Melbourne - The Most Livable City

Melbourne, the city which is the capital of Victoria, is the heart of Australia. One of the most populous city and city which attracts tourists from around the world, which is one of the reasons for the city to be the second most populated in Australia. 

I personally feel people fall in love with this city; it has charm that holds us back and brings us back to the city. Melbourne is city of diverse culture, where one may find people from all walks of life and of different backgrounds and most importantly the city gives us the freedom to enjoy life in the fullest possible way and truly a place where heavens fall down.

Well, I can go on to praising the city and write down all my feelings and experiences. But let me make this short and reader friendly and have you guys enjoy the tour to the city with this little article of mine.

Let me now share with you what I love the most bout this city, well there are a thousand things is what I would say, however the one thing that attracts me to the city the most is the serene beauty of nature, I am a nature loving person and the huge parks and gardens with the floral display and well manicured lawns make me fall in love with the city. I am sure each one of us ultimately aims for some peace when we want to get away from the hustle and the bustle of the city life, and voila you don’t need to take the long drive to the highway to find a place outside the city, well because the Great Ocean road Great Ocean road is the only road which you can take on to..if that’s not enough to get you away from the Monday morning blues, I suggest go ahead and allow yourself to rejuvenate to the beauty of the wild life and some fun activities. This you can enjoy alongside the Marysville.

The Philip Island has a magical parade of penguins which one cannot miss out on. Besides this the mention of Melbourne without Federation Square is impossible. This place is a home to major cultural attractions, restaurants, cafes, bars, museums and a lot more. The world famous Melbourne Museum, Cricket Ground and Zoo are must visit places too.

I am dying to go to Melbourne. This city has something for everyone, isn’t that amazing?

Well here are a few must watch videos from Come alive in Melbourne, you must watch them-
Strawberry hunt
Hot air balloon





Visit this site Tourism Victoria Website for more- http://www.visitmelbourne.com/India.aspx 

Also here is a contest for all my readers!
"Which of these places would you want to visit in Melbourne and why?"

Comment below with your answers and the best answer gets a shopping voucher worth Rs. 500/-
Participate Now! This contest is only open till 4/01/2015

Make sure you participate to win :D

Tell the Truth

This post is a part of Kinley's Kitna Chain Hota Hai Na Sachchai Mein Campaign in association with IndiBlogger.

Well what is honesty?  Is it only a policy that was used back in school and even till the management school for it’s said that Honesty is the Best Policy. What do we really understand of this term? So here goes my explanation or rather my understanding to this simple word Honesty which is equal to truth. It is a small word that we have been taught right from childhood; we have been taught that no matter what always speak the truth and also that a true person always attains victory maybe late but there is always success.

Again to be honest or truthful, the moment I saw this Happy Hour Topic which encouraged us to write our story of truth or when telling the truth was the right thing to do, I jumped on to write for this one as there is a story which is very close to my heart and which changed various important things in my life.

Here it goes:

It was the usual love story which began in the early days of teen and it was complicated like every other love story. This was more because the boy was of a different religion and we were trying to bring in peace or fit in our love between India and Pakistan, I am sure this needs no further explanation. So our love story went on for a few years till we both reached an age where confronting our parents was important and to make a decision was vital. For me, being a girl it was difficult and all the more because I came from a very conservative family where even thinking of a love marriage was a sin. Well so there came no question of me even putting across my case for presentation as I knew I will not get success. Even though they say Love has no boundaries or no religion, it still does not go down very well with our Indian culture or people and so was it at my place.

However I took this daring step with a lot of courage and of course with a lot of support from my loved one and shared my story with my mother assuming that she will at least want to listen to me and will not pounce on me. Well I briefly remember it was one such day where me and my mom were enjoying tea sitting in the balcony and when I opened up to her that I am seeing this guy from five years now and that I want to marry him. I told her that I needed your consent on this before I take any step further. My mom told me that she needed time to think about this and she even told me that she knew about this since a long time. To be honest I was very relaxed after sharing this with my mother as there was this satisfaction that I will no more have to play hide and seek with my family and someone very close to me knows about it.

So on moved the rest of the things from there. With me speaking the truth, to the meetings and convincing, we managed to pull it off and got hitched just last year. I am glad today that although I felt things wouldn’t work out, they finally did. For all this I would just say that Truth has a lot of power, it can help you reach mountains.

