Exploring Sikkim- Gangtok

Being an avid traveler and travel enthusiast I love visiting different place around the globe. Here i have answered few questions that i have been asked.

Why did you take this trip and choose this destination?

North east India has been road never travelled by me and alluring beauty of lakes, river, always mountains, greenery has always been a driving force for my travel and Sikkim has all of them
Hence I wanted to explore the culture, the food and the beauty of Sikkim so decided on the place

How were the locals and hospitality there?

Locals in gangtok were very helpful they guided me wherever needed. drivers especially spoke to me about their culture, language, food and weather which I liked the most.

How was the weather there?
Weather was excellent covered with fog, brutally cold times.it rained every now and then .sometimes it was difficult for the drivers since visibility of the roads were very poor due to fog
Average temp was around 19-20C and at time it used to go even lesser than that.

How did you reach the destination from your hometown?

We started from Bangalore and took a flight (spice jet) to bagdogra airport which is nearest.
From siliguri, we were taken to gangtok via cab which is approximately 5hrs journey

Which hotels did you stay at (please tell the name)? How were the properties?
We stayed in a hotel called khangsar villa which is a 3-star hotel. Though it wasn’t a pleasant experience, we did spoke to hotel reception and they quiet helped us.
This hotel is near to market called MG road which is a popular local market.

Which restaurants did you visit on your trip & how was the food there? (Please tell the name, services, cost, and USPs if you came across any)
I do not particularly remember names of the restaurants but we did look for vegetarian food and especially south Indian. I did explore local food and my family looked for idlis and dosas.
We found popular restaurants in MG road market where we got a plate of idli which cost us 60Rs per plate.

How was the shopping experience at your destination and what would you suggest travelers to buy from there?

Shopping is pretty cheap in the local market. We got few night wears as it was cold, we got some show pieces as a gift to our friends.
Everything from food to clothes are available at cheaper and affordable price.

Were you satisfied with the budget of your holiday? Was there anything you felt was missed out?

The travel was within our budget and nicely planned. We did bargain a little . however due to landslides in north Sikkim, we missed out seeing few places like gurudongmer lake which I was looking forward to visit. however, we visited alternative places
Overall for a family of 3, it wasnt burning our pockets

On an average, how much were your personal expenses? (To give a brief idea to the other travelers)

We dint had much of personal expenses other than purchasing few clothes and gifts + food expenses
Food expense was approximately 300-500 per days for 3 of us
Extra personal cab charges to market was (40+180) to- and fro. From hotel to market it was 20rs each and while coming back from market it was 180 rs for a family .
We spent less than 5-6k for 6 days which includes shopping. however, it can be reduced if you dont do shopping at all or do minimal shopping.

What would you advise other travelers to pack for this destination?
Warm clothes and comfortable clothing. A good dslr camera, an action camera to capture wonderful scenic beauty, a cap to cover ur head and ears as it might get extremely cold in winters or monsoon especially

What were the best attractions you visited & experiences you had on your trip?
Best attractions were, nathula pass, baba mandir, tsomogo lake, waterfalls, char dham in namchi. Zero point
Something interesting I found was that people do follow traffic rules, drivers do not over take and honk unnecessarily.

Higlights of some attractions.

Day 1: — EXCURSION TO TSOMGO LAKE AND BABA MANDIR | NATHU LA PASS
Day 2: — Gangtok Local Sightseeing
Day 3: —Namchi(char dham, sai mandir)

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Happiness is an inside job.

Many times people go after happiness! I see often people lose interest. then when they give up, life surprises them … then I understood that to be happy,one does not have to run after anything, because the best things happen when people least expect it..

Is Physical Exercise Necessary?

I was just thinking , if there is something I missed doing in the last few years , is my focus towards fitness.. we work in the corporate world for 8 hrs without much physical activity and no exposure to vitamin D, packed in an AC room and gradually watch your belly fat inflate day by day .

And I realised recently it’s equally important to have a healthy body and it needs some amount of work to have a good metabolism .

I started looking out for options , i thought of taikewundu (martial arts), kick boxing , power yoga and what not . but finally chose muscle-building option since i have a lean muscle .

past 3 weeks, I have been training on muscle-building however i did explore a lot about it.intention was however to increase the strength and fitness level.

I explored more about how our body functions , a little bit more on anatomy of our body.

I started lifting weights and gradually see my body get pumped up .i read about how healthy diet can make a difference and started following the diet and how the blend of proteins , carbohydrates and fats in the required quantity gives required amount of energy and make you more fit .

i started following a daily routine of exercises and how each muscle can be activated with the help of mind-muscle connection .

now after a month i feel more positive and confident about my body and accustomed to a healthy routine. this will continue .. but do leave your thoughts on what do you think about the physical exercise , it is necessary or you still feel lazy and procrastinate things ?

