Nonsense Blabbering!

I realised my blogging pattern is getting very boring and focussed writing about travels only! :D….. Anyway I was having a chat about my latest travel blogs with few friends and the colleagues and they pointed out how slow paced & slack I am, oh and then they started giving me some abuse or rather reminding me of my great qualities/traits!!!!:P

That made me laugh so much (as what they all said was so true!) and I thought why not I jot down the list of some of these idioms I have been associated with by my dear friends and lovely colleagues to share with you all!!! After-all the whole point of me started writing this blogpost was to share what’s happening generally in life and have a laugh about it!

So here goes the list: 

Talk nineteen to the dozen (can’t even name the people who have said this as the namelist will go on and on!) 

Swear like a sailor (courtesy Steve, Alex and again the list can go on!) 

Pain in the neck

Stubborn as a mule 

Tiny like a munch kin

Drink like a fish (NOT!! – now that was my word in my defence)!

And the classic was Mad as a hatter! (Thanks for adding this to the list Sean). 

I don't know what I would have done without you all lovely people around me! Love you all from the core of my heart!

Santorini - The True Paradise!

I think I have found a place where I can find solace, the place where I can find an escape when I need some peace and time to rejuvenate myself.

Santorini, the place with the picturesque views of white backdrops on the island, Volcano mountains and beautiful Aegean sea! It’s a place from those fairytale movies – so serene, calming and exceptionally beautiful.

There are certain areas that you can stay in Santorini like Fira, Kamari but I would always recommend Oia (Greeks pronounce it as Eia with E sound and not O!! We got told off couple of times by the locals before we got the pronunciation right!)

Kamari is within 1- 2kms of Thira airport with plenty of hotel options which are good value. Fira is another place with reasonably priced hotel options and is like a typical Greek town in between Oia and Kamari, 20-25 min taxi drive depending on the traffic as there are single roads with 2 way traffic on the whole island.

Oia takes about 40 min taxi ride from the airport. Taxis are cheaper in Greece - it cost us EUR40 one side between the airport to our hotel in Oia (no pre-booking is required as plenty of taxes are available at the aiport and we booked the same taxi driver for picking us up for ride back to the airport). Otherwise local buses are a way beyond cheaper option running on a regular 15-20 minute intervals and cost like EUR 1.50 for each ride and the tickets can be bought on the buses (though no direct bus to Oia from the airport so 2 bus changes are required).

Hotels can get super expensive in Oia, the most preferred tourist location during the peak season which is between April till August. After that the tourism starts dying down on the island and by October-end, the island gets pretty much shut down. As the locals said, if you see any tourist here after October, it will be Chinese as they visit any time of the year (haha..!!).

If you can manage, I would totally suggest visiting Santorini during the months of September or October first part. Weather is still between mid twenties during the afternoons with light breeze in the evenings and the hotels become affordable in Oia!!

We (I and my friend) landed up in Santorini at the break of dawn (5AM after over night flight from London) and at the hotel door by 6AM but since reception was supposed to open at 8.30am (off peak season timings), we had to wait outside sitting on the open terrace. That was a big bummer after no sleep and running around airports to catch our connecting flights etc (we had almost missed our connecting flight from Athens to Santorini as the flight from London was delayed). We were absolutely knackered and all we wanted do is to get some sleep. Hey ho…..but the advantage we had of gettiing there early was watching the sunrise over Aegean, that was absolutely SPECTACULAR!!. Had we been given a room, I would have straight gone to bed and missed the beautiful sunrise sight!! Another good thing that happened was when we arrived at the hotel, along with us there was a couple from Buenes Aires (Adriana & Horacio) and a mother-son duo (Terry & Kyle) from Atlanta who had arrived at the same time.

So what all bunch of tired people with no rooms or place to sleep at 6AM would have done  - yes, we all started chatting up and by the time reception opened, we found some really good friends to talk to or share a glass of wine in the evenings during our trip time in Santorini! Infact we are going to see the couple from Buenes Aires again in December during our upcoming trip to South America, how cool is that, eh!!!

