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)
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 ....
1 comment:
where are comments????
Post a Comment