Simply Complex or no ?

It's been a long long time that we chatted up ... and I am so sorry for that. Honestly I am caught up in a huge project which is really close to my heart. Very soon I shall share with you where I was lost.

But today I just felt like catching up with you guys, rather I itched to write to you, craved to blog. In this long time I honestly had a writer's block where I didn't feel like writing and just wanted to focus on my project but today all of a sudden it just felt empty not to chat with you all . 

So long story short here I am.. 

I realised that I am simply complex or complex simple and then I remembered a quote from Marlyn Monroe .... 

I think I am a mixture of Simplicity and Complexes but I am beginning to understand myself more now - Marlyn Monroe 

And I just left it at that. 

On a lighter note the monsoon is tantalising and leaving us asking for more .... the weather is beautiful ... sometimes brutal but pretty nevertheless ...

Simple outfit to conquer the complexities.
I love the t-shirt denim days.

xoxo

Bhakti

Travel smart and skyscanner

Summer is here and so is the craving for a nice summer vacation. What better time than to start planning for summer trips.

 

I have certainly started day dreaming about my vacation already and planning everything to the core.
There are so many destinations calling out to me (the temptation) however I have to plan my trip smartly and enjoy it to the fullest.

So many travel sites, travel companies, airlines, hotels are dishing out amazing deals for summer. However it becomes too difficult and time consuming to visit and compare each and every one of them , until I found a gem - skyscanner. Since then I cant stop raving about it.

 

 

Hair play made possible

You never know what every new day has in store for us, and what feelings it stirs up.
Today morning still lying in bed I was browsing and came across this amazing video by #DovePlay. The song just made up my day, if you haven't seen it, please have a look. I saw that video more than a couple of times. Something just touched me.



The Dove play video stirs a lot of emotions, since childhood, for a girl especially, her hair is her crown. She plays with it like a friend, keeps rolling them in her finger when in some deep thought as if talking to a friend. She keeps stroking them without knowledge, as if just to get that confidence, their strength. The hair is her mysterious beauty, a naughty secret, a lucky charm, flirting weapon, innocent hide out and much more.
Hair has been with us, changing with us, our mood, our age, our different phases marching ahead in life hand in hand. So it has always been, my journey with my hair. My Hair is an extension of who I am. It gives away my personality, its a window to my soul. Companion, confidence booster. Yes hair indeed plays so many roles in our life. And for every role it can't be always the same. I, myself have had so many different hair days depending on my phases - red hair, blonde hair, curly hair, I love to color my hair, cut them, mold them the way I want to, always leave them open no matter what. Changing the hair color and hairstyle gives a different look instantly and how I love to adore myself in the mirror(humble brag ).
However these days I restrain from coloring my hair and trying too many things on it. The ever changing hair color has indeed left its traces, my long silky soft dark brown locks, have thinned a lot, they have lost their shine and have become brittle and the worse of all they have started prematurely greying. Thus finally ending my adorable play sessions with my hair, its like killing one part of me. I feel stunted, my beauty feels restricted cause I cannot play with my hair and have a look of my choice.
Thanks to the Dove video, I got my lost confidence back and I am all ready to color my hair again without being worried of the effects. Dove promises protection of hair surface from damage caused by heating and coloring, with regular use. Its like suddenly I can dance all over, I got my freedom back. The liberty to play with my hair, how I missed it.
I got up from my bed with renewed and extra love for my hair. Let me tell you, I love my hair like crazy, but which girl doesn't then ;p I started pampering my hair to the hilt, applying hot oil massage and then a long soaking bath, where I completely pampered my tresses with Dove shampoo. Gave them such tender and soft brushing after drying them nicely, a little blow dry. The entire day I was just gazing at my lovely locks in the mirror and feeling so proud and mesmerized.


The range of Dove advanced care products (hair therapy)help you with specially treated hair. it takes care of hair coloring problems, damaged hair due to hair treatments, pollution etc.

