Game of Coffees!!

It is my first love, my soul mate, my lover, who never ever fails to make me blissful every time I take a sip of it. COFFEE!!! Yes I am a coffee lover. Before moving to Calgary after my wedding, I used to date Barista Lavazza atleast once a day. A decaff Americano with one brown sugar sachet and no milk used to make my day. A welcome smile in the café was like topping on the cake.

Personally I was never a fan of black coffee. During my childhood, my mother used to make milk coffee for me thrice a day so that I am up and fresh for my studies. Well then I used to enjoy coffee more than the books. My mother played a pivot role in my habit of reading and writing while sipping my fav coffee brand.

After coming down to Calgary I realized that the taste of coffee is really different then it was back in India. This really amazed me as how is it possible for the same bean, technique and brand to taste so different and I did start my research.

It all comes down to what we call terroir.

Like wine, coffee expresses regional characteristics and exhibits the effects of its terroir, or "taste of place." Differences in soil, altitude, rainfall, processing techniques, and even social conditions affect what's in the cup.  One of the most important conditions is the areas own traditions and for handling and processing coffee. WOW…Isn’t it amazing!!!

Well big coffee brands like Starbucks do manage to keep same coffee taste throughout the world because of their programmed filtration systems to treat the water which spins into same cup of your fav coffee. So the coffee in New York, USA will taste same as in New Delhi, India. However this does not mean that you need to visit Starbucks while you are travelling or shifted to a new place like me. I have found a small solution for this big problem. Always use filtered water. Yes you heard right!!! Filtered or treated water does the trick.

When I shifted to Calgary, I tried Tim Hortons, Starbucks for my coffee treats however going to these cafes every time you crave for coffee is not practical and may soon create a hole in your pocket. You can make a great cup of coffee at your home sweet home which tastes same as the one you had during your childhood.

First and foremost, always used Roasted coffee or in case you can grind the beans at your place in a powder form.. Bingo…!! In case you are buying roasted coffee from a store, please note that it should be fresh and not stale more than 2 weeks. The shelf life of roasted coffee is long however it kills the original taste of coffee. OR you can buy a coffee machine and use a T-Disc since they have all the flavors intact in the disc which your machine reads and pours the exact kind you like. There are many brands available in market like Black & Decker, Tassimo, Keurig, Hamilton and many more. My fav is Tassimo and I have a Tassimo T 65, amazing machine and great coffee.

So for all the coffee lovers, this blog is right from my heart. Grab your coffee, go out, read, write, enjoy and live life to the fullest…

Fabindia

“Bring customers a choice of products – and lifestyle – that offers an alternative to the mass-produced, while creating sustainable livelihoods in the rural sector” ------- the mantra been followed by Fabindia for 50+ years now and is very much installed in all the employees.

Established by John Bissell in 1960 and now under the leadership of William Bissell is the best-known urban middle class brand in India. The leaders strongly believe in empowering weavers so as to bring back the long lost culture to life thus making profits.

Entering into a Fabindia store, gives you an immense happy feeling as the aura and welcome smile on the faces of employees refreshes you for an incoming experience. The layout takes you to a time where handcrafted and weaved work was highly appreciated which badly craves one to go ahead for the purchase. The best part of this brand is that the layout and feel is same in almost all the stores.

The company operates on the model of community based businesses. Herein company works with SRCs(Supplier region companies) which further source products from weavers who are traditionally well versed in the craft but are not formally trained. Designers work directly with artisans teaching much required technical skills and ensuring the product quality.

SRCs provides innovation and design to the artisans who further incorporates same in the hand crafted products. The company made each and every artisans, craftsman, employees a shareholder thus giving the feel of a perfect equal team.

Brand has been successfully attracting revenues of Rs 1000 crore in 2013-2014 however the model fails in two very important aspects where it successfully losses a huge chunk of customers.

First and foremost is Brand Advertising- the company believes in advertising through “word of mouth”. It was with which the company started and seems to still stuck up on the brand for long now. Secondly and most important is Supply chain management. Since stores directly places orders with SRCs, the communities are lacking in understanding the product forecast and thus same product is not available in stores on second visit.

The combination of these two is really lethal. Carrying on with a beautiful mission and a vision, the company lacks on these two pillars due to which they are losing on a big chunk of customer base. The leaders need to re-invent strategies so as to lead the brand in more urban families.

Never the less the brand has successfully made it presence felt. Fabindia’s working model is an inspiration to many startups thus the concept of entrepreneur ship is taking good pace in India.

Gift of Hope!!!

It is everywhere!!! Donate to the needy; Help the underprivileged, Adopt a child, Give shelter to an animal going extinct, stop war, avoid pollution…. This is good work, great work for humanity and should be cultivated in ourselves and our kids.

But the irony is this…. all starts during holidays… Christmas, new years, thanksgiving, Asian holidays. The needy need basics everyday so that they can survive the hot and the freaking cold weather. Due to birth of great saints in Asian continent, people do charity on each and every important day of their lives. According to a population survey done by National Geographic, Asia consist of 60% of population compared to the whole world which means the volume of charity is huge in this part. However the point remains the same, it is done on few days of an year which means out of 365 days, charity is done on birthdays, new years, Christmas, Diwali, a new born kid, passing away of a family member and that’s it.

Our world is at the edge of a third world war, natural disasters occurring in each and every part of the world, killer diseases like Ebola taking so many lives and the list goes on. Relief organizations like Care, AAH, Greenpeace with selected members are working day in day out to save people and world however the goal seems beyond horizon as the destruction done is way too worse.

