Monday morning Inspiration # 19

Many years ago three soldiers, hungry and weary of battle, came upon a small village. The villagers, suffering a meager harvest and the many years of war, quickly hid what little they had to eat and met the three at the village square, wringing their hands and bemoaning the lack of anything to eat.

The soldiers spoke quietly among themselves and the first soldier then turned to the village elders. "Your tired fields have left you nothing to share, so we will share what little we have: the secret of how to make soup from stones."

Naturally the villagers were intrigued and soon a fire was put to the town's greatest kettle as the soldiers dropped in three smooth stones. "Now this will be a fine soup", said the second soldier; "but a pinch of salt and some parsley would make it wonderful!" Up jumped a villager, crying "What luck! I've just remembered where some's been left!" And off she ran, returning with an apronful of parsley and a turnip. As the kettle boiled on, the memory of the village improved: soon barley, carrots, beef and cream had found their way into the great pot, and a cask of wine was rolled into the square as all sat down to feast.

They ate and danced and sang well into the night, refreshed by the feast and their new-found friends. In the morning the three soldiers awoke to find the entire village standing before them. At their feet lay a satchel of the village's best breads and cheese. "You have given us the greatest of gifts: the secret of how to make soup from stones", said an elder, "and we shall never forget." The third soldier turned to the crowd, and said: "There is no secret, but this is certain: it is only by sharing that we may make a feast". And off the soldiers wandered, down the road.

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here

A solution to all your web hosting problems

We as bloggers would always love to have a good looking blog with all the essential features embedded in it in the form of widgets . In this case not many of us know the basics of web hosting which puts a full stop to our creativity in designing our blogs and other web pages.

To solve all these issues and have a reat web page, here is the best web hosting choice for you.



This site here offers a free guide to select the suitable web host for your personal/business site. In case you want certain featues which are available only through UNIX or SQL . All that is made available too, through the plans directory where you can choose all that you need for your site and all this at a very nominal cost as well.

Have a wonderful site and make your prescence felt in the World wide web.

My apology , hostel and college

Hi people I'm back . I'm really sorry for not posting my MMI . I moved to hostel on Sunday and i heard from my friends that we have access to Wi-fi but later on after reaching the place I found out that the connection is not all that good it gets disconnected very often, even before a page can get loaded. So, thats the reason for not doing my MMI and no posts after leaving home..

I have planned to get a data card over this weekend, which i guess should solve all the problem and get me back to my blogging regularly .

Life in hostel is so much fun , get a lot of free time in hand and about my new class that is awesome as well. Thanks to all of you who wished me good luck . Its been almost a week time since I'm here and its all been great :)

We are three people in a room and i'm glad to have such fun room mates. They are really sweet and fun to be around with and we also have the same frequency in thoughts .So, that puts everything in place :)

Its jus' a few days I have been around them and still the thought of them leaving the hostel in a couple of months makes me feel so upset. When I get back home tomorrow evening will drop by all your blogs and reply to your comments.

Have a great weekend !



Will be going home for the weekend and

A software for your online store

Most of us would have always thought of selling stuffs online, but never had an idea on how to implement it . Here is the first step for your online business adventure , with the award winning shopping cart software and compete with some of the best names in the industry.



Even if you already have an online store , check this software out as it surely will give your business an uplift with its highly competitive price and amazing features it will surely make lots of head turn towards your site making it more user friendly.

The best part is that the site is also tied with major banks world over making the process simpler for its customers. So, what are you waiting for , didn't you hear the knock on the door or the door bell ring . Yes, there is a lot of opportunities available in store for you. HAve fun making money !

My day to day ramblings...

My first day of college in a new class went on much better than what I expected to be :). Met some nice people and I will be moving to the hostel over the weekend and I have also been told that our hostl has good wi-fi support , so I hope it wouldn't be a problem keeping in touch with you all regularly :)

I have not been dropping by many of your blogs much these days, I apologize . I should be well settled and back to my usual blog hoping in a couple of days after moving into hostel I guess :)

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Find the best online casino reviews here

Online gaming has gained wide popularity across the globe and with this foundation in place, online casinos are making their prescence felt in the world wide web as well . But, the best thing about online casinos is that you get to play a variety of games from black jack, casino slots to poker which ever intrests you.

To find the best online casinos visit bret-casinos.com , this site here is more like a blog where you will be able to find all the required information related to online casinos , there is also a guide from which beginners can learn the art of the game.