Since the hotel was completely booked and the check-in time is 3PM, they couldn’t allocate us rooms. So we all had some breakfast, the other guys changed and headed for some stroll. I decided I will swim a bit and sleep on the sun-beds along the swimming pool! But neither I swam (the water in the pool was cold) nor did I fall asleep (the sun-beds were too hard). So we decided to go for a stroll too and have lunch along the area which has all the nice restaurants.

Every corner of the street was buzzing, weather was warm and every sight of Aegean from any corner was mesmerising. For next 3 days, our routine was to get up late, sit on our private terrace, enjoy breakfast with Oia's white backdrop and Aegean views (another perk of staying in Oia is that the hotels' staff serve you breakfast on your private terraces or rooms!), spend sometime in our jacuzzi on the terrace, eat-drink in lovely restaurants, go for strolls...mmm!

One of the days we did 6 hours sunset cruise which started at 1.30pm and finished by 7.30pm. Totally recommend the cruise as they sail around the sea taking you to the hot water springs where you can go for a swim and show different mountain cliffs, the red beach, the white beach etc and also stop sometime for snorkelling. The sunset sight is totally AMAZING. The greek food served on the cruise was awesome with so many vegetarian varieties available!

We met some really lovely people on the cruise - a family from NewYork, group of 2 couples from San Francisco and a beautiful girl from Miami (whom we are going to see again in London in April!).  

Another day we did a winery trip to Domaine Sigalas which was half an hour walk from our hotel in Oia on the other side of the hill. There are different wine tasting menus in the winery to chose from (set of 3,/5/7/13 wines). All wines are tasty and so dirt cheap (water bottle costs more then a gass of wine here!) . There are vineyards behind the winery if you want to go for a walk. Surprisngly the amount of wine produced in this winery get only 5-7% of its grapes supply from the vineyards in the backyard, rest come from all parts of Greece.

We went to see the old castle on one of the evenings which gives amazing sunset views from the cliff and rest of the free time strolled around the streets, eating-drinking all the time! You can go into Fira town if fancy trying some local greek food and seeing the places where the locals live but we didn't bother going into Fira really as we wanted to spend most of our time in Oia. 

Our 4 days break flew with a blink of an eye and felt really short.

Attaching some Santorini pictures here in case my poor quality blog writing has not caught your fancy yet to make you want to visit this place definitely once in a lifetime!

Sunset View from the cliff in Oia

Doesn't this look beautiful!

Sunset from cruise ship

Sunsrise over Aegean at 6AM

Sunset from the cruise

Amoudibay, shot from the cruise ship

Cuba….beautiful country with people having beautiful hearts!!

If you have ever thought about visiting Cuba then I would definitely recommend visiting this place.

Before me and my friend booked Cuba, we had heard all sorts of stories such as the place being not great, safety concerns etc.

But it is indeed a beautiful country and the rules are simple – there are no security issues as long as you don’t push anyone the wrong way! People are really friendly and accommodating. Everyone is a happy soul and they know how to have a fun even if you are living in a restricted country like that with really low standards of living. Every Cuban can dance and sing; they love their rum and cigars and brilliant vintage cars!

 

Throughout our trip, we chatted with so many locals and got to know so much about the country….which I want to share here before I forget all that about the country!

We spent 3 nights and 2 days in Havana and 5 days in Varadero. Havana, the capital of Cuba, is full of beautiful colonial buildings in the Old Havana town which dates back to 1400 and there is so much history behind the city which was really enriching.

PS: I must admit though that normal people read about a place, culture etc before planning/booking a holiday whereas lazy people like me just go ahead, book the holiday based on fancies for the place and only try to know a place little after arriving in the country!!! Not the best strategy, but hey it works!

