A DIG INTO THE CITY BEAUTIFUL..

“Kuch ishq sa h 'yhan' ki hwa mei”. I heard many of them chirping.

“Kuch ishq sa h 'vhan' ki hwa mei”. I heard many of them gasping out.

Well! Yeah! You guys guessed it right- its the city beautiful, Chandigarh. The city possesses a majestic aura, an aura tuned to its smooth and refreshening life. 

It may limit the tourists upto Sukhna lake, Rose garden, Rock garden, Pinjore garden, Elante mall, PU’s Stu-C and a little more places like that but it has much beyond this to offer.

Beginning from the rising sun to setting sun till the gleaming stars, the city encloses so much in its wrap.

The joy of Sukhna lake couldn't be appreciated more by anyone but a morning person. Try getting out of your beds one fortunate morning  & let yourself beautify your day by the beauty of the diverging rays of the sun. The water below seems to be smiling in peace with the sparkle of the sun. The faces around seems to be charged along with the vigour of sun. The serenity in the air allows you to be at peace with your own self. Apart of the mornings, the monsoon spreads even more enthu amongst the people. Trust me that blissful feeling besides the water with air swaying your faces is must-to-experience. It helps you to leave the hulla-gulla behind and just feel the presence of yourself.

The taste buds must not be kept aloof when the city has so much in store for the food lovers out there. Mind it! This one is gonna be a bit long.

Starting from the most of the most basic mouth-watering one, Do you feel like eating 'golgappas' or some street food?  Ofcourse yes, buddies. Turn on your GPS and reach out to Sector-23 & Sector-34.

If you want to be underneath the star-lit sky, enwrapped by the falling branches, amidst the dim glow of the lamps, accompanied by the melody of the chirpy music and lavish the food, ‘Casa Bella Vista' is the one. I bet you gonna love the place.

The song 'khaab'by Akhil must have left majority of you in awe moment. Well 'Books & brew', sector-16 is the place to be visited with your pals. Enjoy doing deep conversations and savouring the food along. How can I skip the sweet tooth part! Sweeten your taste buds at 'Get Desserted'- Sector 8. It serves really amazing ice-creams. Please don't ever go for pizzas at 'Gasoline-the food fuel’ -phase 5, mohali. Pathetic! But do go for pasta at sector-10. As per the uncle at the shop, theres’ pasta was the one most served around the tricity. Then, we all crave for a place like One for all- yes  'Aroma'-sector 22 is the one. Good Restaurants like ‘Khalsa’, ‘Katani’, ‘Gobind’ are always available to dine with your acquaintances.  It would have been incomplete if the list doesn't include 'Barbeque Nation’ sector 26 and 'The Virgin Courtyard'. Barbeque Nation is like- ‘subh se kuch ni khaya, bhut bhookh lgi h’. The people there say if you wanna spend quality time with your other half- Go visit 'Virgin Courtyard' but don't you worry, I went along with my girl and still loved that evening. Also, I found my new love for red velvet at ‘Nik Bakers’-sector 9.

Lets hang out & we, girls  are like- Oh God! What to wear??. Sector- 22 and 15 would help you out provided you have got good girl buddies along and

eagles’ eyes. You just need to learn to look the positive everywhere :P. 

AH! how can Sector-17 be so late in the list! This is because it seems to be the most active sectors of all. Just roaming around would also be enjoyable there and ofcourse the ice-cream bought from the compact shop there in your hand. 

Bowling is always the fun at Blu-O, Elante at anytime with anyone. 

Moving a little out of the city in the uphills would give you a tinge of pleasure of that of adventure and road-trip. 

Less was the time but beautiful are the memories with the lovely people out there into the city of parks ;) So, Ending up here keeping it short for there is a lot to be felt but less to be told about. <3

Into the city of love, the city of might..

The serenity of the aura, the purity of the land, the sensation of love, the chillness of January accompanied by chorus of Autowalas(Auto, auto……) greeted us at Mathura, the birth place of Lord Krishna. We, then, moved to Vrindavan, a town in Mathura where, according to Hindu mythology, Krishanji spent his childhood. After refreshing up at the temporary abode, Pramarth Nikunj, it was the time to actually sanctify by worshipping graceful three-fold bending form of Lord Krishna at ‘Banke Bihari Mandir’(Banke means bent in three places and Bihari means supreme enjoyer) and bestowing the deity with Pedas and flowers to what we call Prasad. There exists something hidden, something unknown inside the temple which calms your soul and takes it to the zenith of joy.

