A JOURNEY CALLED LIFE

  The Corona pandemic has caused a havoc on the global economy. Some countries have been more affected than others. I however would like to focus on the effect of the pandemic on the edible oil industry and Malaysian Palm oil especially. Last week I attended a webinar hosted by the  Malaysian Palm Oil Council with Dr Bhavna Shah, country representative of India/Sri Lanka as the speaker and what she said about the palm oil industry right now is really food for thought. How has COVID 19 affected the edible oil industry?  The pandemic caused shutting down of restaurants and catering businesses and hence a drastic reduction in the  import of edible oils. People have reduced eating outside to a very large extent and also takeaway orders have declined. This situation was particularly grave during the lockdown period. The production of cooking oil comes under Essential goods services but the production of containers isn't. Labours migrated back to their villages from the cities in huge nu

Title:  The Art and Science of Real Wealth Author: Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu Genre: Finance, Non fiction Pages: 103 This is my second book by  Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu after his 'Arya Dharma'. This is about finance with some really eye opening advice. I think of investing money from time to time and I feel almost everyone does the same so this is a must read for all. To start with do you know the difference between an investor and speculator? To become good in speculation, one has to overcome 4 things: ignorance, fear, hope, greed. e only way to conquer fear, hope and greed is by the sincere and sustained practice  of Dhyan to achieve Samathvam. Speculation is a continuous learning process. It's both an art and science. Even after 26 years the writer is not perfect. He has seen downfall till the recent past until early 2018.  He figured if even a world class speculator like Jesse Livermore did break his rules and make mistakes, he also have made th

This summer vacation we couldn't go out but that didn't deter us from celebrating! We set up various picnic and party areas in our balcony from time to time and dressed up nicely. On the ocassion of  Father's Day, I gifted my princess ' Plush Dress ' (a chambray dress) from Cherry Crumble California.. Not only it's pure cotton and perfectly apt for this heat, but it's 10/10 on style with the yellow tassels and the appliqued flowers. She loved it! Why do I and my kid love Cherry Crumble California ? This brand truly represents the cool, laid back So Cal vibe. Their products and materials are of topmost quality and their designs are simply amazing. From beautiful appliques to tassels, to beadwork to pockets, each piece is unique. The apparel for boys is dapper and for girls they are pretty. Every single outfit is smart and uber cool.  A plush dress is a chic summer dress! It features floral embroidery with extra soft, plush felt applique.

It maybe a little while till we are able to resume our normal lives and play with our kids in the park. The children have been the worst to suffer; it's their age to explore the world but they have been confined indoors for the past 4 months. Entertaining kids have been a challenge for all the parents. We are a No/Minimal screen parents so we are constantly trying to entertain our toddler with things that involve creativity. Of course LEGO sets are her favourite. Her latest set is the Nature Glamping Set. It's a super cute set with everything you can think of during glamorous camping or 'GLAMPING'. Encourage kids’ zest for the outdoors with this LEGO® Friends Nature Glamping  toy camping set. There are loads of features to keep kids playing for hours. Let them imagine cycling through the woods with LEGO Friends Olivia and Mia mini-dolls. Or they can play with the toy squirrel or pretend to stargaze with a telescope. Camping in style This is no back-to-basics campi

The world almost stood still the past two months. While everyone stayed at homes and worked from within, my job didn't permit so. Yes I am a frontline worker (a medical professional) who had to go to the hospital during the entire lockdown time. I was double stressed: Catching the infection myself as well as silently passing on to my two little kids or my elderly parents. I have been seeing and hearing people cursing this quarantined life but they don't understand it's a privilege to be able to stay within the safe confines of home and work and earn. The only respite in this period has been TikTok. Yes, I am now a total TikTok convert.  If there's anything that got a boost during this Corona pandemic, it has to be TikTok. This app has seen billions of downloads and users in the past couple of months. And why not? It's like a breath of fresh air. After I come back from the hospital and undergo a rigorous sanitation regime to ward off any kind

