Christmas

The Christmas story is the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in the town of Bethlehem, Israel. Jesus "Christ" is known as the founder or central figure of "Christianity." Christmas is a Christian holiday on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus.The years before Jesus' birth are marked as B.C.(Before Christ), and the years after Jesus' birth are marked A.D. (Anno Domini, which means, in the year of our Lord).

Christmas literally means the Mass (celebration) of Christ. "Christ" is a Greek word and title, meaning "anointed" or one set apart by God for a special purpose. "Christ" is equivalent to the Hebrew word "Messiah."

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas & Prosperous New Year 2009.

Collections 4

I experienced a similar shock, when Bangalore which was relatively free of the terror plots became a victim of serial blasts. On July 25th when the news of serial bomb blast came in, I was in my desk, busy with work. All I had in my mind was deadline and delivery. But when the news came in I stood shocked for seconds. Madiwala was the place where my daugher’s crèche is located and Mysore Road was where my brother was at that time to check his admission in Visveswaraya College. That was followed by frantic calls and enquiries to ensure their safety. It took another 2 hours for all of us to come together and till then I had sent umpteen number of prayers above, praying for our safety.

Till then I lived in the world of deadlines and deliveries. Those were realities to me. I hear about blasts and violence and diligently condemn them. But it never ruled my mind and it died probably much before its news value. But not anymore. Today, every single day I drop my daughter in the crèche, my heart misses a beat when I think –What if something goes wrong today? Now I check news sites and channels at regular intervals not with the curiosity of a journalist but with the anxiety of a mother.

Between January 2004 and March 2007 the death toll from terrorist attacks in India was 3,674, second only to Iraq during the same period, according to the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington. The exact death toll of the serial firing which still continues is yet to be verified.

The attacks will certainly affect tourism, which climbed 10 percent in the first nine months of the year to 3.87 million visitors, generating $8.8 billion in revenue, according to government figures. Foreign direct investment into the country more than doubled between April and August to $14.6 billion.

Yesterday, as me and my husband were seriously discussing the serial firing amidst watching the stories appearing in the news channels, my 3 year old daughter came to me and asked what is it all happening in TV. To make sense to the three year old I told her some men who were not good at heart killed others with gun. She kept quiet and sat watching the proceedings in the television. After some time she came to me and asked “Mama, if I hit my friend in school you tell me we should not hurt anybody and even scold me. Why that uncle’s mother never tells him not to shoot anyone and hurt anyone?” . We did not have an answer. Till then we were discussing about how India’s intelligence beurue should be more alert and we should tighten up security at all important places, how tourism will be affected and what not.

But she underlined one single point which probably is the most important one in today’s scenario. If every parent/ guardian takes the characterisation of the child as one of the most important thing in their life, probably we will have better hopes from the next generation. We should not forget we belong to the country where one man with his silence and ahimsa, turned the whole world to him and brought freedom to the country after 100 years of slavery.


Well my daughter defenitely gave me food for thought!

Failure - Your friend.

Most people seem to have an innate fear of failure, but failure is really your best friend.People who succeed also fail a great deal because they make a lot of attempts.The great baseball player Babe Ruth held the homerun record and the strikeout record at the same time.Those who have the most successes also have the most failures.There is nothing wrong or shameful in failing.The only regret lies in never making the attempt.So don't be afraid to experiment in your attempts to increase productivity.Sometimes the quickest way to find out if something will work is to jump right in and do it.You can always make adjustments along the way. It's the ready-fire-aim approach,and surprisingly, it works a lot better than the more common ready-aim-fire approach.The reason is that after you've "fired" once, you have some actual data with which to adjust your aim.Too many people get bogged down in planning and thinking and never get to the point of action.How many potentially great ideas have you passed up because you got stuck in the state of analysis paralysis (i.e. ready-aim-aim-aim-aim-aim...)?

During college I tried a lot of crazy ideas that I thought might save my time.I continued reading time management material and applying what I learned, but I also devised some original ideas.Most of my own ideas were flops, but some of them worked.I was willing to fail again and again for the off chance I might stumble upon something that gave me an extra boost.

