Smoking is injurious to health – What it actually meant? (#WorldNoTobaccoDay)

Meme made by me 

Traffic jams, constant horns, crowded trains, cut-throat competition, never-ending family demands and then there is a continuous dissatisfaction in our personal life. A large chunk of working class who spend more than 13 hours outside of their home slogging for hours and they work under constant pressure. So what’s the solution for it?

Some people work with focus and make sure that they eat on time and have proper sleep. On the other hand, I have seen a good amount of people ensure that they take frequent smoke breaks in order to keep themselves on their toes. It’s their solution or trick to fight against work pressure or any family or personal problems. Most smokers say they feel relieved or experience their burden getting lightened when they smoke. Wow, what an unhealthy way of dealing with pressure!

All right! I am not being judgmental here. Everyone has their own way to deal with mental pressure or life’s complexities and I am sure these smokers, if objected will argue enough that they aren’t doing any wrong or some of them will agree they find difficult to get rid of this unhealthy habit. Some smokers will say very casually, Chalata hai, yaar.

Smoking a life away!

If you’re reading this article and you’re a smoker then I would like you to be patient enough what I want to say. I am not here to tell someone what is wrong or right. Of course, some smokers will definitely have an opinion of one cigarette wouldn’t harm them. Smoking is injurious to health seems a proverb only to say and not implement in real life. But there is a deep meaning to this warning and smokers have been ignoring for ages.

So what exactly it meant?

What is the first word comes in your mouth when you get hurt? It’s mom. Just imagine, you’ve been smoking for 20 years. You were in love with someone deeply. You get married to the love of your life and you’ve two children and your parents are now grandparents. Everything is hunky-dory until your reports suggest that you’ve a mouth cancer. Now tell me you were the one smoking for years but you injured everyone. You hurt your entire family with this deep wound.

We know the dangerous effects of smoking and there are people like you who have been smoking away the life. We never take birth alone and we’re connected to many people. Your one cigarette may end one life but injure several lives for lifetime.

I hope so, my message convey to those smokers. It’s neither wrong nor right but your act of smoking is certainly not an apologetic one!

Above post is a part of Kolkata Bloggers activity in association with MANT for their celebration of #WorldNoTobaccoDay

Mad Monday to Monster Monday - “Chronicles of Monday”

Dear Monday,

Tomorrow you’re going to arrive, knocking me off badly and telling me to get up from my sweet sleep. I wonder many times why do you like to torture me like anything and it reminds me that you’re not only manic Monday but you’re also a Monster Monday. 

Yesterday that means Saturday I woke up late, had a shower and got ready in my best clothes. I spent Spicy Saturday with my friends, played with my nieces and had a sumptuous meal with my family. Additionally, Saturday night was amazing. We gate crashed in one of the clubs, hit to the dance floor and spent few more hours counting the stars in the sky. Around 1am I went to the bed and slept like an angel. 

Me on Saturday Night

Then I woke up this morning dreading the fear that half Sunday is already past. This afternoon I glanced through some of the office files but quickly kept them aside and thought that it’s my Sunday. No matter what, I wanted to spend quality time with myself. When I looked myself in the mirror I saw my eyebrows were twisted and two pimples formed on my forehead. It actually scared me by looking at my own reflection. It’s because it made me realize that I spend more than 12 hours in the office everyday and I give myself hardly any personal attention.

Of course, Saturday was all fun! But what about my personal life that some time ago I promised myself that I will give more time and will look after myself?

Do you understand Monday what I am trying to tell you? I am talking about the deadlines; I am talking about the efforts and dedication I put to serve best on Monday; and I am talking about the promises that I made to myself that it’s not always about the work but ‘me, myself’ as well.

Me on Monday Morning

Monday morning I don’t feel like waking up from the bed but I still drag myself. I brush my teeth, take quick shower and I don’t take much time on what to wear. I forcefully prepare myself mentally and physically. Unfortunately, every Sunday night I force to sleep but my eyes become heavy only after 1 or 2 am in the night. I keep fighting whether who is taking revenge. Whether it’s Saturday when I rest more than usual and party late night or its Sunday that reminds me the Monday is nearby or it’s you Mad Monday who soaks my energy.

