Reviews
By: Shankh Chatterjee Maldives survives on tourism and it has been like that for the longest time. But, thank god that they have the best waters people have ever seen. The water is absolutely blue like the sky and clear as day. It is known as the ultimate honeymoon destination and most people that go there are mostly couples anyways, so I wouldn't recommend planning a solo trip there anytime soon. There are beautiful islands with wonderful resorts with the rooms and villas that are right next to the water where you can jump in any time you feel like and live your best life! The rooms have a spectacular view, and have wonderful interiors. They have exquisite furniture which is made of dark teak and enveloped in 300 thread count white sheets. They also have an enormous space to walk around, it has enough ventilation which lets you feel relaxed because no one feels relaxed in a crammed room. The attached pool certainly helps raise the room up a notch. However, these hotels and this type of vacation in the Maldives will burn a large hole in your pocket, but it is definitely a holiday that will be worth it. Here are some picture to prove it.
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By: Shankh Chatterjee Nahargarh fort has been a beacon of architecture and art in Rajasthani heritage. It has clean lines in the outer walls and a bit of accentuation in the inner quarters. The frescoes in this fort have been very well maintained by the ASI and keep the aura of the wondrous times of Rajputana alive. The quarters inside the fort have been very systematically divided with long corridors centrally aligned with rooms on both sides which lead up to the second floor of each particular quarter. The moldings in each room are astonishingly well carved with precision and creativity which is easily visible. The colors used all around the fort are pastel shades mostly, which calm the eyes as well as the rooms in the scorching heat of Rajasthan. Here are a few pictures that will give you a slight insight into my words and perhaps convince you to visit this architectural and interior marvel in Jaipur, India. By: Shankh Chatterjee Technically the CCD is just opposite the Taj property in Delhi but then since ages it has just been referred to as Taj CCD. When enough people start calling it something and start naming it a certain way and tagging it as well, then eventually it sticks and there is no turning back from that. The CCD might as well just change its banner to Taj CCD now because that is the only name they are going to have now.
This particular CCD is very popular amongst the college going crowd of Delhi, the ambience and the location adds to the aura that contributes to everyone going back again and again. The students often stay there and sip on coffee and sit outside in the lawn area chilling with some friends till the late hours of the night. The Owners have used a very good location and have made it better, they have put chairs and tables outside on cobblestones to provide the courtyard feeling and added trees all around to give shade throughout the day and add to the lovely breeze that flows through the night. If you are ever in the neighbourhood of this property then I’m sure you will be pulled to its magnetic presence. Who doesn’t love sipping some coffee, having a nice cigarette and chilling with friends, or even enjoying a nice cup of tea and a book with the light breeze that follows. This particular CCD is usually always full due to the high demand, but that demand is solely because of the location and ambience that they have been able to create because honestly who goes to CCD for coffee anymore. This particular property is probably one of the best kept CCD’s I have visited in a long time and was very impressed with the crowd it has been able to generate. If you have the time or you just happen to swing by the area then do drop by and check out this gem in the middle of Delhi. A bit of advice, try and go there in the late hours of the night, that’s when the magic happens. By: Shankh Chatterjee One of the most expensive hotels in the country and often referred to as one of the best hotel properties in the country as well. The ITC Maurya has made a name for itself in the business and still stands high on their ground regarding their work and stature. The hotel is placed wonderfully in the nation’s capital, in the middle of lush greenery and close to the diplomatic area. From the moment you enter through the gates you realize that this is a hotel to be reckoned with. Right from the lobby to the rooms and the exteriors the entire hotel reeks of classiness and absolute wondrous claims. The hotel lobby has a colorful theme mixed with posh accents with its chic upholstery to its exotic carpet and its beautiful frescoes on the ceiling. The whole hotel is lit just perfectly with a good blend of minimalism and heavyweight decor. The balance is just right. The hallways have been kept minimal as to draw your eyes when you enter into the rooms and the views from the rooms are absolutely to die for. The hotel has clean lines following through the entire building as well as a good mix of ethnic architecture. The whole property flaunts its acceptance of the 21st century style but then loves to stay in touch with the Indian roots and its ethnicity of the country. The hotel has large sprawling grounds with wonderful gardens and a surreal pool, and has all the teams you could need to have the perfect event you can dream of. Overall the hotel lives unto its reputation and its wondrous claims for every bit of information. I am so glad that I got to experience a little part of it and enter into the world of luxury in style. ITC has made one thing very clear with not only its Delhi properties but properties from across the country that it does not fail to impress.
