BOOK REVIEW- ROOM BY EMMA DONOGHUE

BY DAKSHITA NAITHANI

The extraordinary novel “Room” by Emma Donoghue is constructed on two extreme constraints: the narrator’s constrained point of view, a 5-year-old child named Jack, and the limits of Jack’s physical environment, an 11-by-11-foot room where he lives with his mother. We begin the book with our feet firmly planted in these constraints. We only know what Jack knows, thus the tension is palpable, as is our perplexity as to why these individuals are at this location. Jack appears to be content in a routine that he finds reassuring, in a location where he can see his mother at any time of the day. For him, she has devised an organised, energetic routine that includes exercises, music, and readings. The room’s primary items are given letters — Rug, Bed, Wall — which is an excellent decision because they are named beings to Jack. In an environment where his mother is his only other company, Bed is as much a buddy as anything else. In this manner, Jack is a super-charged form of a typical youngster, giving infinite pleasure and purpose to everything he does.

Donoghue gracefully directs these constraints. Jack’s voice is one of the novel’s true accomplishments: she has created a kid narrator in him who is one of the most fascinating in recent memory, his voice so ubiquitous that I could hear him chattering away throughout the day when I wasn’t reading it. Jack is lovable simply because he is lovable, as Donoghue reworks language to reflect the delicacy of a child’s learning without making him coy or excessively adorable. Donoghue gives us a glimpse into Jack’s world through dialogue and well placed hints of eavesdropping, without relying on heavy-handed or clumsy narrative. The reader understands together with Jack, and we frequently learn more than he can comprehend, yet the gap between his knowledge and ours is a zone of emotional resilience, as it is in most children’s stories.

Her creativity rises even further when she animates the novel’s physical environment through her protagonists’ rituals: they run around a handmade track; they watch Television, though not much since “it rots our brains”; they tie eggshells together with a needle to form a snake. Toys and books are regarded as valuable as gold. A lollipop is a discovery, and the tale shows early on that Room is truly a jail, with an antagonist having the key, and Ma being held captive.

The meticulous, methodically built structure of the characters’ days takes on a new tone once it is apparent that Ma does not want to be there. Ma becomes a heroic character because she can engage and fascinate a vibrant, intelligent kid despite enduring the sadness of their position.

Jack doesn’t have to change because this is his normal. The space works as a large womb, a real extension of a mother’s body in many respects, a small region of absolute intimacy and care. It’s a child’s paradise for a while, but it’d be his horror if he grew up there.

Overall, Donoghue goes the extra mile with “Room,” bringing her narrative to a dramatic conclusion that seems just right. This is a remarkable work that may be seen through a variety of perspectives: psychological, social, and political. It offers a fresh, comprehensive perspective on the world we live in while presenting an absolutely unique approach to talk about love. Never before has a modern literary classic portrayed a child’s innocence, inventiveness, and perseverance as well as this novel does.

Ma, the main character, has made numerous significant decisions regarding Jack’s upbringing. He’s been raised to think that the sound-proofed shack where he and Ma live, the ‘Room,’ is the sole reality. For example, he believes Ma is the only woman in the world and that he is the only ‘Jack’. This tough choice by Ma enables Jack to have a relatively normal upbringing. Jack is a cheerful, curious youngster like any other because of this decision – he is kept unaware of the tragedy wherein he lives for his own safety. The story then does take a turn and the author handles issues like as schooling, upbringing, and dealing with PTSD symptoms with remarkable humility, leaving the reader with a profound sense of respect and compassion for the protagonists.

We could talk about Room for hours if we wanted to, that’s how essential it is. Room will linger with you long after you put it back on your bookshelves, emotionally compelling, troubled, and with a ray of hope.

5 Easy Yoga Exercises To Beat Stress

Meditation, good sleeping routine and stretching helps one to focus and relax but when anxiety starts to creep in or during times of stress, many people turn to Yoga . It might seem contradictory but by exercising and putting physical stress on one’s body, mental tensions can be relieved.

Yoga is a form of exercise that combines stretching, breathing, relaxation and meditation and has various asana or body postures that include sitting meditation pose, reclining, standing, inverted, twisting and balancing poses to overcome all kinds of sufferings and lead to ‘the state of liberation’ (Moksha) or ‘freedom’ (Kaivalya) and self-realisation. Studies have often suggested that Yoga can enhance mood and according to some researches, it may even be as effective as antidepressant drugs at treating depression and anxiety.

Yoga practice helps lower stress and anxiety by releasing endorphins, improving sleep pattern and self-image. Hence, people who do Yoga regularly are less likely to experience anxiety as compared to those who don’t since benefits of the asana are strongest when one performs them regularly.

Looking for some calming poses to deal with anxiety or stress disorder, check below for the steps and benefits of 5 easy-to-do Yoga asana at home to get promising results.

1.Sukhasana or easy pose:

Method: Sit on a Yoga mat or on the floor with your legs stretched out. Bend one of your legs and place it under the opposite thigh and repeat the same with the other leg.

Sit erect, keep your head, neck and trunk aligned in a straight line, put your hands on your knees or thighs in Chin Mudra or Jnana Mudra. Turn your palms up to be receptive or down to feel grounded and inhaling slowly, feel your spine grow long while on exhaling, root down through your seat.

Benefits: Apart from finding stillness and tranquility, this asana relieves muscle and joint pains as it helps the practitioner in maintaining a good posture, gives flexibility, keeps the back straight and provides strength to the legs. This in turn lengthens the back muscles and spine, broadens the collarbones and chest, stretches the external aspect of the knees and unlocks the hips.

2. Balasana or Child’s Pose or Child’s Resting Pose:

Method: Sit on your heels on the floor or a yoga mat and keep your knees either together or wide apart. Slowly, exhale and bend forward to touch the floor with your forehead or rest it on a block or two stacked fists while keeping your arms alongside your body and palms facing up. Alternatively, you can keep your palms facing down on the mat by reaching out your arms towards the front of the yoga mat. Now, if your knees are together, gently press your chest on the thighs or press your chest between the thighs if the knees are apart.

Relax the shoulders, jaw and eyes and find a comfortable place for the forehead as there is an energy point at its center, in between the eyebrows, that supports a “rest and digest” response by stimulating the vagus nerve. Hold onto the pose for as long as you like and pull your navel towards your spine while inhaling and softening your body and the arms while exhaling. Return to the sitting position on the heels slowly while inhaling and as if uncurling the spine.

Benefits: This beginner’s Yoga pose not only helps to reduce stress and anxiety by helps releasing the tension in the chest, back and shoulders but also helps if you have a bout of dizziness or fatigue during the day or during your workout. It can help relieve back pain as it is a gentle stretch for the back, hips, thighs and ankles.

Precautions: This exercise is not recommended for pregnant women or those suffering from diarrhea or knee injury.

3. Savasana/Shavasana or corpse pose:

Method: Lie on your back with your legs straight and arms relaxed at your sides. Gently close your eyes while keeping your feet a comfortable distance apart in a natural position and keep your arms straight along the body but away from the torso while resting your palms facing up.

Breathe naturally, allow your body to feel heavy on the ground and focus all your attention on your toes. Then shift your attention and begin to release each part of your body, organ and cell, consciously working from the toes up to the top of your head. Bring your mind gently back to your body if it wanders.

Be sure that you do not fall asleep and relax your face, feeling your eyes drop into your sockets and the softening of your jaw. Draw your attention to the sounds around you and try to find the most distant one until you find the sound closest to you.

When you feel relaxed, exit the pose by gently bringing your awareness back to your body and wriggle your fingers and toes while still keeping your eyes closed. Draw your knees in and slowly roll over to one side in sukhasana pose. Rest there for a moment in a comfortable seated position and open your eyes gently while slowly turning your attention outwards.

Benefits: Shavasana along with deep breathing relaxes the nervous system more than any other Yoga asana and this instantly brings down the body temperature. It relieves stress, repairs cells, relaxes the body and helps self-healing without pills for pregnant women.

4. Matsyasana or the Fish Pose:

Method: Lie down on your back with legs straight on the floor and hands beside the thighs. Keep your palms near the shoulders and your fingers pointing towards them. Inhale, press your palms on the floor, lift your shoulders and head up and drop the top of the head on the floor.

Arch your back while keeping your hands up in namaskar mudra. Lift both of your legs at 45 degrees’ angle. Hold the posture for 10 seconds and release.

Benefits: This exercise has multiple benefits. From stretching the chest, abs, hip flexors and neck to stimulating two important areas of the body. First is the throat chakra which relates to communication and self-expression and second is the crown chakra, on the top of your head, which is tied to wisdom and knowledge.

Precautions: Avoid this pose if you have a neck or back injury or even if you have a headache.

5. Vrikshasana or tree pose:

Method: Balance yourself on one leg, with the other one folded and supported on your inner thigh. Stretch out your hands above your head and point them directly upwards.

Clasp them together in anjali mudra. Gaze in the distance, shift the weight to your left leg while keeping the right knee bent in half lotus position and hold onto this posture for a few seconds before releasing and repeating the same with the alternate leg.

Benefits: This asana helps to bring balance to your mind and body. It makes your legs stronger and is a great hip opener as assists it the body in establishing pelvic stability and strengthens the bones of the hips and legs.

The shift of the entire body’s weight to each leg strengthens the ligaments and tendon of the feet. It also helps strengthen the thighs, calves and ankles and and helps improve focus.

Precautions: This asana should be avoided by those who suffer from vertigo or migraine or insomnia issues.

Indian Freedom Fighters

Around 75 years ago, on the historic date of 15th August 1947, India became free from British domination. It was the culmination of numerous movements and struggles that were rife throughout the time of British rule including the historic revolt of 1857. This independence was achieved through the efforts of many revolutionary freedom fighters, who took the lead in organizing the struggle which led to India’s independence. Although they were of varied ideologies ranging from moderates to extremists, their contribution to India’s freedom struggle has been immortalized in the minds of every Indian. This blog brings you the Indian freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives to ensure India’s independence.

People from every corner of the country participated in the struggle for ousting the British from India. Many of them sacrificed their lives to free India from the tyrannical rule of the British.

