SkyScanner 2

It's my childhood dream to visit Mauritius some day. Now the opportunity has presented itself in a fantastic manner by SkyScanner. To and fro ticket for Mauritius, as verified at SkyScanner, will cost me around Rs.40,000 out of available one lakh credits if I chose to fly by Air Mauritius.

My staying point would be --> Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel - Port Louis (Mauritius)

Five minutes from the financial and business centre of the Mauritian capital, Port Louis, the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel is ideally situated on the Caudan Peninsula within easy reach of the Pailles International Convention Centre and the Cybercity. It will cost me around Rs 30,000 credits.

Renowned for its traditional elegance, distinguished service, luxurious comfort, high profile conferences and world class cosmopolitan cuisine, the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel has established itself as the leading business hotel in Mauritius. Located in Port Louis in the heart of the Caudan Waterfront, the 5 star hotel is adjacent to the financial and business centre of the city and close to convention centres, ambassies and major tourist spots.

Once accommodated, using rest of the credits, first I will visit the Grand Bay, which was the first area of the island to fully experience the tourist boom. A shopping and leisure paradise, Grand Bay is also where Mauritians go when they want a fun-filled night out (restaurants, bars and discos). Recently renovated, La Cuvette beach is well worth a visit.

Next I will go to Blue Bay — Bluest water and most amazing white sand beaches you will ever see... Take the trip across the island from Port Louis and see what this quiet place has to offer. Very busy with the locals on weekends. Try to go during the week. Glass bottom boats are an excellent outing. Part of Blue Bay has been designated a Marine Park, and the snorkeling trips by boat to this area, offered for sale on the main public beach, are well worth trying.

Flic en Flac — A local fishing village that has expanded to become a popular destination for tourists and expats. Flic en Flac has a very long white sandy beach stretching down the west coast to Tamarin which is enjoyed by both locals and tourists. Scuba Diving is a major attraction here with excellent diving just a few minutes from the beach. There is a reasonable supermarket and a variety of accommodations and restaurants to suit all budgets.

Then, I will go to get fascinated by Seven-Coloured Earth at Chamarel — A winding road leads from Case Noyale village to the coloured earths of Chamarel: an undulating landscape of different and contrasting shades of colours. The different shades of blue, green, red and yellow are apparently the result of the erosion of the volcanic ash. The neighbouring waterfalls of Chamarel rise from the moors and the native plant life. The site possesses a rare beauty. An adventure park has also recently been opened at Chamarel.

Last but not the least, what's the trip worth for is Scuba diving — When you dive in Mauritius you can explore coral reefs, multi-colored marine life, ship wrecks dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries, or some ships sunk more recently which create beautiful artificial reefs. There are numerous dive sites strewn all around the island. Mauritius is almost completely encircled by a barrier coral reef which is home to many sponges, sea anemones and a variety of brightly colored fish such as Damselfish, Trumpet fish, Boxfish and clown fish, as well as the orange Mauritian scorpionfish. Most of the dive sites are located on the west coast around Flic-en-Flac or in the north, at Trou aux Biches or at the Northern Islands.

Watch dolphins — Up-close in their natural habitat off the western coast (Tamarin) of the island.

I am sure travel assistance from SkyScanner will bring me lots of joy and budgeted holiday there.


P.S. -- This post is a part of Skyscanner travel wizard activity at BlogAdda.com

Mardaani 5

She was told that her place is somewhere else. That she should board the Ladies Only coach of the Delhi Metro then nobody would bother staring at her, and shouldn't ask the people sitting at Ladies' seat in general coach to vacant seat for her.

She shouted it's not his verdict where to stand, what to wear, and which coach to board as their present coach wasn't specifically labelled Gents Only. So, she could enter it without any other thought. It's him who should watch himself. ..it is wrong of people to complain that there shouldn't be reserved seats for ladies in other compartments when one is fully reserved for them. The reserved seats (2 in number) are in total for ladies, old people or people who need it more than you (pregnant or disabled people).

Most of us have seen people telling off girls who ask for seats in a compartment over bearing with men to go to their reserved compartment. No one willingly boards the general compartment which is full of prying eyes.
Those reserved seats signs were placed at the beginning when the metro started. Nobody has purposely put them even after there is an entire coach reserved now. If feasible, extend help, otherwise, don't. I have seen all the girls who board the general compartment always prefer to stand. Nobody has their eyes on those two seats.

