SWIM – One of the hallmarks of Great Lakes

 

Great Lakes is one of the first institutes in the country to recognize the value and importance of more and more women managers in the country today. This is not just a thought. Great Lakes women have captured this in the form of an Initiative called “Successful Women In Management“. The initiative has the backing of Uncle Bala and also eminent women personalities of the country, which also includes one of the most globally known Indian businesswoman today, Indira Nooyi.

This initiative is the undertaking of the women of each batch. Last year, Crusaders organised a one-day SWIM event which had successful women like Kanimozhi come and deliver lectures on various topics ranging from womanhood to “The glass ceiling”. The event was organised on 8th March 2007, International Women’s day!

This year, the girls have yet again done a phenomenal job. They organised a workshop to cater to the issues of working women.

Hats off to the girls who made this happen!

Cheers to SWIM!

A tribute to Mohammed Rafi

One of the best singers of all times, Mohammed Rafi was inimitable and flawless in his singing.

Lets us get together today in celebrating the Legend on his 27th death anniversary!

10 ways to Quit smoking!!

1. Have a cigarette while plugged into an ECG machine and see the effect of smoking on your heart. Remember that and you will definitely quit smoking.

2. Don’t feel you are giving up. Think you are improving your life. Nobody likes to give up anything.

3. Having friends who do not smoke really helps.

4. This one’s a cool psychological trick: every time you crave a smoke, it means the body is healing from the nicotine. The longing is because it is leaving the system-it is like a scab forming over a wound. Instead of giving in, focus and enjoy the agony of quitting as a healing process.

5. Lung cancer and impotence are some of the things you can look forward to lf you don’t stop smoking.

6. If you smoke, bad breath is one reason women would not enjoy kissing you.

7. Focus on the positive things of not smoking which are countless – looking better, living better, and being fitter.

8. It is an expensive habit. Why waste the money?

9. Smokers add to the pollution around.

10. Heart disease certainly shakes hands with smoking.

[Courtesy: Saif Ali Khan’s interview who quit smoking!]

Recipe: Paneer Bhurji

 

We tried out Paneer Bhurji today for dinner. It turned out to be good. Hence, attempting to post the recipe here 😉

Ingredients (To serve 4 people):

• Onions – 2

• Tomatoes – 2

• Paneer (grated) – 250 gms

• Masala (all spices like Dhaniya, Haldi, Garam Masala)

• 3 Tablespoons milk

Method:

First fry finely-chopped onions till they turn brown. Add the two finely-chopped tomatoes to the onions and cook them for about 5 mins. Add all the masala now to the content.

After the mixture starts smelling good, add paneer to it. Make sure while stirring you dont crush the paneer too much 😉

Now, add the milk to the content and let it boil for 5 minutes.

Paneer Bhurji is now ready 🙂

[PS You can use Coriander leaves for garnishing in the end. Due to lack of resources, we did not use… 😉 ]

Fact Files – Smoking!

1. People who smoke a packet of 20 cigarettes a day, reduced their bone density by about 4 or 5 per cent every 10 years. Something in cigarette smoke, though not necessarily nicotine, caused damage to the bone-forming cells inside the skeleton.
2. For women, it drastically reduces the chances of conceiving.
3. Smoking accounts for more than 30% of all deaths from cancer, almost 90% of deaths from lung cancer, and has replaced breast cancer as the leading cause of death due to cancer, for Canadian women.
4. On average, smoking removes 15 years from a smoker’s expected life span. Second hand smoking has also shown to be a major risk factor is the development of disease in non-smokers.
5. It’s a smoking fact that smoking is responsible for about a quarter of heart attack deaths.
6. Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds after smoke is inhaled and causes addiction to tobacco products.
7. Smokers have lower levels of antioxidants in their blood which prevents from the damaged cells from repairing themselves.
8. The carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene binds to cells in the airways and major organs of smokers. 

QUIT SMOKING!!!

Wishlist 1 – F.R.I.E.N.D.S DVD set

I have been wanting this for a longggggggggg time now! My own set of FRIENDS DVDs – comprising of all 10 seasons! 😀

This wish has come true!!! 😀

Krupiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii THANK U SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The funda of wish-lists!

 

Well… all the MBAs out there and students of Organisational Behavior, would be aware of Maslows Hierarchy of needs. For the rest, check this out.

Basically, our needs form a pyramid with the bottom most being the most important or rather the basic ones. As u got higher up the pyramid, the quality of needs increases. Our purpose of living is not merely survival, animals do that. We live because we want to achieve some things – be it material, spiritual, emotional, blah blah…

To cut a long story short, until basic material needs are met, higher needs such as emotional or spiritual needs will not be fulfilled ala Prof Venkat Krishnan.

So, I m going to be forming a wishlist. Nope, its not emotional or spiritual in content. There is still a long way to go before i manage those. What i m going to mention here are purely material needs – and nope, they arent basic, quite the opposite of that, in fact 😉

Since the list is going to be quiteeeeeeeeeeee longgggggggg!!! I have decided to form a category of “My wishlist” and will keep adding on to it as and when required.

Marriages – Made in heaven!?

I have heard my parents say about “Marriages being made in heaven”! I always wondered if that was true anyways! And if it still holds true in the world of today! The faith was extremely strong when I was younger, having seen a lot of arranged-but-immensely successul marriages around me. They seemed like bliss!

The faith started crumbling as I grew older. Relationships were slowly losing their sanctity. The foundations were crumbling… A perfectly happy looking couple could actually be facing a lot of problems with-in (which the entire world is unaware of) … and suddenly there is a thunderstorm which takes away everything… That is when they turn bitter enemies and swear never to see each other! This is the worst case… If this doesnt happen, then due to family pressures, they may continue to stay together but thats worse than separating…!

