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Showing posts with label contest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contest. Show all posts

Saturday 12 April 2014

100 Happy Days: Day 99 Scary Whisky


Happiness is winning a first prize in fun contest of creative cocktails



Was attending an event at Momagoto, where there was a contest of making cocktails. All the food bloggers were grouped in teams of three persons. Everybody made very creative and tasty cocktails. When my turn came, I wanted to do something different

Since I like spicy drink, I decided to make a spicy cocktail. So, we crushed basil and put in a glass jar, added black pepper, celery salt, and orange slices. Muddled them and then added orange juice, a syrup, and whisky. Added some ice and shook it well. Rimmed the glass with celery salt and poured scary whisky on the rock.

Surprises! Our team won the first prize. Our experiment was success. The judges said that they had never tasted something so delicious!

So here I am, with the project of 100 Happy DaysI am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

Thursday 16 January 2014

100 Happy Days: Day 14 Winning a Contest


Happiness is ‘Winning a contest’.



Such Joy in getting appreciation for the work we do. Times literary carnival was held in the month of December 2013 and I was glad that it happened in my Suburb of Bandra. I enjoyed 3-day Litfest attending different talk shows of the famous writers and got inspired to write. The carnival didn’t end just there, after the event, there were many contests held on their FB page. I submitted my feedback on the event and I am happy to be the winner of contest ‘Most Enjoyable Event’



 So here I am, with the project of 100 Happy DaysI am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

Friday 22 June 2012

My beautiful Hair Story


Was her hair really as strong as rope to hold the heavy weight? What did she eat? How did she take care of her hair? How did she manage to wash her hair?
Such questions always come to my mind whenever I think of Rapunzel, especially when I see my tresses, which are a great embarrassment to me.

Rapunzel is the story that every girl is obsessed with. The romance is not in the Prince  who is attracted by the sweet melody of her voice, but in those long tresses that float down the castle, to reach down to allow a person to climb up.
My hair has been scanty since the very beginning. You could easily do Maths by counting my strands. Every clip or rubber band glides through my hair within few minutes leaving my straight and silky hair unattended, separated. I have tried every imaginable remedy, oiled them, nourished them, changed shampoos, visited doctors and hair saloons even considered Doctor Batra, (giving him permission to spam my inbox with thousand SMSs) but still, in volume they won't grow.
One day my friend suggested that she had a solution for me. She came home loaded with perm-kit, shampoo and gloves.
I had no idea what this perm is?.
She had learnt the technique of perm and I was her first experiment. For two hours I sat, while she rolled my hair around different colored rollers, winding them over tissue paper, securing it in place with large pins, adding chemicals and heat to give me a new make-over.
I was shocked when I looked into the mirror, frightened, I began to cry.
Oh dear! Look! What have you done to my hair” I sobbed
The curly strands stood up on my head in all directions, it looked like I had been electrocuted to 800 million voltages
I haven’t finished it as yet, calm down” she said
For next fifteen minutes, she carefully blow dried my hair, setting the curls in position, dropping them neatly on my shoulder, with few noodle-shaped curls flung on my forehead
I liked the look, it did add the volume to my hair and for next few years I continued to perm them regularly.
The chemical used for perm are damaging your hair” said my friend one day
I looked closely, they were dry and looked like straws. I decided to oil my hair. I bought different types of oils, Olive oil, Almond oil, Amla oil, Coconut oil, I hated the smell but care I must, therefore oiled them regularly.

But if the roots are damaged what can one do?
On my recent visit to Bangkok, my cousin suggested hair extension.
Hair extension is good for you” she said, “It will not only add to the volume of your hair but also give you the length if you wish.”
I was apprehensive at first but she convinced me that it was reliable.
We went to a mall near her house. The hair stylish had a little kiosk tucked in between two large stores. He checked the color and the quality of my hair, then removed the strands of hair from two different colored wigs that matched my hair. He used the bonding and sealing extension technique wherein he took few strands of my hair and glued it to the section of weft hair.


