Smartphones

 The best & worst gadget of today’s world,
Smartphones of everyone! Why you ask??
It wastes our time,
By creeping up into our creative minds,
Making us dull and blind.
We stay glued to our mobiles,
Giving up all our lessons and neglecting our chores.
We keep swiping up & down the screen
And surfs the net all day
Until ending up with severe headache…
Oh! I know l know
It helps a bit in studies though,
Perhaps ordering food, cab, groceries & benefits few..
But what it does more is,
It wastes our time ,
By creeping up into our creative minds,
Making us dull and blind.
We will have specks to wear soon, Try to reach those miles away ignoring people nearby.
Still getting confused whether bane or boon..?
I pray, l wish l beg to all
Stay away from that time killing device
Instead go for a nice reading
Go for novels or comics, dance, laugh, walk & pray.
Don’t waste your valuable time,
Rather try something that will sharpen your mind.

-Triparna Dey

What Christmas is… Well,

 Well, it's that time of the year again... Christmas is right around the corner and by now I'm sure all of you reading this, have already started planning your days to celebrate with your loved ones. I don't know why I'm saying this to be honest, but still, for those people out there who have no idea what Christmas is...( I don't know how? ) But let me tell you. Christmas is the event which occurs every year on the 25th of December to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Originally it's meant to be an celebration for the Christianity but now I guess it's celebrated all around the world regardless of the religion an individual belongs too.

Well Christmas might be just one day... But the Christmas feeling starts from way before the actual 25th December… Thanksgiving is also an celebration, mainly carried out in United States and Canada is an occasion when families and friends gather around celebrating the year's harvest together. In India, churches refer to it as the harvesting festival. Harvesting festival, yes as it sounds, is the day we celebrate all the harvested produce of that very year , thanking the Lord above for this grace. Thanksgiving is also pretty similar except here, families gather around for dinner and give thanks for the good deeds and for the support of each member they have in their family.

XCLUSIVE

Then comes the Christmas Eve, the evening right before Christmas day. Surely one of the most anticipated and exciting days of the year, some would even say it's better than the Christmas day. On this evening, family gatherings and parties are held, presents are ex-changed, in churches, choirs walk out singing Christmas carols all night long. By this time, the Christmas decorations are already done... Streamers, party lights, small Christmas trees the sign of everlasting life with god, are found almost in every other house. Balco-nies have a star hanging outside, the star which resembles the same joyous spirit as the one the star in Bethlehem held which showed the way to the new born baby Jesus. Some extra information for the ones who love the Santa Claus, this is the evening when Santa sneaks in while you sleep.

Speaking of the Santa Claus, do you know who he really is? He's Saint Nicholas, who lives in the north pole... It's said that Santa brings gifts to only the good well behaved children, so children who are reading this, you know what you should do for the best gifts. As for the ones who are wondering by now, how do we really enjoy Christmas. Well firstly, wake up in the morning, wish your family and friends with a smile, then if you can get dressed and attend any near by church where the morning gospel is being read. It doesn't really matter what religion you are, just take a seat and enjoy the wonder-ful words and Stories that are shared early in the morning. Another very important tip, spend some time with your family and friends, sit with them, have a conversation... Some-times conversations are not even needed, the fact that you are pre-sent there beside them is just enough to make them happy. Open the presents that you've ex-changed. Take some time away from work, just relax, maybe go for a walk with your friends in the evening and en-joy the twinkling lights and decorations every-where, or go for dinner somewhere, or just play some music and have a good time at home. The list goes on and on. To be honest, one can never really say how to enjoy Christmas, just close your eyes, take a deep breath and do whatever you want to do, treat yourself. And at the end, all I can say about Christmas, the essence of it is giving... You see, it was on this very day that the Lord blessed us by giving us Jesus Christ who taught us the true meaning of life and forgave our dirty sins... Just like that, we too share and give out our best wishes, our love and our happiness with our friends and families and even the strangers who we meet and send a small smile towards them. It's the season of making new friends and forgiving the old ones. Also, I truely believe that the fact that Christmas comes at the end of every year, giving us an opportunity to correct any mistakes and solve any misunderstandings that have happened in the year... Ending them all and stepping into the new year with a smile.

Forgive, give and love…

Merry Christmas everyone.

- Akanksha Mitter

How to Style Your Winter?

 “Fashion is a trend. Style lies within a person” – Oscar De La Penta

W inter can be one of the challenging season to con-sistently wear outfits that both keep you warm and chic. But finding outfits that are both weather appropriate and figure flatter-ing does not have to be a challenge. Simple planning can actually keep you warm and stylish without having to sac-rifice function or aesthetically pleasing looks. It is a lot easier to put outfits to-gether when you create a small winter collection of essentials in your closet. When it comes to styling , the best way is to choose -5 main styles that you are comfortable with and switch between styles every week or so.

Let’s begin with the top 5 styling tips for win-ter.

1. Go over the knee

Though many women shy away from wearing over the knee boots, they definitely add vibran-cy and fun to any outfit you wear. Get a trendy look by either pairing them with matching pants or skirt, in differ-ent shades and material you feel comfortable wearing.

2. Match your winter hat to your coat

During winter ,a lot of body heat can be lost by not protecting your head. So, a hat is a must when temperatures get really low. A great option is to wear a quality faux fur trapper, or a wool hat. Match your hat or beanie with your winter coat to transform and complete your winter look.

3. Lots of layering

Layering not only adds warmth to your winter outfit but screams CHIC and TRENDY. Layering allows you to play with mixture of patterns and textures, and also recycle old dresses and make the most out of them.

4. Put a cape on

Capes or ponchos are always perfect choice when you want a dramatic and chic wear with minimal efforts. You can always pull in the look with jeans or dresses; opting for more prints would give a more unique look.

5. Explore your colour palette

Just because the weather is dull and gloomy, doesn’t mean you have to. Explore your colour palette this winter and try different coloured coats and blazers. Add scarves with a variety of textures, bright prints and colours to give a more vibrant and higher impact look.

“Clothes aren’t going to change the world, the woman who wears then will.”- Anne Klein

Hope the tips help you to create a capsule wardrobe that works best for you. Be sure to put your comfort first and remember you’re beautiful; and don’t forget to cherish yourself and MOISTURIZE.

-Susmita Chatterjee

Mutual Funds Sahi Hain Dost

 Investing is a tool for building wealth. It is not only for the wealthy. Anyone can get started on an investing program, and various options make it easy to begin with small amounts and add to a portfolio periodically. In fact, what differentiates investing from gambling is that it takes time—it is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Investing is also about making priorities for your money. Spending is easy and gives instant gratification. But investing requires prioritizing our financial futures over our present desires.

No one investing strategy or approach fits all. Every investor has different reasons for investing, different goals, different time horizons and varying degrees of comfort with investing. It’s important to define and articulate your own parameters. The only way to attain financial security is to save and invest over a long period of time. You just need to have your money work for you. That’s investing.

For many of us, money and investments weren't discussed at home. It is the primary responsibility of parents to teach their children how to deal with the money. It is the primary duty of husband and wife to discuss about money matters. It is sad that many couples don’t discuss the investment planning issues together. Remember, discipline begins at home.

In order to build a fortune you must invest your money. It takes only minimum effort to set aside a small amount each month and make your money grow. A good way to reduce your risk is to spread your money within each type of investment. This is known as ‘diversifying’.

With interest rates staying low and investor interest in real estate fading, savings are finding their way into mutual funds. Investors experience with mutual funds is getting better every year. A mutual fund is a professionally-managed investment scheme, usually run by an asset management company that brings together a group of people and invests their money in stocks, bonds and other securities. Mutual funds are highly popular investment option for achieving various financial goals like retirement planning, tax planning, wealth creation, children education and so on. As an investor, you can buy mutual fund 'units', which basically represent your share of holdings in a particular scheme. Value of per unit is known as Net Asset Value (NAV).

One of the best ways to invest in mutual funds is SIP i.e. Systematic Investment Plan. You can invest specified amount on specified date every month. A few fund houses offer more frequent SIPs - even weekly/daily. SIPs fosters discipline. This route has gained popularity among the retail investors in recent years – really good development. They take away the risks associated with ‘timing the market’ and help investors to neutralize the downsides of market volatility by averaging the cost of purchase. It is a simple and effective tool.

After deciding to start SIP, it is important to give sufficient time to that investment. Do not focus on timing the market and quick money. It is your time in the investment which makes money for the investor. Sachin Tendulkar accumulated maximum runs in test cricket by staying on the pitch as long as possible and facing as many deliveries as possible. He did not try to hit every ball a four or over the fence. Spend time in the stock market to make money. Thus, SIP is the eighth wonder of the world and suitable for many of your financial goals.

Let’s look into the some parameters to be considered while investing in mutual funds:

Systematic approach

Regularly invest and disciplined investment helps you to create huge wealth and enhance your life cycle considerably. Many investors have followed this rule and grown.

Asset allocation

Returns from mutual funds are largely dependent on your appropriate asset location rather than scheme selection/fund house selection/timing the market. Allocate among three: equity, debt, cash. 100 minus your age in equity is preferable and not more than 10% of your portfolio in cash is acceptable.

Comprehend your risk appetite

Knowing your risk appetite and selecting the scheme accordingly is the key to success. Many times investors think that they can take enough risk, but the risk thermometer categorizes them differently.

High expense ratio

Expense ratio for different schemes must be examined before selecting the scheme. You must ask your financial planner about that ratio and act.

Ideal time to exit

Simple question has the simple answer. You should exit when your goal has arrived like retirement or your daughter’s marriage and not when the market is seemingly high.