Here are the freedom fighters who fought bravely in the Indian Independence struggle:

1.Mahatma Gandhi:

Born on 2nd October 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is revered as Father of the Nation for his immense sacrifices for India. He not only ushered India towards freedom, but he also became the inspiring figure for many independence struggles and rights movements across the world. Popularly called Bapu, Gandhi introduced the doctrine of non-violence in India. According to him, independence was to be achieved through a combination of non-violent movement and non-co-operation with the British. His credit lies in the fact that he was able to bring the masses into the freedom struggle. The historic Non-Cooperation movement, Dandi March and the Quit India movement were all started under his leadership.

Born: 2 October 1869, Porbandar
Full name: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Assassinated: 30 January 1948, New Delhi
Famously Known As Bapu

2.Subhash Chandra Bose:

One of the greatest Indian freedom fighters that history witnessed was none other than Subhas Chandra Bose. He was born on 23rd January 1897. He was a radical nationalist and his ultimate patriotism carved a hero out of him. Bose belonged to the extremist section of the Indian freedom fighters. He was the leader of a radical youth wing of Congress from the early years of the 1920s till the end of 1930. Bose disagreed with the ideals of non-violence promoted by Gandhi, instead of believing that only armed revolt could oust the British from India. The founder of the Forward Bloc, he escaped the eyes of the British to ultimately reach Germany during the second world war. He raised the Indian National Army (INA) and with Japanese help, was able to free a portion of Indian territory from the British in Manipur, but was ultimately defeated due to Japanese surrender to the British. Although he is believed to have died in a plane crash in 1945, his death remains shrouded in mystery to date.

Born: 23 January 1897, Cuttack
Famously Known As Netaji
Died: 18 August 1945, Taipei, Taiwan
Education: Scottish Church College (1918), Presidency University

3.Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel:

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31st October 1875. A senior leader of the Indian National Congress, he had an immense contribution to the Indian freedom struggle as one of the most influential and strong-minded Indian freedom fighters. He was the brain and mind behind the integration of India into a united country. He was one of the most influential leaders of Gujarat, who organized peasant movements against the British based on Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence. One of the first congress leaders to have accepted the British plan of partition for India, he is remembered for his role in integrating the princely states into the dominion of India. His efforts led to the integration of around 562 princely states. After independence, he served as the first home minister and deputy prime minister of India.

Born: 31 October 1875, Nadia
Died: 15 December 1950, Mumbai
Full name: Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel

4.Jawaharlal Nehru:

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14th November 1889. He was the single child of Motilal Nehru and Swarup Rani Nehru. Nehru was one of the most renowned barristers and was known for his intellectual capabilities which soon made him one of the greatest politicians India had ever seen. Nehru, under the approval of Gandhi, his mentor, rose to become one of the most dominant figures in Indian politics from the 1930s onwards. Nehru, after much deliberations, accepted the partition proposal for India in 1947 and took oath as the First Prime Minister of India after attaining independence. His birthday on 14 November is widely celebrated in India as Children’s day.

Born: 14 November 1889, Prayagraj
Died: 27 May 1964, New Delhi
Spouse: Kamala Nehru (m. 1916–1936)
Parents: Motilal Nehru
Famously Known As: Chacha Nehru, Pandit Nehru

5.Bhagat Singh:

Born in 1907, Bhagat Singh was among the extreme revolutionary Indian freedom fighters. He was a largely controversial, though respected figure in the freedom struggle of India. This revolutionary hero was born in a Sikh family in the undivided state of Punjab and carried the legacy of his family and clinched to his patriotism till his death. He was involved in a plot in 1928 to assassinate James Scott, a British police superintendent to exact revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. The plot failed when they mistakenly killed another young police officer and Singh fled to Lahore to escape from punishment. The following year, he, along with his associates hurled a bomb at the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi in protest against the implementation of the Defence of India Act and surrendered to the police. This great Indian freedom fighter was sentenced to death by hanging by the British, and executed at the age of only 23.

Born: 28 September 1907, Banga, Pakistan
Died: 23 March 1931, Lahore Central Jail, Lahore, Pakistan
Education: National College, Lahore, National College of Arts, Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System
Famously Known As: Shaheed Bhagat Singh

5 Incredible Beaches to Visit in Kerala

Kerala:

Kerala, a state on India’s tropical Malabar Coast, has nearly 600km of Arabian Sea shoreline. It’s known for its palm-lined beaches and backwaters, a network of canals. Inland are the Western Ghats, mountains whose slopes support tea, coffee and spice plantations as well as wildlife.

Looking for a beach vacay? What better than sun, sand, shade, surf and truck loads of fun in the beaches, right? Well, if you are looking for just all that we have mentioned, then head to Kerala on your next trip Called as the “God’s own country”, Kerala has an abundance of breathtaking beaches that are perfect for your next fun getaway with family.

1.Poovar Beach:

Poovar is a natural wonder where lake, river and sea meet the land. Poovar beach near the Kovalam beach separates the river Neyyar from the sea. This beautiful beach is a favourite spot for those who prefer solitude and serenity. Its beauty will calm your heart and soul instantly.

2.Cherai Beach:

Located on Vypeen Island, which can be reached from Kochi by ferry and then a bus or auto rickshaw ride through the villages and paddy fields Cherai beach is isolated. A substantial portion of the main beach was recently beautified, which included the addition of a new walkway. One of the remarkable sights there is beach and lagoon so close together. In fact, it is the longest beach in Kochi. This shallow, calm 10-km long beach is called the “The Princess of Arabian Sea”. Interestingly, the beach is located near to Kochi International Airport which makes it easily accessible too.

3.Bekal Beach:

Next one in the list is Bekal beach in Kerala. It lies in Kasaragod district. The virgin beauty of Bekal beach is an ideal place for some quiet and relaxing time. The centuries old fort in the beach, Bekkal Fort, facing the Arabian sea, is worth exploring too.

4.Kovalam Beach:

Many of you would have already heard about Kovalam beach in Kerala. Just as Goa’s popular Calangute and Baga beaches, Kovalam is a much preferred beach in Kerala which is located not far from the capital, Trivandrum. It’s actually made up of two main coves Hawa (also referred to as Eve’s Beach) and Lighthouse Beach. Lighthouse is the biggest and busiest of the two, with its promenade lined with open-air restaurants.

5.Varkala Beach:

A quiet and an isolated sandy beach, Varkala beach is less crowded than another popular beach – Kovalam, and offers breathtaking views. The striking beach lies at the bottom of a long stretch of cliff that’s bordered by beach shacks and shops. You can stay right on the cliff, overlooking the ocean, or set back from it.

History of Indian Stamps

India got independence on 15th August of 1947 assured in a new era in the history of the country but philatelist had to wait another 98 days for the release of India’s most commemorate stamp on 21st of November 1947.

First stamp

The Postal Telegraph Department however came out with a large Kashi postmarked with the slogan “Jai hind” for the occasion and letters mailed that the major post offices of the country were cancelled with this post mark.

The India’s first commemorative stamp features the Lion capital of Ashoka which had one set on the top of a column of Sarnath near Varanasi. The lion capital has since been around at the state emblem of India the denomination of the stamp was one and a half annas and an inspiration of “Jai hind” in Hindi was also depicted in the stamps.

Other stamps

Actually three stamps were planned to release at the time of Independence. The rest two stamps were released in the 15th of December 1947 with the three and a half annas stamp with portray of the national flag in tricolor Saffron on the top, white in the middle and green in the bottom.

The twelve annas stamp depicts an aircraft a symbol of the modern age. These stamps also have inscription “Jai hind” in hindi, they are also known are Jai Hind stamps.

The stamps were printed offset lithography. As the three and a half annas stamp was printed in three colors in three steps because difference in inking at different stages, because specimens having the top of the flag in deep orange or pale orange and the lower part in pale green and deep green were coming across.

Petroleum Jelly is harmful to skin

You probably have a jar of Vaseline somewhere in your house. Millions of people swear by it as a remedy for clapped lips, congestions, diaper rash and dry skin. Unfortunately the popular product is more harmful than many realise.

What is Petroleum Jelly?

Petroleum jelly, commonly known by the brand name Vaseline, is a byproduct of the oil refining process. It was originally found coating the bottom of oil rigs in the mid 1800s. As a byproduct of the oil industry, it’s an unsustainable resource and far from eco-friendly.

How does it work?

Used in everything from lotions to baby products, petroleum jelly works by creating a protective barrier on the skin to hold in moisture. The waterproof barrier it created on the skin blocks pores and can lock in residue and bacteria.

When used on a burn or a sunburn area, it locks in heat and can block the body’s ability to heal. You need to stop using Vaseline for these four reasons:

It contains harmful Hydrocarbon. The skin is unable to metabolize petroleum jelly, so it sits as a barrier on the skin untill it wears off. This blocks the body from gaining any benefit from the substance. A 2011 study found strong evidence that the mineral oil hydrocarbon Vaseline contains are “the greatest contaminant of the human body”
It Promotes Collagen Breakdown. Due to the barrier that petroleum jelly creates on skin, it blocks the skin ability to breathe and absorb nutrients. This can cause the skin to pull the moisture and nutrients it needs from within, leading to collagen breakdown.
It can leads to Estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance occurs when the body has high levels of estrogen and low levels of progesterone. It has linked to infertility, menstrual problems, allergies and autoimmune problems. Petroleum jelly contains chemicals called xenoestrogens which are believed to increase estrogen problems.
It can cause pneumonia. Although rare, a condition known as lipid pneumonia can occur when small amounts of petroleum jelly is inhaled and build up in the lungs. Because the body can’t metabolize or breakdown the substance, a severe inflammation in the lungs can occur.

Natural Alternatives

There are several natural alternatives to petroleum jelly that you can use without worrying about health risks. If you’re looking for a simple alternative, try one of these options:-

Shea butter – High is vitamin A, E and F, shea butter works to nourish the skin through the beneficial fatty acids it contains. It can also help reduce inflammation and increase collagen productions.
Beeswax – a great alternative to petroleum jelly is Beeswax. It can be blended into homemade beauty products to protect the skin. Add it to a homemade lip balm and body cream.
Coconut oil – this oil loaded with health benefits. It works to nourish the skin through the fatty acids, lauric acids and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Coco butter – it contains antioxidants and benefits fatty acids. It may even reduce the signs of ageing.

