Why to settle down abroad ??

No, there's nothing with India neither I am ashamed of being an Indian. It's the people here who sometimes become the driving force and make me hate my own country so much so that I end up drawing comparisons with countries abroad and even look for options to move one to those better off cities.Talk of economy, lifestyle, culture, people, mindsets and many other factors, most countries in the West give a tough competition to India. Well, though my list of reasons why I would prefer staying abroad goes beyond these basic reasons and logic  as a free spirited woman, I look for more. Here's what attempts me to settle outside of India.

1. Unlike India, you can live abroad without any fear of being judged all the time. Precisely no one has to time to be judgmental about others and would rather focus on their lives.

2. You can be rest assured about your choice of wardrobe for it won't be the hottest topic of gossip whereas Indians love to make passes at almost everything you wear.

3. You really need not worry that you are committing a sin if you are hanging out with a guy. It's just normal. People abroad don't have the time to scrutinize whether you are in a serious relationship with them or just enjoying a casual fling.

4. There is no rule book you need to follow with regards to your lifestyle and basic conduct. 

5. You can roam freely on the streets of Vegas of Sydney without the constant fear of getting raped by some sick mentality men. Owe it to the strict security and safety measures of people's mindset, cities outside India are much safer in this regard.

6. There is no set rule book that you have to abide by if you a girl. No one dictates the job you should take, clothes you should wear, time you should be back home etc.

7. Driving can be enjoyed as a true passion for people behave like humans while on roads unlike India where lane driving apparently is considered to be the most insane thing to do.

8. No corporate houses or companies would ever disturb you over the weekends. Once the working week is over, you can very conveniently switch off your mobile phones and be at peace.

9. Sex is definitely a 'natural' phenomenon, even if happens before marriage. You won't be looked down upon as a whore if you indulge in sex with someone.

10. Respect comes your way without even you asking for it. It has certainly not got anything to do with your bank balance, status in the society or professional power.

11. Power of money is not misused like the way Indians would love. Abiding by law is a much easier choice abroad than bribing the cops all the time.

12. Staying single at 30 is not a crime. Marriage is not considered as a business transaction and you are free to decide when it's time for you to tie the knot. No parental or societal pressure can force you to get married.

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World`s Great Cook - My Momaa

As they say, “Mother food is real feast”! What better way to have your favourite home-cooked recipes prepared by mom and share mine delicious pin with all. Here, I go - KHANDVI

                                              You are the best Cook & I`m loving it :)

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Investor`s Choice

Investors prefer to see in a company before they get excited enough to write a cheque -

1. Seasoning. They’re looking for more experienced, older entrepreneurs who've “been there, done that.” The time of investing in the 19-year-old kid who’s a tech genius isn’t necessarily gone, but the kid had better be able to find an older, seasoned executive to join their team.

2. Customers. Rather than putting the emphasis on the team or the revenue numbers, there seemed to be a new emphasis on the customer:

• What compels them to buy this product or service?
• What problems does this product or service solve? Why is it better than the alternatives?
• Why is it worth the price?
• Does it compel you to tell others about your experience?
• Are your customers asking if they can invest in your company?

3. Team. The team is still an important part of the equation, but the entrepreneur is just as important. Here’s what the investors are looking for in both:

• Passion. The entrepreneur must demonstrate a contagious excitement about their vision for the company.
• Tenacity. The entrepreneur must prove they have the stamina and willpower to stay with their vision through thick and thin.
• Flexibility. The entrepreneur must be willing to reevaluate and refocus their plans when things don’t work out as anticipated.
• Commitment. The entrepreneur must be willing to invest enough of their own money into this project to convince investors they are serious.
• Teamwork. The entrepreneur’s team must prove it can work effectively together.
• Coachability. The entrepreneur and the team must be coachable. No team knows everything they need to know to succeed.
• Knowledge. Investors prefer to back teams that really know their market and have a combined background that is rich and impressive in the niche for which the company is engaged.

4. Opportunity. Investors want big ideas, those that can change the world. Ideas that change our behavior, culture or way of thinking. Ideas that can build $100-million-size companies. Anything less is too speculative. The risks of investing in a company are so great—and the chances of a reward so small—that investors can’t afford to bet on opportunities that won’t surely have huge payoffs. And one of the biggest problems when addressing opportunity is, “Am I too early?” Investing in a huge opportunity five years before the market will recognize and embrace it is a very frustrating thing. Not only will you lose your investment, you’ll have to suffer the extreme frustration of watching someone else make a lot of money on the foundation you helped build.

