Music Marathon

Post 6 for IndiMarathon-All the experiences I explored from this marathon

Music is powerful. I have always believed that music is always very important while running, dancing, working out and driving and of course blogging. It adds to the energy of the environment.

I need to play some really exciting background scores to make the blog marathon thrilling. There is a huge list of my favorite songs in the play-list, some are inspiring, others are high on energy, some are soulful and some are relaxing. So the playlist is going to emerge as a great support system to my efforts to participate in this marathon.

To begin with, Beethoven’s symphonies will do. They help my mind concentrate. I feel calm and relaxed while listening to the finest creation of the maestro. And, who doesn’t like piano.

Next I would prefer some peppy and high energy EDM music and remixes such as Swedish House Mafia, Major Lazer, Chill Nation or David Guetta. This would bring some thrill to the work and it also helps me speed up my typing.

Coldplay is the next. The band has finest of lyrics and beautiful music. They sing so soulfully that my heart just cannot help but feel the waves of the music flowing through each drop of blood.

Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Smiths and various other classics from the golden era of music are also in the playlist. In short, the playlist is ready with some exciting, peppy and thrilling music. The same kind of music I prefer during the drives.

How do I choose my favorites in music?

Actually, my favorite way of discovering that whether I like particular music or not is listening to it while I am driving. Music is never static, so how can one judge its suitability with your mood while sitting static. Therefore, driving the car and listening to the music is the best thing one could do. It helps me enjoy the finest parts of the music, it helps me feel the music the way it should be felt and that is how I choose that which song should go in my playlist.

Music motivates, music pacifies, and music helps me look at the world in a different way. Therefore, music is very important for writing blog posts as well. I have planned following playlist during the blog marathon post writing, and it is helping a lot:

Beethoven-Fur Elise

David Guetta- She Wolf

Swedish House Mafia- Don’t you worry child

One Direction-Perfect

One Direction-You are beautiful

Pitbull-Rain over ME

Pitbull, J Lo- On the Floor

Pitbull-International Love

Coldplay-Lights will guide you home

Coldplay-Scientist

Coldplay-Paradise

Coldplay-Sky full of Stars

Coldplay-Everglow

Pink Floyd-Comfortably Numb

The Beatles-Strawberry fields

The Beatles-Julia

The DRIFTERS- Darling Darling Stand, Stand by me

Mungo Jerry - In the summertime

Dionne Bromfield - Ain't No Mountain High Enough and many more

 This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today. 

Peppy Planning

Post 5 for IndiMarathon-All the experiences I explored from this marathon

Plans fail. Plans work out. But, plans at least give you a sense of doing something. If you have a roadmap, you can definitely try and go ahead to do what seems impossible to complete right now. I have my strategies lined up, the milestones are set. But, to hope from one milestone to another, I need a peppy and motivating plan. I need to incorporate things in my routine, which help me to enjoy this experience even more.

Because, the plan is to achieve each and every step that I take ahead for this marathon and if I fail to do so, there’s no point of participation.

My father always says, enjoy what you do and do it with full energy and enthusiasm. Since I am running a blog marathon right now, so I want to make sure that it doesn’t turn boring for me at any level. Hence, it is the time to do some peppy planning and enjoy the journey. Here we go!

Eat & Celebrate

The super duper exciting thing is that this is a blog marathon. As in you are running with words, hence there is no constraint on what you eat! Wow! This is awesome. I can sit here, much whatever I want to and enjoy running the marathon. Wuhuuu! I like such things, where there are no food restrictions. So here is the list of all what I am planning to munch and sip enjoy during the marathon:

·         Chips, of course

·         Nachos with cheese and tomato dip

·         French fries

·         Muffin

·         Juice

·         Chocolates

·         Candies

Wooah! What a marathon man, I can eat whatever I want to cause my words are running on my behalf.

The ambience

Since I am privileged enough to run a marathon while sitting in a room, I would choose to have an ambience. Surroundings which bring the best of my thoughts and keep me inspired enough to run until I cross all the milestones. Give me some scented candles, some soothing fragrance of fresh flowers and peaceful surroundings with cushions and curtains to make it look more exciting.

Music: Run Lola Run

The most important part of peppy planning for blog marathon is music. It is impossible to run without music and it is impossible to blog without music. There has to be right music to keep me going. Music has the power to transport you to a new era. It takes you to the zone, where you discover the beauty of invisible energies, the internal inspiration and motivation, the healing and the ability to carry on, even when there is no energy left in you.

So  it is the time to list down the music and preferences, which are going to be with me throughout the journey of blog marathon. 

 This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Fighting the doubts back, with an IMPACT!

Post 4 for IndiMarathon-All the experiences I explored from this marathon

Most of the dreams in this world do not come true, because the dreamer never tries to achieve them. What keeps the dreamer from chasing the beautiful dream, which doesn’t let her sleep? DOUBTS!

