Zindagi Gulzar Hai

"Zindagi bahot si ajeeb baton ka majmua hai, ajeeb baatein itefakat mojze. Baaz dafa samhaj nahi aati, agar isko kisi ek jumle mei bayan karna pade toh wo kya hoga? Zindagi Gulzar Hai.." 

This statement has never felt so powerful before with all emotions wrapped in one tight ball, like it did on this very day. I watch a lot of cross culture, across the border drama's with no motive other than feeling connection. My tryst with Pakistani TeleFilms began around past 2-3 years. I still remember a friend of mine residing in USA went on talking about "Humsafar" and how amazing it is. At first I thought it was some drama aired on DD in the olden days as it was based on Episode format, and then came the realization. It's an across the border creation. I couldn't stop myself from searching it on youtube and watching.

It would be mild to say, that I wasn't moved by it, or that it didn't strike a chord with me. It left me mesmerized and this is how I fell in love with the drama's. Always talking about them with one of my blogger friend Kiran (she's from Pakistan) and discussing various drama's too. Sometimes, I longed to see them on the big screen alas! that didn't seem to be possible. Imagine my surprise when Zee launches Zindagi, priceless!

And then came another big surprise, 22nd June, 2014 was one of kind when Indiblogger in collaboration with Zee Zindagi announced the #JodeyDilonKo meet.  

Excitement, anxiousness, the high of getting to meet friends after long coupled with weird nervousness is what I entered the premises of the venue, "The Leela" The moment I entered everything flew out of the window for Indiblogger is known to throw impromptu surprises. There were team of technicians (what for I thought earlier) banners of various drama's that are to be telecasted;  "Zindagi Gulzar Hai" , "Aunn Zara" and "Kitne Girhain Baaki Hai" to name a few.

This meet was no different, it started with lunch, making our presence known on the famous social networking website. Still one thing that was totally amazing was that Delhi was having the same meet side by side with the advantage of VC.

What began as merriment between Mumbai and Delhi soon turned to a war, with each city defending their pride. Almost matching the intensity of India vs Pakistan cricket match. Debating right from which men has the most handsome men to the best street food. And though it looked like soon World War Three would break out, the arrival of the imminent personalities saved the country literally :P  

The Zee Zindagi team arrived, introducing us to the world of Pakistani serials that would soon be aired and the idea, how it was conceived and finally brought to fruition. And then arrival of the most awaited guest of the evening (gosh at least for me :D) Imran Abaas Naqvi. I couldn't believe that he was actually in front of me, flesh and bones not behind a laptop screen. I felt like I was falling in love with him all over again *la la land*

His brown eyes with tint of hazel, mesmerizing playful smile, the cool and collected way he interacted with everyone present irrespective of the nature of questions thrown at him. What I really liked about him, was the way he handled the questions that focused more on political relationship between the two countries and gracefully navigated the focus to Arts and Entertainment. Personally, it didn't come as a shock for me that Indian Entertainment is hugely followed in Pakistan, that there are so many ardent fans of Bollywood. It really made me go aww when he told us that he has a collection of old evergreen songs by famous Indian artists like Mohd. Rafi, Kishor Kumar and others. It was sweet and touching in its own simple way.

Not only did we meet him, we had the privilege to voice talk to Sultana Siddique (producer and director at Hum TV) whom he fondly addressed as "Sultana Aapa" his mentor, his guide and someone who molded his career and life. I'm sure it was a proud moment for her too seeing him receiving love across the border.

The man was like a Pandora's Box to me with so many hidden talents being unfurled as time passed. Not only he is an amazing actor, we learned about his awesome singing abilities. His voice was soulful, and a pleasure to listen to. He sang two songs "Aisa Des Hai Mera" and "Tum Hi Ho", but I only took the voice recording of the song. Owing to Deepti Verma I got the idea to post a song of his that someone else took a video of. Thanks Dee :D You too should listen to it, the video is posted by Meghana on youtube, thanks sweetheart for recording it :))

How could the meeting be complete without Anoop's witty sense of humor and pulling Nihal and Delhi's leg everytime some competition came up. Also there were goodies, that some lucky people won not me though! People *including me* clicked pics with Imran Abaas personally and some even took his autograph as a symbol of memory :) And though I await the release of his first Bollywood movie alongside Bipasha Basu, I've heard it's horror and if it's true I think I'm gonna miss it *sheepish smile*

I am really looking forward to seeing some of the shows again and some brand new ones that I had not seen on Zindagi :) At the end of the day, what I realized was though we are from two different nations we are very much the same. I remember Imran's words "Hum do alag mulko zarur hai, lekin hamara khoon aur hamari mitti ek hi hai." 

