Buying a new home? Check your religion first.

The constitution of India says all Indian citizens can buy property in any place within India irrespective of cast and religion. Do you believe in this proclamation? At least I used to fully believe in this till last month. It says no one and simply no one can stop Indian citizens from practicing this right given by our constitution with some exception to Jammu & Kashmir.

My friend and colleague Veronica Fernandez was looking to buy a home in one of the very classy vicinity of Mumbai. She had everything set, the money, the loan, family support etc. She thought this is enough to get her good home of her choice, but she didn’t knew the horror that was in waiting for her.

I assisted her in short listing one 3 BHK flat that was right for her funds and family. To make sure that there are no dispute/issues of the flat/room with the society we approached the secretary of that building. This is where we were given shock of our life. The so called secretary bluntly informed us that she cannot purchase the flat in his building. We said why not? We will pay the money to the owner of the flat we will get the name transfers and all dues if any to the society will be cleared by the current owner.

The secretary took more offence to this and said that only people from one certain community can buy flat in his building. I thought he might be joking but in next few minutes we realized that this is true. We kept on telling him that this is not done and he is violating the basic rights of an Indian citizen. We argued and argued with him without any success. And in the end we moved out of it. My friend could not buy her dream home just because she dint’ belong to certain community/religions. The very religion that GOD has chosen for her could not get her a home.

The incident left us infuriated. It has left a dreadful impact on me. We talk about our rights, we take pride in our country’s nuclear power, we call ourselves the largest democracy in the world, we write millions of books on our culture and brotherhood, but when it comes to implementing all this in practice we shy away from it. We give a damn about our rights and freedom.

We made more enquiries regarding this and we found that it has become a very common trend in most buildings in and around Mumbai to sale flat to ONLY members of their own community. In the end she opted for another home in suburbs of Mumbai.

Let me know what you think of this by giving your comments.

-Stella Roy

Looking for a change of job?

Wherever I go the most common question that is worrying everyone is how to get a good job? Well I have some points that may be helpful to you.

First things first! You need to first make up your mind and decide which field and what position you want to change your job to.

Second most important thing then is to prepare your resume in a similar fashion that is in the direction of the position you want to apply for. Do not hurry while you prepare you resume, that is the most important thing when you are doing job hunting, since your resume is the first impression that the interviewer will have of you.

So first note down all the points, if you want take online help, there are many sites that provide free help in building ones resume.

After the resume is done you need to then post it on all the jobsites available on the net. If you don’t know where to get it from, Google is there to help you out! Just type the keywords in Google and you will get what you want!

Once the resume is uploaded on the many jobsites, you will start getting calls for interviews, which you then need to schedule according to the time that suits you…and you are done! Isn’t it?

NO you are not yet done!

Now that you have scheduled all your interviews, you need to then prepare for them. Ask for information like how many rounds of interviews will be there, what king of interviews? Verbal/Written? So that you can prepare accordingly for the job interview.

Many people get tensed on the big day that is the job interview day. This should not happen, you should always be confident of yourself and go with an attitude that the company is in need of me and not the other way round!

Once you are done with the various job interviews, you need to then sit down and decide which one bets suits your financial and professional needs, and only after much of thinking is done you can opt any one of the offers offered to you

I would like you to add some more points if you have any that can help people out there in getting better jobs.

-Stella Roy

Publicity - Postive or Negative

A high profile marketing guru once said that publicity, whether positive or negative is good publicity. How many of you agree with him? I was shock when I read that statement from such a smart person. I never considered him as a good marketing mind. What does the companies look for to increase their profits? They want more sales of their products. They want people to build a trust relationship with their product. Well, to sale product/services one needs to market it in a good way. Will you buy a product that has got negative publicity? You won’t, right?

Let us take the very recent example of Pepsi and Cadbury where it was found that Pepsi contains huge amount of pesticide that may harm our body. In case of Cadbury chocolates, it had some insects’ traces to it. The product of both the companies became talk of the town. Every individual was curious to know about these two companies. In fact it started a national debate of such huge magnitude that the government of India had to intervene to resolve the issue.

