DocDivaTraveller: November 2016

Growing up in a country which is obsessed with cricket, its almost impossible to pay attention to other sports. We are born with cricket on our parents' minds, we grow up on cricket, live, drink and then die with cricket. We had almost forgotten that hockey is our national game. However the scenario has changed in the past few years. Sports have taken an important position in the school curriculum and we have started looking beyond cricket!

I am not that much into sports but I love watching them live. After all I am a cricketer's wife! Not only my husband is obsessed with cricket but he can watch any sports for the whole day! Technically I understand only cricket. However I love watching gymnastics and swimming.

Just like the IPL, three years ago started the Indian Soccer League. Being a Bengali. its in my blood to enjoy football. How can anyone forget the eternal rivalry between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal? Well the ISL proved to be a boon for all football lovers.

This year got special for me. After the IPL 2016 I got the chance to witness an ISL match live. The match was in Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, I watched the match between Delhi Dynamos and Football Club of Goa. Of Course Delhi won! It was such an amazing experience to watch the home team win on the home ground.
I chose a sporty outfit for this occasion. A cute T-shirt dress from Bewakoof.com.

Flags fluttering like crazy when Delhi scored a goal.

Enjoying mother daughter time!

Performance by the winners of India Got talent during Half time..

The final score was Delhi had 5 goals and Goa just one! Whoaa!!

Seems I have been bitten by the sports bug! Otherwise how can you explain this bicycle mobile cover? I am loving it by the way. You can find more such quirky mobile cases.
Bewakoof.com has a host of cool apparels for men too. They have a wide collection of T-shirt, denim jeans, joggers, hoodies and pyjamas for men.

November 30, 2016 9 comments

Winters may not be as popular as summers for vacationing. Partly because we don't have breaks in winter as long as we have in summers. But winters are the best time to go somewhere to escape the bitter cold. Actually it depends. If you are a sweater weather person, you may want to go somewhere even more cold. Or if you are like me, then you would always scoot to a tropical place irrespective of the weather. As 2016 is coming to an end, I am all prepped up for one last vacation of the year. The destination has been long on my bucket list and is one of the most beautiful places of India.

I have a few favourite activities which I love to indulge in when on vacation. And those can be done specifically in warm weather.

I love to eat to my hearts content.

I love to swim. I can stay in water till my skin becomes so wrinkled that its unsightly!

I love to star gaze. Living in a city like Delhi whose sky is crowded with tall buildings and pollution, I hardly get the opportunity to do night watching. I love star lit sky. I can stare at them till they are blinded by the rising sun. Such things can't be done in cold weather.

As I am dreaming about my coming vacation, here are a few things that I plan to pack in my suitcase.

A maxi dress is a vacation staple. It can worn for dinners dates, lazying around, sight seeing or even as a swim suit cover up. Find this here.

Comfortable footwear: Sneakers are a must for walking or for sight seeing on foot. You cannot imagine strutting in high hills while you are on an excursion. These hearts are so cute! Find these here.

I am a total hat lady. I mean some people find it classy, some guys tease me and some compare me with Rachel of friends because of my obsession for hats. I don't care. I love them! Find this here.

Even if its a tropical destination, any place tends to get chilly at night during winters. A leather jacket is a perfect cover up for those situations. Find this here.

When you are swimming and sea bathing for endless hours, our skin tends to face all the wrath, Its necessary to hydrate it deeply. Shea butter products do wonders. Find this here.

Images via

I am all set for my winter vacation!

November 27, 2016 2 comments

My father is a teetotaller. He has never tasted even a drop of alcohol. That being said his colleagues have always tried to trick him into slipping him liquor into his fruit juices. My first encounter with wine was at his party only; when I was with my parents. I have immensely respected my dad for his firm practice. I respect all the guys who are not into the alcohol rut. However I never expected my partner to be like my Dad.

The three main crops of volcanic Santorini: grapes, tomatoes and beans

When I met my would be fiancé/ husband, on further conversation I learnt that he had never tasted alcohol in his entire life. Being a non alcoholic medico that too a surgeon is itself commendable. I mean the life threatening stress, long working hours and the continuous misery of patients compels the doctors to resort to alcohol as a method to blow off the steam. I was absolutely floored by this habit of his and knew immediately that he would be a responsible partner.

Being the daughter of a total teetotaller and wife of the same breed, its strange that I have a thing for fine drinks. I mean more expensive, the merrier. I love champagne and red wine and rose and always make it a point to taste the native drinks of whichever place we are visiting. But having said that drinking for me is just a few sips. I can’t intake more than that :D Fortunately neither my dad had has forbidden me doing so and nor my husband. I have been able to follow my heart everywhere.

I find grapevines absolutely beautiful!

Greece is the land of wines and other alcoholic products. The wines of Santorini are world famous. The vines there grow all over the ground instead of the frames here in India or Italy. It is believed that the volcanic soil imparts immense acridity to the grape juice which makes the wines of Santorini world famous.

I had never seen so many grapevines at one place and that too by the picturesque caldera!

As soon as we had entered Santorini, we could spot grape vines all over the place. There are just three crops in this entire volcanic island: grapes (of course), special type of tomatoes and beans. And these three crops are unique to this island. Since I am fond of wines, I have a thing for winery too. There are many wineries on this island (obviously) but the largest and the most famous is the Santo Winery. The second best is the Boutari Winery. All the wineries are mainly in Pyrgos village. Several buses arrive here with loads of tourists from Fira everyday.

