Day visit to Taj Mahal Agra

Perhaps the smallest so far but long due and worth writing, I am penning down my memories of recent visit to see Taj Mahal, Agra.

Haven’t been fond of art and monuments to a large scale, neither do I empathise with the love and sacrifice that underwent in the construction of the monument which is considered as one of the seven wonders of the world. But there has always been a curiosity to see it and check out what the hype is all about so, this time, when I was travelling to Agra city for work, I decided that I will spare some time to satiate my curiosity.

As I mentioned I was travelling for work, I couldn’t think of travelling at slow and leisurely pace, thought of exploring the Yamuna expressway that took me about 6 hours to reach Agra from Lucknow. The toll is a little heavy on the pocket however the route is smooth, traffic and hassle free that makes the journey quite cozy.

The former capital, Agra doesn’t have much to do and people anyways stay here for a day or two, visit the astounding monuments, local markets and close their itineraries for the place. I was put up in close proximity to Taj Mahal, hotel Howard Plaza for a night. It’s a cozy hotel with all the amenities, courteous staff and good service.

Coming straight to the best part of the visit, seeing the Taj Mahal up close!

The structure is just mesmerising from the moment you set your eyes on it. I entered from the western gate, went through the security and was standing in front of the Taj within minutes. May be, because it wasn’t the tourist season or I got lucky. I spent about 2-3 hours walking along the monument, gawking at the beauty from every angle possible and taking some good pictures. If you are planning to visit anytime soon, here is a pro tip:

Once a month on the full moon night, Taj Mahal is open to viewing during night time. I wonder and wish what an amazing opportunity would it be to enjoy. Plan accordingly !

The cherry on top is that Agra fort is just 2.5 kilometres from Taj Mahal, so you can get some time to visit the main residence of the Mughal emperors before they moved their capital to Red fort in Delhi which you all must have studied in your history class. What else should I say about these two monuments, especially Taj that hasn’t been said before!

You have good eateries, small restaurants, sight seeing historical monuments and evening bazaars in the vicinity to keep your tour fun and frolic through out your stay. If you are planning to visit, do keep in mind that Taj Mahal is shut on Fridays for religious activists and is not open for visitors. So plan accordingly!

Plus, don’t forget to boost me by hitting like and feel free to shoot any questions if you have or just in case you need any support during your visit. Thanks and see you again, hopefully soon!

Eatout Experience at The English Department Malad

We entered the place with a great welcome from the staff in British style. We were served welcome drinks and briefed about the place as well as menu by Chef Makarand.

One unique thing about the place I noticed that it has been segregated into two divisions. One caters to the fine diners while the other is open for music lovers, the party people!

The English Department Bar & Diner has a good ambience with sophisticated crowd. The service of staff is equitable and decors are worth admiration.
While we were deciding upon our cocktails to order, Chef Makarand told us about his experience in the industry and how he has incorporated various thoughts in preparing cuisines at the Diner.

Drinks: Mocktails can be improved but cocktails are quite good. The Surprise Martini with Tequila base, Gin paradise were okay but I loved Sex on the beach more than everything they had to offer.

Food: If you go by my choice, order any or all of the mentioned items:

• Woodfire Pizza
• Prawns in Garlic sauce
• Saffron Mango Rissoto

Believe me, you will thank me. Apart from this, they have Fish and Chips, Paneer Shashlik, Welsh Rarebit, Chicken Strauganoff that you can try.

Its a cool hangout place located on first floor in Malad. I hadn’t expected to be awed by the experience so just giving a suggestion that don’t go with a prejudice of the locality or recommendation and I am sure you will like it.

Must visit during weekends and Watchout for their 2 outlets opening soon in Mumbai itself.
Do hit like button if you enjoyed reading the review. Of course, it will make me feel better. 😉

Vodafone Knows How to Keep the Fun On!

Since mobile has transformed from merely a communication tool to social tool, it has been successful in gauging the attention span of the youth over the globe. Youth which is socially active, growing and super demanding at times.

Vodafone India launched plan U that especially caters to the college goers and generation Y audience as it comprises of wide array of benefits enabling the mobile users to be connected to friends, fun and internet. In the language of Sandeep Kataria, Director Commercial, Vodafone India- Plan U is perfectly poised to be the Enabler, Connector and Entertainer.

To tell you in detail, Vodafone U brings complete fun in varied fun in comprising of the following benefits:

Data Allowance: Gives you an option to use data based on your consumption from the available packs of Large and small. Vodafone U even gives you a dedicated night allowance.

