Have you visited Pheonix mall recently ?

Christmas and new year time is one when air has feeling of holidays in it. Every one kind of wants to have little relaxed time. Naturally, you need to go to places where such mood of celebration is there. Many people try to go out of places like Mumbai to enjoy the time. But then not all can go out. Some need to stay behind to run this always running city Mumbai. For such people, there are places which serve good during this time. One of the place is Phoenix mall. It is really a celebration time here. You just go and wander around. I did that just before Christmas day, and I can't believe I ended up spending close to 8 hrs just enjoying the food and environment. I had planned to catch up a movie, but once in, I did not need the feel of watching a movie. The atmosphere was astounding.

If you happen to be in Mumbai during new year eve and if nothing else is planned, then you may catch up some fantastic time in Phoenix mall. Go ahead and have a blast.

Rollercoaster ride of Gujrat election results! Did you enjoy?

Gujrat election results were declared yesterday. Whoever  had even remote interest in these results must have experienced a feeling of the roller coaster ride. I have never seen the results changing directions at such a fast pace. Exit poll results made an impression in mind that let whatever be the results, BJP is winning. And it actually started that way. For approximately first 45 minutes, impression was that BJP has a cake walk. But then suddenly things started changing. The seat gap between BJP and Congress started diminishing. I was following INDIA TV results, as I feel it is the fastest channel to bring trends in front of us.
So, at one point the tally said, BJP - 88 and Congress  - 70
And then just the next instant, it suddenly changed to BJP - 82 and Congress - 87.
I was like, what ?
Is it some typo error or something like that? But no it wasn't.
For those couple of minutes, every body whether a BJP follower or Congress follower, was surely confused. Exactly what to believe. Is it a time for joy or to be sad? No body knew.
That was just the time, I had to start for office. There was no way to stay back. Once started, my first stop or break from driving comes after 15 minutes. So, I was unsure but desperate to know what is happening.
But once I got chance, the trend had again reversed. Now BJP was marginally ahead. For next half hour, things kept moving in same way and then slowly, BJP started gaining control. Later it felt as if the worst is over for BJP and it is back on track. Slowly it even went on to 110 seats while pushing Congress to as low as 68.Towards the end though, it was clear that there is a very close tussle going on in around 12 seats. And here again, the trend reversed again giving Congress the final lead and raising their seat numbers to 80 while reducing BJP's seats to lowest in 22 years of 99.
BJP won it finally, but it surely must have made them worry the way it turned out inspite it being the homepitch of the prime minister.
Probably they will turn ultra cautious now and start making stronger preparations for 2019 elections. Congress might be a bit exuberant. Though they couldn't cross the line, but they definitely gave  a taste of medicine to BJP in their short run.
All said and done, it was a real exciting day for all politics lovers.
At the end, some how I feel

"Nobody was a looser and nobody was a winner"

Virushka wedding! and right of privacy

These are among some of the Virushka wedding photos which went viral on internet with in couple of hours of wedding. By god, I did even saw my own wedding photos this fast.

But, yes, finally the ultimate question that was troubling all the Indians and making us have a sleepless nights has finally been answered. Now, we can concentrate on some of the issues relevant to out personal lives.

Do you know, why we are in this situation where we were more worried about Virushka wedding than anything else. It is called media. It is the same media, which keeps always crying about retaining rights of privacy of an individual. This is media, which created this imaginary environment where the nation wants to know everything about Virushka wedding.

The way wedding took place, one thing is clear. Virushka wanted this wedding a personal affair. Till the last minute, they kept calling it a false news. Without disclosing any information, every one quietly went out of India to avoid any attention and tried getting married.

But media doesn't believe in maintaining any rights of privacy in such cases. They went all the way to dig out all the information about the venue of wedding, probable dates, who left India through which route. They even did not left their priest out of this and brought him too in the limelight. 

I just wonder why there is need to know all the things about a person's personal celebrations. What Virushka did is right. They kept it a private affair and later on revealed the news to all ( not just to the media) through social platforms. With this thought, hoping some saneness comes to Indian media, I wish the couple a very happy married life.

Mumbai turned Mahabaleshwar !

Mumbaikars are witnessing a strange weather for last couple. I guess, it all started with the introduction of cyclone "Ockhi". Things that never happen like rain in december was witnessed. It turned the weather altogether. For one day, Mumbai turned into Mahabaleshwar in many parts, especially in areas full of greenery. It was amazing to see a little bit of rain, along with cool ( really cool) breeze, wet greenery and a kind of mist, that enveloped the whole environment around. It was just mystical. Such days are very rare in Mumbai. I witnessed it for the first time. Thought to share with you here.

Should Congress leave its Quid Pro Quo strategy?

Amid Gujrat elections, lots of things are said and heard. Sometimes its funny, sometimes offending. Sometimes it makes one think - What exactly is happening here?
Recently two such instances happened, with major contribution coming from Congress. First instance is of calculation error to indicate price rise in BJP's tenure.

