Coorg

Although we are more than two months late, here are some pictures from our trip to Coorg.We stayed in Crimson Eye, a homestay in Madikeri, Coorg. It's a gorgeous old house with a lovely view of the hills, a sprawling garden, full of colourful blooms, and ummm .... even some snakes :)

 

A lovely garden and a macro lens meant long afternoons spent shooting flowers. Of course the crawling on all fours shooting macros ended the moment we spotted our first slithery friend :P

Since Coorg was uncharacteristically warm, cold beverages were the order of the day...and night :)

Besides the usual touristy sightseeing, our trip was full of walks into the town for shopping and for coffee and tea at a tiny Udipi Hotel, picnic lunches in the garden, freaking out over snakes, explaining to the caretaker what we wanted for our meals, and watching movies on our laptops amidst long and frequent power cuts.  We saw some of the most serene and beautiful sunrises and sunsets at the Hotel Valley View, Raja's Seat and Talacauvery:








The highlight of the trip had to be our drive to Mandalpatti, an almost unexplored view point in the middle of nowhere, that felt like it was the top of the world. Accessible only by jeep, it was about an hour away from where we were staying. We cannot describe how it felt to stand up there in the heavy wind that almost knocked us over, warmed by the rising sun.

The beautiful Abbey Falls - shooting long exposures from the rather shaky, makeshift bridge overlooking the falls:

The Dubare Elephant Training Camp - as mentioned, it was hot enough to make us envy the elephants as they lounged in the cool water:

Coffee berries that Filter Coffee tried to bite off:

After the hectic months leading up to the wedding, Coorg was a great place to relax, unwind and put our feet up.

Mrs Iyer and Mrs Iyengar

At the end of the wedding, when all the rituals were done, mom and I remembered that we were yet to take the Left-Right picture that we had been planning all along. I am an Iyer and Ashwin is an Iyengar. So mom wore her madisar (9-yards sari) the Iyer way, and I wore it the Iyengar way. The pallus go on opposite sides in the two styles. So here we are, with our make up smudged, hair dishevelled, jewellery taken off and saris crumpled - it is one of my favourite pictures from the wedding :)

PS: We made the images on the blog bigger yaaay :)

We are back!

It's been a loooong while since we posted any updates on this blog. We've had very little time following the wedding, since we've been doing a lot of traveling. While there has been quite a bit happening, here are a few updates:

* The wedding went off awesomely! To add drama, there was a bandh in Hyderabad on the day of the wedding! Filter Coffee's entourage was accompanied by an Army van to deter protesters :))

* Filter Coffee ate at a wedding for the FIRST time ever! Stuff from his worst nightmares were fed to him, and Irani Chai was beyond pleased:P

* Another reception at Madras followed the hectic wedding week. By the time we arrived at the venue, there were over 100 hungry guests waiting to meet us, and more importantly, their dinner :P

* Coorg was quite warm, much to our disappointment. But the clear weather made for great photography, much to our delight :) Snakes (including one cobra) crawling around us in power cut induced darkness made the stay even more interesting :))

* Sunrise at Kovalam marked our first month together. Again, friendly skies made for great pics.

Wedding pics - approx 2500
Coorg pics - approx 2000
All other pics - approx 500

Obviously, we have a whole lot of reviewing and sorting to do, but here are a few from the wedding to get us started. These were shot by the official photographer for the wedding.


A smile and a laugh at the reception:

Filter Coffee hard at work :))

Giving away the bride - Kanyadhaan
THE moment :)

Exchanging rings:
Filter Coffee and Irani Chai :)
The wedding is behind us, but Irani Chai and Filter Coffee is far from over :P
We'll continue to update this blog with random stuff that we do together, especially the photographs we take:)

Mehendi :)

Yaaaaay my mehendi is done- I had to get my little sister to shoot pictures of my hands. The colour on the wrists is just not satisfactory, so Najma is trying some tricks of the trade, like holding my hands over smoke from burning cloves. I hope it works and the colour darkens :) If it doesn't, it just means Ashwin is going to be a really evil husband :P

Battleplan

Terrible as I am at planning, its essential to have someone who can do a better job at organizing.

I am glad that its in the safe hands of Sister and BIL who handle the entire nitty gritty details - from receiving people, catering to their unique requirements to the inevitable last minute shopping.

The battleplan takes center stage at their home:

Alright - looks like this will be the last post (atleast from me) before the wedding. Its almost time for that last minute shopping now - ciao :)

Sole-mates

I've always loved flat footwear ....but after loads of comments about how I need to get high heels and how we make an amitabh and jaya jaisi jodi, I've been spending a lot of time stocking up on high-heeled shoes :)


Ashwin is on the train to Hyderabad, and I can't wait for him to get here :)

Off to get married!!

...and so it begins :)

* Suit - check

* Clothes - check

* Rings - check

* Camera(s) - check

* This is turning out to be a list :P

I give up - bet there are a 100 things I dont remember - ready or not - here I go!!! :D

Nervous ? Yes - muchos, woke up today with a sense of "things will never be the same again". But cant wait for 21st Jan 2010 :)