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)

Aribnb - for Business Travel

Sitting in the back seat of my car, today was a usual morning on my way to work. And, like usual I pulled out my favourite newspapers. Lo and behold! The front page of two of the newspapers had this striking full page ad. A close up of a man jumping into a pool with the kind of glee and excitement of a child. It said Airbnb!

 (picture courtesy Airbnb.com)

 It took only seconds for me to get transported to my last travel. Much as I wanted to recall, I just could not think of any one time when I probably experienced the happiness that the man in the ad seemed to be having. Had I been working so hard? Been so busy? The one thing that seemed so striking to me did not resonate with me at all. My job profile was about traveling. In fact, because I love travel, I took up this job. Yet traveling on work was not the same. Leave alone vacation, vacation was more about the kids and less about me.

 (picture courtesy - businesstravelnow.com)

In the dawn of the moment, I realized how much I was missing the true sense of “travel”. I rummaged through the ad to figure what it was about and I was in for a surprise. The ad spoke of having a time like this on business travel! Curiosity got the better of me and a few search clicks and articles down, I was both amazed and happy to know that airbnb was not just about homestays for vacationing travelers but about homestays for business travelers in a big way.

I thus, wanted to share what I learnt about Airbnb’s latest initiative:

1. Feel at home, even while traveling for work

Work can get the better of you and the only thing that helps you take the stress out of work is getting back home. Airbnb's homestays offer just that. A place of work by day and a home by evening. It is almost like working from home.

 

(picture courtesy - nyt.com)

2. Convenient Locations

The homestays are located at convenient locations in most of the cities. The listings for business travelers are more in the city than the suburbs thereby making it highly convenient to commute to client locations or to meetings in the office.

3. Living with the locals

Business travel also means some “off” time at the end of the day. Living with the locals helps in connecting with local food, culture and places to visit - all served by an enthusiastic local host and his / her family.

4. Business amenities

 (picture courtesy- Cinnamon Stays)

All homestays have amenities required for business - wifi, printer, white board and some even have meeting areas earmarked for discussions. Not to forget, a well stocked kitchen with a coffee maker.

5. Affordable

The company spends a lot of money in booking comfortable hotels and it has a limited budget to work around. Booking a homestay is not just affordable but also helps the company to get a good deal in their budget. Especially true for smaller companies and startups.

6. Extended stays

 (picture courtesy - travelweekly.co.uk)

Homestays are the perfect place to extend business travel and convert them to vacation. There is no hurry of checking out on the day promised. Homestays are generally flexible in extending stays either for work or to combine vacations. They are great options for long stays when one is on a project work in a different city for a month or more

7. Offsites

A homestay becomes an ideal place for team offsites and other training programs. The team tends to come closer in an informal setting and can prove to be a great bonding exercise since everyone shares the same roof.

These are probably some of the reasons that I could think of. I am pretty sure when I experience business travel with Airbnb, there will be more to add. Airbnb is currently offering great discounts and travel credits to companies that are booking their business travel stays. At prices that they are quoting with the warmth of a homestay and a feeling of being informal at work, must say this is one great strategy that Airbnb has come out with. 

Below are some pictures of Gurgaon Airbnb listing - Cinnamon Stays - one of the best homestays for the business traveler.

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

5 Reasons Why You Must Try Airbnb While Travelling

Airbnb.com is a huge success story in online travel. Yet many of us in India have either never heard of this sharing economy company or else never tried.

Since Shilpi and I (Manish) have been running Cinnamon Stays for the past 5 years and now Granny's Inn in Varanasi we have had the opportunity to use airbnb for getting guests at our place.

We also used airbnb extensively when we travelled to Europe this summer. Most places we visited, we booked the room / apartment through airbnb. 

It was a great experience. So, here we share why you must try this fascinating concept which is redefining stays & travel around the globe.

1. From hassle to play. In the pre-airbnb days, finding a room was a hassle, a task; but with the millions of beautifully curated pads around the world, searching a room/ apartment/ villa on airbnb is a playful, joyous activity. We found an artistic studio in Interlaken, Switzerland in June this year. These 2 nights spent there were infinitely better than a bland hotel room in our budget!

2. The wisdom & warmth of local hosts. To really know a place when time is at a premium you got to lean on the local hosts. And most are better than the majority of hotel employees. In our own trip, the airbnb hosts volunteered to pick us up from airports and tube stations. They took us out for authentic Italian meals; gave access to private beaches. Cooked for us. Helped plan a day shopping trip in Zurich. Even found us a Saravana Bhawan in Paris :-)

You can get tons of local tips - from bus and metro timings, to which restaurants to eat, the coolest pubs, where to shop for veggies and where to shop for moments and gifts! You get all this information and more over a beer or if you are lucky even a home cooked meal. 

 3. Having the flexibility to cook. With our non experimentative, almost vegetarian food habits, having access to a kitchen where we could make simple daal, rice every alternate day was a big boon:-) Sometimes after a tiring day, just the comfort of making maggi in your own apartment far outweighed meals in a fancy restaurant. Almost all the apartments had very clean kitchens with cooking utensils and cutlery. This made our trip very comfortable and enjoyable. 

4. Safe & convenient. As a first timer, we would recommend that you only book the place which has a few reviews. Airbnb reviews are invariably genuine and give you a fair idea of the place and the host.

Google maps gives you an accurate idea of how to reach the B&B. In fact in many listings, past guests mention bus and tube routes, landmarks and other tips which makes life a lot easier for travelers. 

5. Mobile app is awesome. The airbnb mobile app now makes it possible to book a room, apartment on the move. You can make a booking or accept one 

(if you are a host) on the go. Clean interface, intuitive navigation makes it a very friendly app! 

As hosts of B&B and avid travelers, we would urge you to try airbnb on your next vacation. We are convinced, like us you will get hooked onto this new way of booking a stay and traveling. You may never go back to the standardized and expensive hotels which have all the amenities but often lack soul and a story, essential to make travel memorable.