Gaga in Mangalore

Food, shopping malls, great company and drama.... the definition of an awesome weekend :)





I just had to post this up as soon as I finished unpacking since pictures alone can't describe the fantabulous time we had in Mangalore. So this is an uber crucial one :)

So it all started on Friday (the day that we're supposed to leave) when xc and I realised that we haven't purchased the bus tickets to mangalore. Xc; being the savior for the day, slipped in and out of clinics and got us the tickets. Non air conditioned bus but who am I to complain..



The journey was horrible and how much I would love to say that it was the excitement that kept me awake throughout the night.. but then, I would be lying.



And thanks to bus conductors crappy sense of timing.. My poor kal stayed awake from 2.30 waiting for our call... which she didn't receive till 8 am when we actually reached.



Breakfast was from Pizza Hut at Kal's house. Not sure which was more warming.. the fact that I'm having good pizza after so long or that I'm having it with kal, xc and fiona just like old times :)



City Centre was the first stop for the day. Mangalore's largest and latest addition to the family of malls that the city boasts. ( Do you guys back there really need that many malls??) Anyway, as soon as we stepped into the mall, it was helllooooo shopping and bye bye crisp rupee notes.. First store was West side. And then Lifestyle which was India's high end version of Parkson. The four of us, at different corners of the store, trying out clothes one after the other and calling up each other for opinions... what a sight!!

After lunch at Sizzlers where we met up with Variant, Pau, Anna, Yong Yau and Kugan, we went to Bharat Mall to try out the arcade games. Not only did I suck at air hockey; ( Lol Kal won 4-1 against me) .. driving is not my thing too apparently. We made a quick visit to Nilgiri's where one can go gaga over the food items ; at least i did. :) heee.

Froth On Top was our next stop. It was this cool little place with cartoons and sketches drawn on its walls. It felt as if we walked straight into a scene of a comic book. Food was a little too pricey but it was definitely worth the visit.

Returned to kal's apartment to leave our shopping bags behind and get the cake that kal specially baked for Nadia's house warming that night. Yup she did. Talk about perfect timing :) Met up with friends from Davengere and Mangalore.

Day 2

There were definitely a few things going on while xc and I were asleep. Kal ended up sleeping downstairs in the hall and Fiona inevitably hacked into kal's FB account. Yup talk about nocturnals ..

Woke up around 615am since we planned to go to the BEACH!!!Clad in black t-shirts and 'hula hula' shorts (except for Kelvin who seemed pretty comfortable in his white t-shirt and pants), the 5 of us got hold of an auto and had an eventful ride to the beach (oopsie............. forgot the name) . The five of us squeezed into an auto ( another five more and we could have made it into the guinness book of world records :p) and half my legs were hanging out of the auto.

We had to take a boat across a river to get to the beach. The beach was so much fun!! Armed with packets of Lays and camera's.. it was definitely an outing to be cherished. :)

After dropping by at Pabaas ( mangalore's desert haven) and treating ourselves to some amazing sweet takeaways, we proceded to Manipal which was a 1 1/2 hour drive away from Mangalore. Went straight to Vid's and Variant's apartment ( Vid was back in Malaysia though) , pulled sleepy head Variant out of her bed and dragged her to Medan Selera for lunch. The egg fried rice was good and I had my first 'tofu sumbat' in India!!!! Yay.. i knew it was possible people!!! Tofu in India :) OOooh and they had fresh soya too ( not sure whether it was fresh but it was yummy so who cares)

Met up with Mahen, Sundaraa and Ming at the cafe. Wen Xin, Pau, Anna and Jessie joined us for lunch. And yess we had pisang goreng :) Heavenly... We followed Wen Xin to her place shortly after lunch. I looved her room.. !! Blending in with the surrounding greens .. it was very au naturelle... ;)

Came back to Variant's place again and decided to pay Shar a visit. We made it to her room on second attempt;p Poor girl had her whole toe nail removed.. :( Hope the nail grows out quickly shar.

Next we visited their well equipped cafetaria ( think subway and barista) . Fiona and Kelvin left for Davangere right after that. Sobs. It was so hard just to send you off dear. All the best for your exams sweetheart :)

Variant brought us for a short tour around the HUGEE library, the oh- so- famous anatomy museum and their field. Quite an impressive place..manipal. Wished we could have stayed there longer to explore the city more. Well.. definitely a good excuse to come to this part of India again :)

Left Manipal at arouund 6ish pm and arrived at Manipal almost 2 hours later. Went to City Center again for last minute shopping :P Had pasta from Dominos for dinner and ruuushhed to the bus station only to find out that .... we missed our BUS!!!! Xc was either too shocked to say anything or she was already planning out tomorrow's shopping spree quietly.. hahaha. Fortunately enough, we managed to contact the bus driver. ( and by we i mean the guy at the travel agency who kept reminding us that we were late... Lol the bus had left 15 minutes ago; of course we WERE LATE!) Thank goodness for him, the bus driver agreed to wait for us at some place about 7km away. So we both stormed into an auto and rushed to the place. We didn't even get to say our proper byes to Kal.. poor girl we had to leave you at the station alone. Sorry dear!

So that was how our awesome weekend in manglore ended. Thank you Kal for being an amazing host :) WE LOVE YOU !

