To my aaji

Kadhi is one of my favorite staple Indian foods. I remember chilly winter evenings in Chicago when I would only make kadhi and drink 4-5 cups of it. It gave me comfort. I learnt how to make kadhi from my aaji (mother's mother). I would always tell aai, how aaji makes the best kadhi in the world and aai could take tips from her. The honesty of childhood!

Aaji passed away about a month ago. It was not sudden, but it was expected. She was not keeping well for past two years. During every visit I, over the past 6 months, I could see the life waning out of her. But no one wants to prepare for such inevitable. No one wants to lose a part of their childhood.

I spent many summer holidays spending time at my grandmother's. With nothing much to do apart from reading books, I would often poke around in the kitchen. Trying to help her at times or learn things. She would be impressed by this curiosity and teach me things. But only if I behaved. The lady always needed her space. Specially when she was frying something in the kitchen. She considered it a bad omen to have anyone standing in the kitchen behind her, when she was frying things. She would always shoo us away. I used to compulsively annoy her with my presence. 

Over the years the house she lived in with my uncles and aunts changed. It was made bigger, with multiple stories added. People changed, they started living and cooking separately. Lives started being better but different. 

I am not sure how aaji, even for that matter aajoba (grandfather) took these changes. We always saw them being happy and contented. Their lives had always been shared. With big extended families. The idea of privacy and separate rooms must have been strange to them. But they accepted it gladly. That's what I feel. 

Because, whenever I visited aaji would still cook things for me. Over one such summer after my 10th standard examination, I told her I wanted to learn how to make chapatis. Aaji with all her heart taught me the magic was in the dough. Always. The better you knead it the better your chapatis would turn out to be. She would say, dont put pressure at the center while rolling the chapatis. Try to put it uniformly. And then the crucial part, how to roast them. She told me to cook one side longer than the other and roast the other side directly over flame. 

My aaji was the most curious person from her generation who I knew. She would read entire newspaper. Solve the puzzles and crosswords. Keep them ready for me when I asked for some entertainment. Tell us random bedtime stories. Let us pull her leg when we teased her how handsome her husband was. Listen to my translated version of harry potter.

These are my vivid memories of my aaji. Taking pride in my sillier achievements of roasting a chapati perfectly. Or hearing from aai about my kadhi adventures away from home. I am sure every grandparent must do the same.

Now we have a maid who makes chapatis at home. So I make chapatis rarely. I was telling a friend how aaji taught me the art and smiling. I am sure aaji must be proud. Still.

On love

The past two weeks were a lot of activity and full of daze and drama. The runner in me can handle continuous activity but things were happening on auto pilot and it had become difficult to put my finger on what was going through my head or what I was feeling.

And then I decided to attend the wedding of a friend almost on a whim to get away from everything.

When the groom's eyes lit up to the bride's entry under फूलो की चादर accompanied by her brothers, things started to settle down in my heart. That 'singular magic moment' when magical happy smiles were exchanged between the two, must have been what drove me to Delhi.

I have exchanged many notes, emails and thoughts with Someplace else. And on this Monday morning, when my vacation has ended, I am feeling nothing but a weird satisfaction. 

Because its not just the movies where you meet your Shahrukh khan on a train journey. Sometimes fairy dust makes these things magically real.

there is a wedding at home!

We are beginning to get on each others' nerves. Polite discussions are now annoyed arguments. The Nagpur winter is colder and chilly. There are people sneezing all over at my place. And sometimes the warmth only seems to come from a cup of tea.

There is a wedding at home.

We are in a plush mall buying shoes. In the same hour we are in the middle of a bustling market, asking and bargaining for matching bangles. There is a polite shouting match going on inside the car between brother and me, about shopping tasks on our list. I am an efficiency maniac. He likes to take it 'chill'. We pass bhavnagari. We unanimously decide to stop to buy some kachoris and samosas for evening snacks.

There is a wedding at home. We are functional in our dysfunctional ways. 

Pune run beyond myself - half marathon

Pune running is an active bunch of amateur runners in Pune city. PRBM (pune run beyond myself) is the flagship charity event organized by this group along the lovely route of NCL/Pashan/Bavdhan (if you know your bearings around Pune you will know what I mean).

