Life Products

Picture of the present Life Products offshore team...inclusive of App support, NIS team, EB team and the Mainframe team for TTVUL. Don't have a picture of the present onsite folks. I guess they are about six in number atleast to what I can recollect of. Nice to see the team grow to this strength...there was a time when the Marketing a.k.a Life Products or rather Life Products a.k.a Marketing was tiny to the extent of 3 at onsite and 1 at offshore. The glory days span from DOS porting projects to C# .Net development on various illustration applications for the client, a renowned Insurance provider at the United States.

Beauty...only skin deep??

It took me a couple visits to the beauty parlor to realize the wonders of Shahnaz Hussain’s acclaimed beauty products. I now trust her product guide completely. She is about Ayurveda being the mantra of rejuvenation…thanks to icons like Shahnaz and many others who not only brought about revolution in the revenues of the cosmetic industry but a bigger boost in morale of thousands of women all over the globe. Look around and you’ll see the numerous parlors…all over the place offering the most pampering services- close to a woman’s heart.

While names like L’Oreal, Lakme, VLCC, and Shahnaz rule the industry in India the countless small names play their own silent part in the revolution. Go into a parlor to realize there’s more than skin deep happening there. There’s usually a facial person, pedicure-manicure-waxing person and a hair expert- just the bare minimum services offered anywhere, anyplace. The synchrony in operation of this team of experts to deliver efficient, fast and quality service is amazing….soft skills, people management, customer delight all act together to complete the show. End result- the customer is not only glowing outward but feels beautiful from within…stress free, with improved confidence and self esteem. They offer treatments for multiple issues that are “really issues” for a girl- acne, dark circles, dry unmanageable hair, tan removal, skin lightening, dandruff, dry feet, pimples, split ends, crow feet, uneven skin tone, scaly skin…name it and they have a solution….! And impart informal knowledge on the effects of clay masks, cucumber, banana nut, orange, mud packs, gold silver pearl facials, veg peels, honey lemon, rose, thermo packs, flower power, egg whites, neem masks and on and on. As more and more women continue to get liberated on the personal, professional front- skin, hair and body care regimen have become an integral part of daily lives.

My exposure is only limited to the salons and parlors…I’ve left the area of spas explored…they seem to be catching up everywhere…a whole world of massages to be unturned. Beauty as a service offering never ceases to excite me. Maybe someday, somewhere, sometime I’ll embark on that journey for a profession…!!

HYD blues n pinks!!!

Been "days" since I've blogged...Before it gets to the "months" stage let me put down a very short post of my last weekend life. Not logged on to Orkut in many weeks :-(( Traveling every Friday somewhere for the weekend and coping with change of weather and water every Sat and Sun has been a challenge. In fact this weekend is just the second weekend am going to be on campus in the last 2 months. Effects of LDR...!!! Last weekend visit to HYD was nice, one more city in South India...didn’t actually get to visit 'tourist attractions' but dropped into the Prasads multiplex...and got a glimpse of the Hussain Sagar. HYD definitely has good infrastructure...but my husband pays 10K for the 2 BHK in Madhapur which is close to 15kms from the lake but 2kms from office. The intra city train system is good...but 2 of the 3 times we decided to take it we were unable to get the train...for various reasons!! It’s a cleaner hotter city with a decent blend of tradition and modernism. And not to mention the significant rocky terrain there...they are currently sand blasting the empty area beside my husband's place to dig out a foundation for an upcoming apartment complex. Food is decent and am a lover of Andhra food...still I was all excited about finding a Kamath Cafe on a hot Sunday afternoon in Secunderabad. In Mangalore I used to frequent Lepakshi big time. 3 wheeler transport system seems more dependable and trustworthy where I can’t speak a syllable of Telegu but an auto in good old Chennai scares me. From the home in Madhapur I get a good view of Oracle and a good night's sleep with the Cyber City view from one window and Satyam office from the other. Sometimes I struggle with sleep here. And my stay for the last weekend ended when I enjoyed a full Monday being a great wife at home. Life’s beautiful peculiarities experienced in a weekend. Yet keeping fingers crossed to put an end to weekend life! Ha, one more idiosyncrasy...!! Am so weird sometimes. I see blues and pinks together in one single place.

Opened Usha's blogs after close to 3 weeks to discover some nice blogs thro' a chain reaction. No time to add them to my page- will just manually put down the links here.

http://way2top.blogsome.com

http://reflections-of-life.blogspot.com

http://rkarthik.blogsome.com

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Suddenly last night I started thinking of girl friends…lying down on my bed in room #366 in the Infy hostels, after watching an edition of the farewell week of F.R.I.E.N.D.S with Oprah…I was alone in the room with a smile on my face enjoying the conversation they had off the sets…good to see the six guys in a non F.R.I.E.N.D.S mode, seated on the famous orange couch in the sets of Central Perk café …Oprah asked Aniston was asked to say a line about each of the guys…she is sitting next to Perry and she says he actually is the funny guy in the group and is known for his subtle remarks off stage as well…she then told Courteney had the most generous heart for anything, a practical person and her very good friend…she next looked at Schwimmer…remarked that it was too hard for her to say anything and yes, eyes were moist. Turning to Oprah, she asked if it was a must…to go through this process. When asked what the favorite scenes were- Courteney said it was the one where she proposes to Chandler and for Schwimmer where he kisses Rachel first. Soon Aniston gathers up and says that Lisa Kudrow is a good comedian actress, she’s learnt a lot from Lisa and LeBlanc is the “big brother” to her for everything. Somewhere in between Aniston also remarked that Rachel and Ross were different people and were another world to her. Btw I just discovered that Ross is listed on Wikipedia as “Dr. Ross Eustace Geller is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends”. Wikipedia also lists tons of other facts and trivia about the F.R.I.E.N.D.S for the interested fans. Can you believe Courteney, Aniston and Kudrow actually lunched together the last 10 yrs everyday- yeah every single day on a constant meal of cob salad, to which the only variation was few spring onions tossed in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Just looking at them on the show brought out they were friends in reality and comfortable with each other….talk about what working together for ten long, constant, successful years can do! My favorite character happens to be Rachel totally attributed to her looks and emotions through her beautiful, complicated relationships. Aniston is indeed a beauty born out of the Greek cum Scottish cum Italian blood and happens to be Courteney’s baby girl’s godmother.

Friends, in particular “Girl Friends” started making sense to me after I turned 21…the fact that “they are there to listen” becomes phenomenal at the point when life throws up these real time “circumstances” or “situations” on the face. And that really happens when you are on your own- going through a roller coaster of happenings between the “out of college” phase to the “the married” phase. Maybe am being overtly optimistic in stating just “the married” phase…girl friends are going to go way longer than that and I deliberately stop at the “married phase” here in this post, coz that’s where I stand now. My best girl friend- MOM! But actually writing this para brings to my mind that “this girl friend thing” is brought out better in Sex n the City between Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte….!!! It’s been a while since I enjoyed an episode of Sex n the City- so sometime later on the four independent, self- sufficient New York women. And oh the main thing- Wish everyone out there a HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!!! Have a blast this weekend with all your dear and cherished friends.