OOPsss....I did it again!!!

 This one day a liberating thought came to mind to make myself more happy and indulge myself .

A bright idea came to me which is going to movie theater for a movie alone which my younger self detested as I always liked to be among friends and movie no one can enjoy alone. However with time passing and hair greying mindset change or maybe boredom forces you to change.

So I thought let me create a new milestone in my life "Going to movie alone"

What better movie can I imagine other than BARBIE . I have been a Barbie fan since childhood and I still have my dolls at home and I feel its hightime to give them away to some lil girls as my only son is only interested in cars 

Ok so I thought i should get ready for my first ever solo movie trip. I searched my wardrobe for a pink tshirt I dont wear much of pink nowadays as it makes me look bulkier and shows my flabs .

Finally found one and rushed to the theater. First it was not a familiar multiplex so I couldnt at first find the entrance. Then I thought let me take out the ticket and check out if there is any details of which floor it is in?

I open the booking app and boom there is a feedback link that pops at my face saying " You recently watched a movie Barbie how was it . 

And as the title of this blog says it was not a surprise for me as I did it second time.

I had booked a movie for the previous day and went to movie the next day.. Yeah I had done this previously also once and that time I even had watched the movie . This time as it was solo one dint want to venture into doing so much .

However due to this disappointment I headed to the mall and shopped to my heart's content so it was not totally a bad one dint miss Barbie but I did miss out on achieving my personal milestone of watching a movie alone.. So hopefully I will be able to book a ticket on a right date to achieve  my milestone until then njoi this ..

Enchanting, enticing,captivating, enamoring MALDIVES.....

Maldives the tropical island nation is such a different experience. Words cannot actually describe the breathtaking beauty of this tropical paradise .

Let me start off with with the view from the airlines .  It is just like in pictures of Maldives which we google and see exactly like that miniature islands, clusters of islands/atolls. The coral blue colored water and the reefs its simply mindblowing and out of this world.

Finally we land at the airport its also an atoll, a small airport from where we have all the water ferries  and water planes awaiting from the resorts.We get into our resort's water ferry along with the other guests and we took off in the speed boat and reached our Resort Paradise island Lankanfinohlhu.


The place oozes luxury and the coral blue vast expanse of water its simply mesmerizing. All the wooden pathways built for walking towards the resort has the whole sea world and corals and its such a beautiful sight that I don't have words to describe. It's heaven on earth...it's an epitome of serenity with the pristine clear water.

Its a surreal experience. We had booked our trip through Travel Triangle.
We had stayed at Beach Bungalow and Water villa. Water villa is a great experience with the private terrace as well as direct access to the pristine waters anytime of the day makes it so special.Lying down in the patio on the day beds and gazing at the sky how surreal an experience it is cant be described in words.Our experience was taken a notch higher when it rained for a few minutes and there were two rainbows in the sky . Sitting in the silver sands of Maldives and having this view you dont need anything else other be grateful to god for having a blessed life to experience this

Food at Maldives:
 The resorts have awesome buffets . I felt its better to have buffets than ala carte . Lunch can be passed as the breakfast buffets are really awesome and heavy. Anyways by evening you would be craving for  drinks and cocktails in a place like Maldives. So again dinner buffet would be a good option.

What to do :
You can do all the water activities plus you can go out fishing , can feed sting ray, can go island hopping , go around the resort and take instagrammable pics or do nothing sit adown lazily and enjoy the view of the horizon

Overall its an expensive trip but worth every penny.

Romantic, Alluring and Fascinating Paris

Paris,city of love...city I had always dreamt to visit...I was not able to believe my eyes it was around 11ish at night that our flight was about to land in Charles D'Gualle airport in Paris and yoohooo we were about to set foot in PARIS...The most beautiful aerial view of any city as far as I have seen and  obviously what else can you expect its PARIS...Already everything was very overwhelming as were on college trip and it was around 100 of us travelling together...and when the destination is PARIS you cant ask for anything more in life!!!!!



En-route the flight all of us were fascinated by the Alps which are visible from our flight windows at intervals. Almost half of the Boeing was filled with our people so we were all peeping through one window or the other.

Well checked out our baggage and we came out of the airport.It was damn chilly and we clung on to our warm clothes.We already had buses arranged for us and it was the first time for me to see the Left hand drive in the bus and moreover it was my first trip abroad...Everything was so fascinating ..
Finally we reached our destination Etap hotel in Porte de Orleans. We got three sharing rooms with bunk beds . It was fun and we got our room keys , did some international calling to our homes and informed we have landed safely.The rooms were alright anyways we were not looking for luxury and it was only for sleeping at night and it was an excursion anything works.