LESSONS TO SURVIVE FIRST YEAR IN BUSINESS

You have an extraordinary thought and the desire — what’s going on? As you go into business, there are a few things each business visionary has to know to endure that basic first year effectively. In my over 30 years as a tech chief, business person and C-level corporate leader openly and privately owned businesses, here are three of the greatest exercises I’ve learned.

1. DISREGARD PERFECTION AND FOCUS ON FINDING MORE CUSTOMERS

The main explanation business people fizzle is that they don’t have clients who need to purchase their item or administration. In light of that, your first year ought to be tied in with discovering networks of individuals who need to purchase what you’re selling — or even portion of what you’re selling.

As you do, don’t expect that you need to make the ideal item or administration before you find your client base. That will just thwart your energy. Exile negative speculation as per, “On the off chance that I simply get this piece right… ” and rather remain laser-zeroed in on the greater inquiry: “Am I ready to discover or produce sufficient interest to continue to push ahead with my thought?”

One of the most mind-blowing approaches to distinguish your base can be through paid channels like Google that expand your openness to shoppers. Consider how organizations would open in shopping centres since that is the place where the people strolling through was, yet today, the entirety of that traffic is on the web. When you find your clients, you are in a solid beginning position and you can divert to tweaking from that point.

2. CONTROL YOUR CASH

The other fundamental explanation that organizations flop from the get-go is that they run out of cash, so dealing with your month-to-month income and costs is urgent during this window. Obviously, the two-go connected at the hip: You need to have the option to endure sufficiently long to find clients.

To set yourself up for practicality, embrace a profoundly traditionalist methodology. Start by carrying out a decent income the board framework to follow the cash going in and out and have sure you comprehend the effect between income and benefit. For instance, regardless of whether you offer loads of your item to clients, that doesn’t really mean you can cover your bills. In the event that you sell, say, $50,000 worth of items on layaway with 60-day terms, yet you requested $35,000 worth of provisions to cause those items and you to need to pay your providers inside 30 days — on top of lease and finance — the math rapidly becomes muddled, and you will be unable to keep the lights on.

Part of being moderate is likewise settling on determined choices — which means, don’t over enlist ability until you decide how you will find your client base, bring in cash and be alluring to financial backers. Watching out for the entirety of this is vital for opening up development openings.

3. STAY CALM AND TAKE NEXT RIGHT STEP

During the primary year of establishing another organization, there is in every case some motivation to freeze or have an existential emergency. Possibly your new item turns out not to have the take rate you expected, or somebody who you feel is basic to the group stops, or you miss your income numbers in light of a startling cost, or unexpected rivalry enters the market — the rundown can feel perpetual.

These situations are not kidding, yet have confidence that they are common and can be explored effortlessly. The arrangement is frequently to remain quiet (I for one find that reflection assists me with trying not to become twisted up and stay sensitive to what exactly going on around me), pay attention to your impulses and do the following right thing. In the event that you do that, the way ahead will begin to uncover itself.

By conveying these strategies, business people can explore a portion of the more normal difficulties that will definitely emerge during the first — and seemingly the hardest — year while keeping fixed on what is important most for progress.

Why does a student need to be industry ready & how they can be?

What do you mean by industry ready?

An industry expects their employees to have Non-technical skills and personal attributes such as team work, communication skills, integrity, reliability and self-motivation are considered more important than purely technical skills to get industry ready.

Importance

A study shows that 50% of the curriculum that are been taught in college/universities, by the time students will graduate, it will get auxiliated with new technologies in the market.

Let’s say for example, a product manager of a company who advertises the product, collects data and analysis the data to improve the marketing strategies of company. He can do it manually, but with time if an app is developed for this work, the company won’t be requiring any product manager.

Although degrees are important for future but it is also important to have a knowledge about what all techniques and skills that will be there in future and also to start developing those skills.

How can students be industry ready?

Here are some ways of getting industry ready:-

Practical Knowledge of Doing Things:- If you can demonstrate how to implement the theoretical knowledge you have then your chances of getting hired will improve significantly.
Sharpen Your Communication Skills:- If you are not able to communicate properly, your knowledge will be of little use to you.
Inculcate the Habit of Innovation:- Form a habit to think out of the box, if you can provide a company with a method to save on expenditure or increase their profit, you have better chances of getting hired.
Read Books and Newspapers Regularly:- Form a habit to read a newspaper or book at least half an hour daily, as this will improve your thinking process as well.
Build Your Profile to Show Your Accomplishments:- One needs to be presentable and be able to exhibit his or her qualifications and capabilities convincingly.
Pursue Online Courses to Hone Your Skills:- To make yourself industry ready, it is better to learn some new skills online.
Work on Your Weak Areas:- The trick here is to present your weaknesses in a way that it looks profitable to the company for whom you want to work for.
Learn to Organize and Manage Your Time:- It is about getting the maximum output in a given amount of time. Productivity matters a lot when you are working for a company.

So start investing more on prolonged and sustainable skills because knowledge and degrees are not going to be most required in future. This is the time to decide what is to be done and how should the steps be taken forward.

Will you take Chinese vaccine?

Made in China, accept it or not but for many of us this label has become synonymous with low cost and low quality. So how true is the stereotype and what has Chinese done to deserve such a bad reputation? Well the list goes long, the latest item is vaccine.

China has sold vaccines to the World which may not be working. It is currently exporting vaccine to 43 countries with:-

a total of 742 million doses that have been sold,
22 million doses have been donated,
262 million doses have been delivered.

China is exporting 3 major vaccines:-

Sinovac
CanSino BIO
Sinopharm

But do these vaccines even work? Let’s look at some of the countries those have received Chinese vaccines.

Mongolia

In Mongolia, more than half of the population is fully vaccinated but daily infection has risen by more than 70% in the last 2 weeks, and they’re using the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm. No doubt Mongolians are questioning the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccine.

Bahrain

Bahrain an Asian country is witnessing a surge. There’s a sharp rise in the number of infections and this dispite of high levels of inoculation. How will China explain this? China’s Sinopharm vaccine, accounts for 60% of the inoculation. Bahrain is now administering a Pfizer booster shot for those who have received both doses of vaccine.

Seychelles

Seychelles of East Africa, 61% of the population have been vaccinated with just 100,000 of people. This island nation has the highest vaccination cover globally. It’s daily average cases rose up to 400 with 37% of the fresh infections reported in fully vaccinated people. This is the result of the Chinese vaccine they’re using which is Sinopharm.

UAE

The United Arab Emirates has vaccinated more than 38% of the population with more than 51% have received first dose and yet daily new cases exceeded to 1700. And they are also using the vaccine Sinopharm that was received from China and UAE is also questioning the efficacy of the Chinese vaccine and also giving a Pfizer booster shot to Sinopharm recipient.

Countries who have refused

Philippines

In the month of May, the Philippines President apologized and asked China to take away Sinopharm vaccine back. He sent back the doses because Chinese cure is unproven.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has also refused to recognise certificates of Sinovac and Sinopharm. It is recommending Pfizer and AstraZeneca instead.

Do Chinese vaccines works in China

There’s a fresh out break of new infections that are been reported in the Guangdong province of China. Guangdong with its capital Guangzhou, accounting of 90% of the confirmed cases. Health authorities of the capital blames the delete variant which was first identified in India. A strict lockdown has been composed there overseas arrivals are being quarantined, million have forced to indoors.

Hence its proven that the rumours of China had conquered the pandemic was false. The virus is unpredictable, it keeps spreading. Vaccines are not full proof in preventing infections but if one vaccine has repeatedly proven ineffective then it’s time for some reflection.

Cozy Reads

Fall is for fires and books.
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The perfect season to fall into reading is finally here! Fall is all about warm and cozy stuff. Nothing can beat a hot beverage, crackling fire, your favourite blanket, falling leaves and an amazing book. Fall is a manifestation of endings and beginnings, this is probably the best time to curl with a book and just enjoy.

Curated below is a list of 3 books that you have to checkout this fall.

1. The Chocolate Thief

Laura Florand’s, ‘ The Chocolate Thief ‘, tells the sweet tale Cade Corey and Sylvain Marquis’s escapades with chocolate.

Cade Corey belongs to an American family which is famous for their Corey Chocolate Bar, making millions through their chocolate business. Infatuated with chocolates and determined, Cade wants to launch an exclusive line of chocolates rather than her family’s mass made bar. Her dream and determination land her in Paris, in quest of the number one chocolatier in Paris, Sylvain Marquis, who can help her materialise her long envisioned premium chocolate.

Cade was already smitten with Marquis’s exceptional skills long before meeting him, what Cade did not expect was for him to be extremely handsome and basically a jerk. Sylvain is rude, arrogant, bitter and horrified at Cade’s idea of putting out a mass produced chocolate on his name. Their first meeting is an absolute disaster which is followed by equally disastrous thinking on Cade’s part when she decides to break into Sylvain’s laboratroire and steal his chocolate. What follows is an interesting tale of a drama and a blooming romance, sweeter than chocolate.

2. I Have Never

Camilla Isley’s, ‘ I Have Never ‘, revolves around Twenty nine year old Blair Walker, whose life revolves around a list of dos and don’ts, that would according to her help her lead the perfect life and put everything right in terms of her career aspirations and love life.

Never did Blair ever imagine to be thrown out of running for the dream job she wanted to land because someone bought their way to the top, get fired from her current job and get dumped her boyfriend of all in one day. Dealing with the happenings of her life at a local bar, Blair reads the list of things she vowed never to do and decides to just do them. What follows is something entirely unlike her, waking up in a stranger’s bed, who assures that they didn’t sleep together and offers her a job, working as the ‘Beauty and Fashion editor’ of an online magazine and dealing with her hunk of a boss who though quite taken with her has a complicated dating history. Blair does all that she thought she’d never do.

3. Dark Skye

Kresley Cole’s’ ‘ Dark Skye ‘, is a story of scarred warrior prince and a bewitching sorceress who has the power to heal his scarred body and perhaps heart.

