Kids, dogs, cats and other animals.

Many years ago we lived in a small cottage. Ground floor us and 1st floor big fat snooty woman, her arrogant husband and their nice children. Opposite building, assorted kids of assorted ages and dispositions, a mad gardener who had pyromania, a piano teacher, assorted movie personalities and a few undescribeable human beings.
 I wanted my kids to learn some elements of wildness, the same which had turned many of my mother's hair startling white. So the kids raced around barefoot and ate with dirty hands, climbed trees, cycled at dangerous speeds, rummaged in the overgrown garden and ofcourse lived with assorted animals. We had one dog, and another walked in our garden leaving his brothers and sisters with their mother. He was all flurry and cute and was promptly adopted. The lady upstairs had cats - lots of them. They slunk around all over the place, hissed at my dogs and drove them batty. So much so that when my daughter went up to play with the kids, one of my dogs kept guard, and kept giving her warning barks- telling her not to get too friendly with the cats. We kept fish, but they ate each other up. Many other dogs ran amok in the compound and my dogs would take off randomly to the beach. We had direct access to the beach, which was also an invitation for more wild dogs.
One day the kids ran in, highly excited. There was a gaggle of them kids. (I felt so proud looking at my dirty haired, filthy nailed, muddy faced kids..!!) In her tiny hands, Kanak had a small parrot baby, looking all disoriented and bewildered.
We immediately fashioned a large basket, tied up four ends, looped up the rope and hung it high on our balcony, which opened to the sky. We were loathe to close the bird in a cage. It was a fledgling, could barely fly, and we all feel in love.
Nippy (for he loved to nip at my gold earrings) soon grew as did the blood lust of my younger dog, Teddy.  When we realised he could fly, but could not stay up for too long, we had to put him in a cage.
Nippy was then taken to our closed living room and left to fly. He would flutter, rise to the ceiling, try to sit on the fan (switched up please) and then land on my shoulder, climb up to my shoulders and nip my earrings. We were both in love with each other.
I realised that Nippy was desperate to fly. Thinking its natural for a bird to be that way, and be on his way, I let it be, until one day I saw something which made me take a deep breath for I had paled.
We would leave Nippy in his cage, and Teddy would place himself strategically right under the side Nippy was sitting, and alternately smack his lips and hang his jaw open.  Just hoping that the bird would fall into it. To top it all Teddy made direct eye contact with the bird. Open mouthed and slack jawed I moved closer and saw the little bird's heart beating wildly in panic from under his little breasts.
I had nightmares that night and a few more, of waking up one day and seeing small birdy feathers and a few bones on my balcony, and Teddy sitting in a corner and looking like - well like- a dog who has swallowed a bird.
We left his (or was Nippy her?) cage open at nights and one day Nippy was gone. I admit I looked hard at Teddy, opened his jaw and checked and all that, but apparently, Nippy had flown his (makeshift) nest!
We have since shifted, kids have grown, so have the dogs, but I still look for Nippy across the skies when I hear parrots every morning. Teddy ofcourse had plenty of wild dreams, when he would smack his lips and paw the air, thinking he had killed a bird for a tasty morsel.
The gaggle of them kids, have grown, some become film heroines, some doctors, and my kids still have fond memories of those wild days. 

The big fat greek experience

The many myths of greece --- Its not only a hot mediterranean country, with islands and sandy beaches.We overlook the ski resorts and mountains and cool and sometimes cold evenings in the hily towns. And ofcourse a sea resort like Mykonos - which was so windy, we did not let Kanakk go to close to the cliffs. I had nightmarish visions of her flying off! And please note that all beaches dont have to be sandy. Infact Crete was manmade by the hotel and if a party of 50 people danced on it, the sand and the beach itself would be displaced,and the only beach which was natural resembled Juhu Beach on Chatt Pooja. And what can i say about Mykonos? It was windy. At this point let me add that Kanak was moved a good few feet by the wind, while trying to climb onto the flight. We setteled into the plane (trying to reach Athens) and we wondered why it was moving so much - side to side, until Madhur pointed out it was because of the wind. Crazy winds i must tell you. The doors in the hotel would slam shut, Taxi doors would not open, and Mykonos was extremely hilly. We were due to go to Santorini, and for 2 consecutive days, ferries were cancelled, - u guessed it - due to mad windy conditions. Lesson learnt- Fantasy thoughts and movies dont maketh a country and its holiday - (mamma mia and the women dancing in the hot sun?!!?) Its best to do intense research and also definately look into some first hand experience to get the true feel of the country. Any country. Its been a wonderful holiday. The last of its kind before my eldest flies her nest and starts a new stage of her life! Greece is huge and filled with surpirses. The conditions in main Athens remains a major worry. Poverty striken men and women, many many abandoned dogs, and a whole lot of major apathy. Mykonos, being a complete party town, seemed fairly ok. The walls white washed, and I am sure research will show me that the town has to compulsarily white wash its walls, every once a year. The entire city sparkled pristinely.Every single building and outer wall! Crete seemed ok too! But Basically Greece remains in trouble financially. All those who hold a job seem comforted and certain. Those who dont are suffering. But given the problems that plague them, sans the taxi drivers in Mykonos, The Greek are extremely welcoming, warm, hospitable and wonderful lot of people. The entire lot of Cabbies in Mykonos are khadoos and need to sort out their attitude. All in all, we met some lovely people, learnt a few humbling lessons on acceptance and hospitality, and saw a whole lot of huge pillars in every archaelogical site, posing as temples to Gods. By Athina, I was fed up!! And wanted Zeus to strike me down!

