Invite friends over and make a colorful display on your table with salad dishes arranged at suitable intervals! Enjoy the complements you receive!

Here is an interesting salad book that you may like to own, titled simply–Salad Recipes. There are more than 2500 salad recipes that you can use for every season and every reason! Here are a few that you can start with immediately.

Here is a sneak peek into the table of contents.

Introduction
Personalized Cooking Aprons
Antipasto Pasta Salad
Beet Salad
Couscous Salad
Beef Fajita Salad
Greek Salad
Chicken Pasta Salad
Lentil Salad
Ham Salad with Hot Peanut Dressing
Deli Potato Salad
Mandarin Orange Salad
Turkey Macaroni Salad
Taco Salad
Hungarian Cucumber Salad
Golden Corral’s Seafood Salad
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Mediterranean Salad
Spicy Pecan Salad
Rice Salad
Zucchini Slaw
Poached Chicken and Walnut Salad
Sugar Snap Salad
Fruit Salad with Champagne Sauce
Mushroom Antipasto Pasta Salad
Grilled Caribbean Chicken Salad
Spicy Fruit Salad

But, I have noticed that without the elaborate  phrases to remind them of their duty, the western world still welcomes its visitors with enthusiasm and does everything to ensure their safety, security and welcome.  If we must be westernized why are we not more polite to our visitors and more welcoming?

I remember on one visit to Berlin, my husband and I lost our way. We were wondering how to get directions from people who spoke only German and we spoke only English. We approached an old lady walking her dog (she was the only human in sight) with a query –”Madam, do you speak English?” When she nodded and said “Little” we were thrilled. “Madam, we are lost. Can you tell us the way to ________street?”  The little lady did not know the road and was so upset about it that she repeatedly begged our pardon and started looking all around trying to find someone who could help us. Her distress was so apparent, that we felt grateful to her and quickly assured her that we would find our way. Needless to say we found our way with help from other walkers on the road a little further down, but her obvious desire to help visitors to her country was overwhelming.  That is the western world for you.

On the contrary I remember an episode in Trivandrum, Kerala, when I wanted direction to reach a tailor’s shop. I was new to the state and had no idea how to get anyplace. The shopkeeper whom I asked, told me with a straight face that if I would but walk a few steps down the road he was pointing, I would find a tailor. I took the road with a quick thanks. The road led to fields and more fields, till I had exhausted myself  walking down the meandering path in the hot sweltering heat and returned to the point from which I started,  fuming and fretting. I found the shopkeeper, slapping his thigh and having a good laugh with a couple of friends at my expense. In fact, he could hardly stand for laughing. That is India for you.

Campaigns like the one Amir Khan has taken up are necessary for the Indian public. They do not know distinctions between simple fun and gross misbehavior.  I personally would welcome an intensification of the campaigns and more  participation from the public in enforcing discipline among the errant members of society.

So much for the storm in the tea cup and the emotional outbursts against the RBI and paypal and all the ravings and rantings of my fellow freelancers who wished to commit a business suicide where freelancing was concerned!

Before talking about the implications of this move and also what Indian freelancers need to look out for in the future, I would like to appreciate the extremely professional and collected manner in which Paypal has handled the crisis. While the Indian business is not very large, Paypal had a commitment to its clients and perhaps all the Asian clients were watching the fall out and outcome of the crisis. Paypal remained tightlipped during the initial phases of the crisis to avoid speculation and panic and calmly set about doing whatever it takes to set the situation right for everyone round. Kudos to Paypal!

Well, the purpose code as Paypal chooses to call it will give a hook for RBI to collect the data and also evaluate the amount of foreign exchange that is being transacted by Indians. It will also help the premier bank frame a policy for how it will handle this type of foreign trade in the future. In a sense this is real good news for the Indian freelancers and could be bad news for those who are making big money in this field and not paying their taxes on Income? There is now a tracking mechanism in place where transactions through paypal are concerned. The good news is that India is getting ready to regularize the largely unorganized sector that operates over the Internet.   Maybe Indians will no longer be vulnerable to the scamsters and sharks that populate the Internet. Maybe cyber laws will offer some newer modes of protection to this largely helpless and vulnerable set of small businesses that are mushrooming in India.

One question that needs to be answered is: What about those thousands of Auction sites like Rentacoder, Elance, guru, getafreelancer etc which also do a kind of payment settlement for Indians? They act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers and collect money from buyers on behalf of sellers and then settle accounts with the latter at the end of every month. Do they also need to get a license from the RBI to operate in the Indian context?  These sites have a tie up with Paypal and payment agencies like Payoneer or they send checks to Indians by snailmail. Will RBI be contacting them next with requests for compliance? The RBI does not seem to have contacted these sites as yet.