If you find an online casino listed at bret-casinos.com, you can be rest assured that it is one of the best , as casinos are being rated on the basis of their gaming software quality, bonus amounts and terms, assortment of games and performance , reliablity, service , support and a lot more . this inturn will be useful to make the best choice . This site is regularly updated , so you can always find uptodate information here.

Check bret-casinos. com , and enjoy the game in the best online casinos.

Its awards time again :)

It is awards time again at random thoughts :). It is always great to get to know new people in the blogsville and is all the more interesting when they come back to read your blog over and over again and leave some wonderful comments . This is when you know that there are people in different parts of the world who care to read what you have to say, that eventually leaves a smile in your face :) . I believe there should be recognition and appreciation for a good work.

Lena and Preetilata have gone a step further and have honored me with some wonderful awards last week . Thank you so much Lena and Preeti , it has always been great getting to know you and you guys have always made me happy with your regular visits to my blog and not to forget your comments and awards :) .

My first award is from Lena . It is called the lovable blog award :)

I'm so glad to recieve it from you Lena , as I love your blog too :)

I would like to pass this award to

Anoop ,Akanksha, Shanthini, Vasanthan, Drama diva, Melanie and Aarthi (and ofcourse Preetilata and Lena)

Reading your blogs always makes me feel good :)

The next couple of awards are from Preetilata , thanks so much dear you've always encouraged me with your comments and now with your awards :)

The Egle Nest blogger award (this is the first award I recieved from Melanie few months back) was created by Brad egle as a way to honor your friends who have excellent blogs.

I would like to pass this award over to Kutti balu , Noushy, Lena, Sudhakar, PK,Raghavan.

The final one here is the rocking girl award I recieved from Preetilata , a rocking girl herself :)

I would like to pass this award to all girl bloggers in my blogroll :)

I hope you all would pass these awards to your deserving blog friends and link back from where you got it to contine the chain of friendship and happiness .

P.S : I guess most of you would have seen the increase in the number of paid ads I have been doing recently . I know it sometimes irritates readers , so for the ease of my blog friends I'm planning to link my MMI (monday morning Inspirations), WW (Wordless wednesdays) like the way I have done my experiences at Singapore which you can find at the top right corner of the side bar as I understand many of my blog friends would drop by to read these , whereas I wouldn't be linking my other day to day ramblings . Hope this is fine with all my blog friends :)

I'm starting my 4th semester at my University tomorrow and will be moving to hostel over the weekend . This wouldn't stop me blogging thou' I might not be able to blog regularly .

Enjoy your awards and spread them around Blogsville ! :)

Check out the best dishwashers at competetive prices

Have you always had the problem of cleaning the dishes at the end of a tiresome day when you so want to go and watch your favourit TV program or had fights as to who will clean the dishes? I know most of us would be able to relate to this situation . Now, here is a solution to all our problems. Dishwasher.

I can again sense that most of you would be wondering as to how much it would cost, which is the best brand and so on. You can find the best dishwasher that suits your needs here.

This site here not only promotes a single brand of dishwasher, it has thousands of dishwashers for you to choose from. On the other hand it also gives you the facility to compare inumerable dishwashers side by side before you make your choice. Apart from this you can also read the reviews given by real buyers and the rating of each dishwasher which inturn will help you choose the best dishwasher.

If you still have any queries, you also have an option to drop by a question which will be answered by people visiting the site.

I'm sure this is a wonderful way to compare and buy any product as it is time saving and more efficient. So, haven't you started this year's shopping yet?? Start with choosing the best dishwasher.

Pongal - The harvest festival # 3

The third day of Pongal is dedicated to cattle and is called Mattu Pongal. People offer prayers to the bulls, cows and other farm animals. Cows and bulls have always held a special place in India and are considered sacred. Cows give nourishing milk while bulls and oxen help plough the fields playing a very important role in harvesting especially in olden days.

Thus, Maatu Pongal is a day when cattle are given a well deserved day of rest and are given pride of place. Therefore the farmers honor their cattle friends by celebrating it as a day of thanks-giving to them.

On this special day cows are decorated with flowers ,their horns are painted with various colors and covered with shining metal caps, color beads and tinkering bells . They are also offered special food especially cooked for them and are taken around the villages with the people sitting on the carriages behind and enjoying the day.



Jallikatu(Bull fight) is also a part of the paatu pongal celebrations in various parts of the state.


The fourth and the final day of the pongal celebrations is the Kaanum pongal , this day is again dedicated to the sun god which has played a major part in giving some wonderful harvest to the farmers .