I think I heard my hair say “I do till the death do us apart” 
Proudly I walked with the long thick hair, bumpity, bum, bump, bouncing on my butt. It changed me completely giving me a new confidence. I was no more worried about my scalp looking pathetic, or about damaging the roots because the weft was fixed with silicon glue few centimeters away from the scalp. The compliments I got from the people who were not aware of my hair extension, gave me a kind of thrill. . It looked too good to be true and I felt that was the end of my hair problems
Until…..
The latex acrylic glue became weak and I saw the strands of weft falling on my pillow.
After two months of enjoying the glory on my head, I saw my own hair weep as they parted with their handsome weft……..
Back to scanty hair and know not what to do…….Wish I could meet Rapunzel of modern world, wishful thinking perhaps, with big variety of shampoos and lotions, and women's adventurous spirit of giving every shampoo a chance, long healthy hair remains a dream, locked up into our own castle of fantasy...
At this point I am reminded of a joke which I often tell my friends to divert their attention away from my scanty hair :
There was a girl who just had 3 strands of hair. She wanted to pamper herself so she decided to go to a hair saloon. The hair dresser gave her a good head massage and nice hair-wash and then asked her what hair style she would prefer with three strands of hair.
Make me a nice braid” she said,
So hairdresser carefully took her three strands and decided to make her a nice braid but one strand broke,
Oh! I am so sorry, one strand broke I can’t braid, there are only two strands left, what do I do?” said the hair dresser.
Ok make a bun” said the girl
 While twisting her hair to make a bun, one more strand broke,
Ooooops! so sorry, you have only one strand left, what do I do?” said the hair dresser,
Okay, never mind” said the girl, “just blow dry my hair and leave it open.”

Saturday 22 October 2011

Hair Flair

Finally the day arrived.

My ‘Facebook’ friend of four years made a trip to my home town and was eager to meet me. Our feelings were mutual, we had exchanged virtual notes, loves and hugs many times. Although I knew her quite well, I knew that I would not be able to recognize her if I saw her on the road. All her photographs on FB showed only her face, she was always dressed in black from head to toe, exposing only smooth skin, heavy eye-make-up and a beautiful smile. When we met at the coffee shop of Hotel Marriott, we couldn’t stop talking, we had so much to share.

“Let’s go out for lunch and then we go shopping” I said

We went upstairs to her room to freshen up. I was stunned when she removed her Hijab and un-rolled her thick round bun, her jet black hair shone as it uncurled, and reached her hips covering her back like a thick satin curtain.

“Wow!” I whistled softly, and walked closer to her to strum my fingers through her thick mane, they were silky and slid smoothly through my fingers “Such beautiful hair you have, why do you cover it so? Let me click a picture of you, come stand here?”

“No, please don’t. I cannot remove my picture without my Hijab. My husband will be angry if he learns about this. My beauty is reserved for my hubby only. I cannot flaunt it in public.” She said.

Such beautiful hair and only one person could enjoy it? Utter waste of beauty! Didn't her happiness matter? Rolling up her beautiful hair like that and keeping it hidden behind the Hijab? Didn’t she feel like playing with her hair under the bright sunlight? Didn’t she wish to feel soft breeze blowing her hair or sometimes let it wet in the heavy rain?

I would have loved to keep the picture of her thick voluptuous hair that would inspire me to take care for my own hair but she wouldn’t allow me to click the picture. I wanted to know all the details of how she takes care of her hair, I begged her to share her secret...but she said there was no secret at all...just take care....no fuss…..

But I too have taken so much care….and that too with so much fuss..pampering it all the time.....

I too have loved my own silky hair
Straight and brown but with scanty flair
Tortured it yes, guilty, had curled it many times
Hair-extensions I added to make it look divine.
No! Never did they grow long or beautiful like this


Never had thick plait that went bumpty bump on my back


They never grew long like that of princess Rapunzel
Nor lost the long veil through love and tears
chop, chop, chopped until it looked like this


Maybe I should wear a Hijab or a long scarf too
To hide my shiny scalp that can hold no more clips
Tried different shampoos, oh yes! oils and beauty tips
But genes and DNA just helplessly glare
No remedies have helped
In family history runs scanty hair
I am afraid of the future
My granny scalp was also so bare
I hope that in my old age they don’t look like this


I desperately look for hair-specialist,
That will teach me to care
With healthy hair I will try out
Many hair styles that could be rare
With flowers, beads and lace
I could walk with grace
Making a fashion statement that will look
like this










Just twenty-five feathers left, and now I am scared
With finger-tips I regularly comb my hair
Careful forever, never to break them into bits
Oil them, steam them, and tenderly massage those flicks
Hoping they will blossom one day
Into lovely-dovey tresses
I will be walking on the moon
If they start to look like this



Participated in  “Love your hair and it loves you back!” blogger contest.

