Australia - a year later

On a whim I wanted to go on a holiday. My no-birthday gift milked beyond measure and anniversary far far away I had no occasion or reason. Hence just resorted to a temper tantrum and I landed myself across the equator into the southern hemisphere to this lovely Aussie holiday in 3 days flat from fury to flight-courtesy Amol(He is the gender equality adjusted version of Sati- Savitri to Kasturbha Gandhi kinda dutiful spouse who loves me to a fault) with some help from our always right Mr. Dias.He made us fly Srilankan airlines and rightly so-food & hospitality was on point from our neighbours- Auobowan Mr. Dias ( Sinhalese greeting that translates to May one have a long life) Australia - March this time, at the cost of sounding pompous was like we had never left. We landed in the same airport that we left 360 days ago- drove the same car from the same rental. The similarities end here. The drive to Yarra valley was in good time before the last light. We quickly followed it with a refreshing spa and sauna to the kookaburra songs in our air BnB. Then we were turned down by 5 diners but Dave the friendly hairy pizza guy came to our rescue. This one Coronary congealing meal outdid our year long healthy eating and living. But we were on a vacay. So who cared.

Early morning we headed to Philip island via the fern and mountain ash thickets. Trees were so tall(over 85mts Burj is 859 mts)and so old(avg age was 300 years) and air awash with "Nilgiri tel". 100 kms of this and a Yarra river walk halt at Warburton fuelled by Pies and icecream we reached our next Air BnB in gpod time. We drove to recharge our Tesla but the charging station was occupied. All permutations and variations of Murphy's laws of EV charging had emboldened us and we drove ahead to the Noobies at sunset. Golden hour and golden pics(The vacation was still young and tempers were still good).A draining battery didnt trigger anxiety.

We went back to the charging station and put the car to charge with as much zen that remains after punching in 3 credit cards, the first 2 were rejected and we had a total of 3, starting and restarting charging 3 times. If charging didnt happen we had to share the burrows with the penguins under the stars for the the night. The penguin parade is nice and penguins are small but punctual They come in when adequately dark and the spectators are numbed with boredom or with the cold winds of the Southern Ocean.

.We reached back hungry and dissappointed for the second night(all diners close at 8pm).And we had lost a bag in the charging melee. We drove back to retrieve it. A wallaby jumped in front of our car.Amol braked hard.The car stopped. The wallaby stopped. Then the wallaby jumped and bonked his head hard on a stalled car.Just to make his jump in front of a speeding car worthwhile, so what if the car stopped before killing him. Also we found a racoon, many bunnies and a wild rat enroute. We got turned away at the barricade by an Aussie cop with English expletives( somehow they dont sound so bad in English mouthed by a white guy) The bag had 2 chargers- definitely not worth the drive at night in terms of money,time and effort but logic doesnot work 12000 kms away from home. We also argued about unresolved issues some dating back to our previous births also(Janmo ke saathi waala pyaar accounting for the "vadachi punam" fasts)I had the best deep sleep recorded by my Apple watch that night.I would advice international travel for happy couples. Get far away from comfort zone and common sense. Create challenges where there is none.Battle it together as a team or battle against each other as sworn enemies. Either ways we reach this happy place which is way happier than where we started out as a happy couple. We found the bag with the next morning tied around a pole in the same spot that she was left behind.The Chandran Mahaldar common sense, good cheer and comraderie regained we headed to the Great ocean road. We stopped at the Morington penninsular hot springs for a refreshing and a wholesome spa experience. All who call wellness mumbo jumbo should do this once. Alternate yourself from 40 degrees to 15 and if courageous you can go down to 5 degrees and splay out in a relaxation pod. Bliss

We reached the Great ocean road by a ferry as advised by a friend. Infact Manish and Kathie planned this entire Aus -2 for us in a 3 minutes phone call over FB messenger.Same Paulo Coelho ka "entire universe conspiring to get ones love" wala logic. Though this trip resulted from a tantrum I think it came from a good heart(mine).Lord Shiva contained the mighty Ganga by letting her flow through his tresses We reached a charging station on Queenscliff. While the car charged I bought a Prine Charles & D wedding insignia glass from an antiques shop.Their marriage died. D died but a fragile glass is still around. Fragile can be strong if destined.

