Munni of all Trades

Award winning Lifestyle and Travel Blog by Khushboo Motihar

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When Dad dared to take the #WashBucketChallenge

When I think of my mom, I think of an octopus. An Octopus? You must be thinking I am mad. But no, I truly think of an octopus. You see, my mom also has eight hands one tending to me and my sister, the other to juggle her housework, yet another one to cook, to take care of my grandparents, to the laundry and you get the picture. Unlike an octopus, her hands are imaginary which means two things:

  • She is always stressed out
  • She works way too hard for her age
My dad, on the other hand, is like a bear someone like Winnie the Pooh who lazes around on the weekends and enjoys honey. So one day all the women in our family i.e. my sister, my mom and I decided to unite against him and practice guerilla warfare. We attacked him from three fronts:
  • Emotional: “Mom gets so tired after during the laundry. Look at her” (at this point of time mom made sad puppy faces)
  • Daredevil: (When he made no move) “Men, they are idiots. Do you think they would DARE to take the #WashBucketChallenge? They will mess it up badly”
  • Technical: (When he seemed interested) “Dad operating a washing machine and getting the detergent to clothes ratio is damn complicated. Mom uses a special formula and all daily. Plus all those buttons on the washing machine; they are really difficult to master.”
 
At this point of time, he was so charged up that he immediately got up and grabbed his ally Ariel to start doing the laundry.
We high fived each other and watched for the first time in the history of our family, a man washing the clothes.
 
I am sure these photographs will give you a much better idea of this historic event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to Pause: A wonderful day at Pause Vineyards

On 27thof Feb, instead of grumbling and making faces, I woke up with a big smile at 5 in the morning. Oh yes! I was all set to press the pause button in my life and unwind at the Pause Winery in Nashik! A bus full of fellow bloggers and journalists came to pick me up at from Thane and we were off.

After a four long drive where I chit chatted non stop, we finally reached the Dindoshi for a press meet. In an interactive and engaging session, we were told about Pause Wines and its history.

Get to know Pause Vineyard better

Nestled in the lush green environs of Dindori near Nasik are the vineyards. Set on around 100 acres of land, the vineyards are owned and promoted by ‘Patil Farms’. The farms are sun-kissed throughout the year and well appointed to nurture the best varieties of wine grapes. The red taterictic soil found here is well drained. It is interspersed with tiny gravels, which help the vine roots to grow deeper and extract rich micronutrients found only deep in the soil.


The vineyards are located in close proximity to the backwaters of the Karanjwan dam, which wrap the vineyards from 3 sides- North, East and South. This envelops the entire terrain in micro-climatic ambience that creates a cooling effect for the wines. The maximum temperature observed here in summer is 32C and minimum temperature in winter is 8C. This wide temperature difference along with the soil conditions and ample sunshine ensures fast and optimum maturity of grapes imparting fruity aromas and freshness to the wine. Moreover, this region is known to have the best terrain in India to grow grapevines.

To ensure premium quality wines, the quality process is ensured right from the stage of selecting the rootstock. The rootstock is selected on the basis of the soil condition and soil testing report from a reputable French nursery. The soil ripping procedure is conducted before planting the roots and only organic manure is used as nutrient source for the wines.
The winery boasts of state art technology and equipments.  The wine making process is a tedious task and needs to be done under controlled conditions. Optimum hygiene and clean processes are used in making the wine. This is what gives rise to the quality standards of our wines.

What did we do at Pause Vineyards?


Definitely have loads of fun for starters! Post our briefing enjoyed a sumptuous lunch and sampled some of the wines from our backward. They were delicious I must say!
To liven things up, the wineyard had set up a fun shamiana for all of us where we learnt about the process of making wine, sampled sweet grapes and got an opportunity to crush them, too.

It was at around 8 that all of us, tipsy on wine and happiness, made our way to our buses and bid farewell to this lovely day. It was definitely one of the most memorable experiences for me and I would like to extend my thanks to Pause Vineyards for inviting me over J

A review of Asus Zenfone 5 in photos!

Asus sent over the Zenfone 5 to me to review for a period of 14 incredible days. Here’s what my family got to say about #MyAsusZenFone in photographs! (after all each of them is worth a thousand words, no?) 😀 Hope you enjoy it!


