New Years 2016

 

 

 

My New Year vacation started a little earlier than Geet this year. I began with a trip to Bangalore where I caught up with Tunu at his place, followed by an evening with him and Bala at our latest find, Church Street Social. Quite a misnomer given how unsocial Bala is, but then again this seems to be the only other place apart from Toit that we seem to frequent in Bangalore now.

Anyway, post the catch up with these two on Dec 24, I began Christmas morning with a Road Trip to Mysore with Tunu, China and Munda in a rented Merc. Entry for this available on a separate blog.

Upon returning from Mysore, I made an overnight bus trip to Kottayam and caught up with ma and pa on Dec 27 where I spent the next 3 days. It was 3 days of total “woosa”, a much needed break and alone time for myself. More than work, its almost as if I felt I need a break from my way of life itself in Bombay, and just be to myself and reconnect with parents for a change.

Pa in his element, showing me all the trees in the backyard, explaining to me how the property divide stands with the family, and also showing of his hunter-gatherer skills by skinning a live chicken. Ma preparing dishes made out of Duck eggs, Mussels, Goat Milk, and the usual Beef, Country chicken et al. Hanging out with them, drinking Toddy when I could, and most importantly, spending the mornings running in the country side to train for my marathon, was a much needed break for me.

In spite of 3 full days with them, it still felt incredibly short when I had to travel to Cochin on Dec 29 night to take a flight to Bombay, where I finally got back to my place at around 5am on Dec 30.

I had flights booked to Rajasthan with Geet on both Dec 30 and Dec 31 depending on when she would finish her work, and luckily, she managed to get it done on Dec 30 itself. So without any sleep, I had to unpack and repack, and leave towards the airport by 9am on Dec 30, to catch our flight to Jaipur, where we caught up with the rest of the gang, Parul, Shreyansh, Nikhil, Mallika, Disha, and Sagar.

These guys had begun their Rajasthan trip a few days earlier itself. They spent a couple of days in Udaipur, and were in Jaipur now for the next stage of their trip. Going by our conversations, they weren’t really enjoying Jaipur as much as they did Udaipur, as they had managed to meet some of Shreyansh’s friends in Udaipur and seemed to have a lot of fun with them.

We spent that evening on the streets of Jaipur, by visiting a place called LMB where we savoured some of the local dishes like Cholle Bhatura and Ragda Patty, and also spent some time shopping.

We had train tickets from Jaipur to Jaisalmer that night, but it was on wait list, and by 7pm, 5 hours before our departure time, we got to know that the tickets had only moved up to Wait List No. 1, and therefore, didn’t have even a single confirmed ticket. So now we had to work out alternate options, and we had everything from a guard compartment that Nikhil managed to arrange on that same train, to a bus option that Shreyansh was working out. However, the option we finally went with was a break journey by train to Jodhpur, from where we booked cars for ourselves through our company agency, and travelled further to Jaisalmer.

So a journey that began at 3am from Jaipur finally concluded in Jaisalmer at 5pm on Dec 31. Giving us just about enough time to freshen up and get ready for the big unveil of the night – Shreyansh’s proposal to Parul!

This was something in the works for a few months now, with a parallel Whatsapp group going on with just Parul missing in it, where everyone was busy working out plans to set the stage for Shreyansh to propose. There were quite a few gaffes with people messaging on the incorrect Whatsapp group that nearly gave it away to the ever inquisitive Parul, but we somehow managed to pull off a decent surprise for her.

So it all started with some games we began playing in the Sagars tent. He designated himself the “sarpanch” and therefore it was only ideal we gathered at his tent. Geet had organized some interesting games, and I was the scorekeeper. The job for both of us was to ensure that Shreyansh and Parul win the games so that they get a head-start in the treasure hunt that was to lead to the “proposal” spot. However, we didn’t rig the games with the other participants as well as we thought we did, and Nikhil and Mallika were giving the other two a proper run for the top spot. It was with great difficulty and some drunken demeanor, that I managed to fix the results and get S&P to win in the final round.