After the hyderabad running nightmare I really wanted to run a half marathon to gauge the improvement in my running stamina and form. So I signed up for the half marathon at PRBM (which my trainers at running potential did not approve of!). Reluctantly I resumed the training routine. Running 4 times a week with a comparatively longer run a week before the actual run. I even started developing a cold feet a week before the run. 21.1 km started feeling like a ridiculously long distance to be run by anyone. (Full Marathoners I respect thee!)

With all these background activities going on in my head, race day arrived. This was exactly 48 days after the Hyderabad run. The pleasant Satara Hill run had assuaged the running blerch a bit. But there were still doubts in my head. I wanted to validate my own beliefs.
Like a kid getting nervous before her first stage appearance, I started feeling jittery before the run. A point came when I could hardly contain my excitement so I made myself watch the tragic Anna Karenina. That did help! 

So race day arrived. And if you like me get excited about racing events like school exams, you would know the emotions. I was ready with warm up at 5.15 am (race was to start at 6am). But despite that I reached the start point late ie around 5.45 am and made a dash for the start line. Thankfully I caught sight of  the 2.30 hour pacer and I snuck behind his bus.

My strategy for this run was to stick with the 2.30 hour bus for the most part and try to finish the HM under that. My earlier HM timings were more than that so it was a huge task in my head. The gun went off at 6 am sharp and I slowly made it out of the crowded beginning section of the route. 600 meters into the route and the 2.30 hour pacer started walking. I had not confirmed his race strategy earlier, so this run-walk routine came as a big disappointment to me. It became clear to me that I had to run the race with my own bus at my own pace and just try to be ahead of the 2.30 hour bus all the time.

With this little improvisation I got my mind back into the race. The earlier part of the route was uphill so my slow but constant pace helped. I ran with a pace of 6.45-7 mins/km during the first 5 km, having crossed the 5km mark at 35 minutes. This is when part deux of my strategy came to the fore. I took my first water break for exactly 30 seconds, where I kept on walking sipping 200 ml of water. My next water break of 30 seconds came after the 7 km mark. Next 20 second electrolyte solution break came past the 10.5 km mark. And so on. The return route was quite downhill and the weather was perfect for a long run. Of course the sun had started shining down on us by the time we started our journey back to the start point. But it all felt like good sun god behavior. Post the 15 km mark, my urge to take more and longer water breaks started creeping in. This is when the real test began. I managed to cross the 18 km mark under 2 hours and gave myself a treat by taking a 1 minute long walking water break. With only 3 kms to go, I knew I could achieve that elusive timing. 

But these 3 kms were not a breeze as my over imaginative brain had pictured. I took another walk break on a quite uphill part and totally lost track of time. It was only when I saw people behind me overtake me, that the competitive person in me awakened. I started running with all my heart (literally, you should have seen me panting :P) and finished the race in 2 hours 24 minutes and 30 seconds.

This is my personal best timing after having run 3 half marathons. I have realized, the only way to get over a bad race (or run) is to run another race.

Until SCMM in January then!

Satara hill marathon 2014

I can see this blog is slowly becoming a place to document running events. But as long as I keep on writing here, no one's loss right ?

The Satara Hill Marathon is an elite ultra marathon event in Maharashtra, which only in its 3rd year has already become famous for some superlative arrangements for runners and gorgeous and tough route. I ran the 10 k race there yesterday and immediately made a plan to run the half marathon next year.

I and P reached Satara, (1.5 hours drive, 2 hours by bus and 3 hours by train, away from Pune) a day before, collected* our stuff (kit consisting of bib, running tee, route map and other goodies)  from the expo and set about exploring Satara. 
* Great story about the managing team here: They sent a wrong text message regarding the bib number and race category to a bunch of participants. I was one of them. My immediate thought was to get this resolved at the expo itself. To my surprise, I received an email the next day, where they admitted their mistake and gave instructions about what should be done by these participants. I think this was a pretty good corrective measure in what could have been a management disaster, where I could picture participants arguing and fighting with the marathon staff.

Satara has a distinct small town feel to it. There is not much to do in the city itself, except some amazing foodie treats. But around the city are some great escapades like, Sajjangad, thoseghar falls, kass valley (smaller version of valley of flowers) which are 30-40 minutes drive away from the city. So if you are the adventurous kind and would not mind exploring these instead of resting it off, these are a must visit. Of course, we did not do any of this as we were quite anxious about the run the next day.

