Anki On The Move: July 2012

Tiger Tourism Ban

10:08 AM

"India's Supreme Court bans tourism in "core zones" of more than 40 government-run tiger reserves.".The number of tigers in India currently is 1,700.Just 1,700.

THE BELOW STORY IS A DIALOG EXCHANGE BETWEEN A MA(MOTHER) AND HIS SON 10 YEARS FROM NOW

"Ma,ma How Does A Tiger Look Like".Asked a 10 year old kid.

"Well..A tiger is a ferocious animal".Said a confused ma,a little threatened by the next question which she quietly presumed would be on.

"Where In India,can I see it?".

"Its extinct."

"But I wanna see it maa,please please"

"I see it in cartoons,I see it in friends albums from Thailand"

"Where Did They Go?"

"They..well they went to boarding school because they didnt complete their homework,now go and complete yours"

"You are lying,if they didn't like India they would have gone somewhere"

"They are all dead"

"Oh..sad who killed them?"

"We did"

"And why?"

"Because we..eh we loved to click our pics with the animals,we loved to peek into their every activity,we messed up their habitat"

"Can't we import them from somewhere"

"We can,but how many..it would take years to get back to the track"

"How many were there when you were young?"

"1700"

"You could've adopted a baby tiger for me"

"You know son,its not easy,these things"

10 Years back,I read the paper "SC Bans tiger tourism"
The other day 100 others shout that its irresponsible to take an action such as this"
The ban was lifted"

"But Why so?"

"Because some people had their business in the tiger periphery"
And whatever anyone says they are humans too

As we are,we were in the mind of conflict
SC Bans tiger tourism,is wrong
Because we wanted to go on jungle safaris
To prove the world how adventurous we are
Little did we know
That when there would be no tigers
There would be no safaris
"Ma,what about other animals?"
"In this world who cares?"
"We all are Animals aren't we?"

"Why do you say so"

Look
The Gal got raped,we saw as if nothing happened
The Guy was bleeding after the accident,noone helped
The Stray dogs were killed,we were happy
The Tigers came and went,we still do not care
All we care is about how irresposible the gal was,
How sad the accident happend,
How cruel are the animals as they bite us,
How wonderful are the tiger safaris
We all are mute spectators
We blame our people
We justify our culture
But when It comes to helping the society
We run away like a dog
And we say the animals are animals.
-Anki S.

personal

The MIG Love Chase

10:45 PM

"Dad,isn't this plane wonderful",I sneaked peak in with my eyes wide open into the small hole,the kind of which forms with the space between the two doors of a hangar.

"That's a restricted area,stay away" said my Dad.

Why are areas which are restricted always so tempting.But the fact is,it is.I was small,small enough that my dad carried me into his shoulder while I still had my eyes on the hangar.There were more planes,but the officer was more interested in explaining operations and radar and stuffs which may require some high end intelligence or may be I was just small enough to grasp it.There were planes,but that was a beauty....

Ever since that day,planes were my fancy.Not the ones which are AIR INDIA,OR AIR ASIA but the sleek military ones.I admire the big ones too,but the speed and the design and everything else combined is a combination which is superb.And till date I never heard anyone say "I hate MIG's".It's tough world out there,very tough out there,but at one age,you really do not care.It's kind of fancy you have in your eyes,be it everything.Be it Engineering,be it being a Doctor,be it being in Army,be it whatever,we have usually a very vague idea of how things goes inside.

Admittedly,I have a crush on planes and I seem to never get over it even when I grew up.Even now,I love them for reasons I do not know.Though my dream was shattered when My brother mocked me "You are short of height" way back in 2001.Engineering was a very obvious choice.

I still do not know why I chose engineering at that time which I did because most others did and also because I wasn't aware of any other option.I didn't know what I was supposed to do when I will be out of my college.For those who choose to be Doctors,it's not only about treating patients,you have to be updated about what recent medicines have come in and every time.For Defence personal aspirants,its not only about having the benefits of govt service,there is a lot of hard work too.It's sad that many a times this vague idea leads us to a wrong career choice,which is slowly improving with many people taking more risks in terms of career.

