FOUR MUST VISIT PLACES IF YOU ARE IN MY HOMETOWN SILIGURI (WEST BENGAL,INDIA)

Siliguri is located in the state of west Bengal,India. It is a second largest city of west Bengal. It is a node city; a city which is a gateway to many neighbouring foreign countries like Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and China. Being a gateway city Siliguri is excellent in terms of trade options and its easy accessibility from across the neighbouring countries as well as states, makes Siliguri the fastest growing city of west Bengal. It also attracts people from across the hill and it's adjoining areas because Siliguri offers good medical facilities in the region of north Bengal.Which, is another reason that draws crowd to this place.

Whatever may be the reason for your visit to Siliguri; if you are here you cannot avoid shopping. It is a little shopping paradise for shopaholics, though the prices of the products may be slightly higher than that of markets of " Kolkata and Delhi", But when compared to the markets of adjoining places Sliguri offers ''wide variety of dynamic goods'' at comparatively cheap rates.

Siliguri (better known as silla; thanks to my facebook friends for popularizing this name) is my hometown. It's been 13 years since my parents migrated due to terror problems from a small town in Assam to Siliguri. Now let’s take of tour of Siliguri through my eyes,Siliguri is a place where my heart and soul lies, It is a place where I got my education and made some friends for lifetime. This town has something that captivates you in such a way that you feel like making this town your own. As it’s in the progress of growth this town is busting with energy. The people of this town are vibrant, helpful and very cordial. In terms of safety quotient it's very safe city.However, for travellers it's advisable for them to carry important phone numbers (police station and helpline numbers), and some safety mechanism like a bottle full of pepper spray. Though Siliguri is lacking in infrastructure and quality in terms of higher education, it’s coping with the pace, as some very good Colleges are being set up every year. So that aspiring students don’t have to leave their home town to pursue their dreams.one of the major reasons for the popularity of this town is because it is 40 km/24.9 miles away from Darjeeling. Tourist’s coming to visit Darjeeling has to go via Siliguri. Tourist coming via train has to get down in New Jalpaiguri  Railway Station (NJP) or if it 's via plane than you need to get down at Bagdogra International airport which is 16 km away from Siliguri. Undoubtedly the beauty of hills (Darjeeling, Gangtok, Mirik) is totally enchanting which is what most of the tourist’s look forward to. But siliguri has its own travelling experiences to offer. So if you are a traveler travelling to Darjeeling and if you have a day or two to spare in siliguri, or if you are travelling generally to siliguri. Then I will guide you to four must visit places in SILIGURI

ISKCON TEMPLE SILIGURI
LOCATION: GITAL PARA, ISKCON TEMPLE ROAD
 

1. ISKCON TEMPLE: Iskcon (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness) popularly known as HARE KRSNA movement’s temple in siliguri is a number one must visit place if you are in siliguri. Lord krishna and Radha is the main deity of this temple. Small temples representing other deities are built around the main temple. As soon as you enter this temple premises your soul will be filled with peace and tranquillity and the aura of divine lord. The Chanting of ''HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA'' can be heard when you enter the main temple complex which soothes you and purifies your inner-self. If you are a spiritual person or if you are someone eager  to learn about the ancient mythological feat of lord KRSNA you can talk to the devotee monks or you can take some books back home, as there is a small shop inside the temple premises from where you can choose items of your choice 

CITY CENTRE
LOCATION: NH31

 2.CITY CENTRE: City centre is a swanky mall with 3.7 lacks sq.feet of retail space( huh!! Sometimes the statistics of our own place seems to astound us).., first of its kind in Siliguri. It's been recently after malls like this have been built up. people of Siliguri got a break-free from their boring and monotonous way of rendezvous.People are slowly soaking weekend culture as a part of their life. Siguri as well its people are going through winds of change.Though mall like this is nothing new to the people living in metros, But if you like the feel of being in the rhythm of your own city. Than city centre is must visit for you. If you have a fetish for branded clothes you can go shopping in stores of your choice ,and if  you are a foodie like me this mall is a heaven :D. There is a multiplex, amusement games for kids and not to forget my personal favourite hangout in this mall KFC,Dominos and of course crossword( though I prefer buying my books online, as it is much cheaper but checking out books is absolutely free which I can't resist when I am in this mall :D :D)

3: HONG KONG MARKET: How can I forget Hong Kong market! A paradise for shopaholic’s like me. If you like to do street shopping and like experimenting with your clothing and accessories, you must definitely visit Hong Kong market in Siliguri. The products are mostly made in china and I can't guarantee you on the durability of the products, but if you are looking for something in vogue at cheap prices than I guess you will be making judicious decision by shopping here.But always remember to negotiate for price of the products,because the prices are not fixed.whenever i go shopping i always agree to pay half of the price asked by the shopkeeper,though the shopkeeper tends to give me some dangerous look initially.But i always win :D.Not only clothing you will get everything here, from a small nail cutter to pen drives you will get it all here. I can't think of anything which you will be getting in a full stocked mall and not in Hong Kong market. There is a street shoe stall just some yards away from Hong Kong market, where you will get beautifully designed flat sandals for as cheap as 60 rupees. Just use it for few days and throw it, a very fair deal, isn't it?

