One Sweet Alternative

It is already July! Time does run very fast! And you know the season! After a tough summer, Kerala entered the monsoon season a little late and has had its effects of the heat for a longer time just like having those pre-monsoon showers a lot more than the last year. Yes, the temperature has indeed increased in the God’s Own Country, and it also feels a lot more hot than the recent years. There is a certain amount of burning feeling in the presence of only a lesser number of trees, especially in the towns and the cities.

Summer might be the best time for having those sip-ups and ice creams, as we remember those days from our school-time. But it is not summer any more, and one has to wonder what is to have during these monsoon days. It is surely not those milk shakes which made us feel awesome during those summers. Even with the rise in temperature, the rain cools things down all of a sudden. So, what would replace the ice creams? Well, there might be many options with sugar content, but honey is a lot healthier substitute to the same.

Honey makes sure that there are less calories involved and a better management of weight can be done; even skin got its advantages from honey. People spend too much time at the gymnasiums to reduce their fat and at the same time, they also end up reducing the weight of their pockets – not more fat wallets either. So, honey remains that fine source of energy and keeps you healthy and a bit more wealthier than having to go for fitness and eat those costlier things made of sugar.

Along with jaggery (known in Kerala as sarkara), honey can boast about its health benefits, and even above that, related to the lack of threats to one’s health. It is natural and is known factor that helps in digestion. Honey is known to make a difference in health not only in the Ancient Indian texts, but also in the Ancient Egypt as well as the Greek city-states. The ancient scholars from all religions were quite aware of the same, until science came up with other alternatives which were not natural.

Honey is also one of the panchamirtham. You can find something about honey in most of the religous texts and also the derived works. The Native American Civilizations, especially the Mayans knew it and so did the Chinese. Mayans actually considers the stingless bees of Central America as sacred. The myths all around the world give a special significance to honey. It is also a known fact that in the grand surviving text from the Roman Empire, Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder, we can see that the author dedicates a lot of area for the honey and its makers.

Honey is often considered as a good choice to make the immune system better, and people often use it against allergies even though done without certainty. People with throat problems are also known to have more of honey. I have a good number of aunties here who are always telling their children to have more and more honey. Some of them ask whether they have actually had honey on that day before talking about anything else. Honey is often like something which removes the worry of the parents who are concerned too much about what their children are having.

Dabur Honey thus becomes an interesting and valuable substitute for all the sugar that we take in, and the substitute can stop us from moving to the high blood sugar status, but we are all going towards the same. May be there is a point to stop and shift to a better alternative. It is the healthy and balanced diet that we all need. But the question still remains if we can follow that. May be with Dabur Honey popularizing the same, and honey getting to be an even more popular thing, it is still possible to have a Honey Diet!

You can check out Dabur Honey @ http://www.daburhoney.com/

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook Page of Dabur Honey and are used only for supporting this post.

TeNy

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Closer to Radiance

There was a question which my mom used to ask me even from my schooldays. It was about how much water I managed to drink on a day. Drink more water for the skin was the idea. I never really managed to meet that requirement of twelve glasses of water and she decreased it to eight, and I still struggled to reach there. I cared very less about health at those days, and so the idea of giving the skin more water was rather lost on me. I hope to use that tip more in future though.

The next tip was to eat your vegetables, and you will be healthier and will look better with healthier skin. Then I was like, everybody knows that already and refused my vegetables as the grand non-vegetarian kid of the time. At that time, it felt cooler to refuse the vegetables, but not that much nowadays, with going semi-vegetarian. May be I should have done that a long time ago. It is good to eat some of those vegetables, and it is good for the skin as the earlier generation always used to say.

A few years ago, she had also adviced to eat less of the spicy food or it will show on the skin. She was against those grand Chicken Biriyani adventures which we friends had and had told to have vegetables meals even when we go on a trip. It sounded too much for us at that time, but nowadays, often I choose the meals instead of the spicy things. The non-vegetarian world was rather a smaller one, but it is the healthy one as she used to say.

There was also this advice from the past, about being stress-free, as higher the stress, more chance is there for skin problems, just like the problems inside our heads. The tip was to keep calm – never really worked out for me living a life surrounded by the pathetic relatives who judge people by money and job. Stress has been part of my problems, but may be if I could lie better, I could be further stress-free and live a happier life with better skin.

My parents had always adviced me not to play cricket at noon just because some World Cup or Mini World Cup is going on. This was kind of a regular advice given to me to save my skin from the sun, and even though it was repeated so many times, I used to play the whole day until late night at that time, something which started early morning. Yes, those days had me in direct contact with sun, and they were those moments which I could have avoided for the skin.

