My European travelogue has to wait; I went to Bhigwan yesterday.A journey of two hours brought us to Bhigwan, which has a lake that is roughly east-south-east of Pune. Flamingos, they say, come to Bhigwan, and stay there till the end of February.We left home at 5 in the morning, but by the time we got on to the boat at Bhigwan, the sun was well up in the sky, and we knew that we would see nothing. Birds, we know, come out only early in the morning, before it gets hot.How wrong we were! Flamingos, spoonbills, open-billed storks, bar-headed geese, cormorants, gulls, glossy ibises, black-headed ibises, terns, grey herons, egrets, kingfishers ... We saw them all. My eyes darted from one to another, noticing details of each bird because we saw so many of them. We saw enough birds up close, right there, flying above our boat. We heard their calls and saw them hovering over the … [Read more...]
Backpacking through Europe: Rome
People say that Italy is like India, and there are many similarities I see: honking on the road, noise, people talking everywhere ...Rome's metros are full to bursting point. The only difference between Mumbai locals and the Rome metro is that there are doors that slam shut in the latter, so you cannot hang out. But you have to stand on tiptoe if you want to avoid standing on someone else.Our worst encounter in Italy, though, was not the metro. It was not the fact that we got separated by the doors that banged shut, and had to find one another again without the aid of mobile phones that seem like an extension of our bodies today.We got to Rome and looked in our map to figure out where there was a youth hostel. It was early in the morning and cold, but we had IYHF (International Youth Hostel Federation) memberships, and a map with the youth hostels marked. A very bad phone line … [Read more...]
Map-Reading: The Crazy Travelogue Continues
I invite you to examine the map above. Notice where the 'Ostello' is. It's right between the QT8 metro station and the Lotto metro station.When we got to the youth hostel the first time, it was simple enough. Sign-boards guided us from the metro-station QT8 to the hostel.On day two in Milan, we had different plans. We thought we would be a little adventurous. We were backpacking through Europe: we had to do cool, new things; we had to forge new paths!We decided to begin by getting off at Lotto, instead of QT8. No crystal clear directions here, but we had a map, which we could use. Of course.We walked enthusiastically. Then we walked some more. And we walked even further, wondering whether the hostel was equidistant from the two metro stations.We had been told to get off at QT8, so we reasoned that Lotto must be a wee bit further on. A slightly longer walk.So we … [Read more...]
The Crazy Travelogue – V
Coping with a new language, staying with people I did not know and attending school with friends who were much better at French than I was was too trying an experience for me to have written about my experience every day. I wanted to write, but it was all good intentions and nothing more.On the 13th of June, 2004, though, our adventure actually began - three young Indian girls backpacking through Europe. I will never forget those two weeks. Unbelievable, educational weeks. We reached Milan at 9 in the morning and did not know where to begin. We did not speak Italian and we needed to find a youth hostel.We got off the train and walked purposefully down the platform just like all the other people with a destination. There was no other way we could go. And we reached the end of the platform.We exchanged glances, looked around, and learned out first Italian words - ufficio … [Read more...]
Indians in France
(Part IV of The Crazy Travelogue)My sister, our French correspondent and I were sitting on a bench outside a bookshop, when two young men walked past. After a few moments, they turned around and walked back. Ignoring our French companion, they turned to the two of us brown-skinned people."Excuse me," asked one in French, "could we ask you two questions? Just two questions?" My sister and I exchanged glances. "Erm ... Okay ..." "Are you Indian?" "Yes ...?" "From the north of India?" "No, from the south." (Technically, our two questions ended there, but they did not seem to realise.) "From Madras?" We shrugged. Madras, unfortunately, is usually very loosely defined. "Do you speak Tamil?" (Question number four, please note.) "Yes."That sealed it. Switching to Tamil with a stronger accent than I can ever hope to even imitate, they grinned and said in Tamil, "Then why on earth are we … [Read more...]
