Choose the perfect camp for your kid

Choosing a summer camp can seem like a daunting task. There are literally thousands to choose from, and even when the programs appear similar, each camp has its own personality. Summer camps have a significant impact on a child's life. It is important for parents to learn how to make an informed decision when choosing a camp. Many issues must be considered before locating the perfect camp. Careful planning will ensure that your child's summer camp is enjoyable and memorable. Keep the below points before enrolling your child’s name in any summer camp.


List the goals and activities you and your child want to gain from summer camp. There is a wide range of camps available, such as athletic camps, religious camps, academic camps, adventure camps and fantasy camps to name a few. Start with an evaluation of your child's needs and your family's requirements.

Create a short list of only 4 or 5 camps that meet these criteria. Look for reasons to exclude each camp from your short list. Request brochures’s from each of the selected camps and speak to their staff. Visit the camp if at all possible.

Involve your child in choosing the camp. Determine the needs of your child. All children are different and all have different needs to consider. The camp you choose needs to be age appropriate and should meet the physical, emotional and mental needs of your child.


Verify who sponsors the camp. Camps are run by a variety of organizations. Camps run by municipalities or by agencies tend to be lower-cost. Private camps tend to fill-up early and are usually more expensive but may offer more number of activities.

Find out the cost of the camp. By planning ahead, many camps offer ways to assist parents with the cost of the camp. There are also many camps available that are free if the child or family meets certain requirements.

If your child has medical issues such as asthma or seizures make sure there are medical personnel at the camp who can properly care for your child in case of an emergency. Find out what their medical emergency policy is and what hospital would be used if an emergency took place.

Nearest summer camp from your place:

Kids Gurukul

8-2-547/M Dharam Mansion Compund, Near Meridian School, Road No 7 Opp Krishnama House, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad

Kalanidhi Institute Of Music

10-1-726, Opp; Shenoy Nursing Home, 10 Line No 7, West Marredpally, Hyderabad

Tricias Chocolates

115 Gordhanpuri Garden, Near Rsi Army Club, Rsi Army Club, Yapral, Hyderabad

Satnav Pre Schools Pvt Ltd

203, Lake Shore Towers, Opp Reliance Foot Print, Raj Bhavan Rd, Somajiguda, Hyderabad

Magical Minds

Plot No 4, Lane Next To Yoko Sizzlers, Ubi Colony, Road No-3, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad

Siri Math AcademyG4, Sarada Gopalan Apartments,, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad

Vibgyor Kids

Beside Lane To Eshwarya Silk Showroom, Raj Bhavan Road, Somajiguda, Hyderabad

Colors Kidz Play School

Plot No: 157 MIG I Opp Plot No 139, Malayasia Town Ship, 9th Phase, Kphb Colony, Hyderabad

Kidzee

4-822/1, Diagonally Opp To Pargon Apartments, Street No 1, Barkatpura., Hyderabad.

-Anubha K. Singh

Drop the Degrees with Ice creams

The mercury's rising and to top it up, the power cuts and the massive Current bills! There's nothing you can't cool down with an Ice cream though. Though one really doesn’t need an excuse to lick from a cup of frozen dessert, yet one is bound to say that Hyderabad’s warm climate makes it less of an indulgence and more of a necessity to cool off with an ice cream.

Here are the top places where you can get this season's chill pill.

Move N Pick: To really appreciate their flavoured ice creams and sundaes, you need to dig between the layers. The pistachio comes all the way from Italy, vanilla from Madagascar and chocolate from Switzerland. So much for a scoop!

Ice & Jelly: A lush lawn, a choice of fruity flavors to sink your teeth into and good summer discounts, Ice & Jelly is a treat to both the eyes and tongue. Try their Hazelnut Quest or Plain Raspberry and stay tuned for their seasonal Alfonso flavor.

Temptations: Is just what its name implies. This otherwise sundae-specialty joint offers 100 per cent vegetarian natural ice creams, sugar-free ice creams, American-style soda pops and milk shakes. Temptations have every imaginable “frozen temptation” you’ll love submitting to.

Famous / Shah Ice Cream: This famous joint serves up season's best like sitafal, chikoo and juicy mango for as low as Rs.12 per serving. Great reward for all that sweat that will go into getting to Mozamjahi Market.

Baskin 31 Robbins: Sundaes and ice creams in thirty-one flavours are equally palatable. Drop by at any of their kiosks that dot the shopping malls for your share of the lick.

Melting Moments: Claim-to-fame are natural ice creams, made with fresh fruits, and not fruit concentrate. Dig into their almond, date or apricot concoctions and get hooked for life.

