Fantastico Places to visit in Goa

Goa is one of my favourite destination, for holiday. Some of the fantastico places to visit in Goa are:

Baga Beach: Baga beach is one of the popular tourist attraction in Goa. It is in North Goa and has a pleasant scenic view of the shoreline. There are a lot of water activities like:

• Dolphin Spotting – In dolphin spotting, you are taken on a ship to show dolphins. Dolphin spotting has become very popular, as if you don’t see a dolphin you don’t have to pay the money
• Parasailing - In parasailing glide through the air wearing an open parachute while being towed by a motor boat.
• Banana Ride – The banana boat, is an inflatable boat that is shaped just like a banana. It is connected to a speedboat, which pulls it along the water. A banana boat, can accommodate 4 to 6 people at a time. The passengers riding the boat, hold it tightly as the boat flips and drops the passenger into water.
• Jet-skiing 

Scuba Diving is also available at Baga Beach

Calangute Beach: The Calangute beach is the largest beach in North Goa. There are several accommodations available near Calangute beach.

Fort Aguada: Fort Aguada was constructed in 1612 to guard against the Dutch and the Marathas. It has also been a reference point for the ships coming to shores of Goa. Fort Aguada, is located in the Candolim beach and at the shore of the Mandolim River. It is open all days, from 9 AM to 6:30 PM.

Casino on Cruise: The Goa is the only place in India to play casino. The Deltin casino is one of the most popular casino in Goa.

Club LPK (Love Passion Karma): The club is in Candolim and is located on the waterfront. It is very popular for its ambiance. The club is open from 9:30 PM till 3:30 AM.

Flea Market: The flea market at Anjuna Beach is one of the most popular shopping destination in North Goa. The market is a perfect place for shopping. The market is open every Wednesday, from 8 AM.

Goa State Museum: The Goa State Museum is located in the capital city of Panjim. There are more than 8,000 interesting artefacts in the museum. The artefacts include coins, sculptures and ancient manuscripts. Inside the museum, there are fourteen galleries.

Arvalam Waterfalls: The arvavalam waterfalls is also known as harvalem waterfalls. The water is falling from a height 50 meters. The waterfall is 8 KM from Bicholim in North Goa. The Rudreshwar temple is also very near to arvalam waterfalls. The best time to visit this place is, right after the rainy season.

Dona Paula:  Dona Paula, is one of the most famous monuments in Goa. It was made, to honour the great baroness Paula Amaral Antonio de Souto Maior, who was the daughter of the Portuguese Viceroy.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

My Own Navigation Software

I have done B.Tech, in Information Technology and have worked for a GIS (Geographical Information System) company. After working for a year, I thought of making my own navigation software. I started my research, on how to create a navigation software. I didn’t had any experience, of developing a mobile application so it was a very tough task for me. A few days later, I came to know that a friend of mine is a mobile application developer. I called him and asked him to help me. He agreed to help me, to create the software and became my partner. I told him about the logic behind the application. I told him that, first we need to scan the map of a particular region.

The maps are scanned using high-end scanners. The map is divided into different layers. The most important is the base layer, on the top of which there is a layer for each object. The objects refer to roads, rivers, houses etc. Then, a database is created in a query language software which contains two spatial columns. These spatial columns contain X and Y co-ordinates for a particular layer.

For example, if I want to view the map of India, the base layer would be the Indian map which would be in the background. On, the top of the base layer you can turn on or off the other layers. Suppose, I want to see the Indian map with only the roads, I can turn on just the base layer and the road layer.

For navigation, the GPS (Global Positioning System) device will get my location. With respect to my location, the map is downloaded. As I will move, I change my position and that position will be sent in the form of co-ordinates by the GPS. A dot on the map, will be the indicator of my position. This dot, on the map will move according to my position.

We needed some more people to join us, as it was very tough for only two people to create the whole software. I called up, two more friends of mine and told them about the software. They also joined me and now we were four partners. Two of us were hard core coders, one was designer and I was the one who told them all the logic.

We started, with the Delhi map and it took us a month to scan all the maps and create the databases for the layers. It took us another month, to create the overall design of the application and one more month for the testing of the application. In total, it took us three months to develop the navigation software, for the Delhi map. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of Virtual Classrooms

Virtual classrooms have become very popular these days. The main impact of Virtual classrooms, has been on the distance learning sector. Earlier, it was very difficult to do a distance learning course, along with your job. You have to go to the place where the class is going on. Some of the distance learning universities, give marks for attendance. I myself, have done my MBA from IMT-CDL (Institute of Management Technology – Council for Distance Learning), Ghaziabad. My distance MBA, had been very hectic for me. I used to go to the class directly from my office, without any break, which was very hectic for me.

