Eid Mubarak

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Eid 2010

Happy Onam-2010

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Kerala, Onam 2010

If anyone is wondering what Onam is; you can find about it from one of my old posts here. This is the third year where Onam is coming during the Ramadan. The good news is that it will take another 30 years for Onam to coincide with the Ramadan month.

India Independence Day

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August 15 2010, India Independence Day

Indian Postal Service

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Indian Postal Services

Even in this electronic world, the Indian Postal Services still keeps its head high with  great services. It’s nice to see them coming up with diversified services. It is so great to see the post( man/ woman) coming to your home on a daily basis with the snail mail. This Post office is one of the post offices I saw during my trip to Kochi, this one is located in Fort Kochi. You can find the complete list of their services by clicking here.

Dream Cochin

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Dream Cochin, Hotels in Kochi, Kochi

Dream Cochin

S.A, Road, Elamkulam Junction ,Kadavanthara, Cochin, Kerala 682020,

India|Tel. +91 484 4129999|Fax: 91.484.412.9898

Ancient fantasy meets modern decadence at Dream Cochin, a stylish, sophisticated Cochin India hotel by the Arabian Sea. The inspiration of acclaimed hotelier Vikram Chatwal, this high design gem offers exquisitely appointed accommodation set against emerald green Kumbalam backwaters.

This is one of the hottest happening places in Kochi right now. We had decided to go for the dinner buffet  in “Keshai”. So after a long and tired day we reached Dream. It is located on the Sahodaran Ayyapan road, which badly needs a fresh coat of tar. I can very well imagine the current state of the road after the pounding from the monsoon. It was a pleasant evening and we had  build up a good appetite since it was a very hectic day. The spread wasn’t that great, we liked a couple of salads and one of the main dishes. The desserts were disastrous, the only saving grace was the ice cream. The staff were really attentive and friendly.   The restaurant was literally filled with the crew of some airline.  Though we didn’t  go to the bar, checkout what Dream has to offer by clicking here. Next time we would surely checkout their Thai Restaurant. But yeah, if you are in Kochi; Dream is definitely worth a visit.

Notion-ink-Adam

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Adam Tablet

Even when Apple fans are going ga-ga over the iPad, in comes another player to the potential tablet market. It’s Notion Ink Adam Tablet. The brains behind this tablet are from Hyderabad, India and that makes me even prouder. The neck to neck comparison with ipad is given below. Now if this tablet delivers all the promises, then it’s surely going to give apple a run for its money. I wish it turns out into an iPad Killer. You can catch their progress here.

 

Vintage India

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India Old Photos

Mangalore Air Crash- A Sad day for India

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Mangalore Air Crash

My heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who have lost their lives in the tragic crash. Many families have lost their bread winners, may they have the courage and strength to face this difficult moment in their lives.

Oberon Mall- Kochi

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God's Own Country, Kochi

Kochi, the one and only metro city in Kerala had it all except a decent mall. Oberon Mall is Kochi’s answer to that. It’s great to see something like this finally happening in Kochi. After the success of this mall, a lot of new malls are lining up in different parts of Kochi. This mall has made a big difference to Kochites shopping experience.

Oberon MALL is located right on the National Highway (NH 47) Bypass at Edapally, one of the happening commercial centres in Cochin, Kerala. It is easily accessible from all corners of the city and well connected to other cities / states with the NH 47 and NH 17. With lesser traffic congestion on the NH bypass road than the city roads, Oberon MALL offers easy access, convenience and a world-class shopping experience to its customers.

The Food Circle, the food court of the mall is always buzz with a considerable crowd. They even have a live DJ till 10.30pm. The food is ok, nothing that great, we tried the Arabian Treat outlet and  the crispy chicken outlet. The Arabian Treat was below par, Crispy Chicken was pretty ok. Then there is Dosa Express, Papa Milano’s Pizza and Baskin Robbins.

There is something exclusive here, in the food outlets once you place the order along with the receipt you will be given a gadget(the one below). Once your order is ready, the lights will blink on the gadget and also there will be an alarm. This is pretty good and we found it amusing.

Below are the pictures of the Food Court, it was late in the night and i managed to get the snaps when no was around.

 

If at all you want to find some negatives about this mall, we found atleast two major shortcomings. One is the parking and other is the lifts. The parking in the basement is too cramped. There are a couple of lifts in the parking area, but every time we went there it took us almost 10-15minutes to get in, there was always a lot of waiting time. They should have had a bigger parking area and bigger lifts. The work is still going on, so hopefully all pending issues will be taken into consideration. This is a good start, but it is to be seen how they are going to maintain it 5 years from now. No doubt Oberon, is the best mall in Kerala atleast for now…

 

Vallarpadam

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God's Own Country, Kochi, Vallarpadom

Vallarpadam is situated next to the Bolghatty Island on the west, and linked to Kochi (Ernakulum) via the new Goshree bridges. It is about 3.5 kilometers in length in the north-south direction and hosts a population of 10,000 people.  A couple of years back, reaching Vallarpadam was a pain, because one had to wait for the ferry services and the roads were so bad. Now thanks to the new projects(LNG Terminal, Container Terminal….) coming up in an around this area, Vallarpadam is well connected.Vallarpadam is about one kilometer away from the mainland.

Vallarpadam and the nearby island ‘Puthuvypeen’ (New Vypeen Island) holds great development potential because of its proximity to the international east-west trade route between Asia and Europe.

Construction going on at National Shrine- Our Lady of Vallarpadom Basilica

The newly laid railway track and railway bridge The cost for constructing the 8.86 Km long rail way path is 300 crore rupees. This is the longest rail route in India which is constructed over the river path.