Home again – Jan 25

After breakfast, I called the car agency to ask if I could return the car at the airport. They said yes, for a small extra charge. I readily agreed and set off for my final drive in the Santro. Seeing that it was still early, I stopped for a glass of feni at O’Coqueiro at [...]

South Goa again – Jan 24

The car agency fixed the number plate and then I headed out once more, toying with the idea of going to Cabo de Rama, a fort in the far south. But I ruled it out, being too far and a bit boring going there alone. Again, the beach dilemma hit me, and I decided on [...]

Utorda – Jan 23

I woke up late, too late to catch the breakfast in the hotel, so I decided to have a coffee and head straight out. I had decided that Calangute and Baga were too crowded and I needed some peace and good and safe water to laze in. The beaches further North were not that safe, [...]

Goan masala – Jan 22

The train seemed to be about 90 minutes late, but the superb pantry car made up for it. There was every thing from idli, dosa, samosas to badam milk and ice cream. Yummy. I discovered that the students were not really from India at all, they were from Nepal. They were surprised to know that [...]

Bombay to Goa – Jan 21

My aunt and cousins had planned to take me out for lunch. We went to a place called Global Fusion in  Bandra. They had mostly Japanese, Chinese and Thai food and the starters and desserts were really good. In the evening, I headed to VT (or CST if you must call it that ) [...]

Bombay boy – Jan 20

After a quick and super haircut at the neighbourhood saloon, I headed to Colaba by train. After the high security of the Delhi Metro, Bombay locals seemed such an easy terror target. I found myself looking constantly at the luggage racks for possible bombs and for suspicious faces in the first class compartment, normally the [...]

Mumbai – Jan 19

I didnt do much except relax at home and visit more relatives. The constant travelling of the last 2 weeks (not to mention the strain of playing bridge for hours every day) was taking its toll.

All quiet on the western front – Jan 18

The last day of the GITA trip with the full gang. After a good rest, we woke up for breakfast and then headed off to the airport, not before a few games of bridge on the terrace of Arya Niwas. We found our flight almost empty, so we managed 4 aisle seats opposite each other [...]

Jaipur – Jan 17

We reached Jaipur around 7 am and went off in search of hotels. Since tourist arrivals were so abysmal, we got good deals and offers. We settled on Arya Niwas and it turned out to be a good decision. The hotel was neat, clean and very reasonable. After a bit of rest, we hired a [...]

Chittorgarh – Jan 16

The plan was to go to Chittorgarh fort today, which was 100 km away. The fort was first built in around 700 AD and then subsequently improved on upto 1540 or so, when Rana Udai Singh moved his capital from Chittor to Udaipur. In the 13th century, Rani Padmini committed suicide here, rather than submit [...]