My Little Log Book

I have recently shifted to a new place leaving behind the comfort of my home state, Mom, Dad, in-laws, aunts, uncles, etc, etc. You get the drift. With all the attendant heartache (or relief!), I have also left behind the comfort of a domestic help. It’s a novel experience for me caring for my children all alone and all day. Before this, I always had people to cook and care for the child. So much for the advantages of working out! Working seems so very simple compared to this! You just need to take care of the target and the rest falls into place. Like a fat cheque at the end of the month! You come home at 8 in the evening, cuddle the child, before handing him over to be fed. In the meantime you catch the news and then some cartoon with the toddler. Now look where I am. It seems my entire life is just planning the next meal and then ensuring that that meal goes where it's intended and not into the dustbin! Just when breakfast is over, lunch needs to be cooked. After running around ...

PC users these days start off with the internet unlike in ancient times when PCs were mostly standalone. However with constant use of the Web a lot of junk files tend to get accumulated in the PC and unless cleaned regularly, they really slow down the system. Here are some basic maintainence steps that have worked very well for me in the last decade for my PC/laptop. You can try them before calling in the experts. The steps are for Windows users Clean Temporary Internet Files Go to Internet Explorer/Tools/Internet Options At Temporary Internet Files Delete Cookies and delete temp. internet files Reduce the No. of Days to keep in History to 3. The default option is 20 Clean Temporary Files Go to Run at the Start Menu Type %temp% and click ok Select all the temporary files that appear and send to Recycle Bin Empty the Recycle Bin Empty the recycle bin at periodic intervals as it tends to slow up the PC. Here's another way to clean those temporary internet files and the recycle bin. U...

Here's a review of five classic Indian Ads and their enduring symbols that we have grown up with. Of course others may qualify too, but these 5 are still going strong and continue with their original theme since colour television made an appearance in India in the early eighties. I have chosen these symbols also for the impact they have made on their product as also the attention they have generated. Surf and Lalita Ji One of the earliest classic advertisements, it showcased the middle income Indian housewife’s frugality and as well as her no nonsense attitude, principles and her continuous striving to get the best VFM. All these in a remarkably well made 60 sec spot! It even spawned a TV serial Rajni as well as made Kavita Chowdhury playing Lalita ji famous. She later starred in a successful TV serial Udaan. Tagline - Surf Ki Kharidari Main Hi Samajhdari Hai! Onida Devil Who doesn’t remember “Neighbour’s envy, Owners pride”? The Onida devil became a symbol of ownership and onus ...

The Insurance Industry promises many things. All those delightful, costly, lengthy insurance commercials promise you the best of education, terrific pensions that takes care of the world tour, lovely sea-front mansions, huge cars, etc etc. And they all make you believe just taking an insurance would get you those! You know where the money for all these ads come from? Of course your auto insurance quote, your life insurance quote and all the terrific insurance quotes you get and the many policies you have taken! Know what, you may not really need more insurance (i mean risk coverage by that, not investments, though insurance companies tend to mix both and absolutely misconfuddle you!). But would your agent take that. No. You will be convinced and then convinced some more that you absolutely need that policy. So how do you get rid of these pesky perseverent species? Here are some surefire ways to keep them away. - Tell them you are at the hospital, and could they please come over with th...

Wedding anniversary gifts started with the idea of putting a value on each year of marriage completed. So if it is a challenge for you to come up with a wedding anniversary gift every year, the work is already cut out for you by tradition! What's really interesting is that there is a specific gift associated with each marriage anniversary. While each of us know the traditional anniversaries, silver, golden, diamond, etc, each of these commodity is actually the gift that the man bestows on his wife. A silver garland for 25 years, a gold ornament for 50 years is the idea. At the lower end of the wedding spectrum, one year of marriage deserves a gift of paper and five years qualifies for wood. Its older the better, like wine! Traditional wedding anniversaries gifting started in Central Europe anound mid 19th century. There was a specific gift associated upto fifth anniversary and then every five years. The American National Retail Jeweller Association in all its smartness issued a...

Socially Responsible, "Green" Mutual Funds or simply "Do Good" Mutual Funds seem to have caught the popular imagination. With everyone from Al Gore to top companies "doing good" to save the World, Md. Yunus winning the nobel prize for his work in micro-credit, being ""socially reponsible" while catering to investment needs has gone mainstream. While previously preferred only by a few, they have entered the social consciousness of an average investor. So what is a "socially responsible" fund? In a nutshell, its a scheme of a mutual fund that invests only in companies based on their social ethics, the environment policies followed by them, their corporate governance and business ethics. These schemes are researched and rated on the above basis and then their balance sheet and market performance is taken into account. Maybe the investor will get 5% or so lower return than the best diversified fund but the satisfaction will be there t...

A Gormagon according to Francis Grose is a six eyed monster with three mouths, four arms, eight legs, five on one side and three on the other. Does it remind you of any one? ...just remove the word monster...then with six eyes, four arms, eight legs....what does Indian mythology have? Indian mythology is full of such Gormagons...Only one of them has been likened to a monster (Ravana)...but he too was a "bidwan" (highly educated) and a Super King. Most Gormagons in Hindu mythology have been Gods. Ravana had 10 heads and twenty arms (5 parasitic twins???) No wonder he could think ten times better and was revered and feared in equal measure. And who conquered him? Rama, the lord with ten avataars... who originally is the four armed Vishnu! The for arms holding the "sankha" (conch), chakra (a revolving wheel made to measure), gada (mace), padma (lotus). Then there is the three headed Brahma too (with six eyes)...and Durga with ten hands and three eyes. Shiva as Natraj h...