Doubts shaped in various forms, prevent us from chasing the dream we live for. The idea of fetching a dream into reality is very challenging but it is very much possible. Normally, dreams of people don’t come true. Not because it’s the fault with the dreams. But, because of people!

The dreamers don’t take responsibility of their dreams and they give up on them so easily. They are fooled by their doubts easily and hence no scope of trying.

But, every challenge comes with an opportunity. And we should not give up on trying. Because, if you give up on trying, you actually give up on your dreams! The journey to achieve your dreams my always not be fruitful the way you thought it would be, but it always brings you learning and experiences to count on.

Lights will guide you home-COLDPLAY has a beautiful sentence in it “but if you never try, you will never know”

This song inspires me to the core. It prepares me to deal with the worse but never stop. It’s okay to start late, but if you feel like doing it, just do it. Nothing should come between you and your dreams.

I have many dreams, but right now the most prominent one is running and completing with Blog Marathon the way I have planned. As I write this post, my shoulder aches and cries for rest because I have been working whole week long. But, I cannot give up now. Because, if I give up on trying, I give up on living!

I have my doubts. Earlier the doubt was that I am already late and should I even bother writing because the trophy already looks taken by the leaders on the board. But, I am glad that I fought back this doubt and I am writing for this marathon-With all the hopes to get appreciation and winning, but with no fear of losing… I am not worried if I lose. I would have been really worried if I had given up this marathon to my doubts.

There are many more doubts, trying to stop me halfway, but I am trying to get there. I have my strategy imprinted in my mind, my ideas streamlined and my courage guarded up to reach there! No I don’t see the finishing line, I see the next milestone. Here I come.

But if you never try, you will never know

Could it be worse

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

*and this one goes to my dreams* And I will try and fix you.

 This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Get Set Blog-Fantastico!

Post 3 for IndiMarathon-All the experiences I explored from this marathon

Someone asked Milind Soman-The Iron Man that you have run Ironman Triathlon, how difficult it was? He replied-“No, the Ironman Triathlon was not difficult, the preparation was”.

With this inspiring comment from the ever young and gorgeous runner, I begin to write the first milestone post for the blog marathon, as per the strategy. I am nervous and may be far away from the finishing line, but I am focusing on the milestone. I am focusing on enjoying this journey and learning from it.

To run a marathon, you need strength in your feet, stamina in your body, and courage in your heart and will power in your conscience. Interestingly, to win a marathon, you just need to RUN A MARATHON.

Focus

When you are trying out something as overwhelming as a marathon, when thousands of people are running along with you, it is very common to lose focus. It is very easy to get distracted and most of the time, it leads to giving up!

The only way to not lose focus is to understand the beauty of a marathon. There is a great value in marathons; they are run by people for a cause. Most of the time, winning is not on the agenda. This is the only kind of race, where people come together for a reason, they run towards the finishing line to support a cause, reason or to uplift the society.

Discovering this fact surely helps me to understand the beauty of running a marathon. So, my focus should be on reaching my next milestone, without fail. My focus should be on collecting each piece of experience and learning, which would guide me in the path of life in the days to come.

Time Management

Time management is always a challenge, in life, in marathon, in hell, everywhere. Time is omnipresent. But, time is an illusion too. Encashing on this conflict, I would prefer to be fearless against the time. I would not buy the fact that I started late or finished earlier. I would just carry forward with my pace, aim at completing what I have started and leave no regrets of not doing it.

Its better late than never!

Hold on, Don’t let go

Holding on to the idea of being in the league is a challenge. As they say, you cannot achieve harmony until you have gone through chaos. But, it is difficult to deal with the chaos because all we desire is harmony, forever. So, believing that there will be peace after the chaos, the movement through the turmoil would be worth is a challenge. It is the time to hold on and keep blogging. I need to go by the strategy, no matter whatever tries to distract me.

So dear blogger in me, hold on, don’t let go!

 This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Five Elements: Fantastico, Impact, Peppy, Music, Navigation

Post 2 for IndiMarathon-All the experiences I explored from this marathon

As I begin to discover about five different elements, which define the Zica-new car by Tata, I interestingly find a co-relation of the same with five elements of human body.

Okay, maybe that’s only me or someone else could relate it like this but imagine- Fantastico, Impact, Peppy, Music and Navigation are five things that make this car ready to offer you a remarkable driving experience every time you try it. Similarly, human body is made out of five elements-Water, Air, Fire, Earth and Void. With all of these present in one human body, excellent performance of the body is ensured.

Now that I have to weave my story around the five elements of ZICA and for that I have to use my body made out of FIVE distinct elements mentioned above, I would choose to go ahead with a strategy.

Since it is a blog marathon so there has to be a series of posts. But, I would like to create milestones on the blog marathon track and achieve them. Confused? Let me explain it better:

The Strategy

There are five elements- Fantastico, Impact, Peppy, Music, Navigation, so I will consider each of them as a milestone.

I will write 1 post each element and try and cover all the learning and experiences through the same.