We must speak the truth as it is always appreciated. To end this I would say “Sachchai mein bahut chain hota hai na” as it truly gave me peace after letting the truth out.

Watch this TVC here-

Shave for it makes you look manlier than ever

This post is a part of #WillYouShave activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette

I personally see this as a hygiene necessity more than anything else. I mean why you would not want to shave. Is hygiene necessary only for girls or women, why can’t the men also work on their hygiene and looks equally? I sometimes feel men have this weird fetish for their beard for they say it makes them feel manlier and they like to go around with that bearded look.

Well, I must say that you men live in a world of weird fantasy then, because let me scream out to all you men there that women prefer you in a clean shave look than the subtle or the beard. I mean for every damn reason this is justified, not just to get intimate but even otherwise.

I mean would men ever appreciate the fact that girls don’t wax or do their eyebrows? The answer is a straight no, so then why is it that men can’t do this little for us ladies. For once forget about the women in your life, this is basic hygiene and is important for all you men in every walk of life, from college to work or in events / family gatherings. So I not be at your best and pass the test.

Yes, guys it is about passing that test, starting from meeting your employer to meeting your girl’s parents, it involved you to make this small effort to clean shave and make that impression. An impression that will last for a life time and will take you ahead in this race.

Let me share with you all a small piece of advice that had received from my grandfather once, his words went like “Remember a true gentleman is the one who is always well dressed and is clean is every aspect” It is now I realize the importance of these words and feel that men should shave and it is only the women who are in their life, in form of mother, sister, girlfriend, friend, wife who can get them to do this and make a difference.

I know all you people there are wondering for what am I even talking about, I mean is shaving so important today and the only answer I have to this one is “Yes” it is very important, for it is a basic hygiene necessity and hence I urge all you women to tell this one statement to all men in your life “Shave, for it makes you look manlier than ever”

The D-Day

This post is a part of #WillYouShave activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette.

Well, I happened to read about this Blog, where we are all asked to share our real life story ,on how having a clean shave look was beneficial or rather appreciated by all. When I read about this I could not stop my hands off writing and decided to put on this post , to share with you my real life story and how it changed everything for me and my then boyfriend, now my partner.

To start with let me tell you ours was not a normal arranged marriage as they call it and very abnormally as people call it or make it sound like; it was a love marriage and hence you can only imagine the amount of drama to this. For little did I know that before I even get my loved one introduced to my family, that they will have a say on his appearance. I knew that there was something fishy to this and hence took my younger brother to the side and asked him as to what was the entire fuss about. After a tough provoking session and bribing of course, he finally spoke the great words of wisdom and said  “Mom happened to see you and him together when he was down in the building the other day, when he had come to drop you”.

So, I went up to my great mother India and asked her to give her opinion, after a lot of melodrama she told me “ well, you deserve a better looking guy and that he is not worth you, you are my beautiful princess and the guy is not so good looking and well groomed.  I knew where all this was coming from and had made up my mind to give Rahul (my husband now) a piece of my mind.

I knew the solution to this problem and told my loved one to please come clean shaven and will remember this all his life, unless he wants to lose out on me. Well he was and is still very loving and understanding and apologized to me for this and promised me to have a clean shave before he comes to meet my parents.

Well, it was my birthday that we all chose to have this meeting on and so he was called for the normal interrogation that happens before every marriage, especially love marriage (mind you, because your parents feel you are still incapable of making such decisions @25 in your life). So I had prepared him well in advance for all the questions and that he had to impress his mother in law the most.

We chose a small time and quite restaurant for the meeting and we had all reached and were waiting for him to arrive. As he entered the restaurant, my heart melted looking at him in a plain white shirt and blue jeans (Guys, this is the best dress code for any event and will never go wrong), he had his perfume put on and his face clean. I could see clearly this time that he was dressed to impress and so I look on further to the reaction of my family who is the judge here. To my surprise my mother cannot have her eyes off him and I see her whispering into my Chachi’s ears, “Chokro Sutho Aaye in sindhi, which means the guy is looking good”. I smiled at him and from inside had a bundle of joy and a moment to scream out loud that “Yes, we won it finally”. (That’s how it feels to convince your parents for a love marriage)

We won half the battle is what I knew and the other half I knew he would take care of and so I smiled and thanked him through the gesture of my eyes. And so on went the rest of the meeting and here I am happily married to the love of my life. Well this is my story that changed my life, for my loved one did listen to me and went for a clean shave thereafter.

