Costa del Sol

Ashok and I made a pact when we got married that we would always be together for our wedding anniversary irrespective of work or any other commitments, given that we had a long distance relationship. This year it was on a wednesday, and it made no sense to take the day off and get back to work the next day, so we came up with the brilliant plan of taking the whole week off :D !

After having fallen in love with Spain and more specifically, Andalucia...

....we decided that we would visit the Costa del Sol before we cross Spain off our list. Costa del Sol has everything for everyone - beaches, mountains, historical places and a rarity - great weather throughout the year and good food.

We had chosen a resort by the beach in Mijas Costa and the nearest town was Fuengirola, separated from our resort by a row of charming villages.

Although the town shows unmistakable signs of growing urbanisation, the narrow streets, the Castillo de Sohail (a Roman fortress converted to an Arab fortress), the open parks and all a stone's throw away from the sea make it worth visiting. Another town close by is Marbella, also known for its Plaza de Torros.

We are not the spend-the-whole-day-lying-around-in-the-sun kind of people given that we have done it willingly and unwillingly for more than 20 years in India before coming to Europe. Fortunately for us, Mijas Costa is suitably located close to the highways leading to many major tourist attractions.

Seville

This is the capital of Andalucia and according to us, one of three important historical cities in Andalucia, the other two being Granada and Cordoba. To describe Seville in a few words, I need to quote a friend of mine who said 'The city has character'!

Seville is also renowned for its bull fights (even though the birth place is Ronda). The Plaze de Toros is one of the oldest bullrings and is definitely worth seeing. Although I am curious to learn what the bull fighting is all about and see it happen, I am never sure I can sit through it, so I was not all that disappointed to learn that the bull fights happen only in certain months (most commonly between April and June) and there wasn't one scheduled when we were there.

The Alcazar in Seville is like the twin sister of the Alhambra in Granada and serves to be one of the best examples of Mudejar architechture. The construction began in12th century and it has been through many invasions and renovations. Patio de las Muñecas (Court of the Dolls - shown in the photo below), Patio del Yesso (Court of Stucco) and the Patio de las Doncellas (Courtyard of the maidens) are simply breath-taking and you keep walking around, craning your neck with eyes devouring all you can while listening to the audio guide and never once thinking about the time !

The Seville Cathedral is massive and is beautiful in its own way. What I loved was a tilted mirror placed in a vantage position on the floor through which you see the cathedral upside down and focus on the ceilings.

Nerja

Nerja is known for its caves and the balcony of Europe. We didn't even know this place existed until we saw a travel brochure. When we got there, we were in for a real treat !

The caves stretch for almost 5km even though only a small part is open for tourists. I can solemnly say that I have never seen such huge and magnificent stalactites and stalagmites in my entire life. Can you spot the guy behind the metal railing in the left of the picture shown above ?That should give you a perspective of how huge this formation is !!

Inside the caves, these formations form a natural amphitheatre where concerts and shows are regularly held. The best thing to do would be to catch a flamenco show and watch the colors flow and the feet tap with the imposing background !

The balcony of Europe (one view is shown in the pic below) is a short drive from the caves and completely lives up to its name !

Be prepared to be speechless for a while when the view first comes into view ! There is a beautiful promenade that leads to the sea and when I stood there and watched the sunset, I had this feeling of serenity and a strange calm wash over me and I was completely absorbed in it and silent (if you know me, you would understand why it is a big deal :D) for a few moments (oh..well, how long did you think that would last !?)

Malaga

The best way to explore Malage is by a horse-driven carriage :D ! There is something incredibly romantic about the clop-clop sound (am wondering if it comes from girls liking knights and traditionally there are no knights without horses !) especially when you are leaning on your loved one's shoulder and riding through a picturesque street.

Malaga is a huge city and after having visited Moorish villages and towns, this urban place does not hold one's interest for long which is why a 1.5 hr quick guided tour (and doing it in style never hurts, does it :D?) helps you get a good glimpse of all the important places and choose what to want to visit.

Benalmadena

Benalmadena is a town known for its boating trips - tourists are taken fishing and are given fresh sea food (obviously not interesting for herbivores like us) and the beautiful promenade along the sea. One can spend hours walking here and having occasional breaks either by shopping or sipping Italian espresso.

The aquarium in Benalmadena could be interesting if you can appreciate a wickedly large star fish, spider (or is it a tarantula ?) and a glass walkway with sharks (which you tell yourself are harmless and you try not to think about Jaws) swimming above your head !

Algeciras

Algeciras is a historic Mediterranean port. It is also a city of Churches, Monastries and above all, a beautiful square in the centre of the town that comes alive with festivities. All around the square are small cafes and restaurants where the locals enjoy tapas.

We could have made another day trip to Gibraltar if not for a teeny tiny thing called a 'visa' and an immigration officer who is unlikely to forget me for quite some time !

Interesting.....

- I saw so many oranges in one day than I have seen in my entire life !

- I did not have to get up early to watch the beautiful sun rise (this was at 8:30 am :D)

- Famous metadors apparently get paid like football stars !

- There were nearly 200 Indian restaurants in Costa del Sol although we never saw any desi tourists (not that I am complaining since Spanish cuisine is not really vegetarian friendly)

How/Why ? God bless the English tourists who love Indian food and who flock there regularly !

- Groceries were ridiculously overpriced everywhere (everything was almost twice as expensive as Munich and Munich is one of the most expensive places in W.Europe!)

How/Why? Recession and economic instability leading to inflation ?!

On another note, the trip to Costa del Sol did not let us cross Spain off our list, in fact we are going back again...rolling eyes.....

Curiosities of Budapest

For a tourist, both Buda and Pest (two parts of Budapest on either side of the Danube) have a lot to offer and you can easily spend a 3-day long weekend without being bored even for a minute.

Buda Castle district
You can either take the funicular or walk up the hill to reach the Buda Castle District. Either way you get to see some beautiful views of the city before you start exploring the district. There is an imposing building of museum and after passing through what looks like a village with shops and hotels, the beautiful Mathias church comes into view.

The fisherman’s bastion was my favorite in the district, to me it was a magnificent terrace of the Buda Castle and offered beautiful views of the Hungarian Parliament and the rest of the city.

The Buda Castle also houses the Hilton hotel and the very famous Faust wine cellar. If you are a wine-lover, it is definitely worthwhile to spend some time tasting different wines from Hungary while sampling some delicious scones and cheese along with it. The sommerlier is very friendly and explains all about the wine while allowing you plenty of time to sample it.

Saint Istvan
Although the cathedral had an impressive façade and offered views from the top, I was enamored with exquisite interior with designs that had a touch of the Oriental about them.

Hungarian Parliament

To me, it was like the Sphinx in Cairo, impressive in pictures and from afar but lacking lustre up-close. Guided tours have long queues and did not seem worth the money.

