It Is Raining Discounts! At Mushrooming Online Indian Shopping Sites!

There is a flood of online discount shopping sites in India, with more new and attractive sites being launched every few weeks. Very attractive discounts are available on a large variety of items like Readymade garments and accessories, Beauty and Personal care items, Perfumes, Health and Fitness articles, Sports goods, Outdoor gear, Luggage, Books, Magazines, Cameras, Computers, Computer accessories, Mobile phones, Flowers, Cakes, Sweets, Gifts, Televisions, Music systems, Music and Movie Discs, every category of Home appliance, Home décor equipment, Kitchenware, Office supplies, Baby care products, Toys and Games and of course many more items. This apart, discount coupons for Health Checkups, Diagnostic centers, Spas, Restaurants, Hotels, Resorts and Vacations are available.

I have tried a few such sites like flipkart.com, fashionandyou.com, amigobuy.com, shoppingindiatimes.com, snapdeal.com, 99labels.com and I am quite happy with my purchases, especially with the books I procure from flipkart at very attractive prices and within 2 or 3 days of my ordering, at no extra shipping charges! Then there is one more site I would like to mention: zomato.com, which helps me to choose a restaurant in the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad by cuisine or restaurant name or location and view their menus; so I know well in advance what we can order and at what price. All very helpful and beneficial sites indeed!

The mushrooming number of online shopping sites is an indication of the rapidly growing ecommerce in India. And the competition among these sites would result in heavier discounts and better deals on more merchandise, all to our advantage, the growing online shoppers!

VahRehVah! India’s formidable batting line-up and bowling wizards! Five consecutive memorable Test results!

VahRehVah! (Appalause / Appreciation!) India’s formidable batting line-up and bowling wizards for five consecutive Test defeats! VahRehVah! Indian Bradmans, Master blasters, Walls, Bowling Wizards, chasers of centuries, achievers of world records, innovators of Helicopter shots and Gilli Dhanda shots, pet subjects of Indian media and gossip and symbols of all that is great, greater and greatest in the world of Indian Games, Sports and Athletics. In today’s Test Match with Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground, our great top order batsmen decided to give a chance to our mighty tail enders to win the match for India. And the tail enders adopted the strategy of hitting sixes, to quickly win the match for us and set a record for the fastest Test win and a victory with most sixes.

And the last ball commentary sounded as follows:

“Lyon to Yadav, OUT! he goes for another big one, but this time he hasn't got enough on the shot, and Warner takes a leaping, scrambling catch at Long On just inside the rope, running to his right, throws the ball in the air and Australia celebrate!”

Always love and appreciate our great Cricketers and the excellent Team!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,

And behold, everything is softer & more beautiful!

Wish you all A Very Happy Christmas!

May it bring Peace and Joy for Everyone!

Please play the video below,

To see Santa Claus at our house!

Christmas Eve 2011 - Photos with Santa!:

Right thinking Russia would never ban our globally respected Bhagavad Gita.

It is very unfortunate that the Srimad Bhagavad Gita has been termed by some in Russia as extremist literature spreading social discord and the accusation has gone to Court. Ever since Lord Krishna preached the Bhagavad Gita and Sage Vedavyasa wrote about it in the epic Mahabharata; in ancient times, Bhagavad Gita has always remained a highly respected eternal message of spiritual wisdom, not just for Hindus but to all Indians and scholars all over the world and whoever have read or heard it. With great veneration; the title of immense respect, Srimad is affixed to Bhagavad Gita and it is addressed as Srimad Bhagavad Gita. In all Indian Courts of Law, Hindus are asked to take the oath of speaking truth by putting their hand on Gita, because after doing so nobody would dare disrespect the wisdom that has come from Lord Krishna. You can read about Bhagavad Gita and its importance and greatness easily from various sources on internet. You may please see a few thoughts and comments on Gita by prominent men from India and abroad like Mahatma Gandhi in the second photograph; above this article.

Bhagavad Gita which is in Sanskrit was first translated into English in the year 1785 and similarly into every other major language in the world by different authors. Thousands of books written by different authors in different languages have been published in India and abroad. “Bhagavad-Gita As It Is” - by Sri. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is an excellent work and a widely read book in India and all over the world, in different languages. It is the Russian translation of this book which is being sought for ban by some Russians. The Russian Court has today suspended its verdict and postponed the ruling to 28th December 2011.

I hope good sense and wisdom will prevail and the Russian Court will dismiss the Gita ban move.

You may please click on the video below to listen to Lord Krishna’s short - Gita narration to Prince Arjuna. This is from the English movie – Mahabharata, directed by Peter Brook: 

Book Lovers Flock to Hyderabad Book Fair!

