Road Trip Day 3 - Jaipur - Ajmer - Jodhpur

Day 3 could be summarized as loud and noisy! Noise of different kinds and types. Some tangible, some not. 

It started off at midnight with a tummy ache. Not me. N. Don't know the exact reason but maybe because of all the eating at so many places, the water and sitting for long hours. So in the dead of the night I walked to the parking lot to find Imli (tamarind) goli from the car. Two of those and some brisk walking in the room resulted in some burps and farts and all was well with the little tummy. Thank god it was gas and nothing worse.

We left Jaipur around 10 am. All the previous day's shopping had to be loaded into the car which takes time, you see. Drove straight to Ajmer Sharif with a loo stop on the way. 

On the way we passed a couple of toll stations and educated the toll walas on a statutory law which ensures that serving army officers and their dependent families are exempted from paying toll. Ex-servicemen are not exempt but serving officers and families are. I know the exact rule number too by now - Act 1901. It took about 30 minutes, looking through the official toll rule book, diverting an entire lane of 20 cars and trucks to other lanes, some noisy verbal exchanges between a dozen people to finally educate the toll company about the exact rule. All this happened because my dad works with a toll company in Punjab and knows the rules inside out and he couldn't tolerate someone twisting the rule to their benefit. Sigh! The downside of too much knowledge. 

At Ajmer Sharif the area surrounding the dargah is narrow, crowded and mismanaged. No proper parking outside. Dozens of people approach you to "help" with parking in multiple mini lanes and narrow restricted spaces. Once you are in there is no proper place to keep your shoes and again you can take any shopkeeper or flower seller's help to keep your shoes with them while you pay your respects inside. No guarantee for your footwear though. There was chaos, noise and I felt distracted. The entire process could be done in a whole lot of better ways but then faith and belief trumps everything, I guess. It was nice visiting the place again but I would have liked to remember visiting the place for reasons other than I do. There were no cameras allowed inside only mobile phones and so no pictures from that part. 

Reached Jodhpur at around 5 pm after a lunch break at a roadside dhaba. The food was a little spicy again but delicious nonetheless. 

Jodhpur brought back a lot of memories and we did see a few places in the army cantonment which we had been to earlier. 

Tomorrow we plan to revisit some more old haunts and maybe shop some too :) 

The commotion in the first half of the day resulted in peace, quiet and some sleep in the second half. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Rajasthan by road!

I have been travelling across countries and within India since last December. It started with the Sydney-Thailand trip last Christmas, followed by the move to India in Jan this year.
Once in India, I spent some time in Faridabad, Delhi, Bathinda, Bangalore and Chandigarh. Not more than a week anywhere though!
At first I thought I would get tired of the living-out-of-a-suitcase and getting-used-to-new-accommodations part very soon. But it has been pretty OK. It helps that the kid has grown up, relatively speaking, and is in general cooperative about seeing new places and meeting family (new people for him).

The next travel bit is a road trip to Rajasthan. It starts tomorrow and we plan to go from Bathinda, in Punjab to Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner, in Rajasthan. We have stayed in Jodhpur for 3 years when my father was posted there while he was serving in the Army. I was 10 years old then.  We did travel across Rajasthan that time too and so a lot of memories will be revisited.
The road trippers include me, N, my sister, mother and father. Dad wanted to take the family out for a trip. According to him it is not very often that we get together like this and so this is a perfect opportunity :) Both his sons-in-law are away on their own business/work trips. So it's just the 5 of us. I will try to do a daily post with the highlights and if possible (network speed permitting) daily pictures.