Opera house
The best way to see the opera house is to catch a concert there (obviously you have to plan ahead) since the opera guided tour is overpriced. The building looks like any other from the outside and this adds to the ‘awwwww’ factor once you see the inside….really beautiful.

Jewish District
We saw people clothed in black robes and matching hats and no one needed to tell us it was the Jewish district. My hands were itching to take pictures of them but it was Saturday (Sabbat) and Ashok told me that he wouldn't come to my rescue if I got beaten up for sacrilege! The synagogue came into view with the 2 minarets shining in the sunlight. After we took a walk in the block, we decided to come back again for the guided tour on Sunday.

Ashok is fascinated by Jews and more specifically Hungarian Jews (a small but extremely talented group of people) and so I couldn't help smile when he was given a cap soon after we entered the Synagogue.

The tour was very informative and the guide, really friendly. I learnt a lot during the tour and here are some of the key points:

- This is the largest Synagogue in Europe and second largest in the world (weirdly, the largest one is in New York)

- The interior of the Synagogue was fashioned like a Cathedral (unlike in other Syngaogues where the altar is in the middle and the audience sit around it in concentric circles) out of respect to the Christian community

- More than 2000 people who died during the holocaust are buried in the Synagogue (and not in the Jewish cemetry) since they were killed while taking shelter in the Synagogue and there was no way to dispose the bodies.

- More than 80% of the Hungarian Jews live in Budapest.

The museum in the Synagogue was very interesting too but I would probably need a separate post to describe it.

Baths
No visit to Budapest is complete without doing what the locals have been doing for hundreds of years - a visit to one of the legendary baths. Even cab drivers will recommend this as one of the must-do things. Yes, weekends are crowded and its better to take your own towels but the experience is new and refreshing on various levels because of the openness of the baths and the beautiful architecture. I have a good mind to go back for a spa weekend since each of these baths offer a wide variety of treatments and massages. Tip: Buy tickets from your hotel or travel office to avoid the long queues at the bath.

Holocaust memorial centre
As the name suggests, it is not exactly a ‘fun thing’ one does during a vacation but it is a historically important place offering a lot of information and insight into the sad past. My visit to the Dachau concentration camp left me completely drained both physically (since I chose a severely cold day to go there) and emotionally, so if you have not read much about the holocaust, then you should brace yourself for this visit.

Danube night cruise
A night cruise after a visit to the holocaust memorial is a good way to remind yourself that whatever happens life goes on and that one must not dwell on the past but learn from it and move on. The area around the Danube river is a UNESCO world heritage site and you will see why. It is indeed a sight to see the historical monuments (castle district, museum etc.) along the river glowing against the dark sky while you cruise through it sipping champagne (I would not opt for the dinner cruise since I find it overpriced and eating will distract you from the beautiful sights). Tip: Choose to sit on the upper deck – the views are better and you can go out of the cabin for taking some great pictures.

Govinda to the rescue
My biggest concern in traveling to Eastern Europe has always been the ability to find vegetarian food and my past experience in Marienbad did not help. Google pleasantly surprised me with Govinda, a vegetarian restaurant in Budapest run by Hare Krishna. All my doubts about the chef’s capability vanished when I tasted the lentil soup they had, it was this ratatouille moment when I almost smelt home ! They had a wide variety of menus and a surprisingly low price. Add to it the convenient location (a few 100m from the Saint Istvan Cathedral), it was the perfect place for us.

Other tips
- Exploring the city on foot is a great option when the weather is good
- Transport to and from the airport is possible only by means of a taxi or airport shuttle (there are number of private companies doing this, google to find the best option)
- Although we did not have any issues, the locals warn you against visiting certain districts to avoid your pockets being picked.
- Get Hungarian forints from your home town or use an ATM since the exchange rates offered at the Budapest airport are very poor.

Budapest made complete justice to its reputation as one of the most beautiful cities of Europe. It was a weekend of feasts – a feast for the eyes, the mind and the stomach.

Encounter with "Spanish Mama"

I wrote half the story in “Lost and Deported”, let me continue with the rest of it.

The resort we stayed in had WiFi but weirdly it never worked within our suite – we tried even the balcony and the gardens but it simply just wouldn’t. there was an internet café 400m from the resort and it was quite pricey. The first day, we had an excuse – looking for directions using google maps (since we hadn’t rented the car with a nav) but from then on we knew which direction to take since our resort was directly located off the highway. This resulted in me not using the internet for almost a week and so far, it has only happened in one place, in India, where I am overwhelmed with good people and great food and can blissfully forget the world wide web. The first couple of days were eerie – no youtube for songs, no online weather forecasts and above all, no gmail or blogspot! I was inordinately pleased with overcoming the internet addiction….but the happiness was short-lived, as soon as I got home and saw more than 50 new emails in my Inbox, I was hooked again (Vanity, definitely my favorite sin!)....

Driving along the coast in Spain was fun – it was neither the erratic Italian driving nor the stiff German driving, it was somewhere comfortably in between. Speed limits in the highways were usually between 85-120 kmph and almost everyone was always driving 15-20 kmph above the speed limits anytime there were no radar speed trailers around. During our entire stay we had driven around without any problems but that changed on the last day on our way to the airport. We had just got on to the highway and mama was behind us. The cop car overtook us and was in front of us for a while and we figured he had his own things to do until the lights started flashing and he took the exit and asked us to follow suit.

We quickly checked to make sure we had the license and put on our most “innocent” expressions. Two cops got out of the car, asked us to get out and started talking rapidly in Spanish. I waited for them to stop and asked “You want to see the license?”. Ashok has an international license from India, so when he handed it to the cops, they assumed we were tourists directly from India and started rapidly talking among themselves (and we did not try to correct them :D).

One of them steps forward and starts pointing to the road and talking in half-English-half-Spanish. I knew we broke some traffic rule but I still didn’t know what. He starts pointing to the road again and this time I notice he is pointing to the lines. It finally dawns on me that we crossed over to the next lane when there was a solid white line in-between (and not the broken or dashed lines) and in all frankness, I never saw it. Instead of telling him that, I chose to say “sorry, we are tourists” with an additional stress on the last word (am glad he didn’t look at my German driving license). After more discussion in Spanish, they let us go but they trailed us for another 20 minutes. To me, it was like taking the driving test all over again…Vivek madhri kayyala 8 pottu kamichurundha enna ayirkum ? uno, dos, tres nu kambi ennirpeno ??

Lost and Deported

I lost a bag, was refused entry into a country, was cut off from internet and the cherry on top, was pulled over by cops! Sounds like a fun week, right? In truth, it actually was!!

Let me enunciate each part of that sentence.

