Season of Gifts, Joy and Love

First of all I must say a big thank you to all my blog readers and occasional visitors for the overwhelming response to my first contest. The first contest had one winner chosen via a random draw of lots. And the winner is Ms. Sudha Maheswari from California.

I am touched by your response and I have decided to increase the number gifts. Today's post will carry two $100 American Express Diwali Gift Cards which will be given away to lucky winners. So today and tomorrow there will be two lucky people who will win the gift card. If you respond to the contest and not win today also, don't worry the final contest which will have two more winners will be on Saturday, October 16, 2010.

Today I am going to talk a little about my fond Diwali memories. I was born and grew up in Bengaluru, the IT city of India. Most of my holidays would be spent in my grandparents home at Hosur, a small industrial town about an hours drive away. Diwali meant all of us 20 cousins, and an equal number of uncles & aunts getting together in the sprawling home of our grandparents. Those were days of fun all of us boys would get together and head to the hills at the outskirts of the town and spend our day climbing rocks, roaming in the woods. We would return home promptly at meal times.

Diwali celebrated with the entire family getting together was always fun and joy. More fun was getting the numerous gifts from all uncles, aunts, and my grand parents, clothes, pens, candy, and sometimes cold hard cash also. Now all of us cousins are spread out across the world and rarely meet in person. It is only memories that we carry and of course the all pervasive linkage through the world wide web. It is through online greeting cards and gift cards we keep in touch in this wireless world.

Today's contest
I think it has been enough of my reminiscing, let me talk about how you can get a $100 American Express Diwali Gift card today. It is quite simple. Leave a comment on this post, and mention your fondest memory of receiving a gift. If it is a Diwali Gift it would be appropriate for the occasion, but if it isn't you can still share it and win the $100 gift card. Once again based on the number of responses winners will be chosen by a draw of lots and all comments posted before 2pm CST on saturday October 16, 2010 will be eligible for the drawing.

This offer is exclusive for residents of United States. If there are more than one correct answers, winner will be chosen by draw of lots.

The Spirit of Diwali!!!

The festival of lights is coming up and I am excited about celebrating it with my friends... I don't have much of a family here but hey... when you are in a foreign land every good friend becomes your family.

Before I forget let me thank all those of you who responded to the contest yesterday. I am totally floored by the enthusiastic response I received by both Indians, Americans and Indian-Americans. I will be announcing the first winner of the American Express Diwali Gift card on Thursday October 14, 2010. There is one more day to enter that contest so let your friends and contacts know about this fantastic give away. In case you are not the lucky winner of the first contest don't despair. There are two more opportunities to win on Thursday (October 14, 2010) and Saturday (October 16, 2010) I will be running contests and these will have two winners each.

For now there is still chance to be a winner just enter the contest by visiting my previous post titled "An Exclusive Diwali Gift...".

Last but not the least remember good things are always enjoyed best when shared with loved ones. So share this contest with your family and friends and let them have a go at winning these awesome gift cards from American Express and Discover the World.

An Exclusive Diwali 2010 gift for you!!!

Like I said in my earlier post Dasara/ Dushera, and Diwali are two of the major festivals celebrated by over a fifth of the world's population. Diwali is especially relevant to all Hindus/ Indians across the world. The festival has gained immense popularity and official recognition in several countries with a significant Indian population. In 2003 White House celebrated the Festival of Lights and the US congress accorded official in 2007. Now with over 2.5 million Indians living in America Diwali is one of the major celebrations in most major cities in the country.

Philosophically Diwali is a celebration of the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and love over hatred. The best way to celebrate this is by getting together with family, and friends. In America families get together for Thanks giving, in India Diwali is one of the major festivals when extended families get together.

Diwali is celebration of life, family, community, and relationships. This is the season of giving, to loved ones, family, friends, business associates, etc. In India large corporations wait for this season to launch new products so people will be motivated to buy. This trend has now extended into America with American Express pioneering the effort. The global services company has launched a new gift card designed for Diwali celebrations. I would say this is a great way to express your love to family, friends and associates who are celebrating this festival.

The American Express Diwali gift cards are available in numerous denominations of $25, $50, $100 and $200 and are available for a limited time. Now here is the chance of giving this card instead of cash along with the sweets. Cash is old fashioned, the American Express Diwali themed gift cards are the trend of 2011, but available in 2010.

Now here is your chance of winning a $100 Diwali Gift Card, right here in my blog. American Express has graciously agreed to let five readers of this blog receive $100 Diwali gift cards. There is a little catch though, you need to give the right answer to the question below: You could either post it as a comment in response to this blog or email me directly with your answer. If you are the winner you will receive an exclusively designed $100 Diwali Gift Card from American Express. That will add another $100 to your shopping budget this festival season.... Hurry, the last date to respond to this contest is October 14, 2010.

