Indelible Musings

The first post of 2016 has finally arrive, though a week late. Last year, I had written the first blog on the first day of the year, with an aim to continue the trend throughout. I am glad I succeeded in it. This year, while writing was on my agenda, there was something else hovering over my mind. A long weekend awaited all of us during the beginning of the New Year. Almost everyone that I know of had some or the other plans ready. We on the other hand had just a small idea of heading to Bengaluru to be with family (His parents and sister). So while on one hand, I checked for Tatkal tickets to Bengaluru, I simultaneously opened multiple windows to see 'weekend getaways from Bengaluru'. That's how I zeroed down on Chikmagalur. While there are many lessons learnt on this impromptu trip, there is no denying that it was the need of the hour too. Moreover, I was of the opinion that who knows may be, if I began the year with a travel, the year may continue to be so :-) How we ...

As promised in my earlier post, 2 Nights, 3 Days Trip to Ilha Da Calma- Diu , here I am with a new post on how we traveled to and within Diu. This would not really be a very long post. I will keep it short and simple for all purpose. How I traveled to Diu and back 1) Chennai to Diu - By Flight  There are no direct flights to Diu. They will all take you via either Mumbai or Ahmedabad. Since I was meeting my friends in Mumbai, I took a flight to Mumbai and then we all boarded the same flight from Mumbai to Diu. There is also another catch in this. If you book separate tickets, you may get the tickets at a cheaper price than if booked together. 2) Diu to Chennai via Ahmedabad There are flights via Mumbai ONLY when returning from Diu. We got to know of this when we were there. Thankfully, we had our bus tickets reserved well in advance. All the private as well as state run government buses ply post 7pm onwards from the Jethibai Bus Terminus in Diu towards Ahmedabad. You will...

Anyone would identify with the above video. It has been all over the TV since quite some time. Diu Tourism does try and make an impact on the tourists. When you watch the video, you are transported to a different land altogether. In fact, the first time, I ever saw it, I too wondered where this place was until the ad ended with Diu Tourism. I was mesmerised. I wanted to go right away to that place to feel the 'calm' that the video boasts of. But it seemed like a far fetched dream. Then, one day, a whatsapp from my friend asking if I would be interested in accompanying her to Diu, piqued my interest back to where I had left it before. However, I wasn't sure. The thought of leaving my child behind was a little too unnerving. But my husband supported me a lot to go on this 'break'. There was a deal though that I would have to grant him a break too like that. I happily agreed to the deal. :-) After a few talks over whatsapp and email, I booked my tickets to ...

I have so many things to update you all about. Where should I begin from? Let me first say that yes, I had been extremely occupied with something or the other. There were times when I would open the "new post" section of the blog, stare at it for hours, switch tabs to Facebook and then eventually close the blog. But today, I decided I had to post. So, here I am with a few updates. First things first, the biggest news of this month is that I, yours truly, is now a published author :-) Those of you who have frequented my LinkedIn and Facebook profile, would know by now. But for those of you, who read my blogs, this update had to be made. Pardon me, for keeping it short and simple in one post itself. Interested in knowing some details? So here it is. I and a bunch of seven other talented bloggers from across the country were part of BlogAdda's Celebrate Blogging initiative. We took part in one of the events of that initiative- Game of Blogs. Our team was amongst the top ...

I am back. I know it's been long. Though I had aimed for writing a different 99th post on my blog, it turns out that I have to probably write this one prior to the one I thought first. So, this post came to my mind today itself, while I was surfing through the Jan editions of the different travel magazines that I bought from one of my visits to Starmark in Chennai. My main aim was to see and think if I could generate any story ideas from these magazines. But as luck would have it, I ended up glancing at the magazines only a month later. While looking through the pages of these beautiful travel magazines, I was struck with a realization. That there are innumerable beautiful places on this planet for me to discover, the underlying reality behind the realization is that I do not know whether I would be able to do that in this birth or not. Forget the world, I am yet to explore my own country, which boasts of diverse cultural and historical important places which are explored by trave...

Calcutta, the city of joy, is associated with each and every Bengali living on this planet even though he or she might not have the least possible connection with it. Despite being a Bengali, I am probably the only person (as far as I know) who doesn't like Calcutta as much as a quintessential Bengali would. Having born and brought up in Delhi, I detested going to Calcutta be it for anything. Often being rebuked by my mother for the same, I have heard countless stories of how she and her siblings would be excited about the summer holidays because they would get to visit Calcutta for almost the entire summer vacation. The very thought of spending two whole months in Calcutta gave me jitters. I don't know why I hated going there so much despite it being loved by everyone for its charm, life,  food, people, trains, tram etc etc. My last visit to Calcutta was in 2010, when my friend PC from my Journalism college decided to head home while we the students were being taken for y...

The most entertaining part about a long distance journey on a train will probably be, seeing the number of stations that we pass. A regular train journey would comprise of looking at the platforms where the trains enter every now and then; may be get off to have a cup of tea and snacks or just stand at the exit of the coach and observe the crowd. Have you ever thought of exploring these towns beyond their platforms? I suppose no. What can we get by exploring this town??- The usual small town with some small shops and the usual crowd but a bit different from those in the city. This is precisely where we go wrong. If a train is stopping by at a particular station, the town definitely has more than the station platform, the chaiwallahs and the innumerable people waiting to board the same train or other. This is exactly what the author, Bishwanath Ghosh, does in his debut novel- "Chai Chai." He "travels in places where you stop but never get off." The journey begins wi...

It takes a lot of effort to type out what you really feel, in a blog post. Moreover, with no space constraint, you are free to write as much as you want or you like. Just like I do. Not that I am a regular blogger. However, off late, reading many blog posts by friends, some known and some unknown, I am forced to stretch my imagination. Not that I am going to write some fiction, non fiction, poetry, article, opinion etc etc but I know by the end of this post, you readers will get something to read. And, who knows? May be after reading the post, you might feel why did I waste my time in writing this? or may go wow and exclaim "That's something I have never written.." Jokes apart, I don't think I am the lone person, who gets ideas, words, expressions after reading and reading and some more reading. By reading, I don't wish to restrict myself or you to a mere newspaper reading. To each his own. I like to read blogs and books, sometimes magazines and surf websites as...