Nomination

Succession planning must be kept in mind. It is recommended that every investment must have a proper nominee des-ignated by the main investor.

Volatility

The second name for volatility is equity market. Please remember that volatility gives you an opportunity to invest in markets when they are low and you can enjoy superior returns.

Invest in Indian funds

More global investors are investing in Indian stock market for improving the returns of their investors. In such situation international funds are avoidable.

Review

Most ideal frequency of reviewing your portfolio is once every quarter. The review should indicate that your portfolio is doing well. This should be done religiously as you go for physical health checkup at regular intervals.

Aim

You should have clearly defined aims or goals. The year in which goal is expected to arrive must be kept in mind. Do not forget to factor in inflation which will increase the amount required for various goals.

Track record

While choosing schemes you must ask questions about track record of fund managers. Their experience and research capabilities count. Future prospect of the scheme is more important than past record of the schemes. It should not be the only criteria for selecting the scheme.

-Shivanand Pandit

The Penumbra Plays

 I will start with the saying "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek" by the American professor of literature Sir, Joseph John Campbell who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion and whose works on various aspects of the human experience are used for carrying on research. This topic is focussed on the hidden talents of the subconscious.

A human personality comprises of both the lighter and the darker sides and to know yourself, to return to the wholeness, you have to jump to the deeper elements of the psyche. Through out decades of work and research, it is discovered that the human mental condition is fragmented among the conscious and subconscious. Most of us are aware of only a small fraction of ourselves and the remaining stays hidden from the actual view. We choose to focus on the superficial and ignore deeper dimensions of the self. One thing we must know for sure that existence of certain things can not be ignored if we don't observe or feel them. They do exist.

The more we know the darker sides of our personality, the more we will grow towards self-actualization. There is a hidden balance in ourselves like this vast cosmos. Patterns are equal and lookalike. The darker sides is termed as the shadow and the role it plays on our thinking and respective outgoings is the shadow-work. We may not understand why we do the things we do, why we get enslaved to forces outside of our control without exposing the shadow. Our thoughts, emotions, reactions, behaviour, relationships are heavily influenced by the subconscious.

Let us consider a canvas of black colour and filling the upper portion with sparkling dotes and looking the whole from a distance and certain angle, the canvas will look like a night sky and it has separate set of beauty. This beauty is same as any daylight canvas and we must open this night side of us and let it superimpose on the day side and make it a quite balanced frame of life. The yearning for growth and self-actualization is inherent to us all. Our darker sides communicate through dreams, thoughts, instincts, emotions. Resisting them to explore resists our true nature and will always result in veiled appearances. We will heal and grow once we start facing the darker sides or the shadow of ourselves.

The subconscious is in many ways a depository of all those elements we have discarded such as intense emotions, those that collide with our ego, sexual urges. We choose to lock away these traits in the chambers of mind with a one-way door. The journey to face them after breaking the door is a challenge and tough. It takes honesty and strength to approach the shadows. Confronting them means waking up the evil side of ours but once we interact with them in a non-judgemental way and utilise them to lighten-up the ones which remained submissive, we will certainly hold our head high and will point out the most beautiful canvas of life.

-Swagato Chatterjee

The reason why

She's so beautiful...

She is, I mean look at her smile, it brightens my gloomy days...

Her eyes, the sparkle in them everytime she's under the sun, give me a ray of hope.

Her cute little face... It fits right in my hands every time I pinch her cheeks with love.

She might not be the fairest of them all, but everytime the sun hits her face, you can see a tint of red.

Her walk, well let's just say that confidence silences people whenever they look at her...

She doesn't talk much, but whenever she does it's like a melody to me...

Okay world, that's enough of you describing her... Now let her describe her self for us...

Me?

I'm beautiful...

I am, I mean look at me, can you see my lips trembling? Trust me, it does take an effort to force them together so tight as I lift my cheeks up.

My eyes... Ah that's where I usually fail, they're always so wet with tears, I try my best not to let them flow... Its hard to look every time it's sunny you know? It's all blurry.

Hands are now so used to having my face burried in them as I sit in a corner of the room, it kind of feels like my face is small so that they could fit in my hands perfectly...

You don't need to pinch my cheeks, my face is always red. Always wet with tear stains.

Oh, did you know how hard it is to walk when your legs are shaking? The amount of energy it takes to take every stride as I attempt not to fall over with these jelly legs?

And talking? I'm sorry I don't talk much, it's a bit hard to talk when I'm trying my best to suppress my screams and cries when I do so...

Wait, that's not right?

Oh yes I'm beautiful.

I guess it's these things I do to look normal that makes me beautiful...

These smiles, the twinkling eyes, the red flushed cheeks, they really do make a girl look so pretty.

Even though the amount of energy taken to master them is a little underrated.

But for the world. Yes, that's what beautiful means...

So yes. I am beautiful.

But let me tell you what I think is right.

I'm not beautiful.

I'm strong.

I think by now you know the reason why.

- Akanksha Mitter 

Light of Introspection

 Be the light - Spread the light, must be the aspiration for everyone and this principle should be the integral part while following or illuminating the light of introspection. Known as the festival of lights, Diwali is celebrated over a span of four to five days by Indians with increasing numbers of people joining in each year worldwide and is one of the key cultural festivals.

T he word 'Diwali' is originated from the sanskrit word 'Deepavali' where 'Deepa' implies 'Light' and 'Vali' implies 'Row' and therefore means the 'Row of Lights' which is a common scene at homes during this celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, hope over despair, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains and each honour some historical figure. The Hindus honour Lord Rama and his wife Sita who, as per legend returned to their kingdom after fourteen years of exile after defeating the evil king Ravana in the 15th century B.C. Fireworks are displayed at homes in honour of their safe return . A separate group believe that this festival is celebrated in honour of the union of Goddess Lakshmi with Lord Vishnu and leave their doors open inviting Goddess Lakshmi in to spread good luck and wealth. All these gestures are followed in order to welcome new beginnings and the whole year ahead. In countries such as Fiji, Malaysia, Nepal, Srilanka and of course India, on the day of Diwali, official holidays are announced.

People hand out sweets and goodies to all their loved ones and blow up lots of money on firecrackers in order to ignite the jubiliation in their hearts. Some spend time with the less fortunate ones by visiting at old-age homes and orphanages and hand out clothes and money to those who are staying in financial crisis. In this auspicious occasion, in true sense we must look after each other and show concern to those who need help. This is the actual ignition of light and killing the darkness within us by introspecting our heart full of gratification. The more we share and care, the more will be the happiness around. The quality of life turns to be more meaningful when the contrast, disputes among us get minimized.

So, Sweep the dust from every corner, Light up the diyas outside the door, Line up the boxes of sweets for friends and family - That's right - Diwali is just round the corner.

- Swagato Chatterjee

dEtOx Diet

 Detox is the new drug

The grand festival has just been over and hs left every Bengali in melancholy. The 5days has been real heaven for those lucky enough to stay in hometown. Finding a Bengali who has preferred home-cooked food during the puja, would be a tough job and there can be no doubt that the Bengalis has spent the special days enjoying a scrumptious meal in favourite restaurants. With eggrolls, chow mien, chicken and the best of all "biriyani", it has been a big feast for the tummy. No won-der, the fat has also amassed and probably left you bloated. To help you recover from all sorts of such complications, "detox" diet can be a really helpful solution, and that you can have a jolly "festival of the lights." What is a detox diet?

A detox diet is touted to remove toxins from the body. Experts agree that caring for our bodies with a bal-anced approach to food, along with adequate sleep and movement, supports our natural de-toxification systems. - Willow Jarosh The idea of a detox diet, dating back to ancient Egyptian and biblical times, has been and con-tinues to be an appealing one. However, the concept lacks strong scientific evidence and there aren't high-quality clinical studies to support them. The main purpose of this concept is to give your stomach a rest and get rid of the toxins and helps you enjoy health benefits, including a boost of energy, clearer skin, weight loss and others. It simply "retrains" tour taste buds so that you crave healthier food, to boost well-ness. How does it work?

Detox diets can be of many types, some being short terms or can last for a few weeks. It has been identified that certain food like garlic, grapefruit, and different types of teas may be more effective for detoxification. Drinking more water naturally helps to detoxify the body, and hence water and fruits with higher water contents are a must for the diet. Dietician Subarna Roychoudhury says, " Fast-ing is no option. It is better to intake fruit juices and vegetables and cut back sugar and fat consumption. A strict plan for 3-5days seems to be enough to bring the digestive tract back in track. A longer plan is usually detrimental. However, when you have been eating junk for a longer time, the diet can be your BFF for a few days. What to eat?

Fruits like apple, watermelon, banana, pomegranate, cucum-ber, pineapple and lemons are to be included in the diet. You can have a green coconut each day. Try to keep vegetables like gourd, carrots, and papaya in your plate. You can try salads with season-al vegetables, whole fruits, smoothies and oat-meal for snacks and breakfast. Add cooked chickpea, hemp seed, sunflower seed to regain energy if you feel weak. Make sure you drink adequate amounts of wa-ter, 3-4litres a day, to keep your body hydrated as well. Detox Water

To 1 litre of water, add 2 teaspoons of chopped ginger, one slice of cucumber, 2 inches cinna-mon stick, lemon juice and honey. Mix well, let it settle overnight. Sieve the water next morn-ing, add another 3 litres of water to it. Drink the whole day and you would surely be bene-fitted. Simply focusing on smart nutrition and health habits is free and carries no risk. To stay fit, follow an exercise schedule and you can get results sooner. Feel free to try it, hope it helps...

