Don’t buy engagement rings.

Some purchases require procrastination. Impulsive buying is not encouraged when you plan to buy a life long gift or necessity. This applies especially to engagement rings, house plots, mattresses and even a tree sapling.

You can’t barge into a jewelry shop, browse around and order an engagement ring off the shelf. Ask around; speak to your relatives who are married; search the Internet for unique engagement rings.

Another popular concept is engagement rings should have a diamond in it. No, I don’t agree with this banal view. There are exquisite gems that are rare and not costly which will be more beautiful than a diamond ring.

There are so many affordable and at the same time romantic alternatives for that one special moment of your life.

Excellent help by British Airways ground staff.

In every field, the ground staff are more efficient and more compassionate than that field's office staff who, like every other white collar employees don't allow a speck on their white collar. Be it a sales force, public utilities sector like electricity, telephone service providers etc, the story is the same everywhere.

I noticed a bunch of ground staff at the Madras airport a couple of days ago that were active and willing to extend their assistance to my mother-in-law who was on her way to Washington.

A girl greeted the passengers at the baggage screening queue itself, tagged the bags and helped move the queue at a fast pace.

From a distance, I saw my mother-in-law being approached by another counter staff to offer assistance. The check-in procedure was all over in less than 20 minutes. And mind you, it was midnight time.

Impressive, very impressive! I thank the British Airways ground staff.

Someone has visualized this.

For many people including me, to listen means waiting for the other person to stop talking. The moment that happens, I would leap into the conversation.

But, on a fine evening, I realized that I am attentive to a friend of my husband. It was may be because he was talking about my favorite subject of bathroom fittings.

I am always very particular about the size of the bathroom in my house and also the hotels I stay. I would love to have my bathroom fitted with ultra hi-tech gadgets.

This friend was telling me why he likes Moen faucets and showed me a couple of brochures of shining gold colored bathroom faucets. At that point, I stopped listening and kept staring at the faucets’ images. I wanted them immediately. I appreciate the person who has visualized this and made it real.

Look the pictures of them here. Go ahead and start dreaming.

Nokia’s Mobile Applications Developers Conference.

The annual parents meeting went off smoothly yesterday. There were usual questions about higher education after the impending academic year. Since I keep myself updated mainly about the prospects in IT industry, I was able to offer useful counseling.

I remembered about the forthcoming Bangalore Conference of Nokia which aims to create a big platform for the aspiring mobile application developers. I know a few of my ex-students who have taken up a career as mobile application developers and their feedback spoke of big scope in the industry.

When I embarked on this topic, I noticed restlessness among the crowd. When prodded further, I was able to realize that there is a widespread belief that developing application for mobile phone is very difficult.

I appeased them of their unreasonable fear by telling them how applications for mobile web have immense future as there is a growing tendency to go mobile among the Internet marketers.

This Nokia conference to be held in Bangalore will facilitate one to one interaction with industry experts who will also elaborate on the latest developments in the mobile industry and the future trends.

More active participation in the Nokia conference is encouraged by announcing gifts for innovative mobile applications.

For full information about Nokia Mobile Applications Developers Conference and the various sessions that include Mobile Technology Evolution, Technology Showcase and Developer Evangelization, please visit the links above.

Celebrating a disaster.

What is happening here? Yesterday I received so many emails and telephone calls reminding me that today (26th Jan) is the tsunami day. I just don't understand why people remember natural calamities even after it had happened 4 years ago?

Why people want to relive the tragedy? Do they want to celebrate several peoples' death anniversary? Aren't they aware that by focusing again and again on incidents and events that should be forgotten, they are more likely to experience/witness the same again?

What you focus on expands! This is the law of universe.

Ask them on which day India won the T20 championship; ask them on which day they got a promotion in their office; ask them when their child took its first step. No, they can't recall.

But they remember well all the dates of the tragic events, natural disasters, death of people whom they never met and whose death would not have affected their lives in any way.

Another melting trip to Spastic Society.

This has been my practice for the last 23 years. I make it a point to be in Coimbatore on 24^th December at any cost. On this day, every year, I along with a few of my college friends visit the Spastics Children Home.

Our day with these unfortunate children affected with cerebral palsy will start sharply at 6.00 AM. We then go through the morning duties with loud cheer.

Then after a rather sumptuous breakfast we arrange, we engage the children in myriad activities that will fill their memories till the next Christmas. Every year, we do miss a few children as they move away to other caring homes with more facilities. Those fortunate children mostly would have been benefited after successful legal battles that are efficiently conducted by cerebral palsy injury attorneys.

Some spastic children would have found foreign sponsors.

This year, my group was joined by a new set of my husband’s friends. We just returned after melting trip.

Have a happy Christmas eve.

I love the day before the holidays and festivals than the holidays and festivals. I am simply elated in anticipation of the forthcoming good things to come such as good food, a relaxed mood, a benevelont state of mind, etc.

By this way, I enjoy two days fully in place of one day. Isn't it smart of me?

Here, let me give you a reason to smile on this eve of Christmas and if you just forward this to others, you will make them smile to. You will set in the happy mood!


















Source

How to avoid dumping unwanted gifts.

I was 17 when my heart melted seeing the forlorn look of a boy on the eve of the New Year. He must have been only about 5 years old. I saw him when I loaded a big cardboard box with gifts on the car, to be given to my college friends.

I had spent a considerable amount to buy the gifts. The look on the boy’s face pierced my heart. A big pang of guilt swept over me. Here, I was going to dump gifts on my friends which they might never need or never use but at the same time, that boy would have never received any gift in his life.

