Hotel Review- Mandarin Oriental Paris

Image taken from Mandarin Oriental website

My friend Nadia and I were heading to Paris for a few days and after doing much research, decided to book a stay at the Mandarin Oriental. Two years ago I'd head to Paris at the same time and had then stayed at the Hotel Crillon where I usually stay and love. Last year when I headed to Paris for the Paris Fashion Week I decided to stay at the Ritz as that's where my sister was staying and I figured it was more convenient for us both to be at the same hotel. Unfortunately both the hotels were shut for renovation and as Nadia hadn't been to Paris before, I was left to pick the hotel. The Mandarin Oriental had the largest rooms and was conveniently located, and despite me having walked into the lobby of the hotel during my last visit and not thinking much of it, I figured it's a Mandarin Oriental.. How bad can it get??

We arrived late into Paris and by the time we reached the hotel Nadia and I were pretty tired and ready to get a good nights rest. I'd warned her about the garish lobby already (the above pic is from their website and as website pictures go, not exactly an accurate representation of what it looks like) and she understood what I'd meant when she walked in. There is no sign of Parisian understated elegance and instead was a hotel that as I put it the first time around, looked like a hotel in Abu Dhabi- and not in a good way. Anyhow we headed up to our room and were a little taken aback by what we were greeted there. The twin beds we requested weren't there and instead we were given a double bed with an extra bed thrown in- that was the first surprise. The second surprise was the decor of the room itself and the quality of furniture and fittings. The room now looked to us like a 3 or 4 star hotel in Abu Dhabi. To add fuel to the fire we realized our bed, the main one not the extra bed we'd been given, had a broken spring of some sort. Needless to say we called and complained. We asked for plugs to charge our phones- the plugs didn't work. We called and complained. They had very sweetly left out a bottle of champagne and a cake for my birthday before we got there. Only problem? The cake had attracted many, many mosquitoes. Needless to say, we called and complained. The Manager that evening went out of her way to make our stay better and tried giving us like a triple upgrade to a duplex suite to make it up to us. While in the room checking it out though, I noticed that the handle on a cupboard door had fallen out and Nadia and I couldn't stop laughing at what seemed to be a year old hotel falling apart. Needless to say we didn't stay in the room and asked for another one. Really, when you're paying a 1000 Euros a night, you expect for your room to be immaculate, your hotel perfect and things to function flawlessly. The room we finally got was apparently worth 1800 Euros a night, offered to us at the same rate and Nadia and I both thought that it just made sense for us to stay put. That's when we realized after a sweaty night that the AC didn't function properly and the breakfast was bad (who has even heard of bad croissants in France?!) and when Nadia saw a door that seemed to be held together by scotch tape (no joke) we decided that even our quadruple upgrade couldn't make us stay put. We ate breakfast, went over to the George V and practically begged them to find us a room.

So here's the deal with the Mandarin Oriental in Paris- the service, despite what I just wrote, is amazing. They tried their best to accommodate us and it reached a stage where we were almost apologetic to leave. I'd forgotten to inform the Emirates Limo my change of address when it came time to take us back to the airport- When he announced himself at the Mandarin they actually told him to head over the George V and that I'd moved a few days earlier. The Manager who took care of us the night we arrived really was amazing, so much so that I left her the bottle of champagne they'd kept for me. After we left I had the Manager of the Hotel email me and profusely apologize and offer me a free night at the hotel the next time I come into Paris. Nadia and I both realized in a day or 2 that as good as the George V was, the service didn't quite match up to the Mandarin Oriental's.

Would I go back and stay there? No. Great service is one thing, but the hotel decor was just way too tacky for my taste. It was done, we were told, in the style matching the 1930's which I found hilarious as I think it to be the most boring and uneventful decade style-wise in the 20th century, but what do I know? Maybe others would love the hotel but personally I wouldn't want to stay there again.

While perfectly acceptable, I didn't think much of the room decor.. especially for the price

Thought the velvet mural on the wall in the room was scary and tacky

The corridors were in 1930's style. Again, not befitting of a Mandarin Oriental!

