Airtel 4G Rocks !

Good news for all you high speed internet lovers.With India’s major telecom Bharti Airtel Ltd rolling out its 4G services, you are going to love the lightning fast internet speeds on the go. Gone are the days when you will have to spend time waiting for movie downloads. 

With Airtel 4G being the first telecom operator rolling out 4G services, it is now available nationwide across 296 cities. One good news is that we just pay the price of 3G for 4G. Another good news is that by just tweeting #GetAirtel4G, they are giving a free 4G SIM and Airtel provides free home delivery of 4G SIM. 

I am already going crazy thinking of all the things i could do with this unbelievable speed offered. It will be fantastic to stream videos so fast. By downloading apps for shopping like Flipkart and Amazon, I could do my shopping really quick with 4G speed.

For someone like me, who loves to keep her playlist updated earlier i had to face the trouble in streaming videos and wasting time to download songs. I had to set the downloads to happen overnight so that it would get completed by morning which was really waste of time and electricity. But now I could download my favorite songs within seconds. 

Whenever friends drop-in at our place, we always end up watching movies along with partying. Now I could  download my favorite movies without worrying about slow speed. Previous seasons of reality shows and finale of The Bachelorette could now be seen without streaming issues. 

It normally takes me about 1 hour to commute to my office. The only fruitful task I do then is browse through social media and stay connected with friends. With 4G network, it could now make it easier to access social media. I could now maybe write my blog during the commute which could save me lot of time when i reach home and make life easy. On days when I need to book a cab online, it would be really convenient using Airtel4G and make the cab booking process quick and hassle-free.

And how do we forget the chat with our family and loved ones. I would definitely not like any kind of delays during our chats. So our Whatsapp and Skype conversations could be smooth without any interruptions. Any time I would want to do a video call, due to slow internet problems I could only hear their voice and not see them. This would be really disheartening because the whole purpose of having video calls to see your loved ones was lost. But with 4G, experience in video calling would also be amazing.

On the whole, I am already loving thinking how great life will be with 4G and I would like to thank Airtel for coming up with Airtel 4G and making our lives easier.

For more details on Airtel 4G, please check here -
http://www.airtel.in/4g/

Eat healthy stay healthy !

The greatest wealth lies in our health. A healthy outside starts from the inside! That is right. A fit and healthy body is the product of 80% healthy food and 20% activity. Thus it is very important to follow a proper meal plan. Eating clean and healthy food offers numerous benefits that help you stay fit both mentally and physically.

Eating well helps in the prevention of so many diseases and health problems. It also helps to have a healthy body weight, and gives you more energy promoting a general feeling of well-being. A well balanced diet will require eating a variety of foods like whole grains, vegetables and fruits along with a smaller portions of dairy and meat products to meet the body's nutritional needs.Research shows a lot of benefits of honey and having a honey diet or replacing sugar with honey in your food can be a small step towards a healthy diet.

One of the most visible benefits of a balanced diet is energy. Fueling with the right portions of vitamins, minerals and nutrients will give you the energy to make the most of your day.

Some of the benefits of having a balanced healthy diet are:

It helps you to stay healthy and fit.
It helps you to have more energy and reduce stress.
It gives you more mental clarity.
It helps boost your metabolism.
It helps you tackle your day with enthusiasm.
It improves your self confidence.

In today's highly competitive world, we lead sedentary lifestyles which leaves us sitting a lot on our desk at work, in our cars and people have forgotten the importance of physical activity. We choose to prefer the fast food that is easily available than spending time cooking our meal. How many times have you seen people choosing coke over water during summers. These junk food only makes you unhealthy and piles on your weight. People prefer crash diet to lose this weight quickly! This is a very popular trend these days. How many times have we seen places promoting weight loss like - Lose 3Kgs in 1 week else money back!! Seriously?? Why would anyone want to go for this crash diet which makes you restrict yourself. Well people love shortcuts for success and even though that means restricting from eating good food. It seems like a shortcut to success but has a hell lot of disadvantages and health hazards associated with it. Continuing in the long term is simply dangerous to say the least. A few disadvantages of this crash diet being:

Balanced nutritional food are completely deprived. 
These offer quick temporary results which may not last long
It can lead to starvation many times
It can cause weakness in the body.
It can make you stressed out very fast.
It reduces your energy and causes mood swings

Plus there are so many research and theories proving that crash dieting should never be followed for losing weight.So it is very essential to stay active and having a balanced healthy food to stay fit and healthy. 

Concept of honey based diet is getting popular these days. Fore more details, please check here -

http://www.daburhoney.com/

UC Cricket - for cricket fans to love !

Gone are the days of basic mobile phones. With technology advancements, these days there has been a tremendous influence and need for a smartphone in our daily lives. Many of our activities can be synched with a smartphone. We can stay in touch with our friends and loved ones with several apps which are freely accessible. With more operators having offers for 3G services, we have even started browsing the internet and posting selfies on the go. It definitely helps when having fun and gaining knowledge all at the same time. Imagine what would happen if we did not have a proper browser in place for all this? Yes imagine you are watching a video and the browser is slow. What would happen to the video? It would take a lot of time to load and play. This in turn would require a lot patience from your side. So its very important that we have a  well designed browser to access internet in a proper manner on our mobile devices. Now this does not meant that we would need some fancy or an expensive browser. When I heard about UC browser, it seemed to immediately answer all my questions on what would make our surfing experience easier, faster and economical.

UC Browser is extremely fast and the works seamlessly in 2G network too. The moment we begin to browse any site, it instantly loads the pages. What is more special is that UC browser has recently launched an all-in-one cricket application called as ‘UC-Cricket’. This app can be easily downloaded from homepage of UC Browser for Android.Now this is definitely a blessing for a nation with innumerable Cricket lovers.

