Amazing Bali

Day 1

After quite a busy and stressful week of an inter-caste wedding and the confusing traditions that follow, we set off to Bali, Indonesia for our honeymoon. We landed in Denpasar Bali on a rainy Monday afternoon after a 10 hour journey from Bangalore via Singapore. We had made reservation in Nike Villas, Sanur for our first day in Bali. Sanur is one of the many places in Bali where you see more tourists than locals. The stay in Nike Villas was exotic. The private pool under the tree couldn't be more romantic! It is surreal when the beautiful yellow and red flowers from the swaying tree above, drop in the pool as you are enjoying a swim with your partner. The people in the villa were very sweet and friendly. They welcomed us with a special Honeymoon cake and were kind enough to give us a mobile phone so we could call them if we needed pick up from our dinner on the beach that evening.

Day 2

The next morning, we took bicycles from the hotel and cycled our way through the place to the beach. We rode alongside the tourist shopping centers and restaurants. The ride on the cobble stoned path alongside the sea was very refreshing. We got back to the villa later to check out and proceed to our next destination, Amed. I personally felt there was nothing much to see in Sanur, but it is close to the airport and if you can't wait to relax after a long flight, it's a good place with beach. But I'd definitely recommend Nike Villas, especially for honeymoon couples.

Private Pool at Nike Villas

We found a driver just outside our hotel in Sanur. Bali and India have some common culture and history in that Balinese follow Hinduism and have their own style of our Hindu epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. Well, that's not all. Bargaining is another common trait to be carried in both places! For those of you planning your trip to Bali, make sure you check cab costs online, with your hotel and then talk to the drivers waiting for a customer on the roadside. Our driver Mandi, came down from IDR 700000 to 500000 to take us to Amed. We agreed that we will stop to see some interesting places on the way. Mandi turned out to be a very nice driver and tour guide for us.
On our way to Amed, our first stop was at a Batik making place. We have this in India too. We saw Balinese women making Batik work on clothes by applying wax on some areas and dying the cloth later. Hand weaving was also being done. Our next stop was the Goa Lawah - Bat cave temple. The temple has three doors on the front. The one on the left to enter and the right to exit. The center one, slightly bigger, remains closed. It is opened only during festivals and important occasions. Inside, there is a cave full of bats and some small tower like structures with seats, on which offerings are placed. Offering consists of a small cup made of leaves, on which are placed some flowers, incense sticks and a few more things. This is a common thing in Bali. You can spot these outside shops and temples. Balinese people have a dress code for temples. You can't enter a temple without a sarong, they tie it around your hip, like a dhoti, and secure it with a towel. This goes for both men and women. Women wear something like a tube top and a transparent/netted shirt to cover their torso. Men wear normal shirts and are in full white. As we were looking around the temple, we saw people come in and sit in front of the cave for pooja. We left them to their pooja and started off to the next place. Balinese worship both gods and daemons and every house has a small temple. You could see tower like structures inside their gate. The entrance of many houses greeted us with statues on either side of the door, some with Ganesha, some with frogs, some with angry looking daemon faces.

People gathered at Bat cave temple

Next stop was the Tenganan Village. Tenganan also known as Bali Aga is a village that strictly follows ancient Balinese customs and traditions. The people in the village are said to be the original Balinese people. There in no entrance ticket to the village but you are supposed to make a donation. The houses in the village were very small with even smaller doors. The women in the village made and sold double ikats. Ikat is an Indonesian cloth dyeing technique and Tenganan is famous for double ikats. The boards outside the houses welcomed us to come in and have a look at these fabrics. I wanted to get a peek into their houses and their lifestyle than check out the fabrics. They had displayed their products in the front most portion of their house. There was hardly any partition that separated the shop from rest of the small house. Behind the display of clothes, I could see a little girl lying down on the floor watching Hindi Serials dubbed in Indonesian! Silently cursing the crappy Indian serials and their incomprehensible reach across so many miles, we thanked the lady and got back outside. As we walked further, we saw some men painting on eggs (egg shaped wood) and some others doing bamboo sketching. They were hand drawing on bamboo with natural color. While we were admiring the sketches, we were distracted by a 'COCK-A-CO-COO', roosters! Some of them were dyed in different colors, tucked under a basket while the others were running around here and there. We learnt that they maintain these birds for cock fighting. We walked around a bit and joined our hasty driver to the next spot.

