Mr. X to Mr. Right

“This blogathon is supported by Woo, The most popular match making app in India with a base of over 3.5 million users.”

I did not want to get married because my parents wanted. Neither did I want to get married because the clock was ticking away. I wanted to get married only when I get the right person. But the big question was- How do I know he is right? Was there a universal criteria to judge men by their behavior or thinking? Or was there a questionnaire for all those prospects there? Wooh! It was indeed tough! 

The hunt for the right alliance began when I turned 25; just the age when parents want to see their daughters married. I being a rebel, rejected all alliances forwarded to me by my parents. How could I let them decide for my life partner? This was ONE decision I always to take on my own and not let anybody else control my destiny, even if they are my parents.

Reeling under pressure and fed up of taunts from my panicky mom, I found myself searching grooms online! I created an online matrimony account, read profiles, chatted with few, made friends with few only under the condition to take some time in knowing them. I met at least twenty prospects. Sounds like a huge number yea?

Excited and with heart fluttering over the first meeting nervousness, I met the first guy. 
A civil engineer by profession, the tall, good looking boy loved to debate. Soft spoken, intelligent and witty, I fell for him instantly. Things would have been nice only if his location factor was not in picture. His job required him to stay on the outskirts of Ahmadabad, whereas my career would have come to an end. I was unwilling to relocate to a remote village. He admitted he liked me and insisted to talk to my parents but I was tight lipped. I held back myself, oscillating between marriage and career. Eventually we drifted away from each other, only to receive news of his marriage to somebody else ofcourse! That was obvious and this lead to the end of a chapter "Mr X to Mr. Right".

Saddened by my first experience of searching for Mr Right that went wrong, I continued the journey further. After-al, life is full of stumbling stones and you should never give up.

Meeting with the second guy happened soon. Mr. X's decent looks, same field of job as mine, similar

interests and fitness consciousness made me feel an instant connection with him. He was talkative, I was the quiet one. We both loved reading and once again I felt he was THE guy I waited for! The happiness was short lived when he suddenly went out of touch. Post a gap of two months Mr. X reconnected with all real-sounding reasons like a relative's accident in US, father unwell, travelling and so on. Thinking to give him another chance, I accepted his all excuses.But I should have known! I should have thought how could a media person not have a social account? With a push from my sixth senses, I fished out his social media account. I should have known, when a guy refuses to add you in his friend list, something's not right. I should have known he was fooling me and would have fooled many other girls. He was engaged, waiting to get married in next few months. Between the time of his engagement and marriage, he'd thought of having fun hanging out with prospective brides! Upset and disappointed , all I could do was end the brief stint of so-called-love I felt with him. You can imagine what all I went through. I cried over my wrong selection. Uggh!!!

One of the other guys I met, had great sense of humor and loved traveling. But he confessed he would marry the girl chosen by his mom. What the hell he was doing on the matrimony website then? 

Another guy's father called me, praising his good son and passed on his number to me. Thank God I did not talk to Sonny dear. In few SMS that we exchanged, he told me how he ran away from his hometown just because marriage did not interest him and how he does drugs each day. My stars saved me from a drug addict! 

Another Mr X rejected me because I am vegetarian. So, what was he? A man eater? 

There are endless stories which continued for some time before the final chapter.  

Dejected and hopeless, I met another prospect. Just like other guys I had the same feedback for him. He was polite and well mannered (all guys are polite in the first meeting). We watched a movie, ate lunch together and called it a day. 

I decided to know more about him and dated him for a while. He was not the typical protective or possessive type who would open the car door for me or ask if I knew cooking. He respected my decision of pursuing career post marriage. He was the only guy who asked if I knew any tact of self defense. "Because husbands or cops cannot fly to the mishap sites, so ladies should to be able to protect themselves before help arrives", he said. Wow! Now that was impressive.

Time flew and we became bonded well. He loved English songs which he used to play while driving. Once while dropping me home, I was surprised when he played Ghazals in car. When I asked him the reason for the change, he blushed! He had downloaded Ghazals for me :-) I found it cute. Secretly I had my fingers crossed. 