Sometimes I wish Monday you should be generous enough to let me work in a peaceful manner. I guess by this time you must have understood my pain and my struggle. But again it doesn’t bother you, does it?

While I was typing this personal letter to Monday, Stephaney called me in the cabin. I wasn’t even finished cribbing with Monday but I had to leave my desk. I sighed and I spoke to myself ‘Monster Monday’. 

Monster Monday

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

This Post has been Wow post by BlogAdda

Know why your blog needs URL shortner & which one to use?

Url Shortner App

As a blogger we all need to share our stuff on various social media platforms including Twitter and that’s where the challenge comes when Twitter has limited characters. That’s when URL shortner service comes in picture. URL shortner allows you to fit your urls in limited characters and make your tweets tweetable enough and can be easily shared with others.

“URL Uncover supports not only short url, monetized links but any website on the web.”

However, another challenge that comes is which URL shortner service should we choose in order to have safe transaction. That’s where URL Uncover comes into play. There is a growing turmoil that any shortened link will send you to a malicious website or take you to a place you really don’t want to be at. The reality is that thanks to all these url shortening tools on the web (of which there are hundreds), no link is what it appears to be. There have been numerous occasions in your life where you had to choose second guessing on whether or not I should click the shortened url. Scammers and hackers use different kinds of methods to steal your information using methods like phishing, spoofing, key-logging etc and detection of it is almost very hard but URL Uncover can make that easy for you. 

URL uncover is a web service which allows you to check the legitimacy of the link without ever having to visit it. All you do is paste the shortened URL and URL Uncover will run it through its system and show you the original decrypted url and also will check if the remote domain is or has been blacklisted or not. It also scans the link on 6 external online antivirus scanners like Google, Avg etc to make sure the url is absolutely safe to visit. It will also generate a screenshot of the website that the URL links to, and pull the title, description, and keywords of that page from its metadata.

This is how it shows the entire data after inserting the targeted link in URL Uncover Tab

URL Uncover also offers browser tools for Firefox and Chrome and a handy book-marklet for easy url decryption.

Not to mention, URL Uncover is a highly reviewed security startup featured on major tech sites like CNet, Techcrunch, Lifehacker and many more.

Uncover the Deep Dark Web with URL Uncover

App Websitehttps://urluncoverpro.com

In Between (Short Story)

My life stuck in between

I was pacing in my bedroom while my thoughts were racing in my mind. I was trying to make an agreement with my mind that I should not peek into his life when he isn't.

Even after 7 months of separation, I was still checking his Facebook profile, giving blank calls from unknown numbers and worst I was still thinking about him.

My mind was still not ready to let go of things but today I gave a hard shot to my feelings. I sighed and went to drink a glass of water. I tried to calm down my nerves.

I should stop thinking and doing these activities when I knew my life was stuck in between! 

Did you enjoy above short story? Want to read more? Check out below links:

Incompletelove story 

Anabandoned warehouse

A game of seduction

Promisesare meant to be broken 

A separation

 

 

5 extremely useful Android apps for short story writers

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Even a short story can fall short of words when your mind skips the ideas that you had last night. Writing a compelling short story requires lots of efforts than your imagination. Before you start writing a piece, you scribble and fumble for words and sometimes it might take hours to weave the story. Oh Lord, what a pain to bear with? Being a short story writer, I still struggle and thus, I researched for some useful apps to make my work easy. To my surprise, Android technology has already developed some amazing apps to help writers like us. Thus, I summed up some of the most useful Android apps below for a writer like you:

1. Story tracker

Oh, I am tired of tracking all!

Keeping a track of submitted stories, articles to several publications can be a pain-in-the-neck task. If you’re a freelancer or writer and you want to keep track of your submitted work, then you should have this android app called Story Tracker. Story Tracker lets you track the time, date, submitted post and a complete history. So before you buzz your publisher check the status of the same. This must-have app saves your precious time while you do something more productive.

