Club Mahindra, Udaipur

After stopover in Jaipur we left for Udaipur where we were supposed to stay for 2 nights. We took a longer route via Chittorgarh and took longer the expected. Also, once we hit the border of Udaipur we took the bypass road as suggested by the GPS.

Unfortunately, the bypass is full of speed breakers and overloaded trucks go very slow over them so that they do not break their suspension. Hell yeah! It took us more than an hour to cover last 9-10KM stretch.

Finally we reached the mentioned property at 7:30PM. They have some planned activity everyday and the day we reached they had puppet show planned for the kids. So, immediately we unloaded the car and went for the puppet show which was enjoyed by our daughter.

This property is new addition to Club Mahindra property and some areas are still under renovation.
It looks majestic from outside and with all the lighting done up it looks amazing.

After our check in we were taken to our room. Oh! the horrible room, the most horrible room I have ever seen at Club Mahindra or anywhere for that matter. It looked like a cheap 800Rs a night hotel, except that the rooms were bigger. The room was not clean, it smelled of Guthka, cob webs around, torn and yellowish towels, stained toilet & toilet seat. Oh my god! I thought that our vacation trip is ruined. Well that is what they did. I wrote on tripadvisor and got a standard reply.

A few days ago I was browsing the latest reviews on tripadvisor and saw same complaints over and over again and same standard replies from the management. I think Club Mahindra should revoke their affiliation with them. It is not about apologizing. Because, of their attitude we lost on our vacation time. Can they compensate for that? Well no!

I wonder who are the people who are liking this resort! Have they never travelled? Or they do not care for their money. Club Mahindra per night cost works out to be 4500INR to 5500INR in which one can get a decent enough hotel of any reputed hotel chain.

Continuing my review, we asked for cleaning and the room even stank more as the cloth that the cleaner bought was dirtier. Yellow towels were replaced with slightly yellow towels! Yuck!

We thought there is nothing much we can do and will check out in the morning and will move into the nearest Taj property. Courageously, we went for our dinner which turned out to be okay. It was nothing special and was just average or below average. Next, day our rooms were changed and were slightly better. So we decided to stay back and move on to our next destination the next day.

Once or twice we thought of having a drink but couldn't as the Air Conditioning in that area was not working. It is the lobby / reception area where the bar is also located. Basically, for our entire stay the reception's air conditioning was off.

Next day we went to City Palace and saw couple of lakes and had few snacks and drinks outside at the Club Mahindra property, where we really enjoyed and felt like we were on vacation. City palace is amazing and worth visiting.

Finally, it was the day to check out we were so happy and overjoyed

In short,

Hotel - sucks

Kitchen - is average, room service quality of food pathetic and overpriced, they DO NOT accommodate change in orders or meal plans, etc. nicely and give you loads of attitude, same is with the waiting staff who do not understand your needs and can even as you to get up go on another table in middle of your meal for some stupid reason.

Swimming Pool - Dirty

Recreation Activities - Good. The only saving grace.

Overall, I would warn you from staying at this property and wasting your expensive holiday nights. It is just not worth the pain and effort. To this day I sulk not opting for Taj property in Udaipur.

I have never given such negative feedback to any hotel in my life hopefully Club Mahindra is listening!

Four Points by Sheraton, Jaipur

So we started our vacation by taking a stop over at Jaipur. We decided to break our journey to Udaipur because we were taking this second road trip with our one and half year old daughter. Normally we always have our daughter's grandparents with us and we were skeptical whether she would enjoy our company on such a long drive or not!

So on the decided day, we started late in afternoon. As I had some office work to wrap up and we did not want to rush. After all it is supposed to be a "vacation" :-)

On our way we stopped at Hotel Ramada, Neemrana for a fantastic fresh juice, pasta and burger!

Upon reaching Jaipur we took the bypass road and missed the exit which would have taken us directly to the hotel. So we had to take a detour which delayed us by half an hour.

The hotel is in middle of a busy locality. We were prepared for this, since we read a lot of reviews on the internet about the hotel being at the back of big bazaar. We were not so surprised.

Hotel has a separate entry and it is a part of a bigger commercial complex. Parking and check in was very smooth. The staff was very courteous and we were in our rooms in a jiffy. Our little one enjoyed the beds, the rooms were large enough and well maintained. We were too tired to go to the restaurant and planned to leave early for Udaipur next morning. Therefore, it was a quick dinner in the room - followed by a walk to swimming pool and recreation area. I would like to highlight that there is a special kids menu and is very handy to have.

Next, morning we had buffet breakfast. The spread was pretty standard and tasty - no complaints.

The big advantage of having big bazaar next door was that I was able to stock up on mineral water, formula milk for my daughter, few snacks and cold drinks. I somehow do not trust the roadside vendors on the highway and usually stock up these items. For me this was an amazing convenience to have and I was very happy that I was able to top up. This turned out to be even greater because the highway from Jaipur to Udaipur is pretty much deserted except for the toll plazas and the towns /  villages that come on the way.

