Even if you can't understand at least you can enjoy!

Today I went to attend exhibition-cum- workshop. The exhibition-cum-workshop was on a specific topic. It lacked attractive offers, lucrative products or sexy models. Anybody who didn’t have any personal or professional interest in the subject would definitely feel bored to death.

At the end of the event, cocktails were served starting from the opposite corner where I was sitting. Before getting up, by mistake I peeped in the mobile of a middle aged person who was sitting beside me and was typing ‘Kuch samaj mein nahin aa raha hai per maza bahoot aa raha hai’ (I can’t get anything but thoroughly enjoying the event).

#CatchUpOnGrowth Indiblogger Meet

To attend Indiblogger Meet is always fun, sharing of information, showing creativity and above all enjoyment! I attended the first Indiblogger Meet of year 2016 in Delhi on 15^th May. #CatchUpOnGrowth Indiblogger Meet at Lalit, Delhi was also of unique of its own kind as I got the chance to meet blog buddies and to attend the launch of a brand new product i.e. HorlicksGrowth+, a revolutionary development in the field of nutrition sciences. It offers advanced nutrition for growth and development in children during their crucial years of growth. It was great to participate in discussion on child development with experts, talk about blogging with blog buddies and to know more about their blogs. I had nice time in face to face meetings, sharing experiences, interacting and playing games during the event.

Registration and warm welcome from Indiblogger Team, was followed by the buffet lunch. The meal was tasty, not too spicy and lavish. I got the change to meet nice bloggers from various fields from fashion to food. It was awesome experience to meet new bloggers face to face who wrote on different subjects whom I earlier knew only virtually as I had read their blogs.

Horlicks Growth+ is the first of its kind to provide nutrition solution to the children of age group 3-9 years to catch up the lost growth in terms of weight and height. It contains specific nutrients like whey protein, growth amino acids and vitamins, minerals from natural sources to trigger the growth in children who are leaner and shorter of their age.

The programme began with the introduction session from the selected bloggers such as Shilpi Dutta, Nimi Arora, Dr. Mandira, Arvind Passey and Reena Batra who shared their experiences with children and what they had learnt from them. It was hosted by Anoop. An interesting and informative discussion was organized in which the moderator was Natasha Badhwar who was a mother of three children, media professional, entrepreneur, avid blogger and the co-owner of Ochre Sky, an online fashion brand. The discussion panel included Dr. Rajiv Chhabra, HOD of Paediatrics at Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon who had worked with Max Hospital, St Mary's Hospital, Seth GS Medical College & Rajiv Gandhi Cancer institute & Research Centre, New Delhi and did his post graduate program in Paediatrics Nutrition from Boston University, USA, Ms Satinder Kaur Walia who was running her centre named 'Learning at Potential' a centre for psychological and educational assessment and Dr .Jyoti Batra who was the Head Dietitian at Batra Hospital and had also worked with Artemis, Fortis, Max & Paras Hospitals. An interactive and informative session with bloggers took place in which the bloggers actively participated. The panel with illustrations and examples answered the queries of bloggers about child growth, nutrition and eating habits. They emphasized on developing a healthy habit in children to eat healthy food which should be made interesting so that children relish them and love to eat them. Moreover, children should be allowed to eat junk food once in a while but before that child daily nutritive requirement of nutrients should be fulfilled from the healthy food. Therefore, healthy food in the morning and junk food at night could be given.

The product was launched by Amaan Khan who is the Marketing Lead for Horlicks for the Indian Sub-Continent at GSK Consumer Healthcare and earlier has rich Sales and Marketing Experience across FMCG, Healthcare & Personal Care categories across multiple geographies. Horlicks Growth+ is clinically proven to support ‘catch-up’ on lost growth in terms of weight and height reduction in children of age group 3-9 years.

