Inhale your Kitchen!

Your kitchen is has abundant resources. Things that we use in our day to day life, for cooking, garnishing, drinking, they all have certain capabilities that we are in a way aware of. Lets say cucumber which makes an excellent snack as well as a face pack or turmeric which apart from adding color to the curry, als ahas antiseptic properties which have been used for years to heal from within. There still are many inherent properties that we are not aware of. One of them is the aroma of the fruits, spices, vegetables around us and their direct impact in uplifting our moods. So while you enter your kitchen for the first glass of water in the morning, reach out for everyday things that can uplift your mood.

Apple

As you cut open an apple while you have your breakfast, deeply inhale the fresh aroma. Same goes with oranges. The citrus flavor of these fruits will jump start your day once you inhale them and devour it. Active ingredients such as cirtal and limonene in oranges, grapefruits and lemons also refresh your mind. You can even add a slice of either of the fruits to a glass of water to keep sipping through the day.

Ginger

Ginger has been known for its medicinal properties. For digestive problems, cut ginger in thin strips and add to water(room temperature), you can even boil it and make some ginger-lemon tea. Ginger when eaten raw with ginger as pickle also aids digestion. Now coming to its aromatic powers. When feeling low, stressed out and tired, just the whiff of this root can elevate your senses, energizing you almost instantly. It is both fiery and fortifying and is effective against nausea.

Basil

Hoil basil (tulsi) is called the mother medicine of nature. Just add it to tea for that cold and running nose or have chopped tomatoes seasoned with basil on that pasta for that nice cosy feeling. The methyl chavicol in basil acts as a nerve tonic. Tulsi is also said to have properties that increase concentration and memory.

Cinnamon

The pungent aroma of cinnamon is unmistakable, usually evoking dreams of hot cinnamon rolls from the oven. Cinnamon prevents nervous tension, improves complexion and memory. A pinch of cinnamon powder mixed with honey does the trick if taken regularly every night for these purposes. Just the fragrance of it will make you alert and take away exhaustion. What more if you apply cinnamon oil, it will keep insects at bay. If taken regularly after child birth, it acts as a natural birth control. If taken half a teaspoon daily, it lowers LDL cholesterol. A warm and stimulating feeling passes over you when you sniff cinnamon. Brew with tulsi for some nice, heart-warming chai.

Coffee beans

The aroma is not only a wake-up call on lazy mornings, it also cures olfactory fatigue. This is why store attendants make you smell coffee beans while trying out different fragrances. If the heady smell of onions or garlic is overpowering you, clear your head by just putting your nose to the coffee jar. Best for those suffering from nausea and morning sickness.

Tea

In contrast with coffee, tea leaves spread peace and calm over you. Brew a cup of green tea to help a heavy meal go down.

Cardamom

The terpinyl acetate and cineol are responsible for the sweet, spicy fragrance that warms you and invigorates your mind. You are suddenly so alert with the aroma of hot biryani.

Clove

The eugenol and eugenyl acetate stimulates the mind and energises it. It acts as a soothing agent for colds, flu and fatigue. Make a tiny pillow stuffed with clove and cinnamon to help clear your nasal congestion. Clove oil is also known to soothe tooth aches… To Read More Click Here

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Akki meets his match in Kane

Bollywood’s khiladi No. 1 Akshay Kumar met a bigger khiladi — in size, at least — in his Mumbai home yesterday morning. WWE superstar Kane, an idol of Akki’s son Aarav, visited the actor’s family, and the six-year-old was almost sleepless the night before, overcome with excitement.

Kane turned up in jeans and a white shirt, looking most unlike The Big Red Monster he is in the wrestling arena. Only his size, 323 pounds, and imposing height, 7 feet, set him apart. Akshay wore a long-sleeved T-shirt. “I told him to cover up because he’d never be able to compete with Kane,” said wife Twinkle. Akki later changed into jeans and a white shirt, too, so they would be perfectly matched. Incidentally, they are both 42. Kane was born in April 1967. Akshay was born in September. Plus, they share a liking for Jackie Chan.

While in Delhi, Kane had expressed his admiration for Akshay. “I believe he’s the Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarznegger of India,” he said to HT City. The actor was no less impressed by his guest. Before Kane arrived, his flight delayed, Akki was on the phone, talking about the ‘chokeslam’, Kane’s signature move.

A nice, big breakfast
The star couple prepared a big meal to welcome him — porridge, bacon and sausage, stuffed omelette, aloo parathas (served as “potato pancakes”), mango, litchi and mango shake. Kane, who loves pizza and generally has a protein shake for breakfast, tucked in happily. “He likes protein shakes, I prefer mango shakes,” grinned Akshay. “He has Myopax, I have ma ka parathas.”

The awestruck kids — Aarav and his little cousin, Twinkle’s sister Rinke’s four-year-old daughter — were waiting patiently for their share of Kane’s attention. But when the time came to tackle the man mountain, they took fright.

