Induction Cooker or raised cap of subsidised LPG cylinder? Whats your choice?

With the cap of 6 subsidised LPG price cylinders, people started switching towards to electric induction cooker. Now the cap has raised to 9, and we think now induction cooker is of no use.

With a family of four, it was obvious that 6 cylinders is too less. And spending Rs. 900 for the 7th one is unaffordable for a middle class family. An induction cooker is a better option cost-wise. It costs between Rs. 2000 and 5000 depending on brands like Prestige, Philips, Morphy Richards etc.

Most importantly an induction cooker consumes less electricity. I have experienced it for myself. I had bought an induction cooker 3 months back and our electricity bill doesn't show much difference in the numbers. Also, being strictly against energy wastage, I would prefer that energy doesn't get wasted while cooking too. In a cooking gas, the flame is not totally used to heat the vessel. Whereas in an induction cooker, this is not the case. The heat gets transferred to the vessel totally, hence heating the vessel faster than our cooking gas, resulting in electricity saving.

The vessel which should be used for an induction cooker should have magnetic base. Before buying new induction based vessels, do not forget to test your available vessels for such base, by using a magnet and touching it to the base of the vessel.


Advantages of induction cooker:

• Energy efficient
• Good replacement for cooking gas
• uses lesser space
• Cooks food faster and hence saves time
• Light weight
• Safer as there are no open flames
• Increase/decrease temperature based on amount of heat required

Disadvantages of induction cooker:

• The base of the vessel/cookware should not be wet or dirty
• Being an electric device, the induction cooker should not get wet and keeping the cooker clean is essential
• Needs vessel with magnetic base only

So, Induction Cooker or raised cap of subsidised LPG cylinder? Whats your choice?

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?

Mumbai to Lonavala Trip - Wax Museum - Bhushi Dam - Tiger Point - Chikki

An year after the big day,
we plan a mini outing,
an escape from this busy world,
in Lonavala we get curled.

Life is different after an year of marriage. Many folds have now opened up. Responsibilities have started building up. But a day away from all the responsibilities is the thing we cannot be denied. After the mauritius trip there was no exclusive time we got for more than a day. So we thought of a night stay holiday and that was at Lonavala.

Traveling from Mumbai to Lonavala:

Reaching Lonavala from Mumbai is no big deal. We had 4 choices: personal car, Volvo Bus, ST Bus and train. We opted for the Mumbai to Lonavala train as it would reach faster than any of the other options. Koyna Express – the train from Mumbai CST to Kolhapur was the one we choose and got our Dadar to Lonavala seats reserved 4 days prior to our journey date. Our journey started 8.55am. We wished to get short naps, but being our anniversary, calls were flooding in continuously. Friends & relatives who wanted to wish had to call multiple times as either our phones were out of reach or the calls got disconnected while we were in the moving train. We could not miss munching while traveling. The tastiest of them all was Wada pav. The authentic wada pav of those areas is worth gulping in.

Indus Valley Resort:

We reached Lonavala station at 11.15am. Our next task was reaching the Indus Valley Resort where we had booked a room for our overnight stay. Being a tourist place, the auto-rickshaws there would undoubtedly charge double of what it would actually cost and we were quite prepared for it. The Lonavala station to Indus valley resort trip which would approximately cost Rs.30 was charged Rs. 100 by the rickshaw wala. We somehow managed to decrease it by a few bucks.

The road towards the resort was not suitable for vehicles. It was a slope with many rocks and stones along the way. The rickshaw wala managed to climb it with some efforts. Many areas in Lonavala had such roads. So it was a regular task for them.

On reaching the resort, we found that it was not as described to us while booking the room. We could hardly find anyone around in the resort. But being a weekday, we couldn't even expect anyone. We got our room on contacting the office. On reaching the room we noticed that it was quite spacious but didn’t look well maintained and clean. We rested for some time and then ordered for food. They have veg restaurant. Being non-vegeterians, the number of choices of veg food was quite less for us (or may be it was actually less). The quality and quantity of food was also not that great.

We thought that going around and visiting places in Lonavala would be more enjoyable than staying in there. The resort had a swimming pool but didn't look well-maintained. So we preferred to avoid the pool. After lunch we got out of our room and called for a vehicle to roam around in Lonavala. The staff there was quite helpful. They guided us with the places to visits there and called up an auto-rickshaw for us. After some discussions, on considering the time we had to roam around, we planned to visit Bhushi dam, Tiger Point and Wax museum.

