Mirchi, Thoraipakkam

    

I happened to hit on this multi cuisine restaurant yesterday for dinner.  Small and cozy, the place is ever beaming with customers.  They have their own style – little dark, LCD TV on the wall, posters with all facts one would like to know about mirchi. Located on the busy OMR with all corporate companies around, I expected this place to be costly. But I was wrong. Mirchi is affordable.

We ordered manchow soup and fried mushroom as starters. Not consuming much time unlike other typical restaurants, our orders were served quick and fresh :D The deep fried mushroom made my day. Yuuuuummmmm! The soup was good too. As main course we ordered Butter Kulcha, Phulka and Kadai Gobi masala among which Butter Kulcha and Kadai Gobi were the hit ones.  I was not really excited about Phulka though. Carrot Halwa is not something one would find on the menu often these days. But you would have it in Mirchi if you are lucky LYeah, I was disappointed when I was informed about the unavailability. Instead, I was suggested to try GulabJamun which I denied sadly. I had Strawberry milkshake to give a finishing touch to my dinner.

I would definitely recommend this place if you are in mood to have something light and less costly.

Landmark: Its just before Thoraipakkam signal if you were to start from Shollinganallur. Few feet from Sangeetha.Mirchi is also located in Velacherry 100 ft road.

Let me know your thoughts if you happen to visit this place :)

Happy blogging!

D cafe, T.Nagar

It was cloudy that afternoon in Chennai when my friends and I set off on the road searching for a this cafe we found in Zomato. Turning on the Navigation on our phones, we didnt struggle much to locate this awesome cafe in Bazulla Road. We were greeted warmly and were given iPads to choose menu from.

What caught our attention was there were seats of all kinds - outdoor seating where chairs and tables were mushroom shaped with artificial lawn as the floor and a fountain beside; the other kind was the traditional cushion and table; another one was literally a big cup and saucer which could accommodate five people within; and the last one was an Air conditioned family room.

We preferred sitting on the lawn until rain came pouring down making the place even more beautiful. By then, thank god, we were done taking pictures there :P Coming to the food, we ordered Nachos (it had cheese and vegetables on top of it. Cant recollect the name as it was on the menu), Cheese garlic bread ,Lasagna, Cafe Latte, Blueberry muffin and few more non veg dishes. I must say all we had was upto the mark and their service was welcoming although few of them had trouble talking english. But Cheese garlic bread was not tat used to be in other places. Instead of stuffing garlic along with cheese they had scrambled garlic as a topping over cheese. Nevertheless, it tasted ok. I was never a fan of Nachos but I loved it here. And Lasagna was not the same as what we had in Pasta Bar Venetto but this one had its own style and it was good too.

The cafe serves Italian, Mexican and Spanish food with affordable price.All drinks are non alcoholic. Symbolizing the cafe name, plates, glasses and cups had the letter 'D' written on it. The owner of the cafe should have given great deal of attention to interior decorations of this place which was quite obvious. Lanterns in this cafe were adorable(Had trouble to stop drooling over them).A cool place to hang out with your friends or family. Having set up recently D cafe is perfectly capable of attracting many visitors soon. If you are a foodie, you better not miss it.

After taking pictures around the cafe and having spent enough time there, we started to leave after 5 hours :D


Here are few pics taken from my mobile and few more from Zomato:

Cheers to people who made this place awesome! And keep up the good work.
It certainly is on my 'should visit again' restaurants list :)


Happy blogging

The Oath of the Vayuputras - Stunning!

Shiva Trilogy comes to an end with ‘The Oath of the Vayuputras’.

Meluha which appeared to be a perfect land that ever could have existed has hidden in itself the worst secrets that get revealed in the ‘Oath of the Vayuputras’. Battle scenes are beautifully demonstrated with absolute perfection and clarity with no loopholes. The system followed by Meluha  as we know is described well enough in ‘Immortals of Meluha’ leaving the readers in awe. But then, what lies beyond anyone’s imagination is the pernicious effects of the system that has been overlooked many years. Shiva finally discovers what is evil and is ready to fight against it for that is his purpose of existence. Though he wants to achieve this with no blood shed and absolute peace, fate has its wish otherwise. A battle is inevitable and lots of unresolved mysteries would get unfolded. Who Shiva would ally with, who he would battle, who he would lose, who would help him and who would not is all brilliantly plotted in the final part of Shiva trilogy.

The characterization in the trilogy is the best. In the battle against evil Shiva might lose his close friends or even worse, he might have to kill them. Both Shiva’s army and those against his are equallycompetent and is no less than the other in implementing brilliant war strategies. So the battle is not a piece of cake for the Neelkanth to easily win over. Realizing this, Shiva seeks the Vayuputras help in the upcoming fierce battle. But not all of Vayuputras support Shiva, atleast not openly. What is the secret or untold connection that exists between Shiva and Vayuputras is a good twist. All dots are well connected.

Whatever happens, Shiva’s love for Sati is fresh and beaming as ever. Their eternal love for each other is well described right from the beginning till the end. They stand as an epitome of pure love throughout the story. Ganesh and Karthik together equal Shiva in all aspects – be it war or humanity (or even sense of humor).  Shiva travels to many places in and around India - each kingdom, their safety measures, their engineering skills are well differentiated from the rest according to their geographic location. As much as I loved the characterization of Parvateshwar and Ganesh in ‘Immortals of Meluha’, I loved Anandmayi’s in ‘The Secret of the Nagas’ and Karthik’s in ‘The Oath of the Vayuputras’. Not to forget Sati for her characterization was the most brilliant and deserves respect. Amish Tripathi has really nailed it.

I found myself traveling through and living among the characters – a bliss which every reader would experience while reading this trilogy and it is indeed priceless. This final book will give you goose bumps and bring tears in your eyes at the end and is certainly a page turner. If I had to recommend my friends about the must read books in one’s lifetime, Shiva Trilogy will definitely be one among them. Amish Tripathi deserves the best writer award for this epic.

Wondering if Shiva Trilogy would be pictured as a movie in future. We shall hope for the best to happen.

Pen down your thoughts for me about the trilogy J

Happy reading!

“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.”  - Mary Wortley Montagu

                

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!