Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The musician from Myanmar

A bunch of Burmese folk live in Railay. They work in tourist places around the village. They probably get paid a pittance for working in sub standard conditions. They live cramped into tiny makeshift tin sheet single rooms that can barely keep the rain out. But they get together in the evening, pass around cups of cheap whisky, light a few cigarettes, and sing a few songs.

Ao Ong is the star. He plays the guitar like nobody's business. His friends join in the singing on and off, and they all have a jolly good time. When I stopped at the door to listen, they let me sit in the circle. I guess all of us were curious!

I don't speak a word of Burmese, and Ao Ong could barely manage a dozen words in English, so communication was mostly restricted to hand signals and monosyllables. But the lack of a common language was just a minor irritant in having a good time enjoying the music and each other's company.

It did not take me long to realise that he was playing Clapton, John Denver, Metallica, the usual suspects, except that all the songs were in Burmese. The guys were glad they found someone to sing the original English words for them, and there is noone who can dispute that I could give John Denver a run for his money that night (at least, noone who can dispute it in English :) ). A couple of swigs of the whisky, and I was in prime form. Shantanu joined in a little bit and and I was glad for the reinforced vocals.

They had the Burmese version of every song in our favorite list. They even had one for the Hindi 'Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye'! And even if he did not know the song, it took Ao Ong only one hearing to figure out how to play it while we sang. We rocked the town that night... till the neighbours sent someone to shut us up! Unfortunately, not everyone has the taste to appreciate good music!

Sitting in a group of strangers singing songs and talking to each other without a common language, that evening we went away knowing that people are all the same everywhere. And there's no reason for our differences to stop us from being friends.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Easy pussy

Thailand's known for it's sex tourism. One of the primary reasons for a lot of people going to Thailand is the cheap and easy sex. The ill-repute is a real pity though ... it's an awesome place even without the sex!

Here's Prashant getting his easy pussy... :)




Railay's a haven for cats ... and surprisingly low on dogs! I saw only one during my entire 8 day stay! Maybe it's the seafood the cats love? Our Nepalese tailor friend had another reason for it ... the predominantly muslim population of Railay ... Muslims have a preference for cats over dogs.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Welcome to Thailand

Thailand happened suddenly. Prashant told me about the plan sometime in May, and I immediately decided to go. He'd done all the research, decided where to go (the primary idea being rock climbing), and all I had to do was show up. Not totally in control like I usually prefer it, but well, I'm not the rock climber ... atleast not yet! Shantanu, even less of a climber than I am was also recruited; more for the idea of the beaches than the climbing, I suspect!

Deja-vous! Walking out of Krabi airport, I see Kerala ... and I see America. The landscape and weather are exactly like Kerala, and the roads and Japanese cars look just like America. The shuttle bus takes us to Railay pier in Ao Nong town, and very soon I'm waiting at the restaurant for 6 other people to show up so I can take a long-tail boat to my destination. The setting is perfect ... The sky is blue as blue sky can be, the water is turquoise as turquoise water (Correct me if I am wrong. I can only identify 8 colors, and turquoise is not one of them!) can be, the food is awesome, the people are friendly, and the waitress is pretty!


Talking about pretty waitresses, I soon realise that ALL the other waitresses at the place were at some point waiters!!! Remember all those things that people told you or you read on the internet about Thailand's famous ladyboys? Well, I'm not sure if my waitress was one ... but I decided to not ask questions, answers to which could potentially be a dampener to my spirits.

Coming into Railay, the view of the beach is one of the prettiest sights that you can see. Limestone cliffs jut out of the sea everywhere, more cliffs mark out the limits of the beaches, and there's a sparse crowd that's having a great time out there. There's restaurants / shacks on the beach, people in kayaks, fishing boats. Everything to make for a perfect holiday.


We find our way to Diamond Cave resort, which is on the bay side of Railay. It's a really cozy place, neat rooms with air conditioning, fridge, television, a balcony, and at 1200 baht a night ... a complete bargain. Off season travel is the best! A comparable hotel room at any tourist destination in India would easily cost twice as much. It's no wonder people flock to Thailand!


