34: Eurotrip: In love with Brussels....

Not quite pacy like Mumbai, not too laid back like countryside but, there was an instant Connect with Brussels, the moment I stepped on its land!!!

Wide and clean roads, disciplined zebra crossing people, delicious dessert -chocolate Waffle… pleasant and soothing climate, extremely low levels of pollution in the air, cute and well maintained trams that connect major areas of the city, yummy Leonidas branded Belgian chocolates and famous Belgian cookies …all of which was too much to not fall in love with the city..!!!!   

     

On one hand Brussels is quite, serene and sophisticated while on the other hand it is hep, vibrant, colorful and extremely joyous!!!  On one hand we have oldie grannies weaving lace apparels while on other we have ravishing ladies strutting their stuff in D&G…

On one hand there are old world trams still making their presence felt on Bruxelles streets while on the other hand High speed trains like Thalys, Eurostar, ICE (High speed train networks) connect Brussels to all major European cities like London, Paris, Cologne, etc.





On one hand Brussels is filled up with French, Flemish and German people while on the other hand diversity is well represented by whole lot of Africans, Latin Americans and also Indians!!! Brussels indeed, has much more to offer than just beer and wine!!!

There were days when I could see police guys on horses and then there were days when I saw them on Harley Davidson….!!! It was really super cool and so different to see polizie (French word for police) in that avatar..!!! Seeing so many well built and fit cops made me to sadly sigh in my heart that had it only been similar back in Mumbai, Mumbai would not have been as vulnerable as it is perceived!!!!

Oldies form major part of Brussels population. One can easily see many oldie couples walking hand- in hand at tram stations, and supermarkets..!!! Here I recall an incident, told to me once by my bhabi which so happened -an oldie handsome dude went across the other side of the street so as to caution vehicles that his oldie gorgeous dudette is having some problem with walking and made her to comfortably cross the road..!!! That was really heartwarming..!!!





        

Markets and Supermarkets are the buzzing places full of ladies wanting to buy the usual grocery and meat, while on the other hand shops like Camaieu, Zara at Rogier serve to charming fashion wanabbes…!!! Jackets are almost worn like second skin by everyone in Brussels…so now you know when you go next to Brussels … you just have to buy a jacket there!!!! Brussels has one of the finest collections of jackets for all seasons, all moods and all genders….

Central Park in Brussels hosts amazing Belgian beer cafes, souvenir shops, Belgian chocolate outlets and so many fashionable, trendy and branded apparel outlets that it pulls almost whole of Brussels’ hep population to this area throughout the day…

         

The only sad part about these markets is that all shops close by sharp 6 pm each day and the further worst is that … all shops are closed on Sunday!!!! Can you believe this??? I was equally shocked on hearing this… but when I got to learn the real reason behind this approach of the government I guess it almost made sense…Belgian people believe in living life outta each moment… each day… hence after gruesome office hours, instead of spending time shopping and eating unhealthy food at malls they believe in going out on family trip… for some skiing, for a nice game of squash, or tennis or for that matter just spending time with family helping your wife in cooking!!! Sounds nice??? Indeed… an ideal life that we forever crave for is forever in front of us…just that we don’t see and respect it..!!!

Why can’t we see many people in India cycling their way to office??? More often than not… we affix cycling with belonging to lower strata of society… there was this email that I received few days back stating how westerners used to ride their Porsches and Mercedes before and are turning into cycle lovers now and how we Indians used to cycle then and have turned to Mercedes now …!!! Irony is hard to neglect it!!! Belgian style of living, urged me to question my mind as to whether really implementing such basic things in India are that difficult??? No… it’s not difficult but probably keeping our people’s interests and welfare before individual’s selfish desire is something which is difficult for our politicians and government..!!!

I wanna go to Brussels again... :D

26: Short Story: The home-coming

She forgot her cousin’s b’day…she didn’t realize that it was Saturday and hence no school work…she didn’t understand a word on television even though it was airing her fav series…& she didn’t realize that it was almost 6 in the evening and she was  still sitting idly on the couch, watching television  since morning 11…

Where was she???

