Friday, January 31, 2014

3 days tour to Kalpetta, Wayanad - Day #2

DAY #1: 25 May 2013

DAY #2: 26 May 2013
Woke up at 9:00 Hrs IST. Refreshed ourselves and had breakfast at the Resort itself. We were provided with puttu, veg curry, bread, butter and jam. The breakfast was complimentary.

Spent time over there at the resort by walking around and taking photographs. Around 13:00 Hrs, started to Pookode lake. The Pookode lake is around 10 Kms from the resort on NH212 towards Kozhikode. We were charged Rs 15 for car parking. Entry fee for the Pookaode lake is Rs 15 per person. And for camera they charged Rs 20. Spent sometime in the children's park over there.
And there is also boating facilities. But by the time we decided for boating, it started drizzling. Hence we didn't go for boating.

We had lunch at Hotel Sahara Inn. It is around 1.5 Kms ont NH212 towards Kalpetta from the Pookode lake. Hotel Sahara Inn is non-vegetarian. There is a vegetarian hotel 'Vigneshwara' next to it.
We had Chicken Biriyani, Paratha, Chicken Masala, Karimeen Polichathu and Meals. The food was good. The ambience was also good. Service was average. And price was ok. We paid Rs. 1264 for 4 persons. I would recommend this hotel.

We went to a view point on NH212 towards Kozhikode from the Hotel Sahara Inn. The view point is around 5.5 Kms from the hotel Sahara Inn. Spent sometime on that spot. The view was spectacular. Since the viewpoint is right on the highway one has to be very careful in parking cars and crossing the road.

From the view point we went to chain tree. The chain tree is around 2 Kms on NH212 from the view point towards Kalpetta. There is nothing special about this place. We just stopped over there and spent sometime chatting over tea in a nearby shop.

From there we headed to the resort which is around 12 Kms on NH212 from the chain tree towards Kalpetta. It was around 18:30 Hrs IST. Took some rest and had dinner at the resort itself. We have to inform the resort prior if we are to take dinner in the resort. The dinner was good.

Night we spent time by watching the IPL final (Chennai Supper Kings vs Mumbai Indians) and then by playing cards till the next day 01:40 Hrs IST.

DAY #3: 27 May 2013

Thursday, January 30, 2014

3 days tour to Kalpetta, Wayanad - Day #1

Seven months back, by the end of May-2013, we went for a tour on Wayanad. That was a three days, two nights trip from Bangalore.

DAY #1: 25 May 2013
Started from Electronic city, Bangalore on 25 May 2013 around 07:15 Hrs IST. We took the NICE road to Mysore. There was a toll at 4.7 KM. The toll was Rs 80 for our Santro. Filled petrol at 8.3 KM. From then, we just followed the route showed by the Google navigator to Kalpetta, Wayanad.

We had to pass through Bandhipur Wildlife Sanctuary. We were lucky to see the wild elephants. One elephant was standing by the roadside. We slowed down the car to click some photos. By that time another elephant was crossing our car from behind. Also we saw an elephant herd at some distance.

It was around 14:30 Hrs IST when we reached Sulthan Bathery. And the odometer reading was 264.1 KM. We had lunch in Hotel Mintflower, Sulthan Bathery. We enjoyed the lunch at Hotel Mintflower. The food was good. The ambiance was decent. The prices are cheap. Below is the bill for the lunch we had. I would recommend this hotel.

From there, we started towards Kalpetta, Wayanad. We had reserved accommodation in the Verdure Resort, Kalpetta. We reached the resort around 16:15 Hrs IST. By then, the odometer reading was 293.3 KM.

The Verdure Resort is a private property covering a whopping area of around 70 acres on the mountain. There are many cottages across the resort. But there is enough distance between the cottage such that the cottages are not visible to each other. So the privacy would be there for each cottage. Also one would get the feel as in the mid of woods.

The cottage was very spacious and clean. The cottage had sofas and tea table in the front room, a double cot and TV in the bedroom, cupboard and dressing table in the store room and a very spacious bathroom.

We were four families went together in three cars. We checked in our rooms. The weather was cool. After having a quick refreshment, we all came out of the cottage. The children were enjoying themselves by running here and there. We were chatting and making fun on each other.

We walked to the canteen. Had tea with pakoda. Then played table tennis and badminton for sometime. Returned to our cottage around 19:00 Hrs IST.

One of our friends offered to treat us dinner for his birthday. So we decided to go out of the resort for the dinner.

We went to Hotel Haridagiri in Kalpetta which is around 5 Kms from the resort. Had to wait for sometime for the table. Had dinner and we were not satisfied with the food and the service. They had very less number of waiters to manage the crowd. The quality of the food is not worth for the price. Below is the bill for the dinner we had. I won't recommend this hotel.

It was around 22:40 Hrs IST by the time we reached the resort.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Absolute Barbeque, Marathalli, Bangalore.

