I Love a good Massage

I L-O-V-E Massages! The Ayurvedic Kerala massage was something I was looking forward to! Just a warning: When you walk into the room, your masseuse (girl to girl, boy to boy) looks on as you strip down to your complete naked self...i mean naked! Then you lay on a table with nothing to cover you and she starts rubbing the oil and massaging every part of your body. It was heavenly! Then you stand up and she wipes you clean all over...feel like a queen!!

The second massage I got was Jan.1 after a night of dancing and frolicking. This time it was a man on the beach. He had given me a foot massage the day before and came back asking if I wanted more. It was still early in the morning and few people on the beach so I asked for a full body. He was awesome! He cracked the bones and pulled out all the knots on my back! Then I flipped over for him to do the front. He went to town around the breats! Hahaha! But didn't cross the line (I had a bikini on) and it felt so relaxing! Then he did the things and butt....I was turned on and felt like jello! Why couldn't men you want to sleep with give massages like that!!!
I Love Goa!!!!

Goa Part 1

Back in Pandurang Ashram in Malleswaram, Bangalore. Have to say that this has been one the most awesome vacations I have ever taken. So, what happened in Goa? Well…here goes…

I left Bengeluru (funny name—going to call it Bangalore, thank you!) on the 6:30 PM bus to Goa. It was a loooooooong ride! Got the first 2 seats (had a friend with me) and sat in a half reclined position the whole time. The ride is 16 hours long! We stopped at a rest place about 2.5 hours into the journey, it was a proper rest stop with clean facilities. Then the rest of the time it was roadside stops…on very very bumpy dusty roads. Some places it was just a dirt path! If it must be said…take a flight anytime you can. Its about double the price but it’s a couple of hours at most and peace of mind. My bus ticket was Rs. 1050 which is roughly $22 or so…one way. Flight would have been $100-$150 – one way – its peak travel ‘cause of holiday season. You can see why I opted for the bus! I slept most of the trip and limited any solid and liquid intake…incase I had to make a pit stop. Little luck…at about 3:00AM, my bladder cried to be relieved! No way in this good earth was I going to go on the roadside in pitch black conditions! I figured I could hold it for a few more hours. It was a gorgeous ride, cool night, beautiful clear sky and a bright moon. The shadows of the coconut trees, outlines of the hills and mountains against the moonlight -- absolutely gorgeous. Thank goodness I had packed my wool shawl, it can get very cold at night. My friend insisted I had to make conversation…but I was still jet lagged and those who know me, know that I fall asleep in moving vehicles! So I handed over my I-pod as my substitute and went of to snoozeland. Of course my full bladder couldn’t keep me sleeping for long…but at 8AM I thought I could still hold out a bit longer. As the sun came up, it got warmer and I started to sweat profusely.

Under different circumstances, I would have struck up convos with neighbors on the ride…but I was surrounded by young boys on their way to party in Goa. They were all passed out. So I attempted to sleep again. My travel companion had started to snore very loudly so I got up and decided to drink in the sights. As I sat there, very uncomfortably due to bladder conditions, I was breath taken by the sights. The rivers, the trees, the hill and the people- It was all so lush, green and full of life. Last time I had been to Goa was with my ex and we had played a game as we had traveled the South—spot the man with out the moustache! I swear, every South Indian man has a moustache! Its supposed to be a sign of manhood and all that balderdash but its still amusing. Likely hood that if he doesn’t have a moustache they are probably not from Karnataka. As we got closer to the Panji (capital of Goa) you could see the ocean and feel the cool breeze, a soothing break from the sweltering heat.

At about 11AM we pull into our bus stop in Panji. I run off to find a toilet. First place I tried a restaurant…they point me to the back, all I saw were closed doors. So, no bathroom. I run to my friend and no luck there either. So I go across the street and into a bus stand cum office.

“Excuse me Maam, where is the closest toilet?” I ask

“Cross the street in the park.” She replies.

“Thank you!” I answer happily and head off towards the park across the next street. It still hasn’t registered that it is a public toilet. It takes me 5 min to cross the very busy street and finally decide to take my life into my own hands and dodge between the speeding motorcycles, rushing vans and swerving three wheelers. I land on the median. Thankfully the traffic on the other side is much lighter. I walk into the park – beautiful flowers and wonderfully clean—but no toilet. See a sweeper woman and go up to her and say one word.

