotherapy was started, but she went through it quite well, without any side effects. The wound also healed well without trouble. But by this time we started noticing another new lump, this turned out to be Lymph node tumour. Minnie very bravely and successfully underwent another surgery. She recovered. We were glad that it was over. Just 3 weeks back, we noticed one more new lump. Took her to the vet. He noticed there were two. But surgery would be the solution is what he said, as removing both the lumps would not be possible and removing one tumour would lead to increase in the size of the other :-(. She was put on Chemotherapy again. She has to go through 3 rounds. One round of chemptherapy was given 2 weeks back. First day she didnt eat much, hesitated to go near her meal. But by day 2 she was back to eating, not huge quantities, but she was eating. Now for the past four days she has been keeping unwell. She has lost her appetite completely. Anything she eats comes out. She's living on water, Glucose water & 2-3 biscuits a day. Tried Ice-cream, she atleast ate it, but then within an hour, everything was vomited out. We have been asked to give her Glucose water and Liv52 to increase her appetite. Wonder what she will eat even if her appetite increases. She hates the sight of Rice & milk which was her normal diet. She loved bread, thats also out of her list for now. For the last two days she has been crying in pain(thats my guess), must be the cramps that she is getting because of no solid food and may be acidity. If she's gonna eat Ice-creams atleast, am going to buy her a huge stock of it. She's looking for all the cozy places and soft bedding she can get. May be its the pain that she is unable to go through. The Vet says, its all normal, but we see her losing weight & hair massively. For someone who has been looked after like any other family member, this should not be happening. I call her my mum-in-law's daughter..thats how she has been looked after. The vet says that if we had spayed her, she wouldnt have had this problem, but why arent these things told to a pet owner when the pet is taken for its vaccinations!! Is the owner of the pet supposed to know everything? We have read so many Pet care books, I dont remember having read about compulsary spaying! Wish we had known about this, may be we could have avoided the trouble & pain that Minnie is going through now. We have to find out a solution to her pain & suffering. What is it that will help her....I hope we are able to help her..and find a way out for her.

Update: Thursday- November 06, 2008 was the D-Day for Minnie. Dr.Bhat, her vet visited our place to give her the freedom from her sufferings.

Pondicherry- The French Colony

We & a friend of my husband, had a complimentary offer from Zest- Mahindra holidays for a 2 night/ 3 days trip to any of their locations. Although this would have been our third trip, we chose Pondicherry.

We started from home at 8.00A.M. on Saturday morning. The road till Hosur was bad, because of the flyover work. After that it was a breeze. We were mostly driving at 100/120, because of the good roads from Krishnagiri. Since the start was late, we were already hungry by the time we came close to Krishnagiri. And we were lucky to stop at a BP Bunk at Chinnar for fuelling up our Car. Why lucky?? Coz there was A2B, Adyar Anand Bhavan. We rushed inside and ordered for Pongal, vada, masala dosa and 2 cups of Coffee. All of it at Rs.98/-, and the food was yum. Those travelling on this road, can safely stop over at A2B. Rest of the restaurants/ hotels you would find on this road would only be dhabas, and one would think twice before stopping over for some grub there. After this was our non-stop journey towards Pondicherry. Although the roads are good throughout, speeding became difficult at times, because of the villages that come on the way. there is always a fear of someone/ some animal crossing the roads suddenly. Then there are are cyclists & motor cyclists, who love to drive in the middle of the road. The other part was, we did not have many boards which showed the directions towards Pondicherry. Reached Tiruvannamalai, and then got lost by taking the wrong turn. We must have deviated about 15-20 kms, through all the villages possible..and then joined back the main road with the help of some people who gave us the right direction to reach the by-pass road.

