Getting back a fresh smelling home with Ambipur

After I moved into my new house with my husband I realized I was inundated with household work I had moved to an industrial township from a relatively smaller suburb. Here I was exposed to more pollution levels and more levels of noises. Even though I was within the confines of my home most of the time yet the smell of smoke billowing out from the tall chimneys found its way to my home. The sooty smell of burnt diesel from the exhaust of passing by trucks left me gasping for air that would be free from such smells. Even the occasional sneezing sound of the diesel engine reminded me that all these smells brought in news of ill health. I tried to put the thickest curtains on the doors and the curtains. These techniques did reduce the sound and dust but could not filter out that stale smell of an industrial township. I felt that these smells were making me, my husband and our kids very irritable. The persistent bad odors meant that we could not relax and unwind in peace.
The overall feel of our house had changed from being in a home to that of being in an industrial shed. I began to lose appetite and was waging a losing battle against these bad odors that were present in my house. I am not a person who takes defeat very easily. I am a fighter to the core who likes to find solutions to my problems and the issues that I face. I visited my neighbors and enquired if they too faced the same issue. Most people I visited complained about the bad odors. A few others were even contemplating leaving the township and shift to some other place. 

Then an elderly lady who was also a neighbor of mine showed me a bottle of Ambipur . She asked me to try it and see if it improves the condition of my home. Taking her advise I went straight back to my home and lavishly sprayed it  with Ambi Pur Air Effects Spring & Renewal Aerosol Air Freshener. Surprise! Surprise ! I felt the air no longer smelt bad. Instead I felt a fragrant smell
encompassing my home and freely flowing through my home. Thanks to the experience of the old lady and the use of Ambi Pur Air Effects Spring & Renewal Aerosol Air Freshener, I had discovered the way to fight bad odors at home and reclaimed my home and peace of mind. In this process I had fortified my home to be battle ready to face any bad odor.

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

Maxfresh moment to make the nation move

I sit looking out of the window and I see a stadium. The stadium is next to my house and it happens to be an open structure with adequate lighting so that both day and night sporting events can be held there. Apart from these It happens to be the venue for some events related to sports and if you are the influential type who can pull a few strings in the political circles then you could rent it out for a family wedding or your grandfathers wedding anniversary celebration. 
Apart from this activity it remains a structure of gloom and when the sun begins to set every evening it casts a gloomy shadow that makes the structure seem and look very sad. I am saddened at the apathy and neglect of the structure which should be bustling with activity. Seeing this gloomy site every day I feel sad and the monochromatic shadows urge me to do something about their fate. I feel that its time to break the chains of this monotony and daily waste of such a resource. 
Instead of whiling away the time the youth of the neighboring colonies could be synergized to be constructive and inclined towards the competitive sports, fitness and aerobics. I wonder who could initiate such a move. Pondering upon this issue my thoughts zero in onto two celebrities who are powerhouses of energy, vitality, freshness and performance. I am talking of none other then Anushka Manchanda the cool diva whose soul stirring singing can make anyone get up and sing along and the second person that I have in mind is the sauve and smooth dancer cum actor Allu Arjun. He is one performer who brings so much freshness and energy to the show that the audience automatically find themselves standing and dancing trying to match or follow the power packed dancing of the effortless dancer Allu Arjun. His high energy fresh moves makes any dance look, spectacular and easy. 
I am sure that if the stadium is used as a  venue it would draw a lot of crowd and if the theme of the concert or better still a series of concerts is such that it promotes fitness, sports and dance than it would bring a sea change in the lives of the youth in my city and country. The young generation could be made aware of the importance of fitness and its correlation to sports.
 These concerts could be the best vehicle to help the youth of our nation embrace sports and fitness and kick away the monotony of boredom, purposelessness and lack of direction. When such a chance is implemented in the lives of the people who would be leading the country as adults then it would be the maxfresh moment full of freshness and energy.
 “I am blogging for #MaxFreshMove activity at BlogAdda.com. Are you?

