DocDivaTraveller: August 2014

8/29/2014 3 comments

Yesterday I was flipping through an international travel magazine. Yes I know, I have time to do such stuff because I haven taken a break from my clinic for the past three months. So when my naughty infant goes to sleep, I find time to read after finishing the household chores and playing dress up!! Nowadays I have much fewer clothes to try on as most of them wont fit me!! I am not buying many oversize stuff in the distant hope of getting back to my pre partum self. God knows when..phew!! Anyways that does not stop me from buying small size clothes. My husband does not let me buy anything new that fits me right now. So my pile of S size new clothes is getting bigger and bigger!!

Coming back to the magazine, there were listings of luxurious hotels all over the world. I was reading in the hope that maybe I might have stayed in one of those!! Yipee!! Hotel Ambre of Mauritius was listed too!! Then I was reading the Indian section. All the obvious hotels were listed...JW Marriot, Park Hyatt, Le Meridien etc in the metros. But one name that popped my eyes was Hotel Ganga Kinare of Rishikesh!!

When I went to this last year, little I knew that it would make its way to an international magazine!! No doubt I loved every bit of it and I had rated it 5 on Trip Advisor, but its feature gave me immense satisfaction.

As the name suggests, this hotel is situated on the banks of the river Ganga in Rishikesh. As Rishikesh is the hub of yoga and holistic living right now, this place is apt for 'discovering spirituality'!! Though I truly believe that the road to inner self does not require any particular place, it can be achieved right at your doorstep. But in today's world of glamorization and commercialization, people are looking for ways to squander and the businessmen are exploiting that!!

I loved this hotel not because of its perfect yoga ambience...I can do Yoga in my balcony!! The fact that being situated right on the ganga bank, the sound of its ripples enchants you continuously. Also the beautiful decor and the scrumptious food would make anyone fall in love with this place!!

the river Ganga flowing below. The lights of the city Rishikesh glittering .....

a delicious meal at the restaurant...

I was in love with this wall!!

Right on the bank of the Ganga...

entering the spa for a little pampering...

every girl deserves to be pampered...right!!

loved the calm decor...

8/25/2014 10 comments

There are so many unanswered questions in life. Is it just me or others feel it too? Well I don't know. Since I am a stay at home mom for the past five months, ( omg its five months already!!) I have ample time to ponder on stupid questions like this!!

I have always been a homebody. I have always lived with my parents. Never been a rebel; its always home from school, then to dance classes, music classes, playtime and then back to home. Never stayed at hostel away from parents. My Dad has been so overprotective that he never allowed me to go on college trips with my friends. According to him, parents who let their kids go have dozens of children; he only has one!! Well, even before I finished medical college, I got married during internship owing to my husband's persistent persuasion. Hence I got married very young and therefore from my parents' home it was my husband's. So never lived independently!!

Sometimes my husband accuses my type A personality to be a result of not leading a dorm life. I am such a cleanliness and organisation freak that it freaks him out!! He says that if I would lived with friends, my personality would have been a lot different and relaxed!! Well I don't know. I simply don't know whether it would have been better or worse!!

So for a girl like me who had always travelled the world with parents, lost a part of their authority and control when I got married. Shortly after marriage, I had the opportunity to have a girls alone trip. There was an examination which was supposed to be conducted in Ajmer, rajasthan. I had been to Rajasthan twice with my parents. But somehow this trip was very different from the previous ones. My over possessive husband somehow had to let me go with my friends as he did not have any leave to accompany me. Anyways, its a trip which I would always remember as the planning, reservation, research etc was entirely on my own!!

the serene Anna sagar lake

girls having fun at the Anna Sagar lake

the desert flora begins...the signature date palm trees...

the scribbled walls of Soneji ki nasiyan, a Jain temple

Soneji ki nasiyan, a jain temple

A trip to Ajmer is incomplete without visit to the Dargah. Super crowded, its a task to get clicked there!!

Yummy food for dinner!!

The last day of the trip, in front of the Ajmer museum

gang of girls in an autorickshaw!!

the beautiful architecture of Ajmer railway station

8/21/2014 27 comments

A man was born free but everywhere he was in chains. What does this line mean? I had come across this statement when I was a kid while studying English literature. That time I did not understand it quite much, It was simply a quotation for me. As I grew and matured gradually, I began to realize the gravity of this sentence.

With every passing year and generation, we are becoming more and more open minded. Things like religion and rituals have taken a backseat. In Hinduism there is no such thing like baptism i.e there is no ceremony or ritual that marks the staring of Hinduism. Born to Hindu parents, we become Hindus by birth. India being the land of thousands of communities, there are myriads of rituals followed everyday and everywhere. Being brought up in a very broad minded family, I am not used to following rituals blindly; although I know a lot of them. However in some cases, it feels nice to follow some customs even if we feel there is no scientific basis to it.

