The Call of the Wild, Heading to Madagascar!

July 8, 2016

Wrapping up my (re) entry into Africa from the island nation – I was looking ahead and getting deeper. Madagascar – another island nation, the fourth largest I read, was next up. I was certain that if the Mauritius trip was fantabulous I think Madagascar is going to top it. I am yearning to explore it’s exotic wild life and very unique flora and fauna. Of course they have the Lions and just like in the animated Dreamworks film Madagascar and it’s sequels!

The Movie & It's Sequels ! — The Movie & It’s Sequels !

Lions roam wild here and I bet they’d be a treat to watch especially in their natural habitat. I want to capture this regal beast through my lens and see how that shapes up given that I am still an amateur when it comes t o photography and definitely not a wildlife one at that! Of course then their are the people and the gold for which this isolated island nation is famous and I look forward to the food there.

Antananarivo the home of Malagasy power!

I will be landing Antananarivo and am booked at the Hotel de ‘l Avenue for the first week till I get a feel of the city and the country and the plan is to roam free for over 2 weeks across the country – a good 18 days as per my plan. I’d initially thought that I’d go up from Mauritius but then there were a few personal and business tuff that I needed to attend to back in the old country and I take a flight from Delhi to Mumbai and then Mumbai to Mahe Island and then onto Antananarivo on the 6th of July. The round trip air tickets cost me Rs 60 ,000 $890 on Air Seychelles, code shared with Jet Airways. The six nights at the hotel would set me back MGA 673,200, $206 or Indian Rupees 13,933 – the local currency is the Malagasy Ariary and the climate is heavenly at this time of the year and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Madagascar has a visa on arrival for Indian Tourists and I am carrying enough American dollars to make my way through the country. So folks hold on to your seat and get ready for a continuation of my African Adventure!

By adminin Bangalore, others

Ghost Busting at Bengaluru

May 30, 2016

May be it was that movie Phobia that I watched last night but suddenly I was googling the top 10 haunted places at Bangalore. It sounded intriguing and i felt i had to check these places out and figure out whether they really were haunted.

https://www.facebook.com/anujtikku1974/videos/892389534220962/

So on I went on my journey after that breakfast meal of Chettinad Chicken and rice. I grabbed myself an auto and told him I’d contract hime for the day. I showed him a few places on my cell phone and said I wanted to get there. .“ Let’s goto Victoria hospital sir , it is near by “ . I told the auto driver I was a reporter from Delhi , investigating Haunted Places in Bangalore . So we whisked off to the Hospital . I initially inquired with the local guard who was drunk as hell”

https://www.facebook.com/anujtikku1974/posts/892374107555838

Na na sir i have never seen a booth or a ghost here , i have been here for 10 years , i saw nothing it is all bakwass .” My further investigation’s lead me to believe that the story on the internet was all a hoax no one had seen or heard go ghost’d hear. But for me what sealed the issue was the testimony of the Jamadar Shambhu who use to carry dead bodies for autopsy “ It is was bakwaas bunkhas people say a woman in white clothes comes here and you

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can here the sound of here payal .But i see or hear nothing , all for free publicity for websites .” My last interview kind of nailed it for me “ Some people come here and want to measure radioactivity here , where they get negative waves they say the ghost is their , but their is no scientific proof that the Hospital is haunted and of course their has been no such complaint’s or sighting’s filed .” So zero ghosts here.

https://www.facebook.com/anujtikku1974/posts/892376770888905

I wanted to remained spooked though , so i headed for another address Terra Vera , St. Marks Road . It is said that two sisters once lived here and one of them was brutally murdered by an outsider . Since then the other sister went mad as people use to hear sounds of whaling and shrieking from

https://www.facebook.com/anujtikku1974/videos/892377207555528/

the house. I had to explore this one , but when we got their to my disappointment that house had

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been pulled down to make way for a sky rise. Although the student’s siting around the site would vouch for it’s myth .

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“Yes they say this use to be a haunted house here , but the pulled the damn place down . We guy’s have been hanging around here for sometime now , but sorry no ghost’s here , this is a chilled out place .” Indeed it was it had Baskin Robbins , Restaurant’s and Pub’s near by the place was on M.G Road for god sakes .So again a big egg as it were a zero there and no ghosts only myths to show

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Evening was upon us before we started of for Kalpani Cemetry , this was located in a small underdeveloped and impoverished part of Banglore . This Cemetry was large and had a huge statue of Jesus on a cross in the middle . I took my photo’s and interviewed the gate keeper of the place who again denied the presence of a spirit or ghost here . No sir no dead bodies rising here , it’s a

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quiet place .” the little urchins running around also confirmed this , with some chicken’s running around the cemetery this hardly looked a haunted place. I was convinced Banglore’s haunted places are not haunted at all . I felt like a Ghost Buster who had fought the world to prove that their is nothing haunted about Bangalore and I did not win that contest! . With this thought I went back to my rickshaw and it had started raining by now and a cool wave of brisk drop’s hit me flush on the face with rain glorious that was upon us and my trip in Bengaluru was on its last leg and there was suddenly rain!

By adminin others

The Vivanta Experience

April 27, 2016

I checked out of the hotel at Raj Bagh, Srinagar. Had the morning tea and showered with an OYO branded soap and shampoo and thought that they – OYO has really gotten their act together when it came to branding. I took the local taxi which the hotel staff called for me and trudged on to Taj Vivanta elsewhere and where I had a night’s booking through my Taj Inner Circle Card. At Rs 20,000, $300 a night it was a bomb of an expense to have on your personal affront ! But the view from my cottage was amazing in the morning and it was worth the experience one could get a panoramic view of the lake the mountain top’s and the sun all merging into one.

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I enjoyed a hearty meal of Pasta and Truffles and went to sleep after I bathed in the splendour of the king’s shower and in a private jacuzzi, scrubbing my skin with oil , scents and other creams . This was indulgence to the hilt. I called up my grandmother and she said just be happy, you are alone I know but try to be happy. I was in a confused state but enjoyed the view for all it’s worth.

Then it was Kahwa time. This is the traditional Kashmiri tea which I sipped as I saw the sunset over the Dal Lake, a view to behold. Next morning was breakfast of paratha and curd and then a late checkout at 2:00 pm . The total bill Rs 26,000 about $390 and lot’s of Inner Circle points.

I moved into Al Zahoor for the rest of my stay in Srinagar in the evening I would stroll down the bridge to Lal Chowk for a meal in Ahdoos , or float away into the near by kebab shop to have boti kebab with roti’s. I walked into the local stores which were well stacked up and bought two jar’s of Kahwa (Kashmiri tea ) for my grandmother. There was a taxi and scooter strike in the city for two days and I usually walked my way through the town.

But the Taj experience top’s it all and I really enjoyed it. Next afternoon I was on board the Jet Flight to Delhi via Jammu it took three hours .The first thing that hit me was the Delhi heat but the journey had been worth it.