Lighting up lives

Diwali is the festival of lights. And it is interesting how we light up our houses. Clean it to ward off the evil, decorate it with lamps to welcome to the goddess. But there are seldom few, but a definite few who go to the next level and think of lighting up humanity. They take the pain and a considerate effort to ensure that lives other than theirs are lit during Diwali.

We love lists, and here is a list of 5 things that you could do during Diwali to light up someone’s life.

1. Play Angel

Gift Street kids old working toys. Their playmates are empty tins and water bottles. The GI JOE’s and Barbie lying hopelessly in the corner of the room would find owners who would love them more than you do.

2. Play Grand-Kid

Rush to an old age home and put up your goofiest avatar. Make a wrinkled face smile. Get paid in smiles and blessings.

3. Be the unofficial mithai wala

Distribute sweets amongst the building watchman, pizza delivery boy, sweeper and all those people who long for a nice tasty treat. You could do without it, atleast your doctor thinks so.

4. Donate Clothes

While you dress in your swanky new dress, there are people on the streets who walk around in torn, dirty linen that just about covers them. Donate clothes that you don’t wear anymore but would love to wear though.

5. Sponsor a child

What better way than lighten up a child’s future? Sponsor a child’s education and track his academics. 

Beyond playing list diggers, we also thought we could feature some individuals who did light up lives during Diwali.

Meet Shruti Singh, a 20 something from Mumbai, who decided to empower some women this Diwali. Shruti, an artist herself, took sessions on diya painting for these women from Murbaad village and motivated people to buy these diyas through her social media page. She took the project forward and taught street kids to do the same too. More power to you Supergirl.

 

Another girl, Nirali Shah played Santa for some street kids. On a usual day this day-time lawyer and weekend teacher asked these kids to write things that they want in a piece of paper. Closer to the celebrations, these kids got visited by Santa Shah herself... with a bagful of gifts that they had asked for, followed by a party at her house. 

So what did you do to light someone’s life? Share with us by participating in the our contest... https://www.facebook.com/MahindraPowerol

Do-wali: Things to Do during Diwali

Warning! We are just about to get a tad preachy. Diwali shouldn’t be reduced to one day of noise and gorging on sweets. So we decided to play teacher this week, to tell some must does of Diwali and the reason behind it. Here goes.

The first day of Diwali is called Dhanteras. It is technically the 13^th day from Poornima or the full moon. So now you know how that name breaks up... Dhan (money) + teras (13). Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped this day, the goddess of wealth.

MUST DO ON DHANTERAS:

·      It is customary for go shopping on this day. (Just another reason we presume). Buy some gold and utensils on this day.

·      Make the entrance way to your house colourful. You may use flower garlands, bells, LED lights and most importantly draw up a rangoli. Keep the decor up for all 5 days of Diwali. 

The 14^th day is Narak Chaturdashi or Choti (Small) Diwali. It is believed that on this day Lord Krishna killed the demon Narakasur, freeing our world from his terror.

MUST DO ON CHOTI DIWALI

This is technically the first day for lighting firecrackers. Please avoid loud crackers, and don’t burst too many. Do it for rituals sake.

The new moon day is the most significant day. This is the actual day of Diwali. It is said that goddess Lakshmi enters the house and it is imperative for the house to be clean.

MUST DO ON DIWALI

·      Draw small footprints with nice flour over your house, it’s a way of indicating the goddesses arrival into your house.

·      Perform a Lakshmi Pooja.

·      Exchange gifts and sweets to share love and propagate brotherhood.

·      It's okay to play for money in card games but don't get swayed by it.

·      Firecrackers galore post dinner. (You may skip this part though... a little sparkler here are there should do.) 

The next day is the first day of the bright moon and is called the Balipatipradha or Govardhan puja. This is believed to be the day that Lord Krishna lifted the enter Govardhan mountain to protect the people of Gokul from the wrath of Lord Indra.

MUST DO ON BALIPATIPRADHA

·      Feed the poor. It’s a way of being an agent of Lord Krishna and to protect the poor

The fifth and the final day is Bhai Dooj. Its a renewal of sibling love, where sisters pray for the health of their brothers and exchange gifts. 

MUST DO ON BHAIDOOJ

·      Meet your brother. And most importantly gift him. You see there are not too many days that he gets to feel special :)

Are there some rituals that you follow during Diwali. Share it with us in the comments section below.

Happy Diwali everyone... May Goodness Light up your Life!

