Saawari-yawwwn!

And so the media blitzkrieg reached its screaming pinnacle over the Diwali weekend.
We saw the whole circus unfold over the last few months, the two big banners striving to out-do each other in every way, the stars of both films appearing on TV shows left, right and centre, news channels eating out of their hands for savvy sound-bytes and more.

So the day came when I popped off to watch Saawariya, what with all the positive buzz over its dreamy sets, the pair of likeable young stars, the formidable Sanjay Leela Bhansali with his penchant for intense, passionate cinema, the backdrop of a classic Dostoyevsky short story and a decent music score.Oh yes, the movie seemed promising alright!

And what of the movie itself?
Well, considering that my review started off on that note, it could only mean bad news ahead.
Hence we start with delectable shots of a Venice/St Petersburg-like Old Town, rather reminiscent of Moulin Rouge incidentally, panning onward to Rani Mukherjee, desperately trying to do the role of a golden-hearted prostitute yet again (and fervently wishing she was doing a song-and-dance number with SRK instead, I bet!)
And then we have the Young Man himself, a little larger than life, cavorting with the gang of prostitutes and making them smile and all that.. the jaadu ki jhappi thing happening full-on.

And aeons and many sugary dialogues and yawns from the audience later, the young lady finally makes her appearance.
I guess that was the first sign.
The original story has this painfully shy and serious young man, who happens to help her when she's being aggressively pursued by an unsavoury character, and then they become friends, and he inevitably falls in love with her, knowing full well that she's already spoken for. And it's all about him, the depth of his feelings, the lengths he goes to help the girl get a note across to her lover, his loneliness.
That's a powerful story, just has raw, believable emotion. But here, our young man is portrayed as an extrovert, a likeable do-gooder, a romantic character so "cute", it takes away the pathos and probably just makes audiences wonder why the girl doesn't get hitched to him. Or makes you wonder why he's running after her when he could just remain happy-go-lucky and move on and find other people. Or makes you wonder why you're still in the theatre watching it, when YOU could move on :-).
So amidst all the blue-green haze of dreamy song sequences and Bollywood-y costumes and rowing boats through canals and singing in the snow, and playing football with women of ill repute, we lose track of his loneliness, his shyness, the fact that he's a friendless stranger in a strange town.
And then on, the story is quite, quite pointless, considering that Bhansali botched up the characterization of the main protagonist.
There's far too much dwelling on the female protagonist, the lovely Sonam Kapoor is made to giggle and cry with a frequency that approaches alarming proportions. There's far too much dwelling on the expendable Rani Mukherjee character, really, it's ridiculous to give a narrator so much footage, it distracts one from the main story.
Salman Khan as the mysterious lover with kohl-lined eyes is a little awkward, but passable, he doesn't hog the limelight like the over-the-top Mukherjee does. The crabby landlady character played by the feisty Zohra Sehgal is decent though, the one shining point in the rambling narrative.

This is one movie I'd have so loved to root for, with all its impeccable credentials and promise. It would have been interesting to watch Ranbir Kapoor play the serious, brooding introvert living his life for those few moments of bliss, instead of a cutesy, cloyingly sweet, larger-than-life character.
It should have ended on a wistful, poignant note, it should have been a real tribute to Dostoyevsky.
Instead, it probably has the Russian master turning in his grave, and the audience wishing it had stayed peacefully indoors for its post-Diwali siesta.

a piece of paradise - part deux

Day 2, Devbagh.

Got out of bed as soon as the alarm sounded (wonder why I can never do that when I need to go to work Monday mornings ;-). ) Got ready for the nature-walk, and just then, they brought us tea. It was amazing sitting there, out on the porch, swigging hot tea while it was still quite dark (wasn't quite day-break yet).
Then we walked over to the reception structure, where we were joined by a gaggle of firangs and their (rather obnoxious and fawning) private guide, and a few of the Indian guests too, and the guide from Jungle Lodges.
We set off on a nice brisk walk, through the woods, till we reached the backwaters of a river. (The river Kali)
I also wonder why I can't muster up enough enthusiasm to go for early-morning jaunts when I'm in Bangalore, sigh!
The foreigners' guide was being ridiculously obsequious, and the rest of us just couldn't help snickering and getting exasperated in turns.
On the way back, we walked through a nearby fishing village, and we amused ourselves by trying to guess what bit of "exotic Indian-sounding" information would next be doled out by that guide.
All in all, it was a nice 3 km jaunt, and we felt good as we made our way back to the cottages.
We were to go for a ride out on the sea at 9, for a spot of dolphin-watching and island-hopping, which meant we needed to get ready, and tuck into breakfast in double-quick time.
Which we did.

