Spread the smile... Take Home #317

Smile creates smiles and sometimes laughter. Being happy from inside is so important that you can smile with ease and hence can spread the smiles effortlessly. 

The Soccer Feast 2014

I'm not sure if anyone has ever said that watching soccer is like meditation! That's what come up to my mind the moment I saw the back to back goals in the beginning minutes of the world cup match ongoing between Argentina and Nigeria, which happened for the first time in the history of world cup. Thanks to both the teams for making my first watched match of this world cup so memorable and exciting. Brisk movements of both the teams towards the opponents' goal posts is worth watching and hence enjoying.

I have been following the FIFA world cup 2014 only in the news so far. Henceforth I will be watching it too. As I said in one of my previous posts, its a tough choice between Wimbledon and FIFA. But obviously, what comes once in four years is too attractive to the yearly fun. Nonetheless, I will keep an eye on the grass courts too! 

Top sixteen are almost finalized except for few slots. Italy and Spain are out already to my and everyone's surprise. Netherlands is the team much talked about. It seems the Dutch are wanting it to get finished on the finishing line this time on the last day of the world cup, which they could not do last time, be it because of the Spanish players or be it because of the Octopus Paul! Brazil is no more a guessing game, especially after their brilliant start in the tournament. No heros, but you never know who becomes one on his day. Argentina and Messi are the few other words of these days. Maradona is active in writing his colomns without losing any chance to inspire his home team. Fair enough. England are out too by the way and that did not surprised me much. 

Knockout is round the corner. It will be fun watching the matches henceforth. Only one chance for all teams to remain in the tournament and they must utilise it to step closer towards the world cup lifting moment. I have still not decided whom to support, although I have some kind of inclination towards Brazil based on the previous world cups I watched. I will watch few matches and then shall choose among the teams.

Wishing all the sixteen teams all the very best to put up their best. 

Vacation escapes in a blink!

Vacation escapes in a blink. Although a lot happens, in between two vacations sometimes it feels as if there was nothing happened in between! My vacation this is within a period of less than two months from that of my previous one. On the first day of the vacation I felt what I said above; as if there were no two months between the vacations; as if it was just a continuation of the last one! 

On the other hand a lot happens in the vacation. During the initial days time goes pretty slow. As we know the fact that we are in the beginning of it and a lot more to come, we tend to come to an understanding that it is happening in a real slow manner. But as soon as it crosses the midway mark, it immediately gets to the senses. It feels as if you are running out of time. For no reason, you keep counting the days left. As the count still goes on, the days left out go on reducing leaving you behind. Towards the last few days of the vacation, there will be no person on earth who can compete with you in getting sad! 

These days vacations are not so rare but long ones are really rare. I'm fortunate enough to get couple of them back to back. A very well deserved brake was that, as my friends say. I got refreshed amidst the awesome season of Kerala. As I woke up to the sun rise today, what I missed the most was the sound of the ocean tides. In Trivandrum, it felt as if I slept to the sounds of the ocean and I woke up to the same too. I thought Pune will be welcoming me in rain. But I was not that fortunate. Friends told me it did not rain a bit in last ten days. That's another wonder. Pune and rain always do meet in the month of June, usually in the first week itself. This time the June is almost already done and here we are still guessing the rain fall date. Hope it rains soon here!

For the betterment... Take Home #316

Making someone else responsible for your defeat is in no terms a happy-living business. Doing that might only satisfy your ego, but it can never be an apt way to answer your own self. Finding out your own responsibility in every defeat can lay the way for the betterment. 

Its Wimbledon Time...

Before I begin to write anything about the Wimbledon I would like to congratulate Rafael Nadal for retaining the French open title. That's the ninth one for him and hope many more come his way. 