Available on – Android

Price – Well, not wanted to disappoint but it’s a chargeable app. 

2. Sticky notes

Android has taken care of every genre and niche. Hence, it thought of sticky notes app which is quite useful for everyone including writers. Don’t let your ideas fly away instead put them on sticky notes. You can download it on your mobile as well as on your desktop. Stick together and let your electric pen do the wonder.

Available on – The mobile and desktop version is available. All you need to download it.

Price – It’s free, free and absolutely free. 

3. Merriam Webster dictionary

A writer’s game is all around words. Having a good dictionary in hand and you’re already up in the game. Merriam Webster dictionary app will ensure that you never fall short of words.

Available on – Android

Price – Let your app work for you ditch that old dictionary for a while.       

4. Spotify

Spotting a great music is an art and letting the music writes you a great piece is a smart art. Yes, music is so magical that it can inspire you to create unforgettable characters, scene, intriguing plots and more. Spotify has been creating buzz in headlines everyday and you shouldn’t be deprived of this super app. You can download Spotify right on your mobile phone, hear awesome music and inspire your writing soul.

Available on – Android

Price – It is a free app but paid version lets you turn off the irritating ads.

5. Writing prompts

I swear to this great app as a writer we tend to fall short of ideas and wonder on which topic to write. Writing prompts will give you countless prompts in order to let your creative juices flow and let writer’s factory be in work all the time.

Available on – Android

Price – Great news! This is also a free app

I would like to know which app did you try and which one of the apps you found most useful. Leave your comments below!

Till then Be Appy!

  

There was something different about that touch!

There was something different about that touch

It was her first night with her husband. Though she was relaxed lying in the bed but as Mohit approached her in the bed, she quickly felt nervous about it. She was pretending as if she was in a deep sleep but as soon as Mohit touched her arm she quickly opposed him. He got confused at her action but did not question her. He signaled her to sleep while he turned to the other side and slept.

It was dark outside and the clock hung on the wall indicated it was 2 am in the night. Mohit was sleeping with a calm expression on his face. Shravani was awake with wide open eyes. She got up and stood near the window. She kept looking out of the window while her tears traveled from her eyes to cheeks. With her blurry vision she could still clearly see the flashback as if it just happened yesterday.

“You came late as usual. I don’t like waiting at the bus stop while all people staring at me.”

“I am sorry, Sharu. Are, next time I won’t be late.”

She looked at him and then quickly smiled.

“Pakka?”

He nodded.

“Then let’s go.”

They had a plan to watch movie and then one round at Marine drive and back to home. They watched movie, grabbed some popcorn and wandered at Marine drive while he took her hand in his hand.

The sun started to set in and the hues of clouds were changing setting a colorful backdrop while the couple in love walked hand in hand.   

It started pouring suddenly and they ran towards a bus stop to take a shelter. Both were already wet. The water drops on her face shined and grabbed Rahul’s attention. Unaware of the fact that Rahul was staring at her, she was busy wiping her wet hands with the odhani. When she looked up, she saw Rahul came near to her closing the distance between them.

He took her face in his hands and quickly kissed her lips. For a moment, she froze with a sudden touch. The touch was warm yet made her to shiver. That short kiss touched her soul and from that day onwards their love for each other strengthened more. There was something different about that touch, when he kissed her lips. That touch not only changed her life forever but her identity as a whole. Her life was no more of hers when she exchanged the kiss with him; the vows they took together and many things.

Just like other abrupt short love stories, this also ended soon and Shravani’s parents hooked her with the guy from her community. They weren’t ready to get marry their daughter with other community’s guy. They arranged her wedding very quickly leaving no time to contact him again.

Now, Shravani was in dilemma she didn’t know whether she will ever feel the same feelings when Mohit will take the hold of her life. She didn’t know whether she was ready to give herself to this man whom she got married. Only she knew there was something different about that touch and she knew she would never feel that again!

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Above post has been voted as a WOW post by Blogadda

Evolving relationships, life etc..etc

"Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational."

