Our #ZuperDayAtKidZania !!!

Our visit to KidZania gets merrier each time, and I can't stop myself from posting here every time I visit. (Do check out my previous post on KidZania here, with a complete insight about the park). Kiddo's school excursion too has been to KidZania since this year and she doesn't want to miss any of her visits, with her friends as well.

Bache, Vita and Urbano welcome you at the Independence Fountain with their Declaration

Last weekend I(along with kiddo) was invited by KidZania as part of #ZuperDayAtKidzania activity by Blogadda. They kept it completely informal and asked to choose the slot of my choice. We opted Saturday after slot and were welcomed by Riddhi from KidZania team. She took us through the tour of the park and left us for ourselves to enjoy. Kiddo had already made the list of the activities she wanted to be part of. MOD has always been in her list and due to long queues, still haven't visited.

 

The best part of our visit was Camlin studio launch the same day and there was gift hamper for every participant, so the first she wanted to visit was Camlin. It is an art and craft studio, where kids get creative, she got to make a cat mask, which she coloured and decorated with Camlin craft supplies. Next she wanted to be a Police. Being a police, they are given a sketch of a criminal whom they have to search for with each clue they get from different establishments, to end up finding the criminal has taken a flight to Mexico, lol. Though this activity calls for kids of age 4+, the activity requires running around the park and I don't really suggest for 4+, this can be better enjoyed by might be 8+, similar are others like Pepperfry, DHL, Dabbawalas, Godrej Security Solutions, which requires wandering around the park. 

While you have 5hours to spend inside the park, few mins go in just waiting for the slots at the activity you look for, the best thing to utilize such slots is participating in free activities like shopping at Big Bazaar, kiddo was so fond of it, the custom made kid's size inventories and the super cute shopping trolleys. She also role played Pilot, Fireman, Construction Engineer, dinning service trainee at Grand Avenue Hotel. Her visits are never complete without a performance at Metropolitan Theater, while she was in a fashion show in our last visit, she took up Shiamak Davar's dance academy this time and performed for the Bollywood song Manva Lage. Bollywood acting is still in her list as she doesn't meet their age limit.

 Thats kiddo(first from left) performaning at Metropolitan Theater

KidZania is having treasure hunt and other fun activities(family activities) till 21st of June, we took part in treasure hunt by Kellogg's Chocos and won their hamper. Take my words and take your kids to KidZania, kids would love to role play at every studio.

This post is a part of the KidZania bloggers meet activity conducted by BlogAdda and KidZania.

The Iconic Sufi shrine of Mumbai, Haji Ali Dargah!!!

Haji Ali Dargah, was yet another place from my bucket list in Mumbai for quite some time. We had driven many a times on the Lala Lajpatrai Marg and got the view of the dargah, but never had I visited it. Most of our visits are to Haji Ali juice center, which is at the entrance of the pathway to the Dargah, one of the finest juice centers of Mumbai, and my favourite is their Kiwi Cream bowl. On my solo wandering on a Saturday afternoon, after Aegon Religare bloggers meet, I knew where to go after Mahalaxmi temple. It was drizzling and the weather looked perfect for the walk through the pathway to the Dargah.

The Dargah as seen from Lala Lajpatrai Marg

Said to be built in 1431 in memory of wealthy muslim merchant Sayyed Peer Haji Ali Bukhari, the Dargah is on an island off the coast of Worli, a suburb of Mumbai. There is a pathway to reach the Dargah which doesn't have any barricades and open on either sides. The Dargah is closed for public entry during high-tides, when the water level reaches as high as to submerge the pathway. At the entrance of the path way are shops selling chadar(piece of cloth offered at Dargah) and flower garlands for offerings. The shopkeepers keep chasing you. They even offered me, a scarf for free if I bought chadar, as you need to enter the Dargah with your head covered. I had a scarf in my bag and just kept going, not reacting to them. There are other stalls too selling souvenirs. But the drizzle restricted me from opening my cam.