We hit the sack early and got up at 4.30 am on race day. Owing to the fact that our hotel had some cleanliness and water issues. Runner tip: If possible get an idea about where you will be staying in advance to avoid such issues.

We reached the start point when the half marathon was about to start. After cheering the amazing elite and non elite runners for the half marathon and some warm up, we queued up for the 10k race. The 10 k race, starts in the city, takes one to the sahyadri ghaats upto 5km and then one returns to the start point having gained an elevation of 2034 ft. 
I clicked this picture during one of the water breaks -> 

<3

Needless to say I had not run on a route which is outside the city limits and is surrounded by luscious green hills. I was mesmerized by the views on my way upto the 5k mark. The return was even more beautiful with view of Satara city covered by fog and mist in the early morning hours and the sun penetrating the cover. I did not click any pictures on the way down from the ghaats as I was busy capturing the beauty for my own sake. I will go back to these images in my head over and over, is the only thing I can say right now.

The live traditional dhol-tutari played by local troupes welcomed the runners back in the arena on completion. That along with some astounding ground support all along the route made this one of the most well managed events I have attended since I started running.

I wish to come back over and over again to this wonderful city and these amazing people, just to run with nature and take it all in. If you are a runner anywhere and reading this, then I also urge you to visit the Satar Hill Marathon. You will not be disappointed!

Hyderabad marathon 2014

As an amateur runner, I have decided to try to select 2 new cities or venues every year for running events and show up and complete the run (if no fancy goals). As part of this plan, I decided to run the Hyderabad half marathon, touted as 'India's toughest city marathon'.

My training journey to Hyderabad Marathon 2014 (popularly known as AHM) started in April, when I signed up for an year long training plan for SCMM 2015, with running potential. I started running out of various reasons last year and after the first half marathon experience, I wanted to run more and better. So my training included lots of base building which focused on improving my aerobic fitness and some ramp runs to prepare me for the hilly (tough) route of the AHM.
[Please call/meet/write to me for detailed training discussions. I have realized over time how boring it can be for non runners!]

The planning for the marathon weekend started in June with train and hotel bookings. Plenty of trains from Pune so no issues on that front. Also plenty of hotels near necklace road where the race normally starts so no hassles on that front too. I had received the race route and altitudes from my trainers well in advance, which I had studied for quite some time. But as the race day approached, I started becoming more jittery and less confident. I had a lotof strategies and back up plans ready in my head. Timing was not even in the picture. Because on a tough route a lot of factors play deciding role. I entered the city of Hyderabad with only one aim ie finishing the run in under 3 hours. 

all in a day's work!

I reached on Saturday and spent the entire day out. From 9 am to 10.30 pm. Explored the charming old city. Visited Charminar, Macca masjid, Salarjung museum, haggled with the shopkeepers in Meena Bazar, asked for directions from random strangers, argued with rikshawalas, took city buses, ate at chutneys, Ohri's. In short loved Hyderabad despite the heat and traffic rush. 

I also managed to collect my running kit for the race during all this touristy activity and literally forgot that I was visiting the city for a half marathon and not all this sight seeing. 

When I hit the bed before race day did I realize that I was kind of tired. Nervousness started creeping in. And I went to bed making all the arrangements for the next morning ready like running clothes, shoes, breakfast stuff, water bottles, charging phone. 

Woke up at 4.30 am on race day with 5.5 hours sleep. Got ready and drank 2 glasses of water and ate a banana and did some light warm up. Prepared my electrolyte solution to be carried with me. With some money in pocket and earpods and phone I went to the hotel lobby where I met other runners. Together we all left for the start point which was 10 minutes walk away. 

And boy was that a party or not! Loud music was playing. Hordes of runners had gathered. The full marathon runners were about to reach our start point as part of their route. Our race was to start at necklace road and end at GMS balyogi stadium. A calm started to spread over me. I made a simple strategy of starting steady with the 2.30 hour bus and making it a point to hydrate well even if it meant longer waits at water stations. The announcers also confirmed the expected bad weather conditions like extreme heat and humidity and asked us to keep hydration levels high. Even if it meant taking loo breaks!

