heart over head

Some graphic design

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Friends, just started learning a few graphic designs. This picture is one of my practice sessions of graphic art work. This is not a pixelated one. You can download it, enlarge it or compress it but it wouldn't lose its resolution. This picture can be downloaded and used a desktop wallpaper, mobile phone wall paper, screensaver etc.
Enjoy! Don't forget to make a comment.

Government job as a career

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:01:00 +0000

India is a land of villages. You go to any village and ask a literate youngster what their dream job is? You would be surprised to get the answer - Govenment job. Not just that, you talk to people from towns and tier-II cities and you get the same reply. I was surprised when I was talking to an NRI friend working overseas earning a six figure pay per month say that he would prefer a low paying Government job rather than a high paying job in the private sector. When searching for a groom, brides and their parents prefer a person who is in Government service even today when there are ample high paying jobs in the private sector.

What is it that makes someone aspire a Government job? The obvious answer is "job security". Add to it some additional benefits like free medical treatment for dependants, assured loans from banks in times of need, generous leave travel concessions for self and family, leave encashment facility, drawal of advance for festivals, abundant leave facilities - to pursue higher education, to try for a better job and medical emergencies. At the end of the career, there is something called a retirement age when the job holder attains superannuation when he/she is paid the gratuity in addition to the savings made in a provident fund. In some jobs, there is an assured pension scheme taken care of, by the Government and in the rest of the jobs there is a contributory pension scheme where the job holder saves some of his salary and some amount deposited by the Government. And there are some who either join with vested interests or get vested interests during the service with some ulterior motives, though such cases should be an exception rather than a norm. This is the perfect picture that one expects out of a government job, something akin to the proverb- "Grass is green on the other side of the fence". A job in Government to some people is like getting a confirmed reservation in a long distance train and if such people doesn't get a confirmed ticket they try different ways and means to get the ticket (read Government job). We have many scandals in job recruitments because of these kinds of people.

Well, if you have read this far, you have seen the outside perspective. Now, let's see how a Government job looks from the inside. The moment someone is selected for a Government job, he/she would be kept on probation for the first two years when they would be watched keenly for any indiscipline, disintegrity etc. and when such issues crop up they can be thrown out of the job. If they are given proper training, it is easy to adapt to the work conditions but if there is no formal training given by the concerned department, the new employee has to undergo lot of hardships as he/she hasn't learned these techniques while in school or college. In some departments like the revenue department, if the new employer doesn't work on a file because he is not trained for that, he/she wouldn't be spared as the Government revenue would be at stake. Such employees, even if they have completed the probation period without a remark wouldn't be able to work happily in the years to come as they have to cover up the way certain files have been handled because of their ignorance of law and procedures. In some Government departments there is a lot of stagnation with promotion avenues directly linked to the retirement of seniors. Some departments provide just one promotion in a service span of 30 years.Any amount of coaxing by the government giving higher pay scales without giving an actual promotion doesn't reduce their plight.

Government job as a career is a great option only for someone who has joined as a Civil servant or for someone who leads a contended life, living in his means and on his salary alone. But for people with high ambitions who want to earn big money a Govenment job is not the right career.

how women keep small change when men fail to

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:24:00 +0000

Today is the International Women's day and I wanted to pay a tribute to the women of the world by writing on a topic probably no one has written so far. As John Gray has put it Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. While men think with their brain or head women think with their heart. In many cases of art, beauty and money matters what is important to a woman has least importance to a man.

When a man and a woman go shopping together while a woman looks at the color, design and creativity involved in making a garment a man looks at the price tag first. Just have a look around at the various shopping malls and you find that a woman invariably carries a handbag whether she makes a purchase or not. Of course even a man makes sure that he carries his wallet in the purse and makes doubly sure that he is carrying the credit card. At every place some purchases are made, small change in the form of coins is generated. Women have a separate enclosure in their handbag to store all that small change. The same is not the case with a man's wallet. Though he carries a big wallet he feels it a burden to store all that small change. The first thing he would do is to stash away all those coins in the dashboard of the car if he drives one. Rest of those who don't drive a car give away all the change in the form of a tip at the first opportunity. If he doesn't have a habit of tipping he would still try to relieve himself of the burden of carrying the small change at his first visit to a shop.

Well, why does this happen? Women have a better foresight and keep the small change for future. They use it to purchase vegetables, pay the laundry bills or buying fruits. They feel more secure having small change in their handbags. Men are a little careless about this small change factor as they have an inherent belief that they can find someone to give small change when they require it. Moreover, men feel it a burden carrying weight in their pockets.

Women have strange thought patterns while men don't. That's the reason why women excel in the field of art. A small example will explain the point. Put a question to a man "What is 5 multiplied by 4?". Man thinks this way " 4 x 5 = 20" . A women thinks something like this" (2+2) X 25 /5 = 20". To simply put it a woman's brain makes more permutations in the same time as what men's brain does and arrives at the correct answer a shade quicker. Well then, trust a woman for a harmonious life!

