Pamper me Soft!

“We have a little guest coming so have to prepare our home to welcome her and it is going to be a tough job”. We were on the mission to welcome a little guest who would change the way we live, eat, think, work, sleep and even dream. 

The little guest would be our special guest for the next few years and would change our lives forever. But first we were to child-proof our home to ensure that there are no sharp things, no corners open, no nails, no plug points, switches and harsh surfaces that were protruding and harm our little one. Though this mission started much before the the little Tigress arrived, we were ready. Bedsheets changed from posh silk ones to cool cotton, pillows became softer, paddings were used to cover the furniture. Everything was ensured to be the softest thing available. Grandmother’s sarees kept for this particular purpose, specially worn, softened in natural organic fabric wash were cut to size and kept ready to be the first touch between our baby’s skin and the already soft blankets. The wraparound was also selected weeks before, thoroughly washed and ironed.

Our shampoo changed because it was slightly harsh and might irritate her. Our soaps changed, detergent changed, my cologne changed, we stopped the use of perfume, stopped wearing a formal shirt as it was leaving the button marks on her feather soft skin when I hold her during lunch or before going to office. I started wearing cotton tees, wify skipped all the decorative work-kundan-designer dresses and shifted to cotton ones so it was easy to handle. I started shaving every day to make sure my stubble doesn’t hurt the little one. Pillows, cushions grew multi-fold on our bed, on the floor around the bed. So everything around was which didn’t fit the softest in the world category was shown the door and we moved to the softest and the most natural one to do.

Then came the question of nappies.

Some suggested the use of cloth, some suggested the use of some pant model ones, some said use grandmother’s saree, some suggested napkins. We were also searching in Google, with doctors, friends and everywhere possible. Our primary logic was to ensure the baby’s skin doesn’t get rashes and the nappy shouldn’t hurt her. No compromise on that. No compromise on freedom of movement too. We didn’t want the legs to be too tight or hard to obstruct her freedom to move her little legs and do her cutsy things. We didn’t want her to feel wet either and get disturbed in the night or just before going to sleep. Comfort, peace of mind and safety were our primary concerns apart from a thousand other things all parents are worried about.

Then we found pampers. Pampers gave us the freedom to let her rest comfortably and move around as much as she wants. She wore them to sleep, wore them to parks, wore them when bored, wore them to fights, wore them to pin me down when wrestling, boxing, biting, fighting, basically wore them everywhere. She never felt that they were obstructing her movement. She loved them and to be frank, we change them very often. We also play with the colorful elephants, giraffes on the pampers. I keep joking that I have a masters degree in pampers changing. Thankfully no rashes, no leeks, no other problems in the last two years. Won’t we all choose the best for the baby? After all nothing is more important than her care and comfort. So why compromise!?

Pampers brings you the softest ever Pampers Premium Care Pants. Its cotton-like softness is #SoftestForBabySkin and allows it to breathe, thus keeping baby’s skin soft and healthy, and your baby happy. This post is a part of the Pampers #SoftestForBabySkin activity at BlogAdda.

Book Review: Punjabi Thali

Things change after marriage. Any change is good but usually the change is met with resistance. Some people fight it and lose. Some people welcome and win. I had a friend called Shalini. She got married about four years ago and went out of touch. It was a love + arranged marriage and we all went to the wedding. Soon after the wedding we lost contact though we were on facebook and stuff. I heard she was doing great from other friends but she rarely met us at any of the social gatherings. 

Recently I met her at a mall and we got to catch up and over coffee the chatterbox that she is, she told me everything that happened over the last four years. We had so much fun. I loved meeting her. I always wondered if this bubbly chatterbox, Shalini would get tamed at her in-laws or would they get bugged by her. But she surprised me. She fit right into the Punjabi family and won their hearts with her sincerity and love. 

Now I am not talking about my friend Shalini but the protagonist in Swati Gulati's book - Punjabi Thali! Yes, Swati manages to build a character so interesting and lucid that she wins over your love and makes space in your close friends list. Shalini is married to in to a Punjabi home and has to cope with the pressures of a joint family and a well oiled machine like life where the diktat of elders is final and any change is questioned. It doesn't end there. 

