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Bali: A Coffee Date to Remember
We’ve all been on coffee dates. But can you recall a date where you have tasted 7 different kinds of coffee and 5 different kinds of tea? Now I can. Welcome to Cantik Agriculture Luwak Coffee – where, of the many popular Bali gems, you get to taste Luwak, Salak and Arak. It was on Day 3 of our Bali trip that our white Fortuner pulled up in front of Cantik plantation. Kadek, our young and energetic guide for the day, informed us with a laugh that ‘Cantik’ means ‘cute’. He introduced us to our Cantik guide, a smiling girl with chubby cheeks. I couldn’t quite pronounce her name. She…
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Bali: The Land of Golden Sunsets
Oh Bali, you are so beautiful! Quite a few years back, I had come across a picture where a girl in a blue dress and a Muji hat was standing in front of the iconic Bali gate. The picture was carelessly beautiful and the intricately designed gate cast a spell on me. Since then it had always puzzled me how can something as simple as a gate have such an impact on me. It was just a gate. Just another picturesque frame. It took me 2 long flights, 3 security checks and a 3-hour drive to realize that it wasn’t just any gate after all – it was the Gateway…
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Work Trip: Christmas in Pune – The Last 2018 Hurrah!
I couldn’t think of a better post to start 2019 with than my last travel experiences. Of the many things that 2018 has been for me, the most exciting has been travel (aside from my marriage of course). I’ve been lucky enough to go on 3 trips last year! More so because my dry spell on the travel front had been an excruciatingly long one till 2017. Come 2018 and the travel bug in me got pampered good. I welcomed the change with open arms and an open mind. May, 2018 – Thailand September, 2018 – Chandipur December, 2018 – Pune Pune was a work trip. My colleagues and I…
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Stillness & Reflections in the Days Leading up to Christmas
November hasn’t been too kind to me. Like every year, I stepped into November holding on to the remains of Durga Puja. I like November because it’s the month of change. You get to feel the warmth on your toes slipping away slowly, you are hit with a fresh cinnamony smell on the streets, you feel a hint of cold air sweep past your ears on tip-toe, you see the daylight fall off the sky quicker than before. It’s beautiful how these little unnoticeable things around us grow like saplings from a seed and then one fine day, sprout into winter. (In today’s blog, I’m going to share pictures of…
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Honeymoon Travel – A Short Video to Keep Things Interesting
It’s been quite a few months since our honeymoon trip and I had been itching to tell you about our adventures. But then I thought why not show you what we’ve been up to. But before that, let me tell you how the destination decision came to be. So, while we’d been dating, we decided to go to Andaman and Nicobar islands for our honeymoon. It was all final. We we were looking at beautiful pictures of Andaman together, we decided to visit Havelock island, go on a nice little cruise, hit up the beach as much as we could, binge on street food etc. But then one fine evening…
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Every Person Deserves a Champion
We all need a champion in our lives. Because life isn’t always roses and rainbows. And let’s face it, it isn’t easy to dig yourself out of every low point in your life. Help is always handy no matter how much we deny it. Thankfully, help can be found right around the corner if you are willing to look for it. I have found help in my well-wishers, my faith in God and in as insignificant things as my daily chores. Surprisingly, help has been delivered to me from unexpected sources too. I’m going to talk about one of those today. So today, I decided to tell you about the person…
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A Surprise Birthday Trip to Chandipur
It was, I think, two and a half weeks before my birthday that Tathagata asked me over breakfast whether I could take a leave from work on my birthday. I was immediately excited! Of course I could. It’s my birthday after all. With a hint of smile at the corners of his mouth, he brandished his phone. On the screen were two tickets to Chandipur! I couldn’t be happier! Chandipur is a neatly nested, cozy, sort-of-a beach resort on the Bay of the Bengal. It falls under the Balasore district of Odisha and is a good 16-kilometres away from the nearest railway station. Since the monsoon hadn’t completely left the…
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Letter to a Loved One – Loss of My Sister
I’ve tried to write this post for months. But I wasn’t ready. It’s never easy to write about the difficult parts of your life. Loss of a loved one is hard. It’s natural but it’s hard – even more when it’s untimely. Back in April when we were still hanging on to the celebrations of our wedding day and reminiscing about the beautiful moments, the news hit me hard. It took the wind out of me. Mou didi was my cousin sister. She was already coping with the untimely loss of both her parents when death visited one more time at their home. I have been to their house quite…
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Our Trip to the Botanical Garden – A Day With Nature
Weddings are normally followed by family visits. A new family member is always a person of interest. What’s s/he like? Does s/he feel comfortable and all settled in? Getting to know the new family addition shoots up to the #1 trending event in the family bulletin. Invitations start pouring in by the minute. It’s exciting – visiting new places, meeting new people and getting to know some fun stories. Perks are travel and an overload of delish dishes! So, we reserved a day of every weekend to make the rounds. On one such expedition to Notun Kaka’s place at Shibpur, we decided to visit the Botanical Garden after lunch. Oh…
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The Day After The Wedding (And a Reception Photo Burst)
To be honest, I’ve been a little hungover on the wedding series. It’s such a huge event that it spills beyond the 24-hour-duration that it is allotted. Actually, there are more events in a wedding than just the ones on the D-day. More events naturally mean more pictures (Yay!) So, I thought I’ll do a (sort of) sequel to it. I know you’ve been aching for it like I have. So here goes. Leaving Maa Baba behind is tough. Because if it’s school tomorrow and I haven’t finished the project yet, Maa would stay up all night and finish it for me while I slept soundly. Because if I want…