February 17th – 20th, 2017 – Bangalore, India
So far my flights were on time no problems, until now. I was in Cochin airport which is 100% solar powered and for some reason, many flights were being delayed that night. I didn’t have any plans until the next day so it was ok but I wanted to get to Bangalore soon. Finally, the plane took off and I was in the air again! 😀
Bangalore is known as the IT capital of India, therefore a great place to work if you’re an engineer. Many of my friends are engineers and I was about to meet one of them again…Darshith! 🙂 As it turns out, it’s Darshith’s birthday so a very big Happy Birthday to you Darshith, I hope you have a really fun and inspiring day that is full of gifts, cake, and love ❤
When I arrived at my hotel which was an hour cab ride from the airport, it was really late and I was tired so I didn’t do anything except text my friends, that I arrived and went to sleep. The next day I had plans to meet Rafat, Darshith and Pratik, another friend of Darshith’s, who is a very nice guy too. Unfortunately, Rafat wasn’t feeling well so she couldn’t join us, so the 3 of us set out to Cubbon Park in Bangalore and there was so much to see there! First, we went to eat which was great because all 3 of us were hungry already! We had dosa, salad, noodles, everything was so good, I’m getting hungry again! Then it was time to go to a museum in the park. We took lots of pictures, saw many things including a 3D film on bugs which was very good! We even took turns to go on TV to tell the weather to all of India! It was fun being silly and feeling like a kid again in the museum, we had such a blast! We later went for a walk in the area and Bangalore has some really nice green spaces and the weather there is awesome. I took some more pictures and then we were all hungry again! Time for supper! We had so much to eat, I don’t remember what we had but I do know it was great and really fun. The day went so fast, but I was glad we still had Sunday to roam around. Darshith was so nice he gave me 2 books and some sweets that his lovely family had made for me which were so delicious, I ate them at the hotel and throughout my trip! A very big thank you to you and your family Darshith for taking great care of me! It was really great to meet you too Pratik, thanks for a fun Saturday!
On Sunday, I met Darshith again and we set out for the day. First, we ate lunch at an amazing buffet! If there’s one thing about Darshith and me, we love to eat and we are always hungry! We definitely worked up a good appetite trying to cross the street in Bangalore in their traffic because it’s like taking your life in your hands and tossing it up in the air! What would normally take about 20 seconds to cross a street here, it took us 10 minutes to inch ourselves across the street while standing in the traffic in the middle of the road while cars circled around us, honking, not stopping! I held on for dear life and we finally made it. This is India.
Darshith was so sweet and bought us tickets to see a speaker named Dirish do an inspirational talk called A Take On Life. The topic was on Connections and it was one of my favorite things to talk about and listen to so it was perfect. The talk was held in a bookstore and people of all ages gathered to not only hear what Dirish had to say, but to participate too. I have to say, this was a great activity that inspired everyone and once again, I was the only foreigner in the room so when I spoke, I had lots of fun! Please check out the page A Take On Life on Facebook and see what it’s all about or attend a session if you’re in Bangalore.
When A Take On Life was over, we met another blogger friend of ours, Noorain, who is a professional food blogger in Bangalore! What a perfect night out for all of us! Noorain and her husband picked us up and we were heading out to a great restaurant called NH8 that Noorain knew was awesome and with all her moutwatering pictures on Instagram, everything she posts is amazing so we were in GREAT hands! NH8 was so good, they served Rajasthan style food and so many dishes were on one big plate! I was stuffed way too early, I wish I had that plate again now! Noorain you have such a bubbly personality that is very fun to be around, I hope to see you again soon! Thank you so much for a great time Darshith and Noorain and for the gifts, you both gave me as well.
The weekend flew by so fast but I was still in Bangalore for the day on Monday and another blogger/published author and friend of mine was coming all the way from Tamil Nadu to see me for the day! Miss Deepika Kumaaraguru! This inspiring young lady is in her early 20’s, she wrote her first book at 17, published it, wrote a second one recently and published it, now she’s working on a 5-part series that is due to come out this year. I’ve never met anyone like this and she’s one of the biggest commenters on my blog with multiple emoticons which I love 🙂 ❤ I was very excited to meet her and on Monday morning, she arrived with her mom and grandma at my hotel. We hugged so tight and I talked with her mom and grandma so much. They are all very sweet and lovely and I felt like they adopted me on the spot! Later, Deepika and I stayed at the hotel while her mom and grandma went to visit Cubbon Park for a few hours. We talked so much over lunch, it was great to meet this wonderful friend of mine that I only knew from the comment section of my blog and her writings as well. Deepika was so sweet, she gave me a copy of her book Etheral and I am very honored to read and review it. I believe there are still copies of it on Amazon for you to purchase. Thank you very much, Deepika for taking the train from your home with your family and meeting me in Bangalore!! I have such great memories of our meet up and talks! Lots of love to you ❤
That night I was flying back to Cochin because I had plans to stay at a nice hotel with an awesome pool and just relax and do nothing for a few days on my own before gearing up for the next bloggers meet up and wedding! Stay tuned for more stories of This Is India…
Much Love ❤
Jen
I love reading your narrative! Hope you have many more wonderful moments here. 😊
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I certainly do have many more awesome moments to tell you about 😉 ❤ Thanks Shweta for following along with me, it's fun to know you!
