Mumbai re-visited, and completed!!

Hi all,

I am back to my nomadic ways. This time, I re-visited the last place yet again, Mumbai, the land of opportunities, and film stars, and a lot of unnecessary traffic!!

Well, I had actually gone there for certain task that I had on hand. I started from Pune on 21st of November, 2009, took the Intercity Express to Dadar. Had a change of trains, and moved to the western lines there. Mann, the brightly lit local trains, all seemingly brand new are always a treat to the eyes. And now I know why they say in Mumbai, you spend one-third of your lifetime in local trains. They commute via this mode as easily and as frequently as we take an auto to go to our favorite hangout joint. Can you believe that?? Well, I now do, as I was part of that frenzied life for a day myself. In my short 36 hours journey to Mumbai, I was on the train for about 10 hours, going to and fro all around Mumbai. But I think I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start the boring account of the event in chronological order.

I had planned to stay at my college roommate's house. They have been given a great house in Kandivali at Thakur Village. The place is really good, and we counted 9 Honda City cars from the entry gate to the entrance of his building itself!! I hope that says a lot about the kind of money that goes around in this city.

Well, the day I reached, it was quite late, and I had some work the next day too. So I fropped off to sleep without much ado. But next day, we covered and covered good. In fact, I think we went to so many places only on the 2nd half of that day, which many have not even visited in a complete weekend's time.

We started off with a visit to the Oberoi mall at Ville Parle. Well, I was promised with a lot of hot girls as a treat to my eyes!! Spoiler alert, all my hopes were dashed!!! But let me not get ahead of myself... The mall was a good one, with a lot of shops we had no interest in. So we went ahead to the food court. Well, it was almost 4, and neither of us had lunch. So we gorged on chunks of meat from KFC, including a Zinger treat, and dessert!! We had a good time, finally getting time to talk with each other since I reached Mumbai. Yeah, it must be sounding weird, but even old roommates need time to get themselves free for each other, and chat. Sorry to admit, but it's as easy to understand as the cycle of life!! Anyways, after a hearty meal, and with a mind completely in the party mood, we started on our journey of Mumbai.

Next on the agenda was a landmark that I missed out on my Mumbai darshan first part trip, Juhu Beach. We reached there partly by a local train, and then by auto. Let me tell you the feeling that I had the moment I reached there. I truly once again realised what the phrase "sea of humanity" signifies.. I thought the whole of Mumbai was there on that particular sunday. Later, I realised that everywhere in Mumbai, the sea of humanity is spread evenly. It's not the sea of humanity, but more like an ocean, endless but without the tranquility factor, of course. Anyways, we reached the Juhu beach finally after succeeding in evading the hawkers sprawled at the entrance of the beach. And well, the crowd was all there, trying to have the time of their lives, whatever they could scrap out of the busy week that they just had experienced or what lay ahead!! We sat here for some time. Over us, flights kept going out of the mumbai airport. We debated whether they were domestic or international flights, and Jit, after some complex calculations which is only possible by an IIM-brain deduced it must be coming out of the domestic terminal. But we counted about 17 flights in a matter of 40 minutes. I do not know how we can really hope to explain that, as, at that rate, there must be about 500 flights out of Mumbai every day, a feat I am sure is only in the dream books of Mumbai authorities!!

Anyways, it was getting a bit dark, and we had a lot on our agenda to cover that day. So we got up and headed again for the local train station. Next was the phoenix mall. Again, it was the same mall culture, but one which promised a lot of traffic of the fairer sex. Well, here came the biggest disappointment of all. It seems as if the all-hot mumbai girls community knew from beforehand that Jit would be roaming the streets on that night, and so, they preferred to stay indoors! Well, after checking out another mall, it was finally the time for the grand stuff.

We got out of the mall, and walked all our way to the Marine Drive!! Last time I was here, it was in the morning, and sweltering heat!! So missed out all the good stuff then. Now I realize why this place is the most royal of all places in and around Mumbai. The queen's necklace is too grand a sight for any earthly eyes! We walked the whole of marine drive end to end, ending at Nariman Point. We sat for a little while there, and then headed back, the fourth dimension controlling us by it's rotating joystick!

