CACTUS - Macro shot! Trails

Trying Macro shots with different plants... sharing one of those.

 

Island Pineapple Breezer

MY TEAM: Island Pineapple




BARCADI
R My personal
E favourite Island
E Pineapple - the
Z sweet and tangy taste
E gives a twist to
R the taste buds









The Island Pineapple flavour gets you into the mood and so its my favourite. It's the coolest thing to have on a sunny day on a Beach. This flavour reminds me of the monsoon season, when my Dad is to get those riped pineapple which had sweet and tangy taste. Island Pineapple reminds me of that moment which we used to spent together as family.

Apart from that, when you go to places like Goa  - with the Beach, Breezer and Best friends, what more you could ask for.

Goan Beaches bring to mind - hot Sun, Coconut trees, Goan songs played on guitars, hand crafted hats, sand castles, playing throwball and the list goes on. To make it a perfect vacation - a Breezer in hand.

 

Sharing few of the moods with Island Pineapple Breezer
Walking on the Beach in that silent whispers of the waves with Breezer in hand takes you into another world altogether 

 

Relaxing on the chair watching the sunset with a breezer in hand - its the coolest thing.

 

Playing pool with friends in a shack along the beach, with the warm sea breeze hitting you and sipping on your bacardi breezer - Awesome thing to happen

 

Dancing on the dance floor with friends with a breezer in hand gives a high on life

 

JUST ENJOY LIFE AS IT COMES :)

This entry is for the contest Catch the Flavour. For more details visit breezerindia.com

 

Pepper corns caught by my Camera

I was so excited to watch these pepper corns... enjoyed taking these pics

 

Natural Protection and Remedies for Kids

To build the immune system of kids, there are few simple things in our day-to-day activities that needs to be taken care off. Along with this, being a mother, I would like share my knowledge with few of the remedies that can be helpful.

 

Four sections I would like to advice on the growth of kids

• Firstly, guiding with the products which gives nutritive values that helps the kids growth
• Secondly, Ideas to feed your kids with nutritious and delicious food
• Thirdly, few Home remedies for your kids
• Lastly, few of the DON'Ts or things to avoid

 
Guiding with the products which gives nutritive values that helps the kids growth
 
All the things like Food, Clothing, hygiene surrounding matters for their immune growth.

 Food : With a proper diet you can build the immune system of the kid. Following are few list of ingredients which is filled with Nutritous value like Vitamins, Proteins, Carbohydrates, Calcium, Minerals, Fibre.

• Breast milk - It's full of nutrients and protects the baby from flu.

It can be used as the eye drops if a baby has eye infection. When there is nose congestion put 2 drops in each nostril. This is the best natural remedy.

• Vegetables – Everyday vegetables that we use such as, Onions, carrots, radish, Beetroot, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Lady's finger, Pumpkin, Sweet Potatoes,Cabbage,Green Leafy vegetable - Spinach, methi all have some or other benefits.

Whenever you use these vegetables once you wash the vegetables add salt and soak it for a while. by doing this all the pesticides in the vegetables can be removed to a great extent. These vegetables are high in fibre, vitamins, proteins, Carbohydrates which helps to increase their immune system

• Dairy Products - Milk, Curd, Cheese (not too much of intake ), Paneer, Soya tofu
• Fruits - Orange, Watermelon, Apple, Muskmelon, Pomogranate, Chikku ,Banana, Papaya
• Dal & Pulses – Red rice/brown rice, Dal & Pulses n sprouts of all kind, Oats, Wheat, Sabudana.
• Fluids – Water most important one, Fresh Juices/buttermilk/ milk shakes as supplements
• Dry fruits – Almonds, Cashew, Raisin, Pistachoe, figs ( good for motion), Dates ( good in iron content), apricot

Listing these ingredients are easy but when it comes to feeding the kids it is the biggest task. Taste matters. You need to put on your thinking cap and make delicious dishes for them.