The Changing face of celebration

Ever since I came into this world life for me has been a long never ending series of celebrations, as I grew up I celebrated a lot of things. My first balloon gave me great joy. It gave me a feeling of liberation as if I too was flying high.
 My first kite, preparing it to be air borne was like a ritual that I always looked forward to with anticipation and joy. I had a grand party when I became a teenager and the celebration of this declaration of independence was a joyous event. Getting together with friends of my own age was a feeling that cannot be put into words. I felt that I was on top of the world and could achieve any thing or every thing. Nothing was impossible for me. I felt that I had the whole world within my grasp. Then passing out of school was another reason for me to celebrate. A new life and new vistas were opening before me. College and its new found freedom gave me plenty of reasons to celebrate.
 However I feel as we grow up the reasons for us to celebrate and the things that give us happiness keep changing. We are constantly evolving and so is the reason and source of celebration. I still remember the joy and celebration that followed when I passed out of college. It was a feeling that made me feel that I am on top of the world.
However when I got married it was a even bigger celebration and I thought that nothing can surpass it. Becoming a parent proved me wrong as the arrival of a young and new member in the family changes the meaning of the word celebration all together. You watch every move that the little one makes with awe and amazement.  Every time the little baby kicks or punches the air you celebrate as if you have scored a goal in a world cup final or won and brought home the cricket world cup. The excitement and happiness accompanied with each move from the development of speech from the gurgling to the little ones first words are all a reason to celebrate.
 Then when the little one decides to crawl or takes his or her first steps you feel more happiness then what Neil Armstrong would have felt when he would have stepped on the moon and walked the first steps.  As the little one begins to walk and turns the whole house into his playground I began to celebrate every throw of the ball and those scribbling on the wall by pencils, pens and wax crayons that ruin the paint on the walls, door and ransacking all the decorations of the room yet it gives me an immense pleasure in just admiring the antics of my little one.

“#CelebrateLifeAtIvy by owning a dream home at Ivy estate, an 85 acre estate with 34 acres of greenery and open spaces. Join the 1600 happy families already living here. Check out this walkthrough video and decide for yourself.”

My dil ki deal for my mother

There is only one and only one person in my life that is very precious. It’s my Mom. She is my mom, my best friend, my mentor, my confidante, the reason behind for whatever I am today. I often think and wonder how she managed such immense sacrifice and determination. My father was posted in Dubai and we had limited means of living. She single handedly raised me and my younger sister since we were very young. I was 4 years old while my sister was 2 years old. She provided us the best quality of education and life. She never complained to anybody. She never compromised on anything when it concerned us She never let us feel the absence of our father in any way. She managed our lives beautifully as a single parent. She fulfilled all our needs without any complaints. It’s really commendable how she balanced the roles of a father and a mother. She instilled in us good morals and values right from our childhood. She insisted that we should be honest and good towards others. We must help others in whatever way we can.I still remember when we were kids we could afford only 2 chapattis  per person. In that she managed to take out 2 for the cow and birds in each and every meal without a fail. She strictly told us that we should not hurt anyone be it animals, birds or humans. No matter whatever the situation we should stay humble, simple and positive. Money can buy us any material happiness but our good deeds would give us permanent happiness. We cannot take money with us after living our life but only our good deeds would matter. We only leave behind memories and time spent with our loved ones. We should treat everyone with respect. Share good things and good things would come back to us for sure was her mantra. We should do our work honestly and never think about results. Balance is a must in living our life. Right balance is a must. I have never seen such energetic and enthusiastic lady in my life. Even with her limited resources she was always positive in her approach to life. She showed us the globe and shared her dreams of exploring the world. She took us to many places in India. She knew so much about the places and we learned something new every time. She amazed me always. Britain always fascinated her. She said one day that she would like to see the Queen's Palace. That day I made a resolve to fulfill her desire. After 25 years today I am fulfilling her dream. I planned a trip to Britain on her birthday. When she stepped in Britain she looked liked a little kid. With wide eyes she explored many places there and of course her she saw the Queen's Palace which was her long cherished dream which I could at last fulfill..

