And Again is Mangalore !

Yes, before I cud pen down my first visit to the city completely, I got another call from her. Even she fell for me I suppose. :D

Harsh, an amazing chef and my friend calls me at around 8 in evening. "Hi Shweta, Can u lend me ua helmet ? I need to go to the city." I replied with an affirmative and a few minutes later he was there at Sankrathi circle. I went down with the helmet and saw one more guy accompanying him."Hey, meet my friend, Phani", and a formal handshake followed the introduction. "We are planning to visit Mangalore this weekend. Would you like to join?". And my PDQ reply was, "Oh ! that's a beautiful place ! However, I was there just a few days back. So, thnx for inviting but may be you guys should go ahead this time. I'll join you for next trip for sure." But then, this travel bug in me fiddled a little and I was like, "Btw, when are you leaving?". "Tonight" and I told the bug to go back to its slumber for I had these plans up for a rave at another friend's place. "But, If you want we can postpone it to early morning. Come on, It'll be fun. Moreover, Sameera is the only girl with us. She'll also get company." And a little nudge was all I needed to reconsider my weekend plans. "Well ohkay, text me approx expenses for the trip and I'll let you know by midnight." , with this I handed over the helmet to Harsh and came back to my room.

After that I didn't get to check my phone before 5 that morning. And when I did, there were many missed calls and texts from harsh. I thought they must have left by then and moreover, the hangover was still lurking around, so, I thought of going back into my blanket. But then for the sake of courtesy, I called him back. And guess what, these people were still in Mysore."Hey, you are coming right ? We'll leave by 6. Be ready !", and I was like literally blank on what to say. I mindlessly said yes and then after hanging up the phone I was wondering, what just happened then. When I understood, I called them back to tell that they should go ahead without me for I might not be able to get ready so fast and I didn't want them to get off schedule owing to me. But then, for the humble people they are, they insisted on waiting for me and for the sloth I am, they waited till 7:30. :/

So, at 7:30 siddhu, along with his friends and his baby, was at Sankranthi. No no, siddhu is not married ! He's a handsome bachelor and here he is, with his baby...:D

Yes, you got it right !
Siddhu is a motorhead and you see that Honda Jazz, datz his beloved baby.
A comfi ride with awesome speakers. And Siddhu absolutely loves her :D
We all had our photo shoot with her n here's one of mine...me n her in da same foxy color. \m/ :D


         


So then, 9th Jan, 2016 ! Me, Harsh, Siddhu, Phani(the guy from prev night) n Sameera( a new face), we were all set for the road trip ahead of us.

Siddhu on steering

And you know what, sometimes journey itself turns out to be so beautiful, that you forget about the destination. That is exactly what happened then. Crisp early morning breeze and clear blue sky. Weather was blissful and so was the scenery. After so long I felt myself so close to nature and was totally enraptured.

Also, the two new friends I made, Phani and Sameera, turned out to awesum people, so very easy and laid back. Certainly, the best people to travel with !

Phani, Sameera n me

We stopped by Cafe county, a nice place for breakfast on mysore-mangalore highway.

Phani, Harsh and Sami @ Cafe County

Decent place with nominal figures in its menu. And special masala cheese dosa is a must try !

  After the heart-filling break fast, an almost 7 hr fun ride followed, through beautiful western ghats and valleys of Karnataka, and well Kerela too ! We made a detour just to see 'Welcome to kerela' and  'Thanks for visiting Kerela' sign boards. :D

En route, we came across many beautiful spots. One was this waterfall near Madikery. Milky white stream and calming white noise of it with chirping of birds. It was a treat to eyes, mind & soul. And who would miss on such a treat ? So we stopped by, to absorb the nature's elixir spread magnanimously all over all place. Camera obviously cant capture everything, but here are a few clicks which give a coup d'oeil of what I am talking about. :)

Owing to sharp bends and several hairpins, topped with LFS Siddhu on steering, I got a little nauseated. But It was all fine after having fresh juicy watermelon at this cute rustic place.

At around 4 pm, we finally checked in the resort where we had booked our rooms. We all freshened up in an hour and by 5, we were on our way to Panambur beach. And here after i'll let the pictures speak. Credits- Phani's dslr ! :D

you can check out more pics here

n do share urs wen u make ua visit...
till then, take care...hv fun ;)

Mangalore - City of My Chauffeur (1)

And there I was, staring at the endless blue, which made everything else seem so insignificant.

