5 Easy DIY ideas for cake decoration:

When we bake a cake, we really hope that everyone likes our attempt because baking is somewhat difficult (it need right proportion of ingredients, flavours, the batter shouldn’t have any lumps, etc). But half your battle would be won if you decorate your cake and make it look more tempting.  Today I will discuss easy Do It Yourself cake decorating ideas which I have learnt from the best baker I have ever known, i.e my Mom. :)

1. Fondant Marble effect:

  The marble effect is achieved when we mix two or more colour in a plain fondant. Marble effect usually gives the fondant interesting pattern. You could choose any colour you want.

image source

This technique could be achieved using two simple methods. Read about those method here. Using Marble effect is best when you don;t have much time to decorate the cake. Just the layer of this fondant would make the cake look beautiful! 

2. Feather effect:

The simplest technique that you could use. The only tool that you require here is the toothpick. To make this effect, make sure the the colour of your icing and the colour of your cake is in contrast. One should be dark and other should be lighter.

                                                               image source          
You can learn this technique here

3.chocolate vermicelli:
According to me , it is the best ingredient  available for cake decoration. It doesn't melt away and is very easy to apply. You can create various effect using it. For example , We made a Race track Cake and used the vermicelli to bring the effect of the Sand and Gravel on the chocolate road.

You can use many variation of colours. Like we used many colours of vermicelli on white background and got this amazing result.

4. Fondant Roses:
Making Fondant roses can be a little bit tricky. But 
here is a simple step which you can use to make roses. For this you need a toothpick and minimum of three vertical strip of  fondant. 
here are the steps.:
>>Roll the fondant with the desired thickness of "petals" that you want. Cut it into vertical strip. You would need at least three of them. Make sure the three strips are of same height and length also.
>> grab a toothpick and start rolling the strip over it. As you roll, bend the fondant along the edges to get the "petal" like effect. 
>>Repeat the procedure completing the rose.
You would surely get this result:

5. Double Coloured Icing Flowers.

Every decoration enthusiastic learn how to make flowers by the piping the icing with help of different shape of nozzle. Here you can enhance the effect of the flowers by using two colours. While filling the piping bag with icing, segregate the icing towards one side and then fill the empty space with few drops of food colour. Then proceed to tighten the piping bag and start piping. you can get results like this 

So these were my ideas for a easy DIY cake decoration. Just remember one thing, you can mess these things in your first attempt also but you should try again and again until you  get that perfect tempting looking cake!
Happy Baking! 

  

Dressing Swag: Customize Your Attire According To Your Body Basics (Women)

       When it comes to dressing, it's the choices as well as opinions that matter. Especially, when it's for a big day! My mom always used to say that only others(here, it means family) can actually tell you how you look in a dress. By this, she meant that the person himself couldn't decide upon what attire suits him the best. Neither did I agree to her words then, nor do I now. Unless one has a few basic ideas about colors & patterns that suits one's skin-tones and body shapes, anybody could turn to a Diva!

• First things first, know about your body properly; and by that I mean the skin-tone, the body shape, whether you get tanned or burnt when exposed to sunlight, etc. If you're 100% sure about all these intricate yet vital things, and with a few steps even you can look like a pro!

• Second, once you're done with that now comes the introspection part. Here, you would categorise yourself into two-three sections each.

     

1. In terms of Skin-Tone: Fair, Averagely Fair, Vaguely Dark and Dark
   
2. In terms of Body Shape: Straight, Pear, Spoon, Hourglass, Top Hourglass, Inverted Triangle, Oval, Triangle
   
3. In terms of Sunlight Exposure: Lightly Tan, Average Tan, Tan or Lightly Burnt, Average Burnt, Burnt
4. In terms of Hair Color: Blond, Brunette, Black, Roux-to-Red 
   
5. In terms of Height: Short, Average, Tall 
   
6. In terms of Toe Shape: Tapered, Rounded or Square 
   

 Tones: 
       Always DRESS ACCORDING TO THE COLOR-WHEEL. MIX, MATCH & CONTRAST ACCORDINGLY. From Make-up to Accesories, Clothes to Heels everything should be based upon it. 