Tenganan Village

Bamboo Sketching with natural color

The moment I stepped in the entrance of the water park 'Tirtagangga' in Karangasem, I was stunned by the breath taking beauty of the place! The entrance fee costs about Rp.20.000. The water fountains, the stoned path way that lets you enjoy the waters and the colorful fish in it are so much fun. Our driver told us that it was built by the king of that region for recreational purpose. We spent some time soaking in the beauty of the flower and water gardens. My husband had to drag me out of the place as we were getting late for our final halt for the day, Amed.

Tirtagangga Water Park

Day 3

Amed is a place buzzing with back packers and adventure seekers. This is a great place for water activities like snorkeling, diving and sea walking. We stayed in Coral View beach resort. I really liked the open roof washroom in our room. After a good night's sleep, we set off to our first ever snorkeling experience. Being a non-swimmer, I was terrified of getting into the water. But it was worth it. We rented snorkeling kits, life jackets, a boat and an instructor to help me. They took us to the nearby Japanese ship wreck site by boat. The boat ride was stunning. In spite of the fear in the pit of my stomach, I enjoyed the 'wallpaper standard' buildings that stood flaunting their posh beauty above the turquoise blue water. This one building had at the exterior, a narrow steep stair case from the top most floor leading to a very small area on the ground on which was perched a small boat. They got to park their boat somewhere right! Before we knew it, we were on the spot. I got in the water trembling, but was blown away by the sight of the ship wreck and the fish that swam around. We were then taken to another spot. Tiny little fish colored in yellow and blue were the prettiest of all. We could see divers checking out the corals beneath us as we floated above them. As the currents got stronger, I realized the instructor was directing me towards the shore.

Our third destination was Ubud. Mandi agreed to take us to Ubud and show us places on the way just like our previous day. We traveled through Kintamani, a hill station. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant had a stunning view of Mount Batur, a volcano that stood alongside a serene lake. We sat close to each other enjoying the cold weather, the majestic mount Batur, the mesmerizing white lake and the variety of dishes on the buffet. After a romantic lunch, we stopped at Alam Bali coffee plantation. The rich aroma of coffee welcomed us inside the dense plantation. The guide introduced us to various types of coffee. Along with coffee, they also make cocoa. We were explained the coffee preparation process from picking up beans to roasting them finally. The specialty of Bali is this Luwak Coffee. Mind you, it is expensive, about IDR50000. Luwak is an animal used in the coffee preparation. I hear you. ;) It gets interesting. Coffee beans are fed to these animals, the beans are processed naturally by their digestive system. Later, their droppings are collected, dried, cleaned and roasted! And there you go, the very special Luwak coffee. We did not taste it. We were then led to a table on which stood a line of cups, each with a different drink, to taste.They had ginger tea, lemon grass tea, different types of coffee and a fruit drink called mangosteen. Being pakka South Indian filter coffee addicts, none of their coffees impressed us. So we bought lemon grass tea and mangosteen and set off to Tegallalang rice terrace in Ubud.

Us, pretending to grind and roast coffee ;)

It was pouring cats and dogs when we stopped off at the rice terrace. So we did not hike in the terrace. We enjoyed the view of the beautifully shaped rice fields from the top. And we resigned for the day to our third destination, Rijasa Agung, Payangan near Ubud.

Tegallalang Rice Terrace

Day 4

Rijasa Agung offered a mind blowing view of mountains and the Ayung river below from their infinity pool. If you are looking for a romantic extravagant place near Ubud, I'd say this where you should go. We had to climb down from the lobby to our villa. With the stone walls, long stair cases and the lush mountains, it looks like a castle. While enjoying the infinity pool in the morning, you can see people river rafting in the Ayung river.