Amoré Gelato: Super thick and delightfully creamy, Gelato is Italy's gift to us. Try their Passion Fruit Yoghurt or Blueberry Cheesecake gelato. With no preservatives and added sugar, this is probably the only thing on an Italian menu that won't force you onto a treadmill instantly.

Cream Stone: This franchise brought back the much loved sorbetto or slushy. So order up your brain freezes and top it with blue berry. Also try their Fruit Exotica and the ultra chocolaty Willy Wonkie that are all time favorites here.


Other worthy mentions:

Exotica Sinspot - GVK One
Naturals - Sri Nagar Colony
Ohri's Havmor - Basheer Bagh & Banjara Hills (Try their Bullseye or Awful)
How about a quick bite of sandwiches rounded off with ice cream? Ice Station at Banjara Hills helps you do just that. Keen on the pizza–ice-cream combo? Check out Softy House at Abids. Finally, surprise your guests with pan-flavoured ice creams from Rasranjan’s takeaway counters at Secunderabad, Bogulkunta and Jubilee Hills.


Hurry … Eat before it melts!

-Anubha K. Singh

Soaring mercury coupled with constant power cuts

Soaring mercury coupled with constant power cuts has put residents in the city to hardships. Residents who are already facing a tough time with Hyderabad experiencing a maximum of 41.5 degree Celsius to 42.5 degrees Celsius the season’s highest temperature are also worried over the sudden power cuts in different spells in many parts of the city that is continuing throughout the day and even in night sometimes in various localities.


The local Meteorological office has forecast that the heat wave conditions would prevail over Telangana and isolated parts of Rayalaseema during the next two to three days. Besides, mainly dry weather is likely to prevail over Coastal Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema regions. The Met officials warned that the mercury would increase a couple of degrees further with maximum temperature likely to hover around 43 degrees Celsius in coming days.

Many parts of the state are in the grip of a heat wave with day temperatures shooting up rapidly in the last few days. Heat wave conditions are prevailing in Adilabad, Karimnagar Mahbubnagar, Krishna and other districts apart from Hyderabad. After gap of 10 years, Hyderabad has been experiencing the highest day temperature of around 42.5 degrees Celsius for the last few days.


The mercury continuing to soar and with no respite from the heat in sight and adding woes to it is the constant power cuts but one good news is many schools are revisiting their academic calendar, making changes to protect children from the harsh sun.


Delhi Public School, Gachibowli, has reduced school timings by an hour and the management has announced vacations would start a week in advance, from April 17 as against April 24 citing "summer’’ as the reason. "The normal school timing is 8 am to 3 pm but now it has been changed to 7.45 am to 1.30 pm.

Schools designated as SSC exam venues have been asked by the state government not to run afternoon classes because of the sweltering conditions. In addition, almost all CBSE schools in the city have either cut short school timings or have announced an early vacation.


The temperature was six to seven degrees above normal in most districts of Telangana this week. Already, heat wave warnings have been issued by the Met department across Hyderabad, Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar and Nizamabad..



A weather bulletin put out by the Indian Meteorological Department has cautioned people from moving around in the scorching sun between 12 noon and 3 pm as temperatures are likely to remain high.

In Hyderabad, the mercury touched 42.8ºC on April 30, 2000, but it has never crossed 41.6ºC in the intervening eight years in the corresponding month.

Weathermen also blamed the failure of monsoon in 2009 for high temperature in April. Normally, mercury touches around 41-42ºC only in May.

But this year, the summer has peaked in mid-April itself. With the lack of sufficient moisture in the atmosphere, temperatures have gone up in Hyderabad and other parts of the state.

-Anubha K. Singh

Simply Thai for You.......

Thai Food Festival at Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre, Master Chefs from Bangkok create Thai Food Magic



The ongoing Thai Food festival at The Square Novatel has something for everyone in your family. Chefs Worawit and Satit from Bangkok are being flown to Hyderabad to serve the authentic delicacies of Thai every evening. The festival has elements of Thai music, subtle décor and beautiful display of carved fruit.


As it is always said that Thai food is incomplete without Satays, and to ensure that the veggies don’t miss the taste and authenticity of Satays the chefs had ensured special signature veg satays like Mushroom, Panner and Tofu satay.


The other dishes that can be tried are Tom Kha Thai, sliced beef with spicy vegetables, crispy fried assorted vegetables, Thai-rice noodles pan fried with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice or tamarind pulp, chopped peanuts, and egg combined with chicken, seafood, or tofu. Khao phat kai - fried rice with chicken. Veg Red and Green curry, Thai styled spring rolls. Authentic Thai desserts are a specialty and beside the use of coconut and coconut milk, it also uses eggs in abundance.


