It was seven years back… we took off from New Delhi airport and I had embarked on my very first plane ride. We were going to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.
We board the plane and find our seats. Clamp on our seat belts and wait. The plane gives a shudder, pulls back and taxies slowly to the runway. Here it stops for a few moments and then with a fast run lifts off. The buoyant feeling is wonderful.
Jurong Bird Park
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We had friends visiting us in Mumbai and it was an opportunity to explore places nearby. Mahabaleshwar was decided on and we headed for it starting early in the morning. It was the month of September. Mahabaleshwar is a hill station that is around six hours drive from Mumbai. After crossing Pune we have to take a countryside road to the right on the Pune -Satara highway. After a short while the road starts going uphill.
In the summer months it is a favourite tourist destination. Not so in September. The roads were quite free (from traffic I mean ’cause you have to pay toll at three toll gates enroute) and we reached Saj resort around noon. Though the peak of the monsoon was over in Mumbai, we realised that this was not the case here.
In a holiday mood we had packed light cotton wear for our two day stay. We were in for a rude surprise. Cloudy weather and continuous drizzle greeted us. At first we were surprised to see people wearing monkey caps and sweaters. We had the vanity to pretend that it would not be cold for us Delhiites ( we had then moved to Mumbai only a few months earlier and the visiting friend’s family was from Delhi).
By the evening we had to make a trip to the local market and buy jackets for the kids and shawls for us!
In the second week of November 07, Saravanan’s work took him to Bangalore and Gayatri (our 5yr old daughter) and I accompanied him there. He was busy all the days at the exhibition while we savored Bangalore. I think it was a great way to celebrate my birthday! Here’s how we spent it…
Three whole days - Bangalore, Gayatri and me…
The first day was spent in a sight seeing tour of the city in a mini van.. ISKCON temple, Tipu’s Palace, the Bull temple, Vishveshwaraiah’s industrial and technological museum ( science museum from now) and a jungle safari in a van at the Banerghatta national park. Also enjoyable was the ride in the tourist van with Gayatri on my lap cuddled close to my heart. We wanted to visit some of them again, at leisure, the next day.
The second day was charming, fun filled and exciting. Gayatri and me … well I could honestly say, I accompanied Gayatri to the science museum. We had breezed through it during the day tour the previous day. Today, we spent three enchanting hours there… discovering principles of science, building with sponge bricks, assembling Chinese puzzles, playing virtual simulated video games where we were part of the football practice and had to block the balls coming our way! I know that every time I visit Bangalore I am going to visit this museum and head straight for the fun science section on the top floor.
