Footloose to Nemmrana

It is a small world that mirrors our life. Realising this beautiful fact of life, me and my colleagues (nay, friends) Ankita, Prerna, Sabiya, Abhinav and Aastha alighted on to a historical safari towards the pristine town of Neemrana, about 120 kms from Delhi.

On a fine autumnal October morning (16 October 2010), the six of us drove down the superb Delhi-Jaipur highway to this small yet grandeur-dipped town. A light refreshing Mc Donalds breakfast on the way, prepared the course for a journey that was bathed in warm and happy sunshine. Amidst laughter, jokes and pulling each others’ legs over frivolous musings of life, we reached our destination at around 12:30 pm.

The Neemrana fort-palace located atop a hillock commands a splendid view of its beautiful surroundings from its royal ramparts. A step into this heritage resort and we were in an entirely different era. Each part of the fort has a tale to tell, thus leading its visitors to believe that Neemrana indeed, exists in a fairytale dimension of its own. We could feel the aura of history unravel around us, as we got ourselves caught in the captivating ambience, featured with antique works of art, period furniture and frescoed paintings. We set off exploring the fort, listened to the trilling of some pristine musical chorus that was playing in some corner of the fort, and got ourselves soaked in its profound stillness and serenity.

Soon, it was time for lunch. The aroma of luscious food was wafting invitingly in the air. Each one of us savoured to our heart’s fill the deliciously cooked meals added with a dose of our non-stop laughter and constant chatting. After a long and heavy lunch, we carried on our final tour of the entire fort with countless photographs of us being clicked against every single backdrop of the fort.

As the setting sun slowly painted the skies, the faint strains of the pristine musical chorus wafted out of every pillar of the fort. Alas! Time beckoned. With a heart promising each other of yet another visit to this historical site, we bade goodbye to such a spaciousness and elegance of an utterly different era, that is Neemrana.

Jubi Borkakoti

12 Dirty Habits That Prevent You From Developing Exceptional People Skills

“Now You Can Immediately Improve Your Relations With Others Without Spending A Single Penny!” By Pete Grand, Author of “How To Overcome Shyness: A man’s complete guide on overcoming shyness.” http://www.overcome-shyness.com/
Introduction
Chances are, if you’re not very successful at dealing with people, you haven’t had the chance to properly educate yourself. Learning to deal with people is like learning to walk except it requires a lot more work!
Now imagine if your whole life you had been taught to walk backwards. Would this make your life much more difficult? Of course it would. Just like anything else, you need to learn exactly how to interact with people the proper way.
Here we go: here are the 12 dirty habits you should always avoid when interacting with people.
Dirty Habit #1 –Looking down at the floor when speaking to someone. You must learn to look at someone directly in their eyes when speaking to them. If you were taught that staring at people was impolite, you’re absolutely right. However, this does not mean you can’t look at someone in his or her eyes.
Dirty Habit #2 – Slouching when you’re standing or sitting down. Stand up straight. In our society being tall is a good thing. When you slouch you appear much shorter. Not only will standing straight make you look taller but it will also give you a confident look.
Dirty Habit #3 –Frowning and not smiling enough. No one likes to spend time with someone who’s in a bad mood. If you’re not feeling too great then try to keep your distance. People love to spend time with upbeat, optimistic people. Make an effort to smile, not frown.
Dirty Habit #4 – Avoiding strangers. Since the day you were born, your parents have taught you never to speak to strangers. Well, you’re a grown up now and things have changed. In order to develop exceptional people skills you need to be comfortable speaking to all types of people. You need to meet as many people as you can.
Dirty Habit #5 – Making a poor first impression. Did you know that people will judge almost everything about you just by your first impression? Make an initial effort to get along with the person you are meeting and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.
Dirty Habit #6 – Not making an effort to speak well. In order to develop great people skills you need to become a great conversationalist. This doesn’t mean you need to speak a lot; this means you need to speak well. You need to articulate and choose your words wisely. Basically, you need to listen to what you’re saying and not just blabber on about whatever you feel like.
Dirty Habit #7 – Not being a good listener. Have you ever noticed how you tend to fall into a mind drift as soon as the other person begins to speak? Okay, well if you really don’t care about the person, then fine. But if you do, make an effort to listen and let the person speak. It will only help you further on in the conversation.
Dirty Habit #8 – Not staying in touch with your acquaintances. To make sure you have the best relationships with all of the people you know, you must stay in touch with them. You need to regularly check your contact list and remind them all that you still exist. I’m not saying to call them up twice a week but an occasional check up is always nice.
Dirty Habit #9 – Not being proactive. When there is not enough action and things are looking dull, it’s up to you to make a move. If you aren’t satisfied with the current situation don’t blame others, do something about it! Let’s face it: no one really cares if you’re unhappy, except maybe your mom...
Dirty Habit #10 – Not enjoying your social life. If you want people to enjoy your company, you need to let them know that you’re a fun person to spend time with. If you’re a hard worker, then I congratulate you! However, you need to occasionally go out and be known for your excellent nights out! Go out and live your life to the fullest!
Dirty Habit #11 – Not facing your fears. Actually, this relates to all aspects of your life but in this context I’m talking about meeting new people, career promotions, etc. If you need to do something logical but your emotions are getting in the way, then you need to analyze the situation and use some common sense.
Dirty Habit #12 – Refusing to be open minded. There are all kinds of people out there. There are different religions, different races, different cultures, and different languages. Learn to accept others for who they are not who you want them to be. Give them your full respect and work out your differences unless of course you aren’t receiving the respect you deserve.