Buddy Lifelines: Vodafone U pack allows you to choose 3 special friends from your friend-list to call them at the rates of as low as 20p/min.

Data Loan: This is the most unique feature which I love. You can take a loan upto 60 MB of data free which will be deducted from the allowance of the following month. This is surely a way of keeping the FUN ON.

To explore the real fun, you can visit the Vodafone U website and to know about all the fantastic features of it, click here. To connect with Vodafone U on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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A post shared by Shubham Singh (@shubhamsinghsuryavanshi)

The launch of Vodafone U happened in the Hard Rock Cafe which was hosted by famous Youtube stars like Kannan Gill, Raftaar and The Viral Fever making it totally awesome and exciting for all the attendees. It is one of the first kind when all these stalwarts have come together for a collaboration as cool as this.

 

 

 

Thrilling Thela Experience in Cafe Format- Rekadi Cafe

Bite, gulp, slurp & hoard. The cutting chai, your longest brain freeze, guiltiest dessert, ever spicy vada pav, and the messiest rolls on the rekadi.  Mind you, we are still just on the outskirts. If you are in the mood to tantalize your taste buds, fall in love with Mumbai all over again, find your excuse to scrape that diet, or  are juggling to find what more does this city has on its menu- the foodie next door, you are just about to discover the right place!

From pizzas to golas, Rekadi Cafe is keen to give you thela experience in a scintillating café format. This is the place for golas as they offer variety of them varying from 25 ranges of the colourful iced dessert (Now you understand the brain freeze!).

The aura of the restaurant is just awesome, they have set up a real street cart with colourful syrup bottles to give you the rustic yet fancy Rekadi vibe. You can also try their chilled pani puri, sandwiches and flavoured fries for a total street-style meal. Do visit on weekends  to check out the other innovative dishes on the menu.

Specialities: Malai Gola, Sandwiches, Panini Chaat & flavored fries.

Address: Rekadi Cafe, Shop No. 14, Opposite Tara Singh garden, Swapna Nagri, Mulund West, Mumbai

 

The Moo-ving Experience at Go Cheese Factory

Last week I got the opportunity of visiting Go Cheese Factory, a good 2 hour drive from Pune operated from Manchar amidst Maharashtra’s Western hills. This is a home grown dairy farm and Cheese factory owned by the one of the pioneers of dairy products in India, Parag Milk Foods. The brand portfolio entails various dairy products from brands like Gowardhan, Pride of Cows, Topp Up and Go.

Dairy Products

On arrival we were offered Chaas (Buttermilk), Lassi & Badam Milk as welcoming drink and were briefed by the management team of the stories of establishment and unique innovative inventions in the Indian dairy industry.

The itinerary included to visit the home grown dairy farm, cheese factory and understand behind the scenes of the manufacturing of the delicious milk products. We started with the Bhagyalaxmi Dairy farm visit owned by the company where around 3500 cows are taken care to produce variety of milk and cheese products.

Members of the farm take good care of the cows right from their birth to handing over to farmers (once their milk production reduces) including sanitation, nutrition and survival. Thing which intrigued me was the automation at the farm to reduce contamination and  avoid spread of communicable ailments. Even the rotary belt used to milch cows is fully automated and at a time can milch upto 35 cows. We also tasted the fresh milk that gets packaged in bottles of Pride of Cows to be delivered at various locations across and has been recognised as the best packaged milk.

Rotary belt for milking cows

 

Post the visit, we were offered lunch at the hall that had various products from the milk and cheese manufactured at the factory. There were varieties of Pizza, Pasta, salads and Indian dishes made with milk.

Pizza-Pasta served for Lunch

Now was the time for Cheese factory visit. Started with the dressing for the tour, we were given briefing of the various types of cheese produced and their uses followed by the showcase of various processes and procedures of the manufacturing and packaging. Most of the process is same except for the time required for ripening of the cheese for different kinds. While Mozarella takes 2-10 days to ripe with extreme cold temperature, Cheddar might take quarter to half an year.

Cheese Factory Visit

Cheese Factory Visit

 

The amazing experience came to an interesting end with some interesting interactive session with the factory team followed by Cheese tasting and high tea session. And we did get enough time to ‘Say Cheese’ throughout the tour.

Cheese Tasting

Have a Happy ‘Gold Morning’!

My mornings usually start with my roommate’s alarm at around 6:00 a.m. following myself to forcefully get out of the bed.

