Vacation To Bali - Intro

Described as 'Island of the Gods' the Indonesian island of Bali is one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in SEAsia.
80% of Balinese are Hindus and it is a land of temples, beaches, paddy fields,volcanoes and a colorful and exuberant culture.
We went on a 3 day trip some days back and it was one of the best vacations I have ever had.Bali is quite a big island and it takes more than 3 hours to reach the northern tip from the southern one. Denpasar where the airport is situated is in the South of Bali. Nusa Dua, Kuta, Sanur are the regions in the South Of Bali with beach resorts. We stayed in Ubud which is in central Bali and is landlocked a.k.a No Beaches- Its at a higher altitude with a lot of greenery and paddy fields around and famous for art.Lovina and Singaraja are regions in the north of Bali - Can be considered if going for a long vacation like 10+ days or so.
There are innumerable travel agencies in Bali that offer their own planned tours or can provide you with a car and driver and sometimes a tour-guide for fixed number of hours.
Few things to remember if you are planning a vacation to Bali
1) Check the weather....Some months esp Dec,Jan etc are supposed to be in the rainy season...
2) The Balinese New Year is called Nyepi Day...It usually comes in March or April and on that day all activities in Bali comes to a virtual standstill...Hence if you are going on a shorter duration like me make sure that its not Nyepi Day.
Indonesian Rupiah is the local currency but USD is accepted everywhere. In fact some prices are quoted only in USD.
It would not be possible to cover every place in Bali in one trip. Hence it would be best to pick a few places based on popularity and feedback and of course personal interest.
Almost everyone we came across were quite affluent in English and hence there would not be much of a language problem for anyone from India in my opinion.
Being a tourist place there are a whole lot of restaurants and we did not face much difficulty in gettingfood considering the fact that we are vegetarians.
I would follow up with more posts on my vacation including some results of my amateur or rather child-level photography :).

A Not-So-Bungled Bungee Act!!!

There are some things in life that you really want to do....There are some things in life that you think you want to do, but it is actually NOT the case and you realize it pretty late....And there are some things you do, purely for the attention you receive...
The below act of mine was a mix of the second and third above!

Remember the scene in Pardes where Shahrukh Khan takes a deep dive with his feet tied? Yes the Bungee Jumping One! He was all smiles when he did that(Wonder how he managed)...May be that instilled a stupid idea in me?

I am allergic to roller coasters I hate thriller rides at amusement parks...One , I get nausea and two - THEY DO NOT thrill me at all.

This being the case, I really dont recollect where I got this whole idea about Bungee Jumping!!!

It was a simple 'Day at Six Flags Amusement Park' with friends.
Another mega-thrill amusement center was in the vicinity and one of the options they provided was Bungee Jumping....We could watch every time someone did the act...what looked like Stick figures at that distance jumping down held by a rope and swinging for a few seconds.

'I want to do Bungee Jumping...I have always wanted to do it' I declared.
Initially my friends seemed to absorb it as just one of those statements, we all make, expecting others to acknowledge and move on to the next topic, not taking it too seriously! Something like 'I want to climb Mount Everest some day!'
It did not end there unfortunately!
'Ok, Want to try today?' one of them asked.



When someone dares me like this, sometimes my adrenaline rush takes an unprecedented force and makes me nod my head in agreement before the sanity inside of me is able to control it!
This happened to be one of those occasions.The enthusiasm of my friends soared! To them, I guess it was like a Spanish Bull Fight ! You would not want to do it yourself but still would like to watch the spectacle! Be it the bull or the man who gets killed!! Hmm!

Anyways we all landed at the spot in the evening ......Now it was serious business! My honour was at stake!
I had actually snacked on Nachos and Cheese before that!!! Way too much considering the fact that I was about to go upside down! Fact is when you are super tensed on the inside and smiling with confidence on the outside comfort food does help.

It costed 40 USD to do it. Before paying one had to sign a form that roughly translated to 'I am taking on this craziness on myself at my own accord and if I dont survive its not the company's fault and i take the entire responsibility' . My mom would have kicked me had she known I was signing it but i informed this to her much later ! lol!

