KIDS PACK YOUR BAGS !!!!

Well this about a crazy incident with the little nephews and nieces.  Me happening to be a “youngest   unmarried uncle” in the family. These kids tend to fancy me a lot plus take me for granted. They make me laugh and also drive me nuts at times.  I have two nephews and three nieces.  The nephews are like big time BEN10 fans their names are Santosh(10) and Sanjay(10) , while my nieces just love fashion even though they are hardly 10 years old Diana(8) , Nandhini(9) , Jackie(6).  Kids these days talk more than my grandma used to. Every Saturday my cousins let me take care of their kids. It’s usually a drive to the closest park. Once when I asked Santosh lets walk to the park, He says “Suraj, why do u have a car. You are being so cruel that you want to make us walk??”. Well this was one such example of their so called advanced brains.

So it was some time during their annual holidays this year we planned to go to Coorg. My grandma lives there.  You should have seen the smile on their faces, my god the evil naughty smiles. So we decided to drive to coorg. It was these five kids my mum, dad and my sister. We started our journey. The brats started of singing and making fun of everyone on the road. As we drove past Mysore the beautiful scenery took the kids away they were silent and excited. One could see the sparkle in their eyes, Jackie says “mamaaaa stop the car “then we stop by a little stream of water and the kids are all excited to see that. Having grown in apartment and concrete jungle the kids were so very thrilled, so was I.  As we drove through the Ghats the kids were thrilled to see the elephants working alongside moving timber and load. We stopped for a while clicked a few pics. After almost 8 hours of drive from Bangalore. We reached at my grandmother’s place in PolyBetta, The kids were all jumping and ran into the house. The house happens to be more like a living antique piece.  The house is surrounded by cardamom, vanilla and orange plantation. 

The kids were actually feeling lost they were so excited to see so much of nature. It was already late so we had a nice dinner and we all went to sleep. It was a huge bed that accommodated me and the kids .Me being stuck in the centre of 5 little brats who tried to choke me in their sleep.  The next morning when I got up it was late. The kids were missing, I went up to mom, dad and sister asked where the kids were. They said that they saw them playing around. I started yelling out their names but in vain. I thought they must be around the nice plantation so I went back to the house and got ready. The Kids were still missing! I was a bit worried and I told my parents. So they started looking for them as well, but they were all missing. We got the household people and started searching everywhere . I was scared but later after almost 30 mins of our search I found these kids with few local kids by a stream trying to fish.  It was such a relief but the kids loved it. I loved it so did everyone in the family. I believe vacations are a must for kids. Especially where they could discover nature. It would freshen them and make them feel lively. Life in cities are  usual classes and technology based life. If I have kids in the future I would make it a point to take them on vacations every few months in a year. Just Surfing through the net I found this interesting link - #travelWithKids   - TEDDY TRAVELOUGES  by Club Mahindra

Make sure to check out the website,

http://membership.clubmahindra.com/TeddyTravelogues/index.html

 Have fun with kids keep travelling show them the beautiful world out there,

Where’s the Loo

Our country having advanced greatly in various streams. We still face a huge issue. We have a deficit of “Toilets “. I live in Chennai supposed to be one of the best cities in the country also said to be a great place to live.  However it has its own issues. Recently I was engaged in a swachh bharat initiative within the heart of the city .My team were Busy cleaning the streets and washed them up using domex.  The locals were all excited looking at us and helped us clear the road. The people loved the after effects of having used Domex. Once done some of the girls in my team asked the local women if they could use the toilet in their place. The women started to giggle, Later a little girl says “Akka we go there for 1 and 2 “pointing towards a bushy marsh area.  So Jamie tells the kid , I am a woman I'm not a kid like you in a irritated tone. The little girl says everyone goes there. The girls in my team were so very much tensed at this. It was pathetic, I could even not cross the bushy marsh area as it was covered with faeces and foul smell. We then had to leave.

Further me and my team did recall the incident and thought of visiting the place to understand more about the situation.  So when we visited these women they told us about the various hardships that they go through every day for their early morning chores.  When I asked them do men also use the same area . They said “no they use the left side of the marsh, while we women use the right side area”. Another lady said even if we have allocated places still sometime men accidental wander into the women's area. Hearing this I was a bit taken back, true that most rapes also occur due to this in north Indian states. No rape incident has occurred here though.  The women said when they would be held up in such a situation they just pull over a saree palu over their head to save their identity, Sad but this is true. So further on we decided to go ahead and educate these people the need of building toilets and sanitation.

