The Magic of Stories, Rekindled!

It is heartening when brands do something above & beyond what is expected from them, something to enrich people's lives and not just sell their product. Colgate has always been a brand enshrined in the very roots of any Indian family, always at the forefront of ensuring dental security for us from our childhood. Now they have taken an appreciable step of rekindling children's imagination, how cool is that!

How often do we all complain about the modern lifestyle that has corrupted the very idea of childhood, how we weep on watching them be glued to TV, video games, internet 24/7. Our parents always compare this to their times when children used to play in open parks and spend time reading books. Well, Colgate has decided to fire up the spirit of adventure and streak of creativity among the kids by encouraging them to weave stories!

I was honored to stumble onto Colgate Strong Teeth Packs that come equipped with a magical seaworld inside, that of more than 15 characters such as turtles, octopus and starfish, inhabiting themes like Treasure Hunt, Pirate Ship, Coral Reefs and Magical Mermaid! Welcome to the world of Colgate Magical Stories where kids can cut out these images, craft stories of their own and play to their heart's content. Doesn't this sound like those heavenly childhood days we all crave for?

The basic question underlining the idea is -when was the last time your child told you a story? Honestly, the last time I heard a story from my 10 year old nephew is when he was trying to explain the delightful world of pokemon go! I was just too excited to share the Colgate Magical Stories world with him and also a bit apprehensive as to how he, the tech-crazy little genius, would take the idea.

Me-' So here is something you would like Vikas'
Vikas- 'I am playing Pokemon, don't disturb pleez'
Me- 'This is better than Pokemon'
Vikas -'No wayyyyyyy'
Me-' This is as good as Harry Potter, infact even better, since you can make a Harry Potter story yourself, underwater!"
Vikas finally looked up after a 10 seconds pause, keeps his phone by his side, takes the packs from me, starts tearing them apart carefully and instantly gets absorbed in the characters.
2 Minutes later, Vikas-'See this is a battle between evil and good too just like Harry Potter'
Me-'How so?'
Vikas, the cheeky jowl -'You adults don't see anything!'
Me- 'Indulge me'
Vikas-'See here, Blackbird wants his treasure and you know what is inside the treasure chest? The method to bring world peace. But the evil forces of the world have joined hands to not let Blackbird near the treasure chest which has been buried in the deepest part of the oceans and they have installed their evil guards at different places. Blackbird hurries because he has to stop the world wars. So he dives in the ocean and meets the helpful trio of Puffer Fish, Star Fish and Sea Turtle. This trio is the funniest in the ocean and they decide to help Blackbird.

Turtle Fish has the uncanny ability to sense the presence of evil creatures while Puffer Fish has the special ability to secret a toxin to make them inactive. So as they move ahead, they incapacitate the evil creatures and get closer to the treasure. But halfway across the ocean, all 4 of them lose their way and separate.

This was a plan by the evil forces who have possessed Sting Ray, Killer Whale and Shark to kill Blackbird and the funny trio. The Mermaid with her super hearing comes to know of this plan and prays to her father, the King of underworld to save Blackbird and funny trio. Her father comes out of the sea to battle the evil forces. Mermaid has the potion that takes away the possessiveness of Sting Ray, Killer Whale and Shark and turns them into personal soldiers of Mermaid. Now they search for Blackbird & the funny trio to bring them to the treasure chest.