Sometimes, it becomes difficult to attend the class, because of the work in office. With virtual classrooms, now there is no need to be physically present at the class. The class can be easily done with virtual classroom. To do this you need have the following:

• A Web Camera: A web camera captures videos which may be viewed or streamed with the help of an internet connection. The video can be saved on your computer also for viewing it later. The camera should be of a good quality, so that the video is not blurred and is of high quality
• A Microphone: The microphone records the audio which may be saved on your computer or may be streamed over the internet.
• A Speaker or Headphone: The speaker or headphone gives the audio output.
• Internet access: Internet is required to stream the video, to different attendees of the meeting. The internet connection should be of high speed, because a low speed connection would result in streaming problems.
• A good Video Conferencing software: A Video conferencing software should be loaded in your PC or laptop. The software does all the transmission and receiving of the video stream. Without, the software it would be impossible to have a virtual class.

In virtual classrooms, a professor or teacher can give lecture from his own place to students. Virtual classrooms, have found it use in distance learning. The teacher gives lecture from his place, to the students of the classroom. These lectures may be recorded for later use.

My younger brother has enrolled for distance MBA, from the same university and he has got recorded lectures for all his subjects. He has to just view those lectures and now there are no classes. Once in a month, they have a virtual class which is carried out by a professor of the university. The students ask their doubts in that class. The professor responds to the students queries in that class.

With virtual classrooms, it has now become very easy to do a distance learning course, for people who are doing full-time jobs. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of Facebook on Me

When I started using Facebook, I really liked it for uploading and sharing my pictures. I used to get happy, when someone liked and commented for my picture. With Facebook and internet, you can upload a picture in less than a second. The mobile application, had made the task easier and you can post your pictures, through the mobile application. You get notifications, for an update and there is no need to open the application again and again.

Facebook has also become popular for branding and advertising. Facebook gives an option of creating a page, for your company, website, product or blog. People put there advertisements on Facebook page, as a post and their post reaches people who have liked their page or follow their page. The Facebook users can also upload a picture or video while posting a post, which could be an invitation or a banner of advertisement. The Facebook is becoming more and more popular, as a medium to reach millions of people.

Initially, Facebook was used to put update of what you are doing, among your friends or followers, but it became so popular that people started using it for branding, advertising and marketing. The impact of Facebook on my life has been to such an extent, that when I woke up I post a good morning post to my friend or followers. When I sleep at night, I post a good night post to my followers. I used to post jokes and many wired posts daily, which I have stopped now. Now, I post only sensible and relevant things.

Facebook, has helped me a lot to promote my product of cosmetics. The Facebook has hashtags, which you can embed in your post and it will be available to a large number of people who search for that hashtag. For example, I have products related to cosmetics and if I want to post about my shampoo, on Facebook, then my post would contain the hashtag shampoo and cosmetics. I have received a very good response, since I started posting my products on Facebook.

I have created a Facebook page, for my company and I am getting a good response on the page. I have received many queries for my products, on my Facebook page. The Facebook, also has different packages to give advertisement on their main page. I have created a Facebook page, for my blog also and I can easily see my page likes, post reach, page views and actions on the page by using the insights feature provided by Facebook.

Using, the publishing tools you can view your published posts or you can, schedule your post for publishing. Now, most of my time is spent on Facebook. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of The Curse on Dasharatha

Dasharatha, was the king of Ayodhya. He was the son of Aja and Indumati.

He had three wives who were his queens:

• Kausalya:-the sweetest and eldest
• Kaikeyi:-the most beautiful and middle one
• Sumitra:-the most intelligent and the youngest.

He had four sons Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrugna. He died, when he was separated from his sons. This was because of the impact of the curse on Dasharatha, by a blind couple. Because of the promise Dasharatha made to his wife Kaikeyi, he had to send Rama to Vanvas (to live in forest) for 14 years. One night, after Rama left Ayodhya, the king Dasharatha could not sleep as his heart was full of grief, because of the injustice he had done to his beloved Rama. He died because of this grief, when all his sons were away from him.

One day, Dasharatha went to the banks of the River Saryu, to hunt. He was an expert I hunting and was well versed in Shabdavedi (hunting by determining the direction of sound). As he was standing near the Saryu, he heard a noise which was made by an elephant drinking water with his trunk. He shot an arrow in the direction of the sound. After a moment, he heard a human voice in pain and someone said, ‘Who has done this? Who hunted me like an animal?’ Dasharath went towards the voice and saw a young boy lying along the banks of the river, with an arrow in his chest. He had a pot of water lying beside him.    

Dasharatha at once realized his mistake and asked for his forgiveness. The boy told Dasharatha, that he is ‘Shravan Kumar’ and was carrying water for his blind parents. They are totally dependent on me. He started to speak with difficulty, because of the arrow in his chest. The young boy, while dying told Dasharatha, to take the pot full of water to his parents, who were waiting at the ashram for him. The ashram was near to the River, so he immediately went there with the pot of water.

The old couple was eagerly waiting for their son, to come back to the ashram. Hearing Dasaratha’s footsteps, they called him with endearing words. They thought that their son has come, as he had gone a long time back to fetch water for them.