As of result of all this negative advertising of Pepsi and Cadbury chocolates the sales went down drastically. It affected the profit of both the multinational companies in a big way. To think of it in other sense one may argue that still whatever the sales result; the episode gave huge publicity to both the companies. But was it really a good publicity? This was certainly a negative publicity which did more harm then good. It has been observed that good quality marketing companies are not the one that does the marketing in an aggressive way, but one that knows the pulse of the consumers. They have the best knowledge of their potential customer or consumers.

Publicity has to be positive all the time. Your products or services always require a positive presentation in market. Positive advertising builds a long and trusted association between you and your client. Negative publicity will never get you customer in long run. A customer gone due to negative publicity is very tough to win him/her back. Let us always do positive and good advertising of all the things that deserve so.

Please remember your comments are always of great value to me.

-Stella Roy

Sex in schools

There is country wide debate going on Sex Education. The education department wanted to make Sex Education obligatory in schools. This is one of the finest steps taken by the HRD department in long time. Everybody believe that this act of HRD will be welcome by one and all, but on the contrary some sates like Maharashrtra, Kerala have banned the sex education from school! There are people who have started to appose it in big way. What a disgrace!

In a country where millions of people are suffering from HIV, where innocent girls are raped every hour, even the capital of the country is not free from it, thousands of cases are registered for sexual harassment against women, we still do not want to educate ourselves and our children on sex. It’s outrageous! And why, just because talking about sex was considered be a taboo in our country till now! In a country where the most well-known form of sex (kamasutra) originated, we feel that talking sex with children will put parents and teachers in a awkward situation. Let the teachers do thier job.

If we cannot talk to our children on such imperative issue then how will we help the humanity to be free of crime against women? Let’s not forget that these students are the future of country. Sexual harassment against women is destroying the very spirit of India. We take pride in an Indian born girl when she walks into space, but we don’t feel embarrassed for sexual harassment against women. Why such dual standards?

We all have gone to schools at some point of time in our life. We know how vital it is to learn the basics fact of life / world at an early phase of our life. There is no replacement for it. Topic learned at early days has enormous impact on our future life. We seldom forget what we learn at school, do we?

If parents can’t teach their kids about sex let the teachers do it. We have immense respect for our teachers. They are the one who nurture us to face the truth of life. If they teach us essentials of sex, do you think the bond between the student and teachers will suffer? Do you think it will affect the pure respect for our teachers? I don’t think so. Let us agree that bulk of misdeed and harassment against women is due to lack of sex teaching. If introducing a new program in school helps us in stopping such atrocious offense against women then why not do it? Why such an outcry against it? Why such appositions form certain segment of our society?

I being women myself understand the importance of sex education in our schools. Believe me India will be much better place if teach our children about sex and reduce the number of rapes and other sexual crimes committed against us. It's our job and responsibility to reduce crimes against women. I bet the future generation of women will be proud of us and will always thanks us for making women life free of sexual crimes. Remember we consider women as Lakshmi in our country and worship her.

I want to know your comment on this. Please comment and support me.

-Stella Roy

Changing behavior of shopping

There is an old adage that when Women get depressed they go Shopping and when Men get depressed they watch Cricket! I don’t know if it is true for men but it is absolutely true for Women!

There are many shopping malls opening in all the major cities of India. Every place you go you will find at least shopping mall there. People come in malls as if they are going for picnic. They sit and litter the place and make it horrible for people who actually come there to shop! Though theses malls are expensive but the quality that they provide is up to the standards. As in c’mon if you want cheap clothes you can go to roadside shops where you can bargain and get what you want, and if you are of that types then believe me malls is not the place for you to shop!