The Crazy Travelogue: All About Food
This is part three of the crazy travelogue about the French exchange programme. Much of our day, especially in the beginning, seems to have revolved around food, if my diary is anything to go by.On the 22nd of May, 2004, I've written about melon (not exactly a unique experience) and a tart ('not sweet') with spinach and goat cheese. That's when I remember that we had not yet started being adventurous with meat. We were vegetarian then, clearly so.On the 23rd of May, we have hot chocolate and McDonald's as our highlights. (To be fair, we did not want to go to McDonald's, but got pulled with the tide.) For dinner, artichokes. I've told that story already.The highlight of the 24th of May is hot chocolate in a bowl. The problem with a foreign language is that after a while, you don't feel like going on asking, "Sorry? I did not understand." Sometimes, you just agree to something, … [Read more...]
The Crazy Travelogue: French Exchange Programme – II
'I don't think anyone cried,' I've noted in my diary. What? I read it again. I don't think anyone cried.I frown as I read it. It is a singularly strange thing to have noted down. We were going on the French exchange programme - a four-week programme. I have no idea why seventeen-year-old me wanted someone to cry.Evidently, though, I wasn't the only one who found things incomplete. Many of us wanted something more dramatic, something beyond the 'cycling-shorts drama' I wrote about yesterday."I want something to happen," G said. "Something should happen."It was just a while before G's wish was fulfilled. Two hours into our journey to Mumbai, we found out that the Air India ground staff were on strike. Thanks to that, all AI flights were delayed by a few hours. "Is this 'something' enough?" we asked G, who was duly penitent. It was her fault, of course, that the staff were on … [Read more...]
The Crazy Travelogue: French Exchange Programme – I
When you are seventeen and off on Fergusson College's famous French exchange programme, everything seems special. There is nothing that is not worth noting down.Now, I chuckle in delight. There is so much to remember.We begin with what I call the 'cycling-shorts drama' in my excited record of each detail.We had been told to carry cycling shorts because we were going to have a lesson at the circus school in Chambéry. We were fifteen teenagers, bouncing with joy.We whispered to one another. "Did you carry a pair?" "Oh no! I forgot!" "I didn't either!" "Nor I." "Oh my God." "Now what?"Not having a pair of cycling shorts was a Big Deal. We Had Been Told To Carry Them And None Of Us Had Any. The world would come to an end.We called friends, cousins, everyone. At less than half an hour's notice, we had a cousin and a friend coming all the way to college to give us cycling … [Read more...]
Imagine and Innovate: A Workshop on Books for Children
Workshop Outline: How do books come alive? What happens in the mind of the writer, and how does it finally reach the hands of the reader? "Imagine and Innovate" explores each step of the journey: from the idea to the making of the book. Children will come together to create a story, design and make a book, and learn what copyright is. It will be a morning of imagination, creativity and learning: a writing workshop for all children aged about 8-13. Overview: 1. A memory game to get to know one another. 2. Make up a story together; design your own book. 3. Learn about publishing, copyright, and the options for children who write. Date: Saturday, 28th February, 2015. Time: 11 am - 1 pm Fee: Rs 500 per child Age-group: 8-13 Venue: The Cultural Centre, Pune To register: Send an email to tcc@prelocate.com with your name and contact number. [Email subject: Imagine and … [Read more...]
Jatayu Moksham
The Kalakshetra troupe performed in Pune for the first time last evening. Finally.When I watch them dance, I understand. I understand why Kalakshetra is such a reputed name in the dance world. I am awed by the vision of Rukmini Devi, and her incredible imagination. I see dance as architecture, performance and storytelling. I am moved to laughter and tears, empathy and revulsion.I don't particularly like the Ramayana as a story. I find Sita a rather insipid character, whimsical and petulant. Rama, to me, is too good to be true. Too much of an unbelievable mixture of human and god. I am revolted time and again by the way Rama and Lakshmana taunt the rakshasi Surpanakha before shaming her. There is too much wrong with the story, for me. Yet, on stage, it is divine. The characters are living, breathing individuals. Sita, roused to anger, is formidable. In love, she wins my … [Read more...]