Memories of days gone by...

A long expanse of land,
an even wider expanse of the sea,
rows of tall palm trees,
coupled with wonderful company,
mouth-watering food and divine wine,
what you've just got is the best of times!

Lots of laughter, full of crackles and giggles,
cosy night conversations,
and journeys full of singing songs,
watching ancient fort walls and wooden panes,
wondering about the way it started for them all,

A surmai fry and spicy crab curry,
wasn't all that we all ate!
oh how can I forget the sol kadhi and fish plate!

In the end, you realise that these sort of days,
are indeed very few,
and that is why we cherish them too,
what remains from all these times,
are a few photos and a couple of jokes,
but what really counts are the memories of those days gone by...

(Posted by clickable on behalf of Ayesha)

Comparisons

Better money doesn't necessarily mean a better trip. A good example of this would be my own experience with my family and my friends. I'd gone with my family to Murud-Janjira, it's a beach approximately 4 hours away from Bombay, and we'd taken a car on hire and spent 3 days over the weekend. Around 20 days later I went to the same place with my friends in two cars and we spent the same amount of time there too.

If you look at our expenses, with my friends we managed our entire trip in just about 2,500 totally for the 7 of us! For both nights, we stayed at people's houses who give one of their rooms on rent for a night.. our expenses for the first night were Rs. 1,000, and amazingly the room was very well tiled, (the taste of the tile too was pretty good) there were curtains, a nice wooden cabinet and all amenities you would find like a colour television and dvd player! I mean who would imagine, that in a village like murund, in the house of a man owns an ice cream shop you'd get all these facilities. Similarly for the second night, we found a house in another obscure village for simply Rs. 500!! and a point to note would be regarding their maintenance. people generally assume that villagers would be living in very simple (rudimentary) ways, but mind you, they've become very modern, their rooms, their toilets and in general their homes are very well taken care of, in spite of all their problems. My experience with the villagers did change my perceptions regarding their progress in today's world...

In complete contrast to my trip with my friends was my trip with my family, we stayed in the best hotel at the beach, went for long trips to the nearby areas, had a lazy time on the beach and we ate at only the best places, etc. So if i were to take an overview, with my family we ended up spending 15 times more than what i'd done with my friends!

In the end, all that i can say is that money had nothing to do with the amount i enjoyed, and the good times that we had... in the end, i guess it's just a matter of what you do, and not how much you spend on it!