I lost a bag at the Munich airport. I usually carry a backpack as my carry-on and one of my girl(y) friends suggested that I carry a small hand-bag (gender woes…grrr!) for my passport, cash and cosmetics. I did, only I forgot to pick it up after the security check. Since I had a whole line of my items coming out the x-ray (from belt to shoes to laptop), I conveniently forgot the seldom used hand-bag. Fortunately, I had my passport and cash in the backpack (God bless the force of habit). Unfortunately I realized I left the bag only when I got into the shower at the hotel in Spain and realized I had no shower gel or shampoo.

Happy ending: On my way back, I picked up the bag from the “lost and found” at the Munich airport
with a twist: I had to pay 5 bucks to get it back since they had “stored” it for me. They actually have a list that says how much you pay for retrieving your item from the lost and found !

I was refused entry into Gibraltar. We were staying along the Spanish coast and Gibraltar was just over an hour’s drive from the resort. Since the checkpoint gets fairly crowded, we got up early (which is a herculean task for me esp. during a vacation) and got there before 9am.

Officer: Do you have a visa to enter Gibraltar ?
We smugly flashed our schengan visas
Officer (with an “I am not impressed” look): Gibraltar is not a schengan country
Us: Blank stares…..
Officer: You have to go back to Spain (and then he points to the U-turn)
Us: Blank stares turn into disappointed looks
Me: Does being in Europe for long and having a PR count?
Officer: No
Ashok turns the car around, reaches the U-turn and a sudden wave of genius hits me and I force him to make an illegal turn to get back to the port of entry.
Officer (now impatient and annoyed) walks towards us.
I had remembered that Gibraltar is a British territory and both Ashok and I have UK visitor visas. With a triumphant look, I flash those visas.
Officer: I would have let you in if you had a British PR but a British visitor visa does not count
Me: Are you sure?
Officer (exasperated): Madam, I am the head of immigration, I think I know!

Unfortunate ending: For the first time in my life, I was denied entry into a country (thankfully no “denied” stamp in the passport)
with a twist: we still saw the rock of Gibraltar
and a resolution: to go back with a visa and am keeping my fingers crossed about meeting the same officer (cat one time, elephant also one time).

To be continued…..

PS: I know the heading is exaggerated and misleading. Oh..man, I really should stop visiting rediff and times of India pages !

An English Christmas...

Right from Agatha Christie to Charles Dickens, everyone raves about an English Christmas. Just to what find out what all the hype was about, I decided to spend Christmas in London this year.

Here are some of the things I really enjoyed and hence have decided to include in the ''must-do'' list.

Watch a Pantomime

A Pantomime is a musical-comedy mostly performed during the christmas and New year season. I saw the ''Sleeping beauty''. I was initially skeptical when I learnt that the show was nearly for 3 hours and hardly anyone had come there without a kid. But it turned out to be 3 hours of pure and unadulterated fun.

The actors were brilliant and whats more they all had radiant smiles and really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. The show was very interactive and the audience was allowed to boo the villian (-ess), sigh with the princess when she falls in love and wish for a ''happily ever after'' ending. The crew threw chocolates into the crowd, came running through spraying everyone with water guns, had gorillas that scared the living daylights out of some kids, made the audience sing and dance with them...ohh I felt I was 13 and was taking part in a school annual day !

The best part was when a couple of the really small kids were called on stage and were asked questions by the court jester (CJ). Here are some of the ''brilliant'' answers

CJ: Where do you live ?

Kid1 (after a lot of thinking): Home

Kid2 (after a lot of looking around): hmm...

CJ: never heard better answers !

CJ: what did you get for christmas ?

Kid1: hmm...nothing

Kid2 (with a sheepish smile): hmm...forgot

CJ: well, between the two of you, you are keeping the christmas spirit alive !

Enjoy the Christmas lights

Walking through Oxford street and Regent Street on Christmas Day was amazing inspite of the biting cold weather (click on the photo for a larger version).

For someone coming from Munich, where christmas decorations are confined mostly to the city centre, seeing rows and rows of lights in all possible shapes and colors was just too festive to miss. Going on Christmas day would ensure that you will not get clobbered by crazy shoppers (its God's day, noone shops much to the relief of most men)

Eat Christmas pudding

If there is something worth eating in the English cuisine, its surely the Christmas pudding. Made with nuts, raisins and alcohol (mostly cognac), it is definitely a dessert worth gaining a few pounds for (atleast thats my excuse for now) !

Do some ''Boxing day'' Shopping

All stores have a massive sale on Boxing day. I saw items that had 70% discount. Well, yes, you should have had some experience in Ranganathan street to combat the crazy women (and sometimes men) in the crowded stores and if you are prudent, you will shop online or visit some stores away from Central London where the chances of you being mobbed are less likely !

Visit a Castle

I went to the Windsor castle and was pleasantly surprised by very few visitors.

Since most people use the christmas vacation to catch up with families, sightseeing places like Castles are hardly crowded and this is a once-in-a-year opportunity for a highly touristy place like London.

Besides this I also had fun with a school friend, a college friend, a distant cousin, nearly emptied Saravana Bhavan in Eastham, saw Manmadhan Ambu in Cineworld (and felt jealous about how desi movies were screened and advertised just like English movies - for someone in a city where only 2 theatres screen English movies and desi movies are confined to one show, this is a big deal!) and ate a looooooot of really good desi food (to an extent that I should live only on water for the rest of the year!)

An English Christmas in London is a lot of fun, an English Christmas in London with near and dear ones is super duper fun !

Copyright for Pantomime photo: Odos Entertainment

Small city, large places !

Hamburg replaced Berlin in my mind as the most captivating city in Germany after I spent a weekend there.

We spent the morning on a walk from the Hauptbahnhof (central station) to the port and this was enough to establish why Hamburg is called the Venice of Northern Europe – Beautiful Bridges, Red brick buildings on either side of the water, small boats cruising on them with enthusiastic visitors waving hands. Our first stop was at the balloon ride – High flyer Hamburg. Although it was a windy day, I was still hoping (in vain) that there was a chance of a ride to get a glimpse of Hamburg from a height of 150m.

A short walk from there took us to the Speicherstadt (warehouse district). Walking through it with the red brick buildings on the one side and water on the other, made one wonder about the great architecture since it is the world’s largest warehouse based on a pile foundation and has entrances both from water and land but it also brought back memories of the world war since Speicherstadt was one of the heavily bombed areas (and had to be rebuilt later). The numerous small bridges also reminded me of Holland and weirdly I did find some of them named in Dutch (don’t know why but could it be because of a lot of Dutch traders at the port?). This was also a good place to take a boat ride (if you don’t do that, you are not a tourist!) and see different parts of one of the world’s largest harbours.