Hope this was encouraging enough for all you young couples out there and will make you attain victory in the war of love marriage.

#WillYouShave

This post is a part of #WillYouShave activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette

Prompto I get a reply for this, naa…I am too lazy for this today. Honey are we going out somewhere that I really need to? Can we not just go for dinner and come back? And the only thing I think of is why the hell I go through this painful therapy of hair removal and waxing.

I wonder most of the times, why only we women have to undergo all this and why even the men can’t put in the same efforts every time to look their best. And hence I decided to teach my loved one a tough lesson this time. I told him clearly that I will not step out with him unless he shaves and comes with me like a gentleman.

Well, my condition did not go down very well with him and we got into an argument , which eventually broke out into laughter, for he realized that I did not ask for much from him and that he just needed to shave and we were ready to go.

And as always I won the argument and he decided to shave, and so finally we were on the way for dinner. It was one of the regular restaurants that we go to and decided to head there straight.

While we were enjoying our meal and me was still laughing over it, my loved one seemed to be still annoyed with me for doing this to him. It was only after this little reunion as I may call it, did I get all the credit for having him to shave.

So, while we were enjoying our dinner, I see a couple in their mid-20’s walking up to us and I see my loved one breaking into a huge smile and instantly he gets up and hugs the guy, while I stand up gracefully and greet the lady. “ Aree…yaar Rahul to bilkul nahi badla hai, you look the same , young and charming as always” said the man to my husband. While I am still finding myself a little lost and next my husband turns around to me and introduces me to his childhood buddy aka the langhotia yaar “Sachin”.

I smile back at him and he only says Bhabhi “Rahul is the same charming as ever; girls were flat on him in college for his looks”, while I look back at my husband only to make him realize that I owe the credit to this one. Well after the normal greetings, we settle down to have dinner together and then finally depart and bid them a goodbye.

It was only our way back, did my husband thank me and whispered in my ears “Thank you for this one, I owe this to you”. This is one of my personal life experience that I wanted to share with all of you that why is it important for men to have a clean shave look always.

Teddy Travelogues

This post is a part of Teddy Travelogues Campaign by Club Mahindra in association with IndiBlogger. Here is the link to the same- http://membership.clubmahindra.com/TeddyTravelogues/index.html

Well, before I even say something to start with this topic. Let me tell you that I am pleased to write about this one especially. Innocence is one word that comes to my mind immediately when you speak about children. It doesn’t matter of what caste, creed, religion etc. just the word innocent describes kids the best.

I have had the fortune of being in and around children always in my personal life and even professionally and I have loved it the most, every moment I spend with kids; has been loved by me truly. Let us today discuss about why travelling with kids is always regarded as fun and is always remembered.

Why is it so different from the other vacations we go on? Well the only answer I get to this one is that it the energy and the positive attitude and that zest that the children have keeps us on the move and makes us do all crazy stuff. Let me share with you one such instance of my personal life where I took my child for a vacation and how it still is a cherished memory for him as well as me.

It was that time around the year which we look forward to the most and especially as a working mother all the more. The summer break; it’s the best time and rather the most quality time that we get to spend with our children and so was it for us. We decided to pack our bags and move on to lonavala, one of the most beautiful places to be visited especially during summers, so that you can get rid of the city heat and pollution.

So, it was a well-planned vacation and things were going well. It was only until my little one insisted on going for activities which I had never done all my life. He came up to me and said Mom, please take me for river crafting; rappelling and the list went on. I briefly remember telling him that I am tired and need to rest for a while, only so that he was convinced to leave and not continue his list.

I know this may sound weird, I mean you go on a vacation only to rest, but it’s been different for me. I have not been an active player while in school or even during college. For me vacations have been that time when I am at peace personally and relaxed with the idea of not going to work. But let me tell you it’s seen differently by kids and they eagerly look forward to this and so did mine. Let me share with you my story of vacations so far, it’s always been very simple where I get time to chill out with family and friends and catch up with family who stays far away. Besides that it has involved the regular partying and clubbing events and as I said I have not been a very enthusiastic sports person, so all these activities were always a big NO for me.

