Tell the Tales

Exploring Ravangla in Sikkim - Day 6 of Epic Tour

2024-06-19T13:26:00.002+05:30

Khecheopalri Lake & Yuksom Sikkim - MUST VISIT in Sikkim | Day 5 of our ...

2024-06-09T22:24:00.002+05:30

Sikkim tour day 3 & 4 | Namchi Chardham Samdruptse | Pelling Skywalk

2024-06-01T15:28:00.001+05:30

Sikkim Tour Day 2 - Gangtok City Tour

2024-05-03T19:39:00.003+05:30

Sikkim Tour Day 1 Reaching Gangtok

2024-04-26T23:35:00.000+05:30

Trip to Kohedagutta #hyderabad #shorts

2023-08-11T19:09:00.000+05:30

Dakshin Ke Badrinath - Hyderabad

2023-08-06T13:38:00.001+05:30

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

2023-04-09T12:20:00.002+05:30

Darjeeling Street Food Delicacies

2023-03-11T13:02:00.002+05:30

Things to Do in Mahabalipuram

2023-02-27T19:03:00.004+05:30

Mamallapuram, also called Mahabalipuram is best known for the UNESCO World Heritage for the Hindu Group of Monuments.

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Buttery Garlic Shrimp and Zucchini

2021-03-12T01:53:00.004+05:30

Tried out a new dish today which I saw somewhere but added some little tweaks. Pretty easy and quick to make for the non-vegetarians.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

Shrimp
Zucchini
Garlic
Olive Oil
Cooking Butter
Salt
Black pepper
Turmeric Powder (Optional)
Kashmiri Chilli Powder (can replace it with Paprika powder as well) (Optional)

Steps:

Peel and de-tail the shrimps
Marinate it with a little oil, Kashmiri Chilli Powder or Paprika powder, turmeric powder, black pepper and a little salt. You can skip this step as well. Keep it aside for few minutes
In a heated pan add some cooking butter and olive oil
Next add the shrimps to the pan and cook through and then transfer to a plate
In the same pan add a little more oil and saute sliced zucchini
Before the zucchini is done add the shrimp back to the pan, with fresh minced garlic, salt and pepper (as needed if you have marinated before) and then saute together for another minute or two.

Road Trip from Manali to Srinagar via Ladakh and Leh

2019-10-25T13:43:00.000+05:30

I always wanted to do a road-trip to Ladakh with friends. But when it finally came to being there for a holiday, I had but a chance to fly half way and go up there. So I took it. From Hyderabad to New Delhi in couple of hours and almost 24 hours of local bus journey from Delhi to Manali through the longest traffic jam of my life due to rock sliding (our bus had to cross over 1000 trucks) to start off on a 10 days long , 1500 Kms bike ride. Crazy ? I’d say completely worth it. :)

This wasn’t just about riding/travelling on a bike to Ladakh and Leh. But of the Lamas and monasteries, butter tea and gently grunting yaks, there's much more to Ladakh than just spectacular scenery and deep blue lakes.

Most of Ladakh still remains largely unexplored. So covering its gompas and stupas, riding to the confluence of turquoise Indus and the muddy Zanskar rivers and for its lovely silences that just don't need to be filled. Spending a morning in prayer with monks at Thiksey Monastery or horse riding beside Pangong Tso and come back with equally memorable photographs.

While the blue shades of Pangong Tso allures, riding via The mighty Khardungla Pass at 18000+ feet altitude (One of the highest motorable roads in the world) and some more high altitude motorable passes with low oxygen levels and equally low power in your 500 CC bike, it still does give you an adventure high. While the mystic monasteries amaze you, the Nubra Valley awaits to welcomes you with an unexpected Sand storm (if you’re lucky enough) with double hump back camels gazing silently in the scintillating sand dunes.

The mesmerizing Star gazing at night, spent in Batalik and Aryan valley during the ride before paying tribute to the Soldiers at Kargil war memorial and move towards Kashmir, A valley between the Great Himalayan range and the Pir Panjal mountain range, a place of beautiful simplicity and pristine natural beauty to end the ride. An extra day spent in Srinagar by the Beauty of Dal Lake with incredible backdrops and the sight of primitive boats traversing a mirror like lake with reflections of snow covered mountains before heading back home….