To run and keep running without any fear of failure, without any pressure of success, you need to deal with certain things. I will be talking about all those things in my blog marathon posts. Here are some of the highlighted ones:

·         Fighting with fear

·         Dealing with doubts

·         Channelizing energies

·         Utilizing knowledge

·         Experiencing failure

·         Churning out creativity

·         Keeping up the motivation

Life is a marathon

For me, life is a marathon and at each pit-stop or at each milestone, you learn something. Why life is marathon? Why not a race or not a walk? Well, race is generally a rush to reach to the finishing line, walk is little too relax. Life has its own pace of introducing new things, new people and new situations to you; life just not examines you for your speed but also examines you for your stamina. Hence, it is a marathon.

You keep on running; you keep on crossing milestones, building your own milestones and keep learning. You may not reach to the finishing line or you may not succeed at every step, but at every step you learn. Therefore, I would be sharing what all I have learnt during my blog’s marathon for this exciting contest.  

The idea is to think beyond the given challenges, lay down my milestones and work on them. It’s a marathon, everlasting, never-ending!

Milestone 1 FANTASTICO

Milestone 2 IMPACT

Milestone 3 PEPPY

Milestone 4 MUSIC

Milestone 5 NAVIGATION

Here we go!

 This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Navigation: From Oblivion to IndiMarathon

Post 1 for IndiMarathon-All the experiences I explored from this marathon

Hi, I am Piyu and I am from oblivion.

Why oblivion?

Why oblivion, Umm because I always shuttle between office-home-office. Interestingly, I have joined a weekend study program, so weekends are eliminated from my life. 7 days a week, 365 days a year, I am at work. In short, there’s no time to ventilate my mind with the things I like doing. So, I call this situation-Oblivion. No, I am not sad. I am just buys. Too busy to be sad even! But wait, I think I am not the only one.

Wait! I am not the only one!

In today’s busy pace of life, we all live in our little oblivion. Some call it cellphone too. But, oblivion is that little space, that zoned-out zone, where we are always available. But, we are missing from all the other places. We are not in that fine corner of our room with your favorite book, we are not standing in the balcony looking at the sky, and we don’t pay attention to the sunrise and sunset. The road to routine-rat-race has become our little oblivion.

But we have to get out of here…

Isn’t it dangerous to be in such a place, where life is too predictable and lame? Same, old and mundane routine followed? Okay some people are lucky enough to have a weekend break but I have my classes every weekend and hence, no break.

May Routine:

Here’s my weekly routine looks like:

Monday: Wake up, Feel low on energy, Freshen up, Have Breakfast, Rush to office, Work, Come Back, Eat, Sleep…

Tuesday: Copy that

Wednesday: Copy that

Thursday: Copy that

Friday: Copy that

Saturday: Wake up, Feel low on energy, Freshen up, Have Breakfast, Rush to classes, Study, Come Back, Eat, Sleep…

Sunday: Copy that

What do I miss?

·         Morning exercise

·         Evening cycling

·         Swimming

·         Blogging

·         Travelling

·         Lying down on the terrace and looking at the stars

·         Listening to my favorite music with a glass of wine

·         Driving in the rain with my favorite music

How do I feel?

There is chaos in this oblivion, there is dead silence in this oblivion, but there is no harmony. I sometimes feel that I should quit the routine and experience a routine breakdown! But how? I need inspiration.

And I discover the Indimarathon!

One fine day, I managed to sneak out from my oblivion state and enter into my blog-sphere. A place, which I have not been able to visit for quite a long time! It was so good to see the blog-sphere as happening as I left it the last time! Ah! Beautiful!

Hey wait! Is that a new contest, an activity or a cause… Oh oh oh! It is something new and exciting. Its Blogathon- as in blog marathon…IndiMarathon…Uh, I have always loved this blogging network for bringing such OUT OF THE BOX ideas, which thrill you enough to get out of your dead-oblivion zone.

The Navigation

But hey, wait! It’s quite a challenging challenge and I am not even prepared. Wait, the time is also running out. Half of the sands from the timer have also fallen. Should I even do it?

Yes, I should! Let’s navigation from Oblivion to Indimarathon.

Let me reintroduce myself, I am Piyu and I have just navigated from Oblivion to Indimarathon, successfully.

 This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

No Crash Dieting: Eat Clean Train Mean

The idea of dieting needs to be healthy eating. It is all about eating right and eating clean. You need not to fall in the trap of the thing called Crash Dieting. It is not at all a good idea, neither for your body/skin, nor for your mind/soul.

Before you begin to think of the term dieting, you should be ready to read a lot about the nutrition methods and right kinds of food that you should eat. Human body is designed to consume healthy carbs, protein, minerals, vitamins and fat etc. You cannot deny anything to your body that it really deserves. However, balancing the portion aka amount of eating any of these components is your duty. You cannot end up eating carbs and fat loaded food all the day just because you like it. You need to have a balanced diet, which not only turns your body healthier than before, but also makes your skin glow. 

