It's simply Udaipur!!!

"This used to be my playground (used to be)

This used to be my childhood dream

This used to be the place I ran to

Whenever I was in need

Of a friend

Why did it have to end!"

These were the exact sentiments that I felt when I  revisited all the places in Udaipur where I used to play and go to during school days!

I wonder why is it that we change as we grow up but do not like to accept changes around us! 

I'm sure most of my friends and infact anybody who has gone through this would agree with me when I say this that no matter where in the world we go, we want the place where we grew up...be it our home or the city we grew up in to be unchanged!

Seeing the ever-changing transient world, I knew about the changes happening in Udaipur...but wooah!! It's a whole new city!! Living in this city for almost 14years I knew every possible place but my stay this time in Udaipur made me rethink about my knowledge of this beautiful city!

Known as the city of lakes and the Venice of India, Udaipur has always been a tourist attraction, I remember growing up here was fun, not many vehicles on the road, I used to cycle around with my friends, we could practise learning our two-wheelers on the road with ease not bothering about accidents, now Udaipur is full of tourists from all over the world but the sad part is that nobody cares about it as a city anymore!

With shopping malls and buildings taking over the small shops and cute lil houses, this city is like any other place in India, nothing beautiful or admirable anymore! The roads are full of vehicles and impatient people, all ready to fight at the drop of a needle. With the help of a friend I went to the city area where my school is and a few more areas where my friends used to live(now all married and gone to different cities), the roads are the same but buildings cropping all over the place, made my heart sink!!

I thought this commercialisation has eaten up a beautiful small city like Udaipur too, but I was wrong! Some things haven't changed like Sukhadia Circle...the paani puri guys still have their lil stalls('Thela' as we call them), near some garbage heaps and made with every possible unhygienic possibility one can think of, but amazingly tasty to the core!! The famous Red Thela Sandwich guy at Fatehsagar, so many years have passed but the taste and quality of the sandwich and the green chutney remains the same...TASTY! Rani road still has the guava guy and still has cars parked on the sides of the road( people I hope u know what I mean) Then there is The Palace Road...the shopkeepers still recognise me and still have that bargaining touch to them( though they all say I do not look like a 'Local' anymore)!!

So I guess u can change everything possible about this place but we still would manage to find our Good ol' Udaipur somewhere in all this!

Aaj Kuch toofani kartein hain!!

"Aaj Kuch toofani kartein hain" I guess this is what must be going on in the minds of the organisers of SUV junction!!! With the summers taking its toll, Times Of India and  Atul Enterprises jointly organised an off-roading event( SUV Junction)for all the adventure enthusiasts in Pune...people who love that adrenaline rush!!

With the track set up in Western-Hills(an Atul enterprises project) and the dates decided..my husband(Alok) and his friends were all geared up for the event!! Not to forget...my son(Naman)too was equally geared up for this event( having this love for off-roading, racing in his genes)!

Alok told me that me and the kids were also going along with him for the race, and me (being the smartass that I am), very confidently asked him with whom would the kids stay with over there since I was going to Navigate him!

He laughed his head off and I knew instantly that it was a dumb question to ask since his navigator has been only one guy for years now....Soham Shah!

The 1st day we reached the venue and it was full with teams from all over Maharashtra with maximum Jeeps and Gypsies apart from a few other SUVs like Lexus, Land cruiser Toyota fj pajero etc.

It was a Relay event on day1, where tag-teams were made of 3 cars each and winners were decided on the basis of the cumulative time taken by the team! My son all excited, full of energy and a twinkle in his eyes, was busy running from one point to the other on order to see the vehicles complete their tasks.

He even took an extra walkie talkie from Alok to hear what he and his navigator would talk! Sitting in the tent put up for their team, getting tanned in the hot blazing sun and surrounded by men covered in sweat and mud, I told my son I wanted to go home. He was shocked to hear it and assuming that maybe I am not following what's happening around, he sat next to me and started explaining me the works! Seeing his interest it was decided that I would stay till it got over.

Day 2 started with a Bang, with most of the vehicles broken or out of the league due to the previous day event. It was an Individual race event! Navigators were compulsory for all participants, with vehicles going over the obstacles and in the water it was an amazing event, very nicely organised and equally well executed! 

Alok and Soham came second in the Individual event, with a difference of three seconds from the person on the first position and their team came First in the Relay event! 

A lovely dinner, lots of chitter-chatter and an extremely tired set of people enjoying it, was the perfect end to two extremely power packed toofani days!!!

Haily Rain!!!!!!