Infinity Pool at Rijasa Agung

They have a shuttle service to and from Ubud. It was 11 in the morning when we got off at Ubud. You can see many taxi drivers approaching you on the road. But you don't need a taxi to look around places in Ubud. If you cover Tegallalang rice terrace and other places on the outskirts of Ubud on your way in or out, you don't need a taxi to go around inside Ubud. You can either walk or rent a bike. We walked along the busy Ubud main road and decided to go to the Blanco's museum first. Blanco is a famous artist who traveled the world and settled in Bali to capture the beauty of Balinese women in his paintings. Until a few decades back Balinese women were topless. Finding a half nude woman walking by the street, doing her daily chores, wouldn't be a surprise back then. Later, due to the advent of tourism, it is said Balinese people slowly changed their way of being naked. It was almost lunch time when we left the museum. After a quick lunch, we started the Campuhan ridge walk. You can start the walk from the entrance in Ubud main road. We walked through the undulating thick rice fields and terraces for about 3 km. The trail goes upto 9 km. We stopped at Karsa cafe and had some tea. This cafe is over a rice terrace and offers a nice view. There are many house stays available near the rice fields.

Campuhan Ridge Walk

As you go further in, there are some shops nearby that sell refreshments, paintings, wooden statues and the like. We were just leisure walking and trekked back to Ubud main road. Treating ourselves to ice creams seemed to be the right thing to do after a long walk in the afternoon. We gorged down the ice creams and walked towards the Ubud market. On our way, we got tickets to the Balinese traditional dance show at 7 in the evening in Ubud Palace. It is advisable to get tickets before an hour or two so you don't have to wait in the queue for tickets before the show while the front seats are being occupied. Most shops in the market close around 6 in the evening. You can get a lot of stuff here, souvenirs, jumpsuits, dresses and what not, at a very reasonable price. But you got to bargain! Don't hesitate to ask for half the starting price. Mornings are the best time to check out this market.
We reached the Ubud place at quarter to 7 for the show. Pamphlets describing the performances of the day were handed out. The dancers leave you amazed and amused by the Balinese culture. So that was Day 4!

Dance at Ubud Palace

Day 5

Our final destination in Bali was Nusa Dua. We planned to check out the Setia Darma house of masks and puppets before leaving to Nusa Dua. It is a bit far from Ubud town. This place too has no entrance fee but you are supposed to make a donation when you leave. It has a huge collection of masks and puppets from various parts of the world. Balinese have specific masks for specific characters in their performances. For instance, the description of a mask read, 'This is used for a lazy man'. If you love exploring art and culture, this is a must visit place for you.

Mask at Setia Darma house of masks and puppets

We arrived at our last destination in Bali, Nusa Dua, late in the afternoon. With it's turquoise blue waters, Nusa Dua boasts the best beaches in Bali. You can also take a boat from Amed to nearby islands such as Gili, Lombok to enjoy the pristine waters. We decided to stay put in Nusa Dua.

Day 6 

Amarterra Villa in Nusa Dua was the most luxurious of all the places we stayed in Bali. We spent the last two days of our trip enjoying the private pool, Jacuzzi, rain shower and the picturesque beach nearby. Tides in the beach are very low when the Sun is down. 10 AM to 4 PM is said to be the golden hours to enjoy the beach.

Beach at Nusa Dua

In the evening, we had a candle light dinner by the pool. The waiter who served us was very gentlemanly and the food was awesome. The chocolate fondant cake was my most favorite. If you are looking for some adventure activities like parasailing, jet ski and stuff, the hotel staff take you to a nearby beach for water sports.

Day 7

It was time to bid good bye to Bali. To all those travelers and honeymooners, Bali has a lot to offer. Adventure or peace and quiet, whatever you are looking for, Bali has got it. Bali is like a pakka South Indian meal, a sumptuous combination of varied flavors that leave you mesmerized forever. With its volcanoes, rivers, rice fields, beaches and rich culture, Bali is a potpourri that will blow you away. 

My Deepavali in the 90s!