• For Fair-toned to Averagely Fair toned women, colors like Peach, Navy, Lemon Yellow, Golden Yellow, Coral Pink, White can go for a Day look. Ex: On chilly mornings, Along with White thermal trousers, a White thermal blouse and a Peach/ Coral Pink Shrug would make it work. Put on a Navy/Dark Blue scarf with it to work on. And for the Night, go with colors like Black, Crimson Red, Marine Green, Aqua Blue, Orange, Purple and match it up with contrast colors to spice the look. For ex: A Black Skater Dress would go perfect with a purple coral blouse. If you're not so sure about the colors to wear, always wear colors from the COOL section of the Color Wheel. It would flaunt your skin tone and give you the best-suited look. If you're fan of mix-n-match use contrast colors from exactly 180 degrees from each other of the Color Wheel. For ex: Blue & Red-Orange would make perfect combination for you to wear 
  
  
  
  
• For Vaguely Dark to Dark toned women, always remember Contrast Wear is your Mantra. Try matching colors from the exact opposites of the color wheel. Right from sensous dark shades of Red, Green to the Light shades like Pastel, Golden Yellow, Sky Blue, Off-white and Greys playing with them in combos would make you flaunt. For the Day look: Keep it warm with Beige Thermals, Pastel top and a Ocean Green Scarf. And for Night Look: Play with more contrast colors. Ex: Pair a Plum colored Skater Skirt with a Golden Embellished Blouse. If you too aren't sure about the colors to choose, always choose colors from the WARM side of the Color Wheel. It would highlight your skin and go with the flow. And when it comes to mixing & matching use colors that are 180 degrees apart from each other in the Color-Contrast wheel.

Body Shapes:

• For Women who have a Straight, Inverted Triangle, Petite shape can always go for flared skirts, deep-back-dresses or flowing gowns that enhances their body shape to the maximum. It can be a nice head-turner after those trousers and blouses at work. The flared skirts would give your hips a proper curvy look which would be an admirable change, the deep-back dresses would help you flaunt your spine, and the long flowing gowns would give you a flowy look for your straight bodyline
• For Women having a Hourglass, Pear Bodylines, first things first Curves are always sizzling! All you need is to outline them in your attire. Go for anything that's from jeans to faux leather trousers and see how you make others drool! Keep more cropped and slit tops in your wardrobe, you're gonna thank me one day! For dresses go for anything that's non-flared at the bottom or it would look bloated, rather keep the slits here too and cropped too. You too can have a deep back as it would make eyeballs out of sockets and you have that sly smile
• For women having Spoon Bodylines, well, the low-waist jeans are made for you's. While others can only flaunt their curves or spines in the mid rise or high rise jeans, you're the lucky lot! That defined hips can get pencil skirts or A-line mini skirts even! And yes, for the dresses go for A-line short dresses; but stay away from flared or skater dresses as they would defy your defined hips
• For Oval, Diamond Women for tops you can have anything that's belted at the nip of the waist, or a little flared at the bottom. They would help you fill out your shape. And for the bottoms, always go for full or tiered pants. Parallels, Harem Pants are made for you and even full straight skirts or flared skirts would give you the score!  The same for the bottom goes for Inverted Triangle women, while for the tops you can go with dark V-U necks and colors.

Height:

• For short-height women, wear skirts, hot pants anything that ends above your knees to keep the verve of the legs; while for the tops cropped, short tops, Blouses, Tie-in-Knot shirts are perfectly fine. Generally go for patterns that's more vertical in nature, like vertical striped shirt, Vertical printed Denim to defines your height and camouflage your length.  
• For Average to Tall height women, wear mid-length or short skirts that flaunts your long legs, scuffed jeans, that reveals too less to feast upon; and for patters go for horizontal, polka dots, digital printed and any symmetrical patters that flatter your shape.           

        Well, the rest of the sections would help you with your shoes, make-up, hairstyle, jeweleries, etc. Always keep it sober in terms of highlights in make-up and avoid going too glossy with it. Remember there's nothing more beautiful than natural order of things. 

And with that, now I hope you can turn things in your way and before picking up a dress next time, you'll remember all that you discovered about yourself today!

For the readers wondering if I'm a feminist, wait till tomorrow till you get the Men's Styling too!  

