Bubbling away at Havelock- Part 1

After months of preparation & planning with emails & calls

darting across Dubai & Bangalore,V, V & me finally landed at Port Blair

airport. The view from the flight gave us a glimpse of what lay ahead. And boy,were we excited!

As we made our way to the Port Blair jetty for a ride on the Makkruz catamaran, one could see how this charming little town with neat streets and smell of fresh ocean air was different not only from mainland India, also from the coastal regions of India.

The one & a half hour journey from Port Blair to Havelock was filled with endless view of deep blue Bay of Bengal with waves bobbing up & down. One could be forgiven to think it was a part of French riviera or somewhere in Caribbean if you didn't know where you were. While my friends were fast asleep during the journey, I jumped along with the rest of the over excited tourist scrambling & climbing towards any free space on the windows, just to click away some pictures!

The first approach of Havelock is greeted with the view of a small unmanned lighthouse.As you land at the Havelock jetty you are of course transported back to India when being greeted by a sight of a cow lazily chewing on a piece of garbage.

As we made our way to the beautiful Wild Orchid resort, we had sneak peeks of the bluest of blue sea amongst the coconut trees. Our first duty as a faithful tourist (which we performed quiet eagerly was to get into our swim suits and plonk into the sea just behind our resort. While lazing there, we were astonished to

see the beautiful blue-green light glowing on the top of the waves during the day.It is called bioluminescence and we never knew it can be seen during the day.

But nothing prepared us for the spectacular view of Beach no. 7 or as popularly called the Radhanagar Beach. The pristine, unpolluted, crystal clear water, white sands, green vegetation,lack of tourist, lack of hawkers....are just a few adjectives to describe.

I had read many articles on this particular beach but what the eye sees, only a little can be put in words. One has to see it to believe it.

As Andaman is tucked away in the eastern corner of India, so sadly the sunsets early. At 5.15 pm in November, it was already dark.

We made our way back to the resort which was about 8kms away, we stopped at the market. Havelock has approximately 95% Bengali population and they speak a dialect which is peculiar to an erstwhile district in Bangladesh. The government of India had re-settled them in Andaman giving them around 10 acres of land. Funnily enough the lands weren't really good enough other than to grow coconuts.Thankfully to the rising tourist industry, the younger generation of Havelock have found a livelihood of a different kind.

For dinner, which also happened to be V's birthday we settled for a locally caught mangrove jack fish & crabs. Beach No.7 (Radhanagar beach)

Thanks to the excellent culinary skills of Mr. Sheesha ,the head chef at wild orchid (& a fellow Bangalorean) and our voracious appetite , we happily demolished all of of it within no time. After all we had a day of adventurous day filled with scuba-diving & snorkeling ahead of us.More about it next time.....

Ode to my Gawking Neighbour!

Dear Neighbour,

When we first moved in, your unabashed looking at our balcony was somewhat flattering.

After 10 months, sorry to say is Annoying.

And what might be propelling you to be swooning towards our railing,

Is a mystery that is thoroughly Confusing.

Gone are the days when we could sit on the balcony beside the stairway.

Your sudden appearance with only your chaddi lead us to flee helter, skelter and away!

Gone are the days to wear deep necks & short skirt since last May,

Just to see you ogling was choking our airway!

While pulling water from the well, you keep one eye towards our window,

How do you magically crop up swiftly ...like a longshot arrow?

Pray wear a shirt at times or so....

Cant really stand the sight of your tum tum anymore.

Just be a good neighbor and borrow some sugar,

Or else we just have to sharpen our daggers!

If that doesnot work, we go to your wife.

With no love, Yours Truly ........Neighbours in strife.

Once upon a time @ Ums!

Growing up in the 90's, I as many others grew up seeing the exotic locales of Europe through the eyes of the Hindi movie industry. Remember Yash Raj's productions with our delightful actresses with ample bosoms , deep cut blouses, saris worn way below the "belt line".....swaying along the Steppes of Europe . As to how the flora and fauna of Europe could match our local sentiment of love & longing, I could never understand. But one thing was for sure, even with a Non HD quality view, 11 inches "Japanese" TV & VCR, I as the rest of India could see, those places were mind blowingly beautiful.

And so when I landed at 'Ums' in late April, a small & picturesque mountain village in Northern Italy, I could only think back of those times with nostalgia. The undulating valleys, the shadows of the clouds falling, the lush green carpet of grass spread across, interspeded with tiny yellow and white flowers, the forest filled with pines, the cute fairytale houses with the Dolomites/ Alps forming a perfect background with their snow capped peaks. Almost picture perfect! But this was real!

This part of Italy is more Germanic influenced than of Italian. As I settled in a mountain restaurant "Hofer Alpl" for lunch after an arduous 1 hour climb, I noticed that I am the only person with dark skin there. Hell I must the only dark skinned person for miles around. I was convinced about this when a puzzled 5 year old sitting at the next table asked his father, "Papa', perche' lei è marrone?"...." Dad, why is she brown?". Amidst our laughter, I thought life is funny, as I went in search of the exotic, I became the exotic.

The air was chilly when we left. As I tightened the shawl around my body , It flashed my mind... just how the hell did Madhuri Dixit wear those flimsy chiffon saris in this weather? Well! its just another thing I would never know!!!!

P:S- Attached are some pictures taken at Ums.

Cheerio!