A fairy tale vacation

After a tiring 3 day tour at Neyveli, it was now time for our annual retreat - Bangalore. B left to Hyderabad after two days leaving us back to enjoy our break.

One whole month at my parent's home was nothing short of magical - pure leisure. No morning hurry, no monday morning blues, no bills to be paid,no glancing head lines, no dead lines, no early morning school bus.

Life was in a gentle pace. I woke up leisurely (would be up by 7), had the pleasure of drinking morning tea slowly, had a brisk walk in the wooded and landscaped 9th main park without worrying about my daily menu, read most parts of 'The Hindu', 'Dinamani' and sometimes 'Bangalore Mirror'. Simple pockets of joy like these were aplenty without costing me a fortune and this is my idea of an holiday.

This kind of life is possible only during holidays outside your own home. I'm sure if many led their lives like these today, the doctors treating lifestyle diseases would be out of business.

The children too had their share of joy and fun. Shre, Shar and Janu( my 7 year old smart niece from Hosur) spent their time enjoying the company of their grand parents listening to stories of their childhood, playing cards,chess and chowka barah( dayam). They learnt simple cooking, helped their grandparents, read books from BOOKMARK Library, drew, painted and relished the good food made by their grandparents (my appa and amma are great cooks).

The trio creatively staged a mock fashion show which was crafted and choreographed by Shre, anchored by Shar and the ramp walker was the cutie Janavi. The threesome provided cutlets and nimboo juice made by them as refreshment during the show. All their creative work was possible because of the restricted TV time. Thanks to BESCOM( Bangalore electricity board) for their frequent unscheduled power cuts.

Inspite of the power cuts, we did'nt feel the heat and sweat at 34 deg ,( our body was seasoned to the 43-44 deg of Hyderabad) although appa and amma used their hand held palm fans for fanning.

Outings were few but enjoyable and memorable.

Children were not very keen on Lalbagh, Cubbon park / museum as they had already seen in their previous visits. Even the workshops at the leisure stores which we visit regularly had nothing new to offer( last time we attended Rob's(pogo fame) workshop at forum mall). But they enjoyed and forged good bonds with my aunts, uncles and cousins when they came over or when we visited them.The kids specially enjoyed the company of 16 month old Sanyuth, my cousin's son.
We missed going to the newly opened 8000sft children's book mall which was closer home.( we did not know its exact location)

We (I and my sister) relived our childhood memories with our childhood friends, who had also come down on vacation with their kids.

We also has some spiritual and divine moments at ISKCON, which we visit every year. The kids preferred to walk through the Hari Nam Dwar here. The hari dwar has 108 slabs of Granite measuring 2x2 feet. As you step on each slab you have to chant 'the hare krsna hare ram' mantra. This way, you chant 108 times and ascend the steps and reach the temple top. Had a nice experience watching 'Krishna and Poothana story' at the mini theatre in the temple.

We also visited the new TTD devasthanam at Vyalikaval( was inaugurated on May23) and our regular Sai Baba temple at Malleswaram.

The experience of Rasalok (still theatre) at Bimba- the art hut( near Gandhi bazaar) was simply extraordinary. It was a combo of divinity,art and culture. ( will blog about it later).

Also had very precious and memorable time at my sister's place in Hosur.

Hosur times to follow.