Women Lines

It matters to me!

At times I find being a woman is not an easy job and definitely not to mention to be an Ideal women. I wonder where those ideal women resides who perform all roles of being a wife, a mother, an employee, a daughter and a DIL, sister, friend and so many not to mention , with perfection. Will really love to meet one if she really exists in today’s  complex world!

World in which we are living today is though a blessing for today’s women. I am not talking about women liberation , or equal right distribution for women in our society. I want to focus on the multitudes of spheres in one life where women has to focus and work upon. As technology is making our life easy we are having other constraints to manage our life in an orderly fashion. In whole world around women issues start from the talk about being financially independent, she studies hard, builds a space for herself in society and gets married and becomes responsible for the welfare of the new family she has entered.Then starts her life managing herself, her office, her husband, her family and going forward kids come in picture.

Its matter of justifying all roles together.As an ideal women she should be a great cook who can prepare awesome lunch boxes, dinner and snacks for the family. As an employee she should be giving her best performance in office, prepare all reports timely, prepare excellent presentations and above all reply to all her mails…..wink wink:)! As a DIL  she should be taking care of her in laws, respect them , follow all family rituals, fasts, attend all function and entertain all guests with perfection. As a mother she should be always playful, ready for arguments, should always listen to her kid  and spend quality time with him.Then as a friend she should spend take out time for her friend, go for outings, shopping, movie time, invite for dinners, and much more. And mind you all roles have to be delivered in 24 hrs duration.

Hey , I forgot to mention role of being herself. As an individual she should be spending time with herself, take care of her health, body, exercise, eat healthy food, watch her favourite shows and movie, meditate, go to spas and lots more.

Is this job easy?I wonder!

But I enjoy being women.There is so much to do. Let’s not focus on ideal clause for being a women then you wont be under stress and enjoy your womanhood more. Its all about time management which we learn slowly by practise. Its also about taking one step at a time and multitasking those steps together. Balancing can only be achieved with a calmer mind so every women on this earth should exercise and meditate to discover herself. Think of at least 15 mins my time in whole day schedule where u do something for just your own happiness and I think it can do wonders in any women life.

I strongly believe that any family’s happiness lies in the happiness if the lady of the house. If she is not happy, unwell, frustrated then side effects start appearing on whole family. If we love our family then we have to take care of ourselves and start trying to find ways  to make ourselves happy.

So cheer up my fellow women, don’t stress yourself to be an ideal women. Have a vision for yourself and multitask allyour roles with perfection!

If you have a dream and you are passionate about it, nobody can stop you in achieving that .
Shobha Bhalla’s success story justifies this quote.  It sets a live example in front of all women entrepreneurs who share the burning desire.
Shobha has attained iconic status as a CEO of ‘India Se’ in Singapore . In an exclusive interview to Womenlines, Shobha talks of her life and work.
Shobha Tsering Bhalla – CEO & Editor-in-Chief, is an entrepreneur in field of Print media. India Se , magazine produced by Non Resident Indians (NRIs) for NRIs about NRIs, is her brain child and has recently celebrated 4 years of excellence in Singapore. It is a leading lifestyle magazine for NRIs in Singapore.
India Se – a name which was coined by Shobha herself. She dreamt of it when she presented a white paper to highlight the need for such a publication, catering to the ever growing Indian population in Singapore. She says that “Five years back Indians had reached a critical mass and a critical achievement level but, alas, there was no global media platform to talk about our achievements, aspirations, our culture or multitudes of cultures.” It was that time she conceived the launch of a magazine which does just that.

