lake – The Rants of Madmanhawk

In search of the perfect vacation?

Many in Mumbai find it hard to have 1 decent vacation a year. My kind boss allowed me not 1 but 2 five day breaks within a month ! The first was an all boys out Safari to Pench. 5 AM safaris, dusty roads, vodka and bollywood evenings and some great bonding in the jungle meant that the boys really did have all the fun. The second was a nice little family vacation in Poovar & Kumarakom in Kerala. The highlight – our first vacation with our sometimes devil , almost always angel little daughter – Mysha. This one was all about running behind Mysha for her feed, her taking to the pool like a fish to water, long boat rides, running behind Mysha for her feed ,multiple car journeys, screaming on top of our voices like children, running behind Mysha for her feed ( yea we did that a lot …).

I had great company in both, fab service levels in the hotels that we stayed in and met hospitable people wherever I went. There were goof ups in both the places too – Missing tiger sighting, small skirmishes with guides, running behind Mysha for her feed – ( Oh, did I cover that already ! ). But, as I look back at these mini vacations , I think I have learnt a very important lesson. The first one is obvious – never let out your preference about 2 diametrically opposite trips in public – hehe.

The second one is vacations are all about moments. Little ones. Big ones. The first Tiger sighting on a trip, the bonding over a masala David Dhawan film, your baby’s first outing in a swimming pool, her not letting her parents go out of sight even for a moment in 5 days, her crying papa- papa as you approach the window of your cottage, the family sitting quietly in a boat not talking a word but being the perfect family in that moment. Someone once told me I visualise in pictures and images… But when I reminisce about these 10 days, its not a set of pictures but a beautiful movie montage playing out against some terrific slow music. It’s this montage which keeps playing in my mind that makes it oh so perfect.

As we all go back to our daily chores for the next 6 months or so before the next 10 day break, I thank my wife Sunita, our little angel Mysha, My best pal Mayur, Daksh, Suraj and all the people I met for this perfect 10 day vacation – The montage wouldn’t have been possible without you folks 🙂

A little bit of this… A little bit of that

Photoshoot at Powai

With the world environment day round the corner, Ankeet and me decided to have a photo shoot a few days ago to explore the natural beauty that surrounds Powai. I remember hearing stories about the place being a jungle many years ago and how most autowallahs refused to even come here. 20 years of continual construction ( and some might say too much of it) has changed all that. However, like they say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and some stunning shots we did manage to capture. So here goes a few captures from the land that was once a jungle.

While these photos have been taken by me, credit for most of these is to be given to Ankeet, without whose mentoring these wouldn’t have been possible.