 

Clothing, Hygienic surroundings - There are few other things which also matters

• Cleanliness  - house should be clean and tidy
• When kids play and come they should wash their hands with a good sanitizer
• When feeding the infants utensils/ bottles should be properly sterilised
• Apply mosquito repellent for prevention against malaria, dengue, etc.
• Sufficient good sleep
• Kids should be guided if they sneeze to cover their nose and mouth with a hanky
• Wash their hands before a meal.
• Washing their clothes with a few drops of Dettol.
• Washing the floor with little dettol and lemon oil helps to reduce the germs that spread in the house.

 

Ideas to feed the kids with nutritious food

Nowadays kids are very fussy about homemade food. They are more into junk items like pizza, pasta, burgers etc. There has to be a real good presentation of the meal in order to make them have at home.

Here are few suggestions to add nutritive food to your food chart of the kids

• If your kid doesn’t like any particular vegetable,say capsicum make a fine chop of that vegetable and add their favourite vegetable or can add a little cheese on it. They actually cannot notice that and slowly acquire the taste.
• A fine powder of dry fruits and can be mixed with cornflakes or any other eatables that your kids prefer, along with bread and jam sprinkle this powder on the bread.
• Fresh juice, if they dislike any particular fruit add it in their favourite juice (not too much otherwise they realize it) Gradually, it will get them to appreciate the taste.
• To milk shakes and smoothies, adding fresh fruits with honey and dry fruits gives a power punch to their immune system.
• Sprouts, vegetables, paneer/cheese can be stuffed in the atta and make stuffed parathas which can ensure that a good diet is attained. With dry fruits and little dry cocunut you can make yummy parathas
• Soups – adding little garlic and ginger with fresh vegetables with readily available soups also makes a nutritious diet.
• Mix sabudana, oats with some boiled vegetables and make them into cutlets, put it in a burger bun with little tomato ketchup. Kids will love it.
• Boil some sweet potatoes add sweet corns, grated carrot, spinach – use wheat breadcrumbs and shallow fry it and make tasty nuggets for your kids.

For eg: My daughter doesn’t like much of curd, so what I did was to blend the curd, fresh fruits with honey and some sugar with dry fruits and put it into a container(which we had recently got when we purchased a smoothie) She felt that I had bought it from the store and loved it.

See to it that you include sprouts at least twice a week, You can make varieties using vegetables, dry fruits, fruits, chocolates – Think like kids then automatically your cooking becomes easy for you.

Home Remedies using natural ingredients

It is normal, kids fall Sick. It could be either because someone at school or in family is ill. How much ever careful you are, they still fall sick.

Here are few magical home remedies which can help to control the illness

Note : Magic Natural Ingredient

Nilgiri oil- Putting a few drops of nilgiri/eucalyptus oil on the shirt collar/ hand key which they use helps them against the germs which spread

Dabur chyawanprash helps your kid to gain immunity.

Cough and cold

 

• Having  Ajwain water (hot water of ajwain with Jaggery) helps reduce the cough and cold. Giving Ajwain hot fermentation using cloth also gives a great relief in case of chest cold.
• Having a pinch of Turmeric with ½ tsp of honey gives a relief to cough and cold. And adding turmeric powder in the milk helps to reduce the cold.
• Having ginger water with jaggery helps to reduce cold
• Kadisakar ( camphored sugar rock) should be given - its good for cold

Fever

• Take a pinch of saffron with 8-10 tsp of water, bring to boil and then add jaggery, giving this every 3hours 1 tsp of that syrup brings down the fever

Stomache & Gastric

• A pinch of hing with a few drops of warm water applying near the stomach area reducing the stomache
• Stomach upset – having fenugreek seeds(swallow 2-3 seeds) with buttermilk helps to reduce the upset in the stomach,
• Warm water lemon juice and buttermilk helps to reduce the acidity

Ear Pain

• Crush garlic and put it in the hot oil. Once it is warm apply surrounding to ear ( not inside the ear) gradually pain reduces

Headaches

• Crushing the fresh ginger and apply that juice over the forehead and resting for 15-20mins helps to reduce the headache.