The perfect combo

The idea of perfect combination for leading a healthy lifestyle includes having a perfect mix of eating and workout in your routine life. If you do exercises without fail and eat healthy food then nothing can stop you from being healthy and leading a lifestyle, which you truly deserve. 

It has been proved and certified by health and nutrition experts that people, who do basic cardio, little bit of strength training and eat healthy and nutritious food then they definitely get strong muscles, better metabolism, sculpted body and younger looking skin. 

What exactly is eating right?

Okay! Okay! Yes, you have read the term Eating Right multiple times up there and now you really want to know that what exactly Eating Right means? Well, it is nothing but replacing the junk and unhealthy food with healthier, better and tastier options. How? Read below:

Replace Sugar with Honey. Yes body requires glucose, so give it only that it requires. Giving it extra sugar in the wake of making your tongue's taste better might cause you big harm. Unused sugar transforms into unhealthy or harmful compound for your body. Honey diet will add awesomeness to your life for sure

Replace junk with oats, fruits and salad: Junk food might sound interesting to the tongue but it causes a lot of trouble to your entire body. It is an unnecessary load for your digestion system and disturbs the entire setup of your body. 

Eat right food at the right time: Now that you know what is right food, you should choose the right time for eating too. If you want a healthy, fit and lean body, you cannot eat in the odd hours. Have your dinner before 8 or maximum 9. Stop mid night munching and yes never skip on the breakfast. Try to include healthier elements in your meals. Always have 4-5 meals in a Day, including Mid-day snacks and evening snacks. Hey, snacking doesn't mean the fried stuff or random junk. Choose healthy options and celebrate being fit. 

Say No No to Crash Dieting

If you think of getting fat free in few days and you begin to starve your body like anything, then it might help you in losing some pounds but that would definitely not the fat but the muscles. Losing the muscles is the most painful thing one can experience. It will make you look older and the charm of your skin will go away.

Still hungry? Get some healthy recipes here http://www.daburhoney.com/

Cheers Indiblogger

Switch before it sucks the hell out of you!

There were days, when we had the liberty to bunk school and tuition classes to catch up with the match, but nowadays, it is not possible. Sometimes, we are stuck with the traffic; sometimes other responsibilities make us sideline the plans of enjoying a match we used to do few years back. Golden Days they were.

But, now it seems that technology with all its powers have taken the responsibility to guide us back to those Golden Days or to be precise bring those Golden Days back in our hands. We can catch up with the favorite cricket match live online through our laptops, computers, mobile screens and tabs. If your eyes are busy, you can listen to the live commentary online or if not this than at least you can keep a check with the score updates and highlights. Wow, sounds amazing.  But wait; before we begin to enjoy the benefits of technology, you actually face the bumps on the road. Yes. The bumps! The speed breakers!

Internet Speed: Sucks!

Browser Compatibility: Sucks harder!

When the videos are buffering and pages are loading, it is a challenge to figure out that how to kill time. Staring at the screen could be one thing to do, but which is very lame and sounds unproductive. Therefore, smart people like me often choose to pass faulty comments on all the internet broadband services, the browser, the neighbors, the Government of the country, ex-boy friend/girlfriend or the friend, who ditched you and what not.

The idea is that when our internet or browser sucks, we are stuck with a situation, where we cannot do anything. ANYTHING but express the inner frustration through words. The frustration is at its highest when you are trying to watch a cricket match online and the buffering thing comes up. Imagine the chaos your body undergoes, when you choose to watch the match in bits and pieces.

Switch before it sucks the hell out of you!

Switch to a better internet connection but remember that will only solve half of the problem. You also need a browser with super speed to make sure that your videos run in real time, so no BUFFERING! And, upload and download your favorite stuff through the web, without facing any LOADING issues.

UC Browser is designed to deal with all the major problems you face while mingling your eyes with the most favorite cricket match live on the show. Fall in love with the idea of experiencing the new world of watching cricket matches online in real time without any buffering or loading. UCCricket is the dedicated feature designed for this browser. You can download it online for your computer and Smartphone having any of the major operating systems.

Curious to know more about UC Browser and UCCricket? Watch this video dude.

Hey Indiblogger, cheers dude :)

Co-incidences and beyond

What's the difference between 'co- incidence' and 'miracle'? May be a thin line of perception. How we see things and how we believe in them. As many authors and great people have firmly said in their writings and through other artistic & communicative works that 'only what you believe in, is true.'

Today I bring such an event from my life which happened few hours ago and it made me think that how should I take that particular episode just a random 'co- incidence' and 'miracle'? Though I am a person,  who likes to believe in miracles. But for this situation, I am too overwhelmed to decide on something!

One of my respected and finest gurus (teachers) yesterday handed over two books to me about photography. Since he understands my interest in photography and always wants me to learn more, he suggested me to go through the books precisely. I would like to take a moment and thank my life and its creator to bless me with such wonderful teachers.