When they find Blackbird, he is severely tired and malnourished. The evil forces have drained all his energy. So all the sea creatures come together and decide to donate a part of their personalities to revive him. Puffer Fish gives his protective shield, Star Fish gives his sense of humor, Sea Turtle gives his agility, Mermaid gives her kindness, Shark gives his super hearing ability, Whale gives her superb smelling power, Sting Ray gives his mental agility and with all their love Blackbird is finally revived. As soon as he opens the treasure chest, a golden glow comes out and destroys the evil forces and world peace becomes a reality'

Me-*Speechless*

Vikas did not go back to his phone, rather he has been conjuring up stories like these with all the characters now and I suspect pretty soon he will have a children's story book ready, all thanks to Colgate Magical Stories :)

Not only do these stories fuel up mad genius creativity, these packs also come overloaded with a wealth of information about the sea world, such as the fact that a octopus has 3 hearts and a sea turtle can weight upto 300 kgs! Even I did not know these, after all the underwater world has always been a fascinatingly mysterious place for us humans, so kudos to Colgate for taking the initiative to bring some innovative fun with knowledge in our kids' lives :)

Falling in love with Datsun Redi - GO

Style or Comfort? How about both?

Okay,let me start at the beginning :D

Last month, I was talking to my uncle about buying a car. He loves cars and I am planning to buy my 1st one soon. But I am not that much knowledgeable about automobiles in general. Hence,the talk with my uncle :) Now when he started talking on the topic, I needed some time to adjust mentally to the fact that he was not speaking in Latin :P As soon as I had accepted it and got in the flow of the conversation, came this turning point. What do I want from my car? Do I want it to be stylish and attract praise from all my loved ones? Or do I want comfort and safety parameters to be top notch? And then I thought, well why cannot I have all of these together? Why must I choose?

Alas, a lot of times, we have to choose because we cannot get it all- so replied my uncle! Well that sounds unfair. I need top notch features in my car, both externally as well as internally. It was with this quest in mind that I have been looking around to finalize a list of cars I want to take out on a test drive. And voila, look at my luck that I came across Datsun Redi - GO :) With a bevy of features that make it a perfect fit for my requirements,I am actually looking forward to take it out for a spin. Why, you ask? Well, because of-

1. The Exterior is fabulous and I am especially in love with best in-class ground clearance! I am going to take it out for a spin in my lovely city Mumbai and I need something to navigate through the road here perfectly. Well,the high ground clearance are going to especially useful to deal with numerous low lying street obstacles which anyone who has ever driven in Mumbai will attest to as being huge hazards! I want to say bye-bye to those annoying road bumps :)
2. I always love incorporating the latest in technology in my everyday life (who doesn't :P) and here the Drive Computer has made me excited to take Datsun Redi-GO out for a spin so that I can look at all kinds of stats like-Instantaneous and average mileage, distance to empty, fuel remaining and so on LIVE in real time :) It is already giving me a futuristic feel, something I am sure to appreciate even more when I drive it!
3. Maneuvering a car on the roads of Mumbai is a herculean task with so many tight spots lurking around. I have seen my uncle try to move around in his latest sedan and getting stuck at so many corners. Well, with Datsun Redi-GO able to make  full turn-around with just a 4.7-metre turning radius, I will no longer find myself in tight spots! How cool is that :)

These are just some of my favorite features which have made my heart set on wanting to take this beauty out for a test drive. Driving in a city like Mumbai is nothing short of a challenge with the condition of the roads, the congestion, the traffic, the constant repair work, diversions, unpredictability and so on. I need not only a car but a dependable partner for navigating through this maze and what better than Datsun Redi-GO! Truly, falling in love with its features is a given :)

Fun. Freedom. Confidence. The ultimate Urban Cross - Datsun redi-GO - the capability of a crossover with the convenience of a hatchback.

Nutrition & Fun with Vikas Khanna at #QuakerBowl Indimeet!

Sunday. The best day of the week. The day even your parents don't disturb you if you sleep beyond the 8 AM mark.

Unless you have told them to wake up early :P

This is a feat only Indiblogger can achieve. Make normal people want to wake up early on a Sunday so that they can spend at least 1 hour wondering what are they going to wear to the Indimeet where a celebrity chef is gonna regale them with something special,just like I was doing on 10th April 2016 :D

This invite to attend an event related to Quaker oats obviously raised a 1000 questions. 

Who is this celebrity chef?

What in the name of sweet Jesus are we going to do with oats? I mean, seriously, OATS!

