Life Unpacked

Hard Rock Cafe is a name every foodie and music lover is acquaint with. Its warm and chic atmosphere studded with rock memorabilia throughout the space definitely elevates the dining experience for lovers of the namesake genre. So what would a foodie, who is also a metalhead, do when she gets the opportunity to pay a visit to this legendary restaurant and sample picks from their limited period offerings? Duh, grab it and never let it go! Last week, Thursday to be precise, I headed to Hard Rock Cafe's outlet nestled beautifully in a Mill Complex located in Worli to try their sizzling spread up on offer as a part of their ongoing Sizzle Festival, which are on the menu till 22nd March across all its outlets. To describe the experience in a nutshell; worth the hype. Bacardi Smoked Apple Pie (left), Smoked Bacardi Gold Sour (right). The afternoon began on a high note with the sound of sizzle greeting me as soon as I stepped in the restaurant; that, paired with the aroma o...

Wow, it has been long, eh? I know, I promised that I'd be writing regularly but no points for guessing that it never materialized. I have a lot to say, yet again; from some shattering revelations to a lovely camping experience at the start of the year itself. I shall save the revelations for the next time and tell you more about the camping part. Well, it was a first; first time camping, first time being away from home for seven days (starting from the first day of February)! Honestly, before the trip I was skeptical that I might get home-sick in a few days (well, that's what happened on my last trip away from home which was for a few days) but surprisingly I didn't feel like coming back home this time! My time there at the camp was crazy, right from the day one. For this, all the credit must go to our former NSS leaders; it were their out-of-the-box ideas and go-for-it attitude that helped the campers break out of their shell and embrace whatever the seven days brough...

It has been a really long time since I poured my heart out here. And honestly, my day feels incomplete if I don't blog or even attempt to blog. Heck, I am not even able to align my thoughts in a straight fashion now after all these months of idleness in writing department. Still, I am trying to push through because I have lots to tell, yes, lots ! I have been reading a few books, doing quite some things. Yet, as strange as it may seem; the only thing coming to my mind, which finds a mention in my lots lists, is something that happened very recently, that is, last Saturday. What happened, you'd ask. Well, Kamathipura happened. Most of you must be acquaint with this little infamous pocket of Mumbai, if not, then all you should know is this place is a 'no-go'. I went there as a part of my college's AICUF unit for a social outreach program whose focus was interaction with the children of the women who work there. Frankly, I wasn't expecting much out of this ...

I have been experimenting lately, with street photography. And as I just shoot with a point and shoot camera (Canon SX150 IS) on Aperture priority or Shutter priority, and without any device to achieve a blurred background, I am trying to incorporate other moving things to give the background a slight blur. You must have seen that in the previous blog post's picture "Anticipation". Here is an extension of that concept with more objects in the frame. Feedback and criticism would be appreciated. Thanks. "Frozen" taken at Fort, Mumbai. ***** Disclaimer: The picture used here is the copyrighted property of Aditi Pathak. Use of this picture anywhere else for any purpose demands permission to be taken by Aditi Pathak. Failure to do so will involve a legal action against the defaulting party. 

I went there...not once, not even twice, but thrice. Each time with a different set of people but the experience of the exhibition remained almost the same; a sea of people flowing in a direction and carrying everyone along with it as a tide does. The scenario was the same on every visit; people hanging on the exhibition, trying to capture a perfect shot for their next "profile picture". The vibe was less "art festival" than it was of a "fair". The only thing that made the festival worth it for me was  the classical music concert about which I wrote some days back. Maybe the fault lay in the days I chose to visit the exhibition, still, the way most of the public treated the art installations was pathetic!  Nevertheless, I did take pictures of some art installations (and not of all, thanks to the crowds of people swarming around them like bees). The bottom-line is, although Kala Ghoda Art Festival is worth goi...

It was a Thursday morning, the clock showed the time of 4'o clock (approximately), after barely getting a three hours long sleep, a reluctant yet excited me dragged myself out of the bed and got ready to face the adventure ahead. The streets were empty and I struggled to find a rickshaw to the station, after a lot of waiting I did get one and from there it was a smooth commute to the office. The problems started arising once we hit Pune; the driver of the bus we were in was detained for about an hour by the traffic police without any solid reason and then later on, after reaching a certain road the driver had no clue about the direction to the location! It was a real test of patience as the drive to Pune from Mumbai which generally takes four hours at maximum took a bit more than six hours! Finally we arrived at the venue at around 12.30pm and then the rest of the day saw us touring the venue and getting segregated into our departments. Honestly speaking, the venue was done up b...