Ideal place to live

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:45:00 +0000

What is the ideal place to live? Is it the countryside, village, town, city or the metropolis? Isn't it a difficult question to answer? We live according to our choice and circumstances. Affordability of a space either by buying it or renting it out is a deciding factor for many of us. I was told in my childhood that we should live in a home which should be at a walkable distance to the school. In my childhood many of the families had two or three children and the earning opportunities to the parents were less. A school going student taking up a part-time job was unheard of.
Times have changed now as there are many opportunities to earn to both the parents as well as children and so the good old adage of live near the school is outdated. Moreover, these days schools are located far away from the residential areas but the exception is the corporate schools that are located in the midst of business centres. God save the children studying in such schools as they are exposed to high levels of sound pollution even during the classes. Nowadays with easy availability of loans people are affording two wheelers and commuting to work. Ultimately it boils down to the point that one should live in a place which is affordable. Even I thought the same way and felt like an expert till today morning when my belief was shattered.
Today morning His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji in one of his discourses on ETV asked this question - What is the ideal place to live? He said that many of the people think that one should live in a locality where there is an easy availability of a market nearby, hospital nearby, school nearby, railway station nearby, Bus station nearby, in the middle of a city, in a village as it is peaceful there, near a water body like a river etc. He said that one should live in a locality where there are GOOD PEOPLE. People who are willing to help in times of need, and the help may be giving good advice or standing by someone in distress. If the neighborhood has good people it takes very little time to address the community needs and get all the amenities as good people don't fight among themselves and instead think of the common good of the society. For some good nature is an inherent quality while for some it is a cultivated quality. It doesn't matter how the quality has come but whether or not having the quality alone matters.
After listening to Him I understood that I was highly ignorant and in a blissful state. I hope you are not in a state of mind similar to mine.
Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network. If you like the blog become a follower of the blog. You can also read this blog on the mobile phone using the mobile site link. Please visit the forum and express your views on various topics, reply to questions you know and improve the interaction with the online community.

Joy and Sorrow:Two sides of the same coin

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:49:00 +0000

    Last evening I went to the annual school day function of my youngest son. He is in Kindergarten. The school hired an auditorium and organized the function there. The show was anchored by the school children and this was a welcome change from the routine. It was a lovely sight to see the pre-school students and kindergarten students perform the dances on the stage. The dance programs were wonderfully interspersed with skits and jokes that had us in splits. My sons dance was scheduled at serial number seven of the program list and we were all eagerly waiting for it.
   Finally, the time has come and three songs from the latest Bollywood movies and tollywood movies were taken and clippings mixed to make a song of about seven minute duration. The performance of the kids was truly amazing and by the time his dance was over it was around 7 PM. I have rejoiced at the fact that he had immense talent in the art of dancing which I did not have. So I decided at that moment itself that I should encourage him to learn dance from a professional troupe. Well, I thought that this was the happiest moment in my life. Immediately, after a few minutes something like 10 minutes past 7 PM I got a phone call that one of my cousin's infant son who was recuperating from Pyrrhic meningitis again had a severe attack of convulsions and shifted to the intensive care unit of the hospital.I arranged my children to go home from the middle of the function and I had rushed to the hospital.
   Later, in the hospital I sat still and thoughts were overflowing in the mind. Should I be overjoyed at my son's performance or grieve over the illness of the infant. Both of them are my beloved children. Why should this happen to me? I believe there should be someone out there like me who had this quagmire of joy and sorrow simultaneously. How to cope up with this kind of issues?
   I have pondered over this issue and finally went to sleep wherein I had a dream. It flashed in the dream that I am in no way responsible to the joy or the sorrow. A little introspection revealed that My son did all the practise and performed well for which he must be overjoyed and not me because I have not contributed anything to his good performance. And as far as the grief is concerned it is a medical emergency that happened for which none of us had a role to play. Thinking thus, I woke up with a relaxed mind!
   Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network. If you like the blog become a follower of the blog. You can also read this blog on the mobile phone using the mobile site link. Please visit the forum and express your views on various topics, reply to questions you know and improve the interaction with the online community.

Cycling your way to health

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:03:00 +0000

Long time ago I remember reading an article in a Sunday newspaper that China have taken the initiative to use cycle as a source of improving health in urban areas. In cities like Beijing and Shanghai many of the corporate offices are located in the city center and the staff working in these offices are expected to leave their automobiles 5 kilometers from their office. Bicycles that are parked at such vantage points have to be used by these people to reach their offices. They also have the option to walk down to the office instead of bicycling. In some cities of the United States of America, Government has given special tax incentives to those who use a bicycle as the primary mode of transport to reach their place of work.
There is an immense benefit to the human body by using a cycle to travel 10 kilometers everyday. Firstly, you cut down the fat accumulation, fight obesity, improve the body metabolism and get relieved of the stress. Cutting down the fuel usage reduces the burden on the state to exhaust natural resources like petrol and gasoline. Then there is reduction in the atmospheric pollution i.e., less smoke pollution and noise pollution too. An interesting phenomenon observed in the Chinese people over the last decade is that the average height over the last generation has increased by 10 centimeter, though I very much doubt that this is because of cycling alone. It is no wonder that cycle manufacturers produce 50 billion cycles worldwide every year compared to 20 million new automobiles added every year.
We can certainly emulate the cycle model in India particularly in urban metros and cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolatta etc and even the bigger towns also. The only facility that the Government needs to provide is sufficient place for the bikers to travel without fear of being trampled by the bigger automobiles. Let corporates be given special incentives like tax cuts for biking to office, special pay for using cycles, some awards and recognition in the newspapers and television for reducing the burden on resources like petrol and diesel. And the fund so saved on transportation expenses by the corporates can be used for developing walking zones and green zones. Let there be restriction on movement of automobiles during certain time period of the day. This can be done on a trial basis by disallowing any automobile on the road for one specified hour everyday. This can certainly go a long way in improving our physical and mental health as well as the financial health of the people as well as the Government alike.
Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network. If you like the blog become a follower of the blog. You can also read this blog on the mobile phone using the mobile site link. Please visit the forum and express your views on various topics, reply to questions you know and improve the interaction with the online community.

Advance Obituary

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:05:00 +0000

He was born in the year 1982. He has stolen the hearts of many Indians during the last 28 years of his existence. He is small and compact yet he is elegant and beautiful. His skin in the beginning was tight and as he aged so did his skin that became supple and soft over the years. Though his size didn't increase in the last twenty eight years, his shape transformed many times soemthing similar to what we have seen in Avatar, the movie. In his childhood, he was the best and everyone craved for him. When he was seven years old, he had siblings who were bigger than him who were chased by the young and old but suddenly died leaving many hearts a flutter when more beautiful cousins took to the roads.
I grew up with him craving his company and biding my time giving my soul a pep talk that time has not come. He was very naughty and fast, yet there were few complaints because he was cool and didn't demand much for his maintenance. He loved the roads as much as I did and never complained of backache when the road was bumpy while I did.
He had an enviable position in his family because whenever the chips were down and the family finances were bleak he used to push himself too hard to make a turnaround in the family fortunes. And he did all this with pride and success was there for the family to see and enjoy.
The family says his siblings are better and no one loves him anymore. So the family decides to kill the little one on 31st March,2010. The little one is also following the life principle that whatever is born has to die at some point of time. Come April and we will cease to see anymore little ones being born again. Advance obituary for the little one who enthralled all our hearts for 28 long years.

Note: This obituary is for the Maruti 800. The skin referred to above is the upholstery and his siblings were the Maruti 1000, Maruti Esteem and Maruti Zen. Beautiful cousins are the other small cars from Hyundai, Ford, Fiat and Skoda.

Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network. If you like the blog become a follower of the blog. You can also read this blog on the mobile phone using the mobile site link. Please visit the forum and express your views on various topics, reply to questions you know and improve the interaction with the online community.

Small things matter the most

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:11:00 +0000

Personalized communication is the most effective way of expressing yourself. There are a few things which give immense happiness to the person in question. You have a chauffeur driven car and the chauffeur holds the door for you to get down. What does most of us do? We simply get down and walk because we hired him. The next time you get out of the car say politely to the chauffeur 'Thank You" and look at his face. He is not only happy but also overwhelmed by your remark. Now, observe the next time when you are approaching the car to get in and you find that the chauffeur opens the door of the car with a smile on his face. I bet that a tip of 100 bucks wouldn't make him more happy than a small word of thanks.

Extend this courtesy to your maid, office boy, the mechanic, your own spouse, children and whomsoever you came across and had a small favor from them. A small word of thanks does wonders to your attitude and their approach. Do remember to say the Thanks from your heart and not from your lips. Even if you want to give a lip service the word doesn't come out because your heart has not given the signal to your head. So be sincere in your communication.

I hope everyone of you had attended school when you were kids and if by chance your schooling happened in a convent or missionary school you might have grown up with the words like Good Morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, Excuse me being used umpteen times a day. The schools made it a point that you should cultivate good habits for effective communication. As a matter of fact we lose our communication techniques during adolescence and graduation when we become more fond of ourselves. At this point of time, the focus is more on ourselves than others. In these times sms'ing has reduced our communication skills even more badly. However, we have to live with the times.

The next small thing that you need to practice is to call people by their names. Suppose you need to call your maid. Instead of calling saritha, call her saritha amma( mother) if she is old enough or call saritha aunty if she is isn't too old. Make it a point to use a name and designation to call out people. Everyone of us love to be called by our names. It is again a small thing that needs practice for effective communication and bringing the cheer on the face of the person in question. I may come up with more of his stuff at a later time, if time permits.

Tell a friend about this blog through sms, email or social networking. You can read this blog on mobile phone using the mobile site page. Please participate in the forum and enjoy yourself with the online community of intellectuals.

Coping with terminally ill people

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:12:00 +0000

I know a couple who has only a single child aged 9 years now. About an year ago, she suffered a stroke on her respiratory tract. This happens only among one in a million. She was on the life support(read ventilator) for the entire year. Recently, about a month ago the doctors have declared her a terminally ill patient and her chances of recovery are ruled out. They have cried and cried so much that they have no more tears left. They have still kept her on the life support hoping that some miracle would happen and she would become fine. Their financial position is not too good either to keep the treatment going.
If you love someone who may be your brother, sister, mother, father, uncle or aunt or just anyone you would know the pain of a closest one dearest to the heart suffer that way. Many of us have sympathies for such kind of people but we cannot understand the pain they undergo because we have not felt such pain ourselves. We should in fact thank GOD( if you believe in Him) for all his benevolence. I am writing this from my experience as I have suffered the pain myself with full heart when my father was diagnosed with tongue cancer and I have seen him moan on the hospital bed undergoing chemotherapy.
Everyone in the world at some point of time do undergo some pain. Gautama Buddha became the enlightened Soul after empathizing the pain of others. Does life stop for us when someone we love the most are declared as terminally ill? At least we in Hinduism believe in the theory of karma that says that every evil deed we do in this birth manifests as pain in future births and what we suffer in this birth is a result of the evil deeds performed in the previous birth. However, it is not sufficient to take solace under the karma philosophy because the same karma philosophy also propounds that we should do our duties diligently and with full responsibility. I staunchly believe in the karma philosophy and it didn't take me months to cope up with my father's loss. How many of us are so strong physically and mentally to withstand the pain inflicted by having our close one in the category of terminally ill person.
It takes a lot of time, effort and practice and come to terms with reality. Even if you don't believe in the theory of rebirth, then there will be only one birth and since we are living now we need to do our best in our chosen field. Isn't it? What we need to do is to reduce the scale of attachment with the terminally ill person and attend to him/her in a fashion as if a nurse would attend to a patient. Make a beginning with full heart and you can succeed.
Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network. If you like the blog become a follower. You can read all these posts at the comfort of your mail by subscribing to this blog. Use the forum
to express your thoughts, ideas, questions and answers with the online community.

Spotless beautiful face!

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:19:00 +0000

Who doesn't want a spotless beautiful face. It is the dream of the young ladies and girls worldwide. Many of us envy a beautiful spotless face because we really don't know how to get it, right! In India we have so many techniques from Ayurveda that would give you that enviable beauty. The first thing you need to know to get that beauty is to stay calm and relaxed all the time. If you can do that you have achieved 50% of the beauty. The next thing you need to know is to smile even unde the most trying circumstances. This would add another 25% to your beauty.
We just need another 25% to get that enviable look. If you have got some pimples you can just try this out. Take about 100 grams of mint leaves and grind them. When you grind the mint leaves mint juice is extracted. Take about a spoonful of the mint juice and add a quarter spoon of turmeric powder to this juice. Apply this paste to the pimples and leave it to dry for about one hour. Then wash your face with cold water only. Do not apply soap or any solution to clean the face. Wipe the face with a soft cloth by just cleaning only on the pimples area. Never ever apply a soap or wipe the entire face because the pores open up and if any infection is present it spreads over the entire face and increases the pimples instead of removing them. Do this every night before going to sleep and you are free of all your pimples within a week.
Once a week apply milk cream on the face and allow it to condition your face for about 15 minutes. Then wash the face with pulses flour. Do not apply a soap. Doing this for four weeks will give you a spotless beautiful face.