Yes, struggle! Extreme struggle, my mornings are full with. I lead a very hectic schedule as I have to travel 20 kilometers to my workplace and apart from that my professional life includes a lot of travelling from one client to another. I deal with arrogant managers and demanding clients.

However, otherwise my day is a celebration with regime and natural exercise flowed in the form of working out in the morning, arranging for my daily activities. It is a very tedious process as I stay 1000 kilometers away from my family and its very difficult to do all of it by myself as I have been a pampered child throughout.

To transform our mundane mornings into #Colgate360GoldMornings, Colgate has launched a 360 charcoal gold toothbrush. The color of the brush is gold and it is quite effective as we begin the day with an attempt to save our teeth from various germs and bacteria no matter which paste you use (with salt or without :P)

As the slim bristles reach the insides of the teeth easier, the brushing is smoother than with any other brush. The black bristles in the middle are charcoal infused making the brushing session refreshing.

So, are you going to try to have your own #Colgate360GoldMornings? Lets make each and every morning the beginning to a lovely day with an option like Colgate 360 Charcoal Gold toothbrush. Having good teeth without cavities is something that we can cherish forever. I have only a few of such perfect teeth left, and I hope to make it count in making my day better. Well, Colgate 360 Charcoal Gold toothbrush is a warrior and it goes through to claim the golden morning for you in the form of #Colgate360GoldMornings!

Time has come when you need to transform your good morning to gold morning through brushing your teeth with , it will bring the freshness and brings the best oral health for the rest of the day. To ensure the benefits of #Colgate360GoldMornings, you should brush your teeth twice in a day, morning and before going to bed at night.

An Enriching Professional Course at a Top-notch B-School

In the last 11 years of its history, SP Jain has written umpteen numbers of inspiring yet motivational stories, developed a strong alumnus bases all across the globe and leading the list of business schools through an innovative education model.

Is the only Indian origin business institute that features in the global list of world’s top list of institutions for this year. With campuses in Dubai, Singapore, Sydney and Mumbai, SP Jain School of Global Management has established itself at 95^th position in ‘The Economist’ and Top 10 institutes for 1 year international MBA in ‘Forbes’ ranking list respectively.

In a knowledge and skill driven industry progressing in today’s world, an MBA qualification has become a necessity for career ascent and the Executive program (EMBA) at SP Jain is one of its flagship programs for the professionals with a knack for achievement. Keeping their passion in center, it has been designed for progressive 18 months enriching them with exceptional business acumen and helping them contribute significantly in the industry.

The most exciting thing about this part time course is that it allows you to study at a pace that suits your career and interests, tailoring your learning to a specific area of interest, injecting decision making attributes and transforming you into a leader.

SP Jain boasts of its blended learning model that helps students get acquainted with the industry trends through globally distinguished faculty. The comprehensive and cutting edge curriculum facilitates peer networking as well as lays a strong emphasis on personal effectiveness and leadership.

And when we talk of placements, the success stories written by the students can put any professional to awe having transformed marketing supervisors to Marketing managers, Consultants to Vice Presidents, Software engineers to operations head and many more.

While business programs in demand in the industry, most of the skills are skills downplayed at various B-schools like personality and life skills. “A business school education is more than a professional education such as engineering which Executive MBA program at SP Jain of Global management has been able to provide me through which I can tackle any professional as well as personal challenge and be able to measure my success with”, says Amit , a proud alum of the esteemed college.

The diverse subjects as a part of the curriculum help gain students a holistic view of the business aspects and having students from varied backgrounds make the environment challenging yet full of personally as well as professionally enriching. Who wouldn’t crave for such experience?

Can you think of any other with such amazing techniques? I can’t, atleast not in India, for sure. If this article reaches out to any alumni of the college, do feel enrich me with your experiences. It would be a wonderful experience for aspirants like me!

 

Did you start planning for your retirement?

Ageing is inevitable and one just cannot earn for life long. These are the pre-known facts. There comes a time in everyone’s life where one needs to leave his/her career or finish working for a living. Now, if I were to think logically I would plan and save for my future. But is it this easy? Numerous questions come to our mind when we think about it like when is the right time to save for pension?  How much should I save? Which policy to opt for while saving?

 

Let’s consider these questions one by one and try to give you tips to save for your retirement goal.

We there isn’t a time prescribed as to when should one start saving money for retirement fund and it’s considered to start saving for it as early as possible because after college, one has less liabilities and saving becomes easier.  If you haven’t started saving, now is the time to get started. Start small and try to increase amount gradually.

