Monday 27 April 2015

Celebrating life every day

Life is a mystery. No one knows whets in store for us in the future. When I was studying in school
I thought that I have plenty of life so what's the hurry. Then in college also life was fun and I never
understood the importance of what life meant. In those days if someone would have told me that we can celebrate life everyday, trust me I would never have believed them. For me celebrating birthdays, marriage anniversaries, weddings or some important event in our family would have meant an occasion to celebrate and rejoice. But today when we all have a fast track life buzzing with activity I realize that we should celebrate life in every moment. I got my enlightenment on my trip to Goa when I felt one with nature. Playing with the sea waves and basking in the sun was a rejuvenating experience.
I find my happiness in traveling. I feel alive as soon as I plan my vacation or go on a travel. Nature has provided us with many reasons to celebrate life. We have abundant greenery which soothes our nerves. The chirping of the birds reminds us that we should respect our Mother Earth and nurture her with our love and care. Now I have discovered my source of happiness.Being one with Nature I feel more content and satisfied. I make sure that I plan my vacations often to places that are resplendent with natural beauty and where I can explore new aspects of nature.
 Traveling has always been a rich source of education for me. I get to know about the new customs and cultures of my country or even foreign cities.
 Nature has so many shades that it always amazes me. I can spend unlimited time just watching the sea and the waves as they swirl and crash on the sandy shore. The changing shades of the blue sky make my heart happy. Different plants and flowers give me a new hope.
 A variety of birds give me company everyday, wherever I go I feel that my friends are following me.
 I have learned to celebrate life every day and in every moment of each day. I find that even very small things
 give me a reason for celebration. The first drops of rain falling on the ground makes my heart jump with excitement and I celebrate that moment by having hot pakoras and hot tea. I and my family sit together watching the rain and enjoying our monsoon treat. In summers we enjoy delicious and mouthwatering mangoes and watermelon.
Winters brings a reason to enjoy the peanuts and the sun's warmth. Nature has provided us with abundant
 treasure of reasons to celebrate life. I enjoy and relish each and every day of my life.

#CelebrateLifeAtIvy by owning a dream home at Ivy estate, an 85 acre estate with 34 acres of greenery and open spaces. Join the 1600 happy families already living here. Check out this walkthrough video and decide for yourself.




Monday 20 April 2015

The Double fun of being #TwiceAsNice

I met my friend through our common passion for blogging.Although both of us are as different from each other like chalk and cheese, but still our common love is one that is blogging.I love to blog about fashion and varied products related to beauty and fashion. My friend is into blogging about life and places.Our combination has made our friendship and relationship #TwiceAsNice.
We are thankful to Garnier for giving us this opportunity to explore these two products and doing it together has bonded us further.
Garnier Apricot PureActive Exfoliating face scrub is suitable for all skin types and gives a smooth and glowing skin.It removes dead skin cells as it contains exfoliating powder derived from Apricot seeds.It's creamy texture hydrates the skin to make it soft, smooth and glowing.
On the other hand Garnier Neem PureActive purifying face wash is a soap free solution with real Neem leaf extract and Tea Tree oil.It has three purifying actions.It helps to fight germs, fights pollution by deep pore cleaning action.It removes excessive oil.
The use of both of them makes our skin #TwiceAsNice. They gel together like Rabri with Jalebi just as I and my friend do.