By: Shankh Chatterjee One of the premier hotel in the NCR region. Everything in this hotel from the moment you enter to the moment you check out , simply speaks volumes of the class act that the hotel is. I had the pleasure of visiting this hotel and experiencing all of this first hand, and if I may say so, it was absolutely wonderful. The whole hotel is modern with slight hints of a pop of colour here and there. The long clean lines can be seen all along the hotel including the elevators and the floors. The entire hotel is a refreshing look at a business hotel, usually hotels like these are rather boring and don’t have a lot going on but Le Meridien keeps the business in its essence but also gives you luxury along with a pop of colour here and there. The whole building inside and out has wonderful glass work and wonderful pieces of art sprawled across the property. The entire property has wonderful lush greens all around it to give the perfect green vibe for all its guests and is essentially placed very well in the city, so it is approachable and and it has a fantastic view. The building is a cliched look at modernism and simplicity but then again it also has its good views because whoever looks at the building has the instant urge to go inside and see what’s happening in this lovely building, and once you are in, then you are hooked because you will instantly fall in love and want to check in. The rooms are again very sound according to interiors. They have clean lines and very geometrically placed furniture which makes it very pleasing to the eye. They have pastel shades and slight accents of colour here and there which again is a good visual for anyone who checks in. Overall, it was a great experience to go to one of the best hotels in the NCR area and see everything first hand and fall in love with not only the hotel but also the feeling which it leaves you with.
By: Shankh Chatterjee Ac’s are rapidly becoming a hot commodity in the market due to the increased heat every year and that is happening due to the rapid global warming. One thing that people refuse to understand is that the more the AC usage the more contribution to global warming. It is largely contributing to the global warming of the world. Even though it might not be as big as the meat industry or the factories or one of the other large reasons you are probably reciting right now, but it is one of the large factors due to the large emissions from the AC’s as well as the energy plants that we use to power all those fancy cooling systems in the houses and offices we have.
The U.S alone amounts to about 100 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year from power plants and other countries are not far behind. Countries like China and India which have AC’s in every second house because of the increasing heat waves hitting these parts of the world everyday, imagine the emissions from these countries, and how much of it is actually affecting us everyday. The recently ozone depleting agent chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) has now been replaced by hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) which harms the ozone layer by about 95 percent. However with the increasing demand from countries such as India and China, have resulted in increasing chemical output into the atmosphere and that has resulted in the setback of the ozone recovery to 25 years. Even though the Ac’s feel like a lifesaver in the scorching heat, but they can contribute to a whole lot of health problems if not properly maintained. If the filters aren’t cleaned properly then it will keep on re-circulating bad and unhealthy air around your room and that air you will be breathing and therefore it can cause many problems such as asthma and eye allergies. It can also cause various allergies and irritations around the body and also cause long lasting problems which none of us really wanna have or deal with. So basically let us use the AC’s judiciously and lets try and help the environment as much as we can and help ourselves in turn as well. By: Shankh Chatterjee Luxury tourist trains are slowly gaining popularity in India. There are a number of these trains traveling all around the country showing people every place they would like to see all in the comfort of a train packed with the luxury of a 5 star hotel. The train traveling around the Deccan region (The Deccan Odyssey), Royal Rajasthan (Rajasthan on wheels), Maharajas own travel car (Maharaja’s express), experience a royal treatment on a palace (Palace on wheels). All of these trains together cover all of India where tourists most often go, only difference this way they experience the luxury of Indian hospitality while the travel span of