All in all, Felt like being tossed off a frying pan directly into a refrigerator. I was suddenly 7000 – 19000 feet closer to the sun amid severe cold, and mountains alien to the concept of our everyday hustle and bustle of the city. Barren mountains, that cold expansiveness, a beautiful calm broken only by frigid winds whistling past my ears, and the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere is unforgettable !!!

Lingeshwar Reddy

About the Guest Author:

This article is a Guest Post by Lingeshwar Reddy. Lingeshwar is a self motivated adrenaline junkie. Worked in the IT industry as a Project Manager in the Support Industry and now as a Customer Success Manager, takes interest in occasional offbeat trips.

Places to visit in Kolkata

2017-08-15T21:57:00.001+05:30

Ask a localite on the best places to visit in any renowned place? You are bound to receive an answer which you will not be expecting. Ideally someone living in a place is so accustomed to the place that they would not find a specific place interesting even though it might be an attraction to someone who has the eye of an explorer.

Me, being someone who is very close to Kolkata fall in the same category. Nevertheless putting myself at least once in the eye of an explorer have tried to collect all the areas of interest of Kolkata.

Kolkata formerly known as Calcutta was initially a colonial city developed by East India Company and was also the capital of British India. As a result Kolkata has lot of historical structures from the British era which still stand strong.

Vidyasagar Setu, - Second Hooghly Bridge

Some of the prominent are as below:

Victoria memorial
Cathedral Church
Fort William - Entry restricted but there's an incredible view from the ghats of the Hooghly
Prinsep Ghat
Birla Planetarium
Birla Mandir

Kolkata is known for its Art and Culture. There are several places which attracts the culture lovers.
Few of them are below:

Academy of Fine Arts
The Asiatic Society
Indian Museum
Nandan - Rabindra Sadan
Jorasanko Thakur Bari - Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home Sobhabazar Rajbari
Marble Palace Kolkata

Kolkata also has a lot of renowned places for worships:

Kalighat Temple
Thanthania Kalibari
Dakhshineshwar Kali Temple
Belur Math
ISKCON Kolkata, Sri Sri Radha Govind Temple

Other places of attractions include:

Mother House
Alipore Zoo
Eden Gardens
Mother Wax Museum

Like any other metro city, Kolkata also has a number of Amusement Parks like:

Science City
Nicco Park
Aquatica
Eco Park - Specially the Seven Wonders of the World

If you have some time to spare and if you are book addict, do visit College street or Boi Para. It is the largest second hand book market in the world where you can purchase rare collections at a very cheap price.

There are lot of other places which I might have forgotten but truly it is the City of Joy as it is being termed.

Howrah - The twin city of Kolkata also has places which are worth mentioning and if you are at Kolkata, make sure to visit the below.

Howrah Bridge
Howrah Station
Botanical Garden, Howrah

Howrah Bridge

Trust me, I have not visited all of them till date, but will definitely try to visit them along with my wife and kid once I get some time out of the regular schedule.

Super Quick Homemade Pizza

2017-02-21T20:06:00.000+05:30

If you kid is back from play hungry and pestering you for quick snacks and you feel that maggi is too boring everyday, then I have a quick recipe of a different variety. Trust me they would love it too and it would be ready in no more than 5 mins.

YES!!! It is Homemade PIZZA...

Ingredients:

1. Ready made Pizza Base
2. Onion
3. Capsicum
4. Tomato
5. Pinch of Oil
6. Cheese Slice
7. Butter or Cheese Spread
8. Oregano (Optional)
9. Chili Flakes (Optional)

Preparation:

1. Chop one onion and capsicum into pieces. Also slice tomato into small pieces.

2. Fry the chopped onions, capsicum and tomatoes in a little oil to make it crispy. Add salt for taste.

3. Take a non-stick pan and roast the side of the ready made Pizza base which you want to make upper crust.

4. Once that is roaster, spread the butter or cheese spread on the roasted upper crust.

6. Cut 1-2 cheese slices into small pieces and place it all over the pizza base. You can also replace this with grated mozzarella cheese.

7. Spread the fried veggie mix on top of the cheese crust and roast it for 2-3 minutes.

8. Your pizza is ready. You can garnish this with Oregano and chili flakes.

Of course, you can customize and add more varieties/flavour. Try this at home and provide your feedback or comments on how you feel.

50% off on pizza

Being Local 7

2017-01-29T13:34:00.000+05:30

The shopkeeper who poses like a girl while displaying the colorful sarees at the Lakshal Saree Centre at Sarnath besides the Thai Temple. Handlooms prepared by the local weavers inside the Sarnath Temple area is sold here. They have huge varieties of Banarasi sarees and offer very good prices compared to the market price.

