Ideal Yatra: A vacation in McLeod Ganj

(Image Source)

I have a huge weakness for the hills. When I am amid the hills, I experience a sense of tranquility. I feel closer to myself. Therefore, the best gift that I can give myself is a vacation in the hills. I am quoting a few lines from one of my poems “The Hill Song” that clearly explains my love for the hills.

I keep going back to the hills

Bask in the delicious sun and the greenery,

Read the love letter of the mountain breeze.

Listening to the inner and the outer tune

I slumber peacefully on the verdant earth

My soul talks to the flowers.

I have always wanted to visit McLeod Ganj which is located 4km north of Dharamsala Town. It is one of the biggest traveler hangouts in Himachal Pradesh that attracts plenty of tourists from all over the world. There are so many things about McLeod Ganj that attracts me.

The scenic beauty of the Dhauladhar Mountains, the peaceful and spiritual ambiance, the variety of cuisines, the Buddhist way of living, attaining inner peace through yoga and meditation are enough to convince me that I will have a great time McLeod Ganj. This is the place where I can get in touch with my inner self and feel rejuvenated after coming home from the vacation.

As McLeod Ganj is quite far from Kolkata, I have been postponing this trip for a long time. But now I really wish to gift this vacation to myself soon.

Four days in utopia

Since there is no direct flight from Kolkata to McLeod Ganj, I will first take a flight from Kolkata to New Delhi. I can choose Indigo Airlines for that. After that, I have to take another flight from New Delhi to Dharamsala. Spicejet Airlines is good for that purpose. Then, I have to finally take a cab from Dharamsala to McLeod Ganj.

Day 1

After checking in the hotel, I wish to try some authentic Tibetian cuisine in a nearby café. After soaking in the beautiful ambiance of McLeod Ganj for some time, I would like to visit the Dalai Lama Temple which is famous for its peaceful ambiance. I would then explore the Tibetian market while returning back to my hotel. 

Day 2

I would start my 2^nd day at McLeod Ganj by visiting the Tushita meditation center. I wish to attend the guided meditation session that starts at 9.30 am.

After feeling rejuvenated with the meditation session, I would move towards the Bhagsu Waterfalls.  

Day 3

On the third day, I would like to trek to Triund. I have heard from many people that Triund is the gem of McLeod Ganj which one cannot afford to miss. Basking in the beauty of the snow-clad mountains while taking the trek will be an extremely rewarding experience. 

Day 4

On the last day, I would like to go to the market to purchase some memoirs. I would also try some more cuisines. Most importantly, I would spend the last day in McLeod Ganj going for Paragliding in Bir-Billing. I have earlier done Paragliding in Kalimpong, but I am sure Paragliding in McLeod Ganj will be a thrilling experience. 

Just planning this itinerary in my mind is giving me an adrenaline rush. Trekking, Paragliding, trying various cuisines, attending a meditation session, shopping and interacting with local people…a vacation to McLeod Ganj is the Ideal Yatra I am looking forward to. 

Are health checkups necessary?

“To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”~ Buddha

We often ignore our health in our fast-paced lives. We are so busy juggling our career and social life that we tend to take our health for granted. We do not understand the importance of health checkups and health care. Only when we fall sick, we realize that health is wealth. 

Regular health checkups are extremely important. We must take out some time from our busy schedule and go for a health checkup once every six months.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why health checkups are necessary:

To prevent chronic diseases

If you have any health issues, your doctor can spot it in the initial stage. Some popular health checkups are cholesterol level check, blood pressure test and diabetes check. If the doctor finds any problem in your report, he can immediately begin the treatment and medical process. Thus, you can see that health checkups can prevent chronic diseases.

To reduce healthcare costs

Regular health checkups can save you a lot of money in the long run. As they minimize the risk of health issues, they also save you from high health care costs such as surgeries.

To protect your eyes

Eye care tests are extremely important for people of all ages, especially those who wear glasses or contact lens. Your eye doctor can check if you have any eye issues or if you need a new prescription for glasses.

For proper dental care

You must visit a dentist every six months to get your teeth checked. Good oral health is very important for a healthy body. Gum diseases can result in tooth loss, whereas too much bacteria in the mouth can result in heart diseases.

Take doctor advice whenever you have any health issues. However, along with health checkups, regular health care is also very important. You must follow a healthy diet, exercise regularly and book regular health checkups for a healthy life.

