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Tuesday 31 May 2016

Why critical illness insurance is important and which one is the best?

Turning 30 is an amazing feeling! You are earning can can fulfill all those dreams of yours! It’s that stage of your life where you strive to bring out a balance between your personal and professional life. Despite your professional achievements, the work pressure, the increasing fast-paced life and hectic or unhealthy lifestyles can take a toll on your health and may lead to critical illnesses. With consistent work stress and anxiety, youngsters are becoming the targets of critical illnesses like heart diseases, cancer and kidney.

Apart from the physical and mental turmoil there’s also high a financial turmoil, a critical illness insurance plan creates a backup plan to cover all your critical illness expenses.  A basic health insurance policy  might  not provide enough cover for all the financial losses you may face because a terminal illness will not just require hospitalization cost but you may need certain costs for advanced treatments. It’s not just that but you may not be able to earn  for at least 6 months because that is the time you may need to completely recover and get back to work.  Your bills, emis, expenses will increase but your income will pause for few months.

However, a critical illness plan not only ensures that the hospital charges, follow up check ups, advanced treatments, it also covers the  loss of income you face while you are recovering. Unlike a Mediclaim policy that reimburses the hospitalization costs, critical illness insurance gives you a lump-sum amount on the diagnosis  itself.  

Another major benefit is that it is both cost-effective and convenient and the waiting period is less  than 30 days . There are various critical illness riders and stand alone plans in the market. Few standalone plans only cover cancer while a plan like Edelweiss Tokio Life – CritiCare+ covers 17 critical illnesses. It provides a lump-sum benefit on diagnosis of any of  the critical illnesses pre- listed in the policy document, some of which also include an organ transplant, cancer, major burns, chronic kidney disease etc. Apart from covering 17 major critical illnesses it provides a multi claim option under which the policyholder can claim thrice. So if the policy holder is diagnosed by a second critical illness then he/she  can claim again. Also after the first claim the future premiums will be waived off understanding that you are not in a position to pay future premiums after a critical illness. 

This insurance plan is designed in such a manner that it can help the policyholder to bounceback financially from a critical illness. It’s one of the best critical illness insurance plan available in the market.

Monday 30 May 2016

The Scotch, Music and Party

Music is the best companion for anyone who is alone but did you ever wonder what the best companion is for these singers and musicians when they are alone? Yes for many of them who like drinking it is scotch. Drinking is never bad when done in limit and it can be best enjoyed when you are just looking for some good time with nice melody playing in background.

Anushka and Nakul
During the 2nd event of USL Diageo’s #LoveScotch moment, we bloggers got chance to meet and interact with former VJ, a model and now the young singing face of Indian music industry Anushka Manchanda and renowned mind reading expert Nakul Shenoy. The fun and interactive event took place in The Permit room followed by the amazing Arbor Brewery in Bengaluru. The event started with stylish Anushka Manchanda getting behind the bar at Permit room with her other guest partner Nakul. They were assisted by United Spirits Reserve Brand Ambassador Andrew Qadri in making some exotic cocktails. First it was Anushka’s turn to try her hands on making cocktails and she decided to make iconic Johnnie Walker Black Label based cocktail West Coast Julep. We got to see her excitement even in doing this, the same we see when she is on stage performing or doing playback singing. Then it was turn of Nakul and he decided to make Sunset Cinnamon cocktail with Black Dog Black Reserve.


Getting set to make cocktails
Now it was time for us to get sense of what these celebrity guests like to drink and why scotch is their first love when it comes to drinking. For Anushka it is Johnnie Walker Black Label that is her favorite and she loves to enjoy it with her father who has same taste when it comes to Whisky. Vat69 is favorite brand for Nakul and he gets a totally different feeling when he gets chance to drink it alone or with anyone else. As per him one should try to enjoy drinking doesn’t matter how one is drinking and with whom one is drinking. When I asked about what her future plans are when it comes to singing and balancing it with her modeling and reality shows, Anushka said Singing is  her first and only love now and many more things are coming up from her in near future.


