Journey so far was going quite tweetful. I was following around 150 people- from designers, photographers, bloggers to social media enthusiasts. Almost 760 followers I had till 28th july 09 which included some very great & genuine persons from celebrities to ad world guru to photographer, researcher and many more.

But, one bug which Twitter had eaten by mistake and made my account go crazy. I lost all my followers (except few spammers) and no timeline updates for me. Yes, my timeline is frozen and I can not see any updates. Even if I follow back people my following count stay zero! I can only see, if someone specially write a @paavani tweet.

It is frustrating that twitter has not fixed the problem though many people are facing the same. There is no customer support. See this twitter support page on following list vanished and timeline frozen.

Now when twitter is getting popular and everyone started tweeting, facing such a problem and loosing data is big nonsense. Twitter will loose the trust, if it keep surprising their tweeple with such mis-hap. One side twitter is coming up with business  strategies and other side when they launch a new home page this is what bugs come up!

If you don’t know what TWITTER is-: it’s like writing SMS- 140 characters is a tweet limit. One can follow certain people and check their updates in own timeline. One can send and receive message on mobile phone too. Read some good stories about twitter.

Anyway, I am damn annoyed with Twitter. It is acting like a cheap, buggy web application site.

Updates: as of now, my twitter account @paavani is back to normal. Some twitter correction means Spam/ Bots cleaning is happening which will reduce the followers count by some percentage. But that’s fine! I can see time updates

Updates: as of now, my twitter account @paavani is back to normal. Some ‘twitter correction’ means Spam/ Bots cleaning is happening which will reduce the followers count by some percentage. But that’s fine! I can see timeline updates

Splurge was the keyword early last year. People were spending money on decorating their home or buying branded stuff to buying new stylish vehicles. Then all of sudden various companies started to cut down on the expenses, thereby causing people to lose job. Home loans, car loans and insurance installments were same as before but shopaholics could not resist themselves from 50% to 70% discount.

Shopping in recession time!

After all, just because there is slow down time, people do not necessarily stop pampering themselves. The joy of buying something always makes us feel good. In recession time, when we are more into depression, we need to shop. We just need to be a wise shopper.

Those ‘aspirational’ rich, metro residents and mall going people could not resist themselves by spending little less on their favorite Reebok sports shoes or Louis Philippe formal shirt. Even Bodyshop, Revlon etc are giving discount, and some brands like Lakme are coming with exchange offer on old lipsticks etc. It’s really hard not to shop, even in this hard time.

Future group ventures like Big Bazaar, Home town and Pantaloons are already giving great deals and people are really rushing to buy.

These cases were even seen in USA to China. When I visited China last December, things looked fine (at least from outside) but in USA major electronic stores (Circuit city) and few more were going out of business and were running huge store closing sale.

So how are retailers / store owners working on the mathematics of 50% + 50% discount. That’s something I will figure out. Till then happy shopping!

This year Diwali is on 28th oct. and we all have been busy getting geared up for Diwali. In New Delhi, many Diwali fairs are already on, including my all time favorite fair- Diwali mela at Blind School, near Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi. Many schools and residential societies too have variations of the fair. The stress is really on having a fun and good time spending money rather than earning money by putting food / handicraft/ dress/ Candle or chocolates stalls.

It is interesting to check the list of stuff people are buying this Diwali to decorate one’s home.

I have a cool list starting from:
Decorative Diyas: Just go for earthen or bamboo diyas- its green, its cool.
Rangoli- Buy ground white powder and colors or also go for flowers. I also have sticking sticker one.
Vase – Buy some glass vase, you can use it to put candle/ diya.
Platter- From a range of wooden to glass to steel and variable sizes, you can pick what you like and for what you need. Like for putting dry fruits, sweets & Namkeen.
Planter- How could you miss those cute little plants with interesting planter made of terracotta.
Ganesh Laxmi- depends on your budget from terracotta to silver.
And lights- those small LED lights to hang on outer walls & balconies.

And yes celebrate a cracker-less Diwali to keep the place pollution (noise and smoke) free.

Wish you a very happy & prosperous Diwali.

Here are some home trends hints.

White and vibrant- From pure white to ivory and adding colors in accent, like, saffron is something that will make the interior to stands out. Apart from this Black and white theme is something that’s always green.

Metals & wood – Hardness of metals and soft, warm feel of wood is something that can gel well with artifacts and furniture. Even the metallic finishes and rough old wood types are happening.

Natural & organic- It’s more than just green décor. Adding a jute matt either as a castor or spreading a chatai or furnishing with natural colors prints are something talking loud. Anyway eco design is something that’s creating vibes from sometime and now when India also taking stands in green building than why not atleast green décor that we can think of when designing & decorating.

Leather & luxury- Leather is hot with soft touch and just a right level of use. The yellow, black or browns will look good. And yes, luxury is in! No more minimalism.

Wallpapers & graphics- other than in kid’s room its something that can be added anywhere to make that place stands out. Its simple, it’s easy and can be change as desired.

