A date with the stars

One doesn't have to always travel outside one's city or country or spend too much money for a break or a little adventure. A couple of weeks ago, the husband and I were (again) itching to get out and do something. But couldn't afford to take time off for a break, small or big. This is when we got a little creative and started looking for things to do 'in' the city, which would not dent our pockets or our work schedule.

We came upon many things. But most included taking a day off or spending liberally, both of which we didn’t have on our minds. A little more research led me to something that I have always been fascinated about: Star gazing. Since I was a kid, I have been fascinated about stars and constellations. I have been to a few planetariums and observatories as part of educational tours. But, never actually gone for an organised gazing session. This discovery, organised by a professional organisation, within a few hours from Mumbai city and definitely well within our budget, got me very excited. Thankfully, the husband didn’t mind trying it out too. So, we quickly registered for our exciting night out.

Khagol Mandal, one of the largest organisations of amateur astronomers in Mumbai organises sky shows from October/November to May/June, depending on the season and the sky pattern. The session happen at Neral at most times and is open to anyone who is interested, on a registration basis only. The charges are very minimal at Rs.250 per person and an extra Rs.150 for dinner. If not, you are free to carry your own dinner. Once you register, they send you a detailed set of instructions on where to meet, what to carry and what to expect out of the program. It is an all-night event, beginning around 7:00 pm and ending at 4:00 am the next morning.

Back to our experience. The organisers suggested that you either take the train or drive to the venue. The train is definitely faster as you avoid a lot of the evening traffic. We decided to take the local train, since a. We didn’t know the route too well (yes, there are maps to help, but, we weren’t in the mood for it) and b. the husband wanted to get me to experience the local train, since I have been on it only twice before, in all the four years in Mumbai and that too for very short distances over the weekend, when the train was nearly empty.

Saturday came (the show usually takes place only on Saturday nights) and we got ourselves all geared up for the night with packed dinner, the list of things we had to carry and our energy. We left home at 5pm, to catch the 5:50 pm ‘fast’ train to Neral. We live about 10 mins from the station, but knowing how tentatively I move in crowded stations, the husband insisted that we give it enough time. I went outside our gate and was standing around to hail an auto, when the husband dragged me to the auto stand a few meters away and hurried me into one. I was wondering why he was in such a hurry, when suddenly a boisterous aunty came and plonked herself in the same auto. I was about to tell her that we had occupied it, when the husband smiling told me that it was a ‘share auto’ and that he wanted to me get the ‘full local travel experience’ (thank you very much!).  

Once at the station, I was a little overwhelmed with the crowded trains and how I was going to get myself into one. For the people who don’t use the train often, this can be quite an experience. But I had the veteran train user with me and he guided me into one. The journey was not too bad and offered me a great opportunity to people watch, something that I enjoy doing. After about an hour, we arrived at the Neral station, followed the instructions and met the van driver who was to drive us to the gazing site, which is about a 15-20 mins drive away and is part of a resort. We were pleasantly surprised with the number of people who were there. Especially children. Probably because of the summer break. The site was decently set up, with 5 telescopes, a space for the theory sessions and a dining area. The theory area could have probably been a little better, since one has to sit or lay (preferably) down on dharis/sheets and gaze up. It had a quite a few stones and red ants in some places. But, if you choose your spot well and carry a thick mat/dhari, you will be. And at the end, you get what you pay for!

We choose a spot and settled down for the theory session on telescopes and constellations. The theory session is also pretty interesting as they explain using the sky and not slides or charts. Once the comprehensive theory session was over, we proceeded for the first telescope viewing session of the night. We saw Jupiter, the beehive constellation, the Arundathi star and a binary star. It was really quite fascinating. We could clearly see 3 moons of Jupiter and the fourth one feebly. The other bodies were all very clear. For armatures like it was a fascinating experience.  Once this was done, we proceeded for a dinner break followed by another theory session. This was then to be followed by another viewing session, where we would see the ‘champion’ of the night: Saturn and also a red star close to Saturn, which is very similar to Mars in its colour and structure.