Not one single day in your life is an ordinary day, no matter how boring or mundane it may seem. It does not matter where you are or what the setting is....the point is that you are there because YOU are meant to be there, whether on a holiday, at home or a picnic!! 

That is exactly how I got another interesting day worth cherishing in my life!

It is true that the first drops of rain get tears in our eyes and a smile on our face, The smell of wet soil, the different shades of green spread around with wet plants, wet grass and trees, the slosh of puddles under our feet make us want to dance!!

Well I did all of this yesterday after a long time all thanx to our kids and my husband!

We enjoyed the rains!! Enjoyed getting wet, enjoyed eating the hailstones, enjoyed making each other wet! In short enjoyed being together

The day started off with the sun shining brightly and since we had heard about the hailstorm in Baramati and Nasik, it was taken for granted that Pune would also receive rains soon.  Post lunch while seeing off my husband outside the house it started drizzling and being the lady of the house, my first reaction was getting the clothes inside the house. Once done with that, I told the kids to see the drizzle, that's when we had a hailstorm in Pune. 

The kids were thrilled to see the hailstones and tried catching them too!! My husband pulled us out to get wet in the rain, pop a few hailstones in our mouth and splash some water too! This has been the first time that our kids have seen hailstones. 

This got me thinking when was the last time we did something for the first time??? Thanks to our kids we really did something for the first time in ages we went back to our childhood with our children and we made memories!! 

A truly amazing birthday!!

Yes, so the people who know me know how excited I get about my birthday. I behave like a 4 year old all jumpy and crazy!!

Anyways so unlike every year the countdown for my birthday began rather late...a week before( usually it starts frm December, after my husband's birthday gets over!!), I tried my best to not show my excitement,  but I couldn't stop myself from becoming that 4 year old!!

Since February is a month with loads of celebrations,the entire month is full of surprises! Me (I become a detective in February), trying to know what planning is going on in my husband's head for our anniversary and my birthday. With the help of a few common friends, we scheme together to try finding out!!

Yes! We fail every year to know his plans but keep trying new tricks every year, with the hope of succeeding some day!!

My husband knows how much I love our anniversary and my birthday and makes it a point to make them special every year!! On the eve of our anniversary after dinner we went off to bed only to be woken up by MY darling husband holding a cake and flowers in his hand!! Being gifted a  customised   car for our anniversary, my husband took his surprising me to a whole new level!! Not only him but our kids went around telling all their friends' parents to wish us for our "anninersary"( that's how they pronounce it), the entire day we had people meeting us and congratulating us!!

With the month approaching my birthday and noticing how busy and occupied my husband had been with his office, work and travelling; I had decided not to pester him into anything...but he being the sweetheart that he is, ensured that he made it on the eve of my b'day back to pune to ring in my birthday with me! 

 He got my favourite cake baked by my favourite bakery(which is not in pune) specially for me with a new phone placed on the cake!!

That's not all! Our kids and my husband  ganged up and booked movie tickets for me, my kids and my very good friend along with her kids for a movie. I was sent with the kids out and was told the driver would know where to go! I was sooo surprised to reach the movie hall!! 

I guess these lil things that are done to show how much you mean to your family and how much they love you means a Lott. At the end of the day no money and no diamonds can replace the pleasure and happiness we get in simple things....for me his coming all the way just to be with me on my special day  and my kids arranging an outing for me to have some fun with them says a lot about
their love for me!!

Live your Life

Opinions are important but it's not important to always follow these opinions.

Twisting and tweaking , these opinions is always the best way to tailor made it to offer solution to your need.

After reading through one of FB statuses,I wondered on the impact of these opinions

Instead of learning the hard way its better to do things that would make us happy, opinions are formed no matter what we do. So, stop whining....the best way to live  life is the way we wish to! 

Don't just wait to celebrate birthdays , anniversaries but celebrate YOURSELF,EACH DAY,EACH MOMENT.Everyday is a reason to celebrate, the womankind who have their husbands busy with work don't fret it....just take one of your girlfriend or your kids or better still just take yourself and go out!! 

A very sweet person once told me if you are bothered over something,just dress up ,put on your shoes and go get your hair cut !! Try it, it is indeed a mood elevator.

Most of us bother too much about others opinions about us that we start living our lives according to other people. Most of our lives are spent trying to keep everyone around us happy, that we forget our likes and wishes.It is these ' Uncustomized opinions' of others that intervene in our personal space and ultimately creep into our relations.

Entire life we just try to 'Fit' into other's perceived opinions but how can one fit in to what is not for them.

