🇮🇳 Useful discoveries, travel stories & real life lessons If it can save you time, money, or trouble, I’ll probably share it.
Joined October 2025
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My bus to Bengaluru was delayed by almost 1.5 hours, so I was just sitting around hungry in Vellore.
Found this small restaurant nearby and went in without checking anything.
₹120 for the pepper chicken gravy. ₹25 for a parotta.
It was SO good. Easily better than many highly rated restaurants I’ve tried.
Then I searched for the place on Google Maps.
It wasn’t even there.
Made me wonder how many genuinely amazing local food places we completely miss because now our first instinct is always to check Google reviews.
What’s the best food place you’ve found accidentally that Google , Instagram never recommended to you?
I am not 100% sure if this is the same Resturant but if you go by, check the blue colour shade … that’s the one
maps.app.goo.gl/Q6ZiCinuxSju…
So I have been using SBI Cashback for years.
But slowly they kept reducing benefits, even removed lounge access… but I still kept the card because that 5% online cashback was hard to give up.
Now this PhonePe SBI Select Black is making me reconsider.
10% rewards on eligible PhonePe spends
5% on eligible online spends
1 reward point = ₹1
4 domestic lounge visits a year
And right now it’s showing zero joining fee for me.
On paper, this looks like it could replace my SBI Cashback.
Anyone here actually using it for a few months? Do the 5%/10% rewards post properly and does the lounge benefit work as smoothly as it sounds?
Whenever I heard Udupi, my mind went straight to temples and food.
But on my last trip from Bengaluru to Udupi, I realised I had pictured the place completely differently.
Sitting low on the ferry and slowly watching St. Mary’s Island appear in front of us felt so unexpected.
Hard to believe this is just off the coast of Udupi. ❤️
Tried sushi for the first time in my life at Loco Bear, Bengaluru.
A friend was literally teaching me how to eat it 😭
Dip in soy sauce → put the whole piece in your mouth → wasabi → ginger.
Taste was honestly okay okay for me. Very different from anything I normally eat.
But now I’m wondering…
Did I even eat this correctly? Sushi people, what’s the proper way?
Saw three things today that made India’s EV shift feel much more real to me.
First, a scooter doing a quick battery swap inside Bengaluru.
Then on NH44, an electric bus and this massive Tata truck plugged into chargers.
I actually asked them about the range … both told me roughly 300 km on a full charge.
Whenever I think about buying an EV, my first thought is always: what if the battery runs out somewhere in the middle of a highway?
Seeing commercial vehicles already doing these routes changed that thought a little.
For people who actually drive EVs outside cities , is range anxiety still a real problem in 2026, or has the charging network become good enough on major highways?
Saw these two in Bengaluru today and it made me think.
The Tata Nano tried to give India a tiny city car at an unbelievably low price… and disappeared.
Years later, I keep seeing the much more expensive MG Comet around Bengaluru.
Maybe the Nano’s biggest problem was never its size.
Did India reject the Nano because it was a bad car, or because nobody wanted to be seen driving the “cheapest car”?
So I ordered a few things from Blinkit today and got this ₹60 Tide packet for ₹1.
For a few seconds I was genuinely very happy ….
Then I thought about the local shopkeeper.
How is a neighbourhood store ever supposed to compete with ₹60 products being sold for ₹1?
I don’t even know who is absorbing that ₹59 … Blinkit, the brand, or both.
As a customer I obviously love the discount.
But as a business model, is this healthy competition or the kind of discounting local shops can never compete with?
Saw this on a random Bengaluru street and immediately thought of Pondicherry 😄
People travel to Pondicherry and stop outside bougainvillea-covered houses just to get pictures like this.
Meanwhile Bengaluru quietly has quite a few of these hidden in residential lanes too.
Have you spotted a prettier bougainvillea flowers than this somewhere in Bengaluru?
So I booked a ₹900 doctor video consultation for my uncle. The doctor wasn’t available on video, so I cancelled and emailed for a refund as they instructed.
