Elegant Eternal

I was fifteen year old when I first had my eye checkup which disappointed me that I will have to wear the spectacles all through my life and the boys at high school bullied me Chashmish. My tenth standard exams were nearing and I couldn't spot anything on the blackboard without my spectacles. I would feel bad wearing the spectacles and was more hurt that I was the only one in my class who wore a spectacle: the odd man out!

As I enrolled into the college, I learned about the contact lens from friends who used it and they got rid of spectacles. Contact lens were a boon, especially to young gals who hated to wear spectacles. I consulted an ophthalmologist and he gave me instructions on using the contact lens, wearing and removing them. I, slowly, started appreciating this new invention to the mankind, and got used to wearing the contact lens. It had been ages that I had been wearing them. Most of the times, during the long day outside or trips, I would forget the lens solution and the case at home. Though, contact lens were tiny, they required heavy maintenance like washing them before and after use, you cannot close your eyes even for 5 minutes and doze, cannot wear them for more than 8 hours a day. The worse came, when I had to travel by flight and buy a small solution bottle every time and undergo customs check at the airport which would delay the check in.

Wearing a contact lens.
Image Courtesy: Google Images

"The eye sees what it brings the power to see."

LASIK eye surgery came as a boon which would eliminate both the spectacles and contact lens. The eye sight would be normal as that of the baby's eyes. I underwent LASIK eye surgery recently and happy to see the world with my new eyes. The vision is sharp and perfect and I can read without any hassle. LASIK is a painless surgery and lasts for less than 10 minutes for both the eyes.
Initially, I feared of Anesthesia‎ which would be injected to the eye. But, the modern health care has advanced and there was no topic of injecting anesthesia into the eye at all. It was mere eye drops that the nurse put into my eyes and after a while I was taken to the surgery room. The focussed green light and red spectrum was all I could see and it was all done in few minutes. The surgeon was amicable and was explaining what he was doing during the procedure that made me confident. Unlike, the earlier times, eye operations are now OPD and you can walk off after the procedure.
I took rest for about 2 weeks and was back to work which involved staring at the computer monitor. But all went fine.

Medical facilities have advanced so much that they can even bring life and make out lives colorful.
Be it a cosmetic surgery, infertility care, Bone Marrow Transplant, Stem Cell Transplant and even C-section, the healing period has reduced. During the earlier days, say 15-20 years ago, the person who undergoes surgery had to take rest for months together at home which would result in loss of pay. The living standards have improved and you can join work after few days of treatment.

We must be thankful to the medical advancements who have made a layman's life lot more easier than it was earlier, without the fear of the knives and scissors harming us.

This post has been written for Indiblogger contest in association with Apollo Hospitals.

"If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher."
Dr. Abdul Kalam

If my dad was a politician, he would have been in the shoes of the "aam janta" and realise the struggle which the middle class and the poor sections of India go through daily to make a living, who do not earn as much as the software or the MBA professionals do. He would have adopted an effective model that benefits the weaker section of the society for betterment. He would reduce the sky rising prices of food, education and hospital charges which would obviously burn one's lifelong savings. He would also put an end to corruption and encourage people not to bribe at any cost. It requires people's contribution as well for a major mission like this.

If my dad was a politician, he would bring a law to punish who disrespect Mother Earth littering the garbage here and there. He would bring a congestion tax on the vehicles plying during the peak hours, unlike London and New York, and encourage both rich and poor to use the public transport. This way, we reduce the pollution and save the earth for our children. Proper garbage disposal and recycling, sea water reclaim for domestic usage.

If my dad was a politician, he would make introduce measures for welfare of women. Education till graduation will be mandatory so that women can support themselves and their families. Better maternity benefits such as paid leave for a long duration. Strict punishment for eve teasing. Children suffering from disabilities, should be educated and government sponsored, irrespective of their gender.

Last but not the least, the old age sufferings which most are undergoing due to the nuclear families in India. Who should take care of aged parents, has become a question? It is the children's and governments responsibility to take care of them.

PS: My dad never wants to be a politician because the politicians never bother to look at the people's concerns or demands once they occupy the seat. A common man can do lot better without the tag of being a "politician".

This post is written for the Weekend Contest in association with Shoes of The Dead at BlogAdda.com.

I have always dreamed since I was a child, hoping I would fulfill them someday. As I grew, the dreams grew and would remain an unfulfilled wish. We come across very few people in reality who follow their dreams in reality.

With over 10 years of experience in the Software industry, Arun Bhat quit his corporate job to explore the new horizons. He begun to travel across India. Arun is the co-founder of Darter.in and founder of Paintedstork.com

As he traveled, he started to record all the travelogues along with the photographs on his personal blog, paintedstork.com, a decade ago. Why the name paintedstork? The blog contains beautiful images of the bird found in South India. The readership of the blog grew and more people began to appreciate the content and the images. His work expanded the boundaries of his blog and started to publish travelogues in travel magazines, in-flight magazines and newspapers.

