5 Tips to make your husband help in Laundry

This post has won the "Ariel's #IsLaundryOnlyAWomansJob activity" Contest

Recently I read an article "Is Laundry only a woman's job?" on BlogAdda and was curious to know about the survey result. So, I modified few questions and opened up the survey to my friends. To my surprise I got completely contradictory results.  Please find below my survey results.

Then I found my mistake. I should have opened up the survey anonymously. People feel safe in an anonymous environment and they open up truthful answers. I opened the survey again requesting them to answer anonymously and to my shock I got most accurate data matching against the Ariel's survey conducted by AC Nielsen. Below are the statics.

From the above survey one thing I understood. Even Men feel proud to say they help their mom and wife in Laundry. In other words, they feel little embarrassed to say they don’t help the women at home.  But do they really help women at home?
My dad helps my mom in everything and washes his clothes himself. But not every women is lucky enough to get a good person like my dad.
There are family where they believe Laundry is a woman's job irrespective of "Working woman", "Not well", "Tired" labels. How to change this inequality?.

Below are the few ideas that struck my mind. Thank you dad, for helping me out in this ideas. Please note, the goal is to provide useful tips for women so as to reduce the laundry burden. Each Experiment is designed for the novice, with comprehensive details of required materials, results and so on...
Experiment 1
Eat-Out Experiment
Purpose
To make your husband help in Laundry.
Additional information
Its little expensive at the beginning, but its worth the result.
Required Items:

1. Husband
2. You 
3. Kids (If Any)
4. Restaurant 
5. Little bit of acting skills 

Step-By-Step Procedure.

1. As soon as he comes from office, tell him dinner is not ready because you did not find enough time.
2. Husband will plan to take you out.
3. Order as much as food you can and eat everything.
4. Make sure bill cross 1000.
5. Repeat for 5 days.
6. Show the Expense report to your husband
7. Husband will shout at you for crossing the "Monthly Budget"
8. Tell him that, you were busy washing his clothes and did not have time to cook the dinner. 

Figures & Illustrations

Note:
You should act in such a way that you are feeling helpless for increasing the monthly bill
Observation:
You husband will be scared to face the Monthly expense and hence he will opt to help you in laundry.

Result:
Your husband will be Washing the clothes and you can prepare the dinner.
Sometimes, you can swap the work as well.

Experiment 2
Rangoli - Dirty Holi Experiment
Purpose:
To make your husband help in Laundry.
Duration:
1 day
Additional information:
If you are angry with your husband, take out your husband’s favorite dress or lucky dress.
Required Items:

1. Husband Shirt 
2. You 
3. Holi water Gun. (Alternative – Water bottles – Put hole in cap)
4. Colors – Pink and Deep Pink (No Alternative, since Guys hate pink and will work out more)
5. PS. Keep children’s away. They may inform your husband. 

Step-By-Step Procedure.

1. Spray the pink color holi powder and leave it for an hour. 
2. As soon as your husband comes, scold him for spoiling his shirt. 
3. Your husband will be wondering, how did the shirt spoiled. 
4. In the meantime, offer him washing powder and lock inside the washroom with the shirt.

Figures & Illustrations

Observation:
Your husband will wash the shirt, since it is his favorite shirt.
Result:
This is just a base. Keep motivating him and transfer the Laundry job completely

Experiment 3

Hide and Seek Experiment:

Purpose:

To make your husband help in Laundry. 

Duration:

1 day

Additional information:

Rowdy Rathore movie to watch the tricks of a Thief

Required Items:

1. Stealing Skills
2. Hiding Skills. 
3. You
4. Your Husband

Step-By-Step Procedure.

1. Steal all the entertainment items from the home and hide it in a place, where your husband cant find. Example - TV Remote, Bike and Car keys, Laptop, His mobile phone... etc
2. Your Husband will come home to watch TV. He will not find the remote.
3. He will search bike/Car keys to go out. He will not find.
4. He will search laptop to work, again he cant find.
5. He will search for his mobile, to chat or play. He will not find. 
6. He may try to sleep. Before he goes to sleep, Offer him Coffee and Red-bull so that he will be so energetic. 
7. Make sure you lock the door. Otherwise, he may go out for a walk. Basically house arrest him. 

Figures & Illustrations

Note:

Don’t hide the washing Machine by curiosity. 

Observation:

Your husband will be damn bored and will beg you to offer some work. Give him Laundry job 

Result:

Your husband will help you in Laundry. 

Experiment 4

One-One Help Experiment:

Purpose:

To make your husband help in Laundry. 

Additional Information:

Dont invite Male friends. It will result in adverse effect. 

Required Items:

1. Your husband's Girl Friend.
2. You
3. Your Husband
4. Dinner Party

Step-By-Step Procedure.

1. Invite your Husband office Colleague or his girl friend for a dinner party. 
2. Please note: The office colleague has to be your best buddy as well. 
3. Praise your husband that he helps in laundry in front of her.
4. Your friend in turn,should praise your husband.