Dasharatha, gathered some courage and told the blind couple about their son’s death. The couple was shocked and cried a lot. After a long moment of silence, the father of the boy cursed Dasharatha and said ‘As, I am suffering the pain of separation from my son, you will also die when your son is separated from you.’ After saying this, the couple died.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of Keeping a Dog

My father hates, keeping a dog at home. I have, always been an animal lover and always wanted to keep a dog at home. We both have had many arguments, on keeping a dog but there were no results. The only person, who could influence my father, was my mother. One day, I went to her and told her to convince her husband (my father) to keep a dog.

She had a talk, with him and he agreed to keep a dog. I was very happy and the very next day, went to a pet shop to buy a dog. I bought the dog and came back home. I kept the dog, without thinking about the impact of keeping it. A few of them are:

Earlier, I used to get up at 9 AM in the morning. There was no one, to disturb my eight hours sleep. I used to watch, late night movies and get up late in the morning. But now, my dog wakes me up at 7 AM and wants me to take him out of the house. I have stopped watching late night movies, because at night also my dog wants to go out and do shit.

My dog used to lick my legs and wake me up in the middle of night. The most effected thing, after keeping the dog was my sleep.

When my dog was small, he used to do shit and pee in the house. My father used to tell me, that I told you not to keep a dog. Now, since you have kept it you will clean all the mess he creates. It became really tough for me, to manage all the things. Then, I kept a care taker for my dog, who could take him out and clean all the mess that he creates. 

The only good thing that happened to me, was that I made a girlfriend with the help of my dog. One night, when I took him out he ran inside a house. The house was of my neighbour, Mansi and I had a crush on her. My dog climbed her house stairs and went to her floor. I entered, her house, went to her floor and rang the doorbell to get my dog. She opened the door and I apologized to her, for the mess that my dog created. She invited me for a coffee and after that, we became very good friends.

Initially, keeping the dog gave a good feeling but with time it became difficult for me to take care of him all the time. So, my dear reader if you want to keep a dog at your home, think of these impacts which I have mentioned

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of my Groomed Look

Luck or Confidence do matter in grabbing an opportunity but can we neglect our looks and say ‘No’ to a well-groomed face. What do you think?

For me the answer is a big "No". A groomed look gives a good impact on the other person and is very important. We should take a step ahead and groom ourselves and have a well-groomed face. A groomed face with a good luck and confidence can do wonders and make you succeed in your day to day tasks.

To support I will tell you an instance. A few months back, my company sent me to a client's office in Gurgaon, which is around 20 KM away from my home. They sent me, to get the contract of renewal signed from the client. I have been doing this for years, so I was confident about getting the renewal.

I was in a hurry, so could not shave. My confidence made me neglect my looks and my ungroomed face. When I reached the client's office, the receptionist gave me weird look. I knew I was looking untidy and the reaction of her was obvious. She told me that, sir is in a meeting and you will have to wait for a while. After waiting for about an hour, the receptionist came and said, ‘The meeting is over and sir is calling you’. He told me that he will read the contract and then sign. He said that ‘You come tomorrow and take the signed copy’, I replied ‘OK Sir’.

I came back to my office and went to the client next day. Exactly the same sequence happened. I waited for an hour and then he told me to come on Monday. I said to myself, ‘Abe ye takla sign kyu nahi karta’ and again came back to my office.

On Sunday, I groomed myself and had a shave. I takes a lot of time, to groom myself because I do it only on Sundays. Monday morning I woke up, took bath and went to the client's office directly from my home. Today, I decided that I will not leave the client’s office till the time he doesn’t signs the contract of renewal. I entered his office, the receptionist smiled upon seeing me. I thought for a while that a groomed face gives such a nice impression. She told me, that sir is in his cabin you may go and meet him.

Client upon seeing me said ‘I have not read the contract yet, but don't worry I will read it and sign now, you wait for a moment’. He took some time, read the contract and signed it. After this incident, I realized that a well-groomed face, luck and confidence can help you a lot in your day to day tasks by giving a good impact.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of Air Freshners

I am, very much against a smelly environment. Being a housewife, I have always maintained high standards of hygiene in my house. Fighting odour is the toughest part and I make sure, that I remove every single stain and odour from the toughest areas, of the house i.e. kitchen, toilet, dining area and living rooms. Mostly, I use special aerosol sprays or ‘agarbatti’ to remove all kinds of odour. Some smells are really poignant and are below tolerance level. Rose, sandal, jasmine, daisy are the most common fragrances that are available in the market. They have a great impact on odour, as well as they are quiet economical.

In a house there are many areas where you need to take care of bad smell and cleanliness. Let’s start from the kitchen the first thing which needs attention are utensils, for cleansing utensils I use liquid cleansers. Liquid cleansers help me to keep my utensils clean and the fragrance of the cleanser helps to reduce bad smell in the kitchen. A bad quality cleanser, will never clean the utensils completely and one or more stains will be still left. These stains create bad smell in the kitchen.