We walked up to the Gateway of India. It was a pleasant walk, and quiet peaceful too. After a short walk around the Gateway, we went for satisfying the grumbling mid-section at a well-known roadside eatery called the Bade-Miyan. Kebabs are supposed to be the famous speciality out here. We had that, and more. After a hasty dinner, we took off to a nearby pub, which due to some recent unfortunate events, acquired huge recognition. The pub was none other than the Leopold Cafe, which due to 26/11, the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008, had gone to phenomenal heights. Well, terror-tourism have also been a huge attraction in this city, it seems. The place was full to capacity when we reached!! We had to wait about half an hour to get a table, partly, due to the huge crowd that all seemed to converge there, and mostly, due to the captain there who were intent upon having us share a table with a weeping sardar guy who clearly came to drown his sorrow in the beer bottles!!! Anyways, finally, the captain seemed to find a table for us. Having seated, and after ordering a pitcher of beer, which looked interesting in itself, we looked around. Right beside us, we had a broken window with a bullet hole!! The thing about this place is, it has never tried to repair itself after the attack. In fact, it has intentionally preserved all the signs of the attack, and we realized why very soon. Since it was just 4 days before the anniversary of the attack, reporters kept pouring in for news bytes of this place. And the headwaiter took it upon himself to re-live the moments of almost a year ago, which killed even 4 of the waiters and a few guests that night. He showed each of the bullet holes, and affected areas second by second to the reporter, and we listened in awe of the night that was.

Well, that brought us to the end of a cheerful day, one after many days in my life. We got on the local train for our way back at about 1:30, and got back to his home at about 2:00 in the night. That brought us to the end of my Mumbai Darshan final part!! Finally, I got to say that I have covered the economic capital of India. Looking forward to come back sometime soon again ....

Sadly, the only snaps we took in this three-quarter day tour of Mumbai, are these. But since this is one of the high-points of the trip, it clearly brings out the spirit, and to end this blog with a PJ, the note on which we ended the day is clearly symbolised by the level of beer in the cylinders in the pics. Hopefully, you understand what I mean ... :)

MUMBAI DARSHAN --- A sudden plan turning out to be quite a trip!

Hi all,

I am again back to report the next big advenure we had recently!! Well, the adventure was not really applicable if you are looking for any hardcore action, gunfights, or a police car chase!! The adventure word simply implies the daring decision we took to make a trip of Mumbai, a city where the humidity kills a lot, and leaves the rest for pollution to take over!! That too, in a non-ac tempo traveller!! Well, trust me on this, it was a decision that was nothing less of a Mission Impossible statement, especially since the journey was to be done in the hottest month of June, and that too, before there was any showers to cool the temperature even for a bit.

Anyways, to cut down to the chase, here we were, a bunch of IT guys(and girls), trying to have some kind of break from the monotony of our daily lives, and making the best out of the situation.

The trip started at about 7'o clock in the morning on the 6th of June, 2009, after the usual hour of delay. The trip started with high spirits, and a lot of gusto! The car was nothing fancy, but was comfortable enough.

By 10a.m., we had reached Mumbai suburbs, and there itself, we got a brief of what lay ahead of us! The temperatures was intensely hot, and we, being from Pune, where we hardly know what the word "sweating" means, that got us quite a setback. But we were in that mood, where we were not ready to let anything get in our way of enjoying ourselves. So we carried on. We crossed places like the BSE and Mumbai VT station on the way, but did not halt there. Soon, we reached the 1st landmark of the day. It was the magnificent GATEWAY OF INDIA, which we have always saw either in the movies, or in the news(reference to the tragic 26/11 incident) all throughout. Seeing it in person was quite a magnificient experience, and we were all in awe of the huge structure.

Right in front of it was the Taj Hotel, another relic of the same terrorist attack. Out came our cameras, and we started clicking photos of anything and everything we could capture. Some of us were too much into nature photography, while others were quite content with just clicking our pics. In all, we took over a hundred photos of ourselves, with all kinds of backgrounds and subjects!! Here are a few examples of the same. I think you will get an idea of what I am saying.... :)

We went all around the place. The sweltering heat was getting quite unbearable when we decide to give it a break, and move on to our next destination. Overall, it was quite a good start to the journey, I must say. Having set our standards quite high, we looked forward to the next part.

