How strong is your resistance?

Here’s a snapshot from a web page that talks about General Motors diet plan.
A user who was religiously following the GM diet plan stumbled upon this web page and was taken aback—not by looking at the menu for Day 5 of the diet plan but looking at the 50% off Domino’s teaser staring right back at him.
So what should he do? Click to order? Or ignore the scrumptious-looking pizza and look at only the diet menu? He had crossed four successful days of the diet, and he had three days more to go….
Must say, Domino’s advertising team knows their company’s regular customers very well!

BIRTHDAY STRESS

*Birthday*


wishes. celebrations. sweets. treats. parties. clothes. people. surprises. presents. greetings.
And we have a 24*7 free offer, you can subscribe to, if a near/dear one or you, yourself witness an upcoming birthday.
wishes. celebrations. sweets. treats. parties. clothes. people. surprises. presents. greetings. STRESS.

Ohh yes! You get it irrespective of whether or not it features on your invite list.
It's complimentary with the 'annual' package, you see!


~~~


You just cannot decide what's the best time for your girlfriend to receive the coveted 'birthday hamper'
After a short survey among your friends, you zero down on your watchman delivering it at 6am (with your heart longing to be the delivery guy when the clock strikes 12...). You pay him his 'baksheesh' in advance and stay mentally at ease until your watchman informs you past midnight, 'Sahib, meri duty shift badal gayi hai.....'
You're in a soup (obviously, after all those efforts to make the perfect hamper) and pray that you wake up to your milk man's knock....


~~~


'I hate December.'
'Whoa?? Anything wrong?'
'Christmas. New year's eve. My sis is getting married....'
'And your birthday too.... Wow! Lucky gal, a month of celebrations, indeed!'
'Celebrations=Sweets. Honey, I'm watching my weight.'

Flashin' forward to a day after her b'day:
' Oh nooo...I've literally lived on chocolates since the past two days. I better lock away my Hershey's hamper in my treasure chest.'


~~~


Five days down the countdown..
'What plans for your big day???'

'Uhhh.... (flaunting a huge frown) I've a super tight schedule. College from morning through evening.
I know I'll be back home dead tired.I don't care about myself but yes, my phone shall need a charge boost, after B'day calls from all round the globe.'

'And...evening??'

'Oh my... I cannot neglect them yet again. I dine solely with my family.
College friends. High school mates. Relatives et al. When do I meet them all? So many treats and just 24 hours to call it your birthday?'

~~~


Continuous pour down of text messages. Lengthy phone conferences. (More digits on the monthly cellphone bill).
The successive ones bringing about: last minute additions, polishing previous ideas, adorable and equally forgivable rows in the session! Yes, all that that goes into making a midnight surprise plan happen for real and....
...the 'ooohs' and 'aahs' that ensue when executing the plan becomes impossible...

Genetically Modified food for me?

As a Biotechnology student, I've come across the words 'genetically-modified organisms' ever since I've been studying into this field.
I happened to attend a couple of short films screened in my college's auditorium dealing with the same.
With the latest bt Brinjal that has come into picture and the approval of its introduction at the stake of the Indian government and other national authorities, we are facing one major question,
A dilemma-whether or not I, as a consumer, should opt for these genetically modified foods on my platter?!

The genetically modified Bt Cotton that has already been introduced in our agriculturally dominating country has proved to be quite the opposite of the so-claimed benefits it 'hoped' to bring along.
This variety of cotton seeds initially priced at almost seven to eight times than its organic counterpart, claimed to resist infection of plants by the American Boulworm: a major hindrance to the cotton crop.
Poor farmers had no choice but to reduce their costs of pesticide sprays and complied with this GM variety.
And what happened after a few years of rich blooms?
Minor pests posing threat to the crop. More water. More care taking that spelled more costs. AND damaged crops.
That led to several farmers committing suicides.

But what really is with this GENETICALLY MODIFIED food?
You cross an albino mouse with a wild type black mouse. You get a hybrid.
You cross a potato with a tomato, you get a Pomato.
There, keep the species same, and you cross to obtain variety of hybrids.
We are bright and smart with science.
Let's for heavens' sake be bright and smart with political correctness.

