Tag: India

Gwalior 2025!

India as a country has so much to offer, that you feel you are going to be running out of time. 
Rajasthan has palaces and hotels like Palaces. 
Karnataka has coffee plantations and interesting food to offer. 
Himachal has mountains 
North India has its winter. 
Gujrat has its history. 
But, have you wondered what Madhya Pradesh has? 
Madhya Pradesh has temples and fort that have the detailing like no other temples across India and has a terrain region like the Grand Canyon of the USA. 
A few structures of the temples were similar to the ones in Hampi, Karnataka. Yet so different in history. 
Then why is it still unexplored and the least travelled region of India? 
On our recent visit to Gwalior a city in Madhya Pradesh, We came across temples and structures that were so beautiful and intricate in detail, that we questioned ourselves, what made us delay our plans for the last two years? 
As soon we began sharing our tourist exploration on social media. Many asked, where is the place? It was quite a surprise not many knew the beauty of this side of the country. India is always known for cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Jaipur. The other cities are less explored and undiscovered by the local citizens. 
The food in the city was both vegetarian & non-vegetarian, with a lot of Indian food available. 
In street Food, the Kachori and chaats were the most popular snacks of the region. 

Eating to Extinction – Book

A book on food, that has a few pieces of history and a lot more about how certain foods through globalization, and better economic and weather conditions have made the plants and food thrive in countries that otherwise we had no idea were so resourceful. But the question remains – How much food changes in taste and Quality and how with hybridization, food has been growing across the World? 

Some of the insightful details from the book.

Did you know? 

Certain food items like barley are used to the fullest of the 100% – 

 2% of barely is eaten by humans. 

60% of barely is used as Animal

Feed. 

While 38% is used for brewing and Distilling beer. 

0.50% barely is used for Soy Sauce and Miso.

So many things are made of just one food item.

The world’s largest collection of banana diversity is in Belgium

There are about 8 varieties of citrus fruit and lemon, oranges, Grapefruit and lime have been produced through hybridization 

Lemons is actually A hybridization of citron and Sour Oranges. 

Oranges come from a hybridisation of Mandarin and Pomelo 

Lime is hybridization a Citron and Mandarin cross 

Grapefruit Is a Hybrid between a Sweet Orange and a Pomelo. 

It’s interesting to know how the fruit changes and how through hybridization we have produced so much in the world. 

These are some of the details, but there is a lot more in the book. 

This has been one of the best food books. 

iOS vs Google!

What’s stopping me from switching from

iPhone to Google! 

iOS apps: Music, Face Time, iMessage , Notes, App Store , Airdrop and iCloud  are some of the application that make their system! 

But, thinking how many of these do I actually use regularly. 

AirDrop and Notes besides the camera come to my mind within seconds. 

The other apps might not  be used so frequently by me. 

I also have a MacBook Air, And both my devices act like family. But, Will changing one make a lot of different? 

And oh! My AirPods will they be as good on the Google than they were on the iPhone and Apple devices? 

For transferring images and videos from

Apple to Apple. We had Airdrop! 

Well, Android has an application known as Airdroid for the instant transfer between the two OS. 

Well for sound for music and videos – I am not sure how good Google would be. 

But, as far as the reviews I have read – The common problem on Google phones is the clarity and muffled sound when having conversations over phone. How much will this  impact? 

The other Tech Specs: like Ram, Battery size and size are minor worries since Google have been a notch higher on that end compared to Apple phones. 

The only hitch is It’s Android and It’s Google. 

And not like I have never used Google. 

Google sheets and Gmail was one of the first few applications used from the organisation. 

And no I wasn’t born with an Apple device, like many who are born today! 

I had Sony Ercison as an android device for about 2 years… And then I bought a Micromax phone an Indian phone maker for a year and a half until I got my first iPhone 5s and since then it’s been 10 Years and 4 iPhones I have used ( 5s, 7, Xs, 13) each spanning 2 And  a half to 3 Years. 

I have been very comfortable with the device, 

But of late Android devices have been more innovative with technology and design, With minor plus and minus from their end. 

On the other hand, Apple has been offering the best features for their devices that are on the higher end. The Pro’s and even in those there are huge difference of sizes and specifications that you wonder after spending $1000+ you still aren’t getting the best. Since there is a difference between a Pro, Pro Max and the base model. 

Where as Android and Google have the same offering within their range of $1000 + with  each model with the same features, just different sizes of screen and Pro and base model  series, Pro has another camera. 

So which one should you go ahead with? 

Hyderabad Biryani!


Five Years later, Hyderabad had transformed into a city, Since I had last visited for an event in 2019.
Flyovers, so much of construction happening. 
And a Metro too! This city felt like another city altogether.
The huge spaces of cafes, Restaurants the long wait In Queues. Was this Hyderabad? 
The Knowledge City, A landmark that Housed offices, Restaurants and a Cafe was like What BKC is to Mumbai! 
Hi-Tech City and Gochibawli landmarks were like the Magarpata township of Pune. 
The Jubilee Hill cafes and restaurants were like the Indiranagar and Koramangala of Bangalore or Koregoapark of Pune.
And this was just one side of the city I had visited. 
The retail showrooms were huge, and like how  Linking Road Mumbai has standalone stores the Hyderabad city too had them with luxury brands on the main road. 
Katha cafe felt like Subko in so many ways font, Styling of the space and branding too. 
The cafes Toops & Katha two of the ones I visited had Corridor Seven coffee being served, A coffee roaster from Nagpur, Mithilesh V and One of the first Aeropress championship winners from India started this.
Surprisingly Hyderabad had more vegetarian food options, compared to my last visit.
Manam Chocolate Kharkhana. Was an experience. A Chocolate Cafe, Store and Chocolate Factory Experience in Hyderabad. 
You could taste all the chocolates Bars, ice cream, Chocolate flakes and Barks, Hot chocolate too, A complete chocolate Paradise. 
The Hyderabad we know as Charminar, Ramoji Film City and Golconda Fort felt very long from the side we were stationed in Hyderabad. 
The Taj Hotel Falaknuma too was another side. Hyderabad city had become a huge city from what I had travelled to the last time. 
Hyderabad is surely a city to watch out for! 
In India.

Cafes:

Roast CCX

Roastery House

Manam Chocolate

Indian Reader


Does India Read? Do Indians Read? 
And if they do what do they read? 
Well, India is slowly getting into the habit of reading books! And a lot of them have been enjoying reading books. But, this India that I am talking about is not the one that is into literature books. But, a new emerging audience of readers is discovering reading books is not for the joy of it. But, to improve my English speaking skills, Vocabulary and diction. These readers are the ones who make up the large population that we have. But again are we growing in numbers? Who enjoy reading Mythology, Romance, and Young Adult books. The authors who have successfully managed to capture their audience are the likes of Chetan Bhagat, Preeti Shenoy, Durjoy Datta, Ravinder Singh, Anuja Chauhan, and Robin Sharma to name a few…Others like Amrish Tripathi and Devdutt Patnaik are Gaining popularity amongst new readers who are interested in reading books. 
But, what are the avid literary Indian readers reading today? 
They are the ones who like reading Amitav Ghosh, Sudha Murthy, Chitra Banerjee, Arvind Adiga, and Arundhati Roy, which are some of the books which the other Indian audiences are reading. 
But, the positive side of the reader reading in India is they have started reading books of Indian authors from India.