And we were not disappointed!!!! Next on the list was nothing short of MARINE DRIVE, the huge expanse of cemented coastline of Mumbai on which countless filmstars have spent countless hours shooting!! We were almost hoping to get to see a few film shootouts ourselves, but luck did not permit us of that. No matter what, we had a good time there, walking along the coast. The sun was unforgiving and raged down upon us with all it's intensity. It was getting quite an unbearable. We had initially planned on walking a little distance to the place where we could have our lunch, but gave up on the walking due to the tremendous heat. We got back to the bus and went towards Churchgate.

The lunch was a minor affair with us all getting a lot of drinks and some light food at an Irani restaurant called "Stadium". The food was good there, and it kind of restored the energy level in all of us, which was dwindling a bit due to the immense heat. After lunch, we got back to our initial plan of covering as much of Mumbai as was possible in our short trip.

After lunch, we still had about 2 hours of sun to beat. We decided to go to a small park called the HANGING GARDEN in Malabar Hill. It was actually, a child park, with a model shoe built in it. No idea why it is called the "Hanging" garden, as we hardly saw anything hanging in there!! Anyways, we spent some time there and then carried on to the next landmark.

Next, was the small beach at Chowpatty. It was the first beach for us in Mumbai, and we had a lot of fun there. The water was not really clean, but we were all in the mood to have uptimate fun. We splashed around in that only, and enjoyed a lot! Next, we tried as many chaats and cold panipuris as we could find on the beach. It ended with icecreams, which turned out to be quite good, in fact!

With this, the first day of sighseeing in Mumbai came to an end. We went from there to where we would be staying at night. One of our friends had managed to get an apartment in Anushakti Nagar, the BARC colony, which was quite good, and quite inexpensive, considering he city we are talking about is Mumbai. We freshened up there, and took some rest before starting on the next phase of our plans!! Trust me, it was needed, as we had planned a wild second half for ourselves!!

That night was the breakfree party that we had long planned. The best disc in town was one called POISON. The cover charge was itself 3000/= for stags! One of us had long been talking to one of the floor managers, but on the day, there was a confusion, and we were refused entry as there it was a weekend and we were more on the stags number, than couples. In fact, ina group of 10, there were only a couple of girls! Crestfallen, we were contemplating a return back to base when one of us came up with another substitute. It was a sports bar called the Hawaiian Shack, which had an improvised dance floor, and a couple of televisions showing a live cricket match. Well, the atmosphere was quite scintillating, and a lot of energy was flowing in the air. We got into the party mood, and the alchohol did full justice to the same!!! By 2 a.m., we were quite on edge. The party ended, and a happy bunch of us got back to the bus, and came back to our apartment.

There were a few more activities in the night, which we, as a group enjoyed a lot, but I would hardly care to mention them out here. We all went to sleep in an elibrited condition, and frankly, I do not remember half the incidents of that night too clearly to recount here.

Next day, we got ready at around 11, and had breakfast, a very healthy and filling one comprising of dosas and idlis. After debating a lot, we decided on going to HAJI ALI at the beginning. It was probably the best decision of all. We all enjoyed the short walk it has to reach the temple from the gate of the place. Huge waves lashed against it, drenching the pilgrims with water, and making the journey very enjoyable.

The place was quite nice too, but the inside was very crowded. We completed our main task, clicking photographs, and came back to the outside. There, we had some refreshments in the form of fruit juices in the Haji Ali Juice Center, which is quite a renowned shop. The reputation was quite accurate for it.

Next, we went from there towards Band Stand, our last destination for the day, and the trip. En route, we crossed a nice area called RECLAMATION, which was a nice drive. Pity, we were not allowed to stop the car, and click some pics.

We reached Bandstand in a little time. The first thing we saw was the building where Salman Khan stays. Then, the list went on.... Farhan Akhtar and Shahrukh Khan being the prime ones in that list.

We stopped at a restaurant, and had lunch. It comprised of chinese food, which was ok. We ate our fill, and then went down to the beach. The beach there is completely rocky, and we had quite an experience climbing all over them to go forward. We managed, quite well, I must say. A few of us went ahead to the edge of the sea completely, while a few stayed in the safety zone a little way back. We clicked a huge collection of pics in here, in all kinds of moods, and background to complement that. The sea always gives us a sombre feeling, the vast expanse taking us all to another dimension, it seems, every time. We enjoyed a lot, and finally, decided to start back, although, against all our wishes. It was getting late, and we had to make the trip back to Pune to consider too.