- Hugh Mackay

 

Image Courtesy - Google Search 

They say to keep going your relationship strong you need to take efforts, just like the way we take efforts to make our career, to make things work out, and everything.

I am not a relationship expert nor am I giving here any relationship advice. I am in my thirties and I am still learning many things in my life. However, what intrigued is the relationship that we share with many people in our day-to-day lives. Since the day we are born till our adulthood to ageing process we go through many changes in our life. Even before we are born we already change the relationship status others around the mother’s womb.

We as babies make our mothers proud. Slowly and gradually our relationships with people other than mother define our life. Our life is been evolving every day and the more we try to make our relationships work better, the more they become complicated.

Making and maintaining relationship is certainly a roller coaster ride. Thus, I tried to peek into this ‘whole relationship world’ and still amazed how it works out eventually sooner or later. It could be some times saddening to end, sometimes happy to boast of and sometimes broken inside and tougher outside.

Today, I am going to share some of the best YouTube videos I could find to convince the point I have been trying to tell you through my words but failing to. I hope you will love them & share your opinions as well. 

• A father-son relationship short film, will touch the bottom of your heart. Original video is in German language but the visuals is enough to understand the emotions. 

Courtesy - YouTube 

• When I saw this video, I couldn't stop my tears to come out of my eyes. This beautiful short film about a mother-daughter's relationship unfolds an unconditional love of a mother for her daughter. I am sure you'll cry a lot just like the way I was!

Courtesy - YouTube 

• I wasn't that lucky to have my grandparents around since before my birth they passed away but grandparents are God's blessings to have them around when you're growing. Their love is pure, innocent and unconditional. When I saw this video, I see how my dad and mom take care of my niece. She is one lucky girl!

Courtesy - YouTube 

• To sum up all the relationships we discover throughout our life, love is what keeps us strong forever. Below video is the summery of all. Love is the common feeling in all!

Courtesy - YouTube 

I would like to know which one you found best among other and why. Leave your comments in the comments section below. Till the time enjoy your life!

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What is brand loyalty and why social media is fickle?

I woke up in the morning and brushed my teeth with Colgate toothpaste, after bath I made one cup of coffee and two toasted bread slices. I used Amul butter for my bread slices.

Image Courtesy - Colgate.co.in

It was a relaxing weekend. After flipping through some pages I wanted to check today’s date. I turned my back and looked at the Kalnirnaya calendar that was hanging on the wall.  

Did you realize how many brand names I mentioned in my daily routine? Are they all on social media or were they? 

What is brand loyalty?

The day I was born my family members introduced me to use these products and I have been using since my birth on this planet. I have been brushing my teeth with Colgate, using Amul butter, and have been using Kalnirnaya calendar. (You can call me conservative). These are well-known brands and highly consumed by millions of people in India. I don’t think whether they are on social media or not but my morning start with these brands. They have earned the loyalty of millions many, many years ago and they are well-established their identity. Still today their hold on us is very tight and habitual. No matter how many brands have come and gone, but these brands have stood firmly in the competition.

These brands have been in the market even before the revolution of social media and will be. This is called brand loyalty where these brands don’t require social media accounts, number of followers as they have real users.

There has been a time when the brands have been revamped, the packaging has changed from time to time but these below brands have left a long-lasting effect on their consumers. No matter what whether their packaging change, marketing strategies are redirected, or social media accounts have been set up I can guarantee you that you’ll never leave these brands. Hence, the loyalty is counted for sure.

Image Courtesy - Google search 

Some local, generic and popular brands:

Amul 

Cadbury

Colgate

Kalnirnaya

Britannia

Lifebuoy

LIC

Lux

Why social media is fickle?

Is Social Media loyal?

Social media has been the number game. These days, people have been very obsessive about the number of followers, the likes and the shares they have on their social media platforms. Likes for likes this is what they expect from people or followers. If you follow the account of someone you’re expected to follow them back. If you don’t follow them, just see the number of followers decreasing from your account. Social media is very fickle in nature though I do participate in number game. But yes social media is a frustrating one.