That was the last time I bought gifts but I continue to give gift cards in small and medium denominations ranging from $10 to $50. Gift cards enable the gift receivers to buy what they want. By this way, they don’t end up with 10 pen sets (just an example) that will surely find their way to the garage. Invariably, people don’t have heart to give away the unwanted gifts to the needy people.

Why don’t you think of buying a few Subway gift cards and give them to street urchins for this Christmas? They will get a meal of their life.

There is also the TGI Friday’s gift card. They have about 500 restaurants spread over the entire nation. Each gift card can be personalized with a custom message and design.

To me, food to the needy is the most valuable gift in the world.

They know their luggage.

When I told my mother-in-law that the waist pack that I bought is specially meant for her up coming travel to the U.S., she offered to pay me the cost of it. It cost me $34 and I bought it from Luggagebase.com, web’s number one online mall for all your luggage needs.

Waist Packs are ideally suited for Indian women who wear sarees. The waist pack can be conveniently hidden under the saree thus making it invisible for the passers by.

It is also (waist) a convenient place to handle the content of a bag.

Luggage Base deals with all major luggage brands that include Samsonite, Eagle Creek, American Tourister, etc. and also every kind of luggage needs like suitcases, backpacks, pull on, shoulder bags and miscellaneous travel accessories can be bought.

3 essential eye exercises for bloggers.

Not all bloggers but pro bloggers like I who spend at least 12 a hours a day hurt their eyes beyond full realization. Well, if you are below 40, you may even scorn at this indication but please be aware that, your eyes are nothing but organic matter and tend to decay over a period of time.

So, while we can't prevent the ultimate decay, we can still postpone it and live to enjoy seeing more colors and people.

Here three essential but very simple eye exercises that my dear friend Kamath has mentioned in his last blog post.

1. "After every 20 minutes of looking into the computer screen, turn your head and try to look at any object placed at least 20 feet away... and

I now request you to visit Kamath's blog titled, Mirror of Soul, to read the three exercises. After all he is the author-right?

The most useful Christmas gifts.

Though the price of the gift for Christmas we are contemplating to give to our temple garden is very cheap, we were in a dilemma still. Passion Flower or Birds of Paradise-which one to buy?

Since the garden is very small, the garden keeper can’t take too many gifts. To know which one is more suitable for the garden that is on a dry land, I thought of seeking meaningful information from shop wiki, the most dependable reference site in the Internet.

I favored Birds of Paradise; I love those bright orange petals and an electric blue structure strutting out of the flower. After reading the wiki on growing the Birds of Paradise, I ordered a dozen packets of its seeds.

Just as I was leaving the shop wiki web site, the word ‘Bird Feeders’ caught my eye. Immediately I remembered the open admiration of the bird feeder I had installed in my garden by ex-boss.

Mine is a squirrel safe bird feeder mounted on a pole. I looked around for more models in shop wiki and settled for the same as in my house but a slightly bigger one.

This website shopwiki.com is really an excellent resource for all of our shopping needs.

Learn what you need.

As a teacher, that is what I advice my students-learn what you need and not what others say you need. Students get carried away easily by others’ opinions, teachers’ advice and friends’ choice of education.

Thus they don’t realize what their exact need is and what their favorite faculty is. Whatever may be the subject they choose, I am a strong advocate of education through Internet.

There is a great variety of options for online college courses these days when compared to 30 years ago. Sure, the cost of studying online too has gone up but so too the standard of education in online universities like Capella University, the fully accredited online university that currently offers 111 graduate and undergraduate specializations and 15 certificate programs.

There are various financial aid options available to face the rising educational cost. Even Capella University’s “Inside Online Education” podcast featured an in depth interview with their financial aid director Mike Nylund on the issue of financial aid to online college courses.

This 15 minute podcast can be heard at capellacommons.com.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Devotional Christian songs.

Having lived nearby Christian friends for so many years, I grew up liking their devotional songs. A sense of jolly mood sets in whenever I hear their chorus song. I hope this won't offend anyone. As a Hindu girl, the Christian songs are a big deviation in music. I like it even today.

The home opposite to me belongs to a Christian. He has installed a small Christmas tree, decorated it with colorful lights and hung a star also in front of his house.

Seeing this, the children of his neighbor started pestering their father to install a Christmas tree and a star in their house too. And he kindly obliged his daughters. He is a Hindu.

How nice of him to have this wonderful global attitude!

Who is my father?

I have this habit of reading the RSS feed of Market Watch just to amuse myself. I have a purpose too to upgrade my general knowledge. My profession demands it.

A couple of weeks before I read about a revolutionary over the counter DNA paternity test kit called Identigene. What an apt name to identify the genes of anyone!

This is said to be the first DNA Paternity Test ever sold in retail outlets. Will it mean less remuneration for specialist lawyers dealing with paternity claims?

I still remember the legal battle of Larry Birkhead claiming the parenthood of his daughter Dannielynn that he finally won in the court in Bahamas in 2007. I happened to remember this particular case because it concerned celebrities.

This wonder testing kit Identigene will deliver the results of testing within 5 business days. Earlier methods of paternity test are said to take longer time to announce the results.

Of the various DNA testing centers in the world, DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC) located in several parts of the U.S. is the world's largest and most experienced private DNA testing laboratory.

Hilarious video capturing cat's funny movements.

I like cats only from a distance. As far away as watching their playful activities in computer monitor. Somehow, I have not gotten used to the proximity of animals and birds.