This year's Wimbledon is interesting. It is happening during the same time as the soccer fever has almost spreaded across the world population. This might be a coincidence but the interesting thing is the audience will have to choose between the matches to watch as they happen during the same timings. Well, that's one reason that is making it interesting whereas the very way the competition is in there in both women as well as men ties makes the championship more than interesting. I, as always, am supporting Nadal to win the men's singles championship. Serena Williams interests me but I seriously wish some tough competition come her way. All the best to the Indian players taking part in various doubles ties. 

May the best win!

Tunes of yours... Take Home #315

What the partners are for each other matters the most in any relationship. What they are for the world stays secondary. The best choice is to be there for each other and let the life dance to the tunes of yours. 

When bathroom becomes your best mate!

It's been long time since I started thinking about writing this post. I skipped it every time, not sure of the reason. Today I've decided to do it, again not sure of the reason. This kind of post make me happy as I open up from within and flush out the worries or one may call them as thoughts. 

In all these twenty eight years of my life, there have been many moments when I cried in bathroom to my last tear of the moment . Not that I could not do it in public. I've been so self-centric or rather self-dependent in this matter that I want only me consoling myself. I just do not want to go out of the belief that I can come back strong myself. Also, I did not want to end up in silence when friends ask me the reason for my tears. Although I had my own reasons, I was not pretty sure if they were enough reasons to breakdown first of all, and again, I never wanted to look for consolation from outside. With that I'm not saying that I never cried in the crowd. I did it many a times. Every time I did that, I found myself sufficient to be around. Eventually, bathroom turned out to be the place for me.

Bathroom does not speak back to you. It allows you to be miserable as much as you want. It stands in silence to give you large enough space to formulate your own thoughts. It stays as a silent spectator while you console yourself, sufficient enough to do a positive come back. It looks at you the same way every time you visit it showing no difference in treating you. Although, all this can logically be done by people who are close to you, I prefer to be one of such rather than asking for such people to be around. I basically do not want to be dependent on  the uncertainty. I am always there certainly for myself and that must be fine as long as I'm going to be sufficient. 

I do not know what this kind of a human thought-process is named in the discipline of Psychology. Does not matter. This is what I'm and it has been productive being so, why not I continue unless I find the other reason!

Life is an every moment's journey

Life is an every moment's journey

Keep living it all of us all the time,

Chasing down the dreams

Caring the loved ones enough

Crossing all the limitations

Carrying on the momentum.

Life is an every moment's journey

Keep it simple yet more than sufficient.

   

For me you are alive all over!

My heart does an endless wait

For the day to meet you,

To do a long chat

Until no topic left out,

To go on a long walk

Having my hand in yours,

To feel your presence

Enough for a life time,

My heart does an endless wait

For the day to meet you.

Now the day has come

Here I am with you,

Speaking endless to you

Although you cannot hear,

Walking all the way long

All alone with hands empty,

Feeling your presence

All the time in my shadow,

Now the day has come

Here I'm with you.

No more you are for the world

For me you are alive all over,

In my words of you of anyone

In my steps and next to them,

In my shadow that follows me

Teaching me how to live,

Showing me the way to move

Creating endless love in me,

No more you are for the world

For me you are alive all over.

In between the breaths... Take Home #314

Life starts with the first breath, ends with the last breath. What you are known for is what you do in between.

My Moto G, I'm loving it :)

Before I buy any item about which I'm not pretty aware of, I prefer to check with friends for the reviews. These days there is so much in the Internet only to leave you wondering what is correct and what is wrong. Somehow I depend a lot on the feedback from my friends, especially in the case of purchasing electronic items. I get surprised when they talk endlessly on the brands, market trends, products in queue etc. So, I find no reason to skip them before I go for something. 

While I was thinking about buying a new mobile phone, I as usual informed some of my friends at office. They put couple of options to me. I was on the verge of deciding but then I got a message from one of the friends about the launching plans of Motorola-Google for it's new chunk, the Moto G. What shall click to my mind first is the name, good or bad, this is how I look at new things. Moto G appeared something different and I decided to wait for it. I waited to see the live demo of if until another colleague of mine got it delivered through Flipkart. After a couple of minutes of checking the handset myself, I was suddenly into a fix, that I will purchase only this. 

