My erstwhile feminist daughter has now turned over a new leaf. Well, this is solely my personal view when I read her mail that she has finally decided to change her last name after marriage. She said, “Momma, I think it is a silly issue debating whether to retain one’s maiden name or not to. After all, like a rose you call me by any name I will be just as sweet!”

I wonder if Bard would have approved of her comparisons. But I would rather worry about her running to and forth the passport office in Kolkata where she is currently than fancying about Bard. However, getting your name and address changed in passport is no longer a big task. You can apply online and then just submit the necessary documents either in person or by speed post.

I was thinking of a girl who after getting married was to settle abroad. I wondered if she after moving out of India were to get her name changed what she would do. Well, there wouldn’t be a need to fly back home thanks to Sahara Care House. All that a person needs to do in order to get changes (such as name after marriage) is get in touch with Sahara Care House and hand them the copies of relevant documents and the processing fee to be submitted at the passport office. For a small service charge they will facilitate the whole process and you will have your passport with your new name!
Ah, but your passport will (I hope) smell as sweet!

It is during old age that parents need their children the most. However, more often than not they are left on their own to struggle with diseases and frailty that comes along with age. Sometimes children actually abandon their parents and at other times they hardly have a choice. I realize this well because when R and I left India, we did not want to get away from our family. It is just that sometimes we are left with no choices.

Having settled in the UK for more than two decades, I know how an NRI worries about home. In our days we did not have as much facilities that we have now. We did not have those weekly video chats or voice chats. We simply dropped in letters and waited patiently for replies all the while brooding over if all was fine back home.

However, times have changed. Sahara Care House is indeed a Care House, true to its name. It offers a bouquet of services for NRIs which ensures that their dear ones in India are well taken care of. Be it their health check ups or looking into legal matters or buying a property!

Thank you Sahara Care House for taking away the guilt pangs and helping us take care of our family!

For more information on services provided by Sahara Care House please visit: http://www.saharacarehouse.com

While this track by Dido plays in my music system in the drawing room, I get into a contemplative mood.

Bags have been packed to be unpacked later. What a chore! The singer says she is ready to go. But are you?

My daughter and son in law are moving out of their parents' house. They have decided to have their own little nest. Living on your own has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Before we get there however, we must make the MOVE!

Moving out means preparing, packing, moving in and unpacking! It is not surprising that I am flooded with her 'Mom-I-am-freaking-out' mails! Well, when someone coined that saying, 'Since God could not be everywhere he made mother', he must have definitely had me in mind! The only remorse I have is that my daughter on the other hand thinks although even Mommy can’t be everywhere GOD made SUPER MOMs! I am not too happy to be announcing that I am one of those.

To help her out of her woes, I tried to find all help that I could. Finally I settled down to Sahara Care House. It literally is a care house. Whether you have to move within the city or to another city, it offers a great solution for transporting all your belongings in parts at a very affordable cost.

The biggest turn on is that they help you right from packing your luggage to arranging transport and then the actual moving. In addition they also help you unpack and settle down.

Sahara Care House has definitely relieved me of my worries. Having recommended Sahara Care House’s services to her I can patiently mail recipes to my daughter for her house warming parties. You see super Moms do it all, from movers to crackers (albeit the ones you eat!).

Sahara Care House is an endeavor of Sahara India Pariwar to ease the burden off the Indians staying over seas. More often than not when one of us leaves India, we have not only left behind our childhood and youth but also a web of social ties and relationships.

There are many times when all that can be done from far away is a phone call. Be it your mother suffering from high blood pressure or your diabetic grand father, it is a daunting task to fix their appointments let alone accompany them to the doctors when you are not there.

Just to lend you a helping hand, Sahara Care House offers a variety of Health Care Services. Keeping in mind the dilemmas and worries that NRIs face in relation to the health of their parents/guardians or other loved ones, Sahara Care House has come forward with its services designed with lot of love and care. Sahara Care House has 249 centers and its network spans 197 cities in India. In addition it has tie up with 2020 hospitals.