Figures & Illustrations

Note:

In turn, you should go to her home and do the same experiment, so that her husband helps in laundry. After all its Mutual understanding. 

Observation:

To impress his girl friend, your husband will help out in Laundry

Result:

Your husband will help you in Laundry. 

Experiment 5:

This or That Experiment:

Purpose:

To make your husband help in Laundry. 

Additional Information:

It is very risky. 

Required Items:

1. Your husband
2. You
3. Your son
4. Duplicate mark sheet. 

Step-By-Step Procedure.

1. Prepare a Duplicate mark sheet of your son/daughter with Zero marks in all subjects.
2. Your husband will shout at you for not teaching the child.
3. Tell him that you don't find time to teach your child, since you are busy with laundry job.
4. Now, give him an option, Teach kid or Lanundry job.
5. If he choose Laundry job, then fine the experiment ended smoothly.
6. If he choose to teach kid, then offer him the toughest subject like Maths or General knowledge. He must be weak in at-least one subject. 
7. Find that and offer him the subject. Your hubby will feel, laundry job is easy and will jump to laundry job. 

Figures & Illustrations:

Note:

Make sure he does not take the Progress report and go to school to meet Head master. 

You can see your hubby washing all the time, just to escape from kids question and teaching. 

Result:

Your husband will help you in Laundry. 

“I am writing for #IsLaundryOnlyAWomansJob activity at BlogAdda.com in association with Ariel.”

I am a Pizza Face! An ADULT with ACNE! - A guest post by Vijayeswari Muruganandam

This is a guest post by Vijayeswari Muruganandam

I am a Pizza Face! An ADULT with ACNE!

ACNE VULGARIS - the name sounds UGLY! Isn't it?? So does the effects of acne on adolescents and sometimes on adults, both physically and psychologically!

Acne Vulgaris, commonly called as acne/pimples is not just Skin Deep, its much beyond that! I am a victim of it in my late 20s, thought of sharing my personal experiences on this blog.

The very fact of Acne in most cases starts with the puberty, that's when the adolescents try to build/shape up their personalities. It adds to the feelings of body image, self-esteem and other emotional issues. The raging hormones cause lot of anxiety about the physical appearances, attractions, etc. and the peer acceptance/status is important at that crucial stage.

Everyone wants to look perfect! Most of us have complained about every feature in our body, a crooked nose, an uneven smile, or dull eyes, a drooping shoulder or anything. We don't have tolerance for any imperfections in our body!

The victims, so like me, spend most of the time in front of the mirror or in the bathroom, trying to cover it up and it becomes so obvious in our day to day activities, the so-called affective display. The affective display in psychological terms, is the subject's externally displayed affect.

Acne just don't cause a dent in your face or body, but on your self-esteem, if not treated properly. By treatment, I just don't mean to say, clinical treatment, but a way out to build up self-esteem. It's not just cosmetic!

Here are the little things, that I have come across, while I was a victim of acne. This is more of a Mind-Skin connection.

1. Body Dysmorphic Disorder: 

A disfiguring acne could lead to the dissatisfaction with appearance, i.e. having a poor body image. You start believing in unreal imperfections and the preoccupation or even obsessed with the imperfections. The victim becomes self-consciousness, and lacks self-confidence and spends hours thinking about a real or perceived flaw causing embarrassment. It causes social dysfunction, including concerns about interactions with the opposite gender, appearances in public, interacting with strangers. It infuses negative thinking patterns, may even have thoughts of suicide or make a suicide attempt. My case was never that worse!!

2. Embarrassment:
Every other social meet/party/family function makes you feel low, with the acne all over your face and mind! Irritating myths about acne like poor hygiene or sex hormones causing acne embarrasses you to the core and you really feel like avoiding conversations or interactions with relatives or friends. I have experienced social anxiety and general avoidance of activities that bring attention to my condition. For God sake, acne has no concrete reason and a multifactorial issue.

3.Feelings of Unworthiness:
Resisting social pressure is difficult for teenagers, for anyone! How much ever the victims try to pose a strong image, a feeling of unworthiness prevails within them. Mood disturbances, breakout, lack of peer status, cause depression.  These behavioral problems take a toll on the career, relationships etc.

4. Emotional Stress:
Having your face scrutinized by others is the most stressful thing in the world. You just feel that you are on a display. Unlike other dermatologic diseases that can be covered by clothing, acne is mostly visible and causing enough trauma and stress. Emotional Stress and Acne is a causality dilemma, like a chicken and egg problem. Emotional Stress is an effect of Acne, wherein its also a cause for acne!

5. Advice:


You probably heard all sorts of advice about why you developed acne and how to deal with it.

“You eat too much of a junk!” 

“You don’t wash your face enough!”

 “Drink lots of water!”

"Get a tan"... 

Huh..

Enough is said.. You get to see, everyone on the road coming up with a diet plan for you, a beauty product for you...You would not believe that my cupboard was filled with turmeric powder to astringents, which were forcibly bought under compulsion or influence of friends.