Moping Melancholy Mad

Contemplating as to whether or not i should hop into a 4 wheel drive and head somewhere this weekend, as refreshing as it sounds, seems a little far-fetched at the moment. It's ironic at times how things work out. My long awaited trip to Mangalore which I may add is long overdue' with all the wonderful shopping and beach scenes that I've played numerous times in my mind( even during lectures:p) is now just another plan that was thiiissssss ( approximating thumb and index finger) close to happening..... booo hooo...

Funny how amazingly grateful we are for a 4 day break that's declared due to public unrest...irony once again people ;) Of course, safety should never ever be compromised especially if you have a choice and knowing that the authorities are willing to let go of their age-old twisted tradition however hard it must have been, by giving us a break is rather comforting.. So i guess instead of moping on the fact that Mangalore will still be hundreds of miles away from me this weekend, I'm gonna cherish this fact and make the best out of these four days ...OH Yeah!!!

I've just realized that I have a thing for digestives :) My happy area just lights up at the sight of those 1/2 inch thick, tinged brown circular biscuits...ahhhh ...endorphins...

Tres belle..

My sister's keeper is a beautiful movie....

I've never cried that much while watching a movie before..
Now i know why u left halfway Vilo :)

Would have been interesting to watch you cry though xxxx

The Final Analysis

It feels sooo good to jump into bed without worrying about dozing off and then waking up with a tachycardia hours later knowing that the exams are just few hours away.. :) Past two days have been what I would call as my very own movie extravaganza. Yup.. good movies,talent and hot actors( think John Krasinski) are rather therapeutic :) Alice in Wonderland was good. Not one of Depp's best movies though. And I've finally watched Sherlock Holmes.. The verdict...??? I loved it! Preferred R.Downey Jr in this as compared to in Iron man. Jude Law was impressive too. On a different note, finals are approaching. Yup. Just waiting for the schedule to be out though. Prelims was undeniably a roller coaster ride of emotions and coffee-packed nights. Nevertheless it was a wake up call for my system to start gearing up for finals :) These past few days got me thinking about a lot of things. At times, the harder we work, the tougher it gets. But I keep telling myself that we won't be put in a situation that we can't handle. Emotions run high and calls from Malaysia are something that you swear by to keep going. Cliched as it may sound.. success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on when others have let go. Something that I stumbled upon online...

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. :) Loves, Gaya. xxxx

This too shall pass...

They drew a circle that shut me out,
Heretic,rebel, a thing to flout!
But love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that took them in.

Edwin Markham

Viva La Vida

We are the world

There comes a time
When we head a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God's great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me..

Michael Jackson.


Plop. There goes another pair of gloves ( into the bin) after a dissection class. Thank goodness for revolution and hence the cheap rubber products we have access to these days.
Leaving the hall with the names of the muscles and ligaments ringing in our ears, we head straight to where else.. the mess of course! Speaking of which, I'm still mystified as to where all the food goes to. I'm always hungry here that sometimes I scare myself thinking about it. lol.

After a few sessions of toiling with nerves and fascia for the past one month, I've developed a new found respect for the human body.

Being given this very chance; studying these miracles up close from a person who was once breathing and living keeps reminding me of the reason I'm here, the reason why most of my books if not all look like academic dumbbells, why there would be a constant need to study late into the night no matter how comfortable the bed looks, why the longest break I would get in the next 5 years would probably not be more than 2 months, why certain important occasions would have to be missed, why classes are from 8 to 5, why patience is a virtue or to err is divine. It all keeps making sense. It all does.

On another note,the past few weeks had been interesting.. eventful to say the least.
Mum and sis came down to Belgaum and it was soooo good to see them!! I had fun showing them around my university and Belgaum town armed with my mediocre sense of direction. Oh yeah! I got to play the host for a change. The tailors here are amazing. I got 4 suits done in a day! Now that's a feat worth recognizing don't you think so? They're back in Malaysia now. My mum and sister i mean.

Exams are next week and we'll be tested on the upper extremities. It's gonna be mind- blowingly interesting ;)

I love life .. because what more is there?. - Anthony Hopkins

Toodles.
Loves,
Gaya

Anastomosis... my love..

It's amazing how fast the week just zooms past me. Before you know it.. it's Monday already.The Half Blood Prince was somewhat disappointing though I've forgotten most of the storyline. It would have been a roller coaster ride for those who have never touched the book. Nevertheless, it WAS a movie and it WAAS Harry Potter so yay!!

These are a few interesting things that I've learned so far..
Just walk away when the auto guy insists on charging more than what you ask for.
Coffee Day is Belgaum's very own Starbucks
Tissues are expensive here!
And so are plastic products. ;)
Avoid wearing white footwear.. or buying them altogether.
Paneer Paratha is the bomb!
There is an interval halfway throughout a movie at the cinemas
And the Indian National Anthem is sung before a movie starts ( at least the one I went to..)
I can find 'Twister' here!
Beans are eaten almost everyday for almost every meal..
Make sure that I bring an umbrella along with me wherever I go..
The pigeons and cats here are huge
We can add sugar to curds.. now why didn't we think of that?!
US pizza delivers to our college!!

Well we're still waiting for the other 50+ students to come. So we're stuck in the interphase of starting the lessons and having an orientation. I'm not complaining though.. knowing that the lecturers will be more serious when the lessons officially start.

The wireless connection is being it's confused self again and I would be really angry if this does not get saved. So I shall just write this much for now.

Toodles!

Lots of love,
Gaya
xx