The wallpaper!!!!

Creative Christmas Cards!

Since I don't celebrate Christmas, I don't really get any Christmas gifts and probably not too many Christmas cards either. While I know it is customary in other parts of the world to send pictures of the family on Christmas cards, I bet you very few are actually as innovative, creative and cute as the Hardman ones! Funny man Mike Hardman and his lovely wife Georgina put together these fabulous cards every year that make me chuckle without fail. I don't really see either of them to often, but I SO look forward to their creations that one year when I didn't receive one, I actually took it up with Mike when I bumped into him... in June! I'm guessing that was a dead giveaway that I felt its absence during Christmas season gone by, and when they contacted me this year for my mailing address, I requested if I could get copies of the prior ones to blog about.
They have a knack of picking up something popular during the year gone by and incorporating it into the card, and I believe Mike does the cartoons while Georgina does the writing. Isn't it a fabulous idea?? Here are my favourites for your enjoyment... Do click on them to be able to zoom and read the writing better.

2006-

2007-

 2008-

2011-

 

Thanks Mike and Georgy for always remembering me on Christmas (even if I don't give you too much of a say in the matter!)... Happy Holidays!!:)

Not to Miss- Jaideep Mehrotra exhbition in Bombay!

I'm constantly amazed by the variety and intelligence level of people that read my blog and recently I received an email that came as a reminder of that. For lovers of Indian art, the name Jaideep Mehrotra is certainly not a new one. Mr Mehrotra is an absolute brilliant artist, and is one that my family members have been a huge fan of his work for ages. About a week back his wife, Seema Mehrotra wrote to me and told me she is a frequent reader of Kiran's Corner and asked if I was visiting Mumbai anytime soon as her husband was having an exhibition of his new work there through the month. While I'd have loved being able to go, I unfortunately have no plans of visiting soon but didn't want to miss the opportunity of pointing my blog readers in India, or those planning to visit Mumbai for the holidays, in the direction of the exhibit.
Instead of showing you guys works from the exhibit (that you can have a look at on his website- www.jaideepmehrotra.com) I thought I'd show you a very special piece of his work that takes up prime position at my home in Dubai. My parents, being huge fans of Mr Mehrotra's work, had this painting commissioned by him years back (and by that I really mean decades), when we were in the process of building the current house we live in. The painting's central theme was my Father obviously, and it was supposed to be a representation of him and our home. I was at college when this was done so never had the pleasure of interacting with the artist, but I remember coming home one holiday from boarding school and being blown away by the results. The colour palette was chosen using the colours from our home, while the painting itself conveyed so much power and depth. Instead of going for a complete portrait, Mr Mehrotra did a representation of my Father that wasn't as "in-your-face" and I think the elephant is much more of a giveaway of it being a commissioned piece than anything else (Jumbo.. elephant.. get it?).  Here's the complete piece-

(Click on the painting to have a detailed look)

I love the subtle touches like the man's wrinkly old hands which were again to represent power (my Father's hands never actually did look that old!) and the Alsatian dog, which was probably a lot more appropriate than my white furry Spitz called Pucci that I had back then!

As you guys know, I'm a HUGE art buff and used to frequent art classes and learn to paint myself. You don't have to know anything about art however, to appreciate the kind of detailing that went into parts of this painting, and I have to say the dog is really my favorite bit for this very reason. Even this close, it's pretty hard to believe this is a painting and not a photograph!

Ok, I'll stop gushing now and give you guys a chance to head on over and see Jaideep Mehrotra's stunning art works for yourself. Go on his website and have a look and if you're a fan of his work (it has definitely evolved a lot from the time he did this piece) you MUST go have a look. It's taken him 4 years to put together this body of work so it will be very interesting to see what he's come up with him and how the work looks up close.
The exhibition is at Tao gallery in Worli till the 15th and then at the Jehangir art gallery from the 19th to the 25th of December.
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PS: And if you're a recent reader of my blog and happen to be a lover of art, just wanted to point you into the direction of the GORGEOUS painting my art teacher created for me which is a collage of my Late Father and I through the years. You can have a look at it here. Hope you love it as much as I do! :)
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Test Driving the Ferrari California!