UC Cricket provides a feasible solution for people who do not have the convenience of watching every ball to ball every time a match is in progress. These days with work and other commitments we hardly get time to sit and watch hours of cricket being in front of the TV. Right from things like timings of the match conflicting with our schedules to other personal commitments, i remember there were very few matches which I would ever get to watch fully. Although I have missed watching many matches, I would always get curious and try to get an update of the match. Earlier the solution to this was the continuous commentaries we get to hear in radio. Later that evolved to live score updates which we get by refreshing sites like cricinfo. But now UC Cricket takes it to next level by displaying all the details of the current match like its status, scores, individual performances of all players and wickets. The details have been excellently presented and visual display is quite commendable. I could not believe my eyes when I get every ball by ball update at that same instant without any delays. Simply WOW !! If this is going to be the features, never would you ever miss a single match. So much that with every ball towards the last overs, your excitement rushes over to your mobile.

This is definitely the perfect integration to UC Browser. For Cricket fans it is perfect blessing. Watching cricket is now at our fingertips. Right from live matches it has so many useful features and services that cricket fans across the world are sure to fall in love with.

For more information, please check details here -
http://www.ucweb.com/
http://www.ucweb.com/English/UCbrowser/cricket.html

My Airtel App !

When it comes to Mobile Network, it has always been Airtel for me. It all started when my dad got his first mobile with Airtel network back in 2003. Since we have the benefit of low call charges by having same network, whenever anyone in my family got a phone the default choice was Airtel network. Now this has only improved so much that right from mobile phone, we have broadband and DTH services of Airtel running at my place. 

Recently Airtel has launched the MyAirtelApp to offer the convenience of all its services to mobile subscribers. Earlier whenever I had to check various features of my account, I had to go through the annoying process of Dial #121 and something else. So I was really excited when I heard about this latest feature and immediately downloaded MyAirtelApp to check its features. It turned out pretty impressive and had some cool features. Here are top three key features about the app that was perfect with my fast paced crazy lifestyle.

Firstly it is very convenient to have all the details related to your Airtel account in your smartphone.Although the website shows related details, I always had trouble logging in to the website and keeping track of my bills and payment dates. In this app, clicking on the option to my bill shows my current dues, bill date, bill plan, pay history and bill summary and other un-billed usage related to the current cycle. Payment History instantly gives details of your past payments. This is definitely an awesome way to keep track previous payments. Earlier I would take screenshots of my payment success in case required but now I can check that from my phone itself. I can access my bill summary and also email the bill if required. The option to bill plan allows you to view your current plan. As all of these features are available in the app, its quick and is a great time saver. 

Second feature which I loved is the ability to recharge prepaid numbers from this app by just entering a couple of details like the number and amount. When I previously had prepaid number, it was really frustrating to recharge because I had to login into my laptop, connect to internet depending on availability and go through the slow process of online prepaid recharge. That is definitely saved now. With this app, I can recharge any Airtel number easily and without much trouble! Not only my mobile but I can also access my broadband accounts using this app at just one place. This is really very useful feature and gives us a lot of convenience. .

Last feature which I definitely loved is the new way to get exclusive offers on your Airtel number. For someone like me who is always on the lookout for new updates or offers this is definitely a bonus. Previously I would be calling the customer care every month to check on new offers but now this is easily accessible to me on my phone. Checkout more details here and view the latest advertisement for this feature on YouTube here.

With such amazing features, this is definitely a great way to great offers and a perfect experience with your Airtel connection!

Work hard, Dream Big !

Radical thoughts and ideas are definitely inspiring! Mr. Kapil Dev, has been an icon with his excellence in sports and cricket to the country. He recently started to promote an idea of #EkNayiLeague through Social media. Through this he plans to make everyone brainstorm and provide their feeling about what the message of #EkNayiLeague can be. According to him, it does not require the doing things with the heart. In fact he says you would fail if you played from your heart. He suggests taking a different attribute of optimism which can revolutionize the spirit in individuals to win and make them successful !

So, what this #EkNayiLeague could be?

After going through all his videos, I think that #EkNayiLeague is an interesting thought of dreaming big and trying to pushing to fulfill it. If we can put our mind to work, we can definitely dream big and push past the obstacles that may come on our way.We can then be strong enough to have the courage and strength to overcome them. It all begins with us. If we have belief in ourselves, our capabilities, commit to making the change and be consistent then we can definitely achieve anything.

He shares a few examples to share this thought. We are aware about Yuvraj Singh, the cricketer who was diagnosed with cancer some years back. In spite of that, he definitely showed great will to fight through the illness. He did not allow it to be as an obstacle for him to return back to cricket. He definitely showed a great determination and strength. This shows how he did not let his illness as serious as cancer stop him from his big dreams from coming true and we all can now see how successful he is today! 

He also talks about world famous tennis player Sania Mirza. She is currently the top tennis player in women’s doubles. She has represented India in many places and made us all very proud. She is clearly a true  example of women power, strength and independence. She is an icon of excellence for the Indian women. With her never dying spirits, she continues to spread the message for other Indian women that we do not need to be conservative but can be independent and self-sustaining if we believe in our dreams. We need to master the courage to not only dream big but also fight for our dreams because it is never an easy road. We can definitely achieve anything that we put our mind to. She dreamed big and achieved it.

I think that the #EkNayiLeague campaign, which Mr. Kapil Dev speaks about could be about dreaming big, setting goals, overcoming any hurdles that may come and punching them  in order to achieve success. As the famous saying goes, success happens when your dreams get bigger than your excuses. I feel that when we dream big and have that passion to achieve our goals, we can definitely achieve any level of success. I support Mr. Kapil Dev in his attempt and see this as a good way to achieve our dreams.

Think big, Dream big, believe big and your results will definitely be big !!

For more details on Ek Nayi League check here - http://www.eknayileague.com/ 

Redefining my smartphone experience !