The images were then used by several publications, catalogs and other users. And then the first steps of building a career out of photography was born! Arun then started working on commercial assignments in photography and offered services to my clients, and in the process, worked for some leading corporates like Mahindra Holidays, Shapoorji Pallonji Compnay Ltd, Videocon group to name a few.

This did not restrict the boundaries and soon Darter.in, Travel Photography company, was born two and a half years ago, along with its co-founder Shreeram MV. Darter contemplated on spreading the know-how of the art of photography to all people who want to make beautiful images in all type of photography, not restricting to any particular genre. Darter iniitially started the operations with photography tours to Hampi, where they wanted to introduce amateur photographers, who were photography enthusiasts, to all forms of outdoor photography including architecture and heritage, travel, landscapes and wildlife. Subsequently, they have spread out operations to photography tours across India on various genres, including photographing smaller forms of wildlife, street photography, bird photography and much more. They also conduct workshops to get beginners jump-started, advanced photography workshops and professional level workshops in Bangalore. The professional level workshops help bring amateurs on par and get started with all that is required to start accepting assignments.

When Darter was started, they had a small crowd of supporters who trusted their capabilities and keen to try their offering. They were encouraged by the positive feedback that kept them trying newer things.

There are hurdles in very path and Arun, too, faced challenges. During the initial days, it was always difficult to reach out to enthusiasts about their offerings, as they were new and few people had heard about. But now, times are changing.

Every hard work has its rewards. But you have to wait for it. Darter has been the only company in the country that offers such a wide range of topics to learn on various genres of photography. Few places in India offer short-term workshops on such varied genres like landscape photography, travel photography, product photography, photographing small forms of wildlife, etc

Today, Darter has successfully created an interest and awareness on the joy of photography to hundreds of people, many of whom have taken photography as a serious form of fulfillment while a few have gone on to take up photography as their full or part time profession. They have made efforts to grow together, as we keenly nurture talent through creating a community of our photography enthusiasts and helping continuously with their work.

Darter has been awarded as the best travel & wildlife photographers at GCC Puraskar, an award for the travel industry where hundreds of leading travel companies from across India have participated.

They have diversified the portfolio of photography tours to wide geographic range across India, from Kerala to the south to Ladakh in the North, Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west to seven-sister states to the east.

It takes lot of courage to quit the job when everything is going smooth and a lot of struggle to build a career which you are passionate about. Arun Bhat inspires many of us to follow the dreams which you're passionate about.

I wish to get my story published in Chicken Soup for the Indian Entrepreneurs Soul in association with BlogAdda.com

Women make sacrifices at all phases of life as a wife and a mother, as a supporting pillar to the family. We come across many who have inspired us and whom we admire and follow.

Monika kissed a good bye to her corporate job to take care of her little son. She is a techie with over 10 years of experience, with an MS in Computer Science. And the founder of Sin-A-Mon, baking boutique.

Initially, it would be a break for 6 months she thought and it turned out to be 3 years. She took up freelancing projects while taking care of her son at home. As a child, her mother would prepare cakes she would admire. Her love for baking grew as a hobby and she would try new recipes at home and publish them on her blog. The readers appreciated and she knew what her next step was. Sin-A-Mon was born in Oct 2011.

"Cinnamon is one of my favourite sweet spices and also something widely used in baking dishes. We tweaked the term a bit and named my startup Sin-a-mon. Sin for sinning and mon for the initial letters for my name."

Chaipatty was the customer Sin-A-Mon delivered its first order. Today, Sin-A-Mon is a specialist in cupcakes and breads and has been getting a lot of savory orders – breads ofcourse but even apart from the that. Savory bakes are catching up in terms of savory muffins etc. Cinnamon rolls and spiked red velvet cupcakes are the hottest selling items. Another thing that moves very fast is the liquor filled and spiked cupcakes.

Most of he business is online and customers interact via twitter and Facebook.

Apart from these, Sin-A-Mon also conducts baking classes on various topics – for those who know the basics, and those also are new and baking enthusiasts, and those who want to enhance their skills like bread baking, dessert making workshop, pies and pastries etc. workshops are also conducted for kids in summer and also corporate baking workshops.

Monika faced challenges too. It was tough to bake from home. Moreover, the biggest challenge was the time management, sometimes you end up baking all night because there is a morning order and the regular life has taken over the day. Apart from that the baking ingredient market is opening up a lot and most of the stuff can be found in India, she still asks friends making abroad to get some stuff but can see the list slowly becoming shorter.

In this journey, she met Rocky & Mayur of highway on her plate fame, Kate Bracks from Masterchef Australia.

Monika always listened to her heart and followed her dream. She has been a source of inspiration to many women who wish to follow their dream and face the situations with boldness.. .. and Never give up.

I wish to get my story published in Chicken Soup for the Indian Entrepreneurs Soul in association with BlogAdda.com