Apart from quality they also sell branded stuff, it is amazing to see brands like Mango, Marks and Spencer, Giordano, Louis Phillip, Ritu Kumar, etc actually owning shops in these places. People can at least have a look at what brand is, and their cost too! The second best thing about these malls are that they have generated millions of jobs opportunity for Indian people. It is easy to get jobs in shopping mall. They even give part time jobs to people depending upon the business of malls

Apart from malls where one can go and see and shop, in the 20th century online shopping has been introduced. Now people can actually sit at home and shop for their favorite items. Online Shopping is basically for busy people and educated ones. There is a wide range of variety of products that one can shop online. Right from sending flowers to someone or to buying a mobile phone. But then is Online Shopping safe enough?

There are many sites which offer online shopping, some of the famous sites are: ebay.com, yahoo.com, rediff.com, bazee.com etc
Ebay.com is a very famous shopping portal. Many people shop in and out through ebay.
Bazee.com is yet another famous shopping portal, while Yahoo and Rediff have just begun their journey in the world of Online Shopping.

Isn’t it surprising to see how the shopping modes are changing with the changing time? These modes are changing mainly because of the busy times that people are living in, professional people just don’t have time to go out and shop. They want everything to be done quickly, and since they work on computers 24/7 they came up with the concept of online shopping. It is now much easier for them to shop with just few clicks and within seconds they order for stuff and it is at their doorstep.

Gone are the traditional ways of shopping, no more bargaining, no more fighting with the shopkeeper, no more shopping in the hot sun, no more arguing with each other, now you can shop sitting at home with just few clicks or rather even go to some AC mall and try stuff out and then buy. Time is changing, and it is changing for good, isn’t it?

These are my thoughts on shopping, what do you guys think? Your comments/messages as always are welcome!

Lionel Messi - The new Maradona of Soccer

The goal Lionel scored very similar to Maradona


Soccer has always capture the imagination of people all over the world. With out argument Diego Armando Maradona was its astonishing exponent. The soccer field was his backyard, no trick of this game was untouched by him. Maradona is most prominently known as hand of GOD and I can say Lionel Messi is certainly threatening to take away that title from Maradona.
Lionel Andres Messi was born in the city of Rosario in Sante Fe province, the same place where Che Guevara wa born in Argentina. As with millions of South American country obsesses with soccer Lionel was no exception. He learned his soccer skills on the street of Argentina with the help his father Jorge. By the time the teenage from Argentina celebrated his 13th birthday he was proclaim as the next superstar from South America. People started to compare him with Maradona in his young age. They seem to be proven right now. The famous club Barcelona got him in a record fees since the age of 17 and he has proved himself to be worthy of each dollar spend on him.

In Germany he may not have shown his full talent, but when the next World cup starts he will be the player to watch for. All his fans believe that he can lift the World Cup the way Deigo Maradona did in the Mexico in the year 1986.

And coming to the on going debate on whether Lionel Messi can be called as the next Maradona? Please give your comment.

-Stella

Virginia Tech Killer

Every year you read that some university student opened fire in university campus killing several student in America. The Virginia Tech university is latest victim of such brutal killing in university campus. America is the only country in the world where gun is consider as a commodity and is easily available.
Cho Seung-hui walked into the Virginia Tech university campus and killed 32 innocent student within an hour. Cho Seung-hui parents are Korean immigrant to United States. Why did he took such step? Was Cho Seung-hui a psychopath? If yes then why did the professors at Virginia Tech university allowed him to continue his studies in such a free manner. Cho Seung should have been put to some community counseling by his professor. It was the job of his family and professor to guide him to some good psychotherapist. Cho Seung-hui was student of English at Virginia Tech University. If you read his poetry and writings it becomes very clear that he was not a normal youngster. The writings of this youngster very clearly gives us hints about his anger and frustration. Cho Seung-hui was a troubled souls and mind. Inside the university campus he rarely spoke to his professor and students. All his classmates consider him a loner and he was never seen with any girls in the campus.
The police found the word Ismail Ax tattooed on his arm. It’s not year clear what the word Ismail Ax indicates. After killing so many people he send some picture to NBC news posing with a gun.

