GRANADA

She had not expected it to be that cold. Else she would have dressed appropriately. As she stood shivering in the long queue for the ticket to Alhambra, a lovely dawn broke through the trees. She took another glance at the long queue and cursed herself again for not wearing warmer clothes. She couldn’t believe they had woken up at that unearthly hour and come all the way to Alhambra, just to get the entrance ticket – the place doesn’t even open till late morning. Anyways, here she was, looking at people from across the world waiting just like her, with the exception that they were more intelligently dressed. 

By the time they had collected the ticket it was a bright morning, and they decided to skip the bus and walk around the place. She was soon to learn that walking was the only way to explore any place. As they slowly made their way back to the hostel, she felt awed by the stoned houses with small plants and flowers peeking from the windows, the smooth roads with lovely plants and creepers planted neatly in the sidewalks, the clear and bright blue sky with its soft tufts of clouds. 

She saw people walking around with poodles. Everywhere. People from Granada seemed to have a special interest in poodles – the only canine species she saw there. No street dogs at all. That felt strange – not to see any stay animal species. Most inner roads in Granada were very tiny, but would still have pavements – she felt the pavements took up more space than the roads. There were two-three storied buildings on either side, but they didn’t seem to be separated. It was one long continuous procession of houses, shops and offices. 

By the time they reached the main street near their hostel the city was wide awake and getting ready for the day. While the shops were still closed, the restaurants and eating joints were slowly opening up. Walking along the road she could not but be amused by the road sense. People crossed only at Zebra crossings, never anywhere else. Which meant, that there were zebra crossings at every street – however small the street was. In fact, every street had pedestrian crossing street lights. The funny thing was the vehicles would stop at these lights, even if no one was crossing. They really were quite safe here, she thought to herself. That was quite amazing. Most of the street crossing lights also had this button – to stop the traffic, in case someone wanted to cross while there is vehicular traffic on the road. She felt they were totally unnecessary. Whatever the color of the pedestrian crossing light, any vehicle would stop at least 10 feet away if they saw just a foot off the pavement and on the road. Boy, did they care about their pedestrians!!!

The traffic sense was also quite amazing here. She never saw anyone changing lanes or trying to reach anywhere in a hurry. There was perfect order in the way the traffic moved. The cars made strange squishing sounds as they passed her. They made that sound everywhere, in straight roads, in curves, at high speed, low speed, all the time. It was quite weird. The buses were just like out of the movies – so neat, shiny and clean. The ticket had to be collected at the entrance, from the bus driver – until each person had not finished this, the bus wouldn’t move. There were obviously no free rides here in Spain. What surprised her was the each bus journey had a fixed fare – it didn’t depend on where they were going or how far the destination was. 

After a lovely breakfast, where the person serving the food was better looking than models she saw on TV, they set course for Alhambra. Once there, she could not stop but feel like she was home. The beautiful Moorish buildings with the intricate carvings were similar to those she saw in India. But that’s where the similarities ended. The buildings were quite well maintained here – there was very little damage to the carvings, and everywhere she could see the restoration work happening to keep this manmade beauty intact. 

As they walked through the beautiful corridors and walkways, she couldn’t stop admiring the beautiful craftsmanship of the carvers. They did the ceiling too – with colored tiles and painted wood. They looked far more exquisite than the marbled floors. The gardens of Alhambra were perfectly manicured and lush. Occasionally there were splashes of color among the green – a bright yellow tree or a tree laden with pink blossoms. It character and mystery to the entire place. The paths through the gardens consisted of beautifully laid down stones and pebbles – with swirling patterns. Someone made this place up with a lot of love and care, she thought.

She couldn’t stop noticing the couples. There were couples everywhere, in every age group. In fact, she thought to herself, there were only couples she has seen since she landed in Madrid. Or groups of couples. Most of them were in their early 20s. While some seemed all cooing, kissing and holding hands, most of them seemed quite normal. However, one thing was common among them all – they seemed to care for each other quite a lot – to the point that they were oblivious to others. And they were quite comfortable being a couple in public. It was like they were used to this since a very young age. So different from back home, she thought pensively. 

Another thing which she couldn’t get enough of was the couples with babies. There seemed to be families everywhere she looked. She wondered how did Indians come to the notion that family concept is not strong in the West. There were so many couples with babies ranging from a few months to toddlers, and most couples had multiple children – all of them cute and lovely. All the parents were lugging around prams and strollers, which carried their bags and jackets, while the children enjoyed their time on their parent’s arms and shoulders. It was beautiful to see such families. She had kept away from babies all her life – she thought them to be these crying and pooping things which need attention all the time. However, babies here seemed so comfortable and happy. The fathers seemed to be more involved with the baby rather than the mothers. That was another strange sight which she was not used to.