As the festive season falls upon us, I find myself reminiscing about my childhood Deepavali celebrations. I wonder if I could ever find the same excitement for the festival. My happiest and colorful Deepavalis were at my paternal grandmother's place in Mannargudi. It is a very small town near Thanjavur. There would be at least 10 of us in the big, old-fashioned house with thinnais on the exterior, one on each side of the door leading in to a long mitham at the center of which stands a tulasi maadam welcoming the guests. The living room, elevated from the mitham, turned super hot from the blazing heat that poured into it during the summer and super chill and breezy during the winter. I had spent most of my time there with my twin sister and my two cousins Baddu and Balaji. Wow, it feels like a distant dream now. Splashing water on each other from the cement tub in the rendaam kattu (second part or portion), the bathroom that did not have a ceiling, was one of our favorite time pass. Sacks of rice were once piled a little away from the long wooden swing in the living room. Four of us, kids around the age 7 or 8 I think, had so much fun swinging very high and landing on the pile of sacks. I remember the afternoons I spent making tiny vessels out of clay and filling them with juices squished out of the plants in the backyard.

On the day of Deepavali, we would wake up at 4 in the morning. All our new dresses would be stacked up in front of the pooja room. We'd head there straight out of bed and sit in front of the dresses waiting for our grandparents. Our thaatha and paati, who are no more, would rub some oil in our head and give us the new dress. Sometimes we, the kids, had to use the mitham for our bath as the bathroom was reserved for the elders. We didn't have geysers back then. They heated water in a large vessel on a wood-burning stove. After a hot steaming bath, we would dress up quickly, shivering and quivering, to join our cousins. There used to be a competition between the neighbors as to who will be the first to fire a sara vedi and decorate the road. Sara vedi has always been my favorite. It doesn't go Boom!!! with an unpleasant deafening noise. It is more like Pada Pada Pada ;) like a girl chattering loud and clear. Then busuvanam (flower pot) is my second favorite. Again it is an agreeable sound, BhuzzZZZzz, and a treat to the eyes too. But something has changed these days. I am no longer interested in firing crackers. May be I am growing old ;) It's just too noisy and smoky out there! Well, going back to my child hood now, my dad or uncle usually rushed to be the first to fire a saram in the street. We would all then light flower pots in a row. When the morning loses its last bit of darkness and it is no longer possible to enjoy the dazzling light from the crackers, we would start lighting the paambu maathirai (snake tablet) which when lit, rises and coils into snake like shapes. When the cracker frenzy is over finally, we would get to the endless varieties of sweets and savories. Oh dear god, ravaa laadu was and is still my favorite. I take each and every bite hoping to find that buried treasure of a cashew nut or an almond! Ah and the very famous, Deepavali Marundhu! Well, It is a kind of medicine, a dark green colored paste, made to keep your digestive system working as you keep over working it. Then there would be calls from our relatives asking, 'Ganga snanam aacha?'. I should find out why they ask that! :) Do you know?

Wishing you all a colorful and vibrant Deepavali!

The Ultimate Irony!

   As I delve into my self, trying to make sense of my existence or my 'quarter life crisis' as they call it, I find myself questioning faith. Born in a typical middle class Brahmin family, I grew up watching my mom start the day with slohas. She wouldn't miss any hindu God I would say. I remember reciting many slohas every morning as a kid. As I grew older, I gradually lost the habit. I started my 20s with a lot of questions. In my mid 20s now, I am still trying to figure out the answers, if at all there are any. I must admit though, that this seeking in itself is a Joy. I have always been amazed at my mom's faith in God. But I failed to associate myself, devote myself to these physical forms, I would like to call, of Gods.

   I have always believed that my God is faceless. God doesn't care about one's religion or caste. Whenever I gaze at the Sea, the mighty waters that change their color under the Sun light, with their incessant tides sloshing up and down the rocks, I find myself astonished by the wonder Nature is. Likewise, rivers give me this feeling of ecstasy. I visited Galibore nature camp on the banks of river Cauvery, near Bangalore two years back. It was pure joy to listen to the perpetual humming of the water flowing on the river bed. Moments like these make me wonder if this is what God is. The impeccable beauty of Nature, the goodness in people, the empathy that we feel towards others, those little acts of kindness in moments of misery, that feeling of gratitude, these are all my physical forms of God, of Faith. I would like to believe that.

