Reenita's Wisdom

Style anyone? Style with eco-friendly values that is. Gone are the days when the term ‘eco-friendly’ fashion could only be equated with hippie style. Now I am not defending myself just because I am San Franciscan…. the style that is coming out of eco-friendly fashion houses these days promises to set Paris and Milan on fire.

Along with a bunch of other Green Style writers, I have been putting together a bunch of posts related to this on Feel Good Style. Here is a recent post about Eco Zen Boutique, eco-friendly shopping site offers eco chic clothing, organic cosmetics, recycled handbags, earth friendly jewelry and green gifts and goodies at competitive prices.

Are you looking to invest in real estate but find the logistics too cumbersome? You might want to consider buying a slice of property on paper. Although the Indian stock market has dipped recently, real estate investment funds continue to show promise. Perhaps because they are longer term investments.

In the recent years, the Indian market has become populated with a variety of commerical and residential real estate investment vehicles that have made it easier for people to reap the benefits of its growing property market without actually buying a physical piece of property. Here is an article that I wrote recently about the various investment vehicles available to you.  Check it out, you might find yourself itching to invest in an information technology park or a large scale shopping mall with a multiplex theater.

On the other hand, the idea of a mango orchard is so much more appealing!

If you thought that identity theft was only about losing your credit cards or social security number, I hate to tell you that for many internet writers there could be much more to it. This week I had the most surreal experience.

Of late I have been thinking that the domain name for my website (www.reenitamalhotrahora.com) is too long and that I should shorten it to my first name, www.reenita.com, a domain that I also own. Or so I thought! It turns out that reenita.com expired last month and before I had a chance to renew it, someone else snapped up the domain name.

‘Reenita’ is the not the most common name on the planet. My immediate thought was “Why would anyone want to buy out my name?” Recently, I had searched various female names as potential domain names for a possible new business. I was shocked to find how many of them led to ‘adult entertainment’ sites. And so I succumbed to paranoia by spending most of Tuesday night envisioning that someone out there was going to (mis)use my name to create such a site. My reputation was doomed…and so were all my plans for unique content on my site.

Come Wednesday morning I called the registrant of reenita.com to negotiate a settlement. I guess there are a host of buyers out there who are looking to purchase expired names because they know that there is a ready market for them. I immediately entered into a public auction lasting 6 hours to bid for the domain. The uniqueness of my name came through for me. Luckily no one else was searching for ‘reenita’ during that particular 6 hour period. I won it back for the grand sum of $39!

I realize full well that one does not have the right to own a domain name at will but I cannot tell you about the emotions that surge at the thought (and in my case, it was just a thought) that someone else might misuse your identity. This week, I sent a silent prayer out to my mother thanking her for giving me a name that most people don’t have. I also made a promise to myself that I would no longer take it for granted. I guess I had better start using reenita.com!

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