She found that Spanish people talk a lot – or maybe their language was quite verbose. When they talked it sounded like constant babble but with lots of expressions and nice to hear. They smiled a lot too – to anyone who met their eyes, even while walking on the streets. Since she was staring at everyone, she got a lot of smiles back from them. Initially she felt quite conscious but soon she started enjoying the smiles and giving it back. Once again she found that not a single person was talking on the cell phone. It was surprising to see that they seemed to live so much in the present – not dividing their attention to something else, somewhere else. They all seemed such good looking people with well maintained figures and postures. They obviously paid a lot of attention to health and exercising and enjoying life. She had this constant feeling that she needed to learn a lot from this place and people. 

                                                          To be continued…..

THE JOURNEY

She looked around with awe at the bright shiny airport, as she waited for her bag to arrive. It was so clean - squeaky clean actually. And empty – where were the crowds of people jostling each other at the conveyor belt to get the perfect spot to catch their incoming luggage? Well, she had to remind herself, she was in Madrid…not in India anymore.

The journey till here was surprisingly comfortable. She had boarded her flight from India at two in the morning – she didn’t expect she would get much sleep due to the excitement. Very soon she drifted off to a restless sleep. She kept waking up intermittently for the never ending meals. And to check on the early morning twilight sun – she had been racing the sun throughout the journey. Finally the sun caught up with her as the aircraft started its descent to Paris.

The view of France from above was beautiful – picture perfect. The fields looked large, very green and so neat – with quite straight borders. They looked so well tended – a sight of perfect harmony. Even the occasional woods in between were so well defined. The trees were not like anything she had seen before. But it was the towns which differed from anything she had seen in India. They were organized and structured so well – like the sketches of a 10 year old child – perfect straight rows of houses which all looked the same differing only in sizes. They all had cute red roofs sloping into porches and backyards. It was so pretty, and tranquil.

As the aircraft landed in Paris, she had scanned the horizon for the Eiffel Tower, telling herself that there it was not necessary that she could see it from a landing aircraft – but just couldn’t stop herself from searching! Queuing up to disembark, she didn’t pay much heed to everyone putting on extra layers of clothing - it looked bright and sunny outside. She regretted this the moment she stepped outside. It was 5 degrees, and windy – so cold, she couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. Fumbling in her bag for her sweater, she hoped Spain wouldn’t be this cold.

She was dismayed to see the immigration check lines in Paris much longer than those in India. It took her forever to get the necessary stamp on her passport and board her Madrid flight. The aircraft to Madrid was tiny but she didn’t mind as she was seated next to a gorgeous looking man. If she knew he would be the first of many such good looking men she would see in the next 10 days, she wouldn’t have stared at him so much. She tried to make small talk, like you do in India but her offer was put down very politely and firmly by the handsome stranger. 

She was brought back to attention with the arrival of her bag. As she walked towards the exit, slowly taking in the sight of very different looking people – someone pounced at her with a pair of scissors. She was startled as she hadn’t expected anyone to approach her. But it was just an airport attendant helping her cut off the tags from her bags. That simple gesture felt so good, made her feel welcomed. She fell in love with the place all over again. 

Once out of the arrival gate, she met up with her friend. They made their way to the airport metro which would take them to the bus stand – where the bus would take them to Granada – their first destination. She was fascinated with the ticket vending machine and insisted that they take tickets from the machine. Waiting for the metro train was fun. The tunnel looked just like in the English movies – clean, bright and completely empty. She could hear her own echo. There were quite a number of people in the train – but couldn’t hear anyone having a conversation. Everyone was either reading a book or staring away into space. She imagined the bustling trains in her city, and couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the comparison. 

The main bus stand in Madrid was quite like those back home – just more cleaner and larger. The buses too were quite well maintained. But she had expected this. What she didn’t expect was that not a single person in that entire crowd of people was using the cell phone. The sight was so different to her. Unlike the train, here everyone was busy chattering away. The sound level in the small eating joint was quite high!! She felt good to listen to it, after all that silence. 

The trip to Granada was quite amazing. The sky was so blue with soft tufts of clouds. However, it was not hot despite the bright sunlight. This was something she would get used to in the coming days. Initially the landscape was quite bare, in the outskirts of Madrid. It was slowly replaced with huge plantations of some shrubs, the plantations continued on the small hills too. After a few hours, they reached Andalucia, and the road took them through the rocky hills and cliffs – so inviting for treks. The journey was quite tranquil and comfortable. 

They reached Granada late in the afternoon. After checking on the information desk, they realized they had to take a bus to the place where they were to stay. The bus was the most sophisticated and shiny vehicle she had ever seen. The bus driver doubled as the ticket collector and he listened intently as they explained where they needed to go. With no luck, as he didn’t know any English. With the help of some passengers they were able to reach the place where they were to stay. The hostel manager was an old man. He welcomed them warmly and gave interesting snippets of information and tips on how and what to see in Granada – they were soon to find his tips and maps quite useful.

