Univercell Sync Colaba - Indiblogger Event Experience

Yippie, another IndiBlogger event had come and we were excited as ever for this one too. Univercell, the mobile phone and accessories store gave us the opportunity to know more about them. A well organized store with amazing experience for its visitors.

All the mobile phones and accessories are placed so strategically that nobody will get confused on what they are looking for. The camera lovers, music lovers have a dedicated section where they can spend hours looking at the devices and know more about them. Kids need not get bored with their parents and parents need not constantly keep an eye on their kids wondering what mischief they’ll have to witness. Kids are kept busy at the tablets section with games and wonderful seating arrangement for the little ones. There’s a new & noteworthy section displaying the newly arrived phones and accessories. Best part about Univercell that I liked is that they have displayed a checklist in each of the sections which will help the buyer purchase the right product they’ll need without regretting later.

The creative head of the store gave us complete information about the brand and their offerings with a tour of the entire showroom. We got to click pictures of the beautifully designed showroom. It is well designed with relevant pictures and backgrounds. For e.g. a wall filled with Smileys, ladies clicking their selfies, the fun area where one can click pictures within a frame, my God, that is so us! They know well what their customers would like.

With the growing trend of online mobile purchases, the mobile & accessories stores are just a medium to look at the phones physically whereas they are actually purchased online because of the discounts & offers buyers get. But Univercell gives a little extra for the amount we pay which no website or store gives. They give an years service for your phone if it gets damaged by chance by getting it repaired at the ease of your home. They pick it up from your home or office or any place, get it repaired by the authorized service center and return to your preferred place. Also they give a replacement phone if you require. I found this service simply amazing. Which store has it?

Have a look at the video. It explains my experience in the showroom in greater detail. Do share if you like it and I'll be thankful to you for the rest of my life ! :D

Dan Brown - The Author of Symbols and Codes

Source: parade.com

The author of symbols and codes has come up with his new novel Inferno. All of us are well aware of the fact that he is the expert of symbols, codes, secrets and signs. Blending facts and fiction efficiently Dan brown has come up with books like - Digital Fortress, Deception Point, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, The Lost Symbol and now Inferno, all of which are dedicated to code and symbols. And one more part which is common in the later 4 novels is Robert Langdon.

Robert Langdon

He is a professor with immense knowledge about symbols and has an excellent problem solving mind. A swimmer by interest, Robert Langdon is scared of elevators as he suffers from Claustrophobia and wears a Mickey Mouse watch gifted by his parents. Some of the books written by this fictional character as said by the author in his books are Religious Iconology, Symbols of Lost Sacred Feminine, The Symbology of Secret Sects etc.

Films out of Dan Brown Thoughts

2 of his books – The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons have been adapted into films in the year 2006 and 2009 respectively. Both of them starred Tom Hanks. Although both the movies gained poor reviews, it was liked by many (especially me :) ) The next adaption would be of The Lost Symbol (waiting for it eagerly).

In an attempt to take his novel Inferno a step further, Dan brown will be publicly talking about it at Lincoln Center, New York.

Source: lincolncenter.org

Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2013 - Are you coming?

20^thJanuary is the Mumbai Marathon 2013 date. With the fast approaching Marathon event, I am sure many of us are getting prepared for the event, although with our busy life, it's difficult to get prepared practically.

Reference:Sulekha.com

The medical director of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon has suggested fitness schedule for the 2 weeks prior to the event:

Full Marathon preparation:

WEEKS TO GO	MON	TUE	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
2	Rest	5	8-10	X-TRAIN(45 min)	Rest	6	10-14
1	Rest	5	5-7	Rest	5	Rest	RACE DAY

Half Marathon preparation:

WEEKS TO GO	MON	TUE	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
2	R	7	5	X TRAIN (45 MIN)	R	5	16
1	R	7	5	REST	5	R	RACE DAY

Dream Run preparation:

WEEKS TO GO	MON	TUE	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
2	R	2-3	4	X TRAIN (45 MIN)	R	5	60 min run/walk
1	R	2-3	4	REST	4	R	RACE DAY

Distance in Kilometers, R-Rest, X Train- Cross Training, e cycling, swimming

Some facts about Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon:

• Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon turns 10 this year.
• Distance to be covered for Full Marathon runners is approx. 42 Kms, for Half Marathon runners the distance is 21 Kms, Dream run it's 6 Kms and Senior Citizens run the distance is 4.3 Kms.
• Registrations for the event was on from July-November (varied for Full Marathon, Half Marathon, Dream Run and Wheelchair / Senior Citizens run).
• Running number Bibs and runners kit collection has been scheduled for 11^th - 13^th January 2013 (11am – 7pm), at it's usual location – BKC, Bandra.
• An email confirmation is required for collecting the kit and bib. It could be in the form of print out or the email on your phone. Hope you prefer the email on phone option :)
• If you are unable to collect the bib and kit personally, then your representative can collect it for you. How? Visit their FAQs.
• Marathon race start timings vary for different race i.e. Full marathon, half marathon, dream run etc with the earliest being full marathon 5.40 am.
• Varied prize money and medals are awarded to the winners and runner ups.

