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!!!

This is entirely dedicated to the person whom i love....

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love

I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue

I’d go crawling down the avenue
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin’ sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn’t do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love

CONFESSIONS OF A LOVING MIND .... the real story

Hero and his girl started with basic exchange of their preferences and choices and other trivial things. Knowing each other was fun because the more they chatted they found more similarities with each other. Hero was yet to discover a person who like him would not have caffeine and tannin containing concoctions on which people thrive at least 3 to 4 times a day and some freaks much more . she was one ;) it was more than just plain co incidence that two individuals could have exactly similar tastes; be it dream of learning salsa or going on a cruise or be it the choice of food or be it principles in life.

The more Hero and she conversed ,he was convinced that she was the one for him.He had found his soulmate of which he was sure. She is the best person he has ever come across in life. The maturity which she possess for her age is something unbelievable and that’s what attracted hero the most. Of course it goes without saying that hero finds her the most beautiful girl in the universe which she is! .. she s one of the most talented girls hero has met .. super smart is how hero would describe her intelligence, The dignity of the lady matches or even surpasses Her Majesty Queen of Britain. The way she carries herself makes people stand up and take notice. The aura around her is divine .. The eyes she has been gifted with must have been gods most proceed possession because there cant be anything much more beautiful than that. She does not need to use her lips her teeth her tongue her vocal cords to talk to hero… her eyes did all the talking,. They are the most expressive eyes according to hero.. the warmth he feels in her hands assures him more. Everything about her is perfect. Hero strongly believed that nothing can be perfect and after meeting her he s convinced about it as she proved to be the exception to the rule.

Hero had heard people using the word fairy tale like he had experienced it now. In a short time he had decided that she was the one for him. Hero has always been a person who has never taken long to decide on anything in life and he has seldom been wrong . So he backed himself and expressed his love to the girl. The girl being a true Libran that she is was diplomatic and unable to decide (that’s what Librans are supposed to be ) . she wanted time. He was sure that he has found his soul mate. The girl was nothing but a dream come true. If ever God would give a chance to hero to customize a girl for himself he could not have done anything different.

She had no dearth of guys who approached her and were crazy about her but destiny had other plans. She had to find hero to become committed.. maybe god had planned it all!!! Hero without an iota of doubt is the most luckiest person to have found her and according to her the vice versa is true too. Hero feels complete when he is with her. And when she is not around he feels very much incomplete and misses her badly. Hero has mentally accepted her as his wife for all practical purposes.. Signing off with a song…

Baby I never knew I could feel
The way I felt, when I felt the way
you were feeling me baby
I'm so out of control yeah...

Everytime you look my way
I realize more and more
How much I adore those pretty eyes
Of yours, I'm helpless baby

Baby I love you
Baby I need you
I gotta have you babe
Can't be without you

Baby I love you
Baby I need you
I gotta have you babe
Can't be without you

Blessed and cursed on the same day,
The day that I first felt the power of you
Inside of me, such a strong feeling
There comes a time in everyone's life
When you know, and everyone around you knows
That everything is changed,
You're not the same, it's a new day

Baby I love you
Baby I need you
Gotta have you baby
Can't be without you

Baby I love you
Yea yeah...
I gotta have you
Yea, yea yeah...can't be without you

Ooh... I love the way you kiss me
Oh, baby please
I'm about to loose my mind
Oh... talk to me, cause I'm beggin' for you and,
I'm down on my knees...
Baby I know you're the one that I need...

Baby I love you...
You know I need you...
Gotta have you...
Can't be without you...

I LOVE VIRTUALLY ANYTHING THAT HAS INDEED KEPT ALL KEEN ABOUT MY ACTUALLY TELLING HERE ;)

CONFESSIONS OF A LOVING MIND

(PRELOGUE)

Hero had heard people using the word fairy tale like he had experienced it now. In a short time he had decided that she was the one for him. Hero has always been a person who has never taken long to decide on anything in life and he has seldom been wrong . So he backed himself and expressed his love to the girl. The girl being a true Libran that she is was diplomatic and unable to decide (that’s what Librans are supposed to be ) . she wanted time. He was sure that he has found his soul mate. The girl was nothing but a dream come true. If ever God would give a chance to hero to customize a girl for himself he could not have done anything different. She was the most beautiful girl he has ever come across, the smartest he has interacted with , girl with great values, highly talented, ambitious, respectful principles........

CONFESSIONS OF A LOVING MIND

Hero always wondered how a person can talk hours together to someone until he experienced it himself. its an irony that a person who was so against the practice of his friends talking to their respective so called boyfriend/girlfriend for hours together now does the same.It’s a known fact that everything in this world has a reason and so does his change in attitude and behavior ..Its not been short of a fantasy the way his life has progressed.. from a guy running away from commitments to freeze on someone and find the soulmate in such a short time is amazing and unbelievable but true…and that’s why they say sometimes reality is stranger than fiction .. truly bollywood style this narration goes…and no good movie is complete without a little bit of flashback…

3 years back hero met this wonderful girl who stole his heart at first sight . she was unbelievably beautiful and gorgeous. They met at this party organized by Hero s uncle at a place whose name comes from one of the wonders of the world(Indian ) . It was a silver style party and that meant ppl are arranged in different tables according to some calculations. Hero was so lucky that she was sitting on the same table as his and that too right in front of him. Love at first sight ,now hero had heard this a zillion times before but experienced only for the first time.. he confessed to his cousin but he wouldn’t take it.. nobody would!!! But surprisingly enough hero did not strike a decent conversation also.. only thing which he could say was that he did not like chak de (srk starrer!!! How can a salman khan fan like it??) .. Its an irony that for over 3 years hero did not get to see her though she had etched herself in his mind.. she had become heros desktop background on his lappy.. in those 3 years no effort was made by the hero … he wasn’t a coward but he feared rejection… the 2 became friends thanks to the social networking site…

They wouldn’t meet online much too.. but for one special day that she pinged hero and the rest as they say is history… this is in short about story of hero.. his confessions about her will appear in the sequel of this POST… till then keep watching this space for more

Disclaimer- I CAN BE YOUR HERO BABY ;) OR RATHER I AM….

MUMBAI ADVENTURES DAY 7

The trip was coming to an end and we had to catch a 0900 hrs flight.. considering santacruz is close to andheri we didnt have to get up all that early.. and meru cab was on time too... we reached the airport and checked in and waited in the l;ounge... so much for the spirit of mumbai i did not feel like going back.. in the airport lounge i came across a few known celebrities from bollywood... but noone there was even giving them a lil damn.. the flight was on time and we reached mangalore as per schedule... as the plane was taking off from mumbai airport only one song was playing deep inside me ... yeh dil hai mushkil hai jeena yahan zara bachke zara hatke yeh hai mumbai meri jaan.....