For the strangest reason of all, I have never been able to publish anything that’s even remotely personal on my website. And I only realized this recently that how fun is it to read ‘I’ and ‘me’ in a blog post. I bumped into a friend’s profile where she has spoken about her experience meeting a potential groom every week. Before you get any ideas, it’s the arranged marriage circle that she was fixed in.  
 
Thankfully so, she is happily married to a man of her dreams but that hasn’t made her blog any boring. So, I have derived some inspiration from her blog and have sort of convinced myself to go a little personal at this space. 
 
So, I have started anchoring live for a business news channel – ET Now. Eee... that’s professional, not personal! But the hurly-burly that I was going through when I was on the hot seat for the first time, now that’s personal. 
 
The director started by saying...one minute to go. And I was fine and confident till then.. actually until he started counting backwards – 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 cue... “Hi there, this is Business Saturday and I’m Kamiya Jani. Let’s first take a look at the headlines.” Now, inspite of rehearsing this line almost all my life, I could sense my heartbeat literally beating me hard from inside as if it want to step out.

Thankfully so, I was covered with visuals immediately after that so that helped me hide my fake smile. But that didn’t last for too long. Thirty seconds and I was told ‘cue’ again. This time, my hands shaking in a weird fashion, was that shivering? Oh yes! But did it show? Oh no! Thank God. I had almost forgotten how to feel nervous after school but this experience was good enough to remind of the bad old days.

I went on without paying attention to my dancing hands or shouting heartbeats. And sooner did I realize that I have become indifferent to it. Well, I have no special skills of ignoring what I wish to but the fact that I didn’t have the choice of running away from the studio – helped!

And you know, all of us have been blessed with an ability to find ways of hiding nervousness. Few speak faster, few go extremely slow, few start making weird faces and the rest of us smile too much :p No matter how much the sensex has lost or the global economy is crashing, my smile was my companion through out! Thank god there was no news of an air-crash or a bomb-blast that day.

Doing things for the first time is always very exciting. As much as you want to do it, you want to avoid it too and save yourself from the turmoil. Though I must add - What a lovely experience!

I am not Punjabi and I don't intend to be one. But that's no reason that I can't love Sarson da saag and Makai di roti. And if you love what I love, then learn how to make it.

Cooking this with Bhairav Singh, Chef at Nawab sahib, Renaissance, was a lot of fun. By the end, we also danced on Namaste London songs, which is ofcourse edited ;-)

Sarson Da saag, Makai di roti and Aaloo gud ka halwa!

A look at my blog makes me wonder that you must bewondering that this woman only wonders about movies! Wonderful but that's nottrue. My job extracts a lot more than just watching movies. Not that I mind it :P

Anyway, that includes walking on fire & glass,bending steel bars, breaking a wooden board. Supercool no?

Nah, I haven't joined any self-defense class yet. I have mastered that artalready ;-) It's a corporate training session by Priya Kumar. Now why would employees do allthese stunts?

To release mental stress, unblock constricted energy, creategreater sensitivity, enhance your relationships and add to your health.

Breaking the board with focus, bending the steel bar with commitment andwalking on the fire with confidence. I could do all the tasks except breaking the board. Does that say something? Yes, just that I need to work out :P Also, the focus is missing ;-)

Of all, I enjoyed firewalking the most. You must be wondering how can someone walk on the fire and come out unhurt?

Here it goes: "Fire is a tool of transformation. It is an element of prayer. Firewalkingconverts your fears into powers. When someone approaches a task, any task with fullattention, focus and intention, they emerge bigger than that task or situation. Butif they are not paying attention or are not focussed or approach lifeunintentionally then that is when accidents happen. Intention is a verypowerful tool in creation," Says Corporate Trainer Priya Kumar.

And all this is to go beyond your limits and overcome your FEARS. If you can walk on fire, there is practically nothing which you cannot do!

Watch this video till the end.

 By Kamiya Jani for Wealth

Increasing weight.
Don't wanna go gyming?
Indulge in swimming!

Fashion designer Meera Mittal hums this tune -- because she prefers swimming over any other fitness programme. She says, "I really enjoy it. No sweating and excessive fatigue as I have experienced when working out at the gym. I am out in the open and not in an air-conditioned environment."

However, it's not like she directly took up swimming. First, she tried the gym.

"My gym membership cost me Rs 23,000 for a year, which I eventually wasted. I did not enjoy the activity and ended up bunking a lot!"

