Dare to (day) Dream

You've entered the boss's durbar awaiting his precious digits on a mundane draft, your eyes dare to go where your feet don't..towards the big fat not so flat globe sitting smug on that grand oak desk. "Its been a while we met really, come on, give it a swish," your imagination kicks in and ha! The world swirls and says Sawasdee..Applause, clap, tap, cheer, poping champagne, "you just won a trip to your most favorite destination,"says the boss handing you a premier ticket to your dream destination."tap, tap, Smack!

That was boss waking you up from a midday drea...dataentry.

Travel More

Are you a checklist traveller or an experience traveller? The first question posed by my morning paper. Without a doubt, being the exotic places seeking, pillow loving, long story book liking lazy daisy I am, me being an experiential traveller seemed more like it.

Besides, the sound of a ‘checklist’ traveller seems like a lot of work(be  forewarned, pillow loving person talking)  

Entering the maze of cabinets, I begin sifting..sifting through memories of all my travels. 

In Paris, rambling along the Champ Elysee, reaching the Louvre but not necessarily entering it, sitting by the lawns, rosé in hand, appreciating a beautiful watercolour painting unfold in my midst..

Come to think of it, a similar memory back home, in Mumbai, sitting by cafe by the sea, watching as another beautiful painting takes form. Both memories were neatly stored in the same cabinet, top drawer, file number 1a and b.

 Both experiences gathered from a different time and place.

So don’t go to Paris you ask? Nahi nahi! The Holidaywalas will go out of business!

It’s a contemplative attempt to understand the romance; or rather the enlightenment; experiential enlightenment of travel.  

Each experience makes me free to explore my own land.

Rather myself.

Each travel experience taught me that people are all essentially, fundamentally the same.

So by going to Paris, crossing off every famous monument from your check list, heading back triumphantly to tell your colleagues of your touch and go tour, what I ask have you experienced?

I ask myself..is this the pillow lover talking or the experiential traveller?

You’d rather not say! Let’s just say: 

Travel where your feet take you.

Of Old Memories and New Beginnings

This blog is a continuation of my travelogue started in 2007. It is a little about memories, people and place I have visited and hope to visit soon.

From my first international trip - to the States,

to free spirited backpacking through Europe,

from trekking in the Himalayas,

to scuba diving in the Maldives.

Different trails, each one with a precious memory,

a flashback here,

an anecdote there,

all for the love of travel.

Hypnotic Dubai

“Sair Rehmet honi chahiye, zehmet nahi,” meaning ‘A trip should be a blessing not a hassle,’ said our chauffeur for the day.

After a flight covering 2000km – roughly the distance between Mumbai and Dubai – we were set on a six hour Dubai Darshan with our jovial driver.

This was a long overdue family trip abroad, and it was almost like experiencing it all in a mere five day spree. The inspiration – Dubai Shopping Festival, the outcome - thanks to diverse demands from mottled members of the family, we practically covered every active inch of the city and managed to cart back home a truckload of shopping.

To give you a description – my mother wanted to shop, “The main factor for the trip was the Shopping Festival after all,” she justified. The sister so obsessed with her planning each day a month in advance with specific places to visit and set schedules for each, and the Dad with a army mission to touch down at all the acclaimed monuments and buildings of the famous city.

Here we were, trying to fit in parts of each into a measly five day touristy visit to Dubai. Thus, with my sister’s mastermind plans, we set off on our first day in Deira, the high profile part of the city to visit all the mirage like metal and mortar beings (all the famous buildings, for those vary of metaphors and alliterations).

Burj Dubai, Burj Al Arab, Emirates Tower,The Palm Islands, Burj Khalifa, Atlantas; the biggest, the tallest, the floatingist, etc. etc. all in tandem, characteristic to the Arab equation – The Best = The Biggest.



But after the initial awe, the futility of it all is almost funny. They have masterminded intelligent fountains and bays in the core of a desert; drinking water however is not a commodity. They use glass as the primary material for building their monuments; resulting in towering Green Housees making the exteriors worse off by the extreme air conditioning to minus the effect of all that trapped heat from the glass.Phewww...Just an observation.

Leaving behind the high tech buildings and MNCs at Deira, we strolled via the creek to the Abra Station. With a mere one dhiram, we each bagged a surprisingly fascinating ride in a wooden boat or abra; that being just the first in a change in the locale. Reaching Bur Dubai – meaning beyond Dubai, we were transported back to the Arabia that existed centuries ago greeting us with wooden dhows, bobbing abras (boats) busy spice and gold souks (local markets) and pristine mosques.
From Zara and Tiffany, to H&M and Sketchers; but don’t miss out on the little things with a signature of Arabia – like the attar – the oil based perfumes that you can buy aplenty at the local markets, the bright yellow gold at the gold souqs and traditional curled Arabic slippers.

Mesmerised I was, yes I’d say, but in love...no, not really so.