What the hell was wrong with her..??? Was she slowly turning into a big jumbo nerd or bozo..???? Or was it that, she was simply not in herself..??? But why??? Maybe because, he was returning back after almost 3 months!!!  What crappy reason is this, she thought. Crappy - to the extent that it scared the hell outta her…Was he the reason?

Why then sitting in front of TV, all she could think of was him??? And about the whole lot of things and conversations that had happened between them...she must be super jerk for sure, she concluded.

She quickly got up and went for the shower with the hope that, it will clear out the clutter that’s on in her mind. Changing into her evening gear, she thought of having some fun time with her dogs but seemed nobody was interested, what with her dogs already tired and not in mood to play around.

Deep down inside she was not at ease… something inside was hurting, pulling her down. She was all worried for him and his safe travel. She desperately hoped that everything goes perfectly fine with him, that he remains untouched from any worries and problems. She was even secretly praying to Lord that “let him be fine, let him be in good shape, let him have all the joys in life”. For once, she was eagerly waiting for the night to come - when he was supposed to come to her place.

His presence had some magnetic aura that simply pulled her towards him every time. She loved talking to him, loved listening to him. She liked the twinkle in his eye when he said anything funny and smiled like a million bucks!!! She loved a slight wrinkle that would appear every time he would frown at her. She always thought that there was something in her that was so much like him…and she could also find traces of her in him… For an orphan like Gracie, Albert was all she had!!!

The very thought of his comeback was so pleasing her that she got far removed from reality and lost in her past life that they had together. For Albert, she was his source of light, which would enlighten his path towards happiness and survival; she was the only reason why he was still alive after massive accident in his 4o’s.  While for her, Albert meant Family, Belonging, and her only Relation!  Roger tried hard to pacify her and make her concentrate on pleasant things but nothing seemed to work on her troubled psyche.

 Work had brought her to Milan 3 months back but their parting was painful for both. She was worried for him, since it was his first ever trip from far away land to Milan. She never meant to desert him this way, but he convinced her that they shall remain in touch and would visit each other. With a heavy heart she had moved out of his house and settled in Milan. But, now the day had come she was eagerly waiting for, 2 days later there was wedding!!!

She was thrilled and worried both at the same time. He was to travel 18 hours by flight to reach her. The very thought of flight journey made her uncomfortable. All ill thoughts about his flight journey would clog her mind and she would fight hard to unclog it and concentrate on her daily chores. This kept happening the whole day!!!

 Finally clock struck 10 in the night and there stood Albert at the doorstep waiting eagerly to hug her. Seeing Albert, Gracie ran at once and hugged him tight… his fragile body warmed with her love!! Roger too joined them and Gracie at once announced …. “Now my family is complete!!! With my grandpa by my side, Roger, now you can ask me out officially!!!”

(you can view this on : http://verne10.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/short-story-the-home-coming/)

18: GOA... thru my eyes...!!!

Final year was about to get over in couple of months, and thereafter the big bad corporate world was by and large waiting to grill us down at the other side of the fence !!! When everyone around stayed immersed in books for the upcoming final semester exams… one of my grp buddy suggested why not take a trip to Goa… maybe this will be our last trip together…what with some of us heading to US for Masters and some leaving to other city for job.  Exams were pacing fast onto us…but this offer was too tempting to not consider it!!!

We chalked down a trip of 4 days…and got our return tickets booked. The very thought of Goa made the studies totally impossible in the prior week as well… we all were in Goa mood!!! This wasn’t our first trip to GOA... to be precise... this was our 3^rd consecutive trip in 3 college years, but Goa sure has some magnetic force that attracts us and many more like us almost every year there!!!

This time around we had decided to take up a train from Mumbai till Madgaon (Margao). It was one of the most pleasant rides by train I had enjoyed in my whole life!!! The lush green scenery, the hilly mountain ranges, and the expanse of Arabian Sea that runs parallel to the Konkan coast… a treat to watch all this!!! “This trip is gonna get better and better…” I exclaimed.

At around 6 in the morning…train halted at Ratnagiri station, a little over 2 hours away from Madgaon. Ratnagiri is the birthplace of freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak, besides being famous for Alphonso mangoes!  The hawkers on the station were running helter- skelter to sell their products. Some of them were selling tea and coffee, others were selling batata vada(our very own Indian ham-burger ), while some others were selling fruits, boiled eggs, water bottles, cold drinks, etc. It was one great moment wherein the whole world seemed so busy around… that I felt like getting down on the station and filling me with its hustle bustle.

A tall and heavy man of fifty came around telling everyone –“This train won’t go ahead… there has been land slide ahead”. Well... did I mention… that, it was that time of the year when rains had lashed the whole of western coastal region of India, leaving room for landslides which are very common in the Konkan region??? Okay then...rains had lashed the whole of Konkan region for past 10 days and the soil being red and porous it was all very mushy and muddy!!! Everyone around became uncomfortable with the thought of landslide, children started twisting and turning in their mother’s lap, aged people too became cranky and almost everyone started cursing their luck!!!

For us, it was the beginning of the most memorable journey!! In my whole life, I never had anything in the morning without brushing my teeth and hence I need to that at the earliest so that I could taste all the dishes that were being served at the station. The aroma of morning tea and the smell of batata vada… were tempting me to the core.

And what the hell…no water in the train???? Goodness gracious… what am I gonna do???? Eat everything without brushing??? Yuckss...Can’t even imagine!!!! I was frantically thinking for options as to whether I should use up the drinking water from the bottle or try and search for options on the station… when suddenly one of my frnd came running from somewhere, he was panting so hard that I couldn’t hear a word what he was talking about... and in a moment he blurted out… “There is waterfall on the station!!!”  Waterfall??? Wow…!!! It was not one of those waterfalls that flowed all the year round but instead it was one of those kinds which rain gods created ever year. And we all decided collectively that we will brush our teeth at the waterfall…after all what is a trip worth without some wildness???

The waterfall wasn’t all that tiny … it was flowing with enormous speed and with enormous amounts of gushing water!!! It got created, as the station was built between two hillocks allowing the waters to rush through.  I had never imagined even in my wildest dream that someday I would brush my teeth at the waterfall and above all at a railways station waterfall!!! This trip was surely heading somewhere!!!!

Finally 4 hours after the scheduled time... Our train reached Madgaon... we all gave a sigh of relief!!! We hired a Dukar Rickshaw (cab that resembles a pig structurally and which can take in 10-12 people at a time) at the station that took us to Colva Resort- a huge and artistic old villa styled resort located on the Colva beach. It was a fabulous resort with private swimming pool and Jacuzzi but what attracted us there was the gigantic expanse of beach which we could see from our rooms. In spite of being so well placed and most sort after resort we got rooms for pretty cheaper rates since it was off-season in Goa.

The colva beach was so pristine and blue that, it made me to rejoice with joy on seeing the clear reflection of sky in its waters. We stayed at colva for precisely 2 days...wherein we hired Toyota Qualis so that we could roam around cities on our own. Our first day was very very good…we all spent our whole day on colva tasting all types of fish curries, fish vindaloo, egg preparations and sipping in the famous goan fenny(locally made alcohol). We bought cheap eye glares and posed for long photo shoots making merry and spoof of each other. At around 7 in the evening one of my frnd started digging the sand and building castles, within no time everyone joined him and a huge castle was ready with its secret water duct that went underneath it..!!! When we finally finished it was almost 11.30 and all of us retired for the day!!!

The next day was a day full of activity. We drove our Qualis 60 kms north of Goa to Calangute which is adorned with five sister beaches, a great chapel, few night clubs, a mighty fort with a lighthouse and most scenic hilly beach called Wagator!!!! Yes u heard it right… “Hilly beach”!!! It is situated at the base of three intersecting hills and to reach the beach you need to trek down the hill. It is one of its kinds!! We were totally tired after trekking down and trekking up the hill. After returning from our escapade, al we could think of was a nice aromic cuppa of tea … I opened my purse to pay for it and realized that there was no money in it… I thought … that I must have kept all the heavy denomination currency notes at the hotel room in my bag and that I must have forgotten to take it with me!!! My frnd Rhea offered to pay … to her disbelief even she found no money in her purse…and slowly the realization hit us that we have been robbed and that all our purses are empty!!! Let’s travel some time back little 5 hours before the aforementioned realization that struck us-

Naina: “hey are we taking our purses??”