Thronos,the prince of Skye Hall, was in love with his childhood best friend, Melanthe, a Sorceress. They are torn apart by a family feud and several misunderstandings only to reconcile centuries later as each other’s mortal enemy, yet the fierce pull between continues to make them yearn for each other. As the story builds, Lanthe and Thronos come together to fight certain wars while subsequently at each other’s throat. Time spent together, helps with the bittersweet memories of the past and helps them discover the actual happenings of the fateful day, they were separated and helps them rediscover their love and yearning for each other.

Other Cozy Reads:

When Sparks Fly ( Helena Hunting)

Eleanor & Park (Rainbow Rowell)

The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion)

Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell)

COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE AND THE MODERN PERIOD OF INDIA

The colonial influence in Indian architecture can be seen in office buildings. The British people from the 16th century have constructed several churches and other buildings. Basilica Bom Jesus and the church of Saint Francis are the most famous churches built by the Portuguese in Goa. Many administrative and residential buildings are built by the British in India. We can also see the influence of Greek and Roman in the colonnades and pillared buildings. Rashtrapati Bhavan, formerly the Viceroy’s residence was designed by the architect Lutyens. Writers’ Building in Calcutta, where several governmental officers worked in the British period is still the administrative center of Bengal after independence. The church buildings like St. Paul’s Cathedral in Calcutta are another design in the British period. They also left their impressions by building the railway terminals like Victoria Terminus in Mumbai. The French architect Corbusier had designed several buildings that are built on Chandigarh. The India International Centre in Delhi where conferences are held by leading intellectuals from all over the world is designed by the Austrian architect, Stein. In the past few decades, several Indian architects have emerged. Charles Correa and Raj Rewal are the architects of this generation.

CHENNAI:

Chennai, formerly known as Madras is one of the four metropolitan cities of India. The city has become the seat of Madras Presidency, the southern division of British Imperial India by the 19th century. The city had become the capital of Madras state in 1947. Later, the madras state was replaced by Tamil Nadu in 1968. Various cathedrals, buildings, and wide tree-lined avenues at Chennai influence the colonial period. The High Court Building, built in 1892, during the British period was said to be the largest judicial building in the world after the Courts of London. To store enormous blocks of ice cut from the Great Lakes in the northern USA in India, Icehouse was built during the colonial period. The Church of St. John that had wide Gothic arches and beautiful stained-glass windows is the beautiful structure of that period. The General post office in Chennai is built-in 1872. The General Post Office has a vast central hall with a high dome. The first English fortress in India, Fort St George is found in the coastal city of madras.

MUMBAI:

Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra is located on the west coast of India. The city of Mumbai has come to light by the arrival of the British in the 17th century. It was known as Bombay. It is the first city in India to have railways. Also, it was the city where the newspaper came into existence. During the end of the 19th century, many buildings were constructed in Bombay in Victorian Gothic Style. The Secretariat, the Council Hall, and Elphinstone College were built in the above-mentioned style. The most impressive style was the massive railway construction in 1887, Victoria Terminus (modern Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus). It looks more like a cathedral than a railway station. To honor the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India, the famous Gateway of India was built. Since independence, Mumbai has continued to be India’s leading commercial and industrial city. The stock exchange, business centers, film industry named Bollywood, and anything that comes under modernization and westernization is all started in Bombay.

DELHI:

Delhi was founded by Raju Dhilu and Ptolemy, the geographer who marked Delhi in his map as Daidala. Today, Delhi is one of the largest cities not only in India but in the whole world. After the period of Tomars, Chauhans built the city named Qila Rai Pithora in Lal Kot, Mehrauli. The famous Qutub Minar is finished by Iltutmish which was started by Qutb-ud-din. The Siri fort exists in Delhi and currently, this area in Delhi is known as Shahpur Jat. After some years, Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq constructed the city called Tughlaqabad. After the death of Ghiyasuddin, the earlier cities of Delhi into a single unit and were named Jahanpanah by Mohammed Bin Tughlaq. Firoz Shah constructed Firozabad, located near Firoz Shah Kotla. The Mughal ruler Humayun built the Dinpanah on the mound of ancient Indraprastha. Shah Jehan, the grandson of Humayun started building the Red Fort in 1639 and finished it in 1648. Nearly for 24 Sufis, Delhi is the hometown. After the Mughal rule in Delhi, the British occupied Delhi after defeating the Marathas in 1803. The Parliament House and the North and South Blocks, the India Gate, and the Viceroy house were all made to impress the Indian subjects of the British rule. Delhi has become an important commercial, cultural, and political center of India. Museums, beautiful parks, flyovers, the Metro, a beautiful airport, educational centers, massive buildings, big wholesale markets, large malls, major industries, etc. all contribute to male Delhi as an outstanding city.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Narcissistic personality disorder or NDP is a personality disorder characterized by grandiosity. You may see it in people who have an inflated ego, with little regards to others. It is important to note that NDP is a psychiatric condition, and it is more complex than simply being arrogant. It’s distressing for those who have it and for those who’re around them. Hoping to shed some light on the condition, and sign that a person should seek help. While much of T.V and movies portray narcissism as people who feel like they’re better than everyone else, it’s usually not just the case.

What is narcissism?

Narcissism is a set of traits classified and studied by psychologists. The psychological definition of narcissism is an inflated, grandiose self-image. To varying degrees, narcissists think they’re better looking, smart and more important than other people and that they deserve special treatment.

Psychologists recognize two form of narcissism as personality traits:

Grandiose
Vulnerable

What is NDP?

NPD is a personality disorder in which the person feels self-important and craves constant validation.
Their feelings of superiority often hint at a deeper problem.
As their need of validation often comes from a place of insecurity and instability rather than genuine self love which they may not be aware of.

What causes NPD?

While the cause of NPD is unknown, researchers believe that it has to do with a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
It’s believed that 6% of people have this disorder. Men have a higher chance of this disorder than women.
Some believe that NPD is developed to cope with trauma and feelings of inadequacy. Others believe it may be learned in early childhood from dealing with anything, from abuse to excessive pampering.
There is even a debate as to how much of the disorder is passed down from parents to children acquiring the disorder.

What are the signs and Symptoms?

The feeling of grandiosity where they feel that they’re superior to others and low empathy are often seen in those with NPD; they don’t care much for others expecting to receive constant validation.

People with NPD feel as though they’re entitled to whatever they want which can be dangerous as it can manifest into toxic relationships.
They may manipulate others to get what they want.
They brag and exaggerate their achievements or feel envious of anyone that outperforms them, but deep down the person with NPD may be really dealing with their own feeling of inadequacy.

How to get help?

People with NPD may not seek help for the disorder itself as they may not know that there’s an issue.
Usually, people are diagnosed because they seek treatment for other issues such as depression or addiction.

However people who feel that they may have the condition and urged to reach out for help. NPD and the underlying feelings of inadequacy can be treated. It not only benefits the individual, but also to people around them.

What treatment options are available?

People diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder will most likely work with a therapist using psychotherapy methods.

Other self-improving activities such as:-

Doing exercises and,
Hobbies may be used in conjunction with therapy.

Coming to a conclusion, we do live in a very materialistic and Consumersious society and as long as that’s the case, narcissism is going to win because it’s about putting yourself first and not caring as much about others. Not to mention people with NPD can be very generous when it’s going to get them what they need. They may buy everyone big dinners and take everyone on a big vacation so it creates this illusion that there’s lots of people all around them, because it’s all the stuff that they’re making possible for them. It’s important to know that treatment is available and that life can be made more manageable.

Story of Cellular Jail of India

You might have heard about the deadliest punishment that one could never wonder in their dreams. It is also known by the name Kala paani ki saza or by the name The black water punishment. So why is this jail different from other jails?

Emergence

During the colonial rule, Britishers got short of places where they could keep and punish the freedom fighters and political activists who were emerging against them. So they made single cellular jail punishment there they can punish the freedom fighters. In the year 1896, Britishers decided to build this jail on Andaman & Nicobar islands and in the year 1906 it was completed.

It was named as “cellular jail” because every jailer was kept in a single cell, so that the one jailer could not talk to others. As the jailers were freedom fighters so if they communicate somehow they will be able to find a way out. The cellular jail is also on an island which is surrounded by water so that the jailer won’t ran way.

The Punishment

The cellular jail wasn’t any normal jail it was like an experimental jail for the Britishers which involved torture, medical tests, forced labor and also some of these punishment which are unimaginable. The Britishers used to send freedom fighters to 1300 km across the water to the Andaman & Nicobar islands. It was so far away from India that people would die even on the boat voyage. So if the prisoners made it that far, they were kept in the cells which were designed for solitary confinement.

The cells of the jail is made up of brick and concrete where there is no toilet, the jailers were allowed to go to the toilet in the morning and at night and the rest of the time they were just locked in the cell. They prisoners were also forced to do labor like to extract 30 pounds of coconut oil and 10 pounds of mustard oil in a day. And if they don’t, then they have to face the consequences by beating up with iron rods while they are chained in iron chains.

Britishers in their own jail

In the year 1944, Japanese came to India and invaded the Islands and took over. The Japanese prisoned the Britishers in their own prison. As per Mahatma gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore’s demand the Indian prisoners were set free.

After the Japanese lost in World War II, they had to retreat, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands became India’s part when it got independent in the year 1947.

After independence the cellular jail was declared as a National Memorial which is now a tourist place for all. There is also a Museum where you can get to know about all the freedom fighters along with their stories.

BOOK REVIEW- THE BOOK THEIF BY MARCUS ZUSAK

BY DAKSHITA NAITHANI

It’s the year 1939 Germany during the Nazi era. The country is gasping for air. Death has never been busier, and it will continue to be so.

Marcus Zusak’s gripping debut novel tells the storey of Liesel, who sees her younger brother’s death while travelling through Germany on a locomotive. Liesel clutches a volume she finds concealed in the snow while standing at her brother’s grave, regardless of the fact that she has yet to learn to read. When Liesel is placed with a foster family on Himmel Street, she quickly settles into a happy but impoverished life. The risks, however, are raised tremendously when news of the inevitable war and Hitler’s impact on Germany and the Jewish race reaches Liesel and her foster family, posing a significant threat to the family because they take on a Jewish soldier and hide them in their home as an act of honour for an old friend. Soon, Liesel, her family, and her friends on Himmel Street are pushed into the adversities that only war can bring, experiencing devastation and misery but ultimately making memories that will help them survive Nazi Germany’s challenges.

The importance of the plot was one of the reasons why this work was able to accomplish all of the aforementioned goals. I discovered that allowing readers to explore Liesel’s romance through words provides a significant reprieve from the war-focused storey, giving us glimpses of the carnage while deflecting skillfully with other crucial plot points, such as the relationships between the children on Himmel Street, Liesel’s tense relationship with her foster mother, or Liesel’s infatuation with stories and words. Zusak achieves a nice medium in between dark, tortured horror thriller and the study of youth and Liesel’s coming-of-age storyline by doing so. Thereby, Zusack guarantees that ‘The Book Thief’ transcends a single genre, offering readers who enjoy a variety of reading styles a sample of a novel from every perspective.

I was taken aback when I first opened this book and saw that Liesel was not the narrator. I wasn’t sure how attached I would feel to the protagonist’s rise and fall in Nazi Germany without hearing it directly from her. I realized how important it was having Death as the narrator which only enhanced my love for the work tenfold. Death provided a genuine insight into the impact of war on society, giving readers a look into the tragedies that may rip men, women, and children apart. One of the hallmarks of a great novel is how it makes the reader think about a particular topic, and I can confidently say that not only did Zusak give an opinion on the insufficient disparity between social classes and demographics, but he also managed to give voice to something that–in our lives–will never be given a chance to speak, much like the oppressed people who were suppressed during Adolf Hitler’s reign.

This book was quite eye-opening for me. It is among the first novels about the war that I have read that is written from the perspective of someone who lives in Germany. It makes you realise that so many people in Germany suffered as a result of the war, and that they weren’t all as bad as they are frequently depicted. The grief surrounding Liesel’s narrative sneaks up on you until you realise how common it was and continues to be for so many others.

Overall, I found this to be one of the most pleasant and powerful novels I have ever read. All authors aim to strike all of the correct notes in their novels, but it’s uncommon for an author to nail every single stride on the first try. The narrative gives the storey an unusual viewpoint. Death says a lot of things that are intellectual and even beautiful.

In some respects, The Book Thief leaves you with a feeling of guilt when you think about it. Because it is British bombs that fall on Germany, and it is British bombs that murder so many people in the narrative, leaving the reader’s cheeks wet in tears.

To Read List (Non-fiction)

The challenge of non-fiction is to marry art and truth.
phyllis rose

Introduction

The biblical definition of non-fiction is prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people. Non fiction encompasses the factual and literal aspect of the literary canyon, which includes everything from biography, history, self-help, health and fitness, politics, religion, spirituality, business and money, parenting, relationships etc.

According to recent findings by several sources including Forbes, non-fiction literature is rising in ranks compared to its other fictional counterparts. “Revenues for adult non-fiction have rapidly risen every year since: $4.97 billion in 2014, $5.59 billion in 2015, $5.87 billion in 2016, and finally $6.18 billion last year.“

Non- fiction helps its readers get in tandem with the real world and connect to the everyday happenings as fiction sweeps them through different realms. Reading non-fiction can help one acquire knowledge about subjects crucial to the capitalist world today.

Curated below is a list of 4 non-fiction books that you must check out!

1. The Secret

Rhonda Byrne’s, ‘The Secret’, is among one of the most celebrated and widely endorsed self help books ever. This book sets out to piece together a secret by sifting through age old oral traditions, religions, literature philosophy blending it with the acumen of modern day experts, ultimately giving rise to a secret like no other. This secret based on several simple factors, has perhaps what it might take to transform lives.

This book in a methodical manner unravels the secret and teaches its application in our everyday lives. This secret has the means to explore all that energy within you that you think is redundant and possibly channel it in a positive manner.

2.Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Blink’, is best described by its title itself. Based on psychological aspects of decisions made in the blink of an eye, this book might after all, give answers to some of questions that everyone has had at some point about intuitions, good decisions and bad decisions.

Blink gives us insight into the makings of quality decisions and the minds of quality decision-makers. It explores a vast world of thinking or perhaps not thinking sometimes and explains how those decisions come to play.

3. Tuesdays with Morrie

Mitch Albom’s, ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’, is an inspirational story of Mitch Albom’s reconciliation with Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago who gave Mitch advice and understanding when he was lost and needed it the most. After Mitch meandered through life, after losing touch with his mentor, with several haunting questions of his.

As he meets his mentor, suffering from a fatal disease, almost two decades later, they get into a routine from the college days with Mitch visiting Morrie every Tuesday. Tuesdays with Morrie morph into insightful last lessons on life and living.

4. How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie’s masterpiece, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, has influenced millions of people since getting published in 1936. This book contains solid and practical principles that can help one attain a steady footing on the ladder of success. This book focuses upon maximum discovery and use of one’s potential in the best ways possible.

One of the must reads in self help, this book preaches the principles to make people like you, to win people over by your way of thinking, to change people without arousing resentment.

Pollution causes blindness

Air pollution is a global malice. It destabilzes the climate, punishes our lungs and now according to a new study could possibly affect our eye sight or might make you blind.

The research was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, it analysed 115,000 participants over 14 years. At the start of the study in 2006, these people have no eye problems but in the latest medical examination , 1,286 of them reported A.M.D (Age related Macular Degeneration). It is the leading cause of blindness among the people aged 50+ in rich nations. There are 200 million people living with this condition.

There appears to be a link between A.M.D and air pollution. People exposed to fine particulate matter are more vulnerable to A.M.D, nearly 8% vulnerable and this isn’t from industry level exposure. Even relatively low level of air pollution could be triggering A.M.D.

Effect on eye sight

The eyes have particularly high flow of blood. This leaves them vulnerable fine particles that flow through the body. It’s important to note that this study is observational. It cannot categorically establish a link between air pollution and A.M.D. However there has been similar study elsewhere with the same results. And the link between smoking and A.M.D has always been known.

The threat from air pollution has always been clear, but new studies are revealing more dimensions of this threat.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution contributes to 7 Million deaths annually. This leaves us with another cause of concern, toxic air could leave you blind.

To Read List (Romance)-2

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”
Nat King Cole, ‘Nature Boy’ lyrics

Today, we continue to meander through the spectral world of love.

1. I Owe You One

Sophie Kinsella’s, ‘I Owe You One’ is a tale of self discovery, empowerment and love.

Fixie Farr’s father has always taught her to value family, above all else and that is what Fixie endeavours to upkeep after he passes away, leaving his business of housewares store to his wife and children. Since all her other siblings are out there doing something on their own, Fixie has no choice but seize the reins of her father’s store.

When one fateful day, a charming stranger asks her to watch his laptop for sometime, Fixie, being the person she is, not only watches it for a while but also manages to save it from some impending disaster. The computer’s owner, Sebastian turns out to be an investment manager and leaves an IOU with a business card for Fixie.

In a series of events, Fixie’s childhood crush, Ryan enters into the scene and his lack of work, compels Fixie to take up Sebastian’s, IOU to ask a job for Ryan. Sebastian agrees. What ensues is a tale filled with more IOUs, life altering favours and Fixie torn between her family and her life choices.

2. This Lullaby

Sarah Dessen’s, ‘This Lullaby’, revolves around Remy, scared of commitments and known for breaking it off just as things start getting a bit serious after the initial romantic scurry. Remy seems to have inherited her dating skills from her mother who’s at husband number five at present. Remy has had a number of liaisons in the past and dumped her boyfriends with acute precision. This time, Remy just cannot bring herself to dump Dexter. She goes into wild speculations to ascertain why. This might just be the beginning of an epic love for Remy, granted she opens up her heart to an honest relationship without any inhibitions.

3. Catching Jordan

Miranda Kenneally’s, ‘Catching Jordan’, revolves around Jordan Woods, the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. Jordan hangs around with the hot jocks of the team as one of them. She puts all her elbow grease into football and bears anything and anyone, as long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

When Ty Green, stunning and an amazing QB moves to Jordan’s school, all that Jordan has ever strived for is somehow put on the line. Her emotions are a wreck as she tries to give her all to her game without distraction from the heart.

4. The Edge of Never

J.A. Redmerski’s’, ‘The Edge of Never’, tells the tale of Camryn Bennett, a Twenty year old girl with an unmatched and out-of-the-box imagination. Following a series of setbacks, Camryn decides to push forth and not give up. After an unforgettable night at the hottest club in downtown North Carolina, Camryn decides to leave everything behind and pursue what she always wanted.

With a will of steel, a phone and a small bag and no sense of destination and direction, Camryn boards a Greyhound bus where she finds a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone she can relate to and who has several guarded secrets.

Although sworn to never fall in love, Camryn finds herself in the midst of a whirlwind called Andrew. Together, they do things that Camryn never thought she’d ever do. Their chemistry is fierce, the pull undeniable but the secrets threaten it all.

“your hand touching mine,
this is how galaxies collide.”
-Sanober Khan

NATIONAL SPORTS DAY- YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT FAMOUS SPORTS IN INDIA

There are different kind of games played in India, from popular sports such as football and Cricket to lesser known but most played local games Kho- kho. Here is the lit of top most popular sports in India with the special place and part of the physical culture in ancient India.

1.Cricket:

Cricket is not only the most popular sport in India but also an important part of the Indian culture,played almost everywhere. BCCI is body for cricket in India, Indian Premier League is the most watched sports leagues in the world.

Indian cricket team is the winner of all format of Cricket be it Twenty20 World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and ICC Test Championship.

2.Badminton:

Badminton is the second most played sports in India and the team is governed by the Badminton Association of India. The Indian team of Badminton players are taking the world in all kind of Championships, P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta.

3.Football:

Football as a sports is very popular in the state of Kerala, Goa, West Bengal and north-eastern India, From where professional players like Bhaichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri promote Indian football to the country.

4.Kabaddi:

Kabaddi is one of the most popular sports in India, popularized as a competitive sport and part in the Asian Games, international kabaddi competition – Kabaddi World Cup and Pro Kabaddi League based on Indian premier league.

Pro Kabaddi League is second most watched sports in India after IPL, also uses a franchise based model with rules same as indoor version of Kabaddi and 2019 season of Pro Kabaddi League features 12 teams.