In certain parts of the state this day is also celebrated similar to Rakhsa Bandhan and Bhai Dhuj where women offer prayers for the wellbeing of their brothers.

And the most important event here is visiting relatives , friends and outing with family. So, you can find most of the entertainment centres, beach, shopping malls overflowing with people today.

So, thats how the four day pongal celebrations proceed in South India. To read how the first two days of pongal are celebrated click here and here.

Best online backgammon games for you

Are you a backgammon player trying to improve your skills? Check out the online backgammon site which offers a lot of tips to players and you can also participate in world-class online backgammon tournaments.

The site is designed in such a way that one would get all sorts of information related to backgammon. Mistergammon.com is the longest running backgammon site in the internet with over 100,000 players . The main aim of the site is to provide its players a thrilling experience for its players without having to worry about your funds.

The site also provides information on the upcoming backgammon tournaments and you can also download the backgammon software for real money or just for fun . It's not just about playing here , you can also become an affiliate of the site to promote the game of backgommon in the internet. The site is available in six languages to help its players from world over navigate with ease.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and take the plunge.

Five links meme

I have been tagged by Anoop and Kutti balu to list out five of my favourite links.

I thought it would be cool to have a meme where we post links. We can post up to five. Then we tell five more people to share their links. If we all share who tagged us, our links are sure to be seen! )
They can be business links, favorite sites, affiliate links, whatever you want…
There are Five Rules:
1. MUST be clean. No R rated sites.
2. Only FIVE links.
3. MUST tell 5 people.
4. A link back to the person who tagged you ;)
5. Lara's Place is the meme originator. ;) (an active link is appreciated)


Now here are my favourite links

1. Google (gmail, blogger, google search.. ) - It has indeed become a part of every internet addicts life .

2. Tata.com - yes, I drop in here almost everyday to get to know what's the latest with the TATAs

3. Wikipedia - To help me do assignments

4. Smorty - It helps me earn some quick bucks by blogging ads

5. SRM - That's my University's site

I tag Shanthini , Vasanthan , Melanie, Preetilata and Lena

All those of you who would like to play along can also take up the meme and drop me a comment, so that I can drop by your blogs .

Thanks for playing along :)

Wordless Wednesday # 8

A view from the singapore zoo

Does bad credits aftect your lifestyle? Not anymore

Due to various reasons one might have got into the trap of bad credits. This might have inturn brought about a lot of bad changes in their lifestyle by not allowing them to get loans or any other finances . If that is your case, stop worrying .


Here at badcreditoffers.com , they offer bad credit loans to those with less than perfect credit rating and they also help them with providing solutions to solve their debts and other financial issues with their credit repair services.

They offer a variety of loan services in the categories of auto loans, home loans, perosnal loans and also credit card facilities for those with less than perfect credits.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab the opportunity to have a financially secure life.

People's car - TATA Nano

The most hyped and the most awaited people's car from the TATA conglomerate saw its debut at the Auto Expo in Delhi on Jan 10th 2008. This is the cheapest car in the world costing Rs.1 lakh ($2500) .

With it, it is not just bring the cheapest car tag, but brings in a revolution of its own in the car market. Ratan Tata , Chairman of the TATA Conglomerate has kept up his word of giving the world the 1 lakh car.

"When others said NO, he said NANO" and yes, he has kept up his promise thou' the commodity prices have shot up from the time he had promised years back :)

Thou' there were a lot of critics talking about safety norms, pollution control and the car adding to the ever increasing traffic in the Indian cities , those issues never seemed to bother me (more so because I was a TATA fan myself) . But one thing that I was always a little concerned about was "How will the car look?" .
After bringing about a whole new revolution in the car market, you don't want the car to look like a share auto or a some metal box with wheels .

You, don't want the car to look like this rite??

And , finally here is the answer to all the critics "the 624 cc, 33 HP petrol engine meets Bharat Stage-III emission norms and can also meet the Euro 4 norms. " as told by Mr.Tata himself .

And what does the car look like??

I think it looks really cute . It is to hit the roads by Nov 2008 . If I make adequate money by blogging ads, I might also think of buying one for myself :)

Your guide to the best online casino sites

The hype about online gambling and casinos is ever increasing and doesn't seem to cease. With online gambling reaching its height of popularity and with the many ads of online gambling sites all over the internet , one might easily be misguided . But,here is your online casino guide to bring you the latest online casino news, reviews of online casinos and the various games available in a clear manner.