Visit the forum page, post your ideas and answer questions that you are familiar with.

Did you know

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:35:00 +0000

Wild bull, elephant, leopard, lion and rhinoceros are the Africa's Big Five
The honorary members of the Oscar Awards Committee are more than 6000
Hurricanes and Tornadoes travel in the clockwise direction in the Earth's Southern Hemisphere and in the anti-clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere.
Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was a marathon swimmer.
Orville Wright, one of the inventors of the aeroplane used to mark serial numbers on the eggs laid down by his hen and ate them in the same chronolgical order.
There are 1200 doors to the Spain's Escorial Palace.
there are about 1040 islands around Great Britain
A Microwave oven consumes 1 KWH of power for 20 minutes of operation. The same amount of power is consumed by a television in 3 hours. A 100W bulb will glow for 12 hours using the same power. An electric watch consuming the same power shows time for three months.
In 1311 A.D Persia's Rashid Eddin published the first history book.
There are two types of Cannibals- Exocannibals who eat enemies and unknown people; Endocannibals who eat other cannibals within their own community.
In 1781, when Willaim Hershel discovered a planet he named it as 'Georgium cidium'. In 1850, the same was renamed as 'Uranus' by England king George III.
When we see an aeroplane travelling at a high altitude we see a cloud tailing the path of the plane and it is called 'Con Trail'.
Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone never spoke to his mother or wife over the phone because both of them were deaf.
Barbie doll has four sisters - Skipper, Stacy, Kelly and Chrissie.

If you like the blog, tell a friend through email, sms or mobile phone. You can also become a follower of the blog or subscribe to it via email and read the posts in the comfort of your mail box. You can also read the blog on your mobile phone using the mobile site option on top. Please participate in the forum and express your views.
source: Eenadu newspaper magazine

Did you know that

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:10:00 +0000

The one word that appears in the Holy Bible only once - Grandmother
Before 1901 Boxing was an illegal sport. Only after 1901 boxing got an official status
While 20 million cars are rolled out every year world-wide, 50 billion cycles are manufactured every year world-wide.
To extract one kilogram of gold, you need to refine 200 tonnes of ore.
One square centimeter of sunlight is equivalent to 2,32,500 lit candles.
Music videos constitute the highest quantum of videos on youtube. This is about 20% of the videos uploaded on youtube.
Everyday 160 billion emails are sent.
Everymonth 15 billion videos are viewed on the internet.
Only woman olympian with highest olympic medals in the world is Larissa Latinina, a Soviet Gymnast. She won 18 medals in three olympics between 1956 and 1964.
The rain forests of Costa Rica has 425 varieties of bird species, 5 varieties of cats, 30 varieties of humming birds and 2500 varieties of plants. This is the only place which has got so many varieties of living things.

source: Andhrajyothi sunda
Participate in the forum and express your ideas and ask questionsy edition

Everlasting fitness mantra

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:06:00 +0000

Yes. You have read the title right and this is the topic that I am just going to write about. There are many avenues to develop overall fitness. I practise yoga. You might be a jogger, walker, swimmer, aerobics learner, cardio kick boxer or a gymnasium freak reveling under the weights. You can be anyone - a man or a woman, boy or a girl of any age group, obese or slim or anorexic- it doesn't matter and this mantra is for all of you.
India is a place where classical dance thrives in many forms. Some of the famous classical dance forms are the bharatanatyam, kuchipudi, manipuri, odissi, mohini attam etc. Every dance form has got its own history and tradition that dates back to centuries of years. Well, I think you have got the mantra by now. It is the classical dance! Any and every dance form mentioned above involves a wonderful body co-ordination between the limbs and mind. All these dance forms are practised with a cool mind. The most highly agitated mind also cools down when it views someone practising one of these dance forms.
Though classical dance is taken up as a profession by very few individuals, it has not yet found the appreciation of health freaks. I would just give you a small example to just show the health benefit that we can derive by learning and practising a classical dance form. We sit before the computers for long hours staring at the screen and after 8 to 10 hours our eyes are strained and they want to relax. Every classical dance form gives tremendous importance to eye movement and eye expression. If you go to a classical dance school you find that the teacher emphasises the need to practise eye exercises which are a part of the dance as is. Fifteen minutes of classical dance refreshes you and revitalizers each and every part of the body.
There can be more examples but I don't give lots of examples to drive home the same point. Classical dance is a great stress buster. These days, in the cities and bigger towns we have lots of fitness centers and gymnasiums that charge you hefty amounts through your nose to make you fit. But, do you really enjoy doing these things? Classical dance schools don't rip you off and instead you enjoy being in a dance school for its ambience, the group of learners and the experienced teachers. Just go to the nearest classical dance school with an intention to be a part of the crowd and you will return home with much more vigor, concentration and energy. Classical dance is no doubt the everlasting fitness mantra.

Tell a friend about this blog through sms, email or a social networking site. If you like the blog become a follower. You can also read these blogs on your mobile phone by using the mobile site link below the header of the blog. Participate in the forum and express your views and ask questions.

