The Bentota Days - Day 2

Day 2 began with the promise of a good breakfast spread followed by a walk to the beach and for me, one of the rare occasions of getting into the water. 

So after breakfast we made our way to ther beachside, read our books for a bit (Naresh is reading Corbetts Omnibus while I am reading The Comfort Crisis). Inspired by the call to get out of my comfort zone I dipped in the sea for a bit and then headed along the beach barefoot to locate the end of the beach ala Columbus.

This beach has the softest sand I have ever walked on - it's like a carpet most times. One of the local boat men came and told me that he would offer a boat ride, and that the sea is rough and there is a dangerous dip behind Naresh because this is where the river meets the sea. I told him we'll think about the boat ride later and walked on. 

Further down, maybe 500 metres or so, shacks started to show up, small ones unlike the Goan ones, stores that sell beach wear, one offering a massage. And all along there were resorts each opening into the ocean.

 At one point the beach narrowed into a small concrete path and I followed that. There was a man fishing and he told me it was high tide at this time and if I wanted to swim (I did not) I could get into the little lagoon ahead. 

There was a smaller beach with an artificial lagoon created by some kind of a wave breaking concrete structure. One guy was fishing from it. I saw one surfing school with two lean, hippie type forty year olds manning it.

 Beyond that beach was another concrete path that went around a bend. The sand grew rough with coral here. A small island with lighthouse showed up. I walked on till then path began getting merged with private properties and headed back.

Naresh was out and reading his book and I joined him and in a while it started drizzling and we headed into the pool bar. The rain increased, pelting down, the sea churned, the beer cold, Backstreet Boys singing their hits, an old friend to share the moment - could not have been better. We spent a magical 2 hours, talking about all sorts of things and then headed in for lunch. 

Post lunch the rain abated a bit and we worked off the days exertions with a nap. Since the sky cleared in the evening we headed out for a walk. 

The sunset was stunning. 

On the way back we stopped at a bar right on the beachside and had a drink and chatted some more, continued that into our sports bar Champs in Eden, had a solid dinner and then retired.

A perfect day.

The Bentota Diaries - Day 1

So Naresh offered me a trip to Sri Lanka to celebrate a breakthrough and I said yes. We took off from his house at 830 am, got to the Shamshabad airport by 930, did the immigration, security and all that and went into the lounge where he has some privileges. We decided to indulge ourselves with a beer to set things off. Flight was at 12.

It's a 2 hour flight to Colombo and the captain pointed to the Ram Setu which we could see. Some people in the back got excited and shouted Jai Shri Ram. Anyways flight landed around 2. Our driver Mendis was around with a placard and two small garlands with orchids.

Then we took off towards Bentota town which is by the sea, 65 kms from Colombo and a two hour drive almost. Stopped for lunch at Sashas and then headed off. Reached Bentota by 5ish and checked into Hotel Eden Beruwala which was quite nice. A massive swimming pool, direct access to the beach and a stunning sunset. Naresh swam a bit while I walked along the beach before it started to pour.

We headed to the sports bar and had a beer, listened to music and watched the rain pelt down for two hours. Then we headed off for a lovely dinner - a really good spread.

The place is full of foreigners, just the opposite of Goa. The locals are sweet and gentle. 

Hoping to explore more of the beach tomorrow and perhaps the Buddhist temple in town. 

So far so good. Way better than expectations.

Victory Song - Chitra Banerjee Divakurani

I find this slim children's book in Anjali's shelf and have been planning to read it for a while. Mainly because A's book shelf always always more interesting and then it is a Divakarani book. And it's slim.

It's 1939. The story is set in Shonu Gram in a farmer's house. Preparations are on for the marriage of his eldest daughter. The younger daughter Neela is the rebellious one. At the wedding feast a bunch of freedom fighters show up and ask the congregation to give up something for the cause. Encouraged by a baoul (who also teaches Neela how to sing 'Vande Mataram') the guests give up money and jewellery. Neela gives away her gold chain.