The White marble main gate

You enter the Dargah complex through a white marble gate. As soon as you enter, you find the main Dargah. There is separate hall for ladies and gents. You need to leave your footwear out and cover your head to enter the Dargah.

The Main Dargah

The complex has other prayer halls and a Qawwal Khana, a place for performing Qawwali(muslim devotional song). There is platform to sit and enjoy the Qawwali, once you are done with Dargah. I spent some time there and enjoyed my walk back in srizzles. 

Qawwali being performed at Qawwal Khana

Travel Info:
Haji Ali Dargah is on the island off Worli.
Timings: 5:30AM to 10PM, entry restricted during high tide.
Entry Fee: Free
Photographing not allowed inside the Dargah.

Mahalaxmi Temple, Mumbai

I was done with the Aegon Religare event by 2PM and had enough time till hubby would pick me from Mahalaxmi. Got a chance to roam all for myself, I thought of visiting few of the places near by. Very close to the Bombay Bronx is Mahalaxmi temple, though I had traveled near it many times, it was my first visit to the temple.

Saffron flags flaunting, on the way to the temple.

You need to walk through the narrow market lane, with shops selling flowers, pooja samagri, and idols of god and goddess on either side of the lane. The pooja samagri baskets have beautiful lotus, lotus which is said to be auspicious and favorite flower of Mahalaxmi. There is no proper provision to leave your footwear, but most of the shops entertain you to leave in front of their shops, if you shop with them. Finding no other option, I shopped an idol of goddess at one of the stores and left my shoes with them(sigh). It was drizzling and I somehow manged to reach the temple bare foot, then after there is stilt area as you climb up to the temple. The stairs and whole of the temple was very slippery because of rains. Photography is strictly prohibited, you need to deposit your camera at the locker, while you are allowed to carry the mobile phones, with a strict warning of not clicking. The main temple, has the idols of Goddess Mahalaxmi, Mahakali and Mahasaraswati. All the three idols are decorated with gold and pearl jewelries. There are two separate queues for men and women. Usually both the queues are very long, but since I visited in the afternoon, it was quite short. During festivals, especially Navratri and Diwali, the queue reaches as long as few kilometers. If you just want to have a glimpse of the goddess and don't want to get pooja done, there are windows on either side of the main temple, from where the goddess is visible. There are stairs to get down towards the beach at the back of the temple, there are small shrines dedicated to hindu god and goddess and you get a beautiful view of the sea. Unfortunately photographing here too is prohibited.

Image credit Mahalaxmi Temple official page

The history of the temple dates back to 1761AD. As the story goes, the Hindus immersed the three idols of the Goddesses into the sea near Worli creek to avoid destruction of the idols by the Muslim invaders. Subsequently, during British rule, Lord Horneby decided to connect the two islands, Worli-Malbar Hill creek and the work was entrusted to Shri Ramji Shivji Prabhu. They were not in a position to connect two islands by constructing two ways and could not complete the project on account of seawaves. One night Goddess Mahalaxmi instructed him in a dream to take out all the idols which were in creek of Worli and place them on top of the hillock. Accordingly, team took out all the three idols of goddesses from the Worli creek, then only to be able to continue with the construction work. After completion of the work, Engineer obtained ground on the hillock as a gift from the British ruler to construct the temple.
Travel Info:
Mahalaxmi Temple is at Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. The temple is around 1km from Mahalaxmi railway station.
Timings: 6AM to 10PM

Global Vipassana Pagoda, Mumbai - A Photo Essay

Of all the beaches of Mumbai, we find Gorai and Aksa beaches to be the lone, less in crowd to spend time at. And Gorai village is just after Bandra for a visit during Christmas. The narrow lanes through the woods, and the crib and stars in front of almost every house, makes you feel as though you are driving through old Goa. Apart from the beach, Gorai attracts tourists to Essel World, one of the first amusement parks of Mumbai, and Global Vipassana Center.

