Bollywood’s first lady turns out to be a design queen

Yes, I am talking about Gauri Khan, the first lady of Bollywood and wife of Bollywood Badshah Shahrukh Khan. The first lady of Bollywood Gauri Khan was born as Gauri Chhibber to Savita Chhibber and Colonel Ramesh Chandra Chhibber on 8^th October 1970. She spent most of her salad days in the suburb of Rajendra Nagar in New Delhi. Gauri’s schooling was held at Loreto Convent and later she graduated from Lady Sriram College in History.

Gauri Khan met Shahrukh long back in 1984 and tied the nuptial bond on 25^th October 1991 much before success kissed her husband’s feet. They are happily married with three children Aryan Khan, Suhana Khan and Abram Khan.

Gauri Khan apart from being a celebrity wife maintains her profile as a film producer, interior designer and a costume designer. She is also the co-founder of film production and distribution company Red Chillies along with Shahrukh Khan.

In year 2002, Gauri Khan debuted as a producer in Bollywood with Farah Khan’s directorial debut Main Hoon na and continues to be the prime producer of the distribution company Red Chillies Entertainment. The film was the second highest grosser of the year at the box office. Not only this Sharukh’s wife Gauri Khan made guest appearance in her another production venture Om Shanti Om. Since then Gauri has produced seven films in which Shahrukh was in a lead role.

Some time back in 90’s Gauri Khan used to host a weekly Hindi music countdown show called Oye for the music channel MTV India. Gauri Khan is also the face of a fashion line called Aftershock.

But Gauri Khan the first Lady of Bollywood was destined to be a design queen. Gauri Khan at first had an inclination towards interior designing as a hobby and did her Bandra bungalow, Mannat as per her taste for designing. However, hobby was soon followed by  professional call when in 2010 Gauri Khan ventured into interior designing. Gauri wife of actor Shahrukh Khan partnered with her close friend Sussane (Hrithik Roshan’s wife) to design interior designing projects together. For the very first time Sussane Roshan and Gauri Khan both worked in collaboration with each other on a commercial project in the same year on an enormous 60 thousand square feet private abode.

Next in line was the launch of Gauri Khan’s individual line of furniture in the year 2012 where she again partnered with the Roshan’s home store in Mumbai known as The Charcoal Project. In an exclusive interview with Vogue magazine Gauri Khan stated that she choose interior design because of her flair for art. Gauri also stated that she started early as an artist during her school days. She used to draw various sketches then and continued to do so as a hobby for many years. Gauri Khan feels that this is where her designs come from.

The design queen Gauri Khan got her maiden brand new interior store Design Cell inaugurated in Mumbai by her husband Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan on 17^th February this year. The journey for the First Lady as a designer has just begun and knows no limit. It seems sky is the limit for this design queen.    

Grey

Flora, fauna, bubbles

Out of the sparkling

blue sprinkler, cold to touch.

Grey cover up above

the sky-kissing buildings

A pyramid of olfactory

In contrast to the red…

Black! Is it the color of our white

senses or a mix of both that is GREY!!!

Numb are my senses,

Numb … grey above is the sky

Unfolding the mystery of black night to come…

The fellow birds chirping to call the fellow birds

time to go to their hearth.

A LADY IN WHITE

I am traveling in a bus and I notice an old women about an age of sixty wearing a white sari and it was obvious that she was a widow .She was a simple lady ;very calm and gentle. May be, she was a part of some missionary organization as she handed out a leaf-let on how to achieve inner peace at soul. She herself dressed in white was a symbol of peace. She started giving sermons on how to take sound decisions in life to the person sitting next to her which showed her concern for others. She was a very motherly and caring person as was obvious by her behavior. It seemed that she didn't have anyone in the name of family .May be she was abandoned by her family in this old age. When her stop came she became very excited like a child; may be she was there to see someone after a long time.  

The plight over nursery admissions in Delhi

24th January 2011 ... the day i held the sunshine in my arms ... my first child lovingly named 'Sanskar'. But little did we know that life would be at a turmoil after three years for all three of us or i must say for all those who are struggling to get their child admitted in nursery that too in Delhi- the national capital of India. It   is really heartening to say that the kindergartens whom we lovingly caressed are merely reduced to a bunch of lots with the lottery system chosen in the national capital for nursery admissions.

No respite!  as per the point system one gets 70 for living in the radius of 8 kms, the other 20 points are for children having sibling in the same school, another 5 points for transfer cases and 5 points allocated for having parents who are alumni from the same school.

