One Evening At Orion, Bangaluru

We were in Bangalore for 3 days towards the end of July, 2015. It’s a lovely city but seemed to have everything in excess and that includes people, cars and bikes.  One evening we dropped down at the Orion Mall. It was a bit crowded but if you discount that, it was a great experience.

The parking was available in the adjacent multi-storied parking garage which was well staffed helping to find the right parking spot.

Security screening at the entrance made us pause for a few moment but I am not allergic to such checks and incidentally this is the norm in India these days.

Once inside the mall, we were amazed by the display of flowers. The sheer size and complexity of these installations were simply breathtaking.

The mall is lined up with variety of stores and should satisfy everybody's need. The prices were competitive and more so for the branded stores. We did manage to identify and cash on a few great deals.

The place provided a level of comfort to all and it was interesting to see singles, couples and family equally at ease whether they were shopping, window shopping or just chilling.
  
I however would advise to avoid going there during public holidays or long weekends, in case you are looking for some privacy and space.

The star attraction during our visit, particularly for my daughter was the weaver weaving a very complicated saree inside the store in real time.

 

Nanobot - The small is BIG

NANOBOT. It is a new word that I have learnt the other day while listening to a talk show on the FM radio. The intent of this post, however is not to bore everyone raving about how enlightened I now feel, having expanded my vocabulary of the complicated English language.

I was actually amazed by what this small word is all about. It stands for a new technology, which many like us was not aware of. Well as the name suggests, it is formed by combining the words “nano” and “robots”. Till this time, no one has used the words “nano” and “robot” in the same breath for me.

I learnt that these are tiny microscopic robots which can be of immense use to the mankind and particularly to the medical field. A little bit of prodding into the internet revealed that nano-robotics is an emerging field of research and technology. More specifically, I was enlightened that nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology engineering discipline of designing and building nano-robots, with devices ranging in size from 0.1–10 micrometers and constructed of nanoscale or molecular components.

The names nanobots, nanoids, nanites, nanomachines, or nanomites have also been used to describe these devices currently under research and development. Researchers working at the University of California, San Diego have claimed a world first in proving that artificial, microscopic machines can travel inside a living creature and deliver their medicinal load without any detrimental effects. Using micro-motor powered nanobots propelled by gas bubbles made from a reaction with the contents of the stomach in which they were deposited, these miniature machines have been successfully deployed in the body of a live mouse.

A few days later, I happened to be in the company of some doctor friends and I placed this new found knowledge for discussions rather excitedly. My enthusiasm was dampened with their scepticism that came from the other side. Apparently directed therapies has been in existence and haven’t reached anywhere.

Today, I am cautiously optimistic that the naobots will turnout to be the next big change for humankind.

Elsa and the Dragon

I will not claim this blog post as mine. To be precise, this is not even a blog post, it is a Vlog post and I did not have to sweat as my enthusiastic second grader took charge. She said, "I never won a competition in my entire life.” That’s quite a strong statement for someone who just celebrated her 7th birthday. “I am going to record it very nicely so that I will win!" she declared.  

I did the editing to fit it within the allowable 90 seconds, sacrificing some important aspects of her creativity. The storyline after editing can be summarized as below:

“Elsa lives in a castle. This time she has magical power to bring in rains. Her sister Ana is trapped by a dragon in a tower and the knight fails to rescue her. Elsa uses her special powers to free her sister. There is a twist to the story in the form of them getting a baby brother. … and they happily live ever after.”
The video can be watched here: Elsa and the Dragon

One lesson learnt during this exercise is the realization that work done by others with ease is not necessarily easy. Therefore, next time I do not like a part or a whole movie, I will be very reluctant to criticize.
Being the dad and her only other partner in this mission, I do feel she have done a commendable job.
I congratulated her for the effort and said "you are already a winner darling and will get an assured prize from your dad."
Now I rest the rest to judges.

This post is part of   #ColgateMagicalStories  competition hosted by   indiblogger   

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The following version of the video blog, thoughnot part of the competition, is an elaborate one and gives an insight into the making of this movie. Making of the Movie

 

The Ancestral Sofa

Ana went up to the attic to spend some time alone. She did that whenever she felt a bit low though not too often. Today she lied down on the old chaise lounge to ruminate on her early childhood and how quickly things have changed.  As if to figure out what went wrong.  Suddenly she remembered her mice friends, her childhood buddies. She missed them very much and wanted to hug them this very moment. She was confident that she will succeed in locating her old soft toys somewhere here.

