The Japanese Garden Sightseeing at The City Beautiful

The City Beautiful Chandigarh is known for its green surroundings spread all over. There are several parks and gardens that not only add to the beauty of the city, but are quite happening places as various activities/events are conducted there every now n then.

Few months back before this lockdown happened, my sister had visited my place with her family and we thought of finding a vibrantly colorful place to let our kids enjoy their day in some open space.  

While looking for a family picnic spot, we discovered about a relatively new addition to city's popular gardens i.e. the Japanese Garden and we decided to explore the place.

So here is how this peaceful spot looks like-

Japanese Garden is a well-maintained park located in Sector 31, Chandigarh. The layout and design of the garden is inspired from Japanese architecture, as you must have expected. The landscape layout of the garden nicely showcases the Japanese culture, art and aesthetics. 

As we entered the garden, the kids really enjoyed the calm beauty of the garden where the walking paths take you between the plants and small ponds. Imagine the delight of kids who were literally mesmerized by the scenic view of those huge sculptures, pond-like water bodies, wooden walkways, pagoda towers, waterfalls and beautiful Japanese paintings. My son expressed his special interest in enquiring about different types of plants, trees and flower-arrangements exhibited there. 

After we were back home, the kids were bubbling with energy and discussing everything they loved at the park. It made me realize that instead of planning a kids' day out for a movie or gaming parlour, we should expose them to unexplored things where some sort of learning is also involved. Because this is when their natural curiosity is sparked. They learn to appreciate the complexity of nature that we usually take for granted. In short, such experiences extend learning beyond the walls of classrooms and is an attestation of the fact that there is life outside of technology.

For those who might be interested to visit:

Location: Sector 31, Chandigarh
Ticket Price: Free Entry 
Visiting Hours : 7:30 AM - 7:00 PM All days of the week

Cafeteria and washrooms available inside the garden premises.

Spacious parking space outside.

Add this mesmerizing tourist attraction to your list when you plan to visit Chandigarh next time.

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon. 

Reflections of My Pandemic Classroom

The COVID pandemic has prompted most teachers across the world to innovate and adapt to online formats, including myself.
Despite being an IT educator, in the initial days of pandemic, I wasn’t very comfortable handling the changed dynamics of teaching. Yes! I was well-acquainted with integration of technology in my lessons, but frankly I found it quite strenuous to replicate the essential elements of classroom teaching effectively in ‘virtual teaching’. I recall how I convinced myself to take up this two-fold challenge positively i.e. to figure out productive ways of humanizing the online classroom experience for my students and to upgrade myself in terms of pedagogical and communication tools.

For the first few weeks, I would feel a bit low in confidence and would spend hours visualizing and practicing my lectures for the next day, even for the topics that I’ve been teaching for a decade and a half. The struggle of tackling a patchy connectivity during a class would literally give me nightmares. But I was determined not to let my online interaction with students turn into a lame communication with a disembodied voice, so I started teaching them with a nice blend of firm yet friendly tonal quality.

Yet another challenge I faced during online teaching was to utilize available hardware and software resources to its best without lacking in dissemination of knowledge. And I felt proud of myself when I first synced two devices i.e a desktop (a laptop couldn't be provided by the institution where I work) for video and a phone for audio, for the first time to give a practical demonstration to my students. I felt so accomplished when students gladly expressed that they were enjoying learning with ‘remote practical sessions’. It reaffirmed my faith that using virtual tools can also make teaching a richly rewarding experience.

The process of my unlearning, relearning and upskilling didn’t end here. A few days back, I explored some new platforms to understand the process of developing a small mobile app (that was actually a part of curriculum in 8 standard). After achieving the desired outcome, I felt a great sense of contentment of trying my hand at something new.

On this journey of my professional upgradation, one of my newly developed interests has been to engage with Educational Platforms such as ‘Google for Education’ on social media platforms and insist them on bringing some favorable features for educational services offered by them to make teaching-learning more fruitful (and believe me, they really pay attention to ideas/suggestions of users and try incorporating the required features in the respective products).

Over the months, I’ve evolved to be more of a resourceful facilitator who is continuously researching and implementing ideas in my virtual classroom to make learning equally impactful for students as it was in a traditional in-person environment. 