Then they measured my weight and asked me to hand over my gold chain as it would fall off. After that my ankles were bound by one of the thickest ropes I had seen in my life.
'Strong Enough?Will this really handle my weight?' I wondered and said a quick prayer to all the Gods I knew.

Then the open lift started going up with me to the spot from where I was supposed to jump.
In the likes of Steffi Graf or Venus Williams just before their Grand Slam final I kept waving to my friends as the lift went up - my heart beat going up exponentially with every feet of ascent!

I stepped out and the sight that met my eye left me speechless for a whole long minute. My total miscalculation and incorrect estimation of the actual height stared back at me. 'OH MY GOD! This damn spot did not look this high from below!' I thought!

My friends seemed to be waving but I could not make out clearly as they appeared as tiny specks from there.The car we had come looked like a replica of the Hot Wheels model I had seen the previous day at the Toy Shop.

The guide at that point, I mean the employee of that Bungee Jumping Company , said 'Hello Young Lady!!! Good Evening' with a brilliant smile. To me he took the form of a mix of Prem Chopra , Amrish Puri and M N Nambiar about to murder the heroine flashing a bloodthirsty smile!

'Its okay Jaish! Let go off your stupid ego and pride!! Just back off now. Tell him you want to go down and not do it' one voice kept telling me in my head.
'Ok, I dont care if I dont survive but I wont survive being the laughing stock' I quitened it and stepped in front. Brave Warrior ready to go to war!

'Do you want to jump forwards or backwards?' CPN (Chopra,Puri and Nambiar mix) asked.
'I am not sure. Which do you think is better?' .
'Well, very few people jump backwards.So I guess thats more scarier' remarked CPN with a tone and expression apt for narrating the story line of 'The Exorcist'.
'Ok' I gulped the scream that rose at the base of my throat!

In any other thriller ride the machine takes care of the thrill. You do not have to push yourself.
In this case, you have to take the initiative and jump on your own.
Almost-Suicide!! Just that your feet are safely secured!


I stepped to the tip of that platform and froze.
Jumping forwards may be less scarier but it was DAMN SCARY!!
I could not jump. I just could not JUMP!! I was at a few hundred feet above ground level!! How could I!!

CPN said "why dont I put my hand in front of you. Then it will be easier" . And he stuck out his villainous hand in front. (Actually he was just being nice and trying to help!!)

A couple of seconds after that have gone into the zones of amnesia in my memory. I am not able to recollect. Did I really jump? Or did CPN grow impatient with this scary-cat-doing-a-stupid-act and give me a shove from behind?

Before I realized I was in the air plunging towards what seemed like oblivion screaming my lungs out!!! I had no idea how my body was swinging or in which angle it was. I was rocking like a pendulum and just saw the sky and different clouds at different angles.

I screamed and screamed and screamed.

I am not sure how long it lasted.Could be a couple of minutes probably but Einstein's words from a tenth std English lesson rang in my ears
'Theory of relativity is simple. When you sit on a hot stove two minutes may seem like two hours or even two days. But if you are out with a beautiful girl, two hours will fly like two minutes'

I thought I would pass out but luckily I did not - My honour still intact!
Soon the swinging slowed and I got lowered .
And It was Over!Okay! Alls well that ends well!

Now that I was done with the act it was time to bask in the limelight!
After freeing myself of the ropes and collecting my chain, I walked out grinning widely from ear to ear taking powerful strides.Show(Off)-Time!
One of my friends showed me four fingers and asked 'How much is this? Whats your name and address?' Just to make sure that my senses and nerves were intact.
Needless to say, My bungee jumping act and I became the topic of discussion for a few days after that!

I may never do it again I suppose!! That thrill will definitely last a life time. Unless someone dares me and my adrenaline takes over again! :D

Gavaskar at the border ?