Rummaging through the Attic, she finally spotted Minnie Mouse in an old trunk and quickly picked her up. Mickey too was nearby. vOnce those were removed, a maroon colored object caught her attention and she bent to pick it up. It appeared to be an old diary and upon close inspection, she discovered that it belonged to an ancestor of her dating back a few centuries.  As she was moving through the pages carefully something dropped off from between the pages. It was a picture of mother sitting on the rocking chair in the living room; and on the wall behind, there was a framed portrait of an old man sitting on a blue sofa of Victorian design.

She vaguely remembered an argument between her father and mother about taking that picture off the wall. That memory made her curious to find out what was in the diary.  She went back to her chaise lounge with the diary and started in the beginning.

She was astonished, when she found out that his great great grandfather some three centuries back was a scientist and had invented a time machine.  He had travelled in time and documented those in vivid detail.  He had foreseen that Ana's mother would fall ill and die followed by her father leaving her in the hands of her stepmother.  Probably after reading this her mother was caught between believing the diary and grief for her family. And this was why her mother was unhappy and got the picture removed from the wall.

Just then her stepsisters came knocking at the attic door and she decided to hide the diary before rushing to open the door.  

Through The Wonder Years

It’s fun to see our children grow up but another truth of life is that childhood is a very short session. It also requires positive involvement of the parents to make the childhood sweet and successful.

Sometimes we get upset with the child’s behavior and immediately compare this with our own childhood. “Had we done something similar, there is fair chance that we wouldn’t be standing here right now” is a thought that crosses many a minds of our generation. The parent and child of some families even then acted like friends and were probably are the exceptions that prove the law. One of the leading topic of debate, I remember during my school days was “spare the rod and spoil the child”. This is key indicator of that our society was debating for a change. 

It’s not that we are survivor of a tyrant society but looking back it appears that we did miss some fun, some joyous moment with our parents and some exciting “high five” moments.

We try to be best of friends with our child and give them what we had missed as well as attempt to relive the childhood. It’s a different story that our children still considers their buddy parents to be tormentors for restricting their usage of the ipad or the TV. But children will be children and parents will be parents and the generation gap will always remain never letting the twain to meet. But we do a lot of things together that built a special relationship broadly practicing within the premises of the age old policy of “good cop and bad cop”.

Father daughter bonding is special and interactive activities can be taken to a new high with some creativity. Doing the weekly grocery together is great fun activity with its hands-on experience on shopping for the daily three meals. It starts with realization of the importance of being organized by having a detailed shopping list followed by a few tips on selecting the right fruits or vegetables. Normally we buy only when the stock of a particular item is running low but sometimes that principle gets defeated by the little one’s logic. Last time we went for shopping she picked up a box of cornflakes too early as kellogs had co-branded her favorite breakfast cereal with her favorite movie, “frozen”. She argued that it’s worth buying up in advance as this might not wait for me till next week and I had to admit that it is true.

Like many other matters our knowledge is not permanent and stays only while we practice. One instance of memory erosion is my knowledge of our planetary system. Recently the second grader gathered enough information about planets and stars to meet the challenge posed by the boy who she shared her bench with. Being a boy, he probably had been spending his internet time watching such science stuff while the girls focused on songs, dolls and makeup. Not willing to be outdone, she collected enough information to give me a lecture and revive my knowledge of stars at the same time believing that storms in the earth are direct outcome of the Neptune.

However the most creative and fun activity that brings us together is her video recordings. She loves to unpack boxes of toys and other gifts on our video camera while talking about the product all the way through. I got amazed to watch the six year old do that without any script and therefore get actively involved by setting the camera and shouting the conventional “Lights, camera, Action.”

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The Boardroom Gets A Freshness Makeover

A freshness wave moves through the corporate headquarters of a multinational organization and we watch how the scenario changes.

Scenario 1

There is a tensed moment in the board room as all the line managers and directors sit around the large table and wait for the big boss. The CEO has been out of the country on an extended medical emergency and in his absence the performance of his company has not been quite as expected. He has called for an urgent meeting to review the present situation. The laptop is connected to the projector with the power point presentations of each of the managers queued up while they nervously browse through hard copies of their report ... just one last glance before presenting.

The office orderly, veteran of many a crisis enters the room and announces... “he is in, the car is in its driveway”, without even opening his jaws.

A man in his mid fifties perfectly dressed in his imported shoes and designer's suit walks into the room.  “Good morning sir. Welcome back!” echoes inside the room. A chorus that usually happens when the class teacher enters the class room in a primary school.

The CEO curtly greets every one. (A visible sign of dissatisfaction)  

He starts with, "good to see you ladies and gentlemen. Today you have been called to this extra ordinary meeting to finalize a rescue plan for our company." (The thought that came to every mind in the room is how many scalps he is going to have today.)