4: Savin Kingdome: Savin Kingdome is a cool place to hang-out with your kids and family. With an amusement park and a water Kingdome inside it, it is an an ideal place for kids as well as their parents to have fun. Not that saving Kingdome is limited to kids, if you want to bring back the child in you, you can have some crazy time here.

Now familiarizing you with the flavours of siliguri's  cuisines. It offers a varied and multi-cultural cuisines inspired by different community of people living here (Bengalis,Nepalese, sikkimese) . A very famous form of foreign inspiration, is reflected in Chinese food (baozi, or jiaozi) well known as momos ,which is  loved and fondly eaten fast food in each and every house hold of north Bengal. Momo got it's serious innovation here, with people trying to adapt it with their own taste, which is why momo is even served with tomato sauce apart from its traditional sauce ,in most of the food stalls here. When you are in Bengal not talking about sweets and fish is a crime, Bengali's are ardent food lover which is reflected in their cuisines as well.There are uncountable number of food from which you can serve yourself. To name a very popular one is illish maach, misti -doi (sweetened form of curd), rosogolla (a sweetmeat  made out of cottage cheese).well siliguri is a smaller replica of Kolkata when it comes to foods, but it has its own taste of  diversity in food inspired by different  communities of people residing here. Now coming to the point of exploring the city, my personal favourite way of exploring the city is by foot. I believe that it's the best way one can absorb the beauty and serenity of any place. If you have never had an experience of sitting in a Rickshaw (three wheeled passenger vehicle, like a tricycle with a seat at the back for passenger that is driven by somebody sitting at the front and pedalling) it is a fun way of exploring the city by having a joy ride in it. 

BENGAL'S DELICACY : ILLISH MAACH (FISH)

                                                                   

MOMO

ROSOGOLLA: SWEATMEAT MADE OUT OF COTTAGE CHEESE

       

MISTI-DOI : SWEETENED CURD

''INDIAN RICKSHAW''

Dear frends,this was a description of my hometown Siliguri through my eyes!!To be more precise about the location of the places you can always refer to google maps and search. I Hope you had lot of fun and excitement while reading it, but to have a real life experience of it, you have to visit Siliguri yourself :).Plz give me your valuable feedback and leave your comments, I will come soon with my next post until then stay updated  byee tk cr :):)

Simple and easy four step meditation process by which you can connect with your mind,body and soul and rejuvenate yourself !!!!!!

 The world in which we live today is full of commotions, everybody has their own set of dreams and aspirations, we are constantly running after our dreams, we are  always in communication with other, our mind is filled with thoughts form various angles of our life, our mind is full of our own set of tensions, anxieties, happiness, fear. people from every field of life face this whether you are big or small, rich or poor, male or female .communication is something which you cant  avoid, even if you are not communicating with others, you are constantly communicating with yourself, your  brain is never at rest. like we go for detoxification plans for our body, our brain which is the most efficient part of our body also needs a process by which u can gain mental peace, a process by which we can connect with our mind, body and soul and rejuvenate ourselves.

Dear friends, today I am going to teach you simple steps by which you can relax your brain, remember this is not full -fledged meditation.meditation needs to be done under the supervision of trained teacher,you need to be very disciplined while doing it.my  simple brain exercise is inspired by sum forms of meditation, if u have 15 minutes to spare every day you are ready to go for my colour meditation. Why I have nicknamed my exercise as colour meditation because we  will deal with colours while practicing it

Step 1 :Maintaining a disciplined life is very important, arrange your schedule  in such a way that you  get at least 8 hours of sound sleep, wake up by 6 am in the morning. If u have a habit of doing some exercises in the morning  that will be an added advantage for you.

 step 2: After finishing your exercise, go for colour meditation. Sit in a crossed legged position, if you cannot sit in a crossed legged position, you can simply sit on a  chair. There is no such restrictions for it, but make sure that your spinal cord is straight while u sit. Stooping, bending forward, or sitting lethargically while practicing it is a wrong way of doing it.

  

 step 3: close your eyes and begin to inhale and exhale, slowly inhale with your nose and exhale with it, don’t let any thoughts seep in your mind, simply relax. connect with your inner self. Feel your heart beat, forget al the tensions of your life. When you are practicing it for the first time you will feel that you are unable to block the thought process from coming into your mind. Random thoughts will come in your mind like, you are getting late for your work, you have to complete your household chores, bla, bla bla…., but you need to clear your mind from all such thoughts. simply concentrate in your breathing. And connect with your inner-self . Initially you will have problems controlling your thoughts but with regular practice you will gain mastery over this art. practice this for five minutes.