The next day the whole group got divided into groups and started exploring the magnificent city as per their own priority bucket list. Well our  groups bucket list was to  see the Eiffel Tower.
It was pretty cold as well as drizzling. We took a map got our train/rer passes created for our stay at Paris. the public transport is great at Paris really easy to commute and travel across even for first timers abroad like us. We got down at Champ de Mars and we could view the spectacle from far off. It was all raining,cold and foggy and every bit so romantic and so very Paris.. the Paris of my dreams.. I couldn't believe it was infront of my eyes. We rushed off clicked photos and then the moment of truth getting into the top of the Eiffel Tower.

There are two ways of getting  into the top of it as most of us already know thanks to the internet which made knowledge so accessible. So either we can take stairs or take the elevator. Hours of operation of elevator and the accessibility to the stairs was from 9.30 am in the morning to 11.45 pm at night most probably. the ticket costs might vary but we had paid around 17 euros for each adult to the top of the Eiffel Tower and zoop it made us reach the top of the tower and enroute you can look around and have the experience of a lifetime going up around 187 foot (approx maybe not sure of the exact height). Its breathtakingly beautiful cant explain in words the view from top of the Eiffel Tower. There are view stations to enjoy the city's picturesque locales from the top of it.

The Eiffel Tower has three floors and mostly the visitors ascend the tower via the elevator. All the three floors has separate facilities but visitors mostly miss out on the first and second floors. There is a gift shop, restaurant in these floors alongwith the restrooms. There is also a see through glass floor which I feel even the people without fear of height might need to dare to view it( I have only heard about it as I dint have enough time to view it ). The elevators  are very jam packed on the otherhand the stairs are comparatively more relaxed and free means to move to the top.

This is all about the morning till afternoon at Eiffel Tower the best I am about to write now Eiffel Tower at night with the spectacular Lightshow which cant be missed at all.The nighttime visitors/after dark visitors get the privilege to watch a five minute luminous spectacle every hour. It starts by dusk and I have read that it operates on approx 20,000 lightbulbs. It is simply beyond any explanation. An experience of a lifetime.

I feel so lucky that I have been able to view this majestic place in this lifetime .

Next we spent a day at Musee d'Orsay, one of the most beautiful museums in France and who doesnt want to see the famous Monalisa painting . Out main aim was to finish the Louvre in half a day because we were so naive to think that we could do it even. As we entered it we could see how mammoth it was and it would take use several days to complete the whole tour. Then we focussed on only Monalisa's painting and just view things which would be in the same section and this alone took us half a day to complete it . It was worth wish we would have more time we could have allocated more time for the museum visit .

Next we enjoyed time by the magnificent Siene river and some shopping .
We also had quick visits to Versailles Palace , Champs Elysees, and also enjoyed a great show at  Moulin rouge

Munnar vs Darjeeling vs Shillong vs Mahabaleshwar

Hill stations are everyone's favorite holiday destinations as they inherently has the calmness,coolness and brings in peace and change to our monotonous daily routines.

However I feel there is a difference in all these hill-stations based on their demographics maybe not sure though still I feel like.

Shillong

Starting with Shillong my favorite and best amongst any hill-station in India its not because I am a northeaster and just getting this biased opinion.Shillong was the original capital of undivided Assam which later on was split into two states Meghalaya and Assam.
Shillong is very very different from other hill-stations the pine trees the atmosphere around the place, the hip and happening and uber stylish crowd and top of everything the awesome Chinese food we get here.Besides this we have the the Rock culture totally engraved in the heart of the place.
Be it Bara Pani lake,Wards Lake , Police bazar, Barra bazar,Shillong peak etc the ever raining romantic weather and chillness. Anyone and everyone cant help falling in love with it.

Positives:Chilly romantic weather, awesome places to go around, awesome food, happening places to shop, picturesque churches, rock culture
Negatives:No volvo buses running,lack of publicity about this beautiful part of India

Darjeeling

Second, in my list come Darjeeling which is in West Bengal.
Its an amazing place just when you start entering Darjeeling you are amidst the clouds that feeling is heavenly when you travel amidst the clouds. the toy train again an awesome experience. Then the rose garden in a high altitude its pretty. The sunrise at tiger hills worth watching and walk around the town is pleasant.Besides this on the way you can touch base on Sikkim and Nepal, Kalimpong which is an added bonus.
Positives:Nice place , awesome chilly weather
Negatives:None