  Recently, I happened to watch a few episodes of Mahabharatham on TV. I haven't read the great hindu epics or holy books of any religion. I remember hearing stories from my grandmother though. She used to tell me how Krishna, a naughty kid, ate mud from the garden. When his mother chided him and asked him to open his mouth, he opened his mouth to show her the entire universe. I was fascinated. I always thought Krishna is this God, who is not so angry or scary like Siva or Kaali.

  So I happened to watch the episodes in which Krishna gives Updesh to Arjuna. He tells Arjuna that he is the Paramathma. He is neither a man nor a woman. He is not the gender that is neither of the two. He is the entire universe. He is Lord Siva, Kaali, Brahma, Saraswathi and everything in the Universe. All human beings are a fragment of Paramathma. Well he tells a lot more. What got me thinking was, Krishna said that he is a human form of the almighty. Here the significance lies with the Universe, the Nature, the Energy, Science or whatever you want to call it. And not with the mere human form of God.

  But that is where it got tricky I guess. People started associating this power and ecstasy with the human form. So one says Vishnu is the almighty. The other says Shiva is the one. So they got busy fighting for their Rama, Allah and every other God in every way possible, thus forgetting the ultimate truth that God has no face. God doesn't know religion or race. Religion was created to make men lead a noble life and give him a sense of what is just and what is not. Different people understand things in different ways and so were born different religions with different practices conforming to the geography, food habits and the very nature of people. So people understood the exact opposite of what God was trying to say. Don't you think this is an irony? Isn't it amazing that a small change in perspective could make things look different?

 Well, these are just my musings. I might be wrong. Feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comments! :)

Christmas or Christmas eve? New year's day or the New year's eve?

Ho Ho Ho... Hope you all had a great Christmas!

I just love this season. It brings home a lot of joy and happiness.. pure joy that melts in your mouth, yep, you are right.. ;) endless chocolates, Christmas cake and sweets effectively ruining my diet. While munching on some Ferrero Rocher chocolates and swirling in the balls of chocolate and nuts this afternoon, I was thinking which is the most joyous part of a festival? The day before the actual celebration when there is a lot of preparation, anticipation and excitement or the day of the celebration? Christmas starts days before the 25th of December right. I start the season by watching Thanksgiving and Christmas episodes from my ever favorite sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S. This is not just for Christmas, ;) my birthdays start with 'The one where they all turn 30'. I just like to have a good laugh! I enjoy my small Christmas shopping. I walk around the Mission Street here in Pondicherry. Small shops that sell Christmas trees and decorations are set on the pavements during the season. I love going through all the bright jingly stuff.

Then starts the tree decoration process with all those colorful glittering balls, stars, bows, tiny Santas, tinsel, lights et all! Until the day of Christmas, the jitters and glitters continue everyday! And then Bam! Its over! Now what? I have New Year to look forward to! The same happens with New year's eve. It is the 31st of December we are all more thrilled about, busy making up resolutions that will probably last one month. With bundles of hope and new aspirations we look forward to the New year. However, we all know the fact that, how our New year pans out will not just depend on our resolutions and the holiday season's hang over! ;) I mean we got to get into some real action, N'est-ce pas? :) I had spent my Christmas vacation of 2013 in Mumbai. It was a fun trip with family, jolly and eventful. Now, nothing would explain my first week of the New Year better than this meme.

Haha! I seriously had not planned or worked for anything different! That was a lesson learnt! Mmmm.. Will 2015 be different? Will let you know! :)

I personally enjoy the Eve more than the Big day! What about you?

Here's wishing you all a wonderful and lovely New Year!
Bubye fellas! :) :)

The game of survival!

Is life a game of survival? I ask myself as I sit here writing this on a weekday afternoon. I am home on a Tuesday afternoon instead of being at work. I have been suffering from back pains every now and then since the beginning of the year. Doctors, x-rays, exercises have become a routine. Well, to be honest, exercises didn't become a routine and that's why I am here, not working. Doctors say its due to my bad postures, sitting for hours in front of my computer, very less physical activity, blah blah. Hey there.. don't worry this is not a 'Bored software engineer suddenly turned into a self improvement guru' story.

