It’s a Sunday afternoon, I should say boring Sunday afternoon.. I really don’t know what I am going to write but started writing this (un)planned post about my experience in Kutch.. and my personal experiences within the span of last one week..
I left for Kutch on last Monday, 6th July, I was pretty much excited as my main purpose of visiting Kutch was to meet my grandparents.. I am kind of fond of them.. clean hearted people.. We see the love in their eyes..
I had decided that I will keep the work on the backseat but then I got stuck in the small issues which eventually were blown out of proportion.. few things left me in deep shock.. basically behavior of few people.. I won’t be able to post much about it now as I have been told myself to keep my mouth shut till the issues are resolved but I would surely like to tell the world whole story about how people try to take you on a joy ride.. (Obviously without playing name games..)
So, 6th and 7th were almost spent on cleaning up the mess.. though the shadows of it still remains..
But on the positive site.. I felt really good meeting my grand parents.. I saw the joy in their eyes..
After taking rest on 7th, as per our plan, we left to explore Kutch on 8th (We had planned for 2 days).. though the plan kept changing till the end..
We first visited a place called Mata nu Madh.. it is basically a temple.. I thought it will be a good place to visit but frankly speaking, it was one of the worst place to visit.. (though my parents like the temple and all..), then we moved to a place called Narayan Sarovar.. this one is another temple but I had decided to go to this place just to enjoy the scenic beauty and hope to get a closer look at the Indian border.. (It’s not so far from there), but I was left disappointed.. It did not have anything what I had in my old childhood rough memories..
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*** This post was composed few days back, posting it little bit late ***
So, finally I decided to give myself a break.. though I wanted to go out for 10 days but like always, I could not.. so we (my wife and me) planned out a short trip to Matheran. 3 day trip… will be almost disconnected from the world.. no cell phone network.. no phone calls.. no messages.. and this is the time when I thank these mobile network guys for such a bad network.. it’s kind of fun.. this is what I wanted..
Okay.. so let’s start.. this post is going to be written in many parts.. it’s more like a diary.. I will be posting the stuff as an when the events occur and publish once I reach Mumbai…
Friday, 3rd April 2009 – We leave from home at around 8 AM for Matheran.. I decide to drive.. but as always.. I forget the road.. we take express highway.. miss the Khopoli turn and reach Lonavala LOL.. we realize we are on the wrong track.. haha, asked few people and somehow managed to reach Matheran (Dasturi) by 12.00 PM.. (we should have reached there by 10 AM).. driving through the ghat section between Neral and Matheran was fun..
Landed in the hotel at around 1.15 PM… enjoyed super cool nimbu pani on the way.. (Must have… don’t miss it.. you get it on the way to Matheran (from Dasturi)…)
Room wasn’t so impressive… (we are paying almost Rs. 4200 a night @ Regal Hotel) Had great gujju food.. the best food in Matheran.. we didn’t bother about the room much then.. for us… food is always the first priority.. right Megha? haha
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I had been to Baroda approximately a year back… and this year.. we all decided to go there to enjoy Makar Sankranti (Kite Festival). For the ones who doesn’t know.. Makar Sankranti is celebrated in a big way all over Gujarat, infact in many places it’s been celebrated on 14th and 15th January both…
So, here is my diary of a short visit to Baroda.. (13th to 15th Jan)
We reached Baroda on 13th… we had no mood to have food at home… we went to a restaurant called Express to have Gujarati thali…. and for the dinner, we went to some Kathiyawadi Dhaba (can’t recollect the name) located on the outskirts of Baroda.. dirt cheap food but amazingly tasty..