The Great ocean road is the Southern ocean on one side and mountains on the other roads for 243 kms built by World war 1 veterens. We drove long into our third night to no dinner and burnt pizza. The tree house overlooking the Southern ocean and Alpaca for company amidst succulents was exotic. The tree house shook,squealed,squelched and creaked every time we moved and Alpacas were not friendly enough to be petted. A friendly Pak couple made us garam chai. We had complementary EV charging here and 3 days and 2 nights of stress free driving ensued.The view from the tree house was whimsical. The sun rose over the sea in the morning and Clear night skies unvieled the Milky way for us.

Great ocean road lived up to its hype. Although meat pies did not. I realised pies were not my jam.The Otway tree top walk was thrilling.We climbed the tallest watch tower and yet the trees towered over us. The cantilever juts into nowhere and shakes while walking on it.Not for the faint hearted especially. We tried to click "gram" inspired couple pictures with the phone at that crazy(pun very much intended)heights. This is how much Amol loves me and can be tested only on crazy vacations.An elderly gentleman had to call for assistance and Amol was happy and I unhappy to share the buggy ride back.This is also how fickle my love is . One minute I moon and the next I groan.

Apostles were majestic and spectacular as promised. London bridge, Loch and George and the Grotto against the vibrant turquoise colours of the ocean waters are worthy of a thousand pictures. We lunched at a pub. Naturally we were more drunk than less hungry. Grilled Lobsters at Apollo Bay came to our rescue. Lobster looked like a big prawn but tasted like a crab. Early next morning we headed to Melbourne with full car charge and a boot full of succulents.

Cockatoos are wild here and rowdy too bothering tourists. Explicit instruction in Hindi not to feed them caught our attention

We witnessed traffic jam and road rage in a foreign country. We safely reached our air BnB which had 7 pages of instructions to open the doors and clean up after ourselves. We managed to squeeze in the sunset at St Kilda beach and had a 4 night of take away pizza for dinner. Next day Amol set up Rules of Engagement. If we had to be congenial tourists 3 square meals , piping hot with unlimited coffee were some that were emphasized by Amol. I just gave in and we walked 16 kms in Melbourne and did the city tour without killing each other.The Victoria library dome, the city tram ride,the Hosier street art, Banksy art collection ,Lune croissants,the St Pauls cathedral roof like the ships hull, NGV painting of the temperate rainforet detailing the smoke and horse riding surveyor, Fitzroy graden conservatory begonias, evening by the Yarra river, steak-252 days grain fed cows Tbone grilled to perfection at the steak house were some of my favorite things of that day. Brekkie at Praharan market was a gourmet experience. Walking through fresh produce and brews is gustatory walhalla.

The Shrine of remembrance and the botanical gardens are a blurr, partly because Melbourne just dialled the temperature to 34 degrees and the previous days 16 kms had snuffed the enthusiasm out of me.

Also botanical garden called my excessive possessive love for plants which results in me walking away with small clippings of plants as theft. After an afternoon of vegetating to young sheldon I picked up some speed to st kilda againn. There was a big rush outside a corner cafe called Northern soul. Out of curiosity we ordered Irish special. We waited 34 minutes for st phillip (spud of the day aka potato) freshly cut on the same morning, coated in secret recipe - basically french fries. The wait, the cost or just the crowd I cant put my finger to it.They were the best fries I have had in 4 decades of my existence. Also this is the best holiday till the next one.

Amba ghat

A quick weekend getaway in our Tulja(our swanky new EV) to Amba Ghat. Well that was the plan and what happened is so much more... Amol & me set out at 4:30 am from home with full charge in our car and our spirits. The roads were lovely, dark and deep and just the sublime view of Zuari bridge at this unearthly hour compensated for the inconveniences of an early morning start. We got to Rajapur in good time. And then not so good time started . 1 failed EV charging and 3 non working charging stations stressed us out completely. We retraced our steps back by 50 km just to charge Tulja. So in 100 kms of wasted driving and 4 hours of wasted time ,we bonded swell.Also we did reach the Riverside country resort just in time for lunch

We walked in as 2 disheveled,hungry people into a dining room of erudite nephrologists of repute and their families.But the kind people did not judge us and made quick friends.