I visited the Hyderabad Book Fair today along with my grandniece, Ch. Sudhiksha. I was greatly surprised to see a huge crowd at the book fair because I usually find very few people at the regular bookstores available at Hyderabad. Though being in a large bookstore and browsing and selecting from a huge collection is a great feeling, I too am not visiting the bookstores much these days because of the attractive discounts available over internet ordering, of course from a limited choice.

Sudhiksha was very happy to be amidst so many book stalls and books for children. She picked up a few books as she followed me patiently through some selected stalls where I bought a few for myself. While there is a general discount of 10% on all purchases, there is a higher rate of discount on some books. For instance I bought a book titled “IRIS – Practical Photography Book” priced Rs. 1500 for Rs.199!

This book fair “The 26th Hyderabad Book Fair” was inaugurated at Peoples Plaza Grounds, Necklace Road, on 15th November. It is an eleven day fair and will go on until 25th December 2011, from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM on weekdays and from 12:00 Noon to 9:00 PM during weekends. There are over 250 Stalls from leading publishers and book houses with a very wide variety of books.

I have visited on a Saturday, and due to the heavy holiday rush it was not possible to go through most of the shops. So I am planning to go again, to pick few more precious books! on a week day, early afternoon before the evening – ‘book loving, huge crowds’ descend. I hope everyone in Hyderabad is aware of this book fair.    

“I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.” – Jorge Luis Borges.

Is today “Remember Afzal Guru Day”?

Is today “Remember Afzal Guru Day”? Yes, because it is the tenth anniversary of his attack on our Parliament! The media is busy covering him and debating his mercy petition. The parliamentarians have spared sometime today to pay tribute to the brave martyrs and heroes who protected them and the Parliament. Concerned countrymen are angry that a traitor and terrorist is not being punished.

Others in the country are perhaps watching the events as a Television serial. Looking at the way things are this Tele-serial and the other Tele-serial involving Azmal Kasab will go on for a very longtime. One must have patience to see all the interesting turns of law, administration, corruption, politics, elections, votes and so on and some day those alive may be able to see the climax scenes. And hopefully the end will make us proud of our country.

I don’t like it when people say we are like cats afraid of mice!     

To safeguard my house, it is my right to reprimand my inefficient and stealing servants.

A letter to M/s. Indian Numbskull Company:

You are a corrupt, irresponsible, deceitful, indecisive, inefficient and a greedy; Company. It is unfortunate that we have entered into a contract with you to be our servants and take care of our house for five years.

Do always remember that you are our servants, SERVANTS, S E R V A N T S, including your Chairman & Managing Director. We have every right to criticize your clumsy talk and your innumerable misdeeds. We shall respect and treat you well; only as long as you serve us sincerely and well. Just because we have given you power to watch our house does not mean you have become our masters. Remember that we can kick you out the moment this five year contract terminates.

As usual at the end of your term you will come begging to us with false promises and fall at our feet for extension. Decades of your dirty tricks to enter our house as servants and then misrule and boss over us will soon come to an end. We are fed up with mismanagement by you. We shall then surely neck out you and your fit for nothing Chairman and Managing Director and all the buffoons in your Company and of course your upcoming leader, so called super human being.

Don’t you dare tell us not to criticize you. With the power we have entrusted you, you have the guts to tell us not to use the social networking channels to point a finger at your never ending mistakes. Don’t act like dictators and villains and harm the interests of your masters. We reprimand you for your mistakes, correct yourselves or you will be out of business.

The wise world is not prepared to listen to villains like you. And today’s papers are full of such news:

Oh! Goddess Lalitha! Thou art fond of Mandara flowers! And they are trying to reach out to you from our house!

Hibiscus flowers are called Mandara Puvvulu in Telugu. These beautiful flowers are considered very dear to Gods and Goddesses. In Sri Lalitha Sahasranama Stotram – the sacred Hindu text or mantra, Goddess Lalitha that is Goddess Durga, Goddess Parvati is addressed as Mandara Kusumapriya, meaning one who adores Mandara flowers. What prompted me to write this article is the way the Hibiscus plants in our house have bloomed and seem to be reaching out to the Gods in the sky. The colourful and pretty plants and flowers can be seen in the accompanying photographs.

Hibiscus flowers are also popularly known as Shoe flowers and China Roses locally. We have four Hibiscus plants in our house which give us Red, Pink and White flowers and the fourth one; flowers with Red cluster of petals, more than the usual five. You can see all these varieties of flowers in the attached pictures, the White flowers are at the back and appear small.

You may click on the following link to see an animated view of one of the four plants, with over thirty flowers and listen to the chanting of Lalitha Sahasranamam:

SRI LALITHA SAHASRANAMAM - A VIDEO: