GUJRAT INDIA

Agarwood Oil – Gold of India

Agarwood (botanical name:Aquillaria agollocha) is one of the precious among all communities. In ancient time, it was used for making Incense Sticks, so in Hindi incense still is called “Agar Batti”. Here Agar – Agarwood Dust and Batti – Burning Stick. Some newcomers of essential oils business think why it is so costly, costing around $ 25000 USD /liter . The reason is simple, low yield from plant material, typical and labor intensive process of extraction and less demand in the market. These are all very few reasons of high costing of Agarwood Oil.

Process is quite typical, the people of Upper Assam Region, India go to the far peaks of mountains (Himalayas) for finding the good trees after that put a insect all over the trees which make the tree fungicide. Here the fungicide area will provide the mystical fragrance of Agarwood. Now, the expert workers collect those cultivated trees, extract the fungicide area using special knives, and then collect the fungicidal wood of Agarwood and further put it into a water tank for 4- 6 months. During this period, there are a lot of fungi arrive on the tank and now the wood become proper mature for extraction of essential oils.

After distillation, producer receive the good quality Agarwood oil with having the great smell of Agarwood Oil or Oud. Above is the process also used to develop several grades of Agarwood oil, It means, the rest wood in which the fingi not worked due to lack of time, also used for distillation and get some qualities of Agarwood oil called “Boya” and “Kunda” . Some supplier named it like Grade A for Superior quality Agarwood oil, Grade B for Kunda and Grade C for Boya. The Boya quality Agarwood Oil is quite thick and hard to pour,but if we put it into hot water , It will melt and take the property of Grade A. The Boya and Kunda is highly used in natural perfumery because it will blend with any essential oil.

One of the major pitfall is its cost , in result it is becoming one of most adulterated essential oil of the world. People of trading areas are selling it in $ 500 to $ 1500 USD /liter range which is impossible to produce naturally. Buyer should try to get more information from seller to get the idea whether he/she is selling the natural Agarwood or not. Natural Agarwood will cost around $ 25000 USD /liter in India and due to its scarcity , one should buy it only from producer , not from trader. Producer can only provide the real Agarwood oil (Aquillaria agollocha) from Assam.

Agarwood Oil – Grade A , have a long lasting property. If we put 1 drop of Agarwood on foreskin near right hand’s elbow and smell it after 24 hours, one will be astonished as there is still smelling pure agarwood. It is basically used in Natural Perfumery for long lasting and for increase weight in Natural Perfume.

There are some more reasons why it is becoming more rare as Assam, India is having some intruders trouble, some tribes don’t want Non Assamese persons over there but as soon as the time will go, everything will be normalize.

This ‘Spirited’ Film Lacks Substance

A London based successful fashion photographer Armaan sleeps in the station for he hears voices in his apartment or even when he is alone. Realizing that he can not only hear them but also see them the dead contact him to complete their unfinished business on earth. Crazy as it sounds he starts helping them much to the disdain of his clueless girlfriend Ghena. The only people who know this is his psychiatrist and Mini, his lesbian assistant. Armaan starts helping Carol, a spirit murdered by her husband some 30 years ago, to look for her son. As Armaan gets more involved in Carol’s world his psychiatrist is convinced that he is schizophrenic. Unperturbed Armaan realizes that he isn’t just looking for Carol’s missing son but is, in fact, seeking to unearth some secrets of his past as well.

The screenplay of the film spirals out of control with each passing moment leading to sheer anger and frustration in the viewer. Think about it – Armaan has been helping real ghosts solve tangible problems but his psychiatrist is convinced that he is suffering from schizophrenia and even convinces Ghena of the same. Rather than confronting each other Armaan doesn’t tell Ghena about the ‘real’ ghosts that she believes are ‘imaginary’ and she won’t come out and tell him that he is nuts! If Armaan can take Mini on ghost problem solving mission then why won’t he ask her to explain things to Ghena or just take Ghena to meet the dead ghost Kapoor’s very alive wife!

In addition to a fistful of half-baked decent scenes legendary Ashok Mehta’s cinematography is all the substance in Hum Tum Aur Ghost. Three writers including Arshad Warsi are credited but it seems like they came up with scenes just to fill the interesting lines they conversed in. The treatment is contrived and stupid that physically we see Armaan the first few times when Kapoor enters his body but when it comes to ‘meeting’ his wife Armaan transforms into Kapoor!