 

HR denies Providing Reference Letters

We all know the Importance of Employer’s Reference Letters in the Process of Immigration

Reference Letter Provides Details about:

Roles and Responsibilities an Employee carried during his tenure

Duration he worked for, No. of hours per week he worked,

Salary details and Company contact details.

Here I will not be discussing much about the content of reference letter, but I would be discussing about the situation where Employer is denying to provide these.

When you apply for Immigration, you would be providing Employment details in the application and your role would be mapped to certain Occupation code (For ex: NOC 2173 = Software Engineer in IRCC)

Now Reference Letters are the way Immigration officer would verify if Details provided by an applicant is valid and authentic.

However, there are situations where Ex Employer denies providing it.

I have been in this situation too.

My questions to those employers are:

The company being at Level 5(CMMI),if it  doesn’t even provide reference to ex-employees, It’s truly unbelievable, sad and pathetic

If my duties for the tenure I was in the company is genuine, and can be verified by all means, then  I’m not sure  know what is the challenge in providing reference letter which could otherwise  help positively  in immigration process

I have even shared to the organization, the clear guidelines by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

 They still do not understand the seriousness of the concern/Request . Why?’

I can take alternative approach of getting Personal reference letters from my supervisor as suggested . However, since it will not be on company letterhead, it will not be useful

However, I understand that there can be no Legal Obligation to provide reference letter, but it could have helped me a lot in immigration process

This always invokes a thought in my mind:

When company recruits a candidate, will it not check the authenticity of the candidate’s education and previous experience?

What if the candidate denies providing these documents (degree and previous employment experience letters?)

Would the potential employer recruit him?

I have seen many employees being terminated because their background verification failed.

Now My question again to the such organization is , if you are seeking every document which is authentic in order to recruit a candidate , why is that you are unable to provide reference letters to your ex-employees in order to move ahead in their future  career prospects.

In addition, These Indian MNC is more or less equal to Government Municipal offices in India

Morever,Few HRs in these organizations think, their roles and responsibilities is only limited to recruiting, completing joining formalities and making their speacial appearance for exit interview.

I have seen very Less HR representative, who actually understands the Employee concern and help them in overcoming their setbacks.

PS: here “I” doesn’t just represent me, but represents every person who has been denied reference letters.

Leaving a link to My video

“Fake GST bill. How to check fake GSTIN number”

Every bill you get from the shopkeeper had to be associated with GST number inorder to charge you the service tax . But I have noticed in few instances where GSTIN number is shown in the bill but it does not seems authentic. So I had to find ways to verify this. All I did was to go to GST website . Key in the GSTIN number that’s in the bill and verify if it’s really registered and compare the same name in the bill. 

Steps to do this is shown in the video below. Please watch it 

“How to learn new Language fast and easy |Duolingo”

There  are chances that we travel to  different countries , may be on vacation or it can be a business tour .And communication plays a vital role .And hence there the need arises to speak their native language.

so whats the best way to learn a new language quickly ..

1.  Join some community or toastmaster club
2. communicate with colleagues who know that particular language
3. see YouTube tutorials
4. read books and watch movies

but I present you one way which you can practise daily just by installing an app in your mobile .

the App is called Duolingo . there are various other apps .. but I have used this app and to know more on how his app works please watch my latest video on that

if you have already used it . let me know how did you find it and if you have any other ideas on how to learn new language quickly .. do share in the commnet section which would help many of us .

 

Collaborate

via Daily Prompt: Collaboration  have you been working on something independently and wished you had some one who thinks like you , who could share you responsibility exceptionally well as you do?

now this is the main reason people collaborate .

i have always believed in team work , be it your personal life or professional career . we need to collaborate with various people to achieve an objective , a milestone in an efficient way .

look how amazingly collaboration works. you collaborate with you partner in household works, your children collaborate with you in their study time , you collaborate with various family members for important decisions to be taken ..and the list goes on..

would it be efficient if you had to manage everything alone ?

it could be , but sometimes time-consuming and wasting to many efforts which otherwise could have been completed soon with collaboration and the remaining time could be used for any other productive work .

think why here in the blogging world, writers collaborate .

they find like-minded people who are extremely good in their own way . but have different set of followers . what happens when they collaborate ? they are sharing the information with more no. of readers .

think of a wedding ceremony, festivals, any other important occasions in the family .

how will they execute all the plans so efficiently ?? how will they organize everything.

it’s all a collaborative efforts of their own team defined for specific purpose .

i do not say living independently is bad. i believe in that .. but no person is 100% independent.. we need interdependence sometimes to live a great life .

 

what are your thoughts on that ? comment me back