She did not lose any weight. So, Meera literally wasted Rs 23,000. Besides, according to her, swimming is relatively easy on the joints and muscles and also keeps one fit and flexible.

Meera absolutely loves swimming and her never ending list of advantages says it all. "It also helps me relieve stress. It's more about learning and perfecting a skill as opposed to simply repeating movements on a machine. I'm sure you can tell I hate working out at the gym."

Yeah, that's evident!

Meera has been swimming for the past three months and she has already lost five kilogrammes. But there are no free lunches. Let's see how much she has spent already.

Many working professionals today seem to be on a fitness and health drive -- you only need a look at the gyms in your city today to realise that. Great, but do you know how much you are really spending on fitness drive? We decided to ask a few people and do some quick math.

She can spend any amount to lose weight!

NAME: Priyanka Jethwani
Age: 22
What Priyanka does: Process Executive at at MNC bank

Priyanka often looked at herself in the mirror and sulked at the fact that she was not slim enough to fit into that little black dress which her colleagues often wore on Saturdays.

So she decided to join a gymnasium.

She went to a well-known gym only to find the membership fees were exorbitant. "I had read advertisements of various gyms claiming how people lost 15 kilogrammes to 20 kilogrammes in no time. I wanted to try it out, but wasn't sure if these were just advertisements to promote themselves or the truth. I thought over it for a couple of days before investing Rs 15,000 for a year," says Priyanka.

Juggling between gym and work, Priyanka worked out for five months with no difference in her weight.

"It was not very encouraging to see the weighing machine stuck at the same number for five months. I was not sure whether I would lose weight, but continued going to gym since I had paid for the whole year."

Then came the realisation: working out is great but it needs to be supplemented with the right diet to get into the right shape. "It took a long time for me to realise that dieting is as important as working out. By dieting, I don't mean starving but eating the right kind of food," she says.

She also enlisted a personal trainer. He helped her shed about 6 kg in two months. She says, "It was all worth it!"

Priyanka spent around Rs 70,000 (that is 40 per cent of her annual income), to lose that 6 kg. Here's how;

Total amount spent in one year: Rs 69,625
Weight loss in one year: 6 kg
Cost of losing one kilogramme: Rs 11,604

That means Priyanka spent about Rs 11,000 to shed each kg!

That's the amount a person can survive on for a month; buy a new mobile phone or maybe an iPod, and use it for years!

Is spending Rs 1,000 per 100 grams really worth it?

"It did feel like a waste of money initially. Now, I think it is worth it. I know it is a bit too much. But if, at the end of the day, I look thinner and better, what more can I ask for?" smiles Priyanka.

She says life was hell for those few months when she was on a diet: "When I was cutting down on all my favourite food, I often wondered, is life only about looking good and not living it to the fullest? It was frustrating. I stopped going out for dinner with friends. I refrained from anything that might tempt me to eat fatty foods. But the results showed soon."

Let's check what Priyanka gave up for a hot bod:

Pizzas (Earlier, she would wake up to the smell of pizzas)
Rice (Her meal was incomplete without rice)
Potatoes (She thrived on them)
Chiken frankie (This was her evening snack)
Chinese food (She couldn't sleep without having Chicken Fried Rice and Chilly Chicken)
Egg yolk (She gifts herself only white egg now)
Value for money or not?
We asked fitness expert Leena Mogre whether this was really value for money. She says, "Going to the gym is not only about losing weight, but to stay fit. It should be part of your lifestyle. You brush your teeth and take a shower every day. Similarly, you must go to the gym every day."

We ask whether it is worth spending so much money at a gym. Mogre interrupts, "It is not spending, it is an investment you make for your health, to give you better returns tomorrow."

The story is not over yet!

It has been a year and three months since Priyanka has been working out. Over the last three months, she has gained the 3 kg she lost.

"My work pressure has increased because of which my workout schedules have been very irregular," says Priyanka.

That works out to Rs 15,000 spent over the last three months. And she has 3 kilogrammes added to show for it!

Priyanka now thinks there are smarter ways to save money:
i. Join a gym close to home or work
ii. Avoid extra costs, like frequent massages
iii. You don't need a personal trainer through the year.

What do YOU think? How much do you spend on your fitness? Do you think spending money on gyms is a necessary investment? Write to us , mentioning your name, age, profession and the city you reside in. We would love to hear from you!

Source: Wealth

Name: Omprakash Chaudhary (name withheld on request)
Age: 73
Where I live: Mumbai
What I do: I used to work in a steel company. Now, retired and resting.