-Susmita Chatterjee

Good Investments

The IPL season is going on. We are constantly providing our opinion about which team should take risk and which team should not. We all have our opinions and discussions about what is a safe option and what is a risky one. While the IPL is going on we have come across different tv commercials like “Mutual Fund sahi hai”. Most of us have watched it and ignored it. So what is a Mutual fund? Where should we invest? Where should be put our money? While watching a match, we analyse the safe option and risky option for a team but when it comes to money, most of the time we donot portray such knowledge and analysis. Lets analyse in this month’s issue what are the different investment options available and where can you park your money and what is the risk associated with it?

i). Fixed Deposit - It is a tool through which you can keep your money safe in a bank. It is a one time payment scheme and you can select your tenure and the bank will provide you a fixed rate of return for that period. Yes you heard it right. The bank will keep your money safe and provide you additional money for that. So the scheme sounds interesting and you want to do it every month. No worries. You donot need to visit the branch every month. Just advice the branch to deduct the fixed amount every month and they will call it a recurring deposit. This is the most safest option and return is low to moderate depending upon time duration of investment.

ii). Equity – Always wanted to have a chunk of a very big company and got fascinated by the terms in the primetime news like Sensex, Nifty, BSE, NSE, Bazaar, Stock Exchange. Yes, you can be a part of it and have a chunk of big companies like TATA, Birla, Reliance. These companies sell the shares of their company in the stock market and you can buy it and become an investor in those company. A word of caution is investing in equity requires some prior knowledge and idea about the industry. Otherwise you will end up losing more than your earning. This a high risk and high reward option.

iii). Mutual Funds- You don’t have the knowledge and time to do your homework and still want to invest in stock market and gain some decent amount of money with less risk than equity and more risk than bank deposits. Don’t be disheartened. The finance wizards has something for your needs as well in their kitty. It is mutual funds. A knowledgeable fund manager will invest for you and give you the earnings from those investments and the manager will take a minimal charge. There are two types of Mutual funds – Equity mutual fund and Debt mutual fund. Equity mutual fund schemes predominantly invest in equity stocks. As per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Mutual Fund Regulations, an equity mutual fund scheme must invest at least 65 percent of its assets in equity and equity-related instruments. It has moderate-high risk profile and high returns. Debt mutual fund schemes are for those who want steady returns. They are less volatile and less risky compared to equity mutual funds and provide less return than equity mutual funds. Debt mutual funds primarily invest in fixed-interest generating securities like corporate bonds, government securities, treasury bills, commercial paper and other money market instruments.

iii). Gold- The safest and oldest investment options since ages. You can buy online gold, gold sovereign bond and ornamental gold which can be used to take loan or sell it a higher price to gain from gold. Investing in gold has become very easy nowadays. You can invest from as low as 1 rupee and maximum to the amount as per your capability and now you don’t have to store it at your home as well.

iv). NPS and PPF- The national pension scheme and public provident fund is savings for the future. These tools are used by the people for securing the future. These are safe options and usually yield high returns and the only catch is the amount saved under the PPF can be withdrawn after 15 years and for NPS its after 60. Both of these provide good returns with less risk.

Hope you have much better idea about some of the investment options and this list is not an exhaustive list. There are many more tools for investment. Next time you check your passbook or account statement, don’t keep it there idle and let the money in your account money for you.

-Nilanjan Kala

Apple iPhone 12

 Why Buy Apple iPhone 12?

Super Retina XDR Display is more immersive giving awesome clarity defining every detail. A14 Bionic Chip Processor lets you install and run as many apps as you like MagSafe Wireless Charging support with up to 15 Watts

Brilliant Camera Combination includes the dual rear camera and single front camera to capture your moments Buy the Apple iPhone 12 which flaunts an amazing display, brilliant camera and powerful processor. Available in awesome colours, it flaunts a trendy design which is straightforward to carry and is crafted for perfect grip. Its 2775 mAh Lithium-ion battery is ideal for continuous working as long as you don’t hand over because it certainly won’t. It supports MagSafe wireless charging up to 15 Watts, Qi wireless charging up to 7.5 Watts, charging via USB to the computer system or power adapter. Fast-charge capable: up to 50 per cent charge in 30 minutes with 20 Watt adapter or higher. The smartphone features a striking screen which gives you a 15.49 cm all-screen OLED Display. This Super Retina XDR display offers awesome clarity. Now you'll see and do more of what you're keen on , without interruption. The resolution is of 2532 x 1170 pixels at 460 ppi. Comes with fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Rated IP68 (maximum depth of 600 cm up to 30 minutes) under IEC standard 60529. Use Apple iPhone 12 which features a storage of 64GB that permit you store files in ease. This smartphone runs on iOS 14 operating system. It is equipped with Face ID, Barometer, Three-axis gyro, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor. Comes with Siri support as well. It comes with 5G (sub-6 GHz) support. Has Ceramic Shield front, Glass back and aluminium design. Comes with Dual SIM (nano-SIM and eSIM) support.

When you get Apple iPhone 12 online, you get an awesome companion. It features Hexa-Core A14 Bionic chip processor with Next-generation Neural Engine, so you'll play hi-end games or run heavy files and perform tasks without fear about the performance. The upgraded CPU ensures a seamless reaction time , allowing you to multitask, play games or run any heavy task without fear about the operation speed. It comes with the splash-resistant design. With 4GB RAM you'll install multiple applications and run all of them together without disturbing the speed of the phone. It flaunts an excellent combination of 12 MP Ultra-wide and 12 MP wide cameras. It takes awesome shots. It offers with a Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, High-Key Mono), Night mode (Ultra Wide, Wide), etc. Also offers with HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 30 fps. The 12 MP front camera offers more natural and personalized options, delivering the stunning selfies. Selfies haven't been so clear, approximately stunning before. It also offers a Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control, Night mode, Time-lapse video with stabilisation, etc.

Mirzapur

MIRZAPUR SEASON 2 REVIEW

Following the huge success of Mirzapur season 1, season 2 doesn't disappoint. Mirzapur season 2 has enough bullets to keep you hooked while binge-watching the whole season. Season 2 is a worthy heir to season 1 meeting all the expectations. It's a thrilling watch that ticks all the right boxes and is totally worth all the hype around it. This season the story enters into a political drama along with the blood and bullets of its predecessor. This time the script gave powers to female characters portraying the brains and brawn of women while playing a significant role in carrying forward the story.

The story promises plots, twists, and other multiple subplots along with a few old and new characters each having their own issues and agenda throughout the story. Though we have seen our fair share of crime thrillers based on Purvanchal, Mirzapur 2 is an exciting addition to the crime-thriller genre of TV Series. Mirzapur 2 shoots in the right direction and strikes the target by delivering a bold and bloody tale of intense rivalries.

-Pritam Maji

Struggles of Jack Ma

 A ll of us have faced rejections, criticism, felt low and worthless at some point in time. We try to seek for motivation in the form of quotes or videos at some point of time and keep going on with our life, but we are not able to take the leap of faith. Let us go on a journey on this edition which can inspire you guys to the core and help you take the leap of faith. The story is of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba and one of the richest men in Asia.

Jack Ma was born on October 15, 1964, in Hangzhou. Ma was thin and bony and often started fights with classmates. "I was never afraid of opponents who were bigger than I," he recalls in "Alibaba," a book by Liu Shiying and Martha Avery. He was fond of collecting crickets and made them fight, and he gained the expertise to distinguish type of cricket by the noise it made.

Like many of us Jack Ma was without money or connections and only way to go ahead was through education. Jack Ma did the same. As he completed high school, he applied to go to college but could not enter as he failed the entrance exam twice. After lots of effort, he finally passed on the third try and attended Hangzhou Teachers Institute. He graduated in 1988 and like all of us started applying for jobs. Jack Ma applied for 30 different and distinct jobs but faced rejection each and every time. He also applied for the police and was told that he was not good enough. He went to KFC with 24 other people, everyone was selected except him. As per the world and society he was not good enough to join KFC and was the only one rejected. Finally, he was hired as an English teacher. Jack was a natural trainer and his students loved him and he also loved his job -- though he only made $12 a month at a local university. In 2016, Jack Ma revealed he was rejected 10 times from Harvard at the world Economic Forum. Jack had zero experience with computers and zero expertise in coding, but he was astonished by the internet when he used it for the first time during a trip to the US in 1995. Jack searched "beer” for the first time on the internet but he was surprised to see that no Chinese beers popped up in the results. It was the time when he decided to start an internet company for China.

MOTIVATIONAL

Struggles of Jack Ma

I t is not like that the idea hit him and he became successful. His first two companies failed and then after four years he gathered 17 of his friends in his own apartment and con-vinced them to invest in his vision for an online marketplace he used to call "Alibaba." The site allowed exporters to sell through his website through product listings that customers could buy directly. Soon enough, the service started to attract members from all over the world. By October 1999, the company had raised $5 million from Goldman Sachs and $20 million from SoftBank, a Japanese telecom company that also invests in technology companies. The team remained closely linked and they are not organised. "We will make it because we are young and we never, never give up," Jack used to say to his employees.

In 2005, Yahoo invested $1 billion in Alibaba for 40% stake in the company. This was a huge suc-cess for Alibaba as it was trying to beat the china arm of eBay and it would eventu-ally be an enor-mous win for Ya-hoo too, getting a net value of $10 billion in Alibaba's IPO alone.

Jack told Bloomberg in an interview that he knew Alibaba had made it big when another cus-tomer offered to pay his restaurant bill. "I'm your customer of Alibaba group, I made a lot of money and I know you don't make any money," said the customer. "I'll pay the bill for you."

