Clean Shave with Gilette

They say love can be blind. It can happen at first sight. Can lurk in every corner and you never know when cupid will strike you. Love doesn’t follow rules or procedures that make you win over her. It always happens over a magical phase of time, and definitely unpredictable. 

Having not being a big fan of Cupid’s actions, I always lived life to my fullest with no regrets and not really gave much thought on personality or grooming to attract someone. 

It was one such day when I was going on with my daily routine, when my friends made plan to hit the beach clubs and called me to get ready. Upon knowing me fully well, they really insisted on me getting a clean shave and doing away with my moustache and beard and also my little stubble that I grew sometimes. I persuaded them to let me come just like that, however to my dismay they were in no mood to listen and hence I finally gave up and went for a complete smooth clean shaven look

We reached the beach club around evening and were having brief conversations over the deck. About that time, I was feeling a bit thirsty and felt like having something to drink. I walked up to the counter and was about to order something when a hand brushed suddenly brushed past my face, gently caressing my smooth skin with soft fingers. Startled for a moment I turned around, finding myself staring at this beautiful person standing behind me. She had sparkling eyes, quite tall and a lovely face that anyone could have fallen in love with almost instantly. She smiled at me, eyes dangling in blush and softly apologized for hitting me accidentally. I replied instantly that it was not a problem and pleasure is mine. She burst into a laugh and almost suddenly complimented me saying, for starters, it was a smooth brush of hands after all and I looked nice with a clean shaved face and had a charming personality

That was when I knew, cupid had set things in action and began to roll the dice. We talked hours later through the night, and thus began something that can never be forgotten in my life. The whole thing happened  all because I had a clean shave with a Gillette .

This post is a part of #WillYouShave activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette

                                                                                                                                                 

New Year Resolutions with my Canvas Tab P666

Year after year, I have made several New Year resolutions and tried my absolute best to stick to it. However 99% of the times I have let go of trying to achieve that or given up on day 2. 

My resolutions over the past years always been quite common with others from usual dietary goals, fitness goals, developing a new hobby or a language, , aiming for the best employee award , taking trip across the world, getting rid of all unnecessary habits, save more money and reduce debts, stop purchasing unnecessary things or being a spend thrift etc.

However this year, for a change I wanted things to be different.  The goals didn’t change. It may have added an extra one or two than last year, but this time I will definitely manage to achieve everything successfully, and primarily with the help of my purchase of a tablet, Micromax Canvas Tab P666. Given below are the ways by which I’ll achieve my goals with the lightning speed of the Canvas Tab P666

·         Fitness : Almost everyone’s new year resolution will include a goal to be more fit this year , lose weight and actively engage in exercises on a regular basis. With help of the Canvas Tab P666 which has the latest Kit Kat OS and a massive 8GB internal memory and access to the Google play store, I’ll download the popular fitness apps like JEFIT which can help me monitor all my exercise schedules, weight logs, and BMI index measurements. With the lightning speed of the processor and the extended battery life of 6 hours of browsing time, I can use the tab to track and monitor even at the gym

·         Creativity on the move: I always spend hours during traveling to office and forth, doing nothing and wasting the whole time. One of my New Year resolutions is to spend this time wisely and productively. This time, with the help of the Canvas Tab P666, I will download the Microsoft Office suite app which has the Excel, PowerPoint, Word apps with cloud storage. Given the blazing speed of the tablet , I can work on complex formula calculations in my office documents in Excel and design creative presentations using the PowerPoint feature accessing data directly from the cloud with the 3G connectivity

·         Travel the world: With the help of my Canvas Tab P666, I’ll try to look for competitive air fares for different countries in the holiday season with Price checker apps, buy flight tickets, hotel tickets and tour packages online directly from the device. Coupled with a 3g connectivity ,5 MP camera, 1080p video recording and a powerful Intel Atom processor, I can travel across the world everywhere navigating with Google Maps with 3g/WiFi Connectivity , find local restaurants using the Zomato app and hangout with local people using the couch surfing app and take awesome HD clarity selfies in the tourist attractions

·         Work-Life Balance: I’ll definitely aim for a better work life balance this year. Spend more time with family and loved ones on par with the time spent at work. I would use the Canvas Tab P66 to watch HD videos with my family, play games like Commando and Real Racing online with my friends and take beautiful family pics with the 5MP camera

Watch below how you can discover your hidden passions and interests with the all-new Canvas Tab P666 powered by the Intel^® Atom^™ Processor

Truth will set us Free

As Mahatma Gandhi once said , “Truth never damages a cause that is just”

They say that truth sets us free. It gives us freedom and happiness that no amount of lying to cover up the issue can do. Yes, it does lead us into a lot of unnecessary problems, but it clears our conscience so much, that it eventually overcomes the problems and we can stop trying to cover up further.