We decided to skip the last item on our list, JUHU BEACH, and kept it for the next time we will be in that city. We came back to our apartment, freshened up, and then, with a heavy heart, started our way back towards Pune.

Why does it always have to end this way?? After all the fun we had in this trip, it was back to square one! We would be sucked back into our work life, dreaming about the next time we will experience something as good as this.

Well, this was a small summary of how we did what we did. Till next time.... Signing off!!

Live IPL 2009 : divine providence!!!!

Hi all,
I am here in the world of cricketing action!!! Right, I have landed myself in Johannesburg, South Africa. Don't ask me how, just know that I have (as I have already mentioned in the header) have set my foot in this land of gold mines.
Well, let me not get ahead of myself, and start from the very beginning.... that ways, the story telling may seem more appropriate and in order. I will, of course, not give a day by day account, which will make it unnecessarily huge and unreadable(like Rachel's letter to Ross, ref. Friends). Rather, let me just account the good and bad things that I saw and experienced, and hope, that you will feel the same way I felt while I experienced it.

11th April, 2009:
Well, the journey started. We had the company cab driving us from Pune to Mumbai. There were 3 of us in the cab, Amarjeet Singh, Deepesh and me, all headed for Jo'burg at first, where from Deepesh will be moving ahead to Pretoria. Well, the journey to Mumbai was uneventful, except for 1 huge accident scene that we crosssed. It was a Maruti 800, which had crumpled in the impact of the accident(who knows what it crashed against!!). The driver was in the front, and I'm sure, whatever remained of him, was entangled in the mass of metal. the passenger at the back, a bald headed guy, was visible from outside, and was totally bloody. The road was completely filled with blood from the victims, and was a gory sight to look at. It was enough to give us a lot of nightmares. Thankfully, I am a feelingless person, it seems, at times, and as usual, it failed to move me.
Reaching Mumbai, we put up at Tunga Paradise in Andheri. It looked to be a very good hotel, and expensive too. A night stay cost us 4000/=(and 400/- tax), but with the company bearing the cost, who cares?? I left for a friend's house, and came back quite late(read 1:30 in the night) and went off to sleep.
Next day, it was all action from the word Go! We packed hurriedly, had a hurried breakfast, and then went on to the airport to take the Emirates flight to Dubai. The flight lasted about 2 hours 40 mins, but the movie collection in the Emirates flight was so cool, that I hardly realised that the time had past when suddenly it began it's decline. I was kind of excited to see, I must admit, a very childish act on my part, foreign lands for the 1st time in my life!! I mean, the roads were all so beautiful, the cars going the opposite way in Dubai, and the beauty of the fact that I am finally there made the feeling all the better.
Next came the chance of seeing the Dubai airport. Well, everyone told me that it's a beautiful airport and I had no reason whatsoever to not agree. Indeed, it was a huge(no, massive) airport with never ending shops, and a lot of Duty-free stuff all around. The police and other security guards were constantly patrolling in smart unifroms.... in all, a very different culture from what I have seen so far!! I had around 3 hours in the airport, and spent every minute exploring it. Yet, I feel I must've left at least half of it still unexplored.
Anyways, soon after, we again boarded the flight. This time, the flight time was a bit more, about 10 hours, and I was quite bored by the end of it. I saw almost 4 movies completely!!! At last, when the flight started it's descent...well, Johannesburg looked beautiful, and a city ful lof lights! The adventure had started....

It will be quite monotonous to put in every single detail of my journey out here, but I will try to put in as many as possible.
Let me describe the place we stayed in. It is a guest house and goes by the name of Amanzi Stone Cottage. The hostess Pam is a wonderful woman who takes very good care of her guests. She manages the places almost alone with a couple of helping hands. The room was quite delightful. I would not provide more details of the same. Pictures can be found @ http://www.amanzistonecottages.co.za/apartments.html and trust me, they do not lie in the website as to their services. The charges are 650 rands a night, which, by my estimates, is not much, considering what you get in return.
We went to diff places in Johannesburg. The 1st visit was to a mall called the Rosebank Mall, which is quite a nice place, although not much different from the universal picture of a mall.

The bar at the shop we ate in must be mentioned under all circumstances. The way they put in the drinks made drinking something of heavenly value!