 Over the past weekend I was SO happy to be in possession of an absolutely FABULOUS ride.. the Ferrari California!! Being a huge fan of sports cars I've toyed with the idea of owning a Ferrari for a while now, but always stuck to Porsches. I currently own a zippy little Turbo Cabriolet as well as a Cayeanne Turbo if that gives you any indication of exactly how much of a Porsche girl I am! I guess the guys at Al Tayer motors got wind of my wanting to test drive a California and before I knew it I had someone coming over to my house and handing me the keys to a gorgeous white one.. talk about service! I had the car for a little over 4 days and decided to do a review of it for my blog as almost all my friends wanted to know what I thought and whether I was going to get one. Car lovers reading this blog, here is my disclaimer- do not expect any figures over here or any statistics on how fast it does 0 to 60.. I am a girl reviewing a sports car. Enough said? :)

So let me get straight into it- Turning on the engine is like listening to a perfect symphony only sports car lovers will quite understand. You really have got to love the "vroom vroom" as I call it to quite appreciate the sound this car makes. I probably looked a bit nutty while driving the car as I'd go really slow and then step on the gas just so I could hear the car growl as it ate up the road. Let's just put it this way- it made my Porsche sound like it was singing a silent nursery rhyme in comparison. A friend of mine sat in the car and asked me why the car was so noisy and whether it would eventually begin to irritate me over time. If I could have recorded the sound just to have it playback in my car, I would!!

To drive, this car reminds me of a thoroughbred racehorse. It is happiest when it is racing forward at high speeds (or the highest I could go in between radars on Sheikh Zayed road) and for that, it is a dream come true. Ever seen a racehorse trying to be contained into a walk though? It is agitated and jerky and difficult to control, and the same held true for the Cali. I had heard the California was an every day car and was much easier to control and maintain than the other Ferrari's before it. While I've only driven one once (raced it on the track in fact, so that doesn't count) and never owned one, I don't quite know how the others handle, but at slow speeds this car was positively jerky. It usually takes me a few minutes to get to Sheikh Zayed road from my house, and it pretty much jerked all the way till I got there- the kind of jerking that cars make when you're learning how to drive a stick shift and the car begins to jerk right before it shuts down? That, without the shutting down part. While I use my Turbo to run errands, go to the gym, pick up groceries and everything, I cannot dream of having to use this car to do any of those things. Of course you kind of KNOW that nobody uses a Ferrari to pick up groceries, but I'd at least like the option of being ABLE to if you're stuck in one. Any one of the Porsche sports models would very easily be able to be driven as a single persons only car, and as I mentioned I use mine almost daily. With the Ferrari, that wouldn't even be an option.

If I am making comparisons to my Porsche however, it is only fair for me to highlight the positive differences between the two as well. Going over 120 in my Porsche makes it feel a little jumpy and I have to be very careful with there being no or slight bumps in the road while driving it. Going past any construction site or any place that's being dug up also makes me feel like the vibration of the car is going through to my brain- it is an extremely rough drive. Surprisingly enough, the Ferrari glides through the roads and feels like a luxury sedan even over gravelly bits in the road. Speed bumps weren't as bad and I noticed that the usual spots on Sh Zayed that make my car feel like it's jumping off the ground, made no difference to the ride of the Cali. This car was super smooth and was a dream to drive, especially on turns.

As you can see in the pictures, there was no gear box in the car and the gears had to be controlled by the paddles on the side of the steering wheel. I can't imagine the kind of heart attacks I'd have while even thinking of handing the car over to a valet if I owned it. Think it would just not happen. The car can be driven in automatic mode as well as manual, but since I pretty much drove it on Auto the entire time, I really can't elaborate too much on that (again.. remember the disclaimer!).

