CLUE for PMS

Hmm.. Not a topic all would like to read am assuming but most will relate for sure , so I thought why not blog and educate you all on what I learnt . If you are a woman who knows or don’t that you PMS then please do read and if you are a man who is a victim of your partners PMS then you must read too. 😀

What is PMS? click here PMS

I am not a Doctor and I am writing this just to share what I know and its always advisable to talk to a gynaecologist for a detailed info.

Mood swings , short temper, depression, exhaustion etc are a few symptoms and for some reason most men fail to understand that this really happens . I dont blame them entirely for 2 reasons :

a) they are not educated or rather we are not educated on the topic while we grew up and

b) its a woman’s problem and unless one experiences how can they really know? So they are not at fault in my opinion.

Men: Basically if you see your woman all irritated , angry , teary , etc during certain days of every month those are a few symptoms of PMS . No! We are not doing all that deliberately and trust me it is not in our control at all .

I have been a victim until I started working out regularly and meditating .I became aware of what my body goes through and today I am so much in control of my own emotions that I am here writing this. At some point in my life I never knew who was controlling me (read hormones) .Now, the moment I know the dates , I start observing myself and I am aware of my mood. There are times I snap or get irritated but completely become aware in a few seconds and change the way I react , basically I am in control. And the fun part? Most times I end up laughing at myself and the hormones who play evil :P.. Like it is said awareness is the first step to resolving any issue 🙂

I stumbled upon this app called Clue I think on Google and decided to download and voila! it changed my life. This app basically helps us women to keep a track of our dates : the PMS dates , tracks our moods , periods and maintains a calendar . It basically it alerts me on the PMS date , period date et al and I am all set to handle myself . So I wanted to share this info with all my female friends and also Male friends who may want to learn and understand their woman more and help themselves and their partners “happily live ever after “(I believe that concept exists :))

There are certain things that is inevitable in life and the best way to deal with them is by befriending and being aware of them. Or its a battle that will never end .. Clue will change your life like mine . It has many more info than I have mentioned so Go Go Download by clicking here –> clue

#StayHappy

The Johnson’s Cafe , Manali

We had not planned the recent road trip to Manali so obviously we weren’t prepared with the must visit places , given the short 2 day trip . While river Beas was travelling besides us, I happened to see her closer when we were reaching The Tranquil Inn and saw a restaurant which was filled with foreigners . For some reason I happened to check with Ms. Google and she said in Manali eating Trout Fish is a must and my friend in the car mentioned that she wanted to eat it and that she heard rave reviews about it. Then Johnson’s cafe it is screamed Ms.Google with some great ratings on trip advisor and the plan was made .

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The Butter Garlic Grilled Trout Fish

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Bruschetta with egg plant

The next day we decided to visit the most famous cafe for the Trout Fish only as the dinner we wanted to devour was waiting for us at the hotel 🙂 . We had our priorities right you see . We went to this place which had the feel of pondicherry and was almost empty thanks to the rains and the off season perhaps? Trance music was playing loudly at the bar area and we chose to sit in one quaint corner . The order was white wine , trout fish , butter garlic – grilled , bruschetta with egg plant . My friends wanted to eat masala fried fish but the only option they had was the one we ordered . My order came in first obviously easiest to make the bruschetta and it was delicious . My friends enjoyed the Trout Fish and was all praises for it . We polished off our respective dishes and left the place smiling ,for good food always makes one happy . Its an Aye ! from us . The next time you are in Manali , you know where to eat The Trout Fish 🙂

The Venue .. Some Random clicks

Address : Circuit House Road, Siyal, Kullu, Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131

Website :Johnsonscafe

Phone : 01902 253 023

Heritage Haveli

On our way to Delhi from Manali I was super excited about our preplanned lunch at some place around chandigarh, It was saddening that I will not get to visit Punjab but the possibility of savouring authentic punjabi khaana made me happy. So our friend decided to stop at Heritage Haveli , a fine dining restaurant which is on the left hand side before Ropar . This looks like an elegant , rich place with all waiters decked up in punjabi attire and even the crowd looked very “tish” if you know what I mean . Oh! You didn’t get that ? I meant upper class 😛

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Rajma 🙂

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Papdi chat

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dahi balla

We made our selves comfortable on a four seater and the punjabi music on the background was very catchy . My agenda was set before we stopped here , it was Rajma Chawal for me . Simple and best. Where else will I get authentic one? The menu was filled with options and I was so excited at the look of it that I wanted to taste everything but then had to convince myself to settle for Rajma . Luckily my friends ordered all that I like and Voila! I got to taste all the dishes on the table .

