A day tour at Saguna Baug

Saguna Baug a must visit place. The place is really awesome, surrounded by lush green hills, Ulhas River, farming field, and much other nature’s beauty.  This was my first visit to Saguna Baug and the actual experience was much more than my expectations. This place is not just nature’s beauty but filled with many other facilities that help us to make our visit more memorable. I went along with my office colleagues and final year BSc Hospitality Studies students. We met the actual owner of Saguna Baug Mr. Chandan Bhadsavle and he has shared few wonderful and helping words about his place with us.

Each one of us enjoyed up to fullest and along with fun and enjoyment our students learnt a lot many important things about agriculture and agriculture tourism. The place got amazing facilities such as Zip Line, Road Fishing, Drag Net Fishing, Bullock Cart Ride, Horse Ride, Segway Ride, Mallakham Show, Milking the cow, Snake Show, Boating, Cycling and Swimming and buffalo ride in river. Most of the things come along with package and for other facilities we need to pay reasonable charges. While enjoying all these facilities I had completely forgotten about rest such as office work, stress, and other petty things.

Food another one of the exciting features of this place. Food was very simple but with high quality hygiene and taste. They serve only vegetarian dishes in all meals but you can order separately for non-vegetarian dishes and pay according to order. The price range for non-vegetarian dishes is very nominal. Food lovers will enjoy this place with basic food and unique traditional style of preparation. Along with that they have served us the local beverage called Kokum Sharbat, which was tangy and sweet in taste. This is commonly found in coastal areas of Maharashtra.

While doing drag net fishing I got a chance to hold a big local fish Katala and the weight of that fish was nearly 10kg according to the employees of Saguna Bagh. Feeding the fishes in open lake was also a different experience otherwise we do feed fishes in fishing tank at our home. Also I caught 2 fishes while doing rod fishing and this was the first time in my life when I did fishing and got success at the same time. So I am really happy with that amazing experience. Along with that I have tried Segway rides, another unforgettable and new experience of my life.

Now the accommodation part, they have wonderful and comfortable accommodation facilities in the form of cottage room, Mud house, Pond House, and bungalow. We had rented the mud house. The interior and exterior is completely like village house. They have followed all the guidelines while constructing that mud house. They are planning to come up with few more mud houses. Pond house is another attraction point of Saguna Baug. It is situated in the centre of pond. But we won't get television in any of room so we will be able to enjoy the actual beauty of that place..

I am planning to revisit this amazing place along with my family. I highly recommend this place to everyone out there. A special thanks to Mr. Chandan Bhadsavle and his entire team. They have provided us extraordinary services during our visit.

Summer Coolers.

Generally India has humid and muggy weather during summer. Summer starts from March and ends at June. The temperature goes up to 40°C on an average. It’s really difficult to travel out after 10:00 am to 5:00 pm during summer time. Due to too much of heat we sweat a lot because of that we get tired and exhausted. To beat the heat we need to drink plenty of water but it is not possible every time to drink only water. So instead of having water sometime we can try different coolers, those will help us to cool down our body as well as it will help us to gain enough amount of liquid and energy for our body.

For the same today I am listing some summer coolers that will help us to keep us cool even in this hot Summer.

Peach Cooler:-

Ingredients

Peach Syrup: - 60 ml

Ginger ale: - 10 ml

Sugar syrup: - 20 ml

Peach: - 2 to 3 slice of peach

Soda: - 100 ml

Ice: - 4-5 small cubes of ice

Method:-

1.      First add cubed ice in tall glass then add peach syrup in it.

2.      Next add sugar syrup and ginger ale mix it well.

3.    Then add peach slice and top it up with soda.

Khus Cooler: -

Ingredients

Khus Syrup: - 60 ml

Lime Juice: - 15 ml

Soda: - 90 ml

Sprite: - 60 ml

Ice: - 4-5 small cubes of ice

Method:-

1.      First add cubed ice in tall glass then add khus syrup in it.

2.      Next add lime juice and mix well.

3.      Then add soda & sprite and serve it to guest.

In this manner we can change the base ingredient to different fruit squashes or syrups. And we will be able to make varieties of summer coolers to refresh ourselves and our guests.

GO GOA

Goa is a destination primarily for enjoyment. Goa needs no introduction. From individuals to groups, it has something for everyone. Goa is an ideal tourist destination for any age group. It provides diversity in all aspects such as food, drinks, tourist attractions, water sports and many more. That’s why people like to visit Goa again and again. Goa is basically famous for its beaches and churches. Goa is very popular among youth. Even I have visited Goa thrice till now. I had a real great time with my friends and family on all trips. Every time one visits Goa, one will find something new to explore. Goa is smaller than other states of India but it has more to offer to all kinds of tourist. People from all parts of world like to visit Goa for several reasons. 