Gamblux.com is your easiest way into online gambling for beginers and experts alike. The site has been designed in a very organised way where you can find any kind of information one would like to know about gambling and casinos apart form its listing of the best online casino sites world over.

The site also has a premium online casino choice every month , in which an in-depth analysis is done to select the one which has got that extra attention. The site is so well designed that it is very user friendly and you don't have to search what you want, its all there in the right places. The site also has a regular update of what is happening in the world on online gambling. And for the uninitiated the rules and strategy are mentioned to get acquainted with the game.

Its not jus't about serious gambling, to have a touch of humour the site also has gambling jokes.

Happy gambling and wish you big bucks and loads of fun!

My experiences in the lion city - Singapore # 2

On the second day after a long sleep and a relaxing breakfast, we headed to Jurong bird park at around 11 am . We took the MRT and then a bus, this was the first time I used the MRT in Singapore , I was thrilled with the way the whole system functioned, it was so well organised .


A view of the hotel's car park

We got this ez-link card , it can be used in both MRT as well as the buses. From then on MRT turned out to be my favourite mode of transport and it also helps get a feel of the place and its people. The closest MRT station (Somerset) was a 10 mins walk from our hotel.




On the way to Somerset




The Skaters ground near Somerset

At the Somerset station. We had to take the train to Boonlay and later bus 194 to Jurong Bird park

Inside the MRT

In the bus stop at boon lay

And finally we reached Jurong by around 12 pm

With over 9000 birds belonging to more than 600 species , Jurong bird park is one of the best in conservation and display of birds in its natural settings.

At the Penguin expedition

This is the panorail that took us around at the bird park . The park has around 3 stations where in you can hop on and off to see the birds surrounding each station and then move on to the next and so on...

The map was our guide through Jurong, it is a huge area and we could easily get lost without the map.

Hornbill (OMG! these birds are so huge!!)

Crowned pegions at the Royal ramble

After viewing the Hornbill , toucans and the Royal ramble section we moved on to have lunch in a restaurant near the lory loft area ( not to sure of the restaurant's name). We were there right on time during the lory feeding session . So, got to feed them as well .. Had like about 3 lories in my hand .

We got the special nectar mix which is sold at the counter and before I turned around with the cup, I was flocked with lories - this is one of the times when I got up close and personal with the birds, but thats only till you have the nextar in the cup :)





With the lories

Scarlet Ibises - I love their color

Jurong Bird park also conducts some wonderful shows , I got to watch the Birds and buddies show and the Birds of prey show - there were a few lucky people who got to handle the birds , no I wasn't lucky enough then *sigh*

In the birds and buddies show at the Pools Amphitheatre

In the birds of prey show at Fuji Hawk walk

Birds in the wet lands

And finally the parakeets at "photography with the birds" area, it was a wonderful feeling when the birds hold on to your hand , all of us took pics with these beautiful feathered friends . Initially I was a little scared as these were bigger than the lories but later it turned out to be a wonderful experience.
Hope you had a colorful journey through Jurong bird park! :)

It was around 7pm when we headed back to out hotel and then the night went by shopping at Mustafa .

P.S. I'm sorry to keep you waiting to read new posts at my travelogue, I'm jus' planning to give more info in that unlike here where I jus' talk about my experience . So, that's taking me a little time plus the ongoing festival and the nearing college reopening .

You can read my experiences at Singapore # 1 here.

Pongal - The harvest festival # 2

The second day of Pongal is known as 'Surya Pongal' and is dedicated to the Sun God. It is the day on which the celebration actually begins and is also the first day of the Tamil month Thai.

Women wake early on this day to create elaborate kolam patterns on the ground in front of their doorway or home. Kolam is created with colored rice flour placed on the ground carefully by using one's hand.

On this day the new rice is collected and cooked in pots until they over flow. It is this overflowing which means Pongal. This overflowing of rice is a joyous occasion, and the children and adults as well will shout out 'Pongal-o-Pongal!'

Unlike what you see in the picture, most of the house hold these days use stainless steel pots instead of clay pots

After which the prepared pongal and other food items and sugarcane which plays an important part in this festival are offered to god before one can eat.

The rice is cooked and prepared as a dish called pongal, which is rice with dhal and sugar. This Pongal variety is called venpongal, ven meaning white is made using milk and rice. Another variety is also prepared with dhal and jaggery (sweet), called chakara pongal, chakrai meaning sweet. To accompany the venpongal, people eat brinjal (eggplant) sambar (stew), vadai and spicy accompaniments.