'Being Local' is a series where I post the different characters who I feel is interesting enough to have a mention during my travels. You can find others in the series here.

Being Local 6

2017-01-26T23:24:00.003+05:30

A candid shot of a priest collecting money in return of the blessings at the Dashashwamedh Ghat just prior to the Ganga Arati.

'Being Local' is a series where I post the different characters who I feel is interesting enough to have a mention during my travels. You can find others in the series here.

Simple Homemade Chicken Clear Soup

2015-09-14T10:34:00.000+05:30

Soups are a good way to start a meal. It's Sunday when we try to experiment new dishes at home and it turned out that preparation of Chicken Clear Soup had its turn this Sunday - a simple but healthy food.

Ingredients:
1. Bone less chicken 100 grams (cut into small pieces)
2. Onions (Use spring onion with stalk is available)
3. Garlic 4 cloves
4. Ground Pepper
6. Butter 2 tablespoons
7. Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. First of all, boil the boneless chicken pieces with 2 cloves of garlic and onion in a pressure cooker. If you have spring onions, you can give that as well.

2. Strain the chicken stock and keep it aside for using later.

Chicken Stock

3. Shred the boiled chicken with your fingers. It will come of easily.

Shredded Chicken

4. Chop the remaining bulbs of the spring onions and garlic cloves. Chop the stalks of the spring onions separately.

5. Melt the butter in a deep pan. Add the chopped onion bulbs first. When they start melting and acquire an auburn color, add the chopped garlic and stalks. Stir fry it for about 3 minutes.

6. Now add the shredded chicken and stir fry for a minute.

7. Pour the chicken stock into the pan and mix well. Add about 2 cups of water to this and simmer it for 15 minutes.

8. Just before you remove the soup from the flame sprinkle ground pepper and salt on it as per your taste. You can garnish it with parsley stalks and leaves and your Chicken Clear Soup is ready.

Ready Chicken Clear Soup

After preparation, I realized that I had put more pieces of chicken than needed. But the taste was really yummy and my kid liked it very much.

You can try this too and experiment with little variations according to your taste. Good Luck!!!

List of World Heritage Sites in India visited

2015-08-27T07:13:00.001+05:30

Charity Begins at Home!!! In order to fulfill one of my wishlist - "Visit the top UNESCO World Heritage sites", it is always apt to first visit the ones which are in my home country.

There are 40 World Heritage Sites in India that are recognized by UNESCO as of today. Of these, 32 are cultural sites, 7 are natural sites and 1 is mixed (meeting both cultural and natural criteria).

So far, I have had the privilege of visiting only 15 of them as below:

Ajanta Caves
Ellora Caves
Agra Fort, Uttar Pradesh
Taj Mahal, Uttar Pradesh
Sun Temple, Konarak
Hampi, Karnataka
Elephanta Caves
Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi
Mountain Railways of India (Visited 2/3 - Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Nilgiri Mountain Railway)
Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya, Bihar
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus)
Red Fort Complex
Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University) at Nalanda
Historic City of Ahmadabad
Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple

Sunderbans and Khajuraho are among the ones which are definitely in my wish list before I can move ahead with others.

You can find the rest from the link below.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_India

Idly Chaat

2015-07-20T10:46:00.001+05:30

Monday mornings are always lazy and we woke up late. With Maggi others being banned, needed a quick and tasty snack to fill our stomach. Ideas started coming to my mind on what to make.

Ingredients:
Idly (2 pieces)
Sev (Fine and course)
Chanachur
1 small onion finely chopped (optional)
1 small tomato finely chopped (optional)
Chat Masala
Tomato sauce
Chilly sauce
2 to 3 tsp oil for frying the idlis

Preparation:

Cut the idly into small pieces and light fry in 2 to 3 tsp of oil in a non-sticky pan. You might also want to add butter instead of oil.

Add Sev, chanachur, chat masala to the fried idly chunks. You might also want to add chopped onions and tomatoes.

Add tomato and chilly sauces if you want. You might also want to add Coriander chutney or Tamarind chutney. I like sukha and hence do not prefer to add sauces. Rest I will leave it upto your imagination and taste.

Ideal replacement for 2 minutes Maggi. Chala Bagunda...

Gearing up for a weekend fun

2015-07-05T15:20:00.000+05:30

Monsoon have set in and I am gearing for the first family trip of the season. And how fun it would be to go on a long drive with the overcast skies and showers of rain here and there.