“I am participating in the #DilKiDealOnSnapdeal activity at BlogAdda in association with SnapDeal.”

Starting a new life with my dil ki deal

Every girl has many dreams for her life and it’s her desire to get the best in life even after her getting married. I was not much different I too had planned many things. I had created a rosy picture of my married life in my thoughts. I belonged to a middle class family and got married into another middle class family.Ours was an arranged marriage. My mother in law said that I am like Lakshmi that is the incarnation of the goddess of wealth and will bring prosperity and good luck to the family. My husband had just got his first job and he was posted to a new city. He had no savings and his family couldn’t support him or his new family that is me. As he was posted in a different city he took me along. When I went with him after my marriage, I found it to be a completely new city and very different then our quiet home time. There we were all alone and knew no one. We shifted into our new house. We had no money to furnish the house but somehow we managed the daily expenses from the advance he got from the company. When my husband's boss came to know of our marriage he insisted that he wanted to visit our home to congratulate us. It was a moment of crisis for us. My husband wanted to leave a good impression on his boss. I prepared a lavish meal which I could manage within our means. My husband was very nervous. He told me to be prepared for the eventuality if his boss was not happy with the arrangements. He would never get responsibility and the position that he deserved at his new office. I calmed him. He went to his office and in the evening he was to return with his boss for the dinner. This arrangement was made as his boss did not know the way to our new home and to avoid any inconvenience to him. Everything was set except for the windows which were bare and had no curtains.The neighbours from the next flat could peak in to our little new home from their balcony so putting a curtain there was a must. At that moment of time my husband had a zero bank balance and moreover was on leave without pay as he had gone on an extended leave due to his marriage. No solution seemed in sight. Then suddenly I remembered my first small savings kept with great care in a small silk purse. This was the money I had gathered in all the wedding ceremonies of mine. I was supposed to preserve and keep it securely. It is an omen that this money brings good luck and wealth in the house of the new bride. So I went shopping for curtains with this token of good luck. The new curtains added beauty and grace to the room and to my utter surprise even after shopping some money was leftover which I deposited in the bank. It was my first shopping for my new home where I was starting my married life with my husband. It was a big decision for me to use the money that was a symbol of good luck and was supposed to be preserved by me. However it was my dil ki deal to use it to help transform a house to a cosy home. To this day I and my husband both marvel at how my first saving had done wonders to bring us joy. I wanted to make this day very special for my husband. This was our beginning of a life together. From that day till now he involves me in his every decision. That day with my deal I had earned his love and respect.

“I am participating in the #DilKiDealOnSnapdeal activity at BlogAdda in association with SnapDeal.”

ads that take me down the memory lane and CrashThePepsiIPL

Ads specially TV commercials come and go some are so unimpressive that you do not even notice them and there are some that we talk about and like see a few times. Yet there are some that have stood the test of time When I think of them the Amul Girl with her Utterly Butterly Delicious series are campaigns that have stood the test of time without any major change in strategy.
Some of the ads that caught the fancy of the nation were either very simple or had a very catchy jingle.
Remember the  Ketchup Commercial Starring Ranjit  Kapur (who eventually went to make the serial Fauji)
The jingle went something like this
Thoda ketchup try karo”
“Ketchup hota kaddu bhara”
“Isme kaddu nahin zara”
Thoda ketchup try karo
“laa peele tamataron is hota hai taiyyar, volfarm,
naa hi koi milawat is mein, na banawati rang,
ek baar jo khaaye isko, ungli chaate baar baar, volfarm
man tastes ketchup and utters -
“Wah! Lagta ghar ka bana hua !!”
There use to one weird one about Uptron
It went like this
Its On
Its On
Its On
Then a guy say’s What’s On
Then a boxer boxes from inside the screen and says  Its Uptron
Its On
Its On
Its On
Now the boxer asks whats on?
The first guy with a black eye says Its uptron

This was a weird one and I could never really understand what the brief was but perhaps its due to the weirdness or the Jingle but is still memorable.
Talking about weirdness.Remember the Cinkara ad. Where a thin and lean Javed Jaffery drinks Cinkara and comes smashing out of a glass. I wonder if there are any more glasses left where he lives or has he given up Cinkara?