Preparation for Wine tasting...

On our third morning after our excursion to Red beach, we headed towards the Pyrgos Village. The Santo wines was rather huge. It was luxurious. One entire side of the hall was coverd by glass that overlooked the caldera. Sunsets are best witnessed while sipping wine here. The package consisting of the winery tour and wine tasting was rather expensive; there was no point in paying for two as the second platter would go waste. I can hardly drink an entire glass of strong wine; leave alone two entire platters :D

Gorgeous views of the caldera from inside the winery

In the hope of being able to pay for just the tour, we headed to the Boutari winery. That was a beautiful place too. However the next slot for the tour was after one and a half hours. A tourist never has that amount of waiting time. So after exploring the place, we left for Oia. I would consider the trips to the wineries the most economic yet satisfying in our entire iterinary!

Having a great time at the Boutari winery

The Boutari Wine cellar

Dress Globus

Purse Shoppers Stop

Pumps: Shoppers Stop

November 25, 2016 6 comments

November 24, 2016 2 comments

Last night I just came back from yet another wedding. I think it was my 4 th such ocassion this month. Not to forget that apart from marriage ceremonies, this month is studded with parties and events. In December, I have a wedding to attend who happens to be one of my best friends. So there are going to be a series of events/ ceremonies/ parties which I am excited to attend before the actual D day.

As much as I love nuptuals, they are a headache for other reasons too. I mean what to wear to many parties? Just like what you are going to gift the bride; its equally important to dress the part. being a blogger, my everyday life is documented pictorially. So its almost impossible to wear the same dress twice. Moreover if its a wedding/ party in the same social circle, then a repeat is a strict No No!

Because of the above reasons, I am constantly in search of new websites which offer gorgeous dresses at reasonable prices. That is how I came across amodabridal.com. I was thrilled with my find!

This site has pretty much everything you need for a wedding or party or event. From Formal dresses to plus size gowns they cater everything related to party. And if you are planning what to wear to a wedding, look no more. They have all kinds of wedding dresses: chic simple wedding dresses, lace wedding dresses, beach wedding dresses, vintage wedding dresses, etc etc. Also they have a plethora of wedding accessories like weddings veils, wedding jackets, wedding umbrellas, wedding bouquets, wedding shoes, petticoats...you name it, you get it! For people like me who has to attend the wedding, there are pretty bridesmaid dresses, mother of the bride dresses, flower girl dresses etc.

If I had the chance to get married again, I would have got married on the beach. And I have definitely worn this dress. How beautiful is it?

I love the lace sweeping the sand and the veil blowing in the romantic sea breeze. Aah such fantasies.

So what are you upto this wedding season? Are you attending one or yourself getting married?

November 23, 2016 2 comments

Postcard like Oia

Just like Fira dominates the postcards of Santorini, Oia does too. In fact if you ever spot any picture of this volcanic island, its either Oia or Fira. I would say people are pretty partial with these places. There are many other places on this island that deserve to be represented as Santorini. However Fira and Oia are just too beautiful to face any competition. The bluest of blue water in the caldera on one side, whitewashed village on the other; blue doors and windows, blue dome churches and flowers all over. The features of these two places cannot be captured in words.

Blue Domes galore..

Oia has more edge over Fira. Firstly there are two ancient windmills over looking the caldera. There are more boutique hotels in Oia (read 1 lac INR per night ...eyes popping) and the iconic sunset of Santorini.

After spending the evening at Fira, Oia was next on our list. The sunset was supposed to be at 8 40 in the evening and we reached there at around half past seven. It was crazily crowded! The sunset of Oia is a world famous phenomenon. So there are hundreds of buses and ferries that bring tourists from all over the island and from other parts of Greece for the sunset.

I tried to make my way through the crazy touristy crowd while hubs struggled with his camera. There were photoworthy blogworthy locations everywhere! I mean literally everywhere! Every corner either had white urns or colorful flowers or blue doors or white walls or pretty vintage shops which were overflowing with beautiful trinkets! So where could I possibly cease clicking?

In love with the doors and urns

Trying to absorb the beauty all around, suddenly a thought struck our minds. It was almost dusk and sunset was just ten minutes away. We were no where in the vicinity of the caldera and hence the possibility of witnessing the sunset was distant! So we started making our way towards the cliff. Amidst the crazy crowd it was a herculean task navigating ourselves. We did not even know the way to the sunset point. We kept on asking the people nearby. In fact at one point we simply thought of going with the flow of crowd.

Just a glimpse of the crazy crowd!

Musicians at their best...

There are hundreds of sunset view points in Oia dotted along the cliff overlooking the caldera. We tried to get towards the nearest possible spot. As we made our way towards the caldera, we were shocked by the number of people there. Every good place was taken. Everyone was all sitting with their DSLRs (huge and huger cameras) positioned. Some were sitting with their wine glasses waiting for the sun to go down. The owner of the cafes were playing live soothing music.

Even we carved out a nice point for ourselves. The entire process of watching the orange sun going down into the caldera was ethereal. And the ending was even for spectacular. This is the only place in the world where the crowd lit up the atmosphere with a joint applause after the sunset. And believe me it was the most beautiful feeling in the world!