Not exactly from the time they have been published until they hit the stores and are ready to witness the books flying off the shelf.
But, from the time they are published until the time, the reader figures this is a book he/she would like to read at a certain time of their life if not now.
Does the book hold the same relevance to the reader it had when it was released in the market?
Some bestsellers no matter when you read them. They still are relevant, They fall in the bracket of classics, classics that become the reference points for other authors and readers to compare that work with the current ones written in a similar style.
But, years later when you recommend them to someone would the book have the same impression and effect on the reader too?
Or would the reader wonder what was special about the book or would have outgrown the subject if they had already experienced something similar in real life or in another, a book that wasn’t necessarily a bestseller but a book worth reading or investing your time in it?
And with social media, content flows all across a range of channels, what happens to books that become the source of content, Does the reader still enjoy reading the book as a whole?
Or do social media opinions play on the minds of the reader to read classics/Bestsellers?
Having travelled by Air, Train and Road the only mode of transportation left to experience was to travel by Sea, The cruise experience, was one of its kind. We were very sceptical about travelling and experiencing the Cruise and the Sea Sickness, How were we going to manage on the ship for so long and how do we go about the whole journey? Fortunately, We bumped into the Man who would make the whole cruise experience seamless and memorable. From the moment we checked in to the cruise, We had surprises waiting to unfold. We had an invite sent for the exclusive meet-up with the team and a few guests who were part of the Heaven Suites. On our first day during the dinner at Manhattan Restaurant, Where the menu changes every day and doesn’t require a reservation, We had a table ready for us. We had meal suggestions from the chef. The meal had seafood dishes,0% Alcohol Wine and Mocktails with Meat and desserts. We had a team who had planned our next few days on the ship including our restaurant reservation for the whole journey. The first Dock at Cannes – Was another experience of priority guests for the tender boat. ( Cannes is a tender port on Cruises, The Ship docks at a distance Before the tenders are released in Slots and on Reservation only. ) We had the priority to get on board the cruise. Cannes, We do it again! A city known for the Film Festival is a beautiful stroll in the Promenade de la Croisette, The Cinematic painting on the walls and the walk through narrow steeped lanes while a red carpet awaits you to walk the steps of an auditorium that overlooks the French Rivera. While that was the glamorous walk on the stage, the walk off to the Marche Forville A weekend food Market was an interesting experience with so many fresh herbs and cheese available to taste, Before we headed to the beach. Back on the Ship, We took a break to explore the ship before we headed to change for Dinner. We explored the Reading Room – The Reading Room had an amazing collection of the new popular bestsellers with a view of the sea. Also a gaming room for ones who like to play chess with their mates. Walking around the bars, We had a photographer doing photo shoots with backdrops and Art being displayed on the sides while we walked.
The next day we visited another port Civitavecchia and it seemed like the hottest day!
The highlight was Naples! We had made a reservation for Michele’s pizza!Rated as The World’s Best Pizza.A 150 years old pizzeria ` Just 4 choices on the menu to choose from and order, Margheritabeing the original. Legend has it, that the Queen ordered and loved the pizza so much! That it was named the Margherita. If you don’t have a reservation? You can take a takeaway from The one-mile-long Queue side of the Restaurant. Braving the rain was worth it here!
And for those who are avid Football fans! Here, is an interesting Trivia. Mardonaa was from Naples, and there is a mural and Fan made space in Naples!
Cagliari, Sardinia though a beautiful town, We hardly had any time here! Spain Palma De Mallorca was the surprise city For us! It was beautiful with a mix of the Middle East, Tangier in Morocco and hints of Europe! The cathedral was beautifully built with the best view of the sea and a sunset worth coming back to! Ibiza! We would have liked to be here overnight to experience the Nightlife, but the day trip! Reminds you a lot about Greece.
Coming back to the cruise!