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Roti , Kadi pakora , Rice

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Haveli Desi Ghee ki Mirchi parantha

FullSizeRender-13 Garam Garam Jalebi

Oye! Its an Aye!! Please go whenever you are around . Pure Veg khana hai and finger licking good with awesome service . What I missed clicking was the lassi 😉

Address :

Heritage Haveli,Vill.Khabra, 6th mile stone before Ropar.

Phone : 1881-301000

#Keylong (Himachal Pradesh)

While we initially had plans to laze at Manali and just stay in our sit out area with the chai and pakoras another part of us said arre! Go explore , so many places around just go. And the travel bug bit us again and instead of resting we decided to go to Keylong . While spiti valley was on top of the list it was over 200 km and we had to return by evening as we had to head back home the next morning again . So we decided to go to Keylong and that was through Rohtang pass . The journey began with our guide Negi .

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We crossed several waterfalls and mountains . It was cool and green to begin with and I was dressed to keep myself warm and as we climbed high it got Sunny and the mountains I felt were telling me a story . Every mountain was so beautiful , so different yet same . They were magnificent and I felt I had attained nirvana . All I could do was stay silent as it was breathless . They spoke to me so much and all I wanted was listen . Who said we were great artists really?

Can we ever match up to Nature and her creations?

The entire route is filled with quirky sign boards obviously sending a serious message like drive carefully in a funny way so that we may register in our minds 🙂 . The journey went on and I felt the chill down my spine and yes it was Rohtang pass. I was amazed how temperature changed and also the view . It was so misty and we saw people walk around in a full body suit , for a moment I felt I was in another planet . We took a quick 10 minute break and had a long way to cover through the bumpy road and the journey went on . I was telling my friends that all of us would have lost a minimum of 300 gms weight each . The ride was such 😉

We stopped to click some breath taking images . We spotted snow miles away , was it Ladakh, I wondered . So many army vehicles on the road and also the entire stretch was filled with workers and cranes busy repairing the roads for us to travel safely .

We later stopped by for lunch and Maggie I said without blinking an eyelid . I knew that would be the best while my friends settled for Tukpa and momos . After the food , some chai and Parle g biscuits we started again .

Now the mountains were all looking angry , dry and dusty . There was no spec of greenery and the roads were equally upset with us . It was the bumpiest stretch and we didn’t keep the windows down as the car interiors had changed into brown colour with a layer of dust . We reached Keylong clicked some images and read a board which said Leh was 450 kms away … We wanted to go ahead but we couldn’t and consoled ourselves saying there is always a next time and being greedy isn’t good and descended back through the same range clicking – talking – staring all in silence agog .

We reached back Manali fighting the mist oh wait! Weren’t they clouds that we drove through?

And Manali greeted us with rain and our host at Tranquil Inn with some mirchi and allo pakoras with chai . We were tired yet felt accomplished and had no regrets for we saw all that we had to and we realised our journey had just begun with this …

Photo courtesy : Rohit Varma

Website : http://rohitvarma.com

To read more about Keylong read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keylong

#thetranquilinn

It has been a while since I went on a holiday, was my rant from many months now . It was a Wednesday and we had a work meeting scheduled in Delhi and after the meeting a plan was made to travel to Manali where a friend of ours had a beautiful place. I couldn’t believe my ears was this happening? Excitement took over me and I had to pinch myself several times to make myself believe that I was finally going on a break .

Some images enroute to Manali

It was 12.43 am when we headed out of Delhi on road and the journey turned from highways to ghats . It was early in the morning and the beautiful sun set its eyes on me , I was enthralled by all this feeling alas! I was in a place I have always wanted to be from the time I have known myself . We reached our destination the Tranquil inn by 3 or so and we were asked what would we prefer for lunch . The tired souls in us wanted some comfort food and all we asked was for some rice , dal and alloo Sabzi and they happily obliged. We devoured it and crashed to wake up to a beautiful evening .

The hotel we stayed at and my room

It is such a beautiful place tucked far away from the hustle and bustle of the city . All I could hear was the sound of water and was it wind?

And hell broke loose when I stepped to the backyard of the hotel into the apple orchard, was I dreaming? Thousands of them spread over acres of land and I was like this kid in a candy shop . I plucked one red apple and another green, I wanted to eat what I earned and was in bliss . The evening went away staring into the sky , listening to the river Beas who escorted us from the time we reached the ghat till our rooms and she was still there around checking if I was fine 🙂

View from my balcony – Apple orchards

View from my sit-out

In the evening we visited the market area and my friends wanted to feast on the trout fish which was the specialty of Manali . After a little shopping and stuffing ourselves we were back in our abode which put us to sleep in a jiffy not before I thanked the universe , my stars , my friends for this experience .