I just enjoyed about 5 minutes of hilarious video clip capturing extraordinary funny movements of a few cats. I thoroughly enjoyed its paly with a kid, its escape from a glass jar, its near walk on the water in a pond.

I am sure you will have a memorable next five minutes if you watch the video. I predict you are going to forward this video to several contacts.

Condor's splendour.

I woke up 4.30 AM today and habitually switched on my desktop. While it was getting loaded, I washed myself and prepared to make coffee.


--->Condor



When I sat in front of my PC while the coffee maker was informing that it is active by the those odd sounds, I saw this bird, a huge one really occupying the entire monitor screen.

I am sure it must have been the work of my husband who shrieks with child like delight whenever he sees a new bird.


I don't know the name of this bird. Oh, wait, it is a Condor.It must belong to eagle's family!

Source: Flickr

Cheap car coverage.

I didn’t know that car insurance cost is so high. Three days before, my brother-in-law offered his old car to my husband free of cost generously. He is leaving the country for better prospects.

He was explaining the car papers to my husband. We gasped when we saw how much auto insurance charges he is paying per year. We politely refused the gift of a life time.

Seeing our apprehension, my brother-in-law then explained that there are ways to reduce the cost of auto insurance by changing the insurance provider. This can be done by asking for auto insurance quotes for free from several insurance service providers.

There are hundreds of websites that facilitate this service of getting car insurance quotes and compare them and choose the lowest bidder by using a rating engine.

He admitted that he has not been using this method and that’s why he has been paying high car insurance premium.

We are still not able to make up our mind about accepting the car.

Blog traffic analysis that revealed a truth.

I thought people are only interested in money or finding ways to earn money through Internet. I am wrong completely.

And I am happy to be wrong. This error in judgment opened my eyes and mind.

I have a blog about income opportunities. It really contains all the resources to earn money online. Almost all the opportunities that I have written about, do not require any upfront money. You never need to refer a single soul. They are all 100% passive income opportunities online.

And I have a blog on laws of universe. It deals with law of attraction, spiritual development, power of thoughts, angels and spirit guides etc.

When I look at the daily traffic statistics, I am surprised to find more visitors to the spiritual blog than money blog.

Strange but true. Are we all waking up from our dream?

Anticipate lightly.

North facing office room? Contemplate changing the direction if not avoiding the place altogether. Oh, I suppose this rule may not be applicable to all the geographical area.

I am in Madras, a coastal city. We have a unique monsoon season starting from middle of October that lasts till December end. It is called the north east monsoon. At this time of the year, it is always dark in east and north. And if my office faces those directions, the lighting is not sufficient.

The indoor lighting is obviously poor at these times. Builders also are not smart enough to provide lighting points in vantage places in the room. Only after the building is completed and someone starts living in, they notice the error.

We have to outsmart the builders’ error by opting for unique indoor lighting fixtures that brighten the whole room irrespective of various seasons.

I bought a set of ceiling lights last week after the rains had topped. The students thanked me profusely.

Unmatched customer support from Airtel.

I have never experienced nor heard about such a fantastic customer service from any company in the world. Airtel is just too good.

My modem didn't respond today. I made a complaint to Airtel customer service around 9.30 AM. I was told that it will be attended to in 8 hours.

15 minutes later, a service engineer called me up and asked for the directions to my house. He then turned up 10 minutes later. He saw the necessity to change the modem. He had one new modem in his bag. He simply replaced it with the old modem, configured it and went out in less than 5 minutes after he came.

The customer service executive who took my complaint was very courteous, patient and clear. She repeated my nature of complaint and my contact details twice before ending the conversation.

I was naturally immensely pleased with their service. I called them up again to express my appreciation and gratitude.

I doubt very much whether Airtel's customer service can be matched by someone in the world.

Thank you Airtel!

Meet the POS Guys.

High Volume Retail Barcode Scanner from Posguys.com

Obviously, our mailbox will be stuffed with sales flyers, discount offers, festival discounts, surprise gifts from several shopping malls, products manufacturers and retails stores because of Christmas and New Year.

We too leave behinds ghosts of economic recession behind and spend our yearly savings with high hopes for a more prosperous new year. Years of winter shopping experience will remind us to stock food and wine sufficiently.

Yes, the stores and shops too would have enough to last till New Year. But I always wonder whether these shops are wise enough to have backup billing accessories such as barcode scanners, credit card swipes etc.

I know and have seen billing counters get traffic jam due to failure of these barcode scanners and credit card readers. The counter staff are not trained enough to manage difficult customers at crunch situations.

Point of sale (pos) gadgets can be bought from Pos Guys, the complete shop for reliable and top quality barcode scanners, card readers, touch screen monitors etc.

Sunlight at last!

Look at the incredulity! Madrasis are rejoicing at the sunlight after 5 days of torrential rain. I am sure we will start hating the heat from tomorrow. That is life!

Water had entered our house. There was no power, no milk, no newspaper since last Monday. I did manage to blog something by going to my friend's house.

The newly laid roads are again in bad shape. Still, the water has not receded completely off the roads. The Government as usual couldn't mitigate our sufferings.

Added to the owes was the tragedy in Bombay. I feel sorry for them. Again, the Government has failed miserably though they helped end the trauma. The security of such a famous hotel in Bombay was found wanting.

Don’t replace; just upgrade!

Unfortunately my laptop belonged to an ancient era. Also, there is no way one can go for a memory upgrade in laptop computers. That why, desktop PCs are still preferred over any other type of computers.

