Need your help fellow bloggers!

Hello my fellow bloggers!

I recently attempted to write a blog on growing safety concerns for women in India. It was part of a competition and although the deadline was just in 12 hours, I thought of challenging myself. I wrote a piece, but you all are the real judges.

I would be obliged if you click on the link, like it and leave a comment on how you like (or dislike) it.

🙂 It’s important to me, so please visit the like and LIKE it.

https://www.facebook.com/events/183605251839824/permalink/185323025001380/

Thanks a lot..!!

God Bless.

Article in Gulf Times : All that blings is Gold

Gold never goes out of style. It can be worked into nearly any shape, from tiny strands that do not break easily to thin sheets, nearly anyway a jewellery artisan desires.

Gold is bought for a variety of reasons such as for auspicious sentiment, as an investment, hedge against inflation, asset allocation etc. It also carries a high perceived value and an emotional quotient. It reinforces closeness of relationships. Gold coins in smaller denominations are also considered apt for corporate gifting and rewards for contests or for commemorative giveaways.

In betrothal, an important part of the Chinese wedding tradition, four pieces of jewellery including a gold necklace, a pendant, a pair of earrings and a bangle are selected by groom’s mother and presented to the bride. The golden colour symbolises wealth and happiness.

One of the ancient traditions of Western Europe which is still going strong today in the Christian community is the idea of the engagement ring. It was way back in 860 AD that Pope Nicholas I proclaimed that not only was an engagement ring required to seal the agreement to be married, but that the engagement ring must be made of gold.

The making of the ring out of gold signified that the groom was willing to make a financial sacrifice for his new bride-to-be. Since then engagement and marriage ceremonies in the West include a small piece of gold jewellery.

Italian gold jewellery, on the other hand, is synonymous with style and Italy is well known for its yellow gold jewellery and classical designs. Italy is known as the world leader in gold jewellery production for its outstanding technical skills. Gold charm bracelets have a strong presence in Italian gold jewellery.

Everyone likes to make a statement and wear jewellery with a meaning behind it. It is an intelligent way to show one’s history or beliefs. A good example of this is the symbol of an inverted hand, where the hand extended forward is a symbol of divine force. Another example is Celtic jewellery where the Celtic knots can symbolise the eternity of life.

Read more here :

http://www.gulf-times.com/culture/238/details/350374/gold-is-never-out-of-fashion

retirement plan ready yet?

People make their retirement plans pretty extensively….  

Doing some savings- keeping some unfulfilled dreams- making a bucket list- hoping for them to come true in the final stages of their lives.

I am no different… I have made ’em too.. Although I am too young to make retirement plans- but hard to control one’s mind. 

In fact, my career has not even taken off yet, but I have made some plans… (Who doesn’t) 😉

I want to settle down at a peaceful place- far away from the noises of the city- far away from pollution- far away from senseless chatter of people..

A place where I am woken up by rays of sun and chirping of birds…..

A place where only healthy fresh pure air fills up my lungs…..

A home surrounded by trees and not sky scrapers….

Where people live midst nature, enjoying its gift….

No country specifically- It may be a small town in Norway or Australia… in the Black Hills or in The Alps….

So…do you have a retirement plan yet..?? 

#P.S – these pictures are taken in Simla (otherwise also known as Shimla) – INDIA.

Month of March : “In Print”

Month of March

Week 1

Cover Page :

Cover Story :

Week 2

Cover Page :

Cover Story :

Week 3

Cover Page :

Cover Story :

Week 4

Cover Page :

Cover Story :

Overwhelming joy of seeing my name IN PRINT.

Thank you MONTH OF MARCH.

The world on my plate : My article in newspaper

People today can travel anywhere around the globe traversing geographical boundaries. And with them, travel their culture and food. The number of foreigners working in Qatar has led to the eating habits of people here being influenced by food from all around the world. Various cuisines and outlets now open in the country have been adapted to serve nationals as well as expatriates from Asia, Europe and America.

