Bucket List

Everyone’s got a bucket list. If not a physical one, they’ve got one in their head. What they want to do before they touch 30, what they want to accomplish in the course of their lifetime. There’s both the realistic and unrealistic in those lists. From meeting a certain celebrity to making a lot of money in life, people have a lot of bizarre and intriguing things listed down in this list.

No. This post isn’t going to be a virtual bucket list of mine. Unlike most people, I don’t have a written down list of all that I want, though I’ve been meaning to list it all down for a very long time. It’s all in my head and has been that way for a while. But there’s one entry on this list that has been a dream for a very long time. It’s something that isn’t really that out-of-reach but at the same time, I’d have to get somewhere in life to do it.

I love travelling. Most people find airline travel a real pain and can’t stop counting down the hours from the moment they enter the aircraft to when the estimated time of arrival is. If they get delayed by even 30 minutes, they start to get irritated. I’m not really like that. I’d spend as much time as I could in flights and in different countries. The concept of long flights across the oceans, the frequent flier miles programs on every airline, the fancy terminals built to impress incoming tourists; the whole deal. I guess living in Dubai for so long and seeing its grand tourist attractions, it’s airport which just seems to get better and better every year. It’s all contributed to this interest.

I realized I still haven’t mentioned what the entry on the wishlist is. Well here it is. Most of you have seen Up in the Air. The George Clooney, Oscar nominated, movie in which he spends most of his time travelling within the United States and carrying out a particular job. In the end of the movie, he goes to the airport and picks a random destination from the monitor and flies there. That’s my dream. Going to the airport with nothing but my wallet, a camera, a smartphone, maybe my laptop and practically no suitcase/hand carry luggage. Just pick a destination, buy the ticket and go. Go to that one city and do all that there is to do for a tourist there. Probably go with a friend, but then it becomes a little far-fetched like a Zindagi Na Melegi Doobara kind of thing.

So that’s a dream right now and considering that I’m just entering University I’d say I have a good amount of time to work towards that one list entry and make it a reality.

Also, I left Dubai and now I’m in Delhi/Gurgaon before I head out to the West. Loving it here. The food is just too damn good.

Until Next Post,

Parichay 

A Little Late - Zomato

Ever had a hobby you started a little too late? I do. Its called Zomato.

To all that don't know what Zomato.com is, Its a platform where you get all the information you'd ever need about restaurants in particular cities or countries. It provides information on the Timings, Cuisines. Pricing, and even Snapshots of the menu for you to glance through before you decide to eat at a particular restaurant or order in from. 

That’s the consumer part of the process. There are also those people who write reviews for restaurants, which one can then read to really get an idea of what an outlet is like.

Writing a review doesn’t require a paid membership or any form of money exchange between you, Zomato or the restaurant. You can create an account [or sign in using other services I believe], and start reviewing and recommending restaurants to others out there.

What I really love about Zomato is its reach. Its one of the few platforms I’ve come across which has built apps for all major operating systems. Not just windows and android, but also the ‘lesser beings’ like Windows 8, Windows Phone and Blackberry & BB10. There’s also a mobile website and a webpage for the traditional users.

So coming back to the hobby, you must’ve guessed that by now my most recent hobby involves Zomato. I’ve been writing reviews for quite a few of the new restaurants I’ve been visiting during this 4-month vacation. Now for the late part; I’m leaving Dubai in another day and in the US Zomato haven’t set up yet. Which means that I’ll only be able to write food reviews on Zomato when I come back for my holidays in December and then in May.

I really hope in the next year or two, it decides to expand to Chicago and make things interesting. But until that happens, I’m stuck on Dubai and India.

For those of you few who actually read this blog, you’d have realized that I’ve the Zomato widget to the right, which if you click on will take you to my reviews where you can see first hand what I just spoke about.

Oh and did I mention that the top reviews get AED 100 or more in food vouchers of the top restaurants in Dubai? Which makes for the incentive to write more reviews!

Here’s the link to the latest review: Zomato Review - Nawab

Until Next Post,

Parichay.

The Month's Updates

The past one month has pretty much been the most 'active' month of my en tire summer so far. Thats one month out of the already completed 4 months that I've had off to do nothing else.

It could be because we all got tired of doing absolutely nothing sitting at home and drowning ourselves in TV shows and movies. But as far as I go, I like to think that i’ve been going out more in this month than in any of the other 3 months I’ve off because its my last month in Dubai. In another 5 days, I’m going to be on my way to India, and from there to the US for University. Which means that Dubai will become less of the home that it is now and more of the vacation destination every time I have a long break from University.

I’ve made it a point to try and meet everyone that I talk to on a regular basis atleast once or twice in this past month. I never really thought it’d be this hard, to be honest. When the summer started, everyone was so pumped up and excited about meeting every alternate day. There were plans on Jet Skiing, Paragliding and whatnot but in the end, none of that really happened. The closest we got to proper plans was in the past month. Been to WIld Wadi, Aquaventure, and Laser tag all in the past 4 weeks.

I guess i’ve been trying extra hard to meet everyone in this month because I’m worried about how things are going to be once college starts and after college. Its always been said that the friends we make in college are the ones that stick with us in life. What about the friends I’ve made in the 4 years of highschool here in Dubai? What happens to those friendships?

This change from school to college is without a doubt the biggest change in our lives so far, and it will always be one of the most significant events of our lives; so I’ve been told. And though i’ve been told time and again that adult life is overrated, i’ve also been told time and again that University life is highly underrated.

So here’s to college. Friendships. and whatnot.

Another post shall soon follow, when I’m closer to my departure date. So be prepared.

Until Next Post,

Parichay

Patience. A Virtue of Sorts.

I'm having a little block when it comes to blogging. And no, I'm not talking about Writers Block, if you can even call me a writer. Its just that I write something, and I don't think it's something I'd like to put up on the blog, so I end up deleting it instead. 

But worry not, I'm leaving Dubai for good in another 10 days. And I'll only return in December for my winter break. So that parting, with the city I've spent 17 years my life in, is bound to turn into a blog post of two. 

Keep the patience.

Until Next Post,

Parichay