5. Business model. Will the numbers map out? In other words, once someone takes a sharp pencil and starts tracing where every revenue dollar comes from and then seriously challenges every expense it’ll take to generate that revenue dollar, will you have

• a profitable model?
• a repeatable model?
• an expandable model?
• a predictable model?
• a defensible model?

Many entrepreneurs fail because they don’t know how to do this type of exercise with a “real world” view.

So how do you and your company match up? If you were honest and found areas where you were lacking, please find someone who can help you fix your problems before you approach anyone to invest. Your extra investment of time will significantly improve your chances for funding.

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domestically-challenged wife

I remember when we got our wedding date confirmed the only thing I was worried about was whether I will get the required amount of leave from work. January was always a busy time and to get a month off was a task. Not even once did I wonder about my kitchen skills. Could I get married not knowing how to make round rotis and yummy dal? I cared not!

I joined work 2 week after I got hitched. I remember picking out a nice dress to wear to work because I was sure people would come over to congratulate me. I remember stopping by the kitchen, making two cups of tea and rushing off to work. Kitchen < Looking pretty in a dress: this was my equation.

It's going to be two years since I got married and I still love my self-given domestically-challenged tag. I have upped my skills to making some steamed veggies (which my husband loves), certain baked dishes and everything else that can be prepared in five minutes flat. My dal is very watery, my maid cooks the rotis and my house, although not unclean, is not very neat. But I am happy, truly happy!

It's funny how people judge wife`s abilities by two things: how fast you can produce kids and how good cook you are. I fail miserably on both counts! So does the fact that I don't excel domestically mean that I am a bad wife? I think not!

I earn and help my husband take care of the bills. I am well-read and can hold interesting conversations with him and his friends when we entertain, I can add numbers real quick and if he wants to cross-check any fact, I am the one who can give him the info in a matter of minutes (thanks to Google and a good phone). Am I still a bad wife? A lot of people seem to think so.

My mother, when I got married and was stressed about not knowing how to make food, told me this: When I got married even I didn't know how to cook (background info: my mom cooks the best food ever). I took heart from this and continued with life. A lot of people advised, ‘That's nice. Now you can learn how to cook.' Well, I spent the time having book-reading marathons that made me wiser, not in the kitchen, but in life. Well, I took their advice, a part of it at least. I stayed home and spent the time keeping everyone positive and hopeful. I didn't cook him curry (his mom did) but I felt that the companionship helped him. Bad wife again!?

I just don't get the emphasis we put on our women and their domestic tuning. I am a proud bread-winner and no, I still don't wish to learn how to cook. I have a maid for that. I have one life and I want to spend that on holidays, reading as many books as I can and sitting by my window sipping tea on a rainy morning. Not in the kitchen, sweating it out and making aloo mutter.

I am a domestically-challenged wife and I have no plans of changing that anytime soon. When I get that much-hyped life flashback, a moment before I am about to die, I will remember all the happy memories and you can remember your round rotis!? Till then please keep the cooking advice to yourself and let me order some yummy Chinese food while I read my book.

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How To Stop Negative Thoughts From Getting You Down

Have you ever thought about the things that go through your mind on a daily basis? Most of us are consumed by a great deal of negative ideas and scenarios due to stress, fear, and anxiety. While not all negative thoughts are bad, majority are.

Long-term negative thinking can develop mindsets and habits that can be extremely difficult to break or overcome. In fact, it can even create problems that aren’t real! Chances are you already have enough issues to deal with at work or at home. You don’t need more problems in your life, especially ones that aren’t real.

Overcoming negative thinking is not hard. However it does take consistent effort. Small positive ideas sprinkled throughout the day can divert your way of thinking before it goes dark. How are negative thoughts affecting your life?

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Check out this new girl in BLOG Town!

Amazing.. In such a young age she is doing really commendable job.
Please visit her blog @ http://jiyaakhanna.blogspot.in/

Good Work Jiyaa!!
Miles to go frome here
Keep the momentum going.

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Kanyadaan - Mahadaan

We talk about women advancing in their careers and lot more other things. But it is sad to see that there is actually no advancement in the thoughts of the people. It’s time for us to change and advance our traditions a bit. Girl should no longer be treated as paraya dhan, there should not be dowry system at all, the girl’s parents should not feel bad about staying with their daughter after she gets married. Why should an educated girl stay at home “to look after the family” against her wishes? Is it only her family? Is it only her responsibility? Even the working women are expected to come home from office, do the house-hold work, take care of the children’s studies, and lots more. The men supposedly come home tired from work. What about the women? Aren’t they human too? They too have their space.