How to succeed in Direct Selling business

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:10:00 +0000

   Direct selling is a concept where the seller directly sells to the customer avoiding the distribution network consisting of the wholesalers and the retailers. Direct selling can also be treated as a word of mouth campaign which every person on the earth does without his/her knowledge. The last night you went to a movie say Avtar which you liked. What will you do the next day. Some of you would call up your friends and say that you went to watch Avtar and that it is a good movie, while some of us may not call up but however when a discussion comes up at lunch time you wouldn't mind telling the group that you watched the movie Avtar and it is good. So, what are you doing? You are increasing the box office collection of the movie by your word of mouth publicity. This is precisely the technique used in the direct selling business.
   The first thing one needs to check out before starting a direct selling business is to know about the company offering the business. Get as much literature about the company including the financial statements of the previous years. See whether the business is ethical or not. Why should you check this? You need to check this out because every business is done with an intention that it will last a long time (read life time) and unless the business is ethical it cannot survive even one or two years.
   Next check out the products involved. The products should be of high quality. Why this? Once again it is because your reputation is the foremost thing to succeed in a direct selling business. The people buying it the first time will look at you and your endorsement alone and not the product as is. Your first step is to select a product which enhances your reputation. So, quality is the key.
   Before taking a plunge into the direct selling business, do some market survey and find a little about the buying patterns of the customer. Select a product that has a repeat sale i.e., fast moving consumer goods (FMCG products). This ensures that you make little profit on every sale and keeps you going. Never get disheartened when there is no sale. Go and observe your neighborhood retail outlets and you can find that on certain days there are absolutely no customers but still their running overheads or on like the power bills, security expenses, employee salaries, etc. Get motivated and thank yourself that you need not have to pay for all these when you are down or when there is no business.
   Never give up and never quit a business because a business is a business and every business has a business cycle. Be motivated always and make it a point to meet a new person everyday and add them to your contacts list. Follow these steps diligently and you are bound to succeed in a direct selling business.

Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

what to look for when you buy a pre-owned home

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:46:00 +0000

Home property buyers have two options viz., buy a new home or buy a pre-owned home. This article aims to bring out the issues to be checked out while buying a pre-owned home. Well, these are the things that you need to check out when buying a pre-owned home in India. In some parts of India there are professional real estate agents/ companies who do all the pre-verification of documents even before advertising a sale. Such properties are the safest and even in such cases you need to check out the credentials of the real estate agent and/or the real estate company. However, it is always better that the prospective buyer get things verified from his own available sources and not just rely on the real estate company/ agents. There are some properties that are available for sale directly by the owner and one has to exercise more caution when buying such properties.

Many of the property sellers would not even give a photostat copy of the property documents for fear of misuse and they insist on a token advance amount before parting with copies. So, first indicate the tentative price that you are willing to pay for the property and then pay a token amount which is not more than 5% of the value of the property.
Insist on a proper receipt and make sure that the receiver of the amount indicates the purpose for which the amount was received by him/her. Insist that the receipt be as detailed as possible to include the property details in full like the survey number, Door no., name of the area/village and district also.
Ask them to provide copies of all the documents available with them and just not the latest copy of the registration deed made by the prospective seller when he/she bought the property.
Always go for a pre-owned property that is less than seven years old.The scope of this article does not permit me to write the reasons why one should go for a property less than seven years.
If the property is an individual home check if the colony has an association/ committee to look after the welfare of the colony and double check whether all the dues to the association are paid and upto date.
Obtain a no encumbrance certificate from the registrar office to know the latest ownership of the property and check whether any general power of attorneys are given which are live.
if there are any GPA holders rope them in while giving an advance payment.
Check whether the door number/ house number indicated in the property document is same as the one in the municipal records. If there is a deviation let the current owner get the changes carried out before entering into a purchase agreement.
Check whether the property tax is paid update and also check whether the electricity bill and the water bills are paid update. Make sure that the name of the subscriber on these bills is the same as that present in the registered property document.
After you are satisfied with all these issues enter into an agreement of purchase and make sure that you don't pay more than 20% of the property value at the time of the agreement. Insist on a proper receipt for the money paid towards the agreement of sale/purchase.
Make sure that the agreement document is drafted by an advocate/lawyer/attorney and let two independent witnesses sign the agreement document. Make sure that the seller gives you atleast six months to get the property registered during which time period the sale can be concluded.
spend some money on giving legal notices in two prominent newspapers that you intend to buy so and so property and if someone has some grievance let them meet your lawyer/ advocate/ attorney.
Make sure that an exit clause is provided in the agreement document to safeguard your interest if any adverse issues are found at a later date and before registration.
Insist on original property linking documents for the last thirty years.
If all these issues are fine, buy the pre-owned home and register the property by paying the registration charges for full value of the property and help build the nation.

Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social networking site. If you like the blog become a follower. Read the posts from the comfort of your mailbox by subscribing to the blog.
Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

winter care with home kitchen products

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:29:00 +0000

Winter is a great time to replenish the skin cells and bring back the glow on the faces. Unfortunately, this is the time when the skin becomes dry and invisible cracks develop. The most affected parts are the lips, ears, nose and the neck region. In my earlier post I have told the usage of bees wax aloe vera moisturiser and the coconut oil and water gel for the maximum benefits to the skin. You can also make these moisturizers at home using the kitchen products.
Butter: Butter is a regular ingredient in the breakfast menu of modern home. Many of the homemakers can't do without butter for bread toast. Rest of the time it lies in the refrigerator. Winter is the time when you have to take the maximum benefit out of butter. Take out the solid butter from the refrigerator and allow it lie in room temperature for about fifteen minutes when it becomes fluid like (some kind of a gel) and then apply it comfortably and magnanimously on all the exposed parts of the body like the hands, feet, face, ears and neck. Applying butter on the skin helps in retaining the moisture in the skin and at the same time helps the skin throwout the excreted oils out of the pores of the skin. Well then, have lots of butter in your refrigerator for this winter care of your skin.
Curd and turmeric: This is a combination that should be applied only on the face and not to any other part of the body. Take a spoon of curd and mix 1/4th spoonful of turmeric to it. Make a paste out of it. One hour before you go to sleep, apply it on your face and allow it to dry for one hour. After that use a glycerine soap to wash off the facepack made out of curd and turmeric. There are multiple benefits like the relaxation of the nerves and replenishment of the skin. This is also a long term solution for unwanted pimples. You have a sound sleep too. Next morning you wake up and find that there is an additional glow on your face.
If butter, curd and turmeric are not a part of your kitchen you need to make them your kitchen companions every winter. See your beauty enhance during this winter with consistent use of butter, curd and turmeric.
Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms and a social network. If you like the blog become a follower of the blog and/or subscribe to the blog.
Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

When will the resting ancestor toe the line on top of the killer?