A s on 2020, Jack Ma’s total worth is 6560 crores US dollars. He started as a middle-class man like most of us and got lots and lots of rejection. But he never stopped and never doubted his abilities even when the whole world doubted on his abilities. So next time, you feel low or started doubting yourself whether you are good enough or not, think of Jack Ma. Just remember If the World cannot see your value in your current form that does not mean you are not valuable. You are like a balloon who is not inflated. Once you can inflate your balloon with attitude, it will be inflated and big and the world will see you as per your true value.

-Nilanjan Kala

Importance of Family

 The most important thing to be successful is the ability to trust yourself. But in this dynamic world, we change our thoughts every single second. So how we are able to trust ourselves fully? Wondering! What're the real obstacles in our success route? It's only our belief that we are not capable of doing it. Often we blame others but it's not correct. We focus on negativity so much that we throw all the positive hope away. What if we stop believing ourselves? No worries, because some people makes us believe in their belief that we are capable, we can go ahead, we can do it.

We need someone who can hold our hands in times when we don't trust ourselves. It may be our family, friends or anyone whom we can trust blindly. No words can explain the true impact of family and friends in anyone's life. It's not just a word or a bunch of people whom we constantly want to be with. It's an unseen bond which holds you in your tough times, which can make you smile when your heart cries. It can take you up higher and higher when you think of quitting. It's not just an emotion but a belief, hope, trust, support, caring, sharing and much more. They just want to be with you never demand anything in return. An investment which generates compounded returns throughout your life as your helping hand. As a human being, we are in constant need of support and love. Love from our parent's, family friends and most importantly from our self. Having a strong network of supportive family and friends helps us in our mental well-being also. Apart from the basic psychological needs - air, water etc and safety needs - save the environment, job security we need social interaction also. we need some people whom we can trust and share our feelings, who can advise us when we are in a dilemma and encourage us whenever we face difficult times. You are the two most prominent example of the importance of a relationship with family and friend. The first one is the world-famous cricketer who changed the perception of the world towards cricket, none other than the legendary Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin said "there is no buddy like a brother!! Thank you for all your support over the years, Ajit". Sachin owes a great deal of his success to Ajit his half-brother who left his cricket job and career for him. Ajit did everything to make it possible for Sachin to play cricket with peace of mind. It's because of all the sacrifices and support of his family members he is what he is and the world knows him.

The second example is of the king of investment - Warren Buffett. He shared with Forbes in 2013 how important it is to encourage children to do what they want to do. He said, "We never gave any instructions on specifics, but I think they did pick up the values that were meaningful to their mother and myself". He also pointed out that he is most grateful to his father for his unrelenting support for whatever he wanted to do. He mentioned, "He was not trying to live his life through me".

''Love is the greatest advantage a parent can give.'' - Warren Buffett

Having anyone around us who can understand us is very important for our success. It's not easy to trust anyone but if you are trusting anyone then trust them fully. Sometimes there are circumstances when all things seem wrong to us. But at that time also we need to keep patience and understand the situation. Not only ours but we should look at other circumstances also. Never judge anyone. Maybe you don't know what the others are doing for you?

-Anuradha Agarwal

Short 2.5 days trip from WestBengal

 Are you confused between beach and mountain?

Yeah! You have heard it right. It is Vizag and Araku Valley ;)

Let me introduce myself, I’m Shramona Chakraborty a Master’s student at IIT Kharagpur and I mentioned my location because this small trip was planned while having dinner. I along with 6 other friends booked tickets for the weekend from Kharagpur itself. You can start your journey from Howrah.

Working people will prefer starting their travel from Friday night and they will reach the destination by Saturday morning. Somehow we tricked our date on a holiday Friday and started early morning.

Okay let us focus on the itinerary:

Day0 (Friday): Travel to Araku

Day1 (Saturday): Araku sightseeing which includes travel back to Vizag

Day2 (Sunday): Vizag sightseeing (You can extend 1 more day) and travel back to Kharagpur. (Yes we reached on Monday morning and all of us bunked the first half of college).

Day 0:

We booked Humsafar Express (Bangalore) and it took around 13 hours to reach Vizag. Next, we took another train named Kirandal Express (make sure you have a reservation!! We had a fight in spite of having reservations). One more addon, try to get a non-AC ticket to enjoy the view and tunnel fun. We reached Araku in the evening and from there we had booked a cab for the rest of the journey. (Of course, we returned to Kharagpur by train :D. Continue reading, you will get a clear picture soon).

We trusted AP tourism and booked a resort with a superb view. (Resort detail is available in the picture). It was already evening so we had a fun Friday night plan with a bonfire and we danced, had dinner, played a few games and enjoyed to the fullest!

Day 1:

At 5 am, I shot a dance video and enjoyed the resort view with a morning walk. We had a complimentary breakfast that day so we rushed to get freshened up and got ready first. Just after breakfast, we started our Araku sightseeing (which includes Borra cave, few waterfalls, etc). It was a pleasant morning (we visited Araku in mid-August). We preferred to go for fun ride visits rather than boring common spots. This one is ziplining.

Oh yes! Don’t forget to taste the famous bamboo chicken platter. Then after a short trek, we ended Saturday’s excursion with a beautiful waterfall.

We reached Vizag in the evening with a mouth full of happiness!! Yes yes, we didn’t forget to have “Hyderabadi biriyani”. To enjoy to the fullest, we packed different biriyani platter, phirni, coke from the famous restaurant “PARADISE” and munched it till we were 100% full.

Day 2:

One true benefit of a friend’s trip is each and every fare gets shared and this is the reason we had a booking in a superb resort with a private beach and pool. We started our day on the private beach with a beautiful sunrise and then played in the pool (kindly go and check the first picture and believe me the view from the top of the slip was amazing). Again, after breakfast, we headed towards Vizag sightseeing. We surely covered a few famous spots and then we rushed towards the entertainment spot.

We completed all the payments and stuff and signed off in the night by boarding Trivandrum -Shalimar Express. That’s it friends!! Hope you loved it and I can’t imagine a more fun-filled trip in such a short span.

<3 xoxo <3

-Shramona Chakraborty

The Awakener

O thou great soul, We bow our heads infront of you.

For you were not only an inspiration, But the painter of our dear nation. You make us understand No matter how worse the situation is, Together we can make our enemies freez To stand erect and fight, To protect our pride Is our birth right.

You turned our hollow thoughts into diamonds which were earlier coal, Ignited our minds to achieve the goal. You motivate us to chase the dream, And never compromise with our self esteem.

You started the freedom movement, And let the Britishers bend.

You eradicated the demon untouchability, Made us aware of our true ability. You made the world understand the power of unity, And never be a victim of self pity. You sowed the seeds of a sustainable environment, Without which human race will suffer from a serious ail-ment.

For thou we learn How to fight without any weapon And win. You inspire us to be a player of the game, Winning and losing both are part of the same. On the path it's ok to stumble, But don't panic and be humble.

Oh thou great soul, For the mankind take another birth Come back again on the earth. Shower on us you blessings, The world will always needs your teachings.

- Anuradha Agarwal

Durgotsav: Madly Bangali

 Kumartuli: The Rise of Maa Durga

Every year Durga Maa is made from the mud of the river Ganges at Kumartuli by the artistic hands of Kumars. Their devotion, creativity and their beautiful work makes this festival special. Even this year they have worked wonders & kept their doors wide open for Durga Puja devotees.

Mahalaya: Mahishashur Mardini

At 4am, the radio is turned ON
Chorus Song:
Ya chandi, madhu kaidabhaadi daithya dalani,...
Birendra Krishna Bhadra:
Aswiner sarada prate beje utheche alokomonjir,
Dharanir bohirakashi ontorhito meghomala...
The music & the words brings goose-bumps, Ah the feel-ing! The emotions that rush through the veins, wonderful.

Shopping: New Market

Shopping spree without a visit at New Market is incomplete. The vast collection of clothes, shoes, shades, bags for every budget. A small bite at the food stalls around. The overall experience is fulfilling.

Sasthi: Max Excitement

Puja starts for most of the people on this day. Even office goers try to make the most of this day after office hours.

Metro Railways: Life Saviour

A very important element of pandal hopping for a majority of the people is Metro. It commutes lakhs of people to the respective pandal locations. It acts like the blood vessels carrying people inside the heart of Bengal, Kolkata.

Kolkata Police: The True Hero

Hats of to the Kolkata Police who provide duty under so much pressure to manage the safe-keeping of pandal hoppers.

Saptami: Pandal Hopping Start

Not every Bengali gets a holiday from Saptami. But those who can, starts their puja from this day. The pandal hopping plan along with friends or family is so fun.

Ashtami: Anjali Special

The new traditional clothes on every Bengali. The spiritual purity & peaceful feeling during & after Anjali. And not to forget more pandal hopping & photoshoots. It feels great feeling to let go of official dress code for a day & get into traditional clothes on this day.

Nabami: Ultimate Fun

Rice along with mutton curry is a very common for Bengalis in Nabami. And after a heavy meal it becomes difficult to hop pandals. Hence, it might be a good idea to shift pandal hopping from evening to late night on this day.

Dashami: The Saddest Day of a Bangali

The morning starts with greetings of Dashami, the last day of puja. This day is full of sadness as the puja ends on this day & Durga Maa has to go back to her home. And so does everyone has to re-join work & their lives rejuvenated from the next day with happy memories.

Bhashan (Immersion): Tears of Departure

It appears as if Maa Durga also cries leaving the devotees behind. Maa Durga is not a goddess to us, she is family, which is why our eyes become teary at the sight of Durga Maa touching the Ganges water. She goes back from where she came from, The Ganges.

