We are almost at the end of the summer vacation series. This one here covers our trip to Mahabalipuram. Well? Did you figure out the name of the podcast? *I repeat “we got better things to do!”. But hey don’t let us stop you from sharing with others.*

As promised here it is… the podcast I mentioned about in last post is called Serial *Oh do you mean Serials of serial ? Or like Serial serial ? ok this isn’t making sense*. The news to which I was referring to is about Adnan Syed . While the news led me to Serial , it is for Sarah Koenig that I am still hooked on to this show.

Well did I manage to surprise you guys perhaps just a bit? *You think?! Of course we knew it was Serial. We were just messing around with you! I mean Adnan Syed’s case is also airing on HBO. So yeah there is a surprise back for you lady!*

Details first

Ok back to the topic on hand *yes please let’s get over with it*, this summer vacation we also managed a bit of traveling, covering one city at a time!

Ok I’ll take a bit of credit for making this happen! I mean I did say “we need a family vacation within a vacation” 😜. The Initial plans were grand, somewhere along the line, I told family I would prefer places with some historical importance/something that speaks of India and it’s rich history over a hill station any day *yes, yes we know you want the girls to be proud of their Indian heritage and all that!! 🙄*

Any who after weeks of planning and discussions later, we zeroed in on two nearby cities.

Though I can’t take all the credit for everything *you are such a humble soul aren’t you?* , planning was all handled by my sweet sister in-laws; Divya (For Mahabalipuram) and Rashmi (For Mysuru) respectively *Of course she forgets to mention the constant phone calls pestering them about the plans every week until they finally gave up 🤐*

As for Goa, it never needs much planning! We decided mid week and by weekend we were all in Goa. The perks of staying in Belgaum😄.

The Panic

Now tell me how are trips even fun if there is no drama, panic, running behind schedule, sibling fights, and all that jazz 😜😂 *we get the gist, you had an awesome time all in all*.

Here is the thing, the trip to Mahabalipuram almost didn’t happen. As I have mentioned here, N got the stomach bug and well soon enough V caught it too! This happened just the night before our trip to Mahabalipuram *Oops*!

While N’s was bad, V‘s was worse. She was writhing in pain and even had fever . We rushed her to emergency care where she was administered medication via IV .

When we informed the doctor about our trip *You mean when you talked and played the card of we are here from USA only for a few weeks tch tch🤦‍♀️ !*, he gave us a go ahead to fly *I bet he did !*, not before prescribing tons of meds and here is the catch- if and only if V wasn’t running fever.

The Drama

That night V tossed and turned in pain, and of course everyone told me to just cancel the trip * as any sane person would have*. On one hand I had sick kids and on the the other was this one family trip that we had planned for few months now! *Yeah we feel your dilemma, big decisions to make. Cancel the damn trip!!*

At 5am V‘s fever finally broke and by 6am the meds had kicked in. She snuggled up to me and said “Mama let’s go. I feel much better” * Why do not we believe this part of the story?!* or something to this effect *things tend to get a bit hazy here is it now?*

I jumped out of the bed and woke up my in laws, honestly, I figured if nothing, we will spend few days in the luxury hotel recovering instead of, at home! . So you know my decision kind paid back😄. * Let’s not even 😑*

Long story short, we made it to airport in time with everyone *like they had a choice here😏 ?*.

I am not even going talk about the time I realized that I had forgotten all of V’s meds by the breakfast table or when our flight to Bengaluru was cancelled last minute. *Oh must’ve made the trip a bit more memorable right?*.

In the hindsight these little bouts of panic did make the trip a tad more memorable and more fun to post about *Ahaa! we knew it 🙄*

Now as we look back at those photos, V tells me “I am glad you didn’t cancel this trip I had so much fun” *Oh look at you basking in pride!!*.

Mahabalipuram

Mahabalipuram is a town in the state of Tamil Nadu and as Wikipedia explains “best known for its UNSECO recognized World Heritage site of 7th- and 8th-century CE Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram”

It was precisely for this reason we choose Mahabalipuram , to see the astonishing works of architecture and get a peek into the history!

We spent 2 days and 3 nights here. Mornings were spent visiting the sites and evenings we enjoyed by the pool. I have to say this- Hospitality service in Intercontinental Chennai is unbelievably impressive!! They went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable, and our rooms were just amazing!

Ok, Mahabalipuram was HOT, scorching HOT. There is no other way to say it was *yes we get it , it was bloody HOT* HOT * 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️😶*

In spite of the heat, we loved it here. The magnificent sculptures and temples ,astonishing intricate details on stone carvings, single stone cut complexes depicting stories and more by the Pallava dynasty was totally worth the heat!

Here is a fun fact: The famous Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, the largest religious monument in the world is also a gift from the Pallava dynasty. One can find many similarities in the architecture between the temples here and Angkor wat. *next on list perhaps Angkor wat then?😜 *

Hiring guides at every site was the best thing we did there. There is just so much history and many stories that even google couldn’t have known. Little ones did tire out because of heat but not V . She kept pace with us, asking the guide questions after questions.

While at Mahabalipuram how could we not go local shopping and take a dip in the Indian ocean? Everything except the heat was just perfect about this holiday.

Bronze skin, almost recovered from the stomach bug ,wide grin and giggles summarizes our trip to Mahabalipuram ! Moments loved and lived, this trip was just amazing* oh well we agree with for once 🤪*.

---

I was hoping to cover all the places in this one post, alas it won’t work. Onwards and upwards to the next post * and the final one ?? I mean we can do without anymore of “summer” now*. Happy reading folks.

“Keep your mind fixed on what you want in life, not what you don’t want” ~ Napoleon Hill