Made our way to the jetty in time, hopped on to the boat, and we were off. It was fun watching the coast from the sea, and little fish leaping around every now and then. Went around a couple of islands (didn't stop at any of them though), and then, everyone went quite silent as someone spotted a dolphin leaping up gracefully, and then disappearing beneath the surface quickly.
Moved around a bit, and we spotted around three dolphins in all.. two of them were pinkish, and the third was a greyish black, I reckon.
I couldn't take pics of them : I preferred just watching them intently rather than focussing through a camera.

After getting back ashore, Suman and I went down to the sea to do some serious splashing and floating about. We must have stayed there for hours, and when we finally got back to the cottage, it was lunchtime. After another hearty meal, we went over to the reception to find out what water-activities were on for the day. We were rather keen to try out kayaking, but the instructor said it was low-tide, so we couldn't. We settled on a banana boat ride, it sounded like fun.
Came back for a brief siesta on the hammocks, and by the time it was 3:30, we were sufficiently keyed-up for the banana boat ride.
So it's this yellow inflatable longish raft sorta contraption that's towed along by a motorboat at high speed... and after a while, when one is in water thats abt 40 feet deep, the motorboat takes a sharp turn, and we all fall into the sea, and bob up and float around thanks to the life-jackets.
It sounds rather easy and bland when put that way, but it was quite another experience to actually try it out! Quite unnerving really, to go deep underwater (esp considering that one doesn't know swimming!), and thinking one is never going to make it up alive again, and then finally bobbing up, all spluttering and shocked!
So after that first dunk, Suman and I decided we didn't want more, and we hopped on to the motor-boat instead, from where we watched the others take a couple of dunks more. After that, we clambered back into the banana thingy and that part was fun, a high-speed zig here, a sharp zag there, but no more falling-off, whew!

The rest of the evening was much like the evening before, all pleasant and peaceful, strolling around the estate, and then on the beach, the sunset, the bonfire (pakodas this time round), even managed a bit of antakshari (just suman and I, lolling about on the sand).
And then dinner (of course) and back to a peaceful slumber. (unbroken for me, but Suman is a bit of a light sleeper, so she had her moments of waking up every now and then.)

Day 3.
Again woke up pretty early, at 6:30, had tea, and then set off to the beach, for a walk, and to watch the sunrise. It was absolutely beautiful, and we lingered on the beach, waves gently lapping around our feet, till it was nearly time for breakfast.
We really surpassed ourselves at breakfast this time round :-). This sweet old Austrian lady was shocked in an amused kind of way, as she watched us tuck into countless omelet and toast and poha and baked beans and paranthas ;o) while we blithely chatted with her about India and Europe and languages and culture.
After that long and satisfying breakfast session, we went off to the reception to tell them we were checking out at noon, and got back to the cottage to get ready and pack and relax a bit before leaving.

All too soon, it was time to leave, and we got back the way we came. Got a rick to the Karwar depot, hopped into a bus (we were still stubbornly trying to find one of those deluxe buses, but were again told there weren't any.) which was pretty comfortable after all, and set off through the Ghats to Hubli.
Reached Hubli in four hours, it was sweltering hot, and after coffee and a light snack, we decided to catch a movie to while away the hours before getting to the station.
Got back from the theatre at 9 pm, and we were wondering what to do at the station all the way till 10:25 pm. And then when we checked the status, we were horrified to find that the Rani Chennamma Express (our train) was delayed by some 3 hours, and that it was scheduled to now arrive well beyond 1 a.m! We were already exhausted and uncomfortable , but again, it was one of those things that we just couldn't do anything about. Went off to the waiting room and waited, with bad grace. We were plagued by mosquitoes and a human pest or two, but managed to ward the latter off. Dozed off fitfully every now and then, but on the whole, it was exhausting.
The train finally got in close to 3 a.m, and we got on, bleary-eyed and bone-tired, and slept off.

We felt reasonably fresh the next day morning, as we touched base in B'lore, and as we had the whole of Sunday ahead, to relax, we were back to feeling jubilant about a trip well-taken, as we made our way back home with our sea-shells and snaps and a Pensieve-full of happy memories.

Whew!!! Thats it for now!!! I'm outta here :-)

a piece of paradise

Haven't posted anything for quite a while now, i *knew* this would happen!
(suitably annoyed with myself.)