Each dinner meal was an experience! Right from Indian delicacy Butter Chicken, Samosa and South Indian style Jumbo prawns and indian style Fish that were specially curated for us. The dessert Gajar ka Halwa! Couldn’t have been a better conclusion to our Indian Meal. The French Meal at Le Bistro on the Escape ship was esquite with Jumbo size lobster and nice chunks of Sea Bass! With French onion Soup and herbed butter that was made of snails. The Italian Meal at La Cucina- The pizza was at par with Michele’s we had in Naples! Our Italian meal were with Risotto fungi mushroom truffles, With Amaretto liqueur and limoncello on ice on the sides. For dessert, we had one of the best Panna Cotta till date, Tiramisu It was so good, that We went again the next day to Only have one more slice of tiramisu. Teppanyaki – The Japanese Experience! This was Very good + Entertainment. A table of ten with a total of seven of us and it was a fun interactive dinner for us with tricks while our food was being prepared. Tried a Wasabi Cocktail! And it was a sweet and spicy fusion drink. The Moderno – The Brazilian steakhouse was reliving our Brazil meal again that we had a few months ago! And it was as good as that one! With meats and bread. Cagney Steakhouse: a signature Restaurant that is there is most of the NCL cruises was an American steakhouse experience where we had very good Crab Cakes, Lobsters and calamari! The last but not the least Bayamo was the best seafood dinner meal with very huge size shrimps! And fish! That just melted away! And the birthday Surprise meal with a huge cake was the highlight of Dad’s 60th. They also set up the room to celebrate the birthday to an amazement with chocolates, A spa voucher and a bottle of Wine and champagne!
The ship had a lot of other offerings, the gaming arcade, Table Tennis , Pools, The Mini Golf course, a Jogging track, Water slides for the kids or the kid in You! Rope walking For the adventurous one. For the one’s who like to drink, there are about 15 odd bars to choose your drinks from and many spots you would like to Keep hanging around ,While you enjoy your drink. Many other interactive activities are scheduled throughout the cruise, and you have the freedom to attend or skip them! If you haven’t cruised yet! Now is the perfect time to take control of your cruise Break.
Cruise Route:
Travel to Barcelona
9 Days
Barcelona – Cannes – Livorno- Civitavecchia-Naples- Cagliari-Palma De Mallorca – Ibiza- Barcelona
Mediterranean Cruise…
Port of Call: #barcelona Day 1: #Cannes Day2: #Livorno- #Florence and #Pisa Around the port Day3: Overnight at #Livorno Day4: #Civitavecchia – #Rome is close to this port Day 5: #Naples Day6: #Calgilari Day 7: #Palmademallorca Day 8: #Ibiza Day 9: #Barcelona
Barcelona sightseeing:
Parkguell
Gaudi
sagradafamilia
Casabatlo
Cafes: @nomadcoffee
Food: @tapatapabarcelona
Food:
Churros #patatbravas
Cannes:
Marché Forville -Food Market
Livorno: Cathedrals
Naples: @pizzeriadamichele : Bucket list, Done after a decade!
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.
The 25+ Hours journey through the UK to Sao Paulo was slightly tiring.
The first impression, Sao Paulo is a huge city!
The architecture and construction are lovely.
Water! No Water in the rooms! This was going to become a common observation as we would travel around the country!
The restaurants too don’t serve you water.
This was quite alarming, Maybe the water isn’t quite hygienic here! Or maybe they aren’t hospitable or maybe they are going through a Water Crisis.
Sao Paulo had the appeal of New York, Wall Street and Fifth Avenue. The Liberade, Japanese Neibhourhood did remind me of being lost in Japan!
The Food whether it was the local Brazilian Meat, Mexican Gucaomole, American Burgers, Italian Pizza, Thai or Japanese was the best in Sao Paulo. In the places we visited, we realised they were either part of the best Restaurants in the World and Latin America or were part of the Michelin restaurant guide.
The Cafes and coffee were also some of the finest we had here in the city!
Rosewood in Sao Paulo. Ranked #25 in the Worlds best was truly an experience. Walking into the lush green arches and being welcomed by books at the entrance/Waiting area. As you make yourself comfortable through the hotel you pass through a couple of more coffee table bookshelves before you reach the restaurant, which you feel is in the middle of the forest.
The Acai Berry Smoothie, Pastrami Sandwich and Burger were the juiciest, healthiest and most satisfying meals of our trip.
Rosewood was a nice experience.
The city, Was so clean with ample of dustbins, unlike Japan. Where you struggle to find even one.
The shopping malls, Each one competing with the size and the interiors.
The weather, Yes, we did feel the heat waves.
The roads were so broad and well-maintained. It was a challenge to find even one pothole in the country.
Rio was a tourist hub, and so was our instruction. Be extra careful while walking on the streets of Rio, After 5 pm avoid strolling on the street with Mobile Phones, Jewellery or Watches/Smart Watches.
The Sugarloaf Mountain & Christ The Redeemer have to be our typical tourist highlight. One for the sunset view and the other for getting the structure to the top.
Copacabana Beach was going through a post-event pack-up! Madonna had performed a free concert two days before we planned to reach Rio de Janeiro.