Transportation is not a problem in Goa. We can hire different kinds of two wheelers and four wheelers according to our budget. Actually the rental charges are quite reasonable. Depending upon the kind of group you are, you can choose your mode of transport. Goa has got an additional benefit of having fuel prices lower comparatively to other states.

There are several things we can explore in Goa. Basically we need at least four days in hand to see entire Goa. Basically Goa has divided into two major parts North Goa and South Goa. South and North Goa is filled with towns, beaches, temples, museums, bazaars, and churches. We should plan our day in such way that we should be able to cover most of the tourist places in Goa in those four days. We should leave our hotel early in the morning and visit far distance places first and while coming back visit close by tourist destination. Also the ideal time slots for visiting certain places have to be borne in mind while making the itinerary.



Night life and food is the key factor of Goa. With the help of these factors Goa has earned maximum revenue from tourism. Goa is very famous for seafood and their local specialties. Every corner one can find resto bar, pubs and discotheques. Goa is famous for its trance music and carnival. People visit Goa especially for carnival. Goa is always busy from October to April; this is a peak season for Goa. 

Accommodation is really important for growing tourism in any place. Goa is filled with loads of accommodation facility. Goa offers all kinds of accommodation to different types of tourist. We can rent a room from 2 star hotel to 5 star hotel or we can rent flats or bungalows according to the number of guests and budget. At some beaches you can rent shacks on daily basis. We don't need to switch our rooms according to tourist destination. We can explore all places by staying in same room for all days.

Go the Goa way and zest up your life.

Welcome to New Year's Eve Party

We are in last month of the year 2014. After 3 days we will enter a new year with 365 days of opportunities to help ourselves accomplish our dreams. Most of us would have already made plans of how to celebrate the New Year’s party. Instead of celebrating with unknown people at an unknown place, we can easily organize a house party with family and relatives.

Celebrating at our home with family members & relatives gives us many advantages. We don’t have any time restriction for holding back our party. We don’t need to invest on the venue. It saves our time money & energy. People can stay back after party, so that our relatives don’t need to drive back to their place. It’s not an easy task though to host New Year’s Eve party at home. We have to consider so many major facts such as decoration, food, drinks, music and entertainment. These are the key factors for making party successful and memorable.

Decoration is one of the critical and time consuming tasks. For that we can use easy things such as balloons, strings, masks and other decorative things which are easily available in the market & those are very easy to use. In this way we can decorate our house.  We should shift few things such as furniture, decorative show pieces to make place for all to accommodate

We should arrange a nice music system with trendy songs. That will help us to enjoy up to fullest. We should plan some games for kids as well as for adults. Keep some gifts ready for game winners and some surprise gifts for family members & relatives that will help them to keep this as souvenir for this party. Arrange nice food like mouthwatering starters, some tit-bits along with drinks, main course and some sweets with both options veg and non- veg.  Major part of party is drinks. Do arrange drinks according to our guest’s choice that should include alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 

Now we are ready to welcome New Year, wishing one and all a Very Happy New Year 2015.

Something about Garnishing ......

Drinks are the major part of any event. We find different kinds of mocktails and cocktails, some of those will be classical and few will be completely innovative. Cocktails have different parts such as base liquor and other mixing ingredients, style of mixing, type of glass used but presentation is the key factor of the drinks. The decoration is an essential component in the presentation of cocktails. Cocktails are such versatile drinks that it would be impossible to express them in words. Mixed drinks can be anything such as easy mocktails or classy and innovative cocktails.

With the help of different kinds of garnishes and other decorative things we can make drinks look attractive and eye appealing.  It is the crowning glory of any mocktail or cocktail. Decorative straws, small umbrellas which are meant especially for mixed drinks, swizzle sticks etc. or the use of some fruits as garnish for drinks such as apple, pineapple, oranges, kiwi, strawberry, cherries and many more. We can also use some other things such as celery stick, olives, mint leaves, chocolate powder/cubes/shavings, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg powder, and some fresh herbs. These ingredients give a decorative look to the drink along with additional flavour of its own to the drink. 

Some drinks demand that they be decorated in a certain way as tradition dictates, and there is something almost ritualistic in these decorations. For example dry martini is served with garnish of green olives and similarly Bloody Mary cries out for stick of celery. Some drinks are traditionally decorated by coating the rim of the glass with castor sugar or salt. Except classical cocktails we can use different things in innovative cocktails to showcase our skill. While showcasing our skill we should keep one thing in mind that garnish which we are using for any innovative cocktail should match appropriately. 

Cocktails or mocktails should be fun, and we can be as fancy or outlandish as we like. For that    we can make different shapes and sizes of garnishes according to the size of drink & glass. For examples 3-4 cherries with toothpick pineapple slice cut into four pieces, mint leaves, lemon wedge/slice/spiral, wafers for creamy drinks, and halved/whole strawberry for frothy drinks. We can also use chocolate sticks to impress lady patrons. Along with this we can also sprinkle some chocolate/nutmeg/cinnamon powder on top of the drinks to give some different flavour to the drink.  