Hope: When is the next year Puja?

The moment when we sit with our closed ones at the pandal or perhaps returning after bhasan, seem to wonder or ask this question: “Porer bachore pujo kakhn?” meaning “When is the Puja next year?”. This is Durga Puja– Asche bachor abar hobe (Until Next Year)...

Sindoor Khela: The togetherness!

The bhasan (immersion) ceremony starts by Baron (welcoming gesture) & Sindoor Khela when Bengali women prays to her & greets each other by putting Red–Sindoor on each other’s cheek & forehead as a gesture of best wishes & dances to the tunes of Dhak.

-Soumadeep Chatterjee

Curtailed Moments

 A midst this pandemic situation going around and half-reading people's faces (covered in masks), it is implied frequently that our outside environment plays quite a role in our mental plays. What we give in any form to the outside depends on what we receive inside our home and from our surroundings. Graphs can be designed easily studying a human mind in different locales, particularly when there occurs a tremendous change of certain places from glittering to lying in weary condition. Though various examples can be drawn, I will focus on the most referred, the most famous, the most popular Hindu festival 'Durga Puja' also known as 'Durgotsav' this year.

T he festival which pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga which lasts for ten days with the most significant last five days namely Shashti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami. This annual celebration is one of India's grandest festivals which perpetuates the victory of goddess Durga over the devil Mahishasur according to mythology. Goddess Durga began her battle against the demon on the seventh day that is Saptami and killed him by the final day Dashami. Going by history, the first record of this festival goes back to 1500s. Since then for centuries, the festival has emerged to be a big one and thus has gained so much prominence.

W ith this deadly thing at its peak and twisted results daily, this year, the festival along with all plans have been disrupted. In Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Various Puja committees are coming up with varied alternatives to maintain this so-old culture and the much-awaited smile and lustre around. They have come with new safety measures for the smooth going of the pandal hoppers and offering them a glance of the goddess. A new concept termed as 'Drive-in-darshan' is made to allow people to slow down their vehicles and catch a glance of the pandal without getting out of their car. Social distancing norms will be strictly followed and mass gatherings will be avoided. In a normal circumstance the Puja organisers would have been creating a hype about their themes and plannings but this year there is uncertainty surrounding the sponsorship and thereby following cost-cutting measures.

This year's puja will not be a familiar one but there is one thing which drives us all for a better tomorrow and that is hope. We are hopeful. Let us all go by the song "we shall overcome" and continue the celebration with new norms and forms. Happy Durga Puja.

-Swagato Chatterjee

Will it iron out tax wrinkles?

 W ith an intention of boosting revenues to meet imminent fiscal crunches, many developing countries introduce new tax reforms. Major changes happened in Indian direct tax system since 1962 for a variety of reasons. Amid 1962 to 1990, the Income Tax Act had been dismembered more than three thousand times and prompted the renowned constitutional and tax jurist, Nani Palkhivala to observe the Act as a national disgrace! However, still the unending march of amendments is on and refining the efficiency of the tax system continues to be a key confront in India.

To renovate tax administration further and to erase the possibility of corruption and overreach by tax officials, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently uncovered new tax reforms. According to him new reforms will benefit sincere taxpayers of the nation, whose hard work sways the evolution of the nation. Unleashing the “Transparent Taxation – Honouring The Honest” platform through video conference, the Prime minister showed grief towards low number of taxpayers in India and urged citizens of India who owe taxes to take bold step to contribute to nation building.

Modi’s new tax mantra

Aiming to have fundamental reforms in India‟s tax configuration and to create taxpayers friendly environment the government launched a fully digitized tax system on August 13, 2020. Faceless Assessment, Faceless Appeal and Taxpayers' Charter are the main components of the transparent taxation proposal. The faceless assessment and taxpayer charter will come into force from August 13, 2020 whereas the faceless appeal system will be effective from September 25, 2020

Faceless assessment targets to ensure fair and polite treatment for tax payers by tax officials. The scheme makes the Income tax department accountable for maintaining the tax payers‟ nobleness. The department must entrust the taxpayer and should not disbelieve anyone without evidences. This scheme aims to eradicate the face-to-face communications between taxpayers and income tax officers. A central computer selects tax returns for scrutiny or inspection based on risk and mismatch considerations. These cases will be allotted to team of administrators randomly. At another arbitrarily selected location this allocation will be studied by officers and if they agree, a notice will be remitted by the centralized computer system which has to be responded by electronic mode. Income tax surveys to gather information for scrutiny assessment will be assumed only by the investigation wing.

The previous system permitted tax administrators from inspector onwards to originate the survey with approval from the joint commissioner of income tax. Nevertheless exceptions will be made in cases of serious fraud, major tax evasion, sensitive and search matters, international tax charges, Black Money Act and Benami property. To make the current tax system seamless, painless and faceless, the Central Board of Direct Taxes which is in charge of administration of personal and corporate tax, will liftoff faceless appeals scheme on September 25 as part of the proposal to diminish physical boundary between tax officers and taxpayers. Random allotment of appeals to officers, no visit to tax offices by tax payers, concealment of the identity of the tax administrators deciding the appeals and team based appellate decisions are the main features of faceless appeals plan.

Supporting the statement made by the Finance Minister of India during the 2020 Union Budget, the government has introduced tax payers‟ charter. The charter lists out accountabilities of the income tax department and taxpayers. The charter commits to provide fair, courteous, and reasonable treatment, treat taxpayer as honest, to provide mechanism for appeal and review, to provide complete and accurate information, to provide timely decisions, to collect the correct amount of tax, to respect privacy of taxpayers, to maintain confidentiality, to hold its authorities accountable, to enable representative of choice, to provide mechanism to lodge complaint, to provide a fair & just system, to publish service standards and report periodically and to reduce cost of compliance. In return, it expects taxpayers to be honest, compliant, to be informed, keep accurate records, know what the representative does on his behalf, to respond in time and make payments in time as per law.

Taken as a whole, new tax reforms target to ease compliance burden of taxpayers, to bring fair objective and just system and to erase physical interface between the department and taxpayers. With this tax transparency era will definitely begin. Hence, the new tax proposals smell good. But taste to be tested.

Gloomy side of the policy

Generally many policies or reforms in the Indian setting are as good as ink spilled on paper. Things begin to crush at the execution stage. Though the enhanced features of the reforms available to an honest taxpayer are yet to be released, any action taken by the government will be felt by an honest taxpayer only when he or she is not saddled with illogical assessment of tax returns and harassment of tax collection against capricious tax demands.

Many tax experts including tax officials found the charter feeble and ambiguous. The new born legally approved charter is much different from prevailing citizens‟ charter which has no legal backing but prescribes time deadline for delivery of services. Moreover, tax officers are confused and do not know whether taxpayer charter or citizens‟ charter to be followed. In the taxpayers‟ charter there is nothing tangible for a taxpayer to pursue compensation or for a supervisor to castigate an officer. With respect to believing taxpayers or respecting their conduct, the provisions of the taxpayers‟ charter are not justiciable or not subject to trial in a court of law. It is not clear that whether citizen‟s charter and taxpayers‟ charter will run analogous.

The association, Joint Council of Action, embodying income tax officers and employees has aired anguish over not being taken into confidence and underlined the unease among 97 per cent of the income tax department workforce towards the reforms. The association urged that no employee should be made jobless due to the reforming exercise.

Section 132 and 132A of the Income Tax Act authorizes the income tax department can conduct a search and seizure. These were amended three years ago and now the department can raid anyone if it has reason to believe or reason to suspect. However, the department is not responsible to reveal the reason to any authority or even the appellate tribunal. To support this, Section 132 (1) was amended retrospectively from April1, 1962 and Section 132 (1A) from 1st October, 1975. Although tax payer pays the tax amount due on his own along with the penalty applicable, failure to file tax returns in time attracts severe sentence for six months to seven years, plus a fine if the tax amount is greater than rupees one lakh. This prompts to raise the prime question and the question is, is it a just and honest system that the charter is talking about?

The income tax department has been given stringent revenue targets year after year to nourish the monster of big government. This gives more powers to tax officers to harass us. Thus, this tactic and more draconian laws present in the Act cannot reduce the tax harassment and department‟s attitude has become more and more vindictive. There are even targets for issuing prosecution or trial notices and other disciplinary provisions, which are supervised weekly by New Delhi.

Tax administrations have conventionally been both the regulator and enforcer of tax laws with restricted care to taxpayer service. Devoted bodies like the Ombudsman in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa and tax mediators in Belgium and France examine tax connected complaints. These entities are self-reliant of the tax organization and have been established under a specific legislation. The chief objective of this arrangement is to guarantee that taxpayers have a chance to raise worries when they feel they have been treated crookedly. Unfortunately, taxpayers of India do not relish this privilege and there is no tax ombudsman in India.

R egrettably taxmen are not reprimanded for delaying cases and for imposing the harsh penalties. Many taxmen keep cases alive by simply raising a monotonous enquiry from time to time. Few years ago, the Comptroller of Auditor General pointed out that to augment tax revenues, an improper demand was made and the State Bank of India was enforced to make a payment of more than Rs.10,000 crore on March 30. This aided the taxman attain his year end goals and within a week in the new fiscal year the amount was refunded. In India, no harsh penalties are levied on such officials.