By the time they checked into their rooms, it was dark outside. She was quite excited to see everything around their place. They dumped their bags, and set out again to explore their street and surrounding areas. From the closed shutters of shops, they could make out it was a busy street. Everything looked beautiful to her – the buildings, the streets, the pavements. She was completely fascinated when she found a tree laden with ripe oranges right on the pavement! But it was quite dark and the streets had become deserted. She decided to leave the exploring for tomorrow. 

She was finally here – the crown of Spain – Granada!!! Tomorrow would be some day. 
                                                                                         

                                                                                                   To be continued….

FINALLY – SPAIN!!!

She checked for her passport and boarding pass for the hundredth time as she waited for the boarding call of her flight. It was not because she might have misplaced it in the bustling airport, but rather because she couldn’t get herself to believe she was actually going to Spain!!! It looked so surreal….

Reaching here had been a long journey. After her initial doubts, she decided to go for it. She would have loved to go alone on this adventure, but wasn’t brave enough. Luckily her friend; who had initially suggested the trip, hadn’t been to Spain and was free to join her. She was thrilled. Her relationship with this friend had the amazing balance of intimacy and non intrusion. She was happy that she had the perfect company for the trip. 

Planning for the trip turned out to be such fun. They both decided on when to go, which places to visit, where would they stay, their mode of travel and so on. All she had read about in that book of hers was Andalucía. But there was so much to see in Spain, that she couldn’t limit herself to that one place. But choosing was tough – Spain has exotic beaches, mountains, old towns, metropolitan cities, islands and almost everything in the geographic and cultural range. And they had only 10 days to see it all. After a month of discussion, they could finally decide on which places to visit. They had chosen the Easter holidays to go there – the perfect time to be there, as Easter celebrations in Spain were spectacular. With her tickets and visa done, all she had to do was tell the rest of the world.

She did not let anyone know of her plans. Maybe she didn’t want to explain everyone about her dream, maybe she already knew the protest her parents would raise, maybe she was expecting people to question her….Mostly it was because she wanted to keep this experience close to her heart. She wanted it to be perfect. But getting away from the rest of the world for 10 days seemed quite difficult. She had to tell her parents and close friends – they would be anxious if they do not receive that everyday call. It took quite a lot of convincing that she would be safe and Europe wouldn’t really eat her up. She had to apply for a leave from office – which seemed impossible without stating reason for leave. Finally when she did tell her about her trip – she was showered with blessings and good advices. It felt good but was also embarrassing – she wasn’t good with handling that kind of attention. But finally it was all over. 

She packed carefully – all her best clothes, good pair of shoes, light winter wear (it was hot summer in India, but websites said it would be chilly in Spain – wow!!), camera, a notebook to record events, and also some food (for times when she might miss India). She was so excited she even took a photograph of the shy and smiling taxi driver helping with her bags, once she reached the airport. She loitered around the airport, willing time to go faster and get her to her destination soon.

The boarding call for her flight was announced. As she queued up for boarding, she was hit with a fresh volley of doubts – what was she doing, why was she taking such risks as going to a totally unknown place, was it worth all that money, what if she didn’t have a good time….She stopped this train of thought before it occupied her entire mind. It was 2 am, and she was tired of all that excitement. She couldn’t get herself worked up with all the doubts anymore. She looked forward to some sleep during the nine hour flight to Paris, where she would take another connecting flight to Madrid.  

Madrid!!!.... She couldn’t stop smiling…..

                                                                   To be continued….

A BREAKTHROUGH

Things were going really bad. Especially, when she compared everything to how they were six months ago. She was 25 years old and life had been perfect six months ago. After having procured the kind of education she had wanted, she took up a job in a kind of place where she learnt many things but more importantly she was respected and loved by her colleagues and mentor. She had great friends with whom she shared amazing times. She had started hiking with a group and the experience had been liberating for her. To top it all, she was in love – with the perfect guy. She never had been happier or more confident in her entire life. She felt she was living the life she had always wanted to…Well at least for a while.

Lately things had started taking a bad turn. Work and projects were not moving in the right direction as work. She missed her mentor who had moved to a different department. Just like her friends – who all got transferred to different cities. And love…well it brought out emotions in her like jealousy, possessiveness and doubt; emotions she thought she didn’t have. She didn’t like it a bit – the kind of person she was becoming. 

Yes, things were not going well at all. As she was chatting with her childhood friend, she complained about it, and how she felt. Her very wise friend, instantly prescribed a break – a holiday at a new destination, even gave some suggestions of places to go – UK, Europe, etc.  Her first reaction was that she could never get away from work, and an overseas trip meant big bucks down the drain to her. But as she walked home that evening, she thought about it again. Yes, it would really be nice to get away from everything. The idea began to excite her – to go to some place completely different from where she lived. It sounded like an adventure. 

