Archive for September 2013

I love shopping online and it's a great way to bulk purchase with the glory of bargains and offers during festival seasons and otherwise also. One such site I have been waiting to try my hands on was Myntra.com
You may have seen their advertisements on tv while you switch channels. They are among the most popular e-commerce websites in India and they offer a great return policy unlike most portals. I think they were also one of the first ones to have been launched in India, around 2007 I think. It's based in Bangalore.
I was impressed with the large variety of categories under offer which include women, men and kids clothing lines. The list ranges from all kinds of footwear, accessories, makeup and beauty products, perfumes, bath products, gym gear , you name it and they have it. The list is pretty extensive.

It is very easy to navigate their website. Once you decide on what you want, you just add it to your shopping bag and proceed to checkout where you fill up your details. If you are a registered user then you only have to do it once. As soon as your order is processed you get an email and sms from the site confirming your order. I also received another message saying on what date I will receive my parcel. The parcel also arrived right on time. It took maybe two to three days. I was very happy with the speed of service and their systematical approach.

The package came in the form of a carton with your details written over it and everything was packed individually in seperate sweet little shoe box like cartons. The products were all secured with bubble wrap and there was no way there would have been any damage unless a freight train went over it.
I was skeptical about ordering a bottle of oil but I thought this would be an acid test so why not. That came in seal proof packaging.

I was immensely pleased with the customer service department. They answer all your queries promptly and are professional.
The beauty products seem to be fast moving as I was deciding on what to order and the next day they had gone out of stock with it. But they replenish the stock effectively so I was able to order it when it was back in stock.

They also have a great 30 day return policy with cash back as well. They send you a form in your courier package which you can fill if required. It allows you to send products back to them till your specifications have been met.

Check out my little haul. I bought all useful things that I had run out of. Did I mention I am using their carton boxes to store other goodies too. Comes in handy.

From time to time they offer coupons which help you get a better discount. More shopping, I declare :)

Finally I got my hands on Lakme Eyeconic kajal. It's always sold out at the stores. If you look at the Colossal and the Eyeconic rack at stores, the eyeconic pencils would be sold out. I am so happy to have found this on Myntra. As soon as I ordered it, it had got sold out in an hour on Myntra too. So that's saying something about this pencil, isn't it? Review will be up shortly. I used it couple of times and now it's disappeared. I really like it and am frustrated that I can't find it. I will search again tomorrow.

That's the rest of my haul.
I have to say great service and the best part also happens to be an understanding and efficient customer service department. They do treat your concerns promptly.
If you are looking for a variety of products, gifts, timely delivery, smooth transaction, great offers and such, opt for Myntra.com as they are reliable and it's hassle free services.
My next haul from them is going to be for my dad's birthday. Can't wait. :)
Have you shopped there?

Published by coralcrue

Today was a day spent trying to get through the process of applying for an Aadhaar card.
It is the brand name for Unique Identification number which is being introduced in India for each and every citizen.
It is issued by the UIDAI- Unique Identification Authority of India (Planning Commission, Government of India)
This number links to the resident's demographic and biometric information. You can use this to identify yourself in any part of India.
You can also use it to access a host of benefits and services.
Over 42 crore cards have been issued ever since it has been introduced.