Today had office team lunch at Absolute Barbeque, near Park Plaza, outer ring road, Marathalli, Bangalore. We were of 8 members. We had booked the table by last Friday itself.

We were provided with a complimentary welcome drink. I opted for vegetarian menu.

We were served with the barbeques. 6 varieties of Veg and 6 varieties of non-veg. They served crispy sweet corn, veg tikka and crispy cheese potatoes along with the barbeque.
I liked the mushroom babeque the most. Then in the main course, we had veg biriyani, white rice, dhal, panner masala, and two other curries.
Then we had the desert items. There was a long queue standing for the desert items in particular for ice-cream.

The ambiance was nice, service needs improvement.

The price is little low compared with other hotels like Barbeque Nation. They charged Rs 450 per person for vegetarian and Rs 550 per person for non-vegetarian.

And including service charge, VAT and service tax, it would come around Rs.683/person for Non-Veg and Rs.558/person for Veg.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Pongal 2014

We were in our hometown for the Pongal celebration. Pongal-2014 was preceded by my daughter's birthday (13Jan) and followed by my dad's birthday (15Jan).

These are the simple kolangal drawn by my mother on the night before pongal.

Some more snaps on our pongal celebrations...

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Deepika completed two years!

13-Jan-2014, the same day, two years before, I was blessed with a beautiful daughter, Deepika is her name. Now she is two years old. And we celebrated her birthday this day.

Morning we went to Murugan temple (Valliyur) and we had a pooja for her.

We cut the birthday cake before friends and relatives.

We have arranged for lunch at "New Life Home For Aged Destitutes". It's more than a year since we visited the home (previous visit). We have also invited few of our friends and our neighbors over there for the lunch.

Deepika hoping for a bright future ahead.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

பேஸ் புக், ட்விட்டெரில் தலை காட்டவில்லையே!

பேஸ் புக், ட்விட்டெரில் எல்லாம் உங்கள் தலையை இன்னும் நீங்கள் காட்டவில்லையே! ஏன்?

அதற்கெல்லாம், ஒன்று - லட்சக்கணக்கான  பேர் நமது கருத்துக்களுக்காக காத்திருக்கிறார்கள் என்ற நம்பிக்கை நமக்கு இருக்க வேண்டும். அல்லது - நமக்கு பொழுது போகாமல் இருக்க வேண்டும். இந்த இரண்டு நிலையும் எனக்கில்லை, அதனால் இவற்றின் பக்கம் நான் போவதில்லை.

- சோ, துக்ளக் வார இதழிலிருந்து, 08-01-2014.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Endrendrum Punnagai

First I didn't get why the film is named so. Went with little expectation because of some positive reviews on net. Little disappointed.
The way the youngsters are portrayed in the movie is absolute nonsense. It is shown that the only way to get entertained, get relaxed and spend life after work is to drink alcohol.
Jeeva's character is not that convincing. How come who has ego over his head and who doesn't tolerate or adjust anyone including his father and childhood close friends can get entry and excel in the advertising agency industry.
Yes comedy scenes involving Vinay and Santhanam are the only saving grace. But even those comedies are very common on the social networking sites. One example, Santhanam asks his wife over mobile what is the dinner today. She replies that she had made one tumbler of poison for dinner. For which Santhanam responds by asking her wife to take the dinner and go to sleep as he would be coming late from office.
The one other thing that disturbed more was the noses of Nasser, Jiva and Trisha.
I was not hooked to the movie at anytime.

Sunday, January 05, 2014

Hyderabad Biriyani House, Old Airport Road, Bangalore.

The restaurant is next to the Total mall on the old airport road when you come from HAL. We (two persons) went there for lunch on the new year day. As I couldn't find any parking space near to the restaurant, I parked my car in Total mall. Later I came to know from their staff that the restaurant has it's own parking in it's basement. For the restaurant parking, we have to take the left turn after total mall at which the entrance of Hyderabad Biriyani House is.

We got the table after waiting for few minutes. We ordered for Hyderabad Chicken Biriyani, Hyderabad Veg Biriyani, Mushroom Masala and a Butter Naan. Biriyani was tasty. Service was good. The ambience was ok. Price, they had special rates for the new year day which was little high from that of other days.

From Zomato, I was able to get the price last updated by 18Dec2013.

The bill I paid,

Friday, January 03, 2014

First day of 2014 - A Year started with Biriyani

First day of the year-2014 started off with myself greeting my wife, daughter, brother and friends for the new year. Went to sleep around 1:00 AM in the morning.

Got up very late around 9:30 AM. Called my parents over mobile to greet them for the new year.

Explored for a good Biriyani restaurant for lunch on Zomato to find the Hyderabad biriyani house in old airport road, Bangalore.

Had lunch at Hyderabad Biriyani house. Lunch was good. After lunch had a sound sleep till 6:00PM. Then spent rest of the day on TV.