Prashant and Sharad are waiting for us to get there ... It's time to go climbing! My Thailand adventure is looking good already!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Doing a 'Chavan'

The good news is Uncle had a 300mm lens for me. Only hitch ... it's in Bangalore. As always though ... good luck shines, and Kumar happened to be on a visit to Bangalore, so he would be carrying my 300 for me on his way back to Valsad. All I had to do was pick it up at Kalyan at 09:40 PM. Easy enough task to do ... but I ended up 'doing a Chavan' on that one!

Doing a 'Chavan' requires that special level of absent-mindedness and bad planning that comes to very few souls (Chavan himself being one, and now me)! The legendary Chavan once missed a flight because he calculated "2000 hours" to be 10:00 PM. Another time, he made us wait a night at the airport because he got the timezones wrong and would actually only be landing 24 hours later. A third time, him and me collaborated to miss a flight, because I thought divine intervention would bring a "no-traffic-blocks-day" to Bangalore (Yes, my optimism knows no bounds!!!).

So I'm in the office at 8:00 PM, and I think, "9:40 is a long way off ... 20 minutes to Mulund / Thane in a rickshaw, and 30 minutes drive with Shantanu upto Kalyan station. Hmmm ... What was that? You wanna grab a beer? Well .. I guess I have the time." So Shraddha, Avinash, and me get to Pop Tate's and get a table when I start thinking "Hey ... maybe this is too close ... got to rush!" Shantanu calls to check where I am ... and I get the "Whattannidiot!" tone from him. That's when I decide to leave. It's 08:20 and I still have an hour and 20 minutes to get to Kalyan.

Why the roundabout route you ask? Why not just take a local train to Kalyan? Well ... I'm not much of a local train person ... too crowded for me. I'd probably never even get in! Plus, Shantanu had some new music in the car for me to sample.

"Rickshaw! ... Rickshaw!" ... no response. First signs this ... I've never had to wait more than a few seconds to get a rick at Pop Tate's! I start walking, and couple of hundred metres towards Vikhroli depot, I flag one down. 08:25.
"Mulund check-naka?" ... Nod of the head and I get in.

08:35. Gandhinagar. So far so good. Signal's turned green twice, and not too much movement. Not unusual for this signal, but it's usually clear past this. So chill. Third green light .. and I see it's not really clear! Does not look good!

08:40. Gandhinagar.

08:45. 30 meters past the signal. Still Gandhinagar.

08:50. We're finally clear. Someone chose the wrong time, and the "wrong-est" spot for an accident. 50 meters either way, and the traffic would not be this bad!

09:00. Nahur / Airoli flyover. We're supposed to be taking the left below this bridge and heading to Mulund(W). But it seems like my rickshaw man has other ideas. I check. He confirms that it's straight we go ... Well ok. maybe that other route through Mulund(East) is faster!

09:01. Halfway up the flyover. Point of no return. "Sir ... you want to go to East / West?". I could have smashed his head with a sledgehammer, but I did not have one handy ... so I let it pass. "Check-naka = Mulund(West)". I give him a minor lesson in Mumbai's geography, with as much sledgehammer as I can deliver in my tone of voice (which, my friends tell me, is not much). And we take that other route through Mulund(East).

09:13. Mulund check-naka. I pay the man and run across the check-naka to find Shantanu. He's waiting.

09:17. Shanto (Bangladeshi rock band) is playing something in Bangla, and we're off to Kalyan. Switch to Avial a little while later. Aadu Paambe. Is awesome stuff!!! Smiles all around.

09:35. The turn-off to Kalyan from the highway. 7kms to go. 10 mins before the train leaves Kalyan station ... Kumar calls to confirm it's running on time.

09:42. Very close to the station. The train has not pulled in yet, and I see hope.

09:45. Still not reached the station. Stupid traffic, pedestrians, animals. Kumar is waiting on the platform with the bag in his hand.

09:48. Flyover ahead. Now that's something we should not have been seeing! Wait a minute ... it looks familiar. Hmmm ... hmmm ... Damn! And then another Damn! We've overshot the station by a km or so!!! We're just turning around when Kumar calls to tell us that the train's leaving ... and there goes any chance of me using that lens in Thailand!

We did think about going out to the Bhiwandi hookah place for a bit, but realised that we had already taken the wrong turn and were heading back towards home! Probably a good thing considering the events of the evening. Tomorrow already looks like a better day ...