Renault LiveLodgycal in Goa

I am sprawled in the super comfortable seats of the Lodgy with the back reclined to the max, like a sleeper seat. There is enough legroom that I can stretch my 5’10” frame almost straight while lying down. It is raining hard outside and there is the melodious pitter-patter of rain falling on metal. The vipers are fighting valiantly to keep the windshield clean, but the rest of the windows are covered by a sheet of water, making for a very diffused lighting inside the car. I have my Fiio connected to the Lodgy’s fancy-looking audio system and Arijit Singh’s soulful voice is sounding oh-so-good. No one in the car is talking, everyone probably lost in their thoughts or immersed in the music. It is as if we are insulated from everything else in the world, just the 4 of us, in Renault’s spacious new Lodgy.

We are driving on the dreamy NH17 in Goa, from Lalit Resort, Canacona to The Leela Kempinski, Cavelossim (our base of operations). Manjulika (@manjulika5) is at the wheel, and she is driving slowly, in a very relaxed way. Goa in monsoons is a carpet of green and the NH17 is taking us through some beautiful ghat sections, where everything apart from the road is heavily forested, accentuating the feeling of being disconnected from the wider world. Usually I am the guy hogging most of the driving, but today I was discovering how pleasurable it can be to be driven though such beautiful roads. Sitting in the front is Rekha (@RekhaKakkar) taking photos through the rain and lying alongside is Jim (@JimmieLuthra) who like me, is content to lie back and enjoy the drive

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Pammukale : Photo Blog

We travelled to Turkey in 2011, much before we started the blog. As a country, Turkey is spectacular. A true melting pot of the East and West, Turkey is recently being credited as the cradle of human civilization (Göbekli Tepe - supposedly the site where organized religion started - as well as first cultivation of wild wheat). Turkey as a country has something for everyone - the Meditteranean for the beach bums, thousands of archaelogical sites for the history buffs, charming city life in Istanbul, natural wonders like Cappadocia ..

Today we are looking at Pammukale, which is a natural wonder without a peer

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Jal Srushti Island Resort

Each summer in Bombay feels more wretched and scorching than the previous one, doesn’t it ? “Is baar garmi bahut zyada hai” is the common refrain on everyone’s lips in Bombay nowadays. The neverending spells of rain in monsoon seem so alluring right now! But they are still atleast 2 months away …

While we don’t have a solution for the heat, we do have a recommendation for a splendid weekend getaway . Our latest find is Jal Srushti Island Resort (www.jalsrushti.com), near Pune. It is one of the more plush resorts to have come up in the region, in the last couple of years. It is much closer to Pune actually (45 km), and if you are coming from Bombay, better to use Expressway till Pune and then go via Hinjewadi.
(Roads in Hinjewadi have some scary holes, but rest of the roads were great)

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Lonavala Drive with Tata Bolt

Watching Jeremy Clarkson & co review newly launched cars on Top Gear, or their Indian brethren on Autocar Show etc, have always made me so jealous. They actually get paid to drive around in new cars everyday to test them. Long drives, picturesque locations, they seem to have it all

Till this Sunday, when I got to do the same with a fiery red coloured Tata Bolt, courtesy Tata Motors and Blogadda. It was a trip to Lonavala and back in the newly launched Tata Bolt. It was an event for bloggers to experience the car for a full day, with some fun activities along the way.
(also, now I am even more jealous of motor journalists)

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Puri / Konark

(This was a small trip with Pradosh’s parents, while spending Christmas holidays with them. Not really like our other trips around Bombay, but we had a great time nonetheless, so here it is)

Puri doesn’t need much introduction. It is one of the char dhams of Hinduism, site of the famous Jagannath Temple and the annual Rath Yatra.

(For bengalis, it the number one quick vacation from Calcutta (the other being Darjeeling). There are 8 (EIGHT) trains dedicated just for Puri everyday (apart from other long distance trains). As a result, Bengali is lingua franca in the town, with most of the seafront hotels having lots of Bengali dishes on the menu and the main city beach (Swargadwar) is almost overrun with Bengali tourists
If that doesn’t sound appealing, it isn’t meant to be)

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