Now as you know every person has some or the other expectations from their smartphones. So my entire family decided to list theirs out and see whether at the end of 14 days Zenfone was able to fulfill all of them.

I had the phone for the first three days. Here’s what I felt about it.

My mom’s opinion J

What my sister has got to say!

Dad write about the Zenfone!

What about Day 13 and 14 you ask! Well the entire family was fighting like cats and dogs to use the Zenfone one last time.

So were our expectations fulfilled? Hell, yes!

Happy Socks’ Snoop Dogg Collab + Giveaway

Socks make me happy and Happy socks make me happiest. Their vibrant colours and cool designs can brighten up anyone’s day and they look damn stylish, too. In fact, I tend to roam around in them around my house because I can stand to wear my boring flip flops.


Recently, Happy Socks collaborated with Snoop Dogg for a limited edition collection, The Art of Inspiration. Here’s what Snoop Dogg has got to say, 

“For many years, I’ve always wanted to paint, and I’ve been exploring the craft behind the scenes. I find that painting allows me to explore certain emotions I’ve never been able to express through my music or acting,” said Snoop Dogg. “The collaboration with Happy Socks is so natural, because they saw what I was doing and provided me with another platform to further display my artistic abilities.”
Always a fashion trendsetter, Snoop Dogg encountered Happy Socks last year and immediately included the patterned pairs into his everyday rotation. Quickly picking up on his love for Happy Socks, the Swedish brand began organically working with Snoop Dogg and his creative team Cashmere Agency, to cultivate this intriguing new partnership.
Have a look at this collection

Now wouldn’t it be lovely if you could get your hands on these socks? Well, Happy Socks is all set to fulfill your wish.
Two of my readers can win a pair of Happy Socks! Isn’t that amazing?
And a Rs. 300 gift voucher each! (The vouchers are sponsored by Munni of all Trades)
Here is what you need to do to participate
Like Happy Socks on Facebook: www.facebook.com/happysocksindia
Follow them on Twitter: https://twitter.com/happysocksindia
Share this giveaway on Facebook/ Twitter tagging Munni of all Trades (@kbmotihar) and Happy Socks
Optional entries
Comment on posts of your choice
Like Munni of all Trades on Facebook and Follow kbmotihar on Twitter.

The Last Ten Percent: Book Review

Marketing was one of the important components of my graduate studies and from day one Philip Kotler was our guru. We would pore away his case studies, mug up the theories and carry the big fat book with great pride. When I got an opportunity to review TGC Prasad’s book, The last ten percent, I was intrigued and the minute I got my hands on it, I started reading it. Before I tell you my thoughts about the book, let’s have a look at the synopsis of the book.

About the book
The Last Ten Percent by  author TGC Prasad throws light on how to convert every customer engagement into a unique opportunity. This book provides an analysis on customer service and management. A knowhow on how to sell and service customers, take care of the employees and thus improve customer centricity. This is a book for all companies who want to improve customer service thus translating into great customer experience. In this book he has given example of few well known brands like Starbucks, Nestle etc. All in all a meaningful and suggestive book on how to provide a fab customer experience, why are a few companies better than the others and what sets them apart.
My review
The Last Ten Percent believes that many companies fail to give the perfect experience to a consumer by not taking into consideration the last ten percent. The author gives two case studies from his life to illustrate the same. Once the concept has been established, one is taken through case studies of Wal Mart, Rent a Car, Nestle and many others and tries to focus on things they have gotten right. For example Rent A Car just asks two simple questions to their consumer to know whether his or her experience has been smooth; they have to answer
 How would you rate your last Enterprise experience? 2. Would you rent from Enterprise again?
Two simple questions that help this enterprise get genuine feedback and understand the problems a person may have faced or the things that might have pleased them.
All these demonstrate how exactly they have delivered the “Last 10 per cent” of excellent customer service. After all, they believe in creating a loyal customer base.
This book also details on various steps companies can take to ensure that they go that extra mile to keep their customers happy.  
The best part about this book is that it is a very light and easy read. It summarizes maximum points in very few words and it is suitable for professionals as well as students. So if you are looking to know learn how to go that extra mile to make your customers happy, you should definitely pick this book up.