 

Thanks Dove for giving my love a healthy dose of renewed energy and safeguarding it from all play and work. I owe it to you Dove

xoxo
Bhakti

Nature with its magical Inspirations #naturesfriends

Nature can weave you in its magical web and inspire you to do the unknown beyond your dreams.

One such story I would love to share with you, so innocent yet so powerful. Nature does wonders we still fail to comprehend to the fullest.

On a hot summer afternoon in Pune, a little girl of 6 yrs of age was playing on the terrace of her home. While playing with her doll, she decided to bathe her and went to one of the small olden drum filled with water in order to water plants. Standing on her little toes and peeping inside the drum to take some water, she saw a black thing in it. Scared to her wits, she let out a little scream and ran back some steps. Curiosity got her back tip toeing to the drum and peeping inside with one eye shut and legs ready to sprint again. What she saw didn't scare her, but melted her heart, a black crow, had fallen in the drum and was trying hard to stay alive. A feeling to help him overtook the fear, she was not that brave to touch him and pull him out.
God alone knows where she got the idea from but the little girl took the small bucket meant for watering plants and dunked it in the drum until she scooped the crow in it, she further emptied the bucket on the floor in a shaded area and out of fear of the creature ran for her life. She did come to the terrace in the evening, however the crow wasn't there. She felt sad on not seeing the bird but was also glad that it flew away which meant that he was alive.
When she descended the staircase she realized there was a crow sitting on the brim, too close for any other crow she had seen. She mustered courage and went near it, the bird stood its ground and didn't fly off. A child's impulse, she stroked the head of the crow and it still sat there. She ran off to tell her mother about her victory, she never ever saw that crow again.
What she didn't know was that incidence had changed her beyond her thinking.
She started loving nature unknowingly, started looking after small insects, giving small grains of sugar to the ants, watching the vibrant colors of the lady birds. She wanted to save nature to safeguard animals, the feeling that she had got after saving the crow and petting it on his head was unparalleled. It made her friends with nature and its creations, the urge to safeguard them, to play amongst them was magical.
after her mother told her that the crow must have fallen in the drum trying to drink water, she
started keeping water for birds in a shallow vessel on the terrace for them to drink and she followed this for years and I still follow this. Yes that little girl was me and that crow was and still is my inspiration why and how I became friends with nature. I still water and grow plants in the hope of saving lives related to it directly, indirectly. I still get really heartbroken when on highways I see mountains being broken up to make way for buildings. I Dance with joy and am happiest with nature, gurgling streams, chirping birds, creations of nature.
That afternoon a crow changed me, helped me understand true love for nature and its magnificent creations. Lesson I learned then but understood now. Inspired by the crow then but understood now.
But isn't it that lessons learned in childhood are learned forever, they get etched in the heart.
Every child should be taught to befriend nature, to love it and safeguard it. Its the need of the hour.
Importance and magic of Nature in its truest form.

 

 

p.s This post is written for Kissan  #naturesfriends contest http://www.kissan.in/

xoxo
Bhakti

Lessons from Noah's Ark... with a Pink tadka..

I was just going through Noah's Ark story and came across a very unique interpretation of the things we learn from it. I was really fascinated and decided to share it with you guys, of course with my interpretations too ;p

Lessons from Noah's Ark...

My interpretation and take on the lessons in brackets.
One: Don't miss the boat. (obviously all other means of transport too ;p, Respect time.. )
Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat. (equality matters, don't underestimate anybody.)
Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. (do plan ahead, but don't live in the future)
Four: Stay fit - When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. (someone might ask you to do anything big anytime)
Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. (listen to the critics and just polish your act but don't let everything bother you.)
Six: Build your future on high ground. (aim for the moon, you will land in stars, aim for the stars and you will land on the ground)
Seven: For safety  sake, travel in pairs. (no wonder God made us in pairs.)
Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. (Don't underestimate anybody, Speed differs for everyone)
Nine: When you're stressed, float a while. (Rejuvenate, Relax, Refresh- 3R's)
Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. (Passion is the real mission, just love what you do, its all that matters.)
Eleven: No matter the storm, there's always a rainbow waiting. (if there is no storm, what's the value of a rainbow)
Twelve: You may want to leave the woodpeckers off of the ark. (stay away from unwanted elements in any form)
 

 

 

Wasn't that good ?