There you go! 12 dirty habits to always avoid if you really want to develop exceptional people skills! If you’re prepared to create a real turning point in your life then maybe it’s time you checked out my website http://www.overcome-shyness.com: “A man’s complete guide on overcoming shyness, gaining popularity and boosting self-confidence.”

Anjali Madan

All Right to be Restless?

Things by nature seek to decompose and to decompose they seek the lowest energy level. Human spirits seek rest, happiness where there is the least struggle or friction, if there is no frictionless state as such. Every human struggle, including wars, has this purpose – rest, though there is a vast gulf of difference between how rest presents itself to us self-conscious beings and how it is to inanimate things and non-self-conscious beings, if there is any.
When I think of rest/happiness as part of nature, I see a paradox. This paradox dawned upon me while I was teaching the concept of Parts of Speech to some Philosophy graduate students in Manipur. Every sort of actions is in the category of Verb, be it ‘doing’ or ‘being’. Actions demand exertion of us, and exertion or doing something for a long time tires us. Rest and happiness are states and being in a state is an action. Thus, if we rest for a long time we will get tired, and if we are happy for a long time we will be tired of being happy, which is among other causes of worry.
At the same time, being occurs along the axis of time, and we constantly lose our identity and gain a new one, every moment. To the self conscious beings like ourselves, this flux is much more than a mere restful action.

Thoithoi Pukhrambam

Congratulations to Onkar Verma!!

Onkar Verma has been awarded the Customer Services Awards. This is something that the UK customer service division confers twice a year as part of their National Customer Services Campaign. The award goes to Onkar for his relentless customer service in the South Asia region.

In the words of Sarah Wright, Customer Services Manager, Milton Park:
"We have been focusing on thanking the people that help us do our jobs. As part of that I wanted to send you the attached award and thank you for all your hard work this year, we really enjoy working with you and look forward to building on our relationship."


Well Done Onkar!! T & F is proud of you.

Quirk of timing!

This totally intriguing thing happened late last night while we were returning home. The roads were clear and empty almost. I was humming along with some nice Kishore Kumar songs playing on the radio and inhaling that peculiar autumn smell in the air.
Everything was gradually entering a trance-like mode when suddenly my husband jarred my senses. He was pointing to something ahead of him, since both his hands were on the wheel and the whole pointing action was done by his eyes, I naturally looked ahead—on the road. Confused, I looked back at him, "What?"
"Look, look at my speedometre!", he said.
"Very responsible citizen, you are sir. You're doing 30kmph!"
"Miss. Intel-i-giant, look at the metre which clocks the miles covered."
I made a face at him and when I saw it, what I saw was, a perfect figure "77777". Enough to get me excited, and I clicked it but then it only lasted till the last digit turned to eight. And then, we were back to our suspended-animation mode till we reached home.



Trivial, you would say and I agree but aren't these the very things which you share with your friends. Right! and that's what I just did.

Have a great week ahead.
Rima.

My Visit to Kingdom of Dreams

I was hearing about this place for last few days and thought to have a visit this weekend. I with my wife , packed for this place which is about 45 KM from Noida, at the center of the milleneum city, Gurgaon. We were having a lots of ideas about this place, but when we reached there all our ideas got reverted. This place was like heaven.

There are two parts of this park. One is the cultural gully which is more or less like a street which showcases different cultures and a theatre which stages a musical bollywood show named Zangoora.

In the cultural gully you will find a different culture at every couple of steps. The best part is that the ambience makes you feel like you are really in showcased state. There ia a artificial skyline and a artificial beach too.

The tickets are for 750 per person which includes 100 bucks as entry fees, 50 bucks are refundable security and rest 600 you can spend inside for food and shopping.

Overall the place was like a dream world. I have been to many places in India, but never saw such a nice concept.

Delhi Eye - Highest Giant Wheel

The state of the art, high tech giant wheel has added another feather in the Delhi's cap from 25th Septemebr 2010. Known as Delhi eye it virtually takes you to a Delhi tour. You can see all the major locations from this giant wheel - Lotus Temple, Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Iskon Temple, Akshardham Temple, Humayun Tomb while enjoying the ride in the wheel. It gives a captivating and panoramic view of Delhi which is truly enthralling


Features of Delhi Eye
The giant wheel Delhi Eye is built in line with the similar attractions like London Wheel and Singapore Flyer. The height of Delhi Eye is 45 meters and it is located in the Amusement Park in Kalindi Kunj which is spread over 3.61 acres of land.


The best part of Delhi Eye is that it not yet another giant wheel. Delhi eye boasts of 36 airconditioned cabins. The cabins will give you full luxury with comfortable seats, LCD screens, help buttons. You can press the button whenever you feel scary. Each cabin has a capacity of 8 people, hence 288 people can take a ride at one time. The ride is of 20 minutes and the cost of the ride is around Rs 250.


Delhi eye is built by an European company and is equiped with all the safety devices.


The Marketing Team

Humourous Caption Contest!!

Good evening everyone,
It’s been a long time that we had another contest!! This time around, it’s time to spread some cheer!! Humour - It's the most difficult thing in the world. Some people get it, some people don't. But, no matter what, humour is guaranteed to make you smile—there's no way around it.

"We should treat all the trivial things seriously, and the serious things in life with sincere and studied triviality."
--Oscar Wilde
"Life does not cease to be funny when someone dies, any more than it ceases to be serious when someone laughs." --George Bernard Shaw

So, the thing to do is: Look at the picture below, and give it the most perfectly humorous caption, that you can think of!! The PRIZE this time is a movie ticket for two, to the movie of your choice, at the movie hall of your choice, complete with popcorn, snacks and coke!!

So, what are you waiting for? Your time starts NOW!!!! The deadline to close the contest is 30th October 2010. We’ll announce the winner on the 31st of October 2010.

 

The Marketing Team

A Monthly List of National Bestselling Books

TOP FICTION
1. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
2. After the Darkness, Sidney Sheldon
3. Aftertaste, Namita Devidayal
4. The Immortals of Meluha, Amish
5. The Thousand Autums of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell
6. The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
7. Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese
8. 2 States: The Story of my Marriage, Chetan Bhagat

NON FICTION
1. The Leader who had no Title, Robin Sharma
2. Connect the Dots, Rashmi Bansal
3. TATA: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand, Morgen Witzel
4. The Art of Choosing, Sheena Iyengar
5. Don't Lose your Mind, Lose your Weight, Rujuta Diwekar
6. Employees First, Customers Second, Vineet Nayar
7. The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma, Gurcharan Das
8. Before Memory Fades, Fali S. Nariman

The Marketing Team

The Eat, Play, Love Scorecard at Commonwealth Games!!

Things to do when you are in Delhi

1. Taste Fhirni at Karim's at Jama Masjid
2. Try chaat paapdi, raaj kachoris and samosas at Bengali Market and authentic Malyali fare at INA market.
3. Government canteens, such as Andhra Bhawan, Tamil Nadu Bhavan and karnatka Bhavan are also recomeended.
4. Go to ignis at Connaught Place and Kainoosh at DT Promenade, Vasant Kunj, for tony restaurant experience.
5. Go shopping for ethnic baubles and clothes at Delhi Haat.
6. Check out Khan market for imported groceries and cheeses.
7. Lose yourself int he busy Lajpat Nagar market and Sarojini Nagar markets.
8. Mall crawl at Select City Walk, Saket
9. Spend hours at the national Gallery of Modern Art, near India Gate with masterpieces of Indian contemporary art and shop for curios at its new store.
10. Eat ice cream at India Gate Lawn, the favorite picnic spot for delhites.
11. Indulge yourself with theatre at Mandi House where amateur troupes regularly put up performances at Kamani auditorium or the Sri Ram Centre.
12. Enjoy the rapture of Thursday night qawwalis at the Nizamuddin Dargah, where wishes of the believers are said to come true.
13 Take the Heritage Walks of Delhi, a great way to experience the present and past of the city.

The Marketing Department