We have been celebrating Diwali at our home in Delhi as far back as I remember; even when we relocated to Hyderabad, we always came back to Delhi around Durga Puja and stayed till Bhaiduj celebrating Diwali including having card parties at home. This year was different, we decided to celebrate Ayush & Rajashree’s first Diwali after marriage at their new home in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru Calling

We arrived at the airport well in time and were through with security check in a jiffy courtesy the Digiyatra app. We had two hours to kill before boarding the Air India flight to Bengaluru, Deepika suggested we check into the lounge, I must mention here that I never visit the lounge when travelling solo because (a) I am not sure the credit card that I hold will allow me and (b) my secret hobby of watching people and creating story around them… all in my mind.

Anyways, we checked into the Encalm Lounge and had our breakfast, read the newspaper before boarding the aircraft. The flight was on time and the aircraft, brand new or maybe newly refurbished, whatever it be, the experience was nice.

We landed in Bengaluru at 12:35 pm and immediately received the call from the driver of the hired cab stating that he was 10 minutes away from pick-up point. It was fine with us because we knew it would take at least 25-30 minutes for us to reach the designated spot picking our bags. Moreover, we were not in a hurry because Ayush & Rajashree were out on some work and would not reach home before 2/2:30 pm. They had left a key under the doormat just in case we reach before them which under the circumstances was highly possible.

We reached the pickup point much before the cab appeared and were soon on our way, the google map indicated 2:45 pm as ETA, keeping in perspective the Bengaluru traffic. In Bengaluru, courtesy Deepika’s dear friend Moushumi, we have a dedicated taxi service for airport pickup and drop, the person Nissar Pasha is quite dependable in this matter.

We arrived at Sobha Royal Pavillion, Hadosiddapura, off Sarjapur-Marathahalli Main Road at 2:40 pm. While at Delhi airport, Deepika realized that she had forgotten her ‘mouse’ at home and felt constrained without it, so, I had ordered for one at Amazon app which promised same day delivery. While we were near the complex, the app confirmed that it was delivered but did not elaborate to whom or where? We assumed, it must be at the security gate because the kids were not back. I checked with the security at the gate for any package from Amazon but none could be found, I was worried. The cab dropped us at the entrance of the block. Reaching the 18^th floor, I spotted a package lying at the door of their apartment and to my relief it was the desired one from Amazon.

The apartment was spic-n-span, everything in place where it is meant to be, clearly a work of Rajashree. We loved it. More than half my suitcase had stuffs meant for the kids, so, I immediately unpacked and took out their stuff keeping them systematically on their bed, hoping to impress Rajashree, matching her organising skill. After some time, they came home, after the family hugging and reunion, they checked their presents and loved them, we have thoughtfully chosen the items.

In the evening, Deepika and I went to see Moushumi at Bellandur, close to where we were but it still took us 25 minutes, thanks to Bengaluru traffic. But that evening, Delhi+NCR was equally notorious, my bro-in-law called up while we were going and said that he was stuck in Noida for almost an hour due to heavy congestion.

Moushumi, was super busy with impending Kali Puja at her complex and the Diwali celebrations but still took out time to entertain us. We spent an hour with her, enjoying some amazing veg sandwiches and chicken kebabs with zero sugar, zero calorie soft drinks. She invited us to join her for the Kali Puja on the Diwali night.

We came home and had a simple dinner before calling it a day. Having got up very early in the morning, I was exhausted and needed to sleep.

The IKEA Experience

The Saturday was dedicated to IKEA; being in consumer marketing all my career, I have a particular liking for IKEA, the way they display their products and the ease of accessibility of the items for the customer is something desired of all retailers. We have purchased from their Hyderabad as well as Bengaluru outlet previously and can vouch for the quality. This time around, we did not have anything particular in mind, just thought of picking up something for gifting purposes.

Ayush and Rajashree went for the gym asking us to be ready by 10 am to leave immediately when they come back. I made egg sandwiches for Ayush and me and cheese sandwiches for Deepika and Rajashree. Breakfast is a must for me because of my medication. They came back while I was enjoying my coffee and freshened up quickly. I forced them to have their sandwiches before leaving.