6 days, 5 nights, some 1350 kms, 4 grown ups, 1 kid and a Scorpio.
The music is ready, maps have been printed, bags packed, car loaded and munching stuff collected.
Now it is get, set and go in the morning!!  Looking forward to it!! :)

This picture was taken in Sydney downtown. It represents movement, travel, activity and buzz to me. Life is like this - it doesn't stand still, even if we do!!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Busy Bee

Busy is good. Busy is fun. Busy is tiring too! We have been up to a lot lately :) 

I wrote a guest post for ShopHealthy's blog. It is my recipe for Oatmeal and Walnut cookies, a slightly healthy-er version :) Check it out here! For the un-initiated, ShopHealthy.in is an online market place for all things healthy!! They deliver to almost everywhere in India. You can buy everything at one place, check out recipes and share yours too. It is a blogger friend's venture with her husband, in their quest to pay more attention to what they eat. Like they say, eat well, feel well and live well!

N has started a 5 day week at his school/kindy (kindergarten, as a lot of us call them). His earlier schedule of 3 days a week wasn't going too well with him or me. It was actually a bit unsettling. It feels much better now. He gets to play, learn and burn out the testosterone! I get time to clean, cook, read, write and watch Grey's Anatomy (we shall come to that in a bit!). Weekends seem to be a bit busy with trying to fit in the visit to the library, beach (summer is here in NZ), play area, skate park and hiking but that is good! 

I have started volunteering at a local community shelter. For now, once a week. Its a new experience and something I wanted to do some day. I have the time and perfect opportunity now. I look forward to learn something, to share and to broaden my horizons. I believe every time we do something new we learn a lot about ourselves too - our strengths, weaknesses. We test our beliefs, value system and even add a new skill to our repertoire! 

S started playing in a local cricket league, which I am very happy about. This way, he gets to play his fave sport, it helps him to stay fit, sometimes injured too (yes, when cricketers in their mid-30s try to take catches as if they were in their early-20s, they end up hurting themselves!!). He also gets some time away from me and N doing something that he likes which we all like to do in this family. 

I started watching this TV drama series - Grey's Anatomy which I have become hooked to ever since I saw Season 1, episode 1. Am totally loving it, finished Season 1 and on to the 2nd season now. 

I have been doing some fun cooking and a lot of cuisines - some new pastas, salads, pizzas,  frittatas, Mexican quesadillas and corn salad, desi gobhi parathas and dry choley veggie and grilled asparagus (yummy!). The husband says "I like it when you cook, keep at it." Why wouldn't he? He gets to eat all of it ;) 

N and I are doing pretty good this year in the 2012 PaperTigers Reading Challenge! Read details here... :) 

N has started reading and writing some words/letters. He is showing some great drawing skills too *Note the proud mommy effect*. He signed off Thank You cards for his birthday party with his name. 
He also co-relates things very well and has a fantastic memory in terms of things, places and people (but we do not r'ber mommy's instructions. Now that would make life so simple for mommy, and we wouldn't want it, would we?) 

Being busy is good, it makes vacations and days-off so much more fun!! Looking forward to a big, fun break in December with a lovely set of friends. 

Stay busy, stay happy!!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Second to None - Garage Sale

I went to the Second to None Flea Market/Garage Sale yesterday, held at Jaaga, Bangalore. Second to None is based on a very eco-friendly idea and is innovative! It encourages the principles of reuse and recycle in our daily lives. So don't just throw out stuff that you don't need. Think, reuse or recycle. Your waste might be someone else's treasure!
Kudos to the organizers - Anu Gummaraju, Reena Chengappa and Shilpa Kamath Prabhu.

Some visuals from the market -

Products from the Belaku Trust

Paper-mache products 

Anu Gummaraju - one of the organisers and founding members of Second to None.

Books! There were loads of  'em! I picked up one for a good deal.
 

Button necklaces by Anokhi Planet.

Hair bands made with left over scraps of satin, felt etc by Anokhi Planet.

Yay for Second to None(2nd20)! Waiting for the next garage sale!! You rock guys :)

To read and know more about 2nd20, click here to go their FB page.