      

   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 step 4: Now moving to our part of colour meditation, continue with breathing in and out. Imagine yourself in a white attire in a room with whitewalls, sitting in a crossed legged  position. Now slowly fill the room with your imaginations with the things of your choice, for eg; u can fill the side of your room with a beautiful vase of your choice, you can choose the flowers of your choice, remember to choose colours that soothes you and your brain, fill the room with positivity and positive colours (choose colours like aqua blue, marine green and mostly light colours)   you can experiment with colours of your choice and can fill various corners of your rooms with various article and colours, but try to avoid colours which can create negativity to your mind, and the article with which you are filling your empty room of imagination should mostly be related to nature  . Now that you have completed colouring your imaginary world, slowly open your eyes. But remember while you are filling the room of your imagination with colours it should be your imagination filling up the room, you should be sitting in a crossed legged position In your imagination, let your mind do the working. Initially practice this for five minutes, but u can slowly increase the duration to 10 minutes, when you start enjoying it u can even practice  it twice a day.

   

                                                                                                         Now thank almighty three times  for whatever he has given you, love your surroundings, love yourself, build positive attitude towards people and environment, have a positive attitude towards life .Don't let any negative thoughts overpower you.  Now you can go back to your normal work, remember  to practice colour meditation every day, if you want to energize your life and de-stress your brain. After practicing it for a month you will definitely feel the difference yourself. :)

                                                                                                       hey frenz, I hope you liked my post, plz give your valuable feedback. I will come soon with my new post ''EASY STEPS TO DEAL WITH POST BREAK-UP SYNDROMES'' until than stay updated byee take care. :)

    

Review on '' MISSING VARRUN''

   

MY THOUGHTS ON ‘MISSING VARRUN’

              Missing Varrun is a tale of a man ‘Varun’ who is CA by profession; he is the main protagonist of this novel. In this novel he fights all odds in his life to be with his lady love Amaya. This novel clearly brings out that love knows no religion, caste, creed, and age differences. Varun fights with his own instincts, his family, his community to be with the one he loves. But life takes a very ironical turn when Amaya decides to stay in spain with the kids and varun due to immigration problem has to stay back in Kolkata.

              This novel portrays the agony of a man who takes every chance in his life but gets very little in return than he actually deserves. The feelings of varrun are beautifully crafted in words. Be it his year-long separation from his wife Amaya or missing those years when he wanted to be with his children to be able to see them growing up is very agonizing. The beauty of the novel lies in the way of narration, where Amaya and Varun handle their complicated relationship in a very mature and sensible way. Love that had united Amaya and varun is the driving force till the end. Even the bitterness and grievances that varun has towards Amaya cannot overpower his love for her. Another beautiful narration comes as an icing on a cake for a reader, when after Anaya’s sad demise the younger VARRUN (Varun’s son) takes the charge. When he bonds with his father varun and makes up for his lost years with him. The ending of the story where old varun writes two letter for his son and daughter has an everlasting impression on readers. This novel makes us reflect if we care enough for our parents? Are we giving enough attention to them? The character of younger Varrun inspires us in real life; he inspires us to b a more responsible and caring towards our parents.  

               After reading this novel there are certain vivid imagination that comes to a reader’s mind that will leave a reader in tears. Like imagining varun celebrating his Diwali alone in his house lifelessly, where all he does is misses his kids and his wife. or when in the town of Ceuta old varun sits  in a bench facing the sea, where he reminiscences about his bygone years, about his lost dreams of being with his wife and kids.The author has beautifully penned varun’s emotions, his helplessness his frustrations that I as a reader could immediately connect with varun’s character. It is said that men don’t display their emotion and feelings. But I want to thank MR AMAR AGARWALA the author of the book for beautifully bringing out a man’s emotion, his cravings, his feelings and his constant sacrifice that he makes for the sake of his family.   

                 This novel is about relationships, a husband-wife’s relationship, a father –son relationship .a   father-daughter relationship, and most importantly a relationship a man has with himself, his self communications. For a reader this novel is a treat. After reading this novel one tends to understand relationships in a better and mature way. For me I loved each and every line of this novel. It’s not just a novel it’s a learning experience for me.this novel has changed various perspectives of my life.                                                                                

Dear friends i am a newbie to the world of blogging, this is my first post, here I have shared my experience of reading this novel ''MISSING VARRUN''. I enjoyed reading dis book, I hope u all will enjoy too :). plz share ur feedback after reading this book, until than byeee :)