By now, everyone was quite enthralled and involved. While comfortable settled for the second theory session and gearing up for the Saturn viewing, we started noticing some lightning in the sky. Everybody, including the organisers hoped that this was just temporary as all predictions indicated that it was a clear night. But, as always, nature had its own plans and within a few minutes, it started to POUR. Thankfully, we had some forewarning and were all able to rush into a shed like structure for shelter. It rained for a good hour and there was no way that the session could resume after that. The last train had left by then and no taxi company was offering services in Neral. So we had to wait there till the next train at 2:50 am. Sipping on tea and chatting, we waited till we were dropped back to the Neral station. We finally reached the station at 2:52 and were running up the stairs, when we saw train pull away in front of our eyes! The resort van driver who dropped us to the station had decided to take a nice nap, resulting in this delay and our missing the train. We had two options now 1. We could wait another hour for the next train or 2. Take a taxi to the next big station (Ambernath) which was a 45 minutes’ drive away and take the train from there. We were ready for option 2, but it was not very safe for just the two of us to travel in a taxi at that time. While waiting, we met two guys from the program also trying to find a way to get to Ambernath. One was a local and one was a Spaniard. They looked like nice guys and much to the husband’s apprehension, I suggested that we share a cab with them. So we ended up doing that and safely reached Ambernath, JUST in time for the next train and finally reached home at 5:00 am.

We were a bit disappointed that we couldn’t see all that we wanted to, especially Jupiter, but were happy to have explored this option and also that it turned out to be a little adventure of its own, although not the kind we had hoped for. But, well, that’s the whole point of adventures, right? You can plan all you want, but then what finally unfolds is not in your hands and that’s the fun of it.

We will definitely go back for a show once it starts again (it is currently closed due to monsoon and will commence in November) and have a date with Saturn. Until then, Khagol Mandal offers sessions and discussion on basic astronomy, which we plan to participate in and also be happy that ‘by Jupiter, we saw stars’!


You can check the schedule and register on: http://khagolmandal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35&Itemid=39

Tip  for first timers:

1. Take mosquito patches/Odomos
2. Take a thick dhari and a blanket/razai or 2-3 bedsheets since the ground is hard and most of the theory sessions are spent on your back or backside
3. Take along pillows/cushions
4. Take ample water and snacks to satisfy hunger pangs through the night
5. If you can, drive! It will help you get back home faster and safer in case of unforeseen weather conditions
6. Wear loose, comfortable clothes, preferable tracks/cotton trousers and full arms to protect yourself from mosquito bites
7. Get some sleep on Saturday morning/noon since you will have to be up the whole night

The poetry behind shoes.

People who know me even a little, know that my love for footwear is almost comparable with my love for travel. Ballerinas, stilettos, chappals, boots, I don’t discriminate. Each one of these babies are precious and deserve a home (in my cupboard). And that’s another reason why I love to travel. What better way to add to your collection, than picking up local beauties from the places you visit?

So, when the husband and I decided to go to Greece in 2013, I was super excited, of course about the trip itself, but secretly about the prospect of buying Greek sandals. I did not of course tell the husband that, as he may just have changed the destination out of mere fright of having to 1. Visit a 100 shoe stores with me, 2. Chivalrously offer to carry my heavy shopping bags (while I run around looking for more and he tries to hold me back, unsuccessfully), 3. Pay for extra baggage and 4. Make space in our Mumbai apartment, where my shoes have already occupied 95% space in the two shoe racks we own.

But, what I did do was, silently research about the best places I could buy authentic Greek footwear. After a bit of digging around I came across this gem of a place called the STAVROS MELISSINOS "THE POET SANDAL-MAKER OF ATHENS". Just reading about it got me so excited that I immediately dug out more information and put this at the top of our agenda for Athens.