Next day onwards, we started office. Well, not a very exciting job to describe, and so, I will oblige you by doing just that. It just felt the same, new office, same work. Life is totally cool here with just 8 hours of work instead of the normal 12-14 hours!!

As soon as the following weekend came over, it came with a promise of the next outing! Well, off we were to Lion Park in Gauteng. It was quite close to our guest house, and took us around 30 mins to drive down to there. The entry to the lion park was worth a 100 rands and with that being paid, we went in to the park and drove around.

That was one hell of a visit!! Seeing the king of the jungle from almost an arm's length was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There are scores of instances where we could almost see the king watching us pass by. The ground there is crisscrossed by paths. The cars are supposed to keep to the paths, and not venture out otherwise. The lions do not pay much heed as long as we the weaker humans stick to the rules. Once, a car just veered off the route a tad bit, and went onto the grounds. The nearby lions sprang up in action. Luckily, for the driver, realising his mistake, he quickly made amendments. The day was saved for him! He lived to die another day!! I do not even wish to contemplate what could have happened otherwise! Let me definitely share some unforgettable moments from that trip.

The gate of the lion park:

The place where you gotta go if you gotta go...

Saw a hummer, first time in my life!!

And then it started ... It was the feeding day for the lions, and we could see some awesome sights which most tourists miss. It was worth every rand of the money. A big car went through the park throwing horse meat pieces to the lions, and there was a frenzy while the lions each grabbed for their share of the meat! Then each of them settled down to enjoy his/her share, and we began our sight seeing.

We saw some other animals too...

Say cheese.... :D It was one hell of a freak show. Even the babies can give you the jeepers creepers...!

[P.S.: I had eagerly started writing this blog, during the trip. Now, when I am attempting to finish it, it is like 7 months since I came back. So naturally, some of the facts have faded fdrom my memory, but others, being so strong, and detailed, I hope I will be able to bring out the correct emotions I went through, and all the other feelings could be portrayed by me. At least, allow me to have a shot at it.]

Well, next weekend came, and I was all set to explore the extraordinary landscapes and sights offered by the city of diamonds. Well, to do proper justice to the coal mines, the source of diamonds in South Africa, we planned to underatke a visit to the only coal mine that was available for tourists, a trip to GoldReef City. We got hold of Gooednews, a very amiable cab driver we found through many searches. His prices were cheap, and he was very eager to show us around!! He took us to GoldRef City, which was about 4 kms. from our office. Set almost within the city itself, it looked as much withdrawn as was possible. With a huge gate in the front, and enormous unicorns set at the entrance, the place truly looked like a piece from the works of da Vinci. How dramatic was the setting cannot be described in words. The feeling will be there in my memory for a long time to come...

Well, in we went in to the Casino. Yes, there was a huge casino, and maybe since it was my first time, I was over-excited to step intothe Vegas feeling. Well, truly speaking, it was a bit of a let-down. I could not figure out most of the games, but seeingthe excitement on the faces of the players were surely worth a watch. Well, there were winners, and there were losers, but it seemed at heart, everyone was winning there. That was the best part of this place. After clicking a few pictures, and a light snack, we went in to the Theme park. That had another entrance, and another entry fee. After paying that, we went on to the joyous theme park. Well, that was a buzz of activity. Kids ran around everywhere, and we, for a moment, forgot our age, and delved into the fun offered to us. Up the Tower of Teror we went. Well, let me explain this phenomenon a bit to you. It consists of a cab with eight people in two rows of four each. You sit in there and ties yourself firmly to it. They take the cab up about 10 storeys, and then drop you face down!!!!!!
Can you believe that??? Well, even after seeing it a few times, I could not. It was not terror, there are no superlatives to terror, but there should be..... even if to describe this ride. We had our hearts in our mouth the moment we started falling.
Complete video of this is shared @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uirDRlb09KM
Statutory warning: Weak hearts, don't bother to see it(even the video is as terrifying!)! Well, soon enough, though still unable to utter a word, we came out, thankful to be still alive! We literally ran off as fast as our weak knees could carry us lest they should put us back in for another ride. Well, after that, we tried doing everything that we could out there. We saw a 4-D movie, which was real good! The setting in there was also nice, European design houses, and took the opportunity to click some snaps again.