In one of the videos that he sent to NBC he says that

“I didn’t have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run. It’s not for me. For my children, for my brothers and sisters that you fucked, I did it for them… When the time came, I did it. I had to”

This bizarre incident took life of a Student from Mumbai name Minal Panchal. I pray that God give her family the courage to deal with difficulty time of their life.

-Stella

Look Good Feel Better

Since the time of Adam & Eve man and women desire to look good all the time. The modern generation spends 28% of their income on it according to the survey conducted by a leading women magazine. Doing makeup has now develop into a fashion. There are people who have made fortune by making others look good. Cosmetics companies like Garnier, Lakme , Revlon, Hindustan Lever, Oriflame have thousands of employees and are making billion every year. Good for them.

There are various types of make-up that you can apply depending on the occasion and time of the day, depending on the climate and the clothes you wear. Always remember if you don’t match your clothes with your makeup you will end up looking foolish.

To start with let me explain you the basic requirements for makeup:

1) Foundation: This works as a base for your makeup and is very important as if you use this; the products that you use don’t affect the skin directly. So always make sure that you use the best quality Foundation, you can use: Garnier, Lakme, Revlon, Oriflame and L’Oreal.

2) Foundation Powder: apart from the foundation crème you can also use the powder. This also helps in the same way.
3) Concealer: Concealer can be used without a foundation and is used only in the acne/pimple/boils areas, and is used to hide them and blemish the skin and make it look even.

4) Eye Shadows: Now eye shadow should match with the color of your dress, for eg if you are wearing a red gown, don’t put a red eye shadow, there are other factors also which you have to consider, like your skin color. So for red if you are fair you can use a silver/gold eye shadow, any dark shades in red will also look good. Make sure you always add a tint of Silver and Gold eye shadows on both the starting areas of your eye. And then blemish it with the color that you want like blue, lavender, maroon, brown etc.

5) Eye Liner: Is a must. If you have big eyes, thin lines of liner should be used, and for small eyes thick lines. Liners are now available in different colors, blue and maroon being very popular. If used without eye shadow, it looks the best.

6) Mascara: Give finishing to the liner by using mascara. Curl up your eyelashes and darken them by using mascara. Try out one from Revlon.

7) Kajal: Traditional Indian eye make up always consist of kajal. Kajal can be used for light makeup’s, for occasions where in you don’t ant heavy makeup.

8) Blush on: After eye makeup is done, you got to work with your cheeks to make it look prettier. Do just that by using a blush on that again match your eye shadow. Don’t use to much of a blush on just a light tint does the work.

9) Sparkling powder: To end it all you can sparkle the sparkling powder all over your face and neck, the best sparkling powder you can get is from Oriflame.


10) Lipstick: Again chose as it suits your skin type. If you are going for heavy makeup, lipstick should be applied dark. You can give your lips curves by using lip liners which should match the lipstick that you use. To end your lips with you can just tap a little lip gloss to give a nice glossy look.

11) Makeup Remover: After the make up is done and you want to remove it, just don’t wash you face with soap, first remove the makeup by using Makeup remover, you also get eye shadow removers in the market. Use it to make your skin look healthier after using makeup.


All said and done, the best way to look god is by just not applying any makeup like my mother and grandmother! Yes this saying is so true; if you want to look naturally beautiful, just don’t do any makeup.

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. I love them, it makes me feel better.

-Stella

Wedding of the century! My foot!

Disclaimer: In no way the author mean any disrespect to the Bachchan family.

As the wedding date for Abhishek and Aishwarya wedding date draws near all the news channels, newspapers, magazines, news websites are bombarding the nation with their wedding news. Right from what is Ash going to wear, the color of her saree, the kind of makeup she will be wearing to an extent to the number of words they will be speaking to who is present in the guest list!