But as they say, you live your childhood twice; once when you are a child and once when you have a child and that has been the case with me. But sports and me have been like mixing Aloo with fish. And hence I told my son to let me be, only so that I could escape from the river climbing and etc..

He was sure of going for all he planned and hence this time there was no escape for me, I had to give in to his demands and hence went ahead with what he insisted doing first (Rappelling), I was so scared that I was in tears but I had to do this for my son and more so because of what he told me before we went for this “ Mom when I was young did you ever give me milk without checking how hot it was, or would you not check it by spilling it on your palm first only so that I did not burn my tongue” These  words took me back and made me realize what he wanted to say. I gave in to his wish and went ahead with a life threatening activity, rappelling is what they call it. I was shivering then but I finally managed to do it and so on went the other set of activities.

It was only during this vacation of ours did I realize what my son taught me and what it is to be on a vacation truly. Guys let me tell you vacation is beyond chilling and having the long and never ending gossip sessions. It is about being with your children in every moment of joy and enjoying things with them. As I said previously it is about reliving your childhood and doing all the things that you have not been able to do.

Let me also tell you I even started playing Badminton and have begun cycling now on daily basis after our short vacation. A child can bring out the best in you. Relive your childhood with your children and form memories that can be shared with a smile for each one.

Rise Above Fear

This post is a part of the Mountain Dew Campaign in association with IndiBlogger. Here is the link to their Facebook Page-https://www.facebook.com/mountaindewindia 

Fear is it good or bad? Well to each its own and I believe like every two sides of a coin, this word also has a positive and a negative aspect. Positive, I am sure this has brought many thoughts to your mind and you are definitely wondering why on earth I will say fear has positive side also. Well I will give my justification to this. Sometimes fear brings out the best in a person and can have life changing effects on an individual. It can lead to a complete transformation of an individual which can be positive and hence I say fear or rather overcoming fear can have positive outcome as well. 

My personal thoughts and experience is what I am going to pen down today and want to motivate each one of you out there, so that none of us hold back our self and rise above fear and the feeling of fear. It is important that we face fear and obtain a result. It is important in life that we at least make the attempt , winning and losing are just two terms that decide upon a result or give name to the outcome of something that we do. But facing it and doing things is what actually is more important, because it gives us more than just victory or failure. It gives us learning, learning which is based upon self inputs and your own experience.

I am now going to share with you a personal story of rising above fear, and how it has changed my life into a better today and given me an experience of life time and a learning that will remain all throughout. Some of you might find this one funny or may not even look at it as a major fear, but only I can explain this and can narrate to you my experience on this. So I have been a hydrophobic since my childhood, I have never been in and around any place that is surrounded with water, or to put in a better manner, I have maintained a distance of miles even when around sea. My fear was till an extent that I got night mares that I am in my own washroom and that the water level has raised to an extent that I am sinking and can find no one to help.

Even when with my family and friends, I would ensure that I never go close to sea. I mean I am part of city which they say is surrounded by water and has been loved by all, but it was always different for me. When people spoke about how beautiful the sea side is early morning and after dawn, I only felt that it will eat me up and that I will drown. I always told my mom, I am scared of losing my life in any flood and she only laughed over it and comforted me by saying that she will be around. But little did anybody understand that this fear inside me grew each day and I needed to face it and get over it and enjoy every creation of god and our very own nature.

Let me now explain to you how a small little angel, yes she truly is my angel not because she is my little sister but more because she helped me overcome my fear that killed me each day and always held me back. This happened recently at an age where they say you have lived ¼ of your life; so I was on a small family location to the most beautiful place in the world and where people go on long vacations only to be by the sea side and enjoy the lovely nature. Yes I am talking about Spain, the most beautiful place and a place I will remember all life long, for what it gave me in return.