Ayush-Rajashree’s home is in the south-eastern part of Bengaluru while IKEA is at the north-western part, just in the opposite end of the city, a 43 km drive taking 1:20 hours on a good day. The google map indicated 1:45 minutes through Hosa Road and then the NICE Ring Road, it showed the distance of 57 km but faster than the other route through Sarjapur-Marathahalli Main Road and then the NH44. Rajashree decided to drive, she wanted to practice driving an automatic and what better than this long drive. The initial part of the route had really narrow and broken roads making us wonder at the wisdom of Google Map, however, once we were on the ring road, Rajashree drove like a pro and did not cause us, in the rear seat, any reason to panic. It took us little over 2 hours to reach IKEA.

Typically. IKEA outlets are minimalist construction of three floors, ground being the parking area, first is the market place and cafeteria while the second floor is the experience centre. The layout is very similar both at Hyderabad as well as in Bengaluru, I don’t know how it is in Navi Mumbai. Eagerly waiting for them to open up in the north at Noida and Gurugram… I have reason to believe that Noida is going to open sometime next year and will be huge including a mall and a hotel as part of the project, strategically located between the metro stations of sector 50 and 51.

We went through the experience centre quickly as what we had in mind were small items which can be picked up from the market place. We went to the café for lunch, picking up their famed chicken balls and some fries, we avoided the very inviting desserts to cut down on sugar. We paired our food with unlimited fill of infused carbonated water.

I particularly wanted to pick up few ‘foldable shopping bags’ that are very useful gifts but sadly they were out-of-stock. We picked up few Knick knacks for home and few small items for gifting purposes. Ayush bought a set of glass tumblers that I liked but the logistics did not permit me to buy. By the time we were done, it was past 4 pm and time to rush back home before the evening rush of traffic on the weekend before Diwali. We were expected home in 2 hours as per Google Map but the Bengaluru traffic thought otherwise and we finally reached home well past 7:30 pm, taking more than 3 hours.

My cousin’s daughter lives in Bengaluru (Koramangala) and my cousin along with her husband has been there in Bengaluru since end-September scheduled to go back to Kolkata the following morning. I had planned a dinner with her at the Nagarjuna, Koramangala. We had their famous veg thali and ordered few non-veg items on the side. It felt really good meeting her, my brother-in-law and niece after a long time.

I forgot to mention that Rajashree and I had a very invigorating moments with Smokey and Milo, two lovely Golden Retrievers, when we reached back from IKEA. Both the kids are very fond of dogs and I am sure, going forward, they will have a furry baby of their own.

Pottery Day

It was a Sunday and Rajashree had marked it for a visit to the pottery studio and try our hands in it. I had promised them to cook mutton for them and accordingly meat was ordered from Licious. While they were at the gym, we ordered breakfast from Vedham, a Karnataka style South Indian eatery. Also, marinated the mutton with all the ingredients except oil for a one-pot mutton curry. While marinating, I realised, they don’t have a proper vessel to cook 1kg mutton, the pressure cooker is only a good enough for half kg. I wanted to order a bigger pressure cooker from Blinkit but based on Deepika’s advice ended up with a pressure cooker that already exists. I called up the customer service and requested for the exchange and they agreed to take it back and refund the money. I ordered a 5-litre pressure cooker which was delivered in less than 10 minutes, probably their warehouse was close-by.

Ayush and Rajashree are on a diet program that has restriction on daily oil/ ghee/ butter consumption, so I asked Ayush to measure and put the oil in the marination. He measured 2 tbsp of mustard oil and poured it in the container. I had earlier cooked chicken without (practically) oil in a microwave oven, so was confident that it would come out nice and good to eat, the challenge was the miniscule use of spices, for the kids are averse to spicy food. Without being modest, the mutton curry that day was one of my finest creations!!!