All this makes you wonder if marriages are meant to last!? If they are made in heaven!? If two people who come together to spend their lives together, know what they are getting into!? On more than one occasion, we see parents having rigid opinions on the kind of girl/boy they want for their kids.. Isnt the priority right now to ensure that we get married to the right people?

With the entire institution of marriage coming under microscope, one needs to be careful. At the same, think from the heart and leave aside brain for a while!

Indian Idol Gala round 6 – Parleen out

Indian Idol 3 – Gala round 6

The themes of the round was romance… Which means our participants were oozing romance 😉

Emon – Is pyaar ko main kya naam dun

He was Fantabulous!!!! Period

Puja – Sajnaaa aa bhi ja

She was ok… Not good… not bad

Dipali –  Tere bina jiya jaaye na (courtesy: Rohit Swain) 

She was good…. but Anu Malek felt her voice lacked romance. Hmmmpffff… well what do u say to that!?

Chang – Chehra hai ya chaand khila

Oh My God! My favoritttteeeeeee song… I dont think any girl ever can resist the charm carried by the song. And if that is sung by the oh-so-utterly-delicious Chang… well… all girls will be seen going gaga… He was great! The only thing i dint understand was why he was wearing a PINK blazer 😦

Ankita – Sooraj hua maddham

She was good… Not stupendous, but good enough 🙂 The song was so different from her usual forte… Her dress again was … umm… weird…

Prashant – Yeh hawayein gungunayein

One of my fav songs from Parineeta. But, there are better romantic songs in Hindi movies than this one…. Acha gaya… par kamaal nahi tha…

Amit Paul – Pehla Nasha

In front of Udit Narayan, he sang his own song. And did it with such flamboyance. Everyone was dumb struck! What feelings man! 😀 Hats off this to this guy! The song anyways has the ability to drift u off to another world. And Amit did complete justice to it 🙂 Anu Malek said “Amit Paul, u have become Indian Idol according to me”

Parleen – Mere khayalon ki mallika

The song is amazing… but somehow his voice did not suit the song….

Abhishek – Roop tera mastana

He was ok…. not fabulous! He sang with a fervour which was nothing short of “Classic”… It was difficult to make this song “not boring”, but he did… 🙂

All that goes around, comes around!

 

You can call it “Tit for tat” ya “Jaise karni waisi bharni”… But, I m a strong believer of the concept. Absolutely. It has reiterated itself in more than one way… And this is what makes me believe it all the more!

While growing up, whenever I would see a daughter-in-law misbehave with her mother-in-law, I would run to my mother and ask her, why was this woman behaving like this? My mom would beautifully reply “Beta, all of us go through our life the way we are meant to be. Sometimes we do things, we wouldnt do otherwise. But its our karma that makes us do what we do. And this lady in this case, would see the result of it when her daughter-in-law treats her this way”. It sounded like a very succinct explanation for all that was happening around.

It made a lot of sense. And as it turned out later on, it did come true! So, everytime we are alone in a room and feel this urge to steal something, when no ones looking! Or, try to copy in the exam with the supervisor not seeing! We forget one small thing – NO ONE may see us doing all those things, but they definitely keep getting added to our karma! And there is nothing denying the fact that we pay for all that we do (good or bad) – if not in this janma then maybe some other!

So, it may sound preachy. But think about it. And this may probably help u take the right decision most of the times and even help chose the right path!

Channa Ve by Kunal Ganjawala

The first time i heard the song, it was during Indian Idol. Since then, I am in love with the song. One of the best songs by Kunal Ganjawala.

Lyrics (with translation for the benefit of readers like Jana) :

Channa ve ghar aa ja ve

Channa – my lover-who resembles the moon

Dhola ve ghar aa ja ve

Dhola–one who is white and handsome

Teriyan udikaan vich muk challe saah

I’ve been waiting for U for so long that my breath is nearly failing 

Aaja, takdi de rog muka ja ve

Please come and end the heartache of one who is looking-out for U

Aavega jad soniyan mahiyaan

When U come, my handsome lover 

Mereya sajna dhol sipahiya

My beloved, my white and handsome soldier 

Rakh laangi tennu seene la ke

I’ll keep U close to my heart 

Tere baajon jind kamlaiyan

Without U my life is absolutely crazy

Jaandi nai akhiyaan choN laali

The redness of my eyes does not go 

Dil dariya vi lagda hai khali

The sea of my heart also appears barren 

Khushiyaan vedhe tukhdiyaan naahi

Happiness does not appear appropriate in my house’s verandah 

Hove na jad dil da vaali

If my heart’s possessor is not present

I confess…

… that I am a Compulsive-Obssessive-Harry-Potter-Fanatic!

EXPELLIARMUS!

Its Dr. Shilpa Shetty now!

I caught a blog at shuz‘. Its veryyyy hard to believe but true! The actress is a Doctor now! 😐 Checked it out and indeed its true!

Shilpa Shetty is Dr. Shilpa Shetty now! D-Uh!?

Is Harry Potter stupid!?

I dont understand… the more and more, I read the 7th book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the more I am pissed! With Harry Potter!! (I am reading the 22nd chapter btw)

I dont know what JKR was thinking while writing this book and I hate to say this, but she has left no stone unturned in portraying Harry Potter not as The Chosen one or The Boy who lived but as a normal guy who is… well.. stupid!

He would be able to do nothing if he did not have the ingenious Hermione or the brave, loyal friend in Ron. And u know what? I dont like it… Whats worse! He keeps putting Ron and Hermione in trouble…

I hope, for my sake, that things improve towards the end 😦