After that, we had my favorite, chocolate pan (Paras Pan – don’t miss it if you happen to visit Baroda)
Around 11.30 in the night.. we went to old Baroda (city), to check out the market area.. markets are open whole night on 13th for kite selling… it was an amazing experience there.. no place to walk.. no one was ready to leave, everyone was busy buying different types of kites, manja (threads) and even glares.. it was a fun experience…
So finally on 14th.. we all go to the building terrace with around 50+ kites.. but sadly.. there was not enough wind for the kite flying… but still we did not lose hope… we saw other people also, trying.. everyone was enjoying.. playing loud music on the terrace… we waited there for couple of hours but luck wasn’t with us…
We returned back in the evening.. around 4.30 PM… and this was the best phase… perfect weather for kite flying… good enough wind.. pleasant climate… without wasting much of time… we started flying the kites… the scenario was amazing… almost every terrace was full of people.. the sky was full of kites.. I have never seen anything like this ever.. it was too good.. we continued till the dark.. (around 7 PM I guess…)
And.. then.. the Diwali started.. everyone started bursting crackers.. pure fun.. the whole day, sky was full of kites.. and in the night.. crackers took place.. there were few people flying paper kandeels too..
We were still not satisfied and over excited.. all of us, decided to meet up next day in the morning too…
The next day… (i.e. yesterday), the fun continued.. it was still the same scenario.. no one was in the mood to work… everyone was set on their building’s terrace with music systems.. infact, this morning was much more crowded than 14th January… Megha and my sister tried their hands on the kites…. to be frank, they were much better than me.. haha
So.. around 1 PM.. we left the terrace as we had to catch our train at 4.. we had food and left around 3.30 PM… we didn’t want to go so soon but work commitments.. can’t say no to work..
So… finally, I am here in front of this laptop… thinking what more to type…. haha…
But this is going to be one of the memorable trips… we all have decided to visit Baroda every year to celebrate Makar Sankranti…
Okay… so let me end this post with some pics… (I have uploaded all the pics on my flickr account but most of them are limited to my contacts)
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Currently on my way to Mumbai, had gone to Goa for a short trip with friends. Left Mumbai on Thursday night, reached Goa on wonderful Friday morning. Did early check in at Marriott. (They were kind enough to let us check in early, their check in time is 4 PM). 3 nights, 4 days stay. Enjoyed there a lot. So let’s start with Day 1.
Day 1: Friday around 1 PM, reached Marriott Goa. Had great food there. Checked in the room, fantastic ocean view and finally got chance to SLEEP on the SUPER COZY bed. To be frank, after spending a night at Renaissance, Powai (One of the Marriott group hotels), We were actually waiting for this kind of bed, I just jumped onto the bed as I saw it. I mean, it was like heaven, I didn’t want anything else, just that bed, COZY bed on which I could sleep for whole day..damn good. Friends asked us to come over with them for a walk but we decided to enjoy the sleep.
On the same day, a kind of very bad incident happened with few tourists (females mainly) staying at Marriott. Some guys were clicking their photos, they caught the guys, deleted all the photographs and called the police but then decided to handover the guy and not lodge the complaint. This had happened outside the Marriott, but one of the members explained the incident to Marriott staff and they finally got convinced to lodge the complaint.
We were watching this right there sitting the lobby area of Marriott. I never expected any hotel guys to be so helpful. Marriott guys called their security people, arranged a car and all went to the police station and with the help of Marriott staff, finally all those culprits were caught and put behind the bar.
We were really impressed by the support staff of Marriott. A very strong positive mark.
Ok, so now what? There was lovely beach connecting to our hotel, just needed to step down from the hotel lobby and you are at the beach. 
. I strolled there with Megha for sometime. Sat at the poolside and headed for the Dinner.
We then went to the Casino, won some, lost some.. but we were winners in the hand with some decent amount of winning money in the hand. The day finally reaches the end.
Day 2: Started with late morning around 10 AM, that’s when we woke up. Had breakfast and jumped into the pool. It was super fun. A hot sexy babe in Bikini but Megha and 3 of my friends blocked the way.. so I was kind of kin soup but still got good amount of glimpse of that babe, haha..