Manipal Hospitals are a world-class network of 15 hospitals in India that are known for providing the best health packages and health-care services. You can find experienced doctors and specialists in their website. You can view the profile of the doctors and book an appointment immediately if you have any health issues.

If you feel that your parents or your partner need a health checkup immediately, you can gift them a health checkup.Your little gesture can restore their health. You can find various gift packages on the website of Manipal hospitals such as comprehensive health check for men, comprehensive health check for women, senior citizen health check, etc.

 Always remember that prevention is better than cure!

Note: The images of this post have been sourced from the website of Manipal Hospitals

Spring and Autumn

Life of a person

Often resembles the seasons;

Love colors your life in spring

You bloom in joy and delight

Your beloved adores the flowers...

....Then suddenly autumn visits

And the flowers depart with the leaves

Leaving behind the branches.

You slowly adapt to the change

Compromises are inevitable in life,

But what happens when

Your beloved cannot adapt or compromise?

You sigh...till spring returns

Only then you realize

May be, he loved only the flowers

There is no space for

The barren branches and the dull roots.

-Purba Chakraborty

(06.07.2016)

Linking this poem with Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Compromise

Poetry (Poetrython)

Last Tuesday, the word prompt in Twitter Poetrython was Poetry/Shairy. In Twitter Poetrython, the poets are given a word prompt and they need to instantly write poems surrounding that word within 9-10 pm every Tuesday. 

Out of the many micro poetries that I wrote on poetry in twitter, I am sharing three of them. 

My Vulnerability

Within The Verses

A new world of love

Also check out: Peace [Poetrython] | Mother [Poetrython] | Tradition [Poetrython] |Glimpse [Poetrython]

Defeating the tears

Tears clouding her vision

A lump in her throat

Refusing to go down;

The sting of a hundred needles

Piercing her heart,

A thorny rose crushed

In her delicate palm...

The helplessness of deception

The remorse of a wrong decision

The serpentine thoughts threatening

To strangulate her at once...

When she finally decided to stop

The self-torture and self-pity;

Wiping her tears fiercely,

She tried to smile

Recollecting fond childhood memories

Night outs with her best friends

And there she was...

Laughing her heart out

Defeating the tears;

Surrendering to pain is never an option

She had grown up

Singing in the chaos

And dancing with a broken foot.

-Purba Chakraborty

(22.06.2016)

Linking this poem to Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Resilience

Affimity- the meeting point of passion and friendship

In this era of the internet, we cannot even imagine a life without social media networks. So we have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn to share our thoughts and moments with the world.

Gaining audience through social networks

If you are a blogger, then it is natural that you must be sharing your blog posts in all the above mentioned social networks to attract audience to your blog. It definitely helps, but are we bloggers satisfied with the amount and type of audience that we manage to attract through our social networks?

I don’t think so. I have been sharing my blog posts in my Facebook account for years and only a few interested people care to visit my blog. When I share it on twitter, I get a few retweets and a few visitors from the thousands of active followers. Disappointing, but true. However, there is good news for every single blogger and people aspiring to start their blog.

The dream destination of every blogger

Affimity is the largest social blogging platform that lets you share your content with passionate people all over the world. Affimity is the meeting point of passion (affinity) and friendship (amity).

If you are a travel blogger, the best audience for you is people who are passionate about travelling. Now, how will you find so many travel enthusiasts who will be interested in reading your blog or content? The answer is Affimity. 

You can find channels in affimity, designed for people sharing a common passion. So you just need to go to the travel channel of affimity and post your content. And voila! You would get plenty of likes and comments if your content is interesting. At the same time, you would also be able to connect with like-minded people who share your passion and make some good friends.

My experience with Affimity

I am saying this only after using affimity since six months. Within a short span, I have gained more than 2500 followers. You can follow me (Purba_PC) on Affimity. I mostly share about travel, books and movies. In every post that I share on Affimity, I get a lot of likes and comments, followed by visits in my blog. 

Therefore, if you are a blogger, you should definitely take full advantage of the features of Affimity to build your fan base. If you can share interesting content, Affimity is your guaranteed ticket to instant stardom. And that’s what we bloggers want, right?

How is Affimity better than the other blogging platforms?

Affimity has an international user base and provides an easy blogging experience. It is simple and user friendly. You can easily share your content on Affimity compared to the other blogging platforms such as Blogger, Wordpress and Tumblr. Moreover, you get an audience as soon as you start sharing content, which is not possible with the other blogging platforms. So if you want to start a blog and share interesting content with your readers, you should start it on Affimity today.

