House of Cards – The TV series, keeps getting creepier and ruthlessly pragmatic with each successive season. Since its first telecast in 2013, the political drama has garnered millions of fans world wide, who are all awaiting to see what … Continue reading
I still remember those childhood days of mine, when watching Discovery channels’ shows on Nasa and moon missions were the favorite pass-time. These shows use to fill my my naive mind with thoughts of new universe and aliens and stories of other far off planets. Letting my imagination run wild at times, made me ask questions which no adult had answers to. Sometimes, these fantasies made me scribble stories about the amazing life of these outer space planets and creatures that inhabit them.
When we are kids, everything seems feasible. This is the best part about childhood and the real reason why kids are so much creative and have amazing out-of-the box ideas. One such opportunity, which seemed straight out of my childhood captured my attention a few weeks ago, when Blogadda and Colgate tied up to create an unique campaign called #ColgateMagicalStories. This included trying the freshly released colgate packs with the new bloomers to carve out a story about Magical Space Adventures.
The Colgate “Magical Space Adventure” has three different sets based on the ‘Magical Space’ theme to cut, play and learn – explore the mystical Alien Planet, float around the zero gravity Space Walk and experience the thrilling Space Launch. With more than 15 space characters, these packs will take kids on an adventurous journey into the magical space world. These packs are an opportunity to learn while having fun. The kids can create their own secret universe thereby expanding their creative canvas.
My Cute 8 year old Niece and I sat together opening these packs of Colgate arrived in the morning mail and cutting out the packs, she assembled those 3-d structures of Aliens, space-ships and rockets while naming those aliens straight out of Star Wars saga. The kids of this generation are far too smart and quick , I wonder when she watched Star Wars and learned those character names.
As per the story weaved by Ananya, first image is about the bad aliens who come from a planet where the king sends their foot soldiers with ghost type aliens to capture and bring other planets for the king Galactus to control. He is a power greedy king who wants to be the master of entire universe. Those planets who choose not to obey him, he destroys them through the aliens with the ability to carry out poisonous gas attacks.
While the second image details a planet called Captiva where these bad aliens and foot soldier land to find out that inhabitants of Captiva are well prepared for a trans-galatic attack.Even before the gaseous alien could begin attack, the orange soldier- Obuoy, fights the foot soldier with his years of training and fire weapon experience. While the team of robots – Circular robot Gyro and Green Army Robot – Big Head eliminates the poison from gases of the alien. To send a message to the Galactus, to never return back to Captiva for such an attempt again, Obuoy sends his these dead attackers in their spaceship back to Galactus.
I was simply spell-bound to hear how my 8 year old niece came up with such a logical and coherent story which used all the characters and ended on a positive note. She has a real potential to be a great story-writer someday. As soon as I praised her for her efforts, she started dancing and soon ran away to find some other source to keep her engaged.
“I’m blogging my #ColgateMagicalstories at BlogAdda in association with Colgate.
It was the 1st of January,this year, when I received a phone call from a long lost school friend. Hearing from your old pals is liberating to say the least. I was hoping it would be just a new year wishes call, which would supposedly lead us winding in a brewery, reminiscing “The Days of our Lives“.
As a matter of fact, it turned out to be something much more important. My childhood buddy was getting hitched this month !!! Like seriously, but when, how, why ?? To be honest, it was more of shock and awe then happiness, which soon started to sink in. In a semi-happy and semi-shaky voice, he said, “I have very little time time of bachelorhood left. It’s all planned for 28th Jan in The Lalit, Mumbai. Hoping to catch our whole gang there.”
The gang reunited, not physically at one location tough, but via a conference call on skype, discussing how to help with wedding arrangements and logistics and all, but the reality kicked in when we realized that with over 50,000 sq. ft. of luxurious banquet hall, The Lalit, Andheri, Mumbai, is one of the most coveted venues in the city. The 8,100 sq. ft. pillar-less Majestic Ballroom with its plush vibrant carpeting, high ceilings and regal dark-wood doors makes it a complete package in itself. When we evaluated the venue and arrangement which Team Lalit offered, we realized that there was hardly any value, which we naive 25 year old’s could have added.
Forum’s wood-paneled, pillared room is great for weddings, conferences or breakaway sessions, while the Royal & Regal Rooms are more suited to smaller private functions. The vivid artwork and decorative chandeliers add the aesthetic touch to the otherwise 5- star room, equipped with the most modern facilities. The gals of the gang were awe-stuck to hear that sangeet ceremony would be held by the poolside with cocktails on a lovely winter evening.
The best part about choosing The Lalit, as venue was that it is situated at just 10 minutes walk to the Mumbai airport, so none of the out-station guests had any worries of loosing their whereabouts in excess human supply of Mumbai. This deluxe 5-star luxury hotel not only offered a wide range of superior amenities, it even provided for a pick and drop limousine service from airport to hotel. Apart from family-friendly facilities, with room layouts and services for both large and small families, the stay included unlimited access to a kids pool and supervised child care/activities. During their entire stay duration at The Lalit, guests can dine at Baluchi and a drink at Beluga. Eateries at the hotel include Delicatessen and Trendz.
This was our first experience at such a luxurious wedding, all courtesy the amazing ambiance and facilities we had during our stay. Though we lost a good friend to a charming young woman, this year, we wish him best for his new innings in this game of life. Have a happy and prosperous life, my friend. Kudos !!!
Conversations are lyrics, Laughter is the voice and time spend together a Melody. But hectic office schedules, tiresome work load and ever increasing deadlines hardly offers any of us enough time for making this Music of Conversation come true. Sometimes, I wish Life would be a lot easier if the conversations were rewindable and erasable, like videos. Then probably, I could visit them again and relive those moments of euphoria and delete the ones that brought grief and heartaches.