They have captured all the media sources. Everyone in media fraternity is working overtime to capture the wedding of century as they say. Don’t we have any other job to do? Whoever is in the list of invitees is most sought after celebrity in the country at the moment. Each and every news channel and news paper wants to flash their pictures on front page along with the wedding card. The wedding has not yet started but media has left no stone unturned to cover even the smallest details such as color of Bachchan beard. This all is just waste of time, media is unnecessarily hyping up things and giving importance to unnecessary news, there is much important news that they can focus on rather than focusing on someone’s marriage. They are wasting their time and others too.

Look at Aishwarya, is she Queen Victoria III that she is getting so much importance? These so called beauty of World and Universe go to contest everyone want to be like a Mother Teresa and after winning the title all they do is to sleep with Salman and Shah Rukh Khan in Bollywood movies. Aishwarya Rai is one such girl who now desperately wants to get married in the Bachchan family.

Abhishek Bachchan is also not that great actor. He did manage to give some hits, but most of the movies that he acted in were big time flops. Only because of his father has he able to live in this cinema world, otherwise he would have been kicked out much earlier right after his first movie. Even Abhishek had an engagement with Karishma Kapoor, but that was not hyped so much? Why so? Karishma Kapoor was a well know actress then! But she was not caught by the media people? How come? There must be something behind this Abhi-Ash wedding, because of which this hype – someone is surely gaining lots of money by this. I personally wish them best of luck and happy marriage life but all this unnecessary media coverage is not doing any good to the Bachchan's family.

Instead of all this is the media need to focus on important matters like the development, jobs, unemployment, poverty of India, believe me not only the country will benefit from it and not just by covering a wedding ceremony of son of some high profile parents.

-Stella Roy

The Master Magician - Amitabh Bachchan

They say the only reason GOD created this Universe was just because HE wanted the human race to witness greatness of Prophet Muhammad. And BOY! We are still witnessing the effect of great Prophet on this world.

Well the same can be said of Bollywood and Amitabh Bachchan in terms of ruling the Bollywood. We can say, Bollywood came into being just to witness the phenomenon name Amitabh Bachchan. Without argument he is the greatest living legend of contemporary India. To me he is in the same league as Brando and Charlie Chaplin. Even at this age when most of us fade away, him continuous to deliver Bollywood runaway successes.

The life of Amitabh Bachchan goes way back to 70s at the time of emergency when he came to Bombay to act in Bollywood movies. When he joined Bollywood Rajesh Khanna was the heartthrob of the nation. Rajesh was enormously adored by girls and women. Initial efforts to make a name for self failed miserably. The industry rejected him by saying that he doesn’t have the look and the physical body to be a Bollywood actor. The man from one of the most populous state of the country was on the verge of break down and wanted to return to his homeland of Allahabad. But as they say destiny had something else in store for Amitabh. After several box office flops Zanjeer was release in 1973. Zanjeer became a stupendous hit and Amitabh who performed the role of angry policemen fighting against the crimes in society took the nation by storm.

After Zanjeer there was no looking back for the young lanky neighbor of Indira Gandhi announced his arrival to Bollywood. The angry young man image suited him to the core. With every movie of his, he made the people of India stand up and applause his acting talent. Giving super hits became a norm for him. Movies like Deewar, Sholay, Trishul, Amar, Akbar & Anthony, Silsila, Mr. Natwarlal and many more ruled the box office fund collection. In no time the reigning superstar Rajesh Khanna was dethrone from his position and country got a new superstar name Amitabh Bachchan. People started to follow each and every steps of this great man. The way he walk, his dialogue delivery the way he moved his famous left hand; every display of his was followed by people like a religion.

Amitabh became such a cult figure in Bollywood that when he met with an accident while shooting for that now infamous fight scene in Coolie the whole nation wept and prayed for his fast recovery. There were prayers in Mosque, mass were performed in churches, poojas were conducted in Mandirs till the time he came out of hospital. The late 90s saw the arrival of the Khan brigade i.e. Shah Rukh, Salman, Arbaaz and Aamir. The Bachchan’s magic slowly started to die away. Amitabh movies no longer pulled crowd to cinema hall. The Production Company ABCL he launched ran into huge losses. ABCL went bankrupt. Everyone had written him off. The star that once shown the brightest among millions of Indians was struggling to save his home from being confiscate to pay the finance company the losses suffered by ABCL. He no longer ruled the 70 mm screen. People no longer applauded his acting. Everything seems to be over for BIG B. But then when going gets tough the tough gets going and when everyone had written him off he bounced back with Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus.

