the 36 day summer trip: Mumbai, Pune and Goa

It helps to be sat on the aisle of a fantastic Indigo flight, next to the prettiest girl in the airport on the last day of your holiday to prompt a close-of-holiday blog. I should have known this was coming - Kaberi's call woke me up this morning. Its a great good luck charm - I rarely have a bad day the day she calls in the morning!

Public professions of love for women sitting a few continent's away apart its been an exciting and fortuitous summer. I had a wonderful summer with 3.2.1. doing great work, learning a lot and knowing myself better. Access to great food, superb hospitality, squash courts, table tennis, beaches and running helped immensely. God looked out for his little boy! I stole two quick weekends in the middle with family and continued my affair with Mumbai. I've spent just the right amount of time in the city and this time I discovered great places to eat and met old friends.

The last ten days saw me return to Pune and Goa. 

It was super to be in Pune. I am beginning to warm my relationship with the city. I met smiling auto-wallah's, professional shopkeepers eager to help, Pune bus services, crusty waiters that warmed to my smile and old friends who brought back great memories. Stepping into FLAME to meet 150+ bright eyed Teach for India Fellows reminded me I love what I do and that I work with some of the best people I know. The 2012 opening ceremony had me both laughing and tearing up and added fire to my dream to be a great teacher. I know its going to be a standout year.

3 days in Goa preceded this flight. Time with Amit, Chandini and Nipun. Drives across town and a significant bump in the beer count. While a JD and coke with Nandeeta is one of the best drinks I know, a Jim Beam and coke with the gang comes pretty close to alcohol that I cannot say no to. Brunch at the Marriot meant coming a circle from our 2009 Goa party. Amit stuck to his love for large feni's and us to the love for superb food and lots of dessert. 

The early morning runs with Anna and Nicky in Pune and the workouts with Amit (he sat in the steam room) in Goa were great to reflect on whats been a fabulous summer. In many ways its made me think about what ticks the boxes for me and its made me look inward. I love charting the path that I am. Conditioning has taught me to look over the shoulder to see if I am following a path. However, I am beginning to realize my journey is new and not so well marked. It shakes me sometimes because I find it hardest to explain this to people I love the most. And the people I love and those who Iove me back matter the most to me. Constant personal evolution and great relationships go hand in hand. I can only connect the dots looking back - a few understand this and I wish sometimes I could explain myself better. But as I become surer of myself, realize the futility of anger (an emotion I fall back on) and have better conversations with similar people I see hope for myself to be a better man!

Its a good pit stop to mark out on my travel blog. Going back to Teach for India institute also meant reliving these powerful lines:

"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'

Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'

Don't let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter

When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance...

I hope you dance

I hope you dance"

Here is to dancing... 

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie

Mumbai Again!

Mumbai reminds me of my trip to Bangalore with Gaboli about a year and a half ago. Lots of great work, good food, gut busting worouts, old friends to meet and some fabulous memories to re-kindle. My sister, Tarini, came to Mumbai over the weekend as I headed back from Aksa (where I was with 3.2.1.). And that helped kick off some special times. 

I rode into Bandra with Arnab and Lara and hit up Global Fusion for an animal protein filled buffet. The sushi and the pepper chicken had me kicked. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf now brews a mean de-caff and as I waited for my cousins.

Saturday morning I transferred to Colaba and waited for Tarini to land. As soon as she did we ran to Britannia at Ballard Estate to get soli boti and berry pulav with Arnab. We were a tad early and had to cool our heels with coffee at the Kalagodha Café – what a great little place.

The afternoon Tarini went on a stroll down Colaba Causeway, pretty much buying the city for me. I ended up getting a pair of shoes, a fancy set of shorts and a few shirts that bumped up my net worth a few notches. We dined at night with one of our favourite Masi’s at the Taj – quite a treat setup by Bhupinder Uncle.

The white wine put us to good sleep and refreshed I hit work for a while on Sunday, not before we’d chugged through a scrumptious breakfast at Woodside Inn. We met some friends in the afternoon, walked down the length of Marine Drive post that and dined at Leopold. I failed to the charm the host enough to get a good table but the beer wore the soreness off. Over the walk and dinner Tarini and I had a pretty nice chat about my life choices and career – I might have shocked her by saying I had no major life plan. The night was still young so we headed to AER at the Four Season’s – another one of Arnab’s superb recommendations. The view and the whisky sour made Sunday quite cheery. We wound back in a taxi to the room via Moshe’s and its sinful cake. Going back to bed quite full and happy.

Its taken me a day of work and a humungous workout to get to a point to be able to go over the weekend and I cannot believe its just been two days in Mumbai.

Apart from the fact that 3.2.1 has been intense, I’ve had a lot of memories walk into me at Mumbai too. Great ones but a lot of them! The walks on Marine Drive, admiring the David Sasson library building, the corners of Colaba, the feel of Carter Road last weekend and walking in and around Mumbai. Today I took a train back from Dadar where I was working and walked from Churchgate to Regal Cinema. I ran into Oxford Book store – and I remember going there a few years ago to pick up a book on Greenspan. The 2008 crash would happen after that and change so much of Green's legacy…. The fact that the mind remembers so much makes me feel old. Or maybe its that I did not know I remember so much but that I manage to. In body I might be younger than I was then.

And there is the fact that I love Mumbai. Its professional taxi services, polite drivers and roadside vendors (almost everyone responds with a welcome), polite 5 star security and lack of aggression in your face. It helps that I've stayed with my cousin or with Dad’s help at some of the better parts of town – but getting out has been a pleasure. I wonder if I could every live here though and not get rubbed off by the pace of Mumbai’s life. Maybe by then I would have perfected the art of finding a pace within myself.

Still, I love the fact that some cities hold out so many great memories and I feel like ‘its on’ everytime I land there. Mumbai and Bangalore; thank you for always being so nice. Here’s to more times with old friends over the next three days and some good work winding up this internship!

Posted via email from Tarun's Reverie