The gun went off at precise 6 am on the watch. I started slow and steady with a pace of 6.40 mins/km. The 4 month long training had taught me that this was my comfort zone pace. I was feeling good and my breathing also sounded rhythmic (I fall into trouble if my breathing is irregular and hence that's a huge indicator for me if my run would soar or tank). By 7 am I was near the 10 km mark and was feeling hopeful. The 2.30 hour pacer was still in my sight so that meant I would be able to catch up.
The only concern was the increasing perspiration. It was annoying. I was waiting for the next water station to take my first water break. The electrolyte solution had helped me take this risk. I drank 2 glasses of water at the next station and started the next phase with renewed hope. The route had started to get tougher. The ramps looked never ending and the sun god made running even more tough. 

a sight for sore legs!

I had roamed around the city the day before enough to know the halfway point of the half marathon. I was overjoyed when I crossed it. Only to encounter a steep ramp, where my first walk of the run started. It was to be first of many walking breaks that I took that day. From then on it became a constant struggle to not get annoyed by the sweat, humidity and heat and keep going on. By this time the 2.45 hour pacers had passed me by. 
I started to feel miserable by 16 km. And thought of giving up for an entire stretch of 500 meters. But then I thought of the friend who had accompanied me to Hyderabad and was eager to see the medal. Her presence made me not give up. So I continued on till I saw this sign -> 

This meant only 2 more kilometers remaining!
But to everyone's shock these 2 kms were also full of ramps. The Hyderabad route would not have it easy on any of us. 
I managed to run the entire last kilometer with whatever willpower I had left and completed my half marathon in 2 hours 49 minutes and 53 seconds. 

Even though the weather and route had it tough on us, the extremely enthusiastic volunteers and awesome arrangements for food, water, rest made the run a memorable experience.
I failed almost all goals I had set myself up before this run. The only goal I succeeded at was recovering sooner post run. So all is still well in lala land. And looking forward to next year's AHM!

thankyou

I always recount to friends proud stories of how I got saved by books at various points in my life. Till now. How sherlock holmes made tedious summers full of mystery and made me anticipate adventure. How Calvin and hobbes and harry potter made me strike new friendships. How the book thief came into my life at a point when I was really struggling. Numerous stories. Humongous debt. 

The stories actually do go back to an origin. Introduction to libraries and books at a young age. One library where I spent my entire summer reading the entire collection. Another where it all started. That too with comics. 

Brother and I shared a comics books library membership in the good old 1990s. Of course brother and his cool bunch of friends would race to the library early morning to collect their share of comics which included super commando dhruv and nagraj and other assorted desi bunch. A nag that I was, brother had to take me along. And kind that he was, he allowed me to choose one comics of my choice every other time. When the boys were competing which latest comics of their superheros to lay hands on, I would lamely (for them) pick a chacha chaudhary one. Those were the only ones I really REALLY liked and enjoyed. Brother would be furious for some time but who can remain angry for long when you have chacha chaudhary and one of his mysteries to solve and tons of fun to have! I can't remember having laughed and enjoyed any other comic book so much during those years. Only Chacha Chaudhary's antics were able to get my attention and laughter. 

That is how I really started reading. With the comics Chacha Chaudhary. Chacha Chaudhary were my first shared books (yes comics are very much books!). They and Calvin and Hobbes are the only comics, I have read in their entirety and never gotten bored of. And for that they are special to me. (Irony is I do not remember much of any of them)

RIP Pran uncle. I will always think of these fond memories of books and reading when thinking of Chacha Chaudhary.

Life in India exposes one to a lot of underprivileged and poor people/animals (mostly stray). I see a lot of them on my way to work everyday. A stray dog huddled by the corner of a street. Trying to protect itself from the chill in the air because of the rains. A poor man eating ban-chai at a roadside stall, probably contemplating how to make ends meet for the day.

A homeless family bathing their kids in the open. One of the kids is crying because it probably does not want to take a bath like any other child. The father is getting their girl ready, trying to tie her hair in a pigtail. These people will then scatter around on the streets begging or asking anyone for work. There is a young couple, who have had a fight. The female is crying dramatically, the guy is trying to persuade her. 

A part of me is torn because of this disparity in lives. In their life and my life. I want to leave everything and go and try help them. I do through food, money. I know its not enough. There is a chaotic system in place which will always have relatively poor and rich people. But I just want them to have a shelter to live under and daily food supplies. I really do. Sometimes I feel I look at life in this super simplistic fashion which in reality does not solve the burdens of the heart.