They ran into the next room when Twinkle told Aarav that Kane would chokeslam him. They were not put off wrestling, though. The sounds coming from the other room convinced their parents that they were recreating a ring inside. A long while later, Akshay’s secretary Zenobia emerged, all ruffled. She admitted to being tortured. Kane was amused. “When my wife’s daughters were young they, too, thought I was neat,” he recalled with a smile. Not so scary, after all...Click Here To Read MoreDo Visit www.monadarling.com/vibes

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Danny Boyle: The Messiah!

Danny Boyle is intoxicated! With the success of his film Slumdog Millionaire, he is finding it hard to let go of Mumbai. He has proclaimed about his love for the city earlier too, but now he is helping with all that he can to help two Indian filmmakers complete their dream projects about this city of dreams!

Shekar Kapur’s Paani and Anurag Kashyap’s unnamed project, both are getting produced by Danny Boyle. Danny has earlier helped Anurag Kashyap with Dev D’s shoot in London; in fact he even helped Anurag buy a camera for the shoot.

Kapur’s long pending project Paani has finally set to roll. The film was stuck due to financial constraints and when Shekhar discussed the subject in detail, Danny could not resist the desire to produce the film.

No points for guessing the subject of the films. While Shekhar Kapur’s Paani is a futuristic film about the scarcity of water in Mumbai, Anurag Kashyap does not want to divulge the theme of his movie as yet. Danny in the meanwhile is busy playing messiah to both; the two movies were stuck due to financial constraints.

Apart from these two, the Oscar-winner filmmaker is also turning another novel into a film. This time it is the critically acclaimed– Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta. Danny has already bought the rights of the book and this travelogue cum autobiography which delves into the interconnected worlds of Mumbai’s slum-dwellers, dancing girls, underworld dons and Hindu radicals. This could be another biggie by Boyle. Click Here To Read More

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All You Need To Know About Pre Paid Credit Cards

When you do not have a credit history or the bad credit report is proving a big hassle to get a fair credit card, you could try a prepaid credit card.

With a bad credit rating, one could face regular rejections at various credit companies. Now I’m sure you are very aware of the benefits that a credit card provides. Right from hotel reservations, car rentals, airline flights, emergencies to even groceries. The only hitch is that one needs to make monthly payments in time, or else the risk of going negative in credit would always be around. With prepaid credit card although you would not have to bother about all this, however, there are a lot of limitations.

What is a Prepaid Credit card?

To open a prepaid credit card, one just needs to make a deposit in the account like in a checking or savings account. Once this amount registers on the account, the applicant receives a prepaid credit card. The card can be used in the same way as the normal credit card.

Advantage

The biggest advantage is that one can only use the money that one really has in the account, so no problem of going overboard when it comes to spending. Once the money is exhausted, the user cannot spend any more until he or she replenishes the prepaid credit card account. Also there are no bills, or interest charges. The principle is similar to that of using a debit card that a bank issues in connection with a savings or checking account.

The biggest advantage is that it’s very secure when it comes to identity theft. Your social security number is not connected to a prepaid credit card; you simply load it with cash and use only what you have on it. If someone finds your lost card, they can’t use it to follow any paper trail to your vital information. However, if you want to be able to live without your social security number being a big red target for thieves, you can use prepaid credit cards to do so.

Limitations

So now that you can only use what you have in your account, you’ll have to pay a fee to establish an account. Although the fee amount varies from bank to bank, this generally varies from $5 to $20. Also every time you pay additional fees every time more cash in your account. Another limitation of a prepaid credit card is that the owner cannot use it to pay for a monthly Internet subscription, or to make a purchase on monthly installment payment terms. Businesses that offer such arrangements are usually averse to allowing the use of prepaid credit cards. This is because of the possibility that a prepaid credit card holder will have no money in the account when the bills are due for payment. These cards will not help in building any credit history whatsoever.

All said and done, a prepaid credit card is still a useful way out for those with bad credit ratings. It is a fact that one needs a credit card to get by in today’s world, and a prepaid credit card does offer most of the advantages of a credit card. Even the limitations can work to one’s advantages, because they equal better financial control. In fact, using a prepaid credit card often cures all the inconsistencies in spending habits that lead to bad credit rating in the first place!

A variant of the prepaid credit card is the student version. With these one can allocate a certain amount of money for credit charging to one’s child who is studying at college within or outside the country. Many parents find it a very useful tool for allocating a pre-set allowance to their children.

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Naveen Andrews : Sexiest Survivalist

Naveen Andrews Sexiest Survivalist

British actor Naveen Andrews first attracted international attention as Kip, Juliette Binoche's Sikh boyfriend in The English Patient (1996). A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Andrews got his start on television, starring in the popular -- to say nothing of racy -- 1993 miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia. The same year that he appeared in the English patient, the actor portrayed a haughty king in Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, a film whose content inspired no shortage of controversy in India.
He subsequently worked in a variety of films on both sides of the Atlantic, including Blessed Art Thou which had its premiere at the 2000 Sundance Festival. In 1993 this talented actor was nominated by the Evening Standard Drama Awards as Most Promising Newcomer for his part in Wild West. For the BBC's The Buddha of Suburbia, he was nominated for Best Actor at the San Remo Film Festival


PERSONAL LIFE:
At the age of 16, whilst at Emanuel School he fell in love with his mathematics teacher, Geraldine Feakins, with whom he had a son, Jaisal, born in 1992. Andrews was quoted in an interview later on saying that "his father would call him a prostitute" albeit being famous at his school "for going out with a math’s teacher".