The team then planned a street drama and put up a show about the harmful effects of open defecation/ not properly sanitizing. We also played the video byte where the mr MODI speaks about building toilets and cleanliness. The locals were so excited and decided to work along and build a toilet for the women folk for the start as the women had a real tough time in this locality.  The area now has a good enough toilet we also handed over a couple of  Domex kits .   I also can picture the smiles and happiness of the  young women and girls in that locality. Let’s make India free from open defecation.

So I hope everyone takes a step in helping to join the fight against open defecation.

 Thanks to DOMEX for their campaign #ToiletForBabli

Join the campaign by domex  - CLICK HERE 

You Click Domex Contributes

Every click that you make at this website contributes Rs5 for building toilets, Join the fight  with Domex in making India Free from Open Defecation

WEIRD HISTORY -- How was " DIRT POOR" coined ?

I was going through few weird articles and this one popped up and eh i though i would share em with you people :) 
So here is some Weird funny history ...

Next time you're washing your hands and the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children -- last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs -- thick straw -- piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof -- hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway, hence, a "thresh hold."

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite awhile. Hence the rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale bread which was so old and hard that they could be used for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth. . . (who ever said that History was boring)?

Diwali for all

Yieeeeee ....Its Diwali again, writing about diwali. It’s nostalgic with just a few hours left for celebrations. Well I just got back home after a quick shopping for all the necessary stuff for the "CELEBRATION". So first let me  wish you all a happy DIWALI/DEEPAVALI or any other way you want to spell it. Hmmm Diwali has been  an awesome festival for us. I still remember the first essay that I wrote in my 1st std at school was "DIWALI festival of lights".

My perspective about diwali is that it a day where families and friends come together. This is more like a celebration of our country as a whole. Like how people celebrate Christmas as an international holiday, Diwali is our national holiday. Doesn't matter who you are/ where you are from? all that happens this day is happiness and fun. I still remember the days as I was a kid; it used to be real special as there would be loads of sweets and a lot of goodies given by relatives and neighbors.

I still remember those days when my dad would come home with the sweet boxes and other gifts given at his office. I would stand by the gate looking out for his car, As he drove close by I would run with excitement to him to carry the sweet bags along with my lil dog who  kept barking with joy as-well.

There were days that I would look out for this day as dad used to be out of station and would come home during diwali. Diwali was very emotional at times in our house as it was a joyous occasion for all of us to come together and sit down. My mum also being a working woman would have this day off and we always had fun. 

Oh and the best part of diwali is "CRACKERS" ....well this was big when I was a kid. I first started bursting like the real  noisy crackers in my 6th grade , My dad provoked me so much that I finally took the guts to light a "hydrogen bomb"  boom it went and I really liked it. Later on down the lane I have been a pro with crackers . Currently I see the same excitement in my lil nephews as my childhood days. 

Nothing much has changed every since my childhood days, My dad arrived this week from mangalore . Mom has got off for the next two days ...so do I ,Got my crackers(check). My dog is a lil old though, Will make some sweets along with mom tomorrow. Ah about sweets we tend to buy most of them from the sweet shop, just the gulab jamoons are made at home. I love cooking alongside with the family and we do this only during such occasions as all of us are so caught up in our routine cycle of work.

I would have said nothing has changed much but just a lil, well those little things when i sit back and look at them, really mean a lot. Like we have less relatives coming in, as most of the work is done by the mobile phone of wishing. Making tons of sweets/savouries at home has come down drastically but however being together and sharing a lovely day with my mom,dad and my doggie is the best. Looking out for an awesome day tomorrow. Mom and dad are asleep and I’m just typing in this post sitting at the center of my drawing room sipping my pepsi and some nibbling on the savories. 

Guys With all the promos around the flipkarts billion day / amazon diwali sale blah blah what not ...Do not forget your family, make sometime today. Meet your mom and dad share a happy thought have fun....Happy diwali  

Also check out more about diwali fun - Pepsi Gar Wali Diwali   it time to get the smile on :) 

watch this video PepsiCo #GharWaliDiwali film

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

Healthy, wealthy and wise is a saying we have all heard, Ever since we were kids . Health is now one of the greatest wealth one could have these days. Being healthy means, you get to go about doing your work and daily routine. The doctor bills are higher than those of our fast phased taxi meters. Medical care has become very expensive these days. So it’s better we start off by taking care ourselves .