their journey through India. It is truly an experience being aboard one of these trains. They are elaborate inside and out. They have all the comforts that you could possibly want from train and during a journey. They provide not only comfort but impeccable service. The rooms are beautifully and ornately decorated. The theme of the train is followed throughout and it reflects in everything you see and touch. The food alone is a reason to come back to the train. The cuisines of every place you visit will be available on the train with utmost accuracy of the taste and presentation. The food is served hot and steamy and it looks absolutely authentic, the presentation on these trains is amazing and wonderful, and utterly pleasing to the eyes. A huge advantage of taking these trains is that you get to enjoy the lovely countryside and see the beautiful landscape of India up close. The mountains, the desert, the ghats and many more such sites are visible during these train journeys and they have the ability to transport you into another world. The trains are so well decorated, they follow the theme of the train and represent the heritage of the area that the train would cover. The Rajasthan on wheels has each coach names and themes after a particular district of the state and has the culinary experience of all them aboard. To ride on these trains not only do you need more than a week out of your life to enjoy this splendid experience, but you will have to shell out quite a bit a money as well. The starting price for a ticket for one of these trains starts as low as 25 thousand and goes up to 10 lakhs per person. This royal and palatial experience provided by these trains does not come cheap, so better start saving for that epic adventure on the tracks around the subcontinent. The interiors of the train is themed in various ways and all of them don’t fail to impress you in any way. The rooms have elaborate carvings in wood all along the walls and pillars. Yes, there are pillars. The chairs have silk cushions and upholstery and the beds have silk or high thread count linens. Some of the rooms have chandeliers as well as various lamps and mirrors along the walls. The rooms sizes may vary according to the package you take, but all of them are so elaborate that even the cheapest ones don’t fail to impress us for the experience they give us. Luxury trains, an interior innovation: Palace on wheels (2012) Men standing by to invite people (photograph) [online] https://www.wexas.com/travel-article/great-rail-journeys-99327885 [accessed on: 14/04/17]
Luxury trains, an interior innovation: Maharaja’s express (2013) Deluxe Bedroom (photograph), [online] http://us.the-maharajas.com/maharajas-express-train-presidential-suite.html [accessed on: 20/04/17] By: Shankh Chatterjee Houseboats in the Backwaters in Kerala, India are something everyone wants to experience in their life and indeed should as well, because we simply had a blast and loved every bit of it. The hospitality is amazing and warm and the houseboat just passing through the backwaters with beautiful nature around you and the breeze hitting you in the face is very serene.
We were immensely excited to go on this trip and bring you guys along with us and give you a little taste of this world and its wondrous adventures. The boats are rather large if you go for more than 2 bedrooms. They have nice elaborate bedrooms with attached bathrooms, a deck and a lovely balcony, usually on a higher deck where you can just go and chill. The whole experience is a luxury which you don’t want to miss. The entire time you will be on the boat you can either chill on the lovely higher deck with long lounging chairs or a comfy sofa with a chilled beer or you can become a glutton with their lovely delicacies while you overlook the lovely water. You can also just sit in your bedroom and lie on the bed and simply fall in love with the experience because most of the houseboats have a one side of the bedrooms made of complete glass which lets you glance over the water as well as the quaint little villages you pass by. The rooms are cozy and comfortable due to their homely feel. Starting from a nice and comfortable bed with a lovely headboard authentically made in Kerela and that is followed by every other piece of furniture in the room and the boat. The furniture has lovely carving and exquisite polish on it as well. I would have personally brought it home if I could. The boat exterior is like any other boat the thatched roofs on the houseboats give it such a lovely look that completes the aura of backwaters in Kerala. The houseboats may be overrated but the design of this overrated tour is definitely worth the trip and worth every penny spent on it. |