Then comes the toilet area, the smelliest area in a house. If the toilet is not clean or doesn’t has toilet freshener then it will start giving bad smell. Imagine a guest, using your smelly toilet and then after coming out saying, ‘Aapke toilet mein to bahut badbu hai’. I have faced this situation many times and it’s really embarrassing. Different fragrances are used to clean different kinds of smells for e.g., for room odour I use air fresheners and for fighting the toilet smells I use toilet fresheners.

Then comes the odour in room, room odour can be due to many reasons. It could be because of food, smell from socks sweat from your body in summers, can cause smell in your room. The basic commodity used to kill the body odour are deodorants, they kill the smell of under-arms. The smell can also be from the dust particles in the room, your socks and even the diaper of your baby can also contribute to the smell in the room. The best way to reduce smell is using an air freshener.

I will share one instance with you all, once I had some friends coming over at my place, I ordered lots of food from outside, soon the room started smelling of strong poignant onion odour and it got really embarrassing for me that the whole room was full of strong smell of onions. The smell of it started irritating us. I quickly killed the smell with an air freshener and my guests got relieved from the smell. It’s very important to keep an air freshener in your house. They have a very good impact on bad smell.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Embedded Musical Chip

Creative party invitations are really hard to write. Recently, a friend of mine wanted to plan a birthday party for his father’s 50^th birthday. He called me up and asked me that if I can help him to create a creative party invitation. I told him, to come to my place tomorrow and we will make the invitation card together.

He wanted to make a very creative invitation. It took me a whole day, to think of the matter to be printed on the invitation card. When I showed him the content, he was very happy with it and finalized it. But, the problem was that he wanted something extra, in the invitation apart from just the content.   

I gave him many suggestions, I told him to put some balloons around the corner of the invitation, or to print some whisky bottles on the corner of the invitation. I suggested him that he can, make a box for the invitation and send a bottle of vodka, along with the card to everyone. Another, suggestion which I gave him, was to get his father’s name printed on some chocolates and give them along with card. He didn’t like any of the idea which I gave to him.

After, thinking the whole night that day, I came up with a suggestion to create a musical card. My friend said that it’s an old concept and I don’t want to use this concept in my invitation. I told him, that we will not use music in our invitation, instead of it we will have your recorded voice which will speak, ‘Happy Birthday’ with some music and the content of the invitation card. He liked my idea and started to work on it. Now, the problem which we faced was that, where to get the recording done.  The recording was to be embedded on a chip. The whole task involved a lot of technicalities, which we didn’t knew.

A friend of mine, worked for a company who manufactures embedded chips for washing machines. I called him, at my home and he told me that the idea we have thought of, will cost us much more than our budget. I told him to talk to the owner of his company, for us and ask him that, if he can manufacture 100 embedded chips for us. The owner of his company agreed to manufacture the chips for us.

My friend, recorded the message on his computer and transferred the file in a pen drive. I gave that pen drive to my friend, who was working in the embedded chip manufacturing company. He gave us the chips after two days and we attached a chip to every invitation card of his father. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

16 Fantastico Facts about Delhi

Many of the Delhiites, don’t known about some of the fantastico facts about Delhi. These facts are:

1. Delhi is the capital of India, the capital was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi in 1912. It is built on the banks of Yamuna River.

2. Delhi is the world’s second most bird-rich capital city after Nairobi, Kenya.

3. Lotus temple is one of the best structure in Delhi. It was completed in 1986, and is known for its lotus like structure. It has won many architectural awards and has been featured in many magazines.

Shahjahanabad was the old name of Delhi. Indraparastha was the name Delhi during the Mahabharat Era.

4. Yogmaya temple in Delhi is one of the five temples of Mahabharta days.

5. The Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minar at 72.5 metres.

6. Delhi is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. 

7. Azadpur in Delhi, is Asia’s largest fruit and vegetable market. An approximate of 30,000 vendors get their supplies from here.

8. Delhi has an International Toilet Museum at Mahavir Enclave. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak is the founder of the museum. The museum is open 365 days. The museum has a rare collection of facts, objects and pictures of toilets from 2500 BC to date. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets has been awarded for ‘Certificate of Excellence 2013’ by TripAdvisor.in.

9. The walled city of Delhi had fourteen gates. Now there are only 5 are standing they are:

• Kashmiri Gate: Pointing North to Kashmir
• Ajmeri Gate: Facing Ajmer in Rajasthan
• Lahori Gate: Facing Lahore in Pakistan
• Delhi Gate: Road to earlier cities of Delhi
• Turkman Gate:  Named after pious saint Hazrat Shah Turkam.