With the progress in technology, we have witnessed a lot of changes. Many of these changes have primarily caused a huge change in our lifestyle too. The very basic example is use of smart phones in our lives is smart phones. Imagine 5 years before having a basic smartphone was considered a luxury and now it has become a basic necessity. Over the years, people have seen the reason why a smartphone is called one. Agreed basic phone is also wonderful no doubt but the amount of convenience that a smartphone provides you would be no where near to a basic phone. With a smart phone, communication has become highly convenient. People have more options now with the vast availability of apps to perform the same feature of calling and messaging. This makes communication even more suitable even if you are in the same area or at an international place. 

I remember the last time I went abroad, all my folks were really worried because i would be out of network. They urged me to get a local calling number to communicate about my whereabouts. But these days, with internet connection easily accessible at many places and with the availability of so many apps, communicating to your loved ones even when you travel abroad has become simple. Who wouldn't want that now? 

Just the other day, I read the launch of the ASUS Zenfone 2  and I was completely amazed. With its  high end processor, slim design,sleek features, long battery life you are rest assured of falling head over heels in love with this Asus Zenfone Smartphone. Just as if the already features in a smartphone weren't already enough ASUS Zenfone 2 has even more awesome features that would just redefine your smartphone experience. Below are my view of top 5 reasons for that -

1. Luxurious Ultra-thin Ergonomic Arc Design:

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ASUS Zenfone 2 has a new stunning design. It has a Arc’s case which tapers to an incredibly thin edges for a beautiful look. With its brilliant display it gives an enriching viewing experience where everything we can see is brighter, bigger and more beautiful.

2. ASUS Zenfone’s power performance:

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Powered by super quad core Intel Atom with a dual channel performance, ASUS Zenfone can make your everyday performance and gaming experiences way faster. What this means is we can enjoy great gaming experiences and smooth video playback without trouble of streaming and experiencing slowness. It also allows us to multitask along with surfing so that we don't have to wait.

3. ASUS Zenfone’s Pixel Master:

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Taking incredible pictures for me on an Android phone is a breeze with PixelMaster Camera which is a new technology from ASUS. The Zenfone's camera can capture up more light for photos and videos in low light environments—so you can grab all the action out without a flash

4. ASUS ZenUI:

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ZenUI uses intelligence technology which ensures no need of complicated process but providing users for a simpler smarter process. In addition it has the provision of availability of having multiple colours to match the multi-colored ASUS ZenUI options, allowing me to customize my phone reflecting as per my mood and personality.

5. ASUS Zenfone 2’s Boost Master:

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With ASUS Zenfone 2, we can charge our phone at double the speed. The common problem with many smartphone is the draining battery consumed by the numerous apps. But ASUS Zenfone 2 has definitely heard people's problems and come up with an awesome solution. ASUS Boost Master technology is the ASUS-exclusive technology that charges devices much faster than traditional speeds. This guarantees less restriction and more mobility.

For more details on ASUS Zenfone 2, click here
http://www.asus.com/Phones/ZenFone_2_ZE551ML/

Share your load with Ariel !

Isn't it surprising that in the 21st century, what women these days are achieving. We should celebrate being women and having the opportunities to do things that our mothers and grandmothers were not allowed to do. They were expected to stay at home and do the cooking and the cleaning. But sadly that has just been carried through with the added work of running the family too.  These days women are running hand in hand if not more than men in every walks of life. But sadly they are still solely assigned the household responsibilities than men of the family. 

When it comes to housework, labor is still shared unevenly. How many times have you heard of men cleaning the bathroom, or doing the dishes. Now when such distribution of labor is done before children they would also pick the same things that their parents do and this will never change. 

Men should realize that they also have equal responsibility in the household chores just like women. So instead of just watching TV or surfing the internet they can help their women with the laundry.

Some ways that women can help themselves and make men help them in the household chores -
1) At a high level, a reason why a lot of men don’t want to clean is obvious: it’s not fun. The rewards of the other two traditionally female household tasks—childcare and cooking—are palpable. Your kid’s smile, a delicious meal. But not so with cleaning. So try to make the activity fun.
2) Women need to let go of feeling guilty. They need to realize that men also need to share the household load with them and must let go of feeling guilty of seeing their men wash the dishes or do the laundry.
3) Try to have a healthy conversation with the men on how much they would like if he would join them in sharing the household work. Initially, they may not join you but you need to create an urgency and train them to do the work. Doing them repeatedly would help them change their mindset and help you in the long run.
4) Ladies - let go of the perfection. When some of the few men who come on their own to help the ladies, try to cooperate with them and do not set high expectations and expect them to be a perfectionist. Try to see the good thing that you are delegating the work and getting an additional hand.

Ariel being the leading detergent brand asks men to take the #WashBucketChallenge and helps in cleaning clothes of the family. With Ariel's one-wash stain removal washing clothes is easy and fun.
This is also promoted by some of our celebrities like Gurmeet Chaudhry who pledged to take the load from his wife Debina



Like wise the actor Kunal Khemu also took the #WashBucketChallenge for Soha Ali Khan Pataudi.


So If all these amazing man come forward to #ShareTheLoad ! Its high time for you men to take the  #WashBucketChallenge. 

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This is the pack sent to me where I took the  #WashBucketChallenge challenge 

Sweet Toast of Love

Visit to my sister-in-law's place in Singapore and the first thing that comes to my mind is the awesome Kaya toast. Kaya toast is prepared with kaya,sugar, coconut milk. butter and eggs. It is normally served for breakfast as a toast along with coffee.

