I And My Story - Personalization Gone a Step Ahead!

Here's a business idea which makes me feel shucks-why-didn't-I-think-of-that! So this company offers comic/ illustrated books wherein the storyline, characters all are personalized by you. So you can have a storybook for your child which goes soemthing like - "Niya goes on a treasure hunt..."

Wonderful way to lure children back to the world of books and create a healthy habit of reading in them. Brilliant guyz.

IandMYStory.com - Imagine a book where your child becomes the star of the story, making reading enjoyable. The story comes to life with the child's name, age, hometown, family, friends and uncles & aunts all being part of the adventure.

Not entirely original but fantastic adoption of concept. Hoochymail uses a similar concept to create personalized erotic fiction. Just wondering how feasible its going to be to customize & print each & every book. But then my knowledge of the printing & publishing industry is minimal.

Top Five Diaper Brands

Having a baby inadverently means changing diapers umpteen times a day. It's also among the most important things one shops for & for quite some time to come. Having tried almost all the available brands in Bangalore for my son, here is a list mothers-to-be might appreciate.

#1. Pigeon Diapers - The best that I have seen till date. Soft, cloth-like-feel and a little more pricey than the rest, but totally worth it. Available at Apple-of-my-i, The Junction, Urbanite and other select outlets only. Japanese make.

#2 Nice Baby - The first diaper that my son used. Amazing fit, very comfy and never gave any kind of rash to my baby. We used to travel all the way to Mallya hospital to get our monthly stock since it used to be available at Mallya Hospital's Pharmacy alone. However it has been discontinued for some time now since they took up Pampers distribution. Made in Canada & imported here, I don't think its available anywhere else.

#3 Bella Baby Happy - Not a bad choice considering the rest of the brands available.

#4 Huggies Active Baby Ultra - The only huggies type that suit my baby's need among the rest of their products.

#5 Wipro Babysoft - Good design and sizing but very strongly perfumed, these diapers are fine to be used just for potty time.

Pampers is the worst of all diapers and will never recommend them for anybody. The edge of the re-adjustable tapes are very hard and cut into the baby's thighs. Very badly designed and gets soggy within 2-3 wettings.

Bijapur: A Quaint Old City

Last weekend we took a road trip to Bijapur - an ancient city that still seems to hold on fast to its historic relics and yet where modernisation is fast catching up. One might wonder why Bijapur, when the sun specially scorches down in all its fury, while better counterparts such as Ooty, Thekkady & Munnar are available. Well, let me hope that it suffices to say that we had our reasons.

We took the sleeper a/c coach from VRL which seemed a little claustrophobic at the begining but turned out to be quite comfortable once we got used to it.

Here are a few places we got to visit -


Torvi Narasimha Swamy Temple - It was here that Kumara Valmiki is said to have composed the famous Thoravi Ramayana in Kannada. The deity idol is placed way down below in a cave and though the pathway has been tiled & modified it yet gives one a queer feeling.
We were fortunate as it was supposed to be the week of Narasimha Mahotsav. Since our visit was on a Saturday we offered coconut, sugarcubes and oil as was customary at the temple and also partook the mahaprasad.



Gopal Krishna Park

Located near the Alamatti dam this is a Rock Garden (not like the Chandigarh one) with life like models depicting Lord Krishna's leela's.

There is also a model of the village that was in existence there before the dam construction began. The village replica with all those mud paths, water tank and the old run-down school makes it look almost real.


















A Scenic Park near the Alamatti Dam

















The mighty old Gol Gumbaz



Yelagur Anjaneya Temple