When will I dream about my date with Leonardo di Caprio, a process I keep reserved for Sunday mornings?

What is meant by Healthy Food? Do I want to have healthy food on Sunday? And what is up with OATS?

So after grappling with these mysteries of life for about an hour,I did sign up for the meet because if there is one thing I know about Indiblogger in my 2 years of association with them is that they serve brilliant food in all their events. Also, they are a bunch of really sweet and passionate (about blogging) people. And I always learn something new in all the Indimeets. And did I say how brilliant the food is? :D

So there I was, ubering my way to JW Marriott Juhu on Sunday morning with my sister who has very recently joined the world of Blogging & Indiblogging :) We reached early which just gave me ample time to roam around the premises and take photographs of all sorts of knick knacks around PLUS meet other awesome bloggers. Some tea, coffee and cookies AND a huge ink stamp on our hands later, we were ushered in the regal ballroom to meet our surprise celebrity chef and start the fun + healthy session. It started with the usual bonhomie and some quirky fun when Taher Shah's 'Angel' song was played and we did some crazy ninja dance as a tribute to him :D

I have a confession to make.My relationship with Leonardo has been rock solid for 2 decades now, but sometimes, oh I simply cannot stop myself from dreaming about someone else, who goes by the name of Vikas Khanna. Shh, let it be our secret. Yup, the inspirational, talented and world famous Michelin starred MasterChef Vikas Khanna with his baby restaurant Junoon in New York. Him. Now guess why I am mentioning him here? Well, because he turned out to be our surprise Chef. Yup, take a moment to swoon as we all did :D

So he walks in as our host & dost for next 2 hours and we all lost our minds. After a while, when we could focus on his words rather than his eyes,his hair (yada yada :P), we realized he has tied up as PepsiCo's Nutrition Ambassador! Frankly, when I hear the word Pepsi, I can only think of soda and that is as far from 'health' as it can be. So it is a pleasant surprise to see this giant multinational working in tandem with someone like Vikas Khanna to spread positivity, message of health and battle problems like malnutrition in our society. Good work and Great Karma there :)

The invite was not wrong. There was quiz, prizes, fun, jokes and discussions not to be missed. All because Vikas Khanna is such a charmer. It is not just that he looks good, it is because he radiates goodness. He is kind, compassionate, jovial and probably the most down-to-earth person one can meet. We were in a ballroom with more than 200 people yet every moment of this Indimeet is registered in our minds as if we spent it with him alone :) We discussed about the problem of malnutrition and obesity, the health problems that are engulfing us because of our hectic lifestyle and how oats is one of the best grains to incorporate in our daily life.

Yes, OATS! That dreaded thing :P In my home,I am actually the only one who can bear to eat oats. My sister would rather kiss a dragon that eat anything to do with it. Maybe because none of us are chefs. We enjoy eating but don't really cook anything and when we do,it usually ends in disaster. So the only way we know how to use oats is,put milk and sugar and some chopped fruits in it. So when the conversation veered to oats,I was skeptical. But then Vikas Khanna told us that it can be used to make any dish we make with other grains-sweet or savory. We can use it in soups or even in our Indian gravies as thickening agents. That was a revelation! 

There was a little quiz session too,which owing to my complete lack of culinary wizardry, I was a complete failure in :P Anyway, I was too busy swooning over Vikas Khanna while he ran around making sure everyone got a chance to answer and win some cute food hampers :D Oh,he punctuated the session with plenty of homegrown jokes and anecdotes of his childhood, his job and Punjabis in general. He even gave away hampers for people who did not know the answer yet had the courage to stand up for the challenges he put forth...hey,wait,I could have won an hamper too!!! *Light-bulb moment*