Technology has affected everyone and everything in this past decade – be it the way we live , the way we socialize or the way we interact. One of the recent development in the Interaction technology is the introduction of Android operating system and its innumerable applications that we use for several different purposes. One such application that has recently created a boom in the market is WeChat. With a plethora of unique features like QR code Chat, Video Calls, Moments, Shake and Drift Bottle it is an one of its kind platform to connect with friends/strangers from all around the world. This application can very well be called “Chuck Norris of Chatting“.
Somerset Maugham once said “Conversation is one of the greatest pleasures in life but it wants leisure“. This must have been the driving force for the makers of WeChat. After all such an amalgam of technology, idea, innovation and chatting in the hands of every smart phone user is an exquisite leisure to have.
Among several strange ideas that continue to hit me, while in shower, this is the most recent one. What would happen if this world was one big WeChat group and we could talk to anyone we wanted to. Wouldn’t that be awesome, if you could find solution to your Physics problem by messaging Stephen Hawkins, or you could ask Paris Hilton out for a date, once she is free from her photo-shoot sessions. Wouldn’t a chance of fun filled jogging session with Tom chasing Jerry be refreshing enough. I gave it some thought (boring weekends, you know) and compiled this list of people, with reasons, whom I would add to my WeChat group. Here are my after chat thoughts:
1) Sir Ravindra Jadeja
This had to be my first. Who won’t have the legend who ate the broken part of the Apple logo in his close WeChat circle. It was a real fascinating conversation, after all it was with the person who drove Ranjnikant away from all social networking sites. And during a visit to Jurassic park, his private zoo, he told me the secret that during camp-fires, it is the ghosts who tell Sir Jadeja’s stories. For one second, I thought that Superman would be second on my list, after all he is the Man Of Steel but then Sir Jadeja reminded me that what’s the need, as he was the Man of Stainless Steel.ROFL !!!!!! He even told me that once Superman and Sir Jadeja bet on an arm wrestling match. The loser had to wear his underwear on outside his clothes. All you cartoon freaks know the rest of reality very well 😉 Talking to such a legend was an experience that wasn’t possible had WeChat not existed. Kudos to it !!!
2) Pikachu
Did I just said cartoons, then someone whom I dearly miss is our beloved Pikachu. He was my first cartoon hero, most fearless of all the Pokemons, most adorable among all the creatures of the fantasy world. I falled in love with his “Pika Pika Pikachu…” via the voice chat feature of the application. He told me about the life of other little monsters in the Pokemon universe and what defeating Team Rocket feels like. Being a powerful pokemon, he told me about the laurels of winning several Poki-Fight Competitions, and also inspired me to keep taking part in more and more competitions as they bring the best in us. I invited him to our Human Universe, where he can live with me as my pet. His superpowers like Thundershock and Electric Discharge can solve the electricity crisis in India, while in his free time he has promised to eliminate some of the troublemakers from Delhi as well and make it a safer city. How generous of him !!!!!!
3) Paul, The Octopus
Third one in my fantasy list is Paul, most popular among all underwater creatures. While all Other octopi just swim around the ocean, squirting out ink when they get scared, Paul did something that no scientist with any of their inventions could have ever dreamt of. He told us the future. There could be no one better than him to explain the hidden role of chance in life.During our chat he told me that, his trainers placed two boxes in his cage, each with the flag of a world cup team, and each with a tasty mussel inside. He picked a mussel, and for eight games in a row, including the World Cup final, his choice won the game. The truth he texted me was that, he always went for the mussel with the Strawberry essence in it, after all no snakes, crabs and scallops he ate had such a nice flavor ;). Later during video chat, he also showed me that how his trainers were planning to make large sum of money through gambling using his ability, so he decided to leave the prediction job. Even sea animals are so much better than we humans. Such a Shame !!!
4) Charlie Sheen 
The lead of Two and a Half Men – Charlie Sheen is the fourth on my list, this modern Casanova is a person with best one liners and jokes industry has ever seen. With a beach house at Malibu, he is a real successful artist who enjoys his life to the fullest. A chat, which I was looking forward to with him, was in context of some dating tips. When I pinged him on WeChat, he was luckily idle. So, I asked him, his secrets of being a charm to so many ladies. Instead of giving me some humor filled jokes or some prasing techniques, what he replied me was ” The only way to not get your heart broken is to pretend that you don’t have one.” Some conversations can be real strange, how can a man with such a persona could say so, I wonder. Probably, what he meant was something deeper, which I was unable to comprehend. I’ll ask him again sometime soon, when he actually meant.
5) Alok ‘Ronbinhood’ Kejriwal
Don’t confuse him with Arvind Kejriwal, He is not someone,who protests for change to happen rather is making them happen as the CEO of Games2Win. He doesn’t build games, but people and is the best mentor a budding entrepreneur could ever have. That is the real reason, he is called “Robinhood” of the industry.At some point of time, I want to be another him. Who else would have advised me better, so one fine day I texted him and despite his busy schedule, he linked me to the OpenHouse video stream. All thanks to the video support on WeChat. There he told people- One of the best habits that has worked for me is a quiet, honest and no holds barred conversation with MYSELF. (Obviously a mental chat), I argue, cajole, convince, scold, make up and resolve myself, with myself.And after that, it is all about execution. Make a plan and then make it happen.
It’s the conversations which we have, that defines us, makes us and changes us. Who knows, which few raisins of conversation injected into the tasteless dough of existence ends up giving you the taste of a lifetime. Keep Talking 🙂 🙂
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This Post is written as a part of #WeChatNow Contest. Do Check out: WeChat’s Youtube Channel
Tchao !!!!!!!
The Complicated Simple Life 