Like the wave that sweeps away the sand beneath my feet, making the ground below shaky, the realization that holidays are over shakes me up. As unfair as it is to compare the daily work-home-parenting routine here to the carefree-no routine pampered holidays at Bangalore, I cant help but long for it and regret the end of yet another vacation.
I go back to being my parents' child for a month every year. These holidays make me feel younger ...a self that was capable of a lot of things. Like sleeping through sunny afternoons after a heavy homemade lunch. Like being lost in thoughts n gazing into distance for hours to no end. Like talking late into the night about nothing specifically but everything in general.
My reluctance to grow up seeps into me as soon as I see them n I transform into being dependent on mom n dad for everything.
Somehow wishing that my hesitation to not do things I did not do as a child, wishing that going back to my old habits would keep us all young as years pass. *sigh*
I try and list the things we did and felt this time:
Mysore:
This city evokes a regal sense of timelessness every time we visit. The idea was to spend a day travelling with parents and show K a new city/experience. The stop at Ranganathittu was dad's reco though we were not sure of migration season etc so had no hopes of seeing any birds. Bro and I ended up realizing that the beautiful trail on which we had all run the kaveri trail marathon a few years ago was right next to the bird sanctuary. We saw a huge crowd get down from school and college buses filled with loud laughter and silly banter and raced past them in order to avoid standing in queues for the boating. We chose to wear life jackets which we fished out from a pile stacked up without any order of sizes and hopped onto the boat. One guy did the both the jobs of rowing and acting as a guide identifying the birds. To our surprise we saw a variety of birds : spoon bills, cormorants, Ibis, pelicans and the one that we all liked best - painted storks. Also wading along and lying on the rocks were a lot of marsh crocodiles! After the boat ride and climbing up to view more of the same, we sat down to snack on mom's ellu, chakli etc. A squirrel that looked at us curiously joined in and happily munched on peanuts and pieces of jaggery. K and dad went crazy feeding it while i took as many photos to capture that moment, one such where mom/dad become the same age and show the same curiosity as her. We have taken a tour of the Mysore palace many times before and each time it gets more and more unbelievable that someday in the past, someone called this place their home. What was interesting and new this time was an app pinakin on which we could listen to the audio guide. Quickly downloaded it and listened to the glorious awe-inducing stories of bravery and grandeur. The new facts we learn each time like how this was the first building to get electricity as an electric chandelier from abroad had to be hung. How the prints of the photographs came all the way from England as there were no places to develop the photos taken here etc. fascinating really. we took our time to walk through the very small part of the palace where ppl are allowed, took a few photos and admired at the artistic extravaganza that this palace signifies. KRS at evening evokes so many memories of childhood. The magic of the musical fountain is long gone and the entrance commercialized with vendors selling the usual junk. The dam though, is a thing to marvel at. how in that time and age did one conceive of this idea and how-ever did they manage to actually build it to last. Beautiful really the pink sunset and perfectly formed flock of white birds heading home. K was not impressed with the crowd, heat or walking about in both. Eating ice creams to chill, we called it a day. Next morning we drove to the top of Chamundi hills, more a customary visit and my over-enthusiasm to show mahishasura and nandi to k. She did not think former was scary and commented that the latter lacked iris. Eye-rolls at trying to impress an 8-yr old! But hey am never the one to give up so we went to look at sand sculptures and mirror mazes both slightly more interesting for her and finally the zoo. Drinking copious amounts of water, we were there to watch tigers mainly but got to see giraffes, lions, cheetahs, elephants and a host of colorful birds. Nothing off-putting like our visit to Bannerghatta from last year. Despite having a slight tummy upset, the palate would not relent and we went looking for famous Mylari hotel dose for lunch. It tasted good and we all ate more than we thought or should have. Hygiene though...close ur eyes while u savor these pls! Visiting relatives who mean well is always a pleasant experience. Viewing the Mysore palace lit up at night is a must-see. We hurried and secured spots on the lawn and observed the sky turn the lightest blue and pink. The 1000s of light-bulbs lining the palace walls, which we don't notice while walking about in the day, come alive in that aha-moment. We looked at it mesmerized for a few minutes and heard the police band play a few instrumental songs and came back home stopping at the usual place for dinner.
