THE CALL.

 

"Bye baby. Call me if you need me. Will be with you in a jiffy," said Sam as he kisses Linda.

"Jiffy? Like in 2 hours. I would have delivered the baby by then," says Linda playfully. "Don't worry Sam, you know I am not due for another month. So, don't stress. I am going out for lunch with Shiela. Will be out most of the day and she is there if the need arises. Run along now." 

It is almost 4 in the evening when Sam receives a call. 

"Sam, this is Sheila. Linda's water broke. We rushed her to the hospital, how soon can you be here?"

"Oh shit! I had some nagging feeling all through the day. I am leaving now."

"Wait! Sam, the doctor is here. She wants to talk to you."

"Congratulations Sam. It is a boy."

Sam is laughing with relief when the doctor continues..."Hey Sam...it is a girl too. You have twins! Linda wanted to surprise you."

For - Write Tribe

HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN A DIGITAL WORLD.

My trusted washing machine of 8 years was ailing. We had been considering replacing the same. When Indiblogger announced the Reliance Digital experience, it was an opportunity to our benefit.
Sensing that we were about to ditch it, the washing machine breathed its last. It was heartbroken. And, with monsoon in full swing, we had no option but to buy a new one.

On the 15th of June, it was late in the evening when we could actually visit the store at Infinity Mall, Malad. Well, the staff were done with welcoming and briefing the bloggers who had visited the store in the morning. It was business as usual in the evening. So, I went in search one of the men in blue ( blue was the color the staff wore) and found one. He assigned  Abhishek to guide us in the selection of washing machines.

Customers can be broadly classified into 3 groups. 
1. Those who go for low cost products.
2. Those who go for brands irrespective of price.
3. A large population fall into this group where people want branded products at an affordable price.

With malls mushrooming and with each and every brand coming up with its own showroom or a chain of them; what is the USP of Reliance Digital that should make it different from other stores?

The customer service is good, the staff well trained and well mannered. The store big enough and the sign boards make it easy for the customers to find what they are looking for.

But, this outlet loses majorly when it comes to the stocking up the range of products that is displayed there.
I did check out the Reliance Timeout zone. The CD's, DVD's of all geners are stacked out well. But, being a bookworm, I was disappointed with the book section. 
The same goes for other appliances (I was looking for an OTG) and DSLR cameras. We loved the section where "Windows 8" laptops were displayed and my kids only happy to check out the various laptops.

My verdict - The world is competitive out there.  Reliance should come up with unique ideas and schemes to attract more customers and take it to the top.

 



 

UMWELT.

Do you know what an 'Umwelt' is? I too did not till I took part in the contest. 

According to wikipedia - In the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok, umwelt (plural: umwelten; from the German Umwelt meaning "environment" or "surroundings") is the "biological foundations that lie at the very epicenter of the study of both communication and signification in the human [and non-human] animal."^{[citation needed]} The term is usually translated as "self-centered world".Uexküll theorised that organisms can have different umwelten, even though they share the same environment.

Even after writing about it and reading many other posts, I am yet to understand Umwelt.

Here is the link to my post - Project100-A41:Umwelt by Janaki Nagaraj. 

Thank you all.

BLAME THE RAIN.

 

Do you need a reason 

To cross my mind?

It isn't me,

Blame the rain.

The music of falling rain

Casts its magical spell

Spreading romance in the air

The water drops trickling

Down the window pane

Makes me crave your touch - divine

Playfully teasing my skin

The wet wild wind

Crashes on my senses

Like waves, increase -

My yearning, am so

Defense - less

The air heavy

Like my breathing

Expectant, impatient

For your kiss

For liberation

For salvation.

For- dVerse ~ Beauty is Everywhere 

HAPPINESS.

Happy indeed
When you find the right words to write
Happy indeed
Am good enough to succeed
Painting colors my world bright
Oh! joy of eating Turkish delight
Happy indeed!

 For - Form for all ~ The Rondelet at -
dVerse Poets .

CELEBRATING INDIBLOGESHWARIS ONE!

(Standing from left to right:- Dipika Singh, Anamika, Sharmila Kulkarni, Me, Vinita Bahl, Mariam.
 Kneeling from left to right:- Zeenat, Amreen, Vasudha, Deepa and Renu Sethi) 

Was Vinita flirting with the rain god when she said there will be thunderstorm on the day of OUR birthday bash?  Well, that guy seems to have taken it seriously and he poured out his love so much that the streets of Mumbai were overflowing!
We did for sometime fear that this may dampen the spirits of the other Blogeshwaris who were to join the luncheon. No sir! We could hear them collectively say - "Ek baar humne jo commitment kar li...." And then the celebrations got underway under the command of Vinita...the official CEO of Indiblogeshwaris. 

No birthday party is complete without playing some games. So, here's the glimpse of the "Games we Played" complete with childlike enthusiasm.
1. Guessing Game I :
     "Write three things about yourself, two facts and one lie" was     Mam's orders and we complied. The chits were then shuffled and distributed...and we had to guess the 'lie.' We are all a year old and so we do know each other quiet well even though our interactions are primarily online. Most of us got this right. Well, Renu was flabbergasted to know that Sharmila hates chocolate! Now, you all know too ;)

2. Guessing Game II :
     Vinita had a paper bag which had something inside and we had to guess it. Ladeez that we are, we assumed it to be a beauty product. And, it was. Vasudha came closest to guessing it. Face cream was her take and the bag contained a foam face wash. She won a book for this!