Doing it passionately like his mind reading work 
This was followed by cocktail making session in Arbor brewery with 100s of Bengalurueans enjoy their sip on a Friday night and we were some privileged ones who got to party with these celebrities and also got chance to get snapped with them. We got to drink 4 signature #LoveScotch cocktails, Black and White: Orange and Mint Julep, Black Dog Black Reserve: Sunset Cinnamon, Red Label: The Red Label Mule and Black Label: West Coast Julep.

Scotch collection that we all love
The #LoveScotch movement has finally got wings now and it is one of the unique experience for us to witness the love people have for scotch in Bengaluru and through social media we can guess that this love is wide spread all over India. Through this movement we are just trying to bring the love for scotch on to the surface, the love that is hidden deep inside in some corner of our hearts.

Here is the link to my post on 1st #LoveScotch event and all the tweets for this event can be accessed at #LoveScotch

Monday 23 May 2016

Love Scotch and Live Happy

I have been drinking for last 5-6 years regularly but I have never been bothered about whether it was whiskey or scotch or vodka and I am sure there are many like me when it comes to consuming alcohol. Every drink has its own charm and appeal. On occasion of World Whiskey day i was invited for #LoveScotch campaign by USL-Diageo at Shangri-La Hotel Bangalore and after been into this event my perspective about drinking has changed a bit. It is not just about drinking and getting high and relaxed, it is the smoothness and the aroma of what you drink that also matters. After seeing Scotch being favorite of so many celebrities and bloggers, even I believe that yes Scotch has to be different from other alcohols. 

Welcome On-board
Now to talk about the event, it had every ingredient to make it a fun weekend for many of us. It had celebrities and bloggers and most importantly some newly launched scotch cocktails that we bloggers got to taste first hand. Night started with bloggers getting full access to the celebrities that came for launch event. Celebrity list included Bollywood actor and Bengaluru boy Dino Morea, young Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda who is gaining popularity very quickly through his movies like Highway and Sarabjit, the forever young and glamorous model and TV presenter Mandira Bedi and internationally acclaimed Canadian model and writer Coco Rocha. 





           

                 
We got chance to ask questions to all these celebs and they were equally frank and friendly in answering those for us. Questions ranging from their drinking habits to their personality and fitness. Questions like why scotch is their personal favorite alcohol? How they love to have scotch, on the rocks or otherwise? What is second most preferred drink for them after scotch? How they are able to maintain fitness in such absolute way. Some of the answers were amusing and some were frank. Like as per Randeep Hooda you should always have a companion to drink else the essence of drinking gets lost somewhere and yes his all-time favorite is Black Dog or Kala Kutta as he prefers to call it. For whiskey love Coco Rocha It is Johnnie Walker Black label scotch any day. There were many fashion bloggers who got style tips from Coca Rochha and Mandira Bedi. 





This interactive session was followed by another interactive stage session among celebrities about why scotch is so much loved and what type of scotch they prefer. Single malt scotch is 1st love for Mandira Bedi and how she and her father use to enjoy it every time they get together. Randeep Hooda is big fan of Black Dog like many other. Coco Rocha and Dino Moria were on agreement that giving Big Scotch bottle as gift is wonderful choice to make someone happy. This was followed by launch of special Scotch collections

Debating the Love for Scotch


Randeep and Dino then took charge of bar and made special cocktails themselves for the lovely ladies with them and this was last part of the launch event at Hotel but only for us to move to our next stop.



Then it was time for Bengaluru Pub crawling and bloggers and celebrities reached to Skyye bar in UB city and some other scotch cocktails were made by celebrities for each other. The same was followed in Sancho’s restaurant in UB city and that marked the end of super fun Saturday night for all of us.