The Show Kaun Banega Crorepati became a rage for the nation. Amitabh was back with a bang. Kaun Banega Crorepati with Amitabh was a delight to watch. After this there was no looking back for Amitabh. All his movies started to dominate box office once again. Everything for him seems to be back as it was some 25 years back when he ruled the entertainment Industry. Since then he has achieved back all that was taken away from him, his super stardom, his Production Company and people’s respect. India salutes this superstar.

Mutual Funds Investment to save tax

This is little late I guess but I could not stop myself from scripting down my thoughts on it. I called up Mr. Sunil Joshi, finance manager of multinational company for an appointment I could not get through his secretary. I sought to meet a hot shot fashion designer for my cousins weeding dress; she didn’t have time to meet for 3 days. I called up my old school principal, he also was busy for next 1 week. I register a complaint for my new Washing machine buzzer problem, the service engineer was nit available. I asked my maid to come little early for work , even she replied to me in negative. This all was during the month of March. The reason for all this was just one. No not that they all are getting married or are on vacation; all had to fill up the Income Tax. Yes it’s March ending as they say from other side of phone. It seems that whole country is busy in this month to save tax , OOPS! Pay tax, I should say. And I am no exception to it. As a good citizen I also pay tax every year.

My discussion with several mutual fund manager make me feel that every one want to save their funds and avoid paying tax. Your fund manager will present you with some top tax saving mutual fund scheme. Talking to these fund managers I got some ideas of top mutual fund in the market. So in the end even I ended up in investing my money in some open ended mutual fund scheme. There are several pros and cons that one has to look into while investing in these mutual fund. I would share some of my experience with mutual fund with you.

Basically there are two types of mutual fund scheme, i) open-ended and ii) closed ended fund. Mutual funds that save you from paying tax have 3 years of locking period. It means your money is at least block for min. 3 years. These mutual funds are subjected to market risk. All these funds are then invested in buying equity shares and other investment ground. The fund value is calculated on NAV (Net Asset Value) . Your profit depends upon the NAV of that particular mutual fund. In all these the most important factor is the Mutual Fund Manager. He is the one on whose decision the end performance depends. So while investing in mutual fund please get full information of the Fund Manager and also look out for NAV along with last 3-4 years performance of the fund manager. Some of the better knows Asset Management Companies are ICICI Prudential, Reliance Fund Management, Birla Sun life, ING VYSYA, ALLIANCE CAPITAL, HSBC, KOTAK MAHINDRA etc. But please do good research before investing your hard earn money in any of these mutual fund scheme.

In the end I would like to request you all to pay your taxes. It’ this taxes that government utilizes for our benefits by building infrastructures and providing subsidies on important thing.

Your comments and suggestion are welcome.

-Stella

Vacation in Singapore

I was too stressed out, stressed out of my work, stressed out in my personal life, did not know what to do to rejuvenate myself. At that very moment I happened to speak to one of my very closest friend who is a vacation planner, he recommended me and suggested that I should go out on a vacation! On first thoughts, I was like what a foolish idea, first only I am stressed out and then on top of that my friend was asking me to spend money and go out on a vacation? Was he lost it or what? Instead of going out of my town, I thought I will stay here take holidays from office and relax at home! But then on second thoughts I realized that my friend after all was not wrong! Why not try it out?

The very next week I packed my bags and there I was on my journey to rejuvenate myself. I had decided to go to Singapore. First thing first – I went to the Tours and Travels office, got all the details needed, after all I was traveling alone with no one to guide me there. Got my tickets done through travel website ‘My Trip.com’, they indeed gave me the best deals possible! While going from here I traveled by my favorite airlines ‘Singapore Airlines, they were as usual at their best services.I reached the Singapore Changi Airport, and wow the airport itself was so serene and so beautiful! I stepped out of the airport and reached my hotel. I had booked a 4 star hotel for myself. I had breakfast and dinner free with the package I had taken. Hotel was amazing.

