Pics- Mysore palace

The Mysore palace is breathtaking. It's simply beautiful with magnificent architecture. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras inside because photography in the palace is not allowed sadly. I just wish I could show you guys what it was like to be in that palace. It's HUGE to begin with and the interior designs has so much detail and colours and meanings in them.

Here's what I managed to take from outside. These are the ONLY pics I took in my trip this time..:S


I also had a moment when I was standing in the best part of the palace mentioned below. I closed my eyes and saw myself as a queen way back in time....dressed in the best grand clothes in purple..with beautiful jewelery... seated on a throne..being summoned by the people of my country... listening to what they had to say...accepting their gifts from the villages... feeling the burden and responsibility of having to take care of an entire state by myself... and enjoying the luxuries..:)

My colleague listened to me as I closed my eyes and said all what I imagined.. and then he stood there with crossed arms and said "are you done with your moment now"? and it ended.


The Grand entrance















Exit to the other end















The best part of the palace













The best part!It was simply beautiful to look out from there..














One of the temples inside













The longest side of the palace. It was wayyyyy too crowded to get a nice clean shot.















A Jaguar I think..



















On the way to Mysore:
This is what I've seen in movies and was simply fascinated when I actually saw it happening... and yes, I do understand it's the hard life they life..

The driver in Chennai

When we landed in Chennai, I was at first overwhelmed at how badly the airport was maintained and the amount of people who were there. We were picked up by a driver who was designated to be with me and my colleague for 2 days.

We tried to have some small talk with him only to find that his English wasn’t good. I realized that the knowledge of English was much better in people in Bangalore and Mumbai but not Chennai. He managed to answer all our questions in the best way he could and sometimes we had to use sentences with broken English (as we call it) so that he would understand what we were trying to tell or ask him.

At one point, he told us that he had gone to school only till the 7th grade and dropped out and that’s why his English isn’t good. He went on to talk about his family and his two children who seem to be good in their studies and he was very proud of them and himself when he mentioned that they speak English very well. He realized the value of knowing English as it acts as a universal language.

He may not have been educated. He may not be good in his English. But he had a heart of gold and was an innocent and nice guy. Atleast he appeared to be that way. When we mentioned that we were in Chennai for the first time, he wanted to take us around the city. He was patient and helpful when it came to taking me shopping. He was patient and caring.

On the second day when we went to buy sarees in a place called T.Nagar which is like the city for saree shopping, he was patient enough to wait till I got exhausted of being crushed in the huge complexes which were filled with sarees on many floors and filled with people.

Then when the shopping was done with and he saw that we were exhausted, sweaty (because of the heat and scorching sun) and thirsty he bought us two bottles of iced water and didn’t even accept the money for it.

I’m usually told that Chennai is full of thieves and that the people are cunning and good in ripping others off. It could be true coz some people did look scary but hey, there’s always a balance right?

So yes, Chandra Saker was helpful and a nice guy. The first one of the lot that showed me the nice side of Chennai people. And this post is for him. I wish I took a picture for him. I took my cam thinking I’ll take pictures, but when I saw the sarees and the city, I forgot all about my cam and remembered it only when I landed! :(

Pondering down a dark narrow lane

I’m back!

I haven’t had any rest the last few days I was in India and I haven’t really had any ever since I returned either. My stay there was nice and the experience was good too. I would say the results were quite good though they were subjected to different levels of thinking and opinions and decisions changed later on. You definitely won’t be able to figure out what I’m saying right now.

Complexities of life, especially those relating to work life, make you doubt decisions you have made sometimes. It makes you go down a different path in your mind where you either look for a way out or a way to walk down a different avenue.
Sometimes you know what you’re doing right now is a path you wanted to travel for a limited period of time and when you decide to switch lanes, you figure out that there are hurdles to overcome and the switch isn’t as easy as you planned and thought it to be.

You want that switch really badly…You know it.. you feel it.. But what if the circumstances aren’t right? What if you looked around a lot and still feel like you haven’t done enough? What if you’re too exhausted by the end of day that you don’t have the time or energy to search that extra bit for the other path you want to switch to?

What if you know you don’t belong where you are right now and the need to switch is so bad that you’re beginning to feel like you’re losing control over ‘holding on’ till the time is right? What if the stubborn girl in you who always wants things her way is beginning to really come to surface and when she looks back at her day she only has reasons to prove to herself that she was right?

I also believe that these hardships are there for a reason. We as humans go through these hardships and they mould us into who we become later on. They are all supposed to add value but what if the process is making you weaker and frustrated because of the circumstances you are stuck in and you find yourself constantly looking for a way out? This is not cowardice but merely an act of doing yourself a favour by finding something you’re passionate about and finding a way to fit in a different avenue where a new start can make you give your best in what you do.

These writings are the result of a few moments of frustrations in that part of life where you need to do your duties to earn you way of living. It makes me question certain things. I know we all have these moments and they pass. But lately, I seem to be stuck in them… and I find myself looking for that flicker of light which will show me the next avenue…as that’s what I’ve been thinking of the past few weeks… about another avenue. Only the moment isn’t right.. and the right circumstance hasn’t surfaced yet.

Work frustrations can be a killer.

It's just letting the feelings flow out of my system my way... by writing.. as always.

Leaving on a jet plane

Yes! work's been crazy.... life's been hectic...

And yours truly will be off early in the morning to India on work.. This time it's going to be Bangalore and Chennai... I hear mixed reviews about Chennai so let me see how things will be..:)

I miss blogging... I really do..

Hopefully in a week's time things will be better..:)

I'll be back on the 22nd... till then, Miss Me! :)

Lately..

I've been so busy with work that I don't even have time for blogging.

Looks like work will take me to India yet again some time next week... provided I get my visa on time that is..

I'm also sad coz I might miss Green Chillies this time as I might not be here..:(

How's everyone else? Sorry I haven't had much time to read you guys...

Turning 26

As the calender highlights the 3rd of May, and dawn spreads its sunlight, I will be turning 26.

I haven't really gone out and celebrated for some time.. It's the usual getting a few friends over for dinner sort of thing. But even that, it's never been done in an excited manner coz I can never get the thought out of my head where I had to watch my dad get cremated on my 21st b'day..

But little by little.... I'm beginning to think that b'days are certainly not fun coz I just get older.. but maybe celebrating wouldn't be that bad...

Not this year though... maybe next..I dunno..

What I did manage to do was buy a heap of milk supplies and other food for a girl's orphanage today and when they told me all their problems I did give them some money too. Made me feel the need to do a good deed coz I wanted to give merit to my father and do something worthwhile with money I kept aside thinking I'll get a gift for myself.

When they thanked me over and over... it really filled me with happiness and made me feel blessed.

So that went well. Though I can now say I'm totally broke and payday is weeks away!

A few more hours... and I'll be older...

Also, this orphanage is run by Lady monks.. so when we were praying and the monk was giving us merit, she had one heartfelt wish.. which was that I would find a life partner soon.

Why is my mother behind everything I do making sure she has a say in it all?!??!?!

I will be calm.