Kayaking , Burma rope bridge walking, guided nature walks , evening academic session enriched by the chronicles of an ultra cyclist nephrologist(Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 12 days) & new friends made over dinner made this getaway so special.

Early morning I had the priveledge of driving in the ultra cyclists car Sharing space in the car with Dr Prakash and family felt like a pilgrimage by proxy aka When one returns from a pilgrimage just being with that person is like being part of the spiritual journey. Dr Prakash is a trained Nephrologist. He ucompleted an ardorous race but credits his wife Dr Kranti who was part of the crew that guided him to completion. 3873 kms of cycling valahal The nature walk with swathes of grass on the plateau moving like the sea waves in the breeze was magical. The trivia about the Sahyadri flora and fauna by a brilliant guide made this a trip of a lifetime

The karvi/ kurunji poo( of the Nilgiri fame) which has inflorescense once in 12 years.

The tree which has flowers of different smells. Multiplex of nature, this tree is bare for most of the year.

Tunnel shaped cobwebs weaving spiders

We thanked Dr Ambekar profusely

Testing limits

Amol never ceases to amaze me with his limitless ingeniuity and kindness. Also he amuses all my crazy whims. One such whim was the Pandharpur-Narsobhawadi-Tulja Bhawani trip. A spiritual trip in a 300 km radius.Amol was recovering from a freak accident that resulted in a knee surgery. For 2 months Amol was on a walker/wheelchair, barely mobile,barely eating,barely happy, holed up in a room in pain and I was the one whining and managed to guilt trip Amol into this road trip. Our trusted Nexon EV(Karupatti) was on her last breaths in a TATA workshop wiithout a proper diagnosis. So we bought TATA Curvv EV(Tulja) akin to replacing an aging pet with an energetic pup(Curvv EV promised range was 585 Km) to lessen the grief. So Tulja, Amol with his "just off the walker but still in a brace leg," "bright eyed and bushy tailed" me and ever enthusiastic Mohammed (Mhd to Amol is Pg Wodehouse characters Jeeves to Bertie Wooster)set out on Ganesh Chathurti. The skies were grey with rain clouds,Google maps shotest routes had bumpy village roads, Amboli waterfalls I was allowed a picture and definitely no water, we missed our road trip constants-snack manager Adi and good humoured navigator Shiva sorely and Amol was in the passenger seat. The mood was sombre. We cheered ourselves with small talk and big Ganpati idols enroute.Tulja showed adequate range to reach destination but Amol wanted a tea break and we tried to charge the Tulja in Ajara. The charging station did not boot up and we headed to Narsobawadi with lots of hope and a tiny bit of anxiety.At nightfall the roads veered to gravel covered ,truck filled road-works related diversions highway.With fast draining charge and faster fading lights of civilisation we drove through fields flanked small roads.Ganpati installation processions brought lots of light, people and hope and a minimum 5 minutes discussion about each idol that we passed by.Catching the first glimpse of Krishna river on the Google maps display on the dashboard screen we reached our accomodation at Narsobawadi on the banks of the river. We were welcomed warmly to hot homecooked Maharashtrian meal prepared by our host matriach at our accomodation. Tulja was put to charge before we dined , 'Car before Care' was always Amols motto. "Bagwati " and me woke up to this lovely sight. Just when we thought how lucky these people are to wake up to this every morning we were busted. Krishna floods atleast thrice a year and they have to have a quick evacuation plan always.That sounded rough. We headed to give Tulja her breakfast, her power meal at Malu EV charging station. Downloaded an app, charged it with money,plugged the cord in and Bingo.You guessed it right. This too wouldnot work. Amol and me snarled at each other . It still didnot work. Amol called a mobile number listed as helpline. Who is going to pick your call T 7 am on a Sunday morning, I remarked sarcastically. And I was so wrong.The owner of the charging station picked up the call, walked Amol through the steps and Voila! Tulja hungrily slurped it all up. Mr Malu even came and restored our belief in our crazy all EV roadtrip plan. We headed to Pandharpur and this time Amol took the wheel. As we pulled into the holy city , an agitated crowd started banging at our windows. A nearly twice bent over old lady was brushed by our Tulja. Now Tulja is loaded with many features and even more sensors. So much so that the