By the time, we remembered the Coal Mine, we foud to our disappointment, that it had closed down and we missed the last opportunity we had of witnessing the insides of a coal mine, at least for this trip. Well, that ended the day for us as we did not want to go for a helicopter ride that was being offered out there for a nominal price. Here are a few more pics from the day....

Goodnews came, and picked us up, and we left for the hotel. Actually, IPL was supposed to start that very day, and I was desperate not to miss out on any of the matches. So we literally rushed back. What happened of IPL..... well that is the subject of my next paragraph!

********* IPL , it's finally here !!! ***********
The much anticipated, ever promising, and the reason of jealousy amongst my friends and peers were finally happening in my life. I had made sure already that I had tickets for all the 3 matches that were happening at Centurion, Johannesburg during my stay. I also made sure that I got my seats very enar to the cheerleaders stands too ;), for without the cheerleaders to keep the moments alive, how would I have my money's worth of the 60/80 rands that I paid.
Well, the 1st match was between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore. That day, I was supposed to be accompanied by Amarjeet and Sathish. We met about an hour beforethe match, had a few beers(YES, they sell beer inside the stadium!!!!), and went in. The stadium was every bit of what I had imagined. A huge anticipation was evident amongst the crowds as that was the first match in Jo'burg. I saw people buying an extra tickets for the beer flask that some of them carried!! Funny, ain't it?? :) Well, we took our seats and sure enough, soon the captains went out for the toss, and the match started. I will not bore you with the match details, as you have all probably seen it on TV already, and will get all the updates from the internet. Also, I cannot give you the details, because I hardly saw the match at all !!! Yes, the Royal Challengers cheerleaders stand was exactly in front of the gallery I took, and man, I did not waste much time looking at the match, I have to admit. :D Attached here are some photos, and an youtube link, enjoy ;)

Well, the match ended, and we all went to the place many describes as heaven, something we do not find in India. I hope the people who are/will be interested knows what I am talking about. No further details are attached here. Contact me directly, and I will tell you all about it.
Moving onto the next match, it was between Mumbai Indians and another team, I forgot which. The gallery was the same, but this time, I watched the match a bit, as it was my 2nd day at the tourney, and I also wanted to enjoy the cricket a bit. Also, because it was Jayasuriya and Tendulkar who took the field by storm with their batting!! Yes, it was an awesome match. But you know what was more awesome than that?? I got a girl's phone number!! Yeah, that sure would prove to be a great thing for me, as you will read on later. Her name was Resh, a short form of Reshma. She was a complete South African although had her roots in India, and loved Shahrukh Khan and his movie songs. I mean, in the 6-CD changer in her car, I think she had all 6 SRK movie CDs. Anyways, with that and the last match between my hometeam KKR and Delhi Daredevils(which KKR lost, sadly :(), the IPL chapter of my visit to Jo'burg ended. It was in short, AWESOME(I hate overusing this word in my blog, but it really was!!), and with a lot of fireworks and cheer, I left the ground for the last time and went back to my hotel. Attached here are a lot of snaps I took at the grounds. Could not resist putting up a lot of them!!

And following are the Youtube links: (cheerleaders and all)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48b1wqgstJ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MBF_O4g1Hg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As84WdrKqys

Almost everything else being covered, and Cape Town out of the question, I decided to go for the magnanimous day tour of Pilansberg and SunCity. With no company, I signed up with a tour operator who promised to pick me up by 6, and we will set off for the magical ride in the most extensive jungle safari that was ever planned. Well, it started off very punctually, with all the other members of the tour being picked up from their respective hotels. Tell you what, it was the strangest mix of ethnicity I ever saw in that tour. It covered people from almost all over the world, Australia, USA, Mexico, Germany in Europe, a person from Sri Lanka, and me from India. Hope that covers the major parts of the world. Well, we started off in high spirits, and after a long 2 hour ride, and a breakfast of a Chicken Burger, fries and a coke, we started off again. Well, at the entrance of the Pilansberg, a safari that covered an area over 1500 acres, we took a few snaps, and then entered the one of the biggest safaris I will probably ever experience.