We were watching the Tamil version of kaun banega crorepathi after dinner . The contestant was at his question for 3 lakh rupees .
Actor Surya said with a piercing look 'here is your question for 3 lakh ! Between which two countries is the Border-Gavaskar trophy held in cricket ? '
Before going any further I should mention that my involvement in cricket is limited to the one day matches that india plays where I just join the members of my family in the cheer-india frenzy and familiarity with the extremely popular and worshipped Gods of the game like Sachin Tendulkar . Otherwise my knowledge is comparable to a toddler's knowledge of rocket science !
This being the case it's best to keep ones mouth tightly shut when questions on it are asked in a quiz program on Tv .
But the tongue and the vocal cords are the craziest parts of the human body that can go entirely out of control at times .
'India - Pakistan ' I said with absolute confidence. My husband also said the answer but we both did not hear each other clearly and simply assumed that our answers were the same. Now this was before the actual options were given for the question !
I also need to mention that a few seconds before this question was asked I had bragged to my husband 'these contestants are so dumb and these questions are so silly !I should have tried to participate . Surely would have won a few lakh I guess '
Coming back to the question when the choices were shown I was surprised ! 'hey ! India-Pak illave illa' (how come india- Pak is not there!) I exclaimed ! Then I sheepishly looked at my hubby and asked 'you said india-Australia is it ? '
'of course yes ! You said india-Pak is it ? How on earth did u arrive at it ? '
There is a saying in Tamil that goes 'keezha vizhunthalum meesai la man ottalai ' ( u fall but claim that there is no sand on your moustache!)
I was a perfect example for that at this juncture!
'Border-Gavaskar rt ! So I thought it's a tournament between two countries sharing a border!' I said with an air in the likes of Bill Gates talking about Windows !
'Border is for Allan Border, dumbo ' my husband exclaimed !
Oh yeah! That Australian Dude !
But I was still holding on tight to my no-sand-on-moustache stand !
'This is called lateral thinking ! My reasons make sense , remember?'
'ok ! Then what is Gavaskar doing at the border ? ' he quipped . By now he was shaking with laughter !
' I thought it's a match between the bordering countries in honor of Gavaskar!'
The fact is that I had actually applied this reasoning to arrive at the answer - call it an-overdose-of-lateral-thinking !
My husband was laughing uncontrollably by now ! 'i think I should put this on Facebook ! ' he added .
Then he called up my brother in Chennai and narrated the whole thing . When I got on the phone I repeated my theory-of-border still sticking on to my I-know-it-all air of confidence !
'hey ! It was you who said that is it ? Adi makku(idiot) ! I thought it was the contestant on tv !' my sibling responded with mirth and he too started laughing . By now my 3-yr old joined his dad and uncle and started laughing too though I am sure he had no clue of what all the excitement was about !
'Good that u did not participate ! Else u would have created a brawl there that all options are wrong ! ' said my hubby who was by now rolling on the floor at my ludicrous theory.
Overall whether he was at the border or not , Gavaskar did provide a hearty laugh to the men-folk in my life !

Tender Hands Washing Clothes !

It was one of my usual morning walks in a local park at Chennai, 'Aana Aavanna ' number from Vaagai Sooda Va movie ringing in my ears from my mobile phone.
A group of men who appeared to be in their fifties were engaged in a game of tennis . In appreciation of their health consciousness and interest in outdoor sports I smiled to myself . When I got a closer view the smile slowly faded . There was a child probably eleven or twelve standing near the nets and acting as their ball picker . His clothes was proof enough that he was there not because he was family or friend but he was someone they had employed . He could have been their servant's child who lent a hand only in the morning for this activity hence made some money for his family. That was no deterrent to his education or self development. But if it were the case like so many households in India that employ children as live-in domestic helpers then it's an absolute shame !

We were in Erode during my Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. There were so many families in my neighborhood that employed kids as domestic helpers or in common terms 'servants'.

They give some money as a sort of annual deposit to the child's impoverished family and bring him (or her) home to do their household chores.

Some of these were the so-called Educated lot -Professors,Engineers,Doctors,Businessmen,Lawyers and what not.

' They are in a better off state than what they were at their homes' was the justification given by some of them.