Our booking was at Big Beach- Cuddalore Road- Pondicherry. Reached the place at around 3.00P.M. Lunch was at a place close to the resort. We were happy to see the resort, beautifully done. Welcome drink made of Kokum, I think, was refreshing after the journey.
At the reception

The Lounge

Restaurant Area

The Bar

The reception area

Walk to the beach

The Beach

The Natural Pond

The Rooms

Everything about the place was good, the lobby with huge cane basket chairs...looked like Coracle with cushion, these were single seaters, then came the sofas and the restaurant area and then then coracle chairs again, which could seat 3-4 people. Not much spent on the walls of the place, but enough spent on doing up the interiors, the lightings, the fans, the rooms, the bathrooms.
The Inside of the Room

Room had been done up really well, with comfortable bed & LCD TV, perfect lighting & A/C. The bathroom had an open shower, which was closed for others, but open till a pebble area. It was obvious that a lot of care had been taken to make the visitors comfortable. Evening was by the pool(open till 9.00P.M.), with a bar attached, perfectly lit. Around 8.30, it started to rain heavily, and we were stuck at the pool without an umbrella. Called up the reception and asked them to send across two umbrellas. That didnt really help, coz by the time we reached the restaurant, we were half wet. The menu for Buffet- dinner was awesome. Infact it was lovely on all three days. If I was a Non-veggie, then i would have had even more choice :-). Anyways the veggie food was more than enough to let me rest for the night. Got to taste the finest of the desserts during the stay. Breakfasts again were heavy with lots of variety, with made to order Dosa's, omlettes or even scrambled egg. Fruit juice, aerated drinks, Milk, Tea/ Coffee, Cornflakes with 3 different varities, Vada, sambar, Boiled beans, Mashed potato, Idlies, Bread toast, boiled egg, Cut fruits, Poori on one day with Alu bhaji, Upma...and some more that I dont remember now.
Saturday we just chilled out near the pool and dining area. Sunday morning, we walked to the beach. The sea was rough, and daughter was too scared to enter the water. We just sat by watching the waves and the crawling crabs. After the beach session, we had our breakdast and daughter, husband & his friend decided to go to the pool again, I decided to stay back in the room and relax. They came back after 3 hours fully tanned! Freshened up and headed straight for lunch. Post lunch we decided to go to Pondy city to do some shopping. We visited the Aurobindo Ashram at 3.30P.M. and walked over to the Sri Manakula Vinayagar devasthanam. There was a huge rush, but we managed to get a good darshan of Lord Ganesha. When we came out, we saw "Lakshmi", the temple elephant standing outside with her Mahout. She had nice silver anklets on, and was blessing those who offered her coins. The last time I visited this temple, I had picked up small stone carved Ganesha for all my team members, but this time, I did not find the carving done well, so skipped it.

Then we drove towards M.G Road & Nehru street to start with our shopping. We walked into Casablanca to take a look at the new arrivals. Opposite that was Auroville store, spent almost 1 hr shopping for all the incense sticks, T-shirts, Spa soaps & salts. The place was loaded with all kinds of personalised gifting items. Then we walked into the Hidesign factory outlet and picked up 3 handbags, one for self, one for my mum and another for my mum-in-law. Good designs at a good price. This time although we had decided to pick up a leather jacket for my husband, he didnt really like any of the designs. Last time we had managed to get a good Tan color jacket for Rs.3500/-. By now we had spent so much time shopping that it was time for us to go back to the resort. We cancelled our plans to visit Auroville. We had visited it last time..and this time I was not in a position to walk too much. Did little bit of street shopping for my daughter and walked back to our Car. Dinner was at the resort.

Next morning husband took a walk at the beach alone...and after freshning up we moved to have our breakfast. At 11.00 or so, we started back from Pondy to Bangalore and reached Bangalore at 6.00P.M. The drive was tiring this time, coz there were no sign boards from Pondy to Bangalore, or even to Tiruvannamalali. Even fork on the road we came to, we had to stop and ask the passerby for the route. Somewhere near Gingy Fort, I had seen a milestone which read Bangalore...but again after that the next milestone we saw was only at Krishnagiri.
So people, travelling on this road, better be open to asking your route every time you are in doubt, else carry a proper roadmap, else you will end up driving extra kilometers. This was our third trip to Pondy, even then we were in doubt all the time...so you can imagine :-)

Overall a good trip...a good break from our daily chores...the water, the resort, the shopping, it was all so relaxing.