One thing lead to another and I landed up being a Software Engineer.I loved it for my salary but at the same time hated it for the boring work I used to do.It had its pros and cons,like every other job.I moved to Bangalore in search of my peace of mind,and decided to just appear for an Airforce exam,without knowing what the paper would be on.I didn't even know if I would qualify for the age factor,because I wasn't too young to fly.Well the age you can appear in the exam is 23 for flying.So I did some research and found that Technical branches in Airforce has the last qualifying age as 28.But that was technical, I was a techie and I end up being a techie didn't sound too promising but worth a try.Because at least you get to see planes.Another reason was "Army takes till 25 and navy in the same ranges",so I had no other option at one point of time.And Airforce as a matter of fact,does take married women as intake,so that was an added bonus.

I still remember,I went to Yehelanka Airbase,and I had no clue what I was going to do.As in unfortunately it was a last moment decision and I didn't get time to screen papers or even have a feel of it.I went inside the campus,as rest of us.We were sitting on a desk,and the exam time was rescheduled.I could clearly see many of the people revising notes or going through books,and grasp everything they could at the last moment.There was this guy,who came up to and said "Airforce?" and I hate the conversation which is "Me Aiforce,You Airforce" ,I said "Yes,because I think that's an Airforce exam we have here".

Well,the conversation didn't turn out to be as snoopy as I thought it would be,and he seemed a pretty decent guy.We talked about his preparation ,obviously not mine,because I wasn't prepared.He was confident enough that he would clear because he somewhat seemed focused on Airforce.And I think he did because the answers were correct,but I was never in touch with him really.Now how do you react to questions in examination which you might have had heard in class XI,probably on Physics or Chemistry.You would hate it if you are out of touch for like 7-8 years,and you would know that there is certainly an answer,because its an objective question paper but you would never know which one.And I had this confusing "Such an easy paper,and I don't know the answer" expression for most of the questions.I don't remember what I did,probably ticked all B's then C's then A's then D's whichever was visually good looking option to me.

I came out,and this guy said "Such an easy paper","Yeah it was".No doubt.I would've scored 100% if I was just out of school or maybe even out of college.I thought of saying "Dude,great for you" but then I did say "Yeah it was".Now some people start discussing answers and that's weird.He started discussing answers in the crowded Airforce Bus.He realised soon enough that I wasn't either interested or my exam didn't go well.So he gave me some gyan on don't worry and stuff and all of a sudden "Why don't you try movies,start with south Indian movies..blah blah?".Sometimes the conversation are so funny,that you really can't stop laughing.

But sometimes its essential too.I can't deny the fact that the conversation was a relief from the Airforce paper,and obviously the bus ride.Yelahanka in some ways is not transport friendly.The Airforce bus left us at the gate,and we were supposed to take a public transport which wasn't available at that time.And luckily this guy realised that I was new to Bangalore,he said why don't we go by a bus and you can get down and take another which might connect to your place.And in a way I thought that was sweet.We didn't exchange numbers,we didn't talk or we didn't mail or nothing of that sort.But sometimes you meet people who are just there for you,at the right moment,at the right place,at the right time.Perfect!

So you think I lost..

But the game begins.I flew a microlight next year with a Captain as a co pilot on a TIF flight,and took plane all the way back.I appeared for Airforce exam again and this time I went to SSB Mysore,stayed for 6 days,had fun with the gals.And that was my best decision ever.I didn't get selected,but I do not regret it.It changed me in ways I cannot express.Read my next story on the change and the whole SSB gala,till then stay tuned.

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Shimla's BCS Starts Scuba Diving

2:11 PM

contests

The Little Birdie Called Dove

9:32 PM

This post is an entry to the Dove and Indiblogger 'My beautiful hair story' contest.
My Beautiful Hair Story

The video(inset) is a true story of my Hair.

The video,text,poem,song and images herein are copyrighted works of ankionthemove.The images are actually being painted in the video.Reproduction in whole or part on the internet is prohibited.

When I was born as a baby gal,
Rosy Cheeks and no Hair
Then I grew up a little bit,
Accessorize,Clips Everywhere

One fine day,
On my 2nd Birthday
I looked like a fairy with long long hair..
Then came the day
When It was my first "Mundan"
I prayed and cried
Why did it happen so sudden

In anger
I cut my little doll's hair
The world didn't seem so fair
Then came my mom to the rescue
Oiled my hair and I danced doo-bi-doo-bi-doo

When I went school
Dressed neat and clean
My hair would shine
Like a glorious sheen
Being so naughty
I would often..
Play with my best friend's hair
Everything would just stick on to her hair

College was a beautiful beginning
I cut my hair,color my hair
Dip my hair and gel my hair
I dry my hair,spray my hair
On the long bike rides into the air..

