HOW TO CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTHDAY - THINGS TO AVOID AND THINGS YOU MUST DO ON YOUR BIRTHDAY

Please don't say, you don't have the habit of celebrating your birthday.
Avoid Cutting Cakes with candles.
Avoid using Knife for cutting cakes.
Do not use any Candles to blow off. Its not a good thing to blow off the lights on your birthday.

You must celebrate your Birthday, by following these 9 steps:

(1) Take a head bath in early morning. use any conditioner(coconut oil) to your hair. and Massage your body with some body massaging oils. Wear new or Clean cloths.
(2) Pray for your Favorite or Family God. 
(3) Mix - Cows milk, Sigar cane, Black Sesame Seeds together. Put this mixture on your right hand and drink for 3 times.
(4) Remember the names - Ashwadhama, Bhali, Vyasudu, Vibheshanudu, Hanuman, Krupacharyudu, Parushuramudu. Just remember these 7 names. They are Saptha Chiranjeeva's, means they don't have any death by birth.
(5)Take blessings from your parents and teacher.
(6)Go to nearest temple and get blessings from god. Also do Archana and Abhishekam. Especially for Lord shiva - The lord for Nava Grahas.
(7)Offer food to Poor and Needy, this is very important on your birthday. If you cannot able to do this, at least offer some green grass to a cow.
(8)Eat a Full meal in your lunch time.
(9)Do not participate in sex on your Birthday or in the night.

So you want to start a restaurant business? Here’s what it’ll take

It is perhaps every foodie’s dream to own a restaurant. But until that dream is realised, making and serving good food to friends and family is a good way for a future restauranter to get a hang of things. Today there are a lot of entrepreneurs entering the restaurant business because of the low entry barriers that the business has. A large number of techies have crossed over from their IT jobs to startup a food business. They have the capital to buy the franchise and the acumen to understand the business side enough to run the restaurant.

Launching a new brand and then working to establish them could take much longer, but some Indian food chains like Mast Kalandar and Habanero have already taken the plunge.

Another way to do things is to buy the franchise rights to international brands looking to enter Indian market, such as Subway or McDonald’s. An advantage of bringing in a well-known franchise is that the branding work is already taken care by the MNC and they have set processes in place that a new franchisee only has to follow.

We met few food entrepreneurs at the Zomato restaurant summit held in Bangalore, who told us about their experience in the space and the pitfalls to watch out for while going the franchise/franchisee route.

Just a brand ain’t good, be prepared to work hard

David Griffith owns six Subway outlets in Bangalore along with other franchises like Wangs Kitchen, a Chinese cuisine chain. He thinks most people who become franchise for international food chains, do not always have a complete idea of what they are getting into. “A

David Griffith

lot of people partner a big brand thinking the brand will take care of everything, which is not really true. The brand will provide you with the food and the basic framework of business, but most of the work has to be done by you,” says Griffith. You have to do your own hiring, take care of all expenses at the shop and also run most of the show yourself.

N Manikantan, GM marketing of Nandos echoes this point of view. Nandos looks for partners who can afford capital, have an interest in the food industry and are ready to be a working entrepreneur. “We make sure all Nandos franchise owners work at the restaurant every day,” says Manikantan.

It needs a lot of money

Starting and running a restaurant needs a lot of money. A Nandos outlet would cost Rs 1.2 – 1.8 crore to setup and this doesn’t include the operations costs to run the business. On the other hand it would cost Rs 40-60 lakhs to start a Subway chain based on the location selected to setup shop. Griffith also says keeping a six-month buffer of working capital is a good idea to ensure day-to-day operations are not affected.

Gaurav and Pallavi Jain

Gaurav Jain, the founder of Mast Kalandar, who took the non-franchise route invested Rs 18 lakhs to start their restaurant in the outskirts of Bangalore two years back – which was all his life savings till that point. According to the Indian startup ecosystem, this price point is equivalent to a typical seed round.

Royalty payment can be a lot

Every month the franchisee has to pay a percentage of the revenue back to the franchise. This is over and above the money spent on acquiring franchise rights. For eg. in case of Nandos the royalty charged is 5 to 7 percent of monthly net sales. While this may not seem like much but when you put together rent costs, salaries, maintenance cost and taxes, an additional 5 to 7 percent can be a burden. In return Nandos assists its franchise in marketing services and conducts regular quality audits of the shop and its operations. Manikandan says, “Nandos manages a central fund that is invested in marketing.” Subway follows a similar route informs Griffith.

