Time: Apr 9, 2015 – May 3, 2015
Place: India (Bangalore, Chennai, Mantralayam, Karighatta, Nimishamba, Gosayighatta)
Company: Wife and daughter
Highlights:
Prologue: Kept weighing pros and cons of visiting India since late 2014 but was waiting for visa extension. Finally, in Feb,decided "for". Booked tickets in March. Started jotting down things to do, and looked forward to it eagerly!
Day 1 (9) T: Left the house at 4:30 am. Decided to go to SFO airport in BART so as to avoid long-term airport car parking. Dropped wife and daughter at Pleasant Hill Bart station at 5 am with luggage. Went back to apt, parked the car, and headed back on foot to station. Took the train to SFO. Was surprised to see the train was full, and I had to stand halfway despite such early hours. Reached airport at about 6:30 am. Was quite difficult to drag all the 5 suitcases from BART station to the counter but managed it somehow. Check-in done, had some breakfast and headed to security. Took the 9:30 am Etihad to Abu Dhabi. It was a long 15 hr flight. But Tontu was fine. She saw Frozen movie twice. I saw Drushyam and Excuse My French. Despite having got up early, didn't sleep till late.
Day 2 (10) F: Reached Abu Dhabi. Long walk in the terminal. Packed waiting room at the gate. Then had to take the bus to the next airplane. Next leg: Abu Dhabi to Bangalore. Tontu slept all through and was fresh at the BLR airport. Timing was perfect - parents waiting at the arrival lounge. After hugging the lot, took the taxi to home. Jumpy ride to Tontu although this time the road is all constructed well and good. Reached home by about midnight and retired.
Day 3 (11) S: Tired after the long journey. Had planned for friends' get together. But it got cancelled. Went to Jayanagar complex for US visa photo.
Day 4 (12) S: Relatives' visits. Dropped wife and daughter at in-law's. Complex to get photo and some shopping. After over an year, spent the night without wife and daughter. Tontu badly missed me and cried for me - apparently. Refreshing rain.
Day 5 (13) M: Complex again for some more shopping. And got ready for the morrow office visit related to visa stamping. More rain.
Day 6 (14) T: Office, to collect the visa related docs. Then met up with pals over lunch. Headed back just before some more rain.
Day 7 (15) W: Wife and daughter returned. It was the first time Tontu traveled in BMTC bus. Grand dad's 99th birthday. Left to Chennai.
Day 8 (16) T: Mine and wifey birthday. But holed up in the Chennai guest house all day until evening when we ventured out to Biometric scanning. Too hot!
Day 9 (17) F: 8 am appointment at the consulate. Was smooth. Good relief. Headed back to BLR in the 1:35 pm train. Good timepass. Reminisced previous BLR-CHN-BLR trips for visa-related. Every time we think its the last but it has never been so, so far. Was this the last?!
Day 10 (18) S: Karnataka Bandh. Stayed home.
Day 11 (19) S: Met some more pals. Tontu enjoying the two-wheeler wholeheartedly. Left to Mantralayam in train at night with parents.
Day 12 (20) M: Predictable and typical day at MALM. Reached station, took auto to hotel, refreshed, darshan, lunch, relatives visit, back to hotel for a siesta, back to temple for darshan, auto back to station and took Udyan back to BLR at night. Nice new station now!
Day 13 (21) T: Hectic day. Went to Kumaran's to enquire about admissions. Took rest at in-law's for the noon. Headed back home at 5. Went to Fort High School for Mysore M Nagaraj and Manjunath Carnatic Violin Duet performance. There was a standing ovation for accompaniments! Back home at 10 pm.
Day 14 (22) W: An outing! Went to Karighatta - a nice 3 hr drive on Mysore road. Wife had missed this temple in the last visit. And since we had not planned for TTD this vacation, KG was the best fit place. After spending some time here, went to Nimishamba which was just a short 10 min drive. Another nice temple right beside the river. Another 20 min ride later, we were in our fav spot Gosayighatta. Been coming here since I was a kid and still enjoy the same gushing river. And this time being Tontu's first - she enjoyed it too as much and didnt want to come off! Finally convinced her and made our way back to BLR. Had nice food at A2B on the way back - a pretty good rest area with world-class amenities. Massive rain on the way back. Reached safe and sound at about 10ish. Got news that stamped PPs were ready for pick up. Since we had planned for PP renewal for Tontu, worked till late night to get the Tatkal appointment set up for her.