I had visited Global Vipassana Center at Igatpuri long back but managed to visit their center in Mumbai only December last. The Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai is no less than any Buddhist Temple of South East Asia.

Vipassana is a technique of meditation re-discovered by Gautam Buddha. The technique remained alive for about 500 years in India, and then-after gradually lost. It was preserved in Burma(Myanmar), and so are the gates of the Vipassana centers named the Myanmar Gate. Know more about Vipassana meditation here.

The entry gate/Myanmar Gate is a Red structure, with golden decors and dragons on either side of the gate.

Though there are steps directly from Myanmar gate to Pagoda, the entry is closed and you need to walk through the road next to the main entrance. At the ground level are the huge Bell tower and Gong Tower which attract most of the kids.

On 2nd level is the main Pagoda, world's biggest piller-less stone structure dome. Visitors can have a walk through the Pagoda from gate 7.

You can walk around the pagoda or spend some time with family, its very well maintained. There is another small pagoda to the north, were an audio recording is played for 10mins and anybody can sit and meditate in batches for free.

Also are statues of Akash devi and devatha and a Ashoka Pillar on this level. There is also food plaza, were you get veg snacks. 

On the 1st level is a painting gallery, depicting Gautam Buddha's life. Also is a library and a souvenir shop, where you can shop Burmese items, books on Buddha's life and Vipassana meditation.

As you exit the 1st floor, there is a beautiful statute of Gautam Buddha in a garden, where you can sit and relax, just before leaving the Vipassana center.

How to reach: 

The Global Vipassana center is just next to Essel World, about 3km from Gorai beach. As you drive through Essel world main entrance, you find the entrance gate to Pagoda, you drive another half a kilometer to reach the Myanmar gate.

By Jetty: From Borivali Station(West) take an autorichsaw/taxi/bus to Gorai Creek

From Malad take an autorickshaw/taxi/bus to reach Malad Jetty

Then take Ferry of Essel World to Pagoda

By Road: Drive through Mira-Bhayandar Road to reach Gorai.

Visit http://www.globalpagoda.org/ to know more about Vipassana Pagoda.

KidZania - Kid's Amusement Park

I was introduced to Kidzania in Dubai, when it was launched in 2010. This Mexican chain of amusement park was launched in Mumbai in April 2013, with the Bollywood Superstar Shahrukh Khan being the strategic shareholder and Co-promoter and holding a 26% stake in the business.

Kidzania is a global indoor theme park which educates kids through real life role playing activities. Kidzania emulates the workings of a real city but built to scale for children. The experience is made complete with buildings, paved streets, vehicles & recognizable role-playing destinations in the form of establishments.

Hubby had purchased Monsoon Discount coupon booklet in August, which entitled discounts on entry and eateries at Kidzania. Kidzania being in R-City Mall, close to the Godrej Interio Experince center, we thought of combining my blogger's event(check about the event here) with a visit to Kidzania. I joined hubby and kiddo at Kidzania after my blogger's event.

The ticket counter resembles an airport, where you collect your boarding pass(ticket) to the Air Kidzania(the amusement park), a traveler's cheque of 50 KidZos(the Kidzania currency) and RFID bracelets(RFID bracelets are unique security bracelet given to both parents and kids for the duration of the visit which can be removed only by Kidzania staff when the visitor has to leave, hence secure the safety of the kids inside the amusement park).

The entry too resembles the pathway of an airport. As you enter the park, the kids have to take care of, and handle all establishments by themselves, parents can watch them and enjoy, and at other establishments like TV studio and Theatre, parents get to sit and watch their kids perform, inside the establishment. There is Parents Lounge too, where parents can spend time.

The kid first need to encash the traveler's cheque at the Yes Bank(which has kid's size ATM machine too). Either the kid can do the cash transaction or get a debit card done at the Bank, for spending on different establishments. 

The whole set-up is very much child friendly, parents need not worry anything about the kids safety. Every establishment(set-up) has the display of age limit, rate/cost(earning marked by + and spending by -), number of kids per batch, and the next batch timing. At every establishment, kids either spend or earn money(thats the service industries like hospital, dental clinic earns you money and spend money at entertainment establishments).