Bhushi dam:

Although Bhishi Dam is a great place during the monsoons, but we got a good view of the dam and the river besides it. The steps beside the dam was quite when we visited, although as most of us know that during the monsoon it's very crowded and a beautiful view for the tourists. Also there are shops alongside the dam who sell Golas, Bhuttas, etc. I had my all time favorite – Kala Khatta Gola. We sat besides the river for some time, clicked few pictures and got back for our next destination.

Tiger Point:

Tiger Point also known as Tiger's Leap is another popular place in Lonavala. It offers amazing view of mountains around it. During the night time, tigers wander around there, hence the place is safe for humans only during the day. Fencing is very poorly done in Tiger Point, so it is quite dangerous to go near the edge of the mountain. Also there were shops selling Pakoda, wadapav, bhajiya etc, of course at the cost not actually worth. There were monkeys playing around, which we enjoyed looking at.

Lonavala Chikkis and Fudge:

Visiting Lonavala and not getting Lonavala chikki would be BIG crime! After Tiger Point visit, on the way towards Wax museum was the market, where we went to a shop to buy chikkis. We got 4 boxes of chikkis and ya the mouth-watering fudge. The shop keeper let us taste few fudges. They were all just awesome. We couldnt decide on which fudge to take home. Finally we chose the mango flavored one.

Celebrity Wax Museum:

Wax museum is the one I have always heard about but never got the chance to visit.The Wax Museum Lonavala ticket price was Rs. 100 per head at the time of our visit. The wax statues inside were just flawless. That was great work done by the creator. The wax statues stayed there with the help of AC cooling. Visitors were not allowed to touch the statues. In the museum resided were statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Chatrapati Shivaji, Kapil Dev, Adolf Hitler, Anna Hazare, A R Rehman, Hariharan, Micheal Jackson, Angelina Jolie, Mother Teresa, Saddam Hussain, Ravishankar, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and many more celebrities. Out of them all, Anna Hazare, Kapil Dev, Vajpayee looked the most real and amazing. When standing in front of the statue, one would feel like the statue will instantly make a move. After clicking a few pictures we moved out of the museum and headed towards our lovely resort :P

For dinner we preferred to have food from some restaurant. So after few minutes of rest we headed towards the Lonavala market where there were many restaurants. We got into one of them and had some chinese cuisines.

Back from Lonavala to Mumbai:

Next day was our return to Mumbai. We didnt book any train tickets this time. Instead we opted for Neeta Volvo bus. We were told that the buses are available every 15 minutes from Neeta Hotel which was a few kms away from Indus Valley resort. But when we reached the Neeta Hotel, we were told that being a weekday, they decrease the number of buses. So the next bus would leave only after 45 minutes. We waited there for a few minutes till the bus arrived. Later the luxurious bus arrived which we got into for Lonavala to Mumbai return journey.

Top Reasons for Drop in Website Traffic

There are infinite reasons for drop in Organic visits towards your website. Going through the checklist of top reasons might help you find the reason faster.

Find below few reasons for drop in website traffic. (Do mention in the comment if you have more):  

Website was down:  

Source: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTKWcFBGtIs
PaZpeFP1E3YeCAtEgysdEYCga1I6B4pZeZDXhn2TzTzdVzP5BQ

Issue: If your website was not opening for certain period, then there would no visits during the same period. This could have happened because of server load, server down etc.  
Find it out: In Google Analytics, Go to left side bar: Audience > Overview On the right side, select Hourly and get the hourly report for your website. This will display the visits on an hourly basis. You can compare the hourly visits for the specific days which you are comparing.  

Source:davies-barnard.co.uk/wp-content/uploads
/2011/06/website_source_code.jpg

Google Analytics tracking code got removed: 

Issue:The Google Analytics tracking code got removed from your website. This could happen during some changes being done on the website and the code got removed accidently.  

Find it out: In the source code of your website, search if the analytics code is present.  

Source:nigerianreviews.com/wp-content/
uploads/2012/10/happy-holidays.jpg

Festival/public holiday:   
Issue: During festivals and public holidays, people tend to surf less on the internet as compared to a working day. This is not more of an issue, but to balance out this traffic, you can concentrate on running campaigns which target these festivals. However, if you have a restaurant or entertainment related website, then public holidays are your peak days. 
Find it out: For major festivals, traffic drop is expected. But for periodic festival like Christmas eve, the drop should be experienced moreover during the evening time. To find this out you can refer the hourly report.  