And friends, now its my advice time. I have been through all the drama and trauma and now nothing could break me! Here is what I followed,

• Get More Sleep
• Drink More Water
• Hang out with friends, Get some air
• Go with light or no makeup at home
• Watch your diet
• Get on the dance floor or hit the gym to fight out stress
• Fall in Love

Above all the most effective method for Pimple Free skin:

• Use Garnier Neem Face Wash twice a day for a long term solution to all the skin problem and to get clear and Pure Skin. 

My Grandma always say Neem contains anti bacterial properties. Garnier Neem Face contains Neem Leaf Extract and Tea-Tree Oil which helps in oil control and remove the the Pimples marks as well. Its contains soap-free formula and hence it is gentle on skin. Once you use Garnier Neem Face Wash, acne say bye to your skin and you get addicted to it!!!

More than all, say out loud "Yes, I am an adult with acne and I know to deal with it". It really works! And go SELFIE!!

This post is written as a part of Garnier Pure Active Neem contest organized by Indiblogger.

Thank you Vijayeswari Muruganandam for the Guest post. 

Things that define me

Things that define me

In Schools, a student who is good at academics will be nominated as Class Leader.

But a student who is good at academic and possess a set of excellence in the extra curricular activities like Drama, Dance, music, sports will be nominated as School people leader. They always look confident and admired by others. This is a proof that a person who is multi-talented only excels.

Gone are the days where parents felt "MARKS" are the integral part of life. To survive in this world, a person has to be multi-talented. The increasing summer classes such as swimming, tennis, dance class, computer and increasing badminton, chess clubs, are the proof towards it. We are living in a world, where everything has become competitive.

A Cricket player can't be successful only if he is good at bating. He should be good at bowling too at-least to some extend. We are living in such a competitive world, and in order to survive we should know the basic of everything.

"Don't be dependent on others. Learn as much as skills you can to be independent and successful." 

That's the secret mantra to succeed in this era.

Yes, I always believe the important thing in a game is not winning, but at-least taking part. I am a software professional, but I don't wish to settle with that label/tag alone. That's why I step into every aspect of life.

I am a Blogger, Author, Trekker, Athlet, Dancer, Director/cinematographer, Basketball player, Badminton Player, chef.

Blogger:
I started blogging in 2009 and definitely my sister's son Sanju is the inspiration for writing an article and here is the first article.

Author:
Like most actress say “it’s was an accident” for me to become an author. I posted an article, “Life is to live” on my blog  to which received good response. Based on the same theme, I wrote a short story and published chapter wise every week on my blog. My Reader’s motivation made it convert to a novel. Now working on the second novel.

Trekker:
On a weekend, you can find me either in a rain-forest or on an expedition to outskirts. The passion towards Trekking made me to start a trekking club Bangalore Hikers a non-profit trekking organization.

Director/cinematographer:
I have created book Trailer for my novel Touch of Mist and "Dad my role Model" Video for Gillette's My Role Model contest organized by BlogAdda  and won the first prize. 

Below video is taken as a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus.

Chef:
Though very women has an inbound talent for cooking, I love to watch you-tube and explore Various cuisines. The real happiness lies in cooking for he person whom you love.

Dancer:
I enjoy a lot while dancing. Recently I have choreographed for a dance competition(ICATS) at my office. Also, I performed a dance in front of school kids for Fungama event organized by Empowering Social impact(ESI).

Marathon Runner:
I participate in all the Marathon that takes place in Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore and Salem. I not only participate, I encourage all my friends and family members to take part in Marathon and create awareness for the fitness. Few of my certificates.

The above things are very important to me and yes, if tomorrow, I come across any music. I will just grab and explore it.

Every individual has to be passionate about something to keep their life going.

Being multi-talented makes us more active. Research has also proved that chasing your passion will keep you live and boosts metabolism. It reduces your stress level and never let go down.

Chase Your Passion!!!You will love and enjoy the journey while chasing the dream. After all, Just Earning money and counting days is not life. It will change your life for sure.

I always wanted to taste all the flavors of my life. After all, towards the end of the life, we will be always proud for the path we traveled rather than the places we unexplored.

“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.

THEME
Every woman has some things that she is passionate about, things that make her who she is. Tell us about the things that are important to you, the multitude of things that make you who you are, because you can’t be limited by one label.

Very inspiring blog award

14 January, 2015 is a fansatic day in my life. I got an appreaction from my onshore manager for a presentation and I was nominted for a very inspiring blog award by UK.

As a part of this Award rules, I need to state 7 things about myself and below are my answers:

1. I enjoy long walks in Nature and love to explore more places.
2. I am the co-founder of  Bangalore Hikers - A non-profit volunteer trekking club. 
3. I have published a Novel Touch of Mist - a glitzy, hi-tech romantic love story
4. Sports makes me crazy
5. I watch dance programs on TV and go weird on seeing it. I put my music on and go in my own world.
6. If I like a person, I will do wonders to them. 
7. I had not discovered my passion yet

Now, its time for me to Nominate 15 blogger for Very inspiring Blogger Award. Here are my nominations. 