As the kid enters an establishment, his/her RFID bracelet is recorded, to keep track of the establishment the kid is in during that time, just in case a parent has to search their kid, the sensor guides the parent to that particular establishment. Very well trained staff at every establishment, train and educate the kids through role-play.
There are 60 establishments and a single visit of 5hours(4pm to 9pm, the second shift during weekends/public holiday, first shift is 11am to 3pm) which we attended was too low. Though during weekdays it has single shift from 11am to 8pm. My daughter could participate in just 7 of them.
She started with the nursery at the hospital, though she wanted to role play a Surgeon, her age limited her from participating, as they told, they show the internal organs and kid of her age would be scared of it. At every establishment they give the necessary accesories like the aprons to make the role-play more joyful. At the nursery, they give bath to the baby, change the dress and diaper, weigh the baby, feed it, put eye drops and make it sleep. Since parents are not allowed inside the establishment, this was the best I could click,

Daughter nursing the baby

Next she went to Coca Cola bottling plant, where they are trained in bottling, which includes cleaning the bottle, filling, capping and finally labeling. And the best part, they carry their packed bottle home.

At Coca Cola bottling plant

Then was the Kellog's chocos factory, the manufaturing and packaging and walk out with their pack of chocos,

At Kellog's Chocos plant

Next was the Dental clinic which she attended, where they train oral hygiene, along with dental surgery, which included root-canal treatment(injecting anastasia, drilling and filling the teeth).

  

 

Then was her cooking class at the Bajaj Appliance Culinary School, she make a fruits salad and got a certificate(so called masters certificate for completing masters in art of cooking).

 

Next was the most interesting of all, at the Chika's Locker fashion studio and runway. Kids are trained and made ready for the ramp. The kids then perform at the theatre next to the studio.

Shiamak's Dance class and Chika's Locker

And they walk the ramp

Next to fashion studio is the Shiamak's dance studio and Bollywood acting school. The kids from these three establishments perform at the theatre turn by turn

Then was the Paramedical clinic, where kids are trained medicine, then the batch of kids, rush to the emergency spot in their Ambulance, give an emergency treatment at the spot, get the patient to the hospital in the Ambulance and treat them.

 Other establishments, I just clicked pics of,

And finally you can deposit your earned money at the bank or shop at the Central store. But the products here start at 50Kidzos. If you have enough earned money you can shop, else deposit in the bank and use it during your next visit.

 

My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the visit and is waiting for the next. You can check for shift timings, ticket prices and necessary information at their website http://mumbai.kidzania.com/en-us. They have online bookings too, though you can't use vouchers for online booking.

Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai

I was off for one of my blogger's meet in Mahalaxmi. Planning to be on time, I left home quit early, and ended up reaching very soon. My driver took me for a tour of near by places on the way. To start with was the Lal Bagh market, he said the Lal Bagh market had the best masalas, and asked if I wanted to shop. I instead asked him to take me to dhobi ghat, which was just few minutes drive on our way.

Just next to Mahalaxmi railway station on the Western railway is the famous Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat of Mumbai. It can be easily see from the flyover of Mahalaxmi station. You can make out its one of the places to visit in Mumbai, as you can find many tourists with their huge cameras, trying to capture the sight.

 

Dhobi Ghat is an open air laundromat, with rows of concrete wash pen, each fixed with flogging stone. Said to be formed in 1890 to serve the city's British and Parsi community, it achieved the world record for largest number of people hand washing simultaneously at the same place.
So when you are crossing the Mahalaxmi station flyover next time, just have a peek into one of the world's largest laundromat, its worth a watch.

Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Tree Trail - Part 2

Going on with Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Tree Trail, here are more trees,

Elephant Apple(Dillenia indica) is so called as its eaten by elephants. The bitter-sour fruit pulp is also used in India cuisines.