Keyword Ranking gone down:
Issue:Search engine rankings for your keywords have dropped, due to which Search engine users do not tend to click on your website. Major clicks are achieved by websites which rank on 1st 5 positions.
Find it out: In Google Analytics, in the right sidebar, go to Traffic Sources > Sources > Search > Organic. By default Primary Dimension is Keyword, select the secondary dimension as Landing Page. Select Sort Type as Absolute Change. (This sort type can be selected only if you are comparing 2 time period/dates). Sort Visits in ascending order. This will display keywords and its corresponding landing page with highest drop in traffic. Although, virtually you cannot find keyword ranks through Google Analytics, but checking ranks of keywords with the most visits drop might help you to figure out whether there was any effect of keyword ranks on the traffic.  

Source: conversion-rate-services.com/getfile/d085b328-01a9-4de8
-9adb-f694589061e3/Google_Analytics_Landing_
Pages_Report/?width=630&height=529

Visits towards few landing pages gone down:
Issue:There could be few pages on your website which have experienced drop in traffic. This could be due to removal of interlinking across the website, decreased backlinks, page completely removed from the website. 
Find it out: In Google Analytics, in the right sidebar, go to Traffic Sources > Sources > Search > Organic. By default Primary Dimension is Keyword, change it to Landing Page. Select Sort Type as Absolute Change. (This sort type can be selected only if you are comparing 2 time period/dates). Sort Visits in ascending order.

Hope these reasons help you while analyzing the traffic drop for your website. And if it didn't and you found out some other reason for the visits drop then do mention in the comment section!

National Energy Conservation Day - 14th December

As the National Energy Conservation Day / World Energy Conservation Day arrives on 14th December in India, have you thought of your first step towards conserving energy? We often preach of conserving energy, avoiding plastic, saving paper etc and point out a finger towards whoever doesn't follow it. But do we realize that while we point out 1 finger towards others, there are 3 fingers pointing towards ourselves? Great deeds should start from your own home. The world will follow.

National Energy Conservation Day is celebrated across India on the 14th of December every year. Also, the same date is observed as World Energy Conservation Day across the world. The objective of dedicating this day as energy conservation day is to inculcate the message of energy conservation in every walk of life. This is a nationwide movement for energy conservation and signifies our commitment to a clean development mechanism.

Energy Conservation focuses on using less Energy and avoiding wastage which can be achieved through increased efficient energy use and with decreased energy consumption. Conservation of energy is a trait that we need to embed into our lifestyle, it is something we need to consciously adapt.

Each one of us have a role to play in promoting energy conservation and efficiency. The amount of energy we consume is directly proportional to its impact on climate and our carbon Foot Print. Energy conservation also provides the additional benefits of lower operating costs and greater competitiveness for the industry.

Small initiatives on this National Energy Conservation Day can bring in a big difference:

• Switching on only very essential lights.
• Switching off the lights while you are leaving the room.
• Shutdown computers when not required
• Switch-off monitors when you are away from your computer desk.
• Unplug from the power socket, when laptop battery is in full charge. This will extend the life of your laptop battery as well.
• Use natural light wherever possible.
• Take the stairs if possible, it is a healthy habit.
• Reduce brightness & contrast on monitors. This will protect your eye sight as well.
• Car pool wherever possible.
• Print only when necessary.

On this ‘National Energy Conservation Day’, let us move towards a culture where energy conservation become a way of life.

Mauritius Honeymoon Trip - Watersports, Temple, Ship Models & Chamarel

Here is rest of the 5 days in Mauritus. If you have not read our first 3 days experience then this one’s for you: Mauritius Honeymoon Trip - Calodyne Sur Mer & Port Louis

Adventure at Ile Aux Cerfs:

Getting High

The 3rd day was filled with adventure water sports at waters of Ile Aux Cerfs. We had Under sea walk, Parasailing and speed boat ride. In under sea walk, we got the opportunity to go into the water and place our feet there. We could feed the colorful fishes, touch them and walk inside the water for few minutes. Parasailing and speed boat were quite enjoyable too as we were in the middle of the sea and could just see water all around us. Although I have done parasailing and speed boat ride earlier, having my life along with me during these sports made it all the more special. We also opted for pictures which were taken by the people who operated these watersports. The pictures were given to us in CDs. Although the cost of it was quite high, pictures of our experiences were not to miss in any case.

During this 3rd day trip we found an Indian restaurant near the beach, where we hoped to have some real indian food which we missed since we left India. But to our disappointment, it was just a hope and hardly came even close to actual Indian food. Nevertheless, the beaches made up for it.