Anyway let’s begin with the facts:  the first and foremost thing to mention about Cubans is their heritage/bloodline. Initially the island was inhabited by red Indians but when the Spanish arrived, they killed all of the red Indians. No bloodline of red Indians exists since then even though Cubans call them their native ancestors. The ancestry now goes back to the Spanish and Africans (Africans were brought on the island by Spanish to work as slaves) or mix of Spanish African backgrounds.  Hence, it is so easy to spot a black skinned Cuban with blue/green eyes or where family has mixed background, Cubans having really beautiful sun-kissed complexion with the most astonishing colourful eyes. Spanish- African heritage shows in their music, culture and the food too!

Ps; I have never seen so many handsome men in a country until Cuba visit happened, not that I am saying women are not beautiful, they are indeed really beautiful but at the same time noticing major proportion of men being good looking is definitely a rarity! Ha!

Second most important thing to mention is the currency used in Cuba. There are 2 currencies used – Convertible pesos (CUC) which is pegged to US Dollar (1:1) and capped to 23-25 Cuban pesos (MN) every CUC. CUC is the most used currency everywhere in Cuba. You cannot get Cuban currency anywhere in the world outside Cuba (at least as of now. I’m sure this will change with the recent changes in American - Cuba relationships and now opening up of American embassy in Cuba on 20^h July 2015). International currencies to CUC or Cuban pesos can be exchanged either at the airport or recognised local banks in the town or the hotel exchange desk. For more information on currency, check this link: http://www.visitcuba.com/travel-guide/travel-tips/. Hotels/Banks are allowed to give/exchange major international currencies for tourists but if you want to re-convert Cuban currency into international currencies, that can be only done at the airport.

The reason behind introducing the dual currency .i.e. CUC and MN was when the Cubans fled or moved to the US or other countries and started remitting money back to Cuba, the money was sent in US Dollars and it kept lying in the bank accounts of locals as they could not use the dollar bills with Cuban Government being anti-American not letting locals to convert USD in local currency. Hence, the Government had to introduce new Cuban currency to let the locals make use of their dollar cash lying in bank accounts. Interesting eh?!!

Every corner or street of Havana talks old history and there are lot of places famous after famous people like …where Ernest Hemmingway, the American author, used to smoke his cigars or had cocktails or wrote his books (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway) or where Fidel Castro gave his speeches, which hotels he stayed in etc etc.

But the sad part is most of these buildings are collapsing and need maintenance urgently. The Cuban Government only manages the properties which are under their regime. All the hotels and commercial properties are regulated by the Government. Locals can’t have air-conditioners in their houses (because firstly most of them can’t afford with the low wages and secondly it is allowed only if you let out your property for commercial or tourist purpose).

Big families live in a small box room sharing the buildings like Chall system in Mumbai and with temperatures soaring to 35 degrees Celsius and more; most of them might not even have a fan in the room.

Internet is accessible only in the big hotels/airport through data provider’s scratch cards for which you have to pay separately…one card costs 5 CUC and gives the time of an hour and half of internet usage. Locals can’t access internet unless around the big hotels and have bought these data cards. Number of TV channels’ access is also very limited to locals but big hotels can have few extra channels for tourists.

Another thing that fascinated me was how salaries are capped at such low levels for professionals in Cuba. A Cuban doctor, engineer or a professor would rather prefer working as a toilet cleaner or work in the entertainment industry then practicing his/her own profession as the salaries are really low at roughly $25 CUC per month. Cubans who work in the entertainment/tourist sector earn more than these professionals (words told by the locals themselves!!) because of the tip culture. A Cuban working as toilet cleaner or tour guide can actually earn more than 25 CUC in a day on the tips plus the salary, so no surprise there for Cubans’ working preferences. It is because of these insanely low pay levels, Cubans are forced to live in such tiny houses with extended families as they can’t afford to buy their own place. Although during Fidel Castro’s Government time in 1950s, Cubans were given the freehold of the places they are living in so as such they own or rather their parents own the houses.

