A Memoir - This Month Last Year - July 2019 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra

Hi Friends,

July 2020 marks the 40 years of my existence on the Planet Earth and what a time to celebrate the same with the family within the structure of not able to go anywhere, not able to invite someone, not able to get any gifts or so and everything you are doing is for yourself. I also took time to clean out all the old stuff from my own collections along with taking out more than 600 posts from my blog for all those brands who are not part of my life now or have given me no benefits in the past too. The process is still not complete and will continue in August and September till it's as fresh as Spring Clean. 

I could not do any of the blog posts during July 2020 as I got into a new project for Australia from South Africa and the time difference is too much. The coordination between the various team in three separate continents is taking up all the time I have. I kept thinking about all the posts I should do and can do but the energy levels kept me to cover the sleep I need to take to be fully awake for the job. Another aspect was that I am not earning any money from all this extra-curricular activity so the priority got reduced automatically though I am passionate about all the social media aspect and sharing my knowledge and skills. 

After taking out all the posts, ironically in the month of July 2019, only 1 post remains to belong to Prima Toys launch event which I really enjoyed. They always have a kind of annual event in the month of July as Christmas in Summers but this time they changed the name and invited us for a lavish lunch. 

@PrimaToys Launches #Fortnite #BattleRoyale Figurine Collection #PrimaToys #BringingTheFUN - https://www.thelifesway.com/2019/07/primatoys-launches-fortnite.html I am not a Fortnite fan but I really loved the toys with all the details and the ability to replicate the video game in real life with these small figurines. Last I heard they became really popular amongst all the people who collect this kind of stuff. 

I kept thinking about whether to write this post or shall cancel the series altogether but then I thought that this is something which helps me connect the dots and also I shall start a new series to take you through all the recent courses, books and audiobooks I read and found valuable during the month. Soon I will start sharing about all those online courses I keep attending either on Youtube, Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Coursera and SkillShare from time to time. 

Cheers!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts and subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel too. Namaste!

40th Birthday @MontecasinoZA @ThavaIndian Dinner During Unlock #MissMonte

Hi Friends, 

Who would have predicted that 2020 will have so much in store for all of us? Getting out of houses has become not only difficult but you are taking enough care to protect yourselves and your loved ones too. South Africa has opened up the dine-in option at several restaurants around the country and I too made use of the same to celebrate my 40th birthday with my family. Here I am going to write about my experience of the whole experiment of dining-in as the lockdown relaxations are in place. My mind kept calculating all the risks related to the situation and thought of finally checking out the place. 

I was booked for early dinner at 6pm at Thava Restaurant in Montecasino which offers Indian Cuisine and that is my favorite and my family loves the same too. As we reached, the boom gates were already open in Montecasino and you could park anywhere. The parking was not fully fulled like on the weekends before Covid-19 but it had plenty of cars. The guards on the duty have installed the Sanitizer machine along with body temperature machines passing which he checks your belongings and lets you enter. Mask is a necessity whatever your age is and they won't allow you access if you don't have one. My younger one was not wearing so we had to make one out of the handkerchief so as to enter the establishment. Even in the washrooms, there is one host to spray sanitizer on your hands after and before entering inside Montecasino. 

At the Thave Restaurant too, the manager took the body temperature again and noted down all the necessary details to backtrace you in case of anything. The menus are now on a printed paper which gets recycled after every use and there are no alcoholic drinks available. Though the menu mentioned some of the items won't be available, I didn't find anything which I wanted to order in Vegetarian Menu not made available to me.

The waiter served the famous Boondi snack which you get at all Thava Restaurants as a welcome snack rather than the Papads which you get at all the other Indian restaurants. 

The table counts were extremely reduced and there was a lot of distance between all of the setup at the restaurant to meet the strict government guidelines to opening a restaurant. Many people were eating at the venue and taking away the ordered food too. The staff was wearing disposable masks and was taking all kinds of precautions for the safety of its customers. 

We ordered Chilli Panner and Spinach Chaat which is one of my favorite items on the menu and is only available at this restaurant in Johannesburg. After enjoying the starters and munching them to our heart's content we moved on to the main course and for the first time, I tried the Thava Kerala Parantha which was so soft and loved by everyone that we moved from Garlic Naan to ordering the Kerala Parantha in our second serving. The Vegetable Biryani was also one of the items which were not only tasty but was well prepared and this was the first time I tried it in this restaurant.

We ordered the regular Daal Makhani and Paneer Tikka Masala as our regular veggies which get served with Zeera Rice bowls. After not eating outside for more than 4 months, I loved every bite of the same. For all of these 4 months, we only ordered pizza twice and a food collection twice and totally stuck to our daily regular meals with experimentations in between. So it felt really change of taste and spices as we ate at one of the best restaurants in the city. 

Reyansh kept drinking a lot of water and made us take several trips to the washrooms leaving very little time to finish the dessert and eventually gulped down the plate of Gulab Jamuns I ordered for myself. The Thava restaurant closes at 8pm daily and the casino closes at 830pm daily. I didn't want to leave my share of Gulab Jamuns so I ordered a new plate but it was so hot that it took time meanwhile the staff started packing their stuff.

Overall, it was a full-fledged multi-meal course that I really loved at my birthday and I shall always remember the 40th one in 2020. Thanks to Montecasino and Thava Restaurant for making it possible. Check it out and book your lunch or dinner with Thava @ Montecasino and support all the local eateries around the place you live or work. 

Sawubona!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts and subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel too. Namaste!