Light & bright- How could light be missing in any décor. Put it purposefully or just for adding a style element, with neat & clean designs and use energy efficient CFL or LEds.

Images Source- Internet (Design Sponge specially)

But change is inevitable, and professionally and personally changes happened with me too. Best was my wedding! Knowing someone and then growing old with that one. Ahh. A strange feeling if one thinks on same. Many questions come in wandering mind. But soul mates are made for each other so they don’t grow old with the passing years instead they live the moments as it come.
And to me, he is the one whom I can believe when I don’t want to. He is not always good but he is what he is; a great listener, sensible talker and brilliant mind with a tender heart whom I would cherish throughout life.
After all He is my soul mate.

So back to blogging; I will try to be active. Infact I was reading/skimming all my favorite blog in past. But now I will blog more frequently. At least, I hope so

Is being free citizen our destination
& being independent without discrimination
Where there is no place for cast & creeds
With people respecting each other and doing deeds!

Or do we ask where is love, respect in our nation
With so much hatred, pain and suffocation
Casting shadows of pessimism
and saying follow the Gandhism!
Let’s starts a new vision
Be a true progressive Indian!

 9:12 pm, 13th August, 2007

 India is celebrating the 60th year of Independence.

It has been long time since I blogged about anything. What was it means: nothing new happening or was I so busy that didn’t get time. No, nothing like that. It was just that when there was over information flow, one get lost what to talk.
Silence is golden at times.

Talking about mobile:

I would like to say- few models are so sleek & smooth that it can look good only on an executive hands. While a field worker continuous sweating hand will make it uncomfortable to hold.

So many features- do we really need it? Few don’t even want to send & receive SMS.

Price range versus features. If it is a 2K mobile, is it really helpful in getting what one want? Don’t compromise quality by adding too much.

So many models, with little difference, so much of confusion. From Samsung to Nokia to new Bleu. A sliding cell phone with similar looks.

Total money expenditure- a 3G phone with cool features. But your current service provider gives you all that good service to operate those? If yes, how costly is it? Or you have to change your years old mobile number.

Even if you browse internet on your blackberry and check emails after every 10 min. Is it comfortable or just leave you more frustrated?

Your mobile is more of FM/ Camera to click pictures secretly or more to mobile blog?

Once you are comfortable with your current handset. It got stolen/broke, and you switched to new model of same company. Do you feel ease to operate it? If no, why so much complexity to understand all navigational system of a handset.

Why mobile buttons are so small? Why no models catering to those who don’t have such sleek fingers to press the right tab?

Regional language settings are there- but how many really needy use it?

There are many more concerned areas; these are many more simple questions other than styling & color of cell phone.

I am really disappointed when I visited Nokia exclusive showroom and did not get a cellphone which display text/numbers in good contrast on a reasonably good screen size along with basic features that work in a small town. Like FM. I hope, new Nokia design studio work in more user friendly way and come up with designs that really cater to the person who need it for basic functions not a gizmo. As number of mobile users in India are more than other parts. And these maximum numbers of users don’t work in corporate offices of a metro.

1^st it was Frito Lays which come with flavors like Spanish tomato tango etc. After countries they brought the flavors of Indian chat – like golgappa style chips.
Fritolay – India’s followed by Uncle Chips, Kurkure (quite popular, now going to launch in USA), Lehar Namkeen and Chittos (which were very famous among children as they came up with a new pokemon character gift with every pack). BTW Frito lays is owned by Pepsi Co so definitely in terms of marketing and advertising they would not leave behind. Either its brand ambassadors like Cool Saif Ali Khan and Pretty Preity Zinta.
And there latest launched is wafer style chips. In India, potato chips are made at home by cutting potato slices and keeping in salted water and then drying in sun for few days and when want to eat fry them. There are many more version and methods to make chips in Indian kitchen by Indian Grandmothers.  

Now come to the latest ad of Bingo- if you have seen the advertisement either on Television or heard on FM (and yes, not to leg behind on web world too they launched website). You might not understand what this ‘Mad angle’ is. Yes, there ads are ‘no confusion, great combination’. After SunFeast biscuits and pasta, the company is now venturing into the Rs 2,000-crore fast-moving branded snack market. They say: “Chips come in experimental flavours such as bindas masti chaas, chatkila nimbu achar and tandoori paneer tikka. Yet another product launched is “Mad Angles”, which according to the company, is inspired by the Gujarati snack khakra and comes in tomato and chilli flavours.”

Even Parle (a very old name specially for Parle G biscuits) is now bringing different flavors of cheese with a new brand name Musst bytes which have flavors- Tangy Tomato Or Garden spices.Let’s see in battle of crispy, spicy chips who won. I heard a mixed review about Bingo, where Paneer tikka is not at all advisable to taste. But people are trying different flavors for different type of ads, names and punch lines like ‘aajkal yeh bahut chal raha hain’ (for Parle Musst bytes) which means roughly – Now days very much in demand.