Monday 13 April 2015

From beautiful to clean





The world of cricket ruled the hearts of millions of people. There were only two options before the people. One was to watch cricket in the stadium live or listen to the live commentary on the radio. It was much later that the cricketers caught the imagination of the advertisers. It proved to be a turning point in their careers. Now one can see their faces splashed on billboards and nearly every other ad on the TV had cricketers talking about different products. Before them it was the cine stars that were featured in a lot of the advertisements. I still remember my mother and grandmother telling me and fondly remembering the Lux soap series of adverts. These adverts were popular even before the advent of television in India. They were popular as print ads, hoardings and posters. When TV started in India Doordarshan was the only channel around. So when these Lux soap campaigns appeared as TV commercials became an instant hit and were quite an attraction in the days of single-channel television. This was the time television was just emerging as a medium of entertainment it was more an experimental medium that propagated education and information. It had  cultural programs  and news so these Lux soap advertisements brought in an entertainment value and glam factor to the television I remember in my household my grandparents and uncles and aunts sat crowding around the television to get a glimpse of their favorite cine  stars even though it used to be only for a few seconds yet it brought them close to these tinsel town celebrities .It appeared to them that these  cine stars  had come to their homes through the medium of television. These Lux soap ads were featuring some of the most sought after heroines of those times. Being featured in the Lux campaigns made these actresses instant role models. Every one wanted to bathe with these soaps and instantly become beautiful like them. I do not know how many of these people actually  became beautiful  but it seems the hope of becoming beautiful continues to this day as people name their daughters as Hema,Asha, Babita, Madhu (after Madhubala) Madhuri, Kareena and Aishwarya. They give them the Lux soap to bathe in the hope that they would become beautiful like their name sake actresses. Actually these ads gave  not just  a national pastime of becoming beauty queens, miss worlds and miss universe but also instilled in these girls the awareness and benefits of being clean. Just as it is said and widely believed that you educate a girl and you educate the entire family similarly when a girl bathing with the Lux soap feels beautiful and clean so she instills the sense of beauty and cleanliness in the whole family. Perhaps it this belief in cleanliness that so many households and people in this country are whole heartedly supporting the Swatch Bharat Abhiyan  and making India beautiful and clean. Hope that this IPL too brings some nice ads that can survive and transcend generations. They should bring in a change in the psyche of the nation and bring about a positive change.

 This Pepsi IPL, it's not just about cricket. It's time to crash with your own created ad! Make your own Pepsi ad & if it's chosen, it could play on TV during Pepsi IPL! And hey, it doesn't end here… Even if you're chosen as a finalist, you stand a chance of winning a prize amount of Rs.1 lakh! So what are you waiting for guys?
  “I am joining in on all the Pepsi IPL action in my own style with the #CrashThePepsiIPL activity at BlogAdda.”

Ads and who take the Moolah



With increasing TV viewing, video ads have not only become a craze but also a necessity. You name the product and there is a video ad for it. The visual media is more effective than any other form of advertising. These ads are pertaining to different products available in the market. They influence the prospective buyers when they plan to buy that specific product. A well made video ad leaves a positive influence on the audience and they are more inclined to buy that product when they go shopping.
Companies devise new ways to present their products. Their main aim is to grab a share of the market. The video ads are meant to increase their sales. More buyers mean more revenue. Different companies selling the same product vie with each other to gain attention as well as money. They employ different means to be more popular and money spinners. They therefore enroll the services of celebrities to talk about their products. The celebrities are shown using the products and talking about how good and effective they are. The masses are easily influenced in making their purchase decisions when they see a celebrity using that product. There was a time when the celebrities did not have so much of exposure to the public. They were confined to their field only and interviews were their forte. For example the cricketers talked only about their performance on the cricket field and the film stars talked about their films. There was no monetary benefit for them in this. Now things have changed and the celebrities are the hottest icons with a large fan following. Video ads have made them most popular and greater their following; greater is their demand by companies who want to rake in the moolah using them to endorse their products. Large amounts of money are paid to these celebrities for appearing in the ads of different companies. They endorse different products from clothes to beauty products like soap, cosmetics, fairness creams and even laundry detergents. Even the realtors have roped them in to advertise for their property projects. People think that these celebrities have actually bought a house in these projects inspiring them to do the same. If the celebrities are separated from these ads then they would lose their presence, as they would appear less on the television and would be away from the public eye. The biggest disadvantage would be the monetary loss which they would suffer. As no ads for them now would mean no fat chunks of money. The celebrities are at the moment in the list of would be billionaires and their absence from the world of ads would shrink this list. They have become so much accustomed to the sounds of lights, camera, and action and of course the jingle of money that they would feel at a loss without ads. At present their time is measured in money but without ads they would feel robbed of their riches. Instead of their smiling faces we would see them looking sad and depressed. After all it is the money power that keeps them going now.

This Pepsi IPL, it's not just about cricket. It's time to crash with your own created ad! Make your own Pepsi ad & if it's chosen, it could play on TV during Pepsi IPL! And hey, it doesn't end here… Even if you're chosen as a finalist, you stand a chance of winning a prize amount of Rs.1 lakh! So what are you waiting for guys?
 “I am joining in on all the Pepsi IPL action in my own style with the #CrashThePepsiIPL activity at BlogAdda.”

