A short vacation

Albeit late, let me wish you all of my readers a very happy, prosperous and joyful New Year!! May this year starts bringing out the best in you!!

Two things have happened since my last blog post - one have entered the last year of the first decade of 21st century (or first year of second decade? doesn't matter ;)) and I celebrated my 33rd birthday couple of days back. At times it hurts to look at the number "33" but yeah that how it is...

To spend some time with Meghana and Mrunmay, we took a short vacation and headed to KarnaLa. This place is located on Mumbai-Goa Highway about 15 Km from Panvel. There is a fort and a bird sanctuary nearby. Few of you have already visited the place or might have heard about it. For those who haven't been there, this is a good weekend getaway.

We headed to KarnaLa on Friday morning and to cater for Mrunmay's hunger times, we had to take the break immediately after hinjewadi - Joshi Wadewale. This outlet has grown so much since the time I had visited it around 18 months back, but the place is well maintained and clean. After this stop, we took the Expressway and got down in Panvel in about two hours. And then it was just 15-20 minutes drive to the resort which we had booked - Panoramic Resorts.

This resort is located at a beautiful place, from where one can have a the "thumbs up" view of the fort. They also have few live animals including Ostrich and Ducks. This was the first time, Mrunmay was watching these animals and it was so much fun to watch him go behind the ducks!! A huge lawn, a small water park, quite a few built-in toys (ghasargundi, Sea-Saw etc) made sure that the guests of the resorts won't get bored, specially the kids.

On Saturday, we made a trip to the bird sanctuary. It is a small walk in the jungle and hill where there are few birds/animals are placed in a cage to help the lazy tourists not going deep in the forest. Again this was the first time, Mrunmay saw the peacock in all it's glory. This peacocks shows up his plumage as soon as a guest arrives at his door!! Mrunmay also got to see many monkeys, got scared of one, loads of butterflies and yes, a rabbit and parrot too!!

While heading back to Pune on Sunday morning, we took the old NH-4 instead of the Expressway and to our surprise, it was a very beautiful drive. This was the first time I drove on old NH-4 on my own. The road is well maintained, there was very less traffic, the scenery around was very good. And what made it more memorable was a two hour uninterrupted discussion with Meghana on various subjects!!

Towards the end we wanted to get out to Ravet so as to reach Chandani Chowk, but somehow we missed that turn and landed up in PCMC area. Again this came to me as a big surprise - this part of the NH-4 has been made 8 lane road!!! Well placed flyovers, beautification, good signboards - just loved it!!

All in all the vacation was very good - a time well spent. The resort was good, the people there were very nice, Food was just about okay. The service in the restaurant was rather slow.

Some of the photographs would be coming soon on Meghana's blog - here and few I would uploading to Facebook. Watch out for them!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Subscription Services

Image
As the internet penetration increased over the last 2 decades, it also gave rise to digital subscriptions. The internet users slowly started developing trust in internet-based payments and that too on recurring payments. It probably started with the tech community using the recurring payment systems and slowly spreading that faith to non-tech-savvy users. There was also a phase when I started using the credit card for online transactions but wasn't comfortable storing the card details with the merchant. I used to enter the details every single time. (That is how I still remember the CC number that was in use at that time) In the late 2000's I was introduced to Ecom website development and since then it has been part of my professional as well as personal life. Over the years, I learned about the  PCI-DSS standard , and the extent to which the Ecom companies make an effort to protect consumer data. There have been instances of a data breach across the globe, but alon...
Read more

Movie Review: Chhota Bheem and The Throne of Bali

Image
Set in the beautiful islands of Bali, this movie is meant to entertain the kids. But unfortunately adults may not find it that interesting.  As usual, when Bheem along with his gang and King of Dholakpur reaches Bali, they find that Bali is in danger. Apparently, Bali's Queen is King of Dholakpur's sister and were invited for crowning ceremony of the prince Arjun. Upon arrival, Bheem and the team found that everything is devastated in Bali and there's no trace of Royal family including Arjun. After much of a search, Bheem finds the Rajguru (Royal Priest) who had helped the prince escape the wrath of the invader - Rangda.  The story line is pretty much predictable and there are no surprises till the end. Bheem needs to be the ONLY savior and it turns out to be that way. (This actually is a problem for children mentality, but I'll save the thoughts for some other time.) Overall animation is similar to the serial and there didn't seem to be any attempt...
Read more

Telemarketing

Last week Mobile rings .... Me: Hello --: Hello, this is XXX calling from XXX bank. Sir, you hold XXX bank credit card, right? Me: Yes. --: Sir, XXX bank is offerring you a ready cash of Rs.4,65,000/- Me: Actually this amount is too small for me. --: How much amount you are looking for, Sir? Me: Something like 4 crores.... --: (silence) --: 4 Crores ???? --: Is any bank offering you that much amount? Me: No! --: Then? Me: If you can offer me 4 lakhs just like that some other bank will give me 4 crores as well :) --: Ok Sir. (disconnect) :) Today Mobile rings ... Me: Hello --: Hello, this is XXX calling from XXX bank. Sir, you hold XXX bank credit card, right? Me: Yes. --: Sir, XXX bank is offerring you a ready cash of Rs.4,65,000/- Me: Last week only I told you folks that this is very small amount. I am looking for amount like 4 Crores... --: ccccrore ?????? (hung up) Nice entertainment right?
Read more