The fact is when the servant is a child, it costs lesser, and they are more obedient and dont talk back and can be pushed around as you like.

Whenever we talk of child labour we always talk about factories and industries that employ children to do menial labour.

What about these children mopping floors and washing clothes in so many households in India?

Don't they have a right to education?

When you have your own kids attending expensive schools how can you have another little one of the same age polishing your shoes and clearing your garbage?

One need not go out of your way to do social service or donate to orphanages.

Cant we be socially responsible by not indulging or encouraging such practices?

These kids employed as servants are in a highly vulnerable position and how they get treated is a matter of chance or their luck.

Their parents are usually simple minded people who just look at the immediate fulfillment of their monetary needs. If someone spoke to them about not shattering their child's future and sending them to school for their education maybe they would give it a second thought.

Cant the so-called educated lot do this instead of exploiting their struggle to make ends meet?

I do not know what the Indian Penal Code says about all this.

To me its a heinous crime that should strictly be addressed by the laws of the nation.

Cant we just see all children as innocent blossoming buds with a right to education and a right to be nourished and enriched?

Selfishness is widely prevalent in everything these days. When it comes to children atleast cant it be done away with?

Tiny Specks Playing their roles!

How exactly does one define Nature? Is it only all the scenery and the flora and fauna that surrounds us? What about us, the bearers of the sixth sense - Who have inhabited this planet for ages and causing havoc to it on one side and trying to restore and conserve it on the other?

On seeing the contest about ‘real, authentic and natural experiences’, I started pondering about it and attempted to trace back along the lines of memory in search of events that would fit this description. What first came to my mind follows......

‘Oh! that huge kidney shaped thing there! Is that the baby?’ I had asked my doctor during my first visit to confirm my pregnancy.

I had done a self- test the previous night and the result had been positive. A visit to the gynecologist followed for confirmation. He immediately set about taking an ultrasound scan when I asked this question.

‘No, Not that. That’s your uterus. Do you see the small dot inside of that kidney? That’s your baby. Congrats’ the doctor replied calmly. Close to sixty years of age, he had seen hundreds of entries into the world and all sorts of reactions from first time mothers – Composed, Excited, Scared, Exuberant, and Nonchalant etc.

My husband was super-excited. And I? I was feeling blank! Absolutely Blank! I did not feel anything. Things were just happening and happening too fast. Yes, we had decided together that it was time for us to start a family and it was a very well planned pregnancy. Yet! What I was experiencing was only a strange blankness devoid of any deep feeling!

For one, it took some time for the news to sink in – Yes, I was pregnant and I was carrying our progeny inside of me though it was only a dot at that point in time.

All along, whenever I day-dreamt about having a baby I used to get reminded of the scenes in movies where married women learn that they are pregnant and are filled with elation and exuberance; They are engulfed in a feeling of motherhood; They keep touching their bellies and talking to their unborn child; knitting socks with lot of love etc

Well, in reality I was confused. ‘What a huge responsibility! Am I really capable enough to raise a child?’ I kept asking myself. And what kept surprising and to a great extent annoying and irritating me was the lack of any jubilant feelings inside of me that I had always envisioned. ‘What kind of a mother am I?’ I thought.

The super-excitement of all around me - parents, in-laws, friends added to my bewilderment.

Anyways, dutifully I started doing things which anyone pregnant is supposed to do. My moving around became extremely cautious. I was careful about my food restricting all unhealthy intakes and concentrating on the nutritional values in my diet. I meticulously followed all the medication prescribed and strictly avoided all foods that my grandmother asked me to.
One of my neighbors said that if you read good philosophical books during pregnancy the child will end up very intelligent and smart. Well, What do I love reading? Murder Mysteries. Ok ! Considering the good of the life inside of me I forced myself to read some of the books she lent me. Though it required a herculean effort to do so!!

My body did not show any signs during my first trimester. I had absolutely no nausea, no morning sickness and no cravings. It was just like my pre-pregnancy times. At times I had to remind myself ‘Hey! Don’t forget! You ARE PREGNANT’.