Tiredness

• Fresh fruit juice with some glucose added helps them to rejuvenate their body

Here are few DON'Ts, hope it helps

• Don't use Maida instead use Wheat-atta while making white sauce for pasta
• Instead of Sugar, use Brown -sugar or it can also be replaced by Jaggery
• Instead of Maida pastas/noodles use Semolina / wheat which is much recommended
• If your kid likes pizza, use Wheat base instead of Maida for the pizza 

This post is for the Contest - An Immune India. For more details - www.daburchyawanprash.com

Never imagined to get this Click - Beautiful!!

 

Never thought I could get this pic as this beauty was quite far from the place where I was standing.

It turned out to be a beautiful click.

 

Regular Blossom - yet beautiful

Everyday we watch this flower on the roadside... but its beautiful as any other flower

 

Ambi Pur Set & Refresh - Lavender Vanilla and comfort REVIEW

Ambi Pur Set and Refresh had sent me Lavender Vanilla & Comfort fragrance.

I'm basically a Bangalorean born and brought up by Hindu culture and got married to a Goan with Christian Culture. There is a huge difference in living, food and lifestyle.  Everthing is new but I enjoy the new twist in my life, but when it comes to FISH... Oh!! Just can't explain.

 

As I am a Pure-veggie, smell of the fish is like a disastrous thing happening to me. Whenever my mother-in-law prepares fish, I just can't enter the Kitchen. I can't actually tell her how I feel when she fries the fish.( You know that typical upbringing...:))

 

Ambi pur helped me to find a new way of living. Once I received the sample I placed it in the kitchen.

 

Now with Ambipur I can actually can't sense that smell of the fish. Feels like happy place to be. Thanks for helping me out.

 

After using that I have tried Ambi Pur Blossom and breeze that is also very good

Blue sky - Outstanding blossom

 

Love this blue sky

 

 

Something special about these pics

 

Reaching High

 

 

Love this velvet touch

 

                                               Blossom which I saw - Unsual one

                                                    Felt like playing Hide n seek

My Grandma's Remedies for Babycare

Being a Mother of a little angel is an amazing feeling which can only be felt not explained. But I would love to share my experiences that I had in the early days of her arrival.

Everything was a new experience to me, as a mother. I remember her first cry and how I had goosebumps and an immediate sense of caring, reponsibility and parenting. Initial days were hectic with very little sleep but the innocense in my baby's eyes drove out all tiredness.

Early days are very crucial for a new born. As they are out of the womb, they feel scared of the entire environment, its a new world to them. A warm hug gives them a feeling of security. My Amma says once the baby hears their Mother's heartbeat, they feel secured. Jaadu ki jaapi..:)

As my mother was there along with me, her experience gave me encourangement to handle the situations. She used to tell me that when we were kids how my grand-mom used to give her remedies.

For the good development of your baby, the environment surrounding the baby should be clean and hygienic as it impacts the growth. As per research baby can actually start reading when they are 6 mths old. I have tried it too, it actually works but takes time. Being a mother, you need to communicate more with the child. The more you communicate they react more.

I would love to share my experience with my gradma's remedies, hope it helps the would-be mother and new-born mamma's to take care of her little ones.

When babies are born, they initially pass black/green potty, I was initially scared but was informed that, that was normal.

Below are the few of the MAGIC Traditional knowledge and natural growth ingredients / remedies which I used for my baby, that helped her be in good health

Breast milk - is most important for every child. It has got miraculous thing in itself.

• When a baby gets an eye infection, breast milk can be used as a cure(1-2 drops each).
• If baby is suffering from cold or a nose congestion, breast milk can be used like nostril drops(2drops each) which helps the baby get relief.

Apart from this breast milk, I used to use Solvin drops which helped my daughter from her blocked nose (as per doctor's suggestion in extremely rare cases).

Sunlight - a great source of vitamin D. When baby is born they require sufficient vitamin D which can be sourced from sunlight. Early morning mild sunlight between 7 & 8 does the trick and is softer on the babies skin. This can also reduce the chances of the baby getting Jaundice.

Badam oil - Massage the entire body with warm badam oil, this helps the baby to get stronger physically. I had used Badam oil then, but my daughter is 2 and 1/2 years old now.

One of my friend who is blessed with an angel suggested Dabur Lal tail for massage. As per her, it is very good for the Babies as it includes ayurvedic ingredients.

