December

Hi guys,

Hope you all having a great week. I am pretty much free this week. I mean apart from going to work everyday I don't have anything planned for the whole week. That is actually a good news to myself because now I can have more time for this blog. And I have already planned a few posts for this and coming week. So check out this space everyday.

For today, I found some of my old pics in a hard drive which are clicked in Dakshinachitra, Chennai. Dakshinachitra is museum dedicated for South Indian architecture, life style, arts and culture. Basically you can find heritage homes built in ancient South India style like The Kerala Christian home, The Madras Brahmin home, The chikmagalur home of Karnataka, The coastal Andhra home etc...

There are a few great shops and a nice traditional south Indian meal corner. I really did enjoy my day there. So whenever you guys go for a drive along ECR do check out this place. Its worth it.

P.S - During the time of my visit I was not into blogging or photography. So below given are the only pics I clicked on that day. Honestly, these pics do not do any justice to such an awesome place. You go and check it out guys, You will know what I mean. :)

Hi there,

Hope you having a great week. Have you planned anything for the weekend ? My weekend is going to be a quiet and comfy one. I have planned to stay indoors for 2 days watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S and reading my new book. Oh Ya, I have ordered The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd and it will be delivered today. Finally I decided to get over my ‘lazy-for-reading’ sickness and get back to track. And I thought it would be good idea to order a paperback this time.

I love my kindle. It is the best thing when you travel or you are running out of space on your book shelf or you live with someone who doesn't sleep while the light is on(I know most of us read late nights). But sometimes I don’t get the feel that am reading a book. So once in a while I have to get my hands on paperbacks too.

See how easily I get carried away. The post title says life updates and am talking about I don’t know what all….you know what, the word I say to myself the most is ‘focus’. Now you know why. So back to the real post. Here are some recent updates on my life.

I became an aunt !!! Again !!!! actually, for the third time !!! hehe, but I become very excited every time. This time it’s a nephew for me. I already have two nieces so I was secretly wishing for a nephew. Both my nieces are a great help in emptying my wallet for all those hair-bands and bangles and ballerinas. I hope the latest one is different, At least he won’t need any ballerina. Happy wallet, happy me.

I successfully completed 4 years in my job, also 4 years in Trivandrum. I can’t believe how fast time flies. I am looking forward to move to a new city but I can’t get enough of this beautiful place. I am soon going to miss all these trees, the windy and rainy climate, the beautiful beaches and the most awesome people I met here.

We are shifting… Ya it’s sad but true. Even though I have to stay back in Trivandrum for a few more months, I can’t stay at the place where I stay right now. Me and my bestie are in apartment hunt. Somewhere close to work place because I don’t wanna drive too much.

And here are a few pics which I think is related but you all will realize not at all related to this post. :P And ya that is my bike,,I call him Sunny. :) And its definitely a 'he'.

So that’s all for now. But I have posts on my 'To Read' list coming this week and a weekend getaway details coming later this week. So do come back.

Bye.

Here is a post from my bestie about her recent trip. There would be more travel tales from her in coming weeks...Stay tuned :)

I was planning for this trip since forever. Finally it’s here.

On a fine Saturday morning, we started the trip in our bike . We first headed to Padmanabhapuram palace. We reached the palace by 9.30 am.

Padmanabhapuram palace was the official residence of the Maharaja's of the former State of Travancore.

The Palace Complex comprises of about 10 double storied traditional buildings. Almost all buildings in the palace are interconnected.

The palace also contains 17th and 18th century murals. The royal splendor of the Padmanabhapuram Palace is quite overwhelming. The Palace Museum is located on the right of the courtyard before you enter the main gate of the complex. It exhibits furniture, wooden and granite statues, coins, weapons and utensils. The guides were not so helpful, but we walked inside the entire wooden palace and enjoyed its beauty.

We, then headed to Kanyakumari. Sun started being harsh on us. We geared up so that we are least affected by the heat. Throughout the journey to Kanyakumari, we could spot small shop selling mangoes in abundance(Rs.100 for 4kgs!!!)