The visit to any place is accomplished when you come back along with its peculiarities. So, lets roam around the Vrindavan market and shop. The stones engraved, the knitted ‘poshaks’, the melodious flutes,  the jeweled ornaments of Gods and Godesses, the t-shirts painted with Lord Krishna image, are some of  many items that captures our eyes. The voices of ‘Bhaiya ye dikhana, nhi bhaiya vo(Bhaiya show this, no show that)’, ‘Bhaiya, ye kite ka(Bhaiya, how much is this?)’, ‘Chlo, ye pack krdo(Done, pack this)’ could be heard all around the place. Besides the ears engaged, eyes couldn’t forget to leave the glimpses of monkeys doing the unusual activities  when the chuckles poured in at the sight of a monkey jumping over and fetching an Uncle’s specs who stood still there in awe for a moment. Another catchy moment was of cows gazing at the ‘yellow’ garland of flowers adorned by almost every human there and plucking it within no less than a second. It was like walk with caution else you could be attacked any time. The shopping alone couldn’t satisfy our empty bellies  when aroma of the food filled the atmosphere around & specially when lassi, ‘Vrindavan ki lassi’ was there. We sweetened our taste buds with lassi and also enjoyed eating the other street-side food besides posing for pictures every now and then, collecting memories.

Sigh! No more hungry. Thus, began our next move towards, Nidhivan. This sacred place itself speaks of mystery and leaves one in a sense of wonder. To a layman, it is just a piece of land covered with trees all over where thousands of pilgrims vist during day time but spiritually, the significance of the immense power bestowed in the place is beyond words. It is believed that Krishanji performs ‘ras-lila’ there after aarti with all the branches of trees turned to gopis. No one, be the birds or the humans are allowed to stay in the periphery of Nidhivan and if anyone stays there,  he or she becomes deaf, dumb, mentally retarded or  to sum up in a condition that can’t verse the spirituality of the place. One place but so many unanswered questions associated to it. Its like you ask yourself- What would be happening? How beautiful would that be? The all trees are bent entangled with each other. It puts into picture the love which completes the word Krishna-‘Radhe-Krishna’, the love of gopis for Krishna. On the way to Nidhivan, we also bowed and blessed ourselves inside ‘Teda Khamba Mandir’. 

Then, we made our move towards ‘Govardhan’, which reminds us about the majesty of Lord Krishna. Bal Krishna lifted the Govardhan hill on his little finger when the town of Vrindavan was ravaged by heavy rains, thus protecting the entire town for continuous 7 days.

On the way back, listening the high-pitched lyrical chants of ‘Radhe-Radhe’(Heck off with ‘Excuse me’),smelling the scent of mustard all around , we paused for appreciating the beauty of ‘Maa Vaishno Devi Mandir’. It was like you step in and exclaim only 1 word ‘Wowwww’. I wished I had 2 more eyes to capture all at once. Such was the beauty, such was the purity residing in the place. I applaud the architects hailing from New Delhi. They had carved out the idols in a way so realistic that I fail to describe it. Even the pictures would have been unable to hold that, probably if the authorities would have allowed cameras or cellphones inside. 

This was not the end. Vrindavan yet abounds so much in ‘Prem Mandir’. They say, ‘Its amazing out there abroad’ ‘India is an untidy country’ only if they have left themselves aloof from the essence of the country. Go, visit the temple. I bet all those lips would be sealed. The gleaming lights in the night seem to talk to the sky giving it their colors.  The fineness of the art, the magnificient lights, are just spell bound. For the first time, I was in no mood to pose for the picture. I only desired to be a keen observant, lay out everyting in my memory so that even a single thing doesn’t go missing. Infact, I feel short of adjectives to put the seen into words. So,folks, putting my pen down here and leaving Mathura’s encounter for the upcoming one. Stay connected.