A part of me on the other hand thinks, poverty must be very liberating. I see people sleeping on the streets everyday. As if they dont care about anything in the world. Of course I am very privileged to even entertain such a romantic thought about poverty. But I really do feel in such case the only fix the world probably needs is some empathy and kindness.

Stream. Watch. Repeat.

This.

To take care of seemingly crappy days. To be watched over and over again.

To be humbled. So powerful.

~Fangirl

Conflicting worlds

Prachi and Pooja are from middle class families. Well educated families. Pooja's father did not want a daughter hence her mother took a stand and raised her by herself. Prachi, daughter of a principled man with anger issues, thinks its her father's right to physically punish her for the sole reason that he let her live as she is a product brought into this world by her parents.
Pooja is a beauty contest winner. Prachi is part of a hindutva movement, where they teach girls how to defend oneself and take up weapons.
Both are in their 20s. Both want their life to be meaningful, both want to do something.

There is huge irony here. Their worlds are paradoxes. These are the subjects of the brilliant and thought provoking documentary by Nisha Pahuja, 'The world before her', which explores what it means to be a 21st century Indian woman.

Some of the things that these girls said have left me dumbfounded and searching for answers. I try to see myself in these women. I am there, when a girl says she wants to make something out of this life. I am in the dreams, hopes, fears and passions of these girls. These are rational girls who know what they are choosing.
We are similar yet so different. So many belief systems, so many ideologies. The dichotomy in our existence and how it converges and yet gives life an altogether different meaning, is what's troubling me the most. 
For the outside world, Prachi will remain a could be fanatic in a movement branded as extremist, Pooja another superficial, pretty face making use of her beauty. But in the 21st century do these perceptions matter ? Or is it more about individuality ? 

In a deeply patriarchal society like India, where girls have opened up to education, avenues of income to become financially independent, how necessary is it to uphold our ancient roots? Some very valid and profound questions surface out of this conflict. And that is the reason I highly recommend you to watch this remarkable documentary.

Because she wants to be a part of the world before her, shape it and make it. 

Unlearning

With growing old sometimes comes the feeling that you understand life in much better sense. Of course if you are a person who likes to have filters in place and constantly seeks clarity. You are thankful for a lot of things that have happened and helped you grow. And at times you are just forgetful enough to forget how it is to be a teenager. 

Specially a teenager surrounded by constant competition, expectations and general 'dont have a clue about future or life but parents and friends are into this, so I am also into this' thought process. Recently a 17yo nephew was visiting us for some exam preparation classes which the city I live in is believed to have some of the best. Initially I was totally peeved by his sharp and critical demeanor. That initial phase lasted the 3 weeks he stayed with us. Yes, sometimes I am an excruciatingly slow adopter. Almost everyday we got into some kind of argument (behes in his sweet MP hindi) about a physics problem (sometimes random life funda) and my lack of remembering anything except for the concepts. I who's raised by teachers who believed in the power of clear concepts was somewhere happy believing it was a good sign that I did not remember the actual formulae but knew my stuff. I was proud even. But this did not impress the kid. He kept on questioning my entire life and so called engineering education. I was more annoyed and more intrigued. Intrigued cos how was all the grown up stuff I mentioned at the beginning not helping me see that this is what it feels to be a teenager. Over the 3 weeks, eventually he stopped asking me much physics questions and we spent time discussing how life in US is where he aspires to go for studies. 

I began to realize though, there is so much I need to unlearn to be able to continue to learn. Whichever species evolves, evolves because it is able to unlearn. Shed old knowledge and constantly gain new. I am seriously questioning people who say knowledge is power and stuff like that. I wonder if they are talking about knowledge acquired through unlearning.

such cool things in life..

I read/watch/experience stuff which evokes different feelings and turn to the blog to share them and somehow the day never arrives when I get a sense of having accomplished writing down my own thoughts. Today probably is that day.

Anyway, I remember writing about rescuing oneself and agreeing to give up on the 'steadfastness' once the right person is found to let them rescue you. Luckily while I was trying myself I found the right bunch of people who did help 'save me'. Funny how you always get what you need :)

On a totally unrelated note I am happy for Kangana Ranaut. I really am. I know she would not care. I loved her movie Queen. And if you have not watched it already, you need to go NOW.

Pune has the most unexpected surprises if you love nature. Like this sunset I get to witness everyday as my cab passes over a flyover. I look forward to this time of the day just to take it all in.

love my drive back from work!