As a parting to this post, I post this small poem in Urdu by me

Zindagi ko par laga do,

Wo hai udne ko tayaar..

Zanjeero mei nahi hai bandhna,

Isse sunni hai panchion ki pukar..

Aasmano ko hai chuna,

Pehen-na hai bulandiyo ka taj..

Wo sarhad par se pukaare,

Hum unki awaz sunne ko hai bekarar..

Jahan aman ki asha pukare har ek dil ko,

Wahan zindagi jodey dilon ko..

-Fatima

Perks of Canola Oil

Talking about food is always fun. But then eating the right food is equally important, or is it the right kind of oil which goes into the preparation? Several questions spark through our mind and they leave us in a muddle. What to follow, who to follow and most importantly which to follow? And then in all this messed-up state of mind I get a mail from BlogAdda stating this new meet. A healthy one at that.

This is what happened at Four Seasons Mumbai. Where several people were invited to discuss food, its healthy and nutrition aspect and also the various new upcoming culinary trends. Sounds interesting isn't it? It certainly was.

The council that was present included, Ex- Master Chef judge, Chef Ajay Chopra along with Naini Setalvad, nutritionist and Dr. Ashish Contractor HOD: Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation, Asian Heart Institute. Also present for the interaction were Bruce Jowett, Vice-President - Market Development, Canola Council of Canada.

The question looming in your mind might be, What is Canola Oil? To be frank truly, when I entered the conference room my mind too was filled with various such questions but I left with several positive answers.

Canola Oil, is the healthiest, most versatile and cost-effective cooking oil. Ok not really cost-effective in the Indian markets currently with the market prices rising but a little cost should not deter with the other health benefits. This oil as test and experts say, has the least saturated fat of any culinary oil and is free of trans fat and cholesterol. Thereby, reducing the risk of heart diseases; Good news isn't it?  Also it has omega 3-fat and is a good source of Vitamin E.

Now with all these factual facts there are facts which we can taste and see ourselves too. The oil has a neutral taste and so it can be used right from cooking to baking. Also it has a light texture and is high heat tolerant. And since it is neutral the best thing is we can prepare flavored oil ourselves directly. Cost effective finally!

No, I'm saying all this because I attended the meeting or just for the sake. I have tasted the oil myself and seen the high heat test from my very eyes. All this was courtesy Chef Ajay Chopra who prepared three delicious mouth watering delicacies with the use of this very oil. And also three types of flavored oil; Thai Basil, Rosemary and Kashmiri Red Chilly. What was best about these oils was there was no other dominant flavor over powering them and the aroma was really wonderful. I loved Rosemary and Kashmiri Chilli the most followed by Thai Basil.

You know it's not about dieting or skipping food or controlling your appetite to reduce weight or being healthy. It is how one cooks food and in what oil we cook food. People say one should avoid fats, that is completely untrue. Fats are essential for the proper functioning of our body. Remember, not all fats are created equally. The type of fat matters as much as the amount.

For me this was a really a good session and more of an eye-opener. For more info on Canola Oil you can visit the website: www.canolainfo.org

P.S: Sorry readers about the lack of photographs(hopefully once all is settled I will upload the pics too) and no update since ages, my laptop has broken down and I'm unable to update. This post was specially written from my old rickety computer because I loved the meet and really wanted to share my experience. 

ReConnect - Step into the world of technology

The past few months have been  too hectic for me, college and project work taking up most of the time. Yet with so much of an hectic schedule I managed to find time to venture out and enjoy with my friends but still there was tiredness and worry about completion of work at the back of my mind.
Luckily, last week I completed B.Tech and I was finally free. And with that new found freedom came another awesome event by IndiBlogger a Reliance Digital Experience.

Skipping skipping everything about my exams and how I felt like a free bird let me come to the most important thing and that is the event. I along with my other blogger buddies decided to visit the store at Infinity Mall, Malad on the 15th of June. Now I was surely in for a surprise as I had never been to the said mall before and what a shock. I was pleasantly surprised by the interior of both the mall and the reliance store. In our excitement we by mistakenly mistook 1st floor for the 2nd and searched for "Reliance Store" and to our dismay found none and it was then that someone realized that we were indeed on the wrong floor and we made our way to the store where we were greeted by Mr. Vishal the store manager and later on Nihal, one from the Indi team. Finally we heaved a sigh of relief (rather laugh of relief :D)

Entrance

After acquainting ourselves to the new environment, and realizing we weren't the first ones to come at near about 11:15 am. We greeted Vishal once again and he took us on a tour of the whole store.