Without a question, a dish or a restaurant is selected primarily based on its taste, cost and convenience to eat.

Read more here :

http://www.gulf-times.com/food/235/details/345782/-the-world-on-my-plateA side-bar which appeared in actual newspaper but not in E-version:

FAMOUS CUISINES

Falafel – traditional Arab food – deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas, beans, or both; usually topped with salads, pickled vegetables and hot sauce

Samosa – fried or baked pastry with a savory filling, such as spiced potatoes, onions, peas, lentils, ground lamb, ground beef or ground chicken

Kebab – wide variety of skewered meals cooked over or next to flames

Indian chaat – a mixture of potato pieces, crispy fried bread, gram or chickpeas and tangy-salty spices with sour home-made Indian chili, fresh green coriander leaves and yogurt. Popular variants include Aloo tikkis (garnished with onion, coriander, hot spices and a dash of curd), bhel puri, dahi puri, panipuri, dahi vada, papri chaat, and sev puri.

Sandwich – consists of two or more slices of bread with one or more fillings between them

Spring roll – large variety of filled, rolled appetizers. Kind of wrapper, fillings, and cooking technique used vary considerably from place to place

Croissant – butter-layered yeast-leavened dough rolled and folded several times in succession to give a flaky texture, similar to a puff pastry

Donut – deep-fried from a flour dough and shaped in rings or flattened spheres that sometimes contain fillings

Fresh juice – prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents

Milkshake – sweet, cold beverage which is made from milk, ice cream or iced milk, and flavorings or sweeteners such as fruit syrup or chocolate sauce

Steamed corn – kernels taken off a sweet corn cob or cut off and boiled or steamed

Risottos – rice cooked in broth to a creamy consistency. The broth may be meat-, fish-, or vegetable-based

Pizza – oven-baked, flat, round bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings

Pasta – made from an unleavened dough of flour mixed with water and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked and served in any number of dishes

Pies – baked dish made of a dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients

Pancakes – thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan

Scones – single-serving cake or quick bread made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent

Puddings – sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, or a mousse, made of bread or rice

Muffins – semi-sweet cake or quick bread that is baked in portions appropriate for one person

Cakes – form of bread or bread-like food normally with a round shape

Schwarma – meats placed on a spit and may be grilled, eaten with bread, tomato, and cucumber with toppings like hummus and pickled vegetables

Barbecued chicken – chicken parts seasoned and coated in a barbecue sauce, then grilled or smoked

Slurpees – frozen flavored drink

Ras Malai – consists of sugary white, cream or yellow colored balls (or flattened balls) of fresh cheese soaked in clotted cream flavored with cardamom

Other Photographs which are not included in e-version of paper:

Overhearing Birds ;)

Well after the first time I attempted dialogue writing for monkeys, I thought I can do it for birds too!! 😀

Lemme know what you think 😉

Pipa : Hey Chika have you seen Mina?

Yooohooooo…..Mina…?? Are you down there? C’mon buddy don’t hide, Show up!

Chika : Maybe he is playing hide-and-seek with us.. Lets search and bust him! What say??

Pipa : But its our lunch time. I am hungry man!

Chika : Alright, we’ll eat after we search Mina around this big island. He might be lost on the other side you know.

Pipa : Damn it..! What if he is lost and can’t find his way back to home island?

Pipa : Oh then can I eat his share of lunch, Eh? Eh? Temme… 😉

*after a few hours they still can’t find Mina*

Meanwhile….

Mina : Chika and Pipa are bloody emotional fools 😀 I sneaked out just to eat three portions of lunch 😉

Inspired.

As the release date of a new book by Rashmi Bansal approaches, I am truly inspired, not just because her new book (Follow Every Rainbow) is about stories of 25 female entrepreneurs, but also because I finally see a direction to my dream.

Rashmi Bansal is a writer, entrepreneur and a youth expert. She is the author of four bestselling books on entrepreneurship – Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, Connect the Dots, I Have a Dream, and Poor Little Rich Slum.

