My experience with getting published in The Times of India

If you are here looking for information on how to get published in The Times of India, then you are in for a disappointment. I’ve spent every waking second trying to get information on how to make an edit page submission to The Times.

Alright, here’s the deal. I am very new to this writing game and I am not familiar with the unwritten rules; so I play by the book and deal in black and white. Now, you know how it works in India; until you’ve tried a zillion times for anything, success is not guaranteed.

I’ve had success in getting my work published to wherever I’ve sent so far. So, why The Times now, you might ask? Every evening when my husband returns from work, he looks at my distraught face knowing what I’ve been up to and asks, “Again? today, too? Why? Why just The Times? There is Mint, DNA, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle and rattles the list.” I sigh; if you have to ask you wouldn’t understand. Call it my obsession or whatever you want. My morning starts with this paper everyday; it has been that way for the past 7 years of my life which makes it difficult to just turn away and give up in a day. Getting a work published in the edit section of Times of India is my dream, even if it’s just for once. I know what you’re thinking - very ambitious indeed for a person who started writing just a few months back. So what, I’ve had no rejections so far. I have a piece ready to be submitted to Times and my gut says, it wouldn’t get rejected. I’ve closely observed and analysed every single column submitted in the past five months and I feel I am ready to try it. Read more

Why ICICI Direct is not a good idea for Intra-day or Margin Trading?


In the life of a trader, there are only two types of days - great and worse; there’s nothing in between that can qualify for being a mediocre one. I just experienced something worse than a worse day - totally down in the dumps; thanks to ICICI Direct for making my life so miserable. Interestingly, ICICI Direct was awarded the Most Preferred Financial Advisory Service in the CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards 2007; this going to a brokerage firm that sucks in margin calls.

Anyways, the latest episode with ICICI Direct is that during peak trading hours, the site is exceptionally slow which means you have to go through the process of placing an order to confirming the same a number of times before getting it done by when the price has changed and it makes no sense at all. This is still OK. But what happened today cannot just be forgiven. The damn site was down for a good 9 hours starting from 14:00 hrs. Just when I placed a margin order and before I could convert it to delivery the site went down. Calls to their customer service resulted in an automated message - “Due to an unexceptionally high number of calls queued, we’ll not be able to connect you. Please try again later.” It was obvious; there were hundred others trying to square off their positions profitably.

I was relaxed later that evening to know that my position would have got squared off automatically at a higher price, but that was not meant to be. The jokers at ICICI took the least price when the stock was falling momentarily and squared off resulting in a huge loss. The stock in question was MRPL. Their customer care representatives were kind enough to tell me that they were working hard on improving the site and that I should have read the Terms and Conditions carefully while signing up for the demat account which apparently states that they are not liable for damages caused by technical fault. What a nice way of covering your asses!

So, my advice is if you are contemplating of opening a e-brokerage account, then go in for something else.

LG is one month shy of turning into a 1 year old


The Seniol proudly says Lil’ General is growing like a weed; I prefer to say he is growing every day, every minute in to a handsome lil’ one just the way babies are supposed to. Gosh! Can you believe in a month he will be a one year old. And then, I wouldn’t have to count his age in terms of weeks and months..I can just say in terms of years like we grown up adults, and make him feel like one too. Seems like yesterday when I started writing about all the weird stuff that was happening inside me; those temper tantrums in the first trimester; an indulging second trimester with all the announcement “we-are-pregnant” and a nausea accentuating the weight factor in the third semester. It is all over and the product is right in front of our eyes growing everyday with the growth actually visible; it is not like those unreal moments when our parents meet us after a few months gap when we are 30 and still comment, “Oh! you have lost so much weight; the face is not shining, are you not taking good care?” while the weight machine says another story. Read more

