tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25959372819536167352011-11-27T18:02:23.442-07:00A blog mainly musing on my travel and living (not the TV Channel). May include random thoughts once in a way.Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.comBlogger351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-67722865616044350922011-07-31T12:29:00.000-06:002011-07-31T12:29:25.781-06:00

Sharan’s folks (Aunt & Uncle) were visiting us from Mumbai, India in the summer of 2010. We took them on short trips around Calgary during weekends much like when my folks visited during spring 2010. They had also planned an Alaskan cruise during this trip.  Since they had take the cruise from Seattle, we decided to drop them off at Vancouver. That way they could easily get to Seattle. Also, it

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-46996820536338550012011-07-29T22:22:00.000-06:002011-07-29T22:22:47.568-06:00

*Sigh* More than half a year has gone by since I tried to resuscitate my blog in early 2011. And I haven't succeeded. A lot has happened over since Jan'11 and now. I had a LONG and eventful India trip (first time since we got to Canada), we moved from Calgary to Toronto once we got back and also managed a couple of short trips in between all this. Of course I could've posted something but

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-23459394465524570342011-07-29T22:14:00.001-06:002011-07-31T14:09:13.820-06:00

Here is a list of some of the interesting visits we made around Calgary: Banff town is in a valley of the Banff National Park. It is at the right distance from any place (Calgary/Golden/Jasper) and a good stop over for some delicious food or drink. For all the foodies, this is a go-to place as the town is filled with all kinds of restaurants, bars and cafés due to the high volume of visitors

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-13985254006529790092011-01-25T13:26:00.001-07:002011-01-25T13:28:50.512-07:00

So am resuscitating here after 3 months (not 3 days). Its not that I haven't travelled or have nothing to say but temporary mis-management of time and procrastination has led to such a gap. I hope to get into habit of posting regularly once again with this one. So just to keep my blog updated and to remind myself more than anyone, here is what happened since my last post: I had the opportunity

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-41445163290349433312010-09-04T00:48:00.000-06:002010-09-04T00:48:25.685-06:00

Québec City is one of the oldest cities of North America. Capital of Québec, the French province of Canada, this small city was built on the banks of Saint Lawrence River. This charismatic city has been declared as a World Heritage Centre. Our trip to Québec province (Montréal and Québec City) was part of our South East Canadian Trip in May’10. We decided that it should be a road trip as we both

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-73211881767357507142010-09-04T00:47:00.000-06:002010-09-04T00:47:29.289-06:00

The Montréal comes from Mont-Royal – a hill located in the heart of the city. It was call Ville Marie (City of Mary) before that. Montréal is the 2nd largest city in Canada, after Toronto. This city is located on an island formed between Saint Lawrence River and Ottawa River. Our Montréal visit was the third and final phase our South East Canadian Trip in May’10. Hiring a car at Toronto, we first

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-60487796618342147472010-09-03T22:41:00.004-06:002010-09-06T13:47:57.387-06:00

We visited Niagara as part of our South East Canada trip in May’10. It was on eve of Victoria Day – a long weekend in Canada. As most do, we drove from Toronto to Niagara. The drive itself wasn’t too long or tiresome. We reached Niagara just to find out that there were a gazillion people there – such a contrast to the quite Calgary we are so used to now. A long weekend doubled with the fact that

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-69355858345933548152010-09-03T22:33:00.003-06:002010-09-03T23:39:31.733-06:00

Canada’s largest city in terms of population and area, Toronto is built on the banks of Lake Ontario. 1 among the 5 great lakes of North America, Lake Ontario is so huge that you really can’t see the other side of the lake. It feels like a sea. Also it’s so big and deep that it doesn’t freeze even in Canadian winters. Naturally, Toronto’s downtown is set on harbor-front. We visited Toronto as

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-14754016509506213962010-09-03T21:52:00.005-06:002010-09-04T00:52:27.177-06:00

Ever since we reached Calgary or probably ever since it was decided we were coming to Calgary or probably ever since she moved to Canada, my aunt (theoretically my grand aunt) wanted me to visit her. She has been living in Toronto for more than 25 years. So we always knew that if not any other place, we would definitely visit her for sure. We’ve always heard of her family being great hosts and

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-88590935228486617462010-08-04T12:44:00.004-06:002011-07-29T22:16:13.814-06:00

I have always lived with or been in the same city as my parents. Hence after moving out (read: after marriage), there were hardly any opportunities for either of us to stay over. Drop-ins and occasions were always there but it was a first time experience to have my folks staying over for long period of time and I was quite looking forward to it (I will ignore the one time they stayed at our place

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-42464016765804000312010-08-03T20:14:00.000-06:002010-08-05T08:19:27.023-06:00

My brother and I always had this ‘healthy’ competition on trying new things – be it food, adventure sports or even music. If I tried hiking, he tried backpacking. If I tried bungee jumping, he tried rafting. If I tried parasailing, he tried skiing – and that’s where it hurt  Now, being in mostly in India, trying skiing was a distant dream… till I started living in Calgary, AB, Canada. (Note: for

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-14394997766004991462010-02-15T11:24:00.004-07:002010-08-05T08:19:53.793-06:00

Did you know that this capital city is sinking at a rate of 3 inches a year? It has already sunk over 30 feet so far. The city was built over a lake centuries ago. Being 1 of the most populous cities of the world, increase in water consumption has led to major reduction in the city’s ground-water. The dry lake underneath has made this city sink. The Méxican Government has been pumping lots of

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-88806731150427614642010-01-30T14:51:00.003-07:002010-02-19T11:38:43.629-07:00

4 trips within India, 1 move (to Calgary), 3 trips after reaching Canada and 5 day trips to the Rockies – was the tally of trips we had taken so far in 2009. Deciding that it was enough for the year, we planned to stay put at home instead of the customary year-end vacation. Moreover Sharan had exhausted most of his vacation. When we revealed our grand plans of watching snow & cursing the weather,

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-8853737180387395902009-12-22T18:01:00.001-07:002010-08-04T13:02:06.594-06:00

It was a while since we had visited the mountains, which we seem to have fallen in love with since we first saw them back in Aug’09. We had seen the Rockies a few times in summer and in fall. We loved it each time. Winter was just about setting in and we wanted to check how the Rockies looked in snow. More importantly we had just invested in our snow boots and wanted to try them out to ensure we

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-75699498537641438462009-12-21T16:41:00.002-07:002009-12-21T16:44:37.869-07:00

This has been a long overdue trip for me. My brother has been in the US for over 11 years and I had never visited him when was studying in ASU or working in Dallas or Seattle where he currently lives. I also never get quality time with bro/sister-in-law when they come to Blr as they have numerous obligations and priorities – fair enough as their visits are limited to once in 2-3 years. But with

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-85726771232268028882009-11-23T20:21:00.000-07:002009-12-22T18:05:58.833-07:00

JJ wanted to go the mountains for the last time as a Calgarian and before he relocated back to London. JJ, Anne and we set out on a Sunday morning (18/Oct/09) having a quick Cafe Beano's coffee. It had just started snowing in the mountains. So we could see the snow capped mountains. But it hadn’t yet snowed enough for the Skiing season to begin. The tracks hardly had any snow. We first went to

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-46787732307789704362009-11-04T21:11:00.012-07:002009-11-04T21:47:56.704-07:00

Canadian thanksgiving is more than a month earlier than that of the US. But decades ago US and Canada celebrated Thanksgiving in October - yet another brilliant marketing strategy to cash in on the holiday season. Our choice of Vancouver was natural. Firstly it was the fall season and Calgarian Fall is not as exquisite as the rest of Canada. Secondly Sharan had his US Visa but I didn’t and the

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-3279266225013709512009-10-15T20:32:00.006-06:002009-10-15T20:40:42.760-06:00

As we cross the 2 month mark since our move to Calgary, I thought I’d take stock of what has changed. In a nutshell it’s almost everything – naturally with such moves comes big changes. Apart from stating the obvious – change in routine, new friends, new colleagues (for Sharan), new city, here are my top 3 changes and top 3 new things we have started after our move (no order of preference in

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-66681799666336086872009-10-06T16:38:00.007-06:002009-10-06T17:03:02.718-06:00

You’ve seen it in photos, you’ve seen it in movies, you’ve also seen it on (some) mountain tops but your first snowfall experience has to be unique. Seeing everything around you in white itself is exhilarating. You also let out your hand to catch the falling snow and then examine the structure of snow. You eventually make a snowball to throw it at something or someone. Everyone who has had a

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-91780053429121589242009-10-02T18:24:00.004-06:002009-12-22T18:08:23.574-07:00

The first thing anyone in Alberta tells you about Waterton is the wildlife spotting. So when Mujir and Avanti suggested we accompany them and Avanti’s mom, we happily agreed. Moreover Sharan colleagues let out the secret – it’s the pre-hibernation time for the bears so they’ll be out there gorging on berries before they disappear for winter. That nailed it for us. We have been fairly luckily in

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-46110407908288898642009-10-02T17:00:00.004-06:002009-12-22T18:05:12.837-07:00

Sharan informed me that we would have the car over the weekend. Since the office rental car was shared between 4 colleagues, we had to wait for our turn to take the car. I suggested that we go to Lake Winniwonka (yes, sounds like it’s from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, isn’t it?). Sharan’s colleague Mujir had suggested Johnston Canyon. We finally decided to take a call after we reach Banff.

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-22031186913927233922009-09-11T12:02:00.008-06:002009-09-11T12:23:32.772-06:00

The Labor Day long weekend (5-7 Sep’09) was just a week away and we weren’t even aware of it. After a frantic search, we nailed down on visiting Edmonton. Sharan’s colleagues assured him that it was a bad choice. “There’s hardly anything in Edmonton”. they said. But we were determined to go and more importantly, have a good time. Sharan did most of the research by burning the midnight lamp. I

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-31140618284556117732009-09-09T19:58:00.005-06:002009-12-22T18:06:50.389-07:00

Our new friends Mujir and Avanti were really keen to go out of town since they just got a car. We instantly jumped at the idea. Always ready to go somewhere, see a new place or do something different. So we met on Friday over some really sad Chinese dinner to plan it out. We decided to go for the GlobalFest’09 on Saturday and to Lake Moraine/Louise on Sunday.We planned to leave early so that we

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-30455723903232465192009-09-04T10:52:00.006-06:002009-09-04T11:03:51.076-06:00

Calgary hosts an annual multi-cultural festival which includes a fire work festival in August. The first of its kind was back in 2003 and it has been growing ever since. Its main focus is to bring about a cultural awareness and the more obvious economic development for Alberta province. This year the fest was held 14-29 August. It had its customary firework competition as well. We managed to go

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-73028596125072031252009-08-24T17:08:00.002-06:002009-08-25T13:48:58.345-06:00

Everyone who knows me well knows about Shanta Cat or rather my love for her.Sharan’s cousin Gummi found Shanta on the streets of Sadashivnagar bitten by some animal back in ‘99-‘00. After giving first aid, Shanta was in Gummi’s house recovering and that’s when her ferociousness was seen. She started chasing the cats AND DOGs of the house away. They were just petrified of Shanta. So she was handed

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-92003285712034547212009-07-10T08:12:00.006-06:002009-07-13T01:20:14.840-06:00

In October 2008, we started thinking about the much awaited Christmas Holidays. Since we always wanted to explore India more, we thought of covering length and breadth of any state. We narrowed down our search to – Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. We shot down Rajasthan as it was a tourist hotspot season. Our friends Sapna & Naveen were going to Andaman & Nicobar

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-21736107853345102892009-06-30T07:47:00.012-06:002009-06-30T08:30:09.019-06:00