Understand that failure is not the opposite of success.Failure is an essential part of success.Once you succeed, no one will remember your failures anyway. Microsoft wasn't Bill Gates' and Paul Allen's first business venture.Who remembers that their original Traf-o-Data business was a flop? The actor Jim Carey was booed off many a stage while a young comedian.We have electric light bulbs because Thomas Edison refused to give up even after 10,000 failed experiments.If the word "failure" is anathema to you, then reframe it:You either succeed, or you have a learning experience.

Letting go of the fear of failure will serve you well.If you're excited about achieving a particular goal,but you're afraid you might not be able to pull it off, jump on it and do it anyway.Even if you fail in your attempt,you'll learn something valuable and can make a better attempt next time.If you look at people who are successful in business today,you will commonly see that many of them had a string of dismal failures before finally hitting on something that worked,myself included. And I think most of these people will agree that those early failure experiences were an essential contributing factor in their future successes.My advice to anyone starting a new business is to begin pumping out products or devising services and don't worry much about whether they'll be hits.They probably won't be.But you'll learn a lot more by doing than you ever will by thinking.

Miss World 2008 - P.O.

Facts of a runner-up in the Beauty Pageant '08

Parvathy was born on 13th July 1987 at Kottayam, Kerala.

She is originally from Changanacherry - Kottayam, Kerala and now lives in Mumbai. Her hobbies include listening to music, dancing, glass painting, reading, playing basketball and badminton. She is on the same line in the history of the beauty pageant's like Shweta Vijay, Annie Thomas, Nafisa Joseph, Mini Menon, Shweta Menon.

Parvathy Omanakuttan also won sub-titles like Miss Photogenic, Miss Personality & Miss Beautiful Hair in the Femina Miss India 2008 pageant. In a star-studded ceremony at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre held in December 2007, Parvathy Omanakuttan was crowned the first ever Pantaloons Femina Miss India South 2008.

Miss World 2008

She represented India in the 58th Miss World Final which was held at Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 13, 2008 and finished First Runner Up. Kseniya Sukhinovia from Russia won the crown. Her reply to the question, "What does being in South Africa mean to you?" was that it was like home to her. She drew comparison to the fact the people of South Africa were extremely hospitable like Indians and also that both the nations have given such respected leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi who have influenced the lives of millions. She added that both the nations shared such a wonderful diverse culture that made them both similar. She won 3rd place for the Miss World Top Model contest on December 3, 2008. She was one among the top 10 Finalists of Miss World 2008 Beach Beauty contest, where Miss Mexico emerged eventual winner, Miss South Africa was the first runner-up and Miss Russia finished as second runner-up.

Be an EAGLE

Collections 3

Years ago, Harvey Mackay,(Business Motivational Speaker & Inspirational Quotes - Harvey Mackay) told a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed him a laminated card and said:

I`m Wally, your driver. While I`m loading your bags in the trunk I`d like you to read my mission statement. Taken aback, Harvey read the card.It said Wally`s Mission Statement:

To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf. Harvey said jokingly, No, I`d prefer a soft drink. Wally smiled and said, No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice. Almost stuttering, Harvey said, I`ll take a Diet Coke. Handing him his drink, Wally said, If you`d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today. As they were pulling away, Wally handed him another laminated card. These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you`d like to listen to the radio.`

And as if that weren`t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he`d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

Tell me, Wally, Harvey asked the driver, have you always served customers like this?

Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You`ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you`ll rarely disappoint yourself.

He said, Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don`t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.That hit me right between the eyes,said Wally. Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.

I take it that has paid off for you, Harvey said.It sure has, Wally replied.My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I`ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don`t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can`t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. Harvey probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever Harvey went to their cities, he would give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told him all the reasons they couldn`t do any of what he was suggesting. Johnny the Bagger and Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. They decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about you? Apply it in your own businesses and homes and see the change around you.


Where Eagles Dare

Oprah - Powerful Tag

Oprah Winfrey - she was named the most powerful women in Hollywood in the Hollywood Reporter's annual list of most powerful females in the US movie capital. She was chosed based on her dizzying array of Oprah branded media and immense cultural influence as said by Elizabeth Guider, editor-in-chief.

But who is Oprah Winfrey ?

Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954), often referred to simply as Oprah, is an American television host, media mogul, and philanthropist. Her internationally-syndicated talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, has earned her multiple Emmy Awards and is the highest-rated talk show in the history of television. She is also an influential book critic, an Academy Award nominated actress, and a magazine publisher. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the most philanthropic African American of all time, and was once the world's only black billionaire, the most influential woman in the world.

