i-Genius Young Singing Stars Season II -#YSS2 Finale

All my regular reader knows that I use to cover various events in Mumbai, apart from regular blogging. If You remember last year in December month I covered a musical show "i-Genius Young Singing Stars". Folks after the grand success of season 1, I am back with the coverage of Season 2 of  iGenius Young Singing Stars powered by MaxLife insurance one of the leading life Insurers in India & Music Label "Universal Music India".

The Grand Finale of Season 2 was held at the "Taj Vivanta Hotel" at Mumbai. The show witnessed some outstanding performance from top 10 finalists chosen by a jury including music director Salim Merchant & You tube sensation shraddha sharma., from the over one lakh entries received from across the India. The i genius programme has become a huge success and has attracted more than 2.5 lakh participants in last 2 years. The whole season ran in four phases. Started from phase 1 - Online registration, followed by a one-minute audio submission via IVR. In the next phase, Digital auditions were held in selected cities through video conferencing. In phase 3, shortlisted kids were mentored by brand ambassador's. Final phase was the grand finale. After the training from the mentor , all kids performed at finale event where two winners from the junior and senior categories Tannishtha Puri & Maithili Thakur respectively have won an opportunity to record the music album with Universal Music group.

Winners of Junior and senior categories Tannishtha Puri & Maithili Thakur 

The show witnessed official of Max life insurance & UMG. Commenting on the occasion, Devraj Sanyal, MD-UMG & EMI south Asia said,  "The amazing response to the Max Life i-genius Young Singing Stars continues in Season 2. Yet again we have seen the entries surpassing the figure of 1 lakh. What makes this season special is the quality of talent, which has surpassed that of Season 1 by miles and is unparalleled to any other singing platform that I have seen in this age group."

Finalists of  i-Genius Young Singing Stars Season II

The event also witnessed few live performances from Jury & brand ambassador Salim merchant. Over all the event has received the great enthusiasm from all kids & parents who were part of the journey of season 2. The Media & blogger enjoyed the musical night with kids from across the country.

I will be back next year with coverage of season3 . Till than keep reading & enjoy my blog.

“I am blogging to share my experience of the #YSS2 i-genius Young Singing Stars Season II in association with BlogAdda”  

My Lake City Bhopal #Madeofgreat

I was born in a small city of north India. My father was in the army, which gave me enough chance to explore  various great places, cultures & heritage across India. I have always been fascinated by the diversity in culture & number of states in our country India. Being a huge country in terms of population, this is something unique in India that we have the endless variety of regional languages, religions & cultures which keeps on changing as you move from East to West or North to South.

Recently bloggers across India have been invited by a well-established brand in India as well as globally -Tata Motors, to participate in #Madeofgreat Zonal War where each blogger has to write about his favourite city in India with respect to these key features- Drive, Design, Connect. I decided to play with my native zone- North Zone. This blog post is in context with my experience with one of the best cities of the  Northern part of India & capital of Indian state MadhyaPradesh, also known a "Lake City"- Bhopal.  So let's get started.

I moved to Bhopal after my high school for my engineering. The first time when I entered the city I saw one board on the  highway  which says "Welcome to Lake City Bhopal". Trust me, guys, you will find the small & big lakes within the various part of this city. In terms of roads & infrastructure, the city has evolved drastically. I have seen a lot of changes in  last 5-10 years. Bhopal has Indias longest BRTS(Bus Rapid Transit System), which help the citizens to move with a pace across the roads & have a high-class transport system. The kind of greenery you will find in this city is sufficient to qualify it as one of the greenest cities in India.

In terms of design, the city is well planned especially the new city called Habib ganj is well planned besides the NH 12- Hoshangbad highway. The city consists of various monuments & heritage places to visit. The famous Taj-ul-Masjid is one of the biggest mosques in Asia. The design & architecture has a strong resemblance to Badshahi mosque of  Lahore with amazing design, marble flooring & a huge hallway. There is a local saying in Bhopal" Masjid mein masjid, Taj-ul-Masjid". Everyone is allowed here to visit. 

In terms of connect, the city has next huge population of Muslims in Bhopal, next to Hyderabad. But you will not identify this fact by  looking at the people of this city. The Hindu & Muslim lives here in peace & commonly known with Demonym "Bhopali". You all must have heard of the famous character of "Surma Bhopali" from superhit Bollywood movie "Sholay". There are lots of other travel destinations for history lovers like Bhimbetka rock shelters, Manuahbhan Tekri, Bhojpur temple, Sanchi etc.

In terms of Infrastructure & development city has grown rapidly & is in the race of becoming a metro city in future. Currently, I am working in Mumbai, but I always miss my college days & the time I spent in Bhopal. I support my city & hope to see it growing by the time. Feel free to share your experience if you had visited Bhopal in recent time.

Sugar Free Sweet Potato Halva -Dessert Challenge

To live healthy, we need healthy food. Irrespective of what we eat in our life, we need to make sure we have balance in a number of calories & sugar we consume in our daily food routine. 

"Food is essential to life, therefore, Make it good". People who love to eat are always the best people. What do you think guys? We all need healthy food with a fantastic taste. As an explorer of good food, I always search for something healthy to eat. Recently I gained the lots of fat & my nutritionist suggested  me to focus on my diet. These days lots of people suffer from various issues due to improper diet, over-consumption of sugar calories resulting into diseases like Diabetes, obesity etc. 

A most common dessert which every Indian loves is "Halva", whether it is of  rava, gajar or loki. In today's post, I will share a healthy dessert recipe -Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Halva. It can be useful for sugar patients or diabetics & for those who are facing issues with sugar level or doctors have  especially restricted them from consuming more sugar in their food & drinks.

So let's get started. Before I start I will share the Mantra or Key Ingredient of the dessert is "Sugar-Free Natura" a low-calorie sugar substitute which contain zero calories sucralose made from sugar. Don't worry It will taste the same, but it will be more healthy to eat.


Dessert Recipe:  -Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Halva

Recipe Types:  Dessert, Sweets

Star of the Recipe

Cusines: Indian
Serves: 1-2
Preparation Time: 30 mins

INGREDIENTS:

Sweet Potato: 4 medium size
Sugar-Free Powder: 15-20 gm
Ghee:  2-3 Tablespoons
Cardamon Powder:1 teaspoon

FOR GARNISHING:

Almonds-               4-5
Cashews-               4-5
Black Dry Grape-  4-5

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Start with Boiling sweet potatoes with 3 to 4 cups of water in cooker. Wait till 2 Whistles.
2. Take out the sweet potatoes in warm water, peel off the skin and mash them.
3. Now take one frying pan & heat the ghee.
4. First fry the cashews & Almonds for 3 mins( don't over fry) and keep aside.
5. In the same pan, add the mashed sweet potatoes.
6. Saute well and cook for 7-8 mins.
7. Now add sugar-free natura powder & whisk properly.
8. Add cardamon powder & whisk.
9. Keep on cooking till ghee starts to leave the sides of halva. This will take approx 18-20 minutes on a low to medium flame.
10. At the end chop the dry fruit into small pieces and add to halva to garnish properly.
11. Turn  off the flame and serve hot.