Now, people like us get 70 points for living in 8 km radius. But is it destiny or is it our fault to have begotten our first child who can't possibly have an older sibling or who doesn't have parents as alumni  (matter of fact only some school are old enough to have child's parent as alumni) or is it our fault that we are not transferred from elsewhere( off late some cases of fraudulent transfer cases were  reported due to which 5 points to the transfer cases have been waved off). Good news or bad news leaves me in tandem.

The status quo-  we are heading for a fresh round of lottery for those securing 70 points a midst those who had fraudulent transfer cases (now stands equal to the 70 points candidates) resulting in more of candidates having 70 points. Now, that's kick-start competition for these children even before they step into the world of competitiveness and shocker for would be parents. You better gear up!

Haiku

Bombastic attitude to shelve upon

Scintillating beauty to dwelve upon

Oh dear! What took me so long

Haiku

Smoggy night to walk,

Dew drops on my face so numb

What a time to come!

Railway Budget 2014 amidst vote on Account and 72 new trains

Ahead of the general elections the United Progressive Alliance government kept the passenger and freight fares unchanged in the interim railway budget 2014-15. After presenting a vote-on-account the difficult task of fixing the state-run monopoly's damaged finances has been left to the next government.

Mallikarjun Kharge, who took charge of the railway ministry about eight months back, has announced 72 new trains. The railway minister has also promised to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in his maiden budget that exhibited a worsening of railway finances.

This interim budget had direct effect on the shares of companies that manufacture equipment for the railways. Shares of the companies such as Kalindi Rail, Kernex Microsystems BSE -8.71 %, Texmaco Rail Engineering and Titagarh Wagons BSE -6.35 % fell by 1-4% after the budget speech because of lack of any core investment.

Unlike what is seen in an election year that the outgoing government presents an interim budget that allows the country to run until a new government comes to power. It is by convention that no major policy announcements are made in an interim budget. But Finance minister P Chidambaram is all set to present his vote on account to Parliament on February 17.

According to Kharge the Indian Railways just doesn't have enough infrastructure to do what it needs to do. Inadequate financial resources is a key constraint to railways following the desired path stated Kharge.

The Railway Minister highlighted the achievement of the railways under the second term of the UPA, buffing over the fact that passenger fares were only raised in January after a nine-year gap even though expenses were rising, which barely left the railways with any surplus for investment in capacity, expansion and passenger amenities.

 

As stated the operating ratio, a measure of expenses as a percentage of revenue, is seen deteriorating to 90.8% in 2013-14 in comparison with a budgeted 87.8% and 90.2% in 2012-13. Kharge has set a target to improve this to 89.8% in 2014-15.

"By a single stroke we cannot solve all the problems that have been infecting the Indian railway system over the decades," said minister of state for railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, adding that it faced "heaps of problems".

The railways sought over Rs 30,223 crore from the general budget and proposed Rs 12,800 crore of market borrowing to fund the Rs 64,305-crore annual plan in 2014-15, which was up by just 8.3% over the revised Rs 59,359 crore in the last fiscal.

As per the sources Arunendra Kumar, chairman of the Railway Board said "This is a zero extra fare budget. We are seeking to generate revenue by getting more passengers and loading more"

The railways is planning to achieve this aim through improved ticket checking system and taking help of IT to improve sales. As accounts for freight, an empty flow discount and higher loads on all routes has been proposed. The discount will be applicable on wagons that go back empty.

As far as figures are concerned the railway budget has accounted an increase of 49.7 million tonnes in freight traffic target over the current year's revised target of about 1,052 million tonnes.

The railway budget expects a recovery in the economy to boost receipts 14.4% to Rs 1.60 lakh crore and contain the expenditure increase at 14% despite rising prices. There is a hope that a surplus of Rs 10,538 crore would be generated as compared with Rs 7,943 crore expected in the current fiscal.

The Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge also announced 17 new premium trains, 39 express trains and 10 passenger trains, extending the services to Katra, the base camp for the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kharge glossed Indian Railways' achievements under the UPA, but the yester budget showed that the railways- the country's lifeline was barely able to meet the ends that has led to compromising situation of investing in expansion, safety and convenience.

Nightmares

Much despair it has caused

Oh! these nightmares

Of mine

Bringing bad omen

Nightmares they are

Of serpents crawling

Nightmare of life before birth

Nightmare of sorrow and of grief

Though I am blessed in this life

But what about the nightmares

Of past life

Oh god! You have blessed me

with the choicest of your

blessings though

But still I have to go a long way to overcome

my nightmares.

To conquer the deadliest of the deadly

nightmare I have to overcome my fear

The fear of tomorrow the truth of today

Oh! These nightmares of mine

To overcome thine I have to

conquer my mind

So that no more thy effect is on

My mind.

Oh! These nightmares of mine.   