Linking this in to Patty's Weekend Wrap Up. Happy Monday!!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Trip to Kabini River Lodge in Nagarhole National Park

A few days back we did a "first-time" ever trip.
What was special about this trip? My parents, my in-laws, my younger sister and her husband, her mother-in-law and the 3 of us -  S, N and I went on this trip. This was the first time ever we all went out and spent time together. I had a lot of apprehensions and anxiety about how it would turn out. But much to my surprise everybody clicked well and we had a great time :)

We went to Kabini River Lodge, one of the many resorts operated by Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd. It is located on the southern border of the Nagarhole (Rajiv Gandhi) National Park in Karnataka, India. The place was beautiful and lush green after the rains. Surrounded by nature it was very peaceful and relaxing. 

We stayed for one night and the package included 3 meals from a buffet, the entry fee for the national park, the jeep and boat safari and camera charges too. The rooms were in a colonial style structure and had beautiful gardens all around. The resort was once the hunting lodge for the Maharajah of Mysore.

The rooms were very spacious and had high ceilings. There was a lovely veranda outside the rooms looking onto a lush green garden. There were tyre swings and benches across the resort. The resort takes you out for jeep safaris and motor boat safaris. It is located on the banks of River Kabini and so the location is perfect. The river is very tranquil and calming.

On the jeep safari we saw elephants, including a tusker. According to the forest officials a tusker is a rare sight. It was drizzling when I took the picture below.

We also saw many herds of spotted deers.

Some vibrant peacocks.

and langoors, wild boars, nilgais, vultures,  and a teenie meenie turtle.

The boat ride was less eventful because of the rain. But we managed to see a baby tusker, kingfisher birds(the guide very aptly named them the "Vijay Mallya" birds), cranes, ducks and a variety of other birds (whose names I do not remember).

The resort has climbing nets where N and the adults had loads of fun! They have coracle boats for a ride if you would like to try something different. They also take you on nature walks around the resort - it seemed to be a big hit between older kids and adults too.

Some of the food items could have been better in terms of taste. Other than that the service was good, the rooms and sheets were neat and clean, bathrooms well stocked and the staff was helpful. If you are going there with little ones I would suggest you carry your own stuff for snacking in between meals and something to drink too. There is nothing around close by where you can shop for quick eats. But there is a mini fridge in most of the rooms so you can keep your own stuff in.
Overall I would rate the resort a 7/10 and the whole experience an 8/10. Feel free to write in to me if you have any questions or need other details about the place and to & fro journey.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Butterfly artwork in picture frame - Tutorial

Let the curtains rise!! [Drum roll please]
I was surfing around on one of the blogs on my blog roll - Blue Cricket Design and liked an idea where Becca uses a silhouette of birds across a range of products - to decorate a book cover, make a photo frame wall art and a canvas wall art. I was working on the bird canvas wall art when I decided to decorate the photo frame on my console table as a quick mini-project. So I chose some butterflies instead of birds.

I had this beautiful frame (gifted by a friend on Christmas some years back) and a very pretty Japanese scrapbook paper at home.

I googled for butterfly images and found some pretty ones.

via  

via

I traced the images from a print out onto card stock paper  which is thicker and used that to trace onto the Japanese scrapbook paper. You can draw freehand if you are those talented kinds ;) I used a couple of different sizes of butterflies.

I used a thin permanent black marker to outline the images and then a thicker black one to fill them in. Once all the butterflies were done I coloured them with the thick marker once again to even out the colour and give it a thicker sheen.

And here is how the frame looks like -

I love it after the makeover and it looks great on my console table :)

I am linking this to Weekend Wrap Up on Colours Dekor! Have a great week ahead.

Update - I am also linking this to Show and Tell Wednesdays on Blue Cricket Design.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Peek-a-boo

Here is a sneak peak into what I have been upto.

I promise I shall open the curtains soon... after this weekend!! *wink wink*
Happy Friday!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

I'm back from my pre-summer hibernation

I have been away from the blogging world for a long long time now. Multiple reasons - some fun, some boring. Took a vacation, did some shopping, attended parties, met friends and have been catering to a summer-camp-going 2 and a 1/2 year old. But I am back now :) And this is what I have been upto... well these are pictures of some of the stuff I have been doing.