What actually troubles her is that her all caring, loving husband is neutral to the fights that happen at home and rarely ventures to defend her. Her mother-in-law is a lovable mom but turns all her anxieties amplified towards the new claimant to the house. In this situation how does Shalini cope up with the Punjabi Thali and understand all the nuances of life is what ensues in the book.

Though the book sounds like a long complaint, it actually is readable with the pleasant narrative used by Shalini with ample doses of humour and anecdotes woven in. This book is the story of every woman married in to another family and how she matures to be the Bhabhi or Wife. This transformation happens to everyone in the family and is very pleasant if you want it to be. Unfortunately very few put in the effort to make the journey happy. Shalini's in-laws are much better to be frank and Shalini is smart in her ways too. 

So why should you buy the book and read it? Buy it to see how you can make your journey from a girlfriend to a wife fun, buy to know why you should take up the cause and not the sides, buy to see how you can fall in love with a family, just like in the movies. This book is fun, joyous and true in its core, a tad bit direct. A plate full of sweet, sour, hot, spicy, chunky and fun just like its name.

Buy Punjabi Thali here on flipkart.

Moto G 3rd Gen Phone Review: It's a steal

For about a week I was searching for a good phone to gift but couldn't finalize on what to buy. That is when I came across Moto G 3rd Gen and ended up buying it. So here is the Moto G 3rd Gen Review with first impressions. 

Screen Size: The device is handy (a bit more than what usually is comfortable in your hand) but the extremely good display keeps it interesting. The display is one of the clearest I have seen in this price bracket and the design makes it more than convenient to watch a video, movie or play a decent game. With two variants - 8 GB + 1GB Ram and 16 GB + 2 GB Ram available, and with a powerful 1.4 GHz quad-core processor the phone can be really magnificent.

Camera: With a 13 MP rear camera and dual LED flash and a selfie friendly 5 MP front camera, the phone can whip up some amazing photos to stop you from carrying an additional camera when you decide to lave your DSLR home. 

The Moto G 3rd Gen is also Water-resistant and Worry-proof. You need your phone to be there for you, even in less-than-ideal conditions. IPX7-rated water protection keeps your phone safe from splashes and drops in water. After an accidental splash into a puddle or sink, just dry off your phone and keep going.Also the water proof/rain spill protection comes in handy to the Indian conditions. I am not sure about the other covers that are available from third party vendors but the original one has a beautiful texture to it and gives a good grip.

The battery is well packed and has 2470 mAh giving a mixed usage up to 24 hours. We used it for a full day, played some videos, clicked some 50 pictures and made some 2 hours worth calls and still the battery is decent. Being in built, there might be a difficulty if you need to replace it in a year or two. But who uses a smart phone for more than two years?

The device is pocket friendly too with the 8 GB variant coming up to 11999/- and the 16 GB version coming to 12999/-. I honestly think you should go for the 16 GB one as the additional 1000/- is worth it for the price.

Though wify and many of us want to cover it up with a screen guard, I am dead against it. The new Moto G 3rd Gen comes with a Corning Gorilla Glass display. If you need a phone that can stand up to your demanding lifestyle, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 spans Moto G from nearly edge to edge to help keep your phone protected from unsightly scrapes and scratches. So skip the cover and have fun.

Here is the list of all specifications of the Moto G 3rd Generation phone that makes it a great deal. 

• Advanced water resistanceIPX7-rated protection from splashes and accidental drops in water
• 13 MP rear camera, 5 MP front camera
  Includes a colour-balancing dual LED flash
• 12.7cm(5) HD display
  Brilliant display quality and the strength of Corning^® Gorilla^® Glass
• Expandable memory
  Slot for an optional microSD card with up to 32 GB capacity
• All-day battery
  A 2470 mAh battery lasts all day
• 4G LTE  speed
  Browse, stream music, watch video, and play games at blazing speed

What can be improved: The camera is a little fuzzy when you click pictures in continuation and pixelates indoors. If I have to wait between pictures, then it defeats the purpose. It would have been great to have a battery removable option for longer life. 