My plans for upcoming months-
While it’s uncertain to predict the future of the ongoing academic session 2021-22 at this moment, I personally feel Hybrid Learning with support of Cloud Based Services will prevail. In the coming months, I’m planning a major shift in my methodology (if I could implement) to become a ‘resource-provider’ to promote a student-centered learning approach wherein students themselves would think logically and discard misinformation available on the web which they’ve been totally relying on these days. If I could actually execute what I’ve planned, it would lead to improved learning for my students.

To conclude, I would say the pandemic might have been devastating for each of us in one way or the other, but I’ve genuinely upskilled myself to an extent and would continue bettering myself despite all challenges.

Committed to my duty wholeheartedly during COVID-19 and beyond.

because 

"Learning Should Never Stop."

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon. 

A World Without Clocks

An year ago, before the pandemic showed its presence, most of us had a set routine with barely any thoughts needed to fill up those little relaxing breaks. Starting from the morning alarm to wake us up till the last chore in the night, life could almost function on an autopilot mode.

But it's been months of trying administer some structure into my days that normalcy doesn't seem setting in.

With things getting out of control every so often and especially with my son's schedule to wake up, exercise, shower, get dressed, have breakfast, and to start his 'online school day', I just lost my calm the other day and yelled at him that you should have been born in a no-clock era where you had the liberty to do anything and everything as you please. 

To my scolding, my boy gave quite an amusing lyrical reply (quoting below for your kind read) 😅

            

No Clocks? No Clocks! ⏰

Will this dynamic world come to a stop? 🤯

And, for my time-driven momma, all her planned activities will flop. 😢

No more pinching tiny scraps of time,

Just letting go tasks that don’t align your system fine.  🤏

I fantasize, there won’t be any wasteful time-misusing,

Just those purposeful thoughts with no fear of losing. 🤔

I envision positive diversions and no efforts for stress-coping,

But hey! The ‘No-clock’ world cannot be all promising. 🙅

With no clocks, there would be no motivation to plan and organize,

Our timely actions will also stand compromised. 👎

How will we dictate our lives each day?

Won’t it slow us down on the life’s speedway? 😩

It scares me to nerves not being able to hear that ‘ticking’,

Really don’t want to get my productive energy dipping. 😪

To avoid being a victim of unrewarding fatality,

Let’s continue relying on mindful punctuality. 👍

No points for guessing that it made me laugh and hug him, 'coz he found a cause to be creative at this juncture also. 👌

But on a serious note, we both had a long discussion afterwards because I wanted him to realize "Time is not an illusion and should be used productively." 

This is how a day in my life looked like...

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon. 

    

Abuse Hurts At Any Age - Stop It

Respect and manners have always been considered the placeholders for the deep-rooted moral values in our society. And we, the parents, take pride in raising a child who possesses the basic lifeskill of respecting others. I personally take this responsibility of guiding my child to respect the rights and value of other family members or anyone else for that matter. Because that's the way we may create a world of 'adults' who are courteous, considerate and thoughtful to others' needs on this planet. 

What made me address this topic today is a recent incident when I overheard a neighboring young girl shouting at the highest pitch of her voice on her grandmother and the poor lady literally burst into tears due to embarrassment, shame and awkwardness. To my utter shock, the mother had no courage to intervene and to stop her daughter from misbehaving with the old lady. 

 

In many households, this kind of unethical behavior has become quite a common scenario where younger generation plainly dismiss the existence of elders in the family, consider them as a burden and humiliate them every now n then. Gradually knowingly or unknowingly, this practice turns into abuse. My heart aches to accept this fact, but the impact of such emotional abuse (and also physical abuse in many cases) might leave the sufferer sustain long-lasting psychological trauma forever. It's ironical to know that the violence, abuse and neglect of older persons is the most under-reported and concealed violations of human rights across the globe. 

As a reminder to treat our elders with love, appreciation and respect that they deserve in the society, today's day i.e. June 15 is the day designated by the UN as the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.  This year's theme is "Access to Justice" which particularly lays stress on moving from mere awareness for the cause to the action through a human rights-based approach for the sufferers who might seek recourse.

Wondering what all it takes to make elderly people feel needed? 

• Rectify your family dynamics. Do not hurt the dignity of your elder family members by criticizing or ridiculing their actions.
• Value their sentiments and give them a purpose of life by seeking their advice on important matters. 
• Keep your elders engaged in recreational communities/clubs to save them from feeling of isolation.  
• Help them be emotionally resilient with your kind expressions, gestures towards them. And that should not be limited to just your family, but can be for anyone and everyone. 
• Be their source of strength and make them aware of their human rights.
• Recognize the signs of abuse for someone in trouble, and try to help them approach the local human-rights organizations or NGOs.
• Take up a right channel to volunteer for preserving dignity of older persons in crucial situations, when no one seems to come forward to help. It may sound insignificant to you, but can be a life-savior for the other person.