Days passed like this. My baby bump started showing and slowly gained size. I always looked forward to the visits to the gynecologist with a lot of zeal and excitement – To see the developments in the ultrasound scan – To find out what’s new this time. More curious about the way things were progressing.

Otherwise life was just like before – Work during weekdays and lazy weekends.

One evening I was lying down on the bed facing the ceiling.

It was a Friday evening. ‘Dhasavatharam’ movie songs were the latest in tinsel world and the song Muguntha Muguntha I had heard in the morning refused to get out of my brain.

With my eyes close I started singing softly ‘Muguntha Muguntha Krishna Muguntha Muguntha’ and ‘Thud’ I felt something. ‘Now what was that? ‘I wondered.

‘Krishna Muguntha Muguntha’ I tried to continue .

‘Thud,Thud,Thud’ again! With much greater force.

And then again! And Again!

Then the fact of what was happening slowly dawned on me.

It was my offspring, kicking me inside my womb. He was real and he was inside of me, exerting as much force as he could muster, proving his presence to me and maybe trying to tell me ‘I like the way you sound ma’. There he was, curled up safe and sound inside of me and trying to communicate with me.

A strange feeling suddenly swept all over me- A very beautiful feeling- Happiness and peace laced with something additional that I could not define.

‘Maybe this is what is called Motherhood’ I wondered.

We were two tiny specks in this vast expanse of the universe one inside of the other playing our roles in nature’s rules of evolution and expansion.

A smile came on my lips; the same one I had envisioned long back in my day dreams .

I touched my belly with affection and started speaking to my unborn child.

This is my submission to the Indi Blogger - Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest

Feeling Angry - Write It Out

What do you do when you get really angry? When you are totally frustrated and almost shivering with rage inside?

All of us experience this at some point or the other in our lives.

Its one of the things that have a green-chilli effect on life….On its own it’s disastrous but mixed up with the other spices in the right proportions it makes life more tastier or can we say enjoyable?

There are some places where you cant do much about the source of your anger…Say if the reason is your boss and his volatile outbursts what can you do about it?...Of course, when it goes beyond your tolerance limits you ought to do something like switching jobs or speaking out your mind to him so that he sees your side of things…. And there are instances when you can actually avoid it but you rarely attempt to do so…If its an argument with your spouse or irritation with misbehavior from the kids, how many of us try to keep our composure?

Being very tolerant and unaffected is also not always helpful. There is a thin line between being patient and being exploited.

You are repeatedly taunted about something upto a point where you are just being used as a source of entertainment its time to straighten your back, look at people in the eye and ask them to mind their own business.

There is a saying in Tamil ‘Saadhu mirandaal naadu thaangathu’ which roughly translates to ‘The land would not be able to tolerate when a timid person gets wild’. True – If a person suppresses all his anger inside of him without any vent the internal pressure rises so much that any outburst would be extremely dangerous – something advocated by stress management tutorials.

As I write this I get reminded of a scene from the Tamil movie Punnagai Mannan. A lady (enacted by late actress Srividya) would come across her gentleman friend(KamalHassan) hanging upside down from a tree and a boy smiling nearby. On inquiring her friend would come down and immediately the boy would break into an outburst of tears. The gentleman would say ‘He keeps crying if I get down ‘ and go upside down again. The lady would remark, ’Shall I show you how to stop him?’ and she would give the kid one sharp slap and the kid would stop immediately.

I am definitely not quoting this example to advocate beating or hitting to control kids. Just a figurative example.

One of the things I do when I get extremely angry is take out my journal and pour out all that I feel in writing. On and on …I would keep writing what all comes to my mind…exactly the way they come…in some occasions swear…sometimes curse…sometimes just fling a whole lot of questions…

Gradually my handwriting would transform from furious scribbling to my usual calm neater writing and I start feeling better.


Its like talking to a friend. Just that in this case the friend happens to be a sheet of paper who wont talk back or advise. You can be one hundred percent honest about what you write as its just a vent for your feelings.

If its something you don’t want to keep, for fear of others coming across it later you could just do on a paper and shred it once your anger ebbs away.

