Slow Life.

I want a slow Life in a small town!

So much changes with time, at one point of time, all I wanted was a successful career, money, luxury, comfort, of course, along with my people. Ten years back, my dreams were different from what they are today. My dream house used to be  a lavish one in a metro city with every comfort inside and even the comforts were different from what they are now. And, I have always believed I will earn it. 

And today, the only thing similar from my previous dream is my people, everything else changed. I no more want a huge amount of money or a super career or a luxurious lifestyle or a very big house in a crowded city. All I need is a peace of mind, a slow life in a small city, peaceful evenings with my loved ones and good food on the table. 

I am back to square one, where, I again want a small house on the green hills with a small river flowing around, with everything I need to survive, clean air, clean water, clean food and a fireplace to keep me warm in winters. Less noise, more smiles and no mobiles.

I crave for stress free weekends at home, sipping my coffee in peace, reading a book, cooking in my free time for my people. Sleeping till late, playing a sport, listening to old music, doing something creative with calmness around. Travelling often.

A place away from maddening crowd. 

I don't want a social life where I have 500 friends on Facebook, 300 followers on Instagram and hollowness inside. Wishing festivals to hundreds of people on WhatsApp and not feeling anything! 

I want to be with few people I truly care about.

Aah I was watching 'DDLJ' the other day, what a life it was without mobile phones, when everything was real. Emotions were real, people used to make effort to meet, talk and see each other. So complicated yet so sorted!

Irony is, by default I belong to that Era, I have seen that life and I can compare it. And I know I can't go back there, even when I know it was so much better.

Mobile phones with internet are a curse, I feel I am never free. I am always followed, entangled in chains everywhere. On every damn social media if you are online, you are visible to everybody and you are bound to reply. I hate being rude and ignorant and I don't want to be there. 

Sometimes, I really wish to run away from it. 

Dear God, I won't ask for anything from you! Just take care of my people. And I Love You.

My Date with Delhi!

Yesterday, I spent my day roaming around in Delhi, covering it from south to north and loved it. :)

This thought was in my mind from the day I came back from Mumbai... while sitting in my Mumbai to Delhi flight somewhere it clicked my mind its being a long time since I visited my Delhi with all my heart...

Though I am in sales and I roam around in Delhi all the time but visiting places specifically for the sake of travel is a different feel.

I gathered all the info online and came to know about “HoHo bus”, it’s a Delhi Darshan Bus which takes you around Delhi.

I boarded the bus in morning from Connaught place and started my journey.

There was a commentary running in the background about places we were passing through... I wondered how come I never noticed so many places... though, I cross them quite often.

It was an amazing feel to roam around without any official purpose.. I loved every moment of it.

I stopped at Lal Quila and decided to have my lunch at Chandni Chowk “the foodie’s paradise”.

Since, it was a Saturday... It was dead crowded but I somehow managed to eat whatever I wanted..

My last stop was CP, from where the journey started...

In evening, visited the church in CP and it was the best part of my day... sitting in calm peaceful church on a winter eve... Purely Blissful. :)

The Bus covered almost 20 places in Delhi and it was our choice to get down at whichever place we were interested in exploring.

I loved my day thoroughly... And now I am planning my next trip... Let’s see where I am gonna land this time.. 

I love you God, and it was a great conversation I had with you yesterday... Take care of my people... Muuuaah 

Mumbai- My first planned Solo! :)

I used to read so much about this city and always used to think how it would be in real...

It’s truly amazing in every sense! :-)

One fine evening, out of the blue while sitting... As usual, I was checking tickets and 2 days prior to Friday I booked my dates for Mumbai... And woohoo I was going to Mumbai... :)

It was a Friday morning flight, I didn’t sleep Thursday night in excitement and reached airport much before time..

Day 1

Quest for Vada Pav

One purpose of booking a morning flight was to eat vada pav in my Friday morning breakfast. \m/

All charged up, keeping in my mind my Chennai “flight missing” incident, I was at airport 3 hours prior to my departure time..

Flight landed, I was dying of excitement... Not even for a second I felt it was my first trip to Mumbai, and had an instant connect with the place..

I booked a cab for my guest house and asked him to stop in-between for vada pav...  but, there was no vada pav shop on the way, I reached guest house around 10.15 am... I asked the caretaker from where I can have the best of vada pav.. he suggested chowpathy.. I went downstairs and asked people where chowpathy is... it was not very far, so, I took a taxi and starting talking to the driver about the city and asked him to suggest a good place for vada pav..

On his recommendation we went to CST to eat Vada Pav.. It was not very near but worth the travel..  I had the first & the best vada pav of my journey..

I came back to the guest house & took a nap... I got up in an hour and left my guest house to explore Mumbai...

Beautiful South Mumbai

I called up my friend in Mumbai and decided to roam around in South Mumbai..

We started with Social Colaba, this was decided when he visited Delhi & we went to Social Hauz Khas.

After that we covered up nearby paces including Colaba street, Leopold Cafe, Gateway of India, Marine Drive and randomly tried bakeries on the streets of south Mumbai... We walked almost 9-10 kms or even more... It was 10-10.30 pm... We were full though but we had to try sizzler in one of the famous places there... So, we headed towards ‘Relish’....  After over eating... I left for my guest house...

Day 2

The Day of Minions & Phoenix!