As a final point, the Income Tax department known for its wrongs than rights it has practiced in the previous decade of tax reforms. Although the government proposes to narrow the trust deficit between taxpayers and the department, but the allegations of annoyance by the latter decline to go. The tax payers will feel and develop trust in the government only when they get fair treatment. It would be important for the income tax department to assure that new promises do not remain only on paper. It is significant to publicize the reforms including the charter and create an awareness movement leading to a novel era. While the taxpayer charter is founded on relaxing compliance, the policy declarations must also replicate in the functioning of the tax administration. Proper training has to be provided to tax officers to shift the emphasis from simply raising tax orders to supporting taxpayers and truly rationalizing assessments. This will surely augment tax collection, permit the government to spend more freely and shrink the burden on truthful taxpayers. Otherwise, painless, seamless, faceless tax platform initiative will be hopeless, fruitless, worthless.

-Shivanand Pandit

(Tax Specialist||Financial Adviser )

Apple 2020 Launches

 The date was January 9,2007. The world was going to witness something new, something spectacular. You must have guessed it by now. It is the first ever iPhone laugh by One of the best presenters of the world - Steve Jobs. Since then the yearly apple events are widely awaited as they once considered something which will be ground-breaking and highly innovative. The 2020 apple event occurred on September 15,2020 which is named as Time files Event. On this event Apple launched for devices and one service.

Apple Watch Series 6- A fitness partner that measures all the ways you more. Provides meaningful health insights and a connection to the people and things you care about most. Its unique activity rings show your daily activity. It keeps you motivated with awards, personalised coaching and activity competitions. It has multiple number of workouts and you can splash with the watch as it is water resistant up to 50 metres. Unusually high or low heart rates and irregular heart rhythms (known as arrhythmias) could be signs of a serious condition. But many people do not recognise the symptoms, so the underlying causes often go undiagnosed. Notifications in the Heart Rate app will alert you to these irregularities so you can act and consult your doctor. Apple Watch has apps that help you focus on your overall health and wellness by letting you easily track your menstrual cycle, protect your hearing from loud sounds and practise mindfulness. With the ECG app, Apple Watch Series 6 is capable of generating an ECG similar to a single-lead electrocardiogram. It’s a momentous achievement for a wearable device that can provide critical data for doctors and peace of mind for you. With Maps, you can find driving, walking, transit or cycling directions to wherever you are going and get a tap on the wrist when it is time to turn. It can measure blood oxygen saturation. If you have the Series 6 Apple watch, you may not need to use a dedicated pulse oximeter. Apple Watch Series 6 also has a new Solo Loop, which has a single band with no clasp. It is made of silicone and is being launched in seven colours. There is another version of this called Braided Solo Loop. Apple Watch Series 6 price starts at Rs. 40,900 in India.

Apple Watch SE- Loved the Apple Watch 6! But it is too pricey right. Apple has got a cheaper alternative. The Apple Watch SE appears to be an upgraded version of the Apple Watch Series 3. It has the same S5 chip for twice the performance of Series 3. Apple watch SE will be available in the cellular models. It will also support altimeter, Fall Detection, swim proofing, etc. It has got almost all the goodness of the Series 6 except ECG, oximeter etc. The Apple Watch SE starts at Rs 29,900 in India.

iPad 8th Gen- The iPad 8th Gen has the A12 Bionic chip, authentication via Touch ID and a similar factor like the 7th generation. The processor is the biggest improvement as the previous generation was using an A10. The A12 Bionic was used on the iPhone X series. The iPad 8th Gen also supports Apple Pencil and Apple's Smart Keyboard cover. The iPad 8th Gen starts at Rs. 29,900 in India.

iPad Air (2020)- The iPad Air has a redesigned body with flat borders that allows it to support the second-generation Apple Pencil. It sports a single rear camera and a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina Display. The Touch ID fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button on the iPad Air (2020). The iPad Air (2020) has the new A14 Bionic chip, which is expected to be powering the iPhone 12 series too. Apple says the A14 is based on the 5nm process technology, which is an industry first according to the company. Apple says the iPad Air (2020) offers 40% better CPU performance and 30% better graphics performance than the last generation iPad Air. It also gets more iPad Pro features such as support for Magic Keyboard, USB-C, better camera performance, and faster LTE performance too. Price starting at Rs 54,900 in India.

Apple One – Apple was individually providing all its services like Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple fitness+ and iCloud. If any user wants to use all the services of Apple, then the customer must shell out a large amount of money. So, Apple solved the issue with this combined service which provides all the services. It will be launching in India later this year and Indian pricing will be revealed at that time.

Apart from that, Apple has launched iPad OS 14 which has resolved the pain point and brought some amazing features of the apple pencil. The apple pencil now can be used across the iPad. It can be used to write the website address and surf the net. It can be used to make notes which will be transformed into text instantly. With the advent of iPad OS 14, the whole iPad can be used using the pencil without any textual intervention.

Apple has brought some much-needed changes to its line-up of devices which are technologically superior with advanced usability. They will be coming up with their iPhone 12 series in the upcoming months. If you are looking to buy a laptop replacement, or wanted a smart companion for your mobile and yourself or some digital notebook or some platform which provides unified services, you can land on the Apple India page and find quality solution for every need and want of yours.

- Nilanjan Kala

Current Binge-worthy movies ‘Mulan’ & ‘Tenet’

Mulan 2020 is the latest adaptation of Disney’s beloved animated character and film Mulan which hit the theatre’s in the late ’90s. This latest movie version ensures the showcase of many cinematography shots of grand scale, with dazzling modern special effects with vibrant colors, innovative action sequences & gravity-defying drone shots. The movie explores the bravery & dedication of a single warrior girl with the strongest of “CHI” among all male warriors, leaving everything behind to protect her motherland, her kingdom, and her family. The female director, Niki Caro along with veteran actors like Tzi Ma, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, and Gong Li gave powerful performances along with intense battle sequences make this re-narration of Mulan a more sophisticated adaptation, along with stressing the story's themes of female empowerment and family devotion, thus making it a worthy watch for all.

Tenet is the state-of-the-art film creating an exhilarating and mind-boggling experience while watching, by one of the most celebrated newfangled cinematic visionaries: Christopher Nolan. The time manipulation narrative explored in this movie is another innovative coup de maître that seeks to give more wonder and amazement than his preceding efforts. Christopher Nolan attempts to alter the fabric of reality by scripting the movie about a secret agent who undertakes a treacherous, time-bending mission to avert the start of World War III. Performances of Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Diebicki & John David Washington is at par along with the script, concept, direction, cinematography, and the futuristic premise, thus making this movie a must-watch for all movie buffs and normal viewers.

-Pritam Maji

Moulting the Real You

 Yes, you read it correctly. we need to moult our grey thoughts and make our world green. But the question is how? Indeed, we cannot feel positive all the time. Being positive means to be optimistic. Seek out the good out of every bad situation. See the grey in between the black and the white phases of your life. Convert your negative emotions into positive actions. People tend to have three types of mind-set. Read and find out which type of mind-set you have:

1. People with a win/lose mentality always compare themselves with others'

They considered a success as a relative term i.e. their success depends on other people's failure. They feel happy when others fail. They feel jealous if you achieve more than them. They always try to feel you down so that they can wear the crown. They feel insecure all time. 2. People with lose/lose mentality are negative thinkers

They will always try to take you along their journey in the sinking boat. You should never discuss your plans with them as they will do everything to suppress your idea. They will criticize you and make you feel anxious. So you also hesitate to take the first step towards your goals and finally you quit.

3. People with the win/win mentality are achievers

They are people who let them work hard, fight with their inner weakness and make their dream come true. They always cheer others to take a small step towards their dream. They believe small steps together make the successful victorious road ahead clearer. They also think their success depends on other people's success too. To become the person we want to be, we must have the winning mindset. If you are surrounded by successful people then they are creating a positive environment which helps you in attracting your goals towards yourself. Stephen R Covey, American educator, author, businessman, and keynote speaker stated - "win/win is based on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, that one person's success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others...it's not your way or my way, it's a better way, a higher way."

You need to love and respect the person you see when you stand in front of the mirror. Give importance to your thoughts and listen to your heart. God has given us two ears so listen to the good things from one year and remove the atrocious thoughts from your other ear. Just as some of the animals shed their skin, hairs and features to make a new way for their growth similarly we need to shed our negative thoughts and enter a new positive world. "Being positive doesn’t mean that you live in candy land. Positive people have real problems. They get angry. They challenge people and fight hard for what they believe in. Positivity is not about wearing rose-coloured glasses and rolling over when the going gets tough. It’s about being self-aware and accountable for your emotional state.” - Isaiah Hankel.

-Anuradha Agarwal

Bring Peace to your Relationships

 Every relationship is a “roller coaster” ride, filled with ups and downs; somewhere it can be really challenging, also very rewarding as well, leading to a thrilling package of love and togetherness.

No relationship is a perfect one, and it is totally normal for partners to disagree on things, have trust issues , incompatibility and unmet expectations, to name a few. The problem starts when the disagreements are handled poorly or delayed ,which causes more stress among partners resulting in further misunderstandings and arguments. Your relationship may be going through a tough phase now, but no conflict exists which cannot be resolved with poise and understanding. Everyone prefers a night of fun and cuddles over fighting and shouting. So, if you want to have a calm and fun relationship, here are some ways for you.

BEWARE OF YOUR FEELINGS AND TRY NOT TO OVERREACT

We tend to start arguments when we ourselves are annoyed. You might think that you are annoyed at your partner because they didn’t reply soon enough, or was late to a date, but in reality, you are annoyed because you disagreed with your friends or a dispute at the job. Before you start arguments, compose your feelings, and try to consciously listen to your thoughts. When you listen to something you dislike, you tend to be angry. But before you snap at your partner, take some time alone. If you still feel terrible, try something which uplifts your mood. This way the negativity curbs down, thoughts become more rational, and a person becomes less argumentative when confronting their partners.