Join your organisation’s pension scheme as soon as possible. Even now, organizations have a pension policy for their employees. So, for people who are unable to differentiate as to which plan to opt for, should take their organization pension plan and this is strictly advisable to young graduates and college pass outs who wish to save money for their retirement.

Thinking long term with your investments is of utmost importance because 1 lakh in present situation means 1 lakh but if you see 1 lakh 10 years later, its value would be decreased and it has been so far if you compare the value of money with the value just 5 years before. This is due to inflation and various other intricacies related to economic status of countries.

What now? Now that you have started making contributions to your future, try to maximize it so that you can use

Check your debts and mortgages if they are in order and accordingly choose a plan.

There was a time when companies had a pension plan embedded in their pension policy and employees could enjoy the benefit of their savings for the rest of their lives. Some public organizations also used to offer benefits to the family of the employee in case if any head member lost his/her life.

Now with continuously changing economic constraints and increasing rivalry among organizations to be optimized and effective, the option to provide pension is still not left with companies anymore and employees have to bear the stress for a strong retirement plan in order to sustain themselves through the vital issues of old age life.

When we are cursing economic crests and troughs, in some ways it has been advantageous in some cases. How?

This led Insurance and banking institutions to issue interesting schemes and customized plans for pension after retirement. Now, we have the option of choosing a plan according to our interests and benefits rather than the organizer deducting payment by themselves. Also, we can choose even not to invest if we feel it’s not necessary.

How one does gets to know which scheme is best? Which one would serve my needs after my retirement?

Every day we come across advertisements on television and print media where various companies claim to provide you enough amount of money if you pay some money for a limited number of years. The problem is not this! Instead it when you don’t know, which one to believe and which deal fairs best. Finance associates advice to select a plan according to your requirement of accumulation phase and distribution phase.

Every day we come across advertisements on television and print media where various companies claim to provide you enough amount of money if you pay some money for a limited number of years. The problem is not this! Instead it when you don’t know, which one to believe and which deal fairs best. Finance associates advice to select a plan according to your requirement of accumulation phase and distribution phase

Accumulation phase is when you deposit money for future use and distribution phase refers to the phase where you start withdrawing money from your accumulated account. According to these, you can choose among two types of pension plans i.e, Differed Annuity plan and Immediate Annuity plan. Differed Annuity plan where they have inbuilt accumulation phase in the policy, these pay amount to you only after you have paid your monthly/yearly installment for required number of years. Immediate Annuity plans are those where you start receiving the annual payment immediately after you have paid a lumpsum amount.

Retirement might come with ageing but comes at very significant decision making point of life where a retired employee would possibly move to a replacement location, for instance a retirement community, thereby having less frequent contact with their previous social context and adopting a replacement manner. Usually retirees volunteer for charities and alternative community organizations.

Inspite of going to any of these communities or doing any volunteering activities, one can plan of a saving and lead a better life after retirement also.

A to Z of education loans

If you’re currently a college student or aspiring to be a future student, there are high possibilities of you considering a student loan in order to finance your education throughout. You always look for scholarships and grants in order to finance your fees but these are also one of the viable options. Scholarships and grants are first choice as they do not require repayment whereas loans require payment and an amount higher than what was borrowed. But even the scholarships and grants do not cover full financial aid, you have to resort to loans for bridging up the gaps in the aid.

Before you look for various consultation of bank managers, we provide you a comprehensive information here! All for free and we make you understand it from the basics.

No, No! It’s not about key terms and definitions of finance and loans. This will inform you about the benefits of getting a loan, the process and procedures, costs associated and responsibility associated with it.

We initiate with the benefits of taking a student loan. One most important advantage is that you don’t need to repay before you graduate. As a matter of fact, you don’t need to repay immediately after your education as well in some cases. You have the option to repay it after you seek a job or after 6 months of completion of your graduation or whichever is earlier.

Secondly if you’re applying for a student loan, you’ll get it at subsidized interest rates. The interest rates for student loans is comparatively lower than that of other loans like Home loan, Property loan or Automobile loan. In some cases of student loans, interest doesn’t counts before graduation.

Considering the advantages, it becomes a viable option for students to get their studies financed. One shouldn’t also forget the disadvantages of having a debt on your head while considering this option.

Having understood the pros and cons of going for an education loan, let’s try to understand the process of getting the loan sanctioned.