Let us wait and watch. Stay tuned in for more from me on this blog!

So I would like to advise my fellow Indian freelancers to get cracking and find out what compliance with these laws imply and how to go about  complying with the laws and getting the numbers you require for continuing to operate. I shall keep you updated from my blog http://www.consult4content.com/blogs. So stay tuned in.

A two day visit with one night stay at Kurukshetra is recommended.  Popular hotels for overnight stay at Kurukshetra are: Saffron, Heritage, Neelkanth Yatri Niwas and Parakeet hotel. There are also a number of guest houses and Dharmashalas that accomodate travelers to this historic city.

Places of Tourist Interest

Sheikh Chehli’s Tomb is a beautiful tomb constructed by Dara Shikoh(1650 AD), the eldest son of Shah Jahan the Moghul Emperor, for the sufi saint Abd-ur-rahim or Sheikh Chehli. The tomb is constructed over an artificial terrance and is octogonal with a south facing entrance. It is built of buff sandstone and crowned by a pear shaped dome of marble with a high circular drum.  A smaller tomb with beautiful floral carvings dedicated to the wife of Sheikh Chehli can be found near the west entrance.  The whole overlooks a Madrasa which has a nine arched opening on each side of the central courtyard. It has been declared a monument of National importance.

The Kurukshetra Panorama and Science center is located near the Sri Krishna Museum in Kurukshetra. It is a two storeyed building that exhibits Indian heritage science and technology. Ancient Indian concepts of properties of matter, structure of the atom, geometry, mathematical rules, astronomy, medicine and surgery are on display.  The highlight of the museum is the life like panorama of the historical battle of Kurukshetra with 34 feet high paintings of the episodes from the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas.  The sound and light that accompany the scene along with the background Gita Chanting create an illusion of reality. A science park has been set up in the grounds with busts of all the greatest scientists of India.

The Krishna museum exhibits the collection of archelogical material from 5000 years of Indian History. Effort has been made to sequence the material culture from the Kurukshetra war pre epic, epic and post epic periods. There is no effort to establish the historicity of the war, only to display the archeological findings pertaining to the different periods. The museum has six galleries and a rich heritage of art and sculpture is housed in these galleries. A whole day can be spent examining these exquisite pieces of history and art!

Kalpana Chawla Memorial Planetarium was built to impart non formal education in Astronomy. A number of excellent programs with high tech digital and optomechanical systems are conducted in this building.  Science and technology exhibits, astronomy shows and the astro park are highlights of this spot.

Gulzarilal Nanda Institute of National Integration and Peace is a personalia museum built in honor of the erstwhile Governor of the State who did much to improve and preserve the historical and places of tourist importance in Kurukshetra.  The musuem highlights his career, spiritual beliefs and his services for Kurukshetra.

Brahmasarovar is a beautiful tank with a temple dedicated to Shiva in the center of the tank. This spot is believed to be the location at which Brahma begins his act of creation after the great Pralaya that destroys the world. A number of bathing ghats named after the characters of the Mahabarath can be found round this tank.  The waters of this tank are considered sacred and pilgrims visit this tank in large numbers during the Solar eclipse and on New moon day to take a dip in the holy waters.

The Sannihit Sarovar in Kurukshetra is said to be the confluence of seven sacred saraswatis. A large number of pilgrims visit this tank on New Moon day to absolve themselves of sins.  Adjacent to this tank are the temples dedicated to Dhruv Narain, Lord Vishnu, Laxmi Narayan, Lord Hanuman and Mother Goddess Durga.

Places of Historical Importance

Kurukshetra is replete with history.  The site has been the cradle of Indian civilization for more than 5000 years. A number of archelogical sites have been excavated and the findings from these sites are housed in the different museums located across the city including the Krishna museum.

The Archeological site museum and Harsha’s Palace are located behind the Tomb of Sheikh Chehli. The museum houses the archeological findings at the excavation site of the Palace of Harsha, the King of Thanesar.  The Archeological Survey of India has unearthed from the mound, stone and terracotta sculptures, coins, ornaments, ritualistic objects. The exhibition also has on display the schematic plan and its findings and architectural buildings that have been exposed during the excavation.  The mound itself is located close to the  museum and the contours of the palace are very visible. The settlement pattern, the architectural style, religious life and artistic endeavor are visible to tourists.