I flipped through the book several time and the photograph that captured my maximum attention was a young girl running naked on the street...terrified,  followed by few armymen and other kids in the background.

The picture belonged to Vietnam war...I stared at it, found myself almost lost in the ashes of war history. When I was tired of flipping through the book I placed it aside with the firm idea to open it up next day. This all happened on 22 June 2015.

And on 23 June 2015, I discovered a news piece about a lady named Kim Phuc in 'Rewind-Where they are now' series by CNN. You can read the entire story here.

The news piece talks about a 52 year old lady Kim Phuc, who happens to be the naked girl in this picture. This picture is 43 years old and  get to discover it in a book given by teacher on the same day this story is published by CNN. I can't just name it plain co-incidence and walk away. Neither am I trying to name it a Miracle. I am rather concerned about knowing and exploring that why I encountered about this in such a way that I get maximum notice of this particular story. What's life planning for me?

Anyways, back to the picture and Kim Phuc. She survived the thrashes of was but scars are still imprinted on her body and soul. She says that those events of war still haunt her mind but her heart is healed and she has learned to forgive. She says, "I realized that if I couldn't escape that picture, I wanted to go back to work with that picture for peace. And that is my choice."

What a beautiful massage a war victim has given here. The idea is to call for peace and end the war. Kim now runs a foundation for victims of war and underprivileged children by the name Kim Foundation. She is also 

The photograph was taken by Nick Ut, who was a seasonal war photographer and the photograph managed to appear on the headlines of many newspapers in 1972. 

I don't know what is the purpose of me exploring all this. But, I am sure about one thing that this incidence has increased my curiosity about reading the book that Rajinder Sir gave me and of course more about Vietnam war. Cheers :)

Blah Therapy

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Dear forgotten friend

Dear forgotten friend,
Today I saw a girl like you.
For a moment I thought it was you.
I couldn't resist approaching her,
So I ignored the fact that we don't talk anymore!
I walked near her
Made her uncomfortable with my consistant stare...
I knew it wasn't you
But I wished it were you...
Not because I wanted to speak to you or fix what has been broken by us...
But just to say "hey! Long time" and hug you the way we used to do it every other day.
When she turned towards me, I couldn't figure out whether she looked like you or not.
What! Have I forgotten how you looked?
And I am afraid if you too feel the same way...
As the sands of time slip down, even memories don't stay...
So my friend, next time our paths cross,  we might not recognize each other.
But before I sign off I must tell you that the journey from 'knowing you' to 'being strangers again' has been memorable...

Why couldn't SHE hug her Dad

Today is father's day and I sit miles away from my Papa...writing this post in my mobile phone. I have been planning to write for this prompt since the day blogadda and vicks announced it but somehow couldn't do it...and now I feel good for not doing it because today feels the right day. I know every other day is my father's day but still writing about him on the day the entire world is celebrating it,  gives me immense happiness.

I saw the video by Vicks, very beautiful and emotionally moving indeed. The video talked about how we stop hugging our dads as we grow up. Very deep and subtle observation. But the visuals show only men. But as an observer what I have noticed around me is that its daughters who hesitate in hugging their daughters as they grow up. I have always seen my brother hugging my dad instantly as he touches his feet and I am lucky enough to never give up my habit of hugging him tight and swing over his shoulders even if I am a big, independent girl. But still, I would like to share my observations that might convey what I am trying to say and give vicks a reason to make another touching videos featuring beautiful daughters with their handsome dads.

I started studying in hostel when I was in eleventh standard. My dad used to visit me during weekends and I would run like crazy from the hostel till the visitors' room, where he would stand spreading his arms and smile for me. He would grab me in his arms and for that very moment, we the 'daddy-daughter duo' would steal the show. Other girls waiting for their dads or already sitting with them in the visitors' room would keep looking at us, with a spark full of questions in their eyes.

I couldn't understand what it was and what their eyes wanted to convey. But, I always assumed that there was admiration for us in those eyes.

But it was not plain admiration but a lot more than that which was unveiled when I with few of a girls from the hostels played 'truth & dare' and when the bottled refused to spin after pointing out its head towards me, I chose truth and they shot me the a question which rested their in their eyes along with that admiration. The question was:

"Don't you feel hesitant while hugging your dad"

I replied: "Not at all, why should I? And in fact why should anyone feel hesitant to hug his or her dad?"

"I feel hesitant...since I am a girl and I have grown up so I feel very awkward in hugging my dad. Every time I see you hugging your dad, I immediately recall my childhood days and I regret growing up." Said Anita-The girl with long hair I remember from my school days.

"I think you should never regret growing up, what you need to regret is drawing an unnecessary line between you and your dad." My reply was spontaneous.

She smiled and said, "that requires a lot of courage but I feel that he is hesitant too."

"I am sure if you try this hesitation will vanish one day...from both the sides"

A long chain of discussions and arguments followed that night. But the crux of the story can be summed up in two paragraphs:

Most of the girls believed that I was one of those luckiest girls to have the freedom to hug her dad.

