soniasmusings

Resort review – Ri Kynjai, Shillong /Umiam,

My husband and I, along with our 2 year old son visited Meghalaya from 12th to 15th October 2017. After weighing in on the options available in Shillong for stay, we decided to give Ri Kynjai a shot. The reservation process was smooth through frequent mail exchange between the reservation manager Ms. Dariti and me. The three room options available are forest view rooms, lake view rooms and cottages. While cottages are supremely luxurious spacious and beautiful, the view is same as that of lake view rooms. Unless one decides to spend considerable time inside the rooms, considering the pricing and almost similar facilities, it is advisable to book lake view rooms.
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Restaurant review – Yauatcha, Quest Mall, Kolkata

My husband and I first visited this place in the month of July and have been regulars ever since. Located on the top floor of Quest mall, it is recommended to reserve a table before visiting. The place has a beautiful ambiance, specially the view from the glass panes overlooking the busy streets of Kolkata. They pride themselves on being a Michelin star restaurant and they have all the reasons to do so. In our first visit, we were not very familiar with the options to choose from. The steward, based on our preferences suggested us the food items and boy they were yummylicious. We had our 2year old son with us and the staffs went a step ahead to get few food items customized for him-like no spice, a little more boiled than usual. The service is class apart.
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Coffee, memories and a delicate relation called Ma in law

It’s been raining cats and dogs since last night. Only two days have passed that we have returned to Kolkata. After holidaying for close to two months in my hometown, amidst fun and chatter with my joint family members, the emptiness of this flat was haunting for Gogol. It was evident that he was struggling to cope up with the new environment. I had quite a rough night,kept up by the continuous downpour and the intermittent waking up of the toddler.

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Durga Puja, food fetish and an ode to the twenty years of an emotion called UCC

Shubho Bijoya everyone.

So we had an incredibly exciting Durga Puja this year. Baba’s asthma attack on panchami got better with time. From panchami to dasami morning, we worked out schedules basis rains whims and still we managed to cover the best pujas in town. Gogol seemed way too excited to have been introduced to the variety of Asuras in different sizes, colors and ferocity. The hangover continues till date and he continues calling the Asuras to come in more colors soon. I have a gut feeling that next year the affection is going to tilt slightly towards Ganesha or Gonsha, as he prefers to call.
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Asura-the demon and my toddler

Twenty plus years ago, I stopped Durga puja pandal hopping. Probably because I felt that I was grown up enough to decide what I wanted to do and what I would want to stop doing. Until then, every year Baba and I along with his colleague and his daughter, my best friend then would get on to two pedal rickshaws and cover maximum of my hometowns pujas over a span of three noons- saptami, ashtami and navami. By the time we returned home, it would be late evening and we would still be all enthusiastically dress up to sit and assess the crowd coming to see our para pujo. With time, even sitting outside para (our lane) pandal stopped. Then 10th boards happened followed by 12th. Amidst all the pressure of studies, choosing a career and moving out for higher studies, I indeed grew up.
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Ma and Mahalaya

Shubho Mahalaya friends.

This morning, just like every year spent in this town, I woke up to the sound of insane cracker bursting. This has been a trend ever since I remember but of late, the wee hours of the morning that some people choose to start celebrating is ridiculously insane. With a soon to be two year old son whose sleeping time starts at 2am, I really can’t appreciate any festivity that disrturbs our sleep at 4am.
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Dosa delight

I am a self proclaimed foodie. At some point in life, I actually had this funda that there’s no life without food. That’s how essential food has been as part of my growing up.

Growing up in a small town, the first proper restaurant that opened near my house was a small south Indian joint. Having traveled extensively, my father was proud to have been acquainted with the special cuisines of various parts of the country. Born and raised in Kolkata, eating out at restaurants was part of embracing the new culture for my mother. Thus we became such regulars at this eatery that the owner gradually ended up taking our suggestions regarding decor, food, menu changes and even background music that was played.
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The journey of a breastfeeding mother

This article was originally written on August 3rd, 2016 as an FB post and updated here on 14 Sep 2017, a day after I created this blog.

Since this week is known as the breastfeeding week, I thought it to be the apt moment for sharing my breastfeeding journey. My son was born on 22nd Sep 2015 in Kolkata. I had an extremely complicated c-section that went on for 2.5 hours because of a horrible mess up by a junior anesthetist. She kept trying epidural anesthesia seven times through spinal injections though the end result was a delivery involving general anesthesia. The irony was that my husband who is a doctor by profession used to work for the same group of hospitals in Bangalore at that point. After the delivery, the days were full of nervous excitement as a new mother.

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Movie review – Shubh Mangal Savdhan

Written on 13th September.

I am still at my in laws enjoying pre Durga Puja vacation. Last weekend,an impromptu decision by the husband got us out for lunch and a movie date. Ever since we became parents, this was the first time we decided on doing both together instead of a movie date followed by a month long break for lunch date. I had read some real good reviews about Shubh mangal savdhan and these days, we both seem to have developed a penchant for off beat movies. We decided to give this movie a try and it turned out to be such a breath of fresh air.

Cast –