Investment in gold

Today, everyone is aware that either you need to invest in gold or land to overcome the inflation. But the ever increasing price of gold makes it unreachable for a common man. Therefore, it is high time you start thinking of the alternatives which would make you buy gold eventually at the same time not getting succumbed to the market volatility. Many jewelers have come up with various schemes to invest in gold. As an investor, it is very important to select the right jeweler with good record and name in the market. And selecting the right scheme is the next important thing to do.

There are schemes where your money is right away invested in gold and the gold is accumulated in your account every time you pay. This scheme therefore reduces the risk and gives full value for the money invested. For example, ‘GRT Golden Seed’ scheme lets you accumulate Gold. Whereas, there are jewelers who offer schemes which accumulates money periodically and at the end of the period invests the accumulated money in gold. In addition, there may also be incentives along with this scheme. The jeweler may a month’s installment to your accumulated money and let you buy gold. For example, you have paid Rs.5000 every month for a period of 15 months your accumulated money would be Rs.75,000 and the total money to be redeemed for gold would be Rs.80,000. ‘GRT Gold tree’ is this kind of scheme.  But again, this would be profitable only if the price of gold go down at the time of redemption. In my opinion, I would recommend investors to accumulate gold instead of cash. After all, low risk grade and high return would be the only requirement for all isnt it?

Many other features like No wastage charge, nil VAT and flexible deposit should also be taken into consideration while selecting the schemes.  While some jewelers let you buy gold coins and diamond jewelry at the time of redemption, others don’t. So it is important you compare the schemes of different jewelers before investing.

Start investing and beat the inflation!

Good dayJ

The Pasta bar Veneto, T.Nagar

I visited this place 2 months back and I thought it is worth sharing with all of you. Located in T.Nagar, Pasta Bar Veneto is a perfect hangout if you are a lover of Italian food. The ambience of the place is too good and people who work there seems to know about the food unlike many places. The restaurant is built like on the perimeter letting the sunlight fall in the middle which I would say as something different.

Coming to the food part, we ordered Potato wedges and Garlic bread as starters and Pasta, Lasagna and Pizza as main course. The food was very fresh, tasty and flawless. Loved their Lasagna and Pasta was kind of different with less cheese but it was good. Pizza was of thin crust and was also good. After the scrumptious food I ordered cheese cake as dessert which was yummyumm and also free of cost. :D (Yea, there was an offer stating that if we had food for Rs.500 or more, dessert would be free). The place is totally cool with the best food I ever had in ages. I would definitely recommend this place to my friends and readers.

Some of the things that were slightly disturbing were that the place is not very suitable at hot days since sunlight falls inside the restaurant. And the Italian music was too loud. But they reduced it immediately after we raised it as a concern. Very friendly and customer service was awesome J. We also felt they had little varieties of food to choose from for which they responded saying that their menu was being designed again with more varieties than it is at present.

If you are foodie, then this place would make your dayJ

Give it a try and let me know your comments.

Happy blogging!

TRIP KALASA, KARNATAKA:

I reached Central at 9 0’ clock for the 10.30 Bangalore Express train. Waiting for my friends to arrive, I was sitting amidst the hundreds of fellow passengers in the huge hall. After boarding the train, the usual chit chats started which continued till 12 and then we all slept. We reached Bangalore at around 5.30 AM. While we were sipping our morning coffee, our cab had already arrived. We noticed that the Innova had the capacity to accommodate only 6 and we were 7 of us. So we waited for an hour until the next Innova with 7 members capacity(i.e no partition in 3 seater in the middle row) arrived. From there, we set off on the isolated yet amazing roads to KALASA. It took around 7 hours from Bangalore to reach the resort we had booked including the time we spent for breakfast and coffee.

We had already started moving up on the hill and we wanted to reach the “Silent Valley Resort” as soon as possible. So we didn’t stop anywhere for lunch and reached the resort by 5 PM hungrily. The resort was very friendly saying lunch was available even at that odd time. Appreciate their hospitality.  Lunch was reasonably good with decent amount of varieties. The resort was located on top of the hill giving beautiful view of the mountains, mist and forests surrounding it. Different kinds of accommodations are present - cottages, villas and tree houses widely spaced from each which gives us more space to walk around and take pictures.

We started from resort the next day morning to tea plantation and hanging bridge. The hanging bridge was a perfect scenic spot as it hung between two mountains separated by river below.  Many places were devoid of any tourists – maybe because we didn’t go in the right season. After taking pictures on the isolated bridge we decided to walk down to the river through a slope. It was kind of steep but we made it. The river was very shallow and transparent giving us a view of the stones, pebbles and fishes underneath. Seeing a rock in almost middle of the flowing river, we decided to sit on that rock for a while and take pictures. Crossing the river was fun. Water was chill and clear (and sweet – you can actually taste the water), stones were slippery enough to let u fall down. Careful not to step on the stones and just walk on the pebbles one by one to the rock in the middle was at times hurdled by the small fishes in the river which kept biting the feet. No harm though! Pedicure for free of cost: PAnd then we reached the rock successfully. After a while we climbed up the slope and got back in the car. 