Soon after the launch of the product we were offered to taste it. It is available in two delicious flavours chocolate and vanilla. I love the taste of chocolate flavour. It was so flavoursome that one mug was not enough I was wanting more. I am quite sure children will love the taste and flavour and will not be fussy about drinking it. It can be given to children in hot or cold milk or water. It can’t be mixed in juices or soups as the product contains milk powder. It can be given to child in between the meals or before sleeping so that normal regular food is not compromised. It is a boon for fussy eaters for their weight gain and overall growth. It is intended as a nutrition supplement not a meal replacement and is a nourishing beverage to be taken as part of a regular diet. It contains whey protein, essential amino acids such as Arginine, Glutamic acid, Leucine and Lysine 16. It also contains Calcium, Iron, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Zinc which are extremely important to help children catch up on height and weight in the short duration of only 6 months. It provides immune nutrients like Vitamins A, C and D, which are all known to support a healthy immune function. It is a nutritious and flavoured healthy drink clinically proven to nourish children who have fallen behind with their weight and height.

Dr. Aditya Kaushik head of Medical Affairs for Indian Subcontinent at GSK Consumer Healthcare, was a physician (MBBS, MD), had clinical and industry experience in Medical & Regulatory Affairs & Clinical Drug Development and also chaired the OTC Industry Association committee at FICCI enthusiastically answered the questions from bloggers related to nutrition and make up of Horlicks Growth+. He suggested that parents should consult a physician for the amount and time framework for giving the Horlicks Growth + to child according to age and reduction in child’s weight and height.  

Tea time was the best time to interact with the bloggers of various fields under the same roof. I got the chance to meet the fellow bloggers to discuss various aspects of blogging. After it, all the members were shuffled and were asked to make the team of ten members. I was in Team No. 4 and was given measuring tape, T-shirt, mug and Horlicks Growth plus as props which were to be used while making an advertisement of not more than 30 seconds. It was a great fun with the team while making a clipping of advertisement. 

All of us enthusiastically took part in selecting dialogues, situation, and scene background. Shooting it, was real fun! Never done it before but thoroughly enjoyed creating that masterpiece. 

No grudges that our team couldn’t win but it was master piece for us as it was the beginning of vlogging. Moreover, I believe that participation in more important than winning a game.

Holding the gift from Indiblogger and Horlicks I came out of the hotel with memorable and knowledgeable experiences. On reaching home I found, Horlicks Growth+ pack in the bag. This is the best product in the market to trigger growth in children who are falling behind on the growth curve (in terms of height & weight). For buying, it is available at all leading pharmacies, modern trade retail chains and selected grocery outlets as well as online. Horlicks Growth+ 400g pack costs Rs. 575/- only. So much in so less price!

I am looking forward to next Indiblogger meet to have fun, to share information and to exchange knowledge.

Sharing of experiences in meditation

“So, when are you going to attend Yoga and Meditation Course?” Mrs. ‘V’ asked.

“I will be going by the end of July and coming back in mid of September.” I replied.

“What will they be teaching you?”

“My first course is a basic course about yoga and meditation which is of one month duration. And second course is about advance course on meditation and is of 15 days. During the first course they will give sattvik food to eat and may allow once in a while to talk on phone and to check emails. But during the second course they will give food without salt and sugar and most probably will not allow me to use mobile during the period of 15 days. To clear the first course is there preliminary requirement for attending the second course.”

“Is it really worth attending?”

“I checked on internet that people who have attended these courses have various experiences in meditation during the meditation class. The students are asked to do pranayama for 8 hours per day. With the result, the students have some unique and rare experiences while meditating.”

“After returning from there, do not forget to tell me about your true experiences in meditation that too in detail.”

“Have I ever asked you about your sexual experience?” I inquired with bit harshness in my voice.

“Are the experiences not to be shared?”

“No, they should not be, as they increase the ego-problem. They can be shared only if the person listening has experienced that himself or has a level of knowledge to understand those out of the world experiences.” 

Fear for lizards

"Lizard! Lizard!! Lizard!!!" Ms. 'Z' screamed.
I entered the room and saw her standing on the bed. She was shouting at the top of her voice and jumping once in a while.
"Where?" I asked.
"Under the bed!" She said.
"You come down. Do not be afraid of it. Lizard will go away. If  you jump on it the bed, it will hide more to protect itself." I said.
"In my hostel the lizards used to climb on my bed."
"Then you are standing totally on the wrong place." I thought.
To sooth her I said, "The lizards in your hostel must be very intelligent that's why they can climb on the bed but in our house they are stupid and foolish. Moreover they haven't master the art of climbing bed."
"I will switch of the light of my room and will go out for my evening walk." She suggested.
"That's a great idea!"

