Mundane Musings

On our way to Radhanagar Beach Radhanagar beach lived up to its reputation of being named the Best Beach in Asia in 2004 by Time magazine. The fierce afternoon sun glinted off the blue water, making me squint in spite of my shades. The sand though powdery and soft, was hot on the feet. So S came up with a brilliant plan. He had seen a path going off parallel to the beach and wanted to investigate it. He thought it would lead to Barefoot Scuba resort’s rich sister: Barefoot at Havelock resort. He was right. But that’s for later. The parallel path The small woods beyond the path I was happy to follow S, and boy was I rewarded. The path led to a woods that had such tall trees that it seemed to have been there from time immemorial. I simply couldn’t understand how such tall trees could exist so close to the shore. It’s quite a sight and it gives us a feeling of how insignificant we are. We spent a couple of happy hours hugging these huge trees with a girth tha...

I had ended my last entry looking forward to the kayak trip. And boy, was I not disappointed. I liked it a lot. It was my first experience rowing the kayak. After some deliberation S and I thought we’d go for the single kayak trip with the guide. Here the guide comes in a separate kayak and each one of us rows their own.  I didn’t realize the enormity of this decision till we pulled our kayaks to a small beach. The sea looked so big and dangerous. The swell and fall of the waves made me a bit nervous. This is how far we kayaked  Another couple had joined us on this trip. So, the five of us set off with warning from our guide to take a wide berth, as the corals ran along the coast. And just like that we were bobbing along in the sea. I didn’t confess it to anybody at first, but the slight fear of a crocodile which was spotted in one of the marshes got me rowing along quite competently. The barrier between me and the water (i.e. the crocodile), was the flimsy plastic ...

Just got back after watching Agent Vinod . Thought I’d pen  my thoughts before I forget them. First of all I went to see the movie because I couldn’t resist letting a Saif starrer go by. Secondly, I had heard rave reviews of Johnny Gaddar, directed by Sriram Raghavan which I had missed. This time I was not going to miss a movie of his that could perhaps be another gem. But then I happened to read the reviews and I almost lost my nerve. Was it that bad?? They have literally written it off. Now my friends, I have sat through the entire movie and I have survived to write my views about it. Not that it is worth a penny but then hey, with all these people writing such negative stuff, I thought perhaps a person who thinks like me would probably lose his/her nerve to watch the movie. So fret not folks, I am here to set right some undeserved criticism. I kinda liked the movie. Yeah...so shoot me. Things I liked: The retro feel of the credits – lollipop pi...

Havelock's play of colours  Have you ever wondered about the different blues of an ocean? Felt the absolute silence before the next wave hit the shore? Felt the fine sand slipping through your fingers almost as if time was slipping off? Wondered how beautifully blue, green and cream colour merge? Well I didn’t. Till I found myself in Havelock. The journey to Havelock started off on an inauspicious note. We had a bit of a communication problem with the guy who was to pick us up from the hotel. It delayed our departure to the jetty which was well…five  minutes away.  So without feeling too bad, we sat back and chatted  up Shiva, our driver, who seemed to have perfected the cool look with his slipping-off-the-butt jeans, earrings, goatee and sunglasses. He seemed to know Telugu along with Hindi, as was the case with many other cab drivers here. He shyly disclosed in Telugu that ‘tourists liked hearing Hindi’. From the Phoenix Jetty we took our fast catam...

You could go to Andaman with myriad plans and still feel like you've done nothing at all. The place can deceive you into feeling just that despite your muscles protesting after all those water activities. Activities  centered around the water, is a serious  occupation for the islanders. Be it deep sea fishing or scuba diving or island hopping or snorkelling/ kayaking or sun bathing or lazing around the beautiful beaches' (oh yeah, that sure is one pleasurable 'water' activity). Port Blair Why we went - This trip was sort of a pending honeymoon for S and I. And since we both love nature and love to laze about, Andaman seemed like a good destination. When we went - We planned our trip for February, which was supposedly the end of the tourist season. The climate was bright and sunny, just right for the snorkeling and kayaking plans we made. How we went - We had booked a Kingfisher flight to Port Blair from Chennai. It was a non-stop flight, with a tired loo...