'Make In India' Version 2.0: Better or Worse

On the day of 25th September 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined the term 'Make in India' at a function in Vigyan Bhavan. Since then it has become one of the best fruitful campaigns long needed in India.
Focusing in skill enhancement, job creation on 25 sectors of economy hopes to increase the tax revenue and GDP growth.Even though the campaign was designed by one of the largest independently owned advertising agency, known for its advertising for Nike, created huge ripples in the waters early this year. Since last September to August this year government received US$17 billion worth of proposals from companies interested in manufacturing in India in terms of the campaign. But the actual stir was caused by the recent order of the things.

• 24.8% of smartphones shipped in country this April-June quarter made up in India compared to last year's 19.9%
• Spice Group to start manufacturing mobile phones in Uttar Pradesh with an investment of 500 Crores with the memorandum signed with the government in January this year
  
• Hyun Chil Hong, president & CEO Samsung South Asia proposed a joint initiative with the MSME(Mininstry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises) for 10 Samsung Technical Schools to be established in India along with the Samsung Z1 manufacturing in Noida this Jan-Feb term
  
• 8 months ago, Huawei invested US$170 million in its new R&D campus in Bangalore and is in process of setting up a telecom hardware manufacturing plant in Chennai, approval already granted by the Central Government
  
• During the same time, Xiaomi propsed to manufacture smartphones at Foxconn-run facility at Sri city and on 11th august, this year introduced its first manufacturing operational unit Xiaomi Redmi 2 prime assembled at the facility
  
• On August 18th, 2015 Lenovo announced to manufacture Motorola smartphones at Sriperambudur near Chennai by Flextronics Int. Ltd., a Singapore-based contract manufacturer having seperate lines for Lenovo & Motorola & came up with the first smartphone manufactured in this facility as the 4G model of Moto E(2nd Gen)
  

          Apart from the Telecom Kingpins, the technological companies like Hitachi which plans on increasing its employees from 10,000 to 13,000 and set up an auto-component plant at Chennai in 2016; whereas L.H Aviation a France-based company signed the MoU(Memorandum of Understanding) to setup a drone manufacturing plant in India this June.

But this was all 'Make In India 1.0'. The level 2 of it is all set to release with new definitions and dimensions, with all new threats. It aims at turning it to a people's movement on the lines of  'Swadeshi Movement' which could make everything go out of place, if not taken care.

       Moot Points:

• First, it focuses on new campaigns such as Digital India, Skill India & Start-Up India that could be a Big Fetch, revolving around upgrading the skills of India's workforce
• Second, in New Delhi an investor-outreach programme with several countries to bring global best practices in India  
• Launch of 'Make in India: Mittelstand' a business support programme for 30 ''High End'' German companies to invest in India
• Government has already opened up sectors including railways, medical devices, insurance and more for FDI, while Start-Up India would be under the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion

Well, even though the measures do promise of a yielding future and the campaign plans to have a interactive session with the PM and top global CEOs around the world like Ford Motors, IBM, PepsiCo, Du Pont, Qualcomm, Abott etc to understand & address the concerns of global companies on policy issues on One-Year completion (September 24) in New York, but it's the present scenario which could prove to be a turning point in India's economy ever.
With the Chinese Economy at its fall ever, India could emerge as the magnet if it makes best of it. Starting from Higher taxation of cheap oil to having a seperate secreteriat with constantly liasing with business to remove the cramps, and the investors invest with time India could transform to a new Economy haven.

Even though the beginning of the 'Make in India 2.0' started with a bang with the announcement of 'Digital India', it's the past that dwells in the present to pose a threat. The contours to follow up on the base of Swadeshi Movement could mean harm to this innovative campaign. The framework of Swadeshi Movement was more political than economic with demands & supply suppressed by patriotism as the last refuge; India & the world at 2015 may not come in terms with it.

Though, few of us know that 'Zero Defect Zero Effect' a slogan coined again by NaMo himself, signifying production mechanisms aiming to prevent products developed from India from being rejected in the global market has few traditional food to be promoted in this campaign such as:

• Aarisa Pitha of Odisha
• Gushtaba of Kashmir
• Chicken Curry of Punjab
• Khandvi & Khakhra of Gujarat
• Bamboo Steam Fish, Vada & Medu Vada of South India
• Khaja & Inarsa of Bihar
• Kebab of U.P
• Puran Poli of Maharashtra

And, along with Samosas and other Indian snacks already made popular in the global market by Indian manufacturers, the above list would soon take up new figures worldwide.