Rhea: “girls how r u gonna climb the hill top with all those purses???”

Ashwin: “see there... That’s the DCH point!! Where Dil chahta hai (DCH) movie was shot, we need to climb down this hill and go to that hill through the sea shore”

Rhea: “well then let’s keep the purses in the car; anyways we are going to lock the car!!!”

The thieves broke open the car window and took all the money and cards from our purses and left. We were robbed of good 7500 bucks!! We still had one more day to stay at Calangute before returning to Madgaon where our bags were!!! At Calangute, we crammed ourselves in cheap hotel rooms which were nothing short of castles straight out of scary ghost movies... the doors screeched every now and then, the alley that led us to our rooms was forever darkened and more over we were the only people staying at that hotel!!! Phew!!! When we headed out in the night for dinner, we were informed that all hotels are closed due to some fight that erupted among locals and city police. Somehow we managed to find a small shack that was selling “Chineesee Punjabi dishes in American style” , I am really sorry to torture you this way but that indeed was the tagline of that hotel !!! And we ate there!!!

We came back the next day to our hotel room at colva and returned back the car so that we could get our deposits back… and settled for something less fancier and more economical like bike instead!!! The rest of the day went in calculating the finances that we r going to pull in, to manage staying there. We gave up 2 hotel rooms out of 4 and crammed ourselves in 2 hotel rooms to further reduce our expenses!!! We Indians are so good at cost cutting!!!

Next day we hopped on our bikes and headed down south to Palolem beach called the paradise beach of Goa!!! It has more number of foreigners than Indians which was one of the main reasons that all the boys in our gang shouted out in unison and voted for Palolem, when we were contemplating to visit either of Palolem or old Goa the next day. It was indeed paradise beach with small backwater 1 km away wherein one could easily see dolphins playing. As we had ridded almost 100 kms on bikes to reach Palolem it was only sensible to stay there that night and leave for Madgaon the next morning!!! We took rooms in a cheap lodge and stayed put at that Palolem laughing and pulling each other’s legs the whole night!!! In process, we started late from Palolem back to Madgaon…Did I tell you we had train to catch for Mumbai at 12 noon from Madgaon and it was already 9.30 in the morning when we  started!!!  Well… then it gets more creepier from here…!!!We had to reach colva, handover the bikes then reach Madgaon station and catch the train!!! We all started riding the bikes very fast, even speeding off at the turns and dhummm..dhishh..dhum dhadd…we had the expected!!! An accident!!! Hoooo….!!! We Reached late… fought with guys over money and scratched bikes due to accident and missed train!!!!

I said right... this trip was sure heading somewhere!!!

Left with meager amounts of money we were really worried as to how are we going to manage everything!!! We had bruised friends who needed doctor; we needed hotel rooms for one more night…and above all we need to book fresh return tickets!!!!

Never in my life had I felt so poor and helpless!!! One of my frnd got some money from one of his frnd back in Mumbai through internet money transfer and we withdrew that in Madgaon… for our survival!!! We ate egg omelets for dinner that night and ate only 5 rupees batata vada as our lunch while travelling in train back!!!And the lectures and music that we had to hear from our parents is something I would not like to talk about!!!

This trip finally ended with us being brutally tested in each department!!! We fought, we cried, we joked, we laughed, we enjoyed, we suffered, we partied, we lived and finally we survived!!! I really dunno the definition of  ‘amazing trip ‘ but we sure had an extraordinary  trip to Goa wherein we had a frnd who literally went knocking at the God’s doorstep to request him to allow us to reach home safely , and also a total carefree frnd who started caring for money, belongings and people!!! It’s nostalgic whenever we frnds meet up and talk abt this trip... but it surely is one trip which is etched into our minds like it happened yesterday!!!!

 (wud post my goa pics here soon....)