Thursday 19 May 2011

Real Beauty is Skin Deep

I, like millions and millions of people around the world, found my own mother the most beautiful woman in the world. Mom was a widow for last 40 years of her life and she only dressed in white.

Many years ago, when I lived in Surinam, Parimaribo, one of my friends invited me for a wedding ceremony. I asked my mom to accompany me. She wore a plain white silk sari, her hair rolled up into a small bun, and no make-up at all. For jewelry there was just a pearl necklace, 2 gold bangles and her diamond ear-rings (that she wore all the time). My friends were impressed. Next day when they met me, they told me that my mom was the most fashionable lady they had met. My jaw dropped. Fashionable? I thought my friends to be crazy. How could they call my mom fashionable when she was dressed so simple? She had no make-up on, no flashy clothes, no fancy handbag and no matching shoes. I looked closely at my mom to try to figure out fashionable element in her and discovered that my mom wore grace and a smile – maybe it was that what they perceived as elite. Who-so-ever met mom were always in awe with the way she carried herself.

Real beauty is skin deep, which is cliché but undisputable fact. One status I read recently on FB said “Search for truth and you shall find beauty, search for beauty and you shall find love, search for love and you shall find God, search for God and you shall have them all”

There are hundreds of ads on TV that show products that promises beautiful body, smooth and clear skin, long flowing hair, a group of admirers who will go ga-ga and drool over our physical beauty. I have met many people who fall for these products and who will swear that they will strive to be beautiful. I envy them when I see them dressed in most expensive finery that the money can buy. I know I cannot afford those things and even if I could, they won’t suit me. Every time I look into the mirror, it puts me into a pause mode. Not having a perfect figure is the big disadvantage. My mind drifts back to one nagging question “What will people think?” or maybe, I get conscious that some may feel sorry for me that nothing really suits me and am still trying so hard to keep abreast with fashion fads, which results into even more depressing mode than looking at the ugly figure in the mirror. I cannot change that so I stopped trying. I decided if anybody needs to see the beauty in me, they need to know me because I will continue to maintain the inner beauty instead.

Beauty has different meaning for different people, like in the video of Gul Panag, where she talks about women empowerment, of respecting oneself, which is also one facet of beauty, of building one’s pleasant quality.

Some time ago, one of my friends’ #FF me on Twitter as ‘beautiful people’ asking her followers to follow me. I was flattered. Now this friend is my virtual friend whom I have never met, (and not sure if I will ever meet her) so naturally she is not likely to learn about that image that haunts me everyday from the reflecting surfaces. For her, I am the person whom she knows through my writing abilities, through the range of my work with mentally challenged, through my choice of my friends’ circle, through my lens at photographs that I post on my walls. I have never tried to make any impression on anybody but sub-consciously, my thoughts get translated and interpreted into the messages that reach out to people who care.

A beautiful face can easily be Photo-Shopped on virtual wall, it just requires the right kind of tools to brush away the scars and blemishes but can our thinking and beliefs be hidden from the real world?

What kind of beauty is that if we wear it with an attitude? When we show no compassion for our fellow human being and are so occupied with our own self that we just don’t care?

We may have walked the red carpet with a crown on our head, have brought home thousand of gifts from our admirers during the beauty pageant, or even hosted ‘Get Gorgeous’ shows, but the fact is that besides being beautiful, we need to be draped with beautiful habits too. We throw away the dirty cotton swabs on our dresser after cleaning our face, the lipstick cover is missing, the talc powder is sprinkled everywhere and we wait for somebody else to clean our mess? Cleanliness is next to spirituality. If we cannot keep our environment clean then the bad vibrations that surround us, results in bad temper, restlessness and unstable mind. The bad mood seeps out of our thick face-pack showing the ugly chip of our character.