I don't know her name but she was a Mardaani to fend off those men sitting on ladies' seat. Every girl should do the same in such condition - fight for what's right and what's their right. I know they can't improve the world by this but it makes a difference when a girl perceived weak shows her power in public so that no one gets to tell her again what she should do and what not... Hail Mardaanis!


P.S. -- This is written as a part of I am Mardaani activity exclusively at BlogAdda.com for Indian Bloggers.

Mardaani 4

What do you do when someone passes lewd comments to you?! Do you just listen praying inside and consoling yourself that he will stop in sometime, or do you take avatar of a mardaani and teach the errant a lesson?

He took offence when she refused to give her number, after a horror trip laced with lewd comments and inappropriate touching.

A 20-year-old girl was molested by an errant autorickshaw driver at a busy junction in the city. Shivani was returning to her PG in the evening. She hired an auto but was forced to ask the autorickshaw driver  to stop the vehicle midway and get down because she was fed up with the driver's misbehaviour throughout the journey. The last straw for Shruti was when the abusive driver asked for her mobile number.

But her tormentor didn't stop at that. He then started driving recklessly. Only when she threatened to report him to police did he stop the vehicle. She paid him the meter fare and had already got into another autorickshaw parked near the traffic light when he followed her and molested her. Not only did he touch her inappropriately while she was getting out of his auto, he also followed her on foot and pulled her hand. He also threatened the driver of another autorickshaw hired by Shivani to which the intimidated second driver even asked her to leave his vehicle. The abusive driver then pulled at her clothes.

Shruti just stood there frozen in horror for few minutes until she gathered the courage to slap the auto driver and called the police immediately about the situation and her location. A few people even came over to where she stood but on seeing the abusive driver, kept quiet but tried to summon a few autorickshaws which did not respond. But none of them had the guts to come forward and help a lady in distress. None of them is worthy of being called a Mard, but the victim showed how one should help themselves in such situations by waking the Mardaani inside them.


P.S. -- This is written as a part of I am Mardaani activity exclusively at BlogAdda.com for Indian Bloggers.

The village mardaani

This incident happened in my village few months back concerning my own extended family. As two of my nephews, aged around 8 years, went for nature's call as usual to fields some distance away from home, two unknown drunks grabbed them with their hands and started forcibly taking them with themselves. Amid feeble protests, one of them was able to free his hand and ran back to our village house. There he found only her mother and grandmother as all the male heads of the family either had gone to the plough-fields or on their respective jobs.

The boy, Vivek, explained while huffing and puffing everything to her aunt. Sumit was the name of the boy the goons still had with them. Her mother, my cousin sister-in-law, hearing that took the lathi used to drive farming animals with her and ran with the boy to the site. Few meters ahead they heard the cries of Sumit and charged in that direction. As soon as her son came into her view struggling with the goons who were slapping him brutally and mercilessly, power of Maa Durga soared in her veins. Running as if possessed she started raining knocks with the thick stick she brought with her and shouting at loud voice. The resulting commotion might lead to other people coming there and holding and turning them over to police, thinking they left the boy and tried fleeing the scene.

At this juncture of time, since my sis-in-law couldn't catch up with them running, she picked up and rained at them large pieces of bricks and dry mud lying nearby. A half-brick luckily and powerfully knocked one of the men's head and he tripped down. Till then, few people had gathered who grabbed the fallen, beat him and turned him over to the police. My cousin sis-in-law proved no less than a mardaani when it came to the safety of her children, as every mother would have at that time.


P.S. -- This is written as a part of I am Mardaani activity exclusively at BlogAdda.com for Indian Bloggers.

Mardaani 2: Lady Conductor

Do you know that Bangalore BMTC buses employs female conductors too? I don't think there are many cities in India where we see such a gender equality with respect to employment either in govt. or private sector. So last week when I was coming back from Sparsh Hospital towards Silk Board via Electronic City passing after my 2nd followup post tendon repair surgery in my left wrist, I boarded a Volvo and the bus started running in its intended direction.