Respecting our elders should simply be a civility ingrained in each one of us. If not, then mankind is in an unseen danger. 

On my level, I'm making a promise to myself to admire, recognize and applaud my elders’ contribution to my family and to the society, while keeping myself consciously away from arguments, defiance, and other family chaos. (It is the least that each of us can do.)

Care for Those Who Once Cared For You.

This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.

 

Reshape Your Curves With Perfect Shapewear

"People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder."

Well! this quote by Salma Hayek is not only hugely impactful for those who are constantly struggling with their body image, but also challenges the fact how society views people, especially women, based upon their physical size and shape. The reality is that your life isn’t miserable because you're curvy; it is miserable because you think you would be happier if you were thinner. So one should stop spending all day obsessing, cursing and try perfecting his/her body because you’ve got lot more to offer to the world. 

With this being said, I also agree that your 'fit body' goals cannot be achieved overnight and might need to shed sweat gyming for months with consistent hard work. Probably that's the reason many women are turning towards compression garments that can not only help them look shapely, but also boost their inner confidence. With great products flooding the markets, there are a variety of shapewear essentials that women can think of adding in their wardrobe depending on the specific target area and purpose of using those.

In the past few years, waist trainers for women have revived their presence with a bang, especially for the corset-enthusiasts. Wearing a good-quality, well-fitted waist trainer is not primarily targeted on losing weight, but it’s about emphasizing your body shape and celebrating the curves you have. These actually come handy when you wish to cover-up your temporary weak spots or bulges. Many users claim that it is possible to train your waist to retain a slimmer shape by wearing the garment over an extended period. These corset-shaped waist trainers are essentially wide, elasticated belts that cinch your midsection in and gives improved posture. Infact there are waist trainers that are exclusively designed to provide extra support to women whose abdominal muscles have stretched or thinned post pregnancy or any other surgery. The extra support may help reduce pain and discomfort.

But there is another section of women who wants to enjoy a smoothing sculpting effect on their tummy, hips, and back altogether. For them, the open-bust style full body shaper is the perfect blend of comfort, function, and fashion. The body shapers or the bodysuits have an open-crotch design that allows you to wear your own bra underneath. These are an asset to enhance the appearance of your attire. Most body shapers can be worn under any kind of clothing without any hint of their use. 

In addition to open-bust style, there are more seamless all-in-one bodysuit for those women who crave more coverage. This style is thinner than most shapewears and fits your body like a bathing suit. These really work wonders at making your clothes cling to your body perfectly with zero bumps. One can even go for a variant that targets to make your bottom fuller and allows to shape your hips. 

To conclude, I would like to assert that while purchasing a shapewear, just ponder some thought on the specific garment, body part, occasion you have in mind so that you can zero in on the desired product that aids your slimming functionality goal rather meaningfully and effectively.

Glam Summer Outfit Inspo for Girls

Every girl wants to go out into the summer sun and see the sunny colors that Nature has got to display.

Well! Right now, there aren't many places we can go, but I'm sure many of you (including me), are itching for some summer outfit inspiration for when the times do come.

When it comes to planning your summer outfits, there should be no rules. Just flaunt those bright hues or that dress with all sexy cuts or sport a sassy top in bold designs. Speaking of warm weather, we've got an impressive compilation of some cute tops for girls/women that are in sync with the latest trends, new styles, and of course your body type.

Backless Tie-back Tops:

Tie-back tops are the reigning trend of summer ’21. The knots at the back add a sweet charm and style to your outfit. Not only are they attention-grabbers from the front side, but they look even better from behind. Pair it with your denim for an ideal jeans-top combo or wear it with a midi skirt for a relaxing holiday vibe. Be bold enough to show a little extra skin, especially when you have any body modifications such as tattoos to show off. ;)

Ruffle Tops:

Ruffles make everything look graceful and pleasing to the eyes. A ruffle top gives a lovely feminine look for being classy, elegant, and quite chic. I think of ruffles as an added accessory to my otherwise basic outfit. A casual ruffle top is just perfect to pair with shorts for a date with your partner, to slay on a beach, or even at a party! Aren't they so flirty yet fierce? Don't miss out to explore and buy cute tops for girls online in diverse cuts and patterns to ‘ruffle’ up your wardrobe this season. 

