Where Am I From

Cinnamon is known as a place where people have interesting conversations and trigger thoughts. Our guest blogger Sujata is one such person who went on a train of thought while chatting with hosts Manish and Shilpi. Sujata is a senior Montessori trainer and teacher from Bangalore. She visits Gurgaon regularly on work and for the past two times has been staying at Cinnamon homestay.She loves travel and long chats over the dinner table. And when last her sister asked if she was getting bored in Gurgaon, she said she is afraid she now might get bored when back in Bangalore :) 
We bring to you a direct "dil se" post that she so thoughtfully shared with us. Thank you Sujata!
 

Hi friends, I'm sharing the gist of what transpired in 'Cinnamon Stays', my home away from home at Gurgaon. Manish and Shilpi make the guests so comfortable that we forget that we are the guests. In the post dinner chat one night(That may go on to more than an hour, without me noticing the passage of time) even as we were chatting, some of my random thoughts fell into place and here it is.....

A very common thing that we do when we meet someone is to try to place where their origin is, as in 'Where are you from?'

When people meet me for the first time, they try to guess, and the answer ranges from- are you Gujrati? A Marwari? to Are you 'Madras brahmin(First time i heard the term) And often people say, 'I can't place from where you are;-)'

All these set off the question- in fact reminded me of the question that would dog me- 'Which state do I belong to?' You see, I am born to Kannadiga(from Karnataka) parents, born and brought up in New Delhi.... And married and settled in Bangalore(the place of my parents origin)

There were enough of south Indian practices at home and at family friends place, that was a part of me. As also was the north indian practices with friends and their homes at young age ensured that I absorbed that too.

It is an interesting journey that I have had. In my early life, I had no such question in my mind, till Geography lessons differentiated me from my friends, as I was from Karnataka, living in Delhi (as someone put it, 'My Madrosi friend..'.) Then came marriage and move to Bagalore- one that I hated. First ten years I was still pining for Delhi till time healed the wounds and I settled into being a Bangalorean( truly so when I realised my chaste Hindi had acquired a south Indian and I wanted to have curds at the end of my meal) There followed a phase of protest in my mind, then feeling lost as I felt I could not own both the identities and then graceful acceptance- of the accent as well as the fact that I am a Kannadiga.

Now that I am back in Gurgaon for long periods, each thing reminds me of what was part of my life long years ago. The colour of the soil-same as my Delhi home. The accent. The air. The people- I can see the characteristic features of the sub communities of North, who now wear clothes very foreign to what they used to wear those 30 long years ago.. That just made me realise how much I had absorbed and knew.

Now I am in a phase of life where I gladly welcome and embrace both the heritage and own both in my mind. That makes me unique and interesting as people struggle to slot me into some region of India. I realised it was made all the more difficult by my schooling in Kendriya Vidyalaya. That is a great leveller and laid the foundation of accepting people as themselves rather than Where they come from.

At the end, still, Main, dil se, Dilli wali hoon!

(Picture courtesy - Sujata R Kumar)

Medical Care At A Home Away From Home - 2

Hello there! Thank you so much for your kind words. Your words are encouraging and a huge support to both my mother and I. I was in the midst of telling you, why I chose a homestay. Taking this further, I realized a few more points why even you should do so if you are looking for long term medical care.

1.   Moral Support by the hosts

My mother’s illness was a trying time for me. I was my mother’s support but I yearned for support too. My friends and the rest of the family were far and I needed to people to talk to. In such a state of mind, the hosts were very helpful. The kind of moral support they provided me with was like a warm blanket on a cold night. Sure enough, they soon became like family to us.

2.   Coping and Adapting to the new city

In our case, I was so new to Delhi.  A person from a small town, I considered myself brave enough to face Delhi. No matter how I managed, I was always a little scared and tensed. Coping was getting difficult but our hosts helped me with a lot of advice about the city and the culture. It made be “ready” to move around the city comfortably.

3.   Local people, local advice

Moving in with the locals, I not just felt safe but they were like my “Wikipedia” or “Google”. Any query, any doubt was just a shout out and I would get the best advice on transport, food, deals, pharmacies and also how to unwind.

 

4.   Network

My experience with the homestay was one of a kind. I met with a lot of people. My stay being longer than usual, I bumped into other guests and increased my network. Strangely it was good for my work too. I even bagged a contract for supplying Sikkim Tea to Nagpur! Thinking about it, I don’t think I could achieve this had I continued staying in a hotel!

5.   Emergency Services

With a number of people staying under the same roof, I was convinced that had there been an emergency I could count on the hosts and the caretakers. No one would deny me! I felt safe, secure and wonderful being with them.

My experience at the homestay was incredible. When I was leaving, as much as I was happy to take a healthier and more positive mother back home, I was engulfed with a lot of sadness of having to leave behind a home that I had started to think as mine. 