Then… nothing for almost a month.
Emails, calls, follow-ups, different people, the hospital manager promises of “2 days”… still nothing.
Finally I called customer support again, this time clearly frustrated and i was very angry.
The lady processed the refund the same day which was yesterday. I genuinely want to thank her.
But that made me wonder , if it could be solved in one day, why did I have to chase it for a month?
Had I simply given up, ₹900 was gone.
Why do so many customer-service systems make polite customers follow up again and again, until they finally get angry?
So I needed a small pressure cooker while staying in Vellore for a few days.
Checked online first, but couldn’t get quick delivery.
Then went to the local market. Random-brand 1–2L cookers were already around ₹800, so I kept looking.
Found this Prestige 2L for ₹1,150.
Surprisingly, it was cheaper than what I was seeing online , and the shop accepted card too, so I got the card benefit on top 1% off .
This made me realise how automatically we assume online = cheapest now.
Do you still compare prices with local shops before ordering online, or have we completely stopped checking?
Stayed at a lodge in Vellore for a few days.
So our Final bill was : ₹7,500.
Took out my credit card thinking at least I’ll get some cashback.
“But Cash only.”
No card. No UPI.
In a country where even roadside vendors accept ₹10 on UPI, having to arrange ₹7,500 in cash genuinely surprised me.
Is there a practical reason some hotels/lodges still prefer cash only payments in 2026?
So I have passed this house in Bengaluru a few times and almost always slow down to look at it.
Apparently I’m not the only one , I’ve seen random people stop here just to take pictures.
The all-dark exterior, curved balcony, unusual roof… it definitely stands out.
Some people say this is one of the most beautiful houses in Bengaluru.
I’m not sure 😄
But I’m curious , have you seen a Bengaluru house that looks better than this?
Quote it with a photo if you have one. I want to see what wins.
Most people would probably avoid this cucumber.
An uncle I know does the exact opposite.
Whenever he buys fruits or vegetables, he deliberately looks for the slightly odd-shaped ones or the ones with insect marks.
His logic:
“If insects were able to eat it, maybe it was sprayed less.”
I always found that strangely convincing though 😄
But today I started wondering whether there’s actually any truth to it.
Does insect damage/ugly shape tell us anything about how much pesticide was used, or is this just one of those convincing-looking theories we’ve created?
Dear Farmers , agriculture people .. is his logic completely wrong or partly right?
Picked this up casually at an airport shop because I liked the design.
Then I turned it around.
₹1,099 for one hair clutcher. 😭
Put it back very carefully.
Airport shopping always makes me wonder who is casually buying everyday things at these prices. Food and water I understand , sometimes you have no option. But ₹1,099 hair clips?
What’s the most expensive ordinary thing you’ve ever bought at an airport because you had no other option?
Finally visited Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple in Vellore , Tamil Nadu and one suggestion if you’re planning to go:
Try reaching around 5–5:30 PM.
You start the Darshan walking through the star-shaped path while it’s still daylight, keep getting glimpses of the Golden Temple as you move closer, and by evening the whole place starts lighting up
That first proper view honestly felt unreal , for a moment it looked like one of those places we imagine when we think of where Gods would live.
We took the ₹150 Swarna Lakshmi seva. After the main darshan, you can personally offer theertham to the 70 kg solid-gold Sri Swarna Lakshmi idol.
A few things I wish I knew before going:
• Phones are strictly not allowed , there are multiple checks, so deposit them before entering.
• Bags and footwear can be kept safely near the entrance for a small charge.
• Be prepared to walk a lot , the star-path journey itself is part of the experience. Wheelchair people also can have the Darshan
• After darshan there are prasadam/souvenir counters and Sri Srinivasa Perumal darshan too.
• From Vellore city/CMC side, we got an auto for roughly ₹150–200.
More than the gold, I actually liked how peacefully and systematically the entire darshan was organised.
One of those places where the journey to the temple becomes part of the darshan itself.
