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Thursday, 31 January 2013

Terror, Terrorist, Terrorism-Vishwaroopam

The first month of the year 2013 has gone off in a jiffy and though there have been a flurry of activities in the Blue Caramel world, the results are being awaited expectantly in the succeeding months. The month of January has seen some reshuffling in the political scene of India and the future, though right now blurry, seems to indicate a direct contest between the scion of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi and the Gujarat BJP strongman Narendra Modi in the coming 2014 Indian general elections.

January 2013 also saw escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan as the two countries were involved in border skirmishes along the LoC, in Jammu & Kashmir. The immediate heightening of tension was the alleged dastardly attack that Pakistani troops carried out inside Indian territory which resulted in the beheading of an Indian soldier and mutilation of another. These acts of "terror" and Pakistan's unabashed support to "terrorism" held centre stage in the Indian media during the month along with the tragic death of the BraveHeart, the fighter victim of the Delhi rape case.

The usual acts of terror by terrorists also hogged the limelight. Naxalites and Maosits killed many in Chattisgarh and Jharkhand but one glaring form of "terrorism" that is becoming more and more aggravated is the "Cultural Terrorism" as aptly pointed out by Kamal Haasan, the Tamil movie superstar, whose film "Vishwaroopam" got entangled in a form of cultural terrorism. The film which was cleared by the film board landed into trouble with certain groups. While one group claimed the film had blasphemous content, another claimed that a Tamil movie should not have a Sanskrit name. The result, the screening of the film was banned  in even Kamal Hassan's home state of Tamil Nadu.

You cannot please all of the people all of the time, even God cannot do so. So, an opinion, advise, a piece of work, writing, film or even cuisine cannot have all takers; Some would like, some would not. But a minority of people with radical views, can they take a multi lingual, diverse, secular country like India for a ride??? Can they spread fear in this way?? A fear which percolates to every layer of the society, a fear which prevents people from writing freely, a fear which prevents people from liking posts on social media, a fear which might lead to exodus of literary and cultural talents from the country??

A minority of people spreading fear amongst the majority, are they are not terrorists?? And the fear they are spreading is it not "Terrorism"???

Monday, 28 January 2013

Not all those who wander are lost-myBBB

Starting today till the 31st of March2013 is a competition courtesy www.mydestination.com, the leading travel information website network, for the wanderlusts across the globe. Christened the Biggest, Baddest, Bucket list, this competition envisages to bring together travel enthusiasts from all over the world onto a platform wherein they can share their travel experiences through self written travel blogs, photographs and videos. No technical restrictions are imposed and contestants can even participate by clicking with their smartphones.

The first step over, the actual competition begins when the participants are encouraged to garner votes for their entries. Making use of the social media, the voting for the favorite entries begin. The sense of competition intensifies when parochial affiliations intrude and friends, families and nationalities,  pitch in their support for their respective participants.

The rewards for the winner is Huge, to say the least. An all expenses paid around the world tour for 6 months awaits. During this period, the winner will be travelling across 6 continents, visiting more than 25 destinations of own choice and documenting the diversities that would be encountered.

That is not all, on return from the world tour, a cash prize of $50,000/- another reward for travelling the world without having to pay anything from one's own pocket would act as the proverbial "Icing on the cake".  Interesting no?? Amazing no?? Who says you can't have the cake and eat it too?? So put on your traveling shoes and start wandering because as JRR Tolkien has famously quoted "Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost".

For more details, visit www.mydestination.com/bbb.

Happy Wandering and all the very best!!!

Monday, 21 January 2013

In anticipation of the Biggest Baddest Bucket list!

There is a buzz in the air about the soon to be launched promotional campaign of mydestination.com which promises to be a pot boiler as it offers wanderlusts, a never before opportunity to travel around the globe and even earn some money doing so. What could be a better way to mix business with pleasure?

More on the same as we get the competition going, come 28th of January 2013! Till then au -revoir!

Friday, 11 January 2013

Revolutions not Resolutions for 2013!

From this year onwards, I have decided not to have any new year resolutions. If it has to be then it has to be "Revolutions" and not mere "Resolutions" for me in future. Hopefully 2013 would be a revolutionary year for all members of Blue Caramel at all the presently operational locations of Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Mumbai as well as other impending locations all across India.

By having a Revolution this year, I obviously don't mean an armed struggle between the members of the Blue Caramel family but I suggest overpowering restructuring in the way we all think, the way we all interact with the clients and the way we all overall function. We need to me more innovative, we need to be more adaptable and most of all we need to be more resilient, if we are to make 2013 really a Revolutionary Year for Blue Caramel.

With a plethora of activities planned by Blue Caramel in the areas of hospitality, publishing and event management this year, along with new initiatives from mydestination.com, the year ahead promises to be a great one. With the new look websites and the mobile application fully operational, it is imperative that we all strive hard to derive the maximum mileage that we can, at the earliest.

The Biggest, Baddest Bucket List, the high profile promotional endeavour from mydestination is to hit the world audience in the last week of January and the Shaam-e-Sama Sufi musical night is planned for February. If the saying "Morning shows the day" is any true, then real great revolutionary things await us all, the members of Blue Caramel as we march ahead and take on 2013 with full gusto.