Ok so here is when I go a bit girly on you and give you the more practical aspects that I felt were missing about the car. Most guys wouldn't care and would be like, "but it's a Ferrari!!" well yes, but not having a mirror on the sun shade flap REALLY inconveniences my life! Of course, it's not a deal breaker, but it would be SO nice if they'd decided to include one!! Same for parking sensors.. not a deal breaker, but it would have been nice if they had given me some visual parking aids than just a beeping sound (keep re-reading my disclaimer if you must!!) The stereo included in the car was just TERRIBLE but the guy dropping the car off said most people like listening to the sound of the car rather than the radio.. but that an upgrade was available while custom ordering the car. Considering I like bopping my head to music while driving, I'd definitely take the upgrade.. but the stereo system was just shockingly bad. I also didn't like that your car had to be parked to operate the roof and I'm so used to just going really slow while driving while doing and undoing my Turbo's roof that this again just seemed so inconvenient! Same for having to turn off the engine to be able to get the little gas door on the side to open while at the gas station. Fine for a few days in November.. I would NOT be wanting to fill gas in the car over the summer!

I finally found the cup holder for my daily Starbucks run

Overall, the car was an absolute beauty and I miss it so now that it's gone. My Porsche just isn't as smooth, as fast or as ubercool! And to answer the million dollar question- would I think of getting one? Not just yet. While most importantly I need to figure out the situation with my college next year (will I? Won't I?) I also would need to seriously consider that I will be having to use my Cayeanne or some other car as my primary car and would be able to take the California out only on times when I know I'm going to be driving mostly on the highway. But really.. what a drive it is!
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Baby Parrots at my window!

I live in Jumeirah and the other day I saw a group of 10 or so baby parrots in my garden, just kinda hanging out. I went over to take a picture on my phone, but they flew away. When I told my Mother about it later, she called me over to her room, where on one particular window sill (we can't figure why it's only that one) she always has a group of birds lined up, and these days those birds seem to be baby parrots. Again when I walked over to the window, a lot of them flew away, but I took pictures of these two and just HAD to share them with you. The sight is really so precious and it's so beautiful to see this pop of colour lining up outside your window every day! I can go on about the beauty of design by any one of our top fashion designers or the "in" colours every season, but really, is there anything more perfect than nature?

Customized Macbook Air!

I've said it before and I'll say it again.. I love products that are absolutely unique and have some personal touch to them. Remember my M&M's?? Well, since I personalized my chocolate, you obviously would think I'd do SOMETHING to my computer right? Right!
As part of my birthday present to myself, I decided to buy myself a New Macbook Air. My old one was the 13 inch but since I visit coffee shops A LOT (I'm practically furniture at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Shakespeare outlets near my house) I wanted a smaller one that I could tote around to blog on as my iPad doesn't quite do the job. Enter 11 inch Macbook Air and Steve Jobs had me salivating to pick one up ASAP!
Since I wanted to play around with the look of it, I was contemplating between having 2 companies customizing the product for me. Colorware is a company that customizes the entire look of the product for you so you can pick your own colours and finishes and make your phone, ipad or computer look exactly the way YOU want it to look. A friend of mine had gifted me a blackberry that they'd customized into an orange-berry and I LOVED it and used that phone for the longest time! Another company that I love is Gelaskin who do stickers or "skins" on a whole variety of products, which is how I'd redone my old iPad and iPhone. Since Colorware is very expensive to use, I'd resisted getting a computer of mine done since it would mostly be used at home, but since I'd be toting my 11 inch quite a lot, I figured I'd splurge and allow myself to customize the computer since I'd been lusting after them for a WHILE now. Then I decided to splurge a little more and get the Gelaskin as well as I was ordering them for my new phones and iPad2, and they had a "buy 3 get 1 free" offer. Anyhow, I can pull off the sticker anytime I like and amazingly, the skins don't leave any gunk behind so I wasn't worried at all. This is what the finished product looks like!

I absolutely LOVE my little computer and think Colorware have done a fabulous job... and since colour-blocking is SO in, but latest gadget is also SO on trend ;) I think the Gelaskin is also such a fab addition to the look. I'll post up the picture of my other devices soon so you can see how the skins have completely transformed the look and feel of them! By the way, if you already own a device and want to have it customized, Colorware allows most of the products to be sent in and shipped back with it customized. However that service is available for the US only, so if you're visiting the States over the summer, definitely something to think about sending your favourite Jumbo-bought (natch!) gizmos for a quick facelift to them! A little nip and tuck could take you a long way!
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Simpsons Couture!