While discussing the way we wanted to get married, I revealed my thoughts. To get married like a princess is any girl's dream but I wanted a simple ceremony in the company of close ones and not spend lavishly. I wanted no loan or huge expense for show off in wedding. To my surprise he agreed. He was totally cool with the idea of saving money for future than spend extravagantly for guests who do not come to help in grave hours of need. My respect for him multiplied that day. The warmth, honesty and space that he gave in the relationship was extremely comforting. His sense of responsibility and vision for future was praiseworthy. There was no reason for me to reject him. 

He called me one day to discuss something important. He wanted me to buy a health plan for myself and an insurance for parents. He was preparing me for emergency, which often goes neglected. I recalled my professor's debate topic during MBA tenure - "A perfect husband is one who prepares his wife for widowhood". This topic had raised many eyebrows but was worth thinking about. A shudder passed through me as he spoke about the insurance schemes. With welled up eyes the realization dawned upon me that HE was indeed MY Mr. Right.  

Within 7 months of dating Mr. X, we tied the knot in January 2015 and became my Mr. Right. 

  

Evening sky watch ~ Udaipur

Udaipur has undoubtedly the most beautiful sunsets. I feel lucky to have witnessed the luxurious hues of the sky as the fiery Sun sets, cooling off the heat in the lakes. There are various points in Udaipur to enjoy the views of sunset. I captured sunset from three places; Gangaur Ghat, Deendayal Updhayay Park and Banks of Lake Pichola on two different days.  This photo blog will capture the tangy orange and sweet pink luminous colors of sunsets that I witnessed during my trip to Udaipur in October 2016.

Pink sky- Gangaur Ghat- 5:30 pm (This was Day 1)

The rest of the sunset views are Day 2 on wards-

Lake Pichola bank - Around 5 pm

View from Deen DayalPark @5:30 pm

Pastel hues. View from Deen Dayal Park@ 5:56 pm

Panoramic view from Deen Dayal Park @ 5:58pm 

Sun down,. View from Deen Dayal Park@ 5:59 pm

 JagMandir: View from Lake Pichola bank@ 6:36 pm

 JagMandir: View from Lake Pichola bank@ 6:37 pm

                                                 

  

Jag Mandir after Sun down@ 7 pm

Here's why Sajjangarh Zoo in Udaipur a must visit

  

As the incredible Rajasthan always welcomes with the warm “Padharo maahro desh”, we keep coming to the princely state for more History, culture, art and adventure. So here we went on exploring more of Udaipur on the second day of our trip.

We reached Sajjangarh Biological Park (sanctuary) as suggested by friends.  .

Gate on left leads to the Zoo. Gate on right is for palace entry

The entry tickets has a separate counter fifteen meters away from the main gate. 
Ticket costs Rs 30 for Indians and Rs 300 for foreigners. Still camera charges are Rs 80 and Video Camera charges are Rs 200.

Timings- 9 to 5:30 pm daily, closed on Tuesday  

Spread over a total area of 36 heactares, this park was established with the objective of conserving endangered flora and fauna and developing among visitors an empathy for wild animals. The zoo is flagged with boards on wildlife conservation and protection.

You can tour the park on foot. I do not recommend it, since its too tiring and hot under the sun right on your head. The walking paths are without shades.

Or else you can buy tickets for Golf Cart at Rs 50 each for a 90 minutes ride. The carts that accommodates 6 people in one go, are noiseless and battery operated, hence cause no pollution or disturbance for the environment.  The only limitation- The cart moves only when full. The management might convince you to pay Rs 60 in case you want to make it move early.

The third most exciting mode of travelling is bicycle. These non fancy-no gear-manual cycles can put you through a real endurance test. They charge Rs 20 per hour. One can cycle through the whole sanctuary in less than two hours. Needless to say, we chose to cycle. 

The only mistake we did - We did not cover our heads. 

Advisable- Carry a hat/stoll/cap to protect your head from direct sun, lest you should be dehydrated/get headache.  

Cycle ki sawari

The pathways are beautiful and very well maintained. Sajjangarh Zoo is a polythene free area dotted with bins and banners that discourage people from littering.