Shoba’s passion to pursue her dream project led her to resign from her cushy job and give to Singapore – ‘India Se’ on May 27, 2007. A naturalized Singaporean, veteran journalist and a former banker Shobha was prepared with all required skills to start a magazine. She was the pioneering Managing Editor of Lycos Asia – in charge of Internet content for 9 countries in Asia. Prior to that she worked as Regional Research Editor in the equities research division of ING Barings and earlier, as a Research Editor at OCBC Investment Research. From 1989 to 1997, she was also a senior correspondent in Singapore ’s oldest national daily ‘The Straits Times’ and more recently Editor of the Impact and Property sections of Singapore ’s 2nd largest circulating newspaper TODAY.
Shobha was Born in Sikkim, India. After graduating she began her working life as a management trainee and correspondent banking officer at the State Bank of India, India ’s largest bank and moved to Singapore with her businessman husband 25 years ago. Shobha’s aggressiveness towards achieving excellence in whatever work she does and hunger for success differentiates her from others. She says “Hard work is only key to success”. At present her main challenges are to get quality output for her magazine and source the require finances to keep it running. Just like herself she demands the same passion from her staff.

“As NRIs we are among the most educated and highest earning ethnic minorities in our countries of domicile – making the term NRI a metaphor for success everywhere”. While sharing about the objective of ‘India Se’ as a magazine Shobha comments “While India Se is a magazine dedicated to issues that are important to NRIs and Person of Indian Origin (PIOs) it is not restricted only to these groups of recent Indian immigrants. As a cultural and lifestyle magazine, it also seeks to connect, inform and entertain all people of Indian origin even those a few generations removed, who identify themselves culturally, ethnically and emotionally as Indians. But in doing so, it does not exclude non-Indians who may want to find out what makes Indians – especially overseas Indians – such a powerful and vibrant economic and cultural force globally.”Focus of India Se “she shares “is on informing and entertaining an international audience of highly educated readers. ”
Recently Shobha was a speaker at a forum in programe ‘Breaking Barriers 2011′, organised by Women’s Indian Network (WIN), which is part of Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(SICCI)  and Narpani Ladies committee, where she addressed a large crowd of women entrepreneurs.There she shared how proud is she to be a woman and does believes in woman power. She says ”If women can raise lovely families they can perform better in work force undoubtedly. ”Shobha considers Anita Roddick, owner of ‘Body Shop’ as her idol and is inspired from the way Anita has set up the whole concept of ‘Body Shop’ chain.
India Se’s vision is to become Asia’s and eventually the world’s most well-read and influential magazine among overseas Indians. Believer of quote “This above all: to thine own self be true,And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man. – William Shakespeare.” Shobha is really Inspiration personified to all those budding entrepreneurs who have burning desire in their heart to prove something in life.

Womenlines wishes her best of luck and success in life!

I never thought that I will feel so happy sometime in life while watching few (not all) serials on our Indian Channels!

Yes , its true! I am staying in Singapore for last 3 years and at times I feel so much disconnected with my country, specially around festivals, marriage parties and other gatherings. When I watch such serials, specially like Sasural Genda Phool and Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hai, I just miss that warmth of relations which is shown  between various characters. Whether it is between two sister-in-laws or cousins or any relationship.  In India we still value relations and at time of need everybody is there around you. There are so many occasions to celebrate and you can share your happiness with so many people around. Love filled communication with relatives and teasing between youngsters fill the home environment with uncomparable joy.

Just like others, in foreign countries we also get used to routine schedule rushing after some dream, trying to reach desired destination. In the ,meantime we forget that life is just not for destinations. It is for bonding between people. Friendship bond, bonding between relatives, brothers, sisters,  and so many other relationships which just happen by chance. May be with your old neighbour. In fact that bonding can happen with your maid too. I was just mesmerized when my MIL’s old maid desperately called her sometimes back to share news about her marriage. I mean she literally called her in Singapore and requested her to attend her party. She has worked for many years at my MIL’s house. Special bonding and love between her and my MIL was the reason behind it!