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:44:00 +0000

The title itself appears confusing to lot of people. Most of us are beauty conscious. An obsession with beauty makes the life of people hell to some and heaven to others. One may fiddle and meddle with the beauty products available in stores and these are comparable to the killer in the title. Many multinational companies with a range of beauty products can be clasified as the killers. Now come back home and sit with your grandmother if she is still alive and ask her the secret of her beauty even at this age. Just see her first reaction and she blushes at these words. Suppose you grandfather is also alive then you need to see the joy on her face when you ask that question. If you want to start a beauty business and ask your grandmother the advice what is the answer that you would get? Probably what she says is correct from her point of view but just because you love your grandmother, can you do business with those ideas in mind.
Well, her ideas may be full of merit and you shall implement them if your ancestral lineage is a business family. What if it is otherwise? You better get the answer for the question "When will the resting ancestor toe the line on top of the killer?" If someone knows the answer please give a comment.

Using natural home made moisturizers in winter

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:32:00 +0000

Research has shown that human skin can be broadly classified into three categories viz., normal skin, dry skin and oily skin and there are more combinations between these three categories that are of little relevance to this article. So, I am safely putting them out of this article's purview right now. Every year winter comes and goes but as it comes it causes a plethora of problems to the dry skin category of humans.

It is the duty of the sebaceous glands to throw out the oils and moisture out of the skin at regular intervals throughout the year. In winter, as the oils and water are excreted out through the skin pores, the oil and moisture are both dried up causing wear and tear to the skin. What should essentially be done to protect the skin is that only the oils should be flushed out and the water retained. If this happens, the skin is healthy. This activity is not in our hands. The only alternative is to supplement the skin with the required moisture by using moisturizers.

The most vulnerable parts of the body are the lips, the nose, the ears and the neck. Always keep these well covered by woolens and not expose yourself to the chill weather. This has to be supported by use of natural moisturizers to keep the skin supple. There are two natural moisturizers that we can comfortably make at home and use them without any side effects.

1. Bees Wax and Aloe Vera moisturizer: Bees Wax sold in the market is in the form of a cake. Buy a suitable quantity of bees wax something like 250 grams( this is in the form of a cake).Cut it to small pieces using a knife. Many households in the dry regions grow aloe vera and I believe it is also sold in the market. Buy o procure three big leaves of Aloe Vera approximately weighing 100 grams. Cut the edges and peel off the green layer all round the leaf. What is left is pulp of the Aloe Vera. Now boil about 300 ml of water in a vessel and first put the cut cake of bees wax in the vessel and stir continuously for few minutes. The Bees Wax will dissolve in the water completely. Now add the Aloe Vera pulp to the bees wax vessel and leave it on the flame for a minute. Transfer the contents into a suitable container with a lid and allow it to cool. After cooling you can close the lid. The solution in a gel form is the Bees Wax Aloe Vera moisturizer and should be applied to all the exposed areas of the skin to keep it healthy and supple.

2. Coconut oil and Water gel: This is a much easy to make moisturizer than the Bees Wax Aloe Vera moisturizer. Take about 100 milliliters of coconut oil in a container with lid and add 100 milliliter water. Now close the lid airtight and shake the container vigorously. After a few minutes of shaking the solution becomes gel like. Use the gel magnanimously to all the exposed parts and keep your skin healthy and supple throughout the winter.

In cold countries like United States of America, Canada, Europe and Russia the weather is cold for almost the entire year. So they can do well to make their own bees wax aloe Vera moisturizer and/or coconut oil water gel in large quantities, store it and use it for economizing the product.

Tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network. You can also read this blog on your mobile phone using the mobile site option on the top of the blog. If you like the blog please become a follower and/or subscribe to read the posts on your mobile phone or mail.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

Will 3D television catch the viewers imagination?

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:38:00 +0000

3D TV( Three dimensional television) has been launched in some parts of the world. Though people may not have waited as earnestly as they have for the Apple ipad, still it is a good technological breakthrough. Most of us have watched the 3D movies on an imax screen and it is an unforgettable experience watching movies like the Avatar and Tropic Thunder to name a few. I think the television manufacturers have took a fancy to the 3D viewing experience and bring it to the drawing room. Well, it is a very brave effort on the part of the manufacturers to come up with an innovation like this. However, I am a little whimsical about the success of the 3D television and I will put forth my ideas in the next paragraph.

Television viewing atleast in my home is a social activity what with all the family members sitting on the couch and watching the favorite programs with an occassional discussion about the characters or the jokes or whatever is shown. Is it possible to watch a 3D television in this way? The biggest put off is that the 3D programs cannot be viewed without the glasses on. If that is the case how many pairs of 3D glasses should we buy for the family members? I am myself personally not at ease reading something with my reading glasses on and I am definitely not comfortable wearing glasses to watch a 3D TV. As it is, these days we don't have enough software content for watching all those channels for 24 hours and we are helpless to watch a program repeated thrice a day, then where will all those broadcasters bring 3D content from? Definitely it is not an easy task at hand!

The biggest drawback is about replacing the latest LCD TVs and projection TVs with the 3D TV. Many of us wouldn't even have covered the costs in purchasing those LCD projector TVs, all those cables and the installation expenses including the DirecTv subscriptions and/or Satellite DishTv connections. Where is the affordability of the 3D TV right now? Watching a 3D movie in theatres for more than one hour causes tremendous strain on the eyes and if such is the case how long can one sit before the 3D TV and watching it? Well folks! There are more questions than answers in this piece because the subject needs more research at this point of time.

Please tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network. Please become a follower of the blog. Subscribe to the blog and get all the wonderful posts in your mail box.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

how to eat well and stay healthy!

