A visit from Paul and Jan at Holi

March was a busy month!  It started with a visit from Jan and Paul, who had been travelling round south India since January.  We spent a day downtown (intending to go to a wine festival which when we got there had been cancelled due to bad weather!)  So we hung out around the Gateway of India and the Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill, with its view of Chowpatty and the Queen's Necklace (Marine Drive).

After this we went to Bandra for drinks as the sun went down, followed by a walk up Pali Hill and a meal at Pali Village Cafe.

That week it was also Holi.  As usual we celebrated this at school with lots of water and coloured powder.

The Mahindra Blues Festival 2015

It was an absolutely brilliant festival and Buddy Guy was amazing. It's hard to believe this man is 78 when you see him perform. Known as the "bridge" between blues and rock, he had a profound influence on Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, to name just a few.

Buddy Guy was performing with Quinn Sullivan, a young man who has been playing guitar since he was 3 (and he is only 15 now!). He was discovered by Buddy Guy when he was 8 and invited on stage to perform with him at a concert. 

Such a great evening.

Nashik - one of India's holiest cities

Nashik is around 170 Kms from Mumbai and is one of India's holiest cities. It has hundreds of ancient temples and is one of the 4 places in the world that hosts the Kumbh Mela.  This is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river.  It is the largest single peaceful gathering in the world, with around 100 million people making the pilgrimage.  It is held once every 3 years and rotates around 4 cities in India (so it is held in Nashik once every 12 years).

Nashik is also mentioned in Hindu mythology as the place where Lord Rama lived during his 14 years in exile.  The city is the site of more than 100 ancient temples.  

Nashik got its name from another Hindu myth.  Lakshmana cut off the nose of Supanakha, and the word "nasika" in Sanskrit means nose.  Nashik is also mentioned in the Ramayana as it's the site of the Sita Gumpha caves, from where Sita, Lord Rama's wife, was abducted by Ravana.   I went into the caves and had to crawl through a tiny hole and down some steps.  It was a very tight fit!

SulaFest

This weekend a group of us went to Nashik to the SulaFest.  This is a wine and music festival held at the Sula Vineyards, about 170 kms away from Mumbai.  We drove up after school on Friday, and came back on Sunday evening, which was a perfect timing for a weekend getaway.

We stayed in an AirB&B homestay.  The place was run by a couple who had an organic farm outside of Nashik and it was nicely decorated with recycled materials.  The photo below shows a group of us up on the roof terrace.

There was plenty to do at the SulaFest.  There was the opportunity to do wine tasting, to try different foods, to sit and lounge in the sun and watch various bands.  Top of the list was Indie Rock band Young the Giant, but probably one of my favourite bands was Yes Sir Boss from the UK.

On both the Saturday and Sunday mornings before going to the festival we spent time in Nashik - there was lots of see.  I especially enjoyed the drive - we passed some amazing scenery (and also 3 horrific crashes where lorries had come off the road and were crashed in the side).  The road was good but obviously people were not driving carefully.

Aksa Beach - a short getaway from Mumbai

We had a long weekend for Thanksgiving and so Lex and I decided we'd go away for a couple of days.  First we thought of going to Alibaug, where we went last year, but everything was already fully booked by the time we got round to trying to book, however we did manage to find a place north of Mumbi at Aksa Beach.

Aksa Beach is around an hour away from where we live in Mumbai.  We originally tried to get a taxi, but none of the drivers seemed to know where we wanted to go, so in the end we got a rickshaw.  It was a reasonable journey, though personally I think a bit dangerous to drive at speed on the Western Expressway in a rickshaw.

We got a room that looked towards the beach.  The resort has a nice garden and pool.  Around the pool are plenty of places to sit and laze.  There are loungers, hammocks and chairs.  The place wasn't busy at all, though maybe that was because we arrived on a Friday when most people were at work.

There were a couple of restaurants overlooking the pool.  We ate all our meals there because there wasn't much else in the neighbourhood.

We walked on the beach.  Right in front of the hotel there were some beach shacks, though they didn't seem to be very busy.

The sunsets on the two nights we were there were beautiful.  It was really good to sit by the pool and watch the sun dip down into the Arabian Sea.

Kerala Sunsets

The sunsets in Varkala were really beautiful.  The sun started going down around 5.30 pm and it took until at least 6.30 pm before it was dark.  It was possible to sit in one of the many cliff top bars and just watch the sun and the waves.

On "our" beach tables and chairs were set out for a good view of the sun.  You could sit and eat right by the sea - a very "Shirley Valentine" moment!

This is the view from the Fisherman's Art Cafe.  

Varkala: India's Deep South

Over the Diwali long weekend Lex and I went down to Varkala.  The place where we stayed was just north of Varkala in a quiet little bay.  

By day the beach was taken over by the fishermen - in the morning they pushed out their huge wooden boats and set their nets.  Later they pulled the nets in to the beach and sorted out the fish.  In the evening tables were set up on the beach with candles.  The whole time there you could hear the roaring of the waves.

One morning we walked north from our bungalow along the cliffs.  There were several little bays.  This part of Kerala is the only part of the Arabian Sea with cliffs.

One evening we walked down to the Fisherman's Art Cafe and sat by the sea watching the sun set.  We had a delicious meal of prawns and calamari, straight from the sea.