Destination Infinity's Blog, page 25

Boating in Chennai: Chetpet Eco Park

I have written about my Chetpet Eco Park boating experience before. That was 3-years ago. So I thought why not revisit the park now and see what new amenities have been added for tourists, so this blog post. Let’s start with a short overview video of the Chetpet Eco Park. 

The first striking difference I noticed was the addition of new paintings and information boards. These are really beautiful. I saw a few stone models/sculptures too, but I have seen them during my previous visit. 

Last time, there was a small food court near the children’s play area. But this time, they have made a (separate) larger food court on the second floor of the building where the vehicle parking is located. There were a few food stalls serving South Indian/North Indian food, and there were other stalls for pizza, ice creams & western food. 

There is a new 3D theater now. I think they charged around sixty rupees per head to show a short 3D movie (maybe 20 minutes long). It’s good – similar to the ones you find in exhibitions and theme parks. They are also constructing a new globe-shaped building nearby, which may house an aquarium. Not sure, though. 

The water in the lake has slightly decreased, but boating is going on as usual. They charged us around 60 rupees per head for a 20-minute boat ride around the lake. This time, we went in a pedal boat, unlike the row boat that we got last time. One staff member accompanies us on a pedal, another pedal has to be managed by one of us. I think four people can go in a boat. The pedal boats come with a small roof though. 

Other things were same as our previous visit. Just make sure not to carry any food items or camera – they will ask you to deposit them in the ticket counter for the park. We can take photos/videos on our mobile phones though.

They charge Rs. 25 per head for entering the park, and that’s sufficient if you want to just walk around the park and access the children’s play area. I have to mention that the kids’ play area has been enhanced with beautiful wall paintings. There is paid parking space available for both bikes and cars. 

The biggest advantage of this place is, it is easily accessible for a short picnic/trip as it is located in the heart of Chennai city. If you have the time to travel to ECR, there is another boating venue which is larger and has more boats. 

Destination Infinity

A Couple of Dreams: Follow their Journey in India!!

A Couple of Dreams is the Youtube Channel run by adventurous couple Ashley (from UK) & Rotem (from Israel). They are on an 8-month trip to India trying to accomplish 100 Dreams/Challenges, which I guess they’d put up on their YT channel along with their travel vlogs.

We (Me and Ramya) spoke to the couple of dreams over a Video Call today, and we were mighty impressed with their dreams and aspirations. Just like us, but stretching it far beyond what we would dare, they have ditched the routine life and are on a exploratory journey in an unknown land.

They are currently in Goa and have already uploaded a few videos. You would not want to miss the video on Diwali celebrations in Goa. I myself had no idea that they celebrate Diwali so grandly there! But India is big, so I guess it’s normal to encounter surprises like these.

If you, the readers, have any tips for ‘challenges in India’ they could take up, you could suggest them. I have sent my short tourist guide book for foreigners visiting India.

This couple reached out to us, and I am sure they’d be glad to reach out to others in India who would like to help them or sponsors who would like to get featured/partner with them.

We’d like to wish the couple a very happy journey. Of course, we’ll be following their joys (and tribulations – well they are in INDIA!!) on their Instagram and Facebook pages. Hope readers would also want to.

Here is their photo taken with Indian attire!!

Destination Infinity

2.0 Movie Review: No Logic, but VFX makes movie Enjoyable :)

So we watched 2.0 Tamil movie today at Sathyam Cinemas, Royapettah. We were waiting for the right movie to visit this famous theatre and this film did not let us down. 2.0 is an excellent entertainer as far as Action and VFX is considered. But if you are a serious movie watcher who expects logic, characterisation, story, etc. this movie may not live up to your expectations.

The Bad

The first thing that was very odd in this movie was – the villain fights for the right reason (his way of fighting may be wrong.. but still we are clearly able to empathise with his cause). In most movies we see, it’s the hero who fights for the right cause even if it requires him to kill many, etc. But here, it’s the reverse.