I will be there at the event for Dream Run.

Are you coming?

My Kindle

Reading books had become my Love long back. The first book which i read was a love story by Tushar Raheja.. Anything for you Mam. And then fiction books followed. Dan Brown, Chetan Bhagat, Jeffrey Archer and other great authors. This resulted in overflowing shelf, frequent crossword visits, shelfari and other books related website browsing.

But now at least the overflowing shelf problem is gone with the present I received from a sweet family member J

Image Source: allthingsd.com

Here it is:

Kindle Touch…

Some of its features that I liked:

•     Wifi
•     Touch screen
•     Text to speech conversion
•     Bookmarking
•     Dictionary meaning
•     Long battery life
•     Increase/decrease font size
•     Share on Facebook

Indeed it is a wow device, a comfortable add-on to my hobby

Español

Spanish language has always pulled me towards itself through its rhythmic resonance. I like the unfussiness and simplicity in the language.

Spanish belongs to the category of Romance Language (uhh, its not what you would assume initially! :D). Romance here corresponds to Roman. Some of the other languages belonging to this category are Latin, French etc.

Español/ Spanish is actually much easier to learn than English. The pronunciations of English words may consume years to learn but Spanish words are spelled exactly how they sound. Hence the pronunciations are much easier to grasp.

For example the alphabet ‘u’ is always pronounced like the vowel sound in ‘moon’ and ‘suit’ and never like the one in ‘cute’ or ‘bus’.

The first few words which I learnt were ‘Hola’ which means Hello (you might have guessed it :P), ‘gracias’ which stands for Thank you (another easy one, which many are aware of), ‘Cómo está’ for How are you and a few more. They were quite easy but actually talking in Spanish is quite difficult until you a get a companion.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

The creator of the Mona Lisa painting is known by all – Leonardo Da Vinci. And Da Vinci’s rival? Creator of David? Pieta? The Last Judgment? Yeah, it’s Michelangelo, the sculptor and painter. He’s the one who is usually deprived of recognition and had to fight for it.

Pieta Pieta sculpted by Michelangelo before the age of 25 depicts Virgin Mary’s grief over her child, dead Christ. Michelangelo was granted 450 ducats for creating Pieta which is now equivalent to 30,000 pounds. As he didn’t receive the recognition for creating one of the most renowned works of art, he made sure he is recognized by inscribing his recognition on the sculpture.

David -    The symbol of heroic inspiration for Florentine citizens to develop courage & inner divine strength.

Ambigrams – Fond of them :D

I found about this font style when I read the Angels & Demons novel written by Dan Brown, wherein the chest of a physicist was branded with ambigram of the word Illuminati. And I got so obsessed with it that I decided to learn to create one.

So, what is an ambigram? Huh, I don’t need to explain it here. Experts like Google and Wikipedia are present for that.

When I decided to learn to create ambigrams, I found how difficult it is and how much of self-learning it needs. Every word’s ambigram creation technique is unique. Experiments need to be carried out using a pen and paper. And moreover, it all depends on an idea. The moment it clicks, you’re done, whereas it might take days or even weeks for that idea to strike.

I went through really impressive ambigrams. Here are some of them:

When I First Met Toto...

My 3 sharks made the tank full of life and energy. I would love to see them swim and hop whenever I opened the lid. One fine day, I thought of feeding them live blood worms instead of the boring granules!

I visited the aquarium shop to buy the same and there the shopkeeper was showing a bunch of turtles to one of his customers. I got fascinated by one of the turtles in the shopkeeper’s container. The container had 3 more turtles. The other 3 were quiet while my lovely one was moving its legs so rapidly as if it would fly in a while! I loved its enthusiasm. Its green shell, striped skin, tiny legs enthralled me all the more towards it. When I moved my hand towards the one month old, it dug itself inside its shell and peeped from the corner of its cute eyes. And I yelled “I WANT IT”!

It encouraged me to bring it home. I named it Toto and introduced it to my sharks. Now its 4 months old and roams in every corner of my house like a family member.