Friday, September 12, 2008

They are distinctly different

It is really always amazing as to me how kids play, especially how a boy plays and how a girl plays. Needless to say, they are distinct!

Sravi always seem to have great time talking to her babies (she names every toy she has and tell you what? They are all girlie names) or playing a teacher-teacher game making her dolls sit just like pupils and indeed giving them punishment as well; making them stand aside as they misbehave or disobey her.

Whenever she scoots on her scooter she carries her favorite doll greenie along with her. She loves her scooter and indeed it has been the best buy as because she enjoys scooting along so much carrying her dolls and teaching those to scoot as well. I always find my nephew Ajay finding interest in Car toys and Rangers accessories, way distinct from Sravi. These days he’s been navigating well with computer keys and playing games. If ever Sravi uses PC the most she enjoys is paintbrush and she draws pictures (not bad at all) and names them or gives her buddies names to those. What a distinctive way of playing between a boy and a girl right? Boy stuff and girl stuff yay!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently!!

Ever contemplated on investing in shares? If not, it’s still not high time. Believe me, it is one of those money making opportunities that can be handled from the comforts of your home. All you need is an understanding of the market trends and just a net-connected PC.

A person who invested as low as Rs. 10 K in Wipro a decade back is richer by more than 10 millions. However, it’s the one who waited is now with smiles and millions of course. He did have all the patience to see his shares split, to wait for company’s bonus and dividends, more than all he saw the company growing every step up, while seeing the share prices fall in the interim as well! How much of the losers (I meant in the share market) have got this patience? I think there will be noone! Any investment needs time to grow. You can’t anticipate to double it in a fortnight! You better not at least henceforth.

While saying so I know there is so much of volatility and uncertainty in the markets. But that doesn’t simply mean you need to press the panic button and sell off all your investment for peanuts or a loss. You waited thus far, why not try and breathe for a little while more? I recall my school teacher saying, patience always pays. So, be patient. Selling during an uncertain time makes no sense absolutely, at least in the share trading business (if you are married...then I know you are already more patient than before)

Let me tell you one small secret: People who buy more stocks during the uncertain times will have a big smile down the lane. Because they waited right? So staying long term is the mantra you need to practice and you have all what it takes to become a millionaire!

Aside, do your due diligence: Researching is what you need to do and never pay a heed to the skeptics. Pay attention to the looked down stocks! For instance you would want to consider hotels and other hospitality stocks (even the health industry stocks). Invest in health and it pays back handsomely in a couple of years’ time. You may benefit from picking up or rather investing in those that others have been ignoring. Finally, I will remind of Shiv Khera’s quote : Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently. Similarly people who are making money invest in places where others don’t!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Internet Security And Your iPhone

The rise in power of the personal computer and the advent of the Internet has led to many amazing technological innovations. Just twenty years ago, something as complex as the worldwide web would seem unfathomable, now it is hard to imagine ever living without staying connected for a part of the day (lolz). Unfortunately, as with every great innovation, there are always those who take advantage of something to just corrupt it. With the Internet, it has become hackers who threaten security. In the case of the new iPhone and it’s built-in web browser, things are no different as well!

In fact, the iPhone, based on the fact that it uses a “watered-down” version of Apple’s home operating system, is very much susceptible to corruption via hackers. Given the lack of complexity to the browser, hackers can take on the ‘appearance’ of another, trusted website; once the hacker ropes you into their trap, there is no turning back. Almost immediately, your iPhone’s system can become corrupted.

Another drawback to the iPhone is the ability to view websites that house the discussion forums. While there are no complications in accessing pages with the posts, there is no line of defense between the iPhone and posts that contain harmful, encrypted codes. Sadly, there is no way to identify these corrupted message boards.

The classic hacking method of embedding viruses and/or other corrupted material within e-mails is no stranger to the iPhone. If the hacker can trick you into opening his or her e-mail message, it might already be too late for your iPhone’s operating system. Once a virus finds its way into your OS, the outlook becomes very bleak for recovery.

But how exactly do you go about defending yourself from corrupted information that is floating around the website? Use your head! You might be able to get away with visiting shaky websites from your home computer, as your security systems are probably the highest of quality. But more discretion must be practiced with the iPhone as one click can lead to disastrous consequences.

