The Canvas Platter

The other day I got the advertisement about Saal Digital on facebook. After a bit of apprehension that is reserved for the facebook ads, I decided to check their services out.

Have you heard about Saal Digital?
They had received a lot of good comments, after going through the facebook feed, I realized a lot of people appreciated the quality of a photo book that was created. As every year, I wanted to create a photo book for the paintings I created this year and I decided to check them out.

Past year has been a revelation for me as an artist. I have explored my own limits and more into subjects that I would not normally choose and techniques that I had not known before. The paintings that were thus created are rich in details and diverse in mediums. That was the reason I wanted a good quality photo book that could do justice to my art. A photo book that would help me create a portfolio that would enhance the showcase.

With that intention in mind, I visited the homepage at http://www.saal-digital.co.uk. They have different categories like photo books, photo booklets, photo prints, Cards, Posters and Wall decors among other things.

For my requirement, I chose a photo book that was closer to my heart. My requirement was simple, the photo book creator should be Easy to use, Low cost, it should give me the professional quality output. Saal digital outperformed all my expectations. The editor was so easy that a layman could use and the final product? Mesmerizing.



The printing quality was high, I paid using Paypal but they accept credit cards too. The delivery was quick and hassle free. What I liked most was, by the time I finalized my design, they let me chose the different formats, different finishes, and quality of paper. Each modification clearly mentioned the prize difference in the product helping me design the photo book of my dreams in my budget.


Although, my experience was hassle-free and with no followups. I submitted a design and received the book, it was as simple as that. They do however have a good support where you can get in touch in case you have any doubts.




From my end, Saal Digital has given me an excellent portfolio of my paintings.
What souvenir are you going to create with them?

After struggling for six months and the UK embassy refusing the visa twice, I finally got it stamped. As I was waiting outside the flight terminal, I felt a sigh of relief. The feeling you get when you enjoy a steam in a spa after a heavy workout. This was the peak of my happiness, after six months of separation in ten years, I was going to meet my hubby. This was a dream come true. 




The twelve hours journey through the cloud was amazing. I kept looking outside the window, impatient when the plane will touch-down. I was relishing the moment with a scotch in my hand and watching movies. While watching the movie - 'The Fault in Your stars', I kept thinking about accomplishing your dreams and pursuit of happiness. My journey was even more fun because I was reaching London during the Christmas eve. The festival season was around the whole city would be lit up. I went to take a nap imagining the fun I'll have once I land.

My nap was disturbed by a dream of me missing London, two hours before the plane reached London. Since there was still time to land, I decided to turn on the entertainment system and watch some hindi movies. Soon the pilot announced that plane will start descending and London has arrived. He mentioned that the time difference was four hours and thirty minutes, that meant I was feeling the jet lag.

After an hour passing through the immigration and security, I turn on the international roaming on my phone as planned. But as luck would have it, the service would not turn on. I decided to get out of the line and try the luck again once I am outside.
But the moment I stepped out, there he was standing at the gate with a big smile and flower bouquet. We rush towards each other and the heard fills with joy on seeing him. We hug each other tightly and he hands over the bouquet of flowers and welcomes to the London. We both knew, he is not good at picking up right flowers but we laugh. We were meeting up after six months and he brings up a box of favourite chocolates.

The time of separation was over. After six months of long-distance, we were together hugging it out. He called out a taxi near the airport and we stepped out in the queue waiting for our black cab. He had warned me of the cold but I had never realized the magnitude of the temperature until I stepped outside. Smartly, he had brought an extra jacket with him. The taxi was very different from what we are used to in India. There was an amble room for passengers and a wall of partition between the driver and passenger. We could speak to the driver via speakers. It was dark as I had arrived in the evening, so I could not see a lot of things outside on the highway.

Finally, we reach our new home in London. He welcomed me home and it felt like a cosy hotel room. We sat on the couch and started talking about it. There was a glass of whisky and Chicken biryani waiting for me as welcome dinner.

My blogging journey started when my husband showed me how to blog, but the last year due to one reason or another I could not complete it. I would like to thank my Pooja Bhabhi who asked me to write the blog about London Experience.

I had arrived in London just around the time for Christmas. The next two weeks, me and my husband had a gala time enjoying the holidays, coming up next. Keep your comments flowing as that encourages me to write more.


Photo by: Rob Bye

During the marriage of my close relative, as I walked upstairs the narrow staircase I realized something was seriously wrong. A crowd had gathered talking in miffed voices. The source of the bottleneck was not visible from behind the crowd and hence I had to step up on my toe to peek. I was not surprised to see Khanna Didi standing on the topmost landing, hands folding behind a bunch of giggling girls looking very serious. After overhearing some gossip I realized, the groom and the bride had arrived home after a tiring day spend in their marriage. While the groom was looking very curious about the night to follow, the bride just wanted to rest due to pain in her back from touching the feet of countless relatives.

