Ab Montu Bolega

Montu

Montu saw something usual while he was walking back home. He simply shook his head, made a wry face and continued walking. Walking for few steps, his insides suddenly quivered leading him to take a walk back where he had saw a group of people devouring some road side foodstuff. He stood there as one of them rolled the paper dish into a ball and threw it aside to a corner near near the boundary wall of a building. He swiftly took it in his hands and threw it in the dustbin placed near the stall. He then urged the group to keep their surroundings clean and cultivate a habit to raise their voice for their betterment and make a notable difference in our surroundings.

"Be the change if you want to see the change in your surroundings, kyunki bin bole ab raha nahi jayega" - Montu said as he walked to his way. #AbMontuBolega

What is the campaign all about?

As a global leader in consumer health and hygeine, RB (formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser), has launched a new campaign in tune with its social responsibility on Strepsils "Ab Montu Bolega". It is a digital campaign which resides on an exclusive online platform www.abmontubolega.com that encourages people to speak their minds and not to be a silent spectator. 

Bollywood actor Saqib Salim of Mere Dad Ki Maruti and Hawa Hawaii fame has been roped in to gave Montu a face that could speak up without any inhibitions. The campaign creatively shows his journey in an interesting way where he speaks his mind without any fears and possesses enough courage to stand up and speak on issues that concern the youth as well as modern and constantly changing India. And in this journey, Strepsils  gives him that much needed voice of courage to speak up and be heard on issues that concern the welfare of the people and society by large.

The basic aim of the campaign is to allow people to let their voices be heard in support of what they think is right. The campaign provides a sort of a boost to the Bharat Swaach Abhiyan that is initiated by the Hon. Prime Minister of our country. And now it is up to us to not let such initiatives and this campaign lie down for a sad demise but instead it is high time to stand up and let the power of our voices be heard for a clean India.

So are you game to be a part of this campaign and give Montu a much needed show of Power of Voice to Clean India?

Below is the video of the Ab Montu Bolega campaign.

For more, you can visit - www.abmontubolega.com

Follow on Twitter - www.twitter.com/strepsilsindia

Find them on Facebook - www.facebook.com/strepsilsindia

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PonderingTwoSays - Day 6

Hola everyone!! PonderingTwoSays is back after a short haitus. 

And this time we have something simple, yet we somehow forget doing it in our day to day lives. Rather we are immersed in our tensions, work pressure, agony and completely stressed out that we almost fail doing it and letting it flow freely.

So, here's presenting the Day 6 in the #PonderingTwoSays series...

#PonderingTwoSays

Do leave your comments on the same and kindly share.

See you on Friday, till then;

Keep Smiling & Spread Love.

XOXO.

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Book Review: God Is A Gamer

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Publisher: Penguin India

ISBN: 978-0143421399

No. of pages: 324

Price: INR 299

Genre: Thriller

On the cover: What happens when you cross gamer, banker, politician and terrorist with virtual money?

From the bestselling author of If God Was a Banker comes the first ever bitcoin thriller. God Is A Gamer is a world where money means nothing, martyrs are villians, predators are prey, assassination is taught by the ancient Greeks, and nothing is as it seems.

Moving from Washington's Congress to Delhi's finance ministry, the beaches of Goa to the corporate boardrooms of Mumbai, this is Ravi Subramanian's most gripping novel yet.

Review: After having read and reviewed The Bankster, I was eager to grab the latest offering by India's numero uno thriller writer, Ravi Subramanian. And I am glad I laid my hands onto the thriller ride that the book 'God Is A Gamer' has indulged me into.

Forget turning pages, this book will make you sit and ponder, what next? with questions like Now what? What next? Who will it be? erupting in your mind constantly as you read.  And still as you keep guessing, you will be hit with a twist every now and then until the author gives his final twist which makes you go Wow!! Yes, it was exactly how I exclaimed after completing the book in flat 6 hours.

God Is A Gamer is the first book about virtual currency termed as 'Bitcoins' which has taken the world by storm and is touted to be the future currency. 