But still irrespective of such bizarrely low salaries, the education quality in Cuba is of good standards and 100% subsidised by the government. According to 2014 report by the World Bank, Cuba has the best education system in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Yet another interesting factual articles about it: https://academicexchange.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/15-facts-on-cuba-and-its-education-system/ or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Cuba).

Oh and another fact to tell, no Cuban knows where their President (Raul Castro) lives. There is a posh Embassies’ area in Havana where the locals suspect the President keep shuffling between the various houses. I know it’s a communist country but still locals not knowing about their President’s whereabouts sounds really bizarre.

Now a funny fact to tell: whilst doing a walking tour in the old Havana, our tour guide told us another local old belief about this big tree in one of the squares called Plaza De Armas. So the belief is if a single girl takes 3 rounds running around the tree and throw a coin at the foot of the tree at the end of 3^rd round and make a wish for what sort of husband she wants, the wish comes true!.....hehehe….so can you guess what we 2 single stupid girls would have done…..hahaha…you guessed it right, we followed the old tradition, after-all we were in Cuba so gotta follow the locals!!

Now, the fact about rum and tobacco plantations in Cuba – we all know that apart from Tourism being the biggest revenue generating sector for Cuban Government, Rum and Cigars are the other 2 important things.

Of course Government has a very tight control on rum production and tobacco plantations. Farmers grow tobacco crops and the government gives them meagre prices per quintal production. Farmers are forced to give 90% tobacco production to Government and keep 20% for their own purposes. Well you might be thinking how does this 90-20 equation works? So you guessed it right, farmers grow little extra 10% which sits outside the 100% production for their self-use. Government knows that too but I suppose with what Government do to the farmers in terms of pricing, they let them knowingly get away with that extra 10% production. Another fact, farmers do not know what other things are mixed in the factories while producing cigars as that’s kept under tight secret. Visitors in cigar factories are not allowed to take pictures of what’s happening in the factory and I am sure not the entire process is shown to tourists in any case.

People drink rum like water in Cuba. You might not find drinking water in all the shops in the capital city but they are always stocked up with rum, cigars, and whiskies!

We spent a day doing walking trip and vintage car trip in Havana and during the second day, did a long full day trip to Vinales Valley, the place in the north-central part of Pinar del Rio Province and is known for tobacco farming. Where Havana is full of ancient buildings, museums and history about it, Vinales valley gives a view of beautiful landscapes with lush green trees and plantations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi%C3%B1ales). We had few stop points on the way to see tobacco farming, cigar rolling, caves and a mountain cliff side called Mural de la Prehistoria. In 1961, when Fidel Castro visited a beautiful valley a few kilometres west of Viñales, he commissioned that this cliff should be painted with snails, dinosaurs, and a family of cavepersons, in garish colors!

The caves in the region called Cueva del Indio were discovered by a farmer in 1900. These caves are quite big inside and have a small underground river which used to have high water levels but now the majority of it has dried up. You can do a 15 minutes boat trip inside the caves which is quite nice. The last stopping point was in the small town called Pinar Del Rio to buy authentic cigars. People from Havana use the name of Pinar Del Rio as slang when they want to refer someone as being dumb!! E.g. if someone behaves/acts stupid, they will say are you from Pinar Del RioJ . Anyway few of the pictures here….

After we finished our hectic 2 day trips around Vinales and Havana, 3^rd day we headed to the resort area called Varadero. We stayed at Iberostar Group of Hotels and Resorts both in Havana and Varadero. I totally recommend both the places as both the Hotel in Havana city centre and the resort in Varadero are really nice properties. Cuba doesn’t have many 4 and 5 star hotels/resorts so when I booked the stay; I was sceptical that even though we have paid for 4.5 star rated accommodations, we will not get anything more than 3 star category hotels. But to my surprise, both places were absolutely fantastic and provide very good quality stay and entertainment and location wise too, were very handy locations. Staff in both the properties was brilliant.