You can pick up the Moto G 3rd Gen phone here. Should I say I fell for the Motorola dimple or for the chop-chop action that turns the flash light on and off or for the twist action that turns on the camera in 3 secs? I would go for the dimple. Chop-chop!

Book review: The Fall of Shuruppak

Are you someone who likes fantasy books and appreciate a technical writer who uses his creative writing skills to recreate history? Are you someone who loves academic writing and non-fiction books that makes novels look like a mirror of a civilization readable? 

Well then you must love Dr. Shankar Kashyap. I was asked to review his latest book - The Fall of Shuruppak. In this book he brings to life the ancient kingdoms of Harappa with a finesse of a surgeon with the chaos of the magic from the ancient civilizations as if he has been there really traveling with the protagonist hero and his small group of truth seekers who take up this adventurous journey through the ravishing jungles, fighting ferocious creatures, long sojourns in treacherous rivers, storms and shipwrecks.

What makes you buy this book is the impressive storyline that will grip you and keep you inspired to read more. The interesting, awe inspiring well planned cities of ancient India thump your pride as the doctor uses his years of research to paint a very realistic picture for your reading pleasure. When the lovable protagonist Upaas, a doctor himself, is accompanied by his wife Lopa and the crown prince and the fearless soldier Parthava narrates the story to you, you just sit there and listen.

The interesting turn of events take them in search of various sages while they encounter extraordinary people, scientific discoveries, new lands, threats, fire fights, abductions, miraculous and close encounters while being street smart and move on to the next location.

If this book were a movie, you wouldn’t have anything less than the Lord of The Rings scale. Unfortunately we don’t have many books celebrating the great civilisations of Harappa and Mohenjedaro around Indus Valley with their advanced technology, know-how and what not! When I came across Shankar’s book, this was pure joy.

The epic battle between a mythical creature demon and Enkidu and the great loyalty and friendship between Emperor Gilgamesh and his journey to seek a solution helps us understand the great cultures and values of the Sumerian civilization and their practice of medicine, cultures, religions, how they treated their people, visitors and guests, their economy and what not. The Fall of Shuruppak is less of a fantasy book and more a journey of self-discovery and bonding while educating us about one of the greatest civilizations of the world.

For more book reviews check out this link.

Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: Pick it up just for celebrating our ancient culture

Buy Harappa 2 : The Fall of Shuruppak

Book review: Doppelgänger Short stories

If you like reading, you would love a good book with a good story. Wouldn’t you? How about 18 of them in one book? Well that is what these 18 stories with varied emotions, varied themes and interesting twists have in store for you. Doppelgänger: Short stories promises to be a great read.

Promising to keep you interested with its dexterity of characters that spring out to your side and explain their versions and share their life with you. It is interesting to say the least as some of the stories really touched me. The pain, emotions and the easily forgotten small incidents we all encounter in life are portrayed with flamboyance. Madhavi S Mahadevan has carefully strung 18 different unique pearls, sorry soul stirring stories, on a nerve and served it up to us in this book.

Doppelgänger, published by Alchemy Publishers, short stories explores the themes of isolation, anger, passion, inexplicable relationships, responsibilities, love, hatred and pure aggression among others and delves into looking at life as a roller coaster of events, small but significant, to change our perception about what normal life is. After all what is termed as a normal life? What goes on in the life of a normal individual? 

How often do we really care about the people who love us and care for us in the first place? Can you put a price tag on the love of a parent, sibling or the value of a relationship until you lose them? What can be the correct measure of passion or abuse? Hard to explain unless you get a close up chance to stare at the naked reality of truth and confront the hard blatant complexity of a double life or an extra marital affair and how these strange situations, characters come out and make bare their stories and life experiences with you. 

Overall the book is an excellent read and I love the selection set in modern India are highly recommend. To close here is a quote from the book.

"Rangi ko narangi kahen, banay doodh ko khoya

Chalti ko gaadi kahen, dekh Kabira roya"

Pick it up from Flipkart here.

Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: Pick it up!