Better is to look crisp and clean in being you than being 

 in being a MissFit.

Jai Hind!

India celebrates its 65th Republic Day today...I am proud to be an Indian but I also feel sad about what is happening in this country RICH IN CULTURE!!
Seeing the Republic day parade this morning on television I felt very proud seeing that despite the cold and fog, many people came to see the parade, I felt proud seeing the weapons, tanks, missiles etc that our country has to defend us. Seeing the glimpses of all the states and their culture made me happy.
I remember the terrorist attack we had in Mumbai, it showed how brave and united we stand! The Mumbai Police showed such bravery and the  people helped the survivors without bothering about religion or caste.
The Politicians of India call themselves the 'Game Changers' but most of the time make fun of the whole system.
It makes me sad to see politicians forgetting the promises they make during elections. We talk of 'Women Empowerment' but how safe are the women in this country? Almost everyday we hear about a new case of either female infanticide, domestic violence or rape! Its sad but India is rated amongst the unsafe countries for women.
Just the other day, I forgot my debit card in the ATM machine; I realised it after reaching home and immediately rushed to that ATM branch....to my horror it wasn't in the machine!! I was very scared & angry with myself for forgetting something so important! But humanity still exists, honesty and honest men still exist...the watchman of that branch saw me and recognised me, turns out that he saw the card and kept it inside so that if I return he could hand it over to me!
It made me realise that no matter what I will always be Proud of this country and that there are more reasons to smile!!!

Another Fun-Filled Holiday!!!!!

Getting bored of the same old routine, me and my husband again wanted to get away from the Shor of the city, so we sat down to decide where to go for a holiday, where the kids would enjoy and we would have some family time together. After going through all the options (me being biased as usual) I decided to go to Tarkarli( the kids haven't been there) Situated 6 kms south of Malvan and 546 kms away from Mumbai on the coast of Maharashtra is Tarkarli.

Okay so, finally after loads of pouting, eyelashes batting and pleases(since I have been to this place many times and my husband wanted to go somewhere else), we started packing for our lil' looong drive to Tarkarli! We booked ourselves in the MTDC resort online. The location is what makes this resort distinct from any other resorts / hotels in Tarkarli.

Both my kids love the beach and after hearing about this place from me, they were all excited about our holiday. So finally we set off for our self-drive holiday!
This place has gained prominence because of its long and narrow stretch of beach with pristine waters and water sports. On a clear day, one can see the bed unto a depth of 20 ft. It presents a panoramic view with tall 'Shuru' trees in the background. The wide river, the beautiful sailboats and the tiny hamlets situated on the riverbank, add to the picturesque beauty of Tarkarli. Sighting dolphins is not a rare event here. This place fishes throughout the year, the sea during summer and winter and back-waters during the monsoon since the sea water enters this area and also due to safety reasons

We checked ourselves in the boat houses instead of the bamboo cottages at MTDC. The view from the deck of the sea was breathtaking! We rested for sometime & since it was evening by the time we reached, we decided to just rest a little. The kids kept themselves busy by running around the deck of the boat-house, after sometime we ate dinner and took them on the beach( which by the way is just a short hop skip and jump away from where our boat-house was located). The fishermen in that area usually come back from fishing at night so there are many fishermen trying to take out their fishing nets at night to see and claim their catch! With torches & lanterns shining we managed to find ourselves places to stand and see their Catch Of The Day! Both the kids were jumping with joy to see the different kinds of fish they had caught...ooh and then there was the Sting Ray, which the fishermen were sweet enough to make our kids touch and hold!
Tired we called it a night early to gear ourselves for the next fun-filled day. Next morning we ate our breakfast & left to show the kids Dolphins! Like I said they are very common in this part of Malvan...with a little bargaining(which my husband is good at ;P) we took the kids for Dolphin spotting...the dolphins were jumping in the water at just a few feet away from us which made the kids not only cling to us but also made them jump with joy! There are other sport activities too like snorkeling, para-sailing, scuba diving but the kids being too small for them we did not go for all the activities

Then, of course there is THE fort, Sindhudurg, one of Maharashtra's most popular and important sea fort and the First naval base and the First Indian armada, built in the 17 th century by Shrimant Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. My son being a huge Chatrapati Shivaji admirer was very thrilled to go to this fort and see Shivaji's foot impression in this fort!
Having spent a lovely day out we were tooo tired and finally went back to the resort to spend some quiet time to relax. Another refreshing holiday it was for us as a family to create memories!