It happened so that we all planned to go to a very huge water park, which is one of the tourist attraction of the place and I almost pissed in my pants when I heard that and had no option but to go, as I could not be the reason for others not being able to enjoy, and so decided to go and stick by my mom’s side and gave clear instructions to all that I will not be part of any activity there. All my family members agreed with just simply that you are such a “Fatoo”, it was only this little angel who walked up to me and said Di, please come with me, I promise nothing will happen just hold my hand. In the start I resisted but later decided to give in after I saw my little angel’s innocent eyes calling out to me with so much affection. I decided to go and only told her that I will just stand and watch her; however she convinced me to put my feet in the pool and just sit. I agreed to her instructions and was later told to sit on a ride with her; else she would run away. I was scared at this time and told her a clear no but she kept insisting and all my family members insisted that I go for it and that they would all be around. After a lot of negotiations and a public scene in the park; I gave in and went ahead with all. It was only after the first ride I realized what I was missing on and decided to go for yet another one and so on. It was only this small visit to the water park and with all efforts of my little angel today that I am now learning swimming and enjoy the sea side beauty.

Just to end this story and give you a last update on my rising above fear, I even plan to go scuba diving someday, because I have now realized what I missed on all these years and want to make up for the lost time. I agree it was a small incident or rather initiative /effort made by me and my family but it has helped me overcome by biggest fear today and has given me a new way to look at nature.

Overcoming fear is an initiative made by oneself and be the efforts of others in motivating you to let go and rise above. 

To conclude I would just say try or make an attempt before you say it’s impossible because even the word impossible says I am possible.

Here is the Dew Film in Telugu, do watch it.

Nissan – Drive Safe, Be Safe

This post is a part of the campaign started by Nissan to promote road safety, giving road safety its due importance and highlighting the responsibilities of the motorists towards other motorists, pedestrians and everybody else on the road. Click here to know more.

Well when we are young, we are taught in school basics of road safety. Simple things like Red Signal indicates Stop, Green indicates Go and Yellow means Wait. But wait, do we follow any? The answer is NO. For us Red is Go when you don’t see a cop/ traffic police. Yellow means nothing to us, it’s just another Green indicating Go and Green means Go of course.

Why are simple things made so complicated is what I fail to understand. Not wearing a seat belt, wearing a helmet only when you see a cop, like really? Why don’t you care for your own life, I ask why? Seat belt and helmet are purely for the benefit of the driver. It has nothing got to do with anybody else’s safety but yours. Remember you have a family that loves you, friends that care for you; if not for yourself then at least for their sake Be Safe.

Then Drinking and Driving is the most talked about issue. Drinking is okay. Driving with a license is the right thing to do but driving when you are drunk is not acceptable. There are others on the road who care about their lives. There is your family that awaits you then why take this risk? Why Drive when your drunk? Take a Cab home, take a rick, ask for a drop, pool a car or call someone to pick you up. When there are so many options to choose from why you would want to choose one that can take your life away? Remember there are other motorists, pedestrians that you have responsibility towards. Well everyone is not a Salman Khan who can get away with a hit and run case.

There are so many accidents that happen because the person driving the car thinks its more important to attend that phone call. Well if it is then you must attend it. But stop that car of yours and then you may do as you please.

These are simple things, we all know about it I am sure. But where we fail is to follow them. It’s not difficult folks. Road safety just needs to be abided by like a religion then there will be no road accidents, no need to pay a bribe for breaking a signal, no fines for the anti- corruption kind. Follow traffic rules, wear a helmet, fasten your seat belt, this is a little that you are expected to do for your won good and of others as well.

Yes or No to Pre-Martial Sex

This post is a part of the IndiBlogger Campaign. 

Here is the link to the book on the same: Poonaam Uppal's True Love - A Mystical True Love Story on Flipkart

Sex, as a word or rather topic itself is so controversial or derives so many opinions, thoughts around itself. In the olden days, people shied away from even using the term openly as it was considered to be a taboo. I as the youth of the country today, of this developing nation want to put across my thoughts for this personally, and I wonder why at times, I am told to hold back or rather keep shut while discussing these topics. Why is it that even though we say we are modernizing or adapting the western culture, we are still unable to discuss these topics at home or with parents? I am of the belief that the more you stop an individual from doing something, the more they want to do it. It’s like a mind of a new born kid, who is stopped from doing something and yet each time the kid wants to keep doing it only to learn for him/her, what happens after doing so.

