Hey there. I’m back! Hope you haven’t forgotten me! After all, it’s been a few days since I last posted ‘From The Corner Table’. I know pulling a Houdini is breaking one among the few rules of blogging and I’ve already been at the receiving end of the “you have to be regular” lecture from my parents. My sincere apologies to all of you…
Brutal honesty will more often than not set you on a path that is opposing to one taken by others. On this road, you will battle anonymous adversaries, and trolls that will fight you until their last breath, ready to martyr themselves for a notion they think to be right. It could be for a subject as complex as the…
As a child growing up on classical English literature, I was fascinated by terms like chimneys, fireplaces, scones, etc, and phrases like ‘lush greenery’, ‘rolling hills’, ‘winding roads’, ‘sparkling water’ and ‘gushing streams’. All of these seemed fantastical until, in a clichéd but true manner, travelling broadened my horizon and gave meaning to these fantastical terms. However, it was only last year…
Ever get that feeling of wanting to kick yourself because you’ve been lazy and missed doing something important, like clicking the picture of a place that you really liked? And realising the goof-up only when you are digging through files for a photograph to show off or post on social media!
It tends to happen to me a lot. Mostly because I invariably lose myself in the surroundings, get busy absorbing everything and forget that I have a phone camera and a digital camera that should be put to good use.
The most recent, in this case, being the missing photo of the Kanyakumari railway station – the last station in the southern part of peninsular India with the cool station code ‘CAPE’ and the pinkest station building I’ve seen. It’s not like I don’t have a photograph of this pink station. I do. But I wish I had a better one, along with photographs of the board announcing the station and some photos of the green interiors.
Kanyakumari is a postage-stamp-sized town in comparison to other towns that you may have travelled to. You can easily cover the touristy and non-touristy bits of the city in a day as I did.
“We’re all going on a summer holiday
No more working for a week or two.
Fun and laughter on our summer holiday,
No more worries for me or you,
For a week or two….”
This delightful number sung by Cliff Richard, written by Brian Bennett / Bruce Welch, from the 1948 movie Summer Holiday, is the perfect description of my life at this moment.
For as you read this post, I am walking in the lush landscape of Munnar after having traipsed through the lanes of Fort Kochi and will probably head to Thiruvananthapuram or Kanyakumari as the week comes to an end.
Fans of Greek mythology have often been fascinated with ‘the Oracle’. And with yours truly and the elder sister being ‘almost fans’, we were giddy with delight when the brother-in-law pointed out that the famed seat of Pythia the Oracle, said to have been consulted for all important decisions in ancient times, was just a few hours away in Delphi.…
Have you wondered how some cities leave a mark on you – in a good way – for life. Such has been the case with Brussels where we had a layover – we were travelling from Amsterdam to Paris – and that was enough time to fall in love and put it on our ‘must visit again’ list. And Athens.…
Up until a few months ago, a mention of Olympic Games would have entailed a spirited discussion about the performances of Indian players and the support they need, the freakily high medal tallies of some countries, Nadia Comăneci (my first memory of all things Olympics), a goosebump-inducing video titled ‘Freedom Run’ played on the national television back in the 1980s-90s…
Closed my eyes, took a deep breath, succumbed to a cheek splitting grin and ticked Athens off my ‘travel wish list’. And in the same breath, added the city to my ‘visit again’ list. Literally the first thing I did after returning home from a whirlwind 3 day trip to the grand old city of Athens. History has always fascinated…
Happy New Year! How exciting – or not – was January 1 for you? It’s just the second day of 2018 today and I’m already in trouble. Madame Editor was so not impressed when I told her I had forgotten to work on the new blog post because I had been busy resolution-ning. “Should you not have been done with…