Elephant's Eye View

What do the Eyes See?

This elephant was waiting for food at the Dubare Elephant Camp in Coorg. On a whim I decided to focus on the eyes. Aren't they beautiful? I have uploaded a bigger picture of this elephant earlier. This trip was for a blogger's meet with the Club Mahindra.

Jaipur in an Autorickshaw- On CLAY Now

Amber Fort Jaipur

I wrote the Jaipur Story (November 2008 with Brat 2, my younger nephew) for CLAY too (the first one was for Gonomad) and it is now up on their site-

Our plan was to hire an autorickshaw (because of this recommendation by Arun) with Gopi as our guide. I called Arun and asked for Gopi’s number and got in touch with him. Gopi assured us that he would be at the Jaipur station to pick us up. I got a call from Gopi as the Shatabdi was nearing Jaipur and that was quite reassuring. However, it took us quite some effort to figure out who was who once we got down at Jaipur. Once we met each-other, the first task was to find a hotel.

The Club Mahindra Blog and My Prashar Lake Piece

Prashar Lake and the Temple in December, Picture Courtsey Anil

I discovered Prashar Lake by surfing through the net and when I went there, I liked the place so much. I want others to go and enjoy the place before it gets too crowded. So, when I got an opportunity to contribute to CLAY (The Club Mahindra Blog) I wrote about Prashar Lake. Have a look at my about Prashar Lake article at CLAY.

PS. Finally a weekend trip looks in sight with my nephew this Saturday!

Coffee and Coffee Beans

Coffee Beans on the Coffee Plan, Picture taken in Coorg

Let me make it clear first, I love tea. Coffee comes after it. But it was exciting to walk through coffee plantations in Coorg in December last year. The trip to Coorg was sponsored by Club Mahindra and I actually brought back two coffee beans thinking I would dry them and use them. But alas, such idea feel good only while you are away from home base. Back at home it soon boils down to routine.

Hot Coffee at Club Mahindra, Coorg

I had this coffee one evening at Club Mahindra, Coorg. The coffee in itself was quite good but the presentation was so eye catching that I had to take a picture. In fact, a colleague of mine from the Hotel school side once told me a story about the presentation of food at hotels. He used to work at a five star hotel and for breakfast buffet they had to worry a lot about presentation. For a 7.30 breakfast the preparations would start the previous night and the floral prsentation or the design of the fruit basket, or scons he told me, was more tricky than making the dishes itself. He said his shift manager would give them a real tough time over the decoration part. So, now whenever I see good presentation of food, I am aware of the hard work behind it!

Another Dance from Club Mahindra Coorg Stay

A Dance Performance at Club Mahindra, Coorg

As I said, for a while it is going to be videos. This one was a dance performance that I enjoyed.

Another Dance from Coorg

This was another dance performance that we saw at the Club Mahindra Coorgtrip. Folks back then described this performance to be inspired by Bollywood rather than having a local flavor. Shrinidhi actually had posted a translation of the song (if you are reading this post Srinidhi, could you please give me a link to that post? I tried searching for it on your blog but without success). Also this video was captured at night hence the extra bad quality.

PS. Took the last class today for this semester. Who says teachers don't look forward to summer vacations?

Club Mahindra, Coorg- The Trip

When I heard from Arun Nair of Club Mahindra about a proposed trip to Coorg for bloggers at their expense, I of course was delighted and said yes. The bestest part was they were taking care of the Delhi-Bangalore and back, flight too.

When I boarded the plane I was seriously wondering how the trip would turn out to be. This is because I hardly knew anyone in the group and my usual holidays are never spent in a resort. To complicate the matters further, I am the kind of person as Dev described me at the end of the trip, "You are rather reserved and I couldn't figure you out." I mean I really am reserved and difficult to figure out.

The first worry after arrival at Bangalore was how to figure out where would Arun be as he was our contact person. But then cell phones come in handy in such situations, however we may curse them otherwise. He called me and asked me to get out of the airport. Then he asked if I was the one with the black luggage and there we were shaking hands. That was the end of all my worries on this trip.

Later, Anil remarked about Arun, "While listening to you on the phone it felt as if we were talking to an elderly person. One could never guess you would be so young." I agree wholeheartedly.

After a while Kiruba joined us, he is supposed to be the mastermind behind this trip. Then Dev came, we were on the same flight but we had not met. Next to join us were Dhruva and Srinidhi. Last to come were people from Bombay. And the Bombay flight brought Apurva Pandit (remember him? He beat me at the oktatabyebye original travel contest) and he is closely associated with that super site pagalguy.com. Then I met Anil. I must say I have been a fan of his blog and I did not know he too would be on this trip.

On the way we picked up Anita and Amogha. And the group was complete. Or wait, am I forgetting anyone? How can I forget Sudhir, he is from Chennai and is quite capable of making his presence felt! This makes the gang complete.

