How To Throw The Perfect Oscar Party

Roll out your own Red Carpet and invite your friends to a night to remember at your classy Oscar Party. Renowned for its glitz and glamour the Oscars bring out the latest fashions and party trends for A-list guests, so why not give your crowd a magical evening that gives them the opportunity to wear their finery, eat, drink and be merry in a manner befitting celebrities and film stars.

How to throw the perfect Oscars party infographic by The Rug Seller

This fun infogrpahic offers hints and tips on how to achieve your party's success that deserves its own Oscar! Starting with the invitations, which should reflect the occasion, get your guests in the Oscar mood with a taste of what your sophisticated evening will be like.

We've also included some suggestions for activities and fun games that will ensure your party is the glitziest and most glamorous in town without being starchy and boring; after all who wants to be a party-pooper or wall-flower when dressed to impress at the most sort after night on the social calendar!

A night for social glamour and grandeur, take a look at the recommended drinks selection we've included in the piece below, this is a night for champagne bubbles, and film star themed cocktails, not pints and cider! Be inspired by the Oscar and host a party that all your friends will want to be invited to this year.

P.S : This article is a guest post by Louiss Dixon 

7 Places in India Best Visited in Spring

India is a vast country and it enjoys a varied climate. Here the summers are hot, winters are cold and the monsoon wet. That leaves us with spring which is an exceedingly pleasing, enjoyable and vivacious season. Nature is reborn after a cold winter lull. It is the best time of the year for people to go around places in India.

Hundreds of beautiful and spellbinding cities and towns are at your disposal to visit and enjoy here. Among them 7 places can be listed as being best visited in spring.

1. Gangtok

Photo by Giridhar Appaji Nag Y, CC BY 2.0

Situated in North East India Gangtok the capital of Sikkim has a fascinating landscape and is home to the highest mountain peak Kanchenjunga. High altitude meadows, pristine white glaciers, steep valleys and path leading to the hilltops are really mesmerizing to the eye. In spring, many kinds of wildflowers that grow here come to bloom. As you are on your way to the Buddhist monasteries this scene is really a treat to watch. The cool winds of spring bring thousands of visitors to Gangtok and it is a place best visited in spring.

2. Kullu-Manali

Photo by ASIM CHAUDHURI, CC BY 2.0

Himachal Pradesh, positioned at the foothills of the Himalayas, has a stunning scenery. Of particular mention is Kullu-Manali, the hill station set in this small hilly state. The apple and plum orchards are in full bloom and pose a real attraction. It is a delight to watch them come to bloom and enjoy the sweet fragrance emanating. Occasional snowfall may be a surprise for the honeymooners who prefer the twin towns to other places to start their marital life. The enthralling trekking destinations attract the adventure enthusiasts equally.

3. Darjeeling

Photo by Jamey Cassell, CC BY-SA 2.0

 Another place that needs mention in this list is Darjeeling. This town in West Bengal is the darling of the honeymooners. Placed among the hills of the Himalayas it draws people from across the globe all around the year. It is most captivating during spring owing to a variety of flowers blossoming during this season. Clear sky, pleasant weather conditions, enthralling view of the mountains, and the fragrance of the tea estates attract thousands of visitors to Darjeeling during this time. Never forget to taste the best cuppa of the best tea while at the mystically beautiful Darjeeling.

4. Valley of Flowers

Photo by Alosh Bennett, CC BY 2.0

Uttarakhand is a small hilly state located in the slopes of the Himalayas. This national park situated here has a variety of species of alpine flora. The hills come alive during the spring what with the flowers being in full bloom at this time of the year. This sight is spellbinding and fascinating and relieves you of all the stress. It is also home to some endangered species of animals like snow deer, musk deer, Asiatic Black Bear etc. The park presents a gripping sight in the rugged hilly wilderness to the visitor.

5. Tulip Garden, Gulmarg

Photo by Abdars, CC BY-SA 3.0

Visiting Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir during the spring season gives you a feel of a visit to Switzerland. Spread over 12 hectares the garden cradled among the gentle inclines of the Himalayas offers an absorbing view of the famous Dal Lake of Kashmir. The golf lovers can enjoy a stint of the game at the lush green golf course situated to the north of the garden. The parallel running rows of multi-coloured tulips in full bloom here presents an eye riveting scene for the beholder. Not only tulips but also the other hybrid flowers of multiple hues hold you in awe and you come back really spell-bound.