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:33:00 +0000

              Eating out at restaurants is a common practice these days. When you have a buffet lunch and there are many delicacies inviting you, it is very hard to resist the temptation and it is quite natural that we tend to overeat. There is nothing wrong with that. The physical aftereffects consequent to a good buffet are troublesome. The next three hours or so make you lazy and chances are that we lose our attention on even the most important conversations.

               I will tell you an easy way to eat all the delicacies without overburdening the stomach. We in India have two items in the main course viz.,rice and rotis(in different forms) and many side dishes to fulfill the main course. Doctors advice to eat half your stomach's capacity during a meal. Half of the remaining half-stomach would be useful to fill it with water and the remaining quarter of the stomach should be left empty for oxygen circulation and release of acids that aid digestion. This is the perfect way of eating a meal.

              The next question that immediately pops out in the mind is "how to decide the stomach's capacity?" The easiest way to know your stomach's capacity is to stretch out your hand and close your fists. The outer volume occupied by the hand with a closed fist is the inner capacity of your stomach. I would be more comfortable to say that two fists-full would at least make you feel that you aren't starving.

               A vegetarian meal as a regular food helps you stay active when cooked with low oil and the food boiled. Fried food contains more calories and bad cholesterol that is harmful to the heart. As I have already said in one of my earlier posts it is best not to mix intake of food and water.

              Okay, let's come back to the way we should eat. Suppose you are in a buffet lunch please don't pick a plate instantaneously. Take a sip of juice, then go around have a look and decide how many delicacies or items that you would eat for the meal. Select more green vegetables and less number of colored vegetables. Green vegetables get digested quickly and so are the green delicacies.If rice is the main item serve one or two large spoons and that's it. Don't go for another serving later. Just serve a quarter of what you used to eat before reading this post and stuff your plate with as many side dishes as possible. And that should complete your meal. It is never a good idea to mix green salads and fruits with cooked delicacies for the simple reason that uncooked or raw food and cooked food each needs different duration of time to digest. If you need to eat fruits, eat them fifteen minutes before the main course. Same is the case when bread or rotis are the main course.

               Always remember the fist before you start your meal. If possible paste a poster of the fist before your dining table so that it is visible to you all the time when you are having a meal. Drink water half-an-hour after completing your meal.
               Tell a friend about this blog via email, sms or a social network. Become a follower of this blog.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

watch cartoons free 24X7 online in HD

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:58:00 +0000

Cartoons are real fun! I hope the readers of this article would accept my line of thought. I am personally a fan of the Tom & Jerry shows. In the 70s, 80s and 90s there were only a few producers of animated cartoon shows for television and most of them have started with cartoons in comic books. After they have caught up the imagination of the readers did they venture into the show business.
Video chat rooms at Ustream

Marvel comics is one such enterprise that has successfully transitioned itself from a publishing house to a production house with some wonderful characters like Batman & Robin. Well friends, this is the place to watch all those vintage cartoons as well as some some modern day cartoons from Japan. You can watch it uninterrupted 24 x 7 as this is a free channel. What's more, this is a channel with HD transmission and if you have a HD LCD monitor you enjoy the stuff immensely.

Please tell a friend about this blog via email, sms or a social network.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

Radical Changes to cricket!

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:16:00 +0000

I presume that everyone reading this post knows something about cricket. For all those who didn't, here is a brief. Cricket is a game played between two teams each team containing 12 players out of which one of them is the twelfth man who is a sort of a reserve player as in football or a substitute player in case soemone is injured while playing. One team is a batting team and the other a fielding team. Two players of the bating team comes out to bat where one of them takes the strike and the other goes to the non-striker end or the bowling end. The fielding team consisting of 11 players come out to field in which one of them is the wicketkeeper. One of them has to bowl an over with the ball for six times (to be called an over). I wouldn't really write the biograpy of cricket or its origin but look at the game in a different perspective.

The funniest part of the game is that it is called a gentleman's game because it originated in England but when we read the newspapers about an impending series between teams like England Vs Australia or India Vs Pakistan, the publicity in the print and electronic media declares the game as if it was a war between two nations. Every game or a match be it cricket or football is played to win and every game has got its own Rules and if you gotta call a game of cricket, a gentleman's game is foolishness because, gentleman don't fight over things but they try to help others in distress. If the same is applied to cricket then the fans would call it match fixing.

Another funny part of cricket is that the game is designed in a batsman's favour. In ODI cricket or T20 cricket the team batting first scores some runs and the second team has to beat the first score by atleast one run to win. Why not do it the other way around that whichever team bowls out the entire team wins irrespective of the runs scored. Think about it!

Diehard fans of famous batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting argue that they have tremendous batting skills and temperament to win matches under any kind of situation. When the idea of a game like cricket is to provide entertainment to the spectators, why not make some changes to really test the skills of these master batsmen. Why not have some boards in odd locations on the boundary line , something akin to a darts board or a shooting board where the batsman has to hit the bulls eye to score more runs and prove their skills, one more time.

I have been following cricket for not less than twentyfive years by now and I did play for my college team as a wicketkeeper-batsman-bowler as per the needs of the team. There is a tremendous pressure on everyone to perform as a team to give the best entertainment to the spectators. Why not we have sixteen member teams for each match? Let eleven batsman from the sixteen come to play and let eleven different players come to field from the sixteen and let there be replacements in the field similar to football or hockey, as I believe that this would enhance the entertainment value of the game. This idea, I believe would take the game of cricket to a different plane altogether.

If someone's got some more exciting ideas or want to differ with me please post your comments. Please tell a friend about this blog via email, sms or a social network. If you like the blog become a follower.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

play free nintendo wii games!

