Category: Books

Raffles Udaipur :Luxury in its true sense.

As soon as we reached the jetty Shore,

A team warmly received us and made us comfortable with refreshments at the waiting area until the boats were ready.

The 15 minutes journey in the boat was all about giving us a background of the place and of course, Ngambi who ferried us shot photograph videos with the best angles of the property and the landscape. 

The long walk from the bridge to the main entrance of the property ( Wet Towels,& Water bottles were offered) 

Well, This was just a teaser of our stay. The main highlights were the Welcome at the lobby with a refreshing cocktail made by Terai Gin. One of the things that I loved about the hotel was going Vocal for Local.

Bili Hu Coffee, Svami & Sepoy Co tonic water, The Whole Truth Bars and Chocolates like Paul & Mike and dessert made from Mason & Co chocolates. 

The F&B team was so involved with us, there wasn’t a moment when they did not let us go without food.

Shreyas, Max, Sanjeev, Ashwin, Bhavya, Alpa, Rubeg, Daksh were some of the best people who were so warm. Tea, Coffee, Cocktail, Mocktails or any recommendations of food, Dessert you wanted you could just take their word for it. 

Chef Prasad, Chef Ajinkya, Chef Pratik treated us to some memorable meals ( Tangerine Salad, Biryani, Fettuccine Truffle oil, and John Dory were some of the best things that were served) 

Vishrut, Vimi, Divi and the Captain of the team Abhishek Sharma were some of the warmest people we have come across during our stay. 

A special mention for the BirthdaySurprise Dinner by the Team.

Additional Information:

15-20 minutes drive from Airport

A sitting area for guests to wait and fill the health declaration form until the Jetty comes to take you to the main hotel property. Refreshments (Tea, Coffee, Beverages) are served here till we make it to the hotel.

Room:101

Suites : 18

Regular Rooms :83

3 Restaurant & 7 Gardens are part of the hotel.

Why has it, Vegan that’s caught the worlds eye & why hasn’t Jainism caught the worlds eye?


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.

Seriously an Adventurous Trip!

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.

Revisiting – The New York Times !!

The United States Of America!

A country, like no other.

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 a Television mean today?

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?