Bangalore:
I really cherished early morning temple visits with mom, where the bedrock of trust is the idol made of stone that almost comes alive as the prayers and shlokas reach a crescendo at aarathi.
On the other hand, truly a sign of progress for the city was the Metro! We went on it more than a few times and appreciated it. Mom was so proud and upbeat about showing it to me.'See I told u, its just like the one we went on in Paris. See this, see that..':) I wish they would add more routes and bogis soon and catch up with the growing demands. Other than that, the rubbish on streets, more than essential cars, ever increasing indifference towards other ppl, the quality of uber/app-based taxis are all on my crib-list. The city I can never decide if I love to leave behind or live in. Prash asks me on the way back from airport, 'so whatsay? ready to move back to Bangalore?' I can manage a hardly audible selfish response 'not if either of us has to commute to work, not till k goes off to uni'
Culture vulture:
Watching nightlong performance of malegalalli Madhumagalu at NSD/kalaagraama with mom n dodamma was an unforgettable experience.Enacting the epic drama across 4 open air theaters, keeping us audience entertained and engaged for 9 hours through the night was no mean feat. The story as tragic and disturbing as it was, the theme of it (roughly translating to 'no one here is important or unimportant') is going to stay with me for a long time. We also watched ashtavakra puppet show modernized with songs and narratives to address the little ones in the audience. Fish tree moon at Rangashankara was another kids' drama we took k to. She liked the songs and dances at the performance though my intention was for her to get the concepts of friendship/trust/will of the mind. In this trip, I also got a bit of understanding into differentiating art vs entertainment. Between captivating performers and whimsical artists. Between a nataka and ranga prayoga( a drama vs a theatrical experiment).
K also read a large number of books much to everyone's surprise...We had to go book shopping more than a couple of times to keep her busy.During one such expedition, she and I decided to drink the very-famous dry fruit milkshake and laughed at the uselessness of the straw to drink(eat?) it at shiv sagar. Mom, dad, k and I went to watch shows at Planetarium and Indira Gandhi musical fountain.Its so under-sold, all these inner-city places to entertain kids!
People:
We also spent a day in the village and took k to the mango farm we went to as kids.The saturday evening hanuman temple bhajane and when they sang aatmaraama ananda ramana, she was more than thrilled to fit in and clap and sing along. Catching up with the entire clan for that duration was a feel-good activity. This time we also did a lot of house-visits and ate till they felt it was enough to justify their love and affection. The variety of the spreads on the table, the warmth in their handshakes and hugs left me teary-eyed. Once a year, it feels really good to be cared for this way. Apart from the inner circle of family, catching up with friends that make so much time for one is always soul-soothing activity. Grateful to those that made such possible!
Food:
We ate out at the usual CTR, vidhyarthi bhavan, Raghavendra stores, MTR, Indian/Italian restaurants at malls. We also had last minute panic realisation of not eating bakery puff!! surely they would not let me board my flight back if they realised this miss and so we got parcels and I ate more than I should have, given the condition of my throat on our last evening there. Toast and Tonic was a really good place with innovative menu - a tasty mix of old world ingredients in new world recipes. The taste and texture of the jaggery dessert remains. So does the longing for the company of bro and SIL which could have been the main reason in the first place to make it such a fun outing.
Runs and yoga classes were a few this time and without any routine. The sunrises and flock of pigeons and ducks over sankey tank, fresh air and sound of crushing dried leaves at cubbon park always remain beautiful. I tried anti-gravity yoga and felt it was ok-ish, which could be due to my reluctance to using props (hammock in this case) for yoga. Was a tick on my list though.