Arshad Warsi plugs in a few good ones but takes a beating for trying his hand at drama as his emotional histrionics leaves the audience in splits. Boman Irani as Kapoor the main ghost is passable while Sandhya Mridul’s gay assistant photographer might be routine but enjoyable in parts. Dia Mirza puts in an earnest effort and is partly convincing as well but one thing’s beyond doubt she has never looked so pretty on screen!

Director Kabeer Kaushik who gave Arshad Warsi his only decent serious outing as an actor in Seher seems completely at sea here. Hum Tum Aur Ghost might have been interesting on paper but lacks luster and ends up being below average.

Cast:

Arshad Warsi, Dia Mirza, Sandhya Mridul, Boman Irani and Zehra Naqvi

Screenplay:

ArshadWarsi, Arshad Ali Syed, Soumik Sen

Directed by:

Kabeer Kaushik

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Being A Translator

Translation services are one of the most attractive industries. Demand of translation services is global. Rapidly changing business dynamics have created an intensive demand for professional translators. Business organizations, medical institutions, educational institutions, federal agencies etc hire translation companies or independent translators to convert documents or speeches from one language to another. More and more people are choosing translation and interpretation as their career. Several others often wonder about merits and demerits of being a translator.

Like every profession, translation and interpretation has its own advantages and disadvantages. Primary advantage of being a translator is that one need not pursue any higher education for the same. Independent professionals need to have knowledge of at least two languages to pursue their career in the field of translation. Many people prefer learning languages in the same subgroup in order to expand their expertise. Independent professionals can work at their own pace. They do not have to report to anybody. Flexi hours are best suited for home makers, students or consultants. Being an independent professional allows the person to work from comforts of his or her home. It also saves time spent for commuting from one place to another. It allows the professionals to strike a perfect balance between their personal and professional life. Freelancers can choose between different projects. They can decide which projects to work on and which projects to decline.

On the other hand, there are several demerits of being a translator. Being an independent professional brings in an element of uncertainty in terms of income. Translators earn a decent amount if they have projects or else they need to strive hard to keep the business rolling. Freelancers often face payment delays and quality issues with the client. There is tremendous competition from translation agencies hence freelancers need to keep their quotes extremely low. Several freelancers work as sub contractors and hence are underpaid. Specialized translators like medical Tamil translators or translators who work on technical Hindi translation find it difficult to get niche projects. Working solo also means that one needs to handle all aspects of business like marketing, client servicing etc by him or herself. Solo workers often miss interactions and contributions from coworkers. Many independent professionals suffer from monotony at work. One must be cautious and think twice before deciding to be an independent translator or a freelancer. One should be willing to take risks in order to enjoy long term benefits.

Why Watch Movies Online?

One of the most popular pastimes is watching movies. Most people love to watch movies. Every person has specific preferences about the type of movies they would like to watch and there are a lot many genres to suit individual tastes. There is hardly any person who does not like to watch movies. The audio visual medium captures people’s attention far better than any other medium. People like the audio visual medium because they can quickly get immersed in it without too much effort. This lets users stay completely disconnected from the rest of the world for quite some time providing thorough entertainment and relaxation. For this reason movies have become hugely popular and perhaps the most popular form of entertainment. The movie industry is perhaps the most booming industry worldwide.

First there were the theatres. People could go there with friends, family and girlfriends and boyfriends to watch movies. A later version of such halls were the drive ins. One could take some time off to go to the theatres or drive-ins to watch movies and they became very popular and made big business. Slowly television came more and more to the forefront and took away much of the popularity and business of the theatres. They were able to offer people the option of watching movies from the comfort and privacy of their homes. Movies began to be available on compact disks and DVD that were playable in players attached to televisions or in computers. These options also gave the viewer a control over the time when he wanted to view a movie. But the viewer still did not have an extensive choice of what movies to watch as it is not possible to keep a huge collection of movie disks at home or many movie files stored in hard drives of computers. Here is where the watch movie online sites began to score.

Online movie databases that let you watch movies online have a huge collection of movies much more than what can be kept at home or an offline library. As a result a viewer has a choice of watching virtually any movie that has been produced and completely when he or she feels like. Sometimes the databases even let the viewer download a movie. The next things of course were sites that gave these services absolutely for free.