I came across this during my visit in 2013. I had some work in Ang Mo Kio are and i took MRT from Queenstown to Ang Mo Kio MRT Station. It was around 7AM in the morning and i had missed to eat breakfast at my place. By the time i reached Ang Mo Kio MRT Station i was famished and hunted to see a coffee shop. As i was searching my eyes fell on Ya Kun Kaya Toast joint. It was fairly crowded and I assumed they serve best coffee. As i entered the place, I got the aroma of Kaya everywhere and asked them about it. Then i ordered a plate myself along with coffee. What came blew me totally away. 

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There were slices of Kaya toast along with pieces of boiled egg and a huge mug of coffee. From what it appeared it seemed a huge breakfast for me. I started with a small bite and was unstoppable from there. The toast was simply delicious and became my favorite. 

From then on, every-time I wanted to eat outside I always searched for Ya Kun Kaya Toast joints in that area. In fact these days many have it for snacks as well. What started as a breakfast option, is now even seen as a snack at many places. This toast is easily available at many places in Singapore. You can get it in every corner from food court stalls, MRT Station to outlets in shopping malls. 

For more details check here -
http://discover.stayfareast.com/

A day in my life - My Moto

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I came across this beautiful quote by Lee Konitz. First love deserves that place as it is special and memorable. Remember the first time you got a new watch you still treasure it even though its ages old now, even though it may or may not be working. I still do that. Likewise first laptop, first camera and the list goes on. If i choose Moto E as my first smartphone it would be special to me. I will be totally dependent and hooked to my phone. It means everything to me. Let me run you through a day in my life and will show you how addicted I am to my phone.

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Time: 6AM

The alarm on my phone rings and wakes me up. I get to set a tone for my alarm and set my day. It gives me the option to set multiple alarm and snooze options so that i push myself out of bed.

Time: 6:30AM

I can just pop-in the earphones and go for a nice morning run listening to audio-books. With running apps in my phone i get to know the pace of my run along with the calories burned for the day. Also by listening to the audio-books, i keep myself engaged and gain some personal development.

Time: 7-8AM

As i am having my morning coffee, i can plan my day and prepare my to-do lists on the phone. I can set reminders on what needs to be done for the day and schedule everything on my phone and calendar app.  If i would want to have some music on while getting ready for work, i can easily play the music app and still set the tone for the day.

Time: 9AM

As i get ready to leave for work, my phone shows the maps and guides me the way. It can also update me the status of traffic and any diversions i have to take on my way.

Time: 11AM

My phone alerts me of my mid morning break which means i need to go for a quick walk and also hydrate myself with water. This is the time that automatically reminds me to have my snacks. While doing this i can attend calls, check mails and other messages.

Time: 1PM

My phone alerts me for lunch. I can then go through the news through App while having a wonderful lunch. This allows me to multitask and get all the updates happening around.

Time: 3PM

During tea break, my phone is the rescue to catch on any updates on Facebook and other social media and be connected with my folks. With the front camera feature, I can easily take some selfie pictures and share them across to my friends and family.

Time: 6PM 

On my way back from work, i like to listen to my favorite list of calm and peaceful songs to de-stress after a busy day at work. 

Time: 9PM

After having dinner, i would update my food journal app with my daily food intake so I can keep track of the calories consumed. I then take some time to blog of my day from my phone.

Time 11PM

With all this done, i know that the battery life still soaring. Then i get back to bed with my phone next to me and retire for the day!

So you can see how dependent I am on my phone and how it means so much to my life. I am thankful that I get to choose Moto E as my first smartphone as it provides all these and many more awesome features without requiring you to spend a lot of money. It is packed with the right touch and style for today's generation.

This post is written for new Moto E. Please visit http://www.startwithmotoe.com/

Breakfast with Guptaji’s family

When my work timings shifted to morning 7 am, i was glad that i could be home early by 4 pm. But there was one thing worrying me and that was about having breakfast. With this work timings, there was no way that I could prepare lunch at home and take for work. Forget breakfast. I planned to get food from our office cafeteria.

For years i have always skipped breakfast and hogged on my lunch. Staying with roommates, for few days I would get up and have coffee before leaving for work. But on some day I would even skip coffee if i got up late.

While at work, my team would gather at 9 am for breakfast. I would get to taste amazing items brought by my team mates and share my sandwich which i got from office cafeteria with them. So many of them would get their breakfasts and other food from home even though they had to get up early. In particular there was one collegue Shalu Gupta who most the most awesome breakfast items out of cornflakes.  One day she got Almond Strawberry Cornflakes while another day she would get Choco Cornflakes Peanut Chikki. Yes you read it right cornflakes chikki. I was bowled over on seeing it. When asked how she gets time to prepare them she said it just takes 10 minutes. I was completely astonished. In just 10 minutes she prepares such wonderful breakfast items with so much varieties by adding cornflakes. This also makes them healthy and easily doable. Everyday she would get some new variety. I realized that not only me but everyone around would come over and take a bite from her breakfast.

For a foodie lover like me, tasting a bite from Shalu's box became a daily routine. In fact i always look forward for what she has got for the day. When it just takes so less time for preparation i am amazed at the variety that can be made for breakfast. All this makes me just wonder if i get to go to Shalu Gupta's house, i might be able to get many wonderful ideas for breakfast. Guptaji’s family definitely has an amazing list of recipes for every occasion and everyone must just be dying to visit their house. Maybe if i would go to her house during Ganesh Chaturthi, she would offer me Cornflake Sesame Modaks/Dumplings. If i would go to her house during summer, they might offer me to have cool Chunky Monkey Shakes which are not only tasty and delicious but also healthy as it has cornflakes added to it.

