Ooty

Left for Ooty by buss on Saturday 15th Feb early in the morning ,took us ( Naina , Racheal and I ) three hours to get there, booked into the YWCA, left our bags in the room and went for a train ride to Coonoor , what a beautiful journey, the thing that surprised us most is that the train left on time , the ticket collector said 12:15 and it left at 12:15 on the dot , arrived at Coonoor Station and saw another train at the next platform , enquired about it and was told that its going back to Ooty, jumped over the tracks , bought tickets and came back to Ooty once again by train.
Did some shopping , bought Nityaa a aqua marine ring and pendant , the gentleman who runs the shop is a numerologist, and he read all our futures, Naina was surprised he picked up things about her family for eg her mother is asthmatic.
He said that my bad karma is over , and I am starting a new life , which is only good. One thing he did say that was interesting was that the sacrifrice I made for my family, I will now reap the benefits., which was so good to hear.
I desperately need to start afresh which is one of the main reasons I came to Ashwni.
The weather started to get cold, and did we shivver!!! . We all slept with our jerseys that night, the next morning was bitterly cold, had a hot bath and felt much better.
We had booked a day trip around Ooty and Conoor, once again the bus arrived on time to pick us up, after that everything went disasterous , he just drove around, looking for hotels to pick up passengers, only started the trip around 11am. Went to thread garden, the lake , visited a tea estate, and went to a few view points , the views were breath taking.
Most of the people taking this trip were couples , we were the only three and there was a guy from Chennai ( Rama) also alone , so he joined our group , and went everywhere with us, he even had lunch with us , which he insisted on paying.
Anyway the last stop was the botanical gardens, unfortunately there was no flowers in bloom , so he decided to get off, and walk back, on the way found Modern Store and did some shopping, then we all went for some coffee next door to Cafe Day.
Walked back to the YWCA , and our transport was waiting for us.
On our way back saw a herd of elephants.

Mysore

Naina , Rachael and I left for Mysore on Friday around 5:05pm by bus, took approx 3 hrs to get to Mysore, booked in at the Dasaprakash Hotel , left our bags in the room and went out for supper to a pizza place , it has been 3 mths since I last had a good pizza , from there on the walk back to the hotel stopped at a rooftop restaurant and had a drink, it was lovely .
Mysore is hot at this time of the year, so slept with no blankets with the fan on the whole night.
Next day went looking for a good restaurant to have some breakfast, unfortuantely we had forgotton that all the shops in India only start opening at around 10 to 10:30 am. Anyway we seem to have made a detour around the whole of Mysore and we ended back at the hotel where we had breakfast. Visited the Palace , found it OTT.We then did more shopping.
Next day ( Sunday ) we visited Sri Rangam , once again by bus, it is only 14km away. We went with a horse cart from the bus stand to the temple. Did some last minute shopping , filled up on Diet Coke and cheese, had to rush back to the hotel to pack and go to the buss stand to get the bus back to Gudalur. What a weekend!!!!

Neina

Niena is a medical student who will be at Ashwini for about a month, we get along so well it just surprised me , we seem to have so much in common. Most afternoons she spends in my house , lately she brings her supper to my house from the mess and I make myself a sandwich and we eat supper together. She also started walking with Shiks and I, and today she was quite disappointed that it rained and we could not go for our walk. We stayed at home listening to music.

Shika and Dilip

It is surprisng how easily I made friends with Dilip and Shika, I sometimes go over for supper or they come over , there seems to be a easy going rapport between us. Since both Shika and I need to lose some weight ( me lots ) we started walking , acually we go shopping, we walk into town and buy whatever we need and walk back, no back breaking walking for us, we both seem to be doing more talking than walking, our jaws move faster than our legs, which suit both of us fine. Shika is one of the very few people I have met who can talk more than I do. The best part is both of us know that we talk a lot , but we haven't made any effort to stop. What we talk about only God knows, because most of the time when I arrive back home I cannot remember.
One thing both Shika and I have in common is both of like sweet things. unfortunately Dilip does not.

Work Associates

I really could not have asked for better people to work with. Dr Shyla and Dr Nundakumar are the most down to earth people I have ever met. I just love Dr Shyla's laugh , it is so open and contagious, and personally I think her daughter Gauri has the most beautiful smile.
Durga has been a minefield of information, I am always asking her where I can get this or that, and she has the patience of a nun.
What will this blog be without mentioning Manju and Mahanto or even Venki, they where there when I was finding my feet, my first trip into town was with them, Mahanto even came with me to Ooty to register with FRO.
Dr Venkatesan ( Venki ) bought me my phone when he went to Salem, and he even set up the internet connection for me . Now I can read my e-mails and go on the internet at home via my phone.

Arrival

Should have started this blog when I arrived at Ashwini, wanted to settle down first. What a beautiful place Gudalur is , among tea plantations, with spice trees inbetween. Entering the property where my house is situated I walk along this long driveway, there is coffee trees on either side , with pepper and ginger plants. What more could a girl ask for?? I really needed a place away from the maddening crowds ( Town/ City) , the best part is I can walk to Gudalur town, which is really only one street, and I can get all my basic stuff there.
No grand shopping sprees for me now, which is a good thing , now I can save money, still I did buy basic stuff for my little house like pots, cups and spoons. I even bought a coffee plunger. Thats one thing I insist on having is a good cup of coffee, no scriping here.