The problem with having a sister who’s a chef is that her standards are naturally high. And since she knows what these exotic dishes are supposed to taste like, she won’t settle for less.

I am less discriminating. I eat anything that looks and tastes reasonably good and pronounce it as delicious! And sometimes I haven’t tasted some of the dishes before, so in my rather blissful ignorant reality, they are pretty damn good. The sister on the other hand chews, tastes, ponders, rolls her eyes and then pronounces, “Ummmm…. it’s okay.”

Sigh.
(more…)

May 2007: A trip to the beautiful tea country of Wellington in Tamil Nadu along with my sister, Ree and her amma. A rather long but nice drive.

Someone’s beautiful garden in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu

The hair pin bends of Ooty proved to be a bit of a challenge for my Zen, which I should have serviced before leaving. But except for one occasion when she had to negotiate a steep slope and stalled completely, she behaved quite decently.

(more…)

This Bangalore Weekend Shoots on July 8 plan was an open one. They’re actually quite good fun since we just decide the route and then wherever someone finds something interesting - we stop and shoot!

We decided to go on the Nandi Hills route, and possibly visit the hillock called Skandangiri. There was also the cemetery that was featured in a local paper in Sultanpet. So off we went.

We got off to an early start at 530 am in the morning but managed to miss the rest of the gang. When people say “we’ll meet at Mekhri Circle”, we should remember that it’s not a circle so there can be several points before and after the intersection one can meet. As a result, we were sitting by the pavement counting chicken and sheep, while the rest of the gang met under the “underpass” and zoomed past!
(more…)

I’ve written about Women on Wanderlust and Sumitra’s WOW club before. Just to jog your memory, here’s the link to my earlier post and here too.

Sumitra’s just sent me the updated 2008 calendar so if you want to start planning your travel, get in touch with her for details on WOW Sumitra or 098916 55054.

2008 Calendar
January - Sri Lanka with Maldives
April - Turkish Delight
May - Highlights of China
June - Central Europe
July - Ireland & Scotland with London.
August - Leh, Ladakh
September - Best of South Africa
October - Australia
November/December - Egypt with Nile Cruise

Bon voyage!

This is a not for profit theatre group called Krea, coming all the way from the US to stay a play in Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai. I’ve written more about them here so do go have a look!

May 2007: A weekend drive from Bangalore to Terahalli (near Kolar) to Kaivara (near Chintamani) to Lepakshi (Andhra Pradesh) and back.

This was an interesting Sunday weekend drive as we covered quite a bit of ground (over 300 kms) on the same day. We decided to keep an open plan and set off towards Kolar. We had breakfast at Kamats near Hoskote. Just before we reached Kolar, a lady informed us of a jathre (village festival) taking place in the village of Terahalli.

A quick decision was made by the other two occupants of the car (Venky and Deepsan) while I was still half asleep, and we drove up the hill towards the village. The hill was reminiscent of Hampi, with huge rocks dotting the landscape and once we climbed upwards, we could see the plains of Kolar spread out in front of us.
(more…)