Being the owner

A franchise maybe at the top of the food chain, but starting one’s own chain of restaurant is a dream that many harbour. Griffith is currently living this dream with the new Bangalore based restaurant chain Habenero. Griffith has opened two restaurants in the last two years and says he owes a lot of his success to his experience with other franchises, like Subway and Wangs Kitchen. “For someone who’s just entering the business, its a great idea to start with a reputed franchise, just to get an idea of how to work in the business. It’s worked for me,” says Griffith.

However Gaurav and Pallavi Jain of Mast Kalandar are exceptions to this rule. Mast Kalandar is their first venture and started as a small restaurant on the outskirts of Bangalore. But today they are a successful chain of over 40 restaurants across four cities. Things picked up for Gaurav after they got their funding, which also gave them access to expert advice through the advisory board who joined them.

Top five countries for expat life - The Expat Explorer Survey 2014 from HSBC

The Expat Explorer Survey 2014 from HSBC Expat has compared 34 different countries, and ranked them across three categories – economics, experience, and raising children abroad.

According to expats, when it comes to quality of life, Switzerland comes top of the league table, followed by Singapore and China.

The USA and the UK did not fare so well, ranking near the bottom of the table for expats in 30th and 33rd place respectively. According to the survey, Egypt has been voted as the worst place to live abroad.

Let’s take a look at the top five countries which are getting it right when it comes to being a host country for expats.

Switzerland

Coming in first place, Switzerland is an all round winner for expats, being a well-balanced country and offering a high quality lifestyle. In terms of economic satisfaction, 87% of expats living in Switzerland are happy with the economy, and 85% earn a greater salary since moving there.

Nevertheless, this prosperity is somewhat counteracted by the high cost of living, be it food, accommodation or health care – things in Switzerland don’t come cheap. It’s not hard to see the attractions however, from its natural beauty creating great resources from outdoor activities to its oh-so-delicious chocolate.

However, the main downside to this high flying country would be the slightly “boring” reputation – being a reserved and conservative nation, Switzerland didn’t score so well for integrating expats into their new society. Nevertheless, despite the not so friendly attitude, Switzerland clearly had enough charm to win its title as 2014’s number one expat destination.

Singapore

Singapore skyline at night, the second favorite location for expat life

A popular expat hub, Singapore was the runner-up destination for expats. Similar to Switzerland, it was another top country with regards to economy and in addition it is a country which has embraced cultural diversity.

For those business minded expats, Singapore offers fantastic opportunities, with huge freedom in the market and low taxes. If that isn’t enough to convince you, Singapore is great for the entire expat family, being considered a safe destination with a great education system.

However, no country is perfect, Singapore has recently changed its foreign policy laws in favour of local Singaporeans. In addition, there are some laws in Singapore that some expats won’t be accustomed too – such as the ban on importing chewing gum (chewing gum is only allowed for therapeutic purposes).

China

China snatched third place on the leader board with regards to expat life, and came in first place in the expat economy category. Foreigners certainly seem to do well in terms of monetary issues with 23% of expats earning over $300,000. China has some interesting cultural customs which may add to its expat appeal, such as doing business over karaoke. Expats in China have the highest disposable income and also manage to have a very active social life, therefore its not big surprise that China ranked so highly in the survey.

Germany

Germany is great for expat families, but be prepared to learn the language.

Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany is a well rounded country for expats, with 87% feeling satisfied with the local economy. It was also ranked as the third best country for raising children abroad. Overall Germany is seen as a good expat destination for work, family life and overall quality of life, however, almost a third (31%) of respondents said they found it hard to make local friends.

Bahrain

The highest ranking Arab country, Bahrain comes in fifth place this year. Almost two-thirds (62%) of expats living in Bahrain were satisfied with their work-life balance, as well as an enjoyable commute to work, in comparison to their home countries.

Expats in Bahrain also enjoy the culture (84%) and local food (74%) but tend to stick to expat communities, with three-quarters saying they tend to make friends with other expats rather than locals.

NewZealand

Raising a family

New Zealand came sixth in the overall rankings, but was voted the best destination for raising a family abroad.

The majority of expat parents living in New Zealand commented on the improved health and well-being and safety of their children, as well as saying they are bringing up more confident and well-rounded individuals.

Read More New Zealand to move from rock star to rock solid economy 

"Life is what you make it here - there are more opportunities for children, both educationally and socially," an expat parent in New Zealand told HSBC.