5.Field Hockey:

Field Hockey is one of the oldest ancient games played in India, Considered as the unofficial National sport of India. Odisha field hockey has dominance in field hockey in India and a league called Premier Hockey League started like IPL.

6.Tennis:

Tennis in India is limited to urban areas but counted among the top ten most popular sports in India along with Badminton and Football, introduced in India in the 1880.

Sania Mirza is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six Grand Slam titles in her career. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the Women’s Tennis Association as India’s No. 1 player.

7.Pehlwani:

Pehlwani from India is a form of wrestling and old Malla-yuddha game, originating from the Indian subcontinent and today known as Kusti. Wrestling is the form of modern Pehelwani and very popular in India since ancient times where it was famously known as Malla-yuddha.

Malla yuddha is the ancient Indian game of Pehlwani and the competitions known as kushti or dangal, place of practice Pehlwani is called Akhara.

8.Boxing:

Boxing combat sports game is getting popular in India after the Indian Olympic boxer like Mary Kom, Pinky Rani,Sarita Devi, Shashi Chopra and

Champion Vijender Singh are inspiration many boxers in India.

9.Mallakhamba:

Mallakhamba is another well known traditional sports of India which includes wrestling grips, aerial yoga postures on a vertical hanging wooden pole. The free standing pole usually made from Seesham wood Indian Rosewood tree and polished with castor oil, where a gymnast practiced and performs.

10.Basketball:

The game of basketball is not that much popular sports in the country like Cricket and Badminton but already make a significant mark in the list of sports played in India.

11.Kho Kho

Kho kho is an ancient sport from India and second most played traditional tag games of the Indian subcontinent, after Kabaddi. The traditional Indian sport also played in South Africa by the Indian community and one of the must play sports of India.

On National Sports Day 2021: You must know about Olympics 2021

National Sports Day is celebrated every year in India on 29 August. The day is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Indian hockey legend, Major Dhyan Chand.

Major Dhyan Chand was a legendary figure in Indian and world hockey. He played a very significant role in helping India complete their first hat-trick of Olympic gold medals with victories at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics.

Though Dhyan Chand himself led the Indian team (under British rule) to three consecutive Olympic gold medals (in 1928, 1932 and 1936), it was at the 1948 London Summer Games that Independent India defeated hosts Great Britain 4-0 to win their first Olympic gold post-Independence.

The legendary Milkha Singh broke the 400m Olympic record but lost the bronze medal by just 0.1 second at 1960 Rome as ‘The Flying Sikh’ went on to win gold at the Asian Games in 1958 as well as 1962.

Sushil Kumar won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics and went on to better this achievement four year later, when he settled for silver.

Significance:

National Spots Day is celebrated to honor the legacy of Major Dhyan Chand and acknowledge the importance of sports in our life. Various programs, events, seminars etc are organized by the government to raise awareness about the significance of physical activities and sports in life.

On this day, multiple awards like the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and the Dronacharya Award are conferred to sporting heroes to honor their contribution to sports.

Tokyo Olympics (2021):

The Tokyo Olympics, which was supposed to be held in 2020 got postponed to 2021 and it perfectly worked out for India as the contingent returned with it best ever medals haul.

Mirabai Chanu won India’s first medal she became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic silver medal.

The second medal of the Tokyo Olympics was won by Lovlina Borgohain, a bronze in the women’s welterweight (64-69kg) category. It was also the India’s third ever Olympic medal in boxing.

PV Sindhu secured India’s third medal when she won a bronze in the women’s badminton singles. With that she became India’s only second double Olympic medalist.

The Indian men’s hockey team then ended a 41-year medal drought at the Olympics after defeating Germany 5-4 in a thrilling comeback victory in the bronze medal match.

Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya then won a silver medal in the men’s freestyle 57kg category, which was soon followed by Bajrang Punia winning bronze medal in the 65kg freestyle category.

India’s Tokyo Olympics then came to a grand end with Neeraj Chopra winning a historic gold medal. With a throw of 87.58m he won independent India’s first-ever medal and gold medal in athletics.

” I dont play to prove a point to anyone. I play for my country and myself. If I feel I have the ability to achieve something, I’II keep trying to succeed.”
Sania Mirza

Winners at Olympics India 2021:

Mirabai Chana

Indian Hockey Team

PV Sindhu

Lovlina Borgohain

Ravi Kum Dahiya

Bajrang Punia

Neeraj Chopra

History of Dentistry

From brushing and flossing to straightening and whitening, people today put a lot of work into maintaining a health and appearance to their smile. The current trend is for straight, pearly white teeth. But history of dental care stretches all the way back to the beginning of human society.

Ancient ways of cleaning teeth

Prehistoric humans who lived before the advert of oral care actually had very few dental problems. Scientists believe this is on account of their diet, which consisted of unprocessed fibrous foods that help clean their teeth while they ate. However as human evolved, so did the food on menu. Overtime, people found if they didn’t take care of their teeth, they developed dental problems.

Archaeology found evidence that early humans cleaned their teeth by picking at them with things like porcupine quills, animal bones, and tree twigs.

In earlier 3,500 BCE, Mesopotamians were using chew sticks to clean their teeth. Egyptian and Chinese have known to use them as well.

Tooth Decay

Ancient people were always aware of the tooth decay. But the first known scientific theory about its causes dates back at least 5,000 years, to Ancient Sumeria. The theory was that cavities were caused by a creature known as the tooth worm, which they believed would wore holes in teeth.

Cavities can actually resemble the kinds of holes that the worms bore through other materials, like wood. The Sumerians, Greeks, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian people all believed in the tooth worm. Some European doctors were still warning people that worms were the cause of their tooth decay as late as the 14th century.

First Toothbrush

Though no one knows exactly when people started brushing their teeth, archeologists believed the practice originated somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 BCE. The Babylonians and the Egyptians were the first cultures we know of to fashion rudimentary toothbrushes, which were made mostly from twigs.

The first used bristle toothbrush was created in China sometime during the Tang dynasty, between the 7tg and 10th centuries. It was made from hog bristles which would have been attached to a handle carved from bone or bamboo.

Explorers eventually brought these to the West. And in the 17th century, they began to be adopted in Europe.

New trend

In modern times, the dental ideal is considered to be a bright smile with straight white teeth. People will wear braces, use whiteners, to achieve the look. But most didn’t realise, its a relatively new fashion.

The popularity of look really only goes back to the 20th century and was greatly created by Hollywood movies. The trend, arguably, began their veneers, created by cosmetic dentist named Marcus Pincus in the 1940s. It was spotted by movie stars, like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, who became famous for perfect smiles.

While mass market teeth whitening products didn’t became a thing until the 1980s, teeth whitening itself is nothing new.

To Read List (Romance)

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
Maya Angelou

Introduction

Romance is a widely celebrated literary genre that primarily revolves around the romantic aspects of relationship between two individuals. Romantic books are very popular among people of all ages. Romance is a genre that can be amalgamated with any other genre to add some spice to the tale. Romance genre incorporates everything from historical to contemporary love equations. Romance novels may be driven driven by cliché and far fetched tropes such as ‘love at first sight’ etc.

The romance industry is a big shot economically, worth almost $1.08 billion dollars a year in the U.S alone.

Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks, and Robyn Carr are among some of the romance genre popular authors.

Today, we look at some of the romance must reads.

1. See Me

Nicholas Spark is one of the most prolific authors of the romance genre. His novel ‘See Me’ tells the story of two people in constant battle with the demons of their past and trying against al odds to come together as one.

Colin Hancock has a history of violence and an ever looming threat of prison. Haven been given a second chance, he’s trying to make the most of it, putting everything he has in his teaching degree. With constant reminders of his past shortcomings, the last thing on Colin’s mi d is love.

Maria Sanchez, a hardworking professional at a prestigious firm in Wilmington. A dark-haired natural beauty with an impeccable work record, Maria has a dark past that forced her back home.

A chance encounter between these two lost souls leaves in its wake thousands of unanswered questions and a deep yearning to be together. As love takes root, the demons from their past threaten to surface, destroying almost about everything.

2. The Bride Test

Helen Hoang’s, ‘The Bride Test’, tells the story of Khai Diep, an autistic person who thinks that he cannot ever feel anything. As he stays miles away from any potential relationship, his mother decides to take matters in her own hands and travels to Vietnam to find a perfect bride for him.

Esme Tran is a mixed- race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City. When she gets the opportunity to go to America for a potential marriage, she’s more than ready to do it to get out of her penury.

Esme had her mind made up about seducing Khai but ends up falling hopelessly in love with him, while Khai remain unfeeling and hard-hearted. As Esme gets close to leaving States, Khai gets closer to the answers he had always been seeking.

3. The Soulmate Equation

Christina Lauren’s, ‘The Soulmate Equation’, is a story of Jess Davis, a single mother and a statistics wiz who is trying hard to make ends meet while her grandparents, who raised her, help her raise her seven year old daughter, Juno.

Having been let down too many times in her past relationships- by her father, mother and her ex, Jess is extremely sceptical and absolutely unwilling to traipse back into the dating world.

Then, one fateful day, Jess comes across a matchmaking company, GeneticAlly that offers DNA-based matchmaking. When Jess’s tests show 98% compatibility with another person, Jess is astounded and the person is none other than Dr River Pena, GeneticAlly’s founder. Having known him earlier, Jess is certain about him not being he soulmate. But as the company offers to pay her for going out with Pena, Jess cannot refuse anymore.
As these two get swept in the genetic dating league, they discover things about each other that might just change their perspective about everything.

To Read List (Sci-fi)

“Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all gravities of terrestrial life.”
-H.g Wells

Introduction

Sci-fi is perhaps one of the coolest literary genre, that is widely read. Scientific fiction encompasses the vast abyss of human imagination that manifests itself in an astounding blend of creativity and literature. Sci-fi stories have a wide variety of themes, they can be based on absolute facts or be a figment of someone’s imagination as well. Fictitious sci-fi stories can include aliens, a world based in space, time travel, strange inventions and weird creatures as well.

Sci-fi might be hard or soft. Hard sci-fi is based on the real world with less novel elements. Soft sci-fi, however, includes far fetched scientific technology.