Mom had special concern for my Vitamin C. Yes, the fruits rich in that particular vitamin was a nice preference. It was something related to the human body’s production of collagen, and the skin was to benefitted from the same. I always loved the oranges, and so this skin-care tip worked in a much better way. Lime juice was also a regular drink which I had and so this one came naturally in favour of the skin.

#ComeCloser to Radiant Skin as VICCO Turmeric Cream could be a wonderful solution for the skin problems like oily skin, pimples and blackheads, and claims to have an Ayurvedic formula with special properties of turmeric; also known to prevent and cure skin infections, rashes and allergies, with some help in dealing with injuries too. There seems to be something quite interesting about it. Do check VICCO Turmeric Cream and the related products here at their website: http://www.viccolabs.com/product-turmeric-cream-with-foam-base.php

TeNy

Day of the Happy Baby

This story goes back to that time of Mavis Dracula’s second birthday. The tale is well known around the Dracula Castle, but not otherwise. This incident happened a week before her second birthday when she was going to be introduced to the first blood-drinking experience. Uncle Dracula was busy hunting the Lich Queen’s lost zombies and the other vampires were left to take care of little Mavis for only the second time in their lives. The limited experience and shorter memory wasn’t helping them much with the process.

It was another dark night, and Uncle Dracula was to take more to time to return, according to the message brought by the Vampire Cat. Uncle Dracula took very good care of her daughter, and he was immortally skilled at being a good father. He knew what was best for the vampire kids as his elective at the Vampire Academy was Children’s Vampirology. But the same couldn’t be said about his vampire team who were caught in a deep struggle from which there was no escape. The Vampire Owl finished the diary and went into the room.

Vampire Owl [staring at Mavis]: Our sweet little fang-less Mavis! See how cute you are!

Vampire Penguin: There was shortage of owls here, you know.

Vampire Owl [working with his facial expressions]: Look at your owl uncle’s face. See how it changes.

Vampire Panda: He always comes late, unless the situation is like last time when he was locked inside.

Vampire Penguin: It is usually the zombies that come late, but not this time.

Vampire Bat: Can you just stop showing that face to Mavis?

Vampire Owl: But this makes her so happy. See her smile when I make the dead owl face.

Vampire Bat: She was already happy. It is the dry diaper that makes her so happy.

Vampire Owl: What? But I had so much ideas to make her happy. I should have changed the diaper. Why did you do that?

Vampire Bat: It was the Vampire Crocodile. He was too much of an active vampire apprentice.

Vampire Owl: That one? The crocodile with the name Mr. Croco D. Apple. He is showing too much interest in these things, right?

Vampire Bat: Yes, then Vampire Hamster forgot about that and did the same again.

Vampire Hamster: Anybody mentioned my name? I am so awesome!

Vampire Owl: It is the new Pampers Baby Dry Pants, right? I have heard that its Magic Gel locks in moisture so that the baby’s skin remains dry and healthy for up to twelve hours. So she should be super happy now.

Vampire Bat: Yes, she is so happy. A dry baby is a happy baby. Haven’t you heard about that?

Vampire Owl: I shall add it to the Vampire Proverbs List then!

Vampire Bat: Don’t stop making faces at her though; she likes that a lot. Vampire Crocodile was also singing and dancing for her. She was so much extra happy. She also keeps playing with that toothless vampire toy.

Vampire Owl: We are all good uncles, aren’t we?

Vampire Bat: Yes, our skills have developed a lot with experience and the new Pampers Baby Dry Pants. Uncle Dracula should be proud.

Vampire Owl: Amen to that!

***The image used in this blog post is from the Happy Hours Campaign Page at IndiBlogger.com. This blog post was written as part of the Happy Hours campaign from Pampers in association with Indiblogger. Do check this link for details: http://www.rewardme.in/tag/Pampers.

TeNy

Making that One Decision

The memories go to those diabolical moments a few years back, and there I was caught in a giant web which had more than huge spider supplying dilemma creating a series of more and more complex webs. There was the need to make a choice, but I couldn’t go on with it. My decision making ability had hit some new lows right there, making me wonder if the correct decision could ever be made me with the presence of perpetual doubts which never seemed to end.

It was the time when I was turning into full-time cynic from a part-time doubter. I was caught within the web of BCA which I neither liked or was ever interested in. I never really studied and went to the college very rarely. Even during the classes, I spent too much time on the sleepy side, never really making an attempt to understand anything. It seemed to be an bottomless pit of nothingness where I was staying for almost no reason, and the number of webs were only growing, only to make things worse.

Life was going on and on like nothing really mattered. It was to go on in a never-ending manner in which I was to fail, collect back-papers and keep writing the exams to make it a nice five year plan. I could still not be persuaded to study better. Each and everyday, I would get on my Honda Unicorn or TATA Indica and go all the way to the college travelling those thirteen kilometres for almost no real reason. I even had no good friends and there was absolutely no point of that journey.