There is absolutely no highway eateries which are decent enough. Especially, if you are spoilt with the food and choices you get on Delhi -> Chandigarh -> Shimla route.

That's it! It was a short stay at Four Points Sheraton, Jaipur. I would recommend this hotel if you are a business traveler,  frequent traveler to Jaipur or if you need a short one or two day stopover for your trip.

The staff is amazing, food is good, hotel is well maintained, the rooms are clean and super quite. There is absolutely no issues because of the main road.

Suruchi, Crown Interior Mall (Faridabad, India)

This is going to be a really short post as there is nothing much to write about the restaurant except for my rants.

Well, the first time we had dinner at Suruchi was around dinner time on a weekday and we were quite happy. I mention time and weekday, because these are the variables that will screw your experience at the mentioned restaurant.

Also, real test of the restaurant is when it is peak time. I have seen bigger, better and reputed restaurant(s) fall and struggle to breathe on the weekends. But, then how you handle it changes the experience of the diner.

We visited Suruchi in sweltering Indian summer at 7:15 PM on Sunday. First we were refused anything as they start serving at 7:30 PM. I insisted and said we will order drinks in the meantime as 7:30 PM is just 15 mins away. To which they hesitantly agreed. Clearly giving the signals that we were not required.

We sat down and realized that air conditioning was switched off as restaurant opens at 7:30 PM. At 7:40 PM we ordered our food and asked for AC to be switched on. But to our dismay it was never switched on. They just pretended. I could make out as there was no air from the Vents.

Yes to prove my point I had to get up and wave my hand in front of AC to confirm that there was not even hot air blowing from the AC Vents. Few minutes later there were 2-3 more tables full and mysteriously cool air from the vents started flowing.

For this I confronted the waiter and the restaurant manager, the talks to them turned out to be as useless as the restaurant. I asked were you lying to me, and the reply was "YES"!!!

How, rude can it be? I paid the bill and moved and swore never to visit any restaurant related to Suruchi. I hope and wish that you never have such an experience at a restaurant.

This restaurant absolutely falls in "No Go Zone" and "Enter at your own risk category".

Noorani, Worli (Mumbai)

People had been pestering me for ages to have Biryani at Noorani.
Finally, I gave in to the demands of the masses and went to Noorani for dinner and had the "Biryani".

Noorani is near to Haji Ali in Worli Mumbai. Here is the Link to the location. It is a small restaurant and can be safely called a Dhaba convert. Well, all this doesn't matter if the food is delicious and mouthwatering.

The waiters at the restaurant were not knowledgeable about the items on the Menu or the contents of different Biryanis mentioned in the menu. After long discussions we placed our order and I ordered veg biryani.

It did not take very long for the order to arrive. I was shocked to see the Biryani when it arrived at the table. Why? Because, it was green in color and first thought that came to my mind was "Oh my god it is Radioactive and emitting radiation!!!"

The biryani was bright green. We asked the waiter why it is not like original biryani and promptly came the reply that, because it is Veg it is green. We all had a good laugh at it and continued with the dinner.

It was one of the worst Biryani's I have eaten till date:

1. It was green in color.
2. It was soaked in oil.
3. There was basically no flavor and I renamed the dish to "rice chowmein".
4. I had to look for vegetables or basically anything except for rice.

Even the Deserts that we asked for were not up to the mark. Well, it certainly is a cheap location to eat and lives up to the mark. In my personal opinion it is just thriving because of its location and may be non-vegetarian food options. This is certainly not a place to visit if you into vegetarian food.

Pharrel Williams - Happy (Mumbai, India)

Finally Pharrel Williams - Happy - Mumbai

Konkan, Taj Vivanta (Mumbai, India)

On one of my business trips, I had the privilege of staying at Taj Vivanta President, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai.

During this stay I got to try all the restaurants there, as after work I did not had enough energies to walk to nearest restaurants. However, on my other stays in the same hotel I tried "Status" near Maken Towers and Moshes on Cuffe Parade. I will write about them later.

Yes, of course I have been to Leopold Cafe multiple times and it is not that great.

Coming back to Konkan; when one of my colleagues suggested that this was an award winning restaurant, we decided to have our dinner there. I was skeptical because I am vegetarian and coastal food does not give many options to us vegetarians.

Well the decor was like an eat out on a beach village in India.
I didn't like the mango drink that we ordered or anything else. Even the non vegetarians did not like their dishes. Even though they belonged to coastal regions and had coastal food frequently.

Good things to write about were highly obliging and courteous staff who tried a lot to make us comfortable. However, food may be good but was not to my tastes. May be they went a little bit too authentic, everything had too much of raw eilaichi. Which was a turn off.