After more than 140 posts on both my blogs and heaps of inspiration from fellow bloggers and friends, what gave me courage was stories of ordinary people taking risks to do what they genuinely love.

Enter inspiration number 2 – Amish Tripathi. Economic Times tells his story –

When Amish Tripathi finished writing The Immortals of Meluha three years back, he took it to virtually every publisher in the country. All of them rejected his work, the first of the Shiva trilogy, for reasons as varied as a book on gods would have no readership and that it would have no connect with youth. That’s when the alumnus of IIM Calcutta decided to do the next best thing: go back to his marketing textbooks and chart out a plan to publish and sell the book himself. Tripathi printed the first chapter and distributed it at all bookstores in a unique sampling initiative; alongside he got a movie trailer made for the book and uploaded it on YouTube. A year later, Tripathi published the second in the series, The Secret of the Nagas. Together, the two novels have sold over a million copies. And earlier this month, filmmaker Karan Johar bagged the rights to adapt The Immortals… for the big screen.

Read more here.

I quote Rashmi Bansal,

The qualities that I believe make for success are:
1) being pigheaded (believing in your story and way of writing when no one else will)
2) being ahead of your time (what you’ve written has not been seen before or done before)
3) being I-don’t-give-a-damn (I started doing this for fun, not to make serious money or a big career).

**

So, now I have a dream (publishing a book), I am a pighead (I believe I can do it), I am not sure if I am ahead of my time (everyone has an opinion now-a-days, will my opinion count?) and I don’t give a damn (I really enjoy writing, not for money but to make my thoughts reach the crowd)

**

P.S : I really like the idea of creating YouTube videos and distributing pamphlets for publicity – and mostly I’ll employ these.

P.P.S : Plz help me being one step closer to this dream – cast your vote!

Connecting with Nature

How often do you take a stroll in a garden?

How often do you prefer walking than taking a vehicle?

How often you breathe in fresh air?

How often you read a novel under the shade of a sun?

How often do you notice nature’s beauty?

**

Are the above-mentioned things even important to you?

**

To me, it is…

Snaps from my recent visit to Lodhi Gardens – DelhiLodi Garden is one of Delhi’s most beautiful and popular parks. Here monuments are located amidst landscaped gardens. The most prominent are the 15th and 16th century tombs and a beautifully decorated mosque. There are smaller structures belonging to the late-Mughal period as well.

The Lodi dynasty in India arose around 1451 after the Sayyid dynasty. The Lodhi Empire was established by the Ghizlai tribe of the Afghans. They formed the last phase of the Delhi Sultanate.

As there is little architecture from these two periods remaining in India, Lodi Gardens is an important place of preservation. A favorite picnic spot and a joy for morning walkers with lots of greenery and trees.

Benefits of morning walk –

• helps to lose weight    • reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke

• reduces type 2 diabetes risk    • improves lung’s breathing capacity

• helps in the management of stress    • helps to treat hypertension

• protection against miscarriages

• very beneficial for the people suffering from insomnia. 20-30 minutes’ walk after the meals in the night can help to reduce the stress levels and can also helps in the digestion of the food which in turn gives you a sound sleep.

• supplies fresh oxygen and blood to each and every cell of the body which is required for the transport of every nutrient in the body

• reduce the risk of cancer and if someone is already suffering from cancer then it helps in the fast recovery and survival of the person

• improves the brain power    • add years to your life

Most common excuses for not going on a morning walk :

1. I am too busy    2. There are pet-walkers and the stray animals

3. The virtues of sleep    4. Walking is for the old, I work out

5. I play sports – that’s enough    6. Garden/Park is too far

I think we owe it to ourselves – to be connected to nature – make the best use of its gift. We may be too busy today, but won’t we be too late if we don’t take an action soon?