1. Nachi D
2. Destination Infinity
3. Salman Ravoof
4. Vaishnavie Krishnasamy
5. Biswa Prakash
6. Narasimha Sharma Veturi
7. Indrani Ghose
8. Akash Govindarajan
9. Vivek Rastogi
10. Malathy Badri
11. Sammya Brata
12. ANOOP YADAV
13. Ramaswamy V Krishnamurti
14. Sripadi Sravankumar
15. Sathya Narayanan

My best wishes to the nominees..

Relocating Tips and Suggestions

Relocating Tips and Suggestions

"Hi dear. Anything urgent? Right now, I am in a meeting. Can I call you after sometime?"
“Yeah sure, call me when you are free”
I called her back that evening. “Tell me Abi. How are things?”
“Things are going usual. I have good news for you, but unfortunately that’s a very bad news for me” she replied with fuming tone.
“Is it? What’s that?”
“My husband is getting transferred to Bangalore.”
“Wow. That’s good news. And, why it’s a bad news for you. Don’t want to meet and stay with me?”  Now, I was fuming.
“Come-on yaar. I don’t know anyone other than you in Bangalore. Shifting my family completely to Bangalore is very huge task. I need to search a good play school for my son. My daughter is very much interested in Dance. Have to look a good dance class for her and need to find a house for Rent. Most important I need to find a job in Bangalore” She took a deep breath.
I could not control myself. She took another deep breath and continued, “More than all packing all the electronic items and moving to Bangalore is another hectic. Packing and again un-packing all the items is very stressful. I recently bought a Fridge; I am worried about the scratches while shifting."
“Have you not seen the latest ad in TV? You can do anything online these days."
“What?”

“Sell the electronic items through Quikr, come Bangalore then buy back through Quikr.It also has Education & Learning category where you can find the suitable Dance class for you daughter and Creche for your son”
“It’s not possible da. I need this to move in just 10 days. Time is very less.“
“You have a solution for it. Post a premium ad in Quikr.It makes your ad more visible and reaches more customers. The cost is cheap too"
“Since I need to relocate, I have disconnected my Internet connection at home. I can’t access emails for the next few weeks”
“Do you have mobile and do you have data pack in that?”
"Of course yes."
“Then download Quikr app in your mobile and keep trading and hunting. I had an old laptop that was giving some troublesome. I wanted to sell the laptop and buy a new one. I posted an ad, with the issues I am facing in the laptop. A Technician called me next day and purchased it immediately for a decent price.”
"Hey, I am very bad at estimating the prices for my products. I am worried that I may end up selling my items for less price"
"Chill darling. You have MSP Calculator, ie Maximum Selling Price. By using various data it calculates you the reasonable resale price"
"Wow. Amazing. and is it trust-able?"

“It’s one of the emerging and best classifieds sites for buying and selling products that I have seen recently. It gets almost 24 million visitors per month and its running successfully in more than 65 major cities. It’s has a lot of filtering options, and hence makes your search very simple. In fact, you can get instant alerts about the product sale. Recently Quikr has launched "Quikr Nxt" Messenger. With that app, you can connect with the buyers and sellers by opting your number as private. Chat History, Image sharing of products and much more options are available"
"That sounds interesting."

"I will cut the burden for you. I am in front of computer right now. Tell me your requirements for renting a house."
"I need 2BHK, fully furnished. Area you need to suggest"
"I will select Devanagundi, since its near to your husband’s office. Here it goes, you have 250 options. Will mail you the details. Have a look. Even if you had not find the suitable option, you can post a free ad about your requirement."

"Very cool. With the help of Quikr, I think I can re-locate to all the places in India with stress free." she said relaxing.

"Yes, at present Quikr offers in 8 languages English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Gujarati. Even you have a category for matrimonial. You can sell your husband in Chennai and get a new one in Bangalore"
"Stop joking. Take care dear. Waiting to see you. Love you"
"Same here. Love you too. Will send you the Premium Ad cost screen shot through Whats app. Have a look"

Quikr Premium Ads cost

Re-locating to Bangalore? Here are the top 10 reasons for me to recommend Quikr:

1. Its the most popular online classifieds with more than 13 categories and 170 sub-categories including jobs, Car & Bikes, Mobiles, Electroincs, Real-Estates and so on.
2. MSP Calculator - Helps to calculates reasonable resale price or the purchase price
3. With Quikr nxt, the privacy is not affected. You can opt your mobile number to be private and still chat with the customers.
4. Missed call facility - If you dont have an internet, by just giving missed call, they post the ad for you. 
5. Three types of premium Ad option to choose Top Of Page, Top+Urgent and Urgent.
6. Option to Renew the premium ad
7. Available in many languages. 
8. Best Re-sale price for your products and Lots of products to choose from
9. Saved chat history for your future use.
10. Website is user friendly. Can Share and view the photos of products easily

This post is written as a part of It's just Quikr in Bangalore! Happy Hours contest organized by Indiblogger.