Live fish and dead skin - Crete and Mykonos

We went to a fish spa.For the uninitiated, - the legs are cleaned and you sit with them submerged in a tank full of small live fish. They look harmless - until you expose your legs to them. The minute the water ripples they rush to your legs and - attack! All the fish move in lightening speed and are nibbling away at parts of your leg. All four of us had a crazy 15 minutes, trying to explain to the fish that we are all ticklish - no go!  They insisted on eating parts of our skin which they thought  were dead, but which we felt were very much alive - and Ticklish!!! Its like a feeling of a strong vibrator singing away on your feet , soles and if you happen to feel ticklish (like we did) and spread your toes apart - then between your toes too! Its a great experience... As long as you dont look down and see them attacking your "dead skin" or think of how razor sharp their teeth might be to cause this kind of vibrations.  We are now in Mykonos.  Mighty silly place to be with one adult child and one teen child! They want to party, we want to party but none of us want to go with the other! There are a number of paradise islands here! All of which promise you the same thing - that you will miss your breakfast!  Mykonos is very very pretty, very very windy, and the sea is very very blue. Infact the sea is many shades.  Nearest to the shore its dark dark blue, then gets lighter blue and blue green and towards the horizon its silver. I have never seen a shade of silver over the sea ever before. I am not having fanciful thoughts- it is actually silver. The waves dance in the wind, the boats bob (some of which make me feel sick, just looking at them!) and the entire effect with the wind playing symphony is hypnotising! Today, on the street shops i read a t shirt which proclaimed - Mykonos fucks Ibiza. I dont know about Ibiza, but Mykonos does do that to your sleep patterns! 

Feta cheese. And more feta cheese.

We hunted high and low in Athens, and on the internet, spoke to all manners of human beings, I even wanted to ask the hazaar stray dogs scattered all over the city (more about that later), but nobody was able to find us NON GREEK food.  Its been feta cheese and cheese stagmanaki, and local athenian cheese and then local cretian cheese, its been cheese and more cheese. In all forms. Friend, in phyllo, stuffed in peppers, courgettes, zuchinni (whats the difference between courgette and zuchinni?) and in tomatoes and we have stuffed all this down our throats and protesting stomachs, drenched in copious amounts of olive oil, for all the 6 days we have been here. I refuse to now say cheese even for the camera. So last night we went to a - i wouldnt say small village, actually i woundnt say village.. its more like a town..   so any case we went to this village / town and we ate Italian food -- i want to put the bbm dancing emoticon here! It satiated our hearts and the souls and taste buds of my kids . I wanted to hug the owner. Did I mention that the Greek tend to have terrible BO? Therefore I restrained from the spontaneous display of affection and happiness.  We are now talking about Crete - pronounced as Kreete.  Its a huge island, really huge. To a walker in a straight line, from one point to the other 250 kms ! And to the driver, who ofcourse cannot drive in a straight line- 650 kms!!!!  So when we were told about the 2 villages close to us, we decided to try out luck there instead of traveling a few 100 kms for food. At that point feta cheese sounded just alright! Coming back to the stray dogs. They are all over Greece I think. And they are HUGE! I mean really huge and fat (fed on feta cheese me thinks!) And they all look tame, i mean they all have collars and tags hanging from those collars , but they are all sitting around in alley ways and road sides. And permanently sleeping! I have seen very few of them walking and never seen any sitting up. From their sheer size I think sitting up would be a task! They all look abandoned. The greek in their crisis have decided to leave and let go of their most loyal family member. Its really sad to see them.  Crete is a very funny island. Its warm - almost hot and the sea is cold. The first dip is chilling. There are barrenish mountains all around, and on some we can see snow caps! But the sea is blue, green and all Mediterranean.  Last afternoon we swam into the sea. Approximately 1.5 kms in all - back and forth. If the Mumbai Sea were clean, I would let go of all personal trainers and other physical fitness teachers, and stick with an early morning swim in the sea every day! The biceps, legs, torso, everything was fighting the waves to move forward and the heart rate had gone up to a level where we could hear it echoing inside the sea.  Best form of excercise I say...... Bring on the Feta Cheese! 