If i get an opportunity to visit their house, i would love to learn the different recipes from them. If i can start doing that in my home and teach them to my family, even we could have healthy breakfast everyday with great variety. With the rush of busy mornings, it is very easy to skip breakfast in between our list of other priorities. But a quick and easy breakfast can definitely be magic. The items which Shalu Gupta gets are things which can be packed in a box as well as eaten at home.  She has an idea of breakfast for simply every occasion. Be it any festival or any particular season, her breakfast menu changes based on that. Also she has breakfast option even if you are short on time. While talking to her the other day, she suggested me to have a cornflakes shake that took less than 10 minutes to prepare. So it completely gives you no excuses why you should skip breakfast.  One more thing i realized was by having breakfast for 1 month, I found myself having more energy for the day. Earlier when I was skipping breakfast, I would eat a lot of food for lunch. But recently since I have started having Breakfast, i realized i have reduced portion sizes for lunch. So I would really want to visit Guptaji’s family for breakfast and would like to thank  for teaching the value of breakfast by making it simple yet healthy that there is just no excuses left for anyone.

For more details check here. And also check out the videos here.

Pursuit of Happiness

For many years the words happiness and success went hand in hand to me. I would think that if people were successful then they were happy and vice versa. But what exactly is success? This is a very relative term and each person define their own success. Then what is happiness? How do you define happiness? Wikipedia defines happiness as -"Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy." What do you need to do so that you start and end your day being happy?

Now let me show you a glimpse of my day. As soon as the alarm goes on, I would snooze it multiple times and then finally rush and get up, then run to make our coffee and then rush to get ready for work. At-least this was how my mornings were. It was the most busy part of the day. Then the rest of my day would go in work. After work, it would be having dinner and going to bed. From the time my work timings had got changed i observed that I spent most time at work and very less time for myself. I did not read any book or learn anything new over some years. This was my routine for over 2 years which i realized was very terrible as I had to slow down and take control of the day and not have the day control me. As i tried to reflect on my day, i realized that i had not accomplished anything and this did not make me happy. Day after day, this rush of daily routine was just making me tired. I felt the need to restructure my day and inculcate some good habits which would help me plan my day and make me productive and learn something which in turn would make me more happy and accomplished. 

I watched many of my friends and read online and found that many of them had what they called a morning routine. This routine had them start their day with exercise, followed by reading a good book, then preparing a to-do list for the day. Initially i was overwhelmed because i never had time to do all this in the morning. But  i saw that nobody ever has time but they make time. If you need to make changes which would make you happy then you need to take effort to make that change. 

So i planned my day and started getting up early at 6 am. Then i go for a morning walk and then come home for a hot cup of coffee. While having my coffee i would plan my day and include my study and reading to be done before 8 am when my entire family wakes up. This way i am giving 2 full hours for myself to do things i want. This was a small sacrifice i had to do by getting up early. Daily i would get up and do my exercise and study and i after 2 months I found tremendous change. I observed that I was having more energy and my confidence level had improved. In fact so much that because of exercising, i had lost a few kilos and received compliments from some of my friends. All this made me feel very accomplished and happy. At the end of the day as you can see I had made some changes in my routine which improved my mood and energy and made me happy. These are the small things in life that makes me happy.

For more details check here -
http://CokeURL.com/96jnc.

Memorable Trek

Few months back while having dinner with my husband, I was telling him,"I am fed up. I need a change.The monotony of this life is killing me.Let us go for a vacation".To which he hit upon an idea. He said,"How about going for a winter trek to Kedarkantha in Uttarakhand". While i did not get convinced with his idea, i decided to give it a try.

We booked our tickets and started with the preparations required to go for the trek. With our backpacks on in end of December, we reached Dehradun. From there we got into a bus Sankhri.  On reaching there, we stayed at Hotel Swargrohini Palace for the night before the trek.What a view from our room. We could already see mountain peaks covered with snow ahead of us. As night approached, we had to pile on layers to save ourselves from being frozen.

The next day morning, we all were given a briefing and introduced to our trek guide. With that we started the trek climbing one step at a time.  2 Hours went by and by now it was starting to get exhausting. We hit the snow patches soon, stopped to rest for 15-20 minutes and then continued with our trek. From there, we could see snow everywhere. The trek was getting more and more challenging with every step. Finally after 9 hours,at around 2 pm we reached Juda ka Talab camp site.The pond was covered by a thick frosty layer.We rested around the lake in the sun and had our lunch.

As it got colder in the evening we lit a bonfire .We had our dinner and we retired to the tents into our sleeping bags after a tiring day. 

At around 2 am we were awakened by our guide. He asked us to pack our bags and start climbing right away for the basecamp and we had to reach the summit before sunrise. It was pitch dark everywhere. So with flash lights on and trekking poles, we started climbing once again. Badly chilly winds, ear pains, reducing atmospheric pressure, reducing oxygen, tiredness from last day, we kept climbing. After about 2 hours of walking in deep snow and we reached the base camp.The view from the base camp was panoramic. We were all excited for the final push to the summit. As much as exciting and adventurous the journey was, it was very challenging both mentally and physically. I and my husband had to stop several times and motivate and push each other to finish the trek. We took a lot of pictures along the way. After 5 hours we finally stood atop conquering Mount Kedarkanta. It was surrounded by mountain peaks covered in snow. 

What a memorable feeling it was. For last 2 days, we were totally out of mobile coverage and no other distractions. I and my husband were together in this journey and our only goal was to have the strength to push through and finish the trek. I learnt many things from this trek like never to give up on the challenges that life throws but to keep pushing through them. In the journey of life we get distracted by so many things and we often quit. But if we keep pushing and focus on our goal we will be successful. 

This post was written on the topic "Together" provided by Housing.com.

My story on a new life

After almost 25 years of being born and brought up in Mumbai, the day came when my family decided to move to Chennai. But i could not leave this city. It was the place where i created my identity, the place where i did all my schooling, graduation and now work. It seemed like a bad dream for me.