Curved Hem Tank Tops:
We all have seen tank tops gaining popularity and taking over the fashion scene of late. For many girls, these comfy tops have everything to highlight their signature style to an everyday look. And to those fashionistas in town, designer tank tops are specifically crafted to keep up with the latest fashions including zippers, sequins, fur, and other embellishments. What's become talk-of-the-town in this category are gorgeous-looking curved hem tank tops. Wear it with a maxi skirt for a boho-chic look or create an extraordinary look wearing it with high-waisted shorts & pointed heels or strappy sandals.

Bishop Sleeve Tops:

Now, this style of top is here to make a mark when you're planning a sharp office look that is modern yet dignified. A bishop-sleeved top creates a tasteful office-appropriate look when combined with a grey/black high-waisted knee-length skirt and black pumps. The same top can be transformed into a romantic evening look when styled with your favorite shimmery bottoms and appropriate accessories.

With these stylish summer tops in your closet, you’ll never be struggling for a chic warm-weather look. While you buy tops for girls, just keep in mind-'Trendy is the last stage before tacky.' So be fashionable to the extent that your outfit gives you pleasure and expresses your persona beautifully.

Curate Your Ensemble with Admirable Fabrics ft. Fabcurate

"Clothing is a form of self-expression, so define yourself in the best way possible." This notion completely resonates with my personal belief. Because i feel that clothes do have a significant impact on our emotions, overall confidence, and ultimately how you feel about your own self. In clothing, I prefer to wear something comfortable rather than unnecessarily expensive. That's the reason I like my clothing to be aesthetically pleasing and functional. 

Having said this, I also believe 'one-size-fits-all' is a total myth because every person is built differently. And over the years, I've noticed that getting a tailor made version for your clothing makes a massive difference  as compared to an off-the-rack piece bought from a store. So most of the time, I would choose to buy fabrics from local market and would get it stitched from my tailor master to create the perfect ensemble because custom-made clothing gives my personality a sharper look that endures. 

But what made my fabric shopping different this time is the 'place' from where I bought the fabrics for my summer outfits. While most markets and malls might have reopened across country, I'm still skeptical about visiting public places specially those crowded local markets due to current surge in rate of infections. So this time, I shopped from Fabcurate.com, a Surat-based online store, that houses an array of premium quality fabrics in attractive prints and patterns.

Fabcurate has a plethora of fabrics including plain, printed, embroidered, velvet, and peculiar crafts such as Indigo, Kalamkari, Ikat, Ajrakh, Tie and dye and many more. One can use those fabrics as creatively as possible like for draping, for creating ensembles like saree, kurta, shirts, for home décor and much more. 

What I loved while exploring Fabcurate that the maneuverability on the site is buttery-smooth. The entire product range has been thoughtfully spread across varied collections so that a person with specific criteria in mind could directly get an easy access to the product line of his/her liking and it saves loads of your precious time. You may also delve into choosing appropriate fabrics that would cater to your desired look to be created on certain festivals, outings, family-functions etc. Those looking for high-quality organic cotton fabrics must check out their summery prints that are not only soothing to eyes, but are environment-friendly too. 

After many hours of intense brain-storming for zeroing upon an item (yes, because you're bound to get lost into the mesmerizing world of chic fabrics), I finally chose to order two of the fabrics from Digital Print category. A Tusser Silk Fabric in Hunter Green And Beige Booti Pattern Digital Print Premium Swarovski Hand Work that I'm planning to make an Anarkali Kurta from & a Cotton Cambric Fabric in Aegean Blue And Olive Green Ethnic Pattern that would be suitable to design an 
elegant workwear kurta-pant set or a comfy coord-set.

As expected, I received my order within 4 days which is reasonably decent time. I appreciate that the brand packed the fabrics in a cloth bag instead of polythene bags.

The texture, weave, colour, print and overall touch-n-feel of the fabrics is really nice. Now I'm literally eager to get these stitched to precisely fitted garments that would bring out more individuality. 💙 

I would like to specifically remark here that Fabcurate is probably the only online portal that facilitates you to order the quantity of the fabric as less as just 1 meter without any restrictions of 'minimum order quantity' or 'minimum order amount', so that you may mix-n-match your ensemble the way you want to.