However rich our finery is, however expensive our cosmetics, the real beauty will never get a chance to shine its worth if it lies burried under the layers and layers of our bad attitude; the ugly lines of bad manners will continue to crinkle our face.


This Indiblogger contest is what kick started my thoughts on ‘real beauty’
Note: This post is written as a part of What does real beauty mean to you?? conducted by  Yahoo!! Real Beauty in association with Dove !!

and this is what I received as a gift hamper as a token of appreciation
Thank you Dove and Indiblogger.....

Friday 31 December 2010

Yay! Award is an award, and I won…..

I was qualified for Grand Prize Judging of my Quatrains and I receive a new year gift..


Okay 2010 was not so bad afterall, cause I won the poetry contest and received a prize too. What else would I want?

Seventeen individual “Quatrain City Poetry Contests” were held from the end of March through November on Ryze network at forum called ‘Wordmeisters, Poets and Writers-Unite!’, where by a picture was posted and members would post a quatrain inspired by the picture. I had participated in thirteen contests and had won six of them. Quatrains were judged on creativity, poignancy, format (if applicable) and content. Each Contest resulted in a winner and runner-up, both of which qualified for Grand Prize judging.

In Grand Prize judging, my poem was qualified as second runner up.

For my quatrain called ‘Criss-Crossed’

Hushed voices trapped behind colored frames
Criss-crossed, the thoughts rotate from side to side
Silence speaks under the pillars of courage
Whispering gently under its beams with joy.

Inspired by this picture

picture by Jack Huber

Now awaiting anxiously for my well earned gift: a copy of "A Poet's Primer" and one more book which will be either paperback copies of Jack Huber’s "Aspects Long Forgotten" or an electronic copy of Diane Tegarden's excellent "Light Through Shuttered Window."

Details of all winners here http://www.jackhuber.com/quatraincity.htm

Thursday 26 August 2010

Watching through my green lens

I always have a camera in my handbag; one never knows when one might get a good shot. Over the period of three years, I have collected many, many pictures. Today I saw ektitli asking for submission, I am tempted to share my pictures there.


This is the interesting contest where there is a theme. There are three categories. We are asked to share two of our favorite pictures that touch their theme.

• Strength & Spirit:

Under this theme participants can send in their own photographic interpretations of strength, endurance and spirit. It could be anything from a massive bridge to a row of working ants or even your personal pillar of strength!

• Under this category, I have posted:

Caption: Talent has no age


With no cares of the world, young painters paint on the walls of the street for happy sunshine, now that’s the spirit!!!

Category: Strength and Spirit

Location: Mumbai (Wall project)


Caption: Dancing on the wheels


Differently-able children skate happily holding ribbons, falling at regular intervals does not dampen their spirit.

Category: Strength and Spirit

Location: Swami Bramananad Pratishthan, centre for mentally challenged, Navi Mumbai

• Moving Stills:


Under this theme participants can send in pictures of anything that has moved, inspired or motivated them. This a free category with no specific theme.


Caption: Tiny steps to liberation of soul


We, like a young monk, can be happy too, if we learn to be content in our own beautiful world

Category: Moving stills

Location: Gangtok, Sikkim

Caption: Careless Shopping


Unlike in those shiny AC malls, we can squat on the floor, haggle over price and still come back home fully satisfied

Category: Moving stills

Location: Darjeeling

Seven Deadly Sins:

This is a theme based category revolving around the seven deadly sins of pride, envy, lust, sloth, greed, gluttony and wrath…..except with a GREEN twist. Here the participants can send in entries depicting any one, two or all of these sins but relate them not to people but to the environment! (eg. ‘Wrath’ of global warming on our climate patterns, “Pride” of towering concrete cities after merciless felling of trees) We have to relate a sin to any crisis of environment

• Under this category I have posted


Caption: Fishy Business


Ignorant of its freedom, the fishes glide in two by two foot colorful tide, bringing joy to the human’s pride

Category: Seven deadly sins

Location: Darjeeling


Caption: Endangered Nature


Re-development will devour off the rivers and trees, there will no waters for dogs and human to swim

Category: Seven deadly sins

Location: Raighad, Maharashtra

If you like my pictures, I will appreciate if you vote for me at ektitli

Thank you so much in advance :))

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