We saw everything from a U-Boot to a luxury yacht of a Dubai Oil king (although I did wonder first if it belonged to Vijay Malya!) to a German army ship and various shipping yards (almost all of them Chinese!). Only thing annoying about the boat ride was the driver (or should we call him a captain?) who kept talking non-stop for an hour and a half (I have never seen any German man talk so much) !! Although he had some funny stories to share about the harbour that celebrated its 821st birthday this year, I would have preferred to enjoy a few minutes of silence while gazing at the water (that’s what makes a boat ride special, right ?).

After taking a long walk along the harbour we proceeded to the Reeper Bahn, one of the largest red light districts in Europe with strip clubs and sex shops...as always, I took a photo and we quietly left the place (angel emoticon...) and proceeded to the Japanese garden, again called the largest Japanese garden of Europe. For a small city (that is half the size of Delhi - its all a question of relativity), Hamburg boasts of too many ‘larges’!!.

To put it lightly, I was stunned, it was a beautiful garden (actually large enough to be a small town) with fountains, waterfalls, landscaped areas, woods, lakes and possibly everything that Nature has to offer. At that moment, I really did consider moving to Hamburg. Any time I am in a bad mood, I go to the Theresienwiese (October fest grounds and no, not for a drink!) and walk through the alley of trees and I will immediately feel better, feel calmer and this was exactly the feeling that one got in the Japanese garden all the time. I am not even sure if we saw the entire garden but we spent hours walking and it was simply too beautiful for words or photos and what's more all the beautiful spots had comfortable chairs and inviting benches and many of them were occupied by people reading books, listening to music, elderly couples and frankly it made me jealous of those living in Hamburg ! We finally settled down on a white bench surrounded by swans and ducks to see the water works display for a few minutes before we half-heartedly left the place to go back to our hotel after a long but extremely satisfying day.

Day 2 began with the Raathaus (first photo). It was quite a sight first walking through the arcade looking at the Alsterseen (River Alster) with the swans (They always remind me of a fairy tale! That’s probably the girly instinct kicking in) and the Raathaus slowly coming into view in all its grandeur.

After spending considerable time in the Raathaus square and doing what one must do – have a coffee and cake with the great view – we proceeded to St.Nikolai church, a church that was heavily bombed and today remains as a world war memorial. The photo above shows the area around the church immediately after the bombing. An elevator ride gave me a glimpse of Hamburg from 75m (although it was only half as good as the balloon ride, it still made me happy) while the exhibition hall described in detail the various parts affected by the war. They also had a photographic collection not only of Hamburg during the war but also of other cities in Europe. The before/after photos were a simple but effective way of showing what a war does ! My favorite part was the last few sentences in the photo below...

...taking responsibility and not shying away from what was done is never easy.

A long walk through the Mönckebergstrasse, the shopping street of Hamburg, took us back to the central station well in time for some shopping and a meal before we caught the train back to Munich.

Some tips:
- Hamburg is best explored on foot, so be ready to walk so that you can take in everything it has to offer.
- The city was unusually crowded (although there was nothing special that weekend) and the trains were overflowing (thank god we had seat reservations!), so book in advance if you don’t want to spend too much on a mediocre hotel or stand in a crowded train, especially if you are traveling on a holiday/long weekend.

- The central station has an unusual number of shops and restaurants when compared to other cities (like Munich) in Germany. So don't think twice about having a meal here or picking up a souvenir.
- For the boat ride, if the weather is not good, choose a closed boat that has coffee on board. 1.5 hours of chilly breeze on an extremely windy or cold day can be quite unpleasant.
- For fish lovers, there is apparently a great fish market close to the harbour.

It was Sunday...

...morning. There is a joy in waking up on Sunday morning realizing that nothing you do today is governed by a schedule and that you can lie in bed for another hour even if you are not sleepy. But my reverie was abruptly disturbed by a flurry of activity, as my brain combated the fogginess and finally saw 2 kids running here and there with books, crayons, tiffin boxes and water bottles. With the look of incomprehension plastered all over my sleepy face, I slowly get up to see another person in the dining room serving food and yet another person breaking fast. Then it dawned on me, Sunday is a working day and the weekend was over….because I was in Dubai (I bet they have Sunday blues!) and was sleeping in Suja akka’s house! Only when she said ‘don’t you have a flight to catch?’ I realized that my fri-sat weekend in Dubai was over and I should get ready to go to the airport.

Rewind to the beginning of the weekend (imagine revolving concentric circles and put on your retrospective look)...Thursday evening when I landed...

Skyscrapers everywhere, right from those designed like pyramids to the most popular Burj Khalifa and Jumeirah Towers….oddly though, I also saw ‘To let’ advertisements on most of them. No takers, apparently!

Malls around every corner, well, well, when the temperature is 45 deg C and there is nothing much to do, shopping or even window shopping in an air conditioned mall with occasional breaks for food or drink seems like a good alternative. But one does get tired of it at some point and so some wise ones decided to differentiate each mall from the other with different forms of luxury and attractions – way to go ! One had plush carpets in the waiting area that would put 5 star hotels to shame when the other had exquisite ceilings. The Dubai mall, one of the largest in the world, with its aquarium and underwater attractions is definitely a great way to while away one’s afternoon.

What do you do when you get sick of the air conditioning and want some fresh air but cannot brave the heat? You hit the beach! Thanks to the crystal clear and cool water and the tourist-friendly beach (loved the pathway from the beach to the parking lot as well as the well positioned taps to wash the sand off your legs before stepping into your luxury car).

And then comes the souq, souq, souq or the markets (also known as Souk) where one can find clothes, spices, nuts

and of course, lots and lots of gold. Infact, seeing all the gold strewn about carelessly kind of makes the mind question if its actually gold !

Right from the gold model of Burj Khalifa to half kilo bangles, everyone seems to think big and pay big! I was quite taken aback by a few locals handing over bags of cash for some purchase. No wonder the use of a credit card incurs an additional 6-8% charge!

Desis always need one thing more than anything else in any place they visit…food…and that is available aplenty in Dubai and for astonishingly low prices. Right from Bombay chaat to kuzhi paniyaram, I managed to taste everything during the weekend (and hoped against hope that the high temperatures would enable me to sweat off the excess calories!)

And of course there is a temple that can be reached by a small but wonderful boat ride (also called an abra) across the Dubai creek and I was really excited to see ‘Perumal poo kadai’ and other small shops typically found close to a temple creating a very realistic mini ‘India’ in that area.

And there are the occasional interesting reminders that you really are in a different country with a completely different culture
- Bridal showroom advertising wedding clothes only in black (jeweled burqas* and abayas*)! I chuckled heartily imagining my mother’s look at seeing such a place (until date, I do not have a single sari with black even remotely in it!)
- Sign boards asking people to dress decently (not that everyone cared)
- Separate queues for men and women everywhere
- Ridiculously cheap fuel (cheaper than drinking water actually!)
- Unbelievably crime free that people joke that you can leave your wallet in the middle of the road and still find it intact after an hour ! (it’s a two edged thing actually, even the simplest crime has severe punishments, so you might want to watch what you are doing)

Ads about Dubai tourism boasted of having people from 160 different countries… what else can one expect from a country with more than 80% expats and 0% tax? While the 0% tax drives everyone (especially those from Europe) crazy, the sobering fact comes in the form of ‘no bankruptcy declaration possible’ which means one toe outside the line would put you behind bars.