Love & its Fears

Love, the word itself has always been vastly misinterpreted. Somewhere it is read as synonym of commitments, fun or sex; whereas elsewhere it is judged as the ultimate way of slow-self-destruction.
Love has always been associated with fear lurking at the back of the head, the fear of getting betrayed, losing or even breaking up. Fear of falling in love or Fears after being in love, either ways it is 'Fear' that is dominant. Whereas in reality, true love rises endless opportune and infinite success, with all those Fears torn apart into the back of one's mind. Well, it may seem poetic but there's a bit more of science in it than we actually think.

• True Love, in the first place doesn't mean finding the right partner who makes you feel complete. It means to live the present full, being positive and finding the center of one's life. All this comes from the balance of one's conscience.
  
• Once one's conscience is stable, the urge to 'feel-good-as-myself' gains and chances being in a positive circle increases.
• Then just like the old alchemy saying ''Like dissolves Like'' the vibrations find a similar positive center around. 
• Once found, the emotion itself would silence all the fears in its own tiny yet intense ways and before one realizes, they end up healed being in love.
  

It's just that the emotional sides of us are messed up by those erratic songs, movies that hover around the television and our minds alike. While scientists say 'Loving and Being Loved' is a natural urge in humans, but we no-matter-what cling to our excuses, superstitions or fears about love that makes us either harsh or desperate about it. It bothers such, that we forget the basic of all. One's salvation can never be reached by another person unless and until the former loves oneself to the core, forgiving  and letting to spread one's wings. Love gives us immense strength, that one couldn't have had on their own, ever. And with strength comes immense spirit that makes the hawk glide through the skies even in rough winds and highest terrain.
True enough to say Love Brings Out Everything Good In and Around Us.

Sex Education: why we need it ASAP

India has always been land of education. From Taxila University to IITs, it has been home to some of the most prestigious institute in the world. But unfortunately we have been lagging in providing quality education to the poor. The government schools are in desperate need of help.

Along with that, the curriculum provided in all the school is really very outdated. Majority of the class room are still under equipped and please don’t get me started on the unavailability of computers. But today, I would like to talk about sex education.

Now in India, even mentioning the word “sex” aloud is a taboo. It is something which has been discussed by the last benchers of classroom, often giggling when the biology teacher draws a weird looking vagina. Back in my days, young boys get to know about birds and bees via some really shady magazine or by a “bhaiya”( an elder and “experienced” boy of the neighbourhood). Taking notes from those guys is the worst thing any curious mind can get, but hey this is how the cookie crumbles in most parts of India. Things which I’m talking about are of course pre-smartphone and pre-easy internet era. And how can I forget those times, when our peers used to exchange those shiny discs of *ahem*, never mind. My point is that sex education is not available to the young mind and that it should be introduced as soon as possible.

I was shocked to read an article today, which was about a 9 year old boy who raped a 6 year old girl. This news is hard to digest but the incident was confirmed with help of medical examination. Now to be honest, these sorts of incidents are bound to happen. Young minds are not sure of the change happening in their body and because of exposure to pornographic material so easily, they tend to commit mistake. Now the boy have to spend time at juvenile remedial centre, but it could had been easily avoided if he knew that what he was experimenting was wrong.

 Sex ed curriculum around the world starts from a young age of 6-7 . They discuss about private parts and how it is inappropriate to be touched by strangers or others. This is the best way to keep a child safe from paedophile and save him/her from being targeted by those predators. Imagine the trauma a child will go through, when he will grow up and remember those horrific incidents. It would be only then, when he will realise that he was molested and by that time it would be too late to punish those demons of society.

Sex education is also necessary to preach young minds about safe and healthy sex. Even if they try experimenting from young age, proper guidelines will keep them safe from any Sexually transmitted disease as well as unplanned pregnancy.