One day, when I was doing nothing as usual, and wasting my time as if time and tide waited for me at the bus station, my mother asked me if I really wanted to do this. She added that she should have asked the same question before I joined the course as suggested by some uncles, but that wouldn’t have mattered because her opinion wouldn’t have been of any value. She said that this was the time for me to make a stand.

It was not like I had never made a stand, but I have had the same opinion as my mother, that whatever stand I take, it is not going to change anything in a positive manner. I have had my choices of school, but my opinions were never taken into consideration. The points by some of the relatives and fake friends always made more impact in the decision making at our home. Even for Plus Two, I had wished to take the Humanities group, but I had scored too much to go for what they called the “inferior group”.

So when she said that I should make a decision on this, I didn’t want to do anything other than to stop this ridiculous course which made no sense to me, and with so much less teaching going on and nobody in the class really studying, this was going to bring nothing positive. I decided to end this procedure of a course which was going nowhere. I decided to go to the Mahatma Gandhi University and cancel this course which I did, even as most of my relatives were completely against the idea and wanted me to go on studying this forever until I pass.

I joined BA English after that, and with most of my friends of BCA still trying to clear the exams, she told me that it was the best stand that I had ever taken, and it is the first major positive decision of a great value that I had ever made. It is because of her words of encouragement and support that she had provided, that I was able to change my graduation which had a great influence on my post-graduation, making me want to be that PG graduate rather than go with the flow and reach somewhere not really fitting in.

***The image used in this blog post is from HDFC’s IndiBlogger Campaign Page. The blog post was written as part of the Happy Hours Campaign from HDFC Life in association with IndiBlogger. They have surely managed to come up with one of the best advertisements for their product as you have seen in the video above. Do find some time to check: http://www.hdfclife.com/

TeNy

Unconditional Asus Love

Asus Zenfone 5 has been my dream phone for quite a long time. This would be the third gadget from Asus I will be using if I could get to finally attain my love, the Asus Zenfone. For so many months, I have spent my time staring at her on various online shopping websites without saying a word. I have been a stalker of this phone for too long, and on this Valentine’s Day, I choose to tell her that she is my valentine.

Vampire Owl: But dude, she is just a phone. I mean, “it” is a phone. Choose the lady in the advertisement instead. That girl on the poster is a beauty too.

Never mind the Vampire Owl. He has been very jealous because he can’t use a phone without scratching it. It is in his blood to scratch. He never really owns a phone right now. He is a very sad owl and a depressed vampire. But I have got my Valentine on this wonderful day, and she is a Zenfone. Why is she my Valentine? Well, there are too many reasons for the same. I can give you five of them with ease.

1. The Beauty: There is some connection between love and beauty as far as the poets are concerned, and I choose to go through that connection with my future Zenfone. Among the mobile phones, I have considered Zenfone as the fairest of them all, and it doesn’t mean the one who doesn’t cheat with a line call during Badminton – but the most beautiful of them all. A Zenfone in red is so much of a joy to watch. It is not comparable to Kate Upton in red, but still too beautiful.

2. The Gaming Partner: I have always wanted a Valentine who could play games with me, and I have found one with Asus Zenfone. I feel that an amazing gaming experience awaits me with the phone, and I already have a small list of games ready, which I wish to expand once she becomes my Valentine. We shall play more games together than any immortal has played with his lovers. The games will keep us youthful for long. We might even come up with a gamer anthem.

3. The Honeymoon: I see that if I can make the Zenfone mine on this Valentine’s Day, I have a chance to fly to Singapore with her for honeymoon, and all the expenses will be covered by her only. Zenfone already has a honeymoon ready, and if still there is any doubt in my mind whether to propose to the wonderful phone, I have to ponder more on my thought procedures than anything else. Yes, I have been to Singapore and I love that place – another opportunity, this time with the loved one is only fair.

4. That Energy: I cannot question her energy either, as Zenfone has that long battery backup and performance which might surprise me, even with the clear knowledge about the same. Who wouldn’t want a valentine with so much of energy? After all, she would always have the power to light up my life. I might loss my powers, but she won’t. She will remain better than me – it is something that I shall cherish.

5. And Simplicity: ZenUI is intelligent and simple – who wouldn’t like a smart girl who has absolutely no vanity and talks with such simplicity? Zenfone is such a lovely character – never boasting about her skills and always keeping things simple; not falling into the Devil’s favourite sin. Lucifer might be very unhappy with that, but let him be so, because he should have a lot of free time at hell. Pride has no role in her heart. She is worth every word of love that you say for her.

This blog post is part of the Happy Hours campaign from Indiblogger in association with Asus India.

