Fruit Salad Candle

Materials

• Large glass jar
• Paraffin wax chunks
• Candle Gel
• Wick

Method

Fix the wick in the centre of the glass jar with the help of a hot glue. Arrange different coloured paraffin wax chunks in the container (pink, yellow, orange coloured chunks to get more reality). Heat the gel in a pan up to a high temperature, but let it cool about a 50 degrees. If the gel is too hot it will melt the paraffin chunks. Of you can give different look, with colour bleeding chunks.

Pour the gel over the chunks. You can use short wick which can be placed in the gel candle. Keep it undisturbed to get cool.

Glass Painting

Glass Painting

Materials :

Square Glass piece
M- seal (A paste used for sealing cracks and leaks)
Glass paint
Thinner
Glue
Brushes
Aluminum foil
Boldly traced design
Talcum powder.

Method:
First a traced design is placed on the table and the plain glass is placed above the design, so that the design is clearly seen through the glass. Now mix the two coloured pastes of the mseal in equal proportion to get a wax finish. With the help of talcum powder roll the dough (Mseal Mixture) into thin and even strings. This string is stuck with glue over the glass on the outline of the trace which is kept under the glass and allowed to dry.
When it dries colour it with black glass paint.

Before you start painting the colour, test your shades on the corner of the glass and wipe it off with the thinner. The colour choice should be perfect because the stained glass paint gets dried up fast and the correction cannot be done easily. While painting, the colour blending should be done quickly and carefully. When the whole painting and the mseal border gets dried, remove the trace. Now place a crushed aluminum foil behind the picture and get it framed.

HEALTH TIPS

• To avoid diseases like hepatitis and Typhoid, eat 5 basil leaves everyday.

• For tooth ache, keep a clove on the affected area.

• Have a mixture of gingelly oil and egg, for 3 days, for menstrual disorders.

• You will get a great relief from menstrual pain , if you have a gooseberry daily.

• Boil the leaf of Malabar nut, squeeze its juice and add egg white. It subsides cough.

• Eat the powder of dried ginger and cumin with sugar for relief from cough.

• Have the mixture of mustard paste and honey for good relief from cough.

• For a good relief from cough, mix equal quantities of basil juice, honey and ajwain juice and drink on an empty stomach.

• Are you suffering from urinary infection? Drink a glassful of water with a pinch of cardamom powder.

• Chew some cumin and sugar for relief from stomach pain.

• Have a mixture of lemon juice and honey when you are suffering from cold.

• If you have bad breath, drink at least five glasses of water in the morning.

• Stop nose bleeds by putting a few drops of pomegranate juice into your nostrils.

• For nagging cough and chest congestion, boil 3 cups of water with 2 fresh betel leaves and 4 crushed peppercorns, till the water is reduced to half. Strain and drink every morning and night with a teaspoon of honey.

• For relief from toothache.. Take two basil leaves, a grain of salt and a pinch of pepper powder and press against the affected tooth.

• For minor rashes on the skin.. add few basil leaves in your bathing water before you bathe.

• To get a fair baby, Mothers can drink saffron added to milk during pregnancy.

• For fever and cough of children, give some honey mixed with water.

• The juice of carrot and tomato, mixed with a little honey is good tonic for children.

• A teaspoon of the powdered pomegranate skin taken with water early in the morning will not only purify the blood but also will serve as a good de- worming agent

• Chewing raw guava leaves is an excellent quick fix for diarrhoea

• If you are suffering from acidity, drink a glass of water with a piece of jaggery dissolved in it, after meals.

• Drink basil water everyday, it helps in keeping throat infection and cough at bay.

For good Health

• Add vegetables and fruits in your diet chart.

• Drink 12-16 glass of water daily.

• Avoid excess eating of fried things.

• Try to buy meat which contain less fat.

• Avoid excess sugar in tea and coffee.

• Slice vegetables into big pieces, so that it won't loose vitamins.

AISHWARYA RAI
Model, Miss World, Actress

The lovely green eyed Miss world 1994, Aishwarya Rai popularly known as Ash was born on 1st November 1973 at Mangalore.

Born to parents Krishna Raj and Vrinda Rai, she and her brother Aditya, were brought up in a middle class background. Aishwarya did her schooling at Arya Vidya Mandir, Santacruz in Mumbai and junior college from Jai Hind. She pursued her graduation in Architecture from Rachana Sansad School, Mumbai. By this time, Aishwarya started getting modelling assignments in Fashion shows and advertisemnet campaigns. She won the Famous Ford Supermodels Contest at the age of 17. From that point there was no looking back. She participated in the Miss India Femina contest 1994 and became the Ist runner up which paved her way for winning the Miss world crown 1994. Aishwarya Rai's career took off as soon as she became 1994 Miss World.

She made her debut into films with Mani Rathnam's ' Iruvar' in which she did her part wonderfully, but it was 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' that made her popular as an actress. She has acted in several films like 'Taal', 'Josh', 'Khakee', 'Mohabbattein', and has won the Filmfare Awards for the Best Actress category for 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam not only gave her the real breakthrough but also proved her mettle as an actress

Aiswarya Rai reteamed with Sajay Leela Bhansali in 'Devdas' which was released world wide and received a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. The Bengali film 'Choker Bali', adapted from Rabindranath Tagore's novel 'Binodini' fetched her critics acclaim.