10. Khari Baoli, in Old Delhi is the Asia’s biggest wholesale spices and dry fruit market.

11. Delhi rail museum is the only museum having steam-age rail structures. The Delhi rail museum is in Chanakyapuri. It was opened on 1^st February 1977. Many attractions, have been added to the museum which are:

• 1:8 scale toy train
• Diesel Simulator
• Steam Simulator
• Coach Simulator 

12. Feroz shah Kotla is from the 3 century B.C. Ashokan Pillar. Emperor, Feroz Shah Tughlaq brought this 27 tonne pillar to Delhi from Topar in Ambala, where the great Emperor Ashoka erected it.

13. Delhi is one of the greenest cities in the world. It has 20% of the landmass covered by forests.

14. The entire public transport system in New Delhi runs on environment-friendly Compressed Natural Gas.

  

15. In 2010, the Common Wealth Games were held in Delhi and had been reported to be the largest and most expensive of all CWGs till date.

16. Jama Masjid of Delhi, is one of the largest mosques in Delhi. It was built in 1656 and was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The Jama Masjid is in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Fantastico Foods of Delhi

I am a big foodie and like to try new dishes. There are some fantastico dishes, which you will get only in Delhi. These dishes are:   

Chicken Tikka: Chicken Tikka is a Punjabi dish. Tikka means pieces and the chicken tikka comes in the form of pieces. I like to have chicken tikka once a month with my friends. It is served, without gravy and with gravy it is known as chicken tikka masala. It can be eaten as an appetizer or in main course with gravy.

Butter Chicken: Butter chicken is a Punjabi dish. It’s a gravy dish and is made a bit spicy. It is not for people, who don’t like to have butter in their food. Butter chicken is full of butter and is very fattening.

Chole Bhature: Chole Bhature is a Punjabi dish. It’s not for people who hate fried food. The bhatura’s are fried in oil and are very fattening, but the taste is awesome. The bhatura’s are made of flour (maida) and may be stuffed with potatoes or cheese (paneer). The bhatura’s are served with chole and onions.

Paranthas: Paranthas are my favourite for breakfast. The parnthas can be made in desi ghee or butter. They can be stuffed with potato, cheese (paneer), cauliflower and many other vegetables. The paranthas are served with butter or curd. I usually, have paranthas in my breakfast.

Chole Kulche: Chole Kulche is not as fattening as chole bhature because kulcha’s are not fried. The kulcha’s are made of maida but not fried like bhatura. They are served with onions and pickle to increase the taste. Chole kulche is generally eaten in lunch or as an evening snack.

Aloo Tikki: Aloo tikki is a street food of Delhi. The aloo tikki is made of potato and then fried in a pan. The tikki is stuffed with peas and dal and is served with chutney and onions. In my area, there is an old tikkiwala called ‘Sindhi Tikki’.  

Aloo Chaat: Aloo chaat is made of potatoes, the only difference in aloo chaat and aloo tikki is that, aloo chaat has no stuffing and it is served as small pieces of potatoes.  

Shawarma: Shawarma may be stuffed with chicken, mutton, lamb or vegetables. The filling is made with mayonnaise and onions. Chicken shawarma is my favourite. We friends, once in a month make a plan to have shawarma.

Rolls: Rolls is the most popular street food in Delhi. The rolls are made of ‘parantha’ or ‘rumali roti’. Those who love paranthas have the roll in parantha. The rolls are made by, stuffing vegetables or chicken in ‘parantha’ or ‘rumali roti’. The onions and mayonnaise may be added to the stuffing. My favourite roll is ‘Double Egg Double Chicken’. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Peppy Holi Celebration

This holi, was my first holi after marriage. According to our family tradition, this year’s holi celebration was to be at our home. For this, we call all the near and dear ones at our home for lunch.

holi is the only festival which I don’t like because, people put dark colours on the face and it takes at least two days to remove the colour.

Because it was my first holi, I had no option other than calling all the cousins to celebrate holi at my place. My wife was very excited to celebrate our first holi as it’s is her favourite festival. We decided to order the food from a restaurant rather than making at home. It takes a very long time to prepare everything at home and it becomes very hectic for everyone.

  

We all planned to celebrate Holi at the terrace. I arranged the music system, to make the environment peppy while playing holi. We kept 12 PM as the time to play holi and after that lunch. My cousins, came on time with very dark colours and I was the first target. After me, they coloured my wife’s face.

My aunt prepared bhaang for all of us. After playing holi we all played cards. I lost 400 rupees in cards and my wife won 200 rupees, a loss of 200 rupees for me. After that, we had bhaang and lost control over our mind. Some were laughing and some were crying. We all danced a lot on some peppy songs, my friend clicked the pictures and took all the videos.

After, a peppy holi celebration we all went for the lunch, from terrace to the dining area. I ordered the food from a restaurant near my house. Everyone, drank so much bhaang that they were not in their senses. An uncle of mine, took chapatti for him and kept it in my plate. My brother was pouring water outside the glass. After the lunch, everybody planned to stay at my place because no one could drive because of the bhaang we had. We opened the guest room and in the lobby area, we kept mattresses so that everyone could easily sleep. We all slept at around 4 PM and woke up at 10 PM. No one hungry because the lunch we had was very heavy. We all started to play cards again, to pass time. No one slept in the night and all of them left my place at 7 AM in the morning. I asked my cousins to stay for breakfast, but all of them had a busy schedule.