The best part was when we had an impromptu cooking contest. When we had walked in the ballroom, I had wondered about the purpose of these cooking stations that were set up along one side. Turns out that we were all divided into different teams and had to cook up a storm involving oats and a host of other ingredients within 10 minutes which would be reviewed on the basis of taste + their instagram-ability by none other than Vikas Khanna himself. Of course, I was a complete failure when it came to cooking but my teammates were up to the challenge. So we made 2 dishes - first,we sauteed a bunch of veggies and cooked oats in plain water and just mixed them up and second, we cooked oats with jaggery and I,not being a completely useless bum, helped decorate it with macaroons,fruits,chocolate sauce and jalebi. Surprise, surprise, our savory oats dish was actually rather good and was the runner-up. The fact that Chef Khanna did not die of food poisoning or something worse even after tasting our monstrosities was prize in itself for me :D

Actually it was during this impromptu contest itself that the main message of this event resonated with me. Our lives are busy. We are often under the impression that making a good,healthy, nutritious meal is a humongous chore which needs hours of preparation and special culinary skills. Thus we often end up making pizzas, pastas, oily noodles as our staples which are easy to get home delivered whereas we can whip up a lot of healthy food within minutes using something as basic as oats! Brilliant :) 

Thanks be to Indiblogger and the whole Quaker team for not making us feast on our own creations and actually serving lip-smacking brunch where we had the pleasure of feasting on several dishes including Oats Brownies as well as Oats Paneer Makhani! Remember when Vikas Khanna was talking about how versatile oats are? Yeah,they really are. We left after getting a free cookbook enumerating various ways in which we can use them to make everything from breakfast to dinner PLUS a pack of Quaker Oats to try these recipes out :) 

Oh you wanna know what I made with that? Well, my sister and I, both of us not being even remotely chef-y, decided to try out something simple. And we did! Here is what we made :-)

Just took about 25 grams each of tomatoes, carrots, capsicum, cauliflower and peanuts. Sauteed them in 3 tablespoon of olive oil for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, roasted about 250 grams of oats till they turned brown. Then we mixed them together along with about 150 grams of left-over rice and cooked for another 5 minutes. Voila, Oats & Rice Veggie Delight is ready ;D For the first time in my life, my sister actually ate something with oats in it!

#QuakerBowl was a big bowl of fun indeed :)

Music connects the world through our souls!

Music is probably the only language that does not need words. It is my personal favorite language :)

Now what prompted this observation? Oh,just observing some loved ones :)

I grew up listening to classical ghazals by maestros like Talat Aziz, Pankaj Udhas since they were my dad's favorite. On the other hand, my mom doesn't know a word of Urdu and always put on loads of Bengali and Oriya songs. My dad and I don't know these languages but it never bothered us or stopped us from loving them :)

Last month, my sister had participated in a cultural exchange program at her college according to which,we had to play host to a Japanese college student for a week. While we were apprehensive about how this visit of his would go,we were also very excited to have been given an opportunity to know someone from such a different culture in such a close way. As expected, we learnt a lot from him about his country, his culture, his language, his food habits, his family. However, I did not expect something.

A day before he was leaving for Japan, he brought a CD in our living room and asked us to accept it as a gift. It was a music compilation he had done in his college with his friends and he thought that it would be a gift we would appreciate. My dad asked him to tell us about the song and he just said, 'Music'. We started playing it. Within 2 minutes,I could see my dad closing his eyes and relaxing back in the couch just like he does when we play his favorite ghazals. 

It is a beautiful music piece, a cover of which is here at youtube :)

Just listening to this music, I automatically thought of some harvest songs my mom had played sometime ago,in Oriya language. There is happiness, there is mischief, there is tenderness, there is hope, there is joy of a new beginning. All this in a music piece without any words! I did not need to know Japanese to understand what this music piece is all about. The same reaction ensued when my dad played some Pankaj Udhas ghazals for him. He was spellbound and downloaded them all on his ipod ;)

Isn't this the reason Bach, Beethoven are considered maestros worldwide since their music connects us all beyond the usual boundaries of time and space? No matter where we are, who we are,we simply cannot help being moved by those eternal melodies!