The festival is not only showcasing an array of authentic and sumptuous Thai cuisine but is also featuring elements of Thai culture, giving Hyderabad a unique Thai experience.
Chefs will jazz up menu daily for dinner. The festival is featuring a lavish Thai buffet comprising salads, soups, Thai curries, desserts and also live cooking Thai stations. The Thai food buffet is priced at Rs. 950 plus taxes per person.


According to Master Chef Worawit Ngoenngam, “Thai cuisine has been gaining popularity worldwide. It is considered among the world's most delicious, with a unique blend of tastes consisting of hot, sour, sweet, and always highlighted with natural and healthy herbs. We wish to bring out the best of this cuisine during the festival at Novotel to give Hyderabad the real taste of Thai.”

To name a few dishes from the menu-Lab Moo, Boiled Prawn w/Chilli Paste Lemongrass; Plah Tao Hu Deef Fried Bean Curd With Herb & Chilli Paste; Tom Yam Goong; Hot&Sour Spicy Prawn Soup w/ Lemon Grass; Khao Phad Poo Fried Rice w/Crab Meat; Hed Phad Nam Plik Phow Spicy Deep Fried Corn Cake; Satays in veg and non veg; Red and green Thai curries; Lychee Loy Kaew Lychee in Syrub; Assorted Thai Mixed Fruit; Assorted Thai Sweet



-Anubha K. Singh

Jab Miya Biwi Raazi to kya karega Qaazi

In another dramatic turn, tennis star Sania Mirza married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik at a five-star hotel around 1 pm as per Muslim customs on April 12, ahead of the earlier announced date of April 15. Sania-Shoaib's hi-profile wedding is the latest buzz in both India and Pakistan. After plethora of debates, finally, the wedding bells rang in Hyderabad.

Sania, wearing her mother's red wedding saree, emerged from her Jubille Hills bungalow an hour before the wedding, and got into a black Mercedes, with mediapersons falling over each other to take a shot. She was accompanied by her sister Anam, parents Naseem and Imran and friend and Bollywood actress Rakshanda Khan. The convoy reached hotel Taj Deccan which is opposite Taj Krishna, and Sania was taken through an underground passage to the venue. The nikah was performed in the presence of a select gathering comprising only the family members and friends of the newly-wed couple.

The reason why this marriage took place prior to its scheduled time is believed to be the protests by some NGOs and other political parties, who didn't breathe easy since the time Sania-Shoaib wedding news was in the air.

A Sunni Ulema board had issued a fatwa on April 11, raising objection against the proximity of the yet-to-be-married Sania with Shoaib as the groom was staying in the Mirza's home in Hyderabad. However, the families steered clear of possible legal hurdles before going ahead with the ceremony by seeking necessary counsel.
All papers were in place before the arrival of the bride and groom, and the ceremony was over within five minutes. The Qutbah was read by the head Qazi. Shoaib agreed to Rs 61 lakh as meher amount to Sania at the time of the nikaah.

The marriage ceremony was a very simple affair. Sania's family members and Shoaib's close relatives, including his sisters and brothers-in-law, attended the function. Some of the basic rites and rituals that are performed prior to the nikaah like mehendi and sangeet ceremony could not take place because of the constant threats that both the families were facing. However, there is no ritual of mehendi among Muslims but some families have started having it in the last few years.

The Sania-Shoiab marriage is not less than a bollywood flick with so many twists and turns ending with a happily married tag. Bollywood could have scripted this, sporting superstars in love, getting married across the Indo-Pak border. A wedding in Hyderabad, a reception in Lahore, a home in Dubai, a great story indeed.

—Anubha K.Singh

Telangana agitation keeps students on stake !

What a beautiful gift from our government to students! “Our entire academic year is wasted thanks to some dumb issues. Plz conduct our exams on schedule”. This is what every student is pleading to the so called politicians of our state. But here the question is does it really fell on the ears of bureaucrats and how many of them are really serious on the issue?

Protests for and against a new Telangana state in Andhra Pradesh have forced universities and colleges to shut, jeopardising the future of lakhs of students. And there is a real danger of students losing an academic year. Many students in city are worried, They say the January 5 meeting in Delhi on Telangana has not taken away any of the uncertainty.

"Not getting to know when I will write my exams, what is the state of it. And if my exams get postponed even further and further, I may even lose an year and that will become a real problem for me later on," says Ankita, student of Aurora P.G. College.