When you treat your other half like a princess, it means you were raised by a queen. I totally believe in gender equality. If women can work and cook, then why can't we men help with household chores? It's lockdown time that means we don't have any househelp. Ariel India has come up with an excellent initiative of #ShareTheLoad. It's high time that we men start helping with the housework. From doing laundry to groceries, cooking to cleaning, there should not be any discrimination in gender. Because chores are chores, irrespective of everything.  I have been brought up in a household where me being the only son and the youngest had been pampered to the hilt. My parents never let me do a single chore. I hadn't even filled a glass of water before going to the hostel. I was lucky that even I was pampered in my hostel. And after I passed my MBBS, I had the privilege of hiring maids to do all the chores. Usually it's said that when a guy lives alone, indep

Title: Arya Dharma The Nobel Dharma Author: Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu Genre: Non fiction Pages: 610 This book is very different as to what all I have read in the past. I am usually a reader of fiction and self help books but this one is of the most meaningful reads of my life. If you love your country and make some difference to the world, then you should definitely try reading this. This book is not easy, it's 600 pages but it is definitely a fast read. The author has tried to find a solution to every problem of today from our rich heritage. The ancient texts of Upanishads, Manusmriti, Arthashastra, Neetishastra etc seem to have the key for the questions of today. They may have been written thousands of years ago, but are truly timeless in their content. Why the name Arya Dharma? Arya means nobel. God hasn't created any religion or rift. It's us humans who have dissected the society. The author is highly against FUKUS (France, United Kingdom and USA) which he believes ha

Title: The Mummy Bloggers Author: Holly Wainwright Genre: Fiction, Humor Coming to the book this is a story of 3 mothers who happen to share their lives daily online ie they are bloggers. Although they are very different from each other and have a niche and an audience of their own. The stylish mumma is a mom of two boys. She is rich and sexy and married to a man way older to her. The green Diva has two kids from her earlier marriage and is now in a lesbian relationship, whose partner too has two kids from before. She hs moved to the countryside and homeschools her kids and deapises everything that is non organic. The working mumma has three kids and slogs hard everyday to balance her job and motherhood. The blog is an outlet for both the working mumma and green diva but it's actually a business venture with lofty goals for the stylish mumma.  However when an award with a huge financial perk is announced for the best mummy blogger, everyone becomes ambitious and dive into the proce

Title: Trending In Love Author: Pankaj Dubey Genre: Romance, Fiction No.of pages: 210 Format: Paperback We all know that cracking the IAS exams is one of the most gruelling tasks in India. The achievers are worshipped literally like Gods. However when does one know to enter this Herculean race? Some youngsters know from their childhood that they want to become a bureaucrat (whether family history, family pressure or ambition) while some are motivated into acquiring power because of certain circumstances. This story is about a pretty girl Sanam (a Delhiite although hailing from Madhya Pradesh) and a Kashmiri boy Aamir, who hails from the politically unrest Kupwara. Sanam gets into a fight with a minister's son in her carefree days which pushes her into becoming an IAS officer so that she can teach such hooligans a lesson. Aamir on the other hand is leading his daily life in the valley amidst regular firings, unrest, tension and a 'Jihadi' environmen

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Title: Irrationally Passionate Author: Jason Kothari Pages: 244 Genre: Autobiography, Motivational, Personal Hardbound Who is Jason Kothari? Honestly speaking, I did not know him as a person before I picked up this book to read. However what attracted me to read this book were the subtitles on the cover: Former CEO Housing.com, Former CEO Freecharge, Former CEO Valiant Entertainment, Former CEO Snapdeal. Now my eyes got wide. So Jason Kothari is the man behind the turnaround of crumbling biggies like Snapdeal and Housing.com. I have read so much about him in the newspapers that I definitely needed to know more about this Midas guy.  I immediately picked up this book and started reading. Honestly it's so engaging that I could not keep it down. Every single page is awe inspiring. Jason was born in Hong Kong and he grew up there. He had been a rebel in his childhood and teenage years. However there is a saying 'Morning shows the Day' or how a child wo