Hing and Water - 1 pinch of Hing with few drops of water. Apply on the baby's stomach, this helps with stomach aches. Now-a-days doctor's are advicing not to use Gripe water, due to side effects.

Castrol oil and beetel leaf - If baby is having Constipation and Gastric problem, the remedy is to take beetle leaf, make small cuts in the leaf using your finger nails and apply castrol oil on it. Warm it over a candle flame. Then place it on the Baby's stomach. doing for 5-10 mins a day helps. (Note : check the heat over the leaf, shouldn't be too hot)

Sugar and Salt water - Instead of ORS, Take 1/2 cup of warm water and to that add 1/2 sugar and a pinch of salt. This helps to get rid of dehydration.

Olive oil - Helps the hair to grow thick and black

Turmeric - It can be used for cough and cold. you can add a pinch of turmeric in the milk that the baby consumes or take a 1/2 spoon of honey with a pinch of turmeric powder giving once a day reduces cough and cold.

Ragi, Rice, veg soup - once the baby completes 5mths, gradually the solid food can be started ( one at a time, have to wait patiently till your baby gets adjusted to - giving 4-5spns to cup of food takes about a month to get adjusted)

Juices - To see, all the fruits are good. Initially, introduce with Pomogranate juice which helps to increase Hemoglobin, Orange juice helps to nourish their skin. ( Note: Introduce once baby completes 5mths)

Teething  - Daanth patti (tie around the neck) which is available at the Chemist helps the baby to get relief of the pain. People says its Myth but it actually works. When they are teething gums pain and they feels like chewing something hard.

Nilgiri oil - a couple of drops on the babies clothes. It helps the baby avoid get infections.

Garlic - If ear pain occurs, crush garlic and add it to the 1tsp of hot coconut oil and once it becomes warm , apply surrounding to ear ( Note : do not put inside the ear, even doctors advice against putting oil in babies ears)

Ajwain - Ajwain is very good for cold and cough.

• If your baby is suffering from chest cold and cough. Just add 1/2tsp of ajwain in a pan till it starts cracking and then add 1/2 cup of water with sufficient jaggery and bring to boil. Give your baby the water twice a day.
• Hot Ajwain in a cloth can be given as a warm fermentation. Give the fermentation on the kids chest, forehead and ear areas. The ajwain smell relieves chest congestion.( Note: Shouldn't be too hot , have a check before you put on the baby's body)

Chandan  - You should ideally shave your kids hair twice for thick growth. On shaving put chandan on their head to keep it cool.

Camphor - During monsoon and winter season, before oiling your baby add a pinch of camphor in the oil, it helps your baby not to catch cold. After the bath put a pinch of camphor powder on the babies chest and under the feet.

Jaiphal/Nutmeg powder - Adding a pinch a Jaiphal Powder with 1/4 tsp of honey - helps the baby to improve their taste buds and also jaiphal with a tsp of water, applied on the stomach helps the baby to get rid of Stomach ache

Along with this I would like to insist few of the DON'Ts , hope it helps you

• Do not introduce walkers, this doesn't help the baby to have a proper growth
• Don't use gripe water instead use home remedies
• Don't try to many things on your baby at one time
• Do not remove the mucus from the throat that the massage lady normally does. This can affect the vocal cords and could be injurious.
• Do not Pierce the Baby's ear before the baby completes 5mths as if infection happens, medication cannot be provided.

Thanks a lot for Dabur Lal Tail as they gave me a chance to cherish few wonderful moments which I spent with my baby while writing this blog post.

This blog is for the contest Traditional Knowledge, Natural Growth.
For more details visit Dabur Lal Tail

Hearts Crossing

For me these love bands reminds me of the vows taken on my wedding day. Of being there for each other in good times and in bad. It's an eternal love, that never ends.



[Image courtesy: Platinum love]


Just as platinum is represented by pure, rare, and eternal qualities, married life is built on trust, forgiveness and everlasting love.

True love lasts forever..

(To be Honest, We exchanged our vows with gold bands but now I wish to exchange our vows with this precious metal. Hope in the coming year I can surprise him with a platinum band)

When I think about my love story.. It feels like one of the bollywood movies... Our love story begins like this....

