Random Thoughts

I'm not a social person. I have my own set of friends, with whom I like to mingle. Likewise, with family as well - I don't really mingle with anyone just for the fear of politics involved. That being said, I don't really like to host dinner / lunch parties for family. 

I'm a South Indian and my husband is a north Indian. I don't know Hindi and my husband is not that fluent in Tamil. So, when it comes to hosting his relatives at my place, I'm not comfortable with the language and the fact that it's all formal. The table has to be properly laid, with proper cutlery, be a proper "lady" shuffling between kitchen and dining serving food.

To compare this, I prefer having my friends over. You have absolutely no need to be formal. Food can be on the table and they can just help themselves. Isn't it strange that friend's feel more at home than your family.

Also, when family comes, one has to dress according to what would please others (I mean family members), while with friends one can wear what pleases them. I hate it when I have to "adjust" for someone else. Why can I not wear what I want at my house???

I hate the fact that in India (at least the set of people I interact with), people interfere so much and give advice. I'm gonna start charging for the advice that people give me. I'll probably be more rich than my monthly income. 

Coming to my son, who is now 7 months. I'm still trying to figure out whom he likes better - me or my husband / mother-in-law. I obviously want him to love me more than them. I do get absolutely jealous, when I try and entertain him the whole day, while they just spend probably an hour with him and he gets so excited when he sees them. Dude, i've been with you the whole day.. Why not smile and laugh at me too? He gives me so many kisses in a day - Is that his way of showing his love to me and saying he loves me more ;) ? Only time will tell and I hope my wish is fullfilled :D

Lessons learnt from Maldives trip

There were quite a few hitches that I faced while planning my Maldives trip. Just jotting it down, so that I don't repeat the same ones again.

1. Ask many travel agents at once. This will help in analyzing cost and also one can get a better deal. I made the mistake of contacting just makemytrip.com and my air fare increased by the time they responded.
2. I always thought it's best to book by oneself but travel agents do give a better deal. I made my booking directly at Four Seasons. I was surprised by the deal I got from my travel agent. 
3. It's better to work with people who are flexible. While working with big companies like makemytrip.com (Mentioning only their name since I've personally interacted with them), they work on fixed time like 10 am to 6 pm and only on weekdays. Getting the quotation and making the booking becomes difficult once it's weekend. My experience with Fernweh and my previous travel agent(who made my booking for Bora Bora) is they are flexible with timing. They work anytime during the day (and night), you can contact them anytime. They treat every customer like king. They come home to pick up documents and other details required. You end up having a personal relationship with them and this goes a long way. I'm definitely going to check the rate with Fernweh, every time I go for my vacation.
4. Never book indian airlines. At least in my case, they had no benefit at Spice Jet like front row for babies. Good thing the flight duration was small. The variety to choose meals is limited unless you pre-book. 
5. Indian airports are not that great. I'm not talking about Delhi, Mumbai or others that I'm unaware of. But Cochin airport was very bad. There is no way one can while away time there. Not many stores, the international airport wore a deserted look. In the domestic terminal, while we were returning to Chennai, the check-in process would not happen before 2.5 hours of flight departure. There was no place to eat inside the airport. We had to request the airport authorities to let us out of the airport, so that we could eat and relax at the food court at the airport. Also, there was no baby room near the check-in counters. The restroom facility that we have in our Indian airports are pathetic. The restroom facility at new terminal of Chennai airport was so bad that it was full of water. 

My stay at Four Seasons, Kuda Huraa

The previous night was bad with zero cooling in the room. We headed out for breakfast while they were repairing. Breakfast was good and I could get everything I wanted for my Little One :) We were informed that there is something wrong in the AC and we would be shifted to a suite by evening!!! Now that was amazing. 

One can relax by the pool or beach. Snorkelling on the beach was quite nice. We went for Dolphin cruise in the evening. It was such a good sight to see so many dolphins swimming. Four Seasons has a turtle corner, where the injured turtles and rescued and given life. The sunset lounge is to die for. The one bedroom suite that we were shifted to was gorgeous and spacious. This was one of the few room from where sunrise and sunset could be seen.

On the 3rd day, my husband went for Scuba. He felt the corals were a bit dead and the experience he had at Bora Bora was mind blowing, when compared to the one here. My mother-in-law went for Male city tour and she had fun exploring the city. It was my mother-in-law's birthday. She was flooded with personalized gifts from all departments. They even sent a complimentary cake, which truly made her day even more special. 

The next day, my husband again went to another location for Scuba, where he felt it was not that great. I, along with my mother-in-law and son, went to the nearby village. The guide explained the lives of people in the village and gave us some time to shop

We tried the spa and the experience was mind blowing. One needs to take a cute boat ride to the spa. I just wished I had tried the spa on an earlier day. Would have absolutely returned to try out more massages. During our stay, we dined at all three restaurants for dinner and each was good in its own league. My mother-in-law loved the yoga and meditation, that she didn't miss it for anything :) On day day we were departing, the instructor, wrote the list of asanas for my mother-in-law to practise at home.

While we were going for our spa, I asked if I could check out Two bedroom Royal Beach villa. It was a massive beautiful villa and had a private beach. 

View of Sunset Lounge: 

View from my room:

Morning Yoga Session:

On my last day, we went for kuda huraa reef snorkelling. We could see so many fishes and it seemed like a good end to our holiday. The service of Four Seasons, like always is amazing and I absolutely cherish my stay here.