Ever since I started using it, I've been having good experiences with it. Only problem I've faced is as following. After upgrading to the Kitkat version of android, the message tone settings got changed. I'm not sure if it was due to the upgrade or something else, I do not want to conclude. But then after a long struggle for at least couple of months, I found the way out myself. I thought of calling that call centre fellow who had earlier asked me to do the factory settings to restore everything back to normal. I wanted to inform him the easier way out than restoring back every setting and ending up losing every other upgrade or download you have had. But then I thought I will not do that. 

There are so many features of that that I'm liking. Out of all, the camera, the music player and the touch feel are the best experiences I've ever had with a mobile in last nine years of my mobile usage. For the first time ever, on a holiday trip, I chose not carry my Canon camera and MP3 player. That good this phone is. In market, there might be many other better options but as far as I'm concerned, this is the mobile I'm in love with for the first time ever. I suggested many of my friends this phone and many bought it too. 

Thank you Motorola and Google for this experience. bring on more. 

As it rains here from up there...

As it rains here from up there,

Cool breeze waves all around,

Little hens get wet in the droplets,

Dog barks to the tunes of the thunders,

Banana leaves clean themselves up,

Coconut trees stands the same tall,

Dark and dark it gets every minute,

Sounds of the ocean get vanished,

As it rains here from up there,

This is how it is from the balcony. 

Kanyakumari, one of the marvels

I'd been to Kanyakumari couple of months back. It was a journey of just couple of hours from Trivandrum. Once the train reached Kanyakumari railway station, we along with many other tourists wondered if we were in the right station and if we should get down! Our expectations of Kanyakumari railway station were far more than that of the place where we arrived in. Finally, after checking carefully with some of the people around, we got down. It was a terminus for obvious reasons and beach was said to be a kilometer away from there. 

Narrow streets, crowded stalls, hotels with a lean entrance etc were what we could see during the first ride in the town. Hotel room with the sea view costed more but we did not choose it. We thought we might be next to sea until the night that day and we might not require the dose of a sea again during the late night. The first look at the sea was from the hotel terrace. The water was so blue in color that we ended up confused while figuring out until where it was water and where the sky started. 

Vivekananda rock and Triveni Sangamam

There was a boat ride in the sea to the Vivekananda rock. Like anyone else, we did wear the life jacket while on the way but we did not mind much while we were coming back to the halt. From the corners of the Vivekananda rock, what all could be seen was the blue waters. First of all we wondered, how Vivekananda must have made it to there onto the rock! We thought he might have swimmed or someone would have hosted him in a boat. From there, wherever you look, you have the sea in front of you except toward the Kanyakumari town. It was an amazing experience. I tried to capture it as much as possible in the camera but what my heart clicked was beyond any other photograph. Triveni Sangamam was only read in the text books in school. Once I stood there, the feeling of standing on the southern most tip of India exhilarated me. 

Sunset point

Sunset point was around one kilometer away but as usual, the auto drivers had to say it as two to three kilometers. We were one of the very few people who reached the spot first. There was only one advantage of being there first, you can sit on the rock of your own choice. We chose one from where we thought the view will be the best. First the first time I waited long to see the sunset. Clouds made us miss some portion of the party but nonetheless, we could witness the sunset there. On the way  back, all we wished was for a clean sunrise next day morning. You do not get a chance to see sunrise as well as sunset from the same place otherwise. 

You do anything but you cannot keep ladies away from shopping. We do shop everywhere so did I there. Out of all that I bought, the Kerala traditional Saree came close to me. 