Me and my hubby met around 8 years ago during our MBA correspondence classes, but it never crossed our minds that one day, we would end up getting married. He was one of the class toppers and it was announced in class, thats when I noticed this guy.  As I used to work with an MNC we had shifts and that week I had a night shift. One of my colleagues was also doing the same course with me and used to help me with a ride to office, but on that day he had not come to class and I was left stranded. I decided to ask one of my friends to drop me to the nearby bus stand. He was chatting with this topper and when he said that he had some work, this guy pitched in to help me out. I was quite flustered with the unexpected rescue. But then he felt that I was uncomfortable and suggested that I would have to treat him for this. That was the first conversation I had with him and it lasted for less than a couple of minutes. Both of us were quite on the bike and when he dropped me I thanked him. He very graciously accepted my thanks and reminded me about the treat that I owed him.

We would meet each time at our classes and he would be trying to make me laugh with some stupid jokes, that always seemed funny. Small things are so different before marriage, now a days if he cracks the same jokes he gets shouting from me, ha ha ha...

Anyway back to the time before marriage, I always dreamt of a boy who would be wearing goggles, with his shirt folded and carrying a jacket along with his helmet in his arms, like one of those hero-types, and here, there was this shy guy with spectacles, shivering in his jacket and trying to make a conversation with me. But he had other qualities like he would sing and strum the guitar. He was a good entertainer and we used to meet up and started spending quite some time with each other on the pretext of studying.

I never realised when the time flew by and we became friends and he turned to be my best friend in all my good and bad times. I knew he would always be there for me. I didn't have to say a word at times, he could just sense it and would be willing to help me in any situation.

One day, he told me that his folks were searching a girl for him. It sounded quite wierd and made me feel uneasy, I guess I was irritated that I might lose my best friend. When he went to meet one prospective girl, I got very angry with him. Didn't speak to him for a couple of days and tried avoiding him. But couldn't resist speaking to him so we patched up again. But a couple of days later he told me that he would be going back to Mumbai due to some family matters.

Our group went to drop him to the airport. I dont really know what got into me but I cried and hugged him, having a conservative upbringing didnt stop me from hugging him publicly, tears just flowed down  my cheeks. It just felt like an important part of my life was going away forever.

That day, at the airport, was the turning point in our friendship, as both of us felt the same way about each other, that he later confessed to. We would talk almost everyday and one day he kinda proposed to me. He said he was tired of meeting up with prospective marriage girls and would be better off if I would marry him as we knew each other's strong and weak points. Till date he considers this proposal as his romantic proposal to marriage. Initially I thought he was joking but then we actually started thinking about it. There were some major hurdles in our way firstly culture and most importantly religion, he is a catholic and I am a Hindu. Getting our parents to agree to the same was a herculean task. It took almost a year to convince them. We realized that a marriage is not just the union of two people but its a union of two families.

Every day was a difficult day convincing them, almost a year passed and success followed at last. After they were convinced, we thought as we were best friends why not start our new journey of life on the friendship day so we decided to get married on Friendship's day August 2nd, 2009

 

We took our vows and loved every bit of it. I was dressed in my white gown and my prince charming was waiting for me at the chruch steps... it was the most romantic moment in my life..

My dream had actually come true... me marrying the one person who I could trust with my life and who also happened to be my best friend. When we took our vows, there was another surprise for me and he actually sang for me. A few lyrics of the song

 

Wherever you go, I shall go.

Wherever you live, so shall I live.

Your people will be my people,

And your God will be my God too.

Wherever you die, I shall die.

And there shall I be buried beside you.

We will be together forever;

And our love will be the gift of our lives.

So that was the story of the beginning of my journey as a soulmate. Now we have a little angel with us and she is "tooo old" that is 2 yrs old according to her . Such a beautiful journey that i will cherish for the rest of my life.

This entry is for the contest Platinum love. To know more visit - Platinum Day of Love

Spider web - Never lose hope

 

It was in our house... for almost a week everyday we removed that web but still this tiny fellow managed to build it again n' again...

 

Why don't we learn from these creatures... they never lose hope.. they try again and again till they succeed.