Del Monte Bachelor Pasta Salad

Here is an easy recipe to kick Cholesterol and stay healthy. Del Monte bachelor pasta salad. 

Though this cooking exercise is to star in the Blog your way to Italy contest, I chose to make it a simple recipe that you can make at home without straining yourself. So here we go.

Cooking time: 12-15 mins

Ingredients:

• Del Monte Pasta pack: 1 (We are using 1/4^th of the pack to serve two)
• Sweet corn: 50 grams
• Zucchini: 50 grams (cut to size)
• Carrot: 25 grams (cut to small cubes)
• Sprouts: 25 grams (of your choice)
• Lettuce: 1 leaf
• Cheese: Mozzarella
• Add any other peas, nuts, fresh cut vegetables like tomatoes, as ingredients.

 Steps for the recipe:

1. Blanch and lightly boil the pasta to gain tenderness for about 8-10 minutes
2. Cut carrot, zucchini to small cubes
3. You may add any fruits or nuts if you have at home
4. Once the pasta is boiled, strain off excess water and plate it
5. Add the carrot and any other nuts or sprouts to taste here. We add them first to help the heat of the pasta helps them soften
6. Add the sprouts, lettuce and herbs if you have any
7. Add salt to taste and pepper to taste and toss the salad
8. Add scrapes of Mozzarella cheese on top
9. Add Del Monte chilli sauce and tomato sauce to taste
   

And serve hot with a fruit juice if possible.

As you can see this is probably the easiest pasta recipe and can be made easily in 15 minutes. As we have a lot of fresh vegetables, nuts and fruits in the recipe you are bound to enjoy a variety of flavours which would keep you interested and munching towards better health.

So go ahead and make your own recipe and add what your favorite flavours are to make it the salad of the day. 

Book Review: The Nidhi Kapoor Story

I love mysteries. Especially the ones involving a crime or murder. Won't we all? In this context if you have a special liking to a thriller of a story, The Nidhi Kapoor Story gives you just the one to match your intellect. It is intense, sensual, super fast and yep, get that coffee. Nidhi Kapoor is a famous, fictional, Bollywood actress. One day, she comes home to find her beloved pets dead in her study. Along with the mangled dead bodies of the pets, is a letter threatening Nidhi and her family. 

Scared for her life, she calls up the police for help. The case lands on the desk of ACP Prakash Mohile who is the most decorated policeman in Mumbai. A photo-journalist, Rujuta Singh is tailing Prakash for a story and inadvertently gets embroiled in the chase.

Unwarranted incidents start happening around Nidhi and with each incident, the attacks get more vicious and dangerous. While investigating, Prakash and Rujuta also discover a long tale of lies, deceit and murder in the past of the Kapoors - a tale that Kapoors want to keep hidden! However the investigating duo is convinced that the answers to the Nidhi Kapoor mystery are hidden somewhere in the past. 

The question thus is, can Prakash and Rujuta unearth the horror buried in the Kapoor household? Can they save Nidhi? 

Saurabh Garg weaves a tale of death, revenge, bollywood, beautiful women, alchohol, Mumbai rains, drives to the most scenic parts of Mumbai ourskirts, love, affection, trust, thrills, violence and good food. He lets you in to his web slowly and then holds you and your insecurities barely in the night warm humid breeze of the sea while you sweat but still stay on waiting for the end.

TNKS as it will be known can be your Ram Gopal Verma thriller with some class thrown in. Very few could guess the story in advance and it will be etched in your memory for its characters and the love of the narration. I would also recommend for the style of writing which is simple, direct and can make you feel you could have easily written it but the depth is amazing too. 

Racing against time and with a mission to save Nidhi, you wouldn't notice reading the 316 pages. You wouldn't regret picking it up too.

Rating: 3/5
Verdict: Pick up

Book Review: The Faceless Saldirgan

Simply put, it is not your regular story of two people falling in love and the killer trying to avenge some long gone mishap that happened in his life and all this for the sadistic pleasure he gets out of killing and hurting people. That is what you expect out of a murder mystery. Not when you are talking about the new book on the shelves - The Faceless Saldirgan.