One day
I grew up and realised
How disaster is my hair
I started oiling
And then I thought of perming
The bad lady into the parlour
Just burned my hair with the chemicals
Then my hair started
Falling and Falling and Falling

On my wedding day
I went to the salon
On my first wash
It felt "oh so smooth"
I asked the lady
She said "Use Dove"
"We all love Dove,we all love dove"

And then I had to
Move on from Delhi->Bangalore
The weather was cool and the water plenty
I bathe and bathe
Till my buckets were empty

And then..
The hard water reacted
Oh no! Not again
My hair started falling again

And Then
The little things from the past
Came to my mind
Oiling,Dove,Vegies and Water
Fruits,Shampoo and Conditioner
Blink Blink..
...And that was the end of my hair problems
-Anki S.

Mundan: In Indian tradition, the hair from birth is associated with undesirable traits from past lives. Thus at the time of the mundan, the child is freshly shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into the future. The rite is performed as a special ceremony in most homes, for young girls and boys.

My hair,deserves a little love,
My mother's weekly head message
The soft warmth of her hands
On my locks.

My hair,deserves a little venture,
A splashing swim pool dip.
My hair no longer fear,
A bike ride,or a long trip.

My hair,Deserves a little change,
A hair cut,a spa,a tong,a perm.

Sometimes curly,sometimes straight,
Sometimes wild,sometimes mild,
Sometimes long,sometimes short,
Sometimes pixie,sometimes coloured.

Cascading into spirals and loops,
Days of wow and days of oops
My hair,Deserves a little care,
A Dove shampoo conditioner pair.
Because what stays
beautiful is beautiful.
-Anki S.

Having lustrous and healthy hair is the dream of every women.Having thick hair is the dream of every men. In Indian mythology a woman's hair had such importance that they symbolise their honour and pride,Draupadi's hair was of great significance to Mahabharata...after being insulted and dragged into the court by her hair, Draupadi vowed that she won't tie up her hair and would let it remain dishevelled till bhima ties it up with his hands filled with duhshasana's blood!And today Draupadi Hairstyle is back in fashion again : Leaving hair loose, cascading down one's back.Quite an irony!

The main character of the Walt Disney animated flick "Tangled" and the upcoming release "Brave" symbolises the beauty of a free flowing hair.While tangled is long cascading endless tresses,brave is all about wild curls.

And for all the Hollywood divas out there,how much we love Katrina Kaif's poker straight thick hair,Kangana Ranaut's deadly curls and Priyanka Chopra's hairstyle.We love Victoria Beckam and Rihana for the pixie.We also loved Lisa Ray bold and bald.

WE WISH..

And every time we envy and compare,we secretly wish for longer fuller and smooth hair.And the reasons are many:

-For healthy hair looks neat.

-Different hair styles make you look different,simple and easy.

-And with every hair that grows, a compliment follows..

-An ugly face cannot be replaced,an ugly hair can be nourished.

Jokes apart,men or women,both desire to have thick shiny black hair.Who would love a John Abraham or Akshay kumar or Shahrukh khan bald?A mow ark can't be sported on a unruly rough hair or even a Dhoni cut!

If I ask any of my fellow indibloggers,a very prompt answer would be "Hair Care=Oil Message" ,most of us in India abide by a weekly almost like a ritual oiling their hair with coconut oil.Shampoo and conditioning comes next.While very few condition their hair,the number is growing with increasing number of women with premature grey hair,hair fall and hair damage.In case of men,its the early balding that's the major concern.

"At times I have unruly hair, but I still love my hair".In last 4-5 years,I have tried pixie,boy cut,streaks,long hair,curly hair,straight hair,coloured hair,layered cut,steps cut,sadhna cut,bob cut,fringes and I am happy.Every cut makes a change to my face.It's the only thing I can experiment with as long as it is there..