Language is a huge barrier! The locals don’t understand English and as Tourist, we had no understanding of Portuguese.
Brazil has their measurement too!
P being M , The universal Medium size, G being large, GG being Extra large in clothing. For Footwear too, they are normally a size or two smaller than the Typical US sizes one Wears.
Salvador was a small quaint colourful city that would remind you a lot about Europe’s small towns.
While travelling across the city we flew through GOl or Latam. The local airlines of Brazil were always on time and internally we travelled through the Uber App with minimum communication!
Oh! One thing that was a huge disappointment was Google Maps! Often they did not take us at the right location, either 100 meters away from our location or would be pinned at another entrance/Exit of the same location.
The Google Maps, were always not updated with locations that had been permanently closed or had being relocated to another location.
In both of these times, We were faced with challenges on how to communicate to the exact location.
While planning Brazil I had also noted a few bookstores I wanted to visit in Brazil!
To my disappointment both of the bookstores that were listed for the longest time as the most beautiful bookstores in the world had been closed now! One in Sao PauloAnd the other in Rio. While I visited other bookstores across the cities. There weren’t any books available in English at all.
Brazil with two of the most prominent global events like FIFA and the Olympics in the past decade is still not considered a Tourist Destination. With Food options, the Weather being pleasant, Globally recognised homegrown Fashion brands and Warm and friendly people you wonder if the Country’s not being Safe Image is playing a key role in tourism.
Eat: #saopaulo @ranchoportuguessp @nbsteak @michelinguide @aizomerestaurante – Part of @theworlds50best #latinamerica @pingyangsp – #11 Best Place to eat in #Brazil
Taro Sushi – Michelinguide
@rosewoodsaopaulo -#25 Worlds Best Hotel @theworlds50best @sisenorbrasil @brazpizzaria – #4 best pizzeria brand in the World @pecorinoteresina @apizzadamooca – #77 in the Worlds Best Pizza
Chocolates: #brazil @dengochocolates @kopenhagen_
Personal favourite for Shopping : @farmrio @osklen
A journey that had been on the bucket list for the last few years.
And having explored India from the north and west.
South had a been little unexplored and was waiting to be explored.
Hampi is a city full of temples that have references not just mythology ( Ramayan)Hanuman’s Birthplace. But, also with Shiva- A single monolith statue that’s one of the most visited sights of the city. To the Dynasties battles Kilji, Chanayaka and later the British coming to existence.
No Wonder a city filled with so much history and mythology feels like one place with many world heritage references that the The Ministry of Tourism, on 29th September, declared Karnataka’s iconic destination as the Best Tourism Village of India-2023.
Hampi was selected one among the 795 applications received from 31 states and UTs.
Some bits of Hampi feel like you are in Macchi- Picchu to some feel like you are in Greece. While some truly belong to India.
The city has many world heritage sites.Think your ₹50 currency and you will observe the chariot stone. Hampi is also referred to as India’s Rome with so many ruins and history to the sights.
The historians at Hampi, also mentioned to explore the whole of Hampi that has 80 monuments worth exploring would take you an ideal 45 days here! So much history!
And if you would like to travel to Hampi some of the most important sites are Vitthala temple, that’s full of interpretations of history and the home to the stone Chariot. To the Virupaksha temple an active temple that has rituals performed daily including feeding of elephants as an experience of lifetime.
Elephant Stables a monument that was built for the kings elephant many centuries ago is another site worth visiting.
At times Hampi makes you believe you are In Stonehenge with the rocks here beautifully placed naturally or makes you believe you are In Grand Canyon with trekking around on rocks that are placed with boulders for support.
The sunset and sunrise view points of the city, give you an overview of the lush green landscapes covered with sugarcane’s and Banana plantations.
With so much to offer for history & nature buffs.Hampi still has the rawness and beauty of India.
Hampi is still not considered a tourist destination, with only one flight to Mumbai! And limited advertising for tourism in Hampi.
Stay: Evolve Back Resort
Did You Know?
Karnataka once served as the capital of one of the largest kingdoms of India the Vijayanagara Empire around the 1500 AD. And during that time it was known to be one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world.
The Virupaksha temple dates back to 7th-century, which makes it one of the oldest functional temple in the country is dedicated to Virupaksha, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, built with a pillared hall, three.
One of the must things to do before you leave the temple take blessings from Lakshmi elephant
The pillars in the Vittahla temple would also be used as musical instruments by the locals. Each pillar would have a different sound and rhythm.
A K H I L N A N D A 