Now this could have been a good strategy by Congress, but it fizzled out for a gross calculation error of putting % increase in price by extra 100 points. People made mockery of it and then Rahul Gandhi took a big step of apologizing and accepting the mistake made. But in doing that too, he tried to look down BJP by initiating his tweet with words like "Unlike Narendrabhai, ------"

Was that really necessary? Couldn't he just accept his mistake and not try to bring BJP or relevant things in it.

Second instance just happened yesterday. Manishankar Aiyar called the PM with the word "Neech". In what context, I do not know. Compared to calculation error, this apparently is a bigger mistake made. Narendra Modi, did try to cash in on it immediately in his speech during a Surat rally. Rahul Gandhi once again came up strongly criticizing the tone and language used by Mr. Aiyar. But he again did not missed the chance to point out that BJP also use such foul language.

As such strong words are coming from the to be president of the party, they also had to act and so did they. They immediately suspended his primary membership of the party. This was announced by Mr. Surjewala and here he also tried to show off  by notifying that Congress did take the action on Mr. Aiyar but questioned if Mr. Modi has the courage to do the same. 

I am just wondering what exactly is the Congress trying to achieve through these acts. If they are sincere about these apologies and actions, they should do only that much. Every time by comparing their actions with the BJP's action, they are actually highlighting their actions as meant solely gaining popularity and show BJP as downgraded. This is not going to help in the long run. Congress is a party in crisis. They need to struggle and work hard to get back to original form rather than comparing with strong opponent party. Like BJP at different times pitched the ideas of Hindutva, development model, good governance and worked with these ideas. Same way, Congress need something original and not just comparison.

Should you eat heavy breakfast?

PC:https://www.archanaskitchen.com/tag/south-indian-breakfast-recipes

Every one around has apparently become, what we call now a days "Health conscious". You start a channel on TV, open Facebook, or even a post in Whatsapp, you come across different ways and methods to keep a good health. So, either you need to reduce weight, or gain some. You need to reduce some cholesterol.Sometimes you need to retain good cholesterol and selectively reduce bad cholesterol. Same goes for fat content. Again, you need to also bring control on carbs, but increase intake of proteins and fibres. Basically there are many norms which have come up and most of these are related to the food that you eat. Now , all the norms discussed are related to what to eat.

But then there are a separate set of norms to decide when to eat and how much to eat. A common consensus that has emerged in recent times is you should eat heavy breakfast and light Lunch and Supper. Again the Supper should again be no later than 7.30 p.m. apparently. Almost every one is advocating this. Major focus is on breakfast and that too heavy. As they say, Eating heavy breakfast would yield you a good fuel to sustain the days activity in addition to keeping your metabolism up. It apparently also helps in reducing weight.

I am not sure about above said benefits of heavy breakfast. My take on this point is little different. Recently, I started going to the gym early in the morning, instead of evening. One thing that has happened because of it is, I just feel real hungry in the morning.I decided to apply the formula of heavy breakfast. You will not believe it, but it does not good to me. Problem is, I feel hungry and I follow this rule, so I eat a heavy breakfast. Now, my conjunction is that it will sustain for atleast next three-four hours till the lunch time, which I plan to have a little light.

But in my case, I had two different observations:

i)This heavy breakfast does not sustain for that long. Very soon, within two hours time, I again feel hungry. Now I must eat, but I am wondering whether I should try to stretch it till lunch? Somehow, it doesn't work and I end up eating again. ( This time a little less.)

ii) The heavy breakfast (realizing that I feel hungry with in 2 hrs) sometimes makes me feel sleepy. So, last Saturday, I had heavy breakfast and then I decided to do some work sitting at home. I did not realize, that I went into the deep zone of sleeping for next 2 hours and got up again only to take my lunch.

After experimenting a bit here and there with my breakfast pattern, now I have designed a new format of breakfast. And this new format drags me away from the concept of heavy breakfast. What I am trying now is, I am splitting my breakfast content into two parts. Suppose earlier, I used to eat 2 dishes of poha for breakfast or 3 parathas in one sitting. Now, I split it into two parts. I eat only one dish of Poha or say 2 parathas only in my first sitting. The second dish of Poha or the remaining one paratha, I eat after an interval of 1-2 hrs, i.e. the time when I again get the craving for food. This way, I get to eat again without any guilt and I also do not feel sleepy.

This concept of heavy breakfast seems little misleading to me. What I conclude is, because you are hungry in the morning and you have a bigger appetite for food, you are not sure how much you should eat. Out of the heavy breakfast, only a small portion would actually get utilized, rest of the food taken would probably do no good. After some time when that quota is consumed, rather than using the extra food available, it sends the signal to brain for eating more food. Since you eat on already loaded stomach, the result is you end up feeling sleepy.

I have experienced it many a times, and thats why I propose this new form of split breakfast method. It not only reduces your food intake, but it also avoid you from having any food eating guilt as well as sleepyness.

Well I am no dietician. But this is a well tested method that works for me.

So, avoid heavy breakfast; have a split breakfast.