 

and now Outfit of the day-- there's still a little chill in the air-- so here goes --

 

This is what I wore for a brunch with friends over a casual professional meet.

 I swear by tees with jackets in winters, so comfortable, chic and warm. :)

 

 

 

I love this Tee and I Love Quirky prints.

 

Jacket - Max

Quirky tee- Fashion street

Denims- Benetton

Wedges- inc5

Bag- Bangkok- Platinum mall

Watch- Fast track

Ring - Pink pvssy

Neck piece- Vero Moda.

 

xoxo

Bhakti

 

Adlabs Imagica - Magical or Miragical

Today Adlabs Imagica doesn't need an introduction due to its fame and name (good or bad). Still, I would like to introduce Adlabs Imagica an international standard Theme park located amidst the Mubai - Pune express way at Khopoli. Owned and operated by Adlabs Entertainment Limited - AEL.

Its a beautifully designed Theme park on the module of international ones, divided in different zones, each zone having its star attraction ride. The castles, the surrounding, restaurants serving you different cuisines according to the zones, beautiful landscaping.

The star attractions being (not to be missed, in the same order)
Rajasaurus ride
Nitro roller coaster
scream machine
deep space
Gold rush express
Bump it Boats
Dare Drop
Alibaba aur challis chor
Salimgarh
Wrath of the Gods.
 You can avail more information about these rides over here

The food though slightly on the higher side is yummy, I especially look forward to visiting Red Bonnet Diner
True diner experience, the food is awesome and the portions huge, the smileys, the chicken burger,, oh to die for.. they complete the whole theme park experience.

Its a perfect picnic one can have for an entire day, at the price of Rs 1500 pp, (weekday)for entrance only(all rides included). One takes an entire day to finish all rides and explore this place.

Do visit their attractive Website to know more.

They claim and pride themselves with being -India's First and Only International Standard Theme Park, Where Stories Come Alive! Come Experience it! (that's what their tagline is)

Have they proved it?
Is it real magic or is it a mirage a trick ?
Does beautiful architecture, really good rides and well designed theme park suffice the criteria of being on International standards ? Do these things really complete the experience?
My answer is a big NO.
According to me service, relationship with your guests and giving them a beautiful experience, is what makes it magical. I think Imagica fails miserably on service. It is so not consistent. After being a regular visitor, thinking of things to be one off, I have come up with this review, and refuse to visit Imagica again.
Mistake happens once not every time , a mistake repeated becomes a habit. I guess Imagica is habituated with bad service and customer relationship.
After visiting Imagica thrice, I still have not been successful in trying the Rajasaurus ride which is the main attraction. The last two times we had called specifically to ask whether it was working that day, with an assurance of it being in perfect condition but to our disappointment on all 3 occasions it was shut. A big disappointment. Every time at least one or the other main rides I have mentioned was not in working condition. This last time, (yesterday) us group of friends hired the Imagica chauffer driven ac car, so that we could lazily bask in the entire day without any worries. Again to our big disappointment, this was our biggest mistake. Two Taveras arrive, the cars were far from being ac. They dint have window handles, the door couldn't be opened from inside, the driver was really rash, there was no diesel in the car. The driver didn't have any money and we had to pay for the toll. The car broke down and we had to push it. All this with females in the car. When we escalated the matter and got this to the notice of the concerned people at Imagica, we did not receive the assistance required. We had called the cabs at 10 am and entered Imagica at 2 pm from Pune. The officer in charge refused bluntly to escalate the matter to his superiors. To top it all, the vendor called us way past night and started arguing with us that why had we complained to Imagica and Imagica had notified him that we had lodged a complaint against him. We were promised that a so and so senior official will be calling us, indeed, you guessed it right, the promise was never fulfilled. The wait is still not over and we haven't received any call. I doubt whether this officer was really informed also.Adlabs being such a big brand, such a big name, is this the service one should expect. I don't think they need to be taught in customer relationship, then why this lapse, isn't this sheer negligence ?
My questions remain or should I say they are answered already..
International standards... are these now ?
Magic, is it really ?