So, we boarded the Ganesha and headed to Coorg. The journey in itself was eventful and a lot of talking took place. Soon Dev with his pizza gyan was holding the center stage and I think he retained that position for the entire duration of the trip. The lunch at Kamath's was wonderful and I dozed off in the van after it but not before agreeing to a game of TT once we reached. I managed to survive without Avomine (anti-nausea medicine) on this stretch.

The Welcome at Club Mahindra- Coorg

The resort is what to be expected of resorts, splendid (but then they come at a price, don't they?). The welcome was grand, the food the highlight of the trip and the employees, particularly Joy, a real treat. But then for me the central event on day one was TT. I know I have blogged about it before but can't help bragging again. One of the Club Mahindra employee played doubles with us and the next day Joy started calling me 'TT madam.'

The next day was devoted to a trip to Talacauvery and later in the evening to the city of Madikeri. Talacuvery is the birth place of the river Cauvery and I think it was Apurva who remarked, "It is difficult to believe that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka fight so much over this!"

Talacuvery temple complex is lovely and the walk to the Brahamgiri Hill all the more enjoyable. Sadly the mere twisting roads give me motion sickness and for this journey, mid way I took an Avomine and then only survived the journey. Same was true for the second day trip to Dubare Elephant Camp.

Abbey Waterfalls, Coorg

Later a few of us visited the Abbey Waterfalls followed by a trip to Omkareswar Temple and musical fountain. On our own, I think many us would have given the musical fountain a miss but then I discovered there is fun in doing 'regular touristy things' too. Sadly, on day 2 no one invited me to play TT :)

Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg

The next day's highlight was a visit to the Dubare Elephant Camp. The place is huge, and if you are a brave soul (which I am not) you can give a bath to the elephant. Again did a routine thing, took an elephant ride! But most fun was watching the elephant take food. The people at the camp make giant balls of food stuff and feed it to the elephants. The elephant in the picture above is waiting for his food.

The evening was devoted to walking around the coffee plantation on the Club Mahindra premises with Joy as our guide. I knew a little bit about Arabica and Robusta coffee beans but Joy really knew about them. On return we tried some of the adventure stuff on the premises. I had a mildly sprained foot (that is still giving me some trouble) so I tried 'the river crossing' where I was using my hands primarily and I definitely enjoyed it.

The Legendary Sweet Dishes

But if you ask for the highlight of this trip I would say food, sweet dishes in particular. And that is really surprising, because I am usually know to say, "Well, don't ask me, I am pretty indifferent to food." The buffet at Club Mahindra was sumptuous beyond belief. On the first day I was a bit late for the breakfast (but this was the regular role of Sudhir) and I remember telling Kiruba, "I wish I had more time to do some justice to this breakfast." It is a wonder that I have still managed not to gain weight after this trip, I mean at every lunch and dinner I was demolishing plateful of sweet dishes. What a bliss it was.

So, to sum it up this was a trip that was not my regular cup of tea in so many ways. I traveled with a bunch I didn't know (I usually travel only with family) did things I don't do like visiting local 'touristy' sights (our trips consist only of walking) stayed at a resort (budget hotels are our way and it will remain so unless another sponsored trip happens :) enjoyed food (I am pretty indifferent as I said, 10 years of hostel food is capable of killing all those taste buds) and yet it was a fabulous trip! I guess it was the people who made all the difference!

Club Mahindra Trip- Some Unexpected Responses

I went to the Kodagu Community blog because of the link they gave to my video of the dance from the region. Never thought the trip would invoke such a response in one corner of the blog world. The blogowner says in a comment on the post-

Would you like Kodava culture to be shown to the drunk-tourists at late nights? (9-10 pm) I can understand if some curious people, who really want to know about the culture, are the audience.

Well, here is what I wrote in reply.

You go on a trip and you get labeled as half drunk or was it drunk tourist. I don't think we qualify as a bunch of drunk tourist!

But did you see any disrespect in any of our posts towards the local culture?

Thanks for giving an alternative perspective. Didn't know the trip would elicit such a response in a corner of the blogworld.

Meet the People- Anita: The Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

Anita with the Entire Gang- Third from the Right

Anita joined us on the way to Coorg and the first thing that hits you about her is vivaciousness. She is high on life! How I envy her for her travels to Europe and Bhutan.

Sudhir picked up a lot of pangs with her but she took it so well in her stride. It was unfortunate that she had to leave early. Oh! and I thought she must be about 24 but later when we chatted for a while it turned out to be wrong. And no, don't ask me what is her age :)

Meet the People- Srinidhi: The Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

Srinidhi- Second from the Left, Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

He was easily the quietest (and one of the youngest) of the bunch, hardly speaking a word to anyone, like a few of my students (yes, I still have a few like that and what a blessing they are). But then I gradually got to talk to him a bit. Came to know what is his claim to fame! And after reading it you will have to agree, it is some post. Not only he manages to write a post that comes right next to the official website of Club Mahindra, he is quite thorough with SEO and other net gyan. He gave me a lot of fundas about how to make my posts more search engine friendly.