                          


It is a visual treat to see several species of animals in large allocated spaces. Meeting Ostrich was a pleasant surprise. 

                                  

Witnessing tortoises fight with each other was amusing. Who could imagine these slow timid creatures fighting? But they did! 

The most interesting enclosure was of the croc’s. The tank had glass walls for the visitors to look into the croc’s eye. However, the reptile chose to relax on the sand and not enter into the water. Huh, tough luck! 

We also saw the four legged animals which had committed suicide in front of Salman Khan’s car. The black buck.  hehe.

Black Buck

A resting tigress 

Wolf enclosure

Some treks were steep where we had to drag the cycles along. The whole cycling experience is just wonderful.

• Wear shoes else cycling or walking would be difficult. 
• Carry water with you. Though the zoo has water coolers at short distances, your golf cart may not stop everywhere.
• Please maintain silence lest you should scare the animals.

The Monsson Palace, on the adjacent road is also visible from the zoo. The heat slowed us down and we kept taking short breaks under trees' shade. By the exit time, we literally fled with our cycles without looking at the animals since it was too hot! I don’t remember how many times we had refilled our water bottles. Sweating and tired we returned the cycles post two hours of adventure.

As we exited the Zoo with bagful of memories and camera full of pictures, we contemplated whether or not to visit the Monsoon Palace. To know what happened next, read here.

P.S- This trip of mine to Udaipur was in Oct 2016.

Bollywood Dandiya Raas 2016- Gurgaon

Gurgaon, 10th October 2016: The time of the year has arrived when everyone is ready to tap their

feet on the beats of famous Bollywood item numbers wearing the traditional clothes bought from

the expensive designer boutiques. It’s Navratri.

Kingdom of Dreams, which carries a great reputation of hosting some of the most talked about musical nights of Delhi – NCR, hosted a 3 days Dandiya Event - Bollywood Dandiya Raas 2016 organised by Pearl Wedding and Entertainment. Pearl group have been organising the biggest Dandiya event in Delhi – NCR from last 4 years and this year it was bigger and better than ever, they came up with loads of WOW element like live music, live dance  performances, different competitions, decorative stalls for shopping and yes lots of different gifts for the participants.

The first day of the event was a mega hit as the Punjabi and Bollywood singer, IndeepBakshi, fame from “Saturday Saturday and kala chasma from the movie “Baarbaardekho” made the crowd go mad with his high voltage performance.

The infectious chart busters from his newly released album “Bad wali Feeling” was too much for the crowd to handle. Even with a traffic struck Friday night, people came from all parts to rejoice the beats of Dandiya with the troupe from Gujarat teaching them the GarbaRaas.

The night started with a singing duo from Gujrat who sung some traditional Garba and people became a part of the dance formation.

It was a spectacular to watch people swirl in a massive circular formation. As the night progressed, the pop-star ‘IndeepBakshi’ combined the power packed Bhangra and the rhythmic beats of Danidya and the people were floored by his energy.

The second and third day witnessed some enthralling and intoxicating performances by Pinki

Maidasani and Farhad Bhiwandiwaland with people turning up in large number to cash the

weekend.

Gujarati dance troupe along with electrifying Barqat band brought the flavour of Gujarat

to our city. Crowd also got a chance to satiate their taste buds with different cuisines from various parts of India at the very famous Cultural Gully.

  

PINKI MAIDASANI:

PinkyMaidasani is an Indian Idol 3 finalist &bollywood playback singer. She has sung for various Bollywood movies song like Kiklikaler di from Luv ShuvTey Chicken Khurana , dekh le kismat yaar from Shrafat Gayi Tel Lene. She is doing many live shows within and outside India.

FARHAD BHIWANDIWALA:

Farhad comes from a Parsi family and is a known playback singer who has sung many songs for

Bollywood. He has sung for famous Bollywood actors like Sanjay Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan.

Barqat Band

Barqat Band is one of the most famous & known bands of India. India’s got talent 2016 Finalist Afzal Ahmad and his band is among the group. This Band has done lots of live shows with many celebrities artists like Neha Thakur , Sunidhi Chauhan , Rakesh Maini , etc.