Hmm...well...I don’t live there, so I blissfully forgot the sobering fact and enjoyed everything there was! Tamam :D !

*Abaya: The long flowing black gown worn by women

*Burqa: the cloth covering the head and the metallic coloured object used to cover part of the face

Deutsche Bahn has a lot to learn !

I was at the station waiting in queue at the Deutsche Bahn (Germany Railways) ticket counter. A Chinese guy with a huge rucksack came running and he was puffing and panting and he came to me and before he could open his mouth, I decided to save him some trouble and asked him to go ahead in the queue. He was still breathless when he got to the counter and I could hear him explain to the lady in hurried gasps that he forgot to bring the print-out of his online ticket but he had the ticket reference number and the credit card he used to book the ticket with and he asked her if she could print it for him**.

The blonde woman at the counter just looked at him with no expression and said ‘Nein. Nicht möglich’ (no, not possible) without the slightest regard for his condition (he was still panting and it looked like his train was going to leave in a few minutes). I was so annoyed at her indifference that I left the counter and decided to come back another time when a slightly more considerate person becomes available. I observed the guy then run towards the train, approach the TTR and come back with a dejected look on his face. He was still a little out of breath; I felt really bad for the guy and the least I could do was offer him some water.

He told me that he asked the TTR if it was ok to travel without the printout if he can show the ticket as a .pdf on his laptop. Apparently the TTR refused in a very German I-will-stick-to-rules-come-what-may manner. He went on to explain that the next train was only 1.5 hours later and he would have to spend at least 60 euro for a new ticket (not to mention the current one being a complete waste since he will not get any refund) and this 1.5 hour delay was going to jeopardize his onward journey. The guy woefully adds that he has been using Deutsche Bahn for 7 years now on a bi-weekly basis. For this treatment of a long-time customer, all I could do was sympathize with him and wish him luck.

For all the efficiency the Deutsche Bahn boasts of, they could make this process simple:
- by allowing people to print tickets out from the ticket machines using the reference number (by charging a small fee, they can make sure that people use it only occasionally and not all the time)
- by allowing people to show .pdf with a valid id (at the cost of a fine, if this will incur extra administrative work)
- and finally by making their employees behave with some basic human courtesy even if they are incapable of providing “friendly customer service” (customer service in general is extremely poor in Germany when compared to India or the US. To be fair, their definition of customer services is providing something for a fee and not a tad bit more).

With more and more trains failing to live up to the ‘German punctuality standards’ and with such customer service, the Deutsche Bahn is definitely not going to make more money by simply offering discounted prices.

**For those of you not familiar with the procedure, the online ticket usually has a 6 digit reference number using which you can access the ticket at anytime before your journey and you always have to have an id (the credit card or a rail pass) to go with it

Photo copyright: The collage is mine but the photo with the TTR is from google search

Dubai kurukku sandhu....

Dubai main road, Dubai (close to Dubai busstop)...no, no, its not where I stayed when I visited Dubai but anytime anyone mentions Dubai, I chuckle (thanks to Vadivelu)!

When I was booking tickets with Emirates to India, I realized that a weekend stop in Dubai would cost me nothing. I was wondering if I could get away with a transit visa and since my stay was for less than 36 hours, I could. I was hoping that I don’t end up spending a day at the embassy getting a visa but I never expected that all it would take was sending a filled out application form, my residency status in Germany and a photograph (that I generally use in my resume, was too lazy to take passport size photos in some weird format that are sold only in triplicate….those I would probably never use since one can never smile in these fotos) by email to the emirates office. My visa was emailed back to me - a .pdf I had to print and take.

I had my visa, I was going to see Suja akka on my way to India, the flight landed early – everything was perfect….until I saw the queue at the immigration counter. But then I had an iPod and the excitement of being in a new country, so I stood and I stood and I stood….45 minutes later with only 10 people ahead of me in the queue, I was approached by a heavily bearded man in Kandura (the long white cloak they wear) who asked me for my passport. After examining it, he looked up (yes, he was much shorter than me) and pointed a finger at my eye. I was thinking “adapaavi, airportla vechu kanna kuthuvenu solre” and then when I decided to consider seriously what he was meaning he did the same thing again and pointed to a sign board. All I saw was ‘Visas’ and since I already had mine, I stood there blinking at him. Finally a man next to me said “eye scan” and I thought he was kidding until I saw this poking-my-eye-with-finger-man vigorously nodding his head (I was trying hard not to laugh in his face!)…never heard of or had an eye scan before.

So I go in search of this eye scan counter and to my dismay, there is another long queue there. I was for once glad that I was in a ‘conservative’ country because there was a separate women’s queue which was a little shorter than the men’s queue. Another 30 minutes and I finally had my irises scanned and my visa stamped! I learnt later that if you had your eyes scanned while leaving the UAE, then you can never enter the UAE again! So far, so good…

With this stamped visa, I go back to the immigration counter to realize that I am again standing in a long queue (unreasonably thinking - where are all these people coming from!?). I noticed with envy the ‘Marhaba’ counter that was almost empty and a few people being taken there. I thought it was for diplomats but then learnt that it was a paid-welcome-service (Marhaba means welcome in Arabic). I am sure this is a blessing for desis living in Dubai since visiting parents can get through immigration with a very reasonable fee (More Info here)

Anyway, coming back to my queue, I noticed a couple of women with kids and another pregnant woman being escorted to the front. I was seriously considering if I should fake some sort of illness by clutching my head and falling down with a faint to get ahead in the queue when I heard an uncle in a thick desi English accent telling the eye-finger-man “You must inform people in advance about the eye scan”…since the man hardly responded this uncle went back to polambifying to the aunty. He was loud enough for the whole queue to hear him and I felt bad for them…when I can get so frustrated about waiting what about those 50-yr olds (or more) who are probably outside India for the first time to visit their son/daughter. So I decided to do my good deed for the day and said to them “neenga munnadi ponga” and that immediately started a train of conversation where I confirmed that all my assumptions were true (and secretly scolded the son for not arranging Marhaba for his parents!)…atleast we kept each other company until reaching the end of the queue (finally!) and I was relieved to get to the baggage claim and finally outside after nearly 2.5 hours (from landing!)

….and then I immediately cheered up because Suja akka was waiting with her whole family outside ready to take me home :) ! To be continued……

PS: A word of advice to the Dubai airport authority – either tell people in advance that an eye scan is needed or put the eye scan counter in front of the immigration counter !