If you are also gearing up for a weekend fun and have a passion for driving, car is not a problem at all with the newly started services of Zoom Car. Zoom Car provides self-drive cars on a rental service. I got to know this from a friend and quickly booked a luxurious Scorpio for the upcoming trip.

One would need to be a member for booking the services which includes car including fuel, insurance and taxes. There is a referral scheme as well which would mean the referrer and referral would gain Rs 300 on their next drive. You can click on the link to get some benefit of this.

The services have started in Bangalore, Pune, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. Even if you are not staying in those cities you can book one from the above cities and drop it before you leave. I found this really cool and the cost including fuel is good enough to afford this for a 3-4 days trip.

Points to Note:

Pets are not allowed
Drug/Alcohols are not allowed
Smoking is not allowed
Driver cannot overspeed more than 125 kms/hour
Hyderabad travelers book in advance as there are limited Scorpio's, XUV's and Ecosports in each of the pick up points.

Will share more feedback once I complete the trip.

Note: This is not a paid post but posted for informative purpose.

Safari @ Bannerghatta National Park - A Pictionary

2015-06-27T14:40:00.004+05:30

Bannerghatta National Park is a must visit when you land up in Bangalore. It is about 22 kms from Bangalore city and can be availed by auto, bus or hired cab. It is having different units such as Zoo, Safari, Butterfly Park and Rescue Center (Conservation of captive animals).

Once you reach, there are various options to book a safari. You can hire an AC bus or 4-6 seat Mahindra zeep. There are various packages including Zoo, Butterfly Park and Safari etc. The options are:

Lion and Tiger Safari
Herbivore Safari
Bear Safari and
Grand Safari (Through normal bus) (Tiger , Lion, Bear & Herbivore safari) + Zoo

We opted for the Grand Safari but as we reached late, could not visit the Butterfly Park. Butterfly park is open till 5 PM.

Bus for the Grand Safari

Once the hour-long safari started, kids started really enjoying the wildlife. It started with Sambar, Cheetal, Barking Deer, Black Buck and Nilgai etc.

Wild Deers

Then came the Bisons and the Elephants...

Bison

Elephant

The most entertaining part was the bear jumping with two legs in front of our bus. He almost reached our window. Our son was overjoyed to see the scene. Perhaps it reminded him of the teddy bear he plays with at home. But alas, we could not capture that view.

Bear

Lion and Tiger Safari

Lion

White Tiger

Tiger

Tiger having Summer Fun

Wanna get drenched like the Tiger, plan for a trip to Bangalore now. LOL...

Being Local - 5

2015-01-14T13:35:00.003+05:30

During Ganesh Visarjan, processions would be seen on the road with idol of Ganesha along with a group of people performing and dancing at the tunes of drums and trumpet in the attire of different Gods and Goddess. The act above is showing Maa Durga killing the Demon. This was taken in Hyderabad on such an occasion.

'Being Local' is a series where I can post the different characters who I feel is interesting enough to have a mention. You can find others in the series here.

Thanks Lonely Planet

2014-12-22T14:55:00.003+05:30

Lonely Planet and Skyscanner launched a campaign - India Unexplored inviting avid travelers to share their offbeat travel. This went on from 4 October to 17 November, 2014.

As mentioned in my previous post, I had the privilege of sharing 4 entries in that campaign. There was a voting followed by selection of top three discoveries from each special theme - See, Do, Eat, Shop by a panel of judges.

Certificate of Achievement

Thanks to Lonely Planet and Skyscanner for selecting me as one of the lucky few awarding a certificate of achievement and a wonderful Riviera cabin-size bag by Skybags.

Looking forward to more opportunities in the future.

Being Local - 4

2014-11-21T13:39:00.002+05:30

The driver for our trip to Sholayar and Valparai. He deserves special mention because, he was desperate to show my kid at least one elephant in the jungle and went up to the extend of climbing the top of the car to find out one. Alas we could not find one but really appreciate his serious attempt.

'Being Local' is a series where I can post the different characters who I feel is interesting enough to have a mention. You can find others in the series here.

Being Local - 3

2014-11-21T13:28:00.001+05:30

The Coconut seller at Nishat Bagh, Srinagar who was eagar to pose when I asked him.

'Being Local' is a series where I can post the different characters who I feel is interesting enough to have a mention. You can find others in the series here.