This is the second month in succession where I have not read anything apart from study books. Out of desperation of having accomplished some kind of reading, I feel pretty lame to admit that yeah I read up few books on algorithms. Not usual spellbinding stuff but fun nonetheless.

Dancing is fun. Zumba or not. Paglet is so passionate with it, that she can make even sticks like me dance.

Whatchu up to? Whatchu doing?

Word

Primo Levi

Brainpickings presents these gems in the most unexpected ways.

P.S. I have been meaning to read 'Moments of reprieve' but have never been able to get my hands on a good copy.

Being a dabbler

A friend today asked me why my blog does not have posts that show my philosophical side. I replied, my quota of those posts is over.

The thing is I can discuss philosophy and random life fundas with some people in my life very comfortably. The discussions are so easy going that most of the times I or they forget we drew some amazing insights about ourselves or our existence. Yes!

Today we (I and KT) were discussing dream jobs. I told my friend how an older (not just age, experience as well) female acquaintance at work once told me, 'there are no dream jobs, if you want to do everything. Work is work.'
KT seemed to agree.
I confessed how sometimes fear of losing oneself into the dream holds us back. Probably that's why we dabble. In this and that. Probably that's why creative people who are more evolved at some level, feel liberated and do not have such apprehensions. 

Or probably we are just conditioned to want everything and that holds us back from wanting what we really want. Making any sense ?

That's why I shall go back to making chicken for colleagues at work. Having people appreciate your cooking is kind of a dream job for me ;-)

Kerala K(ch)ronicle

We had Malyalam speaking neighbors for the longest period. Brother and I practically grew up with V and V, eating generous amount of dosa and coconut chutney. V and V would always go on summer vacations to their ancestral गांव (village) in Kerala. It was always a mystery for us owing to our poor pronunciations. I have grown up thinking about their गांव and what it must be like.

Recently a Keralite friend invited us to his wedding in his ancestral village. The idea of visiting Kerala suddenly got all these childhood memories to the fore. The grown up in me wanted to see what it must feel like. One of my most fun friends (who used to blog here: http://adducelebrity.blogspot.in/) and his wife also joined in and made the planning phase extremely smooth.

How to plan a trip with addu and his wife: book the to and from tickets. Leave the rest of the planning for runtime execution.

We reached Cochin (Kochi/ernakulam) airport in the afternoon and immediately started scouting for our options to travel to Alleppey (allepuzha). 
Tip 1: Reaching Alleppey from Cochin is easiest from the airport as there are KSRTC shuttles to Vytilla from where Alleppey buses are frequent.

image courtesy: google

We took this special ride to Alleppey from Cochin airport though ->
Before that we also ate amazing butter dosas at the airport hotel at Cochin airport. The south Indian food lover in me was in paradise.

After a 2 hour road journey to Alleppey on the last seats of our heavenly ride and drenched in sweat, we just wanted to reach our homestay. 
Tip 2: Wear and carry lots of cotton clothes else the humidity will make sure you have multiple baths in a day.

The great auto experience started in Alleppey when the autowala charged us 30 rupees for a distance worth 30 rupees, without meter! If you have lived in Maharashtra long enough you know what I mean. Our homestay was a cozy little home converted in a homestay and hotel. (tripadvisor link here: http://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowUserReviews-g608471-d1015993-r193761496-Snehadhara_Homestay-Alappuzha_Kerala.html)

Salim uncle and Mini aunty (the owners) took really good care of us, so it never felt like this was our first trip to Kerala/Alleppey. Mini aunty even churned out delish lemon rice at last minute notice for our dinner. They guided us about local sightseeing and also helped us book a shikara boat for the backwaters tour next day.

happiness is homemade food in distant land!

Touring the backwaters can be done in 2 ways: the popular houseboat where you book it for an entire day i.e. 11 am to 5 pm. Or shikara which will take you along the same route on a per hour charge basis for 4 hours.
Since we were constrained by time we took the second option and hopped into our boats at 10 am the next day. This was after a homemade wholesome breakfast of dosa-chutney-sambaar, filter coffee and juice.