1st day I visited in Singapore is the famous Santosa Island. I remember some bollywood songs were shot there. One famous song from BIWI NO 1 movie was also shot there. I saw many things in the island, like a LIVE cobra! I actually touched it. Bird Sanctuary, famous Water dance fountain. The Dolphin Show – that was just fantabulous. Also the 3D movie theatre, I really loved it. By the end of 2 days I was all exhausted and tired, but at the same time was feeling very relaxed and distressed.

3rd and 4th day was spent in shopping. The famous MUSTAFA Stores gave me best deals in everything that I Bought. You actually get anything and everything out here! Now I know from where did the Mall System developed in India! I got an IPOD for myself, a Digicam, and also Nokia N90. I also went ahead and shopped for some diamond rings. They are the best rings that I have got!

5th day I spent in window Shopping because by then I had very little money left, and could not afford to shop even a small keychain for myself. Oohh How I wish I could buy that!

I was surprised to see many Udipi restaurants out there. And by the way did you’ll know that there is a small town in Singapore that is actually called as Little India? That’s where the Mustafa Stores is located!6th day was spent in the Hotel itself, I went swimming, went for these massages that the Hotel provided. I really pampered myself and spent like thrift! On way back home I had booked the ‘Singapore Airlines’. Service was good, and up to my mark.That was my trip to Singapore that I will always cherish all my life. And I thank my friend who had advice me otherwise I would have not gone anywhere and wasted my holidays just like that! I felt like a Queen – really enjoyed out there, believe me Girls can enjoy alone too! I know all girls will agree with but boys won’t. Tell me your experiences on Singapore if anyone has gone. Also I would love to know other places that you must have visited and loved it, as I am planning my next vacation anytime this year. Your comments and suggestions as always are welcome! If you are to stressed out and want a change in life then the best thing to do is pack your bags and get outta the place you are staying in! And that’s exactly what I did and had lot of fun.

-Stella

My Free Lunch & Fun

There's no free lunch. Remember that old adage? Well I guess that need to be change when we talk about Email service providers. To me it’s definitely FREE service and website likes YAHOO, HOTMAIL, GMAIL, REDIFFMAIL and INDIATIMES efforts should be commended.

I don’t know how this email things started and why it is FREE? But since the time some intellect came up with email model they are offering basic email service for FREE.

They do have some paid services also which provide better spam filter and many more features that are not included in FREE email accounts. But who requires all this features? At least not you and I.

Initially, Hotmail was the ONLY major player in this field, but in last 4-5 years there are many email service provider that are providing much superior email storage space. Yahoo is providing FREE 1 GB storage, where website like rediffmail.com is providing UNLIMITED email storage. Wow! now you can store your favorite songs, personal photos, important emails, your favorite movies, favorite videos in your email account with out worrying about the space limits in your email accounts.

The other good thing about all these websites is now you can even check your emails from your mobile. I don’t know what next? maybe read your email from your watch! Personally I like all the major websites like YAHOO and REDIFFMAIL but I feel HOTMAIL can still do lot better if it has to retain it’s members. GMAIL and YAHOO continuously keep on coming with new features to out do each other.
All I can say is that in the end it’s the user who are getting all the benefits of for FREE. We would like this war for free email continue till long time, I am little selfish here but I love it when there is healthy war among two big players.

Some IT gurus have written that soon there will be no email service for FREE, I guess till then let us have fun and keep in touch through these FREE emails service. I am always available at stella_ry@yahoo.com and yes I am using the FREE yahoo email account.