While on our way back, from Coorg to Bangalore, we managed to chat for the while. Don't go by the quiet demeanor, in his spare time he likes to drive tractors! His one regret that I got to hear about was about not being able to drive even heavier vehicles in spite of having a license to drive one.

Meet the People- The Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

Sudhir Syal, One of the members of the Club Mahindra Coorg Trip

I was planning to write the long report about the Club Mahindra sponsored Coorg trip but it is just not happening. So, I thought I would talk about what I can.

So, meet Sudhir Syal. On his blog he writes-

So, there we were then, a motley crew, as you would expect, each figuring out 'who' or 'what' to expect as company for this momentous journey. Soon enough the group began to take shape, with there being a clear demarcation between the intellectual 'traveller' and the 'gawar tourist'. The 'intellectual traveller' easily identified with his manner of speaking. " Have you been to Leh, , 25 Kms south-east of 'Namcha Barwa Himalayas , 890 Kms north of the tropic of capricorn filled with Azure skies and that rarefied aroma !". The gawar traveller would look on ...

There are many things that I can write about him. His phone calls and his habit of being late were most commented upon but then two incidents stand out in my mind.

At the Dubare elephant camp, the two of us fancied nariyal paani (tender coconut water) and the guy running the stall would simply refuse to acknowledge us! I can't speak a word of Kannada or any other south Indian language but Sudhir can and yet the stall owner would ignore him even more. It was only when our man Friday, Joy (our Club Mahindra escort, a truly wonderful person) intervened that we got our nariyal paani!

Then I remember telling Sudhir in all enthu about Prashar Lake, and then he smiled and told me, "I like my travel to be comfortable!" Point well taken Sudhir. And that doesn't make anyone "gawar tourist."

And then he of course lost to me in TT :)

Club Mahindra- Table Tennis Tales

Table Tennis Table- Picture from Kiruba's Blog

It all started with an email from Arun Nair of Club Mahindra. He asked if I would be interested in visiting Coorg on their expense? Can I ever resist such trips? The only catch in my mind was the flight from Delhi to Bangalore, but he agreed to take care of that too. Now what more could I ask!

While planning the trip, Arun and I talked on the phone sometimes. He mentioned that Kiruba was the person who suggested my name. I of course knew of his blog but I was not sure how he knew about mine. Anyway, I hopped over and saw the picture of TT table on his blog. So, I wrote a few lines to him, thanking him for including me on this trip and asked if I should carry my TT bat on the trip? He replied quite enthusiastically and said we could definitely try it out.

Kiruba told me during the bus journey (Bangalore to Coorg) itself that no matter what we would play TT once we reached and I should not say I am too tired, etc. Sudhir and Amogha also wanted to play. The three of them played singles with me and to cut a long story short I will quote them about what they said afterwards-

This is what Sudhir wrote to me in an email-

Am also working on my T.T game, so the next time we meet - you should expect a much tougher match :)

And this is what Sudhir wrote on his blog-

It was quite clear that she had primarily 2 great interests, Travel and T.T. The latter of which she was so menacing in, that soon enough but for the wall, she had noone to play with.

Amogha told me this while leaving and I am paraphrasing-

You say you can play with your own bat! Next time I will practice, and come with my own band baja, my cheer girls and what not and then let us see what happens!

While I was playing with Kiruba, the ball went quite far away on my side and he offered me to bring it. I said, "No I am used to it. I play daily with my colleagues and they offer me no concessions, in fact they play quite aggressively and I often beat them!" After the game he said, "I perfectly well understand how your colleagues feel."

OK we were playing games of 21 and they all managed single digit scores, though over 5 :)

And did I say we bullied Arun into getting the TT hall open after 9.00 and they were sport enough to comply!

Dance Performance at Club Mahindra, Coorg

I thought I would upload a video of one of the dance performances we saw at the Club Mahindra premises at Coorg. And in the background you can see the row of containers that had our dinner. I think the reason I am really not getting back to my normal routine is that lavish food.

Pictures from Coorg

Club Mahindra, Coorg

I am back to the 'death by grading' routine again. In the meanwhile, here are some of the pictures from Club Mahindra sponsored Coorg trip for bloggers.

To Coorg with Club Mahindra!

Went on a trip to Coorg that was sponsored by Club Mahindra for travel bloggers (will update on the gang soon). As of now swamped with work.

And even though I am no foodie, the highlight of this trip was the wonderful food that was served. I actually polished off all the sweet dishes you can see in this picture. I am sure I will gain at least 3 kg because of this trip.