 

3. Compliments Galore:
     It was a special day and Vinita made sure we all feel special.  So, she made us give compliments to each other in writing.  And guess what! Mmmm the ladies were being extra nice and generous and I am being a show off. Here's what they had to say about me.

 

I won a gift for being the most complimented person! This was two good - A beautiful tea-light!

The party was in full bloom as the dress code was 'floral' and there was a special give away for the person who was dressed best. It was none other than Anamika.

Have you seen a prettier bag than that! Even her dress was Chinese and she gave a complex to the Chinese staff of Mainland China. 

We were stuffed with delicious food, drunk on happiness, female bonding and girlie giggles as we cut the cake.

But, Vinita was not done with pampering us. She gifted each one of us with a gift voucher from Vanilla Spa!
Mallika from the Vanilla Spa was gracious enough to drop in and wish us on our success as a group and invited us to avail the gift voucher.

Now comes the most fun part. Birthday celebrations are never complete without birthday gifts. The only specification here was that the cost of the gift should be not more than 25 bucks. That was the catch...it required some searching and head scratching and this is what we came up with. The gifts were exchanged amongst us.

     Vinita had brought ear rings which was given to Renu Sethi.
     Sharmila's toe rings went to Dipika Singh.
     Deepa's ear rings was given to Vinita.
     I had taken a dozen glass bangles that went to Zeenat.
    Dipika had brought a hand made waist band which was given to Deepa.
     Vasudha had brought sprouts which I got.

     The smilie badge which Anamika had brought went to Mariam.
     Zeenat's coffee mug and a cute jute bag went to Anamika.
     Mariam's had brought a nice clutch purse which was given to Vasudha.
      Amreen came in late because of some family obligations. Sharmila had an extra gift - a red paint bottle which she gave it to Amreen...well, Arsenal's color is Red! 

We went, we had fun, a gala time...and wrapped up the party because we had to. It was worth all the effort made from each one of us to make this celebration a success.
  

Three cheers to Indiblogeshwaris that is synonymous with sisterhood .... To the woman of touch stance!
 

 
 

7x7x7x7

I beckoned him to me. He looked away, hurt.  I went to him, bent down and kissed him. He could not be pacified with a kiss. I sat in front of him, looked straight in his eyes and said 'sorry.' That did the magic. He got off from the chair, rubbed himself against my legs and purred in contentment.

For - Write Tribe
    The Prompt -

1. Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf.
2. Open it up to page 7.
3. Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page.
4. Begin a poem/a piece of prose that begins with that sentence
5. Limit it in length to 7 lines/7 sentences.

The 7th book in my book shelf is - The Blue Note Book by James A. Levine and the 7th page, 7th line sentence - I beckoned him to me.

         
 

BEAUTIFUL EYES.

He saw her everyday standing on the balcony, a slight smile playing on her lips. The gentle wind scattering her hair. She just stared at nothing.

He once encountered her in the local market. She was with her friend...they were walking hand in hand. All he remembered seeing was her eyes...it was sparkling gold. Never had he seen an eye like hers. Next thing he remembered was colliding with her. Before he could speak; she said, "I'm sorry, Sir....I cannot see. My friend wanted to buy something and she withdrew her hand and I panicked ." He was dumbfounded. 


 
For -  Everyday Gyaan

WHEN LAZINESS GROWS INTO YOU....

"You like books na?" said my friend. Yes,we were discussing books.
"Mom doesn't like books; she loves them," stated my daughter with pride.
And, I secretly wished that the ground could swallow me. Yet, I managed to smile a stupid smile. I was ashamed and guilty.

There was a time when I devoured books as if I have been starving for them all my life...as if I was born to read them and I am sure most of the book lovers feel the same. They were my only outlet to my flights of fancy and fantasy...this was a hunger which knew no satiation.

For more than a year now I have been very laid back...blogging took precedence and so did the chats/commenting on our forum Indiblogeshwaris. 

 “Take on a challenge. Adopt a good habit. Get rid of a bad one. Change something. Write one new chapter. Read a new book. Listen to a new song. Anything, almost anything singular that you’ve been putting off for too long. You have a month to do it."

This is what our team leader came up with - the theme of 'THE ELUSIVE ONE'...as our first year anniversary post...And, I jumped right in to take up this challenge like many others of our group.  

When my kids lament that they do not have enough time to concentrate on various activities, I always lecture them on time management. And, here I was wasting away my time. Some how the laziness seemed so comforting. Last year I must have read 10 to 12 books in totality. Pathetic! I would have been glad if I had some thing else to show off for the time spent...but, no I just squandered it.

So, this May even when I was technically on vacation; even when I had to get up early in the morning to fill up the buckets, steel drums and 'lotas' with water every alternate day in Bengaluru while facing acute water shortage; even when I had to make my holiday look like a holiday; even when I had to keep my otherwise bored kids occupied...I made some time to read...almost every day!
And by June I managed to read 3 books! That's like slowly getting back into the groove. 

If not for this 'push' I would still be languishing in my laziness zone, lecturing my kids about time management.


For - Indiblogeshwaris

WHY I WRITE.

                            Because, writing is my creative outlet.

For - Write Tribe # 4