Year 2009!!

This year was a Memorable one..Brimming with 'Travel and Living'!!
Well, this is how I always yearned my life to be..so full of Sweet Little Memories,Adventure and Fun, being together in Odds and Evens...

It kick-satrted with midnight bash@RUNWAY9. Glass of drink and Dancing to the tunes of the DJ on perfect desi numbers - 'maa ka ladla bigad gaya', 'tali mien tali' and so on..Me, My better half and his kid sis.. "Good celebrations Welcomed the Year 2009"

Jan was so full of resolutions, diminutive and bulky, Met and Broken!!
We made a trip to 'Chilkur Balaji', the famous visa temple located 60 kms from HYD to pray for Jyo's MBA entrances and our year Ahead.

An fortuitous trip came to us in Feb - Trip to Pune.
It was Jyo's Interview @ Symbiosis and Shovak's @ SP Jain that bought us five together for intense planning...Started with driving down to Pune in our old Maruti 800, but good sense prevailed over Harry alas to make it simple - Lets settle for Train. We made it to Lonavala, Khandala with Shovak and Antara..Though it wasn't the perfect weather to go those places but as always, any place is fun with the right company..and we had fun.. The next day was the big day for Shovak's interview, so they moved to Mumbai and we set out for Mahabaleswar. Three of us had great fun @Mahabaleswar and Panchgini.. there is no sandwich like the Mapro sandwich. The last and the 3rd day when Jyo went for her interview, we decidedd to catch up with old buddies @Woner Funky. A Bowling Alley with many other fun to do activities..We manged some great moments with $am and Vijeta @MOCHA before heading to Wonder Funky..Shovak, Antara, Vishal, Brijesh and significant others joined us....It was good 5 hrs spent with old pals...bowling, dancing and hogging. Five of us headed back to Hyd...

It was time for Harry to plan again. To accompany Jyo to the City that never stops - Mumbai for her Narsee Monjee interview..I missed him thoroughly @home and cursed my self for not having joined him for the trip...

March - The heat sets in Hyderabad..Jyo packed her bags and headed home - back to BBSR after fate choosing not to let her go away from home..yeah she cudnt make thru the interviews and was back to bbsr to prepare for State entrance Test.
And here we were..two of us ...in our love nest!!!
On a Sunny day, 130kms from HYD, located in North Karnataka, we set off for Bidar Fort. A huge fort with the unusual structure, un-usual coz it is not at a height rather spread across a huge pc of land and u can simply drive-in... We had a wholesome lunch @ one of the dhabhas @ Zaheerabad... and headed back home...This was one of our first long trip in our car - just two of us!!

April - This was the month long-awaited for...Dates for my childhood friend $am's wedding were fixed in this month and I was really excited and luking fwd to see my friend getting married to the love of his life. This guy has been special. I meet him in 12th std when I joined KV in bbsr after dad's re-location. Since then we have been friends. We joined Engineering and were in the same branch..we joined Wipro together and post which our paths changede but we are still good pals..Me and Harry headed to Dandeli - North West of Karnataka. It was a 4 day trip. $am's wedding clubbed with Jungle resort stay, trekking, camping, safari and rafting. We satyed in Hubli for a day, post which we checked in to the Tree House in Dandeli in one of the finest Jungle Resorts. It was a wholesome experience, staying in a tree house..No TV and so close to nature..Rinku, Sanjay, Dhananjay, Setu and we two - it was quiet a GANG!!! We had gud fun @ the sangeet function and I got to spend 2 hrs with my friend($am) when these guys left for some serious GUYS FUN !!! Next day was the wedding - konkani style wedding and followed by oriya rituals as well.. Love marriages are li'l complicated in my country !! The wedding rituals were ON as our cells buzzed and we came to know RAFTING was on..We couldn't do w/o going for it and we did go for it...It was an experience of a life time..It was so much fun that my Mr perfect dint mind missing the bus back to hyd!! Lucky were we that the bus was running late and no further mess happened!!! I cant do w/o mentioning this guy 'Ilyas' who made it all possible - The rafting and our reaching hubli to catch the bus!!!