But the reality was my father had retired and we had to give up on the quarters which we were residing. Then the next move was getting our own house. Finding your own house in Mumbai is like another dream. We tried a few places but were not satisfied and the other places which we did like had shooting high prices. Also my parents did not like to move to a rental flat in Mumbai. So after much of a discussion, my dad gave me an idea of searching for houses in Chennai so that he and mom could move there so that they could stay closer to their relatives as well as have a house of their own. As per the plan i would continue to stay in Mumbai in a hostel and they move permanently to Chennai. I did not like this a lot but he somehow convinced me that it should be fine. 

So we started the house hunt in Chennai with the help of few of my cousins and were able to shortlist a few houses coming to my budget and liking. Within a few days, mom and dad finalized a house and we came to Chennai to make the payment and registration. In parallel,my hunt for a hostel started in Mumbai.

I felt totally shattered when coming to check hostels in the very place where I was born and brought up. I felt very unhappy and depressed. I did not have an address proof in my own city. That sounded totally ridiculous. The thought of moving into the hostel one day pained a lot and I silently hoped my parents would cancel their plan to move to Chennai and stay back here.

But they were stubborn in their choices and finally that day came as i bid them goodbye and moved my way to the hostel to start a new life with the other girls in the hostel. Maybe my parents were sad on leaving Mumbai, but they were more excited on moving to a house which they could call their own and meeting their relatives near by.

My grief only increased day by day as I became a very silent person and stopped interacting with others. I went to a state of depression wherein i would not attend any events, stopped meeting my friends, had limited talks with my roommates. This only increased and i lived a life of unhappy, sad and depressed life. 

While having breakfast one day,my roommate asked me my story and why i always remain silent and sad. When i told her the entire story, i could not stop myself from crying and feeling angry on myself. She asked me to relax and told me that i was feeling all this depressed because i was afraid of this change and felt rejected by the past. She asked to let go of the past and start afresh. She urged me to take it as a challenge to get a goal of getting my own house in Mumbai which will make me happy again.She asked me to think positive and work hard to take small actions daily which will help me closer to this goal. For getting a house of my own, i needed to increase my savings. For that i had to work hard at office or probably switch jobs for a higher pay so that i could save a portion of my income towards my goal. Her talks seemed like a ray of hope to me.

From that day, i started a new life. I turned out a different person. I had something to look forward to each day. I would get excited to work and have goals to achieve which would help me closer to my dream. I started to think positive and had the belief that one day it will come true. As on today my dream to get my own house in Mumbai is still work in progress. But i have turned out a different person from what i was and thank my roommate for guiding me to start a new life on my own.

For more details check here -

https://housing.com/

Dry baby, happy baby

"Amma", I heard the panicky voice of my maid as she called me in the middle of a busy Monday morning at work. "Yes Shanti", I replied back. "Baby is crying a lot today and not eating her food", she said. "Show her favorite Barbie doll and she should be fine. If not try to play some rhymes. Since she got used to us being at home on the weekend she is missing us now. Once you make her happy with her toys she should be fine", I consoled her back suggesting ways to divert my baby and make her happy. "Ok amma. I will try and give you a call back", she said and hung up.

This may have been less than a 10 minute call. But the moment she hung the line, my mind started wandering on ways I could find to make my baby happy. Mondays are the most tragic days for me. First of all I have busy work day on Monday. To add to it, since our baby gets to play with me and hubby on weekends she starts missing us on Mondays and troubles the maid. In today's world, leaving your baby in the hands of a maid requires a huge amount of trust and patience. I mean we have to trust them completely and deal with their issues patiently. 

As I tried to get my focus back to work, I got her call again. "Amma", I heard the happiness in her voice now. I felt relieved. "I made a story with the Barbie doll and she enjoyed it and had the food. Now she is playing with that doll.", she said. "That is great. Now that she is diverted she should not trouble you again. Try to show her new rhymes or the songs on music player if she troubles for food again",I said and hung the call. Relieved with the status at home, i jumped back to my work. This is just a small snapshot of my Monday.

Looking at my baby Anju, it really makes me hard to believe the things which make her happy. When I or my hubby talk on our smartphones she has to throw whatever is in her hand and come running to us to snatch the phone. When hubby plays games in tablet, she gets interested by all the sounds and comes running to snatch it. Even if you hold her back, all her attention are on the electronics which we have. That is the best time to force the food or all the things which she hates as she is diverted to the electronics. 

Now this was not the case always. Her list of favorites keep changing frequently. The very first doll which caught her attention was a clumsy looking Barbie doll which one of my aunt gifted her. I have no idea what is so interesting about that doll. But whenever she gets to see that doll or play with that doll she stops troubling us and becomes happy. Another thing which catches her attention is the jukebox of songs which my husband plays on music player. All the peppy songs like "Lungi Dance" from the recent Bollywood movie Chennai express catches her attention and she starts playing and dancing while hearing such songs. 

Well this is not all. If you give her all of these when she is hungry, she will just throw back that same Barbie doll. Anju just goes crazy when she is hungry. So it is very important that we give her food on time and keep her tummy full. 

Another important thing is regularly changing her diaper. Just as messy it gets having a wet diaper, she begins to get cranky too. These days she has started giving all sort of indications that her diaper is wet and needs to be replaced. Thank God for Pampers Baby Dry Pants. It really helps in winters when we have to frequently change her diaper due to cold weather. As this keeps her dry both inside and outside, it keeps her happy and in good mood. Having a list of her favorite things like these is safe for us as it is easier to keep her happy when she starts troubling us. 

For more details check here -
http://www.rewardme.in/tag/Pampers

Never lose hope

After years of staying in rental flats, I had always wanted to buy a house and call it my home. After all home is where your heart is. Though this thought was always in the back of my mind I did not know where to go or how to proceed since it involves huge money.

As long as I was a student, I would just dismiss this a dream and term it a wish. It was just a dream without any plan. I had always wanted to do further studies in the USA. Most of my friends had applied for student loan. Some of them had taken loans with their parents pledging loan against their property. I could not do both. After my graduation i was offered a job as part of campus placements. Due to family pressure, I again had to give my dream a skip and take up the job.