One rainy day in Nainital

Continued from Day 2 after trip to Kilbury Forest.

It poured as returned from Kilbury. The roads started to get jam-packed because of two reasons. One rains, and two the last day of Naina Devi Mela. The plan for more local sightseeing had to be canceled. Suddenly God made her presence felt. Nanda Devi Shobha Yatra (procession) crossed our hotel. It was the last day of the Nanda Devi festival before idol immersion in late evening. The energy, the enthusiasm and love of devotees was worth watching as they pulled the rath (chariot) of Naina Devi Maa across the steep lanes amid continuous drizzle.

                         

Devotees swayed singing folk songs and praises for Devi Maa. Prasad was generously distributed to everyone on the streets. Each year the festival is celebrated with much pomp & flare and Devi Maa is given a warm farewell, promising to celebrate next year again.

As rain halted, we sneaked out on Mall road looking for something unique to eat. We enjoyed tea and soya momos. (Veg for a change. Husband please take note of this!). It drizzled again as we took shelter in a tea stall.

Spotted this attractive blue house on the street from the restaurant

We rushed back to our hotel and stayed in till dinner time. Special mention of Hotel Treebo Cloud 7 for the things they have in their rooms for guests. Super cool !! 

As soon as we stepped out around seven it started pouring again, adding to our worries for next day. It was indeed very sweet of the hotel manager to lend us his umbrella for the evening. We headed to China Town restaurant for dinner. The place is usually crowded with a queue in waiting always. The love for momos took husband there and we had a big meal at very economical price.

Don’t expect hygiene, nice ambiance or quick service in the overtly crowded eating joint. Looks like a shabby canteen where people huddle like chickens in coop. I found the food average, just like any eating joint serving Chinese. Half my appetite died looking at the poor sanitation. Back of my mind, I prayed we don’t get an upset stomach.

Shops in Nainital shut as early at 8 pm. Streets start to bear the deserted look by 9 pm. Our plan of buying an umbrella was shattered hence. We were worried for next day which we had scheduled for Bhimtal and Naukuchitaal. How will we carry our expensive camera? The thought was killing us!

Being in the travel industry and having a travel freak wife (yay), husband strategizes holiday very well. So we had premeditated the next day in sequence- a boat ride early morning, breakfast on hotel terrace, check out at eleven, visit the nearby places whole day and board Delhi bound volvo from Haldwani in evening. The success of the arrangement was totally in the hands of Rain God.

We crashed around 11 pm while rains lashed the silent streets non stop. 

Stay tuned for Day 3...


P.s - This trip was in September 2016


By the way this post made it to the top blog of the day on Indiblogger home page 

Ramp on Fire- Big Boy Toyz Hot Wheels

Big Boy Toyz extended its patronage to India Runway Week for the 3rd time in a row for the 7th Season, Winter Festival 2016. The Three Day Event was held at Thyagraj Stadium, New Delhi from 16th to 18th September 2016.

Big Boy Toyz, the name synonymous with setting new benchmarks & trends, has done it again and how!  The Fashion Shows have always been about glitz and glamour associated with Clothes & Accessories only, however for the first time, the Finale of IRW  by Riddhi and Sidhi which was an exclusive show co-hosted by Big Boy Toyz created sensation by bringing the Super Hot Wheels on the Ramp. Pumping a clear shot of adrenaline; three Supercars enticed the viewers with what is called Music to the Ears. As the Ferrari 458 Italia in sparkling Giallo Modena gaited gracefully on the Ramp, the crowd’s reaction was worth a watch. And if that was not enough, another Supercar- an Audi R8 ‘Spyder’ in Brilliant Red gave another shot of excitement. As the soft roof of the car slowly retracted, the audience could hear another set of V10s lighting up the Show. And this time, it was a Bianco Monocerus Lamborghini Gallardo ‘Spyder’ LP 560-4.

The company takes pride in being one of its kind that deals in super exotic cars in the country. They found IRW to be a perfect platform to show their support to the young and dynamic designers.