“Toilet?” I ask

“Blue building.” She replies, pointing the direction. As I walk away, I register that she just replied to me in English! Dang! She goes on sweeping with a burlap sack over her shoulder and I half trot towards the blue structure. As I walk up I see two men standing and some signs. I ignore all and enter into a nasty smelling squatting toilet. I have to dispose of my full bladder so badly that I could care less! I hike up my jeans to avoid the wet stinking floor and somehow squat and go. As I walk out I notice between the men and women’s toilet is a small room with a bed and table. Someone actually sleeps in there. One of the men chases me out to ask for payment for using the toilet. I hand over 2 rupees. A much calmer and peaceful me walk over to meet my friends and hire a taxi to go to Candolim.

My friend haggles with some cab drivers and manages to get a decent rate for a mini van to take the three of us and our small luggage. The old man cribs the whole ride how we are getting a discounted rate. Just a note: Goa’s peak time and only time of the year most Goans living seaside make any business is during the holiday season. From end of October till about beginning of March are their business times. They live the rest of the year on the earnings made during this period. So, a Rs. 30 ride can cost upto Rs. 300 Xmas to New Year. Prices drop drastically by the 3^rd of Jan. Being Indians (hey-I am thankful I look Indian during this time!) we can bargain reasonable rates and not pay the ridiculous tourist rates.

We have a comfortable ride to Candolim and land up at the Hotel Del Sol-Areia. It is run by Rudy and Glary, friends of Didi and Dada and have stayed with my ex last time. A modest hotel with full amenities and comfortable but very expensive compared to surrounding places. We were supposed to have a booking for a suite for 6. The three of us walk in and it’s a 1 queen size bed and a terrace. It’s a cute place but hardly big enough for more than 3 at any time! Where did Glary expect to put the other 3?? Even with extra mattresses the other 3 would have to sleep outside on the terrace!!! With the bugs in the chilly night!!! My two friends started fuming! What a way to start a vacation!

I was hungry, so we took a wash and said let’s eat and then figure out what to do and wait till the others come. So we went out to a restaurant…everything is on the strip and restaurants are all outdoors, meaning only a roof and open seating. We sit down and people watch as we down a few cold beers while waiting for the food. Everything goes at a very leisurely pace in Goa, food takes anywhere between 30-40 mins to arrive! Plenty of time to get a decent buzz on =)

I have been looking forward to some chicken vindaloo…a goan dish..spicy, tangy and oh so delicious. In the States, most Indian restaurants make it so spicy that you hardly taste the flavor of the food. But this Goan shack was not going to disappoint! My chicken vindaloo was the tastiest!! It was bright chili red with chunks of boneless chicken. It smelled tangy and tasted sour, spicy and oh so wonderful with the white rice that my mouth is watering just thinking about it!! It was absolute perfection…perfect way to start a vacation! A few more cold Kings beers and we were in Goa heaven.

Preety my dear, I most definitely thought of you! All through the trip! Really wish you could have been there!

After the hefty meal we started back to the hotel and passed by an Ayurvedic massage treatment center. I sorely needed a massage after that bus ride and I had been to the place on my last visit. My friends didn’t need much convincing to go in. After a bit of haggling on the price—the rate for 60 min was Rs.500 we bargained it for Rs.350 per person. We made appointments for 2 hours later to let our meals settle. In the meantime we had to figure out how to get out of our so called “suite” and find different accommodations. I decided to not take part in it cause I really didn’t want to stress about this on my vacation. The friends I was with were more than capable to handle the situation. By the time we arrived, the other 3 friends had joined. They managed to talk to Rudy and Glary and get us transferred to a one bedroom apartment 10mins away. While these talks were taking place, we had already gotten our 1 hour oily rubdown. I had come back and completely crashed out! I fell asleep about 5:00PM and kept on sleeping till 5:00AM!

It was awesome!!!

12-28-06 in Bangalore (now known as Bengaluru)

I am in Malleswaram now. Navin and Nishu picked me up at the airport at 5:00 am. I was getting very excited! The air was spring cool and as Navin drove...I started recognizing everything. Felt like i had never left. I remebered MG Road, Chowdiah and all! Coolest was I still remembered how to get to Didi and Dada's house!!