On the 3rd stop after my boarding, as the bus was coming to a halt for any passengers to board, I saw a Kannada middle-aged couple fighting, the man was pulling her wife to get to board the bus while the woman didn't want to enter it. Since they were ranting in Kannada, I could not understand much but as per the situation it seemed the man wanted to travel in the Volvo but his wife wasn't willing to; maybe because of the skyrocket fare of this service. Volvo charges Rs 70 for around 15 km; while a regular BMTC bus charges Rs 25 in comparison.

After half a minute or so witnessing their fight as the man had entered the bus and was pulling her wife, the lady conductor of our Volvo charged towards them and shouted at the man. She snatched the wife's husband and asked him to board the bus alone if he wanted to or let his wife willingly board too. She said, as much as I could decipher, that if the man's wife didn't want to come in, then either he should get out or travel alone. Blasting these words to the guy, she asked the driver to close the automatic/hydraulic gates and start the bus. Seeing the gates closing, the man then went down blabbering.

I don't know whether she did correct by interfering in the couple's trouble, but she did it as a Mardaani and this post is dedicated to her. 

P.S. -- This is written as a part of I am Mardaani activity exclusively at BlogAdda.com for Indian Bloggers.

Awesome Update: 

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Scanning not only skies but Space

After so many stressed and over-worked weeks, even Siri, his virtual housemate, has spotted the signs of burnout too. Without any instructions from him, she begins to compile journey possibilities that she knows he’ll love.

"Perhaps a trip to see Northern Lights, one of the seven wonders of the Natural world?" She adds, "Or Snorkelling at Khao Lak island waters in Thailand."

"Maybe something a bit more relaxing," he replies. "Siri, open SkyScanner for me. I heard there are rewarding a few with 1 lakh credit points to plan our travel. Let's see what destinations it has got for me, shall we?!"

Over the next 20 minutes, SkyScanner directs a virtual stream onto his third-generation Glyph TV, a curated cascade of inspiring images, words, sounds and prices calculated to get his travel juices flowing.

Finally, a stunning image of one of the new space hotels in low orbit over the heart-stoppingly beautiful blue-green curvature of the Earth makes him sit up and take notice.

"Now we’re talking," he murmurs. "Book me a seat, Siri. But don't forget to check out the budgeted prices for travel and hotel stay through SkyScanner. Or else, I'll be doomed mate'y."

To travel is to live a dream, but to plan a travel is a nightmare, for there are many checkpoints before you decide to jump on a bus/flight/train and go to your favourite location! The number of sites and portals that one has to look through to get the cheapest airfare, best hotel booking deals, car hires, bus bookings, etc. is overwhelming enough to dampen your travel spirit. Won’t you like if an expert came to your rescue and made all your travel planning easy before transporting you to your land of dreams? Skyscanner – the travel wizard – will make seem all the bookings and planning an itinerary a breeze.


P.S. -- This post is a part of Skyscanner travel wizard activity at BlogAdda.com

Mardaani @ NZM rly stn

Around a week before, i.e., Sunday 29th June, I was at Nizamuddin railway station (Delhi) at 6:15 a.m. as Rajdhani Express had dropped me there after 1.5 days of journey. From there I had to travel to Ballabgarh (Faridabad) via local EMU train with just Rs.10 fare with virtually no TTE/TC checking enroute or at the destination. But never travelling without ticket, I approached the ticket counter at the first floor of Station on the side of Sarai Kale Khan and was shocked and numbed seeing the scene there. Shocked because the queues were so long at each of the counters and numbed because my left hand was (and still is) under plaster due to an adventure bicycling crash.

Reluctantly I stepped forward and joined the last queue behind almost 50 people when I saw that that counter was meant solely for ladies, senior citizens, and handicapped people. Just after a few minutes a hoard of ladies, which was entertaining itself at the adjacent ticket counter till now, on suggestion of ticket seller jumped towards mine and instead of forming any line everyone started struggling to get tickets for herself resulting in a big chaos which a policemen brought under some control thus enabling even male passengers already in the queue to buy tickets with slightly difficulty.