But their anxiety was to overcome the barrier called Khanna Didi, who stood guard at the gates of their solace. She wanted to take some cash reward from the groom as it was the family ritual after every marriage. Poor groom, his wallet was buried somewhere beneath the clothes and mess of the house but Khanna Didi won't listen. After all for her a ritual was a ritual and she was its lone guardian.

Khanna Didi is a public character. Very few people know of her origins or her life but you will often see her around sometimes talking in loud voices or scolding someone or 'suggesting' someone how to behave properly. Once in a while she builds the family tree and then it is her job to talk to the younger people on whom to respect in the family tree.

"But i am your distant sister," she announced last Sunday on her surprise visit. Surprisingly, her surprise visits were not any surprising anymore. Ever since she moved in the neighbourhood she would delicately give surprise visits to our house every Saturdays and some Sunday's. These visits were not only visits but every week she would expect her to be treated like a royalty. "I am your distant your sister and this my right to demand anything from my brothers. Now treat me and my kids pizza for dinner."

Khanna didi is a cultural masterpiece. She is a walking talking 'Indian culture for dummies' handbook. She by hearted the entire existing and non existing cultural rituals. "What are you wearing!" she exclaimed as I stepped out in my cargo's, "in our culture married women do not wear such clothes. And why have you cut your hair so short. Married women in our culture tie long plates. Where is your sindoor, I don't even feel you are married". After series of one sided questions cum allegations like Arnab Goswami  she turned to my mother without waiting for me to reply,"See i had told you, you should have not let your only daughter wear jeans like boys in college. In our culture girls should not go to college in the first place. That's where you went wrong."

Khanna Didi takes her unappointed job very seriously.  She invites herself to dinner just to inspect if every happens according to the culture. A small deviation from the culture can result in a massive avalanche of questions, suggestion and sometimes, without provocation, scoldings. But when her culture comes to throttle her down or when she misses something mentioned in the culture, all she does is giggle upon the mistake and moves on sneakily without anyone noticing.

This lone guardian of culture is sometimes laughed upon behind her back, her suggestions lie undusted hanging in the air and her recommendations are trampled upon by passerby everyday but she still gives a fight nonetheless because giving up is not part of Indian culture.

This is my Khanna Didi whose #ConditionSeriousHai. Post written for Indiblogger and Cadbury 5 Star.

As an Artist your work begins with a plain canvas and a box of colors. While the world sees a blank page, you see an image full of possibilities. While the world is still wondering what comes next, you have to imagine how it ends. You want to imagine the bigger picture, that is larger than life! But then it is too big to imagine and you begin small. You start with a splash on a canvas and work with different colors, one by one.

Similarly you start with a blank canvas and imagination of the bigger picture in life. You make life larger by starting small but by making things count. For me winning means something like this - you are content in doing small things with vision for the bigger picture.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, " Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony." When we were small we use to sing the nursery rhymes, remembering the prose word by word. We used to feel very happy whenever someone appreciated our efforts. As we grew older we started thinking a lot, we learned many things and we learnt to multitask  but we forgot to be happy like we were in our childhood. Because somewhere while growing up, we learnt to think something, we spoke something different and we do not practice what we preach.

We try to achieve a lot of things in a very less time like the Hare who tried to race a Tortoise. We forgot that in the end it is not the fastest but the patient who wins the race. The Tortoise beats the Hare in his own game.

Life is all about chasing your passion and being steady and consistent in your work. When was the last time you learned a new language? When was the last time you dodged a basket ball? When was the last time you did something outside your normal routine? We see nowadays schools have started teaching activities like Skating, playing Basketball, Swimming etc.  We were not so privileged to get these hobby activities. But then how many of these kids will continue to learn new things as they grow up?

Everyone is running a race, a rat race, defeating each other. But remember even if you win a rat race, you are a still a rat. As Rajesh Khanna says in film Anand, "Babu Mushoy, life should be big ... not long." There is no time limit to make your life interesting. Me and my partner started to learn Salsa, Scuba Diving and bag-packed across cities. We took our journey to meet new people to understand their culture and to try out new cuisines. For me these small things matter most.

"Life is all about story to be told and adventure to be lived not a check box making it a rat race." You don't have to spend a lot to win this way. You can start small, by treating every person with respect. Treat everyone you meet with kindness and goodwill. Strip down your ego and start small. Because every person you meet has some value towards your destiny.

The smaller things you accomplish the more closer you are to make your life large, to winning. All great leaders do the similar thing.  Our education system does not produce leaders. It just trains mindless population that know how to mug, memorize and repeat efficiently. But we forget that there is no rank after the 1st. You diminish your own self by comparing with others.

