Throwback Thursday

I had this diary (was kind of empty) with me and I have started to use it for jotting down a few things recently. What I forgot was this list which Mr M found while we were packing some stuff and he was wondering if we needed this diary at all. I don’t remember writing this list but I think this must have been written between 2011-2012 sometime. 2009 Dec was my Singapore trip and 2010 October was my Canyon trip. Those two were ticked.

2013 was the year when I did my Swiss and Venice tour and 2015 was the Cambodia trip. Another three off the list. Time has flown by and I have managed to complete those places without realising that I was checking off from my short bucket list. Ironically though, the remaining items are in India. One would have thought that I would have completed them first.

I am not a nostalgic person but this blast from the past was a pleasant surprise.

It will be happier…

WordPress review was a good measurement, but I couldn’t add much to it. So here is my personal review.

Baralikadu still reigns. After all these years (That post was posted on Feb 2013…) it is still the first in the search terms and always get the max views on my blog. Never would I have thought of that when I posted those photographs of a very small and quaint place near my hometown (Coimbatore). I guess I should start charging the folks at Baralikadu some commission if my post is earning them visits 🙂

This year I crossed 1500 followers…Yay!!! Thank you all!!! And hearty welcome to all the new people who have joined this journey! Hope you find my blog(s) interesting and entertaining 🙂

I finally made my blog an ‘awards free blog’ ( more out of laziness than anything else) but then as I say on my picture (down below the page if you scroll down)

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” Thanks for being part of my blogging journey.

and the best award for me is your time!

Took part in a couple of new prompts, apart from the ones I was already participating.

Finally got around to complete my Cambodia and Bali tour report a couple of days before on my travel blog. Failed to do one for my US trip I did this year (i.e. 2015) , but will finish it in a week.

On a personal level, I had to send off three of my friends to different places (and countries) for better opportunities (and I hate send offs even though I am very happy for them), was a witness to two of my gay friends marriage (can’t say how happy I was for them and I was their official photographer too , yay!!!), did two international trips this year (as opposed to one every year), ticked Sky Diving from my imaginary to-do list, got my tattoo done, tried my hands at dating and found someone too, spent more than I earned ;), worked out harder and got around to fix some of my long term health issues (will write about one particular issue in detail later) and on my way to fix a few more things for a healthier life style, took it easy at work (had to balance it somewhere), made some new friends, got a little bit more confident of self…well, that is all I think 🙂

With that, good bye 2015 and Hi there 2016! , Welcome!

Wishing you all a Very Happy and Joyful New Year. May your dreams come true and you stay happy, content, and hopeful. 

Take care and see you all next year! Happy Blogging! 🙂

Daily Prompt: Tourist Trap

The below post was first published on June 5 , 2013. I stumbled upon this yesterday and was surprised to see that I completed two of the places that I had listed below.

• Spain was completed in 2014
• Angkor Wat was completed in 2015

🙂 I am usually not a person who gets these nostalgic feelings and such, but felt good reading the old post. It also reminded me of the places I am yet to visit.

[REPOST]

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I know I am a little late for this post which is in response to the daily prompt – Tourist Trap, but better late than never.

My dream tourist places that I have visited are

a) Singapore – Which was my first overseas tourist destination way back in 2009. I really enjoyed my trip for almost a week there (including Kuala Lumpur)

b) Venice – I have no idea why I liked this place, may be the lure of the gondola ride or the various movies that I have seen showing this amazing place. But whatever it was, I just loved this place and was very happy being there during my tour this year.

c) Grand Canyon – This place again was a dream come true in 2010. I was so awestruck with this place, I started recommending it to everyone who was going to U.S. I would go there without a second thought again and may be spend more than a weekend, which I did during my first time.  This is one place, where I felt I was at peace with myself.

I have a list of other places which I would like to visit. Some of them (outside of India) are

a) Niagara Falls

b) Angkor Wat

c) Manasarovar Lake

d) Andaman and Nicobar Islands

e) Srilanka

f) Spain

g) Egypt

I have no idea when I will be visiting these places, but I will make my best effort 🙂

Check that off the list

Yay!!! Finally, I got to see a live musical concert. I wanted to go to one for a very long time. And finally this one came along. The Journey of a Thousand Smiles, an event organized by Sophia High School to promote education among children in villages. Deepika Padukone, the actress, an alumni did a guest appearance. The show started with the music group ‘Bridge‘ doing covers for popular English numbers for an hour. They started with ‘Summer of 69’, followed by ‘The Climb’ (Miley Cyrus, which got all the young girls grooving), ‘Objection’ and ‘Waka Waka’, by Shakira etc etc. They really got the concert vibe started and got it going in full form. The female vocalist had an amazing voice and to hear her sing, it was too good. We sang along for the songs we knew the lyrics of. It was followed by the dance performances by another alumni, Sneha Kapoor. Her performance was good.

And then, Deepika Padukone came and there were some heart to heart moments between her and the school. It was like a high school reunion for them. She also did an impromptu short performance with her friends. After that enters Farhan Akhtar and his band Farhan Akhtar Live and all hell broke loose. I never knew my friend could shrieeeeek like that… And after that till 11 pm until the show ended, I was torn between watching my friends sing to every song and dancing, pouting that we weren’t close enough to the stage and Farhan’s energetic performance. It was a tough choice 🙂 And of course I joined them for a song or two and did some moves because with the crowd around jumping and cheering and singing to each song, it is just not possible to not be part of it. It gets to you. You just let go. Even though you end up having a sore throat that you just don’t want to talk the next day. Even though your ears are still ringing from all the shrieking and screaming and singing and you still have to go to that movie you have booked because you can’t miss it at any cost (yeah…going to ‘Hobbit – Part 3’ today, yay!! again) Farhan and his team for their part did an amazing amazing job keeping the crowd involved, entertained and always on their toes. He also made sure to promote the ‘The Real Mard (Men Against Race and Discrimination) ‘ which he is a part of.

After that high energy performance and experience ending on a high note with Rock On – Socha hai, we headed to Movenpick‘s restaurant, My Place, for a late dinner. Here are some photographs. It was a blast. And I got to tick that ‘Live Concert’ item from my bucket list. Yay!!!

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