Munnar

Third comes Munnar, its slanting tea plantations are a delight.Besides the tea plantations there is not much to do except the flower gardens.Besides the temperature too doesnt dip much, its surprising you can go around in a hill station without even a sweatshirt during the month of October.Well its a pleasant weather though still not chilly at all.Not much to do in proper Munnar except going for the tea plantations.
There's Eravikulam wildlife sanctuary but that needs a full day stading in an unending queue which I dint  prefer to.
Positives: Picturesqueness of the place, tea gardens in slanting mountains
Negatives:Dint have the exact hill-station feeling, finding good food was a problem, hotels are all quite scattered and far away from the main town

Mahabaleshwar

Fourth comes Mahabaleshwar in my list there is not much to do in this small hill-station in Maharashtra. there are some view points from which you can have views. Scenic drive with waterfalls all through small and big. Very near to Pune and Mumbai so people can have a good weekend outing. Waterfalls and horse-riding,rafting, paragliding etc.are available alongwith happening crowd.
Positives:Well connected to Mumbai and Pune, nice to visit on misty and rainy days
Negatives:Couldnt find good non-veg joints

My eternal favorite will always be gorgeous Shillong-Scotland of East.

Small industrial town Namrup in Assam,India

Where do I start from I have written the opening lines of this blog several times and have delete them unable to decide on where to start from. There will be quite a few number of people in this world who would be knowing about Namrup. So lemme start by giving a brief history about it (promise to keep it restricted to a couple of lines !).

Well Namrup is a small industrial town in Assam which in turn is a small state in India. I do have a lot of memories attached with this place this is the place I grew up obviously you have real lot of affinity for places where you spend the childhood and grow up it really has a lot of contribution to your personality. There is nothing much in Namrup except three industries one Petrochemical, one Fertilizer and one Thermal Power Plant so its a small place which really has a great talent pool of well educated people . 

My Dad being a Mechanical engineer was also no exception and he started off there after his engineering the first job and at that time the plant was also in its initial phases so he saw the place grow as he went up the hierarchy to be the topmost official in the company.

So the three campuses were demarcated with walls and there were entrance gates with tight security for outsiders entering the campus. Very beautiful and well maintained campuses with large bungalows(as I grew up in those bungalows) as well as other type of housing accommodations. Greenery and  cleanliness were two things that were given utmost priority,never knew what is power cut and what is electricity bill when I grew up . Keep all the lights on across the 8-9 room bungalow. Trees like Gulmohar,Deodar,Neem,Peltophorum,Eucalyptus surrounded the campus and we had Bottle brush, sunflower,weeping willow,night jasmine,jasmine,varieties of Dahlia, narcissus,chrysanthemum etc all sorts of flowers in our bungalow garden along with that we also used to have a kitchen garden with fruits and veggies. Life's really been too kind to let us grow in such an atmosphere (dint understand that then though now when I stay in a metro realize it and miss that life and wanna get back that from the core of my heart but time once gone cant be brought back!)

Everything was so timely and the surrounding was so safe although this is something I am talking 20 yrs back still I dont think there is much change in the lifestyle except for the modernization creeping in and the internet culture getting into the heart.

There's easy accessibility to Art, music and martial arts ..

No issues of traffic although every person has a car and we had two most of the time as we had our own as well as the chauffeur driven office one. (Hmm miss those things too!)

Very good calm and peaceful environment to study and learn things and very less distraction so mostly its easy to have a good academic background as well as cultural background too.

Really miss that small town of mine where I spent my childhood and teenage days although I was not born there nor have I settled down there but I have spent the most beautiful and innocent time there.

How I wish I could go back there someday relive my memories. 

Eternal San Francisco

A trip to San Francisco city in US was one of my most memorable trips in life. I had far exceeded my expectations.I reached SFO airport by night 9.00 pm PDT..My friend had come over to pick me from airport with a couple of her friends.On our way back from the airport we stopped by at Whole Foods.She  was put up in Hilton suites , it was office accommodation.It was a suite with a bedroom , small kitchen cum dining,bathroom and dressing room. All so cozy and well done up.
We took our dinner and then kept all the stuff lying there as it was coz the room service would clean up the stuff and there was no dishwasher , washer and dryer inside the suite.Both of us lay down on the bed and kept on talking the whole night which is very natural for two girls if they meet after long.

Next day we got up quite late with the room service's call.After having light brunch we both started in her car.Infact my friend was pretty new to driving in the US, she had been driving since one month only and it was a test for her to be driving alone.Nevertheless we both had no tension no worries just wanted to enjoy our time.

Our first destination was as anyone could blindly guess THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE..It was long weekend so it was so very stacked and crowed with people from all over the globe..I never ever imagined it would be so beautiful sight...I am out of words to describe the beauty that you experience when you are driving across the clouds through the Golden Gate bridge.We couldnt find a place to stop and take pictures , NO PARKING AT ALL so we had to drive across and go take pictures from  a far off corner.