And we never have to replace some of the existing accessories like RAM in desktop PCs. We can simply upgrade to larger memory card or stick. This way, we can save money and thus contribute to a green environment because we don’t add to the garbage.

But many people buy memory cards which really can’t serve their purpose. It is essential to know your PC before you decide in favor of memory upgrade. You need to know what type of memory your computer can adopt.

If you are not sure, ask around in the Internet.

Bear cub grieves to death.

I read a moving story of a bear cub that could not endure its mother's death and died. The news story appeared in Times of India, yesterday.

This incident took place in Coonoor, a hill station in India. The four-month-old bear cub died of shock soon after her sick mother breathed her last on Friday night.

The mother bear is reported to have died of internal bleeding due to infections in her lungs and intestines. The veterinary doctor who performed the autopsy on the mother bear said that he has come across a few such cases in the past.

I was unable to digest the tragic news for several hours after I read the news. The bears are supposed to live a life of closely affectionate family.

Don’t miss Sopranos’ Last Supper.

A girl student studying in Sydney approached me for a special math coaching session since she is going to be here for another 30 days. I politely refused at first because I really don’t have time. Also, I don’t take class for a single student. It is a waste of resources.

The girl, naturally disappointed, was leaving my office with a heavy heart. Just as she was packing her text books that she showed me, a few attractively colored papers fell on the floor.

I picked them up and saw they were brochures and tickets for several Las Vegas Shows and all were meant for the last week of December. They all bore the address of ShowsLasVegas.com, the largest Las Vegas shows ticket seller in the U.S.

The girl told me that she will be spending the December holidays in Las Vegas with her relatives before returning to Sydney. Because, tickets for a few special shows in Las Vegas like Rita Rudner’s comedy and Sopranos’ Last Supper are very difficult to get at the last minute, she booked them online in advance.

I realize that the students studying abroad are more affluent and also lucky.

Are people programmed to be fat?

It was a bit shocking when I read that moms are to be blamed if their children grow out to be fat. The article I read in our local daily cites that high-fat diet in pregnancy causes changes in fetal brain and leads to obesity in kids.

Sounds scientifically logic of course but how many ‘just married’ women are aware of this truth? But what about already fat married women? Will they be taking Leptorexin to shed weight before they get pregnant?

Ah, the wonder pill Leptorexin is said to contain garlic among other natural ingredients. Garlic is the best agent to increase metabolism.

Thank you mother for taking care of your eating habits as I never had to take any kind of food suppressant!

Scary attraction for women.

What attracts women in men?
These kinds of definitely not useful studies and research are being carried out irrespective of economic recession, natural catastrophes, violence against vulnerable. But the results after these studies are always amusing if not useful.

It is the turn of Englishmen to take up the study on why Harrison Ford ans Sean Connery were liked by women all over the world.

The result in short: Women find men with facial scars sexy!

The result in detail:
Many women find Ford’s scar on his chin and Connery’s on his face as unique beauty marks that boosts the sex appeal of the two Hollywood celebrities.

But why?
Who can reveal the subconscious values? These studies can only make some guess.

The British study has suggested that scarring associated with violence may signal to a woman that the man has a risk-taking personality or above average masculinity, both of which might appeal to women for short term relationships.

I liked this phrase at the end of the newspaper story: MARK OF A MAN

Source: Times of India dt 18th Nov 08

PS: Incidentally, my husband has a big scar on his right cheek. (Smile)

Figure out for yourself!

Just as I was leaving the computer shop after getting the ink tank refilled, I noticed a billboard that boldly announced that there are discount diet pills exclusively for women. This is odd! I never heard that diet pills are gender biased.

I once heard that most diet pills work as appetite suppressant. If that is the case, won’t people gain back the lost weight once they stop taking the diet pills because the appetite will again be normal?

I intend to check the consumers’ feedback on these basic doubts on weight loss tablets. Though I may never need to take them, a little bit of knowledge apart from mathematics won’t do any harm.

Top colleges in the U.S.

I must start compiling a lot of resources now for the benefit of my students who will be completing their school in March 2009. I used to conduct a "seminar on higher education in the U.S." during the month of January every year.

I have already compiled a database of top universities and colleges in America. But I too have to up date my database-right?

I found a website called Unigo where all the top educational institutions in the U.S. are reviewed. It’s seems to be a great place for high school leaving students to find out what life is really like at America’s colleges, and to make friends who can help them find the school that’s right for them.

I read in Springwise that Unigo offers tens of thousands of original reviews, videos, photos, documents and more about 225 of America's top colleges. They have a team of 18 full-time editors, 300 on-campus interns and more than 15,000 students, the results are all searchable within an interactive community built around student-generated content.

People laugh because ...

An old student of mine (SriRam)keeps in touch with me through email. Even though I rarely reply, he is relentless in his effort to get my attention.

Ok, SriRam, I owe you one for sending me this excellent quote.

"People laugh because I am different, & I laugh because they are all the same.. Thats Called "ATTITUDE":- Swami Vivekananda.

Great, just great-don't you agree?

But this attitude is inborn in my husband; it seems he never cultivated. And when he recounts his experiences because of this attitude, I didn't voice my opinion but continued to have the opposite of the attitude.

And now I am admiring this quote. What an irony!

The dreaded check-in at the airport.

I just returned from the airport after seeing off my brother-in-law who is on his way to Kuwait. The ride to airport was smooth, thanks to the grade separator at the Kathipara junction.