These sites often ask viewers to take surveys in order to watch movies online. That is how they put up with the costs. Alternatively they may host ads on their sites. However there are many sites which actually perform surreptitious activities under the cover of being movie sites. They may install harmful software like spywares and malwares on your computer in order to steal important information from your computer and generate spam. However there are certain sites that are free of such things. They have networks with tv shows and movie production houses as a result of which they are able to provide a huge number of TV shows and movies.

The advantage of these sites is that you can choose at will the time to view the shows or movies unlike in theatres and television and you also get a much greater choice of contents than a movie disk library at home or the local parlor can offer.

Online Learning is the Future

With the advancement of technology, more and more people are enjoying convenience in fulfilling their various goals in life including that of obtaining education. A growing number of schools are now offering online degree programs in response to the need of busy working professionals and homemakers who lack the time to pursue a college degree. The convenience and flexibility these online schools offer are what normally attracts people to get an education via the Internet.

Online learning is gaining ground in the different parts of the world but is more popular than ever in the United States. A 2005 report entitled “Growing by Degrees: Online Education in the U.S.” confirmed a very bright future for online education with an enrollment growth rate over ten times the prediction of the National Center for Education Statistics. It revealed that online enrollment in the U.S. rose from 1.98 million in 2003 to 2.35 million in 2004.

An officer of Career College Association (CCA) disclosed that more than one million students were enrolled in fully online programs in the U.S. in 2005 while at least 55 CCA member institutions have purely online colleges. Among the popular online programs at the undergraduate and professional levels are business, technology, education, psychology and human services, according to Bruce Leftwich, CCA’s vice president for government relations. He said that flexibility in the delivery of online education is the key factor considered by those who would not be able to attend a traditional school like single parents, persons with disabilities and working professionals. With online learning, these people are given a choice to meet their needs according to their specific situations in life. It is also affordable as most online schools offer scholarships and grants as well as other financial aid programs.

Since the inception of e-learning, the technology being utilized has also improved. Current technology has allowed many online universities to provide students with numerous ways to interact with their faculty and classmates such as through email, bulletin boards and discussion groups. Interaction has a more positive impact on a student’s motivation and performance than just sitting alone before a computer accomplishing his or her assigned work. In online education, students are usually given passwords for them to log on. Upon logging in, they must follow course requirements for a certain day hence, their attendance and participation are being monitored. They are also able to connect with course facilitators and interact with other students unique only in online learning. Compared to the brick and mortar setting, online learning provides one on one mentoring which really help some students to succeed.

Education authorities agree that public acceptance of online education will continue to grow and although it may not surpass the traditional university programs, it is more likely that most graduates who join the workforce will have obtained experience with an online learning format at some point of their educational pursuit. Leftwich added that a significant factor to the growth e-learning is that more business organizations are putting importance to online education. In fact, a study by the American Society for Training and Development revealed that an estimated 29 percent of corporate tuition reimbursements go to online or blended programs. This goes to show that some working professionals indeed find it easy to pursue an online education.

Importance of Language Translators in International Business

Language translation is an important aspect for companies to develop as they spread their reach overseas. There is a great potential for any business to grow rapidly when it expands its services internationally. However, growing internationally is not as easy as it seems. There are many small intricacies and minute details that may often be overlooked. One of these details, which must always go smoothly but is regularly taken for granted, is business translation.

Value of a business translation process

Business translation that is not up to scratch has the potential to break an international business negotiation. Without proper translation services to ensure that both parties are on the same page, both parties may end up facing many different legal challenges. For any business or company to be able to increase its commercial standing and reputation with all overseas partners, such details and intricacies in the negotiation process must be taken care of. To ensure that there is adequate support for all international dealings, a business needs to look for a translation service that can provide expertise, reliability, trust, professionalism and transparency.