Sci-fi requires ingenuity on part of writers and proper assimilation of the readers part. Sci-fi is probably one of the most interesting of the genera of the great literary canyon.

Curated below is a list of 4 interesting Sci-fi books that you can check out.

1. The Time Machine

H.G Wells, renowned as ‘The Father of Sci-fi’, wrote ‘The Time Machine’, in 1895. In this extremely enthralling book, the protagonist goes on a time safari 800,000 years beyond his time. He is transported to an era of devastation and utter destruction of Earth, there he discovers two strange races ,the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks that manifest the terrifying future occupants of the planet and describe the dying humane in humanity.

An absolutely enthralling read, that has gripped readers throughout years.

2. Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson’s, ‘Snow Crash’, is a riveting book that describes the parallel life of Hiro Protagonist in the real world and the Metaverse. Delivering pizzas for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc. in the ordinary world, a warrior prince in the Metaverse. The story takes pace as he crusades through a volley of mysterious computer viruses. He strives to prevent utter destruction by bringing down the ultimate virtual villains.

The story meanders through technical know how of computers and is an absolutely thrilling read.

3. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Christopher Paolini’s, ‘ To Sleep in a Sea of Stars ‘, revolves around Kira Navárez, who dreams of life beyond the scape of Earth, in new unchartered worlds. When during a survey mission on a planet, Kira stumbles across an alien relic, although thrilled at first, Kira soon comes to dread her discovery as the ancient relic begins to move around her.

With Earth in great jeopardy and a war brimming amongst the stars, Kira experiences a life altering journey. With her being the ultimate hope, Kira must brave against all odds and delve into the expanse of the universe to bring about order.

4. Cinder

Marissa Meyer’s, ‘Cinder’, is a riveting tale of a girl Lihn Cinder, a mechanic in New Beijing, the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth, s, who is a cyborg i.e. she is half mechanical, has prosthetic limbs and a complex wiring of internal organs. New Beijing is a place that faces consistent scourge of plagues. In this retelling of Cinderella, humans and androids coexist. When the heir to the throne of the Commonwealth, Prince Kai requires Kai’s help to fix his android, their lives take a thrilling turn. With her mysterious past and a strange Lunar people waiting for ambush from the space, Cinder must traverse through several trials to save the fate of her people and perhaps even the entire world.

A sci-fi twist to the classic Cinderella.

Introducing Skateboarding in Olympics

In recent history, skateboarding has become a pop culture phenomenon. We see it in everything, from T.V advertisements to fashion shows. And for the first time ever, skateboarding will be introduced in the 2020 summer Olympics. But, skateboarding hasn’t always had the mass appeal we see today.

Brief history

Sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, skateboarding was born out of the boredom of surfers when the waves were no good. They would remove the wheels from the roller skates and attach them to a piece of wood to create a skateboard.

By the 1960s, skateboarding’s popularity has grown with rise of surf culture. Contest were held all over and the first sponsored skateboarders were beginning to emerge. However, the popularity of skating in the 60’s dropped just as fast as it rose.

The 1970’s brought along one with the most important changes to the skateboarding world, the advent of the Urethane wheel, which allows skaters to ride faster are over rougher types of ground than ever before.

In 1976, a horrible drought in southern California forced most homeowners with backyard swimming pools to drain them, giving way to birthplace of pool skating. This was the first major shift in how people rode there skateboards. No longer were they limited to the abysmal, flat grounds of parking lots and sidewalks.

The 1980s were a time of Renaissance in skateboarding. People were constantly inventing new tricks, pros were earning unheard of amounts if money, and skateboarder-own companies were thriving.

The vert

The favourable terrain for most of this era was vert. And even though there was a high level of progression occurring, to the untrained eye, skateboarding had gone stale and the popularity once again fell flat.

This lull in skateboarding led to the introduction of street skating which brings us into the 1990s. Skating during the era was at its most raw. Skaters took to the streets, to find new terrain, abandoning traditional skaters parks for something that felt more natural and could be done anywhere, by anyone.

Popularity

Skating things that occur almost anywhere, like sets of stairs, handrails, benches, curbs, and just about anywhere four wheels can roll. From there, skateboarding has been a nonstop, uphill climb to what it is today.

At its core, skateboarding has traditionally been for the underdogs, the outcasts, the misfits, and in result has been thought of negatively by a large major of its existence. But now, with generation of young adults who grew up with skateboarding and the exposure at an all-time high, the future of skateboarding is looking bright.

To Read List (Chick-Lit)

I would love it if my book was considered chick-lit or a beach read. That would be great. People would buy my book.
emily gould

Introduction

Chick lit was a genre widely popular in the 90s and early 2000s, referred to books usually written by women for women and about women. These books centred in on a female protagonist and the plot usually revolved around some cliché themes or highlight some important themes doused with humour and good natured drama. Though bashed by several authors as sexist, chick- lit continues to be one of the favourite genera of all times.

Chick Lit uses humour to reflect life back to us. It’s a very comforting genre, and it’s the first time our generation has had a voice. It’s a very important genre for all of those reasons.
Marian Keyes

Chick Lit is a sub genre of women- fiction and caters mainly to its women target audience.

Curated below is a list of 4 Chick Lits that you absolutely need to check out.

1. After I Do

‘After I do’, is a book by the notable author of ‘ The seven Husbands of Emily Hugo’, Taylor Jenkin Reid. This book revolves around a marriage traipsing on the edge of collapse and the lengths people involved go to to save it.

Lauren and Ryan’s marriage is on the verge of falling apart, when, in order to save their marriage they devise a plan and decide to take a year apart to rediscover themselves and find their love again. There’s a rule though, they can’t contact each other for the entire time spent apart.

This book delves into simple yet notably important things that are generally overlooked in the everyday life. This is perfect light read for the weekend that makes us question the nuances of love and marriage.

2.The Hating Game

Sally Thorne’s, ‘The Hating Game’ follows a enemies to something more kind of trope. Lucy Hutton, the smart, charming, professional, good girl. Joshua Templeman, dressed to the nines, cold , stoic and efficient. These two manifest the definition of nemesis like no one else. Stuck in the same office at Bexley & Gamin for long periods together, they have got going a series of strange games of outfoxing each other. With a significant promotion coming up that can land Lucy as Templeman’s boss, Lucy is all in for the real game, however, she is utterly unrehearsed for the strange feelings rooting in for her arch-nemesis.

This is the kind of book that everyone loves, sharp and sweeping.

3. Miss Makeover

Claire Betita de Guzman’s, ‘Miss Makeover’, revolves around Mara Francisco, a fashion writer, who gets a major makeover ends up receiving attention from the ever charming Markus. When things do not go as she anticipated and to escape her insecurities she rushes off to a to a remote town in the Philippines to attend a beauty boot camp that does not allow makeup for the participants through the entire six day program.

Not armed with makeup for the first time since forever, Mara will have to meander her way through her insecurities. Throw in an old high school crush and an elusively cold local in the mix and you have a tale worth remembering!

The kind of book that almost everyone can relate to.

4. Manhunting

Jennifer Cruise’s, ‘Manhunting’, is centred around Kate Svenson, a suave woman with an equally strong foothold on the corporate ladder. The only glitch in her life is her terrible love life. After three broken engagements, Kate decides to go all out in search of her perfect match.

A swarm of eligible bachelors in the Cabins resort, wrong perceptions and several troubles later Kate and the ever indifferent Jake Templeton stagger for a footing on the ladder of love.

A hilarious and sizzling romance.

5 INCREDIBLE WEEKEND GETAWAYS TO VISIT NEAR DELHI

Delhi is a great place from where you can plan some of the most enthralling weekend trips. The proximity of the national capital to the nearby popular tourist destinations is indeed a blessing for all the travelers.

Here a list of some of the best places to visit in winter near Delhi for a quick refreshing getaway:

1.JAIPUR:

Jaipur is a vibrant amalgamation of the old and the new. Also called the Pink City, the capital of the royal state of Rajasthan, was ruled by the Rajputs for many centuries and developed as a planned city in the 17th century AD. Along with Delhi and Agra, Jaipur forms the Golden Triangle and hails as one of the most famous tourist circuits of the country. From architectural wonders, opulent palaces to ancient forts, Jaipur is one of the most preferred tourist destinations near Delhi. It is even more breathtaking in the winter season. As we mentioned, with a plethora of forts and museums to explore, the pink city (as it is popularly called) gets an influx of visitors during winter.

Jaipur is also one of the best places to visit during the New Year with your loved ones to explore the beauty of this city. Some of the popular attractions in Jaipur include City Palace Museum, Jantar Mantar, Amer Fort, Jaigarh Fort, Hawa Mahal, Jal Mahal, Nahargarh Fort, and Lakshmi Narayan Birla Mandir among others.

2. JIM CORBETT NATIONAL PARK:

Corbett is one of the popular tourist destinations near the national capital. For nature lovers, this is a go-to place for a fun weekend getaway near Delhi. Jim Corbett National Park is extremely famous for its fun jungle safari.

Meanwhile even if you are not someone who wishes to go on an adventurous jungle safari, a relaxing stay in the luxury resorts in Jim Corbett Park will rejuvenate you from within. You can also visit Corbett waterfall and Garjiya Devi Temple among others.

Corbett National Park, set amidst the foothills of Himalayas, houses a variety of flora and fauna including rare ones such as tigers and is a treat for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers.

3. RISHIKESH:

Rishikesh is often touted as the adventure capital of India. It is best visited in the winter months. Rishikesh’s moderate climatic conditions make it easy for the traveler’s to indulge in various adventure activities such as bungee jumping, cliff jumping, flying fox, and river rafting among others. Nights and evenings are however cold, so don’t forget to carry woolens.

In the heart of the state of Uttarakhand lies the destination that is often mistaken to be purely religious. While its Ram Jhula, Laxman Jhula, & Triveni ghat provide it every bit of religious touch, many other spiritual & adventurous places to visit in Rishikesh provide a different angle to the tourism scene of the place. No wonder, the destination has emerged as one of the most popular weekend getaways from Delhi within 300 km.