***The image used in this blog post is from the Happy Hours campaign page.

TeNy

Using Flipkart Vouchers

There are not many things more awesome than using a Flipkart voucher, and the best thing about it is that we can use fifteen vouchers together, and so even if we only have five hundred rupees vouchers, we can buy things up-to seven thousand five hundred rupees. If things go out of stock after the order is made, we will not only get the money back, but also some extra money as the Flipkart wallet amount that can be added during the purchase. That felt very fair to me. Here are a few useful things I bought with the Flipkart vouchers. ***The photos are from Flipkart website, and prices are as shown there now; it might have been cheaper or costlier when I bought them.

1. Swipe 3D Life Plus HDMI Tablet (Rs 3400)
I have always wanted a tablet, but wondered what the use of one would be, and why should I have one when the house has too many laptops and mobiles already. But everyone I knew had a tablet and so I decided to get one – then I saw this one on Flipkart; never knew much about the company it seemed that the reviews were a little inclined to the positive side, and with all its features and with tagline of being India’s first 3D tablet, this was a fine option for my little use. Now it has become my daily gaming device and music player, with hopes to turn into the movie and book device. It might not be a big deal or a powerful thing, but does my job and for this price, it was all that was needed.

2. Prestige PSSFB Toast (Rs 1195)
I had already bought an electric kettle for my room, and with the tea problem solved with that option, I need the option to make something to eat right in my room which can boast of being a hybrid of kitchen and bedroom. I remember the name was a little different for this electronic device at that time even as both names still seem to exist for the same thing, but this sandwitch toaster became a perfect choice for me. You could make sandwiches in your room, eat them and make those people who come to your house have the same with tea. It actually seemed to be a really interesting one, and it is the first time I am seeing a sandwich toaster.

3. Bajaj ATX 4 750 W Pop Up Toaster (Rs 1127)
So, what would I do when there was no need for the sandwich? The bread was always there to be bought, and my room had already transformed into a place for edible things, and then there came the option of this bread toaster with two years warranty – that made me confident, even as I haven’t bought many things from Bajaj in the recent years. I could actually buy the best looking toaster from the list (it was just one of the two toasters that had delivery here and so it wasn’t really a big option), and this has actually saved us during the sudden visit of many guests, and along with the Prestige PSSFB Toast, this works very well.

4. Home and Bazaar Antiquity Analog Wall Clock (Rs 1249)
The clock that I had in my room was quite big and I was regularly asked to put that one the main room – I was looking for a clock that would suit my room, and I came upon this one as the clock had seller here for the first time when I was looking to get something with those vouchers. It looks nice and as something of good antique value. The problem was that it was smaller than it seemed on the photo and should be difficult for older people to see the time. But for me, it fit to my small space on the wall, really well. There was a discount when I had it, and without that lower price, I would say this clock is over-priced because of its small size.

5. Wildcraft Wallet (Rs 545)
This was one of the first things that I bought, and the awesomeness of this one had me searching for more things on the site. I have been using some random wallets without thinking much, but this one changed things a lot. People actually noticed this one a lot, and I bought a blue one as well as grey one so that I can use both of them, one after the other. I have been impressed by many things, but this is the first time for a wallet, and it was not something that I had expected. This is a five hundred and fourty five rupees well spent, and even without the vouchers, this is an excellent choice as there seems to be no adjustment in quality either – and you know the looks.

There are also a huge number of books, especially those related to English Language and Literature, History and General Knowledge which are blessed with the free delivery option, and also a few things for the kitchen including the pressure cooker, glass set, container set, frying pan and similar things along with surge protectors, plant containers, games and toys, gardening equipment, plus the stationary stuff. I have felt that Flipkart has some very nice options for shopping for some useful stuff which are not available locally.

TeNy

The Question of Choice

I have had a life which had lots of gadgets since my childhood. There might not be that many during these days, but there is always a good number of them which makes way into my wishlist, as I have made a few lists about the same in my laptop as well as in Flipkart. I was one of the first students to have a personal computer at home when I was at school, and undoubtedly the first student in my class to have a desktop computer; it was what started my love for gadgets on another day along with my gaming days and nights which seemed eternal.

As far as gadgets are concerned, Asus is a name that comes to my mind all the time. I am a big fan of that impressive Asus ZenFone 5 with red colour, and hope that it would be my mobile phone on one day. There are also two Asus laptops at my home, both being the smaller and portable ones, and I have had a good time with both of them. I have been a user of ASUS motherboards and graphics cards along with one monitor from the same company for quite a long time. So, lets go straight to the two new computer models from ASUS which easily catches our attention due to many nice and awesome reasons.

When the choice of power and portability comes, I would want to choose both, but my favourite gadget of interest is ASUS All In One PC ET2040, not by a huge margin but by just a small distance. I have never had an all-in-one PC in my life and neither have I used one of these new generation things of style. It has also beem quite some time since I last had a desktop computer. Built-in one hour UPS is a very nice factor which has my interest, as the external UPS never really made me interested.