To make a change to your hairstyle with less hair damage,and to revive the texture of hair again,my hair mantra is:

-Do not fear the outcome of an hair experiment.The more comfortable you are with you are with your hair the more lovely you look.

-If a chemical treatment has severely damaged your hair,do not panic.Instead apply dove repair shampoo and conditioner with mask and apply curd as a homemade hair treatment.

-Do not go for a color and perm treatment together at the same time.Take a gap of 15 days -1 month between each treatment.

-Regular hair steam with oil and after message,helps in oil absorption and growth of hair.

-To revive back the grey hair,cut the grey hair if you have few and apply mehndi with coffee every month..along with amla oil.

-Color your hair with ammonia free colors readily available in market these days.

-Visit hair spa,but do not expect miracles in a single setting.

Ever since I have started taking care of my hair,there's no turning back,from pixie to long tresses my hair just smiles....

We all have shared our stories,a little birdie called "DOVE" wants to share her story too:

I love being a white angel,
Blue skies are my home.
"DOVE" is what they call me
A second name for "LOVE"

Jawaharlal Nehru called me
A peace pigeon,
I stand for humanity
My wings have the power to end
The world of disparity

To live my dream
I transformed into a white soft cream
Into the bottle that's now called DOVE
Me and my bottle are now a team.

We started our journey
Into the wild
In the midway,a lady cried.
Her hair was all that dry

"Please give me a drop
Oh little birdie.."

A few drop of DOVE
Transformed the lady's hair
Into a crown of glory
Happily she said
"Can I come along?

Me,Dove and the Lady,
Started walking hand in hand
Until we saw the fight
A war in the unknown land

"Please give us peace
Oh little birdie.."

A few drops of DOVE,
Transformed the battle field
Into a harmony of festivals
Happily they said
"Can we come along?"

Me,Dove,The lady and the soldiers
Started walking hand in hand
Suddenly we found the roads in mess
As if for years had been cared less

"Please give us smoothness
Oh little birdie..."

A few drops of DOVE
Transformed the road into
A sheer shiny black smooth path
Happily they said " Can we come along"

Alongside the road, a little young gal
Was crying with her eyes closed.
She envied the ones who were beautiful
And wondered why she was cursed

"Please give me a chance
Oh little birdie..."

A few words from DOVE
Transformed the gal from
The roadside gal to the DOVE poster gal

Now that's called LOVE
The birdie DOVE said
We love you,we love all gals,
We love peace,we love your hair
And that's why we care..

The little gal smiled and so did all the others :)

Thanks Dove For The Gift Hamper..Absolutely love it.

HOW HAIR AWARE ARE YOU?

Find out with the Dove Hair Aware App

https://www.facebook.com/dove/app_127320750626819

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Four Seasons Blogger Meet

5:10 PM

A mail from the Four Seasons Blogging Community,an invite to join the community of like minded bloggers with an aim to raise awareness in India about wine, food and lifestyle was surely a new concept.This was my first time.

Guest: Mr. Abhay Kewadkar (UB- Head Four Seasons Wines and Chief Wine maker)
Date: 9th July 2012;7 pm onwards
Venue:Fava,UB City Bangalore

Caught up in the traffic for half an hour,I reached the venue half an hour late.A cheerful welcome smile from Akshay,"upstairs" was all he said,and I felt sorry for being late at Fava..Until I went upstairs and realised I wasn't so late after all.A couple of "hi" to the fellow bloggers made me little at ease with myself.So it was finally happening,the four seasons blogger meet.

Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized.
~ Andre Simon, "Commonsense of Wine"

The evening started with white wine on each of our glasses,a cheerful introduction to Mr. Abhay.This wasn't as formal as I had expected it to be..This was a little chilled out!We exchanged candid conversations,laughed and smiled at our presence and finally all of us sat down.

Making good wine is a skill. Fine wine is an art.
~ Robert Mondavi, Harvests of Joy

The session was an interesting one.Mr Abhay entertained us with the light conversation on basics of wine pairing, along with his own real life experiences coupled with a few jokes.In India,its a common interpretation that wines go with almost every thing,and people generally do not go into the depth of which one goes with what.To them the aim is primarily to be in more talli like state which is attainable after a few glasses of wine,red or white.The main purpose of the Four Seasons Meet was to make wine more widespread,acceptable,reach out to the audience about its benefits and of course enjoy the taste and the flavor.