Jan has been a lovely month(so far), and the extra layer of icing was provided by my recent trip to Devbagh. Tucked away in Karwar, in the Uttara Kannada region, this little island is an idyllic microcosm of a simpler and closer-to-nature world...
But I'm jumping the gun.

It all started one lazy Friday afternoon at work (yess! Another good reason for enjoying Jan is that I finally *do* have lazy aft.s , though it's going to be a short-lived season of rest. But Feb's not quite here, so one shan't worry about that just yet!) We had two mid-week holidays coming up the following week, and this time round, we decided to get away from the city for a while. Suman and I were both interested in Devbagh - it seemed just the right sort of place to go to, to recuperate from the onslaught of all that toil in the preceding months. Called up Jungle Lodges and blocked a booking.

Come Monday, we went over to the Jungle Lodges office and finalized the booking. We fell in love with the brochure itself, the place looked so pretty, and the accomodation (a Swiss-style tented cottage), delightful! Tuesday, we shot off to the closest BDA complex to book our train tickets to Hubli.

Wednesday dawned bright and nice (not that I woke up at dawn or anything. That was just figuratively speaking!) , and we went about packing and getting things ready. We met at MG Road, shopped for sunblock and other beach-stuff, ate a quick salad and garlic bread, and
zoomed off to the station. (Again, I use the word "zoom" just to express our collective feeling of chirpiness. One can't exactly zoom about in B'lore anymore, can one?)
Reached the station well in time, and went off to Platform 10 (oh I'm so tempted to say Platform Nine and Three Quarters ;o). ) and climbed aboard the Jodhpur Express.

The journey was pleasant and uneventful, and we slept fairly well, to wake up all excited as we reached Hubli Station in the wee hours of dawn. It's a small and not-so-bustling station, and since the sun hadn't risen yet, we decided to linger and have some station waali chai.

When it got a little light, we wended our way out, and after a few judicious enquiries about buses to Karwar, we got into a rick and made our way to the Old City Bus Station.
We were looking forward to the four-hour road journey through the Western Ghats, so we wanted one of those Super Deluxe buses with comfortable seats to enjoy the ride better.
However, here's where things went slightly awry: apparently there were no buses of the afore-mentioned kind, and after dithering about for over an hour, (and missing a few normal buses in between), we clambered into a rather rickety (or so it seemed to us, though it wasn't that bad really) regular KSRTC express bus bound for Karwar. Just about managed to grab a seat (and before that, stock up on some essential junk to munch along the way) and then we were off!

Driving (or rather, being driven :-p)through the Western Ghats is one experience I never tire of, I love it everytime... whether it's the Pune-Lonavla-Mumbai route, or much further south through the verdant stretches of the Nilgiris, Kodai... and this time round was no exception. NH-67 is an excellent route, and we were soon in high spirits again.

The bus had these small halts at places along the way, picturesque little villages with fields dotted with neatly thatched haystacks (I think I have a thing for haystacks, no idea why!)suddenly popping up along the backdrop of dense greenery and lofty mountains... if we'd had our own transport, I know we'd have stopped to explore some of those... On the other hand, it was good that the bus kept to schedule so well, as we were just as eager to reach Devbagh in time for lunch.

Another memorable part of the journey was when we reached the outskirts of Karwar district, just out of the Ghats, when we saw the first glimmer of the ocean; it was a sight to behold. To cut a long story (journey actually) short, we reached the Karwar depot just around noon I think, and here too, as in Hubli, the people were extremely kind and helpful as we asked the way (and the correct auto-fare) to the Jungle Lodges office.

The auto-rickshaw ride was through NH-17 (the highway that connects Karwar to Goa), and we saw the Rabindranath Tagore beach on the way, and a Naval base as well.
The sun was well up now, and we tottered into the office of Jungle Lodges, where we checked in, and were made to wait for a vehicle to take us to the boat that would ferry us across to the island. And oh, what a wait it turned out to be!
What was supposed to be a 10 minute wait turned out rather interminable, and the two of us were famished and awfully hot and getting annoyed about the delay. But it doesn't do to hurry things along in a sleepy little seaside town, methinks, so we couldn't really do much except fret and fume and curse a bit.
The Jungle Lodges folks finally managed to get hold of a rickshaw to take us to the jetty, and so, after a delay of about 50 excrutiating minutes, we set off.

When we got on to the boat, it still wasn't all smooth sailing, however. The boatmen said they'd been instructed to wait for another four people who were due to arrive at Devbagh. Since our tempers were already hovering above the danger-mark, we yelled at them and said we'd already done enough waiting, and ordered them to take off right then, which they did.
We were a little mollified then, but just after a few minutes of chugging along, the boat did a volte-face and turned right back to the jetty! We were really annoyed about it, but they just apologized and picked up the four people who were waiting there, by then.
After a little more fuming and fretting, Suman and I decided we couldn't do anything about it anyways, and decided to just focus on what was coming ahead.