Born in rural Mississippi to a poor teenage single mother and later raised in an inner city Milwaukee neighborhood, at age six, winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, due in large part to the long hours Vernita Lee worked as a maid. Winfrey was raped at age 9 by her cousins and at 14years old gave birth to a son, who died in infancy,something she first revealed to her viewers on a 1986 episode of her TV show, when sexual abuse was being discussed. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Sorry missed - at age 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant.She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time.She worked there during her senior year of high school, and again while in her first two years of college.

Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14,1978. Winfrey's career really began to take off after moving to Chicago in 1984 to host "AM Chicago", an early morning talk show at WLS-TV's. It went on to become the number one ranked talk show shortly after she started and it was renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" after one year.

The Oprah Winfrey Show went on to become one of the most successful and highest ranked television talk show programs in history. The program is viewed by more than 20 million Americans every week and broadcast Internationally to more than one hundred countries worldwide. Winfrey's production company "Harpo Productions, Inc" produces the program and she is the host.

The daytime talk show focuses on issues close to Winfrey's heart and she has continued to cover topics of value to her mostly female audience for more than 17 successful seasons of broadcasting. The Oprah Winfrey Show started the wildly influential "Oprah's Book Club" in 1996. In Movies -In 1985, Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's epic film adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple. She earned immediate acclaim as Sofia, the distraught housewife. The following year Winfrey was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but she lost to Anjelica Huston. The Color Purple has now been made into a Broadway musical and opened late 2005, with Winfrey credited as a producer.

In October 1998, Winfrey produced and starred in the film Beloved, based upon Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. To prepare for her role as Sethe, the protagonist and former slave, Winfrey experienced a 24-hour simulation of the experience of slavery, which included being tied up and blindfolded and left alone in the woods

Winfrey publishes two magazines: O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home. She has co-authored five books,with announcement of her future weight loss book.

Winfrey currently lives on “The Promised Land”, her 42-acre estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California, outside of Santa Barbara. Winfrey also owns a house in Lavallette, New Jersey, an apartment in Chicago, an estate on Fisher Island off the coast of Miami, a ski house in Telluride, Colorado, and property on the island of Maui, Hawaii. She also owns a home on the island of Antigua. Winfrey's show is based in Chicago, so she spends time there, specifically in the neighborhood of Streeterville, but she otherwise resides in California. Her Hawaii property was featured on the cover of O at Home.Winfrey's best friend since their early twenties is Gayle King & Maria Shriver.

Watch her show ...................................

How to be happy at work !

Collections - 2

There are many of us who absoulutely have issues going to work,but below mentioned lines will clear the doubts of having a JOB rather than jobless.

First of all, you must accept that if you are employed, you are very lucky. You should smile right now. Otherwise further reading is not recommended.

On account of the global credit crisis, the unemployment rate is on the rise. So be happy that you have a job at least!

It's easy to overcome other work-related problems.

1) Try to first come to your office with a positive mind set.

Don't worry about whether you are going to have a bad day or a good day. Think positive always! That's where the secret is. You have to believe that the day is going to be good, and it will be.

At work, the most important thing is to be cheerful.

2)Try to avoid persons who are negative. This is where many of us end up spoiling our day!! Why hang around someone who has the habit of talking negative things about other co-workers or the boss?!! It's like poison. Spreads in a matter of seconds. And instils a negative attitude in us too.

3)Focus on your work,and try to finish as much as you can TODAY.

Surely there are certain tasks many of us put off till later, the main reason being we find it too mundane or a bother to do.

But, if it's in our job description, then we have to do it right??? So why not finish it now. Why make life difficult later on?

4)No work to do??? This is another area where we can uilitize resources which we already have, effectively. Many organizations have access to the internet. No, Im certainly not asking you to go and check out latest fashion trends or what's going on at the cinemas. But instead, go and check out some educational resources pertaining to your area of work. There are millions of e-books available online, so many different sites to go and learn more about products relevant to what you do. Check them out! Educate yourself! When you sit idle, a sort of depression starts to set in our minds.

Sitting idle has got to be one of the biggest sins of having a job, and yet not doing anything!