Let us preserve the right to choose what is served on our platter!
With the concerned authority approving the introduction of Bt (Bacillus thuringeinsis) Brinjal in the Indian market, who will know when we go veggie shopping: whether we are buying a GM brinjal or the normal one?
And why so?
simply because India has no 'labeling laws'!

These GMfoods are tested on a 90 days trials on mice. But the effects on consumption may linger to our forthcoming generations...

Isn't it too early to invite the GM foods in our homes?
Given the fact that they have no additional nutritional values, whatsoever; why should I as a consumer opt for a Bt brinjal or a tomato or okras?

Let us make informed choices and let us not subject ourselves to being guniea pigs, just like that. Are you a lab rat?
Greed and science don't make a great combination.

GM food on my platter!
IS IT SAFE???

Before it could flutter away...

Another lazy afternoon in these holidays. No agenda. My net connection was weak and I wasn’t enjoying the slow online surf. I found a small packet of plastic beads around and fascinated by the sill-oh-so-random arrangement (that I simply made by emptying the packet on my desk), I took out the camera.

But everything was already so well-planned: My digi-cam’s battery was discharged! With an instant frown, I kept the camera on a shelf right above my desk, popped in a toffee lying there, packeted the beads and started watching TV. I had forgotten all about this mundane do.

Later that evening, I spotted a butterfly on that shelf, very close to the camera.

It was well-balanced on my trophy placed there.

Yeah, it was a harmless butterfly and it seemed quite pretty. But I knew I wouldn’t think the same had it fluttered around. No, I hadn’t panicked yet and let things be.

I later learnt from mum that it lay on the shelf since morning. Investigations led to the fact that it had died that morning on the window sill and dad had kept it there, intrigued by its textures....

I just shook my head in disbelief.

I had missed a butterfly when I kept the camera? Missed it when I had the toffee?

Convinced that it “really” had passed out, I held it with a nervous grip:

Turned it over.

Eeks!

And realised it had asymmetrical wings!

Perhaps, it’s the most common and easy-to-spot butterfly.

But it’s pretty in its own special way.

And certainly, Prettier than this one:

The saga continues...

Perhaps, even before we were toddlers...till date.
(And if you read this some years hence, it will mean the same.)
When a lullaby didn't seem to work, we had Grandma tales and Aesop fables ruling most of our younger days.
They started the same: each time.
We never complained.
Sometimes, we enjoyed them so much that even the fact that we just heard it all through the previous night didn't create a stir. Well, probably we got so embedded into the words that we over-looked monotony. Or probably, for some of us, the words spelled 'haven'.

'Once upon a time....'
the saga continued.
Humour, thrill, mystery, adventure, romance, fantasy.
Everything followed well.

Often at my place, over late night nostalgic chats, my aunt reminds me of how eager I was as a 4 or 5 year old kid, to be the bed-time story teller.
And then I would start: 'Once upon a time, there was a boy....'
And I would virtually stop speaking.
I would get lost into my imagination ( I assume) and be brought back to reality.
'Continue!'
Gathering back the lost link, I would mutter, 'Once upon a time, there was a boy....'
And then lose track again.
'Oh yeah! We get it that there was a boy. What next?'
And then there would be similar fantasy-routes that I would trod on.
Sounds insane, I know.
But when I trace back, I guess, they put me on an imaginating spree.
'Once upon a time...'
And I had the whole world to explore.....
I had the power to fit in anything and everything I desired.
Oh no! I don't know anything about the boy!!!

A recent college festival had a story-telling event and a friend asked me to sign up for it. Instantly, the kid story-teller within me came alive and I politely turned down the offer.

I am sure, all of you'll have distinct memories following 'Once upon a time...'

When asked to pen down a few words describing short stories (in general), a colleague says:

No flowery language, no unnecessary details, no going around the point, no confusion.
We are going down to the bare basics of Story-writing. The quintessential intriguing story-line,
wild characters and a climax to a tale that leaves people convinced that the four most hard-hitting words in the
English dictionary are certainly, "Once upon a time..."