Ye Diwali... Different Diye Wali

To be honest, Diwali diyas can be boring. This year too, you will remove that old plastic cover that contains all the old mud diyas, wash it, dry it and reuse it. But I am sure that after you read this blog, you won’t really do that...

• Looks rustic... smells good

Rustic looks always works. From furniture to decor items, the look that wrought irons and wooden splinters give to the room can seldom be matched. Here’s our way of creating a rustic looking candle. Pick up some cinnamon sticks, stack them together in a circle and tie then up with thin jute ropes. Place a scented candle in the middle and there you have your scented rustic candle.

• The old wine bottle, with no wine left

Gulped up that wine to the last drop? Don’t throw the bottle away. Paint up the old bottles with glitter and inserting lights inside and watch the bottles that made you buzz... buzzing.

• Plastic Spoons Lantern

Move aside paper lantern, welcome used-material lantern. Pick up used spoon and break the head away. Stick them together with super glue, tapering down. Put a light inside and there you have your used plastic spoon lantern.

• Bulb-wick-light

Yes, yes we know bulbs are not eco-friendly and that’s exactly why we are recommending this. Replace them with CFLs or LED, and bore a hole in their base. Pass a pipe through and remove the filament holder. Fill it with oil and block it with a wick. Wrap a twine and paste the end of the twine on the rim of the glass. You have a beautiful lamp ready.

• Light Inside

Why should light be restricted to the outside? Hide the string lights in between your curtains and turn the inside of your house into a colourful version of the mood outside.

Do you have suggestions for us on how you could use light’s better and innovatively for Diwali? Leave your comments in the section below.

VISIT THESE PLACES DURING DIWALI

Some celebrate Diwali at home. There are many who run away from cities worrying blocked roads, traffic and crackers. This Diwali is strategically placed just before the weekend this year. If you haven’t already planned it, here are a few quick suggestions. Places to visit during Diwali:

The Golden Temple with a golden draping of lights is a sight worthy of watching. If you are a DSLR junky, then this is the place to be. The edge of the lake is fringed with countless oil lamps, lit by devotees and the reflection of the lake, looks like the gods are reciprocating.

A similar sight will be seen in the city pegged as one of the most spiritual places on earth... Varanasi. You will see the bank of the holy river ganga light up with a million oil lamps, each oil lamp representing the belief of a soul.

If you love merging celebrations & temples, then you should definitely visit Kolkata. Kali Puja, which is mandatory sight during Diwali, makes one witness with huge false gates being lit up with LED lights. If you wish to see the gates of heavy (an artist’s rendition) while you are alive, then Kolkata is the place to be.

The Pink City loses its association with one color and takes a multi-color avatar during Diwali. The Hawa Mahal turns into a bright color pack in the night of Diwali.

And this is the last place that you would guess. Go Goa now... Be in Goa to witness the biggest and the scariest effigy of the demon Narakasura as they burn it at dawn.

Tell us the place you would visit this DIWALI in the comments section below. 

Don’t take these facts lightly...

Yes, the headline’s an attempted pun at our favourite topic: Light. With the Mangalyaan doing rounds of Mars, we sense an attitude to learn in the online space. So here we go with our fun facts about light.

1. LIGHT AND THE FLASH ARE RELATED

Light takes 1.255 seconds to get from the Earth to the Moon. That’s faster than, well everything. The only thing/person/character that can stand a chance to compete with that is Flash... or, can he?

2. LIGHT AS A MEASURING TAPE?

Distances in space are so vast that the fastest thing in the Universe – Light – is used to measure them. Now imagine someone running light to measure the distance between 2 planets.

3. Good looking... And then they talk

Age old joke, “Why do people appear intelligent until they start speaking?, Because light travels faster than sound...”. And that’s probably also the reason why you see lightning before you hear the thunder. Probably... no... that is the reason why.

4. You have 8 minutes to get up

Between the sun deciding to shine on you and you deciding to wake, you have exactly 8 minutes and 32 seconds. That’s the time that the sun rays take to reach the earth

5. Around in the world in just one name

By the time you take your name, light can travel around the world more than 4 times. Ever wondered about this before introducing yourself to someone? 

The lights are fancy... and so are you...

Fancy lights attract everyone. Long gone are those days where a flat white or yellow light filled up our rooms. People are getting adventurous. From different colors, to types to environment, they are using light in all different forms. Here are a few very interesting ways in which you could decorate using lights. 

Note: please be careful where you put them, keep them away from kids, ensure live wires and not open.