Due to all this, my urge to get a house grew very strong. Within a year of working, I started looking to get my own house. But funds were not sufficient and I had to save some money for down-payment. I was shattered and sad that i had to wait for some more time to fulfill this dream. In between this, I got an opportunity to go onsite from my company. I worked there for 2 years. When i came back again, I continued my house search. This time i was able to see some houses within my budget.

I was glad that atleast there was some hope to fulfill my dream of getting my own house. I could see some hope for the future. Several of my friends thought i was silly to have my own house at this age. Several of them even warned of legal issues that could happen if i had a house in my name before wedding. Still, I frantically continued the search along with my dad and we were able shortlist some houses which we liked and came inside our budget. We had to do several negotiations with the builders to get a favorable price. Within a week, we made the final choice and got the final quote from the builder. Satisfied with the house and payment, we gave him an initial token advance and a month later gave the remaining 20% of the down-payment. Finally we got the agreement done and had to go for getting home loan from the bank.

Then as per the process, we applied housing loan for the remaining 80% cost of the flat. After several visits to various banks to get a feasible interest, we narrowed down one and applied for our loan. Within 2 weeks, the bank approved my loan and the EMI would begin from next month. I was relived and glad there was no obstacle in this process. From the next month my pre-EMI started and we got some customization and wood work within the flat before we could officially move in.

Finally the much awaited day came. It was the day of the registration when we had to sign several documents at the registrar office. After all processes done, the house was finally registered in my name. That was such an emotional moment for me. I started crying as i could not believe that i had become proud owner of a house.To my surprise my parents were also crying with happiness that i was able to purchase a house at a young age of 23.

We kept a Grahapravesham function at my new house and called in all relatives and friends. It was a day of celebration for me. After all it was my first house. I was excited to see all optimism around. My cousins were appreciating me for buying a house which was an investment. Kids were playing around my house. I could sense some laughter in my parents voice as they happily praised me in front of all relatives. That marked the end of our stay in rental houses. My parents and I moved in to stay in my house.

Till today they still stay in my home. I am happily married and stay in another city. Unlike the warning which some of my friends gave, i did not face any problem from my husband or in-laws when i told them about me having my own house and my parents were staying there. In-fact they also appreciated me about it.

All these happened because i never lost hope of getting my own house. I had that fire in me to keep chasing my dream and make it happen. I am so glad it finally happened and that has been the best gift that i could give myself and my parents !

For more details check here -
https://housing.com/lookup

Apne Dum Pe Jeena Sikhao

A woman is always told to first think about others first before thinking about herself. In those days when my mother wanted to study my grandparents had not agreed for that. But my mother had great dreams to study and be independent. But society has its own rules and norms and people are forced to follow that. At a tender age of 19 when most women are still to complete their graduation and work, my mother was forced to get married and stop studies. She had tried to explain her dreams then but no one seemed to understand them.  

Still she fought her dreams with my dad and with great difficulty she graduated by distance education and started working. Going by how she had struggled for her dreams, she had decided from the day we were born that she would make us study well and conquer all her pending dreams. She would commute by public transport for about 2 hours for her work and yet be available for us whenever we needed her. Bringing up me and my sister was never easy. Yet she handled it calmly. She would always encourage us to dream big and keep chasing our dreams. 

Even though I did not have any brother, my sister and I were never restricted anything due to our gender. My mother helped us both become independent women. She had instilled in us the qualities for us to be fearless and become strong. From a very young age, she had made sure that we were surrounded by positive thoughts, beliefs and ideas and that helped in making us have a positive attitude. She helped us become confident, courageous and strong girls. 

Investment was something that she had taken very seriously and taught the same to us. From a very young age, we got the habit of reading books and investing knowledge from her. She is a very ardent reader and is up do date with current affairs. She keeps telling us to never stop learning as that is one of the cheapest and best investment we can do. Financially as well, she taught to save a small amount from our pocket money and spend the rest on what we wanted. If that was not less, we were taught cooking and other home chores. She made us truly independent from all aspects.

She is our best friend and a role model. I learnt to set goals in life from my mom. She taught us to set small goals in life and work hard to achieve them. She also made us take care of our health. When she was diagnosed having Diabetes, doctor asked her to go for walking. In our sedentary lifestyle we hardly find time to be active. But my mother would urge us to go for walk or run for at-least an hour everyday. It was because of her that i got interested in running and started getting serious about my runs. From going for small runs to running 10Km, she kept encouraging me and it is because of her that I am now a marathon runner. I am truly thankful to my mom for all the values and qualities that she has inculcated in  us to become strong women.

For more details check here -
http://www.hdfclife.com/


This post was written as part of IndiBlogger Happy Hours campaign topic on my family my pride !

Upgrading Car with Quikr NXT

"You will get your car on Tuesday", the servicing folks informed me the other day when i had given my car for servicing. "But why Tuesday. I need it on weekend", I asked them back. "It is quite an old car and there are too many fixes to be done. So it will  take time", the servicing guy replied. I had no option but to leave it in their hands to get it up and working good. 

This Maruti Alto was my first car that dad had gifted me when i graduated. Back then it was something that i used for all my commute. Travelling in local trains and buses had stopped since i had got my car. I would go long drive with my friends in my car and what not. But now after 6 years, this same car was having some  challenges. I had to give it servicing every 3 months and now after marriage and having kids it seemed a small car too.  If my in laws or parents came to visit us, we could no way fit everyone in this car and go outside anywhere. There has been several instances when my husband has asked me to sell this off to a bigger car that would be helpful for everyone. 