Challenges with the process

The translation of commercial and business documents is not necessarily an easy task. The technical language used and the nature of the text that needs to be worked with can make the task a difficult one. Translators also face challenges due to the enormous potential harm that may result from any mistakes. Legal, financial and technical negotiations are always difficult to deal with. Getting past the considerations, negotiations and discussion of a commercial deal is a great relief. It is usually after this time that professional translators are hired to go over the documents. Once the discussions are finished and agreements have been reached, satisfied parties will not be keen to go back over the legal issues. Such dealings of an international nature often have large amounts of money at stake. At this stage, translators need to be competent and incisive as to the best way to deal with a business translation. The ability to maintain clarity and recognize sensitive areas is absolutely necessary so they do not end up creating any fresh disagreements.

Requirements of a good translator

Efficiency and accuracy are important factors that are extremely essential for any good translation service. Translators need to be able to consult with legal professionals from all other fields so there is reliability and accuracy with any terminological challenges. The process also needs to be secure and ensure that there is complete confidentiality. Your translation partners should have many years of document translation experience, to ensure they are up to the task of handling valuable and important procedures. For any translation process to be successful it is important that the translators understand the intended use of the document as well.

Computers and automated translation services that are widely available online do not understand the data that is put into them. They provide raw, direct and duplicated translation of the words that are input. The deeper meanings of phrases are quite commonly distorted. The English to Arabic translation and English to Chinese translation of important business documents can only be precisely and accurately undertaken with the support of professional translators.

Culture Cauldron – Cochin

“Aap logon ko Hindi nahin aati hai kya? (Don’t you know Hindi?)” Zahir’s comment catches us off-guard. We feel stupid. Zahir, a seaman-turned-shop errand boy-cum-rickshaw driver, tries to put us at ease as we ride from Fort Cochin to Willingdon Island. In fluent Hindi, he tells us of his trips to Lakshadweep, his early days at sea, how the once-busy Willingdon Island hardly sees any visitors now and why Onam means ‘big business’.

To Zahir, we are just ignorant tourists who believe Kerala’s only about blackwaters, spices and dark-skinned people who can’t speak the national language. We’ll learn soon, he hopes. And we do.

Island city

Like Mumbai, Cochin too is made of small islands – Willingdon Island, Fort Cochin, Vypeen, Vallarpadam and Bolghatty Island that are connected to the mainland Ernakulam. The airport is 30 kilometres away from the city. The ride in a prepaid taxi can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the traffic.

Born in a storm

“Cochin was born in a storm, nurtured in rivalry, and established as the crossroads of the Battling Empires of Europe: Portuguese, Dutch and British,” we read in a tourist guide. “In the 1340’s, torrential rains filled the Periyar River which broke through to the Arabian Sea and formed Cochin’s protected harbour. Trading ships soon sailed in and out,” the guide says. We look at the tall coconut palms bent over like old woman over the crisscrossing canals formed by the backwaters. This is almost Alleppy, we think.

Harbour front

Willingdon Island is where Cochin harbour is located. The magnificent Port Trust building with its rotating helicopter-like blades stands tall among other structures. Willingdon is like a ghost-town. It doesn’t have markets, shops and business centres. The old airport is now operated by the Navy and Harbour Station sees only goods trains. The commute to Fort Cochin via the 79-year-old Harbour Bridge takes about 30 minutes and costs Rs 50. But, auto drivers quote Rs 150, the tourist rate. Take it or leave it, they say. We leave it and opt for the boat. At Rs 4 a ticket, the 10-minute ferry ride through the backwaters seems like a good idea. But it takes us an hour to find the jetty to embark from as there are no signboards for help.

Trade-marks

Since the 14th century Cochin has witness a stream of traders from Arabia and China. Chinese fishing nets are used till this day at Fort Cochin and make for a tourist attraction at sunset. European Jews fleeing persecution were among the first settlers at the Jew Town near the Mattanchery Palace. The Paradesi Synagogue, built in 1568, holds a unique record of Jewish presence in India. Every tile that makes up the synagogue’s floor bears a different pattern in blue. Though most Jews have left, the ones who remain still trade in spices and oil like their ancestors did with the Chinese centuries ago.

We search for traditional handicrafts in Jewtown’s shops only to find Kashmiri carpets, Rajasthani kathputlis and Kutchi embroidery.

In 1502, Portuguese seafarer Vasco da Gama came here seeking spices and converts. He found his spices, launched Europe’s great Age of Exploration and prayed in the first European church in Asia though his Roman Catholic Faith conflicted with Cochin’s ancient Syrian Christian religion (there are numerous churches dedicated to this faith). The Portuguese were ousted by the Dutch who then surrendered to the British who still continued trading in spices, coir, rubber and tea.