Our tour started from the canals of Allepuzha and extended to nearby villages in a 24 km radius. We also stopped for a traditional kaari fish keralaite lunch at a village. The adventure of this village life connected only by these water bodies and boats for transport thrilled me. I started plotting a fun life around these villages when it suddenly dawned on me, how easier it is to be a tourist and imagine all exotic things about village life and forget the mundane. I don't really like this 'lets stay grounded to reality' side of mine.
Nonetheless the backwaters provided some spectacular glimpses of nature which need to be experienced first hand. 

beautiful kerala backwaters!

After this fulfilling day we left for Calicut/Kzhikode. The train network throughout Kerala is pretty good and ends up being the best option for internal travel. A 6 hour train journey later we were in Kozhikode where the autowalas were so honest that we did not spend an extra dime than what the distance demanded. I felt like I was in rikshaw heaven.

Calicut/Kozhikode is famous for its handloom shops, so some saree shopping for the mother happened. There are lots of temples in Calicut but our temple run ended after visiting the thali temple as my friends 'the couple' were denied access because they were wearing jeans and not mundu (for guys)/ traditional clothes. 

Tip 3: Wear Indian ethnic wear while visiting temples.

We also visited the 80 years old Paragon hotel in Calicut for lunch where the non veg food is a must try! 

The 40 year old Kumari banana chips shop is also a must visit for buying the much loved south indian snack.

We left Calicut the next day to reach the ancestral village of our friend. A hectic bus ride from Calicut to Vadakara later we finally arrived here ->

nostalgic much?

As the wedding was next day we eventually hit the sack, despite the never ending gossip/catching up. Keralaite weddings are a low key affair with minimal fuss. The baraat (wedding procession) left the guy's town and arrived the girl's, and the wedding was over in 2 hours. Yes 2 hours! Including all the rituals and food.

After bidding our farewells we hit Kannur station for our return journey the same day.

Without any micro planning or preplanning even, this trip turned out to be fun and an adventure.

I only hope Kerala remains as grounded and beautiful as it appeared. The simplicity* and the honest demeanor of Kerala will remain with me is what I would like to believe.

* I know the every family has one person in foreign land angle

The merit of lists

I have a brain, I do not need lists. Thought going through my head at the sheer mention of making a list. I don't think arrogance but laziness in general.

So I did a home experiment last year. It was a game of sorts.
For grocery lists to be specific.
Rules:
1. Make a list of grocery items to be bought at the end of every month.
2. Go grocery shopping in the first week of every month.
3. Stick to the grocery list.
P.S. no vegetables or fruits are to be included in this list.

As a disclaimer, I am not a serial grocery shopper, neither do we (I and brother) need a lot of grocery every month. But I do love grocery shopping and the need to have all the different containers in the house packed with attractive stuff. I  just wanted to fall into healthier, controlled shopping habits and needed to see if it affected how and what I bought. Here are my observations.

1. I started noting prices of goods.
2. I actually started noticing changes in the prices. Big deal!
3. Within 2 months, the lists made me have an estimate of the amount of money I would need to set aside for grocery shopping. That just made planning my finances a LOT easier.
4. In the 7th month ie July, I did not have to buy any extra grocery item apart from wheat flour, rice, lentils. That gave me immense happiness and an opportunity to indulge. I experimented with brands that month. I also bought things I thought I would never buy earlier (like this brand of room freshener which is a bit expensive and this masala which is hyped to be multipurpose)
5. I used only card (debit/credit) to make these purchases, so keeping track became simple.
6. My spending chart shows steady increase toward the end of the year, making it pretty obvious that as the party/birthday season approaches, my spending goes up. Also talks a lot about inflation and how the cost to pay for the same products has gone up. The month of July was all experimental shopping. Forgot to add one of my cousins started living with us from October hence the rise in the curve.

statistics obsession

7. I made only one round to the grocery mall every month. No middle of the month/week trips post that one carefully-drafted-list round!
8. I never had to complain about things getting over before the month ended or the next grocery shopping turn came. Of course there were incidents when some masala/cereal would be over 2 days before the grocery shopping day. But I made it a point to add such things to the list promptly and get them during the allotted turn.
9. I never thought of grocery shopping post that one day of visit to the mall. I can only tell the relief of getting a huge task done at the beginning of every month and then not worry about it at all.

This year I plan to deviate a little and allot a budget of 200 Rs. every month for experimental items. To include that brand of pasta or that brand of cereal or that brand of shampoo. This may just add fun to the game and may be test my control.

Do you indulge in any home experiments ? I would be thrilled to hear and maybe include it in my lifestyle :)