MEMORIES: Old Days (Yaadein)

[For Hindi Readers]

• When Gulli-Danda & Kanche (marbles) were more popular than cricket.
• When we always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy), chhepan-chhepai
  & pitthoo anytime ...
• When we desperately waited for 'Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi' (Doordarshan serial)
• When chitrahaar, vikram-baitaal, Dada Daadi Ki Kahaniyaan were so fulfilling.
• When there was just one Tv in every five houses and... When Bisleris were not sold in the trains and we were worrying if papas will get back into the train in time or not when they were getting down at stations to fill up the water bottle ...
• When we were going to bed by 9.00pm sharp except for the 'Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi' day ...
• When Holis & Diwalis meant mostly hand-made pakwaans and sweets and moms seeking our help while preparing them ...
• When Maths teachers were not worried of our Mummies and papas while slapping/beating us ...
• When we were exchanging comics and stamps and Chacha-Chaudaris & Billus were our heroes ...
• When we were in Nanihaals every summer and loved flying kites and plucking and eating unripe mangoes and leechies ...
• When one movie every Sunday evening on television was more than asked for and 'ek do teen chaar' and 'Rajani' inspired us ...
• When 50 paisa meant at least 10 toffees ... When left over pages of the last years notebooks were used for rough work or even fair work ...
• When 'Chelpark' and 'Natraaj' were encouraged against 'Reynolds & family' ... When the first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making 'kaagaj ki kishtis' ...
• When there were no phones to tell friends that we will be at their homes at six in the evening ...
• When our parents always had 15 paise blue colored 'Antardesis' and 5 paise machli wale stamps at home ...
• When we remembered tens of jokes and were not finding 'ice-cream & papa' type jokes foolish enough to stop us from laughing ...
• When we were not seeing patakhes on Diwalis and gulaals on Holis as air and noise polluting or allergic agents ...

The list can be endless -
On the serious note I would like to summarize with ...

• When we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like 'thinking' and 'deciding' ...
• When we were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerely ...
• When we were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future ...
• When being emotional was not synonymous to being weak ...
• When sharing worries and happiness didn't mean getting vulnerable to the listener ...
• When blacks and whites were the favorite colors instead of greys ...
• When journeys also were important and not just the destinations ... When life was a passenger's sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead of some super fast's second ac with its curtained, closed and dark windows ... I really miss them .. don't u?

Read more »»

PRICELESS: Kids Say - What Love Is

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think.

1. "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca - age 8
   
   
2. When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4, 3)
   
   
3. "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - (age 5, 4)
   
   
4. "Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - (age 6
   
   
5. "Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - (age 4, 6)
   
   
6. Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - (age 7, 7)
   
   
7. "Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss" Emily - (age 8, 8)
   
   
8. "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen," Bobby - (age 7, 9)
   
   
9. "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate," Nikka - (age 6, 10)
   
   
10. "There are two kinds of love. Our love. God's love. But God makes both kinds of them." Jenny - age 8 11)

11. "Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." Noelle - (age 7)
    
    
12. "Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - (age 6, 13)
    
    
13. "During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore," Cindy - (age 8, 14)
    
    
14. "My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing
    me to sleep at night." Clare - (age 6)

15. Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine-(age 5, 16)
    
    
16. "Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." Chris - (age 7, 17)
    
    
17. "Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - (age 4)
    
    
18. "I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old > clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
    Lauren - (age 4)

    
    

19. "When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you."
    Karen - age 7
    
    
20. "Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." Mark - (age 6, 21)
    
    
21. "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget,"
    Jessica - (age 8, 22)
    
    
22. And the final one - Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

Read more »»

FASHION: World's 1st 50,000 Color Saree

The most colourfull feet you will ever see on silk.
50,000 Colors - some as yet un-named and many never before seen on silk - all on one masterpiece of a silk Saree. This stunning masterpiece is also a technological marvel.Combining traditional techniques with cutting - edge technology in dyeing, we produced each individual yarn of silk, in the moss Vibrant of Colors. Then our handpicked master weavers painstakingly hand-wove them on our looms.50,000 Colors on one Silk Saree simply means that you can now get a stunning Silk Saree even in the rarest of Colors.So come, see the world's most Colorful silk Saree, well itsway to Guinness Book of World Record.

Read more »»