As such, it is always a good idea to avoid opening websites unless you can claim with certainty that they will be safe—stick with the massively popular sites for your iPhone, perform more varied web surfing on a personal computer. To that end, only connect to trusted networks. Yes, it is a pain to have to wait for internet service and it can be tempting to ignore the risks and connect to any network once you receive a signal, but practice patience. It won’t do you any good to connect to a corrupted network once it wreaks havoc on your iPhone. The only thing worse than no connectivity is an iPhone that no longer can connect once there is connectivity.
The bottom line is that the iPhone cannot really compete with the security measures that can be taken on most home computers. And unfortunately, hackers will take every chance they can get to exploit this fact. This means that more caution than necessary should be used when navigating the Internet on an iPhone. So exercise it generously!

Magazines and books are soon going to be a history!!

Yep Yep and did you know this?
Every single day, it seems like newspapers and magazines are increasingly becoming outdated, as news and articles on the Internet provide the same content without the price. It only seems natural that eventually, full-length books will have a computer-based replacement. Amazon.com, in their online initiative, has created a device that will provide the first steps in making our current books go the way of the dodo. Their new portable text-viewer, the Kindle, is spearheading a movement to make books cheaper, more travel-ready and eco friendly as well.

The Kindle acts as a technologically advanced notebook. It has the ability to access the Internet, so discovering new texts will be a simple task. You can search the web to find your favorite blog, newspaper, and/or magazine and read them all in one convenient device. Now, you will no longer have to fumble around trying to find your magazine or fold up that irritating paper.

There is also a store that offers books for purchase. These digital texts are offered at a cheaper price than their tangible brethren. Ergo, the money invested in the Kindle will be made back through savings on the books you would have purchased anyway. In fact, if you are an avid, or even an average, reader, reading via a Kindle will become a cheaper endeavor in the long run.
Kindle promises definitely to be a great idea. My only apprehension with purchasing one would be the fact that since it is such a new technology, there might some bugs that need to be worked out yet. This being said, once the inevitable revisions of the device are released to the market in the near future, I will seriously look into acquiring. And if you enjoy reading, no matter what form of the medium you choose to look at, I suggest you do the same..cool!

Gurur Brahma...Gurur Vishnuhu...Gurur devoh...maheswaraha..!!

Don’t you feel to go to school is a privilege considering the fact that there are so many children who still work instead of going to school?
And, yes to go to a school that had great teachers is a fringe benefit …..and to have a motivating teacher at least one during your entire education is something you are blessed with I believe, a teacher that can change the way you have been thinking, a teacher that inspired to choose a path in your career, a teacher who taught you to be a human being …
I am blessed is all I would say, as I've had three such teachers for what I am today (at least to a great extent)
there was Ms. Sundara Valli my English Madam during my 11th grade who aside English prose and poetry taught so many values of life; there had been Mr. Ram Kumar my GPBr First Year BSc teacher who taught with such flamboyance and ease that I remember longing for his weekly-once class, and there had been Dr. Ravuri who really changed my course of post graduation. He had a special way of approaching to everyday lessons and that gave birth interest in me for a new subject and I opted for Agronomy and not my otherwise interesting Plant Breeding as my PG specialization.

A great teacher always inspires as quoted by someone and I am blessed by 3 to inspire me during my learning times!

I know not where these 3 inspiring teachers are today..But I do remember them with reverence, love and gratitude!

I thought it’s a befitting tribute to wish all such great personalities who shape many more ….Happy Teacher’s Day! By the way is the guru shishya paramparya being lost to monotonous and mechanical teaching and children ignoring the pains of a teacher? I hope it does not. Some relations are forever and nothing should change them.

Care to Hair care

I went out to meet a friend today and she expressed surprise for the severe hair loss, although, I quipped. I know that I am well catching up with men as regards to hair loss. And, I am also upset that I lost way too much hair these days (who to blame?).