I think it's a tribute to the place that famished and grumpy as we were, setting foot on the island, it just floored us completely as we beheld it.
A long walk through the sandy path set amidst swaying casuarinas, picturesque cottages and log huts, hammocks, and oh! la mer!! Glimmering in the sunlight through the expanse of trees , the sound of waves breaking sur la plage, it had this come-hither look.... and boy, were we dying to!

It was like stepping into a beachside version of a Wodehouse-ian setting. I think Bertram Wooster would have approved...

To get back to our story, we got to our own cottage, and were duly handed the key, and we stepped in. It was a pretty little joint, set in the middle of those afore-mentioned trees, it was what the brochure described as a "Swiss style tented cottage". A nice roomy bedroom, and a changing room, and a bathroom that completely satisfied us finicky souls. A hammock just outside, and a convenient porch to gaze out on the sea while partaking of a morning cuppa...

After having gotten ready, we walked down the long path, over to the central twin reception-and-dining area. This was again a simple and rustic structure - twin domes with a wooden bridge connecting the two. The other guests were already in the middle of lunch when we walked in. Made a beeline to the buffet, loaded our plates, and chose a table.
The food was absolutely brilliant. It was so simple and appealing and wholesome, everything was done just right. I could wax eloquent about each dish that was there, but I shall refrain from doing so, since I'll feel that sharp longing everytime I read it :-p.
Now I know how B. Wooster felt about Anatole's cooking!

After we stuffed ourselves a bit, we looked around at the other guests. The crowd was a good mix of Indian and non-Indian junta (the latter outnumbered the former though). Everyone was looking completely contented and well-rested and happy.

When we finally decided we'd done ample justice to the food, we looked around the estate a bit, since it was still too hot to head beachwards. Looked in at the reception to find out about different activities. They have a range of water-sports there, depending on the tide and the weather of course. Para-sailing, snorkelling, banana boat rides, dolphin-spotting, kayaking, the works. We were far too tired to do anything that active that day, so we decided to just chill at the beach in the evening.
After relaxing at the cottage, and lazing around in the hammocks, we walked to the woods again and watched the sea from the vantage point of one of those convenient little rustic benches that dotted the woods just adjoining the beach. It was lovely to just sit there and listen to the sound of waves, and the birds and the sound of the wind whistling in the trees. When the sun dimmed a bit, we finally walked over to the beach. It was a pristine sandy beach, with seashells and crabs, and the waves were gentle and soothing.
It was Suman's first really intimate acquaintance with a sandy beach, so she was absolutely delighted.
I don't think I have it in me to adequately describe in words the splendour of the sea during sunset (or indeed, during any hour of the day or night, for it is always magnificent), much has been written about it by people far better at descriptions of that sort.
It was hard enough to capture it all on camera... I sometimes think it's presumptuous of us to try to capture indescribable beauty of that sort on any medium, so I shall not even try to go the verbal route.

Before we knew it, it was nightfall. The Jungle Lodges staff was busy laying out paraphernalia for the much-awaited-by-the-two-of-us-constantly-famished-souls barbeque on the beach.
And as we waited and strolled around, some of the guests started a round of volleyball, which Suman joined in, with gusto. (While I had an eye on the game and another at the moon stealing up over the trees.)
We also tried our hand at the barbeque, I can still picture dem sizzling taters, sigh!
We piled up our plates (as usual), and made our way to the chairs around the bonfire.
It was all very delightful, idle small talk with some of the other guests, digging into those perfectly done potatoes and salad and drinks, with the waves roaring in the background. It was high tide by now, and the sea now had this awe-inspiring power... huge frothy silvery waves breaking against the shore under the pale light of the moon.
Sigh! I knew I couldn't write a good-enough description there! (But I'm not going to edit any of this :-p )
After all the eating and watching the bonfire, Suman and I walked a goodish bit on the beach again. It was lovely, and besides, we wanted to work up enough of an appetite for dinner :-)
We managed to do just that, and after a dinner (which was worthy of a lyrical ode) we headed back to the cottage.

A day well-spent, and now it was time to sleep soon. We'd left word that we wanted our morning tea at 6:30, so we could do a nature walk just after.
After a bit of drowsy conversation, we drifted into deep slumber, wondering what the morrow would bring.