Written by a cool kid in glasses who looks like Vishwanathan Anand and you might think has a cool brain that is worried about maths and science or his next exam, this psychological thriller is quite manipulative, layered and a puzzle that lures you in and makes you helpless. The style is contemporary and pleasant. Quite a fast read and the events in the book hurl at amazing speeds though the story unravels itself over the official timeline at Greenwich.

The Faceless Saldirgan is a breath of fresh air in the growing stories about murder, rape, pain and abnormality as it doesn't just focus on the murder but is quite a lot about the psychology of the killer or the killer instinct, if I must put it that way. The ease with which the Saldirgan executes his meticulous plans and reaches his goal is amazing. While you would be intrigued by what happens in the end and are clueless in the puzzle about who the killer might be, very few could actually guess who the killer is and understand the grand finish the plot is reaching out for. I could :)

I usually get bored if the details are more and are not related to the story or, how do I put it pleasantly, not actively contributing to the story, but this was an exception. I actually read through the passages where biology, chemistry, psychology, quotes of religious texts were mentioned verbatim. This was because these small trinket of information was more to do with the story than to show off the knowledge the author had about the topic or pointed out how lazy you were for not checking that on Google. The Faceless Saldirgan could comfortably bring out the beauty in the characters and build the plot effectively.

The characters are lovable and reasonably delightful and are good in what they do. You are given a good detail about how they go about in their day and don't waste any time to become friendly with the characters. Jack, Ralph and John live an interesting life to say the least and Jack has the best of everything happening to him along with the beautiful Danielle who adds the jing to the story. Danielle is unfortunately killed off in a horrific manner right in the beginning and the Saldirgan makes a grand appearance albeit being faceless. From then on the story picks up pace and is a good read till you get to know who the killer is and how and why he was hell bent upon ruining Jack's life. Alec, Lucy and all the other characters play their roles pretty well in the shadow of the killer while you search for some clue that the author might have left in there somewhere.

Towards the end, I wished it was faster but you can never get a perfect pause to the explosive end. While the deaths were dealt clinically, I would have preferred slightly more effect to the process. Overall a good read, especially if you like murder mysteries and love a quick read. Sahil Loomba has a winner for his first book.

Check it out on flipkart here.

Rating: 2.5/5

Tiger reviews Renault Lodgy

"Looks bulky", I told myself when I saw the new baby from Renault for the first time. She had come to give us a taste of her speed and was standing in front of The Leela Palace at Goa. I love any new vehicle and this was especially enticing as it had just rained and some little droplets were hanging on to her. There was an entire fleet of 10 vehicles and we got the most powerful one with 6-gears to test out.

The first few minutes I was trying to figure out how she would respond to my finicky fidgety approach while trying out the shifting of gears and adjusting the seat height, angle of the steering wheel and fixing the indoor temperature and the music system (touch screen).

Once we got off the road from Leela and went on to try the driving at the main road I could feel the power of the machine. The MPV segment’s new baby from the Renault family had it packed well under the hood. I was amazed at the dexterity it could maneuver the turns and the wet paths on the rainy Goan roads. Well... while I can go on and on what I tried, let me tell you what comes as a package when you pick up a Renault Lodgy.

Control: I tried doing some stunts that the Renault team wouldn’t have agreed but ya… I have tried. The vehicle is under control when making sharp turns, does well in slopes when climbing up an incline. It also does well when braking suddenly. Though their reports say it is the best when it comes to the coverage of distance while braking, I had no reason to doubt. The ABS + EBD + Brakeassist, rear defogger, airbags and all the other security features makes you comfortable when with family.  

Real estate: The best feature was the space available in it to pack so many things and have the whole family, extended family and some luggage for picnic and drive off. The air conditioning was powerful too and with vents out at the third seat, the cooling was superb. We were around five people in the vehicle along with some stuff and still could be cooled properly at the first point. The boot space is amazing. What did I like here? The two tone dashboard, leather wrapper steering wheel, a fine looking 3 panel instrument cluster, leather upholstery, a built in medinav system with colored reverse camera display, roof mounted dual AC and electrically adjustable rear view mirrors, central locking, key-less entry...  