&

When girls reach their adolescence, they too face different changes in their body like boys do and physically this phase is more stressful for female. They are not ready for such transformation and in order to adopt the changes, they often give up their natural sense of carelessness. This prevents them from being the chirpy and careless little girl having the freedom and courage to hug their dads just like that.

That night is imprinted fresh in my mind after all these years. Those midnight conversations introduced me to a rarely noticed aspect of a girl's life, which I was lucky enough to never experience myself.

I don't know whether Anita ever gathered  the courage to hug her dad but every time I hug my father, I think of her and many more girls who can never cross that imaginary line of age, growth and hesitation, preventing them to enjoy the bliss of hugging their dads and celebrating daughterhood-fatherhood.

“This father’s day, I am expressing my love towards my dad by participating in the #HugYourDad activity at BlogAdda in association with Vicks.” And here is the beautiful video that I was talking about. May be we'll see some beautiful videos for daughters hugging their dads :)

Missing Something? Money, Mobile Phones, Modern Day Parenting

As I explore Child & You section of Rewardme.in I can feel my heart aching a bit underneath my skin. Why? The articles talk about ways that help people to spend more time with their kids. But still my heart aches because of some observations that I encounter almost everyday. That's what makes me share my own views on modern day parenting. 

I am not a parent and I know nothing about parenting. But, still I choose to write about this category because I am an observer and my observations about modern day parenting frighten me at times.

What's there?

One of the most common things that I notice around me is ingestion of mobile phones as physical extension of human body. By physical extension here I mean that people feel handicapped when they don’t have their mobile phones in their hands. Impact of this conventional phenomenon is that I often see parent and child sitting next to each other and indulged in their smartphones.

Imagine a child less than of 5 Years age operating a smartphone, staring at SUPER AMOLED, LED or whatever touch screen which has vibrant colors and harmful rays of course! During my travels in metro I often notice that moms are too tired to indulge with their kids and therefore they hand them over a smartphone, most of the time it is a tablet, with wider screen. Child plays the game and mom continues to scroll through her whatsapp messages and smile. Her attention towards the child diverts only if the gadget falls off the kid’s hands. Most of the time she’s not bothered about the device because it is amongst the cheapest ones, bought precisely to keep the kid busy!

Wow! Isn’t that really disturbing when you see an educated and independent person doing this to her own child? Knowing the fact that how fragile a child’s organs are, how can we force the kid to glue his/her eyes all the time to the screens, which continuously emit harmful rays?

Interestingly, parents find themselves elated when they see their small kids using smartphones frequently as pros. 

That’s not it. Often parents practice their habit or should I say helplessness of watching television and kids sit by their side and stare at the screen. I have seen kids bitching about Big Boss's participants. Can you believe that? 

Since no one has the time to talk about this topic, so I sit in silence and talk to myself. Though, most of the time there is endless conflict but some conclusion does appear at some point.

Why people hand over mobile phones to their kids?

• May be they are too busy with their lives that they don’t want their kids to disturb them. As a result, they teach them to be busy the same way aka staring at mobile phones.
• There might be a case that they don’t have time…at all! Time to notice that their kid is losing his/her eyes by staring at useless screens.
• Modern parents seem to have forgotten their fun loaded childhood, where playing meant going out in the park, running around, cycling and doing several outdoor activities.
• May be they find it very enchanting and motivating that their 2 or 3 year old son or daughter can operate a smartphone. Precisely, if a next gen kid cannot operate a smartphone at the age of 2-3, he/she has a very dark future. Uff! What pressure current generation is going through! Thank God I was born long before than this millennium drama. 

What's missing?

If we look back in the blissful childhood we had, we would realize that a lot is missing from millennium generation's life. May be we did not have high tech gadgets but little blissful things were there, which defined childhood in its true sense. Let's recall what all those blissful things were:

• Swinging in the park with mommy and daddy.
• Playing cricket with Dad in the backyard.
• Learning to ride bicycle with Daddy
• Spending time with sibling.
• Sleeping to the lullabies sung by mom.
• Talking to mom & dad with their full attention on us.
• A lot more that didn't require any gadgets, but just time and attention of our parents. 

I wish the world grows for betterment, but we manage to uphold the good values and treasured ways of growing up. 

“I am participating in the ‘Ready For Rewards’ activity for Rewardme in association with BlogAdda.” What's your plan? 

Rewardme Helps Me to Deal with The Monsoon Mess

Before we go ahead, let me share why did I choose to write about what.

It was a sunny Saturday morning and I was caught up with my laptop’s repairing. I was supervising as the engineer from Dell was changing internal hard disk drive of my XPS15. It was a boring day and I almost felt like sitting in a hospital gallery, right in front of the ICU, waiting for my beloved computer to survive this critical operation. Suddenly, it was all black outside, sun was overtaken by powerful clouds and lightening started to clash through to the horrendous skies. First it was all about dark wind blows and then water drops followed. Yes! I was raining! All of a sudden! The trees started to sing along and groove with the winds. I couldn’t resist and jumped out to play with the dust & drops of first rain of the season.