When a child is given proper knowledge from a young age, he would have clear idea about maintaining his sexual health. It would also help him in family planning later in his life, and this is the most urgent need of India at the moment. Things are definitely changing and we are moving forward. Sex education has been included in some school boards but only a small aspect of it has been discussed. Sex is a hush-hush topic in major part of the country but it is now finding a place in many healthy debates

Time has come when talking about”birds and bees” will actually mean talking about birds and bees! Oh and yes, I have no shame in saying my thoughts aloud. And before we Indians gasp at this word one more time, let me spell it out to you again... S-E-X, SEX!

Making India Swacch:

Now a days there is a huge cry in our nation about staying swachh or clean! And why not...

Staying clean is one step closer to being healthy. I am actually very happy that the government has started this program. I’m not sure whether the government could fulfil its promise of handing over a clean India to the Indians on 2^nd October 2019, which would mark the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi ji always propagated the idea of keeping our surroundings as well as our mind & soul clean.

 Even though government may fail in its project ( I sincerely hope they don’t), a good thing which has come out of this program is that everyone is talking about it. The media is airing about this mission almost every day. Many people have conducted cleanliness drive in a hope to get 30 second of fame in the Indian media. I think people who conduct such drives should definitely get this appreciation as it would encourage them to continue doing this work as well as ignite passion in mind of other people.

Now conducting these cleanliness programs are obviously necessary, but I think along with that we have to also educate people about its benefits. India is a country where majority of people suffer from NIMBY syndrome. NIMBY stands for “Not In My Back Yard” syndrome. It means that the citizen don’t care about the disposal of garbage until and unless it is not dumped in their own backyard. They will keep their own home clean but wouldn’t care about the cleanliness of the streets or neighbourhood. Now, how to combat with this syndrome? Well, we have to wake up our inner conscience. We need to realize that the society where we live is also part of our home. So next time, when we go through the cleaning spree of Diwali or any other major festival, please make sure to clean the path outside your doorsteps along with your home!

One of my major arguments of today would be the availability (or rather unavailability)  of toilets. Unfortunately, 53% of population still used to defecate in open in 2014. This unavailability of toilets not only spread disease but also plays a major social role in rural India. Girls refuse to attend school because they don’t prefer to urinate in open during school hours. 30% percentage of Rape crime against women could have been avoided if they were not forced to defecate in open. So construction of toilet is a must in many areas.

Answer me this please. How many times where you forced to urinate in woods while travelling on road, because the next closest toilet was at least 50km far and that too was in an old and dilapidated petrol pump??!! I’m not only accusing lack of facility. We Indian men are notorious enough to pee in almost every public place. Construction of the toilet is not the only solution. Report says that even after toilets where made in their home, some people still prefer to defecate in open because it provides them an opportunity to take a morning walk, see their fields, and take in the fresh air. They obviously have no idea that it would in turn affect their health. We need to educate them about its pros and cons before mindlessly conducting these “safai abhiyaans”.

Swacch Bharat program is hands down the best initiative taken by the Modi government and we, the citizen of India should make sure we contribute to this program by keeping us and our neighbourhood clean. Because the sweepers can’t clean every paan stains from the walls or collect those plastic bags which we throw away in streets without giving a second thought.

A big salute to those hardworking sweepers, who strive hard to keep our country clean.

With warm wishes of Gandhi and Shastri jayanti , I hope we will definitely succeed in our mission of Clean India. 

Spotlight: India In A Day by Google Inc.

For all the readers who have a keen heart for framing the world around them, here's an interesting project started by Google Inc. in India. According to them, anyone anywhere on October 10th can capture anything random into their phones or even a professional camera and send the clips to them on the link given below.
And that's not enough..
The selected clips would be merged and made into a film called 'India In A Day' directed by 'The Ridley Scott'(Yes, the famous filmmaker of films like 'Prometheus', 'Aliens' and the much-awaited 'The Martian'!), Richie Mehta(Director of 'Amal', 2008) and our very own Anurag Kashyap.
Even more, the selected clip-makers/contributors would be even listed as co-directors according to the Google inc. press release. Now, isn't that something? 
For those who already have their minds on the run, here's Scott's words that the footage could be from anything small to personal from riding a bike or calling out your mother, it's the clip that matters. The film is scheduled to be released next year.
So, get yourself a break that's worth such fun. See you on 10th October. Click!
To participate, please enlist your email address in the link below:
https://indiainaday.withgoogle.com/en/