The world needs poets, thinkers, writers and leaders today. So take the winning in right spirit. Start something small today and maintain it at the tortoise pace. Slowly, steadily make your way towards the winning line, don't rush, enjoy the journey and appreciate everyone you meet on the way. 

After all a master piece does not paint by itself. An Artist somewhere is giving small brush strokes to complete the bigger picture.

Winning is all about that!

This post is written for the "Winning! #Conclave14" by Indiblogger and India Today Conclave.

How high can you go to have a classic fine dining experience? How high can you get to enjoy the sunset and how high can you go to watch the glorious view of Namma Bengaluru? You may not have answer to these question but High Ultra Lounge by Brigade Hospitality can show you the height of fine dining experience.

Spread lavishly across 10,000 square feet, on the roof top of the World Trade Center, with seating for 220 covers at a height of 421 feet - High Ultra Lounge is a modern Asian bar and restaurant. With beautiful scenic outdoor and indoor seating, High Ultra Lounge boast of a top of the world experience for its patrons.

The total area of High is divided into four separate sections with very unique seating and exclusive options to suit your mood.

High View offers a panoramic view of Namma Bengaluru under the clear blue skies of Bangalore. Spread across 3600 sq ft of area, High View has welcoming sunbeds for those who want to have a lazy evening sipping on sangria.

What better way to enjoy fine dining experience under the clear blue skies surrounded by water bodies and elements? High Dine offers pan-Asian cuisine with dishes from Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese. The well prepared meal offers some unique innovations and modern twist to the exotic dishes. Zhang Hao, the executive chef at High, believes in created a Wow experience in dishes, be it in terms of flavor or the presentation. During the pre-launch event we were offered a unique Cheese roll mixed with strawberry essence that created unique flavor for us.



Accepts Credit Card: Yes | Average Meal for two:  ₹3500/-
Address: High Ultra Lounge, Roof Top, World Trade Centre, Brigade Gateway Campus, 26/1 Dr. Rajkumar Road, Malleswaram West, Bangalore | Telephone: 080 4567 4567

There was a time when love stories meant prolong exchange of letters (some using pigeons just to add glamor) and running around the trees. Love inspired movies would not reach the part of bedroom till the very end and sometimes not even beyond that. Not with Sid and Rhea, whose love is served fast food style. When new joinee Sid and Rhea go on a date 'fixed' by the common friend they end up in a one night stand.

Adhir Bhat and Bobby Nagra are clever writers who go into the history of what happened a week before their fateful night. Rhea definition of an ideal man is "neither a rapist, nor a serial killer and definitely not a boy from Delhi". Sid always wonders, "Why are girls always like this". Directed by the rom-com director Adhaar Khurana, and adopted from the scottish play 'My Romantic History' by Daniel C Jackson, Internal affairs brings you the confusion, characterization and charisma of the modern youth and the modern work on weekdays, party on weekends attitude.

Two seasoned actor Hussain Dala and Shiksha Talsania (Lakshmi from Wake up Sid) support the lead actors with their versatile, witty and clever punches throughout the play. The lead protagonist played by Priyanshu Patel (Sid) and Shriya Pilgaonkar (Rhea) bring the joy of office affairs very beautifully on stage.

It is a must watch and a welcome break for audience who get dragged into the mindless parade of senseless stories people like to call the cinema.

Where: Canvas Laugh Factory: Palladium Mall
When: Feb 15-16
Tickets: BookMyShow

Rating:4/5

While the Nizam's city is very close to Bangalore, there is one place where you can go inside the busy life in Bangalore to step back into the mughal era. Jalsa restaurant situated near Outer Ring Road, Doddenakundi Village near Marathalli offers you a ambiance taken out of the bygone mughal era.

The restaurant famously known for its Khusboo (aroma), Khubsurti (Decoration) and Swaad (Taste) offers authentic north indian and nizami dishes creatively named with the theme. Would you be craving for Sharmilee, a cocktail made with a orange twist or perhaps Jam-e-mohabat, smiroff and strawberries to tingle your taste buds or maybe Nazuk kali? and so on.

The food items are laced with delights for north-indians who live in Bangalore and they get it right. Unfortunately for me, when I reached the place for a review they were out of murgh dum biryani (since it was a Sunday evening) but I could try out the other dishes.
The dishes offer nothing special in variety and taste exactly the way it should be (which should be considered a blessing in this curd rice obsessed region). The killer part of the whole restaurant is its ambiance that offers a romantic getaway for twosome in the traffic laden life of Bangalore. On special request you get to wear the turbans (mughal hats), just ask your server for that.

Jalsa offers a good theme dining if that is your thing and a good breakaway from the normal restaurants that are lined up in Bangalore.

Go for: The ambiance and the north Indian food.
Where: Near Grand Mall, Doddanekkundi, No.25, Outer Ring Road, Bangalore, Karnataka 560037
098 86 657788
Rating: 3.5/5