Being born in a Brahmin household, I was bought up within the rigid barricades of "religion". I grew up listening to the mythological tales and was constantly reminded that those events in the stories have actually occurred. I was made to "believe" that there is a God, who is the master of fate, that if you ask anything from him with a pure heart and good intentions, God would grant it to you. I never asked questions, just followed what I was asked to do, not because I truly believed in it but because, I didn't have a definite reason not to . Perceptions started changing when I reached the age of fourteen, two year ago. As I got out from the cocoon of protected life, I encountered people with different mindsets and beliefs. I understood correctly how the world isn't just black or white. But due to the lack of a concrete reason for not believing, I continued assuming that there might be a God. But, as an avid ponderer, I always questioned God's exis...

This week has passed rather quickly! With the admission thingy and the whole running-back-and-forth (because of the admission process of course) I haven't been getting sufficient time for updating my blog. Anyways, after a long gap, 'Random things from my mind' is back. Basically, because I figured out that it might turn out the best way to get back onto writing posts.  A lot has happened in the past two weeks, literally, a lot ! I won a Lumia 520 phone, Judas Priest's British steel album, attended a bunch of blogger's meets, gave too many tests (one more to go and then I'll be freeee!!!), travelled many times to SoBo (to buy college application forms), ate in an Irani Cafe (yay! one thing off my list), and so much more. I've arranged the photos below in the sequence of their occurrence, enjoy! Blogger's meet no.1 at Leela, Andheri (E) Blogger's meet no.2 at Chitrakoot Ground, Andheri (W) A cloudy sky, shot from Station's Sk...

After a long wait, I bought a camera yesterday. And to test it, I was all up for an adventure today. Yes, I had one too and that involved travelling for 4.5 hours approximately, but all I realize is; I wasted that opportunity. How, you would wonder? Well, the story goes like this.... "A me, after a day out crashed on the sofa to watch reruns of one of her favourite shows, One Tree Hill. This day's rerun had that episode where Brook Davis realizes that the carefree-phase of a person's life is short-lived and is soon replaced by the responsibility-shouldering adult life. She skips an opportunity of getting her designer label showcased and instead goes to attends her last cheer-leading tournament, which she enjoys to the fullest. Discontent with the day's event, I quickly absorbed that message in and started analyzing: Why didn't I enjoy to my fullest? Soon I got the answer to this nagging question and that is; I was busy clicking, so busy that I didn't even s...

"Are you trying to lose weight?" were the words my friend spoke. That triggered my thought process and I instantly began analyzing the true definition of the word "exercise". If I go by what the Oxford dictionary claims to be the real meaning; exercise is just doing some physical activity. But what my friend interpreted after seeing me jog seemed like 'losing weight' and 'exercise' are synonyms! At that point I didn't ponder much on it and limited my thoughts. Soon, I told an another friend about how I have been running some miles daily to prevent vacation blues and she said, "Woah, that's too much. You are thin enough, then what is the need?". And it provoked me again to contemplate on this issue. Frankly, I am fed up of this attitude of masses, mostly they think that a person exercises only when he or she needs to lose weight! Seriously?! To be honest, I have been involved in different sporting activities since my childhood; fo...

It has been quite a long time since I wrote anything sensible. Now-a-days my post usually describe "What-I-did". This time, unlike 2011, I didn't do a wrap up post for the year 2012 because of two reasons- First, I was sick last week and second, everything is already documented here by the way of blog-posts, so I felt no need to write an another post describing my 2012. But this doesn't mean I'm not grateful for the lovely year; 2012 happens to be among the best years of my life (well, you can certainly figure out by the stuff I did last year!). Today is the first day of new year 2013 and rather than reviving the glorious 2012, I want to remind myself of a few guidelines that helped me enjoy the past year completely: #1. Day-dream and make realistic plans   Unless you dream of something, you won't think of making that thing happen! But again, dreaming of unrealistic things will get you nowhere. To be frank, I day-dreamed of being a pat of a fl...

Remember about the field trip about which I told you yesterday? Well, it is all below in the photography. The day started too early for me, despite of that getting to enjoy a lovely weather (after so long!) made up for that fact. The trip was in three parts- Nehru Science Center, RBI monetary museum and Prince of Wales museum. The main highlight of this trip was that it lead to completion of two to-dos from my list; Travelling via Bandra-Worli Sealink and driving/being driven on the whole stretch of Marine Drive (in this case, in a bus and not once but twice!). Frankly, half of the trip I was not feeling positive about skipping my tests but soon as the day passed by the negative feeling started fading away. Overall this trip was good. I took tonnes of pictures from a moving bus, out of which only few are share-worth (whatelse can you expect from a 2mp mobile camera?). Anyways, I have arranged the pictures in a chronological order, so that it lends a story-tel...