In that untamed and roaring bunch of females, there I saw a lady around my age who was constantly nudging the chaos controlling policeman reminding him that the counter is a ladies special one and he should ask men to go to the other counters instead of forcing women to either form a line or not get a ticket strictly. After 3 quarters of an hour when I came somewhat nearer to the ticket window (and was certain that I have missed two of my locals by then), she even shouted at a bunch of us and then suddenly asking me at only a few levels below top of her voice if I was a senior citizen that I am in the queue. I had to show her my left plastered hand and pointed her to the Handicapped word written on the window to ward off the lioness off me.

I write her here as a Mardaani for her fearlessness and sheer courage to do what's right and even fighting people and the policeman to remind him to do his duty properly, all that while making a proper queue of ladies side by side. I was amazed then and there and thought of giving few words of commendation as soon as we get free of the queue but couldn't find her after coming out onto the flyover over the platforms. Nonetheless, I salute her as a Mardaani today by writing this post in memory of her courageous act.


P.S. -- This is written as a part of I am Mardaani activity exclusively at BlogAdda.com for Indian Bloggers.

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Vendor's righteousness

A vegetable vendor forced me to come out of my comfortable cooler room by knocking at the main door at intervals and asked to call out my mother. It was a really hot summer day even at 4 pm. As soon as my mother came out, the vendor, middle-aged on the lower side, handed her a Rs. 500 note while informing her that the note was lying just a few yards in front of her house and theorized that maybe some walkerby had dropped it without knowledge.

Since I was standing in the shade of the pomegranate tree in our home and listening to the whole matter, I asked him to keep it with himself as we certainly can't find the rightful heir to the fallen money. Who dropped it, when, whether he/she will come to know of it, will anyone return finding it, or would he be gone too far away to even be able to do anything about it rather than curse himself / herself... these were the questions quickly discussed while two more of the neighborhood aunties too joined in the discussion. All of them were in favour of the vendor keeping the money with him because he was very poor.

But he was too stubborn to listen to anyone in this regard. In those minutes of life, I encountered what principles meant to someone in practicality. The vendor won at last due to his steely righteousness as he convinced us to keep the money with my mother and wait till evening the next day if we encounter anyone looking for the found sum of money, otherwise he will come for his regular round in a few days and then he will keep the money, everyone decided.

After only an hour later when we children were gathering in the ground nearby to play cricket, we found a person who was walking in random steps with his head down searching for something. Without any delay I went to him and confirmed his fear and returned the note to him kept in my home. The vendor had a sense of fulfillment reflected in his smile when he got to know about it later. Since then he became a regular vegetable vendor in our neighborhood but vanished a few years after with no reappearance but not without being a role model to us children of the colony.


P.S. -- I am writing about #MyRoleModel as a part of the activity by Gillette India in association with BlogAdda.com.

Goal Model

One more post dedicated towards friend, and this time as a role model, Mohit Sharma - the IPL bowling star for last two seasons. Till now I have written about him only in cricketing aspects. But today I am going to reveal some of his intrinsic qualities which surely make him a role model for several youth of the nation, including me, as is evident from the response to his Facebook page (managed both by him and myself).

I remember being in 8th standard when me and my father used to play badminton or cricket during evening time at a playground in between my and Mohit's house. One twilight he had none  of his usual play-friends in the ground yet, so he offered to bowl me. I being an average batsman and well aware of his reputation as a fast bowler in our mutual class, as soon as bowled I left the crease open to avoid any injury to myself while the ball traversed a perfect yorker seam and dispaced my left stump (brick wickets instead of regular stumps).

I just smiled sheepishly in amazement to which he came near to me and said 'Bas aise hi Sachin ka killa udana hai"... Have to fly off Sachin (Tendulkar)'s stump like this once.... I remember these exact words in my mind till now. And got to relive the effect of this statement when in Schin's last Ranji match - Mumbai v/s Haryana - Mohit clean bowled the batting maestro on 10 runs.

The pic above describes the moment perfectly when Mohit robbed the stadiumful of people gathered to watch Sachin's last domestic innings. Fans slashed and abused him verbally on public forums but few, like me, truly savored the moment and honored Maestro's lomgevity on the top of world cricket as well as a newcomer's knock on the doors of Indian bowling lineup.

P.S. -- I am writing about #MyRoleModel as a part of the activity by Gillette India in association with BlogAdda.com.