1. Take a huge oversized mirror and sprinkle it with basic white light and you would feel like a celeb in their vanity van (Image: Design*Sponge)

2. Take some strands of different color lights and put them in an empty jam or glass pickle jar... You would be amazed at how that boring jar converts into something special (Photo: Chiot’s Run)

3. If you have a garden and the garden has some trees, then wrap the trunk with lights and switch it on in the night... Grab a chair and sit under that tree and you would reach your favourite holiday destination.

4. Create this for your kids if they love fairy tales. Paint a tree on their wall and stick string lights with transparent adhesives. Light it in the night for them to create a story of their own. (wesleephere.tumblr.com)

5. Empty wine bottles are useful too. Take them, strap with ribbon and stuff led lights right in... and there you have your new night lamp. (Image Courtesy: Flor)

So if you have more such ideas about decorating your house with lights, leave it here in the comments section. 

WHEN MONUMENTS GO VAIN

Facebook DP’s and Instagram pages are filled with selfies. Call that the mood of the social space or vanity at its peak.  The right angle and right exposure, a bit of red and a tinge of blue changes the way the image looks. Even Narcissist would have seemed humble if he was alive today.

Going by the trend, we thought of paralleling it to something equally beautiful as us humans. If we humans are god’s more beautiful creation, there are some marvellous man made creations that look stunning. They look beautiful in broad day light too. But let’s take a hypothesis. If the monuments were to assign their filters to their own selfies, how would it look like? Here is a sneak peak of the monuments rolling deep in vanity.

The epitome of love located in the city of Agra looks beautiful in the day with its pristine white play of marbles. As the sun sets, the tender touch of rustic orange kisses the white marbles. With the sky as the background and a beautiful landscape in front of it the play of red and yellow filters makes the monument look beautiful.

The Colosseum in Rome has a grungy look. Its massive size and broken walls have a story to tell. Lit with yellow light and in the backdrop of the skies, the Colosseum looks like a half eaten cheese cube in the night.

The Machu Pichu in Peru lit in blue light looks like some powerful beast arising. The contours and curves in the god’s most beautiful bump on this earth, when lit in manmade blue powercans looks magnificient.

If lights can swell up the look of already beautiful monuments, imagine what it can do to your house. The blue corner to rest, the orange one for positivity and the sun lit part of the house for pure energy. Many houses don’t depend on these lights for doing up their houses and keep depending on buying inventory. The main reason being the power failure. But times have moved fast. Small sized and low noise dg sets provide power for these pockets of power cuts. Long gone are the days of huge monster machines which sound like a grungy bike being raced by a rude rider. These new age dg sets are power efficient, pollution free and less noisy.

So, plan up to create another wonder within your house. Play up with light and use dg sets to say goodbye to power cuts. 

Let there be light

Light... the word and the concept both are familiar to us. So much so that we all take it so ‘lightly’ (pun unintended). The powerful version of energy that lights up our lives has relevance in multiple folds for our existence.

Let’s rush back to the school where we were introduced to the concept of photosynthesis. Lights are the dope for chlorophyll to produce oxygen, which inturn is the fuel for rest of the organisms to run. The sun rays bounce off the earth to heat up the atmosphere, so that we and the other living organisms don’t... well freeze to death a.k.a ‘Turning Popsicle’.

Visible light is important to us, because it is intimately involved in the common process of helping us to see things. The red light on the traffic signal, love messages on the mobile device, that pretty girl at the coffee shop, your new dream office and your kids getting married. Light plays a passive but a very important role. 

While the days are filled with natural light from the grand source sun, lot of innovation had led to cheaper and more convenient forms of creating light while the sun sleeps on our side of the world. From carbon button lamps, to the conventional incandescent light bulbs, to portable flashlights to big halogen lamps, the world has been lit by these man-made avatars of the light emitting sun. Recent research and protest by energy conservationists have also led to the invention of CFL bulbs and LED lights, which consume less power but emit enough light.

The latest fad around light is being furthered by the camera junkies. Every person with a smart phone today is a mini photographer with photo sharing social sites being their exhibition halls. Light exposures: over and minimalistic, shadow play and silhouettes shot out of palm sized devices are turning the world into a beautiful story.

What else defines the relevance of light than the fact that your good looking selfie was thanks to... good light play.

Light is a positive word. From functional relevance to relevance in vanity, it is prevalent in all walks of our lives. So much so that the positivity it emits made us use it as an apt adaptation for philanthropy. Lighting up lives.