Well, to put it bluntly, I was disappointed. I had gone there with the hopes of catching a glimpse of the Big 5 of South Africa. But sadly, we could only witness 2 of the Big 5, that being Rhinocerous and Elephants. It was a cloudy day, with short spells of showers, that probably put all the big animals further into the jungle, which was not possible to go in the car. We saw all types of animals we could, including ones of whose Timon and Pumba are members of.

We spent around 6 hours in that safari going all around in circles. how the driver found the roads in that seemingly catacomb of a place, I am yet to comprehend. But successfully, and fortunately for us, he did manage to complete the safari in time for us, to turn and start for SunCity, or as it was known before SinCity.
SinCity, as it was known before, was named so, as it was the places where the first Casinos were opened officially. People are believed to have made or lost their fortunes here, thus making the place a major unpopular site for many. But well, once you reach there, you will know why people have forgotten everything and spent all their earnings there. It is a beautiful place, the typical holiday spot that we can imagine. The atmosphere itself is so peaceful, that even sitting back there doing nothing is also so blissful. I admit, I am a very active person, who cannot sit back and rest even for an hour. But even I wanted to sit back, relax and enjoy the peace offered by the place. Well, the place had a lot on offer to see too. The best part?? Well, we saw this palace called the "Palazzo Royale" which cost 50K Rands a night!!!!! Can you believe that?? 1 Rand = 7 rupees(approx). That means around 3 and a half lacs a night! Only the likes of Will Smith and MJ only could afford to stay there as a guest, even among the Hollywood stars! Well, it was a palace in all sense of the words. The only guests we witnessed there were the Dubai princes and the royal family. Well, that in itself says something, ain't it??? We clicked a few snaps in front of the palace, and a few other places in there.

There was even a place which was supposed to have a lost city. Only the gate remained as a relic to the befallen place.

There was a casino too, and a few restaurants where we had our lunch. We started back around 4:30 and reached back to our hotels at around 9 p.m. after dropping off all the other people at their respective hotels. All in all, it was a good outing, although the hugely-anticipated safari was a bit of a dip in the plan.

Well, with that came the beginning of the last weekend of my stay in South Africa, the land of the Proteas. Reshma, my new found friend offered to show me around. Seeing a new place through the eyes of a localite is something not many can refuse. And well, I am just one of them. Well, not knowing many places around, I restricted the rendezvous to a small shopping mall near my abode.... the Hyde Park Mall. The place was grand, but quite limited in terms of space. We met for the first time face to face, and well, with both of us knowing so... :) She is indeed every bit of the pleasant person that I had imagined her to be. Why she wanted to be a friend of a person like me is still, and will ever be, beyond me. But mann, am I glad that she did!! Shortly after getting to know each other after going around the mall completely twice, she suggested we go to a place everyone was advising me to go, but somehow was not materialising, the MONTE CASINO!! Not only that, we were going there in her car, a Volkswagen Golf GT. I would not lie, maybe it was for the awesome company(the only company I had in my entire stay), or maybe I just loved the place, but this place was out of this world. Resh said this was an typical Italian setting against which the place is built. Well, in short, it had everything one needs to have a cool day out with friends. Starting from a casino, to a multiplex, restaurants, sound of music fountain, and small bands playing on the streets, it was like a small city only existing in our dreams. We had food at a restaurant in front of the fountain, went around the place for some time. Lastly, it was time to come back. Well, kind hearted that she was, I was offered a ride back home, which I wasted no time in accepting.

Slowly, but steadily, came the day for us to start the inevitable.... 12th May, 2009! The journey back to India loomed up. I did not believe I would be saying that, but I admitted, may be just secretly to myself, that I will be missing the place. With a heavy heart, we bade farewell to the person from the customer side who welcomed us with open arms, and made us feel completely at home. Stephen was surely the dude, who couldn't have been a cooler customer representative! He was a testing manager for our application, by the way, in case I did not already mention that. With him, pulling us all the way, was our site manager Sathish Chandrasekharan.

All done, we took a cab to our hotelk, packed our bags, and left with a lot of memories, and a promise to come back to this wonderland some day, if possible, and repeat this amazing adventure. Clicked a few pics at the airport, by the way, as a finishing touch....

Hopefully, this brings out all the colors I had in my short trip to the country which hosts the maximum number of Indians outside India. Well, hopefully the acquaintances I made in Jo'burg will not leave me as I leave the country, probably for ever. SIGNING OFF with that ray of hope ....