Again the brands like these can pass the test and can stand firmly no matter how many social media platforms come.

To make my point clear, read this below article that one mommy blogger quit blogging when she realized all that fake number game and real emotions behind the number game.

"Mommy blogger calls 'b-------' on the 'fake nonsense' of the mommy blogging industry in an epic rant"

My advice is not to take social media seriously but enjoy the trend as it come and go. Be loyal to yourself and to your brands and just don't be obsessive about anything. Have simple life not a complicated one! 

Why I prefer paperback books than e-books

Paper has a great future

In this digital era, everything has gone online from clothes, accessories, electronic products to even books. E-book is the innovation of digital era where Kindle and the e-reader equipments grown. But no matter how much we become digitally progressive I still enjoy the conventional style of reading and that is books, paper-back books. Why I like reading books and not e-books I have valid reasons for it and at the end you’ll also like them.

• Hmm, I like the smell when I am flipping through the pages of the new book that I purchase. The experience is very familiar and pleasant just when the rain arrives and makes the soil wet and that awesome smell!

• Books are still portable to carry while travelling and I wouldn't feel bad if I misplace my book somewhere. On the other hand, if I lose my Kindle I may lament over the loss of it, then the amount of books I saved on them and the efforts I took to have my favourite books at one place.

• So you’re thinking of going eco-friendly and you've stopped purchasing paper-bound books. But have you heard of digital eye-strain? Yes, if you’re staring at your kindle screen continuously sooner or later it will cause eye-strain, eye fatigue and many other eye-related problems. In short, you’re putting your eye health at a risk.

• I can pass my books to other book-lovers and I wouldn't mind if they keep it for weeks whereas Kindle and other e-readers can make you obsessive and you become unwilling to pass it on to somebody else.

• Books don’t give me eye-strain or any discomfort. If I spill something over on them, I can still manage or buy another book. OMG! You just can’t afford your Kindle getting broken.

In short, paper-made books are eye-friendly and yes, they are also eco-friendly as most of the books are recycled. Moreover, they don't require internet connection.  

Okay, you still don’t agree with me? One last try- Paper has a great future. Watch out the below video and I bet you’ll give a thought over it.

Video courtesy - YouTube 

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Lost touch with time

Lost in time 

Recently I was reading this novel called ‘A place called here’ by Celelia Ahern. The main character named as Sandy Shortt has been wandering why things or persons go missing and as she grew up it becomes her mission to find out missing persons. She shares her childhood memories with her readers when her favorite pair of socks goes missing. She turns her entire home upside down to find her missing sock but she never gets it back. This simple scene explains the mental trauma she has been facing against missing things.

When I was reading this novel I could realize her pain when things go missing or once beloved person never come back in life. We as children to till grown adults we build many memories. Some are sad, some bring smile on our face. 

Memories are special feelings because we know if something or someone get missing we can’t get back with them and so are the memories leave behind.

I have been lucky enough that I have not lost many things but it aches my heart whenever I look behind the time that I've lost…

Whenever I look behind the time that I've lost...

I don’t know why I have always been very conscious about the time wheel. The time is the most precious thing in the world and I have been the unluckiest one to losing touch with time. During my collage years, I was that person who was introvert; shy, no confident and dumbass yet studious student who always wanted to enjoy the life at the fullest. I always used to dream about performing on the stage; wandering with a gang of boys; competing and participating in as many competitions as I could such as dance, music or any creative arts and many more those typical teeny-weeny dreams. But what held me back was my poor confidence, my shyness and my entire schooling in girl’s school that hampered me very badly in my teen years.

I was in my last year of bachelor’s degree and we were practising for an act play where I was positioned as a main lead in the act. I was very thrilled and excited to perform on the stage since it was one of my dreams.

Days were passing like thin air and in the month of October my operation was scheduled for osteoporosis. The operation was absolutely mandatory and I couldn’t postpone as well nor did I want to back out from the drama act. However, life puts in a situation either-or that we have to choose one option and rule out others. From month of October I stopped going to college and that’s how I missed the golden time of the year. The last year of the college!