-Stella

City of dreams - Mumbai

Mumbai they say is city of dreams. Mumbai never sleeps; it’s a city that runs 24 hours. Mumbai party’s every night. You will find night clubs at every 1 Km. the city just rocks. Mumbai carries hope of billions of people in terms of providing better prospect and good life style. Mumbai is located at western part of India. History tells us that it is formed by joining more then six island. It’s a dream of every Indian to visit Mumbai once in her/his lifetime.

At one side of Mumbai you have Arabian Sea with lovely beaches. The city has the Stock Exchange centers which makes it very important place in terms of business. The city has in numerous multiplexes for movie follower. Mumbai is head quarter to number of huge business house such as Reliance, Tatas and Birlas. The world renowned movie making industry Bollywood is in Mumbai. Several Bollywood movie stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bacchan,, Kareena Kapoor, Kajol, Salman Khan resides in Mumbai. It is suppose to be the largest tax payer in the country. In Mumbai you will find people from all over the country. The city also has historic importance. Many Freedom fighters were born and brought up here in this city.

Some of the places to visit when in Mumbai are:

• Gateway of India - Located in South Mumbai. It is was built in honor of George V and Queen Mary visit to India in 1911
• Juhu Beach – A beautiful beach on the shores of Arabian sea. Enjoy the local Pani Puri and Kala Khatta juice. It’s very yummy.
• Haji Ali Dargha – The oldest Muslim Dargah in the city. It’s some 800 meters in the Arabian Sea• Mannat - The extravagant house of Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan located in suburbs of Bandra
• Jijabai Udyan – The only animal zoo in Mumbai
• Fashion Street – A fashion paradise near Churchgate. Here you will get quality cloths in very cheap price. You need to have bargaining talent.
• Enigma – The famous Night pub at J W Marriott
• Hyatt – The gorgeous seven star hotel near domestic Airport


Some of other places that you can visit are Esselworld, Nehru Planetarium, and The Queen Necklace at Marine Drive, The Dome Theatre, Jehangir Art Gallery and Kamla Nehru Park. I just love to be part of this great city.

-Stella

Kashmir - Is this the Paradise on earth?

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in 1985 by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a aim to improve economic growth and social relations amongst it members

The 14th SAARC meet is going on in New Delhi. Terrorism and Trade are the two imperative agenda for this SAARC summit. When we talk about terrorism the first things that comes to mind is Kashmir and its people. Lets hope this SAARC meet will move forward in solving the Kashmir issue for ever. I really wish they do it now. It’s high time that happiness returns on the faces of Kashmiri people. Let us do it for the people of Kashmir.

The people of Kashmir on both sides of India-Pakistan border have suffered lot for many years. They are not at all interested in a military general or the bureaucratic talk that are going for ages now. All they want is end to their agony. They want love and not hatred. They want their life back which seems to be so alien to them. They wish to be free of terror of guns and bullets. Kashmiri child/youth wants his innocence smile back that has been lost somewhere in these daily fighting between military and terrorist. They want to be part of the 21st century generation. The people of Kashmir wants the world to recognize Kashmir as a self reliable and progressive state. A state free of military interference in day–to-day life. A state marching towards the progressive society along with other states of the country.

India need to be ultra cautious in discussing the Kashmir issue. We need to have some very significant intention in our mind. First an foremost the state of Kashmir belongs to India and it’s people. This have to made very clear to General Mushraff and his team. All these talk about join management cannot success until unless we recognize Kashmir as part of India. Pakistan needs to free up the POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) for the success of any bilateral debate between the two great nations. Let us not talk of hatred as hate can destroy the mightiest of empire as seen in Saddam’ life history. But India should not even go to bed with Pakistan on their terms and condition. The interest of Kashmiri people should be the main aim of any ceasefire.

I believe and I know millions of people also believe that Kashmir is too good a place to be ruined in such a manner. It’s my wish that someday we will completely eradicate all the current erroneous experience in Kashmir. I wish that someday there will be a individual who will resolve their problems . I pray to GOD to give them peace at the very earliest. The Kashmiri people deserves it since longtime.

Your comments, support and love is needed for Kashmir.

-Stella