Musings from Rajasthan – India

The largest state of India – Rajasthan accounts for more than 10% of India’s surface area on the globe. Rajasthan is the only Indian State that has captured the imagination of the people, rulers and invaders through the ages as well as tourists both national and international.

Above is a painting by my super talented aunt. It truly depicts the exotic and vibrant nature of this state, a culture that has retained the very essence of the bygone royal era.

Rajasthan was dominantly ruled for over 1000 years by the Rajputs, a warrior clan who claim descent from the sun, the moon and the flames of a sacrificial fire. They have a strict sense of honor and chivalry similar to that of the medieval European Knights and preferred to die an honorable death rather than face defeat at the hands of the enemy.

India’s oldest mountain range as the backdrop; feast your eyes on spectacular sand dunes, take the tiger trail, or just watch the birds in the wetlands. Rajasthan offers it all.

Rajasthan is culturally rich and has extensive tradition in art and culture, which reflects the Indian way of life. The dance, music and art forms have been consciously cultivated and patronized by the erstwhile royal courts. An equally rich and varied folk culture from villages is both fascinating and mesmerizing. The music is of uncomplicated innocence and songs depict day-to-day relationships and chores, more often about the bringing of water. Rajasthan’s cultural tapestry takes in simple folk to highly cultivated classical music and dance, in its own distinct style.

Rajasthan has a rich tradition of cuisines – for this land of princes had some of the finest cooks in the palaces. The common-folk also took epicurean delight in the culinary art. Aptly has it been said that the royal kitchens of Rajasthan raised the preparation of food to the level of a sublime art.

Generally, Rajasthani curries are brilliant red but not as spicy as they look. Most Rajasthani cuisine uses pure Ghee (clarified butter) as a means of cooking.

Rajasthan is often portrayed as one vast open-air museum, with its relics so well preserved that it delights even the most skeptical traveler.

Other Fun links :

travel to Rajasthan – why?

facts and figures

wiki page

myths from Rajasthan – movie

Rajasthan Tourism

Certain memories are etched in your mind. Aren’t they?

Memories.

We are all here to make them.

We are all here to preserve them.

And still, its hard to keep track of all good/bad incidents in our lives.

For a certain-some-time, you feel “Yes, I will remember this for the rest of my life”. And 3 years hence, its hard to recollect the events of the same day.

THAT is the beauty of our mind. It follows a FIFO algorithm. We make space for more memories and older ones are pushed behind. FIFO or the First In First Out algorithm is described as

The idea is obvious from the name – the operating system keeps track of all the pages in memory in a queue, with the most recent arrival at the back, and the earliest arrival in front. When a page needs to be replaced, the page at the front of the queue (the oldest page) is selected.

For the same purpose, I keep this blog. So that my memories are not lost in page replacement algorithm of my “genius” mind 😉

This picture alone reminds me of a million memories I made in the December of 2011. And the best thing, the pic din’t need any sort of editing.

#Happy.Times

Velankanni Church of Virgin Mary

On a warm summer morning of Tamil Nadu, a group of young girls decided to visit a church nearby.

Map was arranged. Calls were made. Cab was hired.

Since it was only 3 years later I started penning down this trip – blame my poor memory- I used excerpts from Richard Clarke’s Blog to introduce Velankanni Church.

“Our Lady of Velankanni (alternately spelled Vailankanni) Church, called “The Lourdes of the East” and also “Our Lady of Good Health.” It carries these names because of three miracles that happened associated with the Mother Mary. It was built in the late 16th century. Later, modifications were made by the Portuguese.

Velankanni Church is a colossal structure, built in the Gothic style of architecture.

Velankanni receives many visitors. The largest crowd is up to 500,000 on September 8 of each year, for the nativity of the Virgin Mary.

The local tradition talks of the apparitions of Virgin Mary at Velankanni, at least three times. It is seen as a place of healing, and attracts many thousands of visitors, mainly Indians.”

Since our day began early, and hostel mess food was pathetic, we stopped to eat roadside.