Spice, spice, baby

Looking for spices, we reach Mattanchery, the largest spice market in the city. We haggle with the storeowner of Kendu Spice Dealers to give us a fair price on cardomoms (Rs 1200/kg), black pepper (Rs 320/kg) and cloves (Rs 600/kg) ignoring the anises, cinnamon bark and saffron. We bargain hard, tell him we’re not foreign tourists. He gives us a discount, “Only Rs 25. Take it or leave it.” We take it this time.

Payasam, pappadam and pink water!

We are lucky to have been invited to a wedding feast. As we settle down in our seats, a man comes along with a steel bucket to serve us pickles and crunchy pappadam on our banana-leaf plates. He then brings to us avial, veggies, dal and chutneys. Next is rice and piping hot sambhar. A man pours pink liquid into our glasses. “Water. It’s pink because of cumin,” a co-diner tells us. Dessert comes in the form of lip-smacking jaggery-sweetened payasam (south Indian kheer).

The reception menu is simpler, a much informal affair. We eat rice, chicken roast, raita, sambhar and vegetables out of thermacol plates.

Oh fish!

Hotel Casino’s Fort Cochin restaurant is the best bet for seafood. The restaurant offers no menu. They bring us the catch of the day in a tray and ask us to pick the fish and the spices. We opt for the local delicacy karimeen (black fish from the backwaters), delicious squid masala and prawns (all without the overpowering taste of coconut) with appam. The cost: Rs 1,480, but who’s complaining? In a place born of the sea, where its people live by it, it’s only fair if we eat off it too.

Learn Hindi Before Traveling

India is one of the most favored tourist destinations in the world. This colorful country with its diverse culture, rich biodiversity and mouth-watering food is a hot to-do on the lists of most travelers. For a western traveler, a visit to India can seem intimidating, with its colorful people and culture and most of all, its tongue twister-like languages. First of all, what every traveler should know is that they can get along fine with English in all major Indian cities.

The language that will be most useful to a traveler to India is undoubtedly Hindi. Though people in each state of India speak a different language, Hindi is the national language and the connecting linguistic thread that is understood and spoken by people in every nook and corner of this vast country. Hindi is a completely alien language to someone from the western world, with its own script and phonetic sounds that bear no resemblance to western languages.

All that a traveler requires is very basic knowledge of the Hindi language that they will most need to use in everyday practical situations. A traveler needs to know the basic Hindi phrases that will help them navigate through a new place, find and travel to places of tourist interest, find restaurants to dine in, hotels and boarding houses to stay in. They will also need to understand numbers, time and date related information, to understand the price of stuff they might be interested in buying and to understand local train and bus listings as well.

The best solution for people looking to gain a basic understanding of Hindi before traveling to India would be to go for online or CD based basic Hindi courses that are available for travelers. There are many language programs out there that offer fine-tuned language solutions for travelers. For example, the Berlitz Hindi Travel Pack is a versatile product aimed at travelers to India. The travel pack consists of an audio CD that covers various basic sentences and phrases that one is most likely to use in real-life situations such as eating at restaurants, looking for accommodation, sight-seeing, shopping, making friends and so on. The CD format ensures that the traveler has access to this information anytime, anywhere during his/her journey. Since it is in an audio format, the learner can listen to the pronunciation of each word and phrase as many times as they want until they feel that they have completely grasped the sounds used to utter it.

Along with the CD, a phrase book also forms a part of the Berlitz Hindi Travel Pack. This book contains more than 1000 oft-used phrases and words, with pronunciation guides, a dictionary for reference and a special section on phrases that would be apt to use during emergency situations that a traveler might unfortunately encounter. The phrase book will be a handy tool to any traveler, which can be perused through leisurely or readily referred to when required. This is just one of the Hindi learning packages that are targeted at travelers. There are many books, CDs and online learning programs that aim to get a traveler to India familiarized with the local tongue.