Many teenagers like me take resolution in their last year of college that they would enjoy the last year and spend as much time as they could with their friends and gather memories for lifetime. I missed that time. During that period I studied from home while my other friends enjoyed the last few months of the graduation.

After 5 months of my treatment when I stepped out of my house and entered my college premises, it was empty. The gossiping chirping was silenced; the annual days were already passed; the celebratory air was gone and everyone was busy giving exams.

I missed that time terribly. That time I realized I lost the touch with the time I always waited for all these years. That time which was ticked away long back and I was still stuck in a present moment holding the memories of lost time!

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Voted as a WOW post by Blogadda

Tips for fictional writing (An infographic presentation)

I have been writing short stories and poems since long time but it never gets easier. In fact, the more I try to evolve my world, the more intriguing it becomes. For that I have to read lots of stuff and try to learn as much as I can. It is a never-ending process. However, the learning makes us to write better every day. Today this classic infographic will explain the difference between the fiction and non-fiction writing. That will surely boost the energy in you and you’ll start writing good piece of story. This simple infographic let’s you understand the basic of literature and I hope you’ll find it useful.

What is infographic?

Infographic is a visual representation of information or data that can help you simplify complicated subject or turn an otherwise boring content into interesting one. Below is the infographic. 

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Is she rightfully yours? A thoughtful film to watch on this Mother's Day!

She is a wife for sometime but remains mother all her life

She gets up in the morning. Prepares a tiffin for every family members. She makes sure that she has packed your favourite veggie in the tiffin and you are off to school. Then she takes of other household work such as laundry, washing clothes, ironing them, putting clothes in proper order; cleaning the floor while already planning a menu for lunch and dinner. She rests for a while but ailing in-laws asks something or the other. In the evening, you come ordering for snacks and off to playground. Years by years pass by and you grow up before you realize her hair is turning grey and wrinkles are spreading on her cheeks. Without any complaints, she does everything. Her routine continues for years whereas you’re flying in the air. She is a wife for sometime but remains mother all her life.

You grow up, you get wings to fly and you go far away from her. You get married and live separately. She never expects in return your appreciation, your attention or anything. All she wants no matter wherever you go, will you be calling her rightfully yours? Yes, mother can bear any pain in the world even though you call her a mother after many, many years. She will forgive you and will take in her arms only to experience that moment that she is still your mom.

We hardly realize what we do or how we treat our mothers knowingly-unknowingly and that's when we need an eye-opener video. That's when Bajaj Electricals attempted to shed a light on this Mother's day by producing a unique yet heart-touching short film. Gets users to add their Mothers’ names to their names on social platforms.

About the short film 

The film revolved around a mother, her son, and their interactions on popular social platforms. It focused on how mothers, these days, try to keep up with the busy lifestyles of their children.

The film also depicted one little gesture, which took the internet by storm. Here’s the film:

Since its release, thousands of people have took to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp to add their mothers’ names to their own display names on social media.  

Atul Kasbekar shows his support

  

This included celebrities, media personnel, sportsmen and a host of other popular names such as Atul Kasbekar. 

Creative brains behind the film 

On the idea behind the campaign, Beena Koshy, Vice President, Bajaj Electricals Ltd. said, “Rightfully Hers is our way of paying tribute to all those beautiful moms out there for caring, nurturing and being there for us, making us what we are today. Happy Mother’s Day. We believe that many a times all it takes is just a small gesture on our part to make our moms happy. We urge all to just add your mom's name to yours and see her glowing with pride and happiness. For us it is a natural extension to our current campaign of ‘We are family’”.

"Within two days, the film has garnered over 2 million."

Abhishake Das, ECD, ibs said, “The whole idea came from our own personal lives, and how we, as children, often get way too caught up in our daily lives and lose focus of what’s really important. And that’s family. Mother’s day was a perfect excuse to tell this story, and give our mothers the love, respect & recognition that’s rightfully hers. Hopefully, it’ll bring smiles the mother’s faces, and give us a chance to show how much we celebrate being their children.”