It's all greek to me!!!

Its all greek to me!! The wretched 5am flight, which was putting me off for almost a month, was well worth it!  Athens, the city of myths, temples and wine gods! A few hot days of tramping in the intense heat, water bottles emptying as they are opened and we payed our reverence to all the gods and goddesses. We are now blessed with strength of the wind, steadiness of the earth, continuity of the flowers, passions of the sea and loads and loads of wine... ala - the perpetually drunk God of wine- Dionyzoz. We took a day and night trip to Delphi! More gods, more purification and somewhere there the Goddess Athena inhaled some fumes from a chasm, and went into a trance, and her (verbatim from the books- i quote) "inarticulate cries were translated by some priests and the oracle was written" .  Basically there are a whole lot of ruins and yes gorgeous ones. But the myths built around them are definately  works of a creative writer. Dont get me wrong, I am Indian enough to believe in myths and oracles and trances, and the greek god of the sea is one of my favourites -- aah I forget is name!! Greece is gorgeous. And very few of us know and realise only when we visit that Greece has equally gorgeous mountains and actually very famous ski resorts too.  But the myths and ruins and history- I leave for my history buff daughter because its all Greek to me!!

PRAGUE

We stayed in the lesser quater at the Rocco Forte Augustine hotel. Absolutely fantastic stay. Great concierge and service. Good spa


Must see

Prague Castle. Take the tram and go all the way up the prague castle. See the Loretto Cathedral and the monastry. then enter the castle. 


Whats and absolutel MUST SEE is prague castle by night. Its a sight not to be missed. Go late night after the tourists have retired, to the Charles bridge and gaze .

                                                      ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK TOWER






Must see a Back Light theatre preformance. Look up google or ask conceirge to book. 


Walk around the Town square and the old town square . Reach at an hour time eg 1 pm or 5 pm , and hear the bells to dink tink bring. interesting if you can make it at that time, else u havnt missed something very fantastic. But do see the clock. 


Charles bridge. You cannot miss it. Basically one can walk all over prague. its a small city. 

Wal to the street for shopping. - Plzeňská . All top ends, but worth going to see the buzz. Lots of dept stores. Ask around

Manufactuer - local spa stuff. Very nice. Shops all over prague.

Crsytal. If you want to pick up somethiung large look around, But definatley pick up something small as a sovenior. 
Moser. ask concierge. there is a large one in Plzeňská. expenxive.
Artelglass . very nice stuff (look up net)
Blue - also lovely stuff. (in airport and all over prague)


Restaurants. 


four seasons hotel - Cottacruda
Bellevue. 
Kampapark
Barock
NOstress


Wine bar - j Vinograf wine cafe. Very close to charles bridge. look up net for complete address. go early. very small. gets full. also serve food.


La Bodeguita del medio. cuban bar. amazing place. if you want to eat book in advance, or just go for the ambience and a drink. 


Lots of other bars, MI, Bombay High, ask concierge. 

Dresden - Germany

We stayed at the older, quieter part of dresden. Across the Elben river, in Bulox Palais Hotel.
Wonderful small setting with great service, friendly concierge and amazing spa.

Restaurants
Carrousel - Bulox Palais. Book in advance. Ask for veg food to be prepared on booking, sit back and be amazed.
Villandry - book in advance - meditarranean.
Pfunds dairy - must visit for lunch or dinner. The food is to die for. Well stocked bar.

Must visit Residencescholss. Book tickets in advance. Gorgeous sculptors, art, curios, artefacts.
Zwinger palace.
Opera House
Volkswagen Glass factory
Beer garden local microbreweries.

The British - Stiff Upperlip.