Adsense : My first check from Google

It was an anxious moment where every cent was counted and every click contributed to breach that first milestone. My first check from Google gets dispatched next month; it happened faster than I thought ..I first signed up for Google Adsense three years back and then deactivated it within three months, for no apparent reason. Just didn’t see money coming in ever and it was such a waste of time to log in and see if there were any clicks at all. And, then it all changed this May with traffic increasing on both mt sites - this one and LG Rules. So, I decided to activate it again and see if it meant anything. It did; it took close to five months to reach that first milestone.
The last few dollars took for ever, some days going by without any click despite the reasonable traffic and I was on an edge wondering if it had something to do with the design of my template. Most of my visitors come through Search Engines, very few being regular readers. If you are wondering if any of those tips to make quick bucks and increase adsense revenue helped, then the answer is not really. All of them say the same thing; write everyday - choose your words right, pay attention to SEO; blend your template; just worded differently. You just got to experiment until you figure out what works best and give it time.

To my regular readers : Thank You!

Changing careers : a different perspective

I MAY never go back to doing what I did for 7 years until a year back; if circumstances are favorable. But, as they say, never say never, so you never know what future has in store. There were times I enjoyed the ride and times when I waited to get out of the rut; the rat race was getting to me. But, let’s face it - one needs a paycheck at the end of the month to keep the family wheels running. In total honesty, the paycheck was good and was the only motivator to keep going. That job of 7 years was my career - I still love programming a lot but from the confinement of my home; that I thought would last a lifetime. Nothing wrong with it. How many of us change our careers mid-way? It was a reliable source of income and I never cared so much at the end of the month when money got deposited into my bank account. Sometimes, I would never check until it was the 4th or 5th day of the month. It was taken for granted. Read more

Kellogg’s Cereal for Breakfast


In India, breakfast is an elaborate affair, just as any other meal of the day is. Depending on which part of the country you are in, your choice varies ranging from Idli/Dosa/Pongal in Tamil Nadu to Khara/*.Bath in Karnataka to Poha in Maharashtra to Paratha up North. You get it, don’t ya? We Indians take the gastronomical department very seriously; our life revolves around it. Before the dinner dishes are cleaned, the ladies in the household get busy detailing the menu for the next day’s lunch.

But, our household is a little different from the rest. Our breakfast has largely remained unchanged in the last five years. We take pride in the fact that we have a healthy breakfast in the form of cereals mixed in a bowl of milk on all working days. This was born out of convenience when both of us were working and continues to this day. It works great for us with so many choices for cereals available these days - in different shapes (cheerios), colors (chocos?), texture (muesli!) etc. My all-time favorite has been Kellogg’s Fruit Harvest which sadly is not available in India. Kellogg’s Muesli is good here. Good Earth Muesli (never heard of? ;they run frequent ads in Femina), produced by Avesthagen, is not easily available at all stores but a few supermarkets carry them. The composition of oat flakes is high and tastes yuck; only the ads and the stories are great. If you want to save time and rather spend those 15 minutes reading the newspaper; eat a breakfast devoid of oil and cholesterol with a proper balance of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals, then try cereals!

Why being poilte doesn’t work in India?

In a country with a population of over 1.3 billion, you didn’t think getting things done would be a walk in the park, did you? By things, I mean simple stuff like having the electrician over to fix your leaking geyser or expecting the fully-paid for book shelf to be delivered as promised on Sunday without 10 reminders.

Reality bites and the fact is being polite just doesn’t work in this country. Everywhere everyone is in a mad run to nowhere; ready to stomp over the next person and it takes a great deal of patience to get anything done. Callousness is inbuilt; perfection is elusive and expecting one can only lead to a stressful life and a weak heart. Read more

What’s cooking for Diwali ?

