Meghna and Prashant

Unphotographable - Perú Edition

2008-09-21T13:01:00.008-04:00

Hat tip: Unphotographable

This is a picture I did not take in Ollayantambo, of a small but colorful cemetery on day 1 of the Inca Trail trek. It was an odd little cemetery - with colored crosses and flowers - and it was right by the trail. We were trying to avoid bringing out the camera at every small opportunity - a misguided attempt to conserve battery. Turned out we had more than enough.

This is a picture I did not take in Arequipa, of a father encouraging his little girl to hop off the cathedral steps. It seemed like a very private moment and I did not want to intrude.

This is a picture I did not take in Huacachina, of Alberto - our driver who brought us to the hotel from Ica, and then spend the day with us in Nazca. He asked us if we enjoyed watching the Nazca lines from the air - with a look in his eyes that suggested he had not seen them from the air yet. I hope I am wrong about this.

This is a picture I did not take of the waitress in Nazca, who was a little offended by what she thought was us patronizing her when we asked her about Shah Rukh Khan - "of course I know SRK, what kind of a (bullshit) question is that!?". We tipped her well.

This is a picture I did not take in Arequipa, of the city streets and the cathedral steps - where we spend most of our time. In the 4 hours we had to kill, we circled the main square - mostly wandering aimlessly.

This is a picture I did not take of Machu Picchu, from the mountain top on the way in. It was cloudy and the visibility was extremely limited - to say the least. This is where we all got philosophical about the journey and not the destination (ya right!). Once we descended into the lost city, there was no hope was climbing back up - our legs would not allow it.

This is a picture I did not take in Lima, of the meticulously arranged bones in the basement of the Catacombs cathedral in Lima. They would have made for some very disturbing pictures - especially of a well that we were told is 10 meters deep, but the bones in it made it look just 3 meters.

This is a picture I did not take along the Inca Trail, of Dead Woman's pass as we got close to it and on the way down - it was raining and I was woozy and I did not want to make this post as long as a book.

Day 5 - Sunday lunch cruise on the Flying Cloud

2008-05-18T22:53:00.002-04:00

Flying Cloud, originally uploaded by CláudiaM.

A Sunday like no other - one for the ages. It started out pretty ominously - the bus that was supposed to pick us up did not show up on time. But once they did show up to take us to the ferry dock at Paradise Island - it was all good.

And I do literally mean "all good!"

We boarded the 57 foot proud catamaran, paid our balance, got introduced to the crew and set sail. The plan was to cruise to a reef, do some snorkeling, anchor on the Rose Island beach for lunch (with unlimited rum punches!) and then chill out till it was time to head back.

Needless to say it all went perfectly according to the "plan". The sun was out - it was a beautiful Sunday (pardon the pun). We got our snorkeling gear and instructions on the way to the reef. Kai, our on board snorkeling instructor, was quite funny ("No questions? I must have had it right then! How would you'll know anyway?"). The water was clear as a (clean) fish tank and the fishes and the reef were beautiful. We saw a bunch of tiger fishes and some others - luckily no lion fish, which is a non-intrusive but poisonous fish.

After an hour of snorkeling we headed to the beach at Rose Island where we had lunch on the boat - salad with dressing, bread and fruits for the veggies but we had unlimited rum punches to wash that down and we were not complaining a bit!

Rose Island is one of the islands that is under development - so I'm glad we got to it before it is off-limits to "regular" folk. The sand was soft and white, the water was blue and clear! We took a short walk on the island and then bobbed about in the water for a bit before it was time to go back.

We wanted to sign off this post by saying a big "Thank You" to the Flying Cloud crew for making our last day in the Bahamas one we will never forget!

Day 4 - Ardastra Gardens, Cricket and Cabbage Beach

2008-05-18T22:30:00.002-04:00

Saturday began with a disappointment - we had set 3 alarms to wake ourselves up to take the ferry to Harbor Island - to see the pink sand beaches. But on reaching Potters Cay we found that the ferry was full and we had no luck on getting in as stand-bys.

With the plan for the whole day being shot, we now had a challenge to make lemonade out of the lemons we had been handed. We started by going back to the hotel and partaking the breakfast. Once fed, we decided to check out the Ardastra Gardens and Zoo - home of the famous parading flamingoes. We got there just in time to see the flamingo parade. And after strolling around for some time we got a pleasant surprise - we were going to feed apples to the parrots. The parrot feeding was so much fun - I just couldn't get enough of how comfortably they just went chomp-chomp (thats the correct technical term) on the apples.

We then took a jitney ride to the ground where the local cricket clubs played their matches over the weekend. It was a pleasure watching cricket sitting in the fielding teams pavilion - listening to the lively beer fueled conversation of the spectators.

In the evening we found our way back to Cabbage beach - after a long walk along the beach, we settled near the familiar spot from a couple of days ago. Here we saw a wedding from start to finish - a small ceremony with live music (3 violinists) and barefoot guests. We waited a little longer this time - till the sunset.

The Bahamas - Day 1, 2 and 3

2008-05-18T22:02:00.004-04:00

Going to the Bahamas seemed like a good idea for a bit of business (H1B visa stamping) and pleasure (the beach, the sun, more beaches!). And we're back to report that it was.

We arrived at Nassau on Wednesday. After checking into the hotel (Grand Central Hotel) we immediately started plotting our way out. This hotel is nothing like its website suggests - I cannot even begin to describe our disappointment. But the silver lining was that local calls from our hotel room were free and after making a couple of calls we got a room at the Quality Inn, opposite the Junkanoo beach near downtown Nassau. Otherwise Wednesday was quite unevnentful - we hung out around town and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe(!). In the evening we visited a local bar and sampled some cocktails.

