If I were to list down the things which engaged my interest and attention majorly during the time I spent a few days back in Madras , it would pretty much have to be :
1. ‘S’ambhar : I saw it everywhere . I smelled it everywhere and hell yeah ! I hogged on it everywhere . Starting from the minute I landed at Chennai Central and had a plate of the ‘ most authentic ‘ sambhar vada of Saravana Bhavan to the numerous sambhars concomitant with the dosas I had at breakfast and dinner time and to top it all the ubiquitous lunch item of sambhar rice . ‘Sambhar Slurpfest ‘ rules my gastronomic priorities hands-down :) here in Madras .
2. ‘S’ilica-Based Nanocomposites : Synthesis of nanosized particles of this material by high energy ball milling was the purported reason I was in Madras in the first place . Research work miles away from the insti. bang in the middle of a semester otherwise marked by an incredibly boring diurnal schedule of alternating between Gtalk ,Heavy Metal , hours of unproductive lectures / labs and the occasional sleep was a really welcome change .
3. ‘S’.. Hadn’t met this good friend of mine for four long months ! And when the opportunity finally came , busy schedules of ‘Work ’ forced both parties to limit the meeting to a fleeting time of 6-7 hrs .However , whoever said 6 hours wasn’t enough time to experience the vibrance of a major city was wrong !! Stopovers at S’s place ( where the sambhar slurpfest continued unabated :D in the disguise of homemade Southie food ) , Coffee Central ( an awesomeMAXX coffee bar in T.Nagar) , Gangotree Chat and offcourse watching the Sun set over the Bay of Bengal at Marina Beach to top it all . Thanks S , for making those 6 hrs the only truly ‘Happy Hours’ I had in an otherwise maddening work-dominated stay in Madras .
4. 'S'leep : Good ole sleep eluded me for 3 nights in a row . After just 7.5 hrs of sleep in over 3 days, on Sunday night , I felt like a walking and talking zombie and thought to myself , “ One more night like this and I am officially ‘DEAD’ “ .
5. 'S'un N 'S'and : The Sweltering Sun and the and the relentlessly humid weather in Madras left me wondering whether I would make it out safely from the city without dehydrating to death . I mean I know what humidity can do to you ( coming from Bombay i.e. ) but it’s a different story altogether here .
I managed to sneak in some time for Marina Beach ( with 'S' ) and Eliiot’s Beach ( with Shawshank ) and mind you for a guy who comes from Nagpur (which is right in the centre of the country far far away from any large water body :) ) the sight of the sea can bring an inexplicable amount of joy .
78 hours in Madras was hence basically a choice between spending time for one of the above S’s which thankfully at times was substituted for time with another S . And in this battle of the S’s , the combination of No.3 and No.5 win hands down :) .
I shall go now and get some of No.4 before I end up writing more mindless blah !
Cheerio ,
Count Grishnackh
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
30 Hrs in the Good Bay !
Life has been extremely uninteresting and drab for most of the time this semester in VNIT :( . So I decided to set off on an impromptu jaunt back home this weekend . I had a rail ticket booked 2 weeks in advance ( There's a long story behind that , the details of which I spare u :P ) but made up my mind to go with this 'whim' of mine 3 hrs before the departure of the train from Nagpur to the ' Good Bay ' . Considering I was anyways going to screw around another weekend in Nagpur , I felt that 30 hrs @ Home would be a better option instead .
Fortunately , my train journey was fun thanks to the awesomeness of Aggie's presence ( another equally 'whimsical' person here :) ) & infi. rounds of dozing off accompanied by blissful hours on the iPod . On reaching home , my Mom who opened the door was shell-shocked !! She expected the Chauffeur who generally reported for duty at his regular time in the morning and instead found me at the doorstep . Needless to say , Dad and Bro were equally surprised :) .
Later that evening , we all went out to dine at an amazing restaurant serving authentic Oriental cuisine . But the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly BEER which I had with my Dad ( and ya , rite in front of my Mom :) who btw is 'not so cool' about me drinking up ). That beer was definitely SOMETHING :) .
And here I am , 3 hrs before leaving Bom Bahia ( The Good Bay ) to return to the rut of VNIT life :( doing what I do best when I am jobless ...BLOGGING !!
Cheerio ,
" The Destroyer of Lies "
Fortunately , my train journey was fun thanks to the awesomeness of Aggie's presence ( another equally 'whimsical' person here :) ) & infi. rounds of dozing off accompanied by blissful hours on the iPod . On reaching home , my Mom who opened the door was shell-shocked !! She expected the Chauffeur who generally reported for duty at his regular time in the morning and instead found me at the doorstep . Needless to say , Dad and Bro were equally surprised :) .
Later that evening , we all went out to dine at an amazing restaurant serving authentic Oriental cuisine . But the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly BEER which I had with my Dad ( and ya , rite in front of my Mom :) who btw is 'not so cool' about me drinking up ). That beer was definitely SOMETHING :) .
And here I am , 3 hrs before leaving Bom Bahia ( The Good Bay ) to return to the rut of VNIT life :( doing what I do best when I am jobless ...BLOGGING !!
Cheerio ,
" The Destroyer of Lies "
