Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Brazil Diaries - III


The weather in Brazil is opposite to what we have in India here..... Fortunately, my friend advised me to get jacket/Umbrella etc however, it didn't came to my mind once to check actual weather condition there.
On reaching, I realized that during May-June (which was peak summer in India), it was chilling cold in Sao Paulo .. and temperatures went down to 4 degree Celsius with mild and heavy showers of rain. 
Anyways, I was covered for this weather, thanks to Nilesh :)
Continuing the journey, I got chance to visit two beautiful cities and world famous tourist places in Brazil.
One of those was Rio De Janeiro - A beautiful coastal city which is now more famous due to recently held Olympic games. You can visit mainly famous monuments and places of interest like Sugar loaf (mountain view where you can reach via cable car), Christo (Famous Christ monument) and of course the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. 
There is also a place called Escadaria Selarón (Selaron Steps', is a set of world-famous steps in Rio)






Next city is Foz de Iguazu (where you have the world famous Iguazu falls), a must visit if time permits. You can take bus (around 16 hours of one way journey) or book flight tickets in advance which will be faster journey of course,
Main attaractions are National park, falls and Bird Park. The bird park houses lots of varieties of exotic and latin american birds including Macau and Parrots.


There a city near Sao Paulo famous for European style houses and architect, known as Campos De Jordao.




Monday, September 05, 2016

Brazil Diaries - II

My Journey to Brazil has been really fulfilling in terms of knowledge & professional experience, however, in addition, I really enjoyed knowing a different culture and place.
I went to Sao Paulo city which, although seems to be, but not the capital of Brazil (it is Brasília). It is a large cosmopolitan city and is capital of the same name State (Sao Paulo) which is Brazil's most populous and wealthiest state.




This business city with huge skyscrapers and infrastructure has lot of historical and new age monuments, parks and museums and is home for lot of migrant population (like other Brazilian cities) including Italian, Portuguese, German, Arab, Jewish and Japanese.

Since the 19th century people began migrating from northeastern Brazil into São Paulo. This migration grew enormously and remained huge in the next decades.

I was not surprised to see lot of Chinese dominance in markets and city though.

My personal experience was limited to visiting places of most interest in Sao Paulo which included,
  • Ibirapuera Park -  has a large area for leisure, jogging and walking and has a large museum of modern art



  • Sao Paulo Cathedral
  • Mercado Municipal – Local market to buy food ingredients
  • Few famous streets of SP like Paulista Avenue, Rua 25 de Março, Vila Madalena
  • Nearby beach of Santos
  • Cultural center
  • Liberdade – the Japanese neighbourhood and street fair on Sunday
  • Sao Paulo Aquarium
Various shopping malls in SP (typical for most of the Indians whether they are in or out of India)



Link to Part 1

Guncha - Neha Kakkar (Live Studio Session)

Nice Ghazal by Neha....



Guncha - blossoming (bud) flower
Guncha koi mere naam kar diya, saaqi ne fir se mera jaam bhar diya
Tum jaisa koi nahi is jahaan mein, subah ko teri zulf ne shaam kar diya
Mehfil mein baar baar idhar dekha kiye, aankhon ke jazeeron ko mere naam kar diya
Hosh bekhabar se hue unke baghair, wo jo humse keh na sake dil ne keh diya