Elephant Apple

Elephant Apple

Divi Divi(Botanical name: Caesalpinia coriaria, native West Indies and Central America), grows as a large shrub.

Divi Divi

Cocoa tree(Botanical name: Theobroma cacao, native of Brazil) is an evergreen tree. The fruit contains seed(which is used to make dark cocoa powder) and a significant amount of fat, cocoa butter. The proportion of seed and cocoa butter is accordingly varied to form the dark and white chocolates. Cocoa bean was also used as currency system in pre-columbian Mesoamerican civilization.

Cocoa tree

Cocoa tree

Garlic Pear(Botanical name: Crataeva religiosa), the nectar filled flowers attracts many insects and birds. At the flowering season, its said to be flooded with butterflies.

Garlic Pear

Shivan(Botanical Name: Gmelina arborea Roxb, native to India, Myanmar) is also called poor-man's teak.

Lemon Scented Gum Tree(Botanical name: Corymbia citriodora, native to Australia), is also called Lemon eucalyptus. The tree resembles the Eucalyptus tree. Refined essential oil from the Lemon Scented gum tree is used in insent repellents. This tree can be easily recognised by smelling its leaf, which smells, lemon.

Lemon Scented Gum Tree

Bamboo(Botanical name: Dendrocalamus strictus Nees, native to India): We were narrated with great facts about bamboo. Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants and the air flow through the hollow plant makes an unusual sound, which keeps the Bamboo forests misterious. Most Bamboo species flower once in 40years or 100years. All plants of the same stock flower at same time, the flowering is followed by death of the plants. Its so said that in North East India, the flowering of Bamboo plants is said to be a sign of bad time, the flowering of the plants increases the rat population, which after Bamboo, feed on the cultivated farms.

Bamboo

Gustavia(Botanical name: Gustavia augusta, native to Tropical and South America): The fruit is drum(tabla) shaped with seeds inside, when shaken makes a tender sound.

Gustavia

Gustavia Fruit

Bottle Brush Tree(Botanical name: Callistemon citratus (Curtis) Skeels (syn. C. lanceolatus Sw.), native to Australia): This gets its name from its flowers which resemble bottle brush.

Bottle Brush Tree

Bottle Brush Flower

Wild Almonds, which are said to be natives of Middle East and South Asia, look similar to Almonds, but taste bitter.

Ficus Krishnae(Botanical name: Ficus benghalensis L. var. krishnae Almeida, native to India) is also called Krishna's Butter cup. The leaves of the tree have pocket like fold at the base. As per mythology, Lord Krishna who was fond of butter, rolled the stolen butter it this leaf to hide from his mother Yashoda. Since then it retains its pocket like shape.

Ficus Krishnae

The final trees where the Three Sister Trees. These trees are called three sisters because of their similar shaped leaves,

• Sita Ashoka(Botanical name: Saraca arborescens Burm. f. [S.asoka (Roxb.) de Willde;S.indica auct. non L.], native to India): There is interesting story behind Sita Ashoka.  Sasoka and Nisoka were two cannibal demons. They get blessed by Matara Swamiji to be born as trees in their next birth. Sasoka, who was born as Ashoka( a-shok, meaning without sorrow) gives shelter to Mother Sita, during her stay in Lanka. His brother Nisoka also reborn as a tall tree, stand outside the graden, gaurding it. Matara Swami will reborn as Sitaphal and mother Sita will eat fruits of this tree, during her stay in Ashokawan.
  

  

  Sita Ashoka

Rose of Venezuala(Botanical name: Brownea grandiceps) called as Laal Jumar(red chandelier) in Hindi, flower red coloured flowers, which resemble chandelier.

Tree of heaven(Botanical name: Amherstia nobilis Wall, Native to Tenasserim) is said to be the most beautiful tree of all flowering trees. Its also called the Queen of flowering plant. Its one of the only five trees of the specie left in Mumbai.

Tree of heaven

The session ended, with a group photo of the attendees along with Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation and Sanctuary Asia teams, near the Sita Ashok tree.