The driving journey time from Havana to Varadero took us roughly 2 hour 30 minutes and we stopped on the way at this point called Bacunayagua which marks the boundary between the Mayabeque Province and Matanzas Province. A restaurant with an observation deck is built on the Havana side at this point to give beautiful views of the highest bridge in Cuba called The Bridge of Bacunayagua (this bridge was inaugurated in September 1959, crosses the canyon, and at 110 meters above the valley floor. The Cubans consider it one of the seven wonders of Cuban civil engineering.)

The arrival in the resort in Varadero was very welcoming and the staff really took great care of us for the next 5 days we stayed over there. We spent our time doing sailing, dancing on the Cuban music, eating, drinking, again dancing and the cycle continued. The resort has 24 hours buffet and various restaurant-bar sections for food and drinks and the staff ensure there is enough entertainment for atleast 18 hours out of 24 hours for your stay in the place for all age group. This range from organising pool area games, archery, bingo games, riffle shooting, various dance activities, painting, video and play games for kids, golf etc. The resort has indoor discotheque that opens every night at 11pm – 2am and indoor massive theatre place where they organise different themed performances every night between 8pm till 11pm.

Basically there is never shortage of fun activities going around the resort for keeping guests busy!

We also did scuba diving around Varadero area but not something I would advise you to do as first of all the diving gear was outdated and the sea/coral life is really colour less and bland under the sea; at least in that area!

But I absolutely loved the place and people! May be one day would definitely re-visit the country to see how much American influence will bring changes in the country and the people!

So for now signing off on this blog. Hopefully next travel blog will be from Argentina and Brazil at the year-end if I don’t find any other places too enticing to write about!

Random thought.....

Something happened today which got me thinking yet again what sort of world and among the people do we live in......life has become so paralysed with everything being so funky dory on the digital media world and the mentality that everyone have lot of options available in every part of life - ranging from finding the online dates to finding the people you fancy socialising with etc etc....but the reality check is totally different. No one wants to understand why relationships in the past survived as people used to make an effort to make things work which doesn't happen anymore. Seldom we see anyone ever say "oh my life is just perfect". 

Every direction you turn around, you can see sadness within families/couples, among singles both women and men. I am not saying this sadness part is the only thing that exist but definitely affect us in one or the other way and the different proportions. And I reckon we all do make an effort to find happiness by trying to find it and say life is dandy.

Reason why it got me thinking - I was talking to a friend or rather more of an acquaintance about relationships and realised how huge gap exists between the expectations and what people actually say or talk about. And this is from a person who is well educated/travelled but as I said that the reality check was missing within his own speech which I suppose don't associate with your education levels or seeing the world anymore ( My idealistic mind used to think globalism and a good education do change people, but I suppose it doesn't and agree I am no relationship expert either).

We like the idea of having a perfection in everything around/with us but definitely no desire to make an effort for it - basically want to have a piece of cake and eat it but on our own terms and conditions. Sometimes makes me question - do we learn from mistakes ever or we just think that we have learnt but actually not.

Background music playing on my laptop perfectly suited this:

Honestly, what will become of me?

I don't like reality

It's way too clear to me

But really life is dandy

We are what we don't see

We miss everything daydreaming

Flames to dust

Lovers to friends

Why do all good things come to an end?

I want to pull away when the dream dies

The pain sets it and I don't cry

I only feel gravity and I wonder why

Notes from Brief Home Visit!

I wanted to post this blog last week but then just couldn’t get time to write 😟

And trust me I have not been slacking but past few weeks have been a complete whirlwind with work, being sick, Delhi visit, again being sick and then snowed down with work with yet another weekend away coming up in Dublin to see a good friend!

Anyway, I thought why not share a brilliant (sic!) conversation I had with mom and few friends/relatives back home (which is infact a case pretty much on all phone calls and home visits!)

