Jane of the jungle

A lot happened last month!
Got married! Managed not look like a piglet (the workouts paid off) and got to spend one whole week with my R in the wilderness for our honeymoon.
The first 2 days were spent at Edakkal, Wayanad. A night in a tree house was a new experience and the view from the window in the morning was breathtaking. Blue mountains far away with cloud topped peaks were really a sight to behold.
A visit to Edakkal caves and a walk up the mountains followed by a scrumpilicious breakfast was the best part of the day!
Another 2 days were spent at Kabini near Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka. Now this area is known for its wildlife esp the birds.

Birds - of so many colors, species. More than 300 species! The number of spotted deer that we kept bumping into was mindboggling. We also bumped into a stray young tusker who seemed to have wandered away from his herd.
The most disappointing thing was the sheer number of people who were there at the resort and who seemed to have come there just because it is the in-thing to do. Children, noise, firecrackers - that was really a downer.
The rest of the 3 days were spent at Masinagudi. A quiet retreat located at the foothills of the Nilgiris, this is a paradise and a perfect getaway for nature lovers. The highlight of the stay there was the 2 hour trek through the jungle. Though we did not get to meet any leopards or tigers, the whole trek was amazing. We did bump into herds of spotted deer (again!). Totally relaxing and totally lost to the realities of the big bad world, it was an awesome experience. Definitely game for more (no pun intended)

Tarzan & Jane ;)

Mistress of Spices

Yesterday I took a well deserved break from work and set out to enjoy the day and relax at home.
Happened to watch one of Aishwarya Rai's movie called Mistress of Spices. Now, am no big fan of Ms Rai (in fact I think she is too cold and doll like), but this was one really nice movie. Of the same genre as Chocolat, the story seems like an Indianised version of the same. Not that am complaining.
I loved Chocolat. The chocolate, the magic and Johnny Depp were too yummy...mmm!!!!
Ok ok - back to what I was talking about. The story is about this lady who has this gift to read people and help them with their problems. The medium - spices!!! Who would have thought that our ordinary pepper, ginger and garlic had healing powers or magic in them? The story unfolds in San Fransico and you meet so many characters you can relate to. The Indian girl who has an American boyfriend, the grandpa who cannot tolerate this, the struggling taxi driver and so on.
It is a well directed movie with a nice feel good theme (though I wouldn't credit it with originality)
So, after getting inspiration from this movie, the one thing I did last evening - cooked a damn good (ahem ahem!) gobi masala curry.....

Rackets

Not the noise kind. Badminton kind!
Last Saturday, after a gap of 12 - 14 years, I managed to lay my hands on one of them and the game began.
And Yes!!!! I managed to win one game...... :D
Ok - I admit am not in the best of physical shape or anything and even though the game was played inside the house, it felt good to deliver those backhands and smashes.
Remembered those evening when my sis, my cousins and friends and I used to get out of the house by around 4 in the evening and how we used to play our guts out on the road in front of my house. Every day till around 7 or till it got too dark to actually see the shuttlecock.
Never used to feel tired. What a marvellous time we used to have.......