We have a retail supermarket, and for the last two years since lockdown, I have been spending a lot of time here, observing the sudden demand for a few ingredients, and the sudden shift to veganism in this city. Thanks to the Internet and rising interest in home cooking and home chefs there has been more awareness and experiments happening in people’s kitchen that has seen the sudden movements of ingredients for Mexican, Thai and Italian cooking. And I guess the growing interest and marketing of Vegan around the world has forced people to try the diet out, if not getting transitioned completely. But, where does that leave Jainism? A community that does not eat potatoes, Onion and garlic being three of the main ingredients that Jain does not eat. They are pretty high in numbers In India, but I guess they aren’t high enough for marketers to take notice and introduce products for the Jain market that’s just not In India but are they out globally to be catered to.
The moment we stepped into Della and walked into Parsi Dhaba for lunch,
The A.C wasn’t functioning properly.
We moved into another table and lunch was served, a few minutes later a living fly was found on my dad’s plate while he was eating Mutton Dhansak,
So the service staff, wondered what should be done, they got a fresh plate and little mutton dhansak without a mutton piece.
This was just the beginning, we walked into our rooms filled with dampness. No, we did not get an early check-in. This was normal check-in time. No Towels, Tap holder not present.
We did post a social media review, immediately the team asked to pull it off and informed us the team would resolve our issues.
We did go For the dinner too much talked about Villa Bistro and it would the highlight of our stay. We did not get any call or nobody met us.
Got a call at 11 pm, Sir You did not come for dinner today.
Breakfast: We asked for a Cappuccino. But the staff said we don’t serve it for breakfast. We did enjoy the Dosa, Eggs, Waffles and pancake with Nutella and Maple Syrup
And decide to explore the property a little more, during the day and we’re walking by the poolside, where I noticed the coffee machine set up and not just that, there were guests, who were enjoying latté and cappuccino because I peeped into their cup and noticed the frothy milk.
So then I decided to go get one for myself.
The Staff refused to give a cappuccino sighting it’s not functional. I could very well see the steam and the machine switched on.
Ok! That did not bother me, but while I was still around a cup of Hot Capuccino was requested by another guest and served to him. But not me, even I too was an In-house guest staying at Della.
Hair Dryer & Iron too were not functional
I have been disappointed and dissatisfied totally. If you can’t serve to the full capacity or handle the crowd. Limit it.
If you haven’t been to the USA, You haven’t seen the World.
These were all the words that kept ringing when we thought about applying for our Visas in 2014.
walking into the Visa office, Was like walking into a well-guarded centre, where they thoroughly checked our documents and questioned us like, they had the complete power in their hands in deciding our future ahead.
But, In a way, they had complete authority though in approving and authorising us to travel to the United States.
Getting our Hands-on The USA Visa – Was like a Milestone in Life. (Yeah, We have achieved something in life!)
It’s just that so many Visa get disapproved and it isn’t easy getting a Visa To The USA.
But, I guess what worked for us was our Past Travels.
Airport.
Still Dreading how will we survive this long journey of Twenty odd hours including a layover in Europe.
We have just Seated ourselves on the flight, after all the security checks and Walking around the Airport.
We still don’t know, how to go about this flight journey, eight hours and we will be in Europe and another ten to twelve hours until we make it to The States.
Should we Sleep, Should We Watch Movies?
Anyways! We Decide to Sleep. In order not to get jetlag we must Dose Off on this Journey.
After what looked, like I slept for Days, We reach Zurich Airport.
The Zurich Airport, Is beautiful, The Weather is good and we have a few hours to kill, And we stroll around watching Swiss Airways Flights land, Take off around the Runway, Sipping hot chocolate and having a light meal around.
All was going Well Until our next leg of the journey had entertainment issues.
Yeah! You read that right! Entertainment Issue!
Due to a shift in passengers carrying their Devices like the iPad, Macbooks and iPhones Airlines were now going away with the Entertainment, Infotainment options for Economy Passengers.
United Airlines- Was already Dividing me With America… Leaving me in no State but to sleep again on my Journey, I tried hard to have enough cups of coffee to keep me awake! But for what, I am practically
20000 feet or more above ground. With No Wifi, No Movies, No Television, Sitting on a seat trapped for the next couple of hours…
Just staring at the views outside, I soon fall into a deep sleep.
Now we Are In the USA!!!!
If the Visa Centre was sweating us out!
The immigration Counter was like a serious offence committed.
Since We must have got a USA Visa! But, We Still haven’t entered the USA. So We carefully listen and answer all questions honestly to extent of Letting them know we have carried Pickles & Puffcorn with us in our bags. (Since They have experiences and are well educated, informed about Indian travellers and their needs)
What does television mean today? When was the last time, you watched television? Has a television just becomes another screen today? You have started watching a new series, that everybody has been talking about. But you don’t want to miss out! Do you start watching it on your phone first, then continue watching on the tablet and if it’s something binge-worthy do you continue watching it on your television screen to make the most of( The Sound, The effects and the distraction to a minimum) considering the notification from social media have been distracting you now and then to the work emails. With the Television becoming our new “Big Screen” for movies and series! Where do the cinema theatres go? Is going for the movies to the theatres dead? How will the cinemas survive? Will a subscription model be applied to the cinemas as well? A subscription that allows you to watch an X number of movies in a month with some F&B to go with it. Since we haven’t had any good films make it on the Over The OTT platform. All the interesting looking ones are waiting for cinemas to reopen to launch it But compared to ₹900 a Year, ₹1500 Year and ₹400 a month for mobile devices on a certain platform for family viewing. Where do the cinemas go? Will one be spending on the movies. Mind you even the television seems like a dull experience with the Advertisement coming up frequently. Where does that leave advertising? Only on News broadcasting channels? Since most of the channels have been playing older episodes today, And more new content coming up on OTT platforms with a wider range of genres and stories available. Are we all just streaming on different screens?
The Pandemic Struck and we were forced into home quarantine,Isolation and with everything under lockdown. Being Home was the option. While I was a regular Nespresso drinker, I was running out of coffee capsules. But, then Indian coffee brands were my only options and thank God! Because they were amazing and well priced. But, My only hitch! If I did not google enough, I would hardly know about them. So, To make others life easy, I am sharing a list of coffee pods/Capsules that are from India or are easily available in India.
Capsules/Pod Coffee:
Vero: An Italian word for real, True perfect. Is a Mumbai based brand that specialises in coffee Pods/Capsules and machines too. They have flavours like Irish Cream and green Coffee apart from Arabica, Vanilla, Chocolate, Decaf and Coorg. Apart from coffee capsules they also offer Green tea capsules.
Fresh Brew: Another Coffee capsules brand that offers pods. But the interesting part of this brand is they also offer Iced Coffee capsules like the original Nespresso has to offer and apart from this they have Javas, Sumatra, Colombia and many other flavours to offer.
Bonhomia : One of the first brands that I knew of that offers coffee capsules & Machine that’s compatible with Nespresso machines and we’re the first ones to offer flavoured coffees like Hazelnut, Vanilla and Tea capsules too.
Lavazza: The Italian coffee that was once so popular in India. Now offers its capsules for the Nespresso machine.
Davidoff: If You love your instant Davidoff coffee and want to have it from the Nespresso machine they have a couple of options like Rich, Espresso, Fine, Elegance, Prestige and style to choose from.
Coffeeza: A Coffee Brand that not just specialises in Capsules but also has Drip Coffee Bag. They have Ethiopian and a few more options for coffee capsules. They also have machines too.
A K H I L N A N D A 