Day 1 landed in Delhi: Mom and I

Mom: You been okay?

Me: Yes mom, I am fine. 

Mom (after 5 min of general chit-chat about work): Are you ever going to get married?

Me: You know I want to but before that you need to find me the right guy!

Mom: But you don’t like anyone I send you details of…huhh

Me: Because I don’t find anyone interesting 

Mom: you are too fussy…

Me: I am not fussy…if other side don’t like me, not my fault!

Mom: No, it’s you who is fussy…

Me: Whatever

Day 2: Maternal Grandparents and uncle’s house

Nan/Uncle: Are you ever going to get married?

Me : Arghhh…find me half decent guy and I will…

Nan/Uncle: Hmmmmm

Nan (an hour later): Get married soonnnn

Me: Grrrrrrrrrr, I just replied to your same question

Day 4: A call from a friend

Friend: How are things with you?

Me; All good…thanks!

Friend: Let’s catch up sometime if you are free?

Me: yeah..sure may be in a day or 2 days’ time?

Friend: Yeah. Good! So when are you getting married? You ought to have a boyfriend, why delay?

Me: Arghhh…well if I had a boyfriend, I would have….why don’t you find me one please and I will?

Friend: Hard to trust but anyway I don’t have any single friends to introduce you to….

Me: Okay

Friend (after 10 min random chit chat): You should get married now…

I (pulling my hair, rolling eye and being agitated now): hmmm

Day before leaving Delhi: Mom again

Mom: Beta, high time – you should settle down now

Me; for god sake, not again please….arghhh!

The only person who didn’t bother asking anything was the little nephew….my lovely 5 year old baby boy! Just happy with his aunt around and playing/spending time with her! Unconditional love and kisses from him!

How much I love these settling down conversations - JOYS OF BEING SINGLE!

Sigh

That one word called "magic"

Definitely not something for boys but I am too tempted not to let this thought go without writing...

So I saw Cinderella movie today .....the theatre full of females still shows no matter how thick skinned or tough, we woman think we are or portray ourselves to the outer world but deep down inside, every female feels like that girly girl and believes in Cinderella, Frozen, Magnificent.....the list can go on and on....and that one word called "MAGIC".

I know for very sure that in today's day and age, believing in fairy tales and fairy god mothers is absolutely foolish.....but you could be a Cinderella or a princess for your parents; for people who loves you and not necessarily it means finding that prince charming. Simple and true gestures from someone dear could bring that 'magic' into your life.

PS: my colleague couldn't stop laughing at me today when I said I love watching these fairy tale movies as it is not easy to believe knowing that I am actually not a girly girl with anyone....but why couldn't I be that girl who loves her both sides - a tough woman with people but with a heart which still believes in that word called magic. Ofcourse magic also happens when you work hard as nothing comes free.....know that for sure.

PPS: the laughing episode didn't end at me just liking watching such movies but also that I can share common interests (watching cartoons or fairy tales) and share the same sized clothes with my future daughter (if I would ever have one).....how very MEAN....tch tch!!!

Oh well, no matter how much I like my Bond and Fast & Furious kinda movies, I am proud to say I do believe in magic and Elsa or Cinderella or tough women with mushy hearts!

Devil scuba dives in Mexico!

On day 3 in Cancun, I had booked scuba diving for both me and my friend. So we had to get to the place called Marina Punta Este at 8.30 am. Now where my friend was already having fear jitters with no sleep from the previous night about diving, my bloodstream was full of too much alcohol from a day before ( I suppose 3 cocktails of sunrise tequila during the day on the cruise ship and a big glass of wine in evening after 3 months of complete no alcohol, I definitely pushed my boundaries too much and too hard😁😁) plus bare minimum sleep, getting up early was not easy. Then of course I had jitters too for diving as we both are complete non - swimmers with water phobia.