 If we consider all these factors and try to balance them a bit then society can be much better. Girls are never burden on the parents. She is equally important as a son.

 I have learnt in my history classes that in ancient India, women had a position of great respect, importance, and admiration. How did this erode over the period of time? Why do the people still have the ingrained attitude that believes in the worthlessness of a girl? Why do people feel that a girl is a curse on the family? Why are people who are avid followers of Maa Durga or Vaishnav Devi pained at the birth of a girl in the family?  If a girl is educated and is earning as much as boy is, in what way is she less appealing than the guy?

I feel a guy should always understand and respect their wife and their parents. He should also take care of her family like she does for him and his family then only harmony can be created in their married life for forever. In marriage equality is a key rule always.

Kanyadaan is often dubbed as Mahadaan (donation of the highest order). It is one of those irrefutable rituals the father of the bride is entrusted with the 'sacred responsibility' of performing kanyadaan to his son-in law as one of the greatest daans during the wedding ceremony where they give their most treasured possession to him for lifetime.

BUT Daughters are not voiceless cows that they should be gifted away to anyone. Guy should understand their duties and responsibilities of taking this Mahadaan and must feel obliged to receive this sort of unconditional love which he will be getting for his life. A Guy must be thankful to God, her wife, her parents and his parents for everything they recieve from them in marriage.

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Make it "The Women’s Century"

It is basically the creation of an environment where women can make independent decisions on their personal development as well as shine as equals in society.

Women want to be treated as equals so much so that if a woman rises to the top of her field it should be a commonplace occurrence that draws nothing more than a raised eyebrow at the gender. This can only happen if there is a channelized route for the empowerment of women.

Our future depends on women. All around the world, women entrepreneurs, women innovators, and women leaders in business, politics, academia, and culture are transforming societies and the global economy. And they will continue to do so.

Why? For starters, women represent the fastest-growing, most dynamic economic force in the world today. Women now control more than $20 trillion in global spending. That means women have an economic impact 50 percent larger than that of the United States and more than twice the size of China and India’s economies combined.

In the United States alone, women-owned businesses account for nearly $3 trillion of the gross domestic product. In fact, if American women were measured as a separate country, they would have the fifth-largest economy in the world!

Of course, women’s entrepreneurship extends far beyond our shores. The truth is, it’s soaring around the globe. Worldwide, 1 in 11 working-age women is involved in entrepreneurship. And the highest percentages of women business owners are in markets you might not expect.

In Thailand, nearly 20 percent of working women are entrepreneurs. In India, the number is 14 percent. In Argentina, it’s 12 percent; Brazil, 11 percent; Mexico and Chile, 10 percent. And these numbers continue to increase.

We have also seen that when women rise in their communities, the communities themselves rise to new heights of prosperity and health. Over and over, studies have found a direct correlation between women’s empowerment and GDP growth, business growth, environmental sustainability, improved human health, and other positive impacts.

So as the world seeks ways to accelerate growth across a global economy that is struggling to emerge from recession, the solution is right in front of us: Empower women, and you recharge the world.

Creating a climate of success for women is smart business—and not just for consumer-products companies. Today, it’s smart business for every company and every country.

In the years ahead, women’s economic participation and entrepreneurial growth will drive the world’s economy. It’s no longer a matter of “if” but of “to what heights.” All of the exciting growth projections for various countries and regions will hinge on greater empowerment of women.

The upward trajectory has already begun. And yet around the world—and across America—we still see too many roadblocks for women: cultural, educational, political, and financial.

Those of us in business, government, and civil society—what we call the “Golden Triangle”—must work together to knock these barriers down. As we do, we will give more women the chance to access financial resources, move into positions of leadership, and start their own businesses.

When it comes to empowering women, the implications for companies, communities, and countries will be vast and profound. Our overall success will, in large measure, depend on the success of women.

If we all do our part, I am convinced that future historians will one day look back on our time as the dawn of “The Women’s Century”—a century that is more open, more hopeful, and more prosperous than any that has come before.

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Your thoughts are your power

Thoughts are power. They create and destroy. What is possible is everything. What you do is up to you. Look around and you will see that almost your entire life has been born out of your thoughts. Know this, and plant your seeds accordingly. You can change your mind at any moment. So go ahead. Change it right now.

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Mumbai Suburban Rail Network Complete with Iteration

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Wet Pants (short story)

There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet.

He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It’s never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it..

When the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again as long as he lives.  The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, “Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat.”  He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy’s lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, “Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!”

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out.

All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else – Susie.  She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. “You’ve done enough, you klutz!”

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Susie whispers back, “I wet my pants once too.”