We had a long weekend for Ugadi (Hindu New Year) and didn't want to be in Bangalore (27-30 Mar '09). Sharan, in addition, was keen to get back to his photography practice. Ooty and Coonoor – the twin hill stations in the Nilgiri range of the Western Ghats seemed to be the ideal choice given the distance by road and (more importantly) fine weather. On one hand I was skeptical - Ooty had gotten too

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-45585435545028117752009-06-26T12:40:00.004-06:002009-06-26T12:52:16.037-06:00

2 of the 4 day trip had passed. We decided to make use of resort facilities at least on the following day which was Monday, 1st June 2009. After breakfast, I wanted to hit the pool. After all I had to make use of my newly learnt techniques from Nisha’s classes. Sachin took Vishnu into the kiddy pool. But Vishnu seemed perturbed by the attention he got from other in the pool and got out. So Sharan

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-51888936402216943142009-06-26T09:53:00.011-06:002009-06-26T10:33:41.904-06:00

A scrumptious breakfast at Mylari (in Mysore) en route Wayanand set stage for our holiday. We took a good 3 hours to cross Bandipur forest and reach Sultan Bathery town. In hope of sighting wild animals, we drove at 20kms per hour much to Zo’s annoyanace who was keener to chill out at the resort. We managed to spot A Monkey and A Myna in our journey through the reserve area - so much for our

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-90592550343500833032009-06-24T07:14:00.008-06:002009-06-26T10:35:59.952-06:00

Sharan’s cousin Gummi (Rama) asked us both to organize a trip as it was more than 2 years since the last one (Hampi, March’07). We chose beautiful Wayanad for its close promixity and beauty at the onset of Monsoon. The usual suspects (Gummi, Vishnu, Rohit, Ramya, Sachin, Shruthi, Sharan and I) immediately agreed as half of them hadn’t been to the place.We set off early morning of 30/June, a

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-1119631739536588052009-05-10T02:16:00.015-06:002009-05-10T02:48:54.498-06:00

Ask any Bangalorean about Lalbagh, the 240 acre garden in city centre and you can see them swell up in pride. It’s their history, culture, entertainment, flora, fauna AND breathing space. It was over 15 years since I last visited Lalbagh. So I set out on an arid Sunday morning to revive my memories. Lalbagh has 4 entrances. I chose to enter from the grand east entrance from Double Road. I

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-51862761703684114182009-05-08T20:52:00.011-06:002009-05-08T21:33:28.224-06:00

My Apartment is situated in a pretty complex amidst ghastly concrete cuboids that are void of looks, space and trees. It is also away from all the mayhem on the main road. In every other sense it’s a typical apartment that you would find in Bangalore these days - with an “L” shaped hall and dining room.Fact File:Location: The apartment is situated off New B.E.L Road in North Bangalore (Bharat

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-26910197171594484882009-05-07T01:32:00.004-06:002009-05-08T21:32:24.959-06:00

The most memorable Poha (flattened rice dish) I had was at Swad Bhandar, Bhopal. As we approached this popular shop, aroma of hot Poha sifted through the dirty Chattori Galli. Served on “desi” disposable plate of newspaper and plaintain leaf, the bright yellow poha against the 'green plate' only made it more tempting.One bite and the perfectly cooked poha just melted in the mouth. Garnished with

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-64573992271280772092009-05-06T10:25:00.009-06:002009-05-08T21:32:54.453-06:00

Its customer satisfaction week in office and I attended a customer's presentation today. Crisp and valuable - that was the presentation in a nutshell. As Lynsey put it the crux of the presentation was:Even though we are one of the best in business and customers acknowledge that we get it right "most of the times", we are still NOT the only vendor for our customers.A difference of 30 cents in the

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595937281953616735.post-61001267438513145962009-05-05T12:03:00.005-06:002009-05-12T02:24:51.778-06:00

After years of persuasion (read nagging) from Sharan and friends , I finally give in. I have created a blog. And this is just the first post.

Akshata Karanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01211522180874540278noreply@blogger.com0