We skied in the Snow Park at the Mall of Emirates, won a Dolphin painted auction, shopped around the world in a mere 4 hours at the Global Village, were interviewed by a local radio station too and tested our stomachs to the hilt during the Desert Safari (I’m not giving that out, you go try!) But all in all, be it shopping for gold, clothes, shoes, accessories, availing the services of the best hotels and restaurants, experiencing the various rides, et all; the bottom line is very aptly summed up by a line in The Lonely Planet Dubai Guide:

“Dubai isn’t only the name of the city – it’s an instruction”

That Heady Feeling Again!

This is not a write up about a place you are about to visit or may like to visit any time, its not an expression of a beautiful locale and all the fun things you can do there..

It’s about that heady felling..

You’ve just hung up the phone and what immediately overwhelms you is that heady feeling..
You begin drafting your leave application letter and just as Mr. Boss signs it off, you’re off!
“A shawl perhaps, it’s going to be chilly out there in the open jungle of Ranthambore” You think; or “I’ll need those waterproof shoes for the rafting sector of that trek,” you plan.

A backpack, loafers, mosquitoes’ repellent, camera, ipod, floppy hat, sunglasses, swim suit, clothes, shoes, lotions and potions...all spell - A Holiday!

That heady feeling of excitement as the Rajdhani chugs onto Mumbai Central’s platform, you’re going to get on it, set your luggage under those nostalgia filled blue seats.
As the sun sets, you sit yourself or with your gang on the train steps, some smoking chai or sipping sutta. And as the train stops on a deserted station in the middle of nowhere, you quickly slip on your loafers and step out into the chilli night sky, blowing smoke rings.

Be it a road trip, flight or a sojourn by sea; the journey itself is what gives you that heady feeling.

So as a fellow traveller, I say this – don’t rush it, live that moment to its fullest, before you know it, you’ll have reached your destination, sauntered around only to get back to an overflowing inbox.

Scuba Part 2:Maldives

They say Diving in the Maldives is one of the best dive experiences. Since this was my first dive, registering that fact took a long while!

It didn't hit me till I saw the tiny islands from my airplane window.

The water! Oh so brilliant blue! Indigo and Blue, Indigo and Blue! Less than a kilometer away that too!

Yes, I had browsed websites about it, yes I checked it out on youtube, but no, I couldn't believe the blue!

I had never set foot on a boat before, let alone an island. Fun trips in Goa and rafting on multiple occasions are a different thing altogether..What am I talking! Here I was on what is probably the world's most beautiful string of islands! I was in the Maldives!

Among the bunch of islands collectively called Maldives, my dive center at the Embudu Village was located a hop, skip and jump from the Taj Exotica Resort Island.

While waterborne, Motion sickness is a grinch. They say its all in the mind really, but after a meal, when the boat you're traveling in impersonates a pendulum, the mind has no say. However, the 45 minute boat trip from the airport to our island was tackled with, without any mind/body revolts; they didn't get the time to react, too struck by the beauty of the blue.

We were to dive the following day as there is always a twelve hour gap between your flight and the dive, so everyone jumped in with their snorkel and mask. It was two at noon, the sun was at its zenith and I was too overwhelmed with the scene. It almost felt like a soap bubble, broken if touched! However, Anees and my dive buddy Remu pushed me and then I finally jumped in.



Potent salt water! In my nose, mouth and eyes! It didn't help that I was an average swimmer and the fins I was wearing suddenly seemed to pull me down! Panic! It took me a while after that to adjust breathing with the snorkel and keep afloat while moving the fins. But as I gradually calmed down and opened my eyes, the scene I witnessed blew me away!



A huge shoal of Groupers inches away from my nose, a Parrot fish or two staring me in the face, a bored baby Shark with the look, 'there comes another sloppy human,' changing course, a Sword fish quickly darting by, a fleeting glimpse of a Sting Ray! A whole new World! But the corals; pink and lilac, they were the icing on the cake.

I was aware that over the next five days, we were to repeat the same tasks like in the pool back home, the thought of being in open waters made me very nervous though.But I need not have worried to begin with, everything was planned and organised so beautifully and each time we reached between 15-18 feet depth, you had just no space for worries. The extent of fascination was hypnotic!



Over the span of five days we saw a variety of stunning fish including Clown fish(of Finding Nemo fame), turtles, huge manta rays and a small but mesmerising ship wreck!



I panicked to begin with, was hesitant on the first dive, attempted to shriek underwater with glee while playing hide and seek with a clown fish, was reprimanded for chasing a turtle and finally was christened as a Diver while wearing a mask and snorkel with bear poured down through it!

Yay! Am officially a diver!


Post Maldives, I tried the dive center in Fathiye, Turkey; but the experience wasn't as exciting as Maldives mainly because of the lack of corals and very few fish. But there's lots more to see out there, many dive destinations like Egypt, Mauritius, The Bahamas and Thailand to name a few. But the first time I opened my eyes underwater and saw at least a hundred fish staring at me.. that sight, I shall never forget!

I started off with the best, looking forward to a lot more!

(Photo curtosy Anees Adenwala and Aniruddh Kasliwal)