I hear that during College ragging in those days college fresher’s  were asked to sing and act the ads that were common in those days such as Colgate which went like this
Colgate ka chota packet
Colgate ka chota packet
Kholo dabao
brush pe lagao Colgate ka chota  packet
Colgate ka chota packet
And the VICKS VAPORUB ad was asked to be enacted
Ting Tong ... (The door opens)
Zukam bad gaya na, kyon gaya tha bahar
Happy Birthday Mummy - Vicks Vaporub

There are so many memorable ads from the yesteryears that can be still found on the internet and people view and enjoy them. They reflect the simplicity of the times gone by.
This Pepsi IPL, it's not just about cricket. It's time to crash with your own created ad! Make your own Pepsi ad & if it's chosen, it could play on TV during Pepsi IPL! And hey, it doesn't end here… Even if you're chosen as a finalist, you stand a chance of winning a prize amount of Rs.1 lakh! So what are you waiting for guys?

“I am joining in on all the Pepsi IPL action in my own style with the #CrashThePepsiIPL activity at BlogAdda.” 

Memorable ads and CrashThePepsiIPL

When I was young I took ads at face value. Whenever the ad of a children’s product  came on TV we children would rush to our parents and ask for that product. Be it a chocolate or a toy whatever the product for which an ad appeared on TV became a bone of contention and we  children would compel l our parents on buying the products. Perhaps even the advertisers seem to believe that children are a soft target and aimed their ads towards children. So many child centric brands used children in their ads and had catchy slogans. The ad of Tobu Cycles with the catchy slogan “Aao lekar chalein apni Tobu cyclein” was direct and reached the hearts of a number of children. Me and a number of my friends became the proud owners of Tobu cycles. The brands such as soft drink brands target their ads towards adults and do not feature kids.
There were quite a few memorable ads like the Seema bulbs and tube ad featuring Sri Devi brought glamor to the small screen and many a time when the ad appeared during  the during the dull and boring Sunday movie it used to be the only bright spot.
Another  popular ad use to be Hawkins pressure cooker ad with a catchy jingle  “Hawkins ki siti baji
khushboo hi khushboo udi
mazedar lazatdar
khana hain taya
murg masalaam
tamato soup
mutur pulao
maa ki daal
kheer aur
dum aloo
hur mushkil
aasan karaye
mintoan mein
jhatpat pakaye
hawkins
hawkins
hawkins pressure cooker”

When I grew up further I found that Brand competition is very common and colas are no different . My thoughts go back to the 2006 Wills cricket World Cup that was being co-hosted by India ,Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With big tournaments like these various brands vie for becoming tournament sponsors and the official products of use for the tournament.to be. Pepsi ‘s rival brand had bagged the rights of being the official drink of the world cup. However Pepsi did a coup by coming out with the slogan “There's nothing official about it” It became very catchy overnight and talk of the town. Pepsi over took its rival and became very popular with the masses. The ads were very catchy and captured the imagination of the masses with its nothing official series of ads. This tagline became so effective that even today the ads have a quirky appeal and freshness of concept associated with them. I hope to see more such ads being made and shown during the current IPL season.
This Pepsi IPL, it's not just about cricket. It's time to crash with your own created ad! Make your own Pepsi ad & if it's chosen, it could play on TV during Pepsi IPL! And hey, it doesn't end here… Even if you're chosen as a finalist, you stand a chance of winning a prize amount of Rs.1 lakh! So what are you waiting for guys?
“I am joining in on all the Pepsi IPL action in my own style with the #CrashThePepsiIPL activity at BlogAdda.”