Thursday, September 25, 2008
ThOsE WeRe ThE BeSt DaYs Of My LiFe!!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
AWAY FROM HOME
during our trip to Suryalanka. Love you guys!
We make the most 'whaco' team ever :-)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
MY TRAVEL TID-BITS PART 1 - TRIP TO SURYALANKA
I have always wanted to document my traveling experiences so that I can look back and remember for a long time to come. Let me start with a few of the latest trips I have made in this year. At the beginning of the year I went for a trip to Suryalanka - Yes you got that right the first time! Its not Srilanka this was in the first week of February. I had been to this place along with my roommates.
Overview of the place
The Suryalanka Beach is situated at a distance of 9 kilometers from the historical town of Bapatla, in the Guntur district of the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a quiet, hidden pristine clean beach on the east coast..this is the closest to Hyderabad at around a distance of 350 kms is Suryalanka. Not many people know of this place; the state tourism department is the only one to offer a fantastic beach side resort called Punnami beach resort. So you have the beach practically for yourselves, with the waves a few meters away.....you just walk into the sea from your room in a jiffy. Otherwise you can enjoy the fantastic sight of the waves and waters to the horizon from the balcony of your cottages or enjoy the sea breeze from the pergola just by the beach. A schools of three dolphins could be spotted at about a few hundred meters from the beach .
Food, sight-seeing and shopping
One note of caution, this place is definitely not for the ones looking for the typical tourist spas, souvenir shops, resorts with discs, gym and swimming pools, etc. or ones expecting a shoppers paradise. This place is virgin and untouched. This is its beauty. There is only this one AP tourism resort with basic good clean AC cottages and the fantastic sea and beach. It is a perfect weekend get away, where you can relax with some nice drinks and simple preparation of dal, rice, rotis etc, for vegetarians and fishand other sea food for the NVs....hot spicy food with drinks, bon fires and music on the sea side....I couldn't ask for more. The more adventurous types can go on long walks by the sea or venture into the surrounding fishing village or better still the wilderness by the seaside. When in the restaurant, stick to the local andhra preparations...thats what they make best....great spicy hot curries, hot sambar, and not to miss the hot steaming idli and chutney prepared for breakfast!!! Please do not expect to be served chinese, continental and italian cuisine at this place.
For siteseeing you can visit Bapatla, where there is the 19th century famous Bahunarayan temple. There is apparently a meuseum and zoo at this place too ( we did not visit the zoo and the museum.)
At the Bahunarayan temple, Bapatla
For shopping, we went to Chirala, this is a small town about 10 km from Bapatla, this is also called the textile hub of Andhra Pradesh. We visited the Mahatma Gandhi cloth market there and trust me it is crazy. There are about a hundred cloth wholesale shops here. The cotton, polycotton fabrics are damn cheap here. This place is famous for its cotton sarees too. You must bargain really well here if you want a good deal. The price difference that I found is, we get cloth materials almost at half and one third of what we get in Hyderabad or other places. So for all you girls, who dont sway the 'branded' way here is ur chance to grap some real cheal and cool stuff. The kurtas fabric that I picked up from here was for 100 bucks the entire material and is still going strong.
Activities & things to do
Sun, sand and sea!!!! Play in the waves, swim if you dare, make sand castles, bury your friends under dunes of sand, get a tan, walk along the beach, explore the beach for shells, crabs, driftwood etc. You can get up early to see the spectacular sunrise and dolphins so close to the shore. You can also view the fishermen getting their daily catch. Evenings are for some beach games or a bonfire by the shore along with some soothing music.
Enjoying the view of the beach from our cottage steps in the evening
Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc.
Reach Bapatla by the APSRTC semi-delux buses (no ac Volvos ply on this route) or by many Hyderabad-Chennai trains ; Suryalanka is about 9 kms from there. You can take the local eight seater tempos to drop you to Suryalanka. They are damn cheap. Trust me! for 4 people they charged 40 bucks to drop us to the resort 9 km away.
Two routes from Hyderabad-
A) Hyd-Vijayawada[NH9] - Vijayawada-Guntur-Chilakaluripet{NH5} take left and towards Chirala - Bapatla [ 381 Km] , from 30Km before Vijaywada till chilakaluripet excellent road 6 lane then state road starts which is very good without any potholes but be prepared for speed breakers
B)Hyd-Vijayawada {NH9}- Vijayawada -Guntur{NH5}
Guntur - Bapatla{ state road } via Chebrolu,ponnur [350km] road is good but a 2 lane one without dividers
Please make your resort reservations atleast 2 weeks in advance as there are only 11 cottages and they all are booked for the weekend. The rent for each cottage is Rs. 1000 per each day doule occupancy. For more info on bookings please call/visit any of the APTDC offices in Hyderabad.
Our resort(cottages) by the beach
All I can say is, you need to experience it! This place truely rocks and I cant wait to get there soon again.
I AM 'ANTI INDIAN SATELLITE TELEVISION'!!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
tHiNkiNg AlOuD !!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
My take on Rock On
The caption of this movie says 'Live your dream,' do we all? I have watched this movie twice ;-) I think that if you love rock music you will instantly like the movie as this is probably the first attempt to create a film on amateur rock bands. I did sometimes feel that the movie was 'inspired' by Jhankar Beats and of course Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut, Dil Chahta Hai. To begin with the first half of the movie was a heavy dose of rock songs playing away one after the other in a gap of 5 mins each.
Rock On is a film about four friends, Luke Kenny, Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli who come together to form their band, Magik. They are passionate bunch of people who are trying to get that big break which could change their lives. But that so-called break commands a heavy price and that sees the end of Magik. Almost. A decade later, when things have not exactly turned out the way they hoped would be, they meet again. Thanks to the efforts of Aditya(Farhan Akhtar)'s wife Sakshi (Prachi Desai), who in spite of being married to him for four years, had no inkling about his past, his creative talent and his friends. This film makes all of us retrospect about the compromises we make in our lives for a successful career and are never happy about it.
The music of Rock On has already hit the spot. And you have to watch the film to see how intelligently and sensitively the songs have been used for special moments, when words would never be adequate. There is a scene when Prachi comes back to Aditya, only to see him jamming once again with his rocker friends. It is a special moment, because for the first time in four years, she sees him smile, for the first time, he actually has let his guard down and welcomes her into his life, inviting her on his journey. And that's when one of the most beautiful love songs in the film, Yeh tumari meri batein.. takes over. My next favourite track is Phir dekhiye which come at the fag end of the movie. Apart from this the title track is rocking. The last ten minutes of the movie where Magik reunites and performs again, is a treat to watch and is very beautifully shot.