What say???

Those four words...

It's been real long since I've sat down to patiently read the newspaper. Earlier, last month I was super
busy as a part of the organizing committee of my college's cultural festival. Working long hours out of my house.
Not that I've not been in touch with the current affairs, but sitting down on the couch,
with the coffee mug in hand (Ah! Those days..) to go through those 'exclusive' Celeb interviews,
to read those Editorials, the sections about lifestyle and more of those kinds:
all that had been long pending!

As my college festival wrapped up, I thought it meant more time at hand.
But I almost immediately happened to join a project and that meant reporting to college even earlier.
And NO, I am not of the ones who can find time to read newspapers right when they are rushing to work.
Then newspaper reading spelled luxury time for me and newspaper reading these days (read: the last few
weeks) equated browsing thru'!
Today, I finally found out time for all that I had been missing out on!!!
And I came through this article from one of my favorite sections....

It read out incidents that highlighted the fact that the four most wonderful words of the English language
are "Thank You" and "Well Done"!!!
It took me back to the previous post.
Thank You has been one of my addictions. I proudly continued reading the rest of the article!
It talked about the effect created when these words go missing and the contrasting one when they are
used!
C'mon think of it:
A:
A hard, tiring effort made....and it goes unnoticed.
A hard, tiring effort made....and your boss calls out - 'Well done!'
B:
You are back from office, out of an auto rickshaw, you pay your fare and leave.
You are back from office, out of an auto rickshaw, you pay your fare and thank him for the ride.

There.... !!!
Case A: the words you listen make your day!!!
Case B :of course, the thanks-giving makes his day!!!

Small gestures: great leads!
If we continue with things as small as these, which may definitely seem so lame and so very insignificant;
we will be paving our path towards a life full of smiles, full of delight and that in turn means,
staying HAPPY!!!

What say?

PS: There is another set of four word that are very ahem.... cute?!
COMING SOON.

Posting after a long time.
All this while, I was writing a lot though. A task included narrative descriptions about various activities.
Another was to write something to a dear friend (on special request!)
Some reports to be filed. Re-writing unorganised, randomly jotted notes.
Then the long e-mails that I'm fond of...
And yeah, my college exams! They were eternally long and I kept scribbling till the supervisor used to actually snatch my answer sheets, so well, I had been writing a lot. But blogspot wasn't in picture.
Then Freya dropped into my mailbox, "Hey! I've tagged you!"
And so here I ought to list,
My, 'Five Obsessions'.


#1
'Thank You!'
I'm totally smitten by the word !
I lurvve thanking people.
Mom spreading food on my platter. The conductor punching out my bus ticket. Compliments. Friends. The auto-driver, for the ride. The lift-man in college.
Bro brewing coffee for me when I study late into the night. Uh....goes on..
On an average, a twenty-something a day is the count.
Just a couple of words make someone smile, what more can you ask for?
So many times, I realise that it doesn't come out of my mouth, I just whisper to myself:'Thanks'.
So got to work at that.

#2
'Angel'.
Yeah, lucky me! I've one in my life.
Angel's presence transforms my mood from the bluest to the brightest, even if the situation is grave.
My days are tasteless without my Angel around....

#3
'Text-drafting'.
Many around me say that I'm addicted to my phone, text-ing all the time.
But now there is an entire post dealing with that already. So, not getting there.
Well, I draft a lot of texts, then delete about 7 of 10...when I re-read them.
Any and every thing that comes into my mind. Most of my write-ups initially hail from a drafted text!!

#4
'Black&White'.
Well, this a recent add-on. This is purely because I'm onto a series of monochromatic paintings.
Two simple colours, contrasts, when clubbed, create rare effects.
KEEPING ALL THE GREY SHADES OUT!
Mainly B&W patterns, all I need is black ink and plain sheets!

#5
Um,
Can't really think of something...
Will get back, if there is something eligible to be tagged as an obsession.


As of now, I tag you guys,
continue the thread...

Miss Kimi,Mohit.