The idea of connecting science with paranormal activity (ghosts, to be precise) doesn’t arguer well. Somehow we seem to want to believe in ghosts, and believe that science can destroy them – possibly this is the beginning of a future trend.

It’s difficult to follow the story and the logic of it all. Blame it on the pace of the movie, but things could have been explained clearer. It seemed like they wanted to use a few scientific jargons here and there, so that all the action which comes later can be justified

The (Rail) Coach Restaurant @ Chennai Rail Museum

The Chennai Rail Museum has opened a new A/C Restaurant inside its premises, aptly titled – ‘The Coach Restaurant’. I got to know that this is the first restaurant built inside an actual rail coach, in India. The second one is coming up in Mumbai – it seems.

Since this venue is closer to our house (ICF – Villivakkam) it’s easy for us to go there whenever. We went to the Chennai Rail Museum again to have a look at this newly opened restaurant and the metal sculptures made with scrap materials (I am yet to make a video for it – will share the blog post once it is ready).

If you have seen the pictures in the above-embedded video, you’ll notice that this is an upscale restaurant with nice decor and good seating/arrangements. But as it was a Veg & Non-Veg restaurant, we didn’t eat there.

The prices start from 100 rupees (for a lime juice). They also seem to be offering a buffet just outside this coach – not sure it it’s operational yet. Inside, you can order a-la-carte.

Since this restaurant is located within the Chennai Rail Museum premises, I guess you’ll have to buy museum tickets as well. Now they are priced at Rs. 50 per adult including one joy train ride and 10 rupee snacks voucher. Of course, you can take many selfies with the old discarded train engines and coaches. Now there is even a train-themed art gallery!

So, it’s gonna be a 2-in-1 experience – plan to spend at least two-hours on your visit.

The entire setup (including the painting on the coach) looks quite beautiful. Hope the taste is equally good. If someone has food there, drop a comment below and let us know how it was.

Destination Infinity

 

Imaginarium – Review

Imaginarium advertises itself as ‘India’s first Live Arts show with Rob’.

That’s very true. Except that the show was not only about arts, but it was about crafts, magic, humour, audio-video displays, and lots of interactivity. Better, they even gave us DIY art/craft kits with which audience learned to draw a superhero along with Rob, and completed a few other arts/crafts follow-along exercises.

We went to the show on Dec. 1, 2018 (Sat Afternoon 12 P.M.) at Sir Mutha Venkatasubbarao Concert Hall, Harrington Road, Chetpet. Frankly we didn’t know what to expect.

At the ticketing area where they exchanged the online passes for tickets, they gave us a DIY kit and a Rorito gift hamper. The kit contained papers, pencil, eraser, scissor, a couple of sketch pens and even a newspaper roll.

The first exercise after the introduction was to draw our own superhero guided by Rob and close-up cameras showed exactly what he did on papers. He showed us how easy drawing was, if we started with basic shapes and used our imagination to structure it, join it, and even colour it.

I feel it’s important to make kids feel that an activity is going to be easy and fun, for them to take it up enthusiastically. Strangely, schools seem to have a different opinion.

Rob created/taught how to make simple crafts with discarded items like paper cups, straws, pipes, newspapers, etc. In fact, the theme of the show was to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle.

Rob also gave some performances to entertain the audience like magic show, painting on the canvas, etc. The hands that accompanied Rob were very cute – I am sure they would have appealed even more to kids.

Altogether, this is a different attempt by BookMyShow (producer) to get kids (and maybe parents) more involved in arts/crafts, in an entertaining and interactive way. This 90-minute show has a break where you can buy and eat something at the BookMyShow Cafe or participate in the activities for kids in the other sponsored stalls/booths.

Recommended for parents with kids in the 4-14 years age category. You can opt for the lower priced tickets as well, as higher priced ones only give you a seat in the front. Frankly, with such big screens, seating position doesn’t matter. Here is the BookMyShow link for ticket booking.