I will not go into introducing how the plot starts and evolves, for it will mar the enthusiasm that comes with reading a thriller. The author has weaved a tight thriller through this virtual currency in a superb way which deserves every applaud. The impressive and strong characters, tight plot, the way he has weaved them without leaving anything loose, the twists and more importantly the extensive research he has done on 'Bitcoins' shows completely in this pot boiling thriller. Infact, he has even explained in detail about bitcoins as well as the other aspect which the book talks about, the gaming. 

Going by his previous books, one might feel that this book will talk about banking but it isn't so. For a change this book talks less of banking and more of crime, thriller, sex, love, drugs, investigations and bitcoins which I as a book adorer and a fan of his writings love even more.

And for all those who like reading thrillers, I don't see any reason that can stop you from reading this book. So fasten your seat belts and get ready for a thriller of a ride that will leave you craving for more!!

Ratings: 4/5 Bitcoins. 

Cheers!!

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books.

Disclaimer: The above review is not a paid review. 

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Health Can Definitely Be Fun

What is health?

It is nothing but a condition in which you find yourself in the best of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely absence of any disease. But, off late we tend to associate our social well being with how high is our klout score rather than how much we are smiling or rather how much we indulge in making others smile. Sad, but true.

And similarly we relate our good mental being with how much stress we can handle and come out winning eventually.

And moreover we determine our healthy being with the presence of any illness or disease. "It's almost a year since I last visited a doctor." This sentence is the epitome of signalling that you are in the best of your health, which is highly misinterpreting. One routine health check up and reality will dawn upon you leading you to work up frantically, visit gym and be a happy bird again showing off your gym bag and clothes to everyone. “Ohh, you visit daily gym?” “Yea, almost daily.” After couple of months the answer changes to “My demanding work is not allowing me to visit gym daily”.

This is the reality of today’s era where earning money takes more importance than health. What we fail to realize is that without good health you will drain your hard earned money in paying doctors and hospital fees. So what’s the solution keeping in mind hectic work schedule and also not missing your daily exercise routine?

The answer lies in the new SunfeastFarmlite advertisements. A look at these advertisements tells you that staying healthy can be a fun way which is utmost necessary in today’s hectic lives of ours.

A simple twist in your boring, age old walking, running, skipping exercises allows you to take care of your hectic schedule without missing your exercises apart from making you look miserable. Say like, hula-hooping for 10 minutes, dancing with your partner and ending it with shhh... you know what, jogging behind a kid who is cycling, playing any outdoor game like badminton can be a fun way to be at good health, shed the calories and at the same time you can spend some wonderful time with friends and family. Thus giving you triple benefits all at one time. Isn’t that great?

And what better example than our very own Navratri festival where 9 days of dancing meets with lots of happiness with friends and family. Imagine shedding about 956 calories just by dancing to the tunes and playing garba/dandiya and that too only for two hours! How cool is that. Isn’t it? 

(Pro tip: A husband who is equally eager for the 9 days of Navratri is truly a blessing in disguise if you want to enjoy the festival in a healthy way.)

Also, for someone who has to manage house and work, words like, “kal chutti” or “gaon jaana hain” spells terror on my face. As in who is going to help me in completing my daily chores. That is where the Goodbye Bai video, which I personally like,  comes to the rescue of many home makers like me where it shows how the mundane cleaning and mopping activity can be fun when you involve your family members in it and pep it up with some music so that you can dance while doing the chores. Thus the home gets cleaned and calories are burnt too.

And it is but natural that you have to complement the daily exercises with healthier cooking and proper eating habits so that you can get a healthy and a better you. And the Fit Fighter video advocates this. If you are fit you can fight any battle, that too even with your spouse.

And this is exactly what Sunfeast Farmlite advocates through its advertisements, take your exercises in a fun way and enjoy it by doing exercises you like coupled with healthy eating habits.  And here, Sunfeast Farmlite presents a healthy and a tasty cookie available in two delicious healthy variants – Oats & Raisins and Oats & Almonds. With juicy raisins, dash of almonds and crunchy oats fibre, I am sure it is going to be me and my family’s one of the healthy snacks in the morning. What about you?

This post is written for Indiblogger.in and Sunfeast Farmlite

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A Healthy Child = Happy Family

"Health is wealth" is the age old idiom which stands tall even in this technology era. And it is this technological era that makes us so addicted to the gadgets and gizmos that we eventually tend to forget and neglect about our health.