Quikr -  "Sell anything Quikrrrrrrrrr"

Happy buying and selling. 

Quikr Facebook    Quikr Twitter    Quikr Youtube  Quikr Google Plus

Follow your Heart

Follow your Heart 

The above video is taken as a part of organized #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.

"One Matcha Lattea and for you?"
"Hot Choco Latte," Rohan replied.
The waiter took our order and left the place. My face was brighter than usual and he was puzzled.
"Tell me, you said you wanna discuss something important?"
"Yesssssssss Rohan," But he interrupted. "Heyyyy, between that we received the joining date from Intel. They want us to join next month". His eyes scanned the file which was lying on the table.

Rohan - We knew each other since childhood. Both our parents were good friends and so we are. We studied together for XII board exams, prepared together for IIT JEE entrance, and joined B.Tech Computer Science in Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Things went well, because we possessed a similar set of interest.
As soon as I joined B.Tech, I found Engineering is not my cup of tea. Rohan topped in academics, where as I scored pretty decent score. I was the R.J for my college. All staffs, students appreciated that my voice was mesmerizing and it has the capacity to hold the audience spellbound. Soon I realized Anchoring was my passion.

Three months before, we faced the most integral part of every college student’s life- “College Placement”. Intel came to our college for campus recruitment. I had no interest to attend the interview, but on Rohan’s request, I attended. We both got placed in Intel at a whopping annual salary of 14 lakh. In-spite of my academic score, Intel gave me an offer, because of my extra-curricular profile. The very next day Rohan proposed and after a week of show off I accepted his love.

~~

"What the heck," he screamed as soon as he saw the call letter from Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media. He continued, "I thought you are joking about your interest towards Anchoring. I never believed you will apply for post graduate Diploma in Media & Mass Communication"
"Rohan as I said Anchoring is my passion. I love it whenever I do" I replied him returning to the present.
"Following your passion is a bullshit decision. Dropping high-profiled salary job and going behind a profession which pays you roughly 12,000 per month would result in disastrous"
“Money is not everything. If Barkha Dutt, Menaka Doshi and Cyrus Broacha had thought the same then there won’t be any good anchors existing today."
"Okay, leave about money. I don’t like to say my wife is working in television"
"Are you so conservative...?
Our arguments went into heat and luckily it was stopped by the waiter who served us the cold coffee. I took a sip and continued, "Rohan those computers, coding, debugging are not my area of interest. I would just live an ordinary life. Every month end, I would be getting a big digit salary. But, I won’t be living a meaningful life. I love doing research on the social issues, politics and economic concerns and collecting anecdotes. It will keep me lively."
"I agree you have the qualities of Anchor. Observant, Creative, good looking and good sense of timing. But talent alone is not enough to succeed in this field. You need to be thick-skinned, should have good contacts in the industry and…and"
I stopped him before he says something nonsense, "Rohan, Our heart is like a magnetic compass. Once you listen and follow, it will take you to the heights. In an interview, the journalist asked A.R. Rahman how he feels about Oscar Awards. He said, he never works for money or awards. His love for music always motivates him to work harder. And that fetches him award. It’s very important for everyone to not get bored with the work we do”

Image Source - http://www.123rf.com/

Image Source - http://www.123rf.com/

He gave an expression of groan and warned, “What if I say in that case you will end up missing me?”

I was silent. He continued, "Follow your heart, chase your passion can be good to read and watch in movies. But for practical life, its not going to work out. I too have lots of dreams about my Future. Onsite travel, luxurious lifestyle... Anyways… you still have 5 days’ time to accept the Intel offer. If you don’t accept that offer, I think I need to reconsider our relationship"
I heard his footsteps go to the end of the exit and a door open and close sound.
Days passed. . .
I joined Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media to pursue my dreams. And Rohan?. .
Hmm..No contact after that. Heard he went to Australia for a long term assignment.

Image Source - dreamstime.com

Once in our lifetime, we are in a position to make a choice. We need to compromise one thing or the other. When you are confused to choose the path, it’s always better to follow your heart. Because in the future you will not have regrets. And when you fix your eyes on the goal and follow your hearts, no one can stop them from reaching the zenith.

“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.

Theme:
Journey from ‘OR’ to ‘AND’
Your story of how you took charge of life and made a choice, not a compromise. When you refused to choose one thing OR the other, and instead followed your heart.

Valentine's day Special with Baggout

Valentine's day Special with Baggout

Due to our busy Schedule, office deadlines, work pressure we tend to forget to express our love. That's the reason Saint Valentinus has dedicated a special day to express our unconditional love to our loved ones. Valentine’s Day itself is a special day when we are with our loved ones. When Planned properly, that's would be the best day of the year.

