Sun

Mr.Bee and I had planned a short vacation, way back in November 2022. But LIFE happened and we cancelled our trip at the loss of some hard earned money. So this time, we wanted to travel, but with a flexible itinerary, to avoid cancellations and to not be disappointed. That is how we started our 14 day vacation, with 2 year old KBee , 6 year old GBee on our nearly 6 year old Vento!

Since Hyderabad felt like a sauna, we decided on a cooler destination and immediately zeroed in on Ooty. (I have fond memories of Ooty from my teens and Mr.Bee had never been to Ooty.)

Our trip started with buying loads of healthy snacks for our drive, a 10 litre Milton cooler for water needs of the kiddos, emergency medicines, medical kit and 4 suitcases full of clothes for all the 4 of us!

Day 1:

…..Started with our drive from Hyderabad to Bengaluru . We started at around 6 a.m., (originally planned on starting by 5 a.m.) drove to Kurnool, on time to have our breakfast. (Both the kids had fallen asleep on the car-bed we had installed on the back seat. ) I had masala dosa and it is the best I had in recent times. GBee demanded cell phone to have his breakfast, but thanks to the dozen or more police officers having breakfast at the Hangout, he stayed away from throwing tantrums and had his plain dosa in silence. (GBee is afraid of the police.)

Even though it was still 8:30 a.m., the Sun was already showing his might. So we kept ourselves and kids hydrated by drinking water and Gatorade in alterations.

At Ananthapur, we bought the juiciest and sweetest guavas ever. I ate two in a sitting. They were awesome. Thanks to the seller, we also had some guava leaves, which I placed on top of the dash board, to test my theory. Plants and flowers attract heat and cool the surrounding areas, so the leaves on dash board meant, they took the heat and the passengers have none. (If you are going out during peak summer heat, place an onion in your hand bag or shoulder bag and get on with your business. The onion prevents sun strokes by absorbing the heat, especially in tropical climates, it is very helpful.)

We reached the outskirts of Bengaluru at around, 1:30 p.m. and had our lunch at Nandi Upahar, near the road to Nandi Hills. There was a waiting line and although the restaurant needed a face-lift, we had our lunch and started our drive into the City of Traffic, Bengaluru! (Don’t get me wrong, I love Bengaluru and its pleasant climate, which is similar to that of my second home, Charlotte, NC,USA.)

We reached Mr.Bee’s colleague, R‘s house, at BTM Stage 2, took our time to freshen up ourselves and by the time it was 5 p.m., we went to the nearby park. GBee and KBee had a blast playing there. Once it started drizzling, we ran out of the park and rushed home. Our dinner that night was Dominos Pizza, because, the food delivery showed a waiting time of more than 1 hour, thanks to the heavy rain that night. We had a Vegetarian Gourmet Pizza, with added basil seasoning and it was good. GBee was over the Moon thanks to the junky dinner!

We slept, for a night of peace. Both the kiddos slept like logs, a long drive can do that to anyone!

I woke up at 7 a.m., as usual and was mesmerised by the silence of Bengaluru. I saw atleast fifty people going for walks, jogs in fitness gear. A retiree continued with his stretches, all the while, nodding his head to one or two familiar faces. Everyone was going about their business in silence. This pleasant scene tempted me to ditch Hyderabad and move to Bengaluru. But then, I am a pukka Hyderabadi.(Also, I had temporary lapse in judgement!)

R even tempted us guys by saying that the plot nearby was ready for sale! As if! We just enrolled GBee into a new school and that’s when it hit me, how easy it is to take decisions before having kids and after! We moved to India, in the blink of an eye from Charlotte, but something like that is unthinkable now.

Anyway…..

For breakfast we had scrumptious thatte idli (first time eating it) and medu vada with tasty pudina chutney.

Thatte Idli – Image Courtesy Google Search Engine

With that done and stuffing some Mango leaves onto the dashboard, Mr.Bee, I and the kids bid our farewells and started for Ooty! Chalo Ooty! That’s how we started our Day 2!

P.S:

Interestingly, if you want to convince your mom that you don’t want to go to school or college, an onion in one’s armpit, raises the body temperature and causes fever! Now take a blood oath that you won’t tell your mom, this is where you read it. I don’t want any mothers cursing me!
It is always better to check leaves for caterpillars. Thankfully, GBee was quick to observe that the mango branch of Bengaluru tree had a very active caterpillar. I jumped out of my skin, car came to a sudden halt and the branch went right out of the window! No one was hurt by the above incident!
I couldn’t post for more than 3 weeks, because, we were busy with the vacation, the return, the laundry, the school induction programs, the books, the uniforms and the likes. Hopefully, I will bore you guys silly with more posts. The next post will be about Udhagamandalam, Ooty for short!

Cheerio till the next post.

As usual, at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, I was eagerly waiting for the return of GBee from his school. Just as he put his foot inside the hall, I saw his face. It was covered partially with green colour on his cheeks and forehead. That was when it hit me that tomorrow is Holi!

The rectangular thing in my hand is supposed to be a cell!

Looking at GBee in colours reminded me that, gone are the days when I would look forward to Holi!

I remember the days when we used to return to school with traces of gulaal (pink colour) in our hair, faces and hands. The more pink one appeared, the more proud we would feel. Being pink meant, we had played and enjoyed the festival!

QB with pink highlights in hair and some random classmates talking about Holi

There used to be this gang of rowdy boys, who would come to our apartment every year on Holi, They would catch hold of the guys in our apartment and brush their teeth with gulaal and blue colours! (Yuk!Who would want dirty colours in their mouth and teeth? Beats me!) They would also throw eggs at us kids. Phew, who would want smelly eggs on their heads, mixed with bunch of colours? Double yuk! If you are being chased by someone with an egg in hand, suddenly sit down on the floor and you probably would avoid being hit!

Trying to avoid an egg on the head? Just sit down suddenly!

Those were the days, we would drench each other in buckets of gulaal water and begin to shiver. To stop the shiver, we would stand under the Sun, in the middle of the road! (Who even does that now?)

Even the uncles in the apartment would play Holi. I remember one particular incident when someone brought silver colour to play and the next day, my father and I had severe rashes on our faces. (Silver is danger!)

The ladies in the apartment would play with the good old kumkum and haldi. We even had fun scaring away the domestic helps, who would come to their respective flats to work. We would sneak attack! If we sneak attack now, we may get beatings, people are less forgiving these days.

During one Holi celebrations in my schooling days, I had taken an egg in my hair, from K, who was younger to me. (How dare he mess up with a senior!) I waited in the verandah, till my mom had hot water ready for my bath . Meanwhile, I was fed lunch, by my dad. What fun!

I pity the generation of kids who have no idea how to spend time away from a t.v. or cell. They have no idea of how safe our world was and how carefree we were, while we played on the streets, away from deranged people who lay hands on innocent kids or the violent stray dogs or the lack of traffic and vehicles on streets. Those days can never come back!

P.S:

Before going out to play Holi, it is better to apply oil on your face and hands. This way, you won’t look like a pink alien in office. This is for all those who hate looking like they drank gulaal!
My favourite Holi song is Arey Jaa re Hatt from Navrang, a very old Hindi movie, directed by Shantaram. Not everyone likes it, but check it out. The dancer Sandhya acts as both boy and girl in the song. It was a sensation in those days. (Let me be your DJ for Holi and suggest grooving to these songs…)