I am sure every single person out there has had a similar experience, of being moved by music in such a unique way that it astounds us too! Truly, it is the best language in the world,as it speaks to our soul and thus needs no verbal communication :)

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 Equals Sunshine for me, and for you too!

Spending time in the sun is not really one of our favorite pastimes. Well, it should be!

Oh but who wants to get tanned? 

I am already brown skinned, I don't want to turn black!

It burns my skin!

Sitting in the sun? It gives skin cancer!

Yes, these are all valid points. But something is more important than tanning or skin color. It is our health!

Trust me when I say this from my personal experience-Sunshine is IMPORTANT! Maybe the most important thing to run after nowadays.

My experience starts right from my college days. All through my school and my high school days,I spent at least 2 hours in the sun, walking to and from the bus stop near our home, between 9 and 11 in the morning as well as 3-4 in the afternoon. Needless to say I was heavily tanned all over my face, neck and arms. But hey,who cares about these things when I was also a walking ball of sunshine? :) I was constantly told by my teachers as well as my classmates that I was the chirpiest, cutest, funniest girl in the class. YES,I was. I had a joke ready all the time. I always looked at the glass as half full. My smile lit up my loved ones' life.

When I went to college, it turned out that I spent way too much time in AC classrooms than frolicking in the sun. The timings of my lectures also changed and I would enter my college building by 8-9 AM and leave in evening by 5-6 PM. After that,it was only when my family would decide on an outing on a weekend that I would actually feel sunshine on my skin.

One fine day, I felt a sharp pain in my jaw on the left lower side. Going to the dentist was a nightmare. I needed a root canal. ME? ROOT CANAL? I have extremely obsessive dental care routine. No, this had to be a mistake. Of course not. There was a little infection which had spread to the nerve of the teeth and I needed a root canal. What? But I drink milk, eat yoghurt, I have a calcium rich diet, how is this possible?

This was also the time when I had lost some of my otherwise cheerful disposition. I started crying in the dentist's room. She said, 'You have Calcium, what about Vitamin D?'

Everything clicked together!

Do you know that the calcium in our diet is transported to our bones and teeth ONLY with the presence of Vitamin D? And this Vitamin D is actually Vitamin D3 which our bodies get ONLY when we spend time in the sun!!!

All through my childhood, spending time in the sun had kept me fit and healthy. 2 years of spending time in college halls and AC indoors and I needed a root canal! Plus my friends vouched how I had turned so dull compared to how cheerful I used to be earlier. Another way we know how deficient we are in Vitamin D is how low we feel for no reason at all! Yes, Vitamin D gives a boost to our happy hormones. 

So, No Sunshine = No Vitamin D3 = Bone and Dental problems + Depressive attitude!

Why did we never read about this in school?

Anyway, what is done is done. Now what is important is to remember some important things-

Regular exposure to sun is a must for everyone. We need to be out in the sun for at least half hour to 1 hour and that too between 9 AM-3 PM because that is when sunshine is at its most potent in terms of making that essential Vitamin D3 for our bodies! Our bodies can store excess Vitamin D3, so even if we do not get access to sunshine in monsoon or winter season, we can make up for it by soaking up all the sun we can during the summer months.

Now remember why our grandmothers used to force us to go out and play or atleast sit in the sun whenever we went to village? Sunshine is really the source of happiness and peppiness amongst us humans, we must never forget that :)

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.

Impact of Movies on our minds,subconsciously!

We don't often pay much attention to what is happening to our subconscious minds! But in a nation where movies are often as good as a religious experience, it is important to be aware of this connection between what we see and what we retain in our minds.