You can also take the advantage of Affimity if you already have a blog on Blogger or Wordpress and want to attract genuine readers. You just need to post your content to relevant channels and you will surely get good results. Affimity has a variety of channels such as book club, travel, Bollywood, movies, music, food, fitness, parenting and many others.

Don't think any more! Check out the website of Affimity and create your profile. You can also download the App on your Android or iOS phone. 

Be famous, stay passionate and keep blogging!

Glimpse (Poetrython)

This Tuesday, the word prompt in Twitter Poetrython was Glimpse/Deedar. In Twitter Poetrython, the poets are given a word prompt and they need to instantly write poems surrounding that word within 9-10 pm every Tuesday. 

Out of the many micro poetries that I wrote on glimpse in twitter, I am sharing two of them. 

A glimpse of you

That first glimpse

Also check out: Peace [Poetrython] | Mother [Poetrython] | Tradition [Poetrython]

Writing these free verses instantly is kind of a poetic exercise that I love to practice every Tuesday.

You can also participate in the Twitter Poetrython every Tuesday from 9-10 pm by following the account @KaafiyaPoetry and with the hashtag #KaafiyaMilaao

Top 5 Astrology and Horoscope Apps

"Astrology is a language. If you understand this language, the sky speaks to you" ~ Dane Rudhyar

Some people accept, whereas some other deny. But astrology has always fascinated people. Knowing the horoscope before starting the day is a habit of many people, including mine. I also love to check out the daily predictions before starting my day.

This is the era of astrology and horoscope Apps. Gone are the days when people would wait for the newspaper to check their daily horoscope or check out the news channel to see how their day will go. 

The #Fame App is definitely the most popular and favorite astrology App of everyone, including celebrities. This is because #Fame provides live video astrology. Unlike other Apps, you can see live streaming astrologist talking about your horoscope in the #Fame App.

What is Live streaming Astrology App?

#Fame is a live streaming App where you can see beams of #famestars absolutely LIVE on your mobile phone. It has various trending topics among which astrology is one of its popular topics. Live streaming Astrology App lets you watch live horoscope and know how your day would go. All you need to do is download the #Fame App and enjoy live video astrology on your phone. 

The live streaming astrology app lets you see the astrologer talking about how the day or the week would go for your zodiac. What’s more? You can directly ask questions to the astrologer through the comment section of the #Fame App. Isn't that interesting? 

I have checked out some of the beams of astrology in #Fame and have found them extremely helpful. The astrologers are patient enough to answer all your queries. Moreover, it feels great to interact with an astrologer LIVE in the comfort of your home without paying a visit to an astrologer to know about your personal horoscope.

#Fame is a very popular live streaming App where you can stay updated about astrology, Bollywood, news as well as get entertained with live comedy and live music. The other trending topics in #Fame are #Comedy, #Fashion, #Entertainment, #Music, #Spirituality, #Technology, etc. You should visit the website of #Fame to know about its trending topics, upcoming beams and famestars. You can also watch videos on demand and catch the latest stories from #Fame in their website.

If you search the trending topic #Astrology in your #Fame App, you can see the list of all upcoming beams on astrology. Live video astrology is so much fun with #Fame App.

Other Astrology and Horoscope Apps

Let us also look at some other astrology and horoscope apps that are used by many people. 

Daily Horoscope:  Daily Horoscope is an App that lets you find your daily horoscope in your phone. You can also find the horoscope of tomorrow in this App. You can set up reminders for daily horoscope in this horoscope. You can also adjust the font size and custom colors in this app. 

Zodiac & Astrology: Zodiac & Astrology App lets you get your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly horoscopes. You can also get tarot card reading, birthday horoscope, Chinese horoscope, numerology horoscope and palm reading in this App. It has the astrological predictions for all the zodiac signs. The tarot card reading lets you know the energy that will accompany you on that particular day. You can also use this app to compare Venus signs or Sun signs of your and your partner.

AstroSage Kundli: Astrology: This App is based on Indian Astrology (Vedic Astrology). You can get Kundli, Horoscope Matching, Horoscope, Astrology and Rashifal. You can get your personalized horoscope in this app and get to know about the planetary predictions. Moreover, you can download the PDF of your personalized horoscope to print Kundli. You can also know your moon sign horoscopes in this app. 