But this time, I was definitely determined to go for diving whereas my friend eventually chickened out and went for jungle speed boat trip. Oooh before I forget, my diver - Valentine or Mr V as we called him, gave me a new name - Luna Llena (which means full moon night in Spanish and which is an actual meaning of my real Indian name!). The whole time we spent with him, he referred me with that name only (must admit this only added a confusion to my tipsy head as few times I didn't realise he was talking to me !!)!!

In our boat for diving, apart from me and Mr V, there was a group of 3 friends from Korea studying in the US and a certified diver from Canada (sorry can't mention their names as first of all too complicated in case of Korean girls and secondly my head was bit heavy with alcohol headache and diving fear to care about that...not good socially, I know ).

As part of the diving hours, we were supposed to take half an hour diving lessons with all gear in 10 meters deep sea water and then dive twice - one for 35 min in 35-40 meters deep sea to see MUSA underwater national museum and then second time for 20 minutes to see coral reefs. So on the way to our diving training place (which was about 20-25 minutes in the boat), we picked up 3 sets of oxygen cylinders for each of us while Mr V explained us all the rules and instructions of diving in the boat.

In our group, Mr Canadian was already a certified diver and had dived in few places before, I sneak peeked in his diving log book!, one of the Korean girls had dived once in Asia who knew swimming well and the other 2 girls knew swimming well too with snorkeling/ swimming experience in the sea before. That left me out being total naive who had never gone in the swimming pool before or know ABCD of how to even float, again not good lah....arghhh

Training lesson place:

We all were decked up in full diving gear (now as part of this gear, you just not only wear wet-suit, fins, snorkel mask and jacket carrying oxygen cylinder weighing about 20 kg but also have to wear a belt carrying one- third of your body weight. So all in all I had about 35 kg plus weight on myself. I was both excited and nervous to dive.😁😁....ummmm more nervous to be honest....

Mr Canadian just picked up his mask n went for snorkeling and missed training lesson (ofcourse). Other 3 Korean girls jumped in the water and started floating easily and when my chance came, I was definitely having a panic attack.

The worst part is they throw you in the water with your back towards the sea as you are carrying too much weight on the back, hence it's not possible to jump facing the water with such heavy gear on. So I thought Mr V will come to fetch me when his assistant will throw me in the water, but holy shit, MR V was busy with the other girls and the moment I fell in water, I started sinking in and thought I am gonna die and panicked. Mr V's assistant said why am I panicking, just relax and use my fins to float. Grrrr, idiot didn't know how I was feeling😁😁...anyway I finally found the hold of rope in the water and balanced myself. Since water was only 10 meters deep, I managed to now float or atleast stay bit stable instead of feeling getting drowned. Now Mr V said we need to go under the water to learn all the instructions he had given in the boat earlier. As soon as I went down, I forgot what all he taught us and inhaled so much sea water and started choking. Mr V gave us the same instructions under water again and then I thought I did okayish especially because I was also holding rope underwater and knew the ground was reachable so was the surface. I had got the hang of breathing through oxygen piece without trying to breath through nose and started using the fins.

We got back in the boat after 30 minutes of training lesson.

Dive part 1 - MUSA national underwater museum.

20 min further going into the sea, we were at our first diving location - its called Cancun Underwater Museum or MUSA (check this link out: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancun_Underwater_Museum). We got ready in our diving gear again and started jumping in water one by one. I went fourth this time after Mr V, the Canadian guy and the 2 Korean girls, had yet another panic attack after falling in the water but it went away as quickly as it came. We held the rope and started going down the underwater one by one. Mr V was helping each of us while checking our stats on the meters attached to our cylinder jackets. This time I had bit of a problem with my ears since the air pressure goes down underwater. Important rule of diving - never play with your ear drums, if you have an issue and having ear problem, let your instructor know. Mr V told me the way to manage air pressure but since I was doing it first time so deep, I had to constantly hold my nose tight and use the technique for managing air pressure. See my picture here, it looks hilarious as I was holding my nose pretty much the whole time. I was more comfortable this time being in the water and then Mr V never let go off my hand! Sweet he was! I was following him wherever he was going now.