Indian Attars

India is well known for Attar making since ancient times. All Indian Kings ( RAJA in Hindi ) were the fan of these Attars. By and by the Mughals arrive in Indian around 1500s and found these Attars very precious and loving. They used these attars during The Great Bath ( Hamama in Urdu ). The Attar of Roses (sometimes called ‘Ruh Gulab’ ) is invented by the wife of Mughal Emperor Jahangir, named “Noorjahan”. After that all places where the Rose were found like Kannauj started production of Rose Attar based into Sandalwood oil. By and by they started applying many flowers available in native area like Bela (Jasminum Sambac), Chameli ( Jasminum Grandiflorum) , Bakul (Mimusops Elengi), Kadam (Anthocephalus cadamba), Champa (Michelia Champaca) and Kewra (Pandanus odoratissimus) etc. into pure sandalwood oil.

The process of attar making is quite simple for any expert worker of Kannauj. They are enjoying developing beautiful natural scents. The flower market, sandalwood oil extraction and distillation is running everywhere in Kannauj District of Uttar Pradesh State, India. It is very famous for making attars,blends and distillation of true Sandalwood Oil (East Indian Santalum Album). The production of Attar’s major ingredient sandalwood was stopped due to the scarcity of wood and government ban over distillation of the same but now,by and by the supply of Sandalwood Oil is being steady and government started the auctions of Sandalwood for further distillation. Government also issue the manufacturing certificate to many of the Sandalwood Oil distilleries of Kannauj City which boosted the production and decrease the cost of Attars a bit.

In India, especially in Kannauj City, Attars are still made by using the ancient process to protect the naturalness and tradition of India’s attar business. The Attars are basically used in Tobacco, Sweets, Skin care and many other things in India. Some good venture of life style companies also increase the demand of attars as natural perfume and as the major ingredient in their luxury products.

Best buying practice demand to get the all details about the Attar, Manufacturing Process, Background of the distiller and Exports reputation in the market. Some of the traders are making attars by just blending the flower oil in sandalwood and sell as pure attar which is one of the worst practice of attar making because when one blend two oils , it will become blend , not attar. Attars can only be developed by using Hydro Distillation of flowers into Sandalwood Oil and they can not be cheap.

How Good Or Bad Are Cartoon Channels For Your Kids?

This is a Question, which keeps haunting parents (mostly mothers) of all kids aged 3 to 10. Should we allow kids to watch cartoons, or should it be totally banned, is it good or is it really bad?

The issue that often pops up when chatting about young children watching cartoon channels is usually about leaving your children alone with cartoons to divert or entertain them, instead of parents giving our precious time to them.

Let’s analyze this million-dollar question!

I am a mother of 5-year-old daughter and have been regularly monitoring her television viewing. And this is what I have analyzed.

Let’s point out the good points first:

Cartoon shows are neither good nor bad. Occasionally cartoons are being used to demonstrate behavior that we would like our young children to adapt or copy, and even many times these cartoon shows are also used to exemplify qualities we would like our kids to avoid. It is up to the parents to help the child learn which is which.

From time to time there have been some good series like Madeline, Oswald, Noddy, Backyard Science, MAD, Mickey Mouse Club House. And some Hindi Indian Cartoons, which I would suggest are Gali Gali Sim Sim, Choota Bheem, Krishna, Ramayan and all Mythological stories.

It helps improve vocabulary; it could be English or Hindi.

It helps kids in analyzing situations. To understand how small little things are analyzed and then how small little decisions are taken by understanding what is right and wrong.

It helps them understand different cultures, societies, people etc.

There are so many shows, which are really educational, for all ages. And some programs show various Art and Craft activities, which can be actually utilized to put them to some creative work.

Now, let’s point out the bad points:

There are some really bad cartoons out there, which are a definite no-no for kids like Hagemaaro, ShinShan etc. The language used is awful.

With the kids watching television all the time, their physical activities which can only be achieved by playing in a playground are not taken care of.

Kids try to imitate what they see on television. Be it language or violence, they just want to behave like their “Super Hero”.

When parents continually leave their children to be entertained by the television it can have negative effects on child’s mind because children are primarily proactive and like to be doing something.

And one of the major concerns is the time kids spent in watching those cartoons. Every mother has a tough time moving her kids away from television. Ideally what I would suggest is to have fixed television-watching timings.

The best way to help your child create connection from television is if you get involved with them and explain what they are seeing, discuss different scenarios or outcomes, ask questions, and compare what you are seeing to what she has experienced.