mandatory new car garland was being sensed as an objectionable object. And she couldnot detect a crouched over human being on the kerb. Mohammed sprang into action and strictly asked us to keep the windows rolled up. 3 cops materialised.One cop took a picture of our car number plate.We were not the pavement driving drunk drivers but that mob was scary. Luckily the lady accepted that she was in the wrong by sitting on the road and graciously accepted our apologies and the mob dispersed ephemerally. We joined a snaking kilometer long queue for the "pad darshan" of Vitthoba.The path was shaded, we made friends with some co-devotees, grumbled at some 'jugadu' ones but the experience was priceless. I was awed at the entrepreneurial skills of the locals along the temple queue. Chakna ,Makhna, cut fruits, jhunka bhakar stalls all serviced pilgrims at a height of 6 feet on the elevated pathway.A lady even was serving tea with a 6 feet elongated serving mug. Infact it was so entertaining that we didinot realise that we were in queue for 2 hours. After the wholesome spiritual experience of Vitthoba and Rukumai we started on a charging station hunt. After 1 non working, 1 working but not booted we found 1partially working charging point on the way. So with partial car charge and a partial lunch we headed to Tuljapur. Tulja Bhawani temple steps and levels tested Amol's newly minted left knee. At one point I could feel it quiver next to mine while waitng in queue.But Bhawani's piercing eyes did perk up Amol and with new vigour we set about looking for another charging station. Yet again our strike rate was 1 in 3. The first one tested our Tulja's and Mohammed's off roading skills. Google maps took us on a narrow mudpath to a dimly lit cowshed. The only other light on that dark night was the lone firefly. And I am not kidding when I say that the glow worm's glow was brighter. We retraced our path , this time asking for directions from locals and we reached another charging station. We were such veterans at rejection that we first dialled the helpline (At all other charging stations we downloaded an app and filled the app wallet with money, only to find it not working.At the end of the roadtrip Amol has 4 EV charging apps on his phone and some thousands parked in each app) We drove onto to Solapur at nightfall with little charge and plenty worry. If in some way our collective passenger anxiety could be harnessed we could have driven Tulja to the moon.Once again Google maps led us to a non existant charging station . I thought rains happen in movies on a cue to make sad sadder. It happened to us in Solapur. 10 minutes of fat rain drops turned that ring roads of Solapur to slush. Rain outside, low driving range inside fogged all our adult reasoning. Amol finally had his "Hey Krishna" moment(For context, at Draupadi's vastraharan when all else failed she just submitted and put her hands up and hailed Krishna to the rescue.) And Krishna did come to our rescue in the form of Dr Kiran Joshi. A nephrologist but I swear he wore the beatific smile and a halo that night. 9 pm on a rainy Sunday, he reached out to us in 10 minutes in a auto while sharing location and words of encouragement all the while. A couple of phone calls and info gathered on the auto ride Tulja started to charge in 15 minutes.Dr Kiran made sure we ate, Tulja charged , rain abated and the rivers parted to form a fourlane highway to Narsobawadi before disappearing into the light. Amol took the wheel this time aka In a high risk medical case the most experienced always does the procedure.ETA was 1:30am with 60 km range to spare to destination.M & me were glad to nod off. At the stroke of 12 I woke up to a completely fogged screen in a cold sweat.Visuals of next day newspaper headlines, "Doctor couple pilgrimage in a new EV turns fatal" started floating in front of my eyes. We were 100km from destination with 20km range to spare. So Amol had turned off the A/C. The windows could not be rolled down because the drag will increase and worsen the car performance.Putting all our heads together we dropped the speed to 60KMPH and steadily increased the car range. We found the sweet spot for the windows, slightly rolled down to prevent the windscreen from fogging and yet not adding to the drag.The next 90 minutes we drove in a silent prayer. WE tested Amol's knee, Tulja's EV capabilities and our team work indeed that night. The next morning after a short visit to the Dattaguru temple on the cofluence of the river Panchganga with the river Krishna and Kirdapur Khopeshwar temple we headed back home safe, sound and grateful