Looks like finally that day was coming near. The other day when i was talking to my friend about this, she recommended me to check out Quikr NXT app for selling this car and getting a new one. I had not heard that Quikr had launched an app as well and was curious to try that. The same day i downloaded the Quikr NXT app and was exploring its features. I was surprised that they had a chat feature where we could interact with several buyers or sellers at the same time. This was awesome as it will not only hide your contact details but also you could check the chat history for the price quoted or the photos shared. 

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Firstly i started with placing an ad for selling my car by sharing the photos and the details. After that I started checking the ads of those selling cars so that i could upgrade to a new car. I found details of a Ford Fiesta car that felt suitable for my needs. I immediately requested the seller to share more details of the car. In the meanwhile i got a person who showed interest in buying my car and wanted some photos. I really liked that buyers and sellers could talk with each other at their suitable time and ask more details about the product without requiring a single phone call.  

Later in the day, i gave the requested photos of my car to the interested buyer and also got more details of the Ford Fiesta car from the seller. I shared the details with my husband and he was totally fine in getting a used car provided it was in good condition. He was glad by the Ford Fiesta car and asked if we could drop a visit to personally see the car before making a final deal. I asked the same to the seller and got a similar idea for my Maruti Alto. I asked the prospective buyer that he could drop a visit to personally see the car if he was interested before purchasing. I got positive response from both sides. 

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The next day itself husband and I went to check the Ford Fiesta car and liked it. We finalized the car deal with the buyer. Towards evening, the prospective buyer of my Maruti Alto dropped in to check my car and was happy to purchase it for his son. Although i was sad on letting go of my Maruti Alto, i was excited on getting the Ford Fiesta. I am thankful to Quikr NXT for their amazing features which helped us upgrade to a bigger car easily.

This post was written as part of IndiBlogger Happy Hours campaign topic on Get a better Car with Quikr NXT!

Movies That Inspired Me !!

The theme in this week's Fit Dish Link Up (hosted by Jill and Jessica) is to talk about the movies that have inspired me . For a movie buff like me, this is one perfect topic. There are several movies that have inspired me to take up running. It shows the challenges they faced and the how they faced these un-ending challenges relentlessly. Many of these movies can help change your mindset and inspire people to do wonderful things.

Here are top 3 movies that have helped inspire my interest in running and in making health and wellness a priority of my life -

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1) Spirit of the Marathon : This was one of the first movies that got me interested in running. The challenges faced by the five runners in the movie, their training and all the other aspects totally moved me and inspired me to give a try on running and add running a marathon on my bucket list.

2) G.I. Jane : I loved this movie so much that i guess i have watched it several times. My earlier notion of cardio is enough for weight loss was proved wrong after watching this movie. I am impressed by how they help making us understand that fitness is getting strong everyday that helps push past your own limits.

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3) Chariots of Fire : I totally love the inspiration that comes from that movie. It has awesome music but the most intersting part is that it's based on a true story.

Saturday Walkday 8K !!

This weekend has been really hectic. We have been househunting and saw a few houses last week. After that there has been several discussions happening with friends along with us doing our research. On top of that, i have been working this weekend leaving very less time to workout and rest. So i have been getting up late this weekend and catching on some sleep.

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I have started the 30 Days of Yoga With Adriene challenge along with my walk/runs. So far i feel accomplished to have completed week 1. The challenges are around 30 minutes which is ideal time for me. I hope to improve on my flexibility and stretches by this challenge. 

On Saturday i had a 5Km walk for a long evening walk. Too much of sitting in front of the computer made me feel tired and i needed a break. Hubby had to go out for some photography work. So I copied the audiobook of You Are a Badass from my computer to my Ipod. Then i plugged in my headphones and got started. 

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I planned to walk around our apartment. There are series of apartments beside mine and a whole loop of the circuit would be about 2 Km.  So I started walking through the entire loop listening to the audiobook and getting some good reading and walking at the same time. 

I was curious with the title of the book and saw many good reviews. It started off very nice and within no time I completed one loop of 2 Km and started all over again. In between i was so engrossed with the book that i went for another loop and completed 6KM. Its funny how an interesting book can make you so engrossed and keep walking without realizing time. Now I just had to take a turn and head back home and i ended up walking my 8 Km walk in an hour with some good reading !!!

Linking with Healthy Diva Life, Running and Reading, Her Heartland Soul, and Life of Meg !!

Weekly Workout Recap and Menu Planning - 22 Feb

Good Evening! This week has been quite hectic. Hubby and I went house hunting and saw a couple of flats. We have been discussing on and off about getting a house this year and have started baby steps in the search. We have been doing our research and talking to friends and parents on their views. It is so funny that there are so many things involved that you need to keep in mind while doing house hunting.

To add to it, i was working both days this weekend as well. So i am really tired after a hectic week. I started the 30 Days of Yoga With Adriene challenge.This is the second challenge that i am doing this year after doing the Tone It Up Love Your Body series challenge.I have been pretty bad with flexibility and stretching and got to know about this yoga challenge from some bloggers.  I hope to continue with this challenge all through and stick with the schedule

Weekly Workout Recap :

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Monday (2/16) - 5Km Walk,  Day 1: Ease into It
Tuesday (2/17) - Day 2 - Stretch and Soothe
Wednesday (2/18)  - Day 3 - Forget What You Know
Thursday (2/19)  - 6Km Walk, Day 4 - Yoga Has Your Back
Friday (2/20) - Day 5 - Feel Alive
Saturday (2/21)  - Day 6 - Six Pack Abs, 8Km Walk
Sunday (2/22) - Day 7 - Total Body Yoga

Weekly Menu Planning :

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Breakfast :
Vegetable Omelette
Peanut Butter Toast
Oats

Lunch:
Coconut Rice
Capsicum Rice
Mint Rice

Snacks: 
Sprouted Green Gram
Fruit Salad
Vegetables and Hummus

Dinner:
Carrot and Roti
Cauliflower and Roti


Linking up to Jill Conyers for weekly recap and menu planning !!