Comfort: Apart from the height adjustable seat belts, seat belt reminder, door ajar warning, impact sensing unlock, speed sensitive door lock, a rear wiper & defogger and front fog lamps the Lodgy was comfortable and there was no noise! Coming to noise, it was pretty silent despite all the rush and rain outside. The acoustics were done neatly and the music system with its touch screen option along with the Bluetooth connectivity to take a call and dial was superb handy. Giri tried calling his wife and we checked the functionality. The buttons for the call handling are right behind the steering wheel and could have been better if connected to the steering itself but that was handy too.

The vehicle is prepared to match the Indian roads when it comes to humps and speed breakers and with a considerable amount of weight has good clearance to handle the challenges. I am particularly impressed with the suspension and it was after all a family car with a specific need. 

Looks: The size isn’t big when you actually look at it that way and can be used comfortably in city traffic. The design is impressive with a lot of chrome work running around it and the arrow head hind lights were cool. The reverse park-assist camera and the proximity signal would come in handy especially when you are in a fix to find parking space.

I would have loved it if it had come in black but the Royal Orchid was close enough. Six more interesting colors make your choice easy. The gear box is a bit shifty and you should get used to it soon. I have a fairly good rating to it for the comfort of driving a really biiiig car and Renault has everything you need in the Lodgy. 

If you are in a big family and love traveling long distances every week or take frequent trips, this is the best you can opt for especially being the pocket friendly option. Renault Lodgy has been launched in India with an introductory price range of INR 8.19 to 11.79 Lakhs (ex-showroom in New Delhi) which I believe is very competitive for its features.

Check out Giri's review for more technical version or Renault Lodgy website.

Rating: 4/5 (The vehicle gets about 3.5-4/5 but when you look at the cost and the product offering it gets 4/5)

Verdict: Definite buy.

I was a part of the #LiveLodgycal Drive by BlogAdda.com in association with Renault India.

Some of the pics and video are from Giri.

Product review: Ambipur Air Effects

"Fish! Fish for dinner today!" 

This is the announcement that greets me as I reach home and I say, "I know! I could smell it at the parking lot!"

Let me confess, I love fish. But then I love the smell too. The real smell stays longer than we all like it. A typical family has several odors that they live with every day. Fish is just one of them. Eggs, milk, last night's curry, the undiscarded pizza box, nappies, tissues, papers and what not! We all know the weaknesses, then leave it to settle on its own and then start to live with them. The next step is to get used to the smell so much that you wouldn't even notice it anymore. Unless until you walk out of the room for some time and come back. Yep, you grow to love the smell (that was sick right?)



Do you know indoor air quality is one of the most concerning issue we all choose to ignore? Modern life exposes us to a vast number of harmful toxins every day. The air in enclosed spaces likes homes and offices has 2,200 times more concentration of toxins than the outdoors! While you must always look at enhancing the natural flow of air and light into the rooms to ensure they are healthy and disease free, you might also depend on various solutions to solve the odor problem. The market therefore has new tools and technologies that promise to help. At least in terms of smell, the Ambi Pur Air Effects is one such product designed to reduce all the odors that plague your homes in one smooth simple swoosh of Ambi Pur!

The fragrance is slightly mild and pleasant depends on what quantity you use. The lesser the better as it neutralizes the unpleasant odors and brings in the freshness of what you have chosen from the Ambi Pur arsenal. They have a variety of fragrances to cater to your tastes. The ones we liked are the Blossom and Breeze and Lavender Vanilla and Comfort, there are some exotic ones too that promise to take you to the land of your dreams. If you feel you might get bored with just one, pick up more fragrances. While Ambi Pur would help you remove the bad odors right away, always look to keep our place clean to keep it fresh and disease free. Cleanliness is next to Godliness and for all others like me, you have a solution now. Fresh up instantly and see the difference. You don't have to live dirty you know! You can change from #SmellyToSmiley.

I am blogging for #SmellyToSmiley activity at BlogAdda.com in association with Ambi Pur.