 

Once they both left to their tent for the next game, each of us were given a task to carry a different item and reach the proposal spot. I had to carry the chair that Parul was to sit on, and it took quite some effort from my side to get it done. Thankfully, by the time I reached, Disha had already set up the candles in a heart shape on the desert sand, Nikhil had setup the champagne and glasses on the table, and Mallika was waiting with the “will you marry me” banner behind the bushes nearby.

Just as we finished setting it all up, we see Geet escoring Shreyansh who had Parul in a blindfold. She came running ahead to join the rest of us, who were also pusillanimously looking behind as well to see if there were any scorpions on the ground that Nikhil kept warning us about.

Anyway, once Shreyansh got Parul to the main spot, we could see their silhouettes that looked like Shreyansh had completed talking, Parul completed crying and both of them ending in a hug. So that was our cue to run ahead with the banner Mallika and I were carrying and congratulate both of them.

Soon after, we joined the rest of the group who were partying around a bonfire to some local Rajasthani music, and welcomed New Years with a few rockets that lit up the star studded sky.

We soon called it a night after that given how tired we all were, and woke up the next day for some relaxed breakfast, followed by a trip to the dunes. We did both the Jeep (through a THAR) safari, as well as a camel safari. The speed difference between the two were just too stark, but the idea was the journey and not the destination and so we were all continuing to have a good time.

We got to a spot where we could catch a beautiful sunset in the desert and thereafter walked back to the car park where we had some dusty Maggi while we waited for our driver, Feroze, to come and get us. Feroze become quite a friend, especially to Sagar, coz there was a time we were all yelling out to Sagar to get ready soon before leaving for the safari, and Feroze joined in the cacophony as well.

Once we got back, the night turned out to be just as special as the previous one, as the girls had planned a surprise for all of us. So they organized a treasure hunt for us, and it completely beat us how they managed to hide all those clues all around the property without us ever noticing, and the hunt finally ended with the gifts being the Chinese lanterns that I was lugging all the way. However, that was only a distraction to what they had actually got for all of us.

Disha bought a beautiful watch for Sagar. Mallika got a watch as well as a photography and bartender training course for Nikhil. Parul got Shreyansh a 11” Macbook, and Geet got a 16gb iPhone 6 for me. While Sagar and Nikhil opened their gifts immediately, Shreyansh and I decided to hold on for a bit, as he was contemplating the 13” and I was keen on getting the 64gb for myself. Few days later, Shreyansh did actually exchange his gift, but I stuck to mine as the upgrade was way too expensive.

After that really great night that the girls organized for us, we sat drinking and watching the stars, which actually offered all of us some great sights of falling meteors. I saw 4 myself, and it was a great feeling for all of us. There was one that both Geet and I saw together, making the entire trip really special for us.

The next day, we once again began really slow, and towards noon, stepped out to explore a bit of Jaisalmer city before heading to the bus stop for our overnight journey to Ahmedabad. We checked out some old ruins in the city, and then caught another beautiful sunset a Hotel nearby from where we grabbed an early dinner.

The bus we boarded later was one of the fancient onces we had ever seen, with UV lights and glass compartments for each of the sleeper cabins. We tried staying awake for a bit and chatting, but eventually were all too tired and hit the bed.

The next day we rolled into Ahmedabad and headed straight to Shreyansh’s friend, Jai’s place. Theirs was such a warm family. They had set up the bedroom for us to relax and refresh in, and then took us for a quick tour around the city which included breakfast outside the IIMA campus where it was some of the most amazing Poha and Bun Maska we had. We also walked along the riverfront, that could easily rival any of the international ones we have seen. Truly great work done by Modi here.

Soon we had our fight to Pune, where we began the last leg of our New Years trip, which was to attend Swaroopa’s wedding. We caught the Sangeet on the same day, but skipped the wedding the next day as we were completely beat by then.

So Parul, Geet and I had a fancy lunch at Mallaka Spice on the afternoon of Dec 3^rd, which was our last meal for the trip, and then drove from Pune to Bombay to conclude a super hectic New Years trip for us.

In exactly 11 days (Dec 24 – Jan 3), I had covered Bangalore, Mysore, Kottayam, Cochin, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Ahmedabad and Pune. Experienced everything from bonding with family, to reconnecting with old friends, to participating in the proposal of a close friend and concluding with the wedding of another one. Some urban adventure this whole thing was.