Lijjat papad - An epidemic that started with seven women, now reaches the world

Before most of the readers search for what papad means, here is it's description. Papad is an Indian dish that is commonly eaten with meals, though playing a supporting role in the whole course of meal, this crunchy dish has it's role to play in the taste buds of the people. Papad originated from south India and is now consumed in most parts of India and is reaching out to food lovers outside India as well.

Lijjat Papad has a different story to tell to the world, being tagged under the company name of Shri Mahila Griha Udgog Lijjat Papad, this company serves as a source of inspiration to all those who wish to break the barriers, grow and make a better world for themselves and their families.

The company's aim is to empower women and they fulfill this by giving jobs to women in need of it. The company has mostly women working in their various departments. The company initially started off with a loan of Indian Rupee 80 in the year 1959, now has a turnover of billions and reaches every Indian household.

Courtesy: flickr.com

The company started by seven women often called as sisters, now gives employment to over 40,000 women. Those seven women wanted to capitalize on a skill that is present in every women in Indian household, that is cooking and use that skill to built an environment for them which would be full of respect and gratitude. And they succeeded in doing that, initially getting orders from just few nearby houses, now have orders from far off countries, how big an achievement is that.

The company now has 81 branches all over India. An initiative by seven women then, now is an epidemic. The company uses high quality ingredients for making papads, some of which also comes from Afghanistan. The papad that are made in all branches have an amazing uniformity in taste and size.

There are various women who work at Lijjat, but not exactly in the company premises but at their homes. Everyday, a bus goes around to pick up these women, the bus takes them to the Lijjat office, there they are given their dough for the day. The women would use this dough to make papads at their homes. Next day the same bus picks the women again, this time the women deposit the papads they have made and they get paid for it, also they get the dough for the day and the process repeats and has done wonders to the household of these women, it has supported them financially as well as given them a legitimate living of their own without depending on anyone else. These women are initially given equipments to make papad from the dough so that the size remains uniform throughout. Also, there are frequent checks that are carried by the Lijjat authority in the houses of these women to ensure that hygiene levels are maintained.

At Lijjat, women are also regularly given education in various disciplines to make them even more equipped with the knowledge of the world.

Amazing story, isn't it? So, everytime you feel that you cannot make a change in the society, remember this story. Keep inspiring and keep spreading love.

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Elon Musk, Inspiration for All

Elon Musk, with a present worth of 20.9 Billion dollar, is one of the most influential and inspiring person in the world. His life is a source of great motivation for all those who dream big and who wish to leave their impact on the world. 

Courtesy: wikimedia.org 

This ever smiling man has seen a lot of hardships in his life but his desires to reach to his dreams always kept him on the top.

In this school life he was bullied by his seniors, once he was so brutally beaten up by them that he went unconscious. Little did they know that they had thrashed a future billionaire.

There are many people who aspire to take admission into Stanford University, but then there was Elon Musk who left Stanford just after 2 days of taking admission. He always had an inclination towards computers and programming and had made a video game named Blastar. He made this game at the age of 12, when most of us are asking for pocket money from our parents, Elon had sold this game for $500, quiet an achievement for a 12 year old.

The next big thing after dropping out of Stanford was utilizing the evolving and the very sought after technology, the Internet. He created a $307 million worth company named Zip2 which helped people get excess to online newspapers and maps. After selling Zip2, Elon finally created today's one of the crucial online payment company, the PayPal. It was originally known as X.com. It was Elon's first company to have a worth in Billions.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Courtesy: wikimedia.org

Paypal was eventually taken over by eBay. After a series of creating companies and selling it, Elon founded the Tesla Motor. The aim of this company was to create cars that run on one of the renewable energy resources, the solar energy. The world witnessed Elon Musk's inclination towards solar energy and creating a pollution free world, when he became part of the company named SolarCity. Elon desires to make solar energy more efficient and with his incredible research ability he surely would do that.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Courtesy: wikimedia.org

Elon was not behind in creating a space dedicated company, the SpaceX, when he learnt about the huge cost of space rockets and having a will to reduce its cost. There were several challenging situations that Elon faced, but he kept pushing hard to successfully send his rocket into space after 2 unsuccessful launches. It would have been so tough for him, as he was investing his own money for creating and launching these rockets. His determination certainly won.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Courtesy: static.pexels.com

Elon Musk has also shown interest towards superspeedy transportation, the Hyperloop. He has allowed any company to use his technology for Hyperloop, all for free, such is his desire to make an impact on the world.

With all that happening in his professional life, his private life wasn't too easy going either, it was full of ups and downs, he is married thrice and has 5 children. With all those twists, Elon finds time to put into all his three technologies, the SpaceX, the Tesla Motors and the Hyperloop. One can surely take time management lessons from him.

Even in his mid 40's, Elon keeps inspiring us and keeps filling us up with the thrill for technology.

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Something Fishy for Chicken Lovers

Hello Dear Chicken Lovers.

Chicken is something that tops the list of most flesh eating humans (being sarcastic), A secret..!! I am a vegetarian and I support veggies anytime.

Anyways, coming to the point, according to a recent study, your delicious, mouth watering and figure licking chicken isn't that good for your health. Most of you would be doubting my statement.

Well, the recent study at Bhabha Atomic Research Center shows that chicken can be very harmful to consume as it can cause food poisoning. 

Frightened out of your wits? Don't worry, Only the ready to cook chicken and the chicken that is stored in raw form well above the freezing point, serves as a source of food poisoning for you.

Courtesy: wikimedia.org

These types of chickens are generally polluted by a bacteria named Salmonella. This bacteria is also responsible for causing typhoid fever, enteric fever and gastroenteritis.

The study was carried out on 87 samples of chicken of which more than 50% of chickens had this harmful bacteria ready to grab you.

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Sometimes, Just Let It Go

I have experienced this wonderful situation a lot time in my life.

I have felt that, in situations when one has two choices; one of either letting the thing go and other of staying, sticking around, it is always better to let go off the thing instead of keeping it your side.

I feel, if you keep holding it for too long it can cause a lot of harm and pain.

Try letting it go. If the thing was meant for you, if it was a good thing for you, it would return back to you in someway; you won't loose it in the long run. But, if it wasn't meant for you in the first place, it would leave you as soon as you wish to give it up.

It's like a magnet, the things good for you would continue to attract to you even when you try to push it off, but the things that are forcefully kept by you, would disappear as you loose grip over it.

This leads to, a sense of happiness too. If the thing you let go, came back to you; you would be happy to know that it would always be by your side. And if the thing left you; you can be happy that you let it go before it could cause more harm.
This is the power of letting go.

Though it is sometimes depend on situation, but it has always helped me to keep myself at peace and achieve a good frame of mind.

Holding on to something unnecessary can weather and deteriorate your own self.
So, always be happy and spread happiness.

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Fly High Like Kites, this Independence

In India, there is a beautiful tradition of flying kites on the eve of Independence day.

Flying kites high in the air is associated with the spirits of freedom; and why not the kites symbolise 

higher vision, thoughts and aspirations. 

Courtesy: pixabay.com

India was originally known by the name Hindustan. 

Hindustan was a larger land then, it was a summation of today's India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

I would give you an in depth knowledge of India's independence related history, don't worry it's very fascinating.

India was ruled by Britishers for decades before its Independence in 1947. The independence was a result of heroic efforts of a lot of leaders, struggling and risk taking patriotic people of India. 

Britishers had managed to rule over India for 200 years, they had almost every possible control over the Indians.

Before the intrusion of the Britishers, India or I should say Hindustan was divided into many princely states governed by separate kings. So, to rule over such a huge area, Britishers employed a policy known as Divide and Rule; and they very well succeeded in achieving their goals.

The many years of being ruled by external leaders brought in a sense of patriotism among the people of Hindustan. 

And soon the days of revolt started.

 Courtesy: wikimedia.org

During those days, the famous Simon commission was thought to be brought in practice in Hindustan. The Indians protested against it by flying kites. 

Years of revolt and struggle led to India getting complete Independence from Britishers on 15th August 1947.

And so till date the custom of flying kites has continued to mark its significance. 

Every year, kites are floated into the air on 15th of August to mark the Independence day.

So, next time you see a kite flying or you yourself plan on flying the kite, don't forget to share its significance with others.

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Embrace the Beauty of this Astonishing Temple

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting a beautiful and ancient temple in Himachal Pradesh, which is one of the mountainous and heavenly states of India.

Giving a brief distribution of the state, Himachal Pradesh is a place accepted by tourists all throughout the year, there is no such thing as an off season here; and why not who wants to miss such a place which is so diverse in flora and fauna, so culturally rich, has so much history attached to it and people who are so vividly helpful and kind. The state is covered by forests in nearly 70% of its area.

Himachal, basically means Him - Snow and Achal - Lap.

The states having population of 6.85 million in the year 2012, is a home to various temples of gods and goddess.

Now coming to this temple I visited lately.

I got a chance to click some pictures here, which I would be displaying in this blog post; I had a chat with a person about the history of the temple, I would share that as well.