Procrastination and Plans at the last minute always results in the messiness and that's the reason, I wanted to plan well in advance before a month, so that everything goes very smooth. I don't believe in those emotionless cards, costly bouquet, cakes and gifts. This gives just a temporary happiness.

I feel a candle light dinner, long walks on the beach are out-dated too. I wanted to surprise my loved one in a very special way, which he can remember for life long. I know Paris is the most sexiest and romantic city in the world. But taking my love to Paris in just short span is impossible. Tourist Visa, Passport in just one month of time is difficult. When I was walking with these thoughts,
Suddenly I stepped into Aladdin Lamp. I heard a lot about this in movies and stories and hence wanted to test it. So, I simply rubbed it and the Sorcerer appeared the next moment grating for a magical wish.

Real happiness lies in living for others and hence I requested him to take to take me and my life partner to Paris the most beautiful amalgam of Europe country. The next moment, we are in the City Of Lights - Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower - The Signature of Europe.

I covered his eye and took him to the 5th level and made him to enjoy the panoramic view of the city.
We enjoyed the point knife, pont Alexandre III bridges, glorious Russian Cathedral and the Boulevards urban landscape, Since we traveled  a lot we were feeling damn hungry and we had a lot of cuisine option. After a mouth-watering breakfast, we enjoyed the sidewalk at Paris Cafe.

He loves adventurous hence I took him to the most adventurous Disneyland Paris. We had a fun fulfilled time over there and in the Evening the Sorcerer took us to the  most famous monuments and buildings of Paris. I heard that at night visiting the Montparnasse Tower-the tallest skyscrapers in Paris and witnessing its dazzling beauty was a perfect eye catching one. So, after our day at Disney land, we went to the Montparnasse Tower, which was a 210 meter skyscraper. We went to the 56th floor and enjoyed the outstanding monuments of  Paris.

The car sound disturbed and I was back to the reality. Jan 3rd, still 1 more month to go for valentine. I realized it was a dream. Dreamed a while and then I felt, being with him for a day would be the best gift for our loved ones. After all, spending time with our loved ones is always special.

“Being with him made me want to make my own dreams, discover my own path. I was my best self when I was with him.” 

― Heather Anastasiu, Glitch

This post has been written for Baggouts' Blogging contest on Valentine's day. Baggout provides awesome deals on Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal, Amazon, Ebay and 100+ other online stores.

This above post is purely Fictional. 

Makalidurga Trekking with Bangalore Hikers

 Trekking to Makalidurga with Bangalore Hikers/New Year Celebration 2015 

Diwali is known for the Festival of Lights.
Holi is known for the Festival of colors.
Pongal is known for the Festival of Harvest.
And if you say, New-year is for the Festival of Resolutions then I am sorry you are in Retro’s. New Year is the festival of Drinks (not Nandini Milk), DJ and Night Party.
Ahan…Don’t give an atrocious look. That’s what people in metro say. And for people like me who don’t like to go to parties and drinks they suggested an extraordinary option. I.e. Sit at home and sleep.

Sarcastic!!!

Then there came an Email from Bangalore Hikers– “New Year Celebration - Night Trek to Makalidurga." Let’s welcome the rising sun of the New year from the Hill top."It sounded very exhilarating and I registered the next moment!!! 

ROFL. If you think so, then the answer is "No". My Laziness encouraged me to register later. (Filling that Membership ID seemed to be a huge task). My amnesia did an exceptional job and I remembered about the event only when I received the follow up e-mail "Thanks to the overwhelming response. Registration is closed"

Awful!!

After a few days, I checked whether any dropouts are there and my luck, there was and I am in for the Trek!!!
But there came another twist. The train was at 5.45P.M from Majestic. Getting leave or permission to leave early from office was impossible, but somehow I managed to get permission at 4.30 and planned to catch a train from Yelahanka. My team mate booked a cab and it was on time. There was less traffic and I reached Yelahanka Railway station at 4.45 and my train was at 6.20. Even the hikers boarding the 5.45 train from Majestic might have not reached. It was a very dry area with only countable people at the railway station and was damn boring to sit alone.
Then there came a bunch of guys with loads of luggage. They saw their train number in the display. The platform number was not displayed yet. But their eyes glued the symbol “A” which was meant for Arrival/Departure and a guy (seems he was the leader) said, Platform “A” and he guided others. This is the platform “A”, and this is platform “B”. Our Train will halt here and waited over there.

WTH?!

After many such funny incidents, I got a call from Santosh to buy Cool drinks. I was double excited since going out of the railway station and buying it would be a good time pass. I went to the shop and saw a big queue. Everybody was busy in buying the cake and it took so much time to enter the shop and get the shopkeepers attention. It was 6.10 and I was nervous whether I might miss the train.

“Anna, Anna, please fast Anna, Train Train, I miss Anna” after repeated begging, he gave finally and it was 3 bottles altogether 7.5 liters. I felt like lifting a barbell and hard to take it back to Railway station.