As i entered the colony, all the memories rushed back...Diwali with sparklers in the court yard, rangoli on the steps...ahh..nostalgic =) I went straight to my old room. Everything was exactly as I remembered it! By 8:30 am, Didi woke up and made her delicious tea and some breakfast. Then I took a short nap and went out with Navin. We went to eat lunch...yummy desi food!!!! and Indian ice-cream...vanilla here tastes so different! Then we drove around a bit in town and jet lag hit me. Plan was I was going back to the house to take a nap and then we would go out at night for drinks and checkout the tattoo parlors for my next tat. He also drops the news that he got engaged to his girlfriend and to be married in May!! So very happy for him but pissed cause he waited so long to tell me!

I never woke up...I slept from 5:00pm to 7:00am!!!

Finally wokeup, Didi made some tea, dosa and yummy yummy chutney. Dada and I did the Soduko and the boys woke up.

its 12:00pm now...should start getting ready to leave for Goa!!

Heathrow Airport: 11:30am 12/26/06 waiting for connecting to Bangalore

I started packing for my trip at 10:30am for the 8:30pm flight from JFK—those that don’t know—it’s a 1 ½ hour ride from my mother’s house. I was going to take the Airporter shuttle so my mother or my brother wouldn’t have to make the long drive on Xmas day. Airporter was closed and taxis not taking reservations being Xmas and all. So, decided to take train and subway. But, then my brother came over and saw that I was packing a suitcase---it was pretty light—and he felt pity on me and decided to drop me off. So both my brothers drove me to the airport. So nice of them =)

Before I left the house I had already checked-in online for my flight but once at the airport, I still had to stand in a python snake line for 1 hr! What was the convenience of on-line checking in??? The family behind me had the printed boarding pass from on-line and they had to stand on that ridiculous line! Oh well---I checked in my bag and headed for the gate. Was hoping I would get at least an eye-candy for the long flight but none really. I grabbed a sandwich, from a rude vendor that yelled at the customer in front me, and sat to have my first bite of food for the day. Time: 8:00pm. It was a 747 and had arrived late. They started boarding at 8:20 and that’s when I saw my eye candy. Probably in late 20s, dark, long hair (nape of neck), and just such a structured face. He looked like he may be a dancer…regardless had a nice slim body frame. Traveling alone as well. I took my liberties of staring at the features of the eye-candy but its been a long time since I actually started convos. I found my seat- aisle. It was 3 seater by window and an amusing site, the two guys and I were all hooked to our mp3 players and reading a book! None of us spoke to one another and the guy next to me kept having to go to the bathroom. But I wasn’t giving up my aisle seat! I barely had enough room for my legs…no way was I sitting inside!

The flight was delayed by two hours. Thank goodness to Ronak for giving me a book (Waiting by Ha Jini). I would have gone bonkers! I had forgotten my sketch pad and too cramped to write or pull out my laptop. I had lost my eye candy as well =( Also, we were seated behind a baby….a very cranky baby! Finally, the flight takes off—delayed cause JFK was short staffed on account of it being Xmas and the baggages were back logged in security. I was enjoying all the new random music I had uploaded on the i-nano. One of the CDs was Farshad’s band Cryptic Fate (Bangali rock band) –it had one song I liked so far, Onuprerona. The melody is rockin’; have to take a few more listens to understand the Bengali lyrics. Also listened to Fuad’s (Bangali music director) remixes, I really like his style and his explorations of fusing different styles—he does reggae, rock, Bengali folk and classical sounds—all melded together harmoniously! Bangladeshis are coming a long way on the music front! Flight takes off at 10:00pm.

On board movie I watched: The Wicker Man. Very disturbing film.

On board dinner: Beef casserole with mashed potatoes. Eh.

Drink: coke, white wine.

Tried to get sleep---not possible in those tiny little seats! I think I do prefer Kuwait Airways—at least I can get 3 seats to myself and sprawl out for a nap!

Finally landed in Heathrow and found the eye-candy again. Such a cutie! Ended up shopping in duty free and bought a Black Label for dada (the dad of the family I will be staying with) and some After Eight chocolate mints for the family. I am starting to get excited about landing in Bangalore. I am really starting a vacation! Well, a semblance of one anyway!

Now waiting for the connecting flight to Bangalore. Its 12:36pm (London time) and flight is at 1:40pm. I have the window seat this time. My poor legs will give out…my knee and ankle has already started acting up.

I should start writing some end of year notes to friends and family…