The same applies to this particular topic, the more we as parents or as adults do not want to educate our children about it, the more they find means to learn it for themselves, by using the internet , peers group, etc. Sex is a natural thing, it is part of human life cycle, as through sex there comes generation of a new life, and this is how we keep the life cycle moving. If this how simple it is, why is that even today when there is a mushy kissing scene on television and I am told to change the channel or yelled at for watching such channels. It should not be made such a huge topic of controversy or of discussion , in fact we as individuals must educate our children about sex, so that they do not get information which is wrong or which may cause trouble for them later or put them in the so called wrong company of people.

Now coming to the topic of today’s discussion, whether it is yes to pre martial sex or no? I leave this choice to each individual personally. I am on the belief that one must not indulge in pre martial sex, and have reasons to justify the same. You may say that I come from orthodox background or thoughts, but well that’s not the case for me as an individual. I consider sex as a divine act, which may sound funny in the first instance but that’s how it is if you go back to the readings of our holy books. I understand that we are in a modern era and there is little space for such thoughts. However as I said to each it is own and there must always be space for discussion about such topics, because that is when our kids will be able to develop a thought of their own and decide what’s right and wrong for them.

So, coming to my thoughts on pre martial sex, I would say I am not for it, as it is about deciding for yourself who you can trust and love to the extent to go one step further and have sex. Because as I said, it is a divine act, it involves unity of two souls and connects them to a different level, a level of comfort, of love, of sharing the pain, of sharing their life together and hence I say I am against or to put it simply not in for this concept. Sex is more than just a physical act, it is beyond that and involves love and lot of trust among two individuals and also demands maturity. Maturity comes after a certain age and after crossing a certain phase of your life and hence I say one must get oneself into such things only when prepared or matured to the extent of dealing with it.

I have seen cases of people indulging in pre martial sex for the fun of it and facing complications that they are unable to deal with and regret the act. It can involve abortion, diseases that can be with you for a life time or affect you emotionally. Therefore one must be prepared and make such decisions with a lot of understanding and faith in their respective partners.

I conclude to say, I am not the one who agrees to pre martial sex, and believe that emotions play a vital role in sex and must be given the due importance while indulging in such an act.

Lufthansa A380- The largest commercial aircraft

Hi friends,
This post is a part of Lufthansa A380's launch Contest #LufthansaA380 in association with IndiBlogger. Lufthansa which is one of the best flights has launched its largest commercial aircraft in India. You must have a look at it here.

When I first heard that Lufthansa was launching its aircraft in India, I was amazed as its always had this really good international image and honestly it would be a little steep is what I thought at first. But now look at what it has come up with, the largest ever commercial aircraft in the aviation industry and thus making a point that bigger is better for the industry.

Lufthansa launched its first daily flight in the capital of the country, Delhi for Delhi -Frankfurt route. This has created a landmark in itself. Talking about why bigger is better for the aviation industry? Well obviously, the beneficiaries would be the passengers mainly however it will work for the betterment of the staff or the aviation industry as a whole.

The aviation industry has benefited a lot. The traffic at the airport has decreased. The fuel consumption requirement has also decreased with this. There will be lesser flights flying due to the jumbo size of these aircrafts and thus the industry will make a profit by saving fuel.

With these super jumbo aircrafts the number of passengers who can travel together has increased which has ensured lesser traffic at the airport as it can accommodate more people than what a regular flight can. With this not only the airport traffic has decreased but it also provides convenience to a lot of people associated with the same. Like the air hostesses, pilots, ground staff will have to work for fewer hours as the frequency of these flights would not be as much as that of the regular flights. So seems like a perfect flight, doesn't it? Well there is more to it.

This amazing aircraft also ensures a lot of convenience to its passengers. Lufthansa as we all know has a really good public image. It provides utmost convenience by way of good food, friendly staff, regular flights, minimal delays and hence overall giving its customers an amazing travelling experience.  

Here is my experience with a Domestic flight. There was a wedding that my entire family decided to attend. Since it was of a really close family members wedding, there were relatives like from all part of the world coming for it, like literally. I had my mama and mami coming from Spain, my chacha and chachi coming from Kenya, many relatives travelling domestically. So basically they all decided to stop over at my place and further take the flight to the wedding destination. The point was we all wanted to travel together but since our booking happened at the last minute we had to travel in 3 different flights, really! However with Lufthansa one can stay rest assured. This jumbo size aircraft can accommodate a large number of people. 

Kudos to this perfect flight :D

You must watch this video here- Post by Lufthansa India.