Explorer of Experiences

Staycations are quite trendy these days. And why not? Everyone deserves a short break not too far from home that's also light on the pocket. I went for one such staycation recently and it offered me the digital detoxification I required. I stayed at the ' Veranda in the Forest '. This is the name of a property managed by the Neemrana Hotels . The hotel chain is famous for operating some of the best and quaint heritage properties (24 in all) that span across centuries - from the 14th right till the 21st century. These include heritage forts, mansions, havelis and bungalows. Your stay at any of these hotels will be seeped in history. Matheran is declared an eco-sensitive region The ultimate veranda! The Veranda in the Forest is nestled high up on the secluded part of Matheran in the Western Ghats. This is a 19th century mansion and was only the second bungalow to be built in Matheran. It was built by Captain Harry Barr and is known among the locals as the Barr H...

Where Else promises to be unique in Viman Nagar, a neighbourhood already brimming with so many eateries.   Four young friends came together to put their love for food and travel experiences in a melting pot called ‘Where Else’. This new café and bar is the brainchild of sibling duo Ardesh and Daisy Rustomjee and best friend duo Amritha Shrikumar and Sweta Jobanputra. These Viman Nagar residents have been firsthand witnesses to the rise of new eateries in their locality. With ‘Where Else’ they aim to fill in the void of a place that offers all-day breakfast and good quality indulgent food. We drove to the outlet in its first week of opening to find out if ‘Where Else’ is the place to be.   

  The good folks behind Brooklyn Shuffle , Jimmy Hu and WTF! , now bring the nearly year-old The Bombay Bronx from Mumbai to Pune. This is an all-day bar where everything, from the interiors to the food unbridles the soul of Mumbai. Enter the bar, and it feels like you’ve chanced upon a set of a movie that is an ode to the maximum city. The Bombay Bronx is fitted with installations reminiscent of the city – take for instance the local train-style booth seating with train handles suspended from the ceiling, Irani café-style tables and chairs, a wall-sized painting of Amitabh Bachchan in his Deewar attire, tin fittings on the bar resembling the roofing of Dharavi ’s slum houses, train routes mapped out on the ceiling, lights fitted into loud-coloured dabbas and the neon signage of the iconic Eros theatre. Clearly, subtlety was not the brief to the interior designer. It is little wonder that we caught many wild-eyed walk-in diners taking a tour of the place before settling...

  You were not mine to have. But you did not whine to be with me. You were not liked and called ugly by many. But you were a happy sight for me.  You were always ready and on time. Even though we were often early. You got stuffed. You got crushed. Yet you signified freedom to me. You were heavy for me, my shoulders ached. But you knew we were in this together. You accompanied me on my solitary journeys. Even though not a word was uttered from you to me. You played my comfy pillow on the bus. And a blanket in freezing air-conditioning for me. You got wet in the rain and mucky from the mud. But kept all my things spotless clean for me. You got sewn and zipped back up in repair. And still you never gave up on me. You haven't been carried in a while by me. Dusty, in my cupboard you lie patiently. You are always ready to be picked up. For that, I owe you so very much. 

(This was post written in March 2012) Not too far away from the bustling, crowd-ridden and pollution-heavy city of Pune, lies a hidden gem – ‘Malhar Machi’ - a tranquil resort tucked away amidst the mountains overlooking Lake Mulshi with stunning, picturesque views. Malhar stands for rain and Machi for mountain, making it a befitting name as this region basks in heavy rainfall during the monsoons. On the far left is one of their best cottages you should stay at Malhar Machi spans over 110 acres and boasts of 19 luxurious cottages. This mountain resort was envisaged, conceptualized and materialized by two Puneites who clearly take their love for nature very seriously. The resort has a very pleasing-to-the-eye earthy, green, refreshing and minimal look and feel to it. In using bamboo, stones, wood, cane and other green materials for the cottages, pathways, furniture, etc., the architect's design pays an admirable homage to nature. The cottages are intelligently pos...