If you are wondering, where did I actually stay, I have to say that it was Cinnamon Stays run by the most adorable couple Shilpi and Manish, who helped me tide through my life’s toughest times. In case you are looking for a medical care homestay that can give you the best, I suggest you should visit www.cinnamonstays.in or write in to bookings@cinnamonstays.in

Take my word for it…after all we pahadis never lie !

Workcation - The Future Of Business Travel

Just the other day I was talking to my class mate, Ram, now a Senior leader in E&Y, who travels the world over on business and was currently visiting Gurgaon from Bangalore. I told him he just had to visit us at "Cinnamon". Though he was on a tight business schedule, the offer of a complete home made meal closed the deal. 

 

Our “catching up” went on till the wee hours of the morning and we asked him to retire in the spare room. We told him that he could stay with us as long as he wanted, which he denied since he was already booked in a hotel for the whole period that he would spend in Gurgaon. Later that evening I received a call from him asking if he could make our place his permanent “business” stay. I was more than happy to have a buddy around. My curiosity piqued and I asked him what made him change his mind. Why a home stay when he could be put up in the best of the hotels? To this, he rattled off a few points that I thought I could share with you!

1.  Feeling of being home - Ram and many others who travel between cities, between continents and between different time zones are always missing “home” and their family. An evening spent at Cinnamon, Ram realized that whilst he did feel relaxed in hotels, it never gave him the feeling of being home. The informal set up, the home made meal, he never felt this close to home in any of his business stays before.

2.  Shut out from the office - According to Ram, whenever he travels, he seems to find himself working in the hotel at the end of the day. That, he says is very tiresome so much so that he doesn’t feel fresh the next day. He shared that the other evening, he was able to relax and partly shut out his mind from work that has no end. Even though he hardly slept for a few hours, he was fresh the next day. He felt that the shutting himself out from work environment can happen only when you are at home.

 

3.   Live with the locals - Being a pucca Bengalurian(read south Indian), Ram said that people at work and at the hotel were forever making him feel comfortable with the kind of food that he ate everyday or assisting him at shopping. Ram felt he never could sense what it was like to be a Dilliwala. Having spent time with us, he interacted with our caretakers and other staff and he had a jolly time trying to understand them and they him. Hilarious anecdote this, but we can keep that for a different time. 

4.  Real recommendations - A business travel is also an opportunity to look around the city you go to. Post work, there are times when one can look around and explore the city. Whilst a hotel gives you all the “must do” things, many a times, one misses out on the “experience” of the city. Thus a real time recommendation is a must. Which, in fact, is given mostly by the people who live there! Home stays with their expertise can provide you with the exact recommendations as per your need and interest.

5.    Long stays - Staying long in hotels can really be just that…very long!... a hotel gives you the pleasures of being pampered and live luxuriously yet it can be very exhausting to come back to a small room especially when the business stay is more than a week. At this time a home stay provides you with the space, the comfort and the luxury of being yourself while at work.

6.  Family can join in - Having the family on a workcation really works wonders! A homestay can provide the best place for the family to be together in a new place. The routine remaining the same!..its a home just in another city.

7.    New friendships - A homestay can open the doors to new friendships and networking with the people who you stay with. At times they are known while at others, it may lead to forging new relationships and friendships that can last life long.

So, next time you are travelling for business, you could give a homestay a try. Actually, a homestay geared towards a proper Workcation - one that offers the productive space of a hotel but the comfort and relaxed atmosphere of a home. “Cinnamon Stays” in Gurgaon is one such option.


Picture Courtesy - #Cinnamonstays #Gurgaon #No1onTripadvisor

Best Place to Stay While Taking a Prometric Exam in Gurgaon

 Guys in case you are travelling to Gurgaon for taking a Prometric exam at the Iris Tech park centre on Sohna road, Cinnamon is probably the closest, safest and quietest place to stay.

But please note that we are a homestay / bed & breakfast and not a hotel or a run-of-the-mill guest house!

- In a homestay, you stay in a home like environment

- You can expect delicious home cooked food (in very less oil)

- There is 24X7 power, wi-fi internet, clean comfortable AC rooms ( heater in winters)

- Our place is very safe for women students and senior citizens (in case your parents are accompanying you)

- We are child friendly as well.

However, please do not expect room service or round the clock service

- Breakfast (730 am - 10 am), lunch (1 pm - 230 pm) and dinner (8pm -10 pm) have fixed timings. We can of course be flexible but you will have to give us advance notice

- No loud music and outside guests are permitted.

- Entry to homestay after 11pm needs to be informed.

Having said that as a small business we give highly personalised and customised

service to our guests. You may read our reviews on Trip Advisor here

You can request for a packed lunch (with prior notice) and we can also arrange a pick-up and drop to the centre ( at a nominal fee)

Please tell about us to your friends and family whom you know are taking a Prometric test in Gurgaon.