'Duomo' just means 'cathedral', but the duomo in Milan is just something else. The first time we travelled in Europe, we started with Milan. That made it exciting in itself. We drank from water fountains. We ate real pizza and real pasta. We tried talking to real Italian people with real Italian accents, sometimes talking real Italian which was a bit hard.And we saw the beautiful duomo.The second time we went to Milan, we did not have any intentions of staying there. We thought we would take the first train out of Milan and go to Ancona or Bari to get our ferry to Greece. That was the plan. So we stood in the long queue at the enquiry counter of the railway station, talking excitedly about all our plans for Greece, everything we wanted to see, everything we had read, mythology...We are always sceptical of people at railway booths. They're usually grumpy. We were more than a little … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage IV
Every time my sister Nisha and I performed in France, we had far less time to practise than usual. The last two performances were easier - we practised long distance on Skype before meeting and practising. Before that, it was individual, separate efforts, followed by coordination once I reached France.I remember the time we performed at Aix-en-Provence. We practised, of course we did. But there's some amount of choreography that changes every time we perform. Even when we perform the same piece with another dancer, we do not perform it in exactly the same way. We keep the other performer in mind, if nothing else.For this particular performance, as a duet, there were several things that we did in a kind of mirror-formation. I did the right side, while she did the left. I never practised the left side; she never practised right.And then, somehow, we got disoriented on stage.We … [Read more...]
‘Stranded’ in Ahmedabad
I remember the time when my father decided to surprise me by coming along with me on my flight to Kolkata. My flight had a stop over at Ahmedabad, and he decided to pop into Ahmedabad to see a friend. Until we reached Ahmedabad, things were happy and smooth. I was duly surprised, duly happy with the surprise and duly content with the idea of continuing my journey alone from there.We took off at Ahmedabad -- and landed immediately. Bird-hit. As far as I'm concerned, bird-hits belong to faded hoardings put up at airports by the air force as warnings. They don't belong to reality.Whether the bird-hit was real or not, I don't know. The newspapers the next day said 'Suspected bird-hit' and commended the pilot for having decided to land even though he wasn't sure, keeping in mind the safety of the passengers. What I do know is that the hasty landing caused a tyre to be punctured and, of … [Read more...]
‘Stranded’ in Paris
I don't exaggerate when I say that my poor guardian angel is overworked. I don't exaggerate when I say that I have the craziest possible travel experiences. Proof of the fact was given to me yet again in 2010 with the most unbelievable of problems. A volcano erupted.The famous volcano eruption that caused GPS all over Europe to stop working in 2010 and volcanic ash to descend into the continent naturally affected me as well. How could it not affect Varsha and her travel stories?In Paris with a flight to catch, I learned that all flights had been cancelled indefinitely, until the volcanic ash settled. As 'usual', my visa was due to expire very soon, but as usual, it was not my fault that I could not go home.And as usual, the experience was wonderful.Extra days with my sister and my truly incredible French family are treasures I cherish. I remember the joy that accompanied all the … [Read more...]
‘Stranded’ in Milan
Coming back from France in 2006, we had an Alitalia flight via Milan. Everything until Milan was fine - except one thing. This is an aside, but I must say this. In Milan, like in Vienna, I was asked to take off my belt and lay it in the tray to be passed through the X-Ray machine. That's okay, acceptable. Then, I was asked to raise my hands as I walked through the security gate. If I was comfortable enough to lift my arms wearing jeans without a belt, I would not wear a belt at all, I wanted to tell them. I now make it a point to wear a salwar kameez or tighter jeans.Coming back. Our stopover from Paris was at Milan - and there, we discovered that the flight ahead was cancelled. All kinds of reasons were given to us. 'Technical snag', 'staff on strike', 'no co-pilot'... We had no idea when we'd get a flight back and our visas were due to expire that day.That, we were told, was not a … [Read more...]
Travel Woes
I could write a whole book about things that went wrong while I was travelling. I have a very dear friend who says that my poor guardian angel is always overworked because I make him work overtime keeping me safe through everything.In some AC trains, there's a little metal box above the berth that you can open for light. 'LIFT FOR LIGHT', it says. As a child, I never needed it - I was not allowed to read in bed. When I became a little older (quite a bit older, actually), I excitedly lifted the cover. And the light bulb burst as soon as I opened it. It did not burst in my face, thankfully, but I had pieces of glass in my hair right through the long train journey. I was not able to comb all of them out of my hair - every time I ran the comb through my hair, more tiny pieces emerged. I finally managed to get them out only when I got home and had a shower.I don't use those things any … [Read more...]
Chenonceau
The little castle that appears on the Disney logo is, I am convinced, Chenonceau. The château de Chenonceau has to be a Disney castle.In the World War II, the castle marked the boundary between war zones and safe areas. People were often smuggled through the castle to the other side - the idea itself adds the element of romance and adventure I love! We chose not to take the audio guides, but we missed nothing, simply because there was just so much to see. The castle brings to mind all the Georgetter Heyers I've read with its magnificent rooms and four-poster beds and all that. The maze, in typical touristy style, is very simple. It's impossible to get lost there, which takes a little joy out of the idea of a maze. Though the wax museum was a huge disappointment, the rest of the castle had a beautiful feel of people. It felt lived-in, with shiny copper utensils, a quaint pulley to draw … [Read more...]
On the Expressway
Driving to Mumbai last evening, I noticed all kinds of things that bewildered me. People do the strangest things, and make my imagination soar.In the middle of nowhere, there was a man walking on the divider, in the direction of Mumbai. I wonder, was he walking all the way?On the ghats, returning in the middle of the night, trucks groaned their way up, blocking all three lanes. Below us was the valley, which we could not see. Sitting on the wall that guards the road and separates it from the drop in the valley, was a man playing with his cell phone. It was close to midnight. Did he think a truck would do better with one person less in it? Did he have a bet - let's see who gets to the top first, groaning truck or me? Or was he just taking a break, hoping to hitch a ride a little later?Someone driving from Mumbai towards Pune suddenly took a U-turn, with no regard for traffic in … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage III
Performing in Chidambaram is an experience that any dancer would cherish. Mythologically, it is the place where Lord Shiva came and danced the Ananda Tandava, at the request of the sages. The golden temple of Chidambaram finds its way into many traditional songs, thanks to its splendour and history.When we danced there, one of the pieces we performed was, once again, the much-loved Draupadi Vastra Haran. As usual, I was Dusshasan; this time, my teacher was Shakuni. We were on stage, in the middle of the drama when the music suddenly skipped back. Dancers on stage must never show nervousness, we knew that. The problem was that we had no idea how far back the music had skipped.That's when the real drama began. Duryodhan turns to Dusshasan and asks in dance parlance, "Where are we? What part of the music is this?"Dusshasan calmly replies, "We have a lot of … [Read more...]
Southern Adventures
Travelling with two friends in the south of India was the experience of a lifetime! Our plan was essentially to go to Pondicherry, but friends convinced us to go to Kodaikanal as well. Buses to and from Kodai were very frequent, so we were willing to try it out.Going to Kodai was longer than we imagined. We did not get a direct bus from Pondicherry. We had been told to go to Madurai, but that was far too, farther than we'd been mentally prepared for. Finally, we took a bus to Vettalakundu, a place we had never heard of. We got another crowded bus from there to Kodaikanal... Never mind. Kodai was beautiful, so once we got there, we were happy enough.After that, though, began the nightmare of getting back to Chennai to catch our flight back to Kolkata. On day two at Kodai, we went cheerfully to book tickets on any bus to Chennai - and discovered that no buses at all were available. … [Read more...]