First time in my life, I enjoyed the holi festival so much. Next year, we have holi celebrations at my mother’s sister place.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of Blogging Communities

I am a food blogger and blog about restaurant reviews. When I started blogging, I didn’t knew about blogging communities. One day, I met a friend of mine, who is now a full-time technology blogger. He earns a lot of money from his blog. I told him, that I have started a blog on food and I need your advice on how to make it popular. He told me about blogging communities and told me that you can increase your readership and network, by joining these blogging communities. These blogging communities, will help you get more readership for your blog.

I joined indiblogger and many other blogging communities 2 years back. These communities have had a great impact on me and my blog. I would like to mention few of the benefits, which I got by joining these blogging communities:

At Indimeets, organized by Indiblogger, I made new blogger friends and increased my network. The information sharing at the indimeets has increased my skills in blogging significantly. I have never missed any meet since I joined Indiblogger. These meets really help new bloggers, to improve their network and they get a chance to introduce their blogs. These meets are fun filled meets and you will never return empty handed, from these meets. I have a collection of T-shirts and goodies which I got from these meets.

My blog readership has increased because of blogging communities. Earlier, I never got too many page views for my posts, but since I joined blogging communities, my page views have increased significantly. The alexa ranking of my blog has also improved and I have started receiving many comments for my blog posts.

Taking part in various contests, organized by blogging communities makes me win vouchers which are added benefits for me. Recently, I won a travel voucher of 10,000 and I saved this amount by using the voucher during my travel. I have won many online shopping vouchers, which have saved a lot of money of mine.  I have bought a number of things using these shopping vouchers.

The best part is that, I order cosmetics for my wife with these vouchers and she is very happy with me. Earlier, buying cosmetics every second day, was a waste of money for me. Yesterday, I ordered a new mobile phone for my wife with these vouchers.

Apart from these vouchers, some blogging communities have given me cash work. I really like getting these opportunities, as it’s an added advantage for my blog. Many times, I was short of cash and the money I received from the blog work helped me a lot.

I have received many invitations from new restaurants to review them via some of the blogging communities.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of IndiMarathon on Me

I am an Indiblogger member and I like to participate in all the contests on IndiBlogger. Recently, they have come up, with a new type of contest ‘IndiMaraton’. The first IndiMarathon is the ‘Tata Zica Marathon’ and it ends on 21^st Feb 2016. In the marathon, you have to write creative articles or inspiring stories around any of these keywords – Fantastico, Impact, Peppy, Music and Navigation. The post should be a minimum of 450 words which in my opinion is a bit high.

Bloggers like me, are writing many creative articles and stories. I myself, have written 66 posts out which 18 posts are approved and 7 rejected. The leader of the board has written 96 posts till now. If I think, about the impact that IndiMarathon has on me then:

• I have stopped taking my meals on time. Earlier, I used to take all my meals at a fixed time but now, I have totally forgotten about the time. Yesterday, I had my dinner at 11 PM, as I was busy writing post for ‘IndiMarathon’.
• I have not touched my office work, from the past 10 days. Month end is coming and I have lot of pending works. My boss will scold me a lot, if I will not complete all my pending tasks before 28^th of this month.
• I have not taken, my 8 hours of sleep from the past 10 days. I have started sleeping at my office. Yesterday, I slept in an important meeting and I was scolded by my boss. He told me to take leave, if I am not feeling well.
• I visit at least 30 times a day, the IndiMarathon leader board just to see my position on it. Yesterday, I woke up in the middle of the night and opened the Indiblogger website on my mobile. My name was on the 11^th position from 9^th position. I opened my laptop and started writing a post. It took me an hour, to write a post and I slept again at 4 AM. Today, I came late to office and my half day salary is gone.

The worst part is that, the last date of the contest is on Sunday and my wife wants to see a movie on this Sunday. After the movie, she wants to have dinner in a restaurant. Now, to avoid all arguments and fights I have to take her for the movie and dinner. So, writing posts on Sunday would be a tough task for me. For me, only two days are left, today and tomorrow.

Till now, the impact of ‘IndiMarathon’ has not been so good on me. Let’s see, if I can make it to the leader board and win a 20,000 rupees voucher for myself.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Musical Instruments

It takes a lot of effort to create a song. A lot of instruments are used, when a song is composed. Each instrument gives a different sound to a song or music. Some of the musical instruments, which are widely used when composing a song are:

Guitar: The guitar is a string instrument having 4 to 18 strings, usually having 6. The projection of sound is projected either acoustically or through electric amplification. The guitar is played by strumming or plucking the strings with the right hand. At the same time, fretting the strings with the fingers of the left hand. The guitar is constructed from wood and the strings are made of nylon or steel.