6. Coonoor

Photo by Jon Connell, CC BY 2.0

Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri in Tamil Nadu are towns that are best visited during spring. Temperatures in Tamil Nadu start soaring even during spring but these towns are comfortably cool during this time of the year. This is the ideal time to visit these hill stations that house several British era churches and other monumental buildings. The Sim’s Park that is home to a variety of flowers is in full bloom during spring. Other places of interest near here are Lambs Rock, Dolphin’s Nose Viewpoint, Catherine Falls and of course the tea estates.

7. Thekkady

Photo by Kerala Tourism, CC BY-SA 2.0

Kerala, the “God’s Own Country” is a gorgeous place and worth visiting at any time of the year. Especially during the spring, it has a pleasant to comfortable cool climate and attracts many tourists from all over. Thekkady, a small town in this state is home to evergreen trees. The verdant mango groves are in full bloom and exuberate a mild fragrance. This draws many a tourist to them. The animals also come out of their hiding places during this time offering a surprise view to the visitors.

Hope this guide is helpful for the tourists planning to go places during spring. And the spring in the coming years is sure to keep you engaged.

P.S

This article is a guest post by Rohit Agarwal. 

Author bio:

Go through the travel experiences jotted down by Rohit, a traveller and blogger, on TransIndiaTravels.com and know about the different places all over the world that are worth visiting and also the best time to visit them.

Beyond Boundaries with Author Mehek Bassi

This post is a part of “Beyond Boundaries” at BlogAdda.com in association with INK 2014.

As a part of Blogadda' Beyond Boundaries contest, I interacted with an Author, Blogger, Philanthropist, Relationship Adviser and Nail Artist "Mehek Bassi" who Lives in Ludhiana, Punjab, India.

1. How the world has changed with people getting to know different cultures from different countries?

World has undoubtedly changed a lot, as we all have majorly adopted western culture in our dressing. Now we are aware of our rights, we get inspired from movements taking place abroad, we get to know about the norms followed in different cultures, the right and the wrong things. We get to fight against injustice on a global level, which was a tough job earlier.

2. Share a historical perspective about how travellers like Vasco da Gama, Hieun Tsang used to explore new places and facilitated exchange of cultures and what is the present scenario.?

Travellers like Vasco da Gama or Hieun Tsang majorly focused on finances and improving trade and business. The scenario is pretty much the same today as mostly people move from one nation to another for jobs or setting up business. Exploration lead to improved financial conditions and flow of money, which lead to establishment of one global criteria on which we measure a country’s economy, what we call – US Dollar now. Presently, the world is connected via internet, and everyday business deals occur, e-commerce websites make millions of dollars each day by selling and buying products online. What happened manually earlier, is happening technically now. Better thing is, that we all are Vasco-da-Gamas’ of our generation! We all explore internet everyday and find something new worth sharing with the world…

3. Blog about examples of how people are collaborating with people from different places and building amazing products and services.

People around world are different and so is their demand. Thus, the supply has to be adequate in order to cater to the needs of millions. The Asian market is certainly different from the American one and so the American app developers need to contact someone from Asia in order to understand their requirements. Example – if an e-commerce website has to sell socks, it has to make larger sizes for American or African people, while they will be too-large for Asians considering the average foot size of the people there, so they need to reduce their sizes. This way, global collaboration is a necessity in order to set up a business in the global market!

4. How has technology and blogging helped people explore and meet new people beyond boundaries and learn new things in the process.

Technology lead to blogging and blogging helped us all have a glance into someone else’s house. We can call it a friendly glance, which helped us know about their culture, their festivals, their clothing, their food, and the things which were otherwise limited to a group of people. This way, we could learn a lot from each other. Example - Indian homeopathic and ayurvedic treatments and home remedies were unknown to entire world earlier, but now, anyone can surf YouTube and get to know about the free remedies available for different problems! It has revolutionized both medicine and commerce on a large scale.