I am in a hotel in London, and for the first time ever, experiencing a small flavour of racism. The hostess at the breakfast room, had no problem letting an ENTIRE family of 5, walk in with flipfliops but she asked me not to do so the next day. By the way their flipflops were uglier.
The doorman in this hotel has a beautiful pointed nose. And he holds it up so well, it cuts into the chilly london winds.
Its really quite amusing. While their lips are stiffened and supporting their nose, held high in the air, from below their waist - these idiots are getting raped!
If they care to look down, they will find their pants have been ripped open.
I have this very racist fantasy of my own. Every time a proper Brit serves me or asks if she / he can help me in a shop, i take extreme perverse pleasure in it. More so when we enter a shop or restaurant and they look like "helooo, do you know where you have placed  your filthy feet into??" And yet it takes just a wee bit of snobbishness on your part to set them straight. Me- I could not be bothered. I am an Indian at heart, with a good dose of pedastrian - ism! I dont care to look or behave fancy. And if that is the defination and basis of your treatment, well its fine by me. All i hope is at some point your fore father was a British Babu and now you are serving me, and feeling humble about the business i have given you, a part of your paypacket has come from me! HA!!
I hope your forefather is groaning and turning in his grave and you go home everyday and hear those groans in your sleep!
HA!
As the world is realising the status of India, I stand by proud. The only thing I envy every European Citizen is their roads and instilled sense of traffic.
The way they zip by on cycles, gettting traffic priority. And no cars honking after every breath the driver takes.
And no rickshaws! Those vehicles, one day i shall acid burn a few!

Prague

I have never seen a prettier city by night. When the tired tourists toddle back home, the babies are asleep, the last of the city retires into their hotels and homes, the city shines out in all its glory. We were walking back after a wonderful meal, and the city felt silent and warm. Not weatherwise warm, that was cold enough to freeze our eyelashes. But welcoming warm. The few tourists left were as mesmerized by the city as us. We all hung around, feeling mutual bonhomie and peace.
Madhur and me, were on top of the Charles bridge. In the day its noisy, with throngs and throngs of tourist, hawkers and road side musicians. But night weaved a different spell. All around the city the lights peppered the sides of the city. But these lights were not scattered. They were lined beautifully, but it yet gave the feeling of pleasant planning, not ruthless lines like in a highway. We looked around wonderstruck and then realised that the housing and hotel constructions have been beautifully planned. No haphazard construction, no sudden reisdential or commercial complexes in the middle of the hertiage sites. The Prague castle, the many cathedrals, monastries, domes and towers stood out in their own blissful glory, with no blinking light distractions from homes and cafes. As a result the entire visual city of Prague could be gulped in, with a landscopic eye view, with no obstructions from either side of the bridge.
Having said that, Prague is the city of maximum cafes and restaurants I have ever seen. Every nook and cranny, alley and broadwalk has copious amounts of them. (this is planning by the Prague govt i say, the hertiage sites had many cafes in and around them, but none - absolutely none played disco lights with the hertiage sites).
Coming back to the cafes, you name it and a restaurant exists. Look left, look right and look sideways, restaurants, cafes, crystal shops (prague is known for its crystal, and rightly so !) and more bars.
We had some of our best meals here and visited some of the best bars too. Names will follow in next blog!
In the daylight, Prague gave me a feeling of desperation. Of locals scrambling and clawing their way up. At night, the city lost this sluggishness, and shined out with music, theatres, operas, and buzzing bars. Not to mention the castle which took on a life of its own.
The prague Castle is HUGE. Its supremely massive, one of the largest Castle complexes in Europe. It towers over the city and stands in kingly stature booming over the city. Its majestic and classy. Most constructions range from the 11th Centuary onwards, relatively new when you compare them to Rome etc, but extremely well maintained.
All in all Prague was a worth visit. It holds a special place in my eyes!

Prague

Help! The Chinese have landed. They are all over the place! In throngs! Talking loudly! In their nasal and they wear neon coloured clothes. While we sat for coffee, an entire train load walked past. One of the women was wearing yellow, striking golden yellow jeans, blue shirt and a neon dazzling pink half jacket. Like a beacon!
We walked and walked and walked. All over the Prague castle and the area surrounding it. The Prague castle being the biggest castle complex in Europe. After seeing what they had to show, I am further convinced that the Indian governtment is run by jackasses. If I were to compare Prague to India, then turning the oldest ancestral house, in our village in Maulasar into a heritage site, in itself can attract tourists from all over!!! With typical Rajasthani food seRved, and a small tour to the fields. Voila!!! Maulasar village and villagerS heading towards prosperity. If Prague was wah wah!. Then Maulasar, that unknown village would be wah wah and wah! There were cupboards in the castle, which made Madhur sneer and say "ha! These and better would be seen in any bawas house in Bombay" and it's a fact. In name of tourism, countries show their local garbage and run the country. India has treasures, and we are running after garbage.