“This is really very painful. We have been waiting for our Masters certificates. All the two years went quite well, but i dont know why we have become victims now. As we are in the final year, we have to think of our future. Due to this agitation, we are unable to do so”, she adds.

For over a month now, pro-Telangana protests on the Osmania University campus have forced colleges in the region to be closed. Exams have had to be postponed twice. Protestors may be aiming to correct the wrongs of the past, but that still can't justify putting the future of so many youngsters at stake.

The worst affected are the 10th and 12th class students. If the 12th class students loose one year, their dreams of becoming an engineer or doctor may collapse. With half yearly exams getting postpone due to the sankranthi week in many colleges, students staying in hostels will have to miss the festival as they can not go home and spend the festival there. The politicians and student leaders should realise that in these days of competions at all india level, the students of AP will go behind by one year because of this agitation. It is a pity that even the central government is only consulting political parties about Telanagan, leaving out intellectuals and educated persons out of it. Is a consensus among a few politicains is sufficient and justified to bifurcate a state?


Even as student union leaders and political parties are agitating for a separate Telangana state, forcing the city’s universities to stay shut for over a month, thousands of students studying in these universities and their affiliated colleges stand a risk of losing an academic year. JNTU and OU officials admit that if the current situation continues for more days, nothing can be done to salvage the year. If the exams are not held soon, city professors fear the students will have to forego a whole year as they will be behind schedule.

What’s worse is the fact that agitating students are ready to “forego” this academic year for separate statehood and are calling it the “Telangana sadhana year.”Caught in this crossfire are students of 300 engineering colleges and 98 MBA institutions affiliated to JNTU. The university which should have commenced its second semester by now, hasn’t yet completed its first semester exams”

Students who had plans to go abroad or appear for competitive examinations are also in panic mode. G.Sailaja, an engineering student of OU College of Technology, says, “From this year onwards, they have permitted third year students to apply for GATE. The exam will have questions from the final year syllabus too. We haven’t even started our second semester classes yet. The political issue that is being debated on is important, but not at the cost of our careers.”

Swati, student of VNR College of Engineering says, “To study abroad, we need recommendation letters and graduation certificates. We’ll lose six months if we can’t apply for the current intake.”

Some students are of view that this is collateral damage! The people of Telangana are not feeling the damage because they think were denied their share, they have nothing to lose. This is expected.. they don't care, there will be falls and spills before stability.

The Osmania university students Joint action committee on Wednesday clued-up the central government to come on a decision on the T-issue before 28th January or ready to face worst consequences in Hyderabad.

Anubha k. Singh

Millennium's longest annular solar eclipse on January 15!

The first solar eclipse of the year will be visible partially in the early hours of January 15 till 6.47 a.m. across different parts of the country. This is the best until the year 2019 and the next solar eclipse visible on June 21, 2020.


People living in the southern tip of the country at Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu will get to watch the 'Ring of Fire' when the moon will cover the sun's disc during the millennium's longest annular solar eclipse.


However, sky gazers in Hyderabad will also have something to cheer about as they will get to see more than half of the eclipse. Annular solar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon's shadow is smaller than that of the visible disc of the sun. The covered sun, therefore, appears as a 'Ring of Fire', with its rays appearing spread out from the outline of the moon.


Last time India saw this 'Ring of Fire' was Nov 22, 1965, and it will not be witnessed again before June 21, 2020. In India, the eclipse will start around 11 a.m. and end around 3:15 p.m. The eclipse will first be seen in south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and then move obliquely to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It will then move to Kerala and end in Mizoram in the northeast.


As part of the annular solar eclipse campaign, the Planetary society of India will provide imported German solar filters at a cost of Rs. 30 to students besides making available a special compact disc containing videos and presentations to schools.
They will also conduct observations sessions for the general public on the day of the annular eclipse.

Interested schools can contact 9295352988 or visit www.ournewplanets.com for more information.



The eclipse will be the longest of the millennium - that is between 2001 and 3000. People in most parts of India will witness the partial phases of the eclipse. The maximum duration of the solar eclipse or sun eclipse would be 11 minutes and 8 seconds over the Indian Ocean, thus making it the longest annular eclipse of the millennium.


The first annular solar eclipse of the year on January 15, 2010 will be seen in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and first and then travel to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi, where people will enjoy the best view. It will then move to Kerala and end at northeastern state of Mizoram around 3:15 PM” said, Raghunandan Kumar, general secretary of Planetary Society, India.


Experts say, people should not watch the eclipse with naked eyes, and advised them to take precautionary measures while watching the celestial activity.

Anubha K.Singh