Enjoyed a trip to Calicut via the beautiful Mudumalai forest

Watched a beautiful sunset in the Arabian Sea from the Kozikhode Beach

Enjoyed a birthday party on Martin's Farm, saw ducks

And roosters

N had fun in the tire swing

And he enjoyed a pony ride on Copper the pony!

I am linking this to Patty's Weekend Wrap Up. What have you been upto in the summer holidays?

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Before and After - Master bedroom wall art

This weekend was fun fun and busy - I had a potluck lunch with friends which had super yummy food. Potlucks are great coz you get to eat a variety and learn new recipes. S and I got to meet some very dear friends who have twin boys about N's age. One of the twins has the same name as N! :)
Watched some World Cup matches, relaxed, lazed out and then - to balance all the happiness - came some bad news :( I came down with a severe bad throat and congestion. All the fun n frolic and carelessness (on my part) resulted in a very bad congestion, infection and fever. Ended up going to the doctor and am on antibiotics now. But before all this happened I took some pictures of my bedroom wall which was long due.

This is how our master bedroom wall deco looked like, till some time back. We had a single framed wall art. It has been made by Sarika of Kraftaria. I bought this at the Diwali Mela in our apartment complex. I love the wall art but the wall just looked empty!

Then I had this brainwave of adding more such framed wall arts to make a set. So I met Sarika and requested her to make 3 more. Voila!! This is how the wall looks now.

I know the blue one is slightly off level, need to fix that as soon as I am up and running.
But look at each of these quilled wall arts - they are so delicate and beautiful!

I wish I could paint the wall behind. But since its a rental apartment I don't have that option now. I surprised S by putting these up and he loved the art.
Hop on over to Sarika's blog Kraftaria and check out all the other stuff she has made. It is beautiful and innovative!

I am linking this to Patty's Weekend Wrap up 21!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Anniversary gift

S and I recently celebrated 5 years of being married! Its been a beautiful 5 years. I love him as much as I did when we were dating. My heart still skips a beat when I see him turn down the corner, it melts like butter when he holds me (ok maybe not like butter but it does become a li'l mushy) and I miss him when he is away, even for a day!

In addition to his "demand" for a 2nd remote for his Wii Sport as an anniversary gift I decided to make something (well not exactly make make) personal for him. Something to mark this milestone of 5 years.

I was browsing through Blue Cricket Design and came across a wall art by Tammy of She Wears Flowers. She had created an eye test chart art for her anniversary. I  loved the idea and this looked like the perfect thing for the occasion. Nothing too mushy and yet personal!!

So I went ahead to the website that allows you to make a custom eye test chart for free. It also allows you to make custom road signs, receipts, prescriptions and more :). Once I customized the letters on the chart I saved the image file to my laptop.

I opened the image file in Microsoft Paint to erase the last line of text at the bottom.

When I went to my local Printo store the guy said the resolution was really low on the image file and it wouldn't look great when printed. So I downloaded the Photoshop WORKABLE version (PSD) from Tammy's post. I basically know nothing about Photoshop so I had the Printo guy help me. He modified the letters to put in what I wanted. If you know your way around Photoshop, Tammy's post has all the details about fonts and sizes.
I had a couple of different ideas about the wording but eventually went with what I wanted to tell S - "I Love You Today Tomorrow and Always". I got it printed on a 9x12 semi-hard poster sheet. This is how it looked like.

Got it framed in a simple black frame, like Tammy says to make it look more authentic :)  Gifted it to S on our anniversary and he loved it! Though I wish I had used a brighter colour of ribbon to wrap it up.

Thanks Becca and Tammy for sharing this with your readers.
Have a great weekend everyone!!

Update - I am linking this to Patty's Weekend Wrap up 20.







 

And Show and Tell Wednesdays on Blue Cricket Design



reade more... Résuméabuiyad