Mom and Dad paid us the long awaited visit in May!! Though summers was @ its peak in Hyderabad but there first visit to my house was something I so much looked forward to. It was one of the most wonderful times I spent with them post my wedding as during my trips to kolkata, dad is super busy with his banking job...I think me and harry managed to gave them a good 4 days stay with us..

June/July - These are the 2 months of life that kept us really busy!! No Trips were planned together, but dreams were..

Aug - To plan for more trips and adventure ahead, we planned to do away with our old car and buy oursleves a new one! The more avenues you have to search, the more opinions you can get, the more confused you are!! And so was the case with two of us..Finally, considering the budget and luxury, we settled for i10 magna!!

September came with a BANG!! Trip to GOA...The plan started with a ROAD Trip and it actually concluded with one but unfortunately not on self drive and not in our own cars!! My colleague and friend Aman and his wife and Harry's colleague and friend Nikunj and his wife...Three like minded couples came together and we executed this well planned trip. 15 hrs to and fro journey in Innova and 3 days @ GOA... Though not the peak season but the weather seemed at its best for us..!!!Loaded on three Avengers, 3 couples had a gala time!! Cant do w/o booze when you are in GOA !! The trip concluded with the demise of Harry's Nokia..I strongly curse the bad weather and the wrongly taken route..anyways, we bid good bye to his phone and left GOA...

October is a busy month for all Indians and this year all of them came in together...Karvachauth, Dusherra and Diwali.
We both love to celebrate festivals the "Right Way"! I get my own reasons to dress-up well, try my new sarees and those lovely jwelerries and harish gets a chance to satisfy his taste buds!! 2nd karva was as special as the first one and dusheerra in hyd wasn't great when I try comparing it to my experiences in Kolkata..Diwali was great and was made a perfect family event with Harish's parents visit.

November - This was a very special month as my long awaited dream of visiting Kerala - God's own country came true. We planned this 9 day long trip starting Nov end and with our anniv celebration in one of the most beautiful places in the world - kerala back waters. It was a well and long planned trip. Though exceeding our budget a li'lt, but those days were one of the finest days of our lives...Kerala has charms that no other state in India has. ... it was the most fantastic experience we had ......Started from Hyd on 27th Nov by Indian Airlines to Cochin and returned via Chennai on 6th Dec to Hyd. Covered Cochin, Munnar, Thekkady, Alleppey, Kovalam and Kanyakumari....First 2 days @ cochin were less of activities as the city is more for the European tourist and the locals are more @ comfort with them than they are with us. The place where we stayed in fort cochin ' Rossetta Wood Castle' was again designed for the European needs and taste for food. We had a wonderful saty in Munnar @ sterling resorts facing the valley with lush green tea gardens. It was chilling cold @ Munnar and this so much allured us to extend our stay there but some how these travel operators don't come to your rescue....Thekkady - Ambadi was a good place to put up with excellent food on the menu. The bumpy elephant ride was fun the in jungle trails and the massage was re-juvenating...Having enjoyed three destinations already we set for the special one @ Alleppey ..The Back Waters - Our Anniv Day. It was a mind blowing experience. Nature was at its best!! Both of us lived every second of the day..We headed to Kovalam the next day. It reminded me so much of Goa @ kovalam Beach. Almost the same gentry of crowd, similar shacks and so full of foreign tourists. We ended our last dinner of the trip with wonderul cock-tails @ pizzerria. We set forth for kanyakumari - in serach of Indira point which was drowned during tsunami and finally reached the southern most tip of our country. It sum how felt great and we njoind that experience to the core. And our long waited, long planned and well executed trip came to end and we were @ Chennai @ niraz'a place having our fav cook's home cooked masale dosai. We had a wonderful luncheon @ Niraz and Devyani's place with Gautam and Gayathri. It is always so great to catch up with old pals...old memories...