Jyotisar is the most revered historical location in Kurukshetra. It is believed that Krishna elucidated the Gita to Arjuna at this spot. While the historical truth of this assertion is not proved, tradition has it that the message was delivered under a holy banyan tree at this spot. Jyotisar lies 5 km from Kurukshetra on the Kurushetra Peshowa road.  The banyan currently found on the spot is said to be an offshoot of the original banyan that existed at the time of the discourse. The site has a beautiful marble statue of Krishna and Arjuna on a chariot.  A sound and light show on the theme of Bhagawat Gita is mounted by the ITDC as part of the tourist promotion of Kurushetra here.

Close to Jyotisar, infact at the entrance to the location, stands an ancient Shiva temple between the trunks of two trees. The temple is said to date back to the Kurushetra war.

Temples in Kurukshetra

The Staneshwar Mahadev temple is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, the Hindu God of destruction. It is said that the Pandavas visited this temple before the battle of Mahabarat to receive the blessings of Lord Shiva. The waters of the tank adjoining the temple is said to have cured Kind “Ben” of leprosy.  A pilgrimage to Kurukshetra is complete only when the pilgrim takes a holy dip in this tank.   The temple is constructed in the regional style and has a domical roof and the facade of this dome has the shape of an “amla” or gooseberry with a tall pinacle.  The sanctum sanctorum houses a Lingam in the traditional style.

The Bhadrakali temple is a temple dedicated to Shakti, the consort of Lord Shiva. It is one of the fifty one Shaki peetas or seat of power of the Goddess.  The right ankle of Shakti is idolized in this temple.  A large number of devotees congregate in this temple to worship the Godress. Local legend has it that Krishna and Balarama had their “Mundan” ceremony or the removal of first growth of hair was conducted in this temple. It is also believed that the Pandavas visited this temple to pray to the Goddess for victory in the Kurukshetra war.  Worshippers offer terracotta horses to the diety when their prayers are answered by the Goddess.

The Kalmaki temple is also dedicated to Bhadrakali. This temple is associated with Tantricism and is said to have existed even in the sixth and seventh centuries AD at the current location.  The style of the temple, however, is 19th century.  The brickwork is in Lakhori style and is double storied. The style of the sanctum santrum is offbeat with the sanctum juxtapositioned to form a single structure bearing a composite domical and vaulted roof styles.  Four domical spires are located around the central domical spise.  The entrance to the temple has a vaulted alcove design.  Beautiful murals decorate the sanctum interior and the octogonal wall below the inner dome and square chamber of the sanctum.

Bhishma Kund or Narkatari tank is located about a mile and half from Thanesar on Kurushetra Pehowa road. The legend says that Bhishma, the elder of the Pandava and Kuru clan gave up his life voluntarily at this spot. It is believed that the waters of the tank were summoned forth by Arjuna to quench the thirst of Bhishma. There is a temple dedicated to Bhishma on this spot adjacent to the tank.

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Have you ever seen a child who has not learnt to walk or talk on his own (except if they are challenged)? Have you ever found a child who is not curious about things and willing to learn? So, if curiousity and willingness to learn are the foundations of learning, why does the child not turn into a genius?

The truth is that the child is really a genius but academic genius is the only kind of genius that is recognized in the educational system today.  There are  musical geniuses, business geniuses and sports geniuses in the school system.  They are all stifled and regimented into enhancing mental skills. Their natural insincts are suppressed till they are no longer aware of their native genius.  If they shine and blossom forth into geniuses in business, sport or arts, they are exceptions rather than a rule.  These are qualities that are not evaluated in the education system and found to be extraordinary.

Recall, how often we have been told that not everyone can aspire to become a musical genius or a business genius or a sports genius?

How is academic genius defined?  By evaluating IQ.  What is IQ?  It is Intelligence quotient. How is that arrived at? By dividing the mental age by the chronological age and multiplying the product with 100. It follows that if you want to continue to be a genius, you need to continuously learn and maintain your mental age at a level that is higher than your choronological age. In other words you need to maintain a disparity between your mental and physical skills.

Boy! does that sound tiring? I rather not be a genius if that is the criteria! To me, learning is all about understanding ones own peculiar capacity for learning and applying that knowledge effectively.  It is all about being free from fear of making mistakes or sliding down a scale of perfection.  It is about doing that which your natural inclination drives you to do and doing it well.

So, do not force your child to grow into an idiot by insisting that there is only one kind of genius he can be–an academic genius.  Allow him to realize his potential and grow into the genius he is destined to be.

The sad truth is that those who save money and husband it in fixed deposits get nothing for their pains. The small interest that is derived from the deposit is sliced through by taxes and the balance is swallowed up by inflation.  The money in the deposit does not grow and everyone knows that the value of capital deprecites with rising costs.  Net, Net–savers are losers. or it appears. Savers are the ones that are severely punished for their pains.