The airport was unusually less crowded. The stalls were empty. The toilets were unclean as ever. My brother-in-law stood in the check-in queue for more than an hour. The counter staff at the Kuwait airlines was dead slow in issuing boarding pass.

But surprisingly, when my brother-in-law finally reached the counter, he was relieved to have gotten his boarding pass in less than 2 minutes. I wondered then what took the airlines staff so long to attend to the previous 15 passengers.

I have seen some very quick processing at the counters of Lufthansa and British Airways. Oh, well! Efficiency too naturally varies-right?

New adventure at Disney world, Orlando

Not many foreigners are aware of Epcot, a new theme park at Disney World, Orlando. In Epcot, there is a particular entertainment that seems to excite everyone when they even read about it.

Located at The Land pavilion at Epcot, visitors can take a flight aboard Soarin', an exhilarating hang-gliding journey over the magnificent landscapes of California.

I was surprised to note that at a time, this flight can accommodate 87 people. Must be quite big a hang glider. Visitors aboard are treated with exciting flying time over San Francisco, Redwood Creek, Napa Valley, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Palm Springs (actually shot in nearby La Quinta over the golf course at PGA West), Camarillo, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego, Malibu and Los Angeles.

I will tell you where you can get a discount of up to 80% on your first 2 attraction tickets.

If you happen to plan your Disney vacations during this year Christmas holidays, please visit orlandothemeparkvacations.com and book your tickets before November 15^th to enjoy a big discount and ensure hassle free holidays.

How Obama won?

How Obama won the presidential election? You should tell me the exact reasons or the correct strategies that sent him to the White House.

Newspapers attribute several people's hard work for his success and they have singled out Anita Dunn, the veteran political consultant who oversaw the ‘war room’ of the political campaign, using combine message, research and policy.
Anita Dunn

I would personally agree with this view though the work of others such as David Axelrod who was the campaign mastermind. The journalist turned-political consultant shaped Obama’s message of hope and stood by it even when Obama slipped in the polls.

David Axelrod

After reading several newspapers and articles online, the following solid reasons for Obama's win seem to be appropriate.

* His favorable outlook for the middle class Americans

* His promise of ending the recession

* His economic view of cutting down the offshore outsourcing

Of course, above all, we really can't rule out the change in the White House expected by the citizens of the U.S.

Can we really evoke compassion?

Mahatma Gandhi fasted. The nation melted and yielded to his call. That was Gandhi and Indians of the yesteryears for you. No big crowd gathered where he fasted. The nation thought compassionately. Even the then British Government whenever he announced his impending fast.

The world is different now. We have totally different ethics. In spite of that big change in morality and attitude, newspaper report several fasts by various sects of the people. The purpose of fasting may be genuine but under the change in atmosphere, who really cares?

Just my thoughts!

The best discount furniture shop in America.

On our way to the Outer Banks, my sister-in-law stopped for refreshments and replenishment of a few food baskets. Then she headed straight to Boyles Distinctive Furniture, to browse through their discount furniture.

Actually she had no intention of buying anything when she stepped into Boyles. Since she was passing by, she thought of peeping in as Boyles Discount Furniture is famous for their top quality wooden furniture since 1949.

My sister-in-law finished her rounds and saw me standing before a mini (?) chest of drawers that was painted attractively. She wondered how it didn’t fall on her attention before. It was obvious she too liked it and decided on the spot to order one.

I was surprised. How could she expect the heavy furniture to be delivered to her home which is several hundred miles away?

Then the shop floor manager told me in great detail about their nation wide delivery in their own truck.

Hmmm…America is America!

Excellent vegetarian recipes.

I found myself drawn to a recipe blog for the past two days. There are some new recipes that I have never heard of. The author of the blog Finger Licking Food is Namratha, an Indian settled in the U.S. I thought she misspelled her name which could be Narmatha. (how dare I )

I think she is originally from Karnataka state in India. Her recipes for a change looked cookable. I mean the ingredients are all familiar to me. There are hundreds of recipe blogs and sites that mention ingredients which they seem to get from Mars.

Two recipes that I intend to try out this week are:
Curd Kodubale
Bombay Kojju

The pictures of food in her blog also seemed to be taken from her kitchen.

Thank you Namratha.

Clutters are blockages of cosmic energies.

Nothing unfunctional will be retained in our house. Such gadgets and utilities that are no longer in working condition add clutter to our house and we believe strongly that such clutters are blockages of cosmic energies.

Do you know that this attitude of throwing away unwanted things proved to be beneficial for us? Yes, we had to keep replacing ceiling fans, lighting fixtures, food processors and even window curtains. As a result, our house is always packed with new utilities.

So, when replace, we buy new and contemporary designer gadgets. Last month, we had to replace as many as three outdated ceiling fans; we bought two monte carlo fans from farreys.com.

It was a difficult choice to make as the range of ceiling fans offered at Farreys was just too big. Everything looked like a good buy, especially the minka aire ceiling fans that were hard to ignore. So we bought one minka ceiling fan.

If you care to visit Farreys once, you are sure to bookmark it for your future needs.

Miracle cure for cold and throat infection.

The monsoon as usual brought with it a few illness to my husband. Now, I hear that my sister's family too got the dreaded viral fever.

My husband ran high temperature and he also complained severe pain below the abdomen and his throat got infected too. Apart from the prescribed medicines, I administered a few doses of home made medicines and he believed that wifely recipes alone cured him.

Do you want to know about my healing techniques?