Destination Infinity

Who is Your Favourite Heroine?

Normally, this is a very easy question to answer. I would have even give answers in multiples of ten(s) had someone asked me this question during my college days.

But giving an answer to the question, ‘who is your favourite heroine’ is quite difficult, when someone asks me after marriage. Especially when that someone happens to be my wife.

This question is a double-edged sword. And being honest is only going to work against you.

So, I have a strategy. Whenever my wife asks me this question (yeah, they ask the same question multiple times) I tell her that my favourite heroine is ‘Aishwarya Rajesh‘.

Of course, she acts well and looks good and all that, but there is another reason why I chose this particular name – it’s a double edged shield. At least for me, it is.

When I give this answer and my wife is in a playful mood, she just smiles and blushes it away. But that is not the case always and sometimes she starts probing me more on why I like that particular heroine and other such questions.

Answering patiently is going to get you nowhere. So, during those times, I’ll tell my wife that I was actually referring to my wife only, and not the heroine.

How?, you ask. Simple, wife’s name is Ramya Aishwarya. My name is Rajesh. So Aishwarya Rajesh is technically my wife’s name too

Send Flyers & Receive RSVPs for Your Event

Paperless Post Flyers makes it easy to send online flyers for your offline events like birthday party, holiday/festival gathering, professional/personal get-together, functions, etc.

You can start from one of their ready made designs customise it with your content and media. The support and availability of GIFs in addition to images makes the flyer look really cool.

Once you are done designing your flyer, you can enter the email addresses of the recipients to whom Paperless post will automatically send the event details and RSVP link. Or, you could just copy the event link and share it over social networks like Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.

When people click on the link, they’d be taken to the event page where they can read the details of the event like date, venue, etc. If they wish to attend, they can click on RSVP to include their name in the list of attendees, which too can be displayed on the event page. This makes it easier to track who’s coming.

An online flyer not only makes it easy to organise events and track attendee list, but it will also make your beautiful invite the topic of your group discussions and will put you on to the pedestal of your group fame – well, for some time at least. Who knows, it might even pull in attendees who were reluctant initially.

The best part is, Paperless Post Flyers are free-of-cost to try and send – for a limited time. If you have an event coming up anytime soon, do take advantage of this offer. Go have a look at some of their beautiful designs NOW.

Destination Infinity

Imaginarium – It’s a Wonderful World becomes a favourite amongst Celebs!

Imaginarium Video Intro –

 

From A R Rahman, S, Imman, Shreedhar Pillai, Sridevi sreedhar , Leon James, Santhanam, Sajith Satya to Oorka, and more get a sneak-peak into the show and recommend you to go and watch!

Sony Music India and BookMyShow , who recently announced India’s 1st LIVE Art Show for kids and families called Imaginarium – It’s a Wonderful World is making national news. Celebrities from all walks of life had a sneak peak of what to expect from the show and have gone all out to endorse the same. From A R Rahman, S, Imman, Santhanam, Sridevi Sreedhar , Sreedhar Pillai to Oorka and Leon James, all have tweeted requesting their fans, friends and families to book their tickets now!

Says A R Rahman, “Enter the world of art and craft, music, illusions and spectacular visuals with a special event for kids, Imaginarium – It’s a wonderful world. Book your tickets to enter this fantasy land now!”

Conceptualised and curated by Sony Music and Rob, and produced by BookMyShow, the limited shows of Imaginarium – It’s a Wonderful World will first be performed in Chennai and Bengaluru, before moving to other cities.

Spanning across 90 minutes and bound together with attractive elements like humour, magic, foot-stomping music and spectacular visuals, kid’s icon Rob and his two delightful sidekicks The Helping Hands will engage the audiences in a whole new world full of Art, Music and fascinating illusions. This action-packed roller coaster of creativity will also empower the audiences to participate in the show and not just witness it, a first in the LIVE Art show space.