The gen-4 Honda New City

The all-new generation four Honda City made its World Premiere in Delhi. Honda City’s fourth generation model, is all set to go on sale in January 2014. This will mark the introduction of the 1.5 litre diesel engine in Honda City. The new Honda City will also be available with a 1.5 litre i-VTEC petrol engine.

Ever since its launch in 1998, Honda City has sold over 4.3 lakh units. Maintaining its brand success Honda City has reached an iconic status while dominating the premium mid-sized sedan car range in India. Over the past few years, however, the competition from diesel powered competitive range has made it tough for Honda City and the need to introduce a diesel version was now required. The 1.5 i-DTEC engine made its Indian debut in the Honda Amaze earlier this year, it was expected that this state-of-the-art engine would find its way under the hood of the new Honda City too though in different manner.

With the introduction of new City, Honda is looking forward at regaining its leadership in the premium mid-sized sedan segment in India. The new Honda City seems to have the styling, fit, finish and features to make it class apart. But the million dollar question pertaining to the price of the car will only be known at the time of its market launch, however it is expected that Honda will have an aggressive price strategy.

The new Honda City which is developed by the Honda R&D centre in Tochigi, Japan is set to be sold in 60 countries. With a high level of Indian feedback incorporated; India remains a key market for Honda, considering the fact that the company is looking at the new Honda City to contribute over 1.5 million units to the target sales of 6 million units by fiscal year 2016-2017.

The new Honda City has an evolved design over its earlier design. It now measures 4440mm in length, 1695mm in width and 1495mm in height. While these dimensions are almost identical to the earlier model, the new car’s wheel base has been increased by 50mm to 2600mm, which has resulted in exceptional seating space for five.

Further to that, Honda has assembled the car with a plethora of new functions including a start/stop button, touchscreen A/C controls, in dash car entertainment system with eight speakers, rear view camera and steering mounted controls.

Nevertheless, the new Honda City has gone a level ahead beating its own game and is all set to dominate the mid-sized sedan segment. Though the pre-booking of the sedan has started the future of the new Honda City remains uncertain till the price is revealed.

Microsoft Windows 8.1 review

Microsoft has released Windows 8.1, a majorly improved update of its common scenario of its fast forward thinking.

If listed, the list of changes that Microsoft has made to Windows 8.1 don't seem all that big. The app tiles are still there. For a change the Start button is back, but not exactly the way it used to be.

Until you start using the new OS you can’t trace the huge benefits of little tweaks that are a part of the latest version of Windows. The return of the Start button on the task bar of the desktop is one big example of this. The main function of the start button now is to call up the start screen instead of hiding a series of nested menus. But if you are using the new Windows 8.1 version in a desktop mode the start button won’t take you out of the desktop. Instead a semi-transparent version of the series of app tiles which Microsoft calls Modern UI will come on the top of the desktop to choose an app. This feature allows you to organize the Start screen. You can make all the icons come together and label them for desktop apps in Modern UI. 

So, in short the new Start button in Windows 8.1 version has retained all the functionality of Windows 7 with a more appealing feel of the modern Windows 8.1 version.

The major change in Windows 8.1 is the expanded "snap view" feature. It enables multiple apps on the screen at the same time.

The all new Windows 8.1 enables you to run up to eight apps side by side as compared to just two in Windows 8. But it is true in case of high resolution monitors on the surface still only two are possible.

In Windows 8.1 snap view will launch automatically in certain situation like if you are reading an e-mail and want the browser too you need not exit the e-mail app. Instead the screen will get divided into two and Internet Explorer will pop up next to the e-mail app.

Microsoft has tried to integrate its services tightly through Windows 8. For example, if you are searching for a particular musician using the Bing search app, links and play buttons to that artist's songs and albums will get integrated into the results as well.  

Also, a smart option to answer your Skype call without unlocking your computer has been integrated in the new Windows 8.1 version.

The Windows 8.1 is not just about tweaks to big conceptual ideas which makes it ideal. Microsoft has paid attention to every little technical detail as well.

Like if you have more than one monitor Windows 8.1 will make sure you can independently adjust scaling for each one so that text, icons and other visual elements are sized to the optimum and proportioned on each display.

Another instance is the Start Screen organization. Naming the groups of tiles gives the screen an added sense of order. Instead of pinning each and every new installed app to the Start Screen, Windows 8.1 now adds new apps to a larger list of apps one menu level below. That helps cut down on the chaos on the Start Screen, making it exclusively about the apps that matter to the user. It also enables the possibility of moving the entire group of tiles instead of moving it one by one on the Start Screen.

Poor sales and negative feedback of Windows 8 drove Microsoft to rethink about its futuristic strategy which resulted in Windows 8.1 promising upgrade which would go a long way.