The problem arises from their perception about money. “Saving is good. Debt is bad.” So, they struggle to save money and pay of their debts. They do not think that they can use borrowed money to generate money.  They borrow money to pay off a liability. They insist that they are wise.  Do you agree?

I do not. Those who understand money and the velocity of money are the winners!

Let us examine this fact.  When one person puts money into the bank for the purpose of earning interest (that is eaten away by taxes and inflation), another borrows it. The person who puts in the money, loses money. The bank makes money by lending other people’s money.  Businesses make money by borrowing from other people (via the bank or getting others to invest in Public offers). In other words, those you use other people’s money to make money are the gainers. They are also rewarded for it by way of tax incentives on interest/dividend paid on borrowed capital.

It appears, that there is good debt too! If you understand the dynamics of it, you may cease to be punished for your pains! You need to decide how much more punishment you are willing to take!  Get educated. Increase your financial IQ and get going!

No and Yes. We are not fools because saving up for a rainy day is a wise thing to do. But yes, we are fools, because the way we are saving up is wrong.  The money we save up has poor velocity and returns are meagre. The winning formula has never been taught to us. Our parents did not know it themselves, so how could they teach it to us?

Look at the interest rate your bank offers you. It is about 2% in America and 6% in India.  Of course something goes into the Government coffers by way of tax and the rest is eroded by inflation. You get back a small sum or nothing at all, for all the pleasures you have forgone to save up that money. The bottom line is that you are not getting much for your pains.  At least the grasshopper had a good time.

The secret of getting somewhere quickly with your money is making sure that you understand money and its dynamics. You must learn to distinguish between assets and liabilities. You must learn to identify liabilities that are masked as assets and seeming liabilities that are really assets. For instance, if you have purchased a property with a loan and the rent on property repays the instalment of loan and also puts some money into your pocket, you have created an asset. If your house property draws money out of your pocket and puts nothing into your pocket, it is a liability.  Unless you are going to trade your smaller property in for purchasing a bigger property(taking advantage of prevailing tax laws) with a larger loan that pays for itself, the capital appreciation really does not count!  It will not create wealth for you.

If you cease to look at money as an object, a possession, you will begin to see that money is really an idea.  Ideas are made up of words and words have momentum and direction. They fulfil a destiny.  For instance, instead of repeatedly saying “I cannot afford something”, try saying “how can I afford it?” You will find that you begin to have ideas about how to make money and how to get money working for you.

It is also important to understand that it does not take money to make money. Money can be made out of –an idea, a concept.  Thereafter, you only need to work on the idea of geting your money to make you money! Look at the forward trading market and the stock market and you will realize that money can be made without investing money!

In brief, you need to change your mind set about money. You need to make your money work for you even if you work for money meanwhile.  Becoming rich and having enough money for the rainy day requires meticulous planning and compelte understing of the dynamics of money.

I am talking about the process of learning to relate, collate, attract and in a sense organize actions and reactions to things and events around us.  For instance, we watch  our parents  intently to understand what they smile upon and what they frown upon. We learn what is acceptable behavior.  We know they are tracking us for this “acceptable behavior” and frowning on “unacceptable behavior”. Our tools are their expressions and reactions. We learn how to track them using this tool. Thereafter we behave in ways that would appease the trackers and make them smile more than frown.  We do the same in school, college and at work.  The tracked trackers teach you how to track them and we creating tracking conditions that make sure they track us the right way!

Search Engine Optimization is nothing but an online version of track the trackers.  We have a product we wish to promote. We track user behavior by searching for frequently searched keywords that are associated with our business. We use tracking tools that are available online to track this behavior. Once we have tracked it, we use the keywords to make sure that search engines track us and place us where trackers(browsers) of the keywords see us and visit our sites!

We use the same tools to track the competition and to check where they are placed vis-a-vis our website.  We examine what kind of traffic flows to their site and use tracking strategies to divert the traffic to our own site. Here we are tracking the competition.

We again track websites that may be interested in using what we have to offer or which sell a complementary product or service. We use this tracking information to find out if these websites could partner with us and link back to us reciprocally or one way to promote our products. We find partners and affiliates in this manner.

Therefore, if you are in the business of creating websites or are contemplating creating websites, you need to just consciously play the game you always played instinctively! Use the innumerable tools that are available for free or at a price on the Internet and track the trackers so that they track you correctly. Alternately, you could hire the investigators called web consultants and SEO experts to do the investigation and play the game for you.  Tracking the trackers is challenging and may even be profitable! So why wait? Start now! Get the mastery you seek!