What's in a class ??

I always check-in online, even in India where I have to explain to the perplexed older generation that I have my boarding pass even before going to the airport and some of the suspicious ones still say ‘indha boarding passa othuka maatenu sollida pora” ! I check-in online to avoid queues, to choose my seat and above all to avoid going to the airport many hours before the flight!

The cool thing in India is that online check-in and business class check-in counters are the same, so the queue is almost always empty when one gets there. This time was no different...oh...well..atleast thats what I thought. I dropped off my bags, helped the guy at the counter find my visa (with the number of color stamps in there, it is always difficult to locate the right one) and explained what it means (since everything is in german) and when I finally got the boarding pass it said ‘Business class’ on it. As I looked up confused, the fellow gives me a big smile and says ‘you have been upgraded to business class’. I don’t know whether it was the too-many-empty seats in the business class or my politeness (:D) or the fact that I was traveling alone but I simply grinned and thought to myself ‘not bad’ !

Everyone from that point on – at immigration or security check – respectfully nodded anytime I had to show my boarding pass. When the boarding started, it was actually a little embarrassing to walk past all those people who were waiting and I don’t know if it was my imagination but I had a feeling they were staring too! But I forgot everything when I got to my seat and saw the comfy cushions and pillow, the leg room and the wide TV screen. The seat could recline to a proper bed and I settled down comfortably not to sleep but to watch movies :D….it was just like at home ! To add to it, the air hostess came at regular intervals with hot towels, fresh juice, fresh fruit, meal (hot and tasty masala dosa and sambar vada), cappuccino (my first one on a flight!), nuts and what not! She even came to me with separate wine and champagne menus and when I turned them down I thought of all those wine-lovers who would’ve said ‘adipaavi’ !

When I landed I thought that getting back to traveling in economy class would now be more difficult, then I was reminded of this Seinfeld episode where Jerry gets bumped up to business class while Elaine has a horrible time in economy and finally ends up shouting in frustration – “our goal should be a society without classes”….yes, indeed ! We should live in a world where everything is business class :D !

Wah Taj !

I recently stayed at the Taj Palace hotel in New Delhi (photo shows one of their restaurants) and I have to say its the best I have stayed in so far (and this includes hotels everywhere considering that I have done a fair bit of traveling!)...yes, it is expensive, infact much more than what I would give for a hotel in Europe but its not just the luxury but its the luxury combined with the attention to detail and innate desi hospitality that makes the experience simply unforgettable !

The check-in is a breeze, there is someone to take care of the luggage, someone else to escort you to the room and all along the way, any employee you encounter wishes you like you are their best guest !

When I checked-in, I had a bad cough. The duty manager immediately had some strong ginger tea brought in for me. It seriously did my throat a world of good. When I went in for breakfast the next day, my voice was still somewhere in between my original and Rani Mukherjee's. One of the chefs noticed it and volunteered to get me some medicine and did so in less than 5 minutes !

The cutlery, the attention from the waiters, the chef personally asking if the meal was all right and of course the good food all made every meal a delight (and at the same time, boosts one's ego way out of proportion)! Sometimes I felt so pampered that it was embarassing !

Room service served fresh fruit almost every night and had a mineral water supply (apparently from the Himalayas) that tasted like nothing I had drank before, in a good way though ! The first time I ordered room service, they asked me for my preferences and I said ''vegetarian and spicy'' and they remembered that throughout !

I also had the hotel guest services manager check in twice to see if I was satisfied with everything. While I was there, I also checked out the restaurants, spa, the fitness centre and the pool, they all lived up to the expectations. The concierge was very well informed and the business centre, really impressive.

There is a lounge where one can meet guests or receive business visitors. I didn't really like the tea there but the silver cutlery is fit for a king !

The check-out was equally simple, the only shocking part was the bill. It is understandable that one has to pay for the luxury but the prices are probably also hiked so that the hotel guests are strictly from the rich, richer and the richest crowds.

But no place is perfect (read, I am picky), so here are a few things where they can improve

Temperature regulation: I got it done in the room but it was freezing everywhere else ! I saw people in pullovers, shawls...who carries all these to Delhi in June ??? When I was dining there, I told the host I was cold hoping for an increase in the temperature, instead I got a beautiful shawl ! While I appreciate the sentiment, I do not appreciate the energy wastage !

Playing the host too often: While the attention to detail should be appreciated, sometimes it is overdone. At dinner, we were served every time our plates were empty. But the waiters were always hovering close to the table and this makes it extremely difficult to have a confidential conversation or rather a business dinner. Sometimes this also makes foreigners, who need space, uncomfortable. One such person commented - "A good waiter appears out of the blue when you need him". This is probably a cultural thing since desis ask guests to eat at least 4 times to be hospitable (we are never happy with one vango. It is always vango, vango, vango !)

Prices: I already mentioned this but I still think Rs.300 for a 2 minute call from the room to Chennai is atrocious ! So is Rs.660 per day for the internet - yes, the connection was good but I have never paid this much for wifi !

In a nutshell, at the Taj, you get much more than what you pay for.... most of the time.....

PS: I do not work for anyone related to the Taj and neither am I an investor or a shareholder. The post is simply from my experience as a guest.

See Naples and die...

...is the meaning of the saying in Italy that goes 'vedi Napoli e poi muori'…and no, it has nothing to do with the Mafia. Before I go on to describe why the saying is true, I should also mention that although I really had a good time in Naples, I am in no hurry to die (in case the Devas/Angels are listening and saying Thathasthu/Amen :D) !

The birthplace of Pizza Margherita
It would come as no surprise if I said that I had the best pizza in my life for the first time in Italy; it was in a small restaurant close to the Piazza San Marco (city square) in Venice….it was this moment of revelation where I thought to myself ‘ohhh…so that’s how a pizza really tastes like’ while the fresh mozzarella cheese mixed with the San Marino tomatoes were still melting in my mouth. Once I tasted the pizza in Naples, I have had to rethink those thoughts again.

The pizzeria, Brandi, in Naples is considered to be the birth place of Pizza Margherita. This was when the pizza was named after the Queen Margherita who had dined there and chose the pizza with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil (representing the colors of the Italian flag) as her favorite.

I had the good sense to google for other good pizzerias in town (I was there for 3 days and had 6 meals, excluding breakfast and there was no way I was going to try just one pizzeria :D) and ended up having a really delicious pizza at the Pizzaiolo del Presidente (shown in photo below), apparently named so after Bill Clinton dined there and this was rated even better than Brandi.

Making pizzas in Naples is not just a trade, it is more or less a way of life. There is a society (Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletena) that goes around checking the quality of the pizzerias (that are members) as well as pizzas and if you fail the test, you can make no more pizzas. The pizza is cooked only in wood burning brick ovens and it takes at least 2-3 years of formal training for someone to become a pizzaiolo (the one who stretches the dough)...you gotta love Italy for this, not only do they never let down vegetarians but they take food seriously!