Last week I was traveling through the famous local trains of Mumbai,and saw a little kid dancing to a tune of some Salman Khan movie. I couldn't hear the song as it was playing on a low volume on his mother's cellphone but the dance moves made it clear it was a Bhaijaan special. Included in his little routine was a rather striking move that disturbed me a bit. He took his little brother by the collar, shook him and returned to his bhai type moves. I can only assume it was to show his power,his confidence, but the level of violence in a simple dance move stunned me. This is a kid barely 6-7 years old and he is shaking his younger brother (barely 3 or 4 years old) by the collar? Where did he learn this? And why are his parents immune to this? Then I flashed back to all the songs I could remember, of Salman Khan and his patent Dabangg and Bhai moves. They are all about 'Me, look at ME, I am so powerful, I make my own rules, I don't follow anybody else, I am everything, I am the universe, I can shake your world, I am the Bhai, everyone loves this, I am so macho, I am the asli mard'. Don't take me wrong. I have no strong feelings for Salman Khan either way. But since he is the reigning superstar of our country whom people worship, I just found it strange that nobody is worried about what his 'macho' attitude is doing to our kids???

This reminded me of another incident when I had visited my sister's college and met some of her juniors. They were talking about some classmates of theirs and frequently using all curse words you can imagine. 18-19 year old kids find nothing wrong with calling their classmates 'Bit#$' or "Basta#$' and this is considered normal??? Then I remember, all the Hollywood movies I see also liberally use curse words, especially of our heart-throbs like Leonardo di Caprio! He is one of my favorite actors but then I saw his movie 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and I literally counted more than 100 curse words within half an hour! Is this considered cool? YES, by our young generation, IT IS!

And of course we all know the notion of 'Romance and Love' as portrayed in movies. In Twilight, a worldwide blockbuster, we see Edward Cullen, a stalker who enters Bella Swan's room without her permission and she considers him as her soulmate! Recently,I saw Baahubali, a fantastic movie, but one particular scene stood out. The main hero goes to woo his lady and how does he do that? He almost strips her,then forcibly puts makeup on her,she keeps squirming and trying to fight him, he keeps twisting her ankles and finally when she sees her 'transformed' face and how beautiful she is, she falls in love with him! How can anybody find that romantic??? Well, why not. We have lyrics like 'Kab tak roothegi chikhegi chillayegi..ek din haseena maan jaayegi'. I will not even start describing how horrific those lyrics are and remind me of all the kidnapped women in the world, many of whom are found later trapped in someone's basements! Is it a wonder then that we hear of so many stories where jilted 'lovers' throw acids on women's face?

When we see someone 'cool' on screen, we want to emulate them. And if that cool person is punching someone else and not getting punished for that or forcing a woman to like him and the woman does, then our kids also learn that this behavior is okay. It is normal!

When we see our biggest blockbusters spreading violence so freely,not only in romantic scenes but in our songs, then our kids get a natural affinity for violence. They think this is how they should behave too!

When we hear our biggest heroes on screen talking in curse words, our younger generation also tries to ape them and slowly it becomes a part and parcel of their vocabulary.

I am not against fun,especially the harmless kind. But I wish more of us paid attention to what is happening around us and how our religion of CINEMA is actually creating a society that is turning dangerous inside out, the impact of a tsunami that we are perhaps not ready to acknowledge yet! 

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.

Fantastico ways to celebrate valentine's day even on low budget

Who says you need money to celebrate love?

Well Valentine's Day is near. And as always, there is an abundance of roses and red heart balloons everywhere I see. No,I am not opposed to the celebration of Valentine's Day nor to ribbons, balloons, teddy bears, roses or any such paraphernalia. This is just a thought for those who feel compelled to spend money to show their 'love' for their special ones. In fact,I was just talking to one of my college friends the other day and he felt so down because he had simply run out of gifting ideas and all that he found beautiful was way out of his reach. 

When I asked him, 'Why do you think you need to give an expensive gift to your girlfriend?'

He replied, 'Because that is what Valentine's Day is all about! Everything is doubled up! Same dinner on any other day costs X money, but on this day,they increase the prices or have special buffets that cost double. Then we have to get some gift and there are so limited options-Teddies, Roses. After giving everything,now I can only give jewelery and it is way beyond my budget'

Oh boy, the perils of being in a relationship!