Indian Power Scenario 2013

Electric energy occupies the top grade in energy hierarchy. It finds innumerable uses in home, industry, agriculture and even in transport. The fact that electricity can be transported practically instantaneously, almost pollution-free, at the consumer level and that its use can be controlled very easily, makes it very attractive as compared to other form of energy.

The per capita consumption of electricity in any country is; index of the standard of living of the people in that country. As per the latest figures, the annual per capita consumption of electrical energy in some of the countries is: USA—11,920 kWh, Canada— 16,020 kWh Japan—6,750 kWh, UK- 5,467 kWh, Russia-6,017 kWh and India – 498 kWh in 2012.

The electric energy demand in India during the past 20 years was higher than the gross generation as a result 
of which there were massive power-cuts. Monsoons are another reason for the increase in these power cuts. The load-shedding has been in force for the last several months as the water level in reservoirs depleted drastically due to deficient rainfall last year. There are several issues that characterize India's energy scenario today. These can be briefly listed as follows:

The present installed capacity in our country is about 225.133 GW as on May 2013 and the largest share in power generation is contributed by thermal power plants, which account for about 78.7 percent of the total power generated in country. Hydel power contributes about 18.5 percent while nuclear power accounts for only 2.7 percent. The rest being accounted for by diesel, wind, solar and gas plants.

In December 2011, over 300 million Indian citizens had no access to electricity. Over one third of India's rural population lacked electricity, as did 6% of the urban population. Of those who did have access to electricity in India, the supply was intermittent and unreliable. In 2010, blackouts and power shedding interrupted irrigation and manufacturing across the country.

The problem of rising power cuts can be resolved by adopting the following technologies which have been invented for the same purpose:

One type of technology includes inducting micro-turbines using natural gas that could enable individual households and shops to generate their own power cheaply, keeping grid as a backup.

Another such technology would be the construction of a Km long tower with saline or brackish water being poured from top so that as it hurtles down, the water reaches velocity of 70 km/h, good enough to drive turbines and generate electricity. Apart of this electricity would be used to pump water up and the remaining be utilized for consumption. Another device that could be used is a UPS (also called an inverter); a power storage device is a silent solution to power cut problems. 

Benefits of Diesel Generators.

People have been using generators for ages as they serve as the perfect backup solution in case of power failure. These generators are used for a wide range of applications including telecom sites, hospitals, residential complexes, offices etc.

Generators may run on petrol, diesel, gas (CNG, LPG) or bio-diesel, but diesel generators are still the most preferred choice for off grid power solution in almost all commercial as well as domestic applications today.

To arrest the noise of diesel engines a sound attenuated enclosure, also known as Canopy, is used. Generator with Canopy is also known as silent generator.

Diesel Generators benefit greatly primarily from the source of its fuel i.e. Diesel

·         Diesel is the most abundantly found fuel among all other fuels. Therefore it is the more suited option for factories located in remote areas.

·         Diesel contains more energy than petrol, that is why diesel engines are more fuel efficient than petrol engines. It consumes less fuel and delivers superior performance.

·    Diesel is relatively less expensive as compared to other liquid fuels available in the market and hence is commercially more viable for industries.

·         Diesel fuel is safer than petrol or gas as it is less flammable.

Apart from these diesel generators have several other advantages:

·         Diesel generators can operate perfectly in extreme cold climates with the use of Glow Plugs.

·         Diesel engines are simple in design and built ruggedly. Due to their robust built, diesel engines are extremely stable and can withstand heavy load.  They can be resold at a high market price even after 5 years.

·         Diesel Generators can remain operational for long periods of time and have very low probability of breakdown. To ensure a long-lasting function, the generator should be installed in a proper manner and basic maintenance plan should be adhered to. Diesel engines generally run 10000 hours before it needs any service beyond basic maintenance.

·         Basic maintenance of a diesel engine is less expensive and simple, like changing Oil, Fuel, Air filters and periodic change of Oil and Coolant. On the other hand with Petrol or Gas engine one has to deal with tune ups, carburettor adjustments, distributor burns, spark plugs which requires periodic cleaning and replacement.

·         The glow plugs used in diesel engines have better running life than spark plugs.

·         A diesel engine consumes less lubricating oil compared to other engines, thus saves money.

For any further questions, please visit our YouTube page to explain proper installation and commission of the diesel generator. www.youtube.com/mahindrapowerol

This post is brought to you by Mahindra Powerol, leading manufacturers of diesel generators, industrial engines and home ups inverters and batteries. www.mahindrapowerol.com/ www.mahindrapowerolhups.com