When she returned from her evening walk, I told her the good news. "I lizard creep outside the room and rushed towards the lobby."
"Was the lizard slim?" She asked.
"I didn't noticed her figure." I thought.
Seeing me silent she uttered, "May be they are more in the room!"

Appam with Italian Flavours

I love to experiments with food. This time I give a twist to appam. The recipe is as follows :-

Ingredients
Rice flour - 1 cup
Sour Buttermilk - 2 cups
Thyme - 1/4 teaspoon
Roasmary - 1/4 teaspoon
Oregano - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chili flakes - 1/4 teaspoon
Fresh Basil leaves - 7-8
Salt to taste
Mustard oil -2-3 tablespoon
Method
1. Mix rice floor and buttermilk very slow so that the lumps are not formed.
2. Keep it aside for 2 hours.
3. Add the spices, salt and chopped basil leaves. Mix them thoroughly.
4. Pour small amount of oil on heated flat tawa and spread it on whole tawa with a help of a wet cloth.
5. Pour the batter on the tawa and spread it very gentle with the back of katori or tablespoon.
6. Cook it on low or medium flame than turn it.
7. Pour some oil on the tawa on sides of appam. Let it cook.
8. Serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup.

Knol Khol chips

In my balcony garden, a knol khol was ready to be picked up. Although I loved to eat it raw but due to problem in my teeth I couldn't eat it raw and had to cook it to make it tender and easily chew-able. I asked in a foodie group on internet to share good recipes of knol khol. My post was flooded with delicious recipes. Most of the people said that they love the knol khol pickle very much. I thought if its pickle is so delicious then must be its chips.

I prepared knol khol n potato chips. I shallow fry the thin slice of knol khol n potato till golden brown. I take out them on paper and sprinkle salt, white pepper on it. The recipe turns out to be very yummy. 

#KhulKeKheloHoli

The festival of colours – Holi is being celebrated all over India with pump and show. Whoever loves the colours – love this festival! The enthusiasm of children as well as adults reaches its peak when the nature is enthusiastically blooming with beautiful vibrant flowers. In my childhood days, we used to collect different flowers, leaves and berries from the trees, bushes and plants. We used to grind them fresh and extract their colours to play with them. Those colours were not only soothing for the face and hands but also give extremely beneficial effect on applying on skin.

We used to prepare different colours from different flowers and leaves. Red colour was mostly prepared from palash, China rose, sinduria. They were collected in bulk and then dried. The dried petals were grinded into fine powder. They could be applied on face directly. Pomegranate peels were boiled in water to obtain red colour water. Very rarely we use tomatoes to obtain the desired colour.

The other most commonly used colour was green as it was easily obtainable from henna leaves powder. We used to mix it with flour to get a nice shade of green. On mixing with water and it gave decent colour on drying. Green colour could be obtained from the leaves of China rose and kadhi patta. Both of them were very beneficial when applied on hair and skin.

We used to get the yellow colour from the turmeric powder and besan. They were mixed together with curd or milk to make a paste and on applying on skin they gave positive results. Similarly other colours like blue was obtained from crushed indigo berries, magenta from beet root, saffron from dried harsingar flower stalks, black from dried amla fruit and brown from dried tea leaves. These colours when applied on other’s face and hands were extremely beneficial.

At that time, playing with colours and water was fun and not terror. These days Holi colours are made up of harmful chemicals which can cause not only rashes on skin but also irritation on skin and in eyes. I have not been playing Holi from very long time because of the fear of being harmed by the chemicals in gulal and pakka colour. This year, I will be playing Holi with natural colours prepared with dried flowers and leaves by me and my friends. Moreover, Parachute Advansed is there to protect my skin and hair.

This Holi, I will play Holi festival like I used to play in my childhood. I will play with natural colours, will fill my belly with homemade delicacies like gujjia, bhujjia, mathari, shakarpara, dahi bhalla and pakodas and will shout on the top of my voice ‘#KhulKeKheloHoli’.

I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories atBlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed.