It will not be wrong to say that we are a money conscious, price sensitive nation. We love to find value for our money, and then a little more! Not that we cannot afford luxury, but the pleasure we derive in bargaining that extra is not possible to explain in the realm of written word. We derive more pleasure in the free item we get than the actual item we bought! That is why fixed cost shops with no bargain depress me, for what fun it is if everything is bought at MRP?

If there is unity in our diversity, I guess, it is this trait of the insatiable urge to find the best value for our buck which unites us. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari our markets adorn the hustle-bustle of our bargaining with the shopkeepers. For a person uninitiated with our way of life, it borders on being a perpetual conundrum. 

We often say in our family that there is very little difference between good and great and we are willing to pay for that delta, for the value derived by that little extra far surpasses the added cost. I guess it runs in our blood to always be on the lookout for the next deal and somehow we never get tired of it.

So, it amuses the cashier, but we find it natural, when my brother asks for a free-gift for having bought lots of grocery in super-market. First reaction is surprise, but more often than not, they oblige by throwing in a knick-knack, a little toy, or whatever. And believe me this little thingy makes the effort of grocery picking seem like fun. I still remember my grandmother quoting 80% discounted price to vendors. And I was always surprised to see that final deal always turned out to be even better!

I guess given this, the new #LufthansaPremiumEconomy class from Lufthansa is true bang for buck addition to the airline's repertoire. International air-travel, especially in economy class, is tiring. There is little leg-space, less recline, little elbow room and all in all, I have always felt it is akin to travelling in a 2x2 bus. And I hate travelling by bus. This new tier of air travel from Lufthansa brings unique value proposition which only Indian discerning mind could possibly decipher - the power of that little delta, by paying a little extra.

Travelling in business class/first class has always been my secret desire every time I travel internationally in economy. However the fare difference between the 2 variants used to be at least 5-6 times and I could never convince the travel department (for I myself felt it was a very steep price for little luxury for couple of hours). This new #LufthansaPremiumEconomy changes all that. Of course, it is priced higher than the economy class, however, the price difference is significantly less. It is less than half the price of business class. I think I can now convince my travel manager to book this for me in my next leisure trip disguised as business trip :) After all a relaxed employee will be ready to take on the world on arrival and which business would not love that?

If you get

• 50% more space
• 2x50lbs free baggage
• More lean back
• Extra storage space
• Separate armtest
• Footrest
• Free lounge*
• Travel accessories
• Excellent food served in china tableware
• Bigger screen
• Power outlet so that your devices do not run out of juice
• And many more...

Isn't it a true "paisa-vasool" deal? Who would not love the luxury you can experience in *LufthansaPremiumEconomy class? I guess that is what being truly Indian means - finding value in skies (thin air literally)!

Ever since I watched the part duex of Tanu weds Manu movie franchisee, I have been confused & sad. Movie has flair for watch-ability, there are jokes strewn on an otherwise non-coherent stories which do amuse you. However interestingly none of those come from perceived protagonists of the film.

Image Courtesy here

Coming back to why I am confused, I have been wondering, what was the whole point of the story (what was the story btw?).

** Spoiler Warning **

It would have been a great story, if Manu did find his spine and married Kusum. He did not. With nothing shown about chemistry between Tanu & Manu, and the movie starting on a premise that the couple cannot bear each other, there is no reason for their reunion, except to satisfy the idea to preserve the marriage at any cost. Why?

Seriously why? But then I may be wrong. It is quite possible that they had an alternative lifestyle which was not shown to gullible us, may be they were into BDSM, may be Manu loved being whipped, may be he was a natural sub?

On the other-hand, chemistry between Kusum and Manu was shown poignant and believable. With so much build up to make audience feel that they indeed are the souls for each other, and then not uniting them is bordering to cheating with the spectators. Tanu did absolutely nothing for Manu to feel the urge to go back.

I think the story had potential, but was marred by a bad screen-play. For us to believe that the couple were indeed made for each other - there needs to be a premise which was never build up. We were supposed to imagine the chemistry which was missing like honesty in our government offices.

Tanu's character is unrealistic. Was the idea to portray her as a rebel? I guess she appeared more delusional and psychotic than a rebel. A rebel has a reason, a point to prove. She did not have any. On the other hand, Kusum was the true rebel - she stood for herself, she stood for what was right. She had the guts to be on her own. She had to guts to walk away from her first love.

And that is why I felt sad. I wanted culmination of a good love story.

