Dizzee World !!!

We went to Dizzee World for an afternoon. No.. not Disney in LA, Dizzee in Chennai on our recent trip to India. With the kids that was more than we hoped to pull off on a hot weekday.

This place is relatively expensive by Indian standards. I have only visited VGP amusement park in the past in Chennai, that too in 1993!! Now there are almost 15 of these parks on the East coast road! This is the first time, I have actually made time to visit one of the parks.

We were greeted at the entrance by a mickey look alike.. lets call him Mikcey !


I really dont know if MGM (the Metro Goldwyn Meyer) owns or has a stake in Dizzee world.

We went on the giant wheel first. It was really nice. Jr., who is supposed to be Dora's next avatar, was actually scared of the giant wheel..

but baby!!! what a surprise! She really enjoyed it. Everytime we all got butterflies in our stomach, she let out peals of laughter and was giggling away.

Here are some views from the top of the giant wheel..






Then of course were the little harmless rides which Jr. went for with her mom. These are the same standard (looks, maintenance, everything) to rides in our local parks here in the Bay area (Bonfante gardens or Kelley Park!)


The themes and decorations were cute. Here is Jr. taking a break between rides .

They had a whole section of games where you toss rings around bottles and win prizes , etc. etc. But the people who man those booths were all missing. Gone for lunch!! A two hour lunch (we just gave away those coupons to the doorman while exiting).

Then, we had Jr. go on some really kid safe rides, like the carousel and Cinderella rides..




It was a weekday and the place was almost empty. Then a bunch of school kids came out of nowhere. Must have been a school excursion or picnic. Jr. suddenly found herself josling for a place on some rides. She was a natural "jostler"!

After the school crowd left, we once again were left to enjoy the empty rides. She got an unlimited ride! on the train and played in the video arcade to her hearts content. Only 50% of the machines worked. The rest had a notice on them which said "I am sick"!! But we had plenty of machines to play with and had them all to ourselves. Incidentally the arcade was the only air conditioned building in the park. So we enjoyed the break from the sun.

Then there were the rides from hell. I avoided all those rides. My brother came out of one and described his experience as one similar to an ant who has just come out of a mixer!

Just when we were about to exit the amusement park, San spotted the mother of all rides. She tried to get me on the ride. Mr. Chicken promptly refused and she insisted on going alone!

They couldnt have a solo rider, so the operator went and found one of his buddies to balance San on the other side of the ride. Then things got worse. The ride went on and on and it didnt look like it was going to stop. San started screaming from the top. We started screaming from the bottom. I suspected some foul play and my brother went rushing to the top. The belt had broken!! They had to switch off the mains and let the thing come to a stop on its own. San must have set the record for the longest ride on the swing chairs. She couldnt walk properly for some time.

I avoid these rides for a reason. At the end of the day, they are not safe! In my first 4 years in California we had seen two accidents. One in the Great America Park where a kid flew out of the "drop zone" (the very next day after we had gone on the same ride !) and another kid flew out of the Jurassic Park ride in Universal studios!! I was really getting knots in my stomach when I realized that something was wrong and was just glad that they knew how to locate the main switch!!

On the whole Dizzee was a good experience, except for that one ride. The kids and the adults had a great time..

Bom Jesus Basilica - Goa

On our first day in Goa, we visited the Bom Jesus Basilica, a 500 year old church which also has the mummified remains of St. Xavier.

It was an amazing place. You walk through two giant trees which look to be 500 years old and the gas lights remind you of another age!

Calm and quiet with so many passing through the church and praying. The side of the building and some of the inside pillars are going through a renovation of sorts..

The inner sanctum..










After we visited this church we crossed the road to go to the St. Francis of Assisi Church, which also houses a museum.




But it was an extremely hot day (as is seen by the state of the street dogs at 11 AM!)

So we decided do take some pictures of Jr. and baby on the benches, and went on to buy them some hats and drink some "elaneer" (fresh coconut water)!

I could not help but wonder how this place managed to stay unchanged for so many years. Also thought of how in the US of A, historic places average anywhere between 100 to 250 years old, but the way they are publicized, facilitized and "touristized" for lack of a better word contrasts with the "yeah, it is 1000 years old! so ?" style in India.

On one hand, it is great that these places are not "commercialized" the same way as in western countries (They find out that some former president or Indian chief pissed on a stone and before you know it there is a nice highway with an exit right near the "monument", with a visitor center that sells everything from keychains to digital camera accessories, brochures, a few restaurants, not to mention a nice set of toilets with diaper changing stations!). One almost gets the same feel when you enter any of these touristy locations. I guess this is one way to create history as you grow older.

On the other hand it is also sad to see such a great resource (anything this nice and this old like the Basilica) that is under utilized (for starters, think of all the parking ticket money the local government could collect!). But it makes for a much more relaxing and natural vacation as opposed to a mechanical "visit" to a place where you almost have the trip standardized. There are pros and cons with both approaches and I am glad that I do get to go places in both countries.

We had a great time visiting the Churches. After this we went on to see a few temples which were once again very old, but that is a story for another day..

Goa beaches..

We spent three days in Goa. Except for San, the rest of us are seeing Goa for the first time..

Words usually fail to describe anything this beautiful.. so I will stick to the pictures.

Culva beach

The dolphin sighting boat rides at Coco Beach

Jr. meets Fanta for the first time, in her India trip. She loved her!

Calangute beach..

Baga beach. (after a long time I saw a bunch of Brits, Desis and West Indians play cricket together, last time was in a field in Philadelphia!)

Vagator beach (I liked this one the most).

Lived it.. loved it!!

Bombay eats..

As is customary with every Bombay (Mumbai) stay, we visited Mahalakshmi. This is one beautiful and simple temple on the ocean front with the idols of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati juxtaposed.

After we visit the deity, we go behind the temple to see the little Hanuman and Ganesh idols (they look like two mini temples on the backside). Right at that corner is one of my favorite eats. The samosa and tea stall, with benches that have an ocean view.

The menu is shown for your drooling pleasure !!

Mouth watering stuff. I have got to stop this habit of posting about good eats just before going to bed! All those stomach acids, can't be good.

Like Homer Simpson says "Hmmmmmmmmm... yummmmmmmmmmmy"!

Tasty treats..

One of the highlights of visiting West Mambalam was the local Idiappam (which we call Sevai).

The sevai is sold in front of a house in Station road. People just stop by on their way home from work and eat (or take home). The roadside stall opens at 4 and closes as soon as it gets dark.

For 15 rupees you get a box of plain Sevai (incidentally this is the same aluminum container in which the airlines serve their main course!). For 18 rupees you get coconut and lemon flavoured sevai.

They also sell Kozhukkattai (sweet dumplings)..

The sevai is freshly made and is yummmmmy as can be. I was dreaming of the sevai on my return flight, when I saw that container..Why couldn't I have had Sevai on the in-flight menu ? What if that dude started a branch where we live ? He could call it "Drive by Sevai".. etc. etc.

hmmmmmmmmm...yummmmmmmmy..just thinking about it makes my mouth water again!