Contrary to this Thai Pavilion which is another renowned restaurant at this Taj Property has good food. I loved eating there. I will write more about it later.

Hometel, Chandigarh (India)

Hometel Chandigarh is a wonderful relief from privately owned single hotels that dote the city. It is a typical budget hotel with all the necessary amenities and hygiene maintained.

Land use is optimum and car parking is available on the site unlike most of the Sarovar properties.

The rooms are decently sized and functional (IKEA types). We mainly used the hotel as a stopover while travelling to Shimla or Dharamshala and at times while visiting Chandigarh for attending a marriage.

Downsides of the hotel are:

1. The food is terrible and one of the worst breakfast spreads that I have seen. However, room service is OK.

2. The hotel is built on one of the industrial plots. Hence, it is surrounded by lot of factories and at the back side there is place where lot of horses are kept for load carrying. The stench is unbearable.

Italiano, Cyber Hub (Gurgaon, India)

Italiano is one of the numerous restaurants that have come up in Cyber Hub. At the moment it is the hottest spot in NCR. I went to Italiano for working lunch.

At first the restaurant appears small to you but once settled in it is okay.
One cannot overhear the conversation on the another table until and unless they are real loud.

Five cheese Pizza was awesome and the service levels were acceptable. The staff is not the best but effective enough to get the right order on the table. This are really needs some improvement.

Bill for 5 people was approx 3500INR.

Whispering Pines, Mashobra (Club Mahindra)

Shimla is one of the favorite haunts for the people living in the plains of Haryana and Punjab and be it winter or summers people find a reason to visit Shimla..

The biggest draw for me is the fine 8 lane highway up to Chandigarh and then the stretch from Chandigarh to Kalka which was a pain, is now 4 Lanes / 6 Lanes toll highway and cuts down the travel time drastically.

Yes, and how can I forget all those eating joints on the way.

Shimla is now very commercialized and to enjoy nature one needs to go farther from Shimla.
Being, a Club Mahindra member we chose the property. Like, any other Club Mahindra property the staff and the food is great.

It is at an ideal location and from the rooms you can see most pristine views of the mighty Himalayas.
The property also boasts of a great SPA at nominal costs.

However, from a great experience on my first visit. Things have gone downhill for the property.

1. The linen quality is really bad. They are old and torn and you have to ask for replacement every time.

2. Heating at the property is turned off at 6 AM (In winters - Dec/Jan/etc.) and then the vents in the room start throwing air at outside temperature and the room is super chilled by 6:15 AM. The only way to avoid it is to get up at 5:59 AM and switch off the central heating FAN. Especially, with young children this can be fatal if they get sick and whole trip might be ruined.

If they can come up with such a stupid thing, I did not even bother discussing it with the property manager or Club Mahindra. Because, if you talk to stupid only nonsense will come back to you.

3. Last time I visited I do not know why the Main Gate was blocked by a water tanker (Shouldn't they be using the service gate at the back). Well, the made gesture to bring the vehicle in but the space was too small and I had to back the vehicle. This was in the middle of the night with heavy snow. There was nobody to guide me and as expected I hit a huge stone with the back bumper of my vehicle.

The reception staff was unapologetic that the main gate was blocked and very completely immune to that fact there was no guard at the gate to guide customer vehicles.

4. There is no stand by bartender. So, when the bartender goes for dinner one needs to wait for good 45 mins.

Well having discussed above four points I have decided never to visit the property again, even though we had really great time there in the past.

Visit at your own risk.

Club Mahindra, Nawalgarh

Club Mahindra’s property at a non-descript place like Nawalgarh attracted our attention as it was totally unheard of. Upon checking with Club Mahindra we came to know that the property is still under development and may or may not look like as per the pictures.

We took the risk and planned our one week trip to Nawalgarh.

There were two ways to do reach our destination and they were:

1. Go to Jaipur to Sikar to Nawalgarh

2. Or try something new and turn towards kothputali and take the lesser travelled road.

We took option 2 and got to see great views. However, the only drawbacks were:

1. There were no good places to eat on the way and hence we survived on chips and coke that we     

        carried with us.

2. It took us longer than usual and the staff at the property was worried and kept calling us again and 

        again to make sure that we reach before dark.

3. Due to potholed road I had to frequently press the brakes. This heated up the discs and we had to stop        for a while so that they can cool down.

Upon reaching we were mesmerized by the remoteness and shocked by the first room given to us. The room was right in front of the pool. Ideal location, some would say. However, the pool was being built and there was cement, bricks, etc. everywhere.

We asked for another room and were given a room on the ground floor of the haveli. We asked for a change as it was right next to the hotel lawns and was too noisy. Upon our request they agreed to give us another room on the top floor the next day.

To our surprise we were given the room post dinner.