The food we eat these days don't give us all the necessary nutrients. Especially this is a serious issue when it comes to kids these days. They hardly tend to take care of themselves. They are burdened with a lot of day to day work from school and various other co-circular activities. Well how do I know all this?  I have been watching over my little nephew. He is 7 years old, goes to one of the  best schools here in Chennai.  He is one brilliant kid, Its funny how the kids are kept busy from morning 7 to evening 7 , feels like they are working alongside us .  Well my nephew has such a tight schedule. He starts his day off in the morning by 6am . He has hardly any-time till the  school bus arrives.

His bus is the pick up point by 7am , His mom who also is a working woman has hardly anytime to fix him a nice healthy breakfast. He is given a quick breakfast . The lunch is usually something that his dad would pick up from the hotel and pack up for his lunch. I usually use to feel bad for the kid. 

I would usually tend to take care of him when his parents were away. 

I also did notice something ignoring the part of his parents also being busy, My nephew was never open for healthy food. he loved oily/junk/fastfood . Every time I took him out he would opt for more junk food than any other healthy meal. He is like the epitome of happiness for our family. He and his tantrums/pranks are never ending. We keep calling him "Chubby" but lately he says its insulting to call him such pet names. Kids these days are so "Mature".

So days went by as usual, but my little nephew kind of started falling ill now and then. Once I got a call from my sister saying she got a call from the school saying he is not well, as my office was closer to the school I dropped by, Found out that my little nephew was not feeling well and was suffering from high fever. Took him to the hospital nearby found out that he is weak and had food poisoning. This put the whole family in to a grey mode all of us had to get finally disrupted from our normal routine. The worst was during Christmas in 2012 when my nephew fell ill was suffering from jaundice this time.  None of us could celebrate Christmas that’s year as our lil hero was down.

The doctor who treated him was an elderly doctor who took real good care of him. And gave us all the gyan needed to take care of him. He told us how the food that we eat these days does not have all the necessary supplements. Especially for a growing kid this is very important. So he asked us to give him Dabur Chyawanprash   . From that day on we have been giving him Dabur Chyawanprash has been a great means of keeping him healthy and fit. He has never had fever or any running nose as usually he did earlier. The whole family has got into using it.

Dabur Chyawanprash is a formula to the quote - "healthy, wealthy and wise" helps one stay fit. It has great combinations for both heath and mind. Its helps one upkeep a healthy immune system.

To know more click here ------>  https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/

FREE HUGS ---

All about Free Hugs.

Okay What’s the lingo "Free Hugs" really mean, we see people wearing T-shirts, bands etc and more over we had a song from A.R – “JIYA SE JIYA” which depicts the "Free Hugs Movement" 

I have been a part of Free Hugs Chennai for quite sometime now, at first when I started off being a part of Chennai Free Huggers wala. I was excited with the idea,so here's a short jist about "FREE HUGS"

Well how did I come into this, just a message on face book brought in people from various walks of life volunteered for this event and that's how i became a part of this movement. I have had a few friends who asked me what is "free hugs "and some of them opposed the idea ...well i want to let those people know the history behind the free hugs campaign ..the story goes this way

The Free Hugs campaign in its present form was started by Juan Mann on June 30, 2004, when he began giving out hugs in the Pitt St Mall in central Sydney. In the months prior to this, Mann had been feeling depressed and lonely as a result of numerous personal difficulties. However, a random hug from a stranger made an enormous difference, with Mann stating that "...I went out to a party one night and a completely random person came up to me and gave me a hug. I felt like a king! It was greatest thing that ever happened."

Mann carried the now iconic "FREE HUGS" sign from the outset. However on his first attempt in his hometown, where he returned to find that he was the only person he knew, as his friends and family had moved away, he had to wait fifteen minutes before an elderly lady came up to him and gave him a hug.

Initial distrust of Juan Mann's motives eventually gave way to a gradual increase of people willing to be hugged, with other huggers (male and female) helping distribute them. In October 2004 police told them they must stop, as Mann had not obtained public liability insurance worth $25 million for his actions. Mann and his companions used a petition to attempt to convince authorities that his campaign should be allowed to continue without the insurance. His petition reached 10,000 signatures. He submitted it and was allowed to continue giving free hugs