And my rule of thumb: if you can eat a pizza with one hand (either using cutlery or not) then its not the Italian kind….the real Italian pizza crust is soft and light and will need both hands !

And then there is Sfogliatelle...

No, no, that’s not swearing in Italian, it’s a dessert, looks very much like our samosa with multiple layers and is filled with vanilla or chocolate. While you enjoy the crunchiness, the chocolate melts in your month and this is when I think ‘oh..you poor skinny models’ :D !

The 2000 year old city of Pompeii
Its 79 AD. A volcano erupts and viciously wipes out an entire city.

Its 1748. Archeaologists are digging for remains of a used pot, some weapons and lo! they find an entire city, preserved underneath layers of volcanic ash with so much detail that they can completely reconstruct how the city would have looked 2000 years ago - the city of Pompeii with its houses, cemetery, sports arena, market square, theatre and above all, the gladiator arena aka the amphitheatre. The ancient city boasts of both Greek and Roman ruins and thanks to Asterix, the movie Gladiator and my ever-ready-to-go imagination, I was able to picturize everything like it was and that was an experience worth every minute of the 3 hours I spent there all the while wondering why I hadn’t planned more time for it.

The place is fairly well-labelled and it was impressive to see the effort they have put into recreating the vegetation within the ruins to resemble the actual city as much as possible. The more time I spent there, the more I started thinking about Indus valley civilization that dates back to 4th millenium BC….many people are hardly aware that it was one of the earliest civilizations. What is sort of frustrating for me is their inaccesibility today because of their location and the safety factor associated with it (Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are in Pakistan), maybe I can visit Lothal in Gujarat…oh..well…I digress.

Pompeii is a must-see place if you go to Naples and here are some tips:
- Wear good shoes. You would think that this is a no-brainer..well, think again...I almost laughed out loud when I saw people women with flip flops and even worse, high heels, wincing with oohs and aahs….how hard is it to understand that you need good shoes to walk on stones and it is totally not the time to display your fashion sense ?!
- Take a guided tour if you have enough time or choose the next option, an audio guide.

The history-creating volcano, Mt.Vesuvius

How can one see the ruins and not see the volcano that destroyed and ironically, also preserved it all these years?There is a bus ride from the Ercolano station to Mt.Vesuvius but if you want to get a really good feeling of Italian driving, you should take one of the taxis (they are reasonably priced)….if ever you have taken a bus or a taxi up on the mountains in Kodaikanal or Kulu, you would understand what I mean. Imagine Indian driving but at much higher speeds with some swearing in Italian and loud Italian football commentary in the background.

The 1.5 Km walk up the mountain to see the crater came in handy for burning off all the calories from the pizza but you forget all that when you get to the top and see the crater on the one side and get a view of the city on the other. Peeking into the crater gave me goose pimples !

Another must-see place if you go to Naples and here are some tips:
- Wear good shoes and stay away from white or other light colored clothes unless you think that the volcanic ash and dust might give your clothes a rugged look
- Unless you are pregnant and/or very asthmatic, you should attempt the climb. If you are not too fit, it might take you longer but there are 3 shops on the way where you can rest or get a drink.

The Godfather ?
Thanks to many books and movies, I have always associated Naples and Sicily with the Mafia. Anytime I saw someone well dressed with a long overcoat, greasy hair and earrings, I gazed at him for a split-second longer wondering if he was one of them….sadly (or luckily ?) I had no encounters with them but I did meet a Pakistani who told me that the Mafia indeed controlled everything. I then remembered the Naples trash crisis from 2008 where the Mafia was heavily involved and breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t anywhere near to witness it.

Haggling with cab drivers or TTR* – take your pick
Someone who does not know the ticket system in Italy or Spain would think that I am a chain smoker….I am always looking for tobacco shops since that's where you buy tickets for the public transport (for whatever reasons) and many times they will not have the tickets you need, so you end up buying the expensive ones (single tickets instead of day tickets), then there is the ticket validation that you do when you first use the ticket. Most of these machines are out of order most of the time and as luck would have it, it will work when the TTR tries to use it. So, this fellow says something to us in Italian and we try to explain in Italianglish that we tried but it didn’t work and the fellow keeps repeating the same thing. We wonder if we should just step off the bus or if we have to pay a fine, when a girl next to us said something to him that sounded like she saw our failed attempt. As soon as she started, the others in the bus started saying the same thing and the TTR left with a shrug. Napolitenas either love tourists or hate TTRs

Taking a taxi is not very expensive, if you know the distance, have an understanding of the route and can haggle with the driver BEFORE you get into the taxi. Well, thanks to Chennai Autowallahs, I am a master of that game.

Is Naples really Europe?
No one cares about pedestrian crossing or traffic rules
There are no proper plans for public transport
Buses stop anywhere according to the driver’s wish for people to board
Cars are allowed within the historic center and there are no pedestrian walkways
You haggle with cab drivers or you end up being taken for a ride (pun intended!)
There are street vendors everywhere who insist that you buy a Prada bag for 20 bucks!
If you do not hold on to your wallets 24/7, they will be gone.

Naples comes as a shock to many tourists and even to some Europeans who are unprepared for all of the above and are used only to cities like Milan or Florence that are completely in a different league. It was very amusing for me to watch a couple of English tourists struggle to cross a major road with cars whizzing by with no concern whatsoever for pedestrians and they were gaping at us as we were just darting through the cars and buses with practiced maneuvers….I was thinking ‘idhellam oru mattera, naanga ellam remo stylela** mount roade cross pannuvom’ (cannot translate this, feel free to use your imagination :D)

Anytime I saw a scooter (it was a vespa) or an apartment with umpteen antennae mount on the terrace or colorful clothes hanging from a balcony, I couldn’t help but grin…call it primitive, under-developed, developing or whatever, I don’t care….I have fond memories of them and its not everyday that I get to see them in Europe.

On the flight back, I met travel agents from India back from a 4-day trip on the Amalfi coast sponsored by Italian tourism. They were to promote these places back in India. I wish ‘Incredible India’ does something like that too, we surely have a lot more to offer than any other country (and no, I can’t be impartial when India is involved !). On another note, at end of the conversation they gave me a box of our very own Made-in-Bombay kaju...one has to accept that this will happen only with desis, God bless them for that !

The Island of Capri (which is a short ferry ride from Naples) is probably the most frequented place in Italy by rich party-loving people. But it also a great place for a weekend-getaway from the city. If you have enough time in Naples, Capri is definitely worth a day-trip. The archealogical museum in Naples can easily occupy a good part of a day while a walk through the historic center or a visit to the Naples Underground can keep you busy for the rest of the time.