Taking it from step by step, the first step involves how much money one wants to borrow. When you’re considering to achieve your dreams it is advised to keep your future debts in control as future is just a probability and no one knows about the job opportunity in future market. Second step is to look for a better and viable institution facilitating the same. This can be done on the basis of comparing the interest rate offered by banks and financial institutions.

You might need a person/guarantor who can vouch for you apart from your family, step 3 is looking for a guarantor and other related prerequisites asked by the institution. Step 4 is the application process.

For the illustration of step 4, let’s consider the State Bank of India (SBI) loan procedure in India. SBI facilitates loan of maximum INR 10 lakh for studies in India and INR 30 lakhs for studies abroad. Expenses that can covered through these amounts:

• Fees payable to college/school/hostel
• Examination/Library/Laboratory fees
• Purchase of Books/Equipment/Instruments/Uniforms, Purchase of computers- essential for completion of the course (maximum 20% of the total tuition fees payable for completion of the course)
• Caution Deposit/Building Fund/Refundable Deposit (maximum 10% tuition fees for the entire course)
• Travel Expenses/Passage money for studies abroad
• Cost of a Two-wheeler upto Rs. 50,000/-

Above information has been taken from State Bank of India (SBI) website. Apart from the above mentioned bullets, loan also covers any other expenses required to complete the course like study tours,

Now comes the documentation procedure. This can be very tiresome. So, it is always advised to keep all the documents ready before visiting the bank/financial institution and seek proper advice of any friend/acquaintance while collecting the documents required.

All the documentation procedure is done to ensure that you’re trustworthy and financially prepared to pay the money back in a timely fashion. So, this is a procedure from their end to minimise their risk in lending you the money. During this tedious procedure you just need to establish a relationship with the lender and present that you hold a strong credit history which means that you are a consistent payment holder or you can pay the complete amount after the maturity.

Now that the loan has been sanctioned, one should not forget that he/she has to pay back the sum with interest. If you were ready to borrow, now be ready to pay. Proper instalments should be paid in order to not get into trouble.

In case if the borrower is not able to pay money, after a certain number of loss of payments, the lender institution or bank has the power to seal repossessing the property or issuing instructions to debt collection team to get the money from the borrower. So payment of instalments on time is necessary.

The period of the loan is determined according to the financial credibility of the individual and there is no way you can escape from the loan repayment in any scenario. Therefore, it is paying off your debts as early as possible is the easiest way to avoid future hassles.

Dress Code in college: Pros and Cons

My maths teacher always said if one changes his hair style and his clothing style, it’s an indication that he is falling into a bad friend circle.In this context a long, unsolved and heated debate has been whether colleges have a dress code.

Talking about the pros first, we see how homogeneity is important in school and colleges, because that is the place where one should not be discriminated on the basis of one’s looks or the brand of clothes he/she wears. Also, wearing the same clothes bring a sense of unity among the students. In addition, it even provides a feeling of patriotism and being a representative of their respective institution which injects a sense of responsibility among them. No wonder why is it mandatory to wear uniform for soldiers.

To add, it does becomes a little obsessing when students try to attract others with the branded and ‘indecent’ clothes to adhere to the funky look and sometimes even teachers get distracted. I should mention an incident of a girl who came by wearing short skirt and she was forced to be murga as a form of ragging by seniors on her very first day of college. Wearing costly clothes also sows the seeds of hurt and jealousy amongst the other students.

The dress code does becomes the call of day in the college because this is the real place where people from various religions , cultures and different backgrounds come to make their future and at this critical time of life, no one needs to be discriminated or treated unequally.

Now, thinking of that we went to school by wearing that boring dress for almost 12 years let us see the other side of it.

One does not need moral policing in college. Or does one? We say now has come the days when we have our life by the time we get ourselves admitted in a college, right? Now we have become quite a mature that we know we’re in a college to study, so now why do we even need to be treated a kid anymore? Yes, Justified.

So what’s wrong if a man/woman wants to be a little trendy and fashionable at least in college? Teasing or ragging happens everywhere, but why does that affect the way we think, behave or dress. If seniors would be up to something, they will have your salwars unworn and then make you murga. Fight for yourself at that time and such perverts need to be slapped.

And when one talks of inculcating a sense of togetherness, we have a lot of ways for doing so. People should have the freedom to explore things together and access the choice of choosing their dress code which allows them to mix and match with whatever they want.

Youth of college represents colorful diaspora. So, who are these corrupt ministers to postulate law for us? We go to college for studying it doesn’t matter what we wear. But we could strike a balance between wearing our identity and maintaining a social décor. Let us be aware of what we wea