Chennai Central – Great Facility

October 14, 2012June 24, 2013 NishaChennai

Thanks to Air Asia’s unceremonious cancellation of their service to Mumbai, We have been at our wits end to find the right Airasia flight to Malaysia, which is our landing platform for any South east Asian city.

Should we travel from Kochi, Bangalore or Chennai or maybe Tiruchirapalli ? Am I to do an India tour first? If yes then how to reach these places? This time on return I decided to save some money by travelling by train from Chennai to Mumbai.

Arrival at Chennai Airport itself was uneventful. Getting off the flight the high humidity hits you. I … Read the rest

Malli to Nalli

December 24, 2011June 24, 2013 NishaChennai

Malli to Nalli

My tryst with Chennai (formerly Madras) includes Sarvana stores, Kumaran silks, Nallis, Pothys and GRT….. Dhal powders, (different types of podis such as paruppu podis etc), maanga inji pickle. The list goes on…
Forget about anything else, my visits to Chennai are combination of smaller excursions to acquire these much sought after possessions.

As much as I dislike Chennai for its anti Hindi propaganda, irritating auto rickshaws, the hot & humid weather and the city’s laid back attitude, my sole aim to enjoy this city is by shopping there. A few short visits that I’ve made to … Read the rest

Year 2010 in travel

January 17, 2011January 2, 2014 NishaBatad

Warning: This is a colorful post. 🙂
Before I start writing about my recent trip of Philippines and Malaysia, I thought it better to recollect how was the year 2010 for me in terms of travel.
I think I will skip some of domestic travels since a few of them happened in a jiffy and I do not remember the details now. Also, I am not counting the local exploration of lesser known places of my town such as watching Flamingos at Sewri fort.

Flamingos enjoying their meals.

The year started with a trip to … Read the rest

Wedding garland

July 24, 2010August 1, 2010 NishaChennai

These thick & heavy special wedding garlands are called Kalyana Malai ( कल्याण माला ) in Tamil and are made of mainly rose petals and chopped leaves. To keep them together in this conical shape and to prevent the petals from falling off, they are ‘wrapped’ in threads. You can watch this video how it is done.

After wrapping up with thread some decorative pieces are being inserted.

There are two such pieces of each garland. Mostly, only one piece … Read the rest

The year that was.. 2009

January 1, 2010January 2, 2014 NishaBangalore

The year 2009 is gone. It was satisfying as far as travel is concerned. Except for one or two, all places were new to me. Not many to count but observed and learnt a lot during the course.
And all these trips were personal trips, not work related.

It was Ratnagiri and Ganapatipule to begin with. Temples, forts and beaches greeted us with stories of their own.