The train arrived and Santosh waved his hand to get in. As soon I got in, there were ‘guess-who-I-am' games. I terribly failed. Pulling off each other’s leg started rapidly and in a fraction of second everybody got comfortable. But I got close only with 2 hikers. One is with Sumithra, since she had DSLR camera :P and the other one. . . Who carries the CAKE!!! We wanted to ban Santosh for forgetting his Torch, but somehow we forgave him.

As soon as we got down in the station, one hiker went missing. Later we found that, he went to take selfie with the Makaliduraga station board. Later, we went to Tea shop and had tea in a very big cup and waited for Shree, who missed his train just by 30 seconds. He saw the train taking off slowly and tried to catch the train like the Bollywood hero’s. But the people stopped him, thinking that he is going to kill himself by jumping into a train. After purchasing Maggi, water bottle, we kicked off our journey.

Big Tea Cup

Some adventurous hiker suggested doing railway trekking, but we dropped the plan since it was dark and would be risky. But trust me, that highway road seemed to be risky. Since it was a New Year eve, People were drunk and driving crazy and making noise. Imagine 5 guys came in a single bike to buy a cake. 

We maintained pin-drop silence while crossing the Village thinking the villagers may stop us from doing a night trek, but the dogs barked and revealed us. 8.45 PM we started from the base and reached the top by 10.15. The trail was straight forward and we were able to find the route easily even in that dark. The mountain was full of dried Cymbopogon and it was swaying rhythmically to the tune of wind breeze. I felt it was better than the music played in DJ. It was a pretty difficult trek with huge steps. I was a bit disappointed because when I surfed about Makalidurage it was mentioned it’s a granite hillock. But I could not find a Single Granite stone. I met Bhavisha and heard of lot interesting information from her. She explained about the 30 day Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) offered in Nehru Institute Of​​ Mountaineering and the places she explored till date. 

Sharp at 12.00 we cut the Death By chocolate cake, Death by Vanilla Coke(The Name we gave to Vanilla cake) on top of the temple and welcomed New year with full of positive energy. After Dance and Chitchats Surya suggested to play Mafia, but on hearing the description of the game we all felt our head spinning and dropped the idea. Later it was followed by Antakshari and we slept in the temple.

Camp Fire @ Makalidurga

Open Karnam Style

No Comments :P 

Tea Preparation 

Next day, when I woke up, tea was ready. Everybody was busy clicking themselves and Ram got busy in washing the Tea utensils. We got a shortfall of water and hence used Coke to wash it. Abbbaa, The stain, rust, tarnishes got removed and it shined like a sun. “Let’s welcome the rising sun of the New year from the hill top”. I did not see any sun rising as it was cloudy. May be the organizer must have mentioned this Shining utensil!!!
We started descending down and in 30 minutes; we reached the base and halted to take a group picture.

After the Groupie :P 

We heard the sound of trains whistling off in the distance while trying to take groupie (Let me assume, if picture of yourself is Selfie, then the picture of the Group is Groupie). Still, we all were engrossed in Gropie and Santosh placed his costly camera on the Railway track and set the self-timer with the delay of 10 seconds. By the time, the 2nd Sense Vision detected the arrival of Train, our sixth sense did not click to get off of the track. The Train was getting closer, the countdown of the camera began, 3, 2 ,1 Click we all rushed out of track to save our life. But Santosh rushed to protect his camera. We waited for the bus grinding all the snacks and departed.
This trek was an excellent one to kick off the New year. 

"The best thing in life are the people who love, The places you've seen and the memories you've made along the way" 

Thank you each one of you for making this event a memorable one

Place: MaKalidurga, Karnataka
No. of hikers: 19
Event Organizer: Santosh Kumar
Trip Expense : 200 Per person

To Explore more places in India Join Bangalore Hikers

What is Bangalore Hikers? are a club that travels to mountainous regions of the India for trekking, hiking, photography and nature exploring at all levels of ability. We run day trips, weekends away and longer holiday trips. We are an online social platform, we are the all non-profit, all volunteer-managed and run hiking and outdoors association based in Bangalore, Karnataka.

Touch of Mist book review by Nitesh Jain

Touch of Mist Author: Deepika Muthusamy A story that slowly but surely enters the readers heart and eventually stirs the soul. A must read for people who are juggling between love, desires and commitment. Binding: Paperback ISBN: 9788182534407 Publisher: Cyberwit.net Pub. Date: 2013 Price: INR 225 Visit Publisher's Site Overall rattings: 4.5 |

The plot

Here comes a refreshing story of Gautham and Reena, working in Bangalore, who fall in love and then traverse a journey that is no longer the proverbial bed of roses. After convincing their parents for marriage they unite and begin to savour the marital bliss but what comes their way almost ‘tears’ their life apart. Misunderstanding, ego-clashes, possessiveness, take-for-grant attitude take the driver’s seat and one by one clip the wings of the love birds. While Reena feels that there is no hope left in her life and almost decides to end it, Gautham on the other hand, tries to move on by pursuing a higher degree abroad. Comes Kishore, the couple’s colleague, who not only acts as a peace maker but succeeds to preach the couple the real meaning of Love, Life and Sacrifice.