Well what we ate wasn’t top class food, but it was better than what we left behind in hostel.

Soon enough we reached the beautiful church.

Parts of it was getting renovated.

We took the entrance from the left…..

If you stand on this church, you see 3 churches – one on your left, one on your right, and one straight ahead.

  

A peaceful place to worship.

  

And a special area designated to sell franchised products of Velankanni Church.

Oh, and one of the 3 churches I mentioned about – the one straight opposite – many people come here and go to that church crawling or barefoot. It is a belief if you pray for something – this is the hardship you need to get through.

We spotted a woman going there- on her knees. There is a tree inside the church; childless women tie a handkerchief in the shape of a pram here. Apparently they get blessed with children after that.

Not sure about the myths and beliefs related with the churches, but it was a beautiful architectural site too.

Some Links :

Velankanni Town – Wikipedia

Velankanni Church Website

I.Love.India Website talks about the church.

Analysis of my 2012

 

So, we haven’t died and its almost the end of this superb year 2012. 😉

Whoever suggested the world will end, kindly tell me the new date to look forward to. I mean, seriously, I was waiting for something to happen, something bigger than a Tsumani or Katrina.

So, I understand lots and lots and lots of things have happened this year – but as part of me keeping a journal of 2012 I am going to pen down whatever I can remember now of my past one year.
Like I said in the “My Purpose” section, I want to remember the good things and cherish them even after a few years. A pity – I have a not-so-good memory so I have a very few things to say about each month.

It was New Year – YAY!

Ordered for a new phone and got it delivered – double YAY!!

A dull Valentine’s but sent out a few gifts

Came to know about options in MBA from India

Flew home (Qatar) for Holi and spent it with family

Got visited by my dad later in the month

Introduced my bosses to my dad and my work environment

A memorable trip taken 😉

Decided to <finally> pursue MBA

Started studying for it too (sigh)

The dreadful summers – long hours of job and tiresome running around my power plant

Almost an end of summers – and my will to work long hours

I completed my one year at my company – YAY!

Got my so called hike

Met with my best best buddy before he left for Minnesota

I started a new blog – this blog 😀

And I started knowing MN better

A superb response for the blog

Started updating poetry on my other blog too – frequently that too

Time was flying by – form my MBA entrance exams

I left my job, left the city I lived in – without even meeting the people I worked with

Came back to India

Wrote CAT 

Celebrated Diwali with two of my mom’s sisters and partially in the train

I turned 23 😉

Filled a dozen application forms and wrote 2 other exams

Got blog awards – Blog of the year 2012 1 and 2, Liebster Blog Award, Reality Blog Awards,  

Understood the importance of Thanksgiving

Realized I haven’t died yet 😉

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, officially, it will be an end to 2012. Secretly I am smiling inside, cuz I never thought I will be writing so frequently on this blog – but I am! Looks like the WordPress experience has been a great one 😉

So, in the good spirits and an open mind and heart for 2013, I hereby declare the end of this 2012!

Gave up religion – became spiritual

Born and bought up in India – a country with as many religions as you can count! And the best part – you can follow ANY!

For years I have been a devoted Hindu, followed the N-number of deities, visited XYZ number of temples. And I have read the BIBLE and the QURAN! (thanks to my beautiful friends *i**i*a and *a*i*a who gifted me an insight to Christianity and Islam). I have been to a church, a mosque and a gurudwara and felt equally peaceful thereafter.

I respect all the religions, and in all the dissimilarity they all are just the same. All talk about a divine power, a faith, a check on one’s karma. No religion compels people into riots, no religion forces one to keep hatred for another.

I follow spirituality. 

I believe in ONE divine power. I keep faith in my karma. I feel only good things happens with good people. Yes, there are tough phases, but there is always a silver lining.

I feel loved. I feel positive. I feel blessed.

 

Some links :

1. Indian religions

2. Religion in India

3. Hindu deities

4. Spirituality 

Disclaimer :

Absolutely NO intention to offend anyone!