People now-a-days are in a rat race to earn money for a better standard of living, to enjoy the various lavish facilities that technology has to provide. So where the parents of Daksh my neighbors who left their five year old kid under the supervision of a maid and choose to run after their career and money. But what they forget at the end of the day is that this rat's race takes a huge toll on their health and body and thus sadly fail to realize that true wealth is with family, friends and good health. 

Often we see parents neglecting their child for some or the other work/professional reasons and this do have a negative effect on the child's health. One day Daksh came home from school and slept citing headache. The maid simply allowed him so without even checking and finding out the reason for the headache. That evening he was fine, smiling and chirpy as usual. But little did any of them knew that the seed of a possible illness had already been planted and deep rooted into his system. 

Children at such tender age need the most of the nutrition for their good and balanced growth and to evolve as a healthy child free from various illness and diseases. But that was the only thing which Daksh missed desperately; a frequent plate of good, nutritious and healthy food. And most of the time it was breakfast that was given a skip. Thus what seemed like a one off headache to their parents turned into a chronic one with him frequently complaining about it and eventually missing his school, hampering his studies.

Few days later, a call to their parents from the principal of his school bought their attention towards their child's. Apparently Daksh had just collapsed while playing in the open ground under the sun. His parents simply couldn't believe that his son was highly malnourished despite being rich and affluent possessing world's best living standards. After consulting with the doctors it was found that he was highly under fed with his stomach being empty most of the time. And even if he had something once a while it was mostly outside food like wafers and chips that kept his hunger satiated. This resulted in his immunity from diseases dropping significantly.

This incident came as an eye opener for Daksh's parents. They took the doctor's advice of giving proper nutritious home cooked food and a tablespoon of Dabur Chywanprash daily to increase his immunity by 3 times if not more. The reason for doctor's advice to take Dabur Chywanprash is it's time-tested, age old formula which includes close to 40 natural ingredients and herbs like amla that acts as an antioxidant and helps in building the child's immunity. 

Few months later, the result was extraordinary for them. Daksh had improved very well in terms of immunity and with frequent timely and balanced diet, his body was now acting as a shield and protecting him from illness and diseases that keeps children low and on to the bed. Smiles had now been increased ten folds with a healthy Daksh and a much healthy and a happy contended family. Thus, helping the family to live the life to its fullest and never have to face a dull day in life with respect to health.

Pic Courtesy - www.dabur.com

This post has been written as a part of Indi Happy Hours #ImmuneIndia in association with Dabur India and Indiblogger. 

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An Interview with the author of 'Collection of Chaos' - Tikuli

Blurb:

(From the foreword by Kris Saknussemm) As with all the poets I most admire, words are living things for Tikuli. But as you will come to discover, they are never deployed for their own sake. She uses them to tell stories. The images, scenes, characters and fragments of visionary empathy that you will find in this book are all rooted in her native India-and yet they reach out far beyond national and cultural boundaries. They do so because they have an interior cohesion of spirit. Her subjects are often the dispossessed, the lost...the abused. There are undercurrents of sorrow and anger. And yet love shines through, even when it seems to be fading away. Above all, there's a powerful sense of hope at work-a conviction in the redemptive strength of poetry.


Today at PonderingTwo we have Tikuli, the author of the poetry book 'Collection of Chaos', sharing with us some interesting things on poetry and her journey as an author.

In conversation with her in an attempt to know her more in her own words:

'Pondering Two' welcomes you. It's pleasure hosting you on the blog and thank you so much!

1) Tell us about your journey from being a blogger to a published author?

I began blogging around eight years ago. Since last six years I have been on wordpress. The first two years were experimental. To be published is every writer's dream and I always wanted to see my name in print. These days with self publishing it has become very easy to get published but I feel well known, reputed poetry journals and literary magazines are the best places to start with. I began showing my work on my personal blog and then slowly shared it with writer friends and others and through them got into online submissions to good poetry sites. All this was a process of learning. I call them rooting years. Being open to learning and reviewing, editing, rewriting your work to polish it is a continuous exercise when you want to establish yourself as a writer. I am fortunate I have good mentors who not just critique my work honestly but also help me improve my skills. It is through them I got my opportunity to get published. James Goddard helped me with this collection from the inception till the publication. Many of the poems were written over the period of time and needed editing, polishing. He worked hard with me to make my dream a reality. Without him this book would not have been possibe. I am truly grateful for all the guidance and support he gave to help me break the barriers and find myself through my writing. 