Highs and Lows

The author wins brownie points for introducing a ‘sweet intervention’ of Adam and Eve in between the narrative. The insights provided by the duo bring smiles on the reader’s face each time they enter the scene. The social initiative taken by Reena to combat suicide is another high point of the story. The reader might as well wish for such an initiative to materialize in real world. It is rather quite difficult to point out any lows in the story, however certain situations in the plot seem unintentionally funny which eventually succeeds in adding the required flavor to the entire proceedings.

Plot: 4.6 | 

Creativity: 4.5 |

Overall Rating: 4.5 | 

Language and Style: 4.4 |  

Verdict
A deliciously baked story of love, marriage and reunion told from the heart. Touch of Mist, debut novel by Depika Muthusamy manages not only to touch the readers heart but pledges to enter and stay there forever.

New year Resolution with Micromax Canvas Tab P666

New year Resolution with Micromax Canvas Tab P666

New year is know for Resolutions.
I am an avid Trekker and my Year resolution for the year 2015 is to do more trekking and explore more places. But I do face lot of challenges when I go for a 3-4 day trekking in dense rain forest or in any mountains.
The First and foremost problem that every trekker face would be the battery problem. It drains out so easily. We struggle to contact our co-trekkers in case they get lost and also call our family at least once in a day to inform that we are safe.

Second, its impossible to find the correct Trail and reach the top of the mountain. But I was so excited to know about the launch of Micromax Canvas Tab P666 recently. No doubt its going to be the best buddy for all the avid trekkers. Below are the top 6 reasons for me to choose Micromax Canvas Tab P666 and its gonna help me in fulfilling my new year resolution 2015.  

1. Take More photos and upload in Face book and Share in Whatsapp.
2. Easily track GPS location 
3. Read more books during my travel
4. Blog More and Participate in Indiblogger Contest. 
5. Battery Backup 
6. Capture More Videos

Take More photos and upload in Face book and Share in Whatsapp.

When I go for a trekking, I tend to meet many new people and the eclectic hills and bewitching beauty of the nature tempts me to take more photos and Selfies. Micromax Canvas Tab P666 comes with 1 GB RAM and it will be helpful in capturing lots and lots of photos and upload it in facebook then and there. Another interesting feature it comes with 800x1280 pixels resolution. Do photo freaks like me need any other reason to grab the Micromax Canvas Tab P666 launch? It also comes with 2MP Front Camera, so I am going to get the selfie with excellent clarity and can share in whats app immediately to all my friends.. 

Battery Backup /Easily track GPS location 

I use GPS to locate the location exactly and for that a good battery back up tab is needed. I was so excited on hearing the Micromax Canvas Tab P666 is with 4400mAh battery. Unbelievable!!! Which means 325 hours of stand by time and 6 hours of browsing time. In those 6 hours I can easily trek 2 mountains with the help of GPS :) It has Prioritized contact list and hence I can call my fellow co-trekker as soon as I get lost. Imagine yourself, getting lost in the middle of forest and you open up the phone to call your friend for help then you realize you need to scroll 100 contacts before you find your friend. Thanks Micromax for the Prioritized contact list option.

Read more books during my travel

One thing, I miss during trekking is books and blogging. Since it has 8 GB ROM and its also Expandable up to 32GB, I can preserve all the Ebook in Micromax Canvas Tab P666 and read it whenever I want to. Hooray, I can read while hiking, Eating, halting and when the whole world sleeps. I can read connecting to nature by sitting on top the mountain and accompanying the sun rise. 

I can even watch 127 hours movie while hiking to Blue John Canyon :P 

Blog More and Participate in Indiblogger Contest.
When ever I go for long trekking say a duration of 10 days, I miss the deadlines of all the Indiblogger contest. If Micromax Canvas Tab P666 was with me, I can blog my experience then and there. Before I go to bed I can post about the day experience and infact participate in all the Indiblogger Contest.

Capture More Videos:

Though Photos bring back the memories, nothing can replace a Video memory. In trekking, we do l lot of dance, chit-chats and much more. All the nature can be best captured in Videos. At the end of the Trekking, we make a beautiful video with all the photo and vidoes. Since Micromax Canvas Tab P666 comes with 1080p HD video recording and playback I love to opt for it.

Every year I make new year resolutions and break it in few days due to lack of motivation or encouragement. But Thanks to Micromax Canvas Tab P666 for its excellent features, its is sure going to motivate me to achieve my new year goals of Trekking as well as writing more books.

Want to Know more about Micromax Canvas Tab P666. Please click here to watch the Embedded Video. 

This post is written as a part of Micromax Canvas Tab P666 with Intel Inside™ contest organized by Indiblogger

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