Aishwarya is the first Indian actress to be on the jury of the Cannes International Film Festival (2003). She was also featured on the cover of the Time magazine.

2004 saw Aishwarya take on the lead role in her first English language film for Gurinder Chadha in "Bride & Prejudice" (of "Bend It Like Beckham" fame) and Rituparna Ghosh's 'Raincoat'.

2005 started with appearances on "60 Minutes", "David Letterman Show" and the most watched television program in the world the "Oprah Winfrey Show". Aishwarya was seen in more Hollywood flicks like 'Mistress of Spices' by director Paul Berges, Jag Mundhra's 'Provoked', and legendary film producer Dino De Laurentiis's 'The Last Legion' opposite Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley.

In 2006 she is back in Bollywood with movies like Sanjay Gadhvis' 'Dhoom-2', JP Dutta's 'Umrao Jann', Mani Ratnam's 'Guru', and Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Jodha- Akbar', in which she plays the title role of Mughal king Emperor Akbar's Hindu wife and queen.

Aishwarya’s life has been eclipsed by an unhappy affair with bollywood star Salman Khan. After years of speculation she declared that she would never work with him again for personal reasons. She was also linked to Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi and now it is said that, she is dating Abhishek Bachchan and was frequently seen in public with him and his family, fueling rumors of an engagement. After much gossips concerning their relationship, her engagement to Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan was announced on January 14, 2007. The event was heavily covered by the media. And finally they got married on April 20, 2007 in a private ceremony held at the Bachchans' bungalow Prateeksha.

On the personal front, Aishwarya campaigns for many social causes. She has generously volunteered to donate her eyes and has set an example for the rest of the world. Lovely Aishwarya Rai has proved her mettle in whatever she does especially in acting, and still remains one of the leading actresses in the tinsel world.

MOTHER TERESA
Founder of Missionaries of Charity

Mother Teresa the 'angel of mercy' dedicated herself to the service of mankind and served god amongst the poorest of the poor, sick and the dying for more than 50 years of her life.

Teresa was born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhin on 26th August 1910 in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia to Albanian parents. She was the youngest of three children. Exposed early to prayer and service, she was deeply religious. At the age of 18, she left home for Dublin, Ireland, to join the Loretto abbey and become a nun of the Roman Catholic church. After her training, she was given the name of Sister Teresa. Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto, were very active in India, doing missionary work. She came to India on January 6, 1929 to become a teacher and was moved at the sight of the crippled and helpless people on the pavements. She taught in St. Mary's convent school in Kolkata for 15 years later on became the headmistress. In 1937, she took her final vows as a nun, in Darjeeling. In 1947, on a journey to Darjeeling later referred by her as the most important journey of her life she had a vision or call to leave the convent, to live among the poor and to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the homeless, to be God's Love in action to the poorest of the poor, which was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity. At first she did not get the permission to leave the convent but in 1948 she got the permission specifically from Pope Pius XIII to leave the the Loreto community and work among the city's poor. She left the convent, took basic training in nursing and went to live in the nearby slum. She wore an inexpensive and simple white sari with a blue border, which became the most recognised symbol of the Sisters of Charity.

Following one of her former student, others joined her in her mission. In 1948, she opened the first slum school. As the congregation grew she sought approval from the Pope and shifted to 54A Lower Circular Road, which became the Mother House. The Missionaries of charity was officially established as a religious congregation for the Archdiocese of Calcutta in October 1950. The organisation devoted to the working for the destitute, now have thousands of homes and members all over the country and abroad. Calcutta became the center of her humanitarian activities. Her first home was 'Nirmal Hriday' (pure heart) for the sick and the dying, and then ' Shishu Bhavan' for the disabled, orphaned and mentally retarded children, 'Shanti Nagar', a colony for lepers where they were cared for, they could learn a skill, build their own houses and could work on their own fields, AIDS hospices and so on. The first home outside India was founded in 1965 in Venezuela. Others were later opened in Italy, Tanzania, Australia, US, Communist Cuba, former Soviet Union etc.

Mother Teresa became an Indian citizen in 1962. She has received many national and international awards in recognition of her noble work for humanity. The first award being Padmashri for distinguished service (1962), then the Magsaysay Award the same year, Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971), Good Samaritan Award (1971), John . F. Kennedy International Award (1971), Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International peace (1972), Nobel Peace Prize (1979), Bharat Ratna (1980), Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award (1993) etc. were some of them.

In 1983, at the age of 72, Mother was diagnosed with a serious heart condition and her health steadily worsened. In 1990, Mother had decided to step down as the head due to her failing health and so called a conclave of sisters to choose a successor. But in a secret ballot, she was re-elected with one dissenting vote, that was her own. In 1991 she underwent heart surgery and in March 1997, Sister Nirmala a former Hindu converted to Roman Catholic was elected to succeed Mother Teresa as leader of Missionaries of Charity. On September 5, 1997 the 87-year old mother died of severe cardiac arrest at the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in Kolkata.

The late mother taught the world the beauty in giving and left behind an enormous organisation with the will to continue her work. Mother was beatified by Pope John Paul II at St. Peters square in Vatican, on October 19th 2003, seven years after her death. Henceforth the mother will be referred to as the The Blessed Teresa of Kolkata.