The store, inherited by Stavros Melissinos (now 86 years old), who belongs to a noble Greek family and is the author of Rubiyat, was opened by his father, way back in 1927. For many years, this was the only shoe store in the area, dressing the feet of many clients from the theatre and cinema community (only they wore sandals, then) and the Queen of Greece herself. History has it that a friend of Socrates had a shoe store in this exact place 2500 years ago.

The store is now managed by Pantelis Melissinos, Stavros’ son, who is an artist, educated in New York. He returned to Athens some years ago, to prevent the legacy from ending with his father. Today, there are many stores around, selling Geek footwear, but none as authentic, high quality and enjoyable as this one.

After dreaming for days of entering this shop and raiding it, the day finally came when we landed in Athens and were walking around Monastiraki Square, after an enticing morning at the Acropoli, followed by a scrumptious meal of home-made pies in a quaint little cafe. This is the time I sprung the surprise on the unsuspecting husband and started looking for this store. Considering my zeal to find the place and recognising the determined twinkle in my eyes, the husband ceded defeat and followed me, while I made my way past the flea markets in the shadow of the Acropoli. This hidden gem, located at 89 Pandrossou, is actually not that difficult to find and after asking a few people around, we found the place.

One of the many flea markets near Monastiraki square

The tiny, Pandrossou street where the store is located

The store itself

And, then I entered (a part of) heaven. The décor, the smell of fresh shoes (don’t you just love that), the handsome and polite salesmen, the posters of the famous patrons and the many shoes all stuffed in shelves in the little shop, were a sensorial feast. I had to use all constraint, not to start running around, picking shoes off the shelf.

Inside the store

Stavros' work seat

Pantelis in his work space

After a little gaping, we settled down to look at the shoes (yes, WE. After seeing the shop, the husband couldn't resist buying for himself too). One of the first things the store people do, is hand you a catalogue which lists all the styles available. They have about 30 styles available for both men and women (most of them unisex) with names like Jackie O, Cleopatra, John Lenin, Aristotle and Ceasar. Once you select the style(s) you like, they bring out some pairs which are just the base and the straps, make you slip it onto your feet, adjust it so that it fits you snug and just right, note down the measurements and then take it to their little work-space to customize your shoes for you. You can sit around and actually watch your shoes being crafted to perfection, in front of you! The finishing takes about 30 minutes once they start working on it, but you may have to wait longer in case there is a queue of people.

After choosing our footwear – John Lenon for me and Simon for the husband – and while waiting for it to get made, we spent our time gawking at the many shoes hanging around like bunches of berries, admiring the headshots of the autographed posters of patrons and chatting with Pantelis about the shop, its history and clientele. The list is indeed impressive, from Prince Charles, Sarah- Jessica Parker, Maria Callas, John Lennon, Jeremy Irons, the Beatles and us (yay, we are part of the list now)!

The husband's chappal being worked on by one of the salesmen

My chappals being finished by Pantelis

This is undoubtedly the one memento one must get back from Greece. The leather is good, the fit perfect, the staff friendly, the place charming and the price totally affordable. Depending on the pair you choose, you will end up paying 30-40 Euros. They can make coloured leather too, but that takes a little longer to make (about 45 minutes, again depending on the number of customers) and costs about 50-60 Euros.

One of the many posters of the patrons

After about 30-45 minutes of entering the store, our shoes were ready (there weren't too many customers at that time) and we left the place grinning and waiting eagerly to start using them.

Our only regrets: 1. Not being able to meet Stavros, as he was resting at home that day and 2. Buying only 1 pair each (and the husband readily agrees this time). But, that gives us a reason to go back…

someday.

Expert tips:1. Let the sandals set overnight before you start using them. This will ensure that the pasting holds well2. Rub olive oil on your chappals once a week for a few weeks, so it gets a nice dark colour (if you like that)Air the shoes once in a while, if you live in a humid city, else they will catch fungus3. Visit the store around 11 am, an hour after opening to 5 pm, so you can see the colour and finish of the leather in daylight and choose well

For the love of adventure!