Saturday 11 April 2015

Winning with my Dil ki deal



We are more than sisters. We are not related but still care for each other. Often people asked us if we were sisters. We have been friends for more than 10 years now. We know each other more than anyone else. We often fought but we loved each other a lot. We went to the movies and also went shopping together. Even we had the same kind of dresses in our wardrobe. My friend being a Bengali belonged to a different caste but that too didn’t make any difference to our friendship. We had the same zodiac sign. There was just a 2 days difference between our birthdays. We loved each other immensely
and tried our best to make each other feel special and cared for. It was our eighteenth birthday and we were very excited. We had great plans for our special day. We designed our dresses for the great day. The menu was an elaborate affair. We wanted to look the best after all we were turning 18.We were like twins - same birthday month, same favorite actor Salman Khan, same college and same food preferences. There were only two days left for my best friend’s birthday which came just before my birthday. I bought a beautiful pendent for her which she had admired in the show window. I used all of my pocket money to purchase her this gift. On her birthday when I called her to wish she broke down and cried. I asked her the reason for her tears. She asked me to cancel all her birthday celebrations. I tried my best to console her but her tears did not stop. At last after a lot of persuasion she told me the reason. She had just noticed that a rash had broken out on her face. She was devastated. She didn’t want to face anyone looking like this on her biggest special day. I told her that if she would not celebrate her birthday then I won’t celebrate my birthday too. We cried. She felt that it’s the worst day and on top of that the worst birthday. I kept the phone but I didn’t lose the hope and I was sure there must be a way out of this problem. I searched on the internet to find the possible solutions for the rash, an instant fix or something but I was sure nothing can give an instant solution. On the other hand my best friend didn’t have any food that day and just kept crying. She declared that there won’t be any celebration. Her mother asked me to convince her that it’s just a rash and nothing serious. But for us it was not less than a national crisis. As the clock struck 5 I panicked as the guests were invited for 7 pm and there was only 2 hours left so I asked my friend to get ready. It was not easy to convince her but somehow she agreed only because she trusted me. My dearest friend came down to the main hall where the arrangements were made. She couldn’t believe what I had done for her to make her day more special. I had arranged candles all over the room and the lights were switched off. Everyone was excited at the atmosphere created and they did not pay much attention to her face. We all enjoyed the candle lit party. She thanked me and said that I had given her the best gift of her life. I told her that it was my Dil ki deal for her.
“I am participating in the #DilKiDealOnSnapdeal activity at BlogAdda in association with SnapDeal.”

Following my heart my dil ki deal



It was my birthday. I was going to be nine years old that year. Like every other kid I was also very excited for my coming birthday. I started reminding my family about it a month before. My gift list was ready like every year. I was very excited. I had also invited my friends in advance. I asked my parents to hold a grand party. A special birthday dress was ordered for me in accordance with the latest fashion and style. Special dishes and sweets were ordered for my special day. I was beaming with excitement and glowing with happiness. I daily crossed the dates on the calendar. And finally the day came when it was my birthday. I was all dressed up for the party but a bigger surprise awaited me. I was taken to a toy store and asked to wait outside. I looked through the glass shopping window and found the shop very enticing with so many beautiful toys. It was like a wonderland but I was asked to wait outside. I saw my father talking animatedly to the salesman trying to explain something. He led him to another part of the store where I could barely see him. Then my father turned back and asked me to enter the shop. The moment I entered then the entire team of salesmen started clapping and singing "Happy Birthday To You”. I felt so special. He led me to the doll section which had almost all the dolls that I had ever wanted and asked me to take my pick. When I had selected a doll I asked my father to order for two of the same kind. On inquiring I told him that one was for me and the other is for Maya, the daughter of our maid. This surprised him and I told him that he only had taught me that in our special moments we should always think about others as well.
My father is my super hero. He gave me the biggest gift of my life on my birthday. I would have never thought about others in my hour of happiness if he had not taught me so. There were two girls beaming with happiness on my birthday me and Maya, our maid's daughter. She wished me as well thanked me as due to me she had also got a present. This was the best present I had ever received from my father. It was just not a doll but a voice from my heart. That moment is still fresh in my mind. From that day till today I listen to my heart and share my best moments with my family as well as the needy. I make sure everyone around me is happy and content on special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries and festivals. Small gestures make a big difference to others. We should not be selfish and share our happiness, joy and good things with others and trust me it multiplies our happiness too. So always listen to your heart and do the dil ki deal.
 "I am writing for #DilKiDealOnSnapdeal activity at BlogAdda.com in association with
Snapdeal."