Well, I am no expert in relationship, in fact I have been single for an eternity now :D But if I were in a relationship, I would be making it special by showering my love and affection, not money :)

First of all, if you think that only money makes your special one happy then I think it is better to look at your relationship, because it sounds like something without a foundation.

Now, there are so many things one can do on Valentine's Day even on low budget or no budget and make it special. And why only 1 day, celebrate a special day every weekend if you want!

COOK IT UP! Why go to a restaurant? Simply cook up a nice lunch or dinner together! You save tonnes of money and you can make it as romantic as possible by cooking up each other's favorite dishes. For eg-if you were making a special dinner for me, all you would need to do is toast a few breads, spread a mix of cottage cheese on them for starters and for main course just make a simple pasta and buy 2 cups of Amul Ice cream for dinner. All done in less than Rs. 200 :D Enhance the atmosphere by using some simple birthday balloons and go ahead,search in your attic, if there are decorations left from your childhood birthday party,use them :P Or make it romantic by making a tent out of colorful drapes or bedsheets! How innovative is that! Look, no money spent!

MOVIE MARATHON! Why go to a theatre? Have a romantic or action or any other genre movie marathon at home. Make popcorn at home or make some sandwiches to munch on. Buy a big bottle of soda to drink and just make yourself comfortable on that couch to indulge in some happy time! Again, no money spent. Just make sure to have a good TV with good speakers at home and make some effort to find movies that will make your other half feel good (rent them or borrow them from your friends!)

LONG WALK ON THE BEACH! Make it an adventurous day out by taking the city tour bus,roam through the city like a tourist! Nobody on the bus will know that you actually live in the city if you pretend not to :P And then indulge in street food, the maximum you will spend is again barely Rs. 200-300 and then end the day by walking on the beach, sit and talk, look at the setting sun.

RECYCLE,REUSE,GIFT! Maybe you got something as a gift from someone that you don't use but you know that your other half will love that-so give it to them and explain that you got it too. Trust me,it is not a cheap idea! I would love to get something useful other than a bunch of teddies I am too old to play with :P If you have something at home you can handcraft into something else, do that! Like,you can make a little penholder from old CDs/DVDs! Or,you can make little cartoon posters and personalize them if you are good at that!Or, if you paint, do a portrait of your loved one! No need to spend money at all. Gift ideas are all around us. Think!

These ideas are just at the top of my head. There are many more such little things you can do that need no money or very little money and still make your Valentine's Day very Fantastico :)

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.

Impact of positivity and support in our life!

Some moments in our life just change the very course of ours,don't they? 

Some moments are so traumatic that our brain tries to hide them under layers of dreams and metaphysical mumbo-jumbo.

Some moments are so ecstatic that we often extrapolate them and exaggerate them and convince ourselves of their veracity even when the scale of the actual events were much less :D

Some moments, just by being so full of courage and hope and positivity, make us believe that anything is possible, that we could actually fly if we wanted to. Well, as long as nobody goes up to the roof and jumps off, these are the moments we should all be cherishing :D

I remember one such moment when I was barely 7 years old. I loved dancing (still do!), my mom loved dancing but was never allowed to in the very conservative society she grew up in. So she decided that I would learn dancing,come what may. It took several pleadings and a full fledged war of words with my dad to convince him but she never gave up. The day she put her foot down in front of my dad, that she did not care if our society did not like 'dancing of girls' or that it was frowned upon, that was the day I realized my mom was something more than just another woman.

This was promptly followed by her taking upon her shoulders the sole responsibility of making sure that neither my study nor my extra-curricular or co-curricular activities suffered at any point. My grades had to be good, my debates-elocutions-painting competitions results were good enough, my dancing grades were not affected by my case load-all because she took pains to chart out elaborate study time tables and dance practice time tables. This was not all-I had ample time to watch TV, read comic books and play with kids. Because come what may, I was not missing out on all the joys of childhood either!

