Riya's Ramblings Riya

Recently, my brother graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and I graduated from 8th grade.

While the events were similar, they had their differences.

The UPenn ceremonies were bigger and fancier but we had a really good ceremony in our school gym too. :)

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee spoke at my brother's commencement and my principal spoke at mine!

Both speeches were awesome and very engaging.



Here's to high school! (for me)

And to a job (for my brother)

Listen to the full episode for full details, and email me at Riyaramblings@gmail.com for a shout-out. (shout-out to Isabella and Kaitlyn).

Remember, listen, rate, and share!

This is Teacher's Appreciation Week and I am really thankful to all my teachers!

I have enjoyed learning about US history this year and this is an episode about one of my favorite topics - the Lewis & Clark expedition to explore the western parts of the US in the early 1800s.



A big thanks to my history teacher - Mr. Matuska - for making history so interesting.



Email me - RiyaRamblings@gmail.com - with your comments, feedback and ideas, for a shout out!



Remember to listen, rate, and share!

This is part 3 of my 3-part series about my family’s visit
to India! The finale!!

(The first 2 parts were about Mumbai and Pune)

This one is about Vadodara in Gujarat, where my mom grew up.

 

We took the train from Mumbai and had a great time on the train. I loved the long distance train travel in India, so comfy!

 

Our Vadodara trip was bitter-sweet because my grandfather (my mom’s father) had passed away 3 weeks before we got there. We stayed in their house – the house where my mom grew up.

I felt privileged to be able to be a part of a religious
ceremony where we immersed my grandfather’s ashes in a river, it was very peaceful.

But we also spent some time at Surya Hotel – and the hotel breakfast there was epic! I mean, EPICC!

 

We also visited some local landmarks like the Lakshmi Vilas Palace – where the royal family of Vadodara lives.

The royal family is symbolic now but the palace very cool.

It’s 4 times the size of Buckingham Palace in London :O!!

 

We also visited Pavagadh – it’s a temple on top of a
mountain about an hour from Vadodara.

It was CRAZY crowded – super packed with so many people! What an experience!

And we saw so many monkeys, who were just chilling.

But we did look like TOTAL tourists at our excitement at seeing the monkeys.

 

We also went to Sayaji Baug – a beautiful park in the city.
It’s a bit like NYC’s Central Park with lovely fountains, play areas and even a zoo! :)

 

We also visited my mom’s college – and her engineering buildings.

It was fun to see that after visiting my dad’s college (my
Mumbai episode has more details)!

 

And I loved going to D-Mart – a local grocery store. You
might think, why? But it was so much fun to see the local products and walking to and back from the store. It honestly was one of my favorite parts!

 

We walked to a lot of places and took the auto-rickshaw for longer distances.

 

We had some great food including some street food which was absolutely delicious! Once again, the food was one of the best parts! :) :)

 

Vadodara is a super chill city compared to Mumbai and Pune, but it has an undeniable charm!

 

Shout out to Priyanka fai – for emailing me about my Mumbai episode – and to Natalie and Aimery for telling me how much they liked my travel episodes.

Email me at RiyaRamblings@gmail.com
with your comments and feedback, and you will get a shoutout.



Remember, listen, rate, share!

In this episode, I ramble on and on about the solar eclipse! 



I was in kindergarten in 2017 when we had a partial solar eclipse in our area. Today's was a total eclipse!

 

Since I was in the path of totality, it was a breathtaking, once in a lifetime experience. It was so pretty, and I just wanted to share my experience with it!

 

Remember, you can email me at RiyaRamblings@gmail.com about anything, and you will get a shoutout! 

 

Thanks for listening and remember, listen, rate, and share!

(Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 of my India travel series)

This is part 2 of my travel series about my recent trip to
India with my family. (Part 1 was Mumbai).

 

My father’s younger brother (my “kaka” in Gujarati) lives in
Pune, so that was our main reason to visit.

Pune is about 4 hours by road from Mumbai. It’s higher in
elevation and has a cooler climate than Mumbai.

This was my first time visiting Pune and it was so fun! I loved the vibes of the city a lot!

Throughout our visit, we enjoyed the food, the local attractions, and, more food!



Pune is a very historical city so we did a heritage walk of many old sites in the center of Pune. It was tiring but very educational. We had an amazing guide from an organization called INTACH. Listen for more details about the tour!

We also visited Aga Khan Palace – where Mahatma Gandhi was kept under house arrest during India’s war of independence. Super fun and educational!

 

Pune is also known for it's ancient temples, so we visited a ton! My favorite was Pataleshwar, an ancient temple, which is more than 1200 years old!

That absolutely blew my mind!!



Another fun activity we did was taking the stairs up a mountain called “Parvati”. There were so many super cute puppies on the way!

There was a museum about the Peshawas on top. And also a temple, so that was fun. :

It wasn’t a hard hike for me but I could see the adults in
our group get tired. :)

 

The food was so good – different from Mumbai but still so so good!

Puna missal – spicy bean curry + local bread (pav)

Vada paav – fried potatoes + chutnies + local break (pav)

Marathi thaali – multiple curries/subzis, daals and sweets.
So filling! And super yummy!



Listen for more things we did!

 

Overall the city felt a little more laid back than Mumbai, but there some similarities, like the street dogs. People were so mean to them!



Shout outs to my fais (my dad’s cousin sisters) - Kinjal fai
and Priyanka fai for emailing me about my Mumbai episode.



And to Harper and Emerson from my soccer team!



If you live in Pune or have visited Pune, email me and tell me what you thought of my experiences at RiyaRamblings@gmail.com! You will get a shout-out!

This episode is the first part of a series about my recent
trip to India!

This episode is about my experiences in Mumbai – the city
that never sleeps 😊.

My father grew up in Mumbai and my grandmother (‘dadi’ in
Gujarati, my mother tongue) still lives there, whom we stayed with. I interviewed her in Episode 70.

I was visiting after 8 years (yes, really!) and so didn’t
have many memories of the place or my family members who live there, so this was very different and fun!

It was wonderful to meet them all – uncles, aunts, cousins,
grand-uncles, grand-aunts and more – and learn about my dad’s childhood from them. I loved how they meet regularly and celebrate all festivals and milestones together, seems very fun!

We also visited a few notable places:

1.      VJTI – my father’s engineering college. It was
sweet to see my dad get excited about labs and locations that he rememberedfrom his time there

2.      Gateway of India – this was built over a 100 years
ago to commemorate the visit of the British king, and it was sooo majestic!

We also enjoyed the local trains and rickshaws, something
very different than back home!

But one of the absolute best parts was the FOOD!  From home made delicacies to delicious party food in restaurants to McDonalds (yep!) – we had the Best. Time. Ever. with all
the food options!

I definitely wish we had more time in Mumbai – there’s still
so much to see and do. And of course, eat!

 

Shout out to Priyanka fai (my dad’s cousin sister) and Rheana
for emailing me about my podcast.

Email me: RiyaRamblings@gmail.com, about anything anc everything for a shoutout!

Have you been to Mumbai? Would like to go? Let me know! Ask
questions, make suggestions.

And as always, listen, rate, and share!