Vacation part 2 - Trip

Simsha

On Saturday, my parents, my mom's brothers and kids went on a trip.

We first went to the water falls called Bluff. Its also called the Sivana Samudra (Simsa). There are two water falls beside each other, Gaganachkki and some other chukki. There was no water in one fall and the other one was looking like a leak from a tap!

All of us were feeling totally dejected. Then, we went to Talakadu. This was an amazing place.


Talakadu

It is on the banks of Kaveri. Generally, the river banks are rocky or covered by mud. In this place, there is sand. It almost looks like a sea beach! The explanation for this was provided by a guide (its a myth rather than an explanation).


There was a governor of the city of Talakadu in ancient time. He used to report to the Mysore King. He and his wife were great devotees of the Lord Sri Ranganatha at Srirangapattana. On all important occasions, he and his wife used to visit the temple and decorate the idol with lot of ornaments and offer prayers.

The governor fell ill and died. The king of Mysore sent his soldiers to collect the ornaments. His belief was that the pryers shold not stop due to the death of the governor. The widow mistook the intentions. She felt the king was a very mean guy who had sent the soldiers to usurp and steal the ornaments and the property. So, she took the jewels and tied it in a cloth. She dropped it into the river. Then, she heaped three curses:

1. Mavalli madilagali (Mavalli will become a whirlpool. It's a point in the river Kaveri)
2. Talakadu maralagali (Talakadu will become sand)
3 Mysorina Maharajarige makaalagadhirali (Mysore Maharaja will not have sons)

Then, she jumped into the river and committed suicide.


Until today, the curses hold. The river has a permanent whirlpool at one spot. The place Talakadu is covered with almost 40 feet of sand. The Kings of Mysore do not have a direct male descendant for every alternate generation. For example, the previous king, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar is an adopted son. The present King, Sri Srikanthadutta Wodeyar is the son of Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar. But, he does not have a son. He has adopted her sister's son. This has been happening now for a long time!


Well, myths apart, the river was wonderful. The water level is barely till the chest and the Kaveri water here is absolutely clean. So, all of us dived into the river and had a great time. Also, by then a gang of college guys came in. It was from the Jain College in Jayanagar, B'lore. There were two really great looking grls. Half the time, I sat staring at them.


Somnathpur

Then, we went to a place called Somenathpur. This is an ancient temple built in 780 AD by the Hoysala Dynasty. They are the ones who built the famed Balur and Halebid temples in Karnataka. The temple was an amazing piecece of art.

There are more than 5000 idols carved out of stone. The temple has the complete depiction of the Mahabharatha and the 10 avtaars of Lord Krishna. The intricate carving and the detailed sculpting is incredible. It took 58 years for 500 sculptors to work on this.


The sad thing though is that it was ravaged by the Muslim Invaders. It was invaded twice and the idol was desecrated. So, there is no puja at the temple and it lies dead. On top of it, the British smuggled all the smaller pieces of art during their rein. So, what remains is a graveyard of the masterpiece.

Well, that's about the second part of my trip.

Vacation part 1 - Marriage

Hi ppl,

I'm back after a loooooong *vacation*. Now, I'm expecting to get some relaxation at work!

God, the trip was hectic! Right from the time I got down at B'lore station till I came back to Sec'bad, it was one hell of a busy schedule....

Anyway, marriage went off very well. I was in-charge of lots of things and so had to run around a lot. Since, my cousin was learning dance and the mother-in-law is the dance teacher, there were lots of *students*. Three of them were really *interesting*.

The strangest thing was that relatives were openly asking abt marriage and all. The typical scene would be like this:

Mom/Dad: Hello! Meet my son. Akshay, this is so and so.
So and so: Hmm. You were this small when I last saw you! {*this* varied from 30 cm to 100 cm... Never more than that}
Me: {One silly smile.} Hello
So and so: So, what do you do? OR Where are you studying?
Me: I working with Cognizant at Hyd.
So and so: Oh! You work huh? {What did he/she expect? Am I the Mysore King, to sit at home after studies?}
Me: Ya, its almost two years now.
{Then, some stuff abt wrk and food. Then, I am dismissed.}
So and so: Hmm, So, what is your son's age? Any plans to get get him married? I know this grl....