At around 4.30 PM, we left to visit a 400 year old church and Baga beach. I regret going to those places. I do not mean to say that those places were bad but I prefer going to the places with less crowd. Baga beach was full of not so good crowd, felt like I am at Juhu beach. Have heard that beaches in South Goa are much better than North Goa. (We were at North Goa)
I prefer a clean beach with very decent crowd Yea, I do not like people playing around on the beach and blocking the way, I do not like tattoo females banging the head to get the Tattoo done from them and all.. I just like a clean beach with lots of peace and no nuisance.
We returned at around 7.30 PM, started with the lunch bit early, at around 8.30 PM, enjoyed each and everything at Dinner, specially Hummus and those yummy dessert and yea, my “customized” mango ice cream with chocolate chips and some more toppings.
Again, we hit the Casino. I again won some money, joined my friends for the Jackpot game. Won some amount and the winners headed towards the room but stopped at the Cafe / Lounge near the reception area. A sea facing cafe, cool breeze all the time (even if it’s afternoon) Spent around half an hour there and finally landed in the room and the day ends here.
Day 3: This one was the best day. Again, a late morning, had breakfast at around 11 AM. Directly jumped into the pool after that, we just loved floating around on those floating beds. Left for the lunch at around 2 PM, after Jacuzzi and quick shower. Slept for sometime and again jumped into the pool at around 6.30 PM, left for the dinner at 10 PM. (Again, had quick shower and Jacuzzi before the dinner)
Casino had become our daily routine, so we bumped into the Casino. But this time, for a change, lost good amount of money but those coin based games gave me profit of around Rs. 400. But in the end, we were not the winners. But enjoyed it.
At the end of the day, there was bit sadness coz we had to leave on the next day, none of us wanted to leave so soon but we had to..
Day 4: The last day. We left the hotel at around 11 AM, bought some Cashew Nuts and reached the Thvim station. The bad phase starts now. The train was late by approximately 1 and half hour. We waited in the waiting room. The place did not give us good feeling. We were getting frustrated, the place was not at all clean. The train finally arrived at 1.30 PM.
OK, now let’s talk in the present tense as I am currently in the train. (The post will be posted as I reach home though)
We are in the A/C compartment but it is more like a 2nd class compartment. Some guys with kids got in, bribed the TC and making noise all around. The food is pathetic. Tea / Coffee almost without the milk, Sandwich without the butter and stale vegetables. (The food is prepared in the railway department’s pantry car). I am hearing 3 different songs from 3 different places, some kid is showing off his Sony Erriccson walkman phone by playing new phones, other guys is showing off his radio. Damn, it totally sucks.
We are just waiting to reach Mumbai and have decided will never travel by Train for longer journeys.
Yea, Yea, I have become more like Amitabh Bachchan (He is known to blog very long posts) But for all those lazy readers like me, here is the summary.
The Goods:
- Marriott Hotel at Goa. Very good place, reasonable rates, excellent service and very polite and helping staff members.
- Mini bar in Marriott room. They had a small fridge with all the common stuff like Cold drinks, Beers, Pringles, Cashew Nuts and chocolates. We just need to pick the ones we need, they will bill us in the end for it. (The rates were very reasonable, e.g. Rs. 20 for the diet Pepsi can)
- Pool, enjoyed the pool. You should not miss the pool whenever you go to any hotel. And specially if you are at Marriott Goa, pool is real cool. (It is ocean facing)
- The food, though they had few items repeated but the quality of food was very good. Desserts were very good.
- Live performance at Marriott. They had a live / karaoke performance on Sunday noon for the lunch. It was really amazing, all the guests enjoyed and many of them came forward and sang the songs too.
The Bads:
- The beaches, I personally did not like roaming around at the beaches. Like mentioned earlier, I prefer cleaner ones.
- Bathroom at Marriott, they should have had a bath tub.
- The Butlets aka Cutlets in Jan Shatabdi Express. It was so pathetic, it was full of potato and tasteless, so we ended up naming it Butlet.
- Jan Shatabdi Express. NEVER EVER GO BY THIS TRAIN. It sucks like hell. I would prefer flight rather than train.
I guess, that’s it. I will be reaching Mumbai in approximately 5 hours (hopefully).
Will be posting the pics within couple of days.