Does this mean this is the end of human race???? The answer lies within us and we all know that, just need to stand up together and work to achieve the same.

A Long day

Woke up with the phone ringing and it was papa calling from Delhi. It was 6 am in the morning and I was dead sleep. He was visiting Delhi for some conference and was due to be back in 2 days. I picked up the phone reluctantly, his voice was really weak and this washed away all my sleep. Somebody from mamma’s gym had called him saying that she has fainted while on running on treadmill. Ya, mama papa and my brother are regularly gymers and do not miss the workout for anything in the world.  

I had to rush to her gym; it was close by but since I have never visited any gym, took me time to sort out my way there. The call had worried us both; I was dreading all worst things possible, guess human tendency to always imagine the worst first.

Well, there she was, lying on floor, conscious.... “Thank god..bhagwanji she is ok” was my first thought. I woke her up, she struggled to speak and puked all of a sudden. With the help of her trainer, somehow managed to bring her to my car. I had never ever ever ever seen mama so blank, in so much pain that she could not speak up. I called up papa and he said to take her to the hospital. N believe me I am so scared of hospitals........its smell, its view makes me sicker than patients admitted there...

Well, both my parents are doctors, so is my brother, so is everyone in my family. Except for me and my nanaji, we are just not doctor material.

Till the time I reached, every big shot of Chandigarh was at the hospital, so papa had called everybody declaring an emergency. Mama was diagnosed with a heart attack and immediately had to be operated. She got two blockages in her heart and need urgent help. Now this was a blow in my face. Neither papa nor my brother was there, I did not understand alien doctor language, was felling completely uneducated among all these surgeons. Signing papers I did not understand, listening to surgeons explaining me the process and on top of all I was asked to audience her operation. Now how did I end up here?  No clue. But it was my mother, I love her and there was no fear big than the one of losing her. With no known face in the crowd I entered the theatre all dressed up like I was going to cut open someone myself. It was like those filmy moments when you enter a temple and there are drums playing welcoming you. Her operation went successful and I met her after the dressing. She seemed so much better, out of all pain. Phew... I love you mama...

All of a sudden I saw Ashu, my brother, walking towards me (well I called him after I picked mama from gym and he immediately started for Chandigarh) and I just remember him hugging me. That’s when it hit both of us, our parents have gone old!!!! It is a scary feeling, seeing your papa mama unwell in front of you, especially when they themselves are doctors.

Well papa reached by evening and mama was much better then. It took her a week to get discharged and three months to be up and running.

It’s been three years now since that long day visited me and still I get goose bumps if anyone from my family develops pain, fever or even cold.

Guess time is not going to wait for anything to happen, so just get up, hug your loved ones, say now whatever you want to, do now whatever you want to.... may there is no tomorrow. But this should not stop you from pursing your happiness....cause as they said, it is now or never...god bless u all....

Cosmic dancer

I was once asked, close your eyes and the first name that comes to your mind is your god. SHIVA. It clicked like it completed every doubt, fear, pain and happiness. My dad told me that one’s family god should be considered the one who should be prayed. Being a 12 year old I listened to him and took this all as a lesson and bowed down. But the shadow of Shiva was burned in me and started growing like a flower. At the age of 18, my mom was asked by a saint to make me pray Shiva so that all the future problems can be avoided. Coming from an Indian family, moms believe in anything and everything saint’s say. I was taken aback. That was when it clicked me that God is always with you making your way easy and smooth. Since that moment, I am and will be his essence. This cosmic dancer has always lured me. I have been hypnotised by merely the thought of OM NAMAH SHIVA. It brings a crystal clear clarity just on murmuring. Om namah shiva

This is meditation. This is prayer. This is everything. It starts here and ends here. The cosmic energies reside inside every individual and beneath that force resides god. It’s always been said that deep down inside one has an answer to each and every questions and doubts. Isn’t that true.....Yes, it is..Just try it once..... Sculptures say that HE is the one who creates and destroys the universe. His dance known as “Tandava” symbolizes not only the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, but also the daily rhythm of birth and death which is seen in Indian mysticism as the basis of all existence. Dancing at a great speed with flying arms and legs with a composed posture creates what we are....energy... It is this diet that what we are made up of. On imagining, I can always build a universe inside me. This is precisely what cosmic is. And that’s why somewhere deep down I can always relate to each and every fractional element of Shiva. I am Shiva. I am HE. I am SHE. I am the shadow of this cornucopia. I am and will remain Om.... love you and thank you god.

And the wait continuessss.....

All I ever wanted was that the voids to fill in and the gap to get jammed but the wait continues for this to happen. We have always been told that we get human life once and it should be lived in a good way but I always feel that this life is not supposed to be lived in a good way but just in your way. It is a human experience for our spiritual soul so the choice should be given to the soul. The human greediness and materialism has created this gap and now it has been accumulated by pressures of job, marriage, kids, pension plans, shopping and the black hole. I have always been consistent about my morning prayers since childhood and I wonder will the gap ever fill?? Or is this feeling of gap itself a human attention gap??

I have been ever since waiting for the right moment, right plan, right job, right salary, right love and then I wonder why is that our demands always end up in materialistic ways. Being fully aware of the spiritual form we many a times end up thinking completely human. And this further adds to the gap cause we tend to run after the most easily available source, i.e. being completely human. I pray, dream, think, write about feeling completely in sync with my soul but the gaps continues and my wait continuessssss.......