Hey, this was really surprising. I mean, I hardly remember this relative of mine. He/she's telling me abt some relative of his, who is probably at a marriagable age....

Anyways, there were two pestering proposals. One was hell bent on getting his daughter married to me! Fortunately this happened on the week before I went to B'lore. Mom had gone to B'lore to buy some sarees and meet her relatives. One of them literally cornered my Mom abt the marriage! Finally, Mom got irritated and told him, that I was just 24 and there was at least 2 more yrs. Then, she also pointed out that the grl was 10 days elder to me and that she'd never agree for that. Only then, this person went away.

Another one happened on the 23rd. We had just finished the Anniversary dinner {23rd was my parents 25th wedding anniversary}. One of the friends pulled my mom aside and whipered, "Are you getting him married? I know this relative of mine...." My mom cut in and told the same standard dialogue: me 24 yrs, 2 more yrs break etc....

At the cousin's marriage, I was given a lot of organizing wrk. So, I had to run arnd and move up and down the stage. Aunt was telling me that lot of ppl had noticed me and were asking abt me! She's warned me that when the photos and video are out, there may be more proposals!

It was really strange! Ppl expect you to be a total Brahmachari while studying. All of a sudden, when you turn 24-25, they expect you to become a family man! I mean, where do they expect the maturity to seep into a kid's mind, coz they believe you are a kid unitl 24!

But, who's complaining! I mean, I never ever though anybody on earth would want to risk sending their daughter with me... and here they were literally pestering abt getting them married to me!

Oh yeah, there was one more girl. The girl's dad took on a very different approach... The dad is a Oncologist in Mysore and his daughter has got into Deloitte. He asked me to talk to her abt Hyd. All the time I spoke to her, she was tossing her hair and giving me prolonged stares.... I felt that she was flirting with me.. I really don't know coz, this has never happend before....

Well, this was the first part of the trip.. The Marriage. Second part, I'll write after some time...

Mysterious Girls

Yesterday (Sunday), I'd been to my favorite book shop. As I was browsing, a girl appeared to my side. I just noticed that she was wearing a nice pair of jeans, white top and looked smashing. Anyway, I moved to a side to let her browse. Instead, she suddenly turned towards me and said, "Can you suggest some books for me?"

For a moment, I was stumped. I mean, it's not a daily thing, that beautiful girls come to me and ask for suggestions. The only ones who ask me anything are my colleagues, who are stuck up in some issues.

So, there I was, looking at her large black eyes, feeling like I'd lost my ability to speak. Guess, she was wondering if I was some dim-witted geek. Anyway, after what seemed to be an eternity, my sense of mind returned. I asked her, "What sort of books do you like?"

She said, "I've read a few books by Jeffery Archer, Sydney Sheldon and Josh Grishim."

I told her that, I did not read Archer and Sheldon. I could suggest a few by Grishim. I asked her which books of Grishim she'd read. So, she pointed to the whole collection and told me that she'd completed almost everything in it! I on the other hand had read just about 50% of the books!

Then, she started talking about other authors and stuff. No matter what I suggested, she was not interested in them. She seemed to be interested in only taking to me! And, I was so shy and nervous, I felt like an idiot standing in front of her!

Anyway, by then, she got a call and started speaking to whoever was on the phone. I made a retreat, with a mind in turmoil.

A little while later, another mysterious thing happened. I'd not taken my bike as I'd given it for servicing. So, I took a shared auto. There were two good-looking girls. The driver asked me to sit beside them. So, I sat. We traveled together from Panjagutta to Jubilee Check Post.

There I tried to catch another auto. I stopped one and was about to get in. Surprisingly, the same two girls were in the same auto. By now, one of the girls gave me a big smile! I was totally scandalized.

Generally, I am not used to getting smiles from strangers. That too beautiful girls, never even notice me. Let alone giving a smile. A big smile is an impossibility. But, here I was, about to board an auto and a beautiful girl giving me a big smile! My mind has switched off by now. Logic was a out of the way. So, without much thoughts I sat in the auto and reached home.

What's really surprising is that both the events happened on the same day and within an hour of each other! Guess, my fortunes are finally turning around. Or maybe, the Hyderabadi girls have started to have pity on this lonely heart. Hey, anyway, who' s complaining :-)