The Jumbo Pottery Studio, on the Sarjapur-Marathahalli Main Road is run by three friends, a spacious planned floor with tables for hand moulding as well as pottery wheels. It is where Rajashree is learning pottery on the weekends and have mastered the art quite well. She taught us to wedge the clay, the first step of pottery to take out air pockets. It took a little time before the three of us could do it to her satisfaction. We were asked to handcraft figures as per our choice and the teacher (as usual, I have forgotten her name) suggested that we check the ‘pinterest’ and choose an image for the purpose. Deepika decided to make a plate/tray, Rajashree decided on a set of cats, Ayush decided to make a dog and named it Ruffles, I decided to invoke the Almighty, trying my hand at creating a Ganesha idol. I ended up making two Ganesha idols and a small Shiva Lingam, I don’t know if they will survive the baking process… will get to know their fate in early December when the kids are due to come to Delhi.

The next course was using the wheel to create a bowl/ tumbler and I must confess that I failed miserably, making Rajashree very angry maybe because she had placed high hopes on my success. Deepika, with the help of the teacher, made two nice bowls and Rajashree created a nice tumbler. The father-son duo ended up with nothing to show. However, the whole experience was exhilarating and thoroughly enjoyable. Many thanks and blessings to Rajashree for insisting and taking us there to actually experience the process. The owner/ teacher of the pottery studio fosters 2 beautiful dogs, a labrador named Mala and a Shih Tzu. Mala is young, 7 months old and extremely energetic and playful.

In the evening, Deepika made aloo-gobi ki sabji using minimal oil and chapatis and we had quite dinner at home. After dinner, we sat and chatted for some time before calling it a day.

Pondicherry Calling

Deepika was very eager to visit the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry being an ardent follower of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. Initially, we thought of hiring a cab from Bengaluru for a one-day visit but the cost of transportation plus the hotel stay for a day was coming very high, putting us in a dilemma. But Mother and Rishi Aurobindo had other ideas and we were offered a complimentary stay at the Hotel Promenade, courtesy the effort of Priya, our niece. And Ayush offered his VW Taigun for driving down to Pondicherry (Puducherry).

So, on Monday morning, Deepika and I left for Pondicherry around 7 am for a 5:30 hour, 310 km journey. I was not sure of the road condition but believed that we can do it max in 6/6.5 hours. The road condition within the city limits of Bengaluru were below par with potholes and for some strange reason, the road, every 300-400 metres were dotted with ‘tabletop’ speed breakers… when the road condition do not allow you to go beyond 20-30 kmph what’s the point of such speed breakers? Anyways, we were soon on the NH44 driving towards Chennai but knew somewhere ahead we will be guided to another route that’s faster through a forested area and then joining the NH77 straight to Pondicherry. Though, the 80 odd km stretch of the forested road was narrow, only two lanes, it was devoid of traffic, so we had a smooth ride driving in the vicinity of nearly 100 kmph. Ayush had changed his tyres to Micheline and filled then with nitrogen gas, the result was a noiseless drive all along.

Once we hit the NH77, we looked for an eatery and found a Saravana Bhawan franchise where we had our breakfast of Masala Dosa and filter coffee before continuing our journey.

The road had become wider, 4-lane, so I eased on the gas to accelerate, it was a scenic road and tempted me to stop and take few pictures but we had an urgency of reaching our destination…Deepika wanted to visit the Auroville, 16 km from away from Pondicherry in the state of Tamil Nadu. Though it was not possible to get a permit for a visit to Matri Mandir at such a short notice (usually, it takes anywhere between 7 to 15 days advance planning, sometimes even more), we could at least see it from the outside between 2 to 5 pm. Last time, some 10-12 years back when we visited, it was under renovation and inaccessible.

We checked into our rooms, quite spacious and clean but definitely needed upgradation. We were treated with a welcome drink, red in colour, of unknown ingredients but quite refreshing. We decided to hire a cab for the Auroville so that I can relax a bit, moreover, finding a parking space in the evening may become challenging. We had a quick lunch of sandwiches at The Blueline restaurant before leaving for Auroville. I have been specifically told not to comment on the hotel but can’t help pointing out that the staff needs a thorough hard grind training in servicing the customer. I had asked for a simple egg sandwich and was served a vegetable sandwich, when pointed out, it was taken back without an apology and then the actual sandwich appeared after 20-25 minutes when we were contemplating to leave without having it. The coffee which we asked to be served after our sandwiches came first!!

