Thoughts For Bharat

  I went on 2 days trip to Jaipur with my husband and my daughter in the month of February. We boarded the  Ajmer Shatabdi  Express in the morning from New Delhi railway station. It took almost 5hrs to reach Jaipur. We checked into hotel  HR Palace  . The hotel was decent one with reasonable price.  We had a breakfast and lunch while staying at this hotel and it was a normal affair , nothing extra ordinary. The  plus is that the staff was courteous and we were looked after well.  So  if you are staying here, the in house restaurant would deserve a look in. We freshened up and then we left for  Choki Dhani  in the evening. It is 12-15kms away from the city and has been setup as a village. If you want to get a flavor of Rajasthani culture and it’s cuisine then this should be one of the places you must consider. The entry fees is 700 per person for adults and 400 per child (2’5″ft to 3’5″ft) . They serve authentic Rajasthani thali , th...

Jagdish Temple Architecture of the temple was good and a lot have been said about it , but something else added to the surreal feel which made me write this review. We started our Udaipur visit with this temple and it turned out to be a great decision. As we climbed the temple staircase, we could hear music. No loud speakers or microphones. Just the sound of people singing bhajans ( religious songs). As we entered the temple the sound grew louder and louder and the whole atmosphere created by those handful of people ( young and old men and women) was a mesmerising experience.  The peacefulness of the temple and yet the charged atmosphere due to the music added to the charm of the physical architecture of the temple which stood around us. I would suggest folks who want to soak in the spiritual feel go there early as the bhajans happen until 11 am after that they close for afternoon to reopen later in evening. Do let me know if you find the 'connect' as well!

This is the place where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life. He was assassinated here on 30th January 1948 when he was on his way to attend his daily evening prayers. The place itself has been beautifully kept almost in the same condition as it was during the time Mahatma Gandhi stayed here. I would say this place can be divided into 3 sections.  The first section is the place on the lawns where he was shot. The second is the museum on the ground floor of the building , which covers elaborate details about his life in pictures and texts displayed on the walls. This section also has a small library as well as a Film room which shows 2 hour film daily from 1030-1230 and 1430-1630. I loved the small room which houses pictures and details on the last 48 hours of his life. You then move to Mahatma Gandhi's room and some of his daily use items are on display. The third and even more elaborate section is on the first floor which is the audio visual section. This section has...

Sharing some of the interesting provisions of budget 2014 which might be of interest Investment limit under 80 (C) increased to Rs. 1.5 lakh The PPF cap has been raised to 1.5 lakh rupees from the current 1 lakh rupees. IT exemption increased to Rs. 2.5 lakh; Rs 3 lakh for senior citizens Housing loans exemption increased to Rs 2 lakh Surcharge, Cess and tax rates remains the same. (updating as the news comes in...)

Deutsche Bank today said in a report that Indian Rupee could hit Rs 70 to a dollar in a month! For all the effort in the past month by RBI and the finance minister, the Indian Rupee continues to lose ground almost daily to US Dollar. Have a look at an informative article by Ajit Dayal on his blog " The Honest Truth"   where he discusses the fundamental problems behind this rot and some probable solutions !!! Does raising duty on Gold import really address the real problem?

It was my first visit to Shirdi last week. I was excited to finally be there after some failed attempts in the last years. It was a long weekend so I was amongst the many devotees who had decided to seek blessings from Sai Baba during this time. It wasn't a greatly planned trip but this is how I went about my journey Bangalore to Shirdi  I booked my to and fro journey from Bangalore from the Karnataka State Transport website . They offer Airavat Multi Axle volvo bus service which is reasonably priced and efficient. [For more on bus details click on the link ] Accommodation  Shirdi Sai Sansthan provides good accommodation options which can be explored at this link Darshan [Link to location of temple :  Location of Temple ] I wanted to be part of the morning aarti and see baba in the morning itself. The queue for the darshan starts forming as early as 2 am or before. I joined the queue around 3:30am. The aarati starts at 4:30 am ( Daily Program guide ...

20 days on. Chinese are officially inside India [Chinese troops are 20km inside Indian territory in Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in eastern Ladakh] Indian government is mum. Army is holding flag meetings with the Chinese Army without any results and our foreign ministry's visit to China now looks dicey. Why is he going at all? Shouldn't we be putting this issue on the block as priority one?Where is it all headed ? Only God knows for sure because our government looks more clueless each passing day. Beautiful Ladakh As an Indian, I don't wish for an all out war, teach the enemy a lesson kind of reaction, but I am not exactly feeling proud at the way things are being handled. Hardly missed is the fact that we are overly bending ourselves trying to please the Chinese. Why are we doing it? I am hoping our government knows what it is doing and doesn't end up ceding a big chunk of Indian Territory to the Chinese which ultimately becomes a 'disputed territory' ...