We managed to reach the hotel by 12.30. It was sea facing and we could see the Vivekananda rocks from our balcony. We freshened up fast and headed for lunch. We had our north Indian meal from Punjabi dhaba. We planned to visit Vivekananda rocks& Thiruvalluar statue as there was very little crowd.(we still waited for more than half an hour in the queue).

Vivekananda rock is more of a sacred monument dedicated to one of the most revered spiritual leaders - Swami Vivekananda.

Thiruvallavur Statue, a gigantic 133 feet (41 m) tall statue of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar,is one of the biggest statues in Asia.

It was quite interesting.

In the evening, we rode to the sunset point and it was beautiful. at night, we spent time walking through the crowded streets with local shops. We managed to get a good bargain on cashew nuts (*wink*)

We were exhausted and just packed our dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Our hotel receptionist was so kind that he rang the bell in the morning to wake us up for the sunrise. To my surprise, We could watch the sunrise from the hotel rooftop. That was my first experience watching sunrise.

This was a quick visit to the Shridi Sai temple on our way back.

After breakfast, by 11 am, we drove back to our place, being happy about a beautiful weekend.

It was quite a short trip, but was very interesting.

Udaipur is like a beautiful princess. So elegant, so modest. This was the capital of Mewar kingdom. Wherever you go in Udaipur you hear a new story about Maharana Pratab or Udai Singh or Rani Padmini. And its all very fascinating.

There are a lot of places to see in Udaipur. The best thing to do is to ditch your tour operator and explore the Udaipur streets by yourself like we did. We spend half a day in City palace and half a day in shopping the vintage stuff outside the palace. By evening we took a walk to the shores of Lake Pachola and got refreshed by the cool winter breeze and by night we got to see some authentic rajastani art forms at the Bagore ki Haweli. Luckily we were in Udaipur on the new year eve. (Yes. this post is late by 6 months :(.. lazy me !!!)

Bagore ki Haweli has got some really cool stuff to see too. I cant share all the pics here even though i really want to...
One thing you cant miss in Udaipur is the night light show at City palace. At the show they narrate the histroy of Mewar kingdom and there is some pretty good light works, But what is amazing is the view of City Palace at night. It was mesmerizing.

Our Rajasthan trip was in December. Honestly, I didn't know that it gets cold in that place. I am not proud to talk about my non-awareness about a state that is part of my country, but you guys should know that I live in the extreme south of this nation and here we have only two seasons – rainy season and non-rainy season. Literally. We don’t experience any extreme climate. Well people don’t call this place ‘God Own Country’ for no reason.

So, back to where we started, Rajasthan has got the extremes of both winter and summer. And we landed there in winter. Needless to say, I was frozen. I can’t stand cold . I hate that thing about me but I guess there is no fat in my body that can actually help me to get through the cold. So for me, Jaipur was freakishly cold, but for everyone else it was actually a pretty sunny day.

Any ways, my partner had a clear plan for the day. And we actually did stick with the plan. We planned to visit Chokhi Dhani in the evening, so the morning plans were adjusted to that.

Our first destination was Amer fort. Amer is a huge palace/fort build in red sand and marble. The rooms of Amer are built and modified over years and has all the luxuries for a royal living. Every bathroom in this palace has the steam bath facility and the royal bedroom has scientifically designed natural air conditioning. Amer palace has beautiful gardens, mirror worked and flower painted walls. This place is so beautiful for your eyes and the camera lenses.

Next destination was Jaighar fort, which is in the same compound as Amer palace. We got to walk around a little bit on top of the walls and caught the view of beautiful Jaipur.

Another stop was to see the world's biggest cannon. Yes, its in India and in Jaipur. It says after this Cannon was placed there no one ever bothered to fight with the king. haha.

Lastly we went to Chokhi Dhani. It was a treat to eyes, ears and the tastebuds. It is an artificial rajastani village where you get to see the folk entertainment, can have the delicious rajastani cuisine and feel the ethnic village life ambience. We walked around the place, danced a little, clicked a lot of pics and ate a lot.

There ends our two day Jaipur trip. Jaipur is a must see spot in India. Just get there at the right time and stay away from the tourist-looting businessmen. You gonna love it.

(Some pics are blur. I know. We didn't yet learn how to do the manual adjustments. Seriously!!!)