The Irish believe that fairies are extremely fond of good wine. The proof of the assertion is that in the olden days royalty would leave a keg of wine out for them at night. Sure enough it was always GONE in the morning!-Irish Folklore

Frankly,I prefer white wine with cheese.Just cheese.A combination which is subtle and earthy.Four seasons meet brought a new flavour to my taste buds.We were served Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc in two glasses served with a Salad.Personally I liked Chenin Blanc more as I found to be more light and sweet in comparison with Sauvignon and they did quite match well.Though, to each his own.

Salad And Wines

The next was the yummy lamb gourmet.The best part about the event was to let us taste the wines with the various dishes and love the experience and come up with a choice of wines which we like.I personally liked Shiraz to Cabernet Sauvignon with the lamb.

Lamb being served while Nikita Smiles in the wine glass

In the end we were served Creme Brulee with the Blush wine..Oh I so love the color salmon pink.A deliciously fruity flavour of the wine was perfect with the dessert.

The Salmon Pink Blush

Dessert-We Call It A Happy Ending

The conversation over wine and dine was splendid and fun.We Indians, are yet to accept wine as a healthy drink which could add onto an otherwise boring evening,though the trend is catching up.Hopefully in next couple of years we see more of us happy wining and dining.What a great way to celebrate.

All Thanks To Four Seasons and Their Wines!

To know more about them visit webpage: http://www.fourseasonsvineyards.com/

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Kurumba resorts: An Experience Of Luxury

1:20 PM

India

Munnar Travel:Places,Photos,Videos

10:45 PM

Munnar A One Day trip
Participants: Gaurav Sinha:Writer
Ankita Sinha:Video Editing
Thanks To Karuna Sinha for guest appearance
Thanks To Pritish Shankar Ray for "Hariyali Ki"

How the day went by...

Woke up at 6:30 am. Started at 7:30.

First we went to top station. On our way back covered most of the important places like Echo point(which has got little echo but the view is superb,by far the most visited tourist place), Kundala lake(not recommended), Mettupetty dam(its better than Kundala lake), Rose Garden(nice collection of flowers and plants) and bypassed some of them like 8th Mile boating point, photo point etc. We were fortunate enough to see the wild elephants taking mud bath on the banks of the Periyar river. Finally, had lunch in Munnar town at 2:15pm where we ordered the famous dish of Kerala,chicken masala and the fried fish.

Now we were confused for where to go as there were so many options. We picked Idduki dam over Eravikulam national park and Rajamalai national park. We were not very keen on going to national parks as on our way back from the top station, we had already encountered wild elephants and we were told by the locals that you wont be finding anything else.

Note : Going to Rajamalai national park in your own vehicle requires permits from forest officials. Also the queue there is said to be very long and we were advised, going there will eat up a lot of our precious time.

All over the internet, its mentioned that Idduki dam is 40kms from Munnar. May be because of the wrong route taken by our driver, the milestones on the roadside started with 60kms! We discussed amongst ourselves and came to the conclusion that it is not worth going there which would have taken 5hrs going and coming back. We would have missed out on all the remaining spots in Munnar as well. Our decision was also influenced by the Senthal dam which was about 15kms from where we had started and thankfully came in the way of our not so great idea of going to Idduki dam in such a short span of time. To be honest, we had enough of dams.

Now we were feeling relaxed as we felt we have enough daytime to cover the remaining places near Munnar. First spices park(where the major attraction turned out to be elephants ride), then Pullivasal tea gardens, Pothamedu viewpoint(where the view is not so nice but the nearby rocks are great for amateur rock climbers like us) and finally to the Hydel park, a large park which has got loads of plants and ohhh well,a DAM!

Forgot to add,at Pothamedu viewpoint we were again in a dilemma! To watch the dance and martial arts show or to go to the hydel park. IMO, we made the wrong choice. Afterall, Kerala is famous for its rich culture. Anyway next we stopped at a temple which was nearby KSRTC bus stand, a must visit place if you are going with your elders who usually find the viewpoints,lakes,dams and parks pretty boring. Our next stop was for a thing that the ladies of all the age groups enjoy, a thing all the famous hillstations are known for and the only thing which is common between cities and hills, SHOPPING!