She got to chat with her friend again about the idea, and they discussed about locations where she could go. Suddenly it came up, the name, the one place she had wanted to be most, but had completely forgotten over years of trying get to the place where she was now. Spain. How had she forgotten how long time dream? She had the money as well as the freedom to go there, yet it hadn’t crossed her mind till then.  It no longer was an impossible dream. To think that she could actually be there, got her immensely happy.

Of course, it wasn’t easy. It needed an entire mindset change for her – she had never done anything that bold before. She also had other things to think of – with whom would she go, was it safe to go alone (which she badly wanted to do), what would her family say about spending that kind of money, would her office give her a leave for such a reason, is it really necessary or worthwhile to spend that much, etc. All these doubts ensured that they stopped her from taking a decision. But just that thought that if she really wanted – she could go, anytime, made her feel so free and immensely happy. She didn’t feel like wasting time thinking of her troubles - they felt so puny and boring in front of this idea. Her mind was more attracted towards this trip – if she decided to go for it. 

Should she go for it?

                                                                            To be continued….

AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

It was a typical Mills and Boons book which did it. The story was cute and romantic with the usual rich, dark, handsome guy falling for the cute, pretty, accomplished gal. It was dreamy; definitely something which would impress a 13 year old girl. But what got her starry eyed was not the passionate love story. Yes, she did believe in those fairy-tale-like love stories and hoped she would find her true love, not necessarily rich. But what remained etched in her mind after reading the book was the location – vibrant and magnificent Spain.

 She read with excitement as the author described the rugged terrains of Andalucia with its warm clear climate and the high mountains. As she read about the haciendas, she imagined palatial mansions laced with blooming creepers, flanked by stables, training arenas and huge grounds and woods on all sides. She was fascinated with Granada, the jewel of Andalucia. She imagined having a romance in those colorful lanes, walking along the magnificent parks and walkways of Alhambra breathing in the fresh air. She wondered if the spectacular Sierra Nevada looked just as the picture in her mind. 

She created images of the dark, rugged and mysterious people and wondered how they lived. As she read through the book, she imagined every detail – the place, the people, the food, the culture, the clothes, their language. She would often call upon those images of the Spain she created, to keep her company at times of boredom or despair. It became her dream – to actually see those places she had read about and imagined in her mind – an impossible dream.

Why? Well her world was very different. She lived in a simple neighborhood, in a modest city in the South of India. Some of her friends had never heard of Spain or the word ‘Aliens’. In all of her 13 years of existence she had never stepped out of her city, except to visit her grandparents in the village. She had never flown in an aircraft in her life. Her future was all chalked out in front of her – study well, go to college, get a job, get financially stable. There was no space for dreams in that world.

Yes, Spain was an impossible dream for her. So she kept it close to her heart; never sharing it with anyone. She never did any research or tried to look at pictures or description of Spain. She wanted to cherish the images she had created just as they were, untarnished with reality. This was her romance.

Will this dream ever come true for her?

                                                                                    To be continued…..

OPERATION ACTION

This corny phrase has been coined by my dear husband while we were searching a name for my new project. This project is my new ambition. The project took shape a week ago, when I wrote the “two year itch”. It was correctly said by some – writing gives you clarity of thoughts. Well, I came up with some brand new goals and dreams. Some of them are aiming quite high J, they would really need a lot of work in years to come. Am really happy with my project – it is big, juicy and quite challenging. It will make my time worthwhile, and finally I feel that I am going somewhere. 

Well I agree we could have done better with the name. But it was the only one which stuck among all the other important sounding ones. Maybe because it was so apt to my project. My project is all about action – it is about getting things done – about making progress. But mostly it is about personal excellence. I chose those areas in my life where I want to excel and Operation Action is my action plan for getting there!!!

A small part of this project is about writing ….and cooking. These are the only two things which have remained in my ever changing lists of interests since childhood. This is as close to being passionate about something I could get. Hence they become an important part of my project. Also these two things would balance my goals in Operation Action, they will give the lighter touch to the other heavy duty stuff. 

My goal is to cook a new recipe everyday….and write a post here in this blog everyday!!! Am sure you are reminded about the film – Julie and Julia? The film starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, where Amy plays the role of Julie who takes up a project of cooking through the famous cookbook by Julia Child (Meryl Streep) in one year, and records her progress in her blog. Well this movie was the inspiration behind this goal. However unlike Julie, my blog would not be about the cooking or Julia or about the progress I am making. It would be just some thoughts, a few memories and general stuff in my head. It would need too much discipline (which I do not have) to write about one specific area.

Operation Action is already in motion. The writing and cooking goals are in progress too. You would have noticed the writing part by now. So keep a look out here for some new things…and wish me the best in my endeavors. It’s the beginning of a new journey.