Wishing all those of you who celebrate pongal a very safe and happy pongal!

* pics source - Internet

Pongal - The harvest festival # 1

Pongal is normally considered to be a dish more than a festival . If you think so you are not mistaken, a dish called pongal does exist. But, the pongal festival is a day in which pongal is mainly cooked from the freshly harvested rice .So, I believe thats how the festival got its name :)
Pongal is the most popular harvest festival in South India, especially Tamil Nadu. Pongal falls in the mid-January every year and marks the auspicious beginning of the sun's journey north wards.

The celebrations include drawing kolam ( a design made out of powdered rice and some times also color powders) , cooking , visiting relatives et all..

The pongal festival is celebrated for four days

This first day of the festival is called Bogi or Bohgi (is celebrated today) in the honor of "the god of clouds and rains- Indra" for the abundance of harvest and the prosperity brought to the land.

On Bhogi, people clean their homes and collect all unwanted goods . Keeping the home clean is one of the essential parts of the Pongal festival , so in places like my home cleaning starts almost a month ahead - if you remember we jus' repainted our home last month so that we could get it done before this festival.

On the eve of Pongal homes are decorated with kolams (designs made out of rice powder or liquid rice paste). Fresh harvest of rice, turmeric and sugar cane are brought from the field as preparation for the following day (but these days its bought from shops).

Another ritual observed on this day is Bhogi Mantalu(bon fire), when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes. Girls dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the harvest. The significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.


(But, due to pollution issues many of them have stopped performing this ritual, but on the other hand you can still find the roads of Chennai filled with smoke when you get up the day after Bhogi)

Now, I got to have my dinner in sometime and start making kolam in front of my home :)

Wish you all a Happy Pongal! Yen Iniya Pongal vazthukal :)

* Pics source - Internet

Monday morning Inspiration # 18

Like the trees in the forest, we each have our own unique beauty and talents to offer

For other Monday morning Inspirations click here.

My experiences in the lion city - Singapore # 1

The city of Singapore is a gastronomic delight, a shopoholics heaven, a perfectonists dream come true, a land of multilingual people and diverse culture.

I spent a weeks time in this lion city and at the end of my trip I'm truly enthralled with the way the city works, its people and what it has to offer to its tourists.

I reached Singapore on the 5th of Jan and returned on 12th Jan.

While planning for the trip a lot of my blog friends, people I know had all told me that there would be lot of stuffs to shop for and you will be confused but I was always wondering that its all going to be the same stuff... clothes, gadgets, house hold items et all . But the minute I entered any shop , I was so dazed with the amount of varities they have in each thing be it the shop houses , malls or the Singapore's very own Mustafa.

I have planed to divide my Singapore experience into 7 parts initially where in I will be writing about my each days experience and later on if there is something exclusive to share that would follow the 7th post :)

I started from Chennai on the 5th of Jan (Saturday) by Jet Airways. Thou' it was mentioned that our flight was a Boeing737 we got the new A330. This is how the business class looks

We opted for the economy one, it wasn't bad either .. A few views from the flight

The in-flight entertainment


View of the Chennai city from the flight


View of couple of islands before nearing Singapore

View of the Singapore harbour

Sky View of the Singapore city

We reached Changi airport at around 5:45 pm on 5th Jan and it took us about an hours time for immigration, baggage collection et all before we were out.

In the entrance of Changi airport arrival hall . The airport looks so huge , it is a mall in itself . Changi airport has got three terminals the last one terminal 3 was inaugrated jus' a few days back on 9th Jan 2008.

We checked in at hotel SHA Villa (Will make a separate post about it later)

After an hours rest, it was around 8 pm, we headed to Little India for dinner and had masala dosa( the one in pic)

After which we headed to Singapore's very own Mustafa shopping centre. This place here is a 24 hour shopping mall . It is actually didvide into 2 different malls . The serangoon plaza closes by 11pm and the Mustafa centre is open 24/7 isn't that awesome . So, every night we were here atleast 5 nights and believe me we haven't finished seeing the whole store.. Its so huge . Thou' its divided into 2 plazas , both of them are equally huge and incomparable...

Got back to the room at around 1am .. Thats how my first day went by :) It is very short compared to the other days as we hardly had half a day time to explore...

More to come.. I haven't started writing in my travelogue yet might take a couple of days I guess :)