2) How important it is for you to have Kris Saknussemm as your mentor and guide? And how did he help you in your journey as a writer?

Though our connection is virtual I feel I know Kris from another time and space. He is a great mentor and friend. He is one of the finest writers I know.  Kris has not just helped me evolve as writer but also as a person. Knowing him has been a blessing in more than one ways. It is said that when the student is ready the master appears. Some years back when I was struggling to learn the art of writing Kris nurtured me despite of his extremely busy schedule. I religiously followed his guidance and worked hard to do everything possible which he suggested as part of my learning. It helped me tremendously. He instilled in me a courage and self belief that changed my entire perspective of life. Mentoring is a time and labour intensive art. It isn't everyone's forte. Not many reach out to lend their support especially when everyone including yourself has given up on you. My interactions with Kris at many levels continue to guide me in my journey as a writer. Only once in lifetime one comes across someone like Kris who can lend you a hand and help you take those baby steps with so much encouragement and caring that you gain an inner strength to realize your dreams.  His presence in my life is a gift, something irreplaceable. During the compiling of this collection too both Kris and James continuously helped me to select, edit and present my work the way has been. Their writing, their way with the world, their gracious presence and uncluttered attitude to fellow writers, all these things helped me in a big way. 

 3) What made you feel the need to pen Collection of Chaos? And was it difficult penning poems one after another?

Collection of chaos is a journey inside the poet’s mind, her life and all that surrounds it. Each poem has emerged from the complex interactions of heart and mind, the struggles of daily life and a search for oneself beneath all the role-playing. The book wasn’t conceived as a whole but it’s a patchwork quilt of poems. It isn’t just the product of disciplined hard work and learning with an open mind but also of great mentorship. Sometimes you need more than your own power to make things happen. This book could not have happened without the support, encouragement and friendship that made me trust those people implicitly.  An artistic evolution is a dream work and each dream work is a team work. It was James who strengthened the desire in me to collect my best poems for a book. He offered to publish it too and gave me the greatest gift in the world. 

4)  Would you like to share some experiences while writing Collection of Chaos?

Some of the poems in this collection are very personal and drawn from my life. From my concern for women’s rights, my experience of unsatisfactory and troubled marriage, love for my children and the difficulties we all face in everyday life. Turning life experiences into verses and to speak about one's open wounds is difficult. There were times I left the poems halfway to collect myself and come back to them with calm and focused approach. 

 5)  Who are your favourite authors both from national to international?

It is very difficult to name just a few. I read extensively so choosing favorites is tough. Let me tell you those who have influenced me in recent years. Kris Saknussemm, Sebastian Doubinsky, Tabish Khair, Jerry Wilson, Matthew Revert, Ole Neilsen are some I can name here. Sa’adat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai, Amrita Pritam, Gabrial Garcia Marquez, Octavio Paz, Lorca, e.e.cummings, Naruda, Kamla Das, Jayant Mahapatra are some other renowned authors I love to read. 

6) Do you plan to dabble into writing fiction at some time apart from penning poems?

I do write fiction. I have written a lot of short stories and a few have been published in online journals. Most of my stories, memoirs etc are on my blog but I am working for a short story collection and a novel along with writing poetry. 

7) Do you feel that poetry as a genre needs to be encouraged to be published more and more? If Yes, than any advice you would like to give to the writers interested in publishing their work as poets?

   

Yes, I do feel that poetry needs to be encouraged to be published and there are lot of publishing houses who keenly publish poetry. Writer's Workshop, Aleph Book Company, Poetrywalla, The 'Great' Indian Poetry Collective, Authorpress India,  are some of the names who are encouraging poetry publication. Even though it  has become easy to self publish these days I feel that before opting for a print publication one must explore the reputed online journals and magazines. There are quite a few good ones these days. Try and get published there. Get recognition and learn from the critique and then venture into print publication. Reading is essential too. These days a lot of new poets have emerged but hardly anyone reads. Everybody is in a hurry to see their name in print. That in my opinion is not a good approach. Learning is a never ending process and good writing can only come from extensive reading. 