Neela's father leaves home to join the freedom movement and goes to Calcutta. One of the freedom fighters, a 16 year old called Samar, comes to hide at Neela's house after being injured. Neela goes to Calcutta to search for her father. With the help of Samar and other freedom fighters, she finds her injured father and has to somehow get home while escaping the police who are looking for them. Will she or won't she? Will she and Samar meet? And marry? 

It's a children's book so they make it home. She sings Vande Mataram as Samar leaves and he says he will come back. I'm sure that's good enough for a child to sleep happily at night. 

Can't believe I picked a book which has a theme of Vande Mataram at a time when there's so much discussion going on about it. Can't also believe that there's so much discussion going on between people who probably can use their time better in building the nation.

Anjali - Orpheus Wins Third Prize at IIT, Delhi Fest

Miranda House Acapella troupe Orpheus won the third prize at the IIT, Delhi Festival. Good start. 

Let Go - Daisuke Yosumi

This book gives 50 lessons from Japanese minimalism. Yosumi was a successful music producer who worked with some of the biggest names before giving it all up to live near a lake in New Zealand, fishing and growing his own food, while writing bestsellers. His idea is that life gets richer by letting go and that one can experience freedom of letting go instead of the pain of loss. 

Yosumi gives out his principles in various areas such a 'Money and Belongings' to start with. He talks of the importance of clearing things now instead of postponing, letting go of what we're not using, not stocking up and using only what we need, being generous, stop making small unnecessary purchases, stop impulse shopping, buying exactly what you need, not buying to impress, choosing your own lifestyle, buying clothes you'll like. 

In 'Work' he advocates letting go of work one is not good at, multi tasking, do what you love, trust your intuition and not follow majority, eat even hungry and not stick to routine, let Go of assumptions, do what feels right, start and keep going instead of procrastinating, instead of balancing do one thing no one can do.

In 'Health' he advocates sleeping early, going to sleep when you feel hungry, not to overeat, making each day your best day, embrace each moment, be alone, create instead of feeling judged, use words that empower, slow down, you do better when you enjoy the process, learn what matters, look within and be silent. 

In 'Relationships' let Go of networks, make plans you wouldn't miss for anything instead of being available all the time, leave comfort zones and letting go of the past, do new stuff instead of taking the usual holidays, express yourself freely, call only the people you love most instead of everyone, give in to tradition and greet people, be well mannered, polite, shut yourself from the phone, tell people you'll contact them instead of them contacting you, compete with yourself, don't defend - take responsibility, apologise whole heartedly, don't hold yourself back, make mistakes. 

In 'Lifestyle' he says, let Go of fear of lack, take less stuff, go to places that spark joy, choose few or just one, don't fear being foolish and do what you love, stop being online, feel free to run away and do stuff that matters to you.

In 'Company Loyalty' he says, find ways to be useful to the world not just the company, never let Go of your dreams, don't leave your freedom, don't get stuck in past successes, stay present. He says we must work in freedom, protect our true selves, and bring our most important dream to life. 

I liked all his ideas. Things I'll take to practice is the stuff about tradition (greeting, being polite etc), getting rid of unnecessary stuff, do what you love and cut out all the rest, let Go of the past and be present. I can see many things falling off which means there will be space for the new.

Yosumi for example does not write articles, he focuses only on his books. And they become bestsellers. 

The Goa Diaries - Day 5

Today is the day when we have decided to head back to Hyderabad so I decided on a shorter walk. Headed right towards Baga beach and found a whole bunch of people on the beach. One thing you notice now is that there are hardly any foreigners - it's Indians all over. Getting off buses, cars, scooters, wearing clothes they would never wear elsewhere, holding beers etc, cameras, video stands and what not. 

Watermelon juice and some random thoughts on paper

On the beach there were families, couples, groups of boys and men, loners. As I walked I found pieces of glass from broken beer bottles and started collecting them in a plastic bag. Next time on I think I'll carry a bag and pick up garbage - that should make for good exercise. 

Back at Pine Tree I ordered a water melon juice to drink as they ran out of those big fat sweet coconuts, read a bit, wrote a bit and waited until Vidyuth arrived. We skipped breakfast, packed some sandwiches and headed back to our place, freshened up and started back on the drive back home at around 11ish. 