The husband of someone known to me passed last weekend, while he was on an adventure. He was just 30. I don't know them too closely, but such news is always heart-breaking, especially if it happens to someone so young. But, the way the wife handled the whole ordeal positively and focused on celebrating her husband's life and adventures, was truly inspirational. And it made me realise one thing: at the end, it does not matter how long you live. What matters is how well you lived and how many adventures you had (quote partly borrowed from Seneca). And adventures can come in all shapes and sizes - -small, medium, big, adrenaline thumping, discovery-led, in a group, while solo tripping. You just have to pick what works for you and explore. But explore, you must!

One of the main reasons I love traveling is because it can throw many adventures at you. This incident, I mentioned above, has touched a chord in me and made my resolve to seek adventure stronger.

***

On a recent trip to my second home, Goa, (I feel completely at ease here and have grand plans to make it my early retirement abode) we had a few adventures. Not the adrenaline rush kinds. But the discovering kinds. Discovering new places, new food, and new people.

The husband and I go to Goa at least once a year and every time, we make it a point to stay at different and lesser known places. When we were planning our trip in March this year, during the Holi weekend, we wanted to do a quiet vacation. Away from the crowds of central and north Goa.

Away from pot-bellied uncles in VIP/Tantex underwear, thrashing around in the water like baby whales. Away from aunties in saris/Salwar kameezes waddling into the water, dragging their wailing, water-afraid babies.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against any of them. Everyone has the right to wear, go and do what they want. But this trip, we wanted to get away from all the noise and enjoy some peace and quiet. We knew we were asking for a bit much, considering it was a long weekend and usually on such weekends, most of India is in Goa. (Sometimes that’s what I love about Goa - - so vibrant, so crowded and full of opportunities to people gaze). But, we kept up our search for the perfect place and voila, found it too.

We decided that we will go extreme South, where not many people venture. We choose the last two major, picturesque beaches – Agonda and Galgibaga, to spend 4 days. We have been to Agonda before and loved it, but Galgibaga was new. Both these beaches are less commercial compared to the central and north beaches or Palolem in the South (25 kms away from Galgibaga, the last major beach of Goa on the South, very close to the Karnataka border).

Our first stop was Galgibaga, a good two hours’ drive from Dabolim airport. When we landed in Dabolim, we first thought that the pilot had landed in a fish market by mistake. As predicted, all of India was there! (Fine, fine, I not being accurate here…it was actually all of India, plus some more). This made us flee as fast as we could to the cab that would take us to our destination. We had booked ourselves at this dreamy place which we found one weekend, during our vodka and holiday planning session. The place is located on the banks of the Talpona River, facing lush mangroves on the other side. The accommodation is styled like a Native American tepee house, facing the river.

The Tepee we stayed in

We fell in love with it immediately and even though we didn’t see too many reviews for it anywhere (which meant that not many people had discovered it, yay!), we quickly booked it. We were a bit apprehensive till we reached there. But once we entered (which took a while, since it is so well hidden), we were super glad about our impulsive decision. We were the only residents.


The river, the setting, our tepee; they were all so serene. I have always been fascinated with history and had read about tepees as a kid. So, you can imagine the excitement when I got to stay at one. We entered it: me crawling in super enthusiastically (people underestimate the power of small people), while the poor husband had to almost fold himself into three to enter (tepees typically have pretty small entrances in order to help maintain heat and cold and are not made for tall people, but once you get the hand of it, it is fun) and were quite awed by the minimal, yet well thought out interiors.

The minimal and stylish interior

After the initial excitement of finding the place, discovering that it was almost like a personal holiday spot, eating great home cooked food (mostly made personally by the French and German couple who run the place) while chatting with them endlessly, lounging aimlessly on the sun beds overlooking the pretty river, watching the sun set over the river and then spotting the tepee in the constellation, we were finally getting ready to call it a night (at 9 pm, which is the time we are usually starting our evening in Mumbai, over the weekends).