COMMUNICATE

Communication is always the best effort you can put to stop your fights. When your partner says something that pisses you off explain it to them. We all have been to “one-word replies” , to make our partner known that we are angry. But it isn’t the healthiest way to sort out problems. In this digital world, though texting may help us to think and control one's emotions before replying, the person reading those might not be able to “catch” the tone of the texts; drawing out the argument for days. Then, the best you can do is sort the problems face to face and let your body language and tone do the talking.

Playing the blame game is never fruitful. It might be easy but is equally unfair, unkind and vague. When you blame your partner, they become more defensive; one becomes the victim and the other becomes the origin of all problems. Remember, listen to what each of you has to say, act upon that, and be proactive to solve the discomforts.

APOLOGISE AND ACCEPT APOLOGIES

If you want to be in a relation, get over your pride and learn to apologise. Making mistakes is very normal, fights are normal too and therefore both of you should be comfortable with apologizing. Both of you can do make valid points in an argument, so you need to be more open and apologise when you are wrong. When your partner is upset, they need your support and love. Show them your sincerity by making an apology.

Even if you are still angry after an intense fight, you should always accept an apology. If you don’t, you are putting your partner off apologizing in the future. Forgiveness is not something you should withhold, and if you do, your partner might end up thinking that you are playing with their feelings. Therefore, accept genuine apologies and try to fix the problem.

REMEMBER YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FIGHTS

If you are past your “honeymoon phase”, don’t you worry. You can always go on having a deep and meaningful relationship with some sincere efforts and love for each other.

Everyone has their baggage of problems, you need to learn to go past it and fight to make your relationship work.

Don’t just focus on the bad traits of your partner every time you fight. The more you focus on negative traits, the more negativity your relationship will get surrounded with. Think about the positive traits, recall why did you fall in love with them at first, or what are they good at. Always remember that there is a reason you are in this relationship. You might not be able to change the past, but the present and the future is yours to define. So, shut your hard feelings in the closet, start looking forward with positivity, be more generous and treat your partner with more love and care.

MAKE TIME TOGETHER AND TAKE TIME APART

This a mechanical world and we all have loads of responsibilities, be it career, passion, family and others. Sometimes, it may be difficult to take time out of your of a busy schedule and spend quality time with your partner, which can be very normal. But workload can never be your excuse every time. It is important to carve some time out of your schedule and give your partner a full day of undivided attention, to cherish and prioritize them. Express your affections and talk to them about your problems, which makes you come out as feeling positive about your relationship.

Equally, you should think about taking time apart from each other. While things at your work can cause stress, it also trues that relationship is overwhelming and stressful. Be encouraged about taking time apart, as it helps you to have a different perspective of your relationship.

LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF

Prioritize yourself first. If you don’t love yourself, you can neither impart love nor accept love from others.it becomes a constant worry that your partner may leave you. Insecurities grow from this emotional crack, makes you clingy, needy, jealous and annoying. Focus and spend time with yourself. Do not rely on others for complimenting you. Remind yourself that you are worthy of love and you will find yourself encountering fewer conflicts. One highly effective way of strengthening the relationship is taking good care of yourself, sparing some “me time”. Eat healthily and sleep well, for what it aids in a good relationship.

Every couple goes through rough patches but constant conflicts are tiring and draining. You tend to find the true essence of your relationship when there is more love than arguments. When there are fewer fights, you enjoy each other more. May these ways help you in your next arguments, and you resolve quickly into a more peaceful and fun relationship with each other.

-Susmita Chatterjee

Best time to visit: Shimla & Manali

 Best time to visit

All year round.

April –July For travellers who want to escape the heat of the Indian summer and enjoy the scenery of mountains with a clear blue sky along with the thrill of adventure activities/sports.

October-November For travellers who wants to see the autumn magically bloom the flowers and the apples in apple orchards with snow-capped mountains afar surrounding under the blue sky along with the thrill of adventure activities/sports.

December-January For travellers who wants to enjoy the snowfall and freshly laid snowy blanket all over the valley and roads of Shimla & Manali, but also flexible with their timelines and sight scenes as there could be blockades/ roadblocks for exaggerating amounts of snowfall.

February – March For travellers who could be lucky enough to experience a snowfall but mainly to enjoy the freshly laid out snow all over the valley with few available adventure activities or sports.

Adventure Activities

• River Rafting in the River Beas

14 km Rafting [Pirdi to Bajaura] - Rs 800/ person.

8–9 Grade III Rapids | Easy | Duration - 1:30 hr.

10 km Rafting [Pirdi to Sarabai] - Rs 700/ person.

7 Grade III Rapids | Easy | Duration - 1 hour.

7 km Rafting [Pirdi to Bhuntar] - Rs 700/ person.

5 Grade III Rapids | Easy | Duration - 40 min (Bargaining is a must)

There are three locations of River Rafting near Manali, above one is Pirdi and the other two locations for river rafting are Raison And Babeli.

• Paragliding in Solang valley river with a per-person cost of INR 2000-3000 for 5 to 7 mins of flight duration (depending on the winds), or with a per-person cost of INR 4000-5000 for 14 to 16 mins of flight duration (depending on the winds). Prices also vary due to other costs like the hiring of GoPro for a video of your flight. (Depending on your Bargaining power)

• ATV Rides/ Quad Bike rides in Solang Valley with a per-person cost of INR 800-1200. (Depending on your Bargaining power)

• Skiing in Solang Valley or Rohtang Pass with a per-person cost of INR 800-1200 . .(Depending on your Bargaining power)

• Snow-mobiling in the Solang Valley or Rohtang Pass with a per-person cost of INR 800-1200. (Depending on your Bargaining power)

There are also some other fun adventurous activities which are less dangerous and also more economical than the above activities:- Zorbing, River Crossing, Zipline, Rock Climbing, Rappelling, Cable Car Ropeway etc.

How to Reach

There are several ways to reach Shimla and Manali.

1. Train to Kalka Railway station & from there book and enjoy a scenic toy train ride to Shimla Station or you can also hire a local cab or car to Shimla from Kalka.

2. Train / Flight / Bus to Delhi & from there a hired car till Shimla or Manali.

3. Train / Flight / Bus to Chandigarh & from there a hired car till Shimla or Manali.

How to plan

There are a huge number of tour operators in cities all over India who designs package tours of Shimla & Manali starting from INR 10k per person. You can also plan your tour by pre-booking your train or flight online and pre-booking your hotels online according to your choice and budget. Local cab or hired car can be booked on spot from Delhi/Chandigarh/Kalka or Shimla/Manali for both inter-state travel destinations and local sight scenes.

-Pritam Maji

An ode to the Queen of Hill Stations

The Sudden Opportunity

SHIMLA

&

MANALI

For years, I envisioned & dreamed of a trip to Shimla & Manali, but being a student the toll to my pocket was intimidating and so the idea was unceasingly adjourned. Surprisingly, during the summer of 2019, an economical opportunity to experience the Himalayan landscapes fell into my hands.

Commencing & experiencing the journey of our dreams

This time I couldn't let my dream go to waste, so I swiftly acted on the grasping opportunity and thoughtlessly reserved a trip to the „Queen of Hill stations‟ for myself along with two of my eccentric & adventure-loving friends. So we booked three tickets of Duronto Express travelling from Howrah station to New Delhi station. We reached New Delhi in the morning & from there we hired a car and commenced our road trip towards our dream destination "The Queen of Hill Stations- SHIMLA". We have already enjoyed a fun train journey and was now enjoying a road trip together with friends, thus fulfilling our desire & crossing off an item out of our bucket list. Gradually we ditched the conventional straight & hectic roads of mere mortals and initiated our journey towards the heaven, climbing the foothills of the mighty Himalayas, while seeing and admiring the mesmerizing scenery, the flora and fauna, and sensing the rise of chill in the air steadily, as we go up. The panoramic view of the Himalayan mountains from the car was chameleonic, mutating by the minute. For us, it was a moment of absolute bliss and harmony every time we watched outside the pane of our car. Following an immersive and alluring journey of 10 hours, it was almost twilight when we eventually arrived at Shimla.

Arriving & exploring the Eden of our desire(Shimla)

We checked into our hotel which we had previously booked, entered our room, and freshened up for an enchanting even-ing stroll throughout the mall road of Shimla.

The loopy and curvy Mall road is strung out along a 12km ridge, with steep forested hillsides sloping away in all directions, the Himachal capital is one of India's most popular hill resorts, buzzing with a happy flow of heat-escaping Indian vacationers. The only way to get around central Shimla is on foot. Vehicles, including taxis, are forbidden from The Ridge and much of The Mall, with traffic funnelled along Cart Rd and Circular Rd. As Traffic is outlawed from the central part of town, walking is pleasant, even with the huffing and puffing of hiking uphill. Subsequently reaching the highest point of the ridge there was a tableland where resides the 2nd oldest church of Northern India - Christ Church, Shimla. Of that elevated hilltop flatland, the panoramic view and the majestic grandeur of The Himalayas were breath-taking, I was lulled into a gentle complacency and was roused seeing the spectacular peaks of the mountain ranges against the skyline. I felt as if I was in a psychedelic trance. But no, this was real. This was Shimla. Following this visual treat, we went for a treat to subdue and conquer our hunger. There are several iconic restaurants, cafes & bars along The Mall (especially near the lift), there are dozens of simple, economical Indian eateries in Middle Bazaar, just a few short steps below The Mall's central section. Prices are especially good for thalis (multi-curry meals).