IT'S been eight years since Chaudhary lost Rs 35 lakh at the stock market, but he is still recovering from the loss. "The only thing that's churning in my mind is, I need to recover the money somehow, and pay back all creditors," he says. He had no idea how the markets work.

But his younger brother Narayan made good money. So why not him?

The first investment
In 1996, when Chaudhary was 62-years old, he made his first investment of Rs 40,000. He invested in Wipro, Infosys, Associated Cement Companies (ACC) and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL).

"This was my strategy -- buy shares in the morning and as the price shot up, sell it the same day before the clock strikes 3.30 pm." His highest one day profit was Rs 30,000. This obviously encouraged him to invest more. It worked well for him. His younger brother, on the other hand, had invested for long term. He hardly did any day to day trading

The crash
"In 1999-2000, the IT sector went bust and I made huge losses. I would buy shares blindly and sell them in the evening. This habit was a big mistake. I was suffering a loss every day. Worse, I would sell it off before the markets closed."

Bogus companies
"My younger son would hear the buzz in the market. Little did he know that bogus companies called 'Ahmedabadi companies' were doing the rounds. It seems the promoters were from Ahmedabad and they knew the drawbacks of the stock market."

"We would buy their shares when the rates had already increased. Then suddenly, these companies would shut down and take off with all the stocks from the market," he shares. Chaudhary had already lost Rs 10 lakh.

Borrowing to invest
Then came a time when he realised there was no money left to invest. "I started borrowing money from others to recover my losses. This did not help. By then, I owed Rs 25 lakh." He borrowed Rs 20 lakh from his younger brother and Rs 5 lakh from a friend. By now, his creditors refused to lend him more money. Today, he is 73 and still trying to pay back his creditors. He has not been able to return his debt to any of his creditors.

Is the stock market for rich people?
Chaudhary believes that investing in equities is a good idea for those who have lots of money. So, even if you lose, there is no problem.

Chaudhary is now back to the stock market with a ray of hope in his heart. He has invested in two stocks -- Rana Sugar and Maharaja Shree -- but their prices have reduced to half in the last two years.

He does not favour his sons getting into the stock market. He says, "The stock market is no different than gambling!"

We spoke to Yogesh Chabbria, founder of GSIFS.com about Chaudhary and his first thought was that Chaudhary viewed the stock market as a gamble and not an investment. Well, here is Yogesh advice.

Rule number 1: No day trading
It is a proven fact that those who indulge in day trading, either lose lots of money or they go bankrupt.

For any company to prove itself, it takes at least two years. If you are a farmer who wants to grow mangoes, you sow mango seeds on your farm. Next day, your friend tells you oranges will do better. You replace the mango seeds with orange seeds.

The day after, another friend suggests apples are the best bet. So you sow apple seeds.

In the process, all your money is spent on seeds, fertilisers and other raw materials with no fruit at all. To enjoy fruits, you will have to wait for at least two years.

To cut a long story short, day trading has not done anything better for anyone.

Rule number 2: Invest in knowledge
All you need to get into stock market is basic common sense. Buy stocks of a company only if you see their products on streets.

If you are planning to invest in a Maruti car, check whether there are Maruti cars running on the streets. If people like the product, it means the company will do good and will give good returns.

Since Chaudhary was working in a steel company, he could have any steel company because he has the knowledge of the same. Cement and steel is definitely required for so many constructions coming up.

Use simple logic and invest in companies you have heard of. People try hard finding companies. Invest in simple companies whose operations you can easily understand.

Rule number 3: Ignore rumours!
If you are confident about the company you have invested in, leave it. Ignore rumours.

Rule number 4: You do not need crores
It's a myth that you need lots of money to start investing. If Chaudhary had stayed invested with Rs 10,000 in Infosys in the beginning, today it would have been worth nearly a crore."

Similarly, today, even if you are investing a small amount in a company you are confident of, it is sure to grow a lot more after ten years.

Rule number 5: Get professional help
Often, in the haste to get rich fast, we lose patience and make some wrong decisions. Remember, there is always a doctor for your finances, whose advice is medicine for your money.

The choice is yours!

Source: Wealth

By Kamiya Jani, Moneycontrol.com

Rahul Mallhotra bought a mobile phone for his 14year-old son so that he could be in touch with him whenever required. But today he realises that the mobile phone is affecting his son's life as a whole. He spends more time talking on the phone or sending text messages rather than with his family.

Kids often try to sweet-talk their parents into buying cell phones on grounds of safety and convenience. But face it! What kids really want to do is text-message their friends, download music or play games.