Lunch in Kovalam

I got some inside scoop on the popular eats in Kovalam and as per reliable suggestions, we went to celebrate Silpa's birthday at the Fusion at Hawa beach.   We stopped at nice little gelato place on the way - without getting into specifics, I preferred the gelato over what Fusion dished out.

Kush, insisted on getting down for a swim at Kovalam, so we stopped over to use the swimming pool at Uday Samudra, a 4 star hotel at a much quieter and nicer beach in Kovalam. 

Sir, please don't run on the threadmill

I got myself a guest membership at the gym at the Trivandrum club yesterday.   There was a brief tour yesterday and although the place felt claustrophobic and was half the size of my St Leonards sweat shop (Trivandrum club's swimming pool, tennis and cricket courts included), I kept an open mind.

I went in at 7 am today, on Boxing day and was surprised to see a lot of men walking uphill on one of the centre's 4 treadmills.  I ran at full speed for a couple of minutes when the minder came in to inform me, "Sir, no running on the threadmill, please walk."    Apparently, the threadmill's warranty only covered damages caused by "soft" usage.   Ok, I am going to try another place tomorrow.

Thiruvananananananana....puram

I don't know what to make of Trivandrum's official name.   If it's Thiruvananathapuram, why do all the official signs spell T-r-i-v-a-n-d-r-u-m?  Anyone? Our arrival here went without drama.  The customs was smooth and the bags arrived on time.

Gold coast

Our digs in transit in gold coast




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Location:Gold coast

With the rats

I have heard from my ex-school mates who are also headed for Kerala. J who flew in from freezing London and who at the moment is enjoying feni at a local Goan wedding SMSed me with great reviews about the weather. It does not snow in Goa mate!

G from sunny Seychelles transited through Chennai and shared a hotel room with one of the locals - a rat. Apparently he booked his room through makemytrip.com Not the kind of company lonely men crave for on warm Chennai nights.

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Location:Gold Coast

Going up

After one failed attempt in the last six years, I have managed to escape gravity and FLY! Silpa snapped a pix...which I will post later.

Location:Gold coast

After the eHiatus

I agree I haven't posted in a while.  A lot of things have happened since 14th April, 2010, the last time I clicked the Publish Post button.   I have come out of a eHiatus, or iHiatus if you are Mac-inclined. I have got away from my business, and have returned to managing websites, online marketing and ecommerce activities.  I have moved away from chasing salaries to actually getting a pay cheque at the end of the month. 

Now for the next big discovery.  Often, I have heard about the great marvel in the skies called the Airbus A380 and I have actually made the occasional trip to the airport, often to drop off a friend or a relative.  And now after a gap of 6 years, I will take to the skies.  I will actually escape Australia and make a trip to India.  I will fly out to Kerala, in Southern India over the Christmas break and have stopovers in Malaysia and Singapore.  Scary stuff there...especially when there are stories about Rolls Royce engines falling off airplanes.  I will keep you posted.

Weighty Issues

I have played see-saw with obesity all my life. There were moments of highs where I enjoyed optimal body mass index, followed up by lows when, with Ms Cadbury Bar as company, I tipped the scales by an additional 10 to 15 kilos.

My personal trainer got me to examine why I overate and we broke it down to a few things: boredom, stress and lack of understanding. The last reason, simply put, was me frolicking with food with reckless abandon, thinking that my body will slip the unburned calories under some mystical carpet.

Last December, I weighed in somewhere north of 100 kilos, I was out of breath walking up the smallest hills and I had a loyalty discounts at the local sweet shop. So, before Christmas I decided to give gyming and sane nutrition another go.

I have been here before. I was no stranger to cardio fitness training and I signed up at the local Fitness First, a national fitness chain. I also decided to re-look at my nutrition and add fruit, salad and discipline to my intake. Nutrition was easy, because my partner shared my enthusiasm for healthy eating and suddenly there were fewer cans and lot more greens in our weekly shopping. The sweets, that disappear within days, now have a safe haven in our cupboards.

I now exercise 4 days a week. The exercise routine comprises of 25 minutes on the thread-mill and another 25 minutes on the cross trainer at the local gym. I finish off with some abdominal exercise and 5 minutes of weight training. I go in when my local gyms open up, at 6 AM and get out at 7.20 AM. Every week, as I feel stronger, I push myself a bit harder and push a few buttons, to increase the machine's resistance or speed.

I have lost 18 to 20 kilos, over the last three months. I have moved down 4 inches and 2 waist sizes. Needless to add, I now feel healthy.

However, I have now hit a plateau in my weight loss and my work life schedule has changed a bit. I have to look at alternatives to continue what I started.

Gangs of the Kindergartens

I was debriefed about my son's first parent-teacher tête-à-tête, at the dinner table. Our son started kindergarten this year, and my partner and I have decided to take turns attending these sessions. Last week's session was our first.

Among the feedback and pointers, was information on our sons social standing in his class. The teacher mentioned that was our son was friends with a couple of kids in his class and that the three amigos hung around together. We knew about this kindergarten friendship and always thought it a good thing that our son has adapted well into school life this quickly.

However, the school had a different view. The teacher revealed that the classes would be reshuffled in the second year, and the kids would be given an opportunity to make new friends.

The next day, as I dropped my son to school, I talked about it with another parent. I dropped the subject into our daily banter about Australian politics and the weather. "So what did you think about the parent teacher meeting." "Good," he said, "but she did talk about the gang of three." He was also given the confidential information regarding the reshuffle. He was also told how in the second year, new alliances will be forged, diplomatically, through new class groupings.

Since school prepares one for life, I wondered if familiarity and cliques were a bad thing in adult life. Even as adults we seek comfort in familiarity. To most, going into a room to meet and greet strangers, is slightly less daunting than scuba diving with sharks. However, in adulthood social life comes with lot more emotions.

For my son, the transition from childcare to school was quick and easy. He no longer talks about the friends he had last year when he was at childcare. Perhaps it was just as easy for the next years, as threads within his social fabric are still to strengthen.

Until then we hope that the social engineering within the educational sector has progressed, and it is easier today to churn out well balanced individuals than when it was a few years back, when gangs ruled the kindergartens.