Everyone goes through a situation in life, especially childhood where one fearing the wrath of parents tends to lie a lot. There was one such incident in my life that I felt like writing about in this post. Being an ardent cricket fan like almost every kid, I ached longingly to go for cricket practices, play for the school team and get really better at the sport. However being a society that revolves only around studies. Almost no importance was given to sports, especially cricket and it was mainly considered a hobby to be played during school vacations. Meanwhile during school terms,  school after hours were to be spent only on coaching classes for board exams, IIT entrance exams and other engineering entrance coaching classes 

Back in such days, it was considered even a sin to watch cricket, much less play it . Having unable to give up this sport or avoid creating a long break in my sports career, I tried to take up cricket practices whenever I could find time. Just at that time, the sports master announced a new cricket practice session for a 3 month period with a fixed fee. This was considered to be extremely important as it meant direct selections to the school team if you showed great potential in it and shined really well. Being in school, with pocket money just barely enough to cover the bus journey, me and my friends looked for a way to join this important cricket practice session. We decided to come up with a plan where we would claim at home that there was a new coaching session organized by the class teacher that aimed at focusing for the board exam and covering the related questions that will be asked in the exam. All our families readily agreed for such a coaching class after school hours and readily agreed to pay up for the same, irrespective of the amount

I took up the amount and was almost ready to go and pay for the cricket practice session when I realized what a huge blunder I had done by lying to my family. I went up to them the next day and told them that there was no such coaching class by the class teacher and the money was actually needed for the cricket coaching practice.

Initially for the first few hours, there was a huge fight for lying for such things and the focus of playing cricket than studying for exams. Eventually by next day they came around and readily agreed for me to play in the practice sessions and also even try for the selections for the school cricket team. They even very kindly offered to pick and drop me from school till the cricket ground every day and avoid walking and going in buses

Every other day till date, I think of this example which makes me think about the different situations where  I was forced to lie, but told the truth instead and made myself a better person

Watch  one such ad by Kinley that explains the importance of saying the truth and not lying for anything

Melbourne : A Paradise in Australia

As I sat down writing about the most beautiful city in the world , Melbourne I wondered what more can I write ,than that has not been described yet . Be it the rivers or the opulent bars, lavish restaurants or the hub of sports and culture nothing Melbourne’s got it all.

From my knowledge of the sights and sounds of this attractive city, I am listing down the favourite things and reasons as to why I love this city more than any other city in the world

Melbourne Cricket Ground: Having come as a no surprise , Melbourne Cricket Ground , one of the largest cricket stadiums in the world with a 100,000 capacity, is a top attraction to almost any visitor to the country . Built in 1853 it has been the host for several cricketing tournaments, world cups and test championships. Incidentally, this cultural icon of a venue, is also host to the popular Australian Football League

Federation Square : Melbourne being the heart of cultural attractions and world class events stages most of its shows in the popular Federation Square .Be it the National Gallery that hosts famous art shows and a suite of galleries dedicated to the rich heritage of Aborginal arts . Everything from exhibitions, films, concerts and fashion shows are performed inside the Federation Square

Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles: One of the most beautiful and scenic ocean roads are located in Melbourne which spans up to 243 kms until the 12 Apostle structures. The highway is carved into sheer cliffs with a picturesque and yet commanding view of the beautiful ocean beside it. The 243 amazing journey leads us to fantastic limestone cliffs and collection of rock formations known as the 12 Apostles which was carved out by the aggressive waves of the southern ocean.

Wineries: With its innumerable winery regions in many parts of the country , especially famous in the Melbourne districts , wine tasting and visiting the wineries should be a definite inclusion in any tour to Australia

Hot Air Balloon: Ballooning is a great fun, adventurous activity which takes you on a flight over the Yarra valley ,or the scenic sights of the Melbourne city from as high you can reach . This is an experience one should never miss while on a visit to this wonderful city

Leisure and Spa : One of the most beautiful things that I love about this city is it encourages its travellers to sit back and relax the sights , and involve in leisurely activities than get entangled in its fast paced life like other cosmopolitan cities across the world. Melbourne is home to several spas and leisure salons including massage parlours,  Japanese styled spas and several other day spa retreats where one can go and get an alluring massage to relax the body 

Shopping : Adding to yet another leisure activity, is their multitude of shopping centres lined across the streets, that makes one never want to leave the city. Be it the farmers market , book markets, Queen Victoria Market or the international stylish and swanky malls that offer everything straight from the fashion hubs and brands of the world Melbourne is the place to go for some serious shopping !

Food : Apart from their wineries, mountain ranges, shopping malls , cricket grounds and spas, one important other thing Australia, in particular Melbourne is quite famous for is their cuisine. Popular because of the origin of the famous cooking show, MasterChef Australia One should never come back without trying the Australian BBQ lunch or the seasoned European and Asian styled food in their one too many restaurants ,of course coupled with a bottle of Australian beer or wine

The below video lists some amazing things one can do in Melbourne

Contest time :
This is a contest to all my readers of the blog and a chance to win exciting gift vouchers
In the comment box, answer to the below question along with your name, email id and city

"Which of these places would you want to visit in Melbourne and why?".