Along with its gesture control and quickness, what impresses me a lot is the presence of so many USB ports. I see so many options there, as all of my desktops and laptops never had this many USB port options. I was always in the need of a good number of them, with my USB internt device, USB storage devices, printer and mobile needing them regularly. More the number of USB slots, that much better it gets for me. This is also stylish and has awesome looks. It is more like a hybrid, and a special computer.

Then the other choice that we have here, ASUS EeeBook X205TA is so thin, and should suit me whenever I go on those nice little trips. One has to love its curves and compared to it, none of my laptops are enough stylish – the one I am using now is the fifth laptop I have bought and the least stylish of them all. The better looking ones were Asus indeed, as I have had two from the same company and my parents are using them now. The system here looks so light and suitable to pack and take anywhere, and the long duration battery supports the same. The high battery duration has been my weakness when choosing the right laptop.

I love its price too, and I would say that with the low cost, this gadget is something that I would buy when I have a chance. Soon, it will be the time for the next laptop in my life as my present system is huge and bulky, and I am managing with it only because I have been at home these days. I have had a detailed look at both the dark blue and red versions which seemed to be the best, and I was surprised how good they looked – I would choose the red one because it looks more special. I would need both of them, and I shall keep the first one as the common computer for everyone at home.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Asus Happy Hours page at Indiblogger and are only meant to support this work. This blog post at The Tea Cerebrations is for the Happy Hours Campaign from Asus in association with Indiblogger. There are two amazing gadgets from Asus that we have here which are sure to catch your interest. Check the following links for more details about the same: ASUS EeeBook X205TA and ASUS All In One PC ET2040

TeNy

Life Gets a Lot Quicker

Having its inception in 2008, Quikr has been very useful in the lives of so many people, as I have heard about it from common men – even as I am yet to use their services directly. I have been interested in their advertisements and have thought that this would be a nice and very interesting option if I am ever to shift to another place, quite far away from my home. Such an option is never far away for me, as I haven’t really settled down in my life yet. The choices still seem to be kind of open for me.

There are many places where I would not mind relocating to – the list includes those cities which I have already visited – Kolkata, Calicut, Trivandrum, Chennai, Thanjavur, Kollam, Coimbatore, Erode, Tiruchirappalli, Mangalore and Hyderabad. Among those options, there would also be Bangalore – yes, that is a more possible choice for relocating. There are so many of my relatives and friends there and I have been invited so many times to travel there. Yes, there are so many engineers there, and most of the people that I know, happens to be B.Tech or M.Tech with their qualification.

You can always move with these necessary things, and buy the rest through Quikr 😀

This invitation procedure is something that has been going on for a very long time with no chance to reach an end. My choice have been to do PhD somewhere there, an idea which has been there for a long time. I have been transformed into an old man with a post graduation in English Language and Literature with these times of doing almost nothing of much use. Bangalore has been the first choice for many people I know, and it had to be in my list too.

So, the first idea would be to get a house for rent, and I have already found a nice and small house through the real estate category of Quikr, which seems to be a good option. I also see the part-time job which I can combine with that PhD if I can write and pass the test and interview with that luck which has evaded me in the offline life. Yes, that would be a perfect combination right there, if things work out nicely.

Then there is the need to get a Persian kitten and name her Simona (or even Agnieszka) which should be even easier with Quikr. A few beds and the rest of the furniture can be easily bought through the same place, along with a few electronic appliances, especially refrigerator and washing machine. The car needn’t be there, but there should be that scooter, which can once again be bought, as I see some nice offers already, right now at the website.

Even Simona the Kitty should feel the urgent need to buy a nice vehicle through Quikr 😉

I also see the services for repair, which I can use when needed – and the need will be there, no doubt. May be I will also buy an aquarium which I saw in the website if it is still there, along with those nice little lovebirds there. If things get better, there can be another mobile and laptop through Quikr, who knows? No need to get frantic; no need to wander around. Everything is here and the options are rather endless when you have a look. There will be a lot of small things to take to Bangalore from here too, that is for sure.

All the images used in this blog post are mine only, taken on my own camera, the Sony Cybershot DSC-W310. This blog post was written as part of the Happy Hours Campaign from Quikr in association with Indiblogger. 

TeNy

No More Lies Needed

How can you justify a lie? Yes, there can be many reasons for that. Some people say that it was not really a lie, but somewhat the truth. But lets think about it. Lord Alfred Tennyson has given some idea about the same in his poem, The Grandmother – “That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies”. You can add enough ornaments to the lies and make it sound sweet or like truth, but no, that doesn’t justify anything. A lie is a lie, no matter if it comes dressed in gold, silver, pearls or diamonds. There are no sweet lies, and there are no true lies. When you add something to it and make it more believable or lovable, it is another step towards cheating.