Breakfast – The most important meal...

Breakfast is the first and very important meal of the day. The word expresses everything within, breakfast means break the fast because the previous night, we don’t eat anything after dinner. We eat our dinner generally between 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. So we need something very healthy to start our new day. Eating healthy breakfast gives us mental and physical advantage. When we start off our day, our body needs fuel. Breakfast provides us with the nutrients and energy that lead to increased concentration in the work. By not having breakfast on daily basis, we are more vulnerable to cravings and less likely to make healthy choices in the morning and throughout the day.  Skipping breakfast can lead to increase LDL (low-density lipoprotein) that means bad cholesterol.

Eating healthy breakfast is very important for everyone, but it is more important for children and adolescents. Because kids are more active than anyone else, they do plenty of physical and mental activities throughout the day. So it’s really necessary for us to know that are we providing all the necessary nutrients and energy to our kids to perform all kinds of activities? It is shown in research that generally people are very active during morning, to keep that activeness in our body we need proper healthy breakfast. While having breakfast we should consider few things such as bread, grain, milk and milk products, fruits, dry fruits, egg, and juice. If we take all mentioned foods in our breakfast, that will provide us all the necessary nutrients such as vitamins, proteins, fiber and other necessary things. Having healthy breakfast helps us to reduce hunger throughout the day, and help us to make better food choices at other meals of the day.

There are many benefits of having healthy breakfast which are as follows:

·         It provides great energy to us to perform all the necessary physical and mental activities.

·   It helps us in maintaining our weight, generally people who skip breakfast are either    overweight due to too much eating on the meals of the day or they are underweight due non  availability of necessary nutrients.

·         It helps kids to concentrate well in the classroom and playground.

·         It keeps us energetic throughout the morning.

·         It helps us to maintain bad cholesterol.

·         It keeps us healthy for long term than the other people who skip their breakfast.

·         It is very beneficial especially for pregnant women.

·         It keeps our mood happy, due to proper intake of food in the morning.  

·          It helps us by preventing from common diseases by increasing our immunity power.

Healthy Breakfast means a Healthy You

Yoga - A road towards good health

In today’s world, every single individual is running behind money. While running this rat race, we don’t get a chance to look after our own health and we do ignore pity health issues while living this hectic day to day life. We avoid going to hospital for periodic health checkups because we find it very expensive. While we are young, we have sufficient amount of strength, power and stamina that helps us to go on. But what after few hectic and stressful years? Will we have the same amount of strength, power and stamina in our body? And the answer is ‘NO’. Now it’s a necessity to take a break and think about this very seriously. Good health is called as good wealth. What is use of earning money at young age and spending that money on our health issues at old age? So try to live healthy from the beginning itself that will help us to remain healthy till the end.

In Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism ‘Yoga’ means ‘Spiritual Discipline’. The correct history and origin of yoga is uncertain. Yoga is the oldest science of the world and the origin of yoga is in India. The history and development of Yoga is divided into three periods. They are Pre-Patanjali Period (before 500 B.C.), Patanjali Period (500 B.C. to 800B.C.), and Post Patanjali Period (800A.C. onwards). There is confusion in who is the actual inventor or first teacher of Yoga. According to classical and ancient text Lord Shiva is the first teacher on the other hand Bhagavad Gita says Lord Krishna is first teacher of Yoga.

Yoga is a part of our life. Yoga is not at all new to us. We have been practicing yoga since we were a baby. Yoga keeps our body healthy and mind clear.  Yoga can be many things to many people. Our strong body parts are looking to become flexible and flexible body parts are looking to become strong. Yoga is far more than mastering postures and increasing flexibility and strength of body parts. Yoga helps us to achieve both - getting and maintaining physical, mental and moral health. There are different asanas (poses) for different body parts that helps us to keep that body part active and fit for long time. Regular yoga protects us from many health issues as well as it increases concentration and stamina in our body. Progress in Yoga not only depends upon our efforts on the mat but also what we do off the mat during the rest of the day. Every moment in our life unbinds various situations that require our response. We may respond in a complete positive way or in a complete negative way. And if we don’t respond even that is counted as an action. 

The entire world came to know about yoga and its health benefits. Due that we can find so many yoga classes across the globe. Now people are focusing on money as well as good health at the same time.

•  The major benefits of yoga are as follows.
•    Flexibility of Body parts.
•  Yoga for strength and good body posture.
•  Good breathing system.
•  Reduces stress and brings calmness and peace.
•  For healthy heart that reduces heart diseases.
•  Helps in concentration and creates positivity in mind.
•  Helps kids in natural and successful way of body growth.
•  Helps us to improve immunity that avoids frequent illness.
•  Weight loss and all round fitness
•  Help us in improving our relationship with our spouse, friends and loved ones. 

Yoga takes us into the present moment, the only place where life exists.