What we loved at the property:

1. NO TV. Yes there are no TVs at the property and the manager of the resort came and explained to us 

        the reason personally. We were skeptical at first and it was eerily quiet on first night. But this was the             best part of the stay.

2. Organic food. The vegetables are grown right at the back of the property without fertilizers and 

        pesticides.

3. Being woken up by the peacocks. Yes every morning you see so many peacocks and one is woken’ 

        up by their noise. Excellent way to be woken up.

Activities that can be done

1. Pottery class

2. Horse riding

3. Play badminton / cricket in the evening

4. Visit the haveli towns nearby

5. Visit Kathu Shyam and Balaji

Overall a nice property to stay. This is not your regular hotel but worth the experience.

Club Mahindra, Nawalgarh

One of the Haveli's

Le Meridien, Jaipur

After staying at Trident Jaipur I was tempted to stay at "Le Meridian", Jaipur. Finally they were offering a good deal when we were planning our annual trip to Rajasthan.

It was then that I decided to stay at the property for a night, as a stopover between our destination and Delhi. The deal was 9K INR (Room, Breakfast and one SPA session for a couple).

What I remember from the trip is:

1. Sitting by the pool procrastinating and sipping fresh lime juice.
2. Relaxing in the SPA
3. Feeling small in huge rooms with high ceiling
4. Wine on the first floor of the restaurant

The property is grand and rooms are of good size with good sized bathrooms. Had a great stay at the hotel and enjoyed it. The restaurant serves awesome food. Chef and waiting staff is well versed with what’s on offer and what's liked by the people.

Few little problems that we faced were:

1. The staff expects tips at every step you take.
2. English is terrible even with the reception staff
3. The cue by the billiards/pool table was broken and even after repeated complaints it was not fixed. (Again a staff issue)
4. They need to do something with pigeons sitting out in the balconies. Basically one cannot open the balconies because of the mess created by pigeons.
 

Choosing seats while flying

Being in a job which involves lot of air travel, I have developed my own preferences while flying. This may or may not work for you and are solely my views.

1. First few rows are the bumpiest as they face the turbulence first.

2. The last few rows swing and bump like a see saw.

3. The most stable rows are on the wing although the engine noise is noticeable.

4. Seats near to toilets are the worst because of Odor, People Hanging around to go to the loo, etc.

5. Aisle seats are good for easy access, but if you suffer from motion sickness they are the worst seats.

Few Tips for the Nervous Flyers

1. Develop a habit such as Writing, Watching Movies, Listening to Music, Reading Books, etc. Basically anything that will divert your attention.

2. Try to take up window seat as you feel more in control because you can see around and make out what is happening around you.

3. Take up seats in emergency exit rows so that mentally you feel secure.

Flying with Indigo

Except for Mumbai airport if you are a corporate traveler make sure you get the bunny rabbit sticker on your baggage tag when you check in.

This sticker is to fast track your luggage, something like Priority tag on Jet.

Flying with Indigo

While flying indigo airlines please do not sit at row 10 or the last few rows.

Trolley 1 ends servicing at row 10 and take up to 1 hour 20 mins to serve food which is pathetic if your flight is 1 hour 40 minutes (Mumbai - Delhi). If you ever get the seats mentioned have food before you sit in the flight.

Bon voyage! 

Full Service Airlines, India

After the embarrassing closure of Kingfisher Airlines, India is left with only 2 full fare airlines.

1. Air India

2. Jet Airways

We in India love bargains which is clear from the number of low fare airlines. Among the two full fare airlines mentioned above. Except for leg space there is nothing much to write about Air India.

Jet Airways gives some decent service which is at par with Indigo or slightly above.

I have been travelling a lot with Jet Airways lately; as most of the corporate(s) prefer to fly their executives with them. But, I cannot relate to Jet Airways as a full service airlines.

1. The food portions and good for a 10 year old.

2. They do not serve any soft drinks / mocktails.

3. Most of the food served is "Street Food" like Veg Noodles with Manchurian, Ragda Patties (Mumbai Steet Food), etc.

4. Planes are ageing. Which is evident from their upkeep.

5. In today's age they do not have any screens to watch movies, etc.

The only hope is Tata and Singapore Airlines tie up to fly in Indian skies. Lets hope and pray that it happens. At the moment it is stuck in red tape.

Olive Bistro, Cyberhub (Gurgaon, India)

Cyberhub, Gurgaon is the newest happening places in Gurgaon. This is a place which gives you temporary illusion of that you are not in India.

Olive Bistro is at the first floor. Since, nowadays people do not read beyond few lines I will not make my post very long. 

1. The place is really great. In winters if it is sunny you can sit outside and have your food and drinks.

2. Works out to be 600INR per person.

3. Great food - do try their mocktails they are good.

The place will not delight you in a way that you are stunned and amazed. But it is a great place to spend an evening with some good friends and good food.