Thursday was for the ugly business of the trip and touring some of the beaches - Cable beach where every good spot belongs to a resort and then Cabbage beach on Paradise Island - which was good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good (hat tip to Larry David).

Friday morning we visited some of the local sites - the Queens Staircase and a fort that was right next to it (forgot the name).

And then after collecting my passport we went back to Paradise Island to check out the Atlantis resort. In retrospect, we should have rented some scooters and gone riding around the island - the residential areas looked quite interesting and typically small town-ish, with most of the homes resembling "bungalows".

Run For India | Preeti

2007-09-30T15:19:00.000-04:00

Donate Now!
Checks should be made in favor of "AID" with marathon:preeti in the memo and handed over to the runner or mailed to:
AID College Park
Post box 'F',
College Park
MD 20741-3005

http://www.runforindia.org/runners/preeti

This is Preeti. I am running the Marine Corps Marathon this year.
I am a volunteer with Association for India's development
(www.aidindia.org). Aid India has various projects that they fund at the grassroots level in the villages of India. AID has been active in providing the necessary resources and funding during the Tsunami. AID is also very active with the Right to Information Act (key to fighting corruption) and how to spread awareness about it among common people. AID was one of the groups instrumental in convincing the Government to drop the amendment aimed at diluting the act.

Having been a volunteer with AID for almost two years, I have been able to see at close quarters the sacrifice, commitment and dedication of the AID team and how even a small contribution can make such a huge difference.

Your donations will encourage my effort to run every mile for a smile! :-) All of our efforts will go a long way in ensuring a vision of a developed India.

He found a match!

2007-08-20T01:40:00.000-04:00

Great news - Vinay from the post below this found a match!

"Good news everyone. I found a match."

And thats not all - the number of samples collected during drives for Vinay and Sameer are going to save many more lives, too.

People helping other people - strangers coming together to save lives. Maybe there's some hope for the human race after all.

Help Vinay!

2007-07-10T18:16:00.000-04:00

Cinco de mayo!

2007-05-05T22:32:00.000-04:00

Margharitas, Fajitas and Sangria!

After 6 years, this is still an alien culture - the broccoli does not taste any better. But we know now to ask for black beans and the spicy salsa... so we find a way to partake.

So, happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! (and a belated happy St Patricks Day too!)

The Reception

2007-04-22T20:01:00.001-04:00

mehendi, originally uploaded by busybee.

The Reception (and the wedding ceremony, for that matter) was held at Crystal Springs - a beautiful outdoor venue near Almeida Park in Bandra. The weather was perfect, and so was the setting!
Now we're waiting for any of our friend's to get married there - so we can actually enjoy the venue :) Jokes apart, it was the perfect culmination to the festivities - we were happy to see everyone who made it there to wish us on our wedding day. Click here to see some of those who made it.

The Wedding Ceremony

2007-04-22T19:49:00.001-04:00

our hands are tied together, originally uploaded by busybee.

The wedding was a traditional Hindu ceremony. We tried to keep up with the meaning of it all - of marriage, the responsibilities and duties that go with it. We were completely overwhelmed with the barrage of information but we decided to go through with it anyway... Click here to see how we did it!

Finally some pictures - Engagement and Sangeet

2007-04-22T19:37:00.001-04:00

again.. a perfect fit, originally uploaded by busybee.

The Engagement and Sangeet was easily the most fun we had! We exchanged rings, ate (a lot of) cake and danced - till we literally dropped!

Click on the picture above to see all the pictures..

Engagement and Sangeet - Videos!

2007-04-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

Its 2007 - so the video's come before the photos!

The Engagement and Sangeet was a lot of fun - way more fun than we thought we would have!

We exchanged rings..

We cut a cake with the most awesome candle I have ever seen.. the cake was pretty good too!

We danced while trying not to look silly..

And we danced while not really caring if we looked silly or not..

.. which was great! Thanks a lot Mamta, Shally, Monica, Mehak, Ajay, Dhiren, Vinay, Joanna, Anirudh and Divij!

Thread Ceremony

2007-03-06T01:56:00.000-05:00

The Thread Ceremony for Prashant, Ajay and Dhiren will be held in the Mahalaxmi Co-op Housing Society Hall on Saturday March 10 2007 at 9:00 AM, followed by lunch. According to Hindu tradition, the thread ceremony is when a boy becomes a man (and so is allowed to marry).

Directions - The Mahalaxmi Society (also known as "Mahalaxmi Sindhi Society") is very close to the Starcity movie theater. It is important to note (especially if you don't like getting swindled by taxi drivers) that the society is actually in the Shivaji Park area and not in Mahalaxmi.

Engagement (and Sangeet!)

2007-03-06T01:37:00.000-05:00

The Engagement and Sangeet will be held in in the Banquet Hall of Hotel Royal Garden Juhu on Sunday March 11 2007, 7:00 PM onwards. Zarine and her troupe will facilitate the silly Sindhi dancing, which is a whole lot sillier than even "white people dancing". A whole lot of us will then deny that we ever did any of that! Be there for an authentic Sindhi experience!

Directions - Royal Garden is on Juhu Tara road, a little ahead of Maneckji Cooper High School. The approximate location is shown below.

Directions

2007-03-06T00:46:00.000-05:00

MapMyIndia - In the image below, the red oval is Almeida Park, and 'X' marks the spot (Crystal Springs) where all the festivities will take place.

Wikimapia - This link shows up something like the image below. The red square is where Crystal Springs is. Zoom out to get some perspective.

Wedding Invitation

2007-03-06T00:43:00.000-05:00

The Invitation we designed and developed...

And here are the directions to the venue.

Meg and Pras

2007-03-06T00:37:00.000-05:00