While Mr V was taking photos and checking on other guys, I was busy keeping a check on air pressure on my ears and seeing the brilliant statues and the sea life. I seriously can't explain in words how great and beautiful that world is....mmmm...we went around the museum for 35-40 minutes and then came back to the boat. The Korean girls were looking after each other especially the one who had done diving before and Mr Canadian was busy in his own world although he was supposed to keep an eye on 2 Korean girls ( lazy Canadians!). The 2 Korean girls who were first time divers went sea sick as soon as they got back to the boat and were feeling dizzy. Mr V said I did brilliant in my first dive and didn't worry him much!! HOORAY!!....

Dive part 2 - Coral Reefs

Yet another 15 min boat ride and we anchored for second part of the dive for 20 minutes to see coral reefs. This time the 2 sick Korean girls refused to go as one of them was already puking. Mr Canadian put on his gear and dived in, followed by the Korean girl who was a second time diver now and then me (I was very determined to dive again as my first dive went brilliant!). 

This time I didn't even have a slight panic attack after jumping in the water and was floating alright. We then started going down in the sea. This time my ears started playing more funnier than in the dive before, as we went deeper in the water and started following the diving track. I told Mr V , he rubbed my ears and tried to make me follow the instructions again for managing the air pressure. For few minutes, I was fine and we went ahead but after that my right ear was hurting, again I tried the trick and it worked okay for few more minutes of diving. But soon the pain came back....this time I told Mr V, I wanna go back to the boat. So all in all, I stayed underwater for 10 -15 minutes. When I got back to the boat, the 2 sick Korean girls were still puking and feeling unwell...:-(

Other guys stayed in the sea 10 more minutes later and then returned to the boat. Apparently in this dive, Mr Canadian was struggling too with the water going through his snorkel mask but he blamed it on too much booze the night before ( really??!!) but the Korean gal with the previous diving experience had a great time!

I had to do a few tricks to get the air pressure back to normal in my ears (and to be honest even after a day and half, I can still feel a slight pain in my right ear. It's better than what it was on the diving day but Mr V assured it will get back to normal soon). After we all settled in the boat, Mr V told me I wasn't following the instructions right or had rather forgotten the technique for managing air pressure in this dive and needed to work on it.

All in all I had a great great time and a complete out of the world experience, something which is always going to be close to my heart. Seeing such a beautiful underwater world is simply beyond imagination, if you have not dived or snorkeled before.

My first diving experience has made me more determined to definitely dive again but with few things on my checklist:

- take swimming lessons (knowing swimming is not necessary for diving but definitely helps to get rid of your water fear and secondly helps you to manoeuvre your own way instead of holding instructor's hand). Note: no matter how good diver or swimmer you are, the diving rule is to stick with your group underwater.

- people like me who are bad at listening should follow the instructions more thoroughly (and practice more during training lesson in case of doubts).

- Important note: No boozing a lot the night or the day before diving;-);-) like I and Mr Canada did!

- I will practice managing air pressure technique properly while taking swimming lessons which atleast will make me more trained the next time as that was the biggest issue I struggled with during the coral reef dive.

For my whole diving experience, I definitely want to say a BIG thank you to Mr V and definitely recommend Marina Punta Este if you ever plan to dive in Cancun (http://www.puntaestemarina.com)

Note: I have heard enough from friends and young people that how Zindangi na milegi dobara had made them do these things. So if you're planning to dive just after getting inspired from the movie, please get your mind right as after being good swimmers, all actors took 2-3 days lessons before diving ( check making of ZNMD if you don't trust my words) and don't do something that you are not 100% sure or determined of doing. Diving is indeed a beautiful experience but definitely not as easy as the movie portrayed.

PS: I have promised Mr V, I am coming back to Cancun soon for diving again with him. And yes I will dive again:)