The unique thing about SFO which I felt is the hilly,crooked roads and even the cars were parked in the uneven roads  it was surprising(atleast for me).Amongst all the places I have seen this was very unique or I can say a specialty of SFO.
Travelling through those criss-cross roads of SFO we moved towards the cloud clad Golden Gate Bridge.Wow what a sight it was so blissful and beautiful felt like heaven.As it was a holiday there were loads of tourists and no place for parking. So we couldn't stop at the bridge and we decided to move on to a nearby beach Stinson beach ( don't exactly remember the name ).The route to the beach also had an awesome scenery as it was agian a criss-cross hilly road and  on top of that  the horizon between the ocean and the sky on one side and the mountains on the other, it was simply great. We stopped at a few viewpoints clicked a few pics and and  enjoyed the view .I wished if I could have been there forever and if I could have maa-papa also with me there at that place.After that we  reached the beach and had fun for sometime.We went to the Crooked road and then went back to Hilton suites .We cooked food and again talked whole night .

The next day we went to visit Alcatraz although we dint have much time so we had to see it from outside and come back infact.

The next destination was Sausalito a bay-front beautiful busy town with innumerable shops and restaurants it was a busy small town.Its an adorable little town just on the otherside of the Bay Bridge. It is said to be one of the happiest seaside towns and there was a lot of fun and entertainment in the boardwalk.
I did souvenir shopping, had coffee and soaked in some more awesome and breathtaking views of the SFO city.

The final destination was a ride to have a look at the beautiful villas of  Hollywood superstars as well as celebs like Robin Williams,Danielle Steele etc, the locales were so very scenic  and the villas out of this world kind.Accumulating all my special memories of SFO in my heart I headed back.

The Awesome Mall of America

 Located in Bloomington,Minnesota its one of America's  largest malls.Its  an ultimate paradise for shopaholics like me.
We  entered the mall after parking our car ....  the parking also was infact huge with enough place for anyone to get lost easily.There were directions and slot number we had to remember accurately to reach back to the vehicle or else we will be looking out only.
We enter and I was lost in the vastness of the mall.There was a big kids Nickelodeon Universe,a big Underwater adventure park,and unlimited options  of  food joints and shopping....
First day I only could have a glimpse of it but I obviously din't have enough of it so I had that inkling in my mind I am gonna visit this place many many more times.So I did.
It houses four super stores at four corners-Macys,Nordstorm,Sears and Blommingdales.Infact you enter through any one of these corners you feel like you have entered into a shopper's paradise...
I am a Macys fan.I like everything about Macys...the decor,the brands available,availability of my kindda stuff and so i became a Macys card holder eventually and I used to get special membership discounts too...The perfume section was Heaven I got many perfumes whenever I got a chance...Chanel was my fav then..I also like the wrap dresses by Donna Karen,Anne Klein,Alfani,NY&Co ...
Nordstorm was not one of my fav places 'coz everythign i liked was out of my budget and ...
Shoes were out of my budget in Macys ....So i used to window shop there and keep my fav designs and pattern in mind so that next time when i visit Knollwood mall's DSW shoe Warehouse I can get that in a lesser price.....Infact there's a DSW,Steve Madden and many more shoe specialty stores there in MOA too but those are in some corners and the DSW in Knollwood mall is far bigger than that of the MOA.
GUESS,BABE,GAP,Origins,Banana Republic,Forever 21,BATH & BODY,chicos,Club Monaco,Ed Hardy,Express,Famous Footwear,Fossil,H&M,Godiva chocolates,MAC ,Mastercuts,Nine West Orange Julius,Payless Shoes Source,Perfumania,Radio Shack ,Sephora ,the buckle,Sunglass hut,trade secret,things remembered,victorias secret,were the other stores i used to frequently raid.
Marshalls sometimes if i get enough of time after raiding the previous ones.
Then comes all those small stalls in the corridors and those hair extensions,kimono shops,nailfilers ,nail shiners etc knick knack shops...where we used to get shiny and glittery stuff shoes,accessories etc at affordable rates .
Then comes the food court it had a lot of options besides the food court there was the Bubba gump shrimp ,Rainforest cafe,Famous Daves,NapaValley Grille,ruby Tuesday,Twin city Grill,Qdoba  these were the places i had a chance to dig in..Each one was an awesome experience in American food with very cosy and warm ambience.Loved each of them.
Mall of America is a shopaholic's paradise which noone should miss......