Astrologer: This App is your guide to the enchanting world of Zodiac Signs. This App can help you understand the influence of the Planets, Sun, Moon and the stars on our lives. You can find about your birthstone, your ruling planet, element, quality and yin-yang. You can get to know your personality traits, compatibility with other Zodiac signs and your lucky number and colors.

Although all the 4 Apps mentioned above are good to know about the daily predictions of your zodiac, #Fame is the choice of most people because it allows you to interact with the astrologer LIVE. #Fame is the best astrology and horoscope App because no other App lets you watch live horoscope and talk to the astrologer directly. Therefore, downloading the #Fame App gives you the extra advantage of interacting with the astrologer.

#Fame App is also the dating future App. With trending topics like #Love n Relationships, it is the future for live dating game.

If live beams and the idea of live interaction with an astrologer interest you, you should download the #Fame App on your phone. You can enjoy knowing about your daily and weekly horoscopes. Interact with the astrologer if you feel bothered by any problem to know about your planetary influences. Watching LIVE horoscope is really interesting. You should download the #Fame app to experience it. 

The amazing Datsun redi-GO for a peppy drive!

Some cars make you fall in love with them at the very first sight. Well, Datsun redi-GO is one such car that took away my heart as I came to know about it on the internet recently. It is the perfect combination of comfort and style. It has the best of Japanese technology.

The Datsun redi-GO is a car that can instill in anyone a love for life and adventure.  The car is full of life and is made ideally for today’s generation who are always on the go to achieve something. Today’s youth is full of dreams and ambitions. They do not know to pause in life as they are brimming with enthusiasm and passion to live the life of their dreams.

Datsun has well understood the needs of today’s youth. Therefore, they have created a perfect car for the ‘ready-to-go’ generation. Datsun redi-GO is a car that can fill today’s youth with full of freedom and confidence to achieve whatever they want from life. At the same time, the car is full of life and so it can add the much needed fun and spark in the hectic lives of today’s youth.  

I would definitely like to test the cool and amazing Datsun redi-GO in my city, Kolkata for a peppy drive.

Although all the features of the Datsun redi-GO are praiseworthy, I would like to mention three features of the car that appealed to me the most.

The oh-so-attractive Yukan Design of the car

The first thing that grabs our eyeballs is the external appearance of the car. Therefore, the attractive Yukan Design of Datsun redi-GO impressed me to the core. I know that if I take the Datsun redi-GO for a drive in my city, I will be able to grab everyone’s attention.

Although the car is sleek and compact, it has a robust stance. It exudes a sporty vibe with that kind of styling. The sleek and smooth silhouette of the car looks very attractive. Moreover, it has dynamic and side character lines. The silver touch gives the car a premium appeal. The car is extremely sporty and stylish. 

Power Windows

The next thing about Datsun redi-GO that appealed to me is its power windows. Datsun redi-GO’s power windows let you access fresh air. The switches of the power windows are located conveniently. Both the driver and the co driver can easily operate the power windows and get fresh air. This feature of Datsun redi-GO is really impressive because many times, people feel suffocated inside the car. The power windows will ensure that I can have a comfortable ride. 

Superior Air Conditioning

This feature of Datsun redi-GO is an absolute boon for me. In the hot and humid weather of Kolkata, it is really impossible to stay without air conditioning. The best thing about Datsun redi-Go’s air conditioning is that it is optimized for the weather conditions of India. It ensures that the passengers feel comfortable inside the car, despite the outside temperatures. It has a large compressor of 89 CC that has a great cooling capacity.

Not only these three features, the Datsun redi-GO has all the features that can make your journey fun, comfortable and safe.

You must check out the car yourself to find out about its amazing features.

Fun. Freedom. Confidence. The ultimate Urban Cross – Datsun redi-GO – the capability of a crossover with the convenience of a hatchback.

Every time I fall down

Every time I fall down,

Every time I make a mistake,

Take a slightly wrong path

And my heart sobs secretly,

My father's calm countenance

Placates my weary soul.

I look at him

Tired, lost, tuckered out

He caresses my head

And narrates a story

About a girl

Who stood up with renewed equanimity

Every time she was hit down;

Who always learned from

Every misstep and experience,

Gaining medals of wisdom

In the casserole of her scars.

She is his favorite hero

A champion he boasts of.

My tears disappear

And I smile

As I recognize the girl and her stories;

The wind beneath my wings

The valor in my heart

My father is my soul-guide.

-Purba Chakraborty

(01.06.2016)

Linking this poem with Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Parents, Guardians, Significant Adults in the Lives of Children