It's how you learn to use your time, and manage your work. Learn something new everyday. Education is something that should never stop. No matter how old we are.

5)If your work is not appreciated, try not to let this affect you. Why not tell yourself 'Well done!!' ? You yourself know how hard you work, and you should have it in you to feel that you did a great job! Do we really need another person to tell us how good we are? Or how hard we worked? I don't think so.

So, if all else fails, my dear friends, there's just one thing to do :

HAVE A COFFEE BREAK!!!

Renovation work - Home Front

Getting ready for Christmas and New Year 2009, so lots of work happening at home front due to which dust through out the house area for the renovation work ( painting & bathroom's beautification),getting things needed for it & helping all to keep clean, making use of these weekends in arranging things after & before work.

Just added, the work almost got over on 15th December,started on 5th Dec, we have painted our living room with Strawberry & Velvette Dream colour's, looking awesome with bathrooms modified to atmost comfort and elegance.

Catch you soon with some interesting topics.............Cheers.

Read & share it .....

Collections.

Where do you keep your mobile phone normally?

This morning I heard a true and sad story from a colleague of mine.She told me one of her friends is always having abortions.When the foetus gets to be 2-3 months old she loses it. This happened several times over. The couple went to check with many doctors and at last one of the doctors examined the dead baby and found that the baby's body cells kept dying as the baby was growing in the womb until he/she could not survive.This was because her uterus was affected by mobile phone Radiation.

The doctor told her she now has no chance to give birth to a healthy baby because the radiation has affected her uterus so that the major portion of the cells in her uterus have already died.

This happened because she has been keeping her mobile phone in her working jacket so that the phone rested against just on the right spot of the uterus. She had been wearing it like this for a few years.

Please beware of this and take note if you don't want what has happened to this woman to happen to you.

Dearest friends ,

Please do not ignore hand phone radiation which will damage our health or body organs. Please put away your hand phone whenever you don't need it much.

Guys, Please do not keep your mobile phone near to the kidney position and pants pocket as this will damage your genital area and affect your ability to father a baby.

The other doctor also advised another friend to keep her hand phone away from her new born baby to avoid radiation damage to the baby's brain cells.

Do not let the baby or toddler play with the mobile phone. This is because the small young baby or toddler is still very fragile and growing, so he/she is much more vulnerable to radiation damage.

Please remember not to sleep together with your mobile phone or put it next to your bed. Keep any other electronic goods (such as tv's) which also give off radiation away from your bedroom to reduce risk as we have to sleep a good few hours every day in our bedroom at night.

Further, do not imagine that if you switch off the TV there will be no radiation. Actually it is still around in your room. It is not advisable to have even a small digital alarm clock close to your head while sleeping.

Take Care of yourself and your loved ones.

Weekend Trip - Dapoli.

Dapoli has a decently good beach, you expect to see white sands or jumping dolphins and you won’t be dissappointed at all. We decided to go to Dapoli this weekend, it turned out to be a remembrance trip.

On the whole, it did have its own plus points. We stayed at Aryawarta Bungalow Resort which was a 11 km drive to Harnai & Murud beaches. But the bungalow stay was great & the service was tip top. They were really helpful and provided me fuel for the blog. Do order surmai & pomplete fry - they are simply amazingly delicious, yummy !!

Its a 225 kms drive from Pune via Paud-Pirangut to Tamhini ghats, after crossing it turn left to Vile via Mangaon-Nijampur(NH17),then turn right to Bharna Naka,Goregaon to reach Khed, it will lead to Dapoli.Small roads but still driveable with more concentration and alertness.

All in total we went to Harnai beach on the first day evening, checked the harbour bay,fishes,light house, then coming to beach, we enjoyed a lot playing in water, relaxing, walking a lot on sand, collecting shells & sat a while to enjoy the beauty of sunset, but missed it.

Second day got up early morning and went to Murud Beach for Jumping Dolphin's, still its fresh in mind as enjoyed the motor boat ride in sea, saw dolphin's playing around.As we left to Aryawarta for breakfast, as its a bugalow house with lunch & dinner plus breakfast/tea served within the package deal.What more to add, just visit once and relish the beauty of nature and its surrondings.

Awesome weekend , Rejuvenated......Re-charged.