Nico Bombay (Image courtesy: Mumbaiboss.com) I recently spent a brief amount of time over the weekend in Mumbai, a city I previously lived in for four years, to catch up with old friends and try out new restaurants. Mumbai is big on the food scene. Restaurants pop up and fizzle out so very often, you really need to be on the ball and play catch up if you are the type to explore new dishes at new restaurants. So whilst I was at lunch with my friends at one of my favourite restaurants called 'Salt Water Cafe' in town (their honey cinnamon roasted chicken is avoidable, go for the Kingfish instead) , I was told that a new "up scale" dining spot called 'Nico' was only recently launched and the food there was "on a whole different level"  (well, at least that's what my friend claimed). So, that was that, I wanted to experience some culinary elevation. Located in Kala Ghoda, we did have to walk around a bit to find Nico. Of course we trie...

Not too long after I started earning did I realize what I wanted to spend my savings on. Not clothes, not shoes, not bags but on travel. With work pressures steaming up and city life in Mumbai spiralling out of control for me, travel was my only relief - it became something I pampered myself with and something I gifted myself every now and then. I surely deserved it. 2013 turned out to be a great year for me on the travel front...I ended up doing a lot more trips than I had planned. January 2013 - Bangalore Crispy dosa drenched with that divine chutney I've been to the city a number of times. But every time I go, it's always  a treat because of the  friends I meet and the dosas I eat. Yes I love these lentil pancakes, I can live on them! Here's  a picture of a supremely crisp dosa I ate standing with my friends at a typical udipi joint by the road on the very sunny morning that we reached the city by an overnight bus.  February & March 2...

If you've read my piece called 'Mumbai's Training Glory', you'll better understand where I'm coming from. I wrote this is in August of 2011. My wrath with Mumbai continued, and I wrote on about it but this time I  thought it would be interesting to chronicle my average day for my readers. So go on, read it...your time starts now! That life in Mumbai is a struggle, is probably something you’ve heard way too often. Well it is true, oh so true. But mind you, I’m only part complaining. It’s bad, but you do feel a sense of pride at the end of the day for having lived through it. The city makes you hard. The city makes you strong. The city makes you a survivor. But this is not just another write up of my life in Mumbai. This is the story of my daily travails of getting to work from home and back each day. And I promise, each journey has been nothing short of eventful, to say the least! From my home to the gate is a 7 minute walk. I then cross the road an...

I wrote this post a year into my transition in Mumbai (circa September 2010). My tryst with trains in the city continued till June 2013. I have since left Mumbai and looking back at this post, I pity my past self. Haha! If you have no stories to share from myriad train journeys in Mumbai then, I dare-say, your tryst with this city is incomplete. There is no evading those trains and also no denying their inevitability. Whether running at leopard-speed or crawling at snail-speed on the rat and litter-infested tracks, trains truly are and as popular parlance would have it, the ‘lifelines of Mumbai’. Long distance road travel in this busy and over-populated city is frustrating and utterly time-hogging, leaving the host of commuters with a rather sensible, economical, quick and preferable option of train travel. Sit in a train compartment and you will quickly notice how welcoming this mode of transport is to people across different strata of society. Affluent and chicly...

I wrote this post on 6th May 2010...it was my first year in Mumbai on my return from Melbourne, a time when everyone was still learning to live in a post-MJ world. On the sunny Australian morning of June 25th, 2009, this is what I remember waking up to - "Oh no no oh nooo...Michael Jackson's dead!" The hyper, high-pitched voice of my housemate travelled through the air, journeyed past my thick wooden bedroom door and sailed its way into my ears. Slightly peeved that my slumber was untimely disturbed, my tired brain cells tried to process what her squealing was all about but I soon gave up the trouble. So, while the other dwellers of the house on Mincha Street began their morning rituals of fixing up a diet breakfast or drafting the day's to-do-list, I went about mine by logging into Facebook. I was stunned. Mourning Facebook-ers bombarded my entire news feed with "R.I.P. Michael Jackson :'(" status updates. Suddenly the Man that created history ...