Florence City Tour on a Bus

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Europe, Italy

Florence City Tour on a Bus

Of all the places across Italy that I had visited my favorite was Florence (Firenze). If ever I decide to pen a book then I would love to spend lazy afternoons gazing across the Tuscany landscape and think about the next line. Somehow this place connected to my inner self and I felt in heaven for that day. People often do a day trip to Florence from Rome and that is not a bad idea but if you really want to feel Florence then stay a couple of days, there is a lot to see out here if you look closely.

Italy is one of the most visited places in Europe and there are plenty of Europe Tour Packages available which for sure includes a number of destinations in Italy. I and my wife always wanted to visit Europe for our honeymoon but could not manage it then but this year we are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary thus you can say better late than never. Florence along with Rome and Venice is also a preferred destination for the newlyweds and there are plenty Honeymoon Packages which would take you around this town.

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Rajasthan in 7 Days

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Rajasthan, Travelogues

Rajasthan in 7 Days (62)

It was for the very first time that I was traveling with my family which included our two-year-old daughter on a long trip. To be precise for 7 days we wished to cover Rajasthan as much as possible. Due to our work schedule along 10 – 15 days complete Rajasthan tour was an impossible feat which we cannot even think of so we decided to split our Rajasthan adventure into sections. The biggest chunk of holidays that we the people from Kolkata would normally get is during Durga Puja where the city comes to stand still and the whole city is in a party mood. The streets become choked and the best possible means of transportation would be to use your legs to travel from one place to another. So it’s quite common for people to actually go on a vacation during this period and the same applies to me.

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Forex for Your Abroad Trip

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Random Thoughts

Forex for Your Abroad Trip (9)

I took my first trip abroad in the year 2003 to Sri Lanka and in those days foreign travel was very complicated and there was no ready Internet access through which one could get any information about the destination. One of the biggest problems that most international travelers faced earlier was about Foreign Exchange. What currency to take and also in which form. Multiple currencies across Europe also made it more complicated. Another headache was the constant changing rates between USD to INR. So basically apart from worrying about the hotel, food, and local travel you had to also worry about forex.

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Japanese Air Raids on Kolkata during WWII

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Heritage, Kolkata

Japanese Bombing of Calcutta (67)

The only person to possibly have witnessed the Japanese bombing of Calcutta (Kolkata) during WWII were my paternal grandparents. I have never seen my maternal grandparents thus never would know their version of the history. My grandmother was a born storyteller, a prolific writer she had the finesse to tell stories and she told it in a way which would surely attract anyone especially a 10-year-old boy which was me. My grandfather was on the other had a man of few words and would be busy in his own world writing diaries and listening to radio something which he continued to do even when cable television had arrived and continued until his death.

Of all the stories that my grandmother would tell me the stories of war would interest me the most. She would tell us about how the windows were all covered up with newspapers to prevent light getting out during an air raid and how the street lights were all covered up from the top so that the lights would not show up skywards. There were also air raid shelters dug up in our locality and all the people would rush to them once the air raid siren would set off.

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Guide to Visiting CMC Vellore Hospital

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Random Thoughts

CMC Vellore Hospital Guide (46)

Nobody likes to visit a hospital unless of course, you are a doctor or some way associated with the health care industry. A visit to the doctor’s chamber gives me a shiver and a thought of visiting a hospital was just not my cup of tea. With times things change and due to some medical condition within my family, a visit to the doctor as well as hospital visits became a regular affair. Initially, it was difficult but with time I and my family adopted to this new lifestyle.

Initially, we were visiting doctors and hospitals in Kolkata since we reside here but after spending a uncountable amount of money as well as receiving almost pole apart diagnostics along with complete contrasting applicable solutions we decided that we have had enough and need to look elsewhere. We tried a couple of outstation destinations but were either not convinced about their prescribed methodology or the price factor became too much for us to consider.

It is then that someone suggested going to Vellore for treatment. Vellore is almost synonymous with CMC – Christian Medical College and the town around the hospital has largely developed around the hospital and medical college catering to the needs of the visiting patients as well as the stationed doctors. Vellore has somewhat a repute within India as being one of the very best destinations for medical tourism. I am using the word tourism here which you will come to know why later.

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