This is a long overdue post.. that had been languishing in my drafts, incomplete, thanks to my to laziness and daughter's refusal to let me sit at the laptop...Anyways, finally, here it is..
I had to do a travelogue of my vacation.. Thought it would be fun to do a photo post, given the fact we actually travelled across India - even though we did not do too much of sightseeing - it was a very family affair :)
We started off from Mumbai. We had just a day there but we did manage to go around. One of the places we went to was the Powai Lake.. Some shots of Bombay's roads, no doubt, this deserted as it was a Sunday and the Powai Lake..
The next stop was Harda, MP. The day we reached was a special day - I forgot what exactly it was and there was a place on the banks of the River Narmada, where people came from all over for a dip. Here is the scene from there.. It was the first time that I had been to a place like this.. It was a totally different experience for me.. So many people, all excited at the just the thought having a dip in the holy river.. Though I found it very difficult to identify with, it was a revelation, to see how many people believe in these things so strongly.. There was also a very old and very beautiful temple on the banks of the river and people were going in there to pay their respects after bathing in the river.
The next place we went to was a village where another of my husband's Buaji lives..It was a little village an hour's drive from Harda. We went to a 'khet' there. It was very, very pretty.. The weather was wonderfully mild, not cold, not hot..just perfect for a picnic - if only we did not have to rush back. I had a tough time getting snaps without people! We all wanted to pose out there :)
The next stop was Bhopal where my in-laws live.. It was just some time to relax, after all the running around earlier...I really wanted to eat some chat.. which ever since my parents left Jamshedpur - I never seem to be able to get. We did have chat - but sadly fell short of my expectations :( Now I have decided to stick to homemade ones - I seem to enjoy them far more!
We did not get a chance to take too many snaps here.. Just a few snaps on our way to Bhopal and the last 2 are of the view from the terrace of my in-laws' place.
From Bhopal, off we went to Bangalore, with a hop at
Mumbai.. We were pleasantly surprised to see that
Mumbai Domestic Airport had been majorly revamped from the last time we had been there.. All swish and swanky.. especially in
coomparison to the International Arrivals...
Bangalore, sweet Bangalore.. For some reason, Bangalore feels like home, even though we've lived in London, longer than we did in Bangalore.. Is it because we started off our married life here? Not sure, but I just love Bangalore.. We stayed at my Aunt's place, met a bunch of friends, including a newborn daughter of a dear friend and had a wonderful time.. The snap below is of the new road from the Bangalore International Airport - looked wonderful, until we reached the city :) And a pic from some tree-lined streets in Bangalore.. We always used to find the amount of colour on the streets amazing... There are always pink, orange, and red flowers blooming on the streets of Bangalore....
Final Stop -
Wayanad.. My parent's place... A place where I can relax, hand over my daughter to her grandparents and be sure that I don't need to spare a thought for her:) My husband had just a week there - he still has a job :) So we did some marathon sightseeing, before he left..
The pictures are from a few places we went to in
Wayanad.. I have been going to
Wayanad every year, since I was little and we had never really done any sightseeing.. in the same way, that after living in London for 4years, we never went to St Paul's Cathedral... Now that we moved out of London - I wish we had...
And then, before we knew it, it was time for my husband to return, so we went to
Kozhikode to see him off. Going to
Kozhikode meant that he
had to go to the beach, so off we went. So here's some snaps on our journey down the ghats and daddy and daughter enjoying on the beach.
After Husband dear left, it was more of a stay at home and relax kind of vacation, with the only place we went to being the
Mookambika Temple in
Karnataka for my daughter's
vidyarambham (initiation of education). It was a 10 hour car drive, through some beautiful places, through
Kannur,
Mangalore and
Udupi.. Very picturesque. I didnot click too many though, the 10 hour drive was enough to drain all my enery. The last snap is a pond at a temple, we visited on our way back.. There was something very amazing about it.. I
could not capture the true beauty of it...
After all that fun, it still felt that the vacations were too short.. Guess it will always feel that way :) Now we're waiting for the Easter long weekend - when we are off to Wales!