I gave my husband hot pepper water thrice a day. I also made him gargle with salt water in the night, just before bed time.

Both worked miracles! Try it without fear when needed.

FREE subscription to Lean Body Fitness Secrets.

I am helping out a few of my students who are damn serious about getting slim. At present, with their body, they are ashamed to sit by along with male students. I don't blame them. And I also don't criticize them for being obese.

Most of those obese people, don't have it by choice. I suppose it is their destiny. But I know that they too can beat the destiny and fulfill their desire of a slim body.

There are a lot of secrets to sport a slim figure. Not only dieting and exercising can help but by following a few other steps, one can shed their weight.

Subscribe to a lot of lean body tips. It is free folks.

Who needs counselling?

I am very perturbed to read more and more news about students getting physically punished by their teachers. Most of the punishment are leading to fatal decisions by the students.

Very recently, a girl student committed suicide because of the humility she suffered at her class meted out by her teacher. It was a co-education school and just because the girl didn't complete her home work, she was highly humiliated publicly and was asked to sit between two boy students.

She was so ashamed that she committed suicide. The parents suffered intolerable loss and the country is a silent witness to such gross negligence by teachers. What they lack basically is the kindness expected of them. How can that teacher think of such perverted ideas to punish?

God, please save the children!

Alli is an FDA approved diet pill.

Two kinds of people consume diet pills such as alli, noxycut, orovo etc. Beauty conscious people who are also in show business take diet pills as appetizer suppressant to prevent getting fat.

And there are those who regularly take weight-loss medications only as per prescriptions when they are at increased medical risk because of their weight

I understand both the categories of people don’t maintain their intake of diet pills over the long period. Diet pills alone won’t help one to shed their obesity; some may require additional treatment combined with vigorous physical activity.

These days, diet pills are sold over the counter with out the need of doctors’ prescription. Alli is one such diet pill that is approved by FDA and it is said to reduce the body’s fat absorption.

Alli might cause some side effects. Please go to consumerpricewatch.net for full information about the diet pill Alli.

How to use Facebook to market your blogs?

Facebook for Professionals is offered exclusively via Podclass.com - a social networking platform where you can teach and take courses. Podclass is also a Facebook application.

Well, I am no professional social media marketer but I do use them to give exposure to my blogs and directories.

If you do not yet have a login at Podclass.com, you'll need to first register for a FREE account:

Click here to register at Podclass.

I have read everywhere about the potentiality of using Facebook as your Internet marketing platform and if you're not active on Facebook, your business could be left in the dust. But there's a science and an art to using social networking sites effectively for proper business building. Relationship expert, Mari Smith, reveals all her insider secrets for how to triple your income this year as a direct result of your strategic activitites on Facebook.

Biggest online shop for unlocked cell phones.

How a woman sitting in a remote corner in India helped a person traveling in Europe to get connected with his family in SriLanka?

To explain, you must know the woman is I and the person I helped is the father of an ex-cricketer in SriLanka. He is at present somewhere in Scandinavia and he is the proud owner of this stunning mobile phone.

The original price of this beauty is $399 and I helped him buy it for just $199. Yes, that a staggering savings of $200. I bought it online for him from the Internet’s biggest unlocked cell phones and accessories shop and arranged it to be delivered at the address he gave me.

To make a call in Europe while on the move, you require an unlocked cell phone that is untied from the mobile network service provider.

Ustronics.com is the best online store to buy unlocked cell phones at unbelievably low prices with a wide range of choices.

I am proud of you Ganguly.

Thank you very much Ganguly. Though I missed see you score a century against the Aussies, I am immensely happy to see that big smile on your face. You had the last laugh. It seems Vengsarkar was too eager to come forward with his appreciation.

I don't know why the entire India is so much against you. You deserve definitely something better. I only hope you carry on unruffled for the rest of the series.

You are the only Indian captain who always stood for the India's pride and prestige. You gave tit for tat for several captains of other countries. Most of your predecessors always bowed down in front of them.

I salute you dear Ganguly. March on. India needs you.

How to save buckets of money?

Computers that are usually dependable, ditch us only at the wrong time always. While we have not much work to do with the desk top, it will standby you like a pet dog; but occasionally, it will fall sick when we want its support the most.

Oh, well, after all they are machines!

My desk top lost its source to the power and thus refused to wake up on last Wednesday. Fortunately, I have a macBook as a standby. But it is not always idle; my son uses it as a game console.

Now, I think I need to purchase another laptop that is ultra portable. I used to check up online to compare prices of notebook PCs before deciding on the brand. So, I visited Save Buckets and searched for ultra portable notebook. I was recommended Asus Eee PC by a few forum members.

But my son was of the opinion that the ThinkPad X series of ultra portables from Lenovo have always been excellent systems.

Hmmm…, now I am faced with a difficult task; Lenovo or Asus Eee PC. Hey, what about Toshiba Laptops? But whatever I decide to buy, I am sure of saving fair amount dollars by buying from Savebuckets.co.uk

Since I have been using the laptop for the past 7 days, I am finding it much easier to use than a desk top. Laptop since portable, I could take it to my cozy couch and work without back and neck pain.

Using the CAT6 bulk cables.

Last Friday, my son took a break from his hectic IT training and came home. We all immediately gathered around him and requested him to talk about his training. When he started off, my husband was able to understand most of it including several technical terms and gadgets.

But he too looked blankly at his son when he explained how his company managed to network nearly 35,000 computers using high speed CAT6 Ethernet Cable. The details that followed made some sense to my husband but still he could not comprehend the applications of CAT6 in ATM networks, Gigabit Ethernet etc.