Your Aadhaar card hasn’t reached you yet? Download e-Aadhaar

There are two centres for application where I live.
I first went to take the application form. There is a main form to be filled by us and a smaller form which you attach to the main form.
Once it's filled with your details including address, name, age, dob, bank account number, you take the filled and completed form to the centre. In our area, the officials tell us to come on a week day at 9am where they will give you a number(something like a token number) but they wrote it on my form. In the afternoon, when they told me to come, I stood in a line with some 30 other people who had brought entire families with babies(yes, even they get the cards done). After quite a bit of wait, the first queue moves on and you get the official to sign and verify your passport details and sign the application form. It's first come first serve, not in accord with what number you have been issued. You have little children running around, initially it's cute but then the midgets start shoving and pushing, basically going crazy. There's too much noise and you just want to pull them by their frock's belts and hurl them far, far away. There was a random baby behind me who just kept poking me whenever it felt like it and saying 'Gaaaaaaah!'
Then you move on to the second queue where in my case it might have taken about 45 mins or a little less to reach the next official. He/She sits in front of a laptop and you sit in front of a monitor facing them. They print out all your details online, you can see as she types, on your screen if she is making any mistake and correct them if they do. This young lady obviously didn't have much experience with the laptop as she kept striking the keys like it was a piano. I was really fascinated to see her fingers poking the keyboard in one swift and hard motion. In the process it took her a very long time to operate, type and scan things. She then proceeded to scan my finger prints like in the photo featured above. They require you to press a little hard as my fingerprints didn't come through clearly. Maybe it was because I had really dry hands especially my right hand since I use it to wash a lot of dishes.
So she asked me lol to wipe my hand over my hair, she probably thought I might have greasy hair and it would help moisturize the hand to obtain a better print hahahahhahahah I do not walk around with grease in my hair so the finger prints didn't come through as expected by her. So much for oil slicks on your head.
Then they ask you to do the same with your thumb prints. It's a relaxed process.
After that I had to look through a retina scan apparatus which you hold and open your eyes wide. I shouldn't have opened them so wide because when I saw the picture on the screen I had the scariest pair of eyes I had ever seen. You know when you hang yourself on a noose from a ceiling and your eyes pop out, yeah, that's what mine looked like. Severely startled. I was like Sh@# can we repeat this. Ofcourse you can't!
Then she asked me to look into the webcam and again I thought open your eyes wide (She asked me to take off my spectacles) and again I looked like I was terribly startled. Oh woe. No more second chances there either. I will end up looking like a convict when my permanent id proof comes out.
How unglamorous!
That is about it. Since they were slow it took the process about fifteen minutes or more. It was boring but I had some time to kill. Maybe if the personnel were better trained it would have been faster and lakhs of people wouldn't have to wait in such terribly, long queues.
Where there were three laptops for three officials to smoothen out the process, one of them just left without notice and never returned so the other two officials were taxed to work harder. That was really bad because there were very old people and young children waiting in line. It took so much more time. They tried contacting that person to come back to take the applications but he wouldn't lift the phone. So that irked many people off.
The entire process took over an hour. It maybe so on Saturdays and Sundays as there will be lots of kids and working people who only get their days off then.
You get to hear some heated arguments and complaints and all that. But at the end of this process, you are done. And you go home and wait another 2-3 months when you get your card mailed home to you.
There is no fee involved, rich- poor everyone can apply.
As a citizen I am not very sure why I am applying. I have been told that it will increase national security and stream line processes wherever you go. It is a unique identity number which will identify you. One out of three people in India will have this card by now. As with everything there will be a pro and con. I decided to go for it. There maybe some of you who may not opt for it with valid reasons. If you are one of them do comment below to let me know what you think because I am interested to know. A friend of mine was arguing that she had a pan card so why do we need an extra card for id purposes.
Before I forget, please eat before you go because don't know how long you will have to stand in line. Don't drink too much water else you might want to pee and then you will get more frustrated. Maybe bring along a phone with games on it. I saw quite a few girls playing angry birds and passing time while they waited. Yeah get munchies if you get hungry. Signing off this Saturday.
love you all
CC

Published by coralcrue

I love burning things. Now before you think I'm a little cuckoo let me just explain how.
Never had the penchant for performing religious rituals or any such thing but recently I'd read up on burning sage to clearing the aura of the area we live and was quite interested in doing something like it.
The only trouble being I am quite allergic to external smells and smoke which can get too strong. I wanted to burn something to get a woody and natural/earthy aroma. The kind you get to smell in temples without any pollution. So that set me off in a search to find agarbattis which are green.

When I saw this product, it was in itself called Green so I just thought I had to try it out.

I light a lamp in the morning when I wake up and in the evening time too right after the sun sets. It's not a regular thing. I do miss it at times but whenever I am at home I prefer to do it.
It restores a sense of balance and happiness to see a flame burning. I love watching it.

Most agarbattis in the olden days used to be composed of organic material mixed with some fragrances which were natural. It was used during ceremonies, rituals, to overcome bad smells, repel insects and various other purposes. I remember when my grandmother in law passed away at the age of 96, her body had to be kept for two days at home. Her sons were all over the world so it took them time to reach as it was a sudden passing with no onset of illness. So my aunt kept lighting agarbatti after agarbatti, she said it was also with the intention of negating any smell that would emanate from any form of decomposition. Ofcourse, there was none because she was kept in a refrigerated coffin.
Anyway back to the topic.

If you've never lit an agarbatti before, this is how I do it. I light the lamp(diya) and I just hold the incense stick to the flame till it catches a substantial amount of flame, after letting it burn for a few seconds, I fan it out so the agarbatti tip becomes a heated red ember and releases smoke. Then you place it in an incense stand and let it burn.

Did you know that in India alone there are about 5000 companies that make agarbattis?
They buy raw, unperfumed agarbattis which are hand rolled by women at home. Then they add their own variety of incense and packaged it for sale.

Back to reviewing the product. It comes with two packets inside. One contains a set of green agarbattis and another has them in red. They do not look like the conventional agarbattis in the sense that they are not wrapped around a bamboo stick. They are entirely made up of the same resin like substance.
What I did not know from the reading the package from the outside was that it contained a small cute agarbatti stand inside. Which was a bonus surprise for me and I really liked that more than the agarbattis themselves.

I have an extremely sensitive pair of lungs and my nose picks up strongs smells and start sneezing or watering if the product is not up to natural mark for my standards.
I really wanted to burn something that was pure so initially I didn't feel any problem but within 5 minutes I knew I couldn't have the smoke inside the house so I took it out and let it burn there.
It lasts about fifteen minutes maybe. Though in the package I think it says around 55 minutes but I am sure they do not last that long. Neither did I want them to.

Both red and green varieties just have a subtle difference in aroma but I did not take to these at all.

I did not find it up to the mark in terms of being 'green' so I won't be re-purchasing and my search for natural incense sticks continue.

MRP- RS.15 for 10 incense sticks
Repurchase- No

Let me know your favorite incense brands, will you? just comment down below.

Published by coralcrue

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