MORAL

All of us go through all good and bad things in life.  We should always remember how we felt when we were in same condition and should not mock others for being in it.  Always try to understand their situation as if you are in it and help much as possible praying to god that today you are in a condition to help someone who needs it.

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Ye hai Mumbai meri jaan

According to ancient history, a grouping of seven islands comprising Colaba, Mazagaon, Old Woman's Island, Wadala, Mahim, Parel, and Matunga-Sion formed a part of the kingdom of Ashoka the Great of Magadh, ironically in North India .

The seven islands of Mumbai passed through many hands, the sultans of Gujarat , the Portuguese and the British. Every ruler left behind proof of residence in Mumbai.

The Mauryans left behind the Kanheri, Mahakali and the caves of Gharapuri more popularly called Elephanta. The sultans of Gujarat built the Dargahs at Mahim and Haji Ali, the Portuguese built the two Portuguese churches, one at Prabhadevi and the other St Andrews at Bandra.

They built forts at Sion, Mahim, Bandra and Bassien. The Portuguese named the group of seven Islands 'Bom Baia', Good Bay . The British built a city out of the group of seven islands and called her Bombay .

The original settlers of the seven islands, the Koli fishermen, worshiped Mumbaidevi, her temple still stands at Babulnath near Chowpatty. The Kolis called the island Mumbai, 'Mumba, Mother Goddess'.

In 1662, King Charles II of England married the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza, and received the seven islands of Bom Baia as part of his dowry. Six years later, the British Crown leased the seven islands to the English East India Company for a sum of 10 pounds in gold per annum. It was under the English East India Company that the future megapolis began to take shape, after the first war for independence Bombay once again became a colony of the British Empire .

History has forgotten this but the first Parsi settler came to Bombay in 1640, he was Dorabji Nanabhoy Patel. In 1689-90, a severe plague epidemic broke out in Bombay and most of the European settlers succumbed to it. The Siddi of Janjira attacked in full force. Rustomji Dorabji Patel, a trader and the son of the city's first Parsi settler, successfully defeated the
Siddi with the help of the Kolis and saved Bombay .

Gerald Aungier, Governor of Bombay built the Bombay Castle , an area that is even today referred to as Fort. He also constituted the Courts of law. He brought Gujarati traders, Parsi shipbuilders, Muslim and Hindu manufacturers from the mainland and settled them in Bombay .

It was during a period of four decades that the city of Bombay took shape. Reclamation was done to plug the breach at Worli and Mahalakshmi, Hornby Vellard was built in 1784. The Sion Causeway connecting Bombay to Salsette was built in 1803. Colaba Causeway connecting Colaba island to Bombay was built in 1838. A causeway connecting Mahim and Bandra was built in 1845.
Lady Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the wife of the First Baronet Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy donated Rs 1, 57,000 to meet construction costs of the causeway. She donated Rs. 1,00,000 at first.. When the project cost escalated and money ran out half way through she donated Rs 57,000 again to ensure that the vital causeway was completed. Lady Jamsetjee stipulated that no toll would ever be charged for those using the causeway. Today Mumbaikars have to pay Rs 75 to use the Bandra-Worli Sealink, connecting almost the same two islands. Sir J J Hospital was also built by Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy.

The shipbuilding Wadia family of Surat was brought to Bombay by the British. Jamshedji Wadia founded the Bombay Port Trust and built the Princess Dock in 1885 and the Victoria Dock and the Mereweather Dry Docks in 1891. Alexandra Dock was built in 1914.

A Gujarati civil engineer supervised the building of the Gateway of India . The Tatas made Bombay their headquarters and gave it the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel and India 's first civilian airlines, Air India . The Godrejs gave India its first vegetarian soap.

Cowasji Nanabhai Daver established Bombay 's first cotton mill, 'The Bombay Spinning Mills' in 1854. By 1915, there were 83 textile mills in Bombay largely owned by Indians.

This brought about a financial boom in Bombay . Although the mills were owned by Gujaratis, Kutchis, Parsis and Marwaris, the workforce was migrant Mahrashtrians from rural Maharashtra . Premchand Roychand, a prosperous Gujarati broker founded the Bombay Stock Exchange. Premchand Roychand donated Rs 2,00,000 to build the Rajabai Tower in 1878.

Muslim, Sindhi and Punjabi migrants have also contributed handsomely to Mumbai.

Apart from its original inhabitants, the Kolis, everyone else in Mumbai, are immigrants.

When the Shiv Sena came to power in 1993, under the guise of reverting to the original name they replaced Bombay with Mumbai.

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