Sunday, December 09, 2007

Another Trip

My rants about traveling aside, I still love traveling. More than the destination, I have always loved the joy of movement from one place to the other. I love the changing scenery, the local people, the colours, the smells, the sounds and the feel of being elsewhere.

A couple of days ago, I was in Pune on work and got to stay the night in a resort in Lonavla overlooking the Grand Canyon-like Khandala valley. The trip was nothing to write home about. Waking up early the next day, I ran to open the curtains and was again amazed at how beautiful Earth is. Honestly speaking, coming from a hill station myself, I would not recommend a visit to Khandala. You can see all there is to see just driving down the amazing express way from Pune to Mumbai. But that morning, it was not misty, not cold at all (must for me if I have to convince myself I am at a hill station) but the flat topped mountains did present a pretty picture. I clicked a dozen pictures on my new phone (its amazing). After a while, we went sightseeing and came upon Shooting Point in Lonavla where the wind was so strong that even the heftiest among us struggled to keep his balance. That was the only thing I will probably remember about the place, the very strong winds, stronger than I have ever known.

The Tiger Valley of Khandala was ok too, made for some good pictures. But the place failed to impress me much, contrary to all expectations. The weather was barely ok, the resort was tolerable, though I found the staff, including a man I so thought had to be gay, very nice. The trip to Mumbai was good, beautiful road and amazing speed. I feel the need for speed, by the way. Mumbai was dirty and crowded as usual (never liked that city, except the kulfi you get there). The flight was good, very smooth and a spectacular view. I managed to sneak and take some pictures to show my best friend. :-)
It was not the much needed break for my mind that I hoped it would be. But all in all, was not too bad. I can now tolerate Bangalore for a few more weeks before I start getting claustrophobic again and begin to itch to travel again. Is some travel magazine listening? :-)

PS: The flight from Mumbai to Bangalore with overly made up flight attendants (aren’t they all?) took 1 ½ hours. The drive from the airport to Press Club, a distance of less than 10 kms, took nearly two hours. How I LOVE this city! L Am I ready to move out, you ask? Hell no! Not yet, this place has that effect on you.



The above pic is of the view I had from my room at the resort. The second is taken from the plane, amazing na? I love this one, so amazing is the Earth and everything in the universe.

1 comment:

caeliusvibenna said...

Dear Deepa,

thank you so much for these wonderful images and thoughts, which I try to reciprocate -- even if I do not know if you're learned in classical(-western) languages... -- with this link to a latin-written page, where you'll can read versions of some famous hymns from the Vedas in the language of Virgil and Horatius... a link between our cultures (stemmed both from a common source, if I don't mistake). Here it is:

http://suberic.net/~marc/scorsoneselectaexvedis.html

Enjoy, and all the best for you!