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:18:00 +0000

If you had read my earlier posts about nintendo wii games by now you would have known how to install the nintendo wii console and the goodness of the wii games. I am so accustomed to the wii that I can hardly resist the temptation of writing about a wii.
Let it be known that the wii games are expensive by Indian standards because they are high quality. It is inbuilt in the Indian psyche to first try if free versions of a game are available and I am no different, so I googled the web and found some sites which would allow me to download wii games for free. This is the biggest mistake that I have committed. Through the search results I visited a torrents file site through which I selected a free wii game in PAL format. Then, I downloaded the torrent. Torrent is like an intermediate file which will link to the correct file available for sharing through peer to peer programs. Then I clicked the "open with" option and selected the p2p program to download. Well, my ISP download speed is just 30 kbps and you can imagine how long it might have taken for me to download the file of 4.3GB. It took me three days to download the file. That was just testing my patience and it is not funny.
Finally, the download was complete and an .iso file was found in the completed downloads section. I then had to burn it to a DVD with a disc burning software. I placed a Sony blank DVD and burned it using Nero. After the burning was successfully completed I wanted to test it on the computer before using it on the wii console. So I reinserted the disc in the computer, the drive did rotate with a buzzing noise and I found nothing on display. So, I used the "My computer" option to locate the disc. I just found a DVD-Ram drive and no disc was detected. Anyway, I couldn't do much about it so then I inserted the games disc in the wii console. Even the wii console didn't detect the free game disc. Well, my wii console was an original and imported from USA which was running the original games disc that was not free.
So, I took the free wii game disc to a cousin of mine who had a modded wii console and tested it there. The result was the same. The modded wii console too didn't detect the disc. Now guys, understand that I have wasted 4 days of my precious time running behind a free wii game. So, it is no good to look out for free nintendo wii games and waste your time.
Please tell a friend about this blog through mail, sms or a social network. Become a follower of the blog.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

Put efforts to lead a life of harmony

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:31:00 +0000

His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji in his discourses on ETV said that one has to put special efforts on three different aspects to lead a harmonious life - education, taking medicine and charity.
Let's see these aspects in detail. One has to make a special endeavor to learn things and as His Holiness says there is no age limit to learn good things in life. He gave a special mention of an incident about people talking of rebirth. One fine morning a person woke up and said that he was the village head in the previous birth and named a few people saying that they were his relatives. This clearly shows that man not only has the power to remember things that happened a few days back but also things that happened many years ago. When such is the case there is no reason for someone to take the excuse of short term memory when education was concerned. He said that each and every person should make special efforts to learn something(get educated) to succeed in life.
                              Next aspect is taking medicine. His Holiness says that people neglect their health problems and this is particularly more prominent in villages. It is because they view a change in the body health as an aspect that occurred on account of change in weather and only after a considerable period of time when the health doesn't recuperate do they think of going to a doctor and/or take a medicine. There is a lot of advancement in the field of medicine as well as identification of new diseases hitherto unknown to mankind. So the people of the present day should make effort to know their health and take medicine with proper guidance and advice of the doctor.
                                 The last aspect and never the least is charity. He says one should really make efforts to do charity. Charity is sharing something that we have in excess (it could be very little) and that we can donate to someone in need that ultimately makes us happy as well as the recipient happy. Here I take a little initiative and talk of a disaster that was experienced by people of Haiti a few weeks ago. Everyone knows that there was a lighting quick earthquake which left scores of people dead and the survivors to the mercy of nature as the entire infrastructure vanished. I am very happy that scores of volunteers have joined the efforts to help the survivors. Here the people going to Haiti and helping the survivors is a bigger charity than those sitting in their offices and donating online.(I don't intend to hurt anyone with this statement but I am only talking of the few who have the financial capability to go to Haiti and render help and not about others). There are many ways to give charity. I would just give a small example: Many families go out on weekends and have their meal in a plush restaurant and pay a bill. Such people can refrain going out for a meal and give the money they have saved as charity once a month if not every week. Happiness is contagious and one can spread happiness by doing a charity.
                                 Please tell a friend about this blog through mail, sms or a social network. If you like the blog become a follower.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.

is a celebrity status ephemeral

noreply@blogger.com (pranava) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:35:00 +0000

The reach of media improved by leaps and bounds over the past one decade. Alongside came the revolution of mobile phones and all these have made communication simple and quick. Penetration of television to the deepest pockets of the country has brought about an increased awareness and then, there are entrepreneurs who want a share of the cake pretty quickly. So many have joined the bandwagon and starting television channels left, right and center. Suppose a dance programme is a hit in one channel, ten other channels follow suit and start a similar programme in no time to grab the viewers. They go to any extent to woo the audience and for this they are ready to play the dirtiest tricks to get the viewers.

Well, there are umpteen examples of this but let us see from one small example. There is a dance show on Sony channel called Boogie woogie and I remember that it had started about 12 years ago and at that time it was the only dance show on television. Currently, have a look at the other channels and you have a dance show on each and every channel. When it started the participants were children in the age group of 14 years and above as well as adults but have a look now and you find even the 5 year old kids participating. The promotions are such that if you win the show you become a celebrity overnight and you have a career in dancing ready with Bollywood producers queuing up to sign you up as the lead actor or the choreographer. The show organizers makes the viewer believe that the celebrity judges who sit to select the best contestant have come voluntarily on their own and they promise so many offers to the winners and runners up. The winner thinks that he is a celebrity and people will come knocking at his/her door with roles and offers. Guys wake up, the reality is something different. The judges charge a hefty amount from the show producers to participate in a few episodes and for your information the whole show runs on a tight script with the dialogues written specifically for each of the presenters and the judges and you thought that all those reactions from the judges and the audience are spontaneous! I know many of these celebrities who were winners in one show or the other waiting for years to get a real break in their chosen careers.

Well, there are celebrities who have a longer shelf life like Amitabh Bachan, Sachin Tendulkar, A.R.Rehman and Aishwarya Rai. The secret here is that they are performers first and celebrities next. For all those who think the other way around take it for granted that the celebrity status is ephemeral.

Please tell a friend about this blog through email, sms or a social network site.Use the forum to ask questions, express views and get answers to your questions from the online community.