But the most prominent thing in my life in the past two months has been pain. I read books, watched TEDx videos on health and dealing with pain. One book suggested that I think of all the things I am thankful for in my life when I am in pain. Gratitude! This way whenever the pain gets bad you concentrate on all the great things in your life and not on the pain. It did help a little. But in this busy rat race of a life... Okay I hear you saying 'oh.. come on.. I am not in a race. My life is quiet fun!'.

Okay even if you are not in a race, 5 days of work, two days of fun or relaxation, lots of new stuff to learn and explore... Too much in the basket! Well, that's not bad. Yeah it wasn't all bad. I started learning to skate. Didn't finish it though. Learning French. Learnt Yoga which I stopped doing regularly after a year! Learnt about Psychology.. Advertising.. Programming.. But I failed to learn the most important of all things. My body. My mind. And what I was doing to them!

Most living things in the world are just in a game of survival. You see how a cheetah or a tiger has to pee and declare its territory, hunt and bring food and thus become the leader of the gang. I wonder if most people are doing the same, playing a game of survival. Work to make ends meet, to raise their children, to give their children better life, to be a master in their field of subject, to have a decent standard of living as per the 'what your society thinks' scale. Well good job doing all that. But most of us tend to ignore the machine that is going through all of this. We forget to pay attention to our body as long as it listens to us. It is high time we listen to it.

Well what did I learn by listening to my body?

• Human body is not meant for sitting for hours together. It is a must that you take small breaks every now and then during long hours of sitting. Go to the wash room or vending machine or take a stroll in and around the work place.
• Discipline is difficult but a must for healthy life. You can train yourself by repeating the activities of your choice everyday. You will fail and give up in the beginning. But push yourself for a little longer every time you are tempted to quit.
• You really know how much you need to eat. Just listen to your stomach and watch what you eat.
• Body is more like a machine. You need to lubricate it, keep it in active mode and not in couch potato mode for it to function properly. Exercise is a must.
• Study yourself. Your thoughts, posture, the way you carry yourself, how you react to different situations and everything about yourself.

So go study yourself!

In the pursuit of faith...

  She went to the beach everyday. But today was different. The entire beach was decorated with serial lights to celebrate the Independence Day. The secretariat, the Gandhi statue and the Kargil Memorial were shining happily in their new attire. It looked like they had a beauty competition between themselves. She imagined that the waves were swallowed by jealousy as the crowd which came every day to appreciate their beauty, was suddenly attracted by those buildings. "It wont last long!", She could hear them smirk. On that note, they continued to rise and fall against the rocks nonchalantly.

  She admired the beach. Yes, there was no sand here to dig holes or build sand castles. But she adored the neat dikes, the stone benches and the pavement where people walked and jogged. She stood there inhaling the immense beauty of the beach. Sometimes the vastness of the sea stunned her. She told herself, "May be this here is the God, the Faith the world talks about!" She never understood faith. She asked herself several times how to develop faith in someone or something. But when she was here in the beach, she was able to embrace faith.

   In this happiness and peace she saw him. She admired him for his faith in life, for his faith in god. When she was not at the beach, she found Faith in him. Her heart swelled and collapsed with every wave. She missed him a lot. In him she found the tranquility, the serenity and the power of the Sea! She looked at the infinite sea, the supreme power and thanked Her for bringing him in her life. She began to cherish the distance between them that made her love him even more. 

Farewell!

We often do not realize the value of things that are close to us. Do we? When someone who has been a part of our daily life has to leave, to take a new road in the journey of life, suddenly there comes this hollow feeling. A sudden empty space in our life. Makes me wonder if it's true that we are all one and the same. Minions of the single vast mighty universe, perhaps! :)

No matter what, the clock keeps ticking infinitely and so do we move on along with it. Sometimes, those who left stick to us or we stick to them in spite of the distance. I have come to know that, in the end, all that matters is the love and blessings we have earned during our stint in this world.

This post is dedicated to a friend of mine who is about to start a new life. I wish you all the happiness and love in this world! :) And I hope this friendship lasts for a life time! :)

Good luck dude!!!