I think I've been somewhere out of the city, at least ten out of the twelve months.
- A very brief visit to Chennai in January.
- A vacation in Yercaud with family. While returning, we stopped at Salem, and made a brief visit to Namakkal as well. I'd eaten lightly at Yercaud, as we'd be climbing down the mountain, and was quite hungry by the time we reached Salem for lunch. And we went to this place where we had unlimited meals. Now, what's the point of having unlimited meals if you're going to have just one spoonful of rice, I ask. To do justice to the food, I continued to have my fill even as people waited for me to finish, so they could eat. I finally did finish my lunch and come out. My brother's first question to me was, “You said the car-ride would make you nauseous. Is this what is called nauseous?” And then he said that I'd been eating as if I'd not eaten in the past few years. He called it the 'meal of my life”. Even now, he asks me if anything could compare to the 'Salem saapaadu', in my opinion.
- My friend's sister got married in May, and I had an awesome trip there with some other friends. The onward train journey was comfortable enough for me, given that I took up the seat I'd reserved. Plus, I had my sandwiches and my music. I can't say the same about my friends, though. When I took a walk through the compartment, I found them sitting at the edge of the seat, in Swades Sharh Rukh style:) (One of my friends knew for certain then that I was crazy, as no sane person would go for a “walk” through a place so crammed with people that you can't lift your foot and put it down without hitting at least three people in the process!). Then there was the taxi ride to our accomodation, followed by, what else, but a good dinner. It was fun walking back late at night, and cracking jokes. The chronicles of courage-part 1 also happened there. I had a good time during the trip, right till the food at the Sec'bad station and coming home to a good cold bath and a hot lunch! :P
- Then there was the Chennai-Bangalore trip, which by now seems to have become an annual affair :) For a change, I did a lot of walking during my time in Chennai. I visited the museum at Egmore. (I asked someone near the museum, “Museum yenga irukku?”, and he told me “Go further on this road, and you'll be able to see the buildings to your right”. In English. When I asked him in Tamil (or Tanglish, to be more precise)!!!) I finally got to take a look at the Connemara library. I then had lunch at Ashoka hotel, as per my brother's instructions. And I had fun eating by myself. The waiter at my table also spoke to me in English. Even when I spoke to him in Tamil. All this just because I was wearing jeans? & my shoes. (Don't even ask me about them. They're white. And Pink. P-i-n-k!!! There were no blue ones in the model I wanted, and there were these awesome black&green shoes that I kept staring at, till the shopkeeper told me they were men's shoes. Why do men get such great options, while I'm stuck with pink???) I also went to Mahabalipuram with a friend. (And had awesome ghee roast at the Adyar Hot Chips near IIT :P)
- October found me taking a very short weekend trip to Mumbai. October being a very good month, especially one particular day in the second half of the month, it was also the occasion where my brother's marriage got fixed. :)
- November found me making the next trip to Mumbai for the engagement. I also got to experience the Mumbai local trains I'd read and heard so much about (in fact, we even took the first train starting at 4:00 a.m.!), visited the Gatrway of India, Marine Drive and had a quick ride around, as there was not much time left. - One thing that left an inedible mark on my memory was the idli fry I had :D
It's now December. The year is coming to an end. I have my next trip planned. And am keeping my fingers crossed and praying that all goes well.
Talking of all this, I must definitely make a mention of PM, whose love for travel is making me do my bit towards realizing my own travel dreams. Thanks, PM. :) Maybe I'll do a post about it some other time. Meanwhile, you can learn about his travels here. I think I should just mention that PM will soon be visitng Egypt, one of my dream destinations. There. A line about one of my dreams, just to justify the title of the post. Will do a longer post on my dreams some other time.
And I don't know if you've noticed it, but Food is one of the biggest loves of my life. That's why there seem to be so many food details in this post.
Until the next post!
Bon appetit, folks :)
* - This is the result of listening to “Enter Sandman” as a bedtime song :)
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