The drive to the Auroville was uneventful, the driver knew only Tamil and workable English but quite enthusiastic in keeping us engaged through constant titbits about the places and also pointing out some places of interest. He took us as far as he could drive inside so that we have minimal walk. We took our passes from the counter, the guy pointed out the way and specifically asked us not to follow the road marking as that is a long winding road with occasional vehicular traffic. The walk through the forested path was nice and energised us from our lethargy. The Matri Mandir viewing point is quite nicely done with natural photo-booths to take pictures of the Matri Mandir, landscape as well as selfies. The landscaping around the temple is still undergoing, an artificial lake surrounding the temple is being constructed as per the last wishes of Mother.

We spent some time at the viewing point, taking few pictures then walked back to the entrance to take the free bus ride to the reception and the parking where our driver, Muthuraj was waiting for us. On our way we stopped at the Auroville Bakery to pick up some cookies and cake. We instructed the driver to take us to the Aurobindo Ashram.

When I last visited the Ashram, the place was very quiet with few people around but now the entire road has been demarcated as vehicle free, only e-vehicles are allowed to drop off aged and physically challenged people. The cab dropped us at the entrance of the street in front of Auroshikha, a shop merchandising incense sticks, candles, handmade paper items and other stuff made by the inmates of the ashram. The proceed from the sale of such items are used for nurturing the ashram inmates. Deepika bought a bunch of incense sticks and candles for self as well as for gifting. On the opposite side of the road was another outlet for books written by Aurobindo and Mother as well as books on them by distinguished literally persons, it had an array of books in multiple languages besides other artifacts and talisman of the Ashram.

We left our purchases in the car and walked to the ashram. Earlier, they had a place inside the premises to keep the shoes of the visitors but now with the inflow of large number of devotees, the shoe rack has not only become large but has been kept outside near the building housing the ashramites. I am a free soul not bound by any ritualistic practice but still went with Deepika who kneeled down at the Samadhi of Rishi Aurobindo to pray. She also donated a sum of money to the trust and we spent some time near the Samadhi with others coming from across the globe and culture, it had a calming effect not describable in words.

We were dropped off near the hotel as the road leading to the hotel has become inaccessible due to the regulations. We had tea and the cookies bought from Auroville Bakery and relaxed for somewhile. Later, walked to the main market on the Jawaharlal Nehru Street, approx. 900 metres from the hotel. Our destination was the Hidesign shops (Flagship as well as Factory Outlet) specialising in leather products. The Hidesign is owned by Deepika’s cousin and we were expecting some discounts on our purchases, she had been referred to a person at the shop by her cousin but the lady had called it a day and gone home. We checked both the shops and shortlisted few items of interest and promised to come back first thing in the morning when they opened at 9 am.

We had our dinner at the rooftop restaurant named, Bay of Buddha, serving Pan-Asian cuisine. While we were waiting for our food, it started drizzling but we were saved by the canopy over our head, some diners choosing to enjoy their food under the open sky were not so lucky and had to relocate under the canopies or in some cases their food was covered up while they stood under cover.

In the morning, we got ready for the day and packed up our bags as well which had inflated with our purchases of the previous evening. On our way back from the market, we located a big outlet of Anand Adyar Bhawan (A2B) and decided to have our breakfast there, it is always advisable that one should go for the local delicacies rather than standard hotel offerings. But first we headed to the Hidesign store to pick up the items that we had kept reserved. I particularly wanted to buy a laptop sleeve for my HP 13-inch laptop; the one that I wanted was available in Delhi as well as online stores but the price was high without any discount, here I hoped to get it at a reasonable price, and I wasn’t disappointed by the discount given by the AGM of Hidesign. We, mostly bought items for gifting for Diwali and Bhaiduj. The breakfast at the A2B, was average but much cheaper than Delhi. The shop was extremely crowded with Diwali shoppers, we quickly finished our food and left for the hotel. On the way, Deepika went to the Ashram once more while I waited outside guarding our shopping bags. We also visited the house where her aunt used to live, it is being converted into a heritage hotel soon to open to public. It was nostalgic for her as she had fond memories of spending time with her. I too have memories about the house… I had visited her as the bearer of Deepika’s letter to her before our marriage, not knowing that she wanted her aunt’s approval of me and I passed the test with my charm.