And it was here already!!!! the end of a few beautiful weeks, bringing with it the turmoil of saying goodbyes to parents and sadness that no words can describe, making the heart so heavy that nothing can move it. Drenching one in tears that flood through like a monsoon rain... expected, known, uncontrolled and sudden. Like actors moving to a different scene, K n I were all by ourselves sitting in a random airport, watching flights takeoff and land. She looks at me and we both cry hugging each other and telling each other that we will be ok and she says "Amma, I really wish the Earth was still 1 piece without any seas. Then it would have been much much smaller n we would have reached NZ and Pachi much much faster" and I nod in agreement.
Till next visit!:)
I try and list the things we did and felt this time:
Mysore:
This city evokes a regal sense of timelessness every time we visit. The idea was to spend a day travelling with parents and show K a new city/experience. The stop at Ranganathittu was dad's reco though we were not sure of migration season etc so had no hopes of seeing any birds. Bro and I ended up realizing that the beautiful trail on which we had all run the kaveri trail marathon a few years ago was right next to the bird sanctuary. We saw a huge crowd get down from school and college buses filled with loud laughter and silly banter and raced past them in order to avoid standing in queues for the boating. We chose to wear life jackets which we fished out from a pile stacked up without any order of sizes and hopped onto the boat. One guy did the both the jobs of rowing and acting as a guide identifying the birds. To our surprise we saw a variety of birds : spoon bills, cormorants, Ibis, pelicans and the one that we all liked best - painted storks. Also wading along and lying on the rocks were a lot of marsh crocodiles! After the boat ride and climbing up to view more of the same, we sat down to snack on mom's ellu, chakli etc. A squirrel that looked at us curiously joined in and happily munched on peanuts and pieces of jaggery. K and dad went crazy feeding it while i took as many photos to capture that moment, one such where mom/dad become the same age and show the same curiosity as her. We have taken a tour of the Mysore palace many times before and each time it gets more and more unbelievable that someday in the past, someone called this place their home. What was interesting and new this time was an app pinakin on which we could listen to the audio guide. Quickly downloaded it and listened to the glorious awe-inducing stories of bravery and grandeur. The new facts we learn each time like how this was the first building to get electricity as an electric chandelier from abroad had to be hung. How the prints of the photographs came all the way from England as there were no places to develop the photos taken here etc. fascinating really. we took our time to walk through the very small part of the palace where ppl are allowed, took a few photos and admired at the artistic extravaganza that this palace signifies. KRS at evening evokes so many memories of childhood. The magic of the musical fountain is long gone and the entrance commercialized with vendors selling the usual junk. The dam though, is a thing to marvel at. how in that time and age did one conceive of this idea and how-ever did they manage to actually build it to last. Beautiful really the pink sunset and perfectly formed flock of white birds heading home. K was not impressed with the crowd, heat or walking about in both. Eating ice creams to chill, we called it a day. Next morning we drove to the top of Chamundi hills, more a customary visit and my over-enthusiasm to show mahishasura and nandi to k. She did not think former was scary and commented that the latter lacked iris. Eye-rolls at trying to impress an 8-yr old! But hey am never the one to give up so we went to look at sand sculptures and mirror mazes both slightly more interesting for her and finally the zoo. Drinking copious amounts of water, we were there to watch tigers mainly but got to see giraffes, lions, cheetahs, elephants and a host of colorful birds. Nothing off-putting like our visit to Bannerghatta from last year. Despite having a slight tummy upset, the palate would not relent and we went looking for famous Mylari hotel dose for lunch. It tasted good and we all ate more than we thought or should have. Hygiene though...close ur eyes while u savor these pls! Visiting relatives who mean well is always a pleasant experience. Viewing the Mysore palace lit up at night is a must-see. We hurried and secured spots on the lawn and observed the sky turn the lightest blue and pink. The 1000s of light-bulbs lining the palace walls, which we don't notice while walking about in the day, come alive in that aha-moment. We looked at it mesmerized for a few minutes and heard the police band play a few instrumental songs and came back home stopping at the usual place for dinner.
Bangalore:
I really cherished early morning temple visits with mom, where the bedrock of trust is the idol made of stone that almost comes alive as the prayers and shlokas reach a crescendo at aarathi.
