Long August weekend in Goa

Long August weekend in Goa, a set on Flickr.

We went to visit Goa during the low season (Monsoon). Despite our fears of continuous heavy rainfall the weather was quite OK throughout our 4 days there - overcast and light drizzle at times.

We stayed at Lalit Goa, which was a fantastic change from the hustle and bustle of Bangalore with few visitors, beautifully landscaped surroundings and the waves of the Arabic Sea hitting the deserted beach.

Latter half of August is a real cluster of Indian bank holidays at least where I work here. Yesterday was Janmashtami, next Wednesday is Ramzan and next Thursday Ganesh Chaturthi. In other words, respectively, Lord Khrishna's (Hindu deity) birthday, end of Ramadan (I think) and Ganesha (Hindu elephant deity) celebration.

All pics as a slide show here.

It's getting wet

Road, not a lake, a photo by Dopeyrizer on Flickr.

It's been raining cats and dogs for a couple of days - close to 200mm of rainfall. This has eroded many roads to almost undriveable condition with deep puddles and potholes everywhere.

As you can see from below, farmland is drenched as well.

Bangalore is on a plateau, so water should in principle flow away from here to every direction, but at the moment it's just wet wet wet everywhere.

Flower show at Lalbagh

Flower show at Lalbagh, a set on Flickr.

Went to see the independence day flower show at Lalbagh gardens. The place was packed with people and with flowers and veggies of a million kind too. The flower dislay at the old greenhouse was a bit too packed for my liking, but there was more room at the other displays, some of which we hadn't seen before. Here's a link to all the pics as a slide show.

Afterwards, we went to Sunny's on 100ft Road for lunch, which was yummy as usual.

Household pet

Latest pet, a photo by Dopeyrizer on Flickr.

Let me make this very clear: I'm really not into dogs, cats, rats or other kinds of furry domestic pets. I might be okay with an aquarium, but wonder if I'm really cut for such commitment, either.

Here in India these fellows provide us live entertainment every night chasing insects. Some dare to come in, some stay outside the window and benefit from the light shining through and attracting prey. They're cute, require no attention and we even share a common enemy in the form of mozzies.

So I'm quite happy to let them roam around in the house too. There's just something about their twisted pose with wide spread toes that just feels non-treatening and and fun - even for a non-animal lover like myself.