Then we set off to Hanumanagundhi falls. Stepping down to around 800 steep steps beneath through the mountain, you can’tfail to notice your legs shivering and you will desperately want to sit. But the view is worth the pain. The falls has a level where everyone can get down. But there are places where tourists need to careful failing of which might prove fatal. Thankfully we happened to find many tourists there. But there were no ‘signs of danger’ kept for tourists’ guidance. If walking down the steps was difficult, you can imagine how it is to climb back up.

By then it was lunch time and we headed back to our resort. After finishing our lunch, we stopped to visit a place which was once a dam but now it is not being used. Till our eyes could reach, there were only dryness and scorching heat wanted us to leave the place soon. Probably, a bad season! Made me wonder how such a place could exist in the midst of mountains. On the way, we found some interesting places like lake view and valley point. We stopped there to take pictures and then returned back to the resort by 4.30 PM.

We again set off from the resort by 5.45 to have a view of sunset which is said to be famous from a viewpoint. The viewpoint was hardly within a kilometer from the resort.  Already being tired because of the steps in Hanumanagundhi falls, we found it difficult to again walk fast through a steep and longmuddy slope to get to the viewpoint. So we started slow and by the time we reached the top of the slope, the sun had already set and the moon hadrisen :D (We cant be blamed).  But I must mention that the slope was really haunting since it was through the mountains with no proper fencing to prevent animals (if any) getting in the tourists’ way. To top it off all, the slope and the viewpoint were all deserted and we were the only tourists up there. So we decided to descend down the slope before it gets too dark to avoid any danger. There, another reason how I ended up getting muscle pull in my legs for the next 2 days L

Tired and exhausted, we reached the resort and spent some time in camp fire. Dinner was great and there was no restriction in food consumption. We kept having desserts on and on till 12 and they were only happy to keep serving us till we were done. Very customer friendly and their hospitality wasadorable. We checked out of the resort next day by 12 PM and got in the cab and started our return journey to Bangalore which will take around 7 hours. By 7.30 PM we reached Bangalore. After our dinner, we boarded the bus from Bangalore to Chennai and we all reached back safe by 6 AM in the morning.

Bottom line is Kalasa was a place worth to be explored.

Some pictures for you:

                                                              View from the resort

                                                              Hanging bridge

                                                              View from Hanging bridge

                                                                    Valley Point

                                             View of hanging bridge from the river below

                                                                  Hanumanagundhi Falls

Hope this helps!Let me know what you think through comments :)

Happy Blogging!

The Shiva Trilogy - freakin awesome

Being an avid lover of historical fiction I found it difficult to restrain myself from “The Shiva Trilogy”. The first book “The Immortals of Meluha”  is a definite page turner. Trust me, you don’t have to be a Hindu to understand the story. Though the story is woven around known characters like Shiva, Sati, Ganesh, Karthik and Nandi who are worshipped as gods in Hindu religion today, it is not spiritual or religious in anyway. Turns out to be Amish Tripathi's masterpiece with adequate twists and turns keeping readers glued to the book.

Synopsis:

Meluha is a land which can be described as something that each and every one of us want our society to be like. Located in Kashmir, Meluha is an epitome of heaven on earth for it serves as a model for righteousness, laws, cleanliness and discipline. You could not stop wondering how it would be if we exist in such a society! Meluhans believe for ages that when evil rises a Mahadev would emerge and save them. Shiva, a normal human being of flesh and blood unknown of what his destiny would be is brought to Meluha only to unravel many new and hidden secrets.

Shiva falls in love with Sati whose has been living a doomed life for years. What stood their way of love is a mystery which Shiva solves. Somras is said to be a divine medicine which gives mortality for those who consume it. And Meluha has been manufacturing Somras which their so called enemies try to stop. Who are the enemies and who their allies are and what are their reasons for doing so are very sensibly demonstrated at a very good pace.

Characters like Nandi,Veerbhadra,Brahaspathi, Dhaksha,Parvateshvar, Parshuram, Kali did ring a bell while reading the book.  On the other end, the author gives us a glimpse about Nagas(the cursed people) and their deeds leaving the readers to judge them. What connection exists between them and Meluhans are portayed in the second book of Shiva trilogy “The secret of the Nagas”.

The second book for all you know might shatter whatever the reader has imagined. “The secret of the Nagas” bringsKarthick, Ganesh and Kali into picture which I would say was simply brilliant. The way each character is mould into the story is spellbound. War strategies used, engineering establishments, honesty and dutifulness are all well expressed and was mind blowing. The author really deserves whatever highest award that is given for a writer. Because, Shiva Trilogy is the one book which has equally matched some of the greatest historical fictions written in Tamil :O. Impressed :D

Hats off to Amish Tripathi and those who helped him publish the book in every single way. You really deserve a standing ovation.

The third and final book in Shiva Trilogy is “The Oath of Vayuputras” which Iam dying to read it ASAP. If you are a passionate reader, do not have second thoughts in reading this trilogy.

My rating: 5/5

Happy reading!