 Romantic Candle Light Dinner:
The 3rd day ended with a candle light dinner. Being on a honeymoon trip, we were offered candle light dinner near the beach by Calodyne resort. Although the cool breeze didn’t let the candle to remain lighted for long, someone else was shining mildly on us during the dinner - the moon! It was actually a moon light dinner :) To our surprise, we were offered Indian food for the evening. We stuffed the food into our stomach so much that we could hardly walk towards our room. So we had a short walk at the beach and sat there for an hour.

The 4th day was filled with the south island tour of Mauritius - Le Port, Trou aux Cerfs, Chamarel and Hindu temple.  

Le Port - Manufacturer of Ship Models:

Men @ Work

Our first destination for the day was Le Port. Mauritius is well-known for handmade ship models and Le Port is a Mauritian company which specializes in it. We got to visit the place where they made the ship models and could see how they made the beautiful pieces. The company also sold the ship models at the same place. We went a floor above in the same building and could see ship models of all sizes - small to big been displayed so that visitors could buy them. They ranged from 300 MUR to 5000 MUR depending on the beauty and the size of the ship models.  

Trou Aux Cerfs - The Dormant Volcano:
Trou aux Cerfs is a dormant volcano located in Curepipe town. Of course being dormant, it was hardly appealing to our eyes. Our tour guide by Seaside Holidays explained us how it could become active anytime and destroy the place. Trou aux Cerfs is also known as Murr’s Volcano.  

Chamarel - Seven Colored earths and Waterfall:

Seven Colored Earths

After the volcano, we were taken towards Chamarel. Chamarel is a place rich with nature beauty. We could view 2 beauties here: Seven Coloured Earths and Waterfall known as Chamarel Falls. Seven Coloured Earths featured sands of 7 different colours which appears to be stripped colouring. There is some nominal charge to visit this place (which was taken care by seaside holidays). We took a walk alongside the place to view it from all directions. During the walk, we could see huge tortoises. there were 3 of them and they were placed in a section next to seven coloured earths. Our next visit was Chamarel waterfall which is the highest waterfall in the country. It falls more than 85 metres down. There is a viewing point for this waterfall where tourists like us could view it.

Hanuman @ Hindu Temple

Next destination was Hindu temple located near Grand Bassin lake (Ganga Talao). This temple was dedicated to Lord Shiva, Shri Krishna, Ganpati, Hanuman and many other Gods. The temple allows us to worship statues of Gods and Goddesses. When we were at the temple, it started raining suddenly and we got partially wet. Somehow we ran towards our tour guide’s vehicle and got into it.

As the 4th day came to an end we were totally exhausted and needed rest desperately. So as soon as we arrived in our room we dozed off. After an hour of sleep we got up and got ready for dinner. Dinner at Calodyne resort had all the food items we would wish for. From salads to chocolate dessert, from omlettes to turkey etc. We loved the healthy, less-spicy food we had there, although we missed the typical Indian food. The best part about this was that we forgot our daily routine and live in a totally new world and that was our motive of the holiday.  

Kayaking at Calodyne:
5th and 6th day were meant for our leisure and we made the most out of it. Calodyne offered Kayaking and Pedalos at the beach. We opted for it during noon. For doing these activities, it is absolutely essential that the wind should not be strong. Unfortunately, we went at the wrong time for these activities, we were warned about the strong winds, hence we waited for some time. During this waiting time we enjoyed in the beach water playing around. Then we went for Kayaking. We couldn’t go for Pedalos as none of the boats were available for us. We were provided with the requirements like the boat, life jacket etc for Kayaking. It was a great experience. We rowed from our sea shore to a sea shore which was few kms away from ours. We rowed for around 2 hours, although the distance (to and fro) was hardly 45 minutes. In kayaking it is necessary that both the rowers row in the same direction. But being first timers, our coordination didn't match up and we were rowing in the wrong manner. After Kayaking, our arms pained and hands and legs got tanned. This tanning stayed for a few months after the honeymoon. But we were happy about the experience we had.  

Guy with Pedalos

The Bar @ Calodyne

Leisure Day:
On the 6th day we roamed around the resort and enjoyed the swimming pool, beachside chairs, art & craft store within the resort, restaurant bar etc. There were families who had come to the resort for 2 days picnic. There was one service which we has considered while booking the trip but forgot about while we were there was Wi-Fi! We used this service on the 6th day and accessed some internet on our phones.


Being the the 2nd last day at the resort and the trip, we were feeling sad. Next day morning we had to leave for the Mauritius international airport and then back to Mumbai.

Here ended our Mauritius honeymoon trip. I am writing my experience an year after the trip. Although time has passed by, memories are still intact in our minds.

