TRAVELOGUE- journey of a lifetime

PROLOGUE

It is always thrilling to see the stamp of visa on the passport and the feeling to look at visas of 2 different countries has a double impact. The quintessential things when you are planning travel abroad is to have visas done well in hand , get flights booked, accommodation and tour package well planned out and reconfirmed, foreign exchange done, budget planned, bags packed and to-do list prepared. Being the kind of person I am getting me to do any of this is like asking the sun to rise from the west. Not gonna happen very easily. Is my tour gonna be a disaster then? am i likely to forget something important? am i gonna mess it up? well the answer to all these questions is a two letter word in english ..NO.. the reason is i m not going alone on this tour!! i m on my honeymoon with my wife vathika who is at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to being organised and disciplined. When it comes to travelling abroad she is far more experienced than me having covered half the world!! Not an irony that she has a international travels company which operates on her name and i swear i am not advertising the company using blog as platform!!

So, my work was all done and responsibility taken off as my wife did most of the things for me and I have no shame in giving all deserved credit to her. carry on minks!!

All the marriage related functions and programmes like temple visits were over by 10 of December and our travel date was dec 14. the anticipation and excitement levels could not be measured on any scale! it was just a matter of few hours that we would be going on an extravagant journey; journey of a lifetime!!

dec 13 2011 1900 hours... 24 hours to go before tour starts...

Journey- bhramachari to grahastha

Out of the various stages of life of a man according to the hindu scriptures "Grahastha" is said to be the most important one as at this stage is when the whole purpose of ones existence i.e reproduction begins. Among the various duties of a man the responsibility of procreating and producing an offspring and taking forward the family line is of prime importance. Marriage is therefore the holiest event which marks the beginning of a wonderful journey ahead which learned men have described as a must for every person to experience. true that some people have bitter experiences, some sour and some not so sweet. but nonetheless it is an experience everyone falls for if you have not taken the path of celibacy much before the equation of marriage is laid in front of you. Being the foodie I am ,I would always compare anything in this world with food and marriage dos not escape it too. I describe marriage as a grape in front of u, depending on your luck and your karma, you might get a sour/bitter/bland &tasteless/spoilt from within or SWEET. and in my case I got a sweeeeeet one.

YES, its true!!! I am officially married now!!! December 5 witnessed me entering into an wedlock with Vathika .Rituals started from 4 december with a family get together t bharat scouts and guide bhavan at Mangalore which had some fun games,introduction of families and a tabla performance by vathika with renowned Sitar exponent Devdas Pai and follwed by a traditional Colombe jevan dinner. 5th morning had the orthodox marriage rituals like edurukansani, urad muhurtha, kashi yatra followed by lunch.

Marriage muhurthum was godhuli lagnam at 1805 hrs and was held at Dr.TMA Pai International Convention Centre in Mangalore and was attended by over 3300 people. The celebration was out of the world, only glitch being mother-in- law being a little ill with high fever and shivering which later was diagnosed to be malaria. Other than that the ceremony was nothing less than a dream in a fairy tale (perfect and fantastic).

Phew.. so here i am ...no more single.. married and happy..and more regularly blogging .. the next few blogs to appear will be more of a travelogue with details of the wonderful getaway we had in what is termed as honeymoon by the westerners...

So signing off ... till then happy readihng!!!