5. How you blog and perception of blogging in your respective countries.

I have a website – www.mehek.in – on which I post short stories. Some fictional and some non-fictional. In my country, blogging is the most popular method to share your views about anything and everything. It’s like everyone owning a personal channel! College students are advised to upload the information about their live projects on their respective blogs. Blogging acted as a revolution, especially for students who not only shared information, but also rose against injustice a lot of times just by writing an article. That is the power of words!

Click here to View Mehek Bassi Blog.

This post is a part of “Beyond Boundaries” at BlogAdda.com in association with INK 2014.

Beyond Boundaries with Ashay Shah

This post is a part of “Beyond Boundaries” at BlogAdda.com in association with INK 2014.

As a part of BlogAdda's Beyond Boundaries Competition, I got an opportunity to collaborate with a Blogger Ashay who is residing Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh. 

How the world has changed with people getting to know different cultures from different countries.?

First of all, its the outlook of people that has changed after knowing different cultures. Matured minds have developed and they strive to get rid of racism from others. Traditional way of living of different cultures are exposed and people are getting more open towards else's culture. This has also led to people migration in seeking more business, tourism and ways to cross culture studies. Business is the one that has profited more in this, you name it and its earning at this very moment too. Say food, clothing, standard of living, film, electronics, support service, military techniques, advanced technology, fashion etc.
So this hasn't changed the world as world will be changed when you start practicing positive sayings of every culture so as to u and conserve nature irrespective of your profit, I can say cultural exchange has been beneficial. Sadly, it has lead to disease outbreaks and increase in mortality and cold war. When you start comparing cultures, we get gifts like - World War 1 & 2

Share a historical perspective about how travelers like Vasco da Gama, Hieun Tsang used to explore new places and facilitated exchange of cultures and what is the present scenario.?
Earlier explorations by travellers had travelled for only for 3 reasons - Trade, Slavery & Acquisition. Cultural exchange took place since then and also earlier time, however it didn't facilitate much as those were just a way to simplify living in a new place. E.g. - Persian king had to leave Persia and enter Gujarat through western border, for a very basic need of Man - Survival. The story is authentic and till date makes one thing clear that survival challenges can make you change the way you live and practice your own culture.

People are collaborating with people from different places and building amazing products and services.
Thats Business sector what we looking from cultural exchange. Its not wrong to make services available to other, but at what cost should also be thought. No Fort was built in day and no kingdom was conquered in an hour, hence earlier Kings used to put enormous efforts in understanding one's culture. Living example is Indian wherein Tuglaq's ruled Hindu lands and created a dynasty. It wasn't easy but trade was responsible for getting people understand each other. When ideas and thoughts are exchanged for betterment of mankind, that's the best gift of Cultural Exchange.

This post is a part of “Beyond Boundaries” at BlogAdda.com in association with INK 2014.

Beyond Boundaries With Dheepan

“No, as an artist, you have to be free to explore all the corners of your heart. There are no boundaries.” – Dierks Bentley

As a part of BlogAdda's Beyond Boundaries Competition, I got an opportunity to collaborate with a Blogger Dheepan who is residing at Boston, USA and pursuing his MBA at Babson college. 

Here is his answer when I asked him, "How the world has changed with people getting to know different cultures from different countries"

Blogger Answer : Because of culture awareness, People are able to progress fast in both professional and business aspects. Eg: Most multinational companies is able to launch products or services tailored to a particular market without much difficulty.

Question: Share a historical perspective about how travelers like Vasco da Gama, Hieun Tsang used to explore new places and facilitated exchange of cultures and what is the present scenario.

Blogger Answer : Those people must be compared to the scientists these days who are exploring other planets such as Mars for human occupancy. It's very similar. I wouldn't say those explorations have stopped. Man has always wanted to cross frontiers and he will continue to do so. 

Question: Blog about examples of how people are collaborating with people from different places and building amazing products and services.

Blogger Answer : People are able to do that because now there is a huge awareness of the success stories such as Apple and Microsoft . They want to replicate it .so they are going after this.