We are a multicultural family namesake, falling heavily towards on one culture for all occasions, festivals etc. i am fortunate that way for not being forced by in-laws to adhere to rituals with a 10 page long to-do list of what to do, what not to do, what to eat, what not to eat, what to gift and who to visit. Oh! Believe me we know of quite a few couples who get diktats of when to goto the loo. We are a very flexible and easy going family with no hassles, no expectations and no qualms about anything; the downside being that this casual outlook doesn’t go down well with everyone! I know this was a digression but I feel better having got it out of my system for it ruined my Diwali evening partially! Its a bane in today’s times to make others feel good. My wise husband said, “Never ever argue on Religion and Politics. Opinions on these are like a*holes and everyone has one.” But you know how women are, don’t you? You stand to win a Nobel if you can determine what they want. Seriously.The toughest species created on Mother Earth - it would have been a saner place without this species, so complex that it sends my head spinning! And men are transformed to women after marriage.

Alrighty, now to the Diwali part. One of the Diwali traditions when we grew up was to make sweets at home and distribute it to friends in the colony. I’ve continued this tradition even after marriage and didn’t want to blame LG for my laziness this year. Making sweets and namkeen while LG is awake is a big task. It took a little effort and hanging out after dinner in the kitchen to get the goodies done, but I was determined to have it out of my way. Two namkeen and one sweet in three nights isn’t bad, right? Coconut Burfi - a hot favorite wasn’t perfect in its usual white, a little charred but tasted yummy. Thengozhal and tape came out crispy and tasted way better than any I’ve done before. I started making these delicacies a little too early ahead of Diwali or they were very less in quantity. Blame it on the husband who stays up late; sneaks into the kitchen; hunts for the hidden sweet dabba; fishes out a piece and restores it in its place for the wife to discover on Diwali morning that the dabba is a lot lighter than its original weight. Running short of home made sweets to distribute to people on Diwali morning, I just got them nicely packed gifts from a store nearby. The Rangoli ritual was an elaborate affair and the fireworks part very brief this year..pictures will come in soon.

The two day long Deepavali-Diwali; the first one for Lil General, went on well. We had a good time - dressing, eating, shopping and hanging out together!

Diwali Rangolis

Here are the two Diwali Rangolis that I put up in our house and some from the neighbourhood. Mine are kolams (patterns made by joining dots) while people here generally draw beautiful Rangolis. One of my favorite activities on Diwali’s eve is to walk around the neighbourhood looking for the best Rangoli.



Growing up : Girls and groceries

I was eight when I recall being sent to the sweet shop in the colony first time with a Rs.10 note to buy jalebis for myself and my brother. This was year 1986. and perhaps the first time when I handled a Rs. 10 note all by myself. I was thrilled at the thought of shopping for the family, doing the mental math and getting the right change back home for the sweet shop guy was known to cheat. I did a good job and with time other tasks followed : buying vegetables and other groceries from the kirana shop.

A lot has changed since then. Times have changed. Kids these days carry Rs.100 with ease as pocket money to school and buy burgers for a snack during their morning break. All we got was a Rs.5 soiled note to fix the cycle tyre to get back home just in case it got punctured. I am not complaining. We grew well and we grew fine; knew the importance and worth of money.

It is but natural for one to expect grown up girls these days to be street smart. So, it came as a surprise when we saw a teenager struggling to buy a bunch of dhania. One evening last week, on our way back home, we stopped by the local vegetable vendor. we were particularly impressed by this girl - not by anything she did but the way she was dressed and looked. All seemed well until she asked the lady how much the kothimber was for? She paid and then hesitantly looked at the bunch up and down and sideways, unable to determine if it was alright. She cast a quick glance at the vegetable lady and asked, “Yeh achcha hai na..nahi tho mama vapas bhej dhengi mujhe?”`That innocent look on her face said it all..she was really concerned by the quality of the bunch she had picked up. After reassurance from the lady, the girl was on her way. The lady was quick to comment to us, “itni badi ho kar dhania khareedna nahi aatha”. But the incident made me think. I am sure given Rs. 6K, she can pick up a good mobile phone for herself. Why is domesticity being looked down upon? Is it not a part of one’s growing up? Was this girl just a one off case or did she represent today’s generation?

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