In short, Naples is a great place to visit, just keep your mind open and bags locked !

*TTR: It is actually a travelling ticket examiner but for some reason, the person is referred to as TTR (instead of TTE) in India.
**Remo style: In the tamil movie Anniyan, Remo (Vikram, the hero) crosses a busy road (near the beach in Chennai) backwards to prove a point (!?)

Copyright for Vesuvius aerial photo: spatiallyadjusted.com

The temple tour

What does this remind you of ?? South India, traveling in a car or a van and seeing at least 3-4 temples in a day ? Well, you are right about the latter but bang wrong about the former since the temple tour was in London…that’s right…I said London. I saw three temples in a day (and four in all, during my brief stay) and that is a record. The only time I have done this before is when amma or some perusu gets over-excited about a pilgrimage trip in South India and decides to take me along !

The first stop was the Mahalakshmi temple in Eastham – obviously, in the desi part of the town. The temple itself was small (but nice) and what completely shook me was the poo kadai at the entrance, I mean finding malli in winter in Europe is just too overwhelming for someone who lives in Munich. I entered the temple to find it pretty crowded because of the Satya narayana puja that was going on and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw rows of desi couples all set with their Puja saman….to me it looked too real, too desi and although I knew London has a huge desi community, seeing it was a very different experience. Perumal and Thayar were brilliantly decorated and the swamy vigraham itself was beautiful. I felt a shiver pass through me when the archagar (with a nice iyengar namam) placed the sadari on my head and gave me theertham and thulasi.

The walk after visiting the temple reminded me of a less crowded Pondy bazaar….jewelery store, pullayar statues, oodhubathi vasanai…I was smelling home….!

The next step was the Murugar temple. This brought back a bigger flood of memories because it was this typical temple you see in everywhere in Chennai, with multiple sannidhis housing multiple vigrahams – from Pullayar to vennai covered Anjaneyar, a Dwajasthambam, a place for Navagraham and even a used ther ! The only thing missing was the prasadam…unfortunately there were no dhonnais with chakara pongal or vennpongal in it.

The temple Kopurams I saw were all ivory colored and I was wondering why they do not get it painted in colors like in India. I believe its either too expensive to do and/or too difficult to maintain because of weather conditions.

Since I had heard so much about the Swami Narayana temple, we decided to visit that as well. I was simply stunned by its beauty that I didn’t even remember to pray all the time I was there. The only thing I did was crane and stare at the ceiling, then at the pillars, at the arches and then repeat everything all over! Even when looking at Swamy – Rama and Sita or Rukimini and Krishna, I spent too much time looking at them, how well they were decorated and somehow the beauty in the place was too much for me to shut out and concentrate on prayers.

The temple tour came to an end just before I left London, when my friend suggested making the Ambal temple my last stop. As we walked in to the temple, there was a huge hall with a LCD screen that was displaying Ambal. My friend points to it and says ‘Swamy paaru’ and I think to myself ‘enna dhan technology develop analum, vigrahathuku badhila LCD screen konjam too much’ and I say so to my friend who bursts out laughing as we enter another hall that houses the sannidhi. Then I smile with comprehension and realize that the LCD was just a quick preview :D !

Yes, it was my first temple tour outside India. It was also the first time
- I left my snow boots at the seruppu stand in a temple
- I walked into the temple with socks on and wearing a jacket
- I did a hurried pradakshinam because the floor was too cold (and I had these mental images of running around the Sirrangam temple when the sun is blazing hot struggling with the really hot stone floors in spite all the water that is poured on them to keep them cool)

PS: I cannot translate all the tamil words in this post because some of them aren’t even tamil, they are sanskit words mostly used in the context of temples and related stuff.

Gold fish translator:

Poo kadai – flower shop (in India)
Malli – jasmine
Kopuram - (temple) tower
Vigraham - (sanskrit) idol
Seruppu - slippers/shoes


enna dhan technology develop analum, vigrahathuku badhila LCD screen konjam too much’ – irrespective of development in technology, replacing an idol by a LCD screen is simply too much !

The Holy Land Experience

I am in the land of Sherlock Holmes – This was my first thought when I landed in the Heathrow airport, closely followed by a pang of guilt, since I was also going to meet a school friend of mine that I had not seen in 7 years (Btw, did I mention that I was in the UK for work :D ?). But I was suitably excited when I finally met her and her husband and on our first day together we happily headed to the most famous address in the world – Baker Street 221B.

Like the museum pamphlet claims, you can belong to one of three categories: one, you have heard of Holmes; two, you have read some of his works; three, you have read all of his works multiple times and can give an extempore speech on any one of them. It was gratifying to see that they never considered a category where you had not heard of Holmes….that’s blasphemous, you know (or they believed that if you left everything else London had to offer and came all the way to Baker Street you should have an inkling of who Holmes was)!

I first saw the baker street tube station (London underground transport) :), then I saw the Sherlock Holmes silhouette in the station :D, then I saw more silhouettes pasted everywhere in the station :D :D, I came out of the station and noticed an old man advertising the 'Sherlock Holmes walking tour' and handing out Sherlock Holmes visiting cards :D :D :D....I was in the land of Sherlock Holmes !

Needless to say, my hands were ever busy with the camera and my eyes worked overtime, trying to observe every minute detail (wonder who does that :D!) and take in every possible item and associate it with one or other of his stories. What I loved was some of the scenes from his short stories that were set up in the top floor of the house. It gave me a chance to test my ‘Sherlockian’ knowledge and now I know that when I read those stories I can attach faces to the names even better than before.

Here are a few: Try your hand at guessing the stories they represent ;)

Clue: She is holding tresses of her own hair.

Clue: This is one of the cases, where Holmes supports the ''criminal'' but the only one where he never comes in contact with the ''criminal'' itself

Who is shown in this pic?

If you said Holmes, you are not very far off. It is actually Professor Moriarty. I always thought of him as Holmes’ alter ego since he was almost as brilliant as Holmes and his description inevitably reminds me of Holmes and it was startling to see that in reality.

Well, if you insist on being a spoilsport and talk about Holmes being a fictional character, then you would find the letters, sent to Baker Street every year from people who believe in Holmes, hilarious. I found them amusing too but to me it reinforces the impression a character can create on you (and I secretly believe the Conan Doyle is a real life Sherlock Holmes….how else can you write so much about the art of deduction?!). Here is a sample.

What I missed was Mrs.Hudson. The website claims that you will find her there but the lady I found at the gift shop (who was dressed like Mrs.Hudson, apparently) did not even remotely fit my mental image of her. And there was also a disinterested guy reading a book in one of the rooms, obviously the guard. Oh..well, at least they had the good sense to set up a museum and have it open, when I was in London….

PS: There is another reason that I call it a holy land experience. I will write about that in my next post.