Her version :)
So here it was my 39th birthday! After a hectic and stressful month of moving houses, the only thing we were looking forward to was the getaway to Pondicherry, planned months ago for my birthday.
By this time the stress I had taken on was showing up on me...I had been suffering from a little burning sensation in my stomach since a week. However, moving and settling into the new house took priority and I ignored all the signs I should have taken care of .
We left after dropping Kruger @ the Hotel For Dogs, the only place we leave Kruger at and are sure he will be taken care of. The drive to Pondicherry from my place is 2 1/2 hours and is very scenic. since it was a weekday, we found very little traffic on the way and it was a beautiful drive. The ECR is known for its scenic view along the Bay of Bengal.
We chose to stay in ocean spray this time and Ankush had booked a room with a Jacuzzi into the open sky. This was something we were really looking forward to - unwinding and relaxing in the Jacuzzi together, but what happened is hilarious and sorry at the same time. Read on:)
Elsa and Anna came along with us ! The kids enjoying the welcome drink
It took some time for the room to get ready..but when i entered i saw a cake ! Ankush ..thank you darling . That was such a cute surprise:)
We had lunch at Blue fin and the food was good but i found it tooo oily Ankush enjoyed his seafood spread and loved it. I was anyway down with a terrible stomach upset and i couldn't enjoy the food .
Got back and went exploring the property. While the pics are beautiful we were not very impressed with the ambience. Some stretches of the water filled areas were under maintenance and had a terrible stench. Some areas could have been better kept...on the whole I wasn't very awed ..it was seriously mediocre for the price . Any how we went on with the kids to the activity area..where the kids had loads of fun..I was half down pulling myself together by eating diegene or gulping gelusil..and was miserable by now...but Ankush and I despite all that still went zorbing ..Phew the longest 3 mins Itell you..where all I did was fall -scream -getup -fall - scream in a loop..we have videos but I am not sharing them. All I can tell you is that the people around certainly enjoyed those 3 mins :)
This Picture below quite sums up the life of any parent
We got back to the room by 6 pm and had some snacks ( i don't remember what happened after here cos i had crashed i was in pain and the umpteen trips to the loo made had made me sooo tired)
I remember waking up some where around 8:30 pm and having curd rice after which I crashed again.
The kids were solely managed by Ankush. The next morning.. I woke up early and went into the balcony to see two candles by the Jacuzzi which i clearly remember weren't there last evening. I asked Ankush and he told me that he was up for a long time hoping i'd wake up and we would have some me time together.( Couples with kids who want to spend lone time together and who never find it, probably understand what we missed that night :( )
But this was a fresh morning and I was better so we filled the tub and and sat in The warm water while the cool breeze after the rain blew..and enjoyed the lovely soft rays of the sun . It was so clam and beautiful - when all we could hear was the chirping of the birds and the bubbles in the water..was heaven..Untill we heard the sweetest , softest ...Amma...Appa! Well, we continued the unwinding with now the chirping of the birds , the sun - now a little stronger and a 5 yr old splashing in the tub as well.
We had lost the track of time until Ansh woke up saying I am Hungry!! Oh hell yes! The buffet was only until 10:30 am! So we dressed and went for the breakfast. The spread was amazing i tell you just amazing. From Indian , Continental to European! It was lipsmacking delicious. and guess my favorite- the flavored yogurt!
Tummy full , we head out to Auroville ..I really wanted Ankush and Ansh to see the Matri Mandir. And it was a good outing only the little princess wasn't too happy walking that much but she made it anyway!
We chose Sicily's for lunch based on the zomato reviews .We reached there and realised its a really small place. But the food was sooooooooo goooooood. We ordered a woodfired pizza, Pasta, french fries, Mojitos and a Grilled Salmon.And....some brownies and doughnuts too.
It was a good choice and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
The kids slept on the way back :) YIPEEEE
All tired when back...and as you can see Ankush the doting dad and certainly more fun parent to be around;)
And we were so happy when we came back to our room to see this:) Elsa and Anna and the necklace we were gifted upon arrival.
That evening was super cool with kids doing masti in the jacuzzi and while we had carried all the swimming stuff, we chucked going to the pool. Ankush and i stole an hour and went for a short walk , sat and enjoyed an hour of just chilling out. There was everything I like- lots of lights ,good music and breeze ( like wind..and yes..its breeze and not breezer!)
The morning was a lazy one with all of us waking up leisurely and no hurry bury.
A scrumptious breakfast and we were ready to head back home. I slept behind through the return and was so down health wise that had to rush to a doctor on return. Acute gastritis which took over 20 days post the doc visit to get better.
All that ends well is well! And though physically I wasn't a 100 percent well, this trip was so relaxing mentally and the kids had a super fun weekend.