I had plans to visit the other side of Mumbai.

I started my day with a morning show of Minions with a friend at IMAX 3D, Wadala, as we don’t have Imax here in Delhi... I loved the movie and above all I loved the caramel popcorn... :D

After the movie, I had plans to meet my old friend and her daughter at Phoenix Mall, so, I took a monorail as suggested by a friend, and boarded in local train from Chembur for Reay road... In between, I quickly grabbed a pastry :P

Rushing from Reay road I took a taxi and reached phoenix,  I started searching for her in the mall, we coordinated on fone multiple times, we both waited in front of Zara but were not able to see each other... After almost 2 hours of search in mall, we figured out they have 2 phoenix malls in Mumbai and we were in different malls. She was also new in Mumbai so we both had no clue... :P

I was in Pheonix Parel and she was in Pheonix Kurla. The best thing about these two malls is they both are similar in terms of their showrooms and placement :P but are very far from each other...

Since, it was already 3.30pm and I was dead hungry, we decided to continue in our respective malls and planned to meet in evening at marine drive...

I was back in my ‘kung fu panda’ mode and started looking for food to eat... I ate a burger in appetiser... I was hungry and craving for pasta... I saw a very nice looking place around the mall by the name of ‘The California kitchen’, I went inside and ate the worst pasta of my life...

Though I was full, I took an ice-cream to change my taste...

I went back to the guest house, quickly washed face, took my camera and left for Marine drive to meet my friend...

She stays far from Marine drive, so while waiting I decided to click some pics, I clicked, enjoyed naturals ice cream on marine drive, had a great conversation with the loud waves and finally met my friend at around 9.30pm... we roamed there for a while and went for dinner...

After dinner I came back & slept.

Day 3

Divinity day

It was my last day in Mumbai and I had only half day..

I got up at 5 am as I decided to visit Sidhivinayak, Mahalaxmi & Haji Ali...

Finished all 3 by 9.30am...

I had time till 2pm, I boarded a local bus for Bandra, I visited Bandra fort & Bandstand, captured it in my camera... I rushed to the linking road for the most talked about market... I roamed there for a while but didn’t like anything... It started raining... I waited for rains for 2 complete days... I enjoyed vada pav there and left for CST to buy the yummiest vada pav for my family.

I boarded local from Bandra to CST, walked till the market just to realize it’s closed on Sundays... :P I waited for bus to go back to my guest house but some shopkeeper suggested to take a taxi as it’s hard to find a bus on a Sunday.

I reached back to the guest house, packed my stuff and left for airport...

Delhi

It was drizzling in Delhi when I reached... I never loved my Delhi more...

People always compare Mumbai & Delhi... I can’t because the feel of both the cities is totally different... I loved the sea, vada pav, simplified transportation, hassle-free taxis, safe environment and helpful people...!

But, my core belongs to Delhi.... 

And will travel more often to Mumbai *<3>

God, you are the best! Thank you for everything  :)

'Shopping festival: Two days @trade fair'- 2

DAY 2

In just 7-8 times, I travel in metro like a pro.. :D.. Lol I don't believe I wrote an entire post on travelling in a metro... crazy me... Now, I enter in a metro station runs towards 'women only' coach and reach my destination wherever it may be... I find Metro convenient.. :-))

Coming to my second day of shopping at IITF... It wasn't there in my day's plan... But, since, I was highly motivated to go to IITF again and knowing the fact I had only one Sunday... I decided to sacrifice... :P

My 'Mela shopping buddy' was running in Delhi Marathon... So, I called up another friend and asked 'trade fair chalna hai' and in a fraction of second he said 'chal'...

It was 10.30am... And we met at Pragati Maidan metro at 12.30pm... Though, I am somewhat new to the list of metro travellers... I have never seen this much crowd at one place ever in my life... :-P.. I was not walking... I was pushed to move ahead... :P

Fighting through the crowd... I reached outside and waited for my friend.. He joined me in 5mins. . We started walking... Walking and walking :P

Entered inside the trade fair.. And started checking out stuff...

Oh! I can't explain the kind of perfumes I checked out at Bahrain's stall... It was heavenly... That fragrance was mesmerizing... I was sticking there for almost 15 mins to bargain since it was very expensive... But, I failed to bargain... We moved forward... All the while I was thinking of those perfumes... But, no worries... I'll buy them from Bahrain itself... ;-)) :-)

I was very interested in visiting Pakistan pavilion once again for the awesome stuff I bought on Saturday... I got some more on Sunday...

This time I bought chocolates, jellies and more stuff to eat for family... And we ate a lot there as well... :P

In evening around 5-5.30pm we heard Sufi music sound coming from open theatre.. We checked out it was amazing... A live band was playing... We stopped there for a while and decided to come back after some more shopping... We shopped more...

And.. in the end @6.30pm... We went and enjoyed open theatre dance performances for dunno how long... Rejuvenating it was after a long tiring day... I was lost in music... :-))

We left around 7.15pm... And I directly carried on with my pending weekend tasks... Reached home by 11pm... Super duper tired...

But, both days were great... I clicked less pictures on day 2... Sharing them below...

Pearl's 5th birthday is coming very soon... yayyy.. I am excited :-))

Thank you God, for being there... Please give me strength and bless my people... :-)