Jatin Ahuja, Founder & Managing Director, Big Boy Toyz said, “I am glad to be associated with IRW for the 3 ^rd time in a row for their 7^th Season. IRW is a wonderful platform for the talented designers to showcase their creativity & Big Boy Toyz is equally pleased to extend the support to this amazing platform. We certainly look forward to keep encouraging the Skill to help them touch the Sky and Shine with pride on the Global Scale.”

Avinash Pathania, Founder IFFD said “We’re delighted to welcome Big Boy Toyz as our associate for third time in a row for the India Runway Week Winter Festive 2016. Fashion designers are masters of the use of color, proportion, and textiles, which are all very important elements of luxury cars which they are selling. ”

The Delhi Deception- Book Review

Book- The Delhi Deception

Author- Elana Sabharwal

Genre- Romantic thriller

Number of pages in the book - 370

Type- Paperback 

Publisher- CreateSpace Independent Publishing

Usually I stay away from love stories since I find them too dramatic and boring. My favorite genre happen to be thrillers, murder mysteries, theology, sci-fi and horror by John Grisham, Agatha Christie, Ashwin Sanghi and Amish Tripathi. This time I opted for a new author to try something different. After all budding artists should be given a fair chance yeah?

PS: The book was NOT sent to me by the author. The review is my personal opinion and not for promotional purpose.

‘The Delhi Deception’ by Elana Sabharwal is a thriller written in the backdrop of Delhi.

The plot- Carla, born to an Indian father and South African mother, is a journalist by profession who was born and brought up in South Africa. She is married to Andrew, a war journalist with CNN, posted in Pakistan. Distance keeps the two physically apart and Carla desperately wants to meet him, before she goes to India to meet her father’s family. She gets the shock of her life on finding out Andrew cheating on her. An upset Carla leaves for India and stays with her best friend Elousie.

Taking refuge in retail therapy and historical tour of Delhi, Carla meets a handsome George who frequents the social gatherings. She is attracted to him, hushing up her inner voice that she is married. The story takes a turn when Carla is kidnapped, injected with drugs, sold to traffickers but rescued by George. Gradually she falls for him inspite of being warned to be beware of the latter; nursing her wound on one hand and feeling guilty on the other. An interesting turn to the story comes when George convinces her to spy on Elousie’s husband who is suspected to be involved in anti national crime. 

Caught between friendship and new found love, Carla finds herself trapped in the blind maze with no light at the end of the tunnel. As the story unfolds, Andrew comes to Delhi searching for Carla, making it even more difficult for her to trust her own instincts. She is drawn deeper in a black hole of shocking revelations as betrayal gapes at her.

My views- Not even for a single moment did I feel that the author is from outside India! The book has been written after deep research and Delhi beautifully described. Elana has taken care of every little thing about India. Writing on a culture not known to somebody ain’t easy, and she does that seamlessly! From tea culture to Indian family values, Elana has taken every detail into account to create a fiction which seems real.

Under the smiling faces and painted colors of the elite class society, there lies a dark untold story, often concealed from the public. The smiles are fake, the gestures are forced, yet they look natural and good to naked eye. Elana has been able to bring out these aspects very well, making me nod in agreement each time while reading.

Carla is quite an interesting character portrayed by the author with different shades in her personality. I personally like the way Elana has shown Carla feeling guilty and then giving in. 

George seems every women's dream! Too perfect to be true (Hehe) 

Elousie, Carla's friend, is an underplayed character. Her actions did not make sense. But somebody always plays the fool in a fiction pulp, isn't it? 

The only place where the story stumbled was the climax where Elana picked up all broken pieces to complete the jigsaw puzzle. 

Spoiler- Why will terrorists dealing with Nuke leave the victim alive in an old unused factory? And why on Earth should the ladies be kidnapped just to be brought to the same factory where the nuke weapon was assembled?  Carla's reunion with her father's family (the main objective of her going to India) was diluted as the story progressed. The whole background of her father's family seemed unnecessary!