On the other hand, truly a sign of progress for the city was the Metro! We went on it more than a few times and appreciated it. Mom was so proud and upbeat about showing it to me.'See I told u, its just like the one we went on in Paris. See this, see that..':) I wish they would add more routes and bogis soon and catch up with the growing demands. Other than that, the rubbish on streets, more than essential cars, ever increasing indifference towards other ppl, the quality of uber/app-based taxis are all on my crib-list. The city I can never decide if I love to leave behind or live in. Prash asks me on the way back from airport, 'so whatsay? ready to move back to Bangalore?' I can manage a hardly audible selfish response 'not if either of us has to commute to work, not till k goes off to uni'
Culture vulture:
Watching nightlong performance of malegalalli Madhumagalu at NSD/kalaagraama with mom n dodamma was an unforgettable experience.Enacting the epic drama across 4 open air theaters, keeping us audience entertained and engaged for 9 hours through the night was no mean feat. The story as tragic and disturbing as it was, the theme of it (roughly translating to 'no one here is important or unimportant') is going to stay with me for a long time. We also watched ashtavakra puppet show modernized with songs and narratives to address the little ones in the audience. Fish tree moon at Rangashankara was another kids' drama we took k to. She liked the songs and dances at the performance though my intention was for her to get the concepts of friendship/trust/will of the mind. In this trip, I also got a bit of understanding into differentiating art vs entertainment. Between captivating performers and whimsical artists. Between a nataka and ranga prayoga( a drama vs a theatrical experiment).
K also read a large number of books much to everyone's surprise...We had to go book shopping more than a couple of times to keep her busy.During one such expedition, she and I decided to drink the very-famous dry fruit milkshake and laughed at the uselessness of the straw to drink(eat?) it at shiv sagar. Mom, dad, k and I went to watch shows at Planetarium and Indira Gandhi musical fountain.Its so under-sold, all these inner-city places to entertain kids!
People:
We also spent a day in the village and took k to the mango farm we went to as kids.The saturday evening hanuman temple bhajane and when they sang aatmaraama ananda ramana, she was more than thrilled to fit in and clap and sing along. Catching up with the entire clan for that duration was a feel-good activity. This time we also did a lot of house-visits and ate till they felt it was enough to justify their love and affection. The variety of the spreads on the table, the warmth in their handshakes and hugs left me teary-eyed. Once a year, it feels really good to be cared for this way. Apart from the inner circle of family, catching up with friends that make so much time for one is always soul-soothing activity. Grateful to those that made such possible!
Food:
We ate out at the usual CTR, vidhyarthi bhavan, Raghavendra stores, MTR, Indian/Italian restaurants at malls. We also had last minute panic realisation of not eating bakery puff!! surely they would not let me board my flight back if they realised this miss and so we got parcels and I ate more than I should have, given the condition of my throat on our last evening there. Toast and Tonic was a really good place with innovative menu - a tasty mix of old world ingredients in new world recipes. The taste and texture of the jaggery dessert remains. So does the longing for the company of bro and SIL which could have been the main reason in the first place to make it such a fun outing.
Runs and yoga classes were a few this time and without any routine. The sunrises and flock of pigeons and ducks over sankey tank, fresh air and sound of crushing dried leaves at cubbon park always remain beautiful. I tried anti-gravity yoga and felt it was ok-ish, which could be due to my reluctance to using props (hammock in this case) for yoga. Was a tick on my list though.
And it was here already!!!! the end of a few beautiful weeks, bringing with it the turmoil of saying goodbyes to parents and sadness that no words can describe, making the heart so heavy that nothing can move it. Drenching one in tears that flood through like a monsoon rain... expected, known, uncontrolled and sudden. Like actors moving to a different scene, K n I were all by ourselves sitting in a random airport, watching flights takeoff and land. She looks at me and we both cry hugging each other and telling each other that we will be ok and she says "Amma, I really wish the Earth was still 1 piece without any seas. Then it would have been much much smaller n we would have reached NZ and Pachi much much faster" and I nod in agreement.
Till next visit!:)
