Madrid, Spain.... siesta & party

I have always wanted to go to Greece... the white washed mud walls, the blue calm sea, the romanticism.

But now the buzzword seems to be Spain. Apparently a hot destination. Until I heard this.... Never realised I wanted to work there too. And that might actually be more interesting.

I hear, Normal work hours start at 10 am. People work till 1. Then it is siesta time. People go home, eat a meal, sleep or generally while away time at the Madrid square at a barista. They return back to work at 4pm.......!!!!!!!!!!!!! Work till 8 pm. Then back home. TV, meal time, some even sleep. Party (dAIIIIIIIIIIILYYYYYYYYYYYYY) starts at 11. The crowd in the pubs peaks at 2 am and then normally by 5am it is on. After a point, the hard workers like asians will loose touch with reality, time and date. Because this is everyday. Wonder what the weekend is like. I was so busy dreaming what work like that would be like that I forgot to figure this out:))

Udaipur....It is really beautiful

I remember travelling there as a 16 year old girl with my family. Even then it was idealic and beautiful. The forts, the lake, the palaces now serving as heritage hotels....and a top a hill, surrounded by a lake in sandstone slates was the Oberoi Udaivillas.

And as I was reading in 2007 Travel & Leisure rated the property as the best hotel. Treat yourself to the picture gallery and the grandeur and tradition of Luxury in India. Raveena Tandon got married here. Now i remember. :))

Ofcoure there is Taj Lake Palace equally beautiful and revered by the Udaipur Tourist. But this blog entry is only to salute the rating of the best hotel of 2007. By the way, the first two pics are the Taj Lake Palace and the 3rd pic is UdaiVillas.

The next article i write will be about the Backwater fantasy of Kerela.

Ann Arbor summer festival

Summer time is really fun time. Ann Arbor looks and feels very beautiful. Lilies, roses, irises, myriad colors and dainty pretty flourishing gardens. The sun dresses and summer tans dot downtown. Students are all over the campus and hordes of activities are on. It is idyllic to be lazying under green canopy, green soft grass , listening to the strums of guitars as students sit around in groups lazying under the blue summer skies or just being a part of young energy that fills Ann Arbor in the summer.

The summer festival is on. It's called 'Top of The Park'. Every evening there is a hoard of eager audiences waiting for an event - party, live bands, theatre, visual arts or plain family fun. Over the last two decades, the festival has been a part of Ann Arbor's thriving summer scene. It is fun to just unwind, see people come out with families, as students groups, all sorts, just jiving away on a quadrant road side and dancing their hearts out. I love it. Go there when I can and it's just so nice and chilled. My little one loves it too- Socialising and the dance part of it, Sometimes the Stuchhi that follows.

Next couple of weeks and the Ann Arbor art festival will be on. Again a conglomerate attracting artists from all over the country. Looking forward to it.

Leh... paradise or something like it.

My friends' trip to Leh and the sudden soar of interest in unconventional tourist-places-to-see made me want to figure out more about Leh. A trip is due. Maybe the next time I visit India. But till then...

It looks divine. To meet international standards, the tourist convention has all activities listed here, http://www.leh-ladakh.com/ . But more than the activities to do, its the sheer beauty of the place that inspires me. A tranquility, an obsolete beauty.

South Africa - the most idyllic life, in the most beautiful country

A friend wrote in and wanted me to write back detailing places to visit while he was on his official trip to Durban. As i was writing to him about the place, i was so nostalgic. South Africa, the country i went to on a project and ended up spending the most wonderful one year of my life and came back with my son as a return gift. I couldn't stop writing about things he needs to do and as it refreshed each memory of the place, it reinforced that SA is heaven on earth. And i love the country.I was in Pretoria, the capital. The assignment was an ERP implementation for FORD. The project was exceptionally well delivered. And so was the warmth from friends. People in SA loved me, and i loved them. Such vigour, warmth, enthusiasm for life and all the little celebrations on the way. Each Wednesday was a mini Bria day. Each Saturday the Bria day. We would sit around the fire, cook meat on the coal, bake bread to eat with it, gurgle with beer. The poikie (cooked in iron pots as a kind of creole on wood fire) tasted like rajma and neighbouring mush. But everything was delicious, hands-on, wrapped in nature, plentiful; there was talk, wine, mumphur (locally brewed alcohol), book reading from Bosman's book and friends. Oh yes, always friends.

Stayed in a mansion, was treated like a princess and drove the best ford cars. The beauty of the place was disrupted many times hearing about acts of violence, hold ups at gun point, shoot outs, the fact that we couldn't really leave our doors or window open, just in case. There were nights i could hear the claws of the big birds, that lived up the palm trees, on my wooden rooftop and i wondered if it was somebody trying to break through the glass door of the bedroom. Which way would i escape. But a silent prayer to God, and back to bliss. That never took precedence.

Life had never been as giving and benevolent.I would love to go back to that land of myriad shades of the sky. Every evening was a feast. I had never seen the horizon end to end and the sky studded with the milky way at a way off ranch. The kudu( little dainty deer like beauties) dot the grasslands. The hyenas so near, i was wondering if they can come into my tent. The Lil rabbit who was just outside my tent 10 minutes back, was now hurt. The hyena had attacked while i had walked into my friend Gizzalla's tent to fetch a book to read under the lantern. Gizzalla was a dog trainer with the police. She would get bitten every second day by the most ferocious terrier but she loved her job and i loved her in her uniform. They wouldn't give out guns to the police, though the terror man walked equipped with the trendiest and the fastest borer.The land of the garden route, 1000 hills and the yatch rides. The land of lion safaris and wild African elephants. The rhino inching towards my mazda truck , irritated by the faintest of sounds from the engine. The leopard who ran past the back of my car, and i caught a glimpse in my rear view mirror. The giraffes whom i couldn't even spot in the bare vegetation and the miracle of camouflaging. The South African sun that added a warmth and magical glow to every golden blade of grass.

The country was a dream, a miracle, beauty to behold.I lived each moment as i wrote the mail to my friend. And i wish i would go back someday. And the land wouldn't have turned back apartheid, now with the whites in quarantined areas. Its sad what man is capable of doing and the harm that his acrid nature can cause. I would hate to see that land dissipate. I love Suid Afrika!