Boy! It was a day!

But, the after effects were shocking. My hair had this uncontrollable frizz that was hard to handle. Being curly beauties, my locks are little too sensitive to anything other than purified water. But, I had presented them to the dirt, dust, smoke and any other impurities that come with first rain of the season. Hah!

Long story short, it took me days and days, spas and hair massages, steaming sessions and serums to bring my hair back to life again. This tragic tale always inspires me to read more and gain knowledge to deal with the MONSOON MESS!

So in Hair Care section of Rewardme.in, I found this dedicated article about 7 Hair Care Tips To Ensure Your TressesDon’t Just Survive But Thrive This Monsoon caught my eyes instantly.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this informative piece of information. You must be wonderful how and why? Read below to discover the answers:

Connects with the reading right from the first sentence

Whoever has written this article about Monsoon hair care tips, has detailed knowledge about the subject. He/she knows that what exactly bad monsoon hair sound like. The writer also knows that what all could be the possible concerns of people seeking help to prevent hair loss, frizzy hair and dandruff during rainy days.

Easy to read: Friendly language

The few flowing language makes it very easy to read. At times, it seems like the writer is directly talking to you. There is nothing like playing with the vocabulary unnecessarily. Hence, you can enjoy free flow reading and get the best solution in least possible time. 

Crisp and to the point

When I open a link that precisely says n-number of tips for hair care, skin care or nail care, anything, I just want it to be truly about those precise points. No elongated discussion, no beating around the bush. I guess many quick readers would agree with me. But, as tough luck has it, most of the time, we don’t find the links as crisp and informative as expected.

I found this article at Rewardme.in about hair care surprisingly meeting my expectations. Precise as it should be, clear and contains concrete information that I often search for about my hair care.

Short, constructive and informative 

In this article, the writer talks about the problem, its root cause, logic behind it and natural solutions to deal with the problem. In most of the cases, everything is described in one or two lines. Therefore, you need to invest less time in getting the desired information. 

Useful and authentic tips

The tips and instructions are simple, easy to follow and authentic. The intake of vitamins and cleaning of hair are the things, which you can use yourself, without requiring any prescription from the hair doctors. The tips are very easy to follow too.

Since the website has crisp and nicely written content about beauty, hair care, health and family etc. it turns out to be an interesting place to explore more about living a better and enriched life everyday. Cheers. 

“I am participating in the ‘Ready For Rewards’ activity for Rewardme in association with BlogAdda.” What's your plan? 

The valuable लुत्फ Joy of Lufthanza's Premium Economy Class

No one is a born bargainer, life makes you one! This saying is very much true about every middle class Indian's life. Wondering why? It is because we are raised that way. We wait for Monday Markets to fill up your refrigerator with a whole week's veggies and fruit stock, we wait for Wednesday sale at supermarkets to buy entire month's groceries and we SET REMINDERS in our phones to jump into the BIG SALE CARNIVALS of ONLINE SHOPPING platforms. 

Bargaining is in our blood.Period.

What? Why? How? Let's learn more about it.

#What

Bargaining-Definition

"Bargaining is an excellence, a quality and skill that one practices to get more things in lesser money. The skill can be practiced everywhere, ranging from a sabji-wala thela (Vegetables Hawker) to Supermarket & shopping malls."

~A Bargainer Him(her)self~

Bargaining equation aka mathematical formula of bargaining

The efforts put together for bargaining+bargainer's cheesy dialogues/theek theek laga lo=Actual price of product-(Forcefully attained discount)+sellers cheese dialogues/na apka na mera

note: 

Theek theek laga lo (Give me the right price dude!) and Na apka na mera (Let's fix a price that suits both of us) are the constant elements throughout the equation.

#Why

Why Bargaining is Favorite of almost every Indian?

For us, paying a little less for something extra is the absolute method of experiencing value. When you pay for something, which is not bringing value addition to our lives, then we feel dissatisfied and disconnected. To avoid that situation, which virtually suffocates us, we practice the act of bargaining, asking for more in lesser prices and that's how we strive to achieve that bliss. 

#How

The common ways of practicing bargaining

Bargaining is ingested in genes and habits of an Indian Individual since the day he/she is born. Parents always make sure that valuing things & money is ingested in upbringing practices for their kids to ensure that they learn to spend their money smartly. 

For us, bargaining is not a practice to act cheap, but it is a method to value things, value the money you are spending and an art to get more and pay less.

