X for X-mas

As a kid, I had a silly fascination for Christmas. There were all things right about it - twinkling stars, red and white costumes, cakes and chocolates. Conveniently for my parents, I was not gullible enough to believe in Santa Claus. Every year, I would want to celebrate Christmas, which really didn't mean anything more than installing a star outside our house. But, there was considerable effort involved in that as dad had to get a special bulb for it, fix the wiring and then tie the star out on the porch. Every evening, I would switch on the light religiously at 6 pm and admire the star against different backgrounds of the evening ranging from twilight to night, before retiring to bed, my contribution to Christmas celebration complete. Mom had the more difficult job of explaining to people why a TamBrahm family had a star hanging outside the front door, giving company to the mango leaves thoran atop the door. She did manage the situation with elan, offering a simple explanation - "Because Kavitha likes it". 

After New Year, the star and the bulb would be brought down and carefully packed, rendered to safe custody till next Christmas. Oh, wait, wait. The bulb would have another use in the September-October season. Do you remember that doll festival I spoke about here? The bulb would be installed to give company to the dolls as night lamp (yeah, the dolls sleep better with a night lamp on) during the Navratri celebrations. Quite a secular bulb, that one. 

I didn't just have a fascination for Christmas but I liked going to the Church as well in those days. My parents contributed their bit by worshipping at the Church and the Mosque as well along with the zillion temples already on their list. Perhaps, they believed that appeasing all gods was a smarter way to keep the family safe and happy than being partial to one or one set of Gods. Looking back, I can attribute my love for the Church only to the fact that it was clean and silent, unlike many of the temples I was subjected to. I had no view on the religion itself, but I had a couple of large pictures of Mother Mary and Jesus hanging in my room because they looked beautiful.

I did of course harbour the idea of a Christmas tree at home, but that was shot down with the "Don't push it too much" look from my mother. A few years back, I ended up traveling to Australia during Christmas and had my fill of photographs with big, small, wide, narrow and all-kinds-of Christmas trees as backdrop, to satiate my forever dream of a Christmas tree. But, the travel also left me with a lesson learnt hard: Don't travel to Australia during Christmas. Almost all restaurants, cafes and eateries are shut from Christmas to New Year, as the people who run those places take off to celebrate the holidays.

P. S. This post is the twenty fourth in the A-Z blogging challenge series for April.

V for Views

I am a sucker for interesting views of cities and towns I visit. From atop observatories and castles and hills, cities look like lego sets, with toy houses, little specks of people and moving wagons in the backdrop of sun and the clouds. From other places, it is fascinating to catch the fast pace of the city, from ferries and trains and coastlines.

These are some of my favourites:

Prague: A quaint little town with red rooftops and a greenish castle amidst it from atop Petrin hill's observatory tower

Sydney: The view from inside the Sydney Opera House onto the Bay

Ljubljana: A quaint little village, idyllic in every sense of the word, as viewed from the Predjama castle

Hong Kong: New Year's Eve, from the Star Ferry, onto Hong Kong CBD

Bosnia and Herzegovina: While traveling by bus from Split to Dubrovnik in Croatia, the roads pass through a small patch of Bosnia in between (with passport check points included)

Dubai: The very famed musical fountain inside the Dubai Mall, where one can lose many hours without spending any money

Macau: A busy street filled with holiday shoppers on New Year's

Udaipur: The entire City Palace, as viewed from Lake Pichola

Mumbai: My most fav, Mumbai during monsoons

Mumbai: Gateway of India, viewed from the top floors of the Taj Mahal hotel

P. S. This post is the twenty second in the A-Z blogging challenge series for April.

The House of Music

As a ten year old, the architecture of the Sydney Opera House, or whatever piece of it I could view through a 21” television, fascinated me. Whoever builds a theater like that, with domes and half circles and whatever else my small mind couldn't fathom, I wondered. And that set of gigantic steps that led up to the entrance was quite sensational. I am not ashamed to admit that my heart did ache to lounge around the area, if only for a bit. If only, if only, I told myself, and promptly added it to my bucket list.

And, finally, thanks to V, it did really happen – a trip to the Sydney Opera House.

While I ambitiously attempt an all-encompassing write-up on our trip down under, I wanted to dedicate a post to my bucket list item.

The ferry cruising across the Sydney harbor does not give a very flattering view of the Opera House. It might be disappointing for someone who has always imagined the Opera House to be a huge structure, as it does look a tad smaller than that. But, you are just viewing it wrong. The view you need to look out for is not of the Opera House from the Harbor, but the other way round. The House has been built, I suppose, with the prime motive of enjoying views of the Harbor and the famed Sydney Harbor Bridge. It is so beautiful you don’t want to move out even after closing time. 

The theater, the real prime motive of the House, is breath-taking. We had the opportunity to walk into the Joan Sutherland Theater, and were quite taken in by the immensity of the hall. That is when you realize how beautifully this huge space has been packed into what, from the Harbor Bridge, looks like a small-ish structure. There is a smaller and cute hall (Juhu Prithvi-ish) that hosts performances by and for kids during the day. It doubles up as an adult theater (!) post 9 in the evening with cabaret dances and other apparently feisty shows.

Unfortunately, there were no interesting performances (the normal type) in the Opera House on the days we were in Sydney. Hence, we had to make do with a paid tour of the place. The tour was useful in that someone took us through everything and explained the finer architectural details and trivia. More importantly, the concert halls are not open to general public viewing. Hence, the tour helped us get an inner view of the theaters. On the flip side, there was a lot of what we thought were hyped up anecdotes and selling during the tour. For instance, the tour guide would stand near a particular stone and say, “You know what. This particular stone I am standing next to is where the architect of this building stood and breathed a sigh after completing the design. A replica of this is available for sale in our store. Do pick one on your way out.”

V and I spent most of the time on the tour discussing how we can garner revenue, if our tourism department were to organize such well-planned and targeted tours of the Taj Mahal (with photographs and other paraphernalia). Talking about the four minarets and their symmetry would be enough to make any foreigner (or Indian) cough up money with happiness.

The Opera House is a must visit, and the fact that it is free of charge (unless you want to take a paid tour) adds to the “must-ness”. Also, if you aren’t married yet, you may want to consider some of their beautiful halls with lawns overlooking the harbor, where you can host your reception. But, I am told the rent is obscenely high, so make sure you have the dollars with the zeroes at the right ends to make that happen. Thankfully, that was not on my bucket list, otherwise I would be oh so unmarried yet!