After a sumptuous meal, we retired ourselves in our hotel room for a good night's sleep. We woke up early & approached our hotel's open rooftop garden to experience the foreground gashes of a yellow-lit sky with a bluish texture in the background that slashes open the innards of the surrounding mountains while facing the chilly sensation & inhaling the purest form of air that enveloped the entire atmosphere of our surrounding scenery. Devouring a big nutritious breakfast we decided hiking to the local sight scenes named Scandal Point, Jakhu Hanuman Statue, Town Hall, Gorton castle, Gaiety Theatre, Himachal State Museum, The Viceregal Lodge, Shimla Heritage Museum etc while enjoying a lump sump meal of Himachali cuisine and thalis in between our local sight scene parikrama.

While capturing the picturesque landscapes along with ourselves in our DSLR's we also took our time capturing the experiences of the breathtaking views and scenery in our hearts and minds, taking our timeline towards dusk. It was dark now and we could see the small lights twinkling all over the mountains along with the city from the Ridge. We decided to halt & pause for a few moments to enjoy the beauty and serenity and calmness of Shimla and its views surrounding us, for it was our last day in this paradise and it was time to take the heights of adventure to the next level, which was Manali, thereafter enjoying a lavish dinner and resigning ourselves in our hotel's room for a comfy sleep.

A New Day comes with a New Destination

We were so excited that we woke up early at 5 am and packed our cases inside 5.30 and completed our breakfast within 6 am as we had a long journey ahead to Manali. There are many unforgettable bits in every man’s life. Nonetheless, only a few of them get indelibly engraved in our memories. Rare of my most memorable moments was associated with this road trip to Manali and the time we spent there. We commenced our journey towards Manali in a local car which we had previously booked.

Arriving at a different offbeat universe(Manali)

The chill in the air began flourishing as our car progressed up the serpentine roads in the Himalayas along with the sinuous Beas river on its side. On either side of the meandering road, spectacular vistas of unrivalled sylvan beauty appeased not only our eyes but our fidgety soul as well.

Deep vales, with pure verdurous slopes; idyllic, rustic agrarian human settlements, far off glimpses of the white sheep grazing on the slopes of the mountains under the awning of the azure sky are the enthralling illustrations one gets as a bonus for coming to this utopic Eden. As we approached Manali, the mountains became more towering. It was noon when we reached our hotel in Manali.

The harmony, tranquillity, and brilliance of Manali and its surroundings were hypnotic. We had booked a Riverside Resort on the banks of Beas River, so the nature was abundant. Of the room's balcony, the distant snow-clad white mountains and the calming sound of the Beas river gave the illusion of a different offbeat universe. It was evening now and our hotel manager beck-oned us, along with other groups for an enchanting bonfire camping in our resort grounds.

The chill in the air began flourishing as our car progressed up the serpentine roads in the Himalayas along with the sinuous Beas river on its side. On either side of the meandering road, spectacular vistas of unrivalled sylvan beauty appeased not only our eyes but our fidgety soul as well.

Deep vales, with pure verdurous slopes; idyllic, rustic agrarian human settlements, far off glimpses of the white sheep grazing on the slopes of the mountains under the awning of the azure sky are the enthralling illustrations one gets as a bonus for coming to this utopic Eden. As we approached Manali, the mountains became more towering. It was noon when we reached our hotel in Manali.

MANALI

Arriving at a different offbeat universe(Manali)

Under the dark starlit sky with the only sound of gushing stream of Beas river passing by including the warmth of the bonfire, was proving to be a magical evening. Following these enchanting events, we eventually had our dinner and went off to sleep.

The next day we hired a local cab to visit Rohtang pass and Solang valley. Rohtang Pass lies beyond the habitable world that continues to enchant travellers. During our journey to Rohtang pass, we braved bone-chilling gusts, slippery roads with their deadly curves, and sometimes extremely rough weather. The reward for this effort was being greeted by snow-capped mountains, encountering the thrill of a challenging journey, and breathing in the fresh mountain air along with few inches of fresh snow covered like a blanket all over the ground and slope of Rohtang pass. Now we understood the cunning location of the pass coupled with the spellbinding escapade of nature all around us, making Rohtang Pass so popular. Enchanting sights of glaciers, snow-covered peaks, and rivers continued to amaze nature lovers like ourselves to ride the bottlenecked roads that were unforgiving and wouldn‟t entertain amateur drivers. We spent more than an hour playing with the snow, sliding, skiing, and throwing snowballs at each other. Next, it was time to tour Solang valley, so we hopped back into our car and after an hour of treacherous drive, we reached Solang valley where we enjoyed the thrill and fun of adventurous activities like zorbing, paragliding, ATV riding, and skiing/skating, snowmobiling, etc individually depending on our choice of adventure sports. On our way back to Manali we also had the opportunity to visit the Hidimba Devi temple which was at the entrance of a forest covered with huge pine trees. We returned to our hotel in the evening and spent our last night gazing at the starlit sky blanketing over the towering mountains and eventually treating ourselves to a lavish dinner.

Waving GOODBYES!!!

We had spent a glorious midsummer, living our dream in Shimla & Manali, and the next morning my heart was heavy as we left the Eden of our fantasies. The beauty of Shimla & Manali was unforgettable; but far more beautiful was the journey itself. We discovered that there was no wifi in the mountains but you won't find a better connection. Concluding my travelogue with a thought that occupied my heart & mind during our journey:-

“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.” -Greg Child

-Pritam Maji

Surfing through the edges of Sundarbans

 As we all know that Sundarban is the biggest delta in the world, having tremendous natural beauty hiding inside it. It is also first of its kind to have Royal Bengal Tiger residing in its Mangroves situated in West Bengal in India. It was named for its famous mangrove tree, ‘Sundari’. Apart from that many other mangrove trees are there like Goran, Bain, Hogla, Golpata etc. Sundarban is full of natural beauty and resources with its Flora and Fauna. It is extended through two neighbouring countries India and Bangladesh. Believe me, if you haven’t visited it yet, then don’t think twice. Pack your bags and get started to explore the beauty of Sundarbans.

Best Time to Visit...

November to February

How to reach Sundarban?

It is well connected to every part of the country. The only thing you have to do is to reach Kolkata. Here either you have to take a train from SEALDAH towards CANNING or you will have to board a bus from ESPLANADE to reach CANNING. From there, you have to reach GODKHALI by auto or bus or cab. Then, take a launch from ferry ghat to reach ‘Pakhiraloy’.

Where to stay?

Many people consider to stay in launches while others prefer hotels. There are lots of Hotels and Lodges are available in Pakhiraloy in all ranges from mid-budget to Luxury (From ₹ 800 - 5000). And don’t be afraid of tigers roaming around your hotels, because the hotel’s peripheries are well secured by fences.

Almost all Hotels are well equipped with tourist boatsused for travelling through the heart of Sundarban. You better talk to your Hotel manager rather than wandering outside your hotel and get confused. Fooding is available in all hotels within reasonable prices with yummy taste! If you are determined to explore Sundarban, I would suggest you to buy a tour package from any of the reliable tour operators. Then, you won’t have to worry about fooding, Lodging, arranging boat, & taking permission for entering forest area. Everything will be arranged by the tour operators only.

Cost of tour

It solely depends on what kind of package you are purchasing. Generally, it varies from INR. 5,000-10,000. All tourist spots generally remains same, only the quality of Hotels and their services change accordingly.

Places to Visit

There are many tourist spots like Sajnekhali, Sudhanyakhali, Dobanki. Sundarban tour is actually a 3 days 2 Nights tour program. It may seem to be a short tour but within this time-frame it consists everything, unless (jokingly) you make friends with tigers & choose to stay there for a longer period of time. Here is a short guide for you.

#Sundarban Diaries- Day 1

On reaching Hotel in the afternoon you will have lunch and take some rest. Around the evening, you will visit the Pakhiraloy River Junction to see & hear various & awesome species of birds and feel the nature’s stunning beauty during sunset. Then, you will get back at the hotel to get yourself charged for the next day.

#Sundarban Diaries- Day 2

This is the most vital day of the tour. It will start by visiting the Sajnekhali Tiger Reserve & Sudhanyakhali Tiger Reserve in the morning. There are watch Towers inside these Tiger Reserves to safely have a view of the forest. Here you will find Museums, Mangrove Trees and short roadways secured by fences on both sides through the forest to have a glimpse of the beautiful Sundarban. Thereafter you will reach Dobanki, which lies in the core area of the forest, very much prone to have a view of the Royal Bengal Tiger if you are lucky. If not, then at least Tiger pug marks will fill your heart. Here in Dobanki, you will feel how blessed we are to have that forest. After that you will return at the Hotel. All your day will be spent on the boat.

#Sundarban Diaries- Day 3

On this day you are bound to feel sad while you return to your home from this wonderful national park taking a wonderful memory with you.

Life’s what our perception is

-Anuradha Agarwal

When I was small I looked at the mirror happily,

Since then life had changed dramatically.

Earlier I used to be happy me,

I choose to live in a way that is free.

My own thoughts matters me the most,

In a world where I am lost.

With an un-borrowed vision,

I am on my own mission

Then I grow up,

And things got disrupt.

What will others think?

In this thought my whole world shrink

How to be happy? I forget,

For which I later regret.

Instead of listening to my inner voice,

I am doing something that is not my choice.

Just to be in the crowd,

I also started shouting loud.

But,

Life is a valuable gift which we should respect,

Happiness and sadness are it's subjects.

To be happy we just need our own appreciation,

Which helps us to deal with any situation.

It's ok to be yourself,

Sometimes you just need your help.

Life is what our perception is,

And we have to play this quiz.

Just with a little caution,

We have to choose an option -

Deluded thoughts and pain OR

Clear vision and gain.