Ganpati Pandals, Khetwadi, Mumbai (2016)

Like every year (almost), this year too I went to see the Ganpati Pandals in the Girgaum area of Mumbai. They generally have been coming up with unique themes and Idols for ages now. Most of the Pandals in this lane are over 50 years old. 

So here are a few pictures that I took last night.

This first Ganpati is not from Khetwadi but from Tardeo, we stopped on our way home to check this one out. 

I think this was one of the best one this year. Minimalist, Grand and just Perfect.

And this one was made entirely of Modaks. I have included a zoomed in picture for you to see all the Modaks. 

Oh and this one had a runway theme, see how the show stopper is posing for all of us.

This one made sure that they remind us to drive safe. Also, they had a cute little fort on the side with two dolls taking a selfie, I found that super adorable!

And this one had Jungle Book theme, with Bageera, Mowgli and everyone else at the entrance.

And this was a star as well, a half centimeter Ganpati sitting on top of Pikachu. They sure know how to keep our Gampu updated with the latest trends.

We had a Mowgli themed Pandal and then we had this one which was Jungle themed. They even have real fish in the Pandal. As we went late night and there weren't many people there at the time, we got to feed the fish as well.

100+ names of Ganpati

Sufra by Moshes

One cannot miss this place on the Colaba causeway, if you are looking for a quick bite after some street shopping then this place should be your pick. It is a small little place with around four tables so you might have to wait for a table.

Coming to the food, we got one sandwich, a shawarma and a mousse cake.

The food was nice, I liked it. Won’t call it extremely out of the world but for the price we paid it was totally yummy.

The star of the meal was the mousse cake, it was delicious! I could have had that for the entire evening. If you love chocolate cakes then I suggest that you give this one a try.

The damage was somewhere around INR 600/- 

Get your house monsoon ready

Water leakage is possibly one of the meanest that could happen during monsoon. The wonderful season of romance does have its ugly side and I am sure everyone just prays that they don’t have to deal with this part of monsoon.

I remember last year we visited my native place somewhere close to the end of monsoon. Now let me tell you that the house was vacant for quite some time now and thus when we reached, we were in for a shock. The house was damp with seepage at places. The roof had completely gone for a toss.

It was then that we realised that maintaining a house is difficult and even so during monsoons. And it’s not like these things happen when the house is not well taken care of, it could happen to any house. Suddenly the vacation went for a toss and we got busy in fixing the house.

 Luckily we don’t live on the top floor in the city, the people living on the topmost floor often complain about seepage from the terrace. I used to always think that they exaggerate but when i saw the same thing happen to my house, i did realise that maybe they had a point. When we got back to the city, i visited the top floors and to my surprise, they weren’t exaggerating at all. I could see the cracks and the places that they had fixed during monsoon to avoid water seepage.

I wondered how anyone can live in a house that has water leakage. And getting these cracks fixed is an annual routine for a lot of people, but people like me who don’t live on the top floors are generally unaware of this.

There however are some few easy things that we can do to make sure that our house is clean and damn free.

Adding bring, vibrant and cheerful colours to your home decor can help make the house feel more monsoon ready. It will help take the gloomy weather out of your house and thus making it a happy place even when the weather outside is just dark and gloomy.

Picture source: http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/yellow-room.jpg

Pic source: http://resize0.indiatvnews.com/en/centered/oldbucket/750_533/lifestylelifestyle/IndiaTv13f046_monsoon-ready.jpg

Repainting metal frames of windows with waterproof paint is a good idea. It will help keep the rust away. You can also get the exterior as well as interior walls repainted with weather proof paint to avoid damage. This would be a good time to invest in some water resistant products, it will help fill up the pores and small gaps and prevent water seepage. 

Check your electric connection. Make sure that there is not pending electrical work and that your connections are safe. They can be dangerous especially if there is dampness or seepage in your walls.

Place camphor or neem leaves in your cupboard to keep moisture away. This will also keep the bacteria and fungus away.

Don’t forget the most important part, Roof! Be proactive and take care of the roof first. Do a thorough inspection and take care of all the small problem areas.

It is always a good idea to get professional help and get your house checked for cracks and problem areas.  You can get in touch with Dr. Fixit who provide a team of dedicated technical experts for site inspection who compile timely solution and recommendation reports. Dr. Fixit also has trained applicators who are the ambassadors for good waterproofing workmanship. The continuous efforts taken by Dr. Fixit aim for a country/home free from dampness.

Have a look at their latest video featuring Mr.Amitabh Bachchan 

Being ready before and after the monsoons is very important personally as well as keeping your home happy and healthy.

Do check out some tips and solutions to stay Monsoon ready by checking out The Happy Homes Blog.

Dubai Vlog | Burj Khalifa | Dubai Mall | Dubai Aquarium | Abu Dhabi |

So I went to Dubai recently and vlogged a little bit. And finaaalyyy after a bit of a delay the vlog is up! Check it out?

Your Personal Sanitation Squad

Sanitation has been a major issue in our life. It saddens me that it is so difficult to find clean washrooms in India. Every time I visit a place, I first check their washrooms and it is always a great relief when the washrooms are clean. However, if you travel a lot or even if you hop around the city a lot, you would have to use public washrooms, which again are questionable when it comes to sanitation.

Yes, there are some tricks that we use to avoid any contamination like hovering over the seat or making a tissue seat cover etc. My best is to use the Indian style washrooms as there is no touching the seat involved. (I know too much TMI right? Sorry!)

So I recently came across PeeSafe, it is a toilet seat sanitizer spray. They also have wet wipes which can be used for both the seat as well as the skin. Sanitizer sprays are really handy and be useful on daily basis. They have various sizes, so you can buy one depending on your needs.

The spray has a pleasant fragrance. All you have to do is spray the sanitizer on the toilet seat and wait for 10 seconds and you have a sanitized toilet ready for you! I have been using this product for a couple of weeks now and I am truly impressed by it. The fragrance even makes the stinking public washrooms bearable. 

You can order one from here: http://www.peesafe.in/

Bombay Vintage – Review

A lovely little place in Colaba. I like restaurants which have some theme and character to it. This place has a mix of modern and vintage feel. The seating area is also very cosy and thus made me not want to leave the place. It’s a good thing that we ended up going here a bit late; the place was empty and quite.

The place is not very big but they do have seating arrangements upstairs, I like the place upstairs better.

The food is good too, they have tried to mix the typical Mumbai dishes with western cuisine. I remember having a Chicken pizza with a typical chicken curry topping and vadapav sliders, loved both.

The staff was courteous and nice. We ended up chatting the waiter up as well, and he suggested the vadapav sliders. We are glad that we tried that one out.

The place is not really very economical and the bill was around INR 2000/- including drinks.

I really like the place, and may visit sometime when I am in a mood for some fancy meal.

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A photo posted by Pooja Mahimkar (@poojamahimkar) on Aug 10, 2016 at 2:38am PDT