Question: How has technology and blogging helped people explore and meet new people beyond boundaries and learn new things in the process.

Blogger Answer :Technology such as Google Hangouts, Cisco Tele presence are able to facilitate collaboration across different customer segments.  Great ideas are born only through fusion of ideas and today's world is able to facilitate that better.

Thanks Dheepan for agreeing to the Interview. 

BRIDE and PREJUDICE!!

This is a guest post by Vijayeswari Muruganandam

This is the first time; I have tried my hands at writing. Bear with me!! Yes I am writing on something, which I don’t have a profound knowledge. But felt that, this could be tit-bits for all my friends, who are actively involved in their partner search!! As the title infers its about Marriage, Prejudices, DO's and DONT's.

Matrimony!! Reading this word itself would have flashed you with million feelings!! I am just two months old in matrimony search, so I am just sticking with a small post!!
This is purely based on my personal opinion and observation/experience. No Psychiatric evaluation done on this!!

The DON'T's...HERE YOU GO..
Don’t try to judge people and be open to know, what they are!! 
- Very often, when we tend to judge people on the looks, with their mail communication etc. Most of the cases do not work out, because there are high chances for miscommunication. Writing is a therapy and you can express yourself without any inhibition, but you can’t guarantee that the intended reader gets it right!! If you are interested in a person and want it to work out, just pick up the phone or arrange for a meeting and get to know each other better. If it is going to be long distance proposals, need to consider carefully, the associated risks, uncertainties and constraints.

Don’t have a Stereotype and Pseudo Modern Mentality!!
- Allow the other person to express their feelings or emotions freely. It is absolutely fine, as you are trying to find your soul mate and this is not any ordinary relationship. The more you have the stereotypic views about a person, the more you have the chances of ending up in a wrong partner!! EGO factor plays an important role here. When the other person expresses their interest, you may don’t have to reciprocate or encourage it, but respect their feelings. The human DNA is wired in a way, that it can’t accept things which come easily. Often I have heard/seen men showcasing the “HUNT & CONQUER” characteristics.  Men get the sense of achievement and a source of great pride, going on knees for a woman, who is hard to get. Believe me, 99% of the women do not express their true feelings, because of this nature of men. If you want any relationship to sustain, throw the EGO out of you.  Admire them, Ask sorry, Say thanks whenever required and just try to be yourself and if someone does all this for you, don’t take them for granted. It means they value “YOU” more than their “EGO”. If you let your EGO in, people try to hide their emotions and present a fake personality. Do you really want that??

Don’t try to customize people!!
- Perfect man/ woman do not exist in the world. Never try to influence them or customize people, as this may not lead to a long lasting relationship. Try the ones, who best suits you. If they are not your type, just move on. Instead don’t try to tailor them according your expectations.

Don’t juggle with too many options!!
- There is nothing wrong in looking out for more options, as the human brain looks out for the best. But I personally prefer, to go one by one. Give some time to consider every person and look out for the qualities you expect. If you come across a person, who meets almost or majority of your expectations, just fix with them.  Comparisons can never stop and at any point, human mind is insatiable.

Don’t Pester!!
- Nobody in the world wants to be pestered. Expressing your interest should not appear like a menace to your potential partner. Relationships may fall out because of this, no matter whether it is before or after marriage.Men usually do not seek attention, but women do!! So boys try to pay attention to your girl, admire them. Dear girls try not to be over expressive, as men hate that!!


NOW WHAT ARE the DOs???

If it is worth doing, its worth over doing!! Yes, if you like someone, just try to be rational enough in considering the background, their interests and passion. Also be emotional enough to understand the person, analyse their emotional quotient and see whether this could work out for you. As every person is unique, some may express their interests soon and some may take long time to admit the interest. The moment you realise/ start to develop emotions for your partner, express it and don't wait for them to express it first. There is nothing wrong in expressing your feelings with the potential partner. Be empathetic!! Play it safe to avoid any last minute disappointments.

AND FINALLY … A SMALL PIECE OF ADVICE!!

If you get rejected, don’t lose heart!! It’s just that people reject EXPENSIVE things, as they CAN’T AFFORD!!