It is definitely very effective especially in cases when you cant do much about what caused your anger - like a dispute in the family.

I usually feel kind of exhausted but peaceful after this whole exercise and I start thinking about the whole situation in a calm and composed manner without letting the anger take control.

I have read somewhere ‘Anger is good if you are in control and bad if it controls you’

That’s one way I have found to keep mine under control :)

Arranged Marriages - An introspection

“Ohh! SO how do you know if you two get along with each other or not? And you don’t actually date?” my colleague quipped during our conversation at lunch.

We were a group comprising of different nationalities from the SE Asian region and I was the only Indian.

One of my other colleagues had just mentioned that in his community after a guy proposes to a girl, it was customary that the parents on both sides meet and mutually agree to the proposal before the wedding.

“Well in India usually, it’s the parents that do the proposal, meet and decide first and then the girl and guy meet and then we just get married. The guy usually does not propose to the girl on his own. If the pair meets and likes one another first then they enter into a mode of convincing their parents” I added.

This statement had triggered that reaction on my first line.

This also set off a parallel string of memory in my head. During my deputation in the States one of my Taiwanese acquaintances at work once mentioned “ You know that guy Rajesh? He said that he met the girl for ten minutes and then the wedding was fixed. How can you decide in ten minutes! “And when I was about to head back home to India she warned “Don’t go back or your mommy will marry you off to someone you get to meet for ten minutes “

Arranged Marriages – Something that has been happening for centuries in India and just blends into the modernity of today ; You have websites for finding grooms and brides and quite often the pair meets on a webcam through Skype or Yahoo Messenger. Horoscope Scanning is computerized and emails are used as the initial communication mode.

One thing about them is that it’s a great boon to those who are not very good or successful at finding a partner for themselves. Society takes care and ensures that two such souls meet and enter into a life-long bond. It may sound unacceptable but lets face it – Some definitely need help.

The best thing in my view is that both the groom and the bride enter into the relationship with an open mind and a readiness to face reality. You know that there would be things about the other person that you are absolutely okay with and there would be things you which are way different from your personality with which you would have to put up with or to put it nicely “ADJUST”.

Lets not get into extreme cases gone haywire here. Those happen everywhere.

I am referring to the usual doing-not-so-bad examples.

To begin with, there is usually no – ‘You were not like this when we were dating and courting!’ From day one its ‘This is what I am’.

Of course there would be expectations – That’s only human. You enter the wedding with the mental readiness to give and take and with absolutely no expectations of perfection.
That goes a long way in making marriages work.

In India you don’t just get married to each other but into each other’s families – New relationships, new responsibilities. Yes there are pluses and minuses to it - On the plus side the family usually acts as a strong wall in securing the marriage and ensures that the couple does not jump into hasty decisions when problems arise.

I once read an article in a Tamil magazine about a Eurpoean tourist who had seen a girl from a slum area in Mahabalipuram and married her as he liked her. In an interview he had mentioned – “Parents here put in so much effort in the marital arrangements of their children. I think that’s a reason for the success of marriages here. Whenever there are small problems, the thought of their parents pushes them through it and helps in building a lasting bond.”

There is also a thrill and suspense factor in arranged marriages. Its like your first roller coaster ride- You are extremely thrilled and excited but deep down there is a fear of how it might turn out. At the end of it you usually end up enjoying yourselves and having fun.

Its also like one of the goody bags at a lucky dip. You pick one without any knowledge of the contents. Its definitely something nice but you have no idea of whats in store for you.

I recently met an aged couple at one function. Both above eighty, they would have got married in pre-independence times and definitely at a very tender age as was the custom in those days – Times when they would have actually seen each others faces after their marriage. As they slowly walked supporting one another’s frail bodies I could not help but wonder how many things they would have seen together – a whole lifetime. I did not need any proof of the bond between them. The glow in their eyes spoke a million words. They had attained that stage where they could read each others minds without a word uttered.

Falling in love and getting married is Beautiful….Getting Married and Gradually Falling in Love is also beautiful right?