The dining area, facing the river

The Talpona river at twilight

The lights went out fully and that is when we realised how really magical the place was. We were fortunate to be there on an (extra bright) full moon night. The place was lit up entirely with the silvery moonlight and the water was gleaming like someone had generously sprinkled it with silver glitter. At that moment, if someone had asked me to give up everything and come and live there, I would have readily agreed. Sadly, no one did!

The full moon magically shining over our Tepee

[Note: I am intentionally not giving out the name of this place (yes, a little selfishly), to help keep it a secret. But, if you want to visit, drop me a line and I will be happy to help you with the directions. For the next season, the owners are planning to add a floating pier and a floating coracle, where people can lounge, read, sleep, sing, do whatever…so we are sure to go back].





The morning after saw us waking up early, sipping tea and reading our books by the river. It couldn’t have been better. And after a few hours of this bliss and some breakfast, we were ready for our next little adventure - - finding the Gordon Ramsey recommended shack on Galgibaga beach, a 10-15 mins bike ride away from where we were.

The husband reading his book, while sipping some tea. In the background, you can see the sunbeds, where one can lounge endlessly while enjoying the river breeze.

Galgibaga, is a clean, white sand beach and is a protected, Olive Ridley turtle nesting site. There aren’t too many shacks and people around, and the shack we were looking for – Surya – was well marked and pretty easy to find among the few shacks there. The enterprising owner showed us the impressive fresh catch for the day and we choose the red and white snappers, which was served to us grilled and with some secret recipe delicious chutney/paste smeared on it. He also insisted that we try the home made potato chips, which we gladly did.

The fresh catch being displayed 

The red snapper I relished at Surya huts

The home made chips

The fresh, mouth-watering fish, the golden brown, perfectly round home-made chips, a glass of vodka mixed with freshly squeezed orange juice (beer for the husband), the view of the sea and the sea breeze, pleasant chatting with the owner about his Ramsey rendezvous, all made it a meal to remember. This place is an absolute must visit in Galgibaga.

The beach itself is very calm, about a km long, has a good surf and is perfect swim, though we didn’t risk it after the huge meal we had!

Galgibaga beach

Talpona River which runs on oneside of the Galgibaga beach

Olive Ridley nest at Galgibaga

From there it was onward and forward to Agonda, a one hour bike ride away, on a very pretty road. You can of course take a car like everywhere else in Goa and the locals will help arrange for it. Agonda is also an Olive Ridley site, white sand and clean, but, slightly crowded relative to Galgibaga. In just a year (we visited Agonda in April last year), we noticed, sadly, that Agonda has been steadily getting discovered and therefore more commercial (Sigh!).


This beach is almost semi-circular and has a lot of shacks sprinkled all around – for staying and eating - at varying price ranges and offering different cuisine. The southern side has a small hillock, which gives superb views. We had a long, leisurely breakfast here, at the Chatai yoga huts, one morning. Agonda is also a calm beach and a great place to swim, surf and sun-bathe. It is also beautiful during sunsets.

Sunset at Agonda

Don’t miss the banoffee pie at Arabian Nights. It is quite yummy and runs out fast. We had booked ours a day in advance and enjoyed it the next day while watching the sun set.

Again, in Agonda, we had the good fortune or a really bright moon (almost as if like a flood light had been put up over the beach) and we decided to make a little adventure of it by dragging our sun beds onto the sand and lying under the stars, with the surreal silver water just a few feet away. I think it was a grand idea, because we soon had some more people doing the same thing, along with a few of our native, four legged friends sprawled out happily too.

The hut we stayed at in Agonda. In the foreground are the sun beds we dragged onto the beach and slept on

All this talk of the stars, moon and sky has inspired me to plan our next, little adventure. More about that in the next post.


Happy adventures, till then!