I secretly took pleasure that my husband’s usually sound knowledge took a beating from his own son.

Can’t I dress it up differently?

Dressing it up differently, the corn based meal tasted ok of course but my husband ridiculed at my own certificate. “Malathy, a southerner should say whether your cornbread dressing is ok or not”. Yes, I too have read that the authors of cornbread recipe are from the southern part of America and Texas comes to my mind first among them.

Let me tell you how I made it differently. Instead of the usual celery, I used a few basil leaves and a generous dose of spinach. And I avoided garlic and onion totally.

I must agree that the buttermilk had gone slightly sour but I thought that will give a different taste to the dish.

I still vouch that it tasted different.

Is the brain shrinking?

As we age, most of our organs shrink due to the stopping of cells growth. Doesn't that mean the brain also shrinks?

Due to a study conducted by Oxford University on the elderly, researchers are saying that higher levels of vitamin B12 may make the difference between a brain that loses volume.

Naturally a shrinking brain translates in to memory loss and difficulty in problem solving and understanding and responding to questions.

Ok, now, the effect of vitamin B12 on the brain:
It is discovered that the higher the level of vitamin B12 in our body leads to less shrinkage but yes, the shrink occurs however. It is nature at work!

So, what are the sources for vitamin B12?
Since it is one of eight B vitamins that is important for the normal functioning of the brain, we must ensure proper intake of vitamin B12 containig food.

Vitamin B-12 is naturally found in meat, shellfish, milk and eggs.

Oh no, what am I going to do? I am a vegetarian?!And the fact that plants do not supply B-12 to humans makes it more difficult for me.

According to the U.K. Vegan Society, the only reliable vegan sources of B-12 are foods fortified with B-12 that includes some soy products and some breakfast cereals.

How much is an egg?

Come on Ganguly, come on!

So Mr.Ganguly, as expected (and as some people wished), you have not scored runs against the Kiwi A team thereby failed to build up self confidence. As you must be aware, the Aussies have been watching you and are likely to pounce upon you when you take guard at the crease.

Oh, poor man, how I wished you click! You have disappointed yourself and me too. Come on Ganguly, you can't quit now. Don't desert us now.

Show Ponting the doors to pavilion. Shoulders up my dear Ganguly and come back at the media which is gunning for your head. Have the last laugh Ganguly. Indian cricket team needs you.

Cheer up man! Cheers India!

Get rid off your fear of water.

No, not even this ultra thin water float can alleviate my fear of water. I don’t think even any Nobel Prize winning psychoanalyst can help me get rid of the deep seated fear for water.

But, my son becomes a dare devil when he is near any water body. In my home town, there are as many as 64 tanks and my son wetted his body in all of them. His mental state takes the mental state of fish I think, when he is in water.

The other day, in his office campus swimming pool, he made fun of all who were lazing on pool floats. He was joined by several girls who shared my fear of water. They sided with my son only because they can’t lye down on those colorful floats as they are all weighing above 90 KGs.

These reversible pool floats can only take people of lower than average weight. They better approach poolfloatsmart.com and ask them to make pool floats that won’t complain heavy weights.

Tata listends to Ayn Rand.

Image via WikipediaRattan Tata has decided to pull out of his high profile Nano car project from West Bengal. His sole reason is the arrogant behaviour of a political party leader Mamta Banerjee.

She is the biggest thorn in West Bengal's people welfare and she has been reported as continuously disrupting the setting up of the nano car manufacturing plant which would given a great economic boost to the state of West Bengal and would have provided jobs to thousands.

The current Cheif Minister of West Bengal is said to have pleaded with the Ratan Tata but he didn't budge. After all one can only take so much.

His decision of taking his plant away reminds me of the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand where all the leading industrialists just retiring due to polotical reasons and thus throwing the economy of the American continent in utter turmoil.

I salute Tata and I wish other learders of industries in India should take precedence of Ratan Tata.

Industrialists of the world! You are the prime movers of the world! Stand up for your values!

The bus story.

The images you see here shows the outer and inner view of a bus that I intend to recommend to a leading IT company.

My husband accompanied my son to his first job in a global IT company. After nearly two hours of orientation, all the new recruits (approx 300) were asked to wait considerable time to board a bus that was supposed to take them to a hotel where accommodation was arranged.

My husband was not allowed to board the bus but he happened to follow the bus in a taxi. The bus that must have been as old as my son (22 years) could use a parking in an open ground while raining.

I know about the simply superb looking buses built by Carpenterbus.com. Global IT companies need to maintain their standard all around and staff transportation is an important section in any company where compromise on the quality of transportation will bring down the company’s image.

To buy a bus exactly as per the picture here, contact 1.800.370.6180 or visit the link to get a free quote.

Reliance begins the cut.

The news that Reliance Retail is sacking technical staff didn't surprise me at all. I thought they will first close some of their retail outlets first. I already wrote about my experience with them and I foresaw some news on the lines as reported.

I think Reliance is far too big now to carry on business efficiently. The areas of lacuna are inefficient HR, the purchase department that lacks sincerity while procuring quality goods.

I truly wish Reliance Retail all success and they can achieve this if they have good administrators. The top executives of the company seems to be cooling their legs and they need a look in.

Wake up Reliance! India needs you.

Literally compact flash card..

We had to unpack a big suitcase to confirm if we have put in the really compact flash reader that my son bought recently. My husband assured me that he has kept it inside a pouch but I wanted to recheck. This compact flash drive is very important for my son during his job training.