Diwali Quiz Question
The third day of Diwali is specially sacred because....
a. Lakshmi the goddess of wealth is worshipped
b. Lord Vishnu rid the world of Evil by killing Narakasura
c. Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya from 14 years of exile

Choose the right answer and like I said either email me the answer or post it as a comment here.

This offer is exclusive for residents of United States. If there are more than one correct answers, winner will be chosen by draw of lots.

Charter's Smashing End-of-the-year offers!!!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter Communication. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of things I love about Charter communications is their creativity in coming up with new and innovative deals and offerings. Since the past two years Charter has been one company which has been giving away fantastic gifts such as a HDTV every day, a brand new eco-friendly Toyota Prius for greenhorns and a fancy 2010 Chevy Camaro 2SS for the speedsters, for the gaming aficionados Charter gave away Xbox 360s. It is a wonder that this company gave away expensive prizes even in this economy.

As the year comes to an end Charter has decided to make one big bang before the year comes to a close. There are two easy ways to win great deals on charter cable, internet and phone services. There are gift cards and special deals which would enable you to win really cool prizes.

Check out this snazzy Thanksgiving offer, starting Black Friday and going on through Cyber Monday, Charter is offering $200 gift cards for those who sign up for their special online deals. The gift cards are from major retailers, clothing, home, accessories, electronics and even restaurants. This would save you money during the festivities.

The specials don't end on Monday, they are just beginning and will continue through the next 38 days. Every single special deals and prizes and great gifts will be given away to Charter customers. So if you want prizes you need to check out Charter’s Daily Deal Web Site
more often. Prizes and gifts include iPods, camcorders, TVs, GPS units, webcams, photo frames and lots more. There are lots of Big Love and Entourage box-sets too.

If you think that visiting their website everyday is a hassle then just become a fan of Charter on Facebook and you will be kept updated of all the new deals, offers and gifts. Now is this enough reason to celebrate or are you still waiting for something magical from Charter???

Appealing Customized Gifts

Buying a gift for that special person in our life is relatively easier than deciding on one item for a 1,000 people. For example how would you decide on a giveaway for your school fundraiser? Jewelry, make up, etc would be too feminine, sporting goods would appear too boyish and gift cards too impersonal.

While recently trying to decide on prizes for a fund-raiser for a non-profit I volunteer with I hit upon this idea of giving away embroidered custom tote bags for all the volunteers and special contributors. That is when I found this website which offers several customized products. Embroidered shirts, hats, promotional items and a wide array of different products. The best part is I didn't have to step out of the house to get the products. I just visited their website and placed the order online, a few days later the products landed up at home just as I expected. The quality was superb, colors were as shown and everyone was simply thrilled.

Festival Gifts for my loved ones

Thanksgiving and Christmas season is just around the block and this is the time for everyone to give and receive gifts. It is not uncommon to see people going overboard to give the best gift to their loved ones. So how far are you going this festival season... are you just giving them a gift or are you granting your loved ones their wishes? As for me I have decided to grant each one of my loved ones whatever they wish? Thanks to Sears Layaway I am confident of being able to grant them their wishes even in this economy.

Well I chose these three items which are the wishes of three of my most favourite people. The first gift is for my beloved... she always complains having to walk all the way to the apartment laundrette to wash clothes so, this thankgiving she will get a Neat white Samsung 4.0 cu. ft. High Efficiency Front Load Washer and Dryer. I chose this gift because of two reasons.. one is she really needs a nice gadget to help her wash clothes at home and not spending loads on coin operated machines. And then the amazing savings that Sears is offering to buy this season.

Another gadget is the Craftsman 200 mph 430 CFM Gas Blower/Vac for my brother who lives in a big home and loves to do yard work. This easy starting gadget with a variable speed trigger will help him work in the yard and helps create mulch and clean up his yard. With its 200 MPH, 430 CFM blower/vac and Sim-Pul™ starting technology, Variable speed trigger and 10:1 mulch ratio I'd say my brother would be thrilled to receive this gift.

And last but not the least my sister will get her unlimited apparel shopping wish fulfilled this season. There are so many fantastic offerings like Apostrophe Vanessa Pant, the Levi's ® 545™ Boot Cut Jean and numerous other apparels on deals I am sure my sis will be thrilled.

This kind of a splurge would have been impossible in this economy if not for the Sears Layaway, which enables me to buy today and pay over a period of time in easy instalments. I am sure this season will be filled with happy memories.