 When I watch these serials it reminds me who am I and where I belong to. To be honest, then suddenly I realize that I am missing so many things and start searching my Indian identity within myself. I am also  not able to show my kid the importance of relationships. Somehow I feel good if my kid watches those serials as he comes to know different aspects of relationships which we are not following  here. I want to congratulate directors of both the serials who have come up with such brilliant topic and who have stressed on the importance of relations in everybody’s life.

Happy viewing!

Optimistic Life Adventurer, Nutritionist, Mompreneur, passionate about Speaking & Writing on Weight Loss, positive Parenting & Business–meet Suria Mohd, a woman of substance!         

Suria Mohd is founder of Anggun International which is into Support Group Weight Management Program and learning discoveries, a centre to enhance child’s learning abilities. Womenlines wants to share her amazingly motivating journey to reach her goals, with its readers.

Let me share about Suria’s Bio data first!

Suria is a Singaporean and is a married woman with 2 kids. She received her Nutrition degree from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia and completed an exchange program with Illinois State University, USA. After returning to

Singapore in 1997, Suria attained a Postgraduate degree in the teaching of Food Science and Nutrition Studies from NTU/NIE Singapore and began her teaching career as a Nutrition Educator in secondary schools. Since 2003 Suria has been actively involved with the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB). She is a regular speaker and public educator at HPB’s community based health forums and weight management programs. Suria has been featured on the cover of magazines, in local newspapers and has appeared on radio and television programs.She is also the author of “9 Greatest Weight Loss Secrets” and co-authors Best Selling Series “Living in Abundance” with Anthony Robbins & Dr Wayne.

Suria conducts Nutrition and Weight Management seminars, workshops and programs for schools, organizations and business corporations. She established the Anggun Nutrition Academy in 2003 to provide introductory, diploma courses in Nutrition & Weight Management.

The interesting part of her journey is to know how she started from scratch again after failure of her venture wellness training school. She closed down her shop and was in $80,000 debts. “It was an expensive “MBA” lesson for me from the University of Hard Knocks called Life…” she laments!

Suria shares “One of the lessons I learnt was the reason for my failure. I failed for one reason; I did not have any education in business at all. If I were to re-start again I would have at least attended some sort of business training to equip myself with the nuts and bolts of business. That was exactly what I did after that. I soaked up business knowledge like a sponge and started learning (self study) by getting online and purchasing books, and participating in online courses on business and marketing. Meanwhile to pay off my debts, I took on free lance jobs as a public speaker on Nutrition with the Health Promotion board.”

She restarted her business again and the 2^nd time, it turned around a 7 figure sale in 2 years. She attracted 2000 clients each paying about $700 – $2000 each.

However she got distracted, and started investing her profits in all other sorts of businesses which was the reason for her 2^nd downfall. In her 2^nd business mistake, she lost close to half a million dollars.

She shares ‘I missed out on the 2^nd part – How to Keep and grow the money, i.e. what I missed out was the knowledge and education on Investing money wisely. So right now, what I am targeting for this year is to learn how to keep and grow my money wisely via proper investments vehicles. Given all my ups and downs in my business I have also started teaching other aspiring entrepreneurs how to start and grow their business profitably so they don’t have to make the same kind of mistakes that I did.’

Suria says that “My life long learning never ends, and I am at peace for living my life to the fullest, contributing my purpose to the world and touching people’s lives as I continue this journey to live my higher goals in life…”

While Suria is best known for her expertise in Weight Loss & Nutrition her students testify that her biggest impact in their lives comes from her philosophy of “Beauty, peace and Ultimate Happiness manifests itself from within” –

Suria also owns and co-owns other businesses in Education & Fashion. She has expanded her Education business regionally to Malaysia and also to Latin America

Hardcore fan of Bollywood movies and Shahrukh Khan, Suria’s passion is reading books. Books motivate her to do better things in life.

Womenlines wishes her all the best for the journey towards excellence and abundance in life.
Follow her on

http://www.facebook.com/suriafan?v=info&ref=ts

Anggun International: http://www.angguninternational.com