Reliance Digital is a multi-brand electronic store that houses entertainment, personal care, information technology, home appliances, telecom et al. under one roof. It is the fastest growing electronic store not only in the city but also the country. Also there will be three new store that would be launched, two of those include Neptune Mall Bhandup and Maxus Mall Bhyander. All this valuable information was given to us by the store manager and our guide for the time being Mr. Vishal.

The first thing I saw once we entered the store was the Power Aisle. It is named so because it is the most economical and budget friendly with varying discounts on products that allure the customer towards purchasing them.

Power Aisle

Once my focus shifted away from the power aisle, it landed on gadgets. Laptops and cell phone alike. I was amazed that there were so many new models and brands. Earlier I thought only Croma had that facilities but Reliance proved me wrong this time too. I couldn't believe that there were so much to choose from. Also there were some companies like Sony, Blackberry etc that provided End Caps.

Not only was the iphone here, but there is a whole dedicated store to Apple known as the Apple istore on the Ground Floor of the mall that houses just the Apple products..wow isn't it !

Apple

Apart from brands like Sony, Blackberry there were others like Philips, LG, Samsung, lenovo, their own brand Reconnect et al that took up most of the other space. The sector included both electronic items like LCD TV's, washing machine, refrigerators everything that one needs.

 
Apart from this there was this whole big gaming section that was dedicated to people who love gaming and that excludes me. So I didn't really spend much time here apart from the little we were supposed to go. But it did seem really nice.

There was this amazing explanation given to us about the different types of professional camera's available in the market today and which should one go for depending if, they already are into photography or are amateurs. It was something I really liked the best.

Surprise after surprise, once we were done with this we came to know that not only does this store offer you a digital experience but there is also Reliance Time Out Corner at the back of it, that includes Books, Movies, Art and Craft supplies etc. Not only this but this is the only bookstore in the whole mall. Amazing isn't it and the collection though not like a typical bookstore is still decent as it mostly includes new releases.

After almost spending close to more than an hour and half here it was finally time to bid  the store adieu. It was indeed a very pleasant and an informative experience. And I somehow think I might visit a Reliance Digital Store when  I wish to browse and purchase something when I'm not sure which to buy or from where. As is it not only customer friendly but even economically as it saves time.

Yet another Indi Meet was concluded successfully, though this was not really a meet but well we got to meet our blogger friends once again. All thanks to Reliance and Indiblogger.

This post has been written for The Reliance Digital Experience powered by IndiBlogger 

Photographs Courtesy: Vaisakhi Mishra and from the Bloggers Group where pics are uploaded.

-Fatima

My Bookstore My Dream...

Reading and Writing, two words that I use to define myself. Tracing back time to almost my school days all I can recollect is; reading used to be something that I found comfort in and now that bliss is extended so much that it has become my passion culminating into a dream. I am a Engineering student and a dreamer, put these two together and you don't always get a good combination. Though it doesn't necessarily mean that being a student has thwarted my plans, although at times I did feel like backing away and not pursuing it till the end but each time I felt like taking a step back, I was reminded of a quote by Paulo Coelho that helped me tread ahead.

 

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” 

And thus the idea of starting a Bookstore cum Cafe, an independent start-up bookstore for book lovers grew on me slowly and steadily and I started moving towards my goal of converting my dream into reality.

People who know me, know how much emphasis I give to jotting down everything that I need for my task to be completed right from the location, to employment, to softwares to be used and most importantly names. So after hours of mind-boggling I decided on "Grounds for Thought Bookstore." My primary goal was to serve the people who not only frequent bookstores but also those who couldn't due to lack of time and travelling thereby catering to every individual who genuinely loves reading. 

But business is not just about marketing, networking and money; it is also about the resources and how to allocate those resources in order to get optimal output. And that is where I started facing issues, what seemed good in my mind and on paper didn't really seem fitting in reality as I being a student hardly have enough resources. My dream of starting a bookstore came crashing down; that is when I came across Microsoft Office 365 (http://www.office365.in). 

Microsoft Office 365 is the cloud version of the decades offered by Microsoft Office suite. Besides the familiar programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint there are other services such as Lync SharePoint Online and Exchange Online and creating websites to market the business and keeping it up to date which are included. It provides virtually anywhere access to familiar Office tools, plus enterprise-grade email, conferencing, and more IT services. In all being a perfect tool in the business arena. 

Having learnt so much about it and realizing its benefits, my mind started forming different ideas about how to incorporate it into my business without losing focus on my dream project. 