A baby is supposed to drink milk exclusively till 4 or 5 months. After that baby is introduced to other foods. In our community, this transition is celebrated with great pomp and show. We call it ANNAPRASHAN which is the first rice tasting ceremony.
Anna means Cereal. In our case, Annaprashan is celebrated at 5th or 7th month for girls and at 6th month for boys. There is also a hitch: this ceremony has to be done before start of teething of the baby. As my daughter is around 4 and half months old, our parents as well as her paediatrician felt the need to introduce her to solid food. hence we organised Annaprashan to mark her first rice tasting.
Being a doctor myself and my husband;we could have easily ditched this ceremony and fed her rice right away. But sometimes it feels good to stick to rituals and embrace customs. Both of our families were involved and it was sort of a family reunion which brought so much happiness to all!!

The first morsel of rice is fed by the maternal uncle of the baby. Since I am the only child, I donot have any brother of my own. However, my cousins are very loving. Especially one of my maternal aunt's son, Iman as he is lovingly known is more than a real brother to me. He is just three years older to me but has always pampered me like a kid. I always used to look upto him as the IITian engineer who earns a lot and spoils his sister with expensive gifts!!
Anyways, my daughter was fortunate that she got fed by my beloved and brilliant Iman dada!!

all set for the puja ceremony. My busy doctor hubby cannot stay away from calls even during the puja!! It was my scolding that he kept his phone down and posed for the pic!!

The Puja items...

our baby is getting impatient from sitting on her dad's lap for so long!!

she is throwing herself in a fit when her uncle tries to feed her!!

finally calm enough to taste her first rice pudding!!

all done with the ceremony, time for a saree moment!!

Her lunch spread in silverware. though she can eat now, but that does not mean she can survive without cerelac and nan pro!!

with her both set of grandparents.

8/19/2014 9 comments

When mind is without fear and the head is held high... Rabindra nath Tagore.

We all Indians owe our freedom to the thousands of national heroes who sacrificed their lives for us. After a bondage period of about 200 years by the British, it was time to rebel against their brutal rule. After decades of hard work, rebellion and bloodshed, we finally achieved independence on 15 th August, 1947. This is our 68th year of independence.

I take great honour and pride saying that my maternal grandfather took part in the freedom struggle through the administrative way. He had worked with Pt. Jawahar lal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, P C Mahalanobis, the eminent statistician who was the founder of first 5 year plans of India, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, the pioneer doctor whose birthday is celebrated as Doctor's Day in India and lots of other eminent personalities who played a pivotal role in India's independence. I am so blessed that I am born in a country which has given birth to myriads of heroes in every field.

Today we are celebrating 68 years of freedom. Like every year, this year too I plan to have a blast. I am at my parents place ( hubby working as usual; even on a national holiday) and Dad has promised me to take me to the elaborate celebrations. Last year too I had a blast...read it here

This year too I planned to embrace our national colours : orange green and white with a tinge of blue. I thought of donning something Indian, but ended up in jeans. Anyways, patriotism lies in our hearts, not on our outfit!! I just love the colours of our national flag the tricolour.

Saluting our national flag.....

me dressed in patriotic colours...orange, white and green. Special mention to the sandals...they are orange n green too!!

saluting all our national heroes!! Its because of them we are enjoying freedom!!

kite spools in tricolour!!

time to bowl the tricolour way!!

Ripped jeans- zara
Top-promod
Earrings-HnM
Bracelet-kazo
Necklace- forever 21

8/15/2014 12 comments

The title is quite ambiguous. There is not a single pearl of the orient. Sometimes Hong Kong is called so while at other times, Singapore and Manila steals this title!! Fortunately, I have been to all these three. Since I have been writing about Singapore since the past couple of posts; hence 'my' pearl of the Orient is Singapore!!

Cities like Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai etc are dynamic cities. They are continuously under construction and their maps change entirely within a couple of years!! My bestie visited Singapore two years before me and when she saw my photographs, she was fazed!! There were so many new structures!!

Well our journey began with the first stop at Singapore flyer, the largest observatory wheel in the world. Based on the likes of London eye, its one of the best ways to catch a bird's eye view of the city. The ride is about half an hour long and was about 35 Singaporean Dollars. I went with my dad only as mom is acrophobiac!! Ideally the best time to get into such rides is just before dusk. Then you can witness the city both during daylight and in the dark. When the city lits up, its a totally different view altogether. Unfortunately we could not do so as we were with a group. But learning from this mistake, we went atop the Burj Khalifa during dusk and Dubai was spectacular during the day as well as night!!

After that we headed to the Marina Bay. On the way we took the Orchard Road which is one of the famous shopping destinations in the world. Almost all important Singaporean landmarks are in the vicinity...the iconic Merlion which is a mythical creature half lion and half fish. Then the Marina Bay Sands hotel which is one of the poshest in the world. It houses the world's highest casino and infinity pool! The Marina Bay itself was the coolest place to hang out.

After a half day tour of this fascinating city, we headed to Sentosa Island .
That day was filled with nonstop laughter and unforgettable memories!!