Sunrise, the marvel 

We thought we would be reaching the sunrise point before anyone. Once we reached there we realized we were among the last ones to reach there. The first look at the eastern side of the ocean that day morning made me feel as if I was standing in front of a different world. It felt as if I was waiting there to welcome the people from another earth. It was so dark in the rest of the sky and only on the eastern most side it lightened up. People went every far to catch the beautiful view, probably the best. A bell rang from the Vivekananda rock seconds before the sunrise. Everyone was alert. Sun slowly raised from the waters of the ocean as if someone is pulling a red ball from the waters. I captured the whole scene in my camera in the form of a video but believe me, what was witnessed there was beyond what any video can do to you. Sun became so bright after the full sunrise that we had to put hand above the eyes to continue watching the scene. This time it was clear sky and we thanked the clouds silently. Earlier to watching this scene I used to wonder how to differentiate the photos of a sunrise and sunset. Now I know.

Later to the sunrise we walked along the stone bridge built half a kilometer into the ocean. We reached the edge of it. The feeling of sitting on one of the last rocks of it was more than amazing. Sitting there for a moment I thought, what if all these waters come on to me right now! Then I heard my innerself saying, "Ok, bring it on!". One of the  marvelous scenes and moments of my life was that. 

The visit to the city of three oceans will always remain in my memories. All the hundreds of photographs that I clicked will ensure I will not lose the taste of the scenes. 

Take a brake... Take Home #313

Doing something about which you are passionate does not bore you. But over doing it may not be a good idea. Take a deserving brake in between. You will not lose the touch anyway and moreover, you will get rejuvenated. 

Try to inspire... Take Home #312

There is a difference between trying to change someone and trying to inspire someone. Never try to change people, because you never know when they will get changed again. Try to inspire people, because once they get realized there are mean chances that they look back; also they may inspire more people.

Trainers are the brains... Take Home #311

Inculcating the wish to win in a person is far more difficult than training him for the whole art of the game. Not the skill but the wish to win from within probes him to move on and give his best even if the opponent is more experienced and skillful. And the skill he possesses is just an aid that supports him during the tough fights.

Trainers are the brains whereas players are the limbs of any game, most of the times.  

Jump the queue... Take Home #310

If you get away with what you have got, you may have to be followed by the success and that too only if you are fortunate. If you hang on and look for more, you will always be in the queue towards success. It is upto you how you make sure you jump the queue. After all, jumping the queue is not always wrong!

The first love... Take Home #309

Everyone experiences the first love within themselves and with themselves. Being loving from inside is important to love someone else and to be bestowed with love the whole life. 

Along with the house, some portion of the mind gets cleared too!

When the house is cleaned and all the things are arranged back in their places, along with the house, some portion of the mind gets cleared too. I've noticed it many number of times including today. There is a certain calmness comes to me that it keeps me cool and open for many other thoughts. 

The initiation to clean the house starts when the mind and body are open to tackle the task. The body allows you to do so only when it is in its normal working condition. Any kind of ailment can put it away from some of the physical form of work. Once the cleaning is done, along with the satisfaction, something else as well happen to you. I guess, that's the clearance of the laziness that some portion of the mind was going through before the task was started. It feels great once the ice is broken.

Being regular in cleaning takes a lot of your mind than body. Its to do with certain form of the discipline one's mind is grown up. This generation's working women cannot anyway continue with their discipline unless otherwise its too much occupied in the head due to the family back ground or whatever. But being pretty much irregular is not good at all. When house does not give you a kind of soothingness, does not matter how much you may earn, its of no use for your inner well being. If the couple share the work and maintain the house, its the best form of doing it. Not just that working women needs support, it also makes sure the man of the house takes at least some portion of the responsibility of keeping things in place everytime he uses one. Its very helpful for any women, working or non-working, if her husband keeps things in place and also teaches the kids to do the same. 

Keeping mind clear is far more important than keeping the house cleaned. House is your back yard and only your family, at the maximum, can get impacted. But if the mind is not clear, it can its toll on many people around you in the society you live. Better be responsible in maintaining it to be clear most of the time.