With a workforce of 3500 dedicated Relationship Ambassadors and a name you can trust on, SCH becomes your sibling who will shoulder your responsibilities with the same sense of respect and caring.

There are 3 main categories of Health Services
# 24/7 medical emergency facility: Ensures that emergency health care is accessible at all times to your family in India.
# Individual Healthcare Service: This category includes services ranging from getting a lab investigating done, to availing medicines or even arranging an ambulance.
# Preventive Health Care Packages: These packages are specifically designed to ensure a regular check up. It can range from Diabetes Care plan or Regular Health Check up plan or Child Care Plan and more.

What is important is availing these services is very convenient. You can just get in touch with Sahara Care House either by logging on to Sahara Care House or calling them on a toll free number.

For more information you can call them up at the following toll free numbers:

I am planning to take up Creative Writing Course at University of Illinois. They call it MFA- Masters in Fine Arts. Having prepared to sit for GRE was in itself a big task. It is not a joke to think of going back to studies after more than two decades! One must not however forget, where there is a will there is a way.

So, thanks to the will, I am now soon going to take my test. Just when I was looking at the application form, I realized I will need all my transcripts of B.Sc (Honours) from Calcutta University and an M.A from Delhi University.

While thinking of whom to turn to with my request I was left clueless. No one would oblige me with going to colleges one in Kolkata (St. Xavier’s) and one in Delhi (St. Stephens) to collect transcripts. They would rather suggest taking an appointment with a counselor. 'You want to study now.... You just married off your daughter....' and more of such expressions.

In such a time, Sahara Care House appears to be a savior. I read about their services at http://www.saharacarehouse.com. I have come to understand that On my request for transcript, they will apply for Marks Transcripts service at both the universities and obtain the document on my behalf. All I need to do is furnish them the attested copies of relevant documents.

I will let you know how the whole thing goes. Given my past experience I think I will be blogging from University of Illinois soon!

You might be far away from India and yet need to file your tax returns. It may be for yourself or your family members. In such a case what do you do?

Turn to family members for help?

Make arrangement with agents when you visit India?

Or worry?

Well, it is time to sit back and relax. You no longer need to make all those long phone calls to ensure that your Mama filed your returns or get frustrated over why your agent needs yet another document to be scanned and sent to India.

Sahara Care House steps in with its personalized Tax Filing facility in India. All you need to do is request for the service through the website (http://www.saharacarehouse.com). Then you can be assured that the taxes to be filed either for yourself or for someone in India will be done smoothly.

Sahara Care House employs reputed Chartered Accountants and tax experts. These skilled professionals will offer you solutions for any kind of tax requirements.

More importantly Sahara Care House offers personalized services. Undoubtedly everyone comes with a different need. Sahara Care house will address the individual need and assist you in all your tax related issues.

Sahara Care House can become your single point source for anything under the 'tax' be it tax assessment or tax auditing. The service is of great advantage for Non-Resident Indians and their beneficiaries in India who seek both convenience and efficiency in filing of income and personal taxes.

You can either be a member or order the service request as a guest through the company's web site.

The month of March then ideally becomes what it should have been all about!

I have recieved many queries after I posted about my daughter's marriage. Through this post I will try and address the questions regarding my experience with Sahara Care House and the event management they offer.
Who they are?
Sahara Care House is a leading NRI service portal of India. It helps NRIs to strengthen their relationship with family members living in India.
What they offer?

The company's event management services are not just limited to arranging weddings. They offer a wide variety of services which include arranging birthday parties, weddings and even theatre tickets!

The portfolio of services actually extends beyond family occasions.
For those who are looking for organizing non-family events such as conferences or farewell parties or a product launch can get their services from Sahara Care house.

How it works?

On receiving a request, the Sahara Relationship Ambassador gets in touch with the nearby service provider to get the quotation details. It is important to note here, that they only go ahead with the bookings with the service provider once it is approved by you (the client).