 We'll select the best answer and reward with a gift voucher .
The contest ends before Jan 4th 2015

The Mouse Charmers : A review

India out of all developing nations has witnessed the explosive growth of E-Commerce with Indian companies vying for a huge chunk of the Internet retailing piece. Starting on a small scale with train and air tickets, almost everything was available online. Be it books, clothes, mobiles, laptops, electronic devices or even groceries one could easily purchase it online with a million choices and even sites to compare the prices, reviews and quality

A recently published book called "The Mouse Charmers" talks in detail exactly about this massive growth of Indian commerce and the people & infrastructure behind these websites while providing a seamless experience to their users

Before starting this book , I literally had no idea that there were so many websites and companies competing in so many categories and trying to outsell each other and gain humongous profits in the process

Some of the categories included : E-Commerce , Information providing sites (Content), Matchmaking Websites, Networking Portals and so forth

The author deeps dive down into the major players of each of these segments and traces their success story right from their startup, growth and how they manage this ever growing business . Some of the famous examples included Flipkart, Indiblogger.in , Zomato ,Makemytrip.com etc

Probably this is the only book that I've come across which has consolidated all the Indian websites and researched , tabulated the size of the Indian E-Commerce industry and definitely a great read for all those future entrepreneurs and MBA/Business school grads who wants to understand the online industry in the most consise and accurate manner than rely on several blogs reporting inaccurate content on the same

The most interesting story reported in this book is the rise of the small blogging portal called www.indiblogger.in which has now India's leading blogger portal with 35000+  moderated verified blogs listed under them. This phenomenon of Indiblogger making India to encourage writing and blogging was amazing and something no other company could have even wildly imagined. With such a small employee base , their capacity to hold nationwide events, bumper contests in such a frequent manner can only make other networking/blogging portals in awe of them

I'd strongly recommend everyone to purchase this amazing book and make it a highly informative read
Buy the Mouse Charmers here

Teddy Travelogues ( A Kids vacation )

Every vacation brings us such wonderful memories and experiences that one cherishes for their entire life. Every place, city or hill station we visit, lives still evergreen in our eyes, always remembering the amazing fun in that vacation. The fun gets multiplied if it’s a large family gathering with people of all ages, especially kids, sharing the fun and experience throughout the journey

Having traveled extensively across the country several times with other families, I have tried to observe what the vacations means to each one of them, especially the little ones. Brimming with energy right from the start, the kids always plan more than adults on what to do, what to carry on along and even the kind of games they would want to play during the trip and the vacation spot

Apart from clothes and shoes, they carry a bunch of things that includes balls, bats, and board games like chess, monopoly, cards, comic books and other toys to ensure they are engaged for the entire trip. Be it the train or the bus, they immediately start forming teams with the other relative’s kids or the other kids in the same compartments.

They have a bristling voice, vigor and liveliness that can almost bring the roof down wherever they are , with loud screams and shrieks during their games or when its food time. Rather  than just a trip to while away time during school holidays, the kids see the whole thing as a huge learning experience to see something new which they haven’t witnessed before. They see each place as a new magical land which they want to explore and run around the gardens, streets and parks and even try to interact with kids of the native area. Nothing compares to the joy they feel, when they are told they will be taken to a new fun place, a nearby theme park or a playground with a lot of fun rides.

Not only to them, but the kids spread so much happiness to those around them, involving the adults in the little games they play. The constant barrage of questions they ask , from where are we going , where is It located , what is special about the place, what is available there and several other million to expand their knowledge and curiosity. These small activities actually manage to create a buzz among us adults that can actually alleviate a lot of family problems, awkwardness and other issues and bring everyone together with their magic.

Even if the family is headed to a small town, the kids manage to keep the trip experience really worthwhile trying out everything available in the place. Not only this, they manage to come up with so many stories back home when they revel in their vacation experience and share it other friends and children.

If I was going on a family vacation with other kids, I’d ensure their safety first of all to prevent any mishaps, accidents or kids getting lost.

Second I would try to get them whatever they desire during the trip, be it an ice cream, chocolate, comic book

Most importantly I would get membership to in a premier club/resort such as Club Mahindra so that wherever I go for a vacation, I need not worry about a suitable accommodation for the family and the kids . Not only that resorts like Club Mahindra offer so much facilities and features for everyone in the family . Predominantly, its located in a very spacious area amidst an enchanting natural settings , be it a jungle or beside the lake or nestled amidst the hills and offer everything a family could ask for: Spacious Rooms, Hygienic multi-cuisine food , Swimming Pools and all other lodging facilities , which can keep the children safe, occupied as well as energized.

Further more , I would try to act as a guide while visiting many tourist spots and city tours, explain to them the importance of that place and enrich their knowledge. I would also organize small games as team activities to keep them occupied and also successfully avoid any problems or disturbance for other families

Altogether make the vacation a fun filled one for both you and your kids

Do check out such wonderful travel stories by kids: Travelogues