As a customer with completely satisfied shopping experience, I won't hesitate to declare that finding a piece of clothing that suits the picture you have in your head had been almost impossible, but not any more.

To purchase the finest quality fabrics to use for your versatile stitching projects, I highly recommend Fabcurate, because their vision is not just to provide its customers premium quality products, but also to push Indian artisans show their creative potential to come up with their own unique version of traditional Indian textile heritage with every fabric they craft.

Indulge Into Invigorating Morning Showers With Aroma of Roses

"Invest in your skin. It's going to represent you forever."

I'm a believer of the fact that healthy, glowing skin is not something to show off, but it's a protective shield you should enjoy to live in. To me, taking good care of my skin is certainly more important than covering it up under the layers of makeup. Because glowing skin is always in. And that's the reason I never compromise in quality of my skincare essentials and choose them with utmost attention especially towards the ingredients. These days, I've been treating my skin with a rejuvenating bathing kit with the natural goodness of roses. I'm so delighted with the indulgent pampering of my body that I couldn't resist introducing you to Delicate Rose Bathtub Spa Kit from the house of Bryan & Candy New York.

To begin with, I was amused by the exquisite packaging of these fragrant bathing essentials in a cute silver bath tub that sits really pretty on the bathroom countertop. The kit consists of four result-oriented products (along with a loofah) that will turn your morning shower into a refreshing experience.

On a morning, when your skin looks dull, you can optimize the appearance of your skin by taking your routine shower the right way. Remember! Getting glowy is all in the way you wash. As a first step to your shower, get the water temperature just right suited for the weather. Cleanse your skin with a gentle shower gel to get rid of dirt, pollutants from the top layer of skin. The Delicate Rose Bath & Shower Gel is one of the most sweet-smelling bathing gels I've used so far. Despite being a dry skinned person, I didn't feel my skin being stripped off natural body oil. Reason being, this shower gel is enriched with moisturizing ingredients Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter and Organic Aloe Vera along with Rose Water as main ingredient. The loofah that comes along in the kit gives richer lather to clean your body with little quantity. So I'm expecting this 300ml bottle to last for good number of days. 

Once the body skin is clean, that means you've actually primed it up for the scrub to do wonders to your skin. Use lukewarm water to soften your skin so that the open pores may release excess dirt and dead skin cells that have built up. The Delicate Rose Sugar Body Scrub, which is infused with Rose Oil and Argan Oil, has heavenly scent. Its grainy texture feels so good when you massage it on skin in circular motions and its particles dissolve gradually. The oils in the scrub leave my skin extra moisturized and nourished. This practice of exfoliation promotes new cell growth, but make sure not to be too aggressive or overdo it.

After the body, the next step is to splash your face with some goodness. For that, the Delicate Rose Face Wash formulated with Vitamin C, Rose water and Rose Oil is certainly the best deal. As you take out the mild pink coloured, gel-like face wash from the tube; you feel like having some eatable dipped in rose syrup. Seriously, the aroma is delectable and lingers on for hours even in your hands. The face wash maintains your skin’s oil balance with rose petal extracts, so can be safely used by people of all skin types. Everyday use can leave your skin lightened and brightened.

When your body is just out of the shower, it acts like a perfect canvas for moisturization, because damp skin helps you get the most from the formula. I personally adore the Delicate Rose Body Butter for its thicker consistency that seeps in my skin so quick. I'm in love with the feeling of suppleness that it renders after application. Pure Bliss! You may use this body butter enriched with Shea Butter and Hyaluronic Acid on your hands, elbows, legs, feet, neckline and everywhere else. With prolonged use, you would notice your cracked, flaky skin transforming into smooth n well-lubricated skin. Those with relatively drier skin would benefit more from this body butter than their usual body lotions.

USP of Bryan & Candy Delicate Rose Bath Tub Kit: 

Apart from the invigorating rosy scent in these shower essentials, that are destined to instantly uplift your mood, the star ingredient rose offers anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and antiviral properties. The rose extract works towards cleansing and toning of your complexion, reduces blemishes and nourishes the skin in totality. 

The entire range of Bryan & Candy Bath Tub Spa Products in this kit is free from sulphate, paraben and other harmful chemicals. The brand doesn't support testing its products on animals. So you feel proud of using cruelty-free products while indulging into time-tested shower ritual with efficacious products.