I realised that it's been five days without TV, without tea or coffee, maybe a few more things that I normally do otherwise. The road was lined with a convoy of cars heading back after a holiday in Goa. The weather was good. On the way we saw a bunch of boys trying to stuff liquor bottles into some empty space in the spare tyre. Then the ghat road before which we saw a most extraordinary sight - four auto rickshaws, brightly colored, with one foreigner lady driving it and one foreigner lady in the passenger seat. All four zipped past us in the direction of Goa. These foreigners sure are fun. How do they think of these things.

At Amboli we stopped for an idli and then hopped on again. The road was bad until we hit the NH 166 after which is was smooth sailing till Sholapur. 

Good fun. Until next time.

The Goa Diaries - Day 4

Started the day with another barefoot walk which I am totally loving, this time towards Fort Aguada. The crowd had really picked up being a long weekend and the beaches were full of brightly coloured clothes, reel makers, bathers etc. One interesting thing about reels is that the girls come out fully clothed in heavy evening or formal clothes which looks a little odd on the beach. But it probably looks right in the reel because they walk off into the water with their formal clothes! 

Closing in on Fort Aguada

I weaved my way past all these people through Candolim beach, Sinquerim and on and on till I reached the Fort Aguada wall. It took me a whole hour one way. Then the slow trek back. After a two hour walk, settled down at Pine Tree and got Satya (he is Gopal's nephew) to bring me a nice coconut. Read a bit, wrote a bit, ate breakfast and waited for Vidyuth to arrive. 

La Fountainhas or the Latin Quarter

Lovely houses

For a while the pendulum swung towards Anjuna beach but Vidyuth finally decided that we will go to Panjim and check out the Latin Quarter or Fontainhas, which is the oldest Latin Quarter in India. It's in good shape and brightly coloured thanks to a law that says all houses must be painted every year after monsoon. 

A bit like Ramoji Film City - only real

Any bright coloured background attracts reel makers and content creators and the streets were full of tourists like us posing and taking pics and videos. It looked like a set out of Ramoji Studio. 

Dramatic

Beautiful cafes - good to hop

The place has beautiful Portuguese houses, little cafes, bars, and is just a pleasure to walk around. The number of tourists and their photographs have managed to irritate the locals and there are many boards saying photography is prohibited. One board even explained that it was due to the rude and argumentative behavior of the photo takers who seemed to be believe that it is their right to take pics and videos that has forced them to put up these notices. I would have too if I was living there. Or at least I would have charged a tax to enter that Quarter which would go to the owners living there for the trouble they go through. 

Reels and pictures - signs of No Photographs

Heritage well

I read somewhere that there was a residence of Vasco da Gama somewhere there. That man seems to be everywhere - did I not see a tomb of his at Fort Kochi last year, a statue of his on the Arch of Viceroys. It definitely needs a half day walk, with frequent stops at various bars and cafes. 

Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Panjim

From there we headed to Dona Paula where I wanted a couple of pictures related to my great romantic novel 'If You Love Someone...'. Much of the story is set around Dona Paula. We parked near Sandalwood hotel and I walked down to the beach behind the hotel where I got some pictures - pure nostalgia. Great memories. It's a novel close to my heart and if I write a sequel I need better research than I did the first time.

Dona Paula beach - a setting in 'If You Love Someone...'

Then a long drive back to Pine Tree shack listening to some great 80s music. I headed out to the beach to catch the sunset and just about did. Was a lovely sight.  I sat looking out at the sea when Satya came and asked if I wanted a beer - he has this knack of asking at just the right moment. I think I must have had 3-4 beers extra only because of him. 

Sunset at Calangute

People's 

And then Vidyuth joined me up and we sat and chatted. A nice evening under the stars. Towards the end we saw Gopal heading back with a half used hookah and Vidyuth asked him if I could try it since I had expressed a desire to puff at one because I never had. Gopal got me a filter and I smoked in a bit of some apple flavoured stuff. Another out of comfort zone stuff.

At an appropriate time when the world seemed to have retired we headed back to our nest and crashed out.