Recent roadside incident

With marriage season starting on 24th November (this is 2012), the roads and streets were flooded with band bajaas and baraats. And sometimes dolis too. At such times travelling by road is very (read extremely) tough. Traffic jams take about 2-3 hours extra of your life.

In these circumstances, the auto walas are more keen on taking rides to small distances and going without meter (a crime) and charging high prices if you are dressed well (obviously they know you’re in a hurry to go somewhere).

So to convince an auto driver to take me 15 km away was a task not easy. It took 4 people to try their luck at 9 auto drivers to finally find the one who charged as much as he wanted. (he clearly saw the desperation in our eyes). A young girl dressed well, an old aunt wrapped in woolen shawl, a 7-year-old playing with a suitcase and a house servant trying to tackle a heavy suitcase and a naughty kid. And yet I am sure we caught attention of not many people that day : this is the good thing about Delhi, you can’t be easily recognized in a crowd.

So finally, the greedy but cooperative auto uncle (now I started paying him respect — he is responsible for my life’s safety for next 40 mins or so) took off from my starting point.

But soon, he announced to me, the front tire of the auto was punctured. I kinda choked on my pasta that time. I asked him how long will it take, to which he replied, that depends if we get someone to repair the puncture. After that I stopped eating. We (mostly he) searched for puncture repair guys on two petrol pumps en route to my destination. With no success, and the tire breathing its last few minutes, he finally decided that it would be best if he (read-we) repaired it himself.

So after parking on the roadside, I saw him struggling to convince someone to give him a hand (yea, talk about how tough people are to convince these days). Eventually I told him, no help is coming and that we should proceed.

20 minutes and one flat tire later, I was seated back in the auto only to think, why we dint get any help. Oh wait, one middle-aged man smiled at me while I was holding the auto up(it weighs 610 kg) so that the driver could screw those nuts in the new tire. By the time that man’s conscience hit him, he went past us but then returned to ask if we needed any help. Luckily we were done by then. He then walked back to his rickshaw.

When our rickshaw over took his, I waved and smiled at him. At least he bothered to notice me that day. At least he took 5 minutes out of his life to ask about a fellow traveler  At least he had the courtesy to stop and offer his service to a damsel in distress.

Bless you! Whoever you are, wherever you are!

Interesting Links:

Fact file of Auto Rickshaws

Punjabi wedding traditions : with explanations on Doli, Baraat etc

A to Z of Delhites ;)

Auntys (you see them everywhere!!!)
Bungalows (display of your assets)
Camera freak (absolutely :D)
Diamonds are best friends (Check out the list of outlets of Jewellery stores in Delhi – You’ll be shocked)
Eating (especially roadside)
Farm house (for a weekend get-away)
Gadgets (see see see I have ******* phone 😉
High society high heels (O, yeah.. SATC)
Imported cars (but bad condition of roads)
Jewellery (artificial is better than real, and most of the times you can’t find out the difference)
Khan market (shopping HUB)
Luxury safari (what FUN 😀
Marriage (excites everyone)
Not real (So true!!!)
O Teri (most commonly used word- after the swearing obviously)
Pubs (in every nook and corner)
Queen size (so common – yet doesn’t stop people for wearing anything they want 😀
Restaurant (5-6 in every street- yes we love eating THAT much)
Sale season (makes people go GA GA)
Tour of Canada (is SO common in elite families)
USA dreams (for one and all)
VIP (nobody is NOBODY in Delhi)
Whisky (on the rocks)
Exercise (~no comments~)
Young (no dictionary had the word OLD)
Zero size (most desirable thing – for men and women 😉

Disclaimer : No intentions to hurt anyone’s feeling!

Note for readers : “Delhite” is a slang given to people living in Delhi

A fun link : Facebook page of  Proud to be a Delhite and I love Delhi and also Meri Delhi Meri Jaan

An interesting link : Samosapedia – The definitive guide to South Asian lingo