The bookstore industry as a whole is going through a large shift. Earlier, the market was dominated by local city libraries and small book vendors selling novels. Thus, my own experience as a customer was not satisfactory as I did not always get everything under one roof. Therefore, my bookstore  would cater to the needs of middle class customers who cut back on purchasing; thereby a used bookstore will look more attractive to customers who still wish to purchase books or simply lend them by being a member of the bookstore. 

The bookstore would try to provide various genre of books. It would offers a wide range of books including both the educational and recreational, a variety of magazine and fine music selections and newspapers. This includes just about every imaginable category including fiction, non-fiction, business, science, history, children and other types of books. Also the newspaper selection would concentrate not just on daily newspapers but archive even the past newspapers of historical dates.

Since this will be a bookstore cum cafe it will also provide a relaxed reading room type atmosphere that would be encouraged through the placement of art, chairs, couches and coffee tables; where one can sip evening coffee and enjoy a good read for customers who do not wish to purchase the book or take it home with them. 

In addition, as I mentioned earlier about incorporating Microsoft Office 365 as it provides ample services that would help my business. Since this is a small scale venture, the small business plan would help in my start up. 

Using Sky Drive I would update the database of existing and newly added books as it can be accessed both online and offline after synchronization. Basically this would help in searching the item the customer is seeking but is hard to find. This I do would by using the Microsoft Office tools like MS Excel for keeping a record of the books and music collection in a .csv file that would be stored in the cloud i.e Sky Drive that can be easily imported in a database; also since I'm all but using Microsoft products the database that I would incorporate would be SQL Server to ease my work.

Also there would be an online virtual library so it’s easy for the customer to leaf through books and place the order though not necessarily being present at the bookstore personally. The basic idea of having an online library in addition to the bookstore is that, if a customer wishes to purchase the book; the book would be delievered to their residence. But, home delivery won't hold true if the customer wishes to take the book on loan, but they can definitely pre-book the book they wish so that it is issued in their name and can be collected by the customer in a weeks time.

The website of this online library would be built using the Microsoft Office 365 Website builder and the requests would be updated in the database that would be connected to Sky Drive, Excel, Lync for audio calls and SharePoint so that the changes and order recorded can be viewed by me, the Head Librarian and even the other employees so as to have a fair idea of which book is available and how is the bookstore functioning. 

And one of the best feature is that I need not be present in the bookstore the whole time to check the records management, I can sync and configure Microsoft Office 365 on my touch screen cell phone and access the data anywhere thus, simplifying my task of checking the business development at my ease. 

Though this being a small scale business at start-up with minimum employees, the primary marketing strategy in order to capture attention for the bookstore would be using prominent signs at the stores location, handing out fliers to people, discounts on membership cards based on first cum first serve basis and radio advertisements to capture customers. Still there would be a sales and marketing representative who would keep a track of all the books sold, borrowed, acquired and also lost incurring a fine to the individual; using Microsoft Office tools like MS Word, Excel but with new and improved efficiency.

Today technology has advanced and it has it's perks and is present in every part of our life, it helps us from menial tasks to skilled elevated ones. The bookstore is my dream and a small initiative that I want to take in order to encourage not just reading for leisure but also a step towards developing a rational thinking that combines both proper education and creativity thereby inculcating the idea of dreaming big and working towards achieving it.

And I sincerely hope that one day my dream is fulfilled and I can proudly say, Yes this is my Bookstore not just for people who can afford to buy books and read but for everyone who can afford or who cannot but who genuinely like to read. 

This post has been written for Microsoft Office 365 and Indiblogger

-Fatima

 



P.S: Understanding Microsoft Office 365 courtesy; Microsoft site and google for various tutorials in each language.

Rendezvous with the Sun

Time flies so fast with memories never leaving your side as they always linger close in the recesses of your mind. As I sit here on the beach enjoying the subtle sun browsing an albums of my younger days on my i-pad, I realize it's been exactly ten long years since the day I had a real tryst with the sun.

Back then too global warming was as good as it is today and one needed protection from both the UVA and UVB rays of the sun. Smiling slightly my gaze lingers on my smooth untanned skin reminding me of my "Fourth Indiblogger meet sponsored by Neutrogena" that finally made me embrace a sunblock lotion. Seeing that I had really nothing much to do, I let the memories engulf me loosing myself in them.

The meet was held in JW Marriott, Juhu, Mumbai of which I was lucky to be a  part off owing my exams were miles apart. The moment I entered the venue all I could see was yellow; umbrellas, drapes, the hosts and even Neutrogena boards all over.

Once the registrations were done we were being given a Face mask and a cute little umbrella on which we had to write our name and drop in a box *me thinking why* but before I could run a theory in my mind one of my friend dragged me to our table as everyone had already settled on their tables and were mingling with fellow bloggers.

