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but only a few will catch your heart... Pursue those

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Sunday, August 25, 2013

A tale of Yatra to Lanka....



Paati, my hubby’s Grandma must be 80+ and most of her time is spent in cozy neat room in her son’s place. But the most surprising thing about her is every time we visit her, she quizzes me about latest happenings and current affairs. She is one wonderful lady who is very curious about everything around her even at this age.
As we discussed further our discussion took a deviation to Tamilians in Sri Lanka. Totally biased, I tried to put off the discussion saying I am not so curious about that island which has nothing else other than sea to see in it and that’s exactly when Paati took me on a tour to Sri Lanka…
As they say “Enthusiasm is contagious”, Paati’s knowledge, her enthusiasm with a country which has mythological relevance and now politically linked! This indulged me so much that I started traveling as she spoke about it…

We started our discussion about Lanka from a World heritage site Sigirya. As if the details of the place which is a lion shaped 200 meter high rock, on top of which was the palace built by King kasyapa dating back to 477AD not enough to surprise me, Paati told that this was the place much before that a parking spot for King Ravana’s Plane “Pushpaka Vimana”. Totally amazed, I googled to get a glimpse of it and started to transport myself to that amazing place!



She mocked at me as I was totally amazed by Michelangelo’s work in Sistine Chapel and had no knowledge about the great paintings of Unknown artist in Dambula which was much older than that of  the Michelangelo’s!!!


According to dear Paati, Sri lanka the Emerald Island had become so breathtakingly green because of the piece of Sanjeevani Parvatha(Mountain of medicinal herbs) which had fallen on this island in one of the stories in great hindu epic Ramayana.


No wonder there is divine intervention in such a beauty….isnt it???
And the best part of enjoying lanka according to Paati’s Knowledge was to take a train route to Kandy form Colombo and it would be like travelling into the world of greenery and struggling hard to remember the different shades of green there!!!


She just couldn’t control her excitement mentioning the beautiful orchids in Royal botanical garden and culturally rich Kandy which also host the great temple of Buddha’s tooth relic


  

Kandy Dace show
As we spoke, she served a cup of hot tea to energize our discussion and there she was reminded of Sri Lanka being one of the top Tea Exporting countries and the beauty of Tea plantation all around the beautiful hill station Nuwara elliya. Who can stop themselves from imagining dancing in Tea Plantaion?



As I imagined myself dancing in beautiful greenery and roaming around in culturally rich places, I felt like the sculptures mocking at me for being so ignorant of the place which is like heaven on earth.




And then I decide my next trip would be to this EMERALD ISLAND….


And nothing can stop me


And there I had typed http://www.yatra.com and dialed Yatra… “Hello Yatra….” and was attended by a very friendly customer support Travel manager, what could be more interesting when they told me they can offer a discount on 3rd traveler with me, if I wish to take anyone as I have been a loyal customer of Yatra!!!
Hurray, It was all set Me, Hubby and yes I know who the 3rd traveler with me would be… Thank you Yatra… you really do create happy travellers  


PS: This post is a document of my experience with a gratitude to Yatra(http://www.yatra.com) for it has been part of most of my memorable trips!!! And my entry to this contest in Indiblogger.

19 comments:

Rahul Bhatia said...

That was a splendid visual tour through scenic Sri Lanka with a nicely spun story:) Best of luck for the contest Ramya !BTW Patti does know a lot:)

Found In Folsom said...

That was pretty short and neat, Ramya. Btw, my hubby's grandma is also the same..you poke her and she keeps talking...

Ramya said...

@Rahul sir: thanks a lot for your nice comment :D and thanks to you for all the inputs about lanka :D

@FIF: thanks for your appreciation :D yeah I know most Grandma are like that :D and we love them that way.

Valay said...

Nicely written..
Good one Ramya. :)

Ramya said...

@Valay: thanks a lot for your encouragement :D

Milana said...

Wonderful way of narrating everything you saw through Paati's words. Like I mentioned before you and your hubby are globe trotters.

Nuthan said...

Hey Ramya, that's a very clever and interesting way of narrating your travel experience, nice one indeed.
hmm.. your writing and the beautiful pics drives our imagination too and am quite keen to go there for a holiday.
Am sure you would now have an unforgettable memory to treasure.

and you are right, there is divine intervention in such a beauty.. absolutely is.

Ramya said...

@Mils: hey thanks a lot buddy happy that you liked the post. Yeah i hope your words come true ;)

@Nuthan: Thanks a lot for your encouragement and yeah the place is very very serene place, its like Kerala but if you like greenery and peace pls go ahead book a trip to lanka :D

Ramya said...

@Ash: go on :D SL is one of the best place u should be planning a trip soon :D

Ittigecement said...

Wonderful way of narrating...
Thank You....

Ramya said...

@SMM: :D Thanks a lot

ashok said...

wow! great snaps!

Ramya said...

@Ashok thanks!

Indrani said...

Wonderful tour! I hope I can visit some day!

Ramya said...

@Indrani: thanks a lot for your appreciation :D sure you will fly to that beautiful island soon :D

Anita Sabat said...

Great pics & story, Ramya!
Wanna visit SL again! Just have had a chance to visit Colombo & missed all the cultural wonders you have mentioned!
All the best for the Contest!

Ramya said...

@Anita: thanks a lot for your compliments :D oh is it you visited colombo ??? oh then make a trip soon to other places of Lanka

BGT said...

Wow yaar. Sri Lanka is beautiful. I was of the same opinion as you in the sense that it is covered by water body and that's about it. Nice place to visit outside of India.

Ramya said...

@Binu: yeah but thing is its mostly like Kerala :) so u may not enjoy it but then you must visit once :)