We left for Bengaluru around noon after settling our account with hotel expecting to reach home latest by 6 pm keeping in mind the heavy traffic we would face approaching the city. We tanked up in Pondicherry itself as the petrol price was cheaper than Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the two states we have to travel through. The route we took was different from the one we had taken to reach our hotel because of the traffic restrictions, it was wider and less crowded, we cruised at a decent speed of 80-90kmph and soon joined the NH77 where we looked for an outlet to have coffee and use the restroom. Anudhinam, Milk Sweets looked to be the place and we stopped there to have coffee. It was a sweet shop and confectionery on the highway, the signage outside the shop requested the patrons to leave their shoes and chappals outside. We had our filter coffee and a slice of chocolate cake, also picked up 250gm of milk sweets for Ayush and Rajashree.

The traffic increased significantly on the NH44, especially as we crossed Hosur on our way to Bengaluru. The Google Map, failed to specifically instruct me to take the service road and I kept driving on to the flyover missing the turn towards Sarjapur. I had shared the live location with Ayush and he got worried but I assured him that there was another turn after about 4 km that would guide us back to the Sarjapur-Marathahalli Main Road. In hindsight, it was a good mistake as the road, though narrow and serpentine, was in much better shape saving us the potholed road that we used while going. We reached Sobha Royal Pavillion exactly at 5:45 pm marking an end to a fulfilling getaway.   

We were surprised to find a big bag in our room… Diwali gift from the kids, a set of two porcelain dinner plates and a teapot with infuser and two tumblers to enjoy the tea, a very personal and thoughtful gift from the Bacchas. I told Ayush that if he had indicated this earlier, I would have picked up the glass tumblers from IKEA that I liked so much. He just laughed and said that they decided on it while we were gone.

The Roxie Encounter

The previous evening at the dinner table, Rajashree asked if I would be interested in meeting Roxie, the Pitbull pup being fostered by their gym owner, dogs and I have special bonds irrespective of their lineage and I eagerly waited to meet her. Rajashree had gone to the gym early in the morning and confirmed the presence of Roxie at the gym, Ayush dropped me there on his way to the office.

It was decided to bring her home for couple of hours, it would test out if Rajashree is ready for adopting a pet and also if I am fit enough to manage and train a pup again. The owner told Rajashree that she had fed Roxie and her next meal would be in the evening again, in between we are not to feed her. I walked Roxie at the parking area where she pee-ed and we were on our way, Roxie feeling comfortable on my lap.

Once inside the apartment, I put her down and freed her from the leash. Roxie roamed the entire apartment going from room to room and was most interested to check the balcony but I did not let her go because she might have slipped through the gaps between the railings, down eighteen floors. Deepika, despite spending 14 wonderful years with Rolf is still skeptical about dogs but Roxie decided to be with her only sitting next to her.

I engaged with Roxie playing with her, she started running around (zoomies) in a game of “catch me if you can”, I could barely keep pace with her energy. She is at an age where she’s teething and wants to bite everything, just like what Rolf used to do at this age. Every time she bit me, I gently slapped her face and told her that the mouth is for eating not biting, after some time she understood, or so we thought. She started sniffing around walking around the rooms and went to the kid’s bedroom and could no longer hold her stomach. It was very foul-smelling potty which I had to clean up; doing so, I washed up some of my sins. We ordered a toy from Blinkit which Roxie liked immensely getting very possessive of it. Deepika made some buttermilk which Rajashree fed her. Roxie finished the makeshift bowl of butter milk in seconds and was askance for more.

It was a work day for Rajashree, so, once she was a bit free, we went to drop Roxie back at the gym. On the way she slept snoring loudly on my lap!!

Toit, the micro-brewery pub has opened a new outlet in the same complex as Ayush’s office, in the evening we took a cab there for dinner. Ayush came from office and we had a very intimate family outing enjoying the open-air seating and the beverages with snacks.