Loved the use of hashtag inside bar #LoveScotch

The 4 awesome cocktails we got to taste
As per Diageo’s Chief Executive, Ivan Menezes, “We live in exciting times for the Scotch whisky category. Whether it’s served as an Old Fashioned in South Africa or as a Manhattan in New York, the continuing success of Scotch is built on its quality, integrity, and authenticity and we are confident that Scotch will continue to be the world’s favourite whisky for many years to come.” Most of world’s best scotches are with Diageo including BLACK DOG, VAT 69, BLACK  & WHITE, JOHNNIE WALKER™, HAIG CLUB™, BUCHANAN’S™, SINGLETON, LAGAVULIN™ AND TALISKER™ are crafted by a handful of highly skilled men and women who select only the very best whiskies from 29 distilleries and millions of maturing casks. 

Just as conclusion this was one hell of an event for many of us where we not only got access to meet celebrities but also got chance to taste some super awesome cocktails and got to hear from celebrities why scotch has to be the best drink for many of us. It was a Page 3 story type party for all of us and Love Scotch movement will continue for weeks to come. At last just want to say two words for those people who don't drink... "Bad luck" :) 

I drink to make other people more interesting. ― Ernest Hemingway

You can find all the tweets for this event at #LoveSctoch .

Wednesday 11 May 2016

The Horlicks Immunity Indiblogger Meetup - How immune our kids are?

Indiblogger meetups are something different each time and the Horlicks #Immunity4Growth meetup was no exception. On Sunday, we Bangalore bloggers were invited to Hotel Taj Vivanta for meetup sponsored by Horlicks and hosted by Indiblogger. Horlicks, one of the most famous health product brand in India has launched its enhanced health drink with added micro nutrients as compare to its current health product in market for kids.

Pass to Get going 
The meetup started with keynote address from Jill Castle, a well know Nutritionist, dietitian and blogger who explained about various aspects related to immunity needed for kids these days, how much nutrition is required to provide that immunity and actually how much the kids are getting through food and various health products. Her presentation was focused on children from age 7 to 14 who are probably more vulnerable to lack of nutrients. The statistics shared by her were appalling for a country like India. 


As per the statistics, the presence of micro nutrients and vitamins in normal diet of many school going kids in India is not enough for their growth. Adding to this worry was growing dominance of western food culture in Indian families especially on kids. She also explained about how many kids look healthy from outside but are actually not robust from inside due to lack of proper micro nutrients and vitamins.

IMRB Survey Data
The second session was presented by Amaan Khan, head of marketing at GSK. This was pertaining to brand Horlicks and how Horlicks is evolving itself to cater the need of making our children healthy and immune to various diseases. He explained about new Product from Horlicks having 2X immuno-nutrients and what forced Horlicks to come with this product that has paired the gap of some nutrition’s in earlier Horlicks products. In the new health product of Horlicks the ratio of Vitamin D and Selenium has been increased to 100% like other already existing micro nutrients. As per him this 2X approach of increasing presence of micro nutrients will help children become more immune. Horlicks is also trying to put more focus on rural areas through various campaigns to make people aware about how much immunity is necessary for kid’s growth and much is actually getting served through their food. Horlicks has launched new TV ad showcasing how much a mother sacrifice to make her child healthy and how Horlicks is helping them in this endeavor.



After some wonderful insights from Amaan Khan, it was time for panel discussion that had Jill Castle, Amaan Khan, Doctor Hegde from Apollo Hospital and a lady Nutritionist. The topic for discussion was again based on IMRB survey results done by various agencies about immunity level in Indian kids and role of micro nutrients in developing it.


The event ended with Quiz having questions based on the details shared during the presentations and winners were awarded by Indiblogger team.


Oh yes, there was yummy food too as in every Indiblogger meet and as I always believe that good food is the best way to end any day for a good sleep and a better next day morning and Indiblogger always takes care of this thing :). 

Some images credit to Indiblogger Facebook page and all the tweets for this event can be found here.