There are three main types of modern guitar:

• The classical guitar
• The steel-string acoustic guitar
• The archtop 

Piano: The piano is an abbreviation of pianoforte and is a musical instrument. The instrument is played using a keyboard. It is widely used for classical, jazz, solo and traditional music. The piano is a bit expensive, but its versatility has made it a very popular musical instrument in the world.

An acoustic piano is made of a wooden case which surround the metal strings and the soundboard. There is a row of 88 black and white keys (52 white, 36 black). Pressing a key produces sound and releasing the key stops the sound.

Flute: The flute is a musical instrument and belongs to the woodwind family of instruments. A flute produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening.

Harmonica: The harmonica or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument which is used worldwide in many musical genres. It is widely used in blues, classical music, jazz and rock and roll.

There are many types of harmonica:

• Diatonic
• Chromatic
• Tremolo
• Octave 
• Orchestral

A harmonica is played by using the mouth (lips and tongue). The air moves into and out of the holes of the mouthpiece. The holes have chambers behind them, containing at least one reed. A harmonica reed is made of brass, stainless steel, or bronze, which is secured at one end and serves as an airway. When the free end vibrates by the air of the player, the airway is blocked and unblocked alternately, to produce sound. The reeds of the harmonica are 'pre-tuned'. Tuning involves the changing of a reed's length, stiffness near its fixed end or weight near its free end.

The harmonica is made up of comb, reed-plates and cover-plates.

Violin:  The violin is a string instrument. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. The violin typically has four strings.

Saxophone: A saxophone is made of brass and is played by a single mouth-piece. It is mostly used in classical music.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of Twitter on Me

A few years back newspapers, radio and television news were the only sources for the latest news. I used to sit in the toilet and read the newspaper. For advertisements also, newspapers and televisions were used as the medium. The speed at which we used to get the news was slow. It took one day, for the next issue of the newspaper. On television also, the updates used to take a lot of time as the technology and equipment’s were very old.

With twitter and internet, you can put an update in less than a second. The news comes to twitter much before than newspaper and television. You get notifications for an update and there is no need to open the application again and again.

Twitter has also become popular for branding and advertising. People put there advertisements on Twitter, as a tweet and their tweet reaches their followers as an update. ‘Tweeple’ is a term used for the people who use twitter. The twitter users can also upload a picture while tweeting, which could be an invitation or a banner of advertisement. The twitter is becoming more and more popular, as a medium to reach millions of people.

Initially, twitter was used to share what you are doing, among your followers but it became so popular that people started using it for branding, advertising and marketing. The impact of twitter on my life has been to such an extent, that when I woke up I tweet a good morning tweet to my followers. When I sleep at night, I tweet a good night tweet to my followers. I used to tweet jokes and many wired tweets daily, which I have stopped now. Now, I tweet only sensible and relevant tweets.

Twitter has helped me a lot to promote my product of cosmetics. The twitter has hashtags, which you can embed in your tweet and it will be available to a large number of people who search for that hashtag. For example, I have products related to cosmetics and if I want to tweet about my shampoo, then my tweet would contain the hashtag shampoo and cosmetics. I have received a very good response, since I started tweeting my products on twitter. I receive at least 10 queries daily via twitter, which has increased my sales significantly.

Now, I have stopped reading newspapers and open twitter for the updates and news. Your tweet can easily reach hundreds or thousands. It’s a simple process, you tweet an update to your followers and if someone likes your tweet he/she will 'retweet' it and will be visible to his/her followers. This way your tweet will reach to those people also who are not following you. 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

7 Fantastico Places to Visit in Malaysia

I must say that, if you have not visited Malaysia you have definitely missed something. In Malaysia you will find people from all cultures it's a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country. I have a dream of visiting Malaysia once in my lifetime.

A few fantastico places which I would like to visit in Malaysia are:

1. Langkawi Island: Langkawi Islands are in Kedah which has another 99 islands. Kedah has some beautiful beaches, world- class infrastructure, mangroves rich in flora and fauna, ultra- cheap duty-free shopping and fascinating legends. The Langkawi islands would be a great place to relax and enjoy a holiday. There is under water world in Langkawi which is the best of all.

2.  The Petronas Twin Towers: The Petronas Twin Towers in Kualalumpur have an amazing view in the night and is one of the tallest building in the World. The twin Towers were built for Petronas, the national Petroleum Company of Malaysia. The twin towers have a perfect architecture. The view at night is awesome.

3. Batu Caves: Batu Caves in Selangor are very interesting Caves with some nice Hindu sculptures I would really love to visit this place. There are lot of caves and cave temples in Malaysia Truly Asia. Its main attraction is the large statue of the Hindu God at the entrance, besides a steep 272 climb up its steps to finally view the stunning skyline of the city centre.

4. Aquaria KLCC, Kualalumpur: I have heard that this is a very educational and interactive place. Divers are dressed as Santa Claus to feed fishes. It will be a nice experience to visit this place. There are a lot of aquatic animals in the Kuala Lumpur Aquaria. Those who love to watch aquatic animals this is the place.