B.tech days are the best... #2 - (Food in mess)

It's been more than two years since I wrote the first post of this series. Not that I forgot about it. The fact is that I did not care enough to write again otherwise nothing else stopped me from doing this post! Well, whatever happened has happened. I will like to keep up writing about the B.tech days. Hope I will not brake the chain this time. 

There is a serious competetion when I try to figure out which memories come to my mind first when I go back in time to the B.tech days. Although the course was for four years, it appeared as if it lasted longer than any time. I think I must go by a given topic rather than trying to write down starting from the best memories. Now its time to take the first one.

If you are a foodie, you cannot escape from the very thought of it. Especially when you recollect the hostel days and by chance food comes to your mind, you will have to stop there and go deep. In B.tech hostel, we had a relatively big mess. It was not a canteen type where one can buy and eat. I wish it was that. Food used to be cooked there and served. 

Rice has to be believed as rice, not always though. You have to serve yourself with a small plate instead of the rice serving spoon. We always go with a hungry stomach to mess which probes us to take the rice quantity as maximum as possible that appears to be ok for that meal. Curries and chutney get served at the dining table itself in small curry serving steel sets with two levers. Sambar and rasam are kept in buckets, small buckets of course. I mean not too small as that of the ones you get in a rastaurent if you order dal tadka. Somewhat bigger than those and smaller than the buckets used in bath room, if I have to say it leterally. Curd again in the buckets. The chutney what the mess staff call is with a different name every day, but by looks and sometimes taste as well, it appears to be the same everyday. Chapati's are not there in the menu, this surprises many of my north indian friends everytime I mention. If there is any curry or a fry that is special for the day, it gets served by a mess-staff member on the first table. There is no chance of a second round for obvious reasons, and by chance you ask for some more when you are getting served, they will make sure that they attend your wish and then its your turn to regret why have I asked for this much of extra amount. 

The best part of any lunch and dinner is the friends with whom you are seated. People usally go with the same batch all the times, except few times when its not possible for some reason. Meal definitely stars by putting the first sip in mouth but no one can say when it ends. In a batch, as there are people from different specializations of engineering, obviously the count of the topics for discussion is always on higher note. It might be easy for a lecturer to complete the syllebus but it becomes very difficult to cover all the topics of discussion in a single meal. It extends and extends until the lights and fans start getting switched off in the mess. It continues in the after-meal walking too. Most of the times we go for a walk to continue with the topics but they are appear to be the proper afetr-meal walks to reduce or whatever. If it is a saturday, the walk might end as a group discussion on the road itself and it continues for hours. Sunday morning's brakefast is Rava Dosa almost every time. You have to pass through a long que to get yourself served. You stay helpless when some of the dosas go out in a short cut! Once I was in the que and I heard a final year student saying, "You know, when I was in my first year there used to be some people who take the dosas without standing in the que. I thought that must be becasue they were the final year students. Now I'm in my final year, still I have to pass through the same que. Now I realize that its not the year that matters, its something else". 

I'm not able to recollect much about the brakefast as it was not the important thing during those mornings. Very few number of times I remember going for it. Everytime before exam I used to go for it. It used to be ok types if not perfect. Of course it used to get counted in the bill that we had to pay for the mess, but it didn't bother us as such. The menu and mess did not change much during the four years of time. Recently I'd been to hostel and the mess during a vacation after almost a gap of three years, still I didn't find much difference. Those memories surrounded me and tears did rounds in my eyes. As I write this, it feels good and refreshing. That's about the food in hostel during B. tech. 

Hostel life and the best times!

Talking to your good old pals bring back those beautiful memories. Those good times spent together come alive once again. Time might have passed as if it is very urgent. But the good thing is that it cannot take away so easily the memories of the past times. If the friend whom you talked to is from your college days and that too from your hostel life, nothing can stop you from going back in time to knock the door of memories that still lying in the same rooms and places where once lived with friends. 