Am I going there again.... That I think requires real magic now.. huh

A sad management of a property that can be really very huge and magical.

A mis management of valuable resources, I hope the higher authorities are listening.

A failure of a Potential Indian Universal or Disney world.

Adlabs- a brand, a name with fame, does it match the service being offered ?

xoxo
Bhakti


 

Magnum ice creams - The marvel - Masterclass with Chef Kunal Kapoor

Magnum ice creams don't need an introduction. The word Magnum itself stirs in sweet sinful images of complete deliciousness wrapped on a stick. Magnum is a British/Dutch Uniliver company and one of the worlds leading premiere brand of ice creams. Find out about more about Magnum.
Magnum Ice cream was a true valentine gift to Puneites launched on 13th Feb 2014 special, lovable and awesome.

3 flavors launched all for Rs 85 each

I received my invitation for the Magnum master class and was excited and waiting for the D-day to arrive, I joined my gang of FoodaddaIndia on the 13th eve after what seemed like ages to me at Oakwood Bistro. One cant help but be overly excited for Magnum Ice creams and that too with Master chef Kunal Kapoor.

The event was perfectly managed and organized. Further made extra ordinary by none other than Master chef Kunal Kapoor.
The Master chef fascinated one and all with his expertise on Belgian chocolates, introduced everyone to Magnum Ice creams while making us smile cheek to cheek with his awesome sense of humor and within no time of the event starting, most of us knew that this one is going to be a roaring success. The magical evening proceeded with the Chef interacting with the crowd about fresh creamy ice cream, Belgian chocolates and the amalgamation which is called Magnum Ice cream.
We were made to have different samples of chocolates to experience the phenomena which is the drool worthy Belgium chocolate. Yes! Magnum Ice cream is coated with this elixir of love - Belgium chocolate to the maximum, so having it is a true pleasure (mmmmmm). No wonder Magnum believes in ' a day without pleasure is a day lost' and pleasure certainly it is.

The evening carried on with us devouring the mesmerizing Magnum, out of the three flavors launched - Classic, chocolate truffle and Almond, I chose chocolate truffle, and enjoyed the fat bar of Belgium dark chocolate along with Choco ice-cream within it. Lost in my Magnum world relishing my ice cream, hardly did I know that the gastronomical journey has just started.

A chocolate lovers dream come true- one can just go mmm with every bite and keep craving for more.

Right from the first bite you take and the sound of the crunch of the chocolate beneath your teeth

and fresh creamy ice cream engulfing you is just pure unadulterated sin for the taste buds.

Chef Kunal Kapoor whipped up a yummy, delectable and enticing -Magnum Sundae in minutes. As if this by any chance was less alluring every table was free to chose the ingredients of their own choice and make their very own Sundae with Magnum bars. This activity was so much fun and at the end there were so many different versions of sundaes, each one having one prime thing- Magnum ice cream :)

Magnum Sundae by Chef Kunal Kapoor.. it looks amazingly delicious



the ingredients we chose

Our Magnum Sundae with Farzana and Charvi

The chef called it mythological inspiration - the ice cream as an incarnation with dark chocolate sauce as

darkness, where as the white chocolate sauce showing enlightenment, we laughed our lungs out.

He is too jovial, we all had a ball.