Cheers :)

Mauritius Honeymoon Trip - Calodyne Sur Mer & Port Louis

7th Dec 2011 was the date when we took off for the beautiful holiday at the destination which I had never even thought of in my dreams - Mauritius. It was indeed a lifetime experience which every couple should feel. The beauty of the place is it’s serenity, freshness and luxury.  Not to forget are the clear skies, beaches with turquiouse colored water and friendly localites. 

Our first view of Mauritius

How the Mauritus honeymoon package came our way:
After a lot of discussions and R&Ds on holiday destinations especially honeymoon destinations, we stopped on Mauritius. In our considerations were Kerala (his dream place), Andaman & Nicobar islands, Singapore & Langhkawi, Thailand and Maldives. Mauritius came our way when we found that it is a popular honeymoon destination and we found one of the best Makemytrip mauritius honeymoon packages. Being our first international trip and a honeymoon as well, we preferred to take least efforts in planning our holiday. So we left it on Makemytrip. This travel agency did an excellent job in scheduling and creating our Makemytrip Mauritius honeymoon package.


From Mumbai, India to Port Louis, Mauritius:
Our 6 hours flight journey from Mumbai to Mauritius by Air Mauritius flight was accompanied with the great hospitality by flight attendants. We were served well with the breakfast and entertainment facilities in Air Mauritius. Before boarding the flight, we were well prepared with the converted money from INR to MUR i.e. 1 MUR was equivalent to 1.8 INR. Upon arrival at the Port Louis airport, a glance at our cellphone made us realize that we are now 1.5 hours behind India. After collecting our bags at the airport when we headed towards the exit, Makemytrip was nowhere in our vicinity. Instead a guy from a travel agency named Seaside Holidays came up to us. Thats when we realized, Make my trip has partnership with Seaside holidays which is a travel agency in Mauritius. This travel agent looks after the customers of Make my trip along with many more travel agencies. So our Mauritius package was actually looked after by Seaside holidays Mauritius and not Make My Trip!


Our Stay:

Calodyne Sur-Mer Resort

Calodyne Sur Mer resort was the heaven where we stayed during our 6 days trip. We were greeted with a warm welcome and a refreshing drink as soon as we reached the resort. Our luggages were looked after their guys and reached our rooms safely. They took us through the resort and introduced us to all sections of the resort - a small shop where we can buy things sold in Mauritius, the huge swimming pool, restaurant, buffet area, beach, kayaking and wifi areas. As we reached our room and relaxed, within a few minutes there was a knock at the door. It was the staff with a fruit platter and a bottle of wine. This was planned for honeymoon couples who visit Calodyne Sur Mer Mauritius.


Visiting the Port Louis:
Our Mauritius tour started with a day at Port Louis as mentioned in our make my trip honeymoon package. Our 2nd day was planned to visit the capital city of the country. Seaside holidays Mauritius came to our hotel to pick us up. Our trip included Bagatelle Mall, Marie Reine De La Paix, Fort Adelaide - La Citadelle, le caudan waterfront and casino. These are some of the best places to visit in Mauritius country.

Marie Reine De La Paix church is a beautiful place to visit.  Here we experienced the true serenity of the place. The church witnesses the beautiful scenic views which one would regret to miss. While standing at the church we could look at the whole city.

View from Marie Reine De La Paix Church

Traveling towards Bagatelle Mall

 
Bagatelle Mall is for those who want to go for shopping Mauritius. Here, we went around shopping for chocolates and cookies in the Food Lover's Market. We filled Lindt chocolates, mint flavoured cookies and many 
more into our baskets.

     

Pirates at Le Caudan Waterfront

Then came Le Caudan Waterfront which is a market place at Port Louis. Here we could see many people dressed in costumes of Pirates. Actually it was a theme which was been followed there for the day. And then there was a casino at same place. We just had a look inside the casino as participating could make a huge hole in our pockets.

 Fort Adelaide also known as La Citadelle was next destination during the city visit. Here we got to click some amazing pictures.

At Fort Adelaide

After the Port Louis Mauritius trip we were totally exhausted and got back to our room and relaxed rest of the evening in the room. As the sunset approached, we stepped towards the beach alongside our Calodyne Sur Mer hotel and had a wonderful time looking at the stars twinkling in the sky.

After the 1st day trip, we wondered how beautiful life could be. How could we miss this all these years. Thank god we thought of make my trip honeymoon packages. The first 2 days brought us so many new experiences that we were curious about the next 5 days.

Do not forget to read on to know how we spent our next 5 days in the the heaven @ Mauritius Honeymoon Trip - Watersports, Temple, Ship Models & Chamarel