To avail these services, one can register and become a Gold Member/Silver Member or just be a Guest. Each category has an advantage of its own.

The month of march approaches.

Spring means different things to different people. For some it is the season for love and poetry and for some it is the time for filing tax returns.

I remember when it was the first time that I had to file for returns, I had been nervous, flustered and terrified. I had been cursing myself for having opened so many bank accounts. I had a difficult time getting all my bank passbooks updated in between my job, calculating the profit I had made in the stock exchange and the gift income that my parents had given me as a wedding gift.

Preparing all documents itself was pretty taxing. Things had changed with time and I was more at ease than before. However, I got a request from my daughter who is now married in India, that she wanted to file her income tax. I told her the money we gifted her was tax free. But she said, she understood nothing in India, and had no courage to go out and do anything. So I should help!!

I just posted an order through Sahara Care house which happens to be a single point source for tax filing and tax assessment. I think the first time we file for tax it might appear as a mammoth task. It can be done, and to make it simpler we have services like Sahara Care house offers. It will guide you and assist you to plan your income tax.

Hmm, that adds to your dowry! I had chirped on phone when V had called me up early in the morning today... And yes, she went mad at the word, dowry!!

More later, lest I risk her getting mad at me ONLINE.

Neither me nor my R (my hubby) have a very religious bent of mind. However, last summer when we had gone to Swiss for a holiday, we met few Europeans who had commented : "You must have been to Himalaya!".

We forgot that comment at that time, while we spent our days in the Swiss Chalet, watching the lovely Alps and indulging in a rosti and fondue. That summer my friend N had gone to India to accompany her parents to 'tirtha yatra' religious visits. She had gone to Amarnath. Even before I could scoff of religious scams like illegal entries to Amarnatha and the decreasing size of the Linga, she showed me the wonderful pictures. The lake and the mountains, I was awestruck.

Me and R have been thinking of taking a tour to Srinagar and Amarnath this summer. We were enquiring N all the details so that we could make arrangements. Not having someone back home who will book a nice tour seemed such a road block. It was then I went back to Sahara Care House's site to see if they offered any help.

Hurra, I have got a nice plan. There is a 6 nights plan which suits me perfectly. A visit to Srinagar- a night in the boat house (remember Kashmir kee kali), then breeze through Sonmarg,reach Baltal where we base for two days (over night in tent), visit Amarnath, back to Baltal (over night in TENTS!!), then off to Gulmarg and Srinagar and the luxurious house boat night again.

And it is so easy, just a click away and my perfect holiday destination coupled with a Tirtha Yatra, which I guess after my daugther's shaadi my mom in law would have wanted me to take on!!

Okay, here is the Editor's Errata note for all my readers.

Kishor Biyani, God bless him, had ONLY mentioned cha-mosa concept in his book, It happened in India. For my dear friends who made their days and nights ONE (as they say back home!!) in trying to locate cha-mosa express, I can only offer sympathy along with apology. I hope Kishor would sooner than later have these delightful kiosks running.

Now as a part two, of cha-mosa, I intend to high light few things in life- essential but in convenient!

Like having to put up with work and kitchen back home. However, things have been made simpler for the superwoman! Frozen food, or a quick grab in Mc. D. The veggies which have been diced for you ready for the TADKA.. It is the age of pre portioned coffee (the nespresso capsules), the thawed pizza and everything falls in place just in a jiffy.

Now would we not all want a Bahadur who will oblige with pleasure all duties like posting that odd letter or getting the clothes from the dhobi and well doing your grocery!!!

I have discovered that Sahara Care house, actually is a very caring helping hand. I wish I had known about its services earlier. My mother-in-law, who would not move to the States with us, would have been a happier woman, had I subscribed to SCH to relieve her of doing her regular grocery shopping.

Nevertheless, I think Sahara Care House's utility package, is really worth looking into, if you have your parents/old relatives back home. It would be a nice gesture from your side and make their lives slightly easier.