Day 15 (23) T: Another hectic day. Up early for more prints. Drove all the way to Hebbal office to get the PPs with stamped visa. Then drove down to Lalbagh PP office for Tontu PP renewal. After 3-4 hrs, was all set with Tontu new PP. Headed to Tontu Pedi clinic for a casual visit but pedi out of country. On the way, showed Tontu birth hospital. Gandhi Bazaar for some shopping. Reached home just in time for more rain. trees uprooted everywhere. Still went to Mutt - the usual Thursday BLR routine. This being after a long gap, it was special! Couldn't go to Sai Baba temple because of lack of access due to fallen trees.
Day 16 (24) F: Relatives' invite to a breakfast in a grand hotel. A nice gesture, and a nice breakfast at Krishna Grand.
Day 17 (25) S: Shopping at complex.Caught up with office work. Water woes at home. Helped mom for morrow.
Day 18 (26) S: Dad's 70th birthday celebration at Kalyani Mutt. All day activity. All relatives visited and impressed with Tontu's accent and activities.
Day 19 (27) M: Stayed overnight at in-law's place. Took it easy. Nice stroll in the evening and park for the kids.
Day 20 (28) T: Had plans of heading back home alone but Tontu did not let go of me! So changed plans and stayed over. Had enough office work anyways. So was busy all day. In the evening, went to Meenakshi Temple on Bannerghatta Road.
Day 21 (29) W: Came back home and started shopping for the trip back home. Had to start rejecting relatives' invitations since schedule became tighter and tighter.
Day 22-23 (30,1) T,F: Lots of chores - financial transactions at post-office, getting sweets, dresses for Tontu and other home-needs. Packing too. Met some more pals. Went to Ragigudda too! This Thursday, we did make both the Mutt and the Sai Baba temple although it was raining. Even went to Dwadashi Mutt food in the morning.
Day 24 (2) S: The last day in BLR. Final packing, adding, removing, new suitcase, changes, etc. Hectic all day long. Although the taxi came at 3:30 pm, we thought we had enough time and left at 5 especially because it was raining heavily. Big mistake. Heavy traffic everywhere. Got tensed because it was almost 6:30 pm and we still hadn't reached Planetarium. But once there, it moved rapidly. Thanks to the planners who made road from there till airport almost zero-traffic light. We were at airport at 7:10 pm. Although this drive was tension-filled, it was nowhere close to what happened last time! Quick checkin, quick security and boarding almost 1 hr in advance! Aboard Etihad from BLR to Abu Dhabi at 9 pm. Eventless flight.
Day 25 (3) S: Flight on-time everywhere. Nice and easy transit. Surprised to undergo Immigration at Abu Dhabi itself for US Customs. It was so much better and easy. All I had to show was PP, not even the petition. I had heard SF customs was tough, but this was a bonus. Then got into the final leg of the flight to SFO. Quite uneventful. More Frozen for Tontu. I saw Mardaani. Reached SFO at 7-ish. Quite surprising to come out directly to arrival's lounge on a US airport instead of Customs! But what a relief! Took our luggage, then to BART station, then aboard the train and then 1.25 hr on the train and finally our station. Repeated the same steps in the reverse order. Got the car, got the family and luggage and finally, home sweet home!
Epilogue: This trip was more of a precursor before we head back to India for good, that thought never being too far away. It allowed a great amount of joy - with family and awesome food. It was also an eye-opener in terms of many relatives advising against coming back to India for good. It was too hectic though from start to finish. Rain added to much of the delay but it was refreshing and kept the city cool - weather was something which we were fearing would be very hot. One thing I noticed about myself in BLR was that my temper was usually high. It was something I am not so used to in US! Tontu had great fun and kept saying she wont return to US but convinced herself to get back to US. She especially enjoyed the many parks we visited - whether it was for an evening park with simple rides or morning parks for walks. We love those parks! Missed out on a chance to go to Lalbagh though. She even had memorable fun in the two-wheeler rides, after years of being confined in car-seat on the backside of the car! She made more friends and spent so much time with them that we started missing her, what with she always being amidst us in US!
Even though it was 25 days away from usual grind, it still seemed less. Sigh.