But then I guess it was good in a way Kusum deserved a person with stronger spine than Manu. May be we will see that in part three!

Actually, I will take back about Tanu being unrealistic. She showed all the fervor and flavor of Amy (remember Gone Girl)? May be next one could be woven into a thriller? If it does, there is still hope in this world.

***

We all desire a generally healthy skin. Yet, we do not take enough care of it. Our skin is what holds us together, protects us from the harshness of surroundings and keep us alive. Whatever it is, our skin faces it first.

While I am one those lazy people who in spite of knowing all this, still fail to give the general care our skin truly deserves. Still, over the period of years spent on this earth, I have been given multiple tips, advice and treatments to take care of the epidermis. Let me list a few in this blog-post for my ready reference and for the benefit of posterity -

1. A clean skin is first step towards health skin
While I do not do much, yet, I have made it a habit to wash my face/feet every-time I come back to home from somewhere. This makes sure the dirt, pollution and grime gets washed away. Keeps my skin fresh and hydrated and removes the excess oil. I guess we should do this more often - at least once during our office hours - not only when we feel sleepy and wash our face to prevent ourselves from falling into slumber in a dreary work-day - but generally also. You can use just water or a good face wash like this from VICCO.

2. Hydration
Different skin types need different way of keeping skin hydrated. Each person to his own - but we must find out what type of moisturizer suits us and use it liberally as may be required. My mother's favorite is using a mix of VICCO Turmeric Cream and moisturizer for a quick touch up to the face. I have also found that ghee/mustard oil/coconut oil massage before bath is a wonderful way of providing wholesome moisture to the body. If you care for exotic, olive oil is also a great option!

3. Eating Healthy
What we eat has amazing impact on our skin. Fresh vegetables, ample amount of fruits, a healthy dose of salads does wonder to our skin. As a side benefit it also helps in overall balanced nutrition of required by our body.

4. Using home made face-packs
In my child-hood, we were made to apply multani-mitti face-packs. I liked the smell :) I guess homemade packs made from vegetable peels, fruit peels are wonderful - but we need to be aware what will suit our skin type. And there is ample information available over the vast realm of the world wide web aka internet. A face pack mixed with Turmeric brings a radiant glow to the face.

5. Rainwater
I do not know the scientific fact behind this, but I have seen that getting drenched in rain-water removes tanning and glorifies the face. I have done that as an experiment and it never fails to amaze me!

These were some of the tips I have tired in the past have benefited from. Would love to hear about yours in comments!

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This big world of ours in reality is made up of small things. It is these small fragments, bits and pieces, which come together to create the experience we call life. But in the hustle-bustle of life, we quite often miss this aspect of our journey - for life is nothing but a voyage, an attempt of a soul to wander from being somewhere to reach somewhere.

However I have experienced this multiple times, when it is time to pack for an upcoming travel, things which I had totally forgotten about suddenly become important to be packed. These things give comfort of the known when I am venturing through the unknown. Yet, in my numerous trips, I have missed to carry stuff with me, only to miss sorely later. If I were to plan a road-trip now in the new Renault Lodgy, I have arrived at my bucket list of things which I will make sure accompany me this time.

I have grown up in a typical middle class family, being driven in modest hatchback. While it was magically sufficient to pack our large joint family, it never had enough space to carry reasonable luggage. No wonder, our long drives were never long enough. I am a voracious reader and one of the most difficult thing for me is to pick a book or two for my travel. I want to carry more! The new Lodgy has huge, and when I say huge, I mean it in big bold letters - REALLY HUGE boot space of 201 liters expandable to 1861 liters. With such space at my disposal I am sure I can carry all my favorite books with me!

#5
What I will bring?
Books
How Lodgy will help?
By giving me almost infinite boot-space.

Now that I would have packed enough food for the reader in me, I must remember to pack cooking supplies. I love cooking, actually experimenting with flavors with a fervor. My culinary adventures give me a deeply satifying feeling - a sense of accomplishment which is hard to describe within the realm of written word. One of my desires is to drive to a beautiful countryside landscape, set-up a open kitchen, cook something nice for my family.

#4
What I will bring?
Stuff to cook with
How Lodgy will help?
Not having to worry about space.

And that brings me to my next desire. I belong to a joint family. I would love them to join me on my next trip. After all what is a world without the warmth and love of your near ones! So I will have my wife, my daughter, my parents, my brother, his wife - all of them accompanying me in this journey.