I do notice that more women are losing hair than ever before. Some study says that 1 among every 5 women experiences some form of a hair loss. If you want to know the common types of hair loss amongst women, here they are:
1) Fungal infections: The source could be change in water, boutiques and even hair washing products such as the shampoos.
2) Telogen effluvium is a form of alopecia and second most serious hair loss pattern studied by trichologists and dermatologists. Every woman experiences this at least once during her lifetime and there is heavy hair shedding with Telogen effluvium, as much as up to 500 strands of hair and in a month as you see almost half the hair has gone. Several factors responsible for this include:
crash dieting
anemia
excess hair doing including applying several chemicals to hair
post partum (if the woman is subjected to poor nutrition and/or deprived sleep)
thyroid and liver infections may also result in Telogen effluvium


So said, these are correctable issues if the hair loss is identified early and the cause is dug. If a quick intervention of this condition doesn’t happen, the hair loss can become almost irreversible.

3) Patterned loss of hair
It’s the worst form of hair loss and there are male patterned baldness and female patterned baldness. While in the past it used to be more of female patterned baldness, of late there is more of male pattern hair loss in women. In either case, the reasons could be hereditary or hormonal.

In hereditary acquired patterned hair loss (could be maternal or paternal) there are 3 stages when the patterned hairloss starts; menarche, post-partum and menopause stages.

The problem develops slowly but over a period of time and in majority of cases a girl or woman realizes that she has been losing hair after say 5-6 years after the problem has actually started.

Hormonal type of patterned hair loss can be seen in women suffering from hormonal disorders initiated by diseases such as PCOD (polycystic ovarian disease) and thyroid (usually hypothyroid) disorders.

However, in these cases it calls for a thorough investigation of blood samples for different hormone levels and a correction may sometimes help in regrowth of hair, especially when detected early.

Remember a hair saved today can help you smile with confidence tomorrow! Ain’t it?
Haviong said and done, I know my hair loss is due to hypothyroidism I suffer from and I have confidence that my Eltroxin and my food can reverse the scene. Anyways time can only tell whether it is hereditary or hormonal :( pattern of hair loss in my case!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Hai Hai Ganesha …..Come Again Ganesha!!


Ganesha is one my favorite deities and why, he is such a lovely god to just watch and see; I love his long coiled trunk, flappy ears and the small mushik or the rat that lay on his left side is an added attraction. Wonder how such a huge deity can travel all along on this small rat.

All of the explanation I got regarding this elephant god in the form of stories and they never seem to hold up to my child’s mind. She has several doubts about Ganesha!
Lord Shiva killing his son boy and chopping head of the boy and then again try fixing a Gajasura’s head to the boy and bringing life to the boy is all a great story that I knew and I tell sravi the same and she listens to me amazed. It is from then that the boy is known as Gajanana. So said, the story draws all sympathy from young and the adults for the little boy. No wonder he is everyone’s favorite deity.
It is on Ganesha Chaturthi that we bring this deity to our homes and offer puja along with great food. I recall my mother’s expertise in making undrallu (the pressure cooked food preferred by the god to other foods) while we as children used to go collect all the foliage from backyard to do the puja. I recall my brother donning the traditional attire and I recall him to look very cute.

This year too, I went out to get our cute deity and I especially liked the clay one without any colors (doing my bit to make the earth clean and green…hah); very cute-looking Ganesha indeed and bought it.

I could not buy the umbrella yet, although, told Sree Ram to get it. If we make our ganesha to sit with umbrella, its like we have made him comfortable almost and I know my hands have to work fast with doughs and soojis so we can please him with the food as well.

I know my task begins early in the morning, but it is great to have these once in a while and while the lord takes care of us, its nothing what we offer him on a chathurthi.

I wish that I make undrallu well so he likes. I lack the skill and the expertise so never they came out well out of my hands. All my watching as a child has never helped me!. Wish I could please my lord with my food. Those countless hours of assisting my mother as a child should help me do the undrallu with ease at least this year.
Immersion of ganesha idol is another interesting feature of this festival. We still watch on TVs for biggest and unique idols of ganeshas taken through crowded streets as a procession. It used to also bring tears in me! I used to wonder as to how we could be so tough on this god; previous day we loved him so much, we fed him with great food, we fell on his feet to seek his blessings, but the next day we are merciless and we push him into waters. Can’t there be a better way to bid an adieu to this cute God?