"Extraordinary situations like this needs extra ordinary measures," he continued. The meeting went on for another 90 minutes and they dispersed with the commitment to meet again the very next day with some concrete recovery plans.

Scenario 1- Taazgi-ed 

The senior members of the organization have gathered in the recreation room of the office as they regularly do during the lunch break. Everyone has to get out of their desk and electronic gadget for these 45 minutes every day, which is a rule. The management philosophy is this was a shear necessity for the health of the organization. But the managers are visibly worried that the performance of the company has not been up to the mark since the CEO left on medical leave.

They have been informed that his recovery has been satisfactory and is back in town. One of the mangers was hard saying "I am sure he is going to pay us a surprise visit soon. He must be restless at home and waiting to jump into the action as soon as he can."

The CEO is a man in his mid fifties and has strong similarity with the Indian actor Bomi Irani. The similarity doesn't stop with his physical features but goes all that way till the sense of humour depicted in MBMBBS.

Just then the office attendant runs in and shouts, "The chief has arrived."

The CEO enters the hall in his semi formal attire. Everyone speaks out in chorus, "how are you chief. It’s great to have you back at the helm of affairs."

"I am fine and full of Taazgi just as it feels after having a great Colgate moment” he winks. But my baby (not babe) doesn't have that freshness these days. The performance has nose-dived. You guys haven’t taken good care of it."

The marketing manager protested in a mild tone, "we have done three very successful campaigns and ...."

His explanation is cut short by the chief as he continues "yes I understand, you guys have been doing a lot of hard work. But unfortunately it’s similar to sitting in a rocking chair. You had plenty of movement but didn't really go any place. You have been dancing in the same place." Then he makes a few repetitions of the steps below and the entire room bursts into laughter. They almost feel like joining in.

The discussion turns a bit more serious and they walk into the boardroom to draw up some recovery plans. But my favourite step of the situation brings freshness to the whole affairs and relaxes the mind to let the creative idea flow.

“I am blogging for #MaxFreshMove activity atBlogAdda in association with Colgate MaxFresh“

Choosing The Right Product Is Synonymous To Caring

Photo Courtesy Dabur

 “I am participating in the #FirstLove activity at BlogAdda in association with Dabur“

Does your baby laugh while you massage the right legs and gets irritated if you do not start on the left soon enough. If not then definitely you are not using the right oil that makes the baby happy. After all laughing and crying are the only two expressions an infant has mastered and therefore with the slightest feeling of discomfort a cry emancipates.

But that is the baby, whose happiness and anxiety doesn't last for long. But when parents get worried about some ailment of their baby, the anxiety seems to last for days and nights at end.

Once upon a time when a baby was born in the family and the doctor said one of the legs was slightly not normal and could have trouble while walking. That statement of the doctor devastated the parents as well as the extended family. But the doctor added that some therapeutic treatments if started early will cure this before the time comes for walking. This was a bright ray of hope but ever body was over anxious to see that time arrive.

The only therapy that could be applied to a new born is oil massage. This is the time when the goodness in natural oils comes to our rescue and creates wonders in the development of the baby’s bone and muscle. Mother Nature’s garden is abundant with fruits, vegetables, roots and seeds that when harnessed and extracted to create oil could provide remedy to almost every ailment. All we need is to select the right kind of oil for our cure or the combination of a few. This is the time when products like Dabur Baby Massage Oil come to the rescue and the baby turns into an active child running around the house to the great relieve of the family.

Almond oil for example provides a natural remedy for dark spots by clearing away the dead skin cells, while avocado oil gives the much needed omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Argan oil on the other hand is packed essential fatty acids along with vitamin E, making it a great moisturiser. Our common coconut oil is packed with protein and has antibacterial properties along with other advantages. Bacteria do not stand a chance with the sesame oil. And the list goes on with the other great ingredients like Olive oil, Castor oil, Aloe vera, Arnica, Carrot Seeds, so on and so forth. Each one of these oils has their own good effect but care should be taken not to use nut extracted oils for one with nut allergy.

We tend to think that life was much better during the time of home remedies by our grandmother and great grandmothers. This knowledge and the know-how were available within the family and passed down from generations after generation. But with the pressure of urbanization and industrialization of our society this age-old technique of home remedy is facing extinction. We are instead left to the mercy of either local quacks or the unscrupulous manufacturer who deceive the vulnerable for their own profits.

But thank to people like Doctor Burman, we still get products that we can trust. After all we do not want to put our little angels in the harm’s way.