This takes me years back, when I was striving to get my driving license, something which I wished to achieve immediately after I turned eighteen. I have had good balance for the two-wheeler and I was driving the car just okay enough. So, I thought that may be I will struggle with the four-wheeler license, but for the two-wheeler, I am surely getting that with ease. For some reason, what happened there was the other way around. I went through the “H” hurdle easily in the Maruti 800, but touched my left leg’s fingers on the ground when taking “8” on that Bajaj M80 which looked like the first two-wheeler on Earth.

I came back from the spot to see that nobody was looking. There was something going on outside the ground and people were busy staring towards that direction. So, nobody knows that my legs touched the ground. But those who studied driving with me had seen.

My first two-wheeler – the TVS Centra. Didn’t help much in the 8 chase though 😀

“It is okay. Nobody knows that your feet touched the ground. Just tell him that you completed it perfectly” one of them said.

“Yes, just don’t tell him that there was any contact with the ground” another one said.

“It can happen to anyone. There is nothing special in saying so” the next one said.

“But the fact remains that I did touch the ground” I said.

My instructor joined the conversation with a man from another driving school, as they came back from whatever was going on outside the ground.

“Listen to the other students. You were always supposed to get the license. I have seen you drive. There is nothing wrong with that. If this happened with the car, that would have been more of a concern. But I have never seen you make one wrong move with the two-wheeler. You can do this with so much ease even in your sleep. Didn’t you see that girl who had to hit the tree to stop the vehicle? That is the kind of driving that deserves no license. This is your first and it is because of the anxiety. It happens. Just tell that you completed the 8 without the feet touching the ground” he said.

“But what is the point of getting the driving license if I haven’t actually qualified?” I asked.

“It is all about being good enough to drive. Nobody is going to ask you to take an 8 on the centre of the road. Actually it is something that you should never do. If you say you touched the ground, you will have to come here on another day after giving the application again. Do you want to do that?” he asked.

“Yes, I would like to get the license when I qualify. If I can’t do this right, I don’t deserve to have a license. I shall come again” I said.

“Okay, go ahead then. It is your choice if you want to try again” he said.

So, I went to the officer and told him that my legs touched the ground once, and I didn’t do it as good as I had expected. He seemed to have a sense of disbelief in his eyes, and told me that it happens to everybody, asking me to make a try on the next date possible with confidence, as it was not a big deal. I came back two week later to claim my two-wheeler license, and it was a quick and steady process.

Part of my driving license – the two-wheeler authorization, as you see, was added later.

These days, when I drive, I have had a great amount of confidence with the two-wheelers, something which I never had with the four-wheelers. It is because I got it fair, while with the car, I just did what I was taught to do, as any surprise could have completely taken me off the plans. If I had got the driving license the very first time by lying, I wouldn’t have been this confident. When you choose to tell the truth instead of the lie, even as lying can make things easier and better, there is a satisfaction, and this is something that you can carry on with confidence.

I know that this world will find it difficult to follow the path of truth. I have my own relatives who keep telling the stories of their own or of their sons or daughters who had told lies to overcome a situation and made people fools. They say it as if it is some kind of achievement and these were signs of smartness. They were better than others because they could lie better. They deserved applause because they could handle other people in the wrong manner. Is this the kind of example that we set for the new generation? Isn’t this the main reason for the new generation losing their values?

There is a movie called Philips and the Monkeypen from last year in which there is a conversation between the father and the son – about truth not being bitter, and there is such a feeling of bitterness because lies are just too sweet. Yes, we do get the feeling that lies can get us achieve more. But I wonder what they can gain by achieving all the things in the world if they lose their soul? It will be a permanent mark on their conscience and one day, it can come back to haunt them. Every religion speaks against the lies, from the Ten Commandments to the Noble Eightfold Path.

This blog post was written in association with the Happy Hours campaign “Kitna chain hota hai na sachchai mein” from Kinley in association with Indiblogger. Do spare some time watch the video below, as this campaign from the company shows the significance of being honest and tells us to be dauntless and confident in speaking the truth, no matter how much we are afraid about the same. Remember the old saying “Honesty is the best policy”. Here is one girl showing the right example in Kinley 2014 TVC:

Let there be “Boond Boond Mein Sacchai” in our society, and not the dark lies of selfish motive 🙂 *The images used in this blog post are mine (photos taken by me on my camera), of course.

TeNy

The Conquest of Fear

Watch the ad that shows Arya’s journey from fear to victory with Mountain Dew.

There are not many things stronger than fear. Some people will say that there is faith, others will believe in hope, but the strength of fear is, at most of the times bigger than any of these other things. People do things or hesitate to do things just because of fear, and it is not something new – it is a fact that we can see through centuries; history proves the same during its passage through ages. There is the need to conquer this fear if we have to progress in life. Don’t we all need to #RiseAboveFear?

I have had my fears, and even as I have never really made a list about the same, I am certain that one of the bigger fears were my fear of the heights. Yes, I have rarely dared to go to the heights and take a look below. Even when I did, I have mostly been holding on to something and chanting prayers. But that had to change with a journey, and it was that day on which we decided to go to Malayattoor.

The beautiful altar serves as a blessing as well as a confidence booster to the journey.

For those who don’t know about this place, it is a pilgrimage centre about fifty kilometres from Cochin, with a church located at the top of the hill, where Saint Thomas the Apostle is supposed to have prayed there. It is believed that, after arriving at Kodungalloor in AD 52, he stopped at Malayattoor on the way to Mylapore. This is one of the most visited Christian pilgrimage centres in Kerala and should be the top holy destination in the whole of India which is not dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

So, when my friend told me that this time he is visiting the place alone as his father was not well and won’t be able to climb the hill, I decided to give him company. This was to be my first successful climbing of a hill, as I have been afraid until then. I have tried to go up this hill, but never even reached near even quarter of the distance, as I got worried and came back every time – a total of three times until then.

The rocks are nothing but just the path to our final destination at the top of the hill.

It was easier for him, as he has already been to the top many times. I was still worried about the slippery rocks which stood on the way, and my inability to maintain balance due to fear was evident. He was faster and had to stop regularly to wait for me. The sights of older people and devotees climbing while holding different types of big crosses on their shoulders were more of the inspiration for me.

The church at the top of the hill awaits us to reach there, surrounded by nature.

I wondered why I was thinking about myself as so weak, and was being too afraid. The fact that it was a pilgrimage strengthened me. I felt that this was the moment to get rid of the fear, and something like this will only strengthen me for future. If I can’t climb to the top now, my fear was never going to end, and I would never have any confidence about myself.

The old altar with its own antiquity also awaits us believers on the top of the hill.

So, I stopped at the beginning stages of the journey and had a Mountain Dew, one of my favourite soft drinks. It has been what I always preferred to have, along with Mirinda and 7Up. So I continued that journey upwards, and I decided to make it as fast as possible. There were so many people around, and as people of all ages were doing the same thing with confidence, it helped me a lot in gaining the confidence.

One of the views before reaching the top – quite strong enough to inspire anybody.

It took me much less time for me to reach the top as I decided not to stop at anything, not for my fear of looking down and neither for my doubts about reaching the top, and I have never been happier when I was at the top. I considered it my greatest achievement against the fear, and I was not afraid anymore. We wandered around there, prayed and had another bottle of Mountain Dew along with clicking a few photos.

And then I was at the top; tired and of lesser strength, but I couldn’t be any happier.

After giving Saint Thomas his due and spending our time in prayers, we slowly came down, and I had no fear in coming down, as I had conquered what I thought I couldn’t. I was sure that this was only the beginning of my big journeys to the heights. It was the end of a journey and the beginning of the confidence which had me not that worried about the heights any more. On the way back, we stopped at the Indian Coffee House at Kalady and had tea to plan another journey, after this victory.

And then it was the time to take a look at the beauty of nature, along with having some rest.

*All photos used in this blog are from my journeys to Malayattoor at different times, taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310. This blog post was written as part of Mountain Dew‘s “Rise Above Fear” Happy Hours campaign in association with Indiblogger. Have a wonderful weekend and Sunday, and do spare some time to check the official Mountain Dew Page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mountaindewindia.

TeNy

Hoping for a Better Situation

There is no problem as big as the lack of toilets in India, and that too in the twenty first century. Even as such problems have been a lesser thing of horror in Kerala as I have felt during my travel throughout the state, it has been much more during my journeys through the less urban areas of the other states. There is no difficulty in knowing about the same either, as we can realize that just from the smell itself.

Considering the fact that the situation hasn’t got much better is really a cause of concern. We have gone through so many years after independence, and not much has changed as we can see. The progress that we have achieved is tremendous, but going to Mars and still not having toilets? What does that mean? There are serious health problems which can result due the same, and health is just one of the troubles – as we hope and believe that the new government will take good measure for the same, lets take the case of Babli.

The kitty warns you about the health hazards 😀 (taken on my GT-S7562)

It was early morning, and Babli got out of her room to the terrible smell of faeces. It was a cloudy morning and rain kept on pouring down like it has no other job to do. Babli’s area had not more than five toilets in total for the large number of people who lived around. She knew that India is one of the fastest developing nations in the world, and admired how much progress it had in the last few years – she had learnt about the same. But she wondered why there was no toilet for her.

It was worse when she had to go to school. She had to travel fifty five kilometres to reach the school in heavy traffic. It was near impossible to find a toilet on the way, and the boys always did it on the roadside, and she knew that it would have a terrible impact on her dignity if she would even think about the same. The time taken to travel that much distance was about three hours, and it was sometimes impossible to reach the school on time after waiting in the long queue for the toilet.

Babli knew that what she wanted was not a worship place; temples, churches and the rest of the places for God were not her concern. But the closest church had toilets and the temple also had a toilet for ladies in the premises, and due to the same, she had become closer to God. She never really prayed, but did hope for the abode of any God to appear so that she could relieve herself. She had decided that when she grow up, she would go to a restaurant and have some food there just to use the toilet there.

She knew that India was progressing, but isn’t a toilet part of progress? She wondered. May be she could write about it, but there was no point. She remembered the man who made a speech about it in the school. He had said that a clean toilet is the right of every Indian, and it is very essential for good health. Why was she deprived of her right? Why was he even without her privacy? She continued to ponder over the same. When she asked that man, he had said that there was nothing he could do.

How can we make the beautiful nature a toilet? (taken on my DSC-W310)

This has been a problem for not just one Babli, but a lot of her friends who lived near her home and also those who came to the same school from different areas. Yes, each and every Babli in India needs a toilet, and it is a basic requirement that needs to be fulfilled before hoping for a lot of other things which arrive in the name of development. But what is the first step to development? It is time we start thinking about the same. Not malls, not multi-national companies, not high profile industries, but toilets for everyone. This is where Domex is doing a wonderful job with their initiative to bring toilets to as many villages as possible.

This is for the Happy Hours campaign at Indiblogger in association with Domex, a writing for “Toilet for Babli” which is part of “You Click Domex Contributes” initiative at http://www.domex.in/. Do click on the link for more on the same. You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on http://www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

TeNy

Visualizing a Dream Home

It has been just two months since we moved to our new home – our own renovated house after leaving the life at the flat behind. It has been exactly two months and five days, and I have to say that I am extremely happy to be at this new home, which is a lot better than how I thought a very old home could have been converted into. But is in no way, my dream home, and I am going to visualize one right now with items from Porcelanosa. All the images are from http://www.porcelanosa.com/ where you can check for further details.

I am going to begin with the house that I have, and for the same, the first thing should be the tiles for the floor. My choice here would be Slate which has an impressive and natural look which is my first choice for the floor. It is something that my parents would never allow, but there is nothing like standing on something that looks natural and I would say that there is a certain amount of antiquity associated with it – here is Pizara Kathmandu Pulido that comes to that picture. I would choose natural wood for the sit-out and the balcony area though (Classic Ebano Luxor), as it gives a certain kind of royal look.

Wall tiles are a must to add to the variety, and it is surprising that a good number of houses don’t have the same. For the same, I would add STON-KER wall tiles because I doubt anything else could give the right look for my home. With space left in there for the books, it would look fantastic on my wall. I would just need to find a complimenting paint, and the combination should be pretty much amazing.

The kitchen choice would be the G975 KRION / Ukola model – it looks so simple and elegant, and so neat; we don’t really have that kind of relatives who can keep it neat, but we can always handle that, can’t we? One thing is sure, that people would love to eat there, and the taste of food won’t matter that much as long as we have such an impressive design for kitchen. Do check for the Monomando Nantes taps in the list, it is the perfect tap choice for me.

Then there is the need for furniture; look at this for a dining room, inspiring people to have more of dinner. With Dreams KRION table and Curve Roble Blanco Cal chairs – notice the simplicity, and yet it looks better than the huge dining table and the curved chairs that we have at home – it is not size that matters, as it is the simplicity and usefulness that should define the place that we choose to have our food.

For the bathroom, I take the Victorian Single bathtub to satisfy my love for the Victorian literature and style which I admire the most. It looks so impressive that we can use that for a period drama movie. I would choose mosaic for the walls, and it would be Mini Iris Stone Whites. For showers, I choose the Essence-C set combining modernity with antiquity. Essence-C works nicely for the combination too, as it seems to be the best sanitaryware I can choose for now – wish there was something like that in our local shops. I am also adding the Mood accessories to the list because they would look nice sticking out from the mosaic.

Then look at the wardrobe setting for Natura Roble Marengo / Lino Cancún Textil – it is something like what I should have right now; even though I might not use that for the same purpose at it is made, but it is extremely useful and stylish as one can notice from its looks. I have never seen something like that before, that is for sure. It is the perfect choice for a great bedroom. It is not just a bedroom anymore, but a customized world – it is multi-purpose as far as I am concerned.

This much should be enough for me, and for the rest, I can manage with what I already have. *Part of the Happy Hours campaign from Porcelanosa in association with Indiblogger for the topic “Pick as many items as you can from Porcelanosa to build your dream home. Tell us why you chose them and why”. For more details, please do check at http://www.24kliving.com/

TeNy