If you want to experience peace , good food and amazing hospitality in short feel at home below are the details

The Tranquil inn

Number : +91 9816016414

Peace be with you!

#SriRaghavendraStores

If you are a Bangalorean this name will sound familiar , a place that serves bisi bisi idli (piping hot) , shavigae bath , upma , kesari bath and rice with coffee /tea. After my sunday run we decided to head to malleswaram and since it was long since I visited Raghavendra stores we decided to head there . It took about 15 mins to reach on a sunday morning and I was surprised to notice that there was hardly any crowd there unless every other time, was it my luck or the sunday morning laziness I wondered nevertheless thanked my stars and went ahead and ordered . Ordered one plate idli, and one plate idli with vada . It came in soaked in chutney .

This is the way lot of places serve idli esp around malleswaram and most of them who visit there raise their eyebrows on learning that there is no Sambhar and I smile at them 😉 . The chutney is unlimited if that question popped in your head . In my opinion there are far more better places in the surroundings which serve nicer idlis but one has to visit this place atleast once for the name it carries and ofcourse palette varies , you might simply fall in love . So its an aye from me , go try I say .

Address :11th Main Road, Maruthi Extension, Vinayaka Layout, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560003

Phone: 080 2334 8477

#SreeKrishnaKafe

All of us have a comfort food place that has to be visited on a regular basis even if it is the same thing we eat , there is more to the word comfort when it is associated with food . One such place for me is Sree Krishna Kafe in koramangala .

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FullSizeRender-10 I have been visiting this place over a decade now and my love for this place hasn’t faded .I used to earlier relish only their meals and now even dosa’s and idlis . Its a no frills attached place with good service and yummy food.Its all about veg here with lots of dosas to try on their menu and of course special dishes linked to days 🙂 . For instance a poli(obattu) is available only on Sunday .

FullSizeRender-9 Today it was raining and Dosa told a friend so we headed to Sree Krishna Kafe . Parking is an issue so as usual we chose a by-lane . We ordered for one masala dosa , one podi masala dosa and one plain podi dosa . After the first round by 3 of us , one more podi dosa made its way to our table 😉 . They have this unlimited chutneys that will be served at the table like gravies during meals . They have a mint/pudina chutney , an onion chutney and regular white coconut chutney and of course Sambhar needless to mention .

The food is yum and its an aye from me . If you wish to visit address below :

No. 143, KHB colony, 1st floor, 5th block, 60 feet road, koramangala , Bangalore – 560095

Ph: 080-41104345 , 9448111514

#WeHumans

We work for our family but ignore them for work,

We love our family and friends but are the rudest to them ,

We are aware that life is short yet we reserve plans for future ,

We are good to strangers and bad with loved ones ,

We use bad words on others but can’t handle when it’s against us ,

We run behind a goal and on achieving it the goal changes ,

We express anger loudly but shy away from love,

we preach , we don’t practise ,

We are humans , we know it all but we will continue to do so ..

#Tree

In the midst of the hustle bustle of traffic on old madras road there stands a tree , tall , high and elegant .. I have been driving on that road from years now but for some reason I have never noticed her .. A couple of days ago I was stuck at the signal and was busy watching at the people, vehicles, infrastructure and there she was in the corner .. She looked beautiful and had a charm that I cant describe in words.

Nothing around her seemed to deter her . Was she used to it or it never mattered to her asked my mind . I couldn’t stop staring at her , she looked hale and was busy dancing to the wind( or was it pollution from the vehicle) . The noise from the vehicles around or the metro above didn’t seem to reach her . She was in her own zone , she had no expectations from us ,Demons . She knew she was here for a purpose, a purpose to give and go away . She was so clear of her responsibilities that she was on the task of supplying oxygen and providing shelter to many birds and shade to us . My mind was busy giving me more details like She wouldn’t make a hue and cry if she was felled . She never complained . She looked happy …

I immediately snapped into reality with a car honking just behind me at the red signal and saw the irony of us humans who can’t wait when we are supposed to . We complaint even when we have everything and are never thankful to all that we have . We believe expectations is our birth right . Patience is a word in the dictionary and intolerance a favourite act . I didn’t want to react to the honking so I waited for the signal to turn green and vroomed away on my path. My mind saying “She taught you a lot by not speaking “, I smiled , agreed and I thanked her in my mind .. I would love to be a tree I thought ..

Bindu Gopinath

Food – Life – Travel