This literally compact flash card is a USB powered device that came with extension cable of about one meter length and manual is a fast one that runs at about the speed of your hard drive.

There were a lot of choices of compact flash readers at memorysuppliers.com, but my son liked this (see picture) sleek and compact piece and he was sure it would serve his purpose. The cost was also very cheap; we bought it for only $14.00

Ah, at last it was there exactly as my husband said.

Easy to use language learning software.

I didn’t know people are interested in learning foreign languages still. I assumed the craze for other languages subsided long back. It was in the year 2001, when my son wanted to learn Japanese though I counseled him to learn Spanish. Even my husband chipped in his support and showed his knowledge of a few Spanish words. He belonged to the age of good old western movies and thus developed a liking for Spanish language, Spanish food and even Spanish women! (How dare?)

So, when a few weeks earlier one of students showed me a few audio teaching aids that contained Spanish language software, I was surprised but was happy too that people sustained interest in foreign languages. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the Untied States and the official language of over 21 nations.

My student boasted of her newly developed knowledge by throwing in a few trivia and here is one that amused me.

"Basque (native name: euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France."

My student informed other students of the class about Transparent.com, a website dedicated to selling language learning software. They sell audio CDs. Language learning suites for more than 100 languages. (No my native language was not among the 100) (Smile)

Every language learning software teaches one, the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of the language under study. Their language teaching aids are used by top universities across the world, Foreign Service Institutes and Defense department.

Big demand for Ultrasound Technicians.

The last 15 years or so, the world is witnessing abundance of job opportunities. As technology is taking giant strides and as it is also so diverse, newer field of education and career are being opened up. This again requires qualified teachers to impart training in myriad faculties.

When I went to college, there were a maximum of 7 or 8 faculties only. Of course the world also didn’t develop that much at that time. We had very limited career opportunities such as teachers, clerks, accountants.

Now, I am surprised at the number job opportunities in every field. Take for example the health care industry in which there are more than 30 different paramedical courses are available.

One of the recent developments is the ultrasound technology in the health care industry. In the case of pregnant women this ultrasound technology is widely used to help manage and care for the fetus.

There is growing demand for ultrasound technicians but the demand is not met adequately and the reason being the lack of awareness of ultrasound schools.

The schools that impart training on ultrasound technology require plenty of exposure and I am happy to introduce career-education.net, a web site that has a database of top class ultrasound schools in the U.S.

They say that one may opt for a 2 year Associate’s degree or 4 year Bachelor’s degree program in ultrasonography in order to gain the required skills and qualification.

Visit the link to learn more about Ultrasound Schools.

Fashion Schools in the U.S.

The transformation was complete. I could not take my eyes off the bride. And the proud costume designer was all humility. She looked so young.

The wedding reception was hall was crowded with guests and I identified quite a few VIPs that included a famous woman entrepreneur, two film directors and a number of film stars. The bride was my ex student and she was getting married to a software engineer working in Los Angeles.

The bride finally introduced the costume designer to the guests. The immediately became the star of attraction. She is a graduate from a leading fashion school in the U.S.

Though she is running a high profile fashion designing studio, she came to help her bride friend as the occasion demanded her skill.

The designer gave a brief introduction to fashion-schools.org, how it helped her to join the best fashion school and how the school has turned her into a pro. She narrated with fond memories about her education and training at the International Academy of Design and Technology, Detroit.

I think she has inspired quite a few youth at the wedding reception.

Reliance Fresh found wanting.

I already said that I like anything Reliance and that includes Reliance Communications, Reliance Petro and Reliance Fresh. The last mentioned is a retail outlet of groceries, vegetables, fruits, soft drinks, ice creams and staples.

There is an outlet very near my house and I used to frequent there for my home needs. Of late, I noticed a dire shortage of billing clerks. Out of three or four billing counters, only one was functioning and naturally, the girl at that counter is overloaded and frequently escapes due to fatigue.

Two days, before, I went to Reliance Fresh with my son, filled up the shopping cart and waited for the lonely billing girl but she simply wasn't interested in doing her work. She saw us and a few others waiting to pay their bill but still gave us scant notice.

We eventually left frustrated leaving our shopping cart at the billing counter.

I respect you Reliance but do you respect your customers?

Buy new and remanufactured automotive ac compressors.

This website-discountcompressor.com is probably one of a unique one dealing exclusively with ac compressor for all kinds of automobiles that includes Mercedes, Ford, Audi, Hyundai and many more.

In this website, one can purchase high quality a/c compressors and other allied components such as condensers and evaporators. You can either buy new ones or remanufactured.

By husband’s brother is an expert in finding out where one can buy remanufactured parts and accessories for cars. He has two cars and both are fitted with all sorts of modern accessories and gadgets including a small fridge.

Discountcompressor.com extends up to 3 years warrant on all its products. The promoters of the site call the website as “Automotive A/C Headquarters”.

Guest houses at Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry is just a 3 hour drive from Madras. We used to visit the ashram quite frequently but of late, our visits have become dearer. Time dear is one commodity that can't be purchased.

We never stayed in the Ashram's guest house. Yesterday, my husbad's friend told him that she stayed in one the ashram's costly guest house that is not open to all. The guest house is located in a serene atmosphere, just opposite the beach.

The rooms were named after various English words such as Passion, Serene, Love, etc. Only snacks and coffee or tea were available in the canteen. Most of the cottages have a meditation room and laundry service is alo available in all the guest houses.