While searching the net to look for an appropriate "Lanvin for Kids" accompanying picture, I came across the Simpsons spread that Harpers Bazaar had carried back in 2008 and thought it was SO fitting and SOOOO cute! While I posted the Lanvin one, I just HAD to post the rest of them up too!
Loving Homer doing the Karl Lagerfeld look best! The spread was called, "The Simpsons go to Paris with Linda Evangalista"

And yes I'm behind on my Paris blog posts, but nothing I could post could surpass the cuteness of the Simpsons in Paris! Did you spot Maggie sticking out of JPG's Birkin?? LOVE!!
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Taco Bell- "Thank you for Suing us"

If you've read my personal statement on here, then you'll know that I interned at an advertising agency when I was younger, and my dream job would have probably been to be a Creative Director of a huge Madison Avenue ad agency in New York (if not the Editor of a fabulous magazine!). Either way, I'm always intrigued and impressed by a great ad, and the headline for this one jumped out at me- "Thank You for Suing us" from Taco Bell. It seems that the giant food conglomerate is being sued for not using real beef in their tacos, and they're fighting back the claim with this very smart ad. It's not only an effective way for them to educate their customers, but if the customers are anything like me, they'll read till the end of the body copy and will then desperately crave one, or in my case, want to try one! Not to mention all the free publicity they are getting. Of course, now all they need to do is tackle that damned court case!

At Home in Emirates Hills

If you guys follow my blog regularly, you'll have noticed a slight lull in my posting over the past few weeks. However, my blog was not completely forgotten as I partied myself into the new year.. I had a few ideas I wanted to implement and waited till the New Year to get them going. One of these was to expand on my "Design Corner" theme and showcase some of the beautiful homes that I've seen in Dubai as well as on my travels abroad. A lot of people are probably a bit hesitant while opening their homes up to be photographed, and I knew I'd have to do a bit of arm twisting to get that to happen so I decided to pick an easy target for my first home review- I zoned in on my eldest sister.
My sister Bhavika Godhwani has studied Interior Design while at College in India, so when she decided to buy and do up her own house in Emirates Hills, I knew she would be involved a 100% in getting it just right to her tastes. Her home is a beautiful mix of contemporary and classic, and the palette of neutral hues in her main living room is highlighted by the gorgeous pieces of art her husband has collected from Indian Masters like M F Hussain, Souza, Sakti Burman, Jaideep Mehrotra, etc. My sister is constantly changing things around and recently just redid her Master Bedroom upstairs, which unfortunately she didn't let me photograph. She deemed her personal gym, my nephew's playroom, the TV room and her kids and her bedrooms upstairs, as well as a Home theater and game room downstairs, all as off limits to me, so here are some pictures of the rest of her home-

 

Her living room is covered with beautiful Persian rugs that adds a classic flavour to her mostly contemporary furniture. Parts of her walls are covered in a Mother-of-Pearl type treatment, with her ceilings painted a brushed gold to add a hint of grandeur. 

Her baby Grand Piano is my favourite piece to run to whenever I visit, as I've recently been taking piano classes and have been making do with a Casio Keyboard at home!

 

The Dining Area, where she does a lot of her entertaining, is where she hangs one of my most favourite pieces of art in her home- a large painting of Hussain's horses. I also LOVE her sculpted candles that you can possibly see on the right, as well the large Buccellati center piece that sits on her dining table.

 

 

The informal lounge downstairs has a darker colour scheme which is complimented with an interesting Buddha painting by Baiju Parthan as well as a Ralph Lauren bar.

My sister has collected artifacts from all over the world and she still loves shopping for her home and adding to her collection. Some of her favourite pieces are from Daum, Lalique, Lotus Arts de Vivre (pictured below) and Buccellati (also pictured below).

Hope you guys enjoyed taking a peek into this lovely home. I promise you guys a lot of interesting pictures and posts just like this going forward!