So, I had my XAT this Sunday and I had given Manglore as my preferred center to appear for the exam. Not because it was the nearest center. In fact Banglore and I guess even Mysore was among the several test centers. But still I opted for Mangalore for it's the hometown of someone very special to me and I had always wondered about the place where someone like him was born and brought up to be the person he is. And well, this sage friend of mine likes to maintain low profile, so I won't be mentioning his name. But then without his mention It won't be possible for me to pen down my experience. So letz give him a pseudo name. Well then, he calls me 'Taxi' so me giving him 'Chauffeur' is fair enough. After all he do drives me crazy ! =D

1st Jan 2016, and again its Friday. All nice things come my way on Fridays. So did the chauffeur and so did the trip to his city. It was a peaceful morning after a not-so-peaceful new year eve celebration. I still had a lil hangover but it was kinda good hangover so i didn't mind it. It was working day here, so as always got ready for office, and as always got a little late. However, this time it was not because of my obsession with mirrors, but because of the best wishes calls from friends and family. Mom had insisted to go to a temple and even I wanted to go, but then since it was late I thought of dropping the idea. And well, again as always, my smart chauffeur, saw right through me and, though, I didn't utter a single word about temple, on our way to office he did stop by one and I did get to visit my Ganesha's place. :)

So, a happy start was followed by a not-so-hectic office. In evening me and my dancemaniac friends - Sakshi, Shubham, Rony da n Kamesh, went to Chamundi hills. I had had been there before, but not in evening. That was also an amazing experience, and will need a whole another post dedicated solely for it. May be I'll write one sometime later. For now, people who came here seeing Mangalore in title, please excuse the deviation. We're almost there. =D

After a nice good hour at the hill top and a night mode selfie session, we dined at Empires, KD Road(Egg dosa with chicken curry is a must try) and thereafter I went to suburb to catch the 11:30 krctc bus for Moodbidre with chauffeur. Before heading to the bus stand I had this uneasy feeling, perhaps due to indulgence in over eating and was actually considering to have something like betel leaf (it improves digestion, maintains oral hygiene and acts as a mouth freshener) or cardamom, but again I was getting late to catch this bus. And I know you would have a hard time believing it, but yes, he did his thing and on seeing me, though in a hurry, he asked, 'would you like to have a paan ?'
and in my head I was like, 'holy-bison, how do you do this ?'. He got down his Roadeo, handed over the steering to me and got two, one for each of us. And we were on our way to bus stand.

The Bus was ready when we reached there. We bid our goodbyes and I boarded the bus, already looking forward to come back and see him again. It was a nice Volvo bus with comfortable seats and blankets to snuggle in(my first journey in a sleeper bus). I made a call to Swathi, my friend and colleague, at whose place I was to stay that weekend, set the wake up alarm and had a good tight sleep that night.

In morning I woke up to the alarm to find my mi4i on it's last leg with only 5% power and my destination was still some 2 hrs away. Since I didnt know Swathi's address and was supposed to call her on getting down from bus, I switched off my phone to save the little power it had. Little did I know then, that pressing that one button would affect lives of so many people !

Bus reached Moodbidre at around 6:30 am. I got down, turned on my phone and called Swathi. "Where are you Shweta ?" she asked in an apprehensive tone. She had been trying to call me for last 1 hour. She had thought that I was in 'Durgamba' bus which should have reached there by 4:30 in morning. She had waited for my call till 5:30 and after that had been trying to reach out to me. Since my phone was switched off, she got worried and called the operators of 'Durgamba' Bus Service. From there she got to know that their bus had already crossed Moodbidre at 4:30. The news got her even more worried. Since then she had called the bus driver, made him wake up the sleeping passengers and ask them, if there was any Shweta among them. She had called my mentor Venkat to check if I have any other number. She came out with her dad to the bus stand where that Durgamba bus should have dropped me. She had inquired the rickshaw drivers over there about me.She had even considered to check in the nearby public toilets. Also, her mom had started crying it seems.  When I got to know about all this, I was so embarrassed. Owing to my carelessness, I got so many people worried. Later when I narrated the incident to chauffeur, he scolded me as well. :(
But the beautiful place I was at, didn't let my spirits lay low for long. I apologized to Swathi and her parents. And they are like awesome people, they didn't seem to mind that blunder much. Moreover there was a valid explanation that I had to use my GPS and camera last evening for that unplanned Chamundi hill's trip, which drained my cell's battery. So, it was forgiven & forgotten. And thereafter it was all super awesome. :)

Watch out this space for the super awesome ! ;)

to be cntd...