Andrews is now in a relationship with actress Barbara Hershey, who is 21 years his senior, and they live in Los Angeles. The couple separated briefly in 2005 and, during that time, Andrews had a son, Naveen Joshua, with another woman, Elena Eustache. He and Hershey later reconciled.
Naveen has had a thing for older women from the beginning, "Older women know who they are, and that makes them more beautiful than younger ones. I like to see a face with some character. I want to see lines. I want to see wrinkles."


NAVEEN ANDREWS ON HIS ADDICTION:
Andrews is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. While he was building his acting career in London, Andrews developed a strong affinity towards drugs and alcohol. His addictions threatened to destroy his budding career, and so he had no other choice but to seek rehabilitation. Andrews was forced to move across the Atlantic to America to seek rehabilitation and get his life back on track. His efforts were successful fortunately, he was able to overcome his addictions, but claimed that London invokes many agonizing reminders of his past lifestyle. Lost star Naveen Andrews has revealed how a drug addiction ruined his life for two years. The actor said: "There was a danger of me copping it… I lost two years to heroin."I was able to work; I don't know how I did it. You can take incredible abuse and still work… I collapsed on a job because of booze."Andrews also reveals how he was warned of his behaviour while filming The English Patient.
"The turning point was I drove my son when I was drunk and he was scared, and that's when I decided to go into rehab in LA," he said. Looking back he says, Let's just say I was really bad. Now I have grown into myself. I have changed.”

ON LOST:
This talented actor with the expressive eyes has continued to work steadily through out his career, and gained a role in the popular television series "Lost". In 2004, Andrews was cast as Sayid Jarrah on Lost, though he first thought that the initial premise was "limited at best and dreadful at worst." People crashing on an island - how many possible permutations can you get out of that?" However, the character quickly became a fan favorite. In 2006 he was voted one of People Magazine's "World's Most Beautiful People". He was also voted Sexiest Survivalist in 2005 by People Magazine.
Naveen has been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role in "Lost" and has earned much praise from critics.
Andrews is one of the more outspoken members of the cast in regards to the show itself. He has not been afraid to criticize the show, especially in regards to Season 3 stating his belief that without an end date, the producers had to stretch out the story because they didn't know how many episodes they would have, due to the culture of program production in the United States. He believes that this reduced the quality during that season on the potential short life-span of characters on "Lost", Andrew says, "I think we all had that as a concern. That monster there is like a producer's dream, isn't it? Any one of us could get bumped off at any time and we're all aware of it. It keeps you on your toes."
Andrew also plays the guitar and sings.” I’ve been playing the guitar since I was twelve. If I had any other job apart from acting, that’s probably what I would have done.” Click Here To Read More

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Renounce Life and Attain Bliss Bhagavad Gita – Synopsis of chapters 4 to 6

As we saw in Chapter 3, Lord Krishna advices Arjuna to fight in full knowledge of the Supreme. In the 4th chapter he moves on to explain what this transcendental knowledge is.

If sacrifice of one’s material possessions is not directed towards spiritual realization, then such sacrifice becomes simply material. But one who performs such sacrifices with a purely spiritual objective, or in devotional service, that is perfect sacrifice.

Krishna glorifies transcendental knowledge and requests Arjuna to arm himself with this knowledge which burns all sinful reactions to ashes and fight. Arjuna is confused; he asks the Lord whether the renunciation of work or work in devotion is superior.

One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Thus, outwardly performing all actions but inwardly renouncing their fruits, wise men, purified by the fire of transcendental knowledge, attain peace, detachment, forbearance, spiritual vision & bliss.

The Lord proceeds to explain how one can detach himself from the fruits of his activities. He states that when one stands fast in Krishna consciousness, and neither grieves nor rejoices upon achieving something unpleasant or pleasant reaches the transcendental stage. One should abandon all material desires and engage his body, mind & soul in the service of Lord. The mind is most difficult to control and one has to conquer it otherwise lust, anger, avarice and illusion deviate him. He further explains that controlling ones mind is possible through the practice of yoga, with firm faith & determination.

In order to practice yoga one has to sit in a secluded place and meditate on the Paramatma or the Inner soul. One should hold one’s body, neck and head erect and stare steadily at the tip of nose with an un-agitated and subdued mind. One should regulate the habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work, and free oneself from material desires. Like a lamp in the windless place, one has to steadily meditate on the Paramatma with a controlled mind. If the mind wanders, one should bring it back under the control of the self. The natural boundless transcendental pleasure is the highest perfection or ultimate goal of Yoga.

Lord Krishna further states that a person who attains this transcendental knowledge sees everybody as a part and parcel of Krishna. A person who knows Krishna as supreme attains peace from the pangs of material miseries. Click Here To Read More

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“Kismat Connection A South Asian Bridal Extravaganza”

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