    

The book was otherwise quite engaging, leaving me wondering “what’s next” after each chapter.  If only the climax was a little better and watertight, the story would be flawless. Infact the climax was a bit stretched and over done. But as they say, no body is prefect, so the minor flaws do not annoy you. 

In a nutshell, this is a light read for all audience. Not suitable for "serious action"lovers may be but has all ingredients for a perfect Bollywood Masala fiction. Will not appeal to a mature audience. The language is quite simple, sans complicated words or jargons. 

My rating- 3 on 5 

About the author- Elana is married to an Indian physicist is a mother of 4 daughters. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa. A former fashion designer,Elana is currently work as a marketing director for a chain of five restaurants co-owned by her and husband.

Read more about her at http://www.elanasabharwalbooks.com/

Readomania Talk Fest- With RJ Nitin

Readomania's talk fests are one its kind and sadly I have missed attending them all this while. I attended the 5th Talk Fest which was a crowd puller because of the speaker RJ Khurafati Nitin. The stage was set at India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road for Sunday, 28th Aug '16.

The interactive show intended to bring his inspiring struggle story to the public along with exciting gifts and giveaways. For me, the best giveaway were the rich learning lessons. Nitin who is a well known entertainer and is the most awarded Radio Jockey held the crowd with his great sense of humor amid the story of highs and lows of his life.

For those who did not know, Nitin's full name is Jonathan Philip Nitin Brady. Born to a lovely couple who came from different castes, Nitin himself is married to Sunita, a girl outside his religion. His words "Mere ghar mei poora Bhaarat basta hai" hence stands true to the core.

He began his career with All India Radio around 15 years ago. Gradually his career picked up when Radio as a medium started to became popular. Amid the golden period of success and fame he enjoyed, Nitin faced a sudden downfall in his career when he was left with no job and was financially broke. He bravely faced the tough depressing phase of life and decided to move on with something, if not radio. He started selling samosa and chole bhature from a little eating stall in Gurgaon. The difficult time continued for quite some time. The best part was the thorough support of his family with a special mention of his younger brother Raul who quit his job to support Nitin.

The RJ shared a touching video of Derek Redmond who injured his leg hamstring few meters before the finish line. Determined to finish the race, Redmond got up with the seething pain and limped on the track.  A man breaking security barriers came to Redmond to offer him his shoulder. It was his father who said "We will finish the race together". Father sun duo hand in hand walked the track with a limping and wailing Redmond, refusing to give up. His father let him walk the last few meters on his own, amid a crowd of 65,000 people cheering for both.

The purpose of sharing the video was to show two things; One, to never give up, Two, no matter what happens, your family will always support you. With such a valuable lesson and emotional visual, my eyes turned moist and throat choked. I am sure many felt the same.

Quoting his own example, he takes pride in telling how his family has been an anchor and built a strong support system for him.

To lighten the seriousness, Nitin played humorous prank call recordings in between. As he continued narrating his life journey, he shared his insights about a backup plan. Soon after his mother questioned and planted an idea of back up plan in life, Nitin with his brother Raul ventured into production house. He played one of the short films he has made which intends to create awareness on a deadly drugs named SMILES.

After Fever 104 FM hired him, Nitin convinced the management to start a show with his philanthropic philosophy. He has managed to spread the message to Delhi and successfully raised funds for acid attack victims facial surgery, AIDS patients and getting those people released from jail who couldn't afford bail. The stories behind the project again left my eyes welled up.

A big salute to this man with a heart of gold who touched and changed so many lives. He took a huge risk with this show which had many eyebrows raised. Nitin went by the philosophy that even if he fails to raise money for the needy, he wants to do something good. He wants to live in the hearts of people who would remember him as a good person after he dies. From pleading people for making way for ambulance to stay away from drugs, Nitin uses radio as the best CSR medium.

Very few celebs have such generous hearts. Nitin proved himself not only a good RJ but an excellent human being too. Such motivational talks strike so many chords within you.

The house was open for Q/A and he kept tossing gifts to the audience. As Nitin ended his energetic talk after an hour (where he spoke non stop), the crowd flocked to him for pictures. Husband and I took one too. The picture is hazy but the memories are crystal clear :-)