Celebrating Diwali

Even though, it was a holiday for everyone, the gym was open and the kids did not want to miss out, so, they went ahead while Deepika and I took a cab to Moushumi’s place for breakfast at the MTR outlet in Bellandur.  I ordered my usual dishes, Idli-Vada combo followed by Rawa Masala Dosa and must say that those were some of the bests I had so far. We got Idli and Vada packed for the kids too.

On our way back, we picked up some diyas and coloured powder with the sieve for making Rangoli.  In the evening, Rajashree made beautiful Rangolis showcasing her creative side while Ayush lit the diyas at the balcony and Puja Mandap.

Deepika made the Bhog for Laxmi Puja while I acted as her sous chef by cutting the vegetables. I also made ‘Shinni’, a preparation of wheat flour, milk, sugar and banana, usually made as a prasad during Satyanarayan Katha, on special request of Rajashree. It came out yummilusciously creamy and even Ayush, who otherwise has reservations about it, liked the Shinni.

After the Laxmi Puja, we had our dinner of the Bhog and later visited Moushumi’s home for the Ma Kali Puja at her residential complex. We spent some time at the puja and later at her home.

Penultimate Day

It was our last day with the kids, it was also a state holiday for celebrating Karnataka Day, both the kids were relaxed and took time to wake up. It was also homemade Dosa Breakfast Day, I made the ‘masala’ the aloo sabji while Deepika made the Dosa using a pack of MTR Multigrain Dosa that she had carried from Delhi. The multigrain dosa is a hot favourite of Ayush and he enjoyed them thoroughly.

It was also the day for making Prawn Malay Curry as promised, Ayush ordered the prawns from Licious before going to the gym. I prepared the ingredients while waiting the prawns and once it was delivered, washed them and marinated using turmeric and chilli powder with a little bit of salt.

While they were at the gym toning up their physic, I made the Prawn Malay Curry and was very happy with the result. By now, I have made it numerous times improving the texture and taste each time. Ayush had ordered extra quantity so that they can enjoy it the following day as well. Deepika made ‘Tomato Paneer’, a signature dish of hers for the kids to enjoy later. In the evening, I had a small peg of Single Malt with Ayush as company, though I have given up on alcohol. I don’t recall the name but it was a smooth drink and I enjoyed it after a long-long time. Before that, the kids went to wish Diwali greetings to their neighbour while Deepika and I went down to take a walk within the complex. Most of the buildings are ready but few are still at various stages of construction, hopefully should be ready by next year. Although, Ayush says that the no activity is happening at the Clubhouse, looking at it we felt, the clubhouse will be ready for use by the time the under-construction buildings are completed.

Post dinner, we chatted and watched television before retiring for the day. Ayush sent a reminder message to Nissar Pasha for airport drop in the morning.

Adieu Bengaluru

We were ready to leave for the airport by 7 am but there was no sign of the cab, I was getting restless and asked Ayush to check the status. The driver confirmed that he’s reaching in 5 minutes. However, even after 15 minutes or so, there was no sign of him, so Ayush called Nissar who to our horror had misread the message and sent the cab to the airport instead of Sobha Royal Pavillion. He tried arranging another cab but they all were at a distance and would have taken at least 30-40 minutes to reach which we could not afford. Deepika suggested, we book Uber but Ayush insisted on dropping us at the airport. To our pleasant surprise, the roads were devoid of traffic and we reached the airport in record time of only 1.5 hours. We bade them goodbyes and went inside, anxious about the weight of the luggage which were bit above combined allowance of 30kg. in addition, we had two large cabin bags as well. However, to our relief, the counter guy at Indigo check-in allowed our slightly over-weight baggage, maybe because we were the first ones to check-in.

We went to Amex lounge to wait for the boarding call and had our breakfast as well. Ayush and Rajashree took even less time going back home.

The flight was on time and we landed at T-1 of IGIA around 3:30 pm and was home by 5:00 pm after buying vegetables on the way for the Bhaiduj scheduled the next day. Later, in the evening, I made Chicken Black Pepper in White Sauce, my own recipe and signature dish for my siblings and their kids.

And then I crashed out…