Dresden to Prague

We went to a Guinness record holding store today. For the most beautiful dairy!!! And beautiful it was. The entire wall was covered with enamelled tiles. But I was more excited to hear that a dairy in germany was world famous. I could expect that from Switzerland or new Zealand or even from the farting cOws of England. We had a wonderful sinful meal of cheese soup and more cheese with fresh baguette and the suggested buttermilk. Hmm hmm! Picked up fantastic apricot jam with wasabi flavour and some yet to taste -chocolates.
As we drove down to Prague the entire scene changed. Suddenly kids were allowed to pull down their pants and pee on the grass next to parked cars and men were stopping at road bends and openly peeing. The drivers were cutting into lanes. There was honking. The buildings changed.
Everyone who heard I was going to Prague had a sparkle in their eye when they spoke about this city. I have loved it too. But beneath the beautiful facade I find, lies the public who Is clawing its way up. The need to please is very intense. The need to be a part of the EU as a valuable member has them under immense pressure. But it's pretty. And the effort being made is supremely visible and tremendously apreciated.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Prague castle. It's massive. And we have these quaint attic rooms with the castle view, in a hotel which is part monastery. (we tasted the monastery brewed beer ) and I hereby dedicate my life to this monastery.

Dresden

It's so cold here, I have forgotten what warm feels like. It's tiring just putting on the layers of clothes and even more tiring taking it off for a few minutes when inside a store then putting them all again for a few min walk to another indoor area. My body is mighty confused, I can tell you that!
Dresden is a mix of old world and the new modern hubs. A bit disconcerting to see a beautiful architectural marvel of a cathedral next to a new modern high rise residence complex. But what gorgeous collections exist here! We went to " residenceschloss" the residence of the king. And the collections of armour, ivory carving, jewellery, gold and silver pieces were a sight which left my mouth hanging. The security came in and asked me to shut it, lest I salivated on their polished to a shine glass cases. Most of the cases were humidity controlled, and had some sort of heavy absorbent chemical slabs inside. The German attention to detail is something we should try to achieve, without being too "bawa" about it
The new treasure room indeed had some eye popping displays. One in particular was a minutely carved ivory piece. It was a ship with Intricate carving on the sails, the god of the seas holding it up and his two horses rearing up, helping him with the weight. If I was a art thief this is the piece which would be the one which would be my coup.
The Turkish collection had four horses at the very entrance. I was in an instance trance. Think of the tallest person you know. Now imagine that person standing ram rod straight - but still under the massive belly and chest of the horse! Riding a horse that tall = equivalent to being on the first floor of a building.
We finished the day with a five course meal after a litre of beer at a local brewery.
We leave Dresden tomorrow with a heavy heart and a heavier stomach.
And hopefully softer weather in Prague.

Fly buy Dubai

I have come to Dubai to visit my friend who has an ailing cat! Well also to have a decadent 3 day holiday with her!
There is some sort of problem with me and flights! I think I have greatly wronged a pilot in my earlier life. The plane must have been crashing, and I must have jumped out before him, or some such other misdeed!
The first alarm bells of panic rang true in my head was when we were put on a bus to reach the plane. I mean you just dont do that anymore! The bus took off at the slowest speed possible. And it went on and on and on. I though we had reached Dharavi and were being kidnapped for one day slave labour. My doubts felt even more valid when I saw a busload of passengers pass our way towards the airport, and they all looked really really exhausted! Meanwhile the bus went on and on and by now I had started feeling that we were going to be driven to Dubai. I cursed my self for not taking a seat and thinking I could handle this journey standing, holding on to the handle bars overhead. The worst thing about standing in a bus with arms out stretched, holding on to handle bars, is that even the others do it. And not all are hygenic. And some dont bathe and yet others who think soap is not meant for the armpits!! I tell you its an all new experience trying to breathe through your mouth!
After what felt like a couple of hours, I spotted a plance, and my mind set at ease. I disconnected the call i had placed to Madhur, to inform him about my impending kidnapping. But the plance started moving, and I pulled out my phone once more. Just then we rounded a corner and I saw another 12 odd planes of the same airline and was somewhat relieved. Short term relief. The bus stopped infront of the plane, we all armed ourselves with our bags, but the gates did not open. While the others stood patiently, I had imagine all sorts of wicked people waiting to do wicked things to us.
But the bus opened eventually, and with no apology we were ushered into the plane.
And there ended my misadventure. No babies yelling into my face, no man drunk and making lewd noises.
I landed in Dubai, and went and hugged my friend with the ailing cat.