Some new faces, some old and some not present but that didn't dampen our spirits as we made new friends. Some of the bloggers even wore the Neutrogena Face mask that we were given during  registration.             

          

Our host and dost of the evening !

Me and my group :D

Once we were finally settled on our tables and sighed happily that finally this time "Our Group is not table-less" but sadly our happiness was short lived as Mr. Anoop thought that this time too there would be fun games but with a twist of scattering everyone, thereby breaking our sweet group and we went table hunting with an added rule that every table must have at least 2 guys and 2 girls each and also that they should not be a part of your previous table. And the first table to form that group gets an USB band. 

Well my table lost in this one but never mind as we won the next one. We had to know each other's name on the table and tada we knew and were the first ones to raise our hands!

Yay we all won vollyballs..yoo hoo :D

Once this was done and we thought that finally there would be no more shuffling. We were to pick the cute little yellow umbrellas we had submitted while registration that were randomly sorted.

                    

 Once the picking ceremony was done we were asked to find the person whose name was written on our umbrella and get to know them. Some lucky ones found their soon while some like me were searching for the person till the very end. Also the first five people who searched their partners got cool gifts and one of the girl was so lucky she got her own name and she too got a gift. :D

Finally we sat down feeling that now we put the umbrellas to rest. Anoop dropped another fun game on us, that was to count the number of holes in our umbrella. I for one had not even noticed that there were holes in the first place :O. Anyways, moving on I had *four* holes and so I was to find fellow bloggers who were in the same group. Post the new group forming we were told to give our group a name and a tag line. My group's name was "Sun-or and Sun-orita - Basking in the Sun" pronounced as (Senor and Senorita). Although we didn't win this round too we enjoyed a lot and I yet again made some new friends :) 

Post this we had a war, not literally but an umbrella with holes and balls war where duh we again lost but had lots of fun. At the end, the purpose of the game was to explain to us that there were two types of rays UVA and UVB and most of the sunscreens do not give 100% protection and thus there are holes that allow the harmful rays to penetrate and affect our skin. *Didn't know that but glad to know*

Fun but knowledgeable game! 

 Finally, we were tired and we got our much awaited break. And we went to satiate our tummy that was hungry and mind you there was so much that one had to think what to eat and what not. Jalebi with Rabri, Chocolate Mousse, Cheesecake, every variety of tea and coffee, Corn balls, sandwiches etc. both Veg and Non-Veg. 

Paneer Rolls

Cheesecake

Different varieties of Tea.

Once our stomach was satiated and we were seated on our tables. Walked in our guest for the evening the very own sweet "Tara Sharma Saluja" wearing a bright yellow dress.

She talked about her show "The Tara Sharma Show" that airs on Colors and  Nickelodeon and also talked about her 2 kids, and how she manages to keep her skin healthy, glowing and supple using Neutrogena Sunscreen on a regular basis. She also told us three easy steps for a healthy glowing skin; cleanse, moisturize and  protect. Finally she was done with giving us ample suggestions and shared her views with us. But alas! Everything comes to an end, and it was time for her to leave but not without a goodie from the IndiBlogger team who presented her with Neutrogena hamper and it was given by our very own youngest blogger (13 years old) Ashwin Pathak. 

Ashwin with Tara Sharma Saluja

Post this there was a dermatologist session who tested different sunscreens including the Neutrogena Sunscreen and finally the results proved. Neutrogena provided protection from both UVA and UVB rays thereby giving 100% protection. Also he answered many queries by the bloggers. 

Why are Sunscreens Important and when can be used ??

* Sunscreens can be applied since the age of 3

* Most sunscreens only provide protection against UVA rays.

* Higher SPF level does not necessarily mean a good sunscreen. 

* Sunscreens should be applied every 2-3 hours so that the effect stays for a long time.  

Finally, it was time for the meet to end but can a meet be done without some more fun and a group pic..Never but since this meet was all about twist we had a crazy "Harlem Shake" and a group pic thereby putting an end to the wonderful meet. 

Suddenly, I heard my friend calling me breaking me from my trace and I realized it has been almost an hour that I was lost in the memories of that day when I realized the importance of using Sunscreen and from then on till today I've been using Neutrogena Sunscreen- My personal protection from sun. And this is "How I met the sun" and have fallen in love with it since then. With that being said, I re-applied my Sunscreen and took off to play beach vollyball with my friends without the fear of being tanned or sunburned.

My protectors from the harsh sun.

Also do visit: https://www.facebook.com/NeutrogenaIndia

-Fatima

P.S: Picture courtesy IndiBlogger and Aditi Pathak

       UVA- UltraVoilet A and UVB- UltraVoilet B