I always liked my hostel life at IIT Delhi for many reasons. Few of them are as following. If you wish, you can always be surrounded by the friends who like you and whom you like. You can reach out to many of them and you can expect unconditional support from them, provided you reciprocate. Common problems are faced by all hence they can help each other very much. Even in case of any specific problem, you can open up quickly and frankly to inform about the situation to your friends. You roam around and it does not bore to visit the same places again and again. You discuss about everything under the sun and conclude nothing. You watch movies at mid-night and if it turns out to be a horror movie, you end up holding each other and scream. You can go crazy and still can sustain the weird looks if any. Birthday parties and the night outs are the awesome experiences. Celebrations of the new  year or any festival make one go crazy. You need no explain anyone why you come late from the lab. You can still walk in the middle of the streets when the temperature touches zero degrees or even if the rain is pouring down like never before and never again. You can sleep under the rajaai until either you wake up yourself or until someone knocks the door to call you for breakfast. I have to stop somewhere and hence putting a full stop here. 

I can go on writing about those days. It has been almost six years that I lived last in a hostel. All these six years have brought different experiences to me but nothing is best than those beautiful times. Food, yes, that seems to be a problem for most of the people who stay in hostel. But believe me, you start enjoying it once you start commenting the food along with your friends. Amidst all those laughter, you will never realize when you finished the whole stuff. If you can buy a chutney bottle, you will realize how fast it can get finished. It turns out to be a great fun at the end. If you recollect those moments like me after so many years, you will want to go back to the same mess with your friends and eat there again, never minding what will be served to you. Those are some of the best times of my life. 

True or false matters... Take Home #308

Not everyone is capable enough to have people around who are willing to be so. Capability is in terms of the dedication that one has for what he is doing and for the people around. Not in terms of power, need and helplessness, which are the major reasons why people come together most of the times. 

I salute all those leaders who have succeeded in generating the willingness in people to be with them. Right or wrong, does not matter. In life true or false matters.

Canal into the ocean, a first time experience...

I had been to sea shore of the Arabian ocean recently. Unexpectedly, there was a canal that was getting mingled with the ocean. That was for the first time I saw such a sight. It was far different from what I imagined it to be. River mingling might be an entirely different process. This was a small canal, in the village called 'Veli' near Trivandrum. 

It was on a full moon day we went there. The tides were on their own and to the fullest. At least, I never saw more intense waves earlier. As the canal was also getting mixed there, the beach was with full of trash. The canal carries lot of hanging tree types. So, all that comes and gets accumulated at the bank between the ocean and the canal. The narrow passage, where the water flows into the ocean, gets cleaned water after the trash is removed or side lines by the staff, probably working there. It looked very difficult for them to do that job. The result was the beach that appeared unmaintained. More staff might be needed to do the needful. The place exactly where the water gets into the ocean from the canal, water waves dark in color were obderved. Probably that was due to the mud flown from the canal most likely due to the trash which gets decomposed after floating for longer time. One more interesting thing was, at that site there was no barricade kind of a thing. The water flows into the ocean so fastly. If by any chance, or by mistake, you get into the canal there, you are directly into the ocean amidst those dirty tides as said earlier. It's dangerous. The soil at the bank was also so wet due to the tides that at any moment it can be get mixed to the water! They must do some arrangement there. 

The whole site was with full of black trash majorly. But the scene was ecstatic. Later to watching that, my desire to watch a river-ocean mingling site has been increased. I will go for it next time, probably at the east coast, where we get to see more of such sites compared to that of the west coast. 

Unique... Take Home #307

Every moment is unique. Every person is unique. Keeping this in mind, experiencing life to the fullest possibility with the apt level of acceptance is a wonderful bliss. It needs to be practiced. Better we maintain the learnings. 

My experiences with 'Dosa'

I thought I should write down some of my experiences with one of my favourite breakfast, Dosa. I always liked it so much. My mother, when she used to come to meet me when I was in hostel during my intermediate (plus two), would get the dosas from home along with the mirchi powder that I liked very much. That used to be the first food of the day, it used to be a Sunday. That's the mother's love and some portion of the episode was my love as well towards dosa. I prefer to order dosa if I go to any hotel. Below are some of my experiences.  