A perfect outing for kids between the ages 4-14, and their families, Imaginarium – It’s a Wonderful World will perform in Chennai’s Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall from November 30-December 2, 2018 and in Bangalore’s Good Shepherd from Dec 14-16, 2018.

Tickets available exclusively on BookMyShow. (Click to buy)

Email Marketing Trends – 2018

E-Mail marketing is important for business growth as email is still the best medium to communicate with customers and prospects. So, it’s very important for businesses to develop an email list and communicate with them frequently.

One of the popular Email Marketing service provider MyEmma published a blog post about their Email Marketing Predictions for 2018, and how those fared over the year. Here are some highlights from that post,

The first one of our email marketing predictions for 2018 was a bigger focus on engagement, rather than acquisition.

Some companies lost 50% of their email subscriber base (as a result of GDPR implemented in the EU). However, the news wasn’t all bad. This was an opportunity for brands to see who their engaged, dedicated subscribers were.

While the email lists may have become smaller, the potential for great results is still there if you have a list of dedicated subscribers.

I feel, while it’s important to focus on acquisition and have a larger email list, not all of them are engaged. So it may be important (and cost effective) to right-size the email list time to time.

Accessibility, also known as inclusive design, means thinking strategically about things like alt text, contrast, legibility, and markup so that everyone in your audience can access and interact with your content—regardless of disabilities or assistive devices.

While it is important to design beautiful looking emails, not everyone will/can access them as html might be blocked by certain organisations/email providers. So, the text that accompanies these emails should provide a good summary of the messages.

From personal experience, I look forward to receiving mails from a marketer who sends nor more than 5 lines of text in each email. And may be one link.

One of our email marketing predictions for 2018 was that sending fewer promos would help drive engagement.

We suggested that brands instead focus on offering value through their email campaigns instead of simply pushing promo codes and discount offers.

Quality always wins over quantity. If you keep bombarding people with generic emails, they are going to stop opening your emails altogether! It’s always better to send few emails with a lot of value than many emails that are going to be unopened or sent to the spam folder.

So, did minimalism and simplicity win out over walls of text this year?

It’s hard to say if people prefer the simple email design but a lot of major brands are following that trend.

Yes, I feel simplicity is very important. Shorter mails with a simple message are easy to read and digest. If you want your readers to take action, I feel minimalism is the way to go.

We feel that contextual email will become the wave of the future. As mentioned several times throughout this article, marketers need to look for a way to set their email campaign apart from the hundreds of other campaigns someone may see throughout a week.

After all, why would I, living in India want to get emails about Black Friday Deals available only in the US? The ones that target global audience is fine, but local campaigns need to segment and target only local email audience.

Here is the link to the full post – What we got wrong (and right) with our email marketing predictions for 2018

Destination Infinity

New Server Cake!

If you had tried to access this blog over the last few days, you would have experienced very slow loading time or website being inaccessible. That was because, my trusted web-host of 9 years suddenly seems to have made some major changes on their servers and all my websites were loading very slow. One was totally down.

I tried fixing the issue with their tech support, but they were not able to help me. Previously, for the most part, either I didn’t have to contact the support or my issue was solved quickly over chat. It never escalated beyond that. But this time, even after a couple of days, there was no solution and my websites were losing traffic quickly.

I did some research on alternative hosting platforms, and I finally zeroed-in on Amazon Web Services Lightsail Cloud VPS hosting. I have taken three separate VPS instances on their cloud – one for each site. As this service is being offered by the cloud computing pioneer – Amazon, and they had very good reviews all over the net, I decided to shift my websites to AWS.

But the process of shifting was not easy – it took my 3.5 days to shift my three sites, including the one that was down. Somehow I managed to finish it today. A few more tasks are pending, though.

I am glad that I decided to go through this difficult technical process (esp. for a non-techie like me) – I was able to learn many new things about servers and hosting.

To celebrate all that hard work over the last four days we bought and cut a cake. Here it is