His version:
One lazy afternoon in june got me thinking of a short getaway for Prabs's birthday on Aug 24 and Pondicherry looked like a good bet. Did some browsing and hit upon this exotic heavens room at ocean spray. I am usually quick at deciding and in no time bookings were done :) The holiday was supposed to have it all - family fun, romance, sight seeing, food! Did it all happen? Check out below!
Between the plan and the 24 aug trip, we had our not-so-exciting time with the house shifting! It took all our energies out and somewhere this upcoming trip kept me going. And on the morning of 24 aug we were off - visions of a relaxed long weekend pulling me along! Lovely drive where we stopped en route at some dry salt pans and let the birthday girl soak in the sun.
Beautiful - Birthday girl, the pic and the sun!
We reached Oceanspray bang at check-in time and then we waited and waited at the reception. The kids probably got welcomed twice with the welcome drink in this time! The reason for the long wait - well, the surprise birthday cake I had requested had to be taken from the kitchen to the room and decked up a bit :) I just so love to surprise Prabs and was waiting to see her reaction! And voila, after following a carefully orchestrated entry sequence into the room - it brought a lovely smile to her face! While the cake was good, it was no match for what prabs serves up at home! I have become a cake critic now :)
Usually my singing drowns among the crowd on birthdays, but in a closed hotel room, my coarse rendition of happy birthday would have woken even the ghosts around :)
The cake....and it's cutting!
Cake cutting and eating done and off we were to pondy town for lunch at what turned out to be a neat restaurant called blue fin. Prawns curry got my thumbs up there. yumm!
Came back and by this time prabs was starting to show signs of her gastric sickness :( She relaxed a bit and in the evening we went wandering around the property and to check out the games they had. Ansh enjoyed this part the most and went from being an off-roader to an archer to a shooter! Prabs matched him arrow for arrow and bullet for bullet!
Akhiyon se teer maare :)
Hulk!
We strolled around that evening and headed back to the Heaven :)
Us! Before Anuva invaded the photo scene!
Dad and Daughter...
and the pretty mom! love you :)
By the time we got back, Prabs wasnt feeling well at all and her sickness totally eclipsed the evening. Prayed hard for her to get well soon and after a super-light dinner at the room, all were snoozing. Well...almost all. The Romeo in me was somewhere hopeful and waited out in the balcony for Juliet for a long while before my visions for a candle lit birthday evening slowly faded and i too snuggled into bed. Sigh!
Next morning checked on Prabs (and this became a standard question for the next 20 days or so!) - "howz you feeling", she was slightly better. So after some fun of everyone splashing around in the jacuzzi, the plan was set to head out to Auroville where we had a nice time walking and clicking around and topped the afternoon with a lunch at sicily's - small but nice place with really good grilled fish.
We got a fun pic of Anuva at Sicily's, straight out of "The ring"!
Auroville was good fun to walk around with lots of photo opportunities....
A giant Banyan tree greeted us at the entrance
A parasite tree!
Matri Mandir - It was super heavy to lift!,,,But very light to hold :)
The beauty and the beast :)
We were back to heaven and by the evening it was time for the olympics again! This time we added zorbing to the list as well. In 2 mins, the Zorb was ready for us, just that prabs wasnt ready for the zorb :) it was a hilarious 5 mins from there on - I was like a badger trying to run as fast as i could - and prabs was somersaulting at every step! Laughed and screamed our hearts out those 5 mins :) The intensity of the zorbing meant we skipped our next planned game - sumo wrestling - where we would have drummed ourselves up in those foam costumes and had a bumpy go at each other! next time maybe :)
The somersaulting...err....zorbing!!!
The simplest way to engage an impatient 5 yr old who keeps asking "what do I do" is to show her rabbits, geese and goats. all of these are plentiful in the property and we even helped them get home.
The new goose in the flock! Geese wondering who their new leader is
Settled the kids in the room and prabs and I ushered ourselves out to finally get some much wanted time for both of us! We had a very relaxed time with a walk, and then as it grew darker - just chatting in the sit out by the lake - no disturbance whatsoever :) Time just lazily passed by till we finally realised that we have 2 kids waiting in the room who by now must be hungry enough and need to be fed before they eat each other up!! So off we all went for dinner and unanimously agreed on chinese which turned out to be a good choice.
Rained cats and dogs that night and I was like no - this cannot be! Thankfully, the rain heard me and somewhere between the rain we got time to chill and soak-in the beautiful night just relaxing by the jacuzzi with just us and the stars and the moon for company. It was a "save the best for the last" kind of a moment and we both loved every bit of it!
We were off the next morning and looking back we got all of what we wanted - Family fun, Romance, Sightseeing and Good food - but yeh dil maange more!! :) A vacation - short or long is just never enough!