5. Putrajaya Bridge, Putrajaya: This is an amazing bridge. The lake view and the building view is amazing to see. It has an amazing view at night.

6. Mount Kinabalu is a prominent mountain on the island of Borneo, in the East Malaysian state of Sabah and is protected as Kinabalu Park, a World Heritage Site. Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Malaysia. Mount Kinabalu is also the 20th most prominent mountain in the world by topographic prominence. The mountain and its surroundings are among the most important biological sites in the world, with between 5,000 and 6,000 species of plants, 326 species of birds, and more than 100 mammalian species identified.

7. Bako National:Bako Bako National Park was established in 1957. Park Bako is one of the smallest national parks in Sarawak. It has multiple biomes, waterfalls, jungle streams, abundant wildlife, secluded beaches and trekking trails. The visitors access the park through a network of 16 marked walking trails.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Fantastico Tips for Your Safety

The roads, these days are not at all safe to walk specially for females. The cases of theft, kidnapping and rape are increasing day by day. I thought of some fantastico tips and wrote, which I think everybody should follow for their safety. 

Empty roads: Try to avoid empty roads. When you are on an empty road anyone can follow you and attack on you. There will be no one to save you on an empty road.

When somebody follows you: If you find that someone is following you, immediately enter a public place, shop or a mall. Entering one of these places will keep you safe as there will be a lot of people who can protect you. 

Pepper Spray: Always, keep a pepper spray along with you. If a person tries to attack you and you are not good with self defense than you can just spray the Pepper Spray on him into his eyes.You will get time to escape from there.

Don't wear too much gold: You should not wear too much gold. as wearing too much gold will increase your visibility to thieves. Recently, there were at least five cases in my locality of gold stealing. Two people on bike used to hypnotize and take all the gold within seconds.

A Telephone Diary: Mobiles have made us so dependent that we don't remember even one telephone number. Imagine that your mobile battery is drained and your battery pack is also discharged and your phone gets off. In case you need any help, how will you call your family or friend? So, keep a telephone diary with important numbers in it. 

Be Confident while Walking: When walking on roads, or traveling just keep yourself confident or else you will be followed by some bad people. 

Car Windows: Don't open your car windows, to talk to a stranger or get down from your car. A few months back there were cases when an egg hits your window. You get down from the car to clean it and a person steals your bag from the back seat of your car. So, next time be careful.  

Vehicle Numbers you hire:  If you hire a public transport like auto rickshaw, taxi, or a cab for long distance, message the number of the vehicle to your family members or a friend. Keep them informed.

Self - Defense:  My advice to everyone is that, you should know how to defend yourself. One should know at least one art of defense. In case, if somebody tries to attack you then you may at least defend yourself and run. At some places in India free self defense classes are given to women. So, learn at least one art of defense.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Impact of Increasing Cars on The Road

Earlier, people used to walk a lot as there were no cars. People were fit, because of their walks and exercises. My father used to tell me that, he used to walk around 10 KM daily from Karol Bagh to Sadar Bazar and Sadar Bazar to Karol Bagh. Sometimes, he used to travel by bicycle and it was an exercise for him. Earlier, the air used to be so fresh and healthy but now because of pollution the air has become unhealthy.  There were no traffic jams and no sounds of the horns.

With time, people have started to use cars to travel small distances also. As a result, the traffic on the roads is increasing day by day. For, long distance travels cars are useful but for short distance I think everyone should prefer to walk.

The impact of increasing cars on the road which everyone is facing are:

Air Pollution: With the increasing number of cars, the pollution in the air has increased so much that sometimes, it becomes difficult to breathe. Because of polluted air, our lungs are getting effected day by day. The car owners do not get their cars checked for pollution. The car owners, should get their car checked for pollution at regular intervals. If the pollution emission levels are high, they should get their car tuned immediately.

Noise Pollution: With the increase in the number of cars, the noise pollution because of the horns of the car has also increased. My office is on the main road, during the day time there is too much of noise because of the traffic on the road. I am unable to do any work because of the noise.

Traffic: The biggest problem which everyone faces is of traffic. When the Delhi metro came, I thought that the traffic on the road will decrease. But, there was no change in the traffic density on the roads of Delhi. People don’t want to use the public transport. Once, I was returning from India Gate and it usually takes half an hour to reach my home from there. Because of the traffic, it took me 3 hours to reach my home from India Gate.

The Even Odd rule, was successful to some extent as there was less traffic on the roads. The people were following the rule and made it a success.

Increased Use of Non-renewable fuels: The increase in the number of cars, have resulted in the increase in the use of non-renewable resources like petrol and diesel.

Increased Rate of accidental Deaths: The increase in the number of cars on the roads, have increased the rate of the accidental rate of deaths on the roads.

These are some of the impacts of increasing cars on the road.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.