The event was a block buster, the entire credit resting with yummy Magnum Ice cream and enthralling and very charming Master chef Kunal Kapoor.

The evening came to an end, but foodies that we are the night continued with long conversations over delectable refreshments and last but not the least, there were yummy goody bags from Magnum waiting to be taken home.

The goody bag

The launch of Magnum ice cream was nothing short of perfection. It was one spectacular event, so the invitations also had to be nothing less than perfection. The invite with a bar of Premium Belgium chocolate.

the cute pen drive in the shape of Magnum candy

chocolate dessert

I loved the goody bag.

Jar of pleasure ;p

Magnum Master class with Kunal Kapoor sure took Pune by storm, an event which will be remembered for long and an ice cream which is etched in our heart now on forever.

Photo credit -Mohammad M

Cheers to Magnum and to Master chef Kunal Kapoor

On that note this is me signing off ..

until we meet again

xoxo

Bhakti

Gift your Valentine a Giftease

So many online shopping sites have sprung up in such little time, online shopping is the big present as well as a juicy promising future. The question remains which site to chose over the another. Every site has a strength it uses for its benefit, and deciding becomes a big question.
I came across one such site Giftease claiming to be an online gifting specialist, based from Pune. Giftease started operations with a store in Phoenix Market city, mall in Pune in 2013 And thus followed the launch of the Giftease website in May 2013 and since then there is no looking back.
Currently they are delivering to over 5000 locations in India and as you read this, this number keeps on growing.
Oh, boy, was I impressed. In this cut throat competition, Giftease is like a fresh air of uniqueness. Read on and share my experience with me to believe it.

 

 

The site offers a huge range of products and are still adding many to their list. They have a huge collection of conventional, quirky as well as unusual gifts under the same roof. They have some of the best brands to offer, jewelry, accessories for men and women, chocolates, flowers, gift hampers, gift cards from the best of the brands, Home, family, kids, teens, bags, scarves, fragrances, dining vouchers, spa vouchers, café vouchers, gadgets, watches and much more, they have it all.

The website is so user friendly and easy to use and at the same time attractive. One can shop based on occasion, gift type, romantic or quirky, naughty or nice, price range and many other criteria which makes shopping a sheer joy and you can just go on and on. Hold your breath, the site has got something for everyone, gifts on budget, luxury gifts and all this with really good discounts and offers.
 Not only this they have an unique service 'gift via email'. This service allows you to send gifts to anyone even if you just know their email and phone no's, isn't it awesome?
 They also have something called 'gift wiz', where one just need to give in details like your budget, who the gift is for, occasion and delivery date,, voila and your work is done, they will take care of everything and a beautiful gift will be delivered to the desired person you wanted.
They even had products distributed in different segments according to the time taken for delivery, like next day, after 3 days and so on. There is also an option to select your own delivery date, so convenient, isn't it ?

I was hooked to this website and couldn't stop myself shopping again for my valentine.
Though the website was really user friendly and simple yet I took a very long time to shop as I was so confused between such varied variety to select from.
Finally this is my haul from Giftease-

Perfume , hand cuffs and chocolates for my hubby, what a deadly combination, you will definitely agree with me on this, wont you ? (naughty smile )
How can I be left behind, I bought a tote having quirky Taj Mahal  print and a pretty floral stole for myself.
The billing was smooth, short and easy, at the end I was surprised again. Well a good surprise that was, giftease really takes care of minutest details and here they provided a service of attaching a sweet message according to the occasion, and there were lot of messages one could chose from, they also provided the free Giftease gift wrapping, and another designer wrapping for a nominal charge.


 My Haul

        

It was an amazing experience to shop from Giftease and I am sure returning to this website. You too
should have a look, you would be definitely surprised and for the good. :)

Some things to tempt you, from Giftease.




































Happy Shopping !!


xoxo
Bhakti
P.S. This is a sponsored post.