Entertaining Diversions

March 7, 2020 (Saturday) We had an evening gathering at Kanu’s house in New Providence Wharf. It started off on the right note, as I was able to get free parking (using Shobhit and Swati’s unutilised parking space) whereas in the last couple of years or so I have had to pay (£10 for over 4 hours). The guests today were Kunal, Ashwani, Kaushal (KT), Ankur, Vasu, Sneha, her friend Manan who is visiting from Mumbai, and Mishti and I. The food selection that was spread out was lavish and customised, and would have alone been enough to make it all worth it, even if a single word had not been uttered all evening. And this in spite of Kanu stating that she hadn’t gone the whole hog this time and kept it simple. There was fresh edamame for starters, along with French Fries, dahi wada and feteer like the ones we had had in Jordan recently. Then there was vada-paav, with the right chutney and masalas to remind us of Mumbai. It was a meal fit for a king, or at ...

Day 4 26 May 2019 (Sunday) The driving jokes kept coming thick and fast. Kanu asked me to reverse the car from the parking bay while they could commence and complete their breakfast. The jokes were steady and plentiful. The reassuring thing was that they were not treating me differently after my eye injury i.e. they were being mean as ever. Reversion to the mean, to coin a phrase! The plan for today was “Bohinj lake: Hike / Vogel cable car / Savica waterfall” before driving to Croatia (3 hours) and staying in Hotel Mariana & Rastoke at night to check out Plitvice Lakes National Park tomorrow. We ate leftover pizzas from yesterday, batata vadas and poha and checked out at 10 am and drove to Lake Bohinj (which, after learning that j is pronounced as i in Slovenian, Ashwani calls Lake Mohini). We took a cable car to the top. This is part of Julian Alps and it is also a ski resort in the winter, although there appear to be only a few slopes here. Th...

25 May 2019 (Saturday) Today was a more relaxed day. The weather was great till 11 am. So we had breakfast till 11 (in the open balcony as Kunal would remind us) and put our feet up! Then when everybody finally got ready to leave for Vintgar Gorge it started raining with a forecast of thunderstorms. We got ponchos and braved it. While driving to the gorge, I missed the toll collection again (similar to Innsbruck last year where we had a letter in German placed on our car saying something like ‘pay the fine at the counter, or else…’). When will these get automated I said in mock frustration before the uncomplimentary chorus intensified. The walk along the narrow wooden platform at the gorge was refreshing. The gorge was simply…well – I didn’t need to think too hard on this one –  … gorgeous. And the light breeze and the steady sound of flowing water more than made up for the drizzle which greeted us. I went ahead to walk on my own and enjoy solitude in the midst of the crowd. It was...

23 May 2019   Mishti peeked out of the window in the morning and pointed to a lake outside. I stood beside her and said to Sneha who was sleeping upstairs in the loft of our room: "There is a bleeding lake outside. Is it Bled?" It was the pretty sight of Lake Bled indeed. Sneha was sound asleep and couldn't care less for my bleeding joke. We swapped Day 2 of our itinerary with Day 1 because the weather was sunny and glorious today and is mixed tomorrow. There were some notes in our apartment about about the two hikes that were in store for us today:   The hike to Slemenova Spica is incredible. Starting from Slovenia's highest mountain pass - Vrsic - to Slemenova Spica is one of the classic short trails. With quite a small amount of effort, you can feel the presence of high walls and incredible views. The view just before you reach the top of this grassy peak is one of the most photographed shots in Slovenia. 2-3 hours. 35...

23 May 2019 Ten of us started our Slovenia-Croatia holiday today. Kunal, Kanu, Gaurav, Anshuman, Ashwani, Sneha, Kabir, Shalini, Mishti and I. Kabir and Shalini had added themselves much later, and will be staying in a separate hotel and hiring their own car. Some of us took a cab to Stansted from Credit Suisse at 4 pm and we were on our way. Our Whatsapp group for this trip is called ‘Slovaaania’. This is because Ashwani was on a date and the girl asked him where he was going for his next holiday. Confused between Slovakia and Slovenia, he came up with Slovaaania. Best of both worlds…or not. He hasn’t heard back from her since. There was some leg-pulling going on on Whatsapp as the start of the holiday neared. [5/22, 23:17] Mishti: Those leaving from CW tomorrow, please reach the meeting point at 3.50pm so that we can leave at 4. We don’t have a lot of buffer time if we hit traffic on the way [5/22, 23:56] Amit K: True joy is in havin...