At that time, I did not get how vital this was in my over-all development and how she was a pioneer of sorts in our society. But today I do! While all the women in our society were supposed to be good housewives, cooking and cleaning all the time while all the decisions of the household were taken by the man of the house,she participated in equal measure in every decision of our house. All the women in the apartment complex we lived in used to talk about my mother in hush-hush tones. I still remember one day a friend of mine asked me, 'Is your mother convent educated?' Meaning-in those times, 'Convent educated' was a code for 'ultra modern, western' women. Not that I consider it as a bad thing, but I am sure my friends were using it as a derogatory term in those days! 

BUT slowly, their attitudes changed. It was because they saw me. They saw how I almost always topped my class, how many inter-school competitions I won, how I was invited to several dance performances, how I became a pro at organizing dance and skits for our colony Durga Puja pandals, and how seamlessly my mother managed our home and became my mentor and manager!

I have to give credit to my dad also. While it is true that he was a bit more conservative and traditional that my mom, he actually never came in way of whatever she wanted to do. He never said NO to anything she said, and rather tried to reason with her. And once the decision was made, they always stuck together.

It was in this environment of positivity and mutual support that I was allowed to flourish. I deveoped 10 hobbies, I became an independent thinker at an early age, I was allowed to take my own decisions and be strong enough to go through the consequences, I was encouraged to put forth my ideas in front of my parents instead of being afraid of opening my mouth in front of them, I never felt afraid of watching MTV or Hollywood Movies in front of them as their only condition was 'Do your homework on time and then do whatever you want!', I never felt afraid of discussing any topic with them, I chose my career path at a very early age not based on how much money I would make but based on how much passion I felt for what subject, and despite being fat and dark skinned, I never felt the pressure to join a gym or use a fairness cream!

Now how many people can honestly say that they have had such a childhood? I have!

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.

A Fantastico Inspiration for me ..And for everyone else as well!

I am gonna talk about someone who is one of my personal inspirations!

How often do we say, Oh life is hard, Oh God why life is like this, Oh why is this happening to me only?

No,I am no saying this to make anyone feel bad or belittle anyone's struggles. Yes,it is true that we all have our own personal demons to face, difficult situations to deal with but personally I have many a times come close to giving up. It is in these moments of self doubt that some stories fill us up with hope and courage.

Now imagine for a second that you are a 16 year old girl,living in a remote rural part of India,way back in 1970s, without any education, without any financial independence and just like it is custom for every other girl in the village,you are married off to a man 10 years older to you by your parents. You start living your new life because this is what you had been taught and prepared for,all your life. Then you become pregnant. Then you are delirious with happiness because it is a girl, a little princess,all of your own. But wait, your husband and your in-laws ask you to throw her in the garbage because they want a son and you have committed a sin by giving birth to a girl!

I know that if faced with a situation like this, I would probably have gone insane.

But not Ashakutty Aunty, mother of one of my college friends. Yes, this is a true story that really happened to some one I know. Do you know what she did? 

She took her daughter in her arms and ran. Ran away from that village, that society, those in-laws and created a new life for herself and her daughter, she taught herself basic education, she worked in homes as a maid, she lived in slums, ate scraps but never gave up. 

Today her daughter is finishing her MBA in one of the top management schools of India, and has already started working in a huge IT firm. Asha aunty does not need to do anything for survival anymore. But all that she had to go through, does it haunt her or trouble her in any way?

Just ask her this question and she replies, 'I am not perfect,I am not God, I am nobody to question his decision. I went through what was in my destiny perhaps, I did the best I could, I have no reason to hate anyone. I just want to live a good life and go to God with a good face on my death.' Today,she spends her time among many underprivileged kids, giving them free food, healthcare and education. She has plans to open many NGOs to help as many people as possible.

It is on meeting people like her that we are reminded of presence of God's angels among us :)

Fantastico, Isn't She? :)

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.