8) Describe yourself in a sentence?

A dreamer and a believer. 

 9) One thing that comes to your mind when I say the following:

a) Author

               Struggle  

b) Poems

               Images

  c)  Books

               Home 

 d)  Life

               Love


A huge thank you for pouring your heart out while answering the questions and am glad that you enjoyed answering it. Wishing you all the very best for your future endeavors!! 

Buy this book from:

amazon 

flipkart 

Book Depository 

About the Author:

 

Brought up in Delhi in a family of liberal educationists Tikuli is a mother of two sons. She is also a blogger and author. Some of her short stories and poems have appeared in print and in online journals and literary magazines including Le Zaparougue, MiCROW 8, Troubadour21, The Smoking Book (Poets Wear Prada Press, US), The Enchanting Verses Literary Review, Mnemosyne Literary Journal, Women's Web.

Some of her print publications include poems in Guntur National Poetry Festival Anthology and much acclaimed Chicken Soup For The Indian Romantic Soul(Westland). Her work has also been featured on websites related to gender issues and child sexual abuse. She blogs at 

http://tikulicious.wordpress.com/

Stalk her @

facebook

twitter

THIS TOUR IS HOSTED BY:

Facebook | Website | Blog Tours | Twitter | Pinterest | LinkedIn

 

P.S. Interested in writing poems? Then you must check The Verses Challenge

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Book Review: Collection of Chaos

Blurb:

(From the foreword by Kris Saknussemm) As with all the poets I most admire, words are living things for Tikuli. But as you will come to discover, they are never deployed for their own sake. She uses them to tell stories. The images, scenes, characters and fragments of visionary empathy that you will find in this book are all rooted in her native India-and yet they reach out far beyond national and cultural boundaries. They do so because they have an interior cohesion of spirit. Her subjects are often the dispossessed, the lost...the abused. There are undercurrents of sorrow and anger. And yet love shines through, even when it seems to be fading away. Above all, there's a powerful sense of hope at work-a conviction in the redemptive strength of poetry.

Review:

The first thing that strikes is the Title - Collection of Chaos. Chaos? Yes. Chaos.

The property of a complex system whose behaviour is so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions is defined as Chaos.

This definition sums up the reason being using the word chaos, if not more. We, the humans, are a complex system whose behaviour is extremely unpredictable and gets affected with small changes thus translating into chaos all around us and in our minds.

Collection of Chaos is an account of close to 100 poems depicting chaos through the poet's meticulous eye for details that brings out the pain, the sufferings of the lost, dispossessed, of the abused and of love. Her poems quietly crawls into your system, into your imagination, into your world and surroundings and leaves your heart craving for more words, for more emotions and feelings.

A poem has to be an account of words and emotions that can transgress you to either startling reality or to the land of dreams and imaginations or both. And Collection of Chaos is definitely a book that allows you to travel through them. And it is through her striking choice of words that makes things so evident and lively, sometimes based on hearsay and arresting readers emotions on the other that works wonders for a poetry lover like me. And undoubtedly the taste of her writings definitely lingers for a while into your head. Collection of Chaos by Tikuli makes a satisfying read !!

Ratings: 5/5* - A must read for all the poetry lovers

Buy this book from:

amazon 

flipkart 

Book Depository 

About the Author:

 

Brought up in Delhi in a family of liberal educationists Tikuli is a mother of two sons. She is also a blogger and author. Some of her short stories and poems have appeared in print and in online journals and literary magazines including Le Zaparougue, MiCROW 8, Troubadour21, The Smoking Book (Poets Wear Prada Press, US), The Enchanting Verses Literary Review, Mnemosyne Literary Journal, Women's Web.

Some of her print publications include poems in Guntur National Poetry Festival Anthology and much acclaimed Chicken Soup For The Indian Romantic Soul(Westland). Her work has also been featured on websites related to gender issues and child sexual abuse. She blogs at 

http://tikulicious.wordpress.com/

Stalk her @

facebook

twitter

THIS TOUR IS HOSTED BY:

Facebook | Website | Blog Tours | Twitter | Pinterest | LinkedIn

 

P.S. Are you interested in writing poetry? The visit The Verses Challenge

Read More