I still need some valid explanation as to why his idol needs to be immersed. Do you know it by the way? All said and done, I am all geared up for yet another ganesha chathurhi? Are you as well? Since Ganesha is also a deity known to remove any obstacle, come let's seek the blessings from elephant god collectively!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Quacky Hellow from below!
Who is pretty here? The sweetie in front of the bloom or the bloom behind?

Solitary Soul


Pollination Captured!

Beauty of Innocence!

It was last Sunday that all three of us (me, my hubby and my daughter) went to spend some time at Lalbagh here in Bengaluru. We had a nice day out with Sravi and I lost myself in nature and no doubt it was great to be with all natural elements surrounding you!

The place though is littered with plastic bags and pepsi cans...still loved it...the shrubs were so kind to cascade most of that litter.

The glass house is especially great and I loved the pond and the quacky creatures in the small pond! Sravi loved the white ducks. She kept on asking me to freeze one single white duck in our camera (please!! Don't call her racist she wouldnt understand a thing what you are saying!) we could'nt do it though. They seem to be so united irrespective of color, moving as a train!

My Dad...My Hero


Eversince I started blogging (10 days back) I'd been contemplating on dedicating one of my posts to the most important person in my life..."a man," and he is my father. I’m just not HERE without my father and I mean it in every sense of it; be it physically, biologically, mentally, emotionally, or professionally. To me, he is not a father alone, but a friend, a guide and a philosopher too.

Curiosity and refusal have been the order of my childhood and I realize it now though. But it is now I am fathomed by the fact that he's more than willing to give a clear answer to all of my questions. Tell you what? There have never been one liners and never one without a logic. I didn’t want to say that we have had long hours of discussion, Nope we never had! But he’s not fed me with those calorie-rich baby foods alone he gave me the fodder to think and ink to my writing muscles!

As of now, I find it very difficult to talk a thing or two with him, still it is the same ol' feeling of hero worship I have for him. If you ask me did he play with me when I were a child, I would say, No, never. We've never had so much of time together playing or laughing. But used to be a fire just the other side of his persona! I have attributed this to be the reason for his weird personality, but I realized once I was mature enough it is that fire that did not want to overprotect me or make me their mere shadow, and it is that fire that lit up and infused in me as extra confidence and guts (that I traveled 600 miles all by myself, safely as a student!), the same fire gave me strength to accept my failures and ask me to face them over again and again!!
That’s not all at all to his persona. He is more than a human at heart with a generosity that knew no bounds! I am sometimes aghast by these qualities. He would ask his domestic help to call up her parents from his phone and would increase her payment and pay a bonus without she having to put in a word, saying its only human to do so when he himself liked to receive hike or bonus as a central government employee.
Again, he is ruthlessly frank when it comes to analyzing anyone. It brought him friends and foes, but I believe it is his order no matter he has made friends or enemies. So father, I just love the way you are! It doesn’t matter we didn’t have a laughter and fun-filled times, you still are my hero …hero….hero…!!

A love that is limited by time and space?

What does it mean by love- What is the chemistry that works within you when you think of a person? Whether the affection you have for your parents, the extra care you wanted to show on your children or the warmth you feel for a friend who does a lot to you or a feeling you have for a good samaritan neighbor with whom you discuss everything between a heaven and hell? What is the biochemistry involved in all these feelings? Do they all lead to love?

Do all these forms get limited by time or space? Yes I guess! Let me tell you, this (limited?) love is vain and is capable of deserting anybody at a moment's notice.

The only way to love (anyone) is to love without limiting anything. Isn’t this ‘love’ the emotion that really is ruling all of our lives after all? Be it the positive aspect or negative aspect (such as ill feeling or hatred) you need to take time (unlimitedly) to think of a person whom you hate even! Is not it? So why waste a precious life hating someone? Why can’t we start “loving” everyone, even a person whom we dread to think of without looking for reasons? Some one said that a smile is very contagious, I will change it, love is contagious and it can spread like virus and I love to see the world infected with this pleasant virus. Can it happen?
I wish Rama, Allah, Buddha, Jesus collectively do that!