In Andhra Pradesh, the state that I belong to, dosa and chutney is the breakfast most of the people like or eat. Only in some families or in some regions one can see the sambar comning into the dosa plate. Otherwise not. My dad gets the dosa as brakefast sometimes for me from the hotel. I simply like the taste of it and also another reason is that I like the taste of the chutney what they give. I have told my mom the same many times, she prefers to order it than asking me to eat whatever she cooks. 

When I was around fifteen years old, I had been to a relatives' place in central Karnataka. We ordered a dosa in a restaurent. It came so big that we had to check back the menu card for the name of the dosa. I don't exactly remember it right now, but the name definitly suited its size. I'm not sure if it had sambar in the plate. It took ages for me to complete that. Generally I'm a slow eater. I made those waiting moments longer for those people who were with me.

When I was in Delhi, I happened to order one plate of dosa in a restaurent. We usally go for ordering dosa as breakfast outside, since that's one of the few items that come hot and prepared just then. First thing that I remember from that hotel is that dosa costed huge in Delhi. I was surprised to see the price. It was hardly believable. When the dosa was brought for serving finally, by looking at it in the server's hands itself, my mind decided of what to expect and what not to from that. There was a big sambar bowl in the plate, as if half price of the dosa is for it. Chutney came in such a small bowl that we had to cut dosa into really small pieces so that they could enter the bowl for a sip if not a dip. Similar was the experience I had in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Let me also mention here that both the times, the coffee was given in the glasses which almost looked like mugs! I was happy that I never had a habbit of drinking coffee. The way one gets attracted towards tea and coffee is that he or she cannot get away without it and if it is served in mugs like, one has no option than just consuming it. Once you know the price, you cannot even leave anything in that 'mug'. 

In most of the regions of south India, you need not check in the restaurent if dosa is available or not. But in Maharastrian restaurents you have to check for that before you fix in mind that you will eat it. Sometimes, even after they take the order, you may have to be ready to receive an answer at anytime that they are not able to prepare it as the dosa aata is made improper and it's not coming out from tawa! Once I along with my parents faced such a situation while we were on the way to Ellora-Ajantha caves. There is a hotel in dosa near my residence. It is called 'Benne Dosa centre'. You get variety of dosas there. They are named like, cut dosa, sada dosa etc. I'm not able to name more, as I did not care to order the rest of them. But these two are really good. Also, for the first time, in Pune I saw the aata getting sold with which you can prepare Idli/Utappam/Dosa at home etc. It tastes pretty different from what you make at home although it tastes good. Ocassionally I buy that but otherwise I prefer making it at home. 

As I get to know from few freinds who hail from Tamilnadu or those who stay in Tamilnadu on a job, dosa is like a basic necessity than a food item. You cannot come out of Tamilnadu without having dosa and sambar. If you do, you might either have no interest in dosa or if you have not got a chance. Once I had been to Pondicherry. But that visit did not allow me to taste dosa. I thought I will have it next time, for sure. Recently I'd been to Kanyakumari. There I had it, to the full of my stomach and mind as well. The chutney again tasted simply superb and the dosa was of course great.

I'm in Trivandrum on a vacation rigth now. I've had a 'Ghee toast dosa'. It tasted awesome. Sambar was there but in a small bowl relatively. While I was waiting for my order to get served, I happened to see the white board which they use to write down the varities avalailable for the day. They wrote 'Plain Dosai', 'Masala Dosai' etc. I heard 'Dosai' earlier but only when a caterer told me the available breakfast items.  Now here, it got onto the display board. Whatever, dosa tasted so impressive. 

For dosa, to eat which I do not ever take a couple of minutes, I never thought I will write this big. Well, that's my dosa story, my expereices with Dosa in different states of India.