#3
What I will bring?
My large extended family
How Lodgy will help?
By providing comfortable seating for 8 people without cramping and touching anyone's elbows!

Now all set with my kin, I guess next thing on my list is to bring my collection of music. Any nice drive is incomplete without a touch of some melody to soothe your soul. My collection of songs - Retro, Oldies, Jazz, Classical, Carnatic, Ghazals, Rock, Pop, Sufi - I will carry all that with me. With state-of-the-art MediaNAV console to breeze through my collection of music I guess, driving would be nothing short of a blissful journey I would cherish. And the console doubling up as rear view camera display, this advanced Bluetooth and USB enabled multi-media console is true enabler of communicatin, entertainment, navigation and parking!

#2
What I will bring?
My collection of music
How Lodgy will help?
By giving me a fantastic way of playing my collection in the form of MediaNAV console.

Armed with everything & everybody above, I just need to pack my foldable tent, my large size mat, my folding table, my barbecue, my laptop and finally my camera to capture all those wonderful moments. Life is lived in these very moments and I would love to capture every single one of them. And guess what Lodgy would not complain, after all it has a large heart! And yes, I would not have to worry about safety of my family and myself, cruising through. Lodgy's high adjustable seat belts will ensure everyone is tucked in comfortably, providing security without causing discomfort. Charging socket will make sure our mobiles never run out of juice - there are 12 volt charging socket for each row! With the ease of tilt steering wheel I guess I will have nothing to complain. And the 8-way adjustable driving seat will make sure long drives do not compromise on comfort.

#1
What I will bring?
My world
How Lodgy will help?
With its array of features, Lodgy will ensure my journey is truly spectacular! 

With all my bucket list complete, I guess I will just need to add
   a dash of love, 
       a sprinkle of laughter, 
            a touch of warmth, 
                itsy-bitsy naughtiness, 
                      a bit of play 
and it will be a perfect concoction of a journey remembered forever...

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I’m participating in the #LiveLodgycal contest with Renault in association with BlogAdda to get a chance to be a part of the #LiveLodgycal Drive in Goa.

We live in a fragrant country. Step out of your house and you can put your olfaction skills to test. We are overwhelmingly surrounded with smells of all kinds, good, bad or ugly. If go for a morning walk, your unsuspecting nose can be treated with a smell of Jasmine, interspersed with the handiwork of neighbor's dog.

Nose has very important role to play in our experience of this world. A beautiful evening can be marred if our nose smells a rat (literally and figuratively). They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder - I guess they did not know how much important the sense of smell is in our perception of beauty. A whiff of a nice perfume and our minds will picture the perfect dream girl/boy as the case may be. And a bad smell sounds synonymous with the person most non-grata.

I guess we all have been subjected to the torture of having to bear the attack of odour unknowingly, grudgingly. That probably is one of the biggest reason I find it hard to travel in crowded bus. My sense of smell is too sharp to let me not witness the horrors of bad odour.

Without our sense of smell, I guess our world will become as black-and-white to eye. A world without the smell will be a world without flavor. Yet, like flavors, there are all kinds.

In my childhood, I went on a school field trip to Rajasthan. There were multiple buses, separately for boys and girls. After a nights travel boys decided to remove their shoes. I will leave rest to imagination and skip the details. The result of this act was a sack was arranged in which all socks were dumped and moved to the top of the bus.

During the initial days just out of my college, I was sharing a flat with couple of class-mates. We all had just entered the corporate world having completed our masters. One of my room-mates was blessed with extraordinary trait of perspiration. I used to dread him returning back to home, and opening his shoes. The overbearing stench was enough to be used to bring back dead to life. After many such days of painfully surviving the attack of this odour, I figured out an innovative way of overpowering the attack.

I got a balm. The moment I used to hear the sound of door opening, my faithful balm used to come for my rescue. With its strong smell emanating from oils like Citronella, by direct application on the nose-tip, I survived those days.

While these incidents are certainly not the moments I want to relive, they do tell that the sense of smell can bring wonder or horror, joy or cry, bliss or abyss. If we live life in moments, then the smells we experience are the background score of these memories. Fragrances, smells can bring back those memories alive in a moment.

A whiff of fresh air

Interspersed with the fragrance of a thousand roses, 

With a hint of first rain touching the parched land, 

Giving rise to the wonderful aroma of earth

Being bathed in nectar of love -

Isn't it the best of world we can experience!

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I am sharing my odour story for the ‘My Nose Knows’ contest as a part of the #SniffSniff activity at BlogAdda.