Here are the common ways of practicing Value Shopping AKA Bargaining:

• Theek theek laga lo (Give me the right price dude!) 
• Ask the price. bargain a little. walk away if the shopkeeper doesn't agree. He will call you!
• Be confident. Quote the half price of what the seller has told you.
• Look for discounts.
• Ask for free gifts.
• Practice this dialogue-I shop always from your store only! I am a regular and permanent customers.
• Try this-What do you think yours is the only shop in the town? 
• This one is killer-I am never coming to your store again. Ever!
• You can't beat this-Please discount de do (Please give me some discount)

Delhi, A bargainer's paradise

Delhi, the national capital of India is famous for not only India Gate, Qutub Minar, Parliament, Lal Quila and Lotus Temple but also for its amazing flea markets. Sarojini, Janpath, Palika and Lajpat Nagar markets are a perfect platform for tricky sellers and bargaining expert buyers to meet and crack a deal. 

Breaking the stereotypes

After reading this, if you still think that people practice this only in flea markets or online deal stores, then its the time to break stereotypes!

You would always find people looking for the special discount offers while booking their plane tickets. Wooah! Gone are the days when travelling by plane was luxury and only rich people could afford it. Nowadays, you find amazing discounts on economy class travelling options by air.

Wait. If you think that there is no value in travelling THE ECONOMY CLASS then you got to check Premium Economy By Lufthansa. It is a class apart experience with the value addition of value pricing. Who on the earth wouldn't want it. Especially an Indian brain,which is all trained to value the value pricing the most, but without compromising on the quality of whatever you are buying in return. 

There is a very common word for Indians to define extravagant comfort and joy-Its Lutfh लुत्फ and Lufthanza sounds close. If we break the word into two-Lufth-Anzaa. SO when you take a flight in Lufthanza's premium economy class, you can certainly cherish the लुत्फ of being on a world class journey through the clouds and feel like flying on a cozy and gorgeous chariot loaded with luxuries that are valuable but come in value prices.

Craving to explore more about Lufthanza's premium economy? Watch this video:

When you bargain, the idea is to get little more for the same price you pay. That is what Lufthansa's newly launched Premium Economy Class is all about. You get

• More comfort, 
• More relaxation and 
• More entertainment
• And a lot more

Click here to explore more about Lufthanza's Premium Economy

This post is my official entry to Lufthanza's Premium Economy contest organized by Indiblogger.

Puppets Break Free

Music and dance are like soulmates! Both go hand in hand to bring ultimate joy to your body, mind and soul. When body moves and music reaches out to the farthest strings of the soul, nothing but happiness sprouts from each and every bit of your existence. Therefore, you, I, she, he, they, everyone is always in awe of music and dancing.

To ignite your soul, you should always be open to dance to the beats, rules or no rules, moving your body always helps. But, when trained yet rebellious sings and dancers come together to a single platform, you get to witness magic. Magic that leaves your senses refreshed and unbound from every stress. Imagine the power of music and dance that when you see someone performing it in front of your eyes, you feel so stress free.

That’s why when I am asked to imagine a situation, where Allu Arjun and Anushka Manchandani are jamming together and the man is dancing on rebellious beats created by the lady, I let my mind’s horses run, run wild in almost every direction because by God’s grace, imaginations are free! You just need to pay a little time in return and you can enjoy watching a hell of powerful shows inside your mind.

Let’s know a bit about the star performers of my imaginary show:

Anushka Manchandani has a powerful voice and more than that she is a headstrong woman. Self-made and gorgeous in every sense! Her latest song Bezubaan Phir Se is already on the top of the charts.

Allu Arjun is a hot sensation from Telugu Cinema. But, more than that, we know him for his powerful dance moves and magical vibrations that he conveys through his love for dancing.

Okay! So it’s the time to initiate my imaginations and fit Anushka Manchandani and Allu Arjun in a situation, a deadly combo of music and dance will automatically be ready.

Imagination initializing…3.2.1. GO!

Puppets Break Free

To measure power of something, it is very important to challenge it with something even stronger. In my imaginary concert, Anushka Manchandani and Allu Arjun are puppets, tied with invisible ropes. They have to break free those ropes and spread their magic of music and dance.

Why tied down like puppets? Well, the concept is that being humans, we are always occupied with one or the other thing, which keeps us from singing, dancing and celebrating our lives. The consistent boredom turns us into the robotic puppets, which just follow the lame instructions of work and procrastination. This pendulum like existence is so meaningless and music & dance seem like the only way to break the monotony.

Now that we know what keeps us from dancing, we focus on Anushka Manchandani and Allu Arjun to be our lead PROTAGONIST PUPPETS, singing and dancing hard to break free from the lame boredom and bring in some freshness.

As the melodic lass Anushka Manchandani begins to spread her musical aura and Allu Arjun thunders the floor with his prevailing moves, there remains no room for boredom and dullness. Soon you see each and every invisible rope breaking and falling apart and these two puppets transform into humans again! Humans who have warm blood flowing in their veins, the blood heated up by music and dance. This brings the kind of freshness every human being deserves.

And all the viewers watching this magic happening feel the zest to clap, throw their hands up in the air, groove with deadly music and dance combo to allow freshness enter into their bodies and cherish it forever. 

Image Source

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