The temple is said to be made by a powerful king, for giving respect to Lord Shiva. The statue of Lord Shiva resides here. According to the stories, the temple was built completely of gold. Everything around was also made of gold. Once, a greedy man came to the temple, he tried to axe the gold. But, as he went about doing this, gold started turning into stone. The present status of the temple is an outcome of that incident.

Presently, one can always find water flowing at steady pace across the temple walls, nature or magic I would leave that to you to decide. 

Here is a picture of the temple from inside. Giving an insight of the picture; the small drums are the instruments of lord Shiva, the red flags signify the religion and the decorations are done to keep the place enthusiastic, energetic and devoted to lord Shiva.

 There are big boulders outside the temple which obstruct the flow of river.

The conical dome, white in color can be seen in the center right of the picture; there is an old bridge in the picture which was used for transportation a few years ago, a new bridge has been constructed now. The soil color water is due to heavy rainfalls in this region.

This is picture which says a lot about the religious aspect of this place, the market her is full of items related to gods and goddesses.

One more thing that I would like to bring into count is, there is an endless supply of clean drinkable water here, so the travelers never feel thirsty.

Feel like visiting this divine place; here is the exact location - Click 

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Keep Pushing up Yourself

As I was jogging across the country side, I noticed an anomalous situation.

The wind that flowed so romantically as I jogged, actually refrained me when I stopped to get enough of it.

Was the situation applicable to our daily life as well. Yes surely, nature always has something to give. I could explain.

Will the wind keep flowing to entertain you, if you stopped to enjoy it completely?

In life, if we kept pushing ourselves to greater heights, we keep getting the refreshed fruits along. But if we stopped to enjoy the fruits, the fruits would get rotten leaving nothing behind to cherish.

So, enjoy the fruits while challenging yourself to grow and prosper, that's the best possible way out.

Also, allow yourself to learn from the nature and your surroundings, they have a lot to offer, keep yourself open to them.

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Brother-Sister Tie Knots

We might be fighting with our siblings all throughout the year, but on one fine day we try not to fight, but to exchange love.

The day is named as Raksha Bandhan, this is a Sanskrit word which means Knot of protection. What is so auspicious about this day?

Well, on this day the sister typically ties a thread on her brother's hand. The ultimate aim is that by doing this the sister gives her safety to her brother. The brother would protect his sister from all sorts of trouble.

We might be fighting with each other, but if any trouble comes on our sisters we surely keep no stone unturned to help her out. This is the whole purpose of this day, to remind the brother of his responsibilities towards his sister.

The thread is profoundly called as a Rakhi. These days beautiful, alluring Rakhis are available. Here is a picture of the same.

Courtesy: wikimedia.org

The day doesn't end there, the brother has to award his sister with a beautiful gift as well. Oh well, the gift also plays a remarkable importance, sometimes even more than the knot tied. Kidding.

This gorgeous festival is very native and rooted to one of the most culturally rich country India.

You can be a part of this festival too. It's arriving on 7th August this year. So, if you are a girl select your fancy Rakhis and if you are a brother I hope you bought the gift.

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Learnings from the book - The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is a captivating book written by Robin Sharma which sold more than 3 million copies before 2013 itself. 

The book reveals how to appreciate life in the best possible way and attain inner peace and satisfaction.

The lines that I am quoting here would make you think in a little different way which I believe is the exact purpose of my blog as well as the book.

The lines give you the motivation you need when being tested by tough times and hardships.

The mindset you need to stick to when things do not work as desired.

The path to follow when no one is holding you and backing you to perform well on the journey of life.

The lines are -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" This day we are masters of our fate,  that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that it's pangs and toils are not beyond my endurance.

As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.  "

                                                                                                                                                            Courtesy - " The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari " by Robin Sharma

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Remember self belief is the key to most victories. Don't believe me? Check out the history, and you won't find anyone with low self esteem winning a long term battle. 
Still don't believe me? Wait for the future to make its mark.

I believe whatever task, work we are assigned by the situation is never beyond our reach, we can do wonders if we keep belief on our abilities. 

What do you think? I would love to hear from you in the comments.

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Your Percentage of Efforts

I believe in terms of hardwork, the term percentage matters a lot.

What do you think?

I am a firm believer that, if you put anything less than a 100 percentage of efforts onto something, it would get you next to nothing.

For example, you have put 80 percentage of the required efforts and hardships, where will it get you? No where.

The 80 percentage actually makes every percent from 1 to 80 go in vain.

On the other hand, your full 100 percentage effort makes every percent from 1 to 100 flourish.

Isn't it like climbing a ladder, if you give up at anything less than 100% you reach where you started: but, 100% efforts help you reach the top of the ladder.

So, next time you plan on doing something, make sure you put every bit of efforts, and then nothing would stop you from achieving your desired goals.