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Wow talk about an action packed holiday and so many friends … do hope some of them can visit you sometime … would be great to return the favour? Your writing takes us right there and the photos give us a face to all the names.
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Thank you so much Kate, I really hope my friends can come here too 🙂 I’m so happy you are reading and enjoying the adventure along with me! 😀
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Awwww ❤ I remember each and every moment I spent with you on that beautiful day, Jen ❤ It was so wonderful to come and meet you and next time, you're staying at my house 😀 ❤ Looking forward to your review for Ethereal!
A very happy birthday to Darshith! Hope you're having a blessed day today and may God always be with you in each and every step of life 🙂
Looking forward to your time in Cochin and of course, Nimi's wedding 😉 😍
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Deepika, I feel so loved by you and your family!! ❤ I would love to stay at your house, I remember talking with you about that, how lucky am I?? ❤ I will have to bring my kids next time too 🙂 I enjoyed writing about our time together too XOXO
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You are easily lovable, Jen, you have to know that 😉 ❤ Yes, you're coming over next time and with your boys too! ❤ Lots of love to you! ❤
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I’m so grateful for you your family and your invitation Deepika! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
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Whoa, that’s huge :* Thanks so much, love ❤ XOXOXO ❤
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💖💜XOXOXO💜💖
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Omg you guys met !!!!! Me too wanna meet you Deepika! !!! Someday I’ll inshallah 🙂 love you guys 🙂
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Aawwww I hope you and Deepika can also meet up! Love you too Pratyusha 😍❤
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Hey, Pratyusha! 😀 ❤ Yeah, Jen and I finally met and she is the first blogger pal I've met with ❤ You and I should definitely meet one day too, dear, it'll be amazing! ❤ Lots of love back to you too! XOXO
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Thank you for the wishes, Deepika. I am so happy that you met Jennifer and had a wonderful time with her. Yeah, we had too much fun in Nimitha’s marriage. I know it’s been more than a month since my b’day but I am happy Jennifer wrote this blog and I go extra wishes 😛 How are you?
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💖💖💖
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Hey, Darshith 🙂 You’re most welcome, hope you had a wonderful birthday. Yeah, meeting Jennifer was a pleasure and we had a lovely time together. Glad you had loads of fun in Nimi’s wedding, I missed it. I’m doing great, how are you?
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❤ ❤
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Happy to read this post Jennifer. Looks like this must have been a fun trip with you meeting so many of your followers and blogger friends. Indeed, it’s not something that every blogger can claim…meeting blogger friends in person. You’re lucky.
Rajasthani Thali? I can see some Rajasthani food preparations in the picture but I can’t say it’s truly authentic. But it’s fine, after all you’re in Bangalore! Never knew you’re foodie. Although you did mention you enjoy every kind of food!
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Thanks Arv, I’m definitely a foodie! I’m sure in Jaipur the food is amazing too 🙂 I’ll have to see your city one day too. So many places still on my to do list. One of my favorite things to do when traveling is meeting people and when it’s people I connect with through writing, it’s even more special.
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I loved reading your newest post, thank you so much for sharing. I am an Indian love too, if you like checking out my posts 2015 about India.
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That’s great Cornelia I will definitely check your India posts 😊😊 Thank you for letting me know and also for your comments 😊
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Wow Jen, what a wonderful experience. You are so blessed to have traveled to India and then to have such friends to tour you around to see the wonders and beauty is incredible. Love the way you describe the journey and your feelings.
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Thank you very much Tom and Audrey. I have amazing friends in India and I feel so grateful for everything they did for me 😊😊😊
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So many blessing Jen.
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Thank you for reminding all the good days and wishing me on my b’day 😛 I am sorry again for being late but I am not using WP much as our know. And you also met Deepika and Pratik and Noorain. Sana missed out 😂 See you soon again! 😍
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Yeah its fun to reminisce about February 2017 😊 for me too. Not to worry about being late and I’m happy you saw your birthday message 🎂 I met so many people this visit it was so much fun. Thank you again for treating me like a #queen 😍 Hope to see you soon too! 😀
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