4. BHARATPUR BIRD SANCTUARY – (A World Heritage Site):

House to over 366 species of birds, 379 species of plants, and 30 mammals, Keoladeo National Park or – as it was formerly called – Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is one of the best places near Delhi for the nature lovers. The new name has been derived from the temple of Keoladeo that is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the national park is an interesting getaway for bird watchers and wildlife photographers.

5. NAINITAL -UTTARAKHAND:

The gem of Uttarakhand – Nainital is a charming hill station that sits prettily at the green foothills of the Kumaon ranges in the Himalayas. Located at an elevation of around 1938 meters, the epicenter of the towns popularity and beauty lies within the gorgeous Naini Lake, after which the town is named. Founded by the British due to its resemblance to the Cumbrian Lake district, Nainital brims with elegant colonial structures that amplify the beauty of this place. It is a perfect weekend getaway from the Indian capital of Delhi.

Mountain of light: Kohinoor

Kohinoor, which means mountain of light, is a colourless Diamond which was discovered in the mines of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh somewhere in the 13th century. It was the biggest Diamond ever known to mankind during that time.

Currently, this Diamond is embedded in the Queen’s Mother’s crown. Governments of India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have all claimed the ownership of this Diamond, but the UK governments has denied it stating that it was obtained legally.

Journey

Kohinoor has rich history behind it, though it is generally believed that this Diamond was discovered in 13th century during the kakatiya dynasty rule. There are scholars who dispute saying that the Diamond was discovered in the 16th century in Golconda. Kohinoor was taken by Alauddin Khilji who’s army defeated the Kakatiya dynasty.

It was with the Mughals most of the time after it’s discovery. However, Mughal lost the battle against Nadirshah in 17th century. It was Nadirshah who took the diamond from the Mughals and named it Kohinoor. After Nadirshah’s death, the diamond was passed on to Ahmad Shah Durrani who was his General.

After that Kohinoor was later gifted to Ranjit Singh by the Durrani dynasty during early 18th century. However, British East India Company defeated Ranjit Singh’s army in mid 18th century and took possession of this Diamond. Kohinoor was later shipped to Britain and the diamond was gifted to Queen Victoria in 1850 and Kohinoor has been in possession of the Royal Family since then.

Cursed?

An ancient Hindu text describe this diamond as

He who owns the diamond will own The World, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God and women can wear it with impunity.

Well by the consequences that we have seen so far it is quite evident that whoever has owned this diamond we’re either defeated or died.

Kakatiya dynasty (original owner) defeated by Alauddin Khilji
Alauddin Khilji died shortly after that and the diamond was passed on to Mughals.
Mughals lost the war to Nadirshah weakening their army.
Nadirshah died while Kohinoor was in his possession.
Ahmad Shah Durrani died while Kohinoor was in possession.
Ranjit Singh had Kohinoor with him when he lost the war with British.
British Empire started losing hold on its colonies including India when they had Kohinoor

This supposedly curse of Kohinoor in Britain. Only the Queen is allowed to wear the Kohinoor diamond. Men are prohibited in using it. With such a history of blood and violence behind it, no wonder this diamond has generated more curiosity in people over a period of time. We might not know if this diamond will come back to India, but the bigger question is will this be a blessing of disguised for India.

DIVISIONS OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

MUSIC IN INDIA

Music is one of the most popular art forms of India. The earliest tradition of music is traced to Sama Veda. The six chapters on music are exclusively dealt with in Bharata’s Natyashastra which is compiled between the 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD. The ragas were first discussed in Brihaddesi, written by Matanga compiled between the 8th and 9th century AD. 264 ragas were mentioned in the Sangeet Ratnakara written by Sarangadeva in the 13th century. Several musical instruments were introduced over some time. Music was patronized by many rulers such as Samudragupta, King Bhoja of Dhara, and King Someshavra of Kalyana, and Samudra Gupta, monarch of Gupta. Music has also been associated with the worship of gods and goddesses. Jayadeva of Orissa composed a raga named Gita Govinda which composed the love of Radha and Krishna. Abhinavabharati written by Abhinavagupta (993-1055) gives more insights into music. In Tamil, the Nyanmanrs and Alvars have composed several poems to the music. Kabir, Mirabai, Tulsidas, Vidyapati are those who are closely associated with music. Kitab-e-Navras was written by Adil Shah 2 in the 17th century in which he praised both the Hind gods and Muslim saints. Tansen and Baiju Bawa were two great musicians during the period of Akbar. Mirabai, Tulsidas, and Surdas sang various devotional songs of Hindustani music.

DIVISIONS OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

Indian classic music was broadly classified on two traditions during the medieval period. They are Hindustani Classical Music in North India and Carnatic music in South India,

HINDUSTANI CLASSICAL MUSIC

Hindustani classical music is the classical music of Northern India. During this period, the musical performance was enriched with several instruments. Dhrupad, Dhamar, Thumri, Khayal, and Tappa were the different styles of Hindustani music. Tansen’s music had the effect of magic and with his ‘Megh Rag’, he even caused the rainfall. Even today, his melodious songs are sung in every part of India. Baiju Bawra, Surdas was the musicians patronized by Akbar. Bahar, , Darbari, Desh , Bhairavi, Sindhu Bhairavi, Bhim Palasi, Hamsadhwani, Jai Jayanti, Megha Malhar, Todi, Yaman, Pilu, were the most popular ragas.

India has a variety of musical instruments of different types. Sitar, sarod, santoor and sarangi. Pakhawaj, tabla, and Mridangam are the most famous stringed instruments. The chief wind instruments are shehnai, nadaswaram, and flute. Gharana, a particular style of music is mostly preferred in Hindustani classical music. The gharanas function in gurushishya parampara i.e, the guru will teach his musical knowledge and style to his disciples. Gwalior gharana, Kirana gharana, and Jaipur gharana were some famous gharanas.

CARNATIC MUSIC

The compositions in Carnatic music were mostly composed by three people namely Shyam Shastri, Thyagaraja, and Mutthuswami Dikshitar between AD 1700 AND 1850. Another important composer of Carnatic music was Purandardasa. Thyagaraja is a saint as well as an artist who plays an important role in the essence of classical music. The main composition of classical music is known as Kriti. They were devotional. Patnam Subrahmanya Ayyar (l854-1902), Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar (1860-1919), and Maha Vaidyanath Ayyar (1844-1893) were the notable musicians of this period. Some of the instruments used to accompany Carnatic music were flute, veena, nadaswaram, mridangam, and ghatam. Although there are different features in Hindustani music and classical music, there are some similar features. For example, to Alap in Hindustani classical music is similar to the Carnatic alapana. Tarana in Hindustani resembles the Tilana in Carnatic music. Both pieces of music have Thalam.

MODERN INDIAN MUSIC

Western music has reached India through British rule. To meet the demand for Indian music, Indians have adopted some of their instruments such as violin and clarinet. Another important development in the music era was the Orchestration of music on stage. In the olden days, the performance of the orchestra was limited and can’t be heard by many people. But now, the orchestra has been recorded and posted to the public. Now, these orchestras were heard by people all over the world. Nowadays many musical institutions are established where we can learn music. . Baba Allauddin Khan, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Alla Rakkha Khan, Ustad Zakir Hussain are some of the famous Musicians.

FOLK MUSIC

In today’s world, India has a rich legacy of folk music. Folk music represents the emotions of several groups of people. Many news songs are composed for celebrating the events. Some of the songs like Mand in Rajasthan and Bhatiali of Bengal were popular all over India. In Haryana, Ragini is a popular form of folk music. Folk songs have their way of conveying information. Muslims sing Sojkhwani (mournful songs) during Muharram. Christians sing some carols and choral music on festival occasions.

Volcanoes have kept Earth’s surface temperatures balanced out

The specialists, working alongside others at the University of Sydney, Australian National University (ANU), University of Ottawa and the University of Leeds, investigated the consolidated effect of cycles in the strong Earth, seas and air in the course of the last 400 million years.

The normal separate and disintegration of rocks at Earth’s surface is called substance enduring. It is basically significant on the grounds that the results of enduring (components like calcium and magnesium) are flushed by means of waterways to the seas, where they structure minerals that lock up CO2.

This input system controls barometrical CO2 levels, and thusly worldwide environment, throughout geographical time, a news discharge clarifies.

“In this regard, enduring of the Earth’s surface fills in as a geographical indoor regulator,” Tom Gernon, academic partner in geology at the University of Southampton, and an individual of the Turing Institute clarifies in the delivery.

“In any case, the hidden controls have demonstrated hard to decide because of the intricacy of the Earth framework,” added Gernon, who is additionally the lead creator of the investigation.

“Many Earth measures are interlinked, and there are some significant delays among measures and their belongings,” Eelco Rohling, teacher in sea and environmental change at ANU and the investigation’s co-creator clarifies. “Understanding the general impact of explicit cycles inside the Earth framework reaction has in this manner been a recalcitrant issue,” Rohling adds.

To comprehend the intricacy, the group developed a book “Earth organization”, fusing AI calculations and plate structural recreations. This empowered the specialists to distinguish the predominant communications inside the Earth framework, and how they advanced through time, the delivery clarifies.

The group tracked down that mainland volcanic bends were the main driver of enduring force in the course of the last 400 million years. Today, mainland circular segments involve chains of volcanoes in, for instance, the Andes in South America, and the Cascades in the US. These volcanoes are probably the most elevated and quickest dissolving highlights on Earth. Since the volcanic rocks are divided and artificially receptive, they are quickly endured and flushed into the seas.

Martin Palmer, educator of geochemistry at the University of Southampton and a co-creator of the examination said: “It’s a difficult exercise. On one hand, these volcanoes siphoned out a lot of CO2 that expanded barometrical CO2 levels. Then again, these equivalent volcanoes helped eliminate that carbon by means of fast enduring responses.”

The examination additionally provides reason to feel ambiguous about a since a long time ago held idea that Earth’s environment dependability more than tens to countless years mirrors a harmony between enduring of the ocean bottom and mainland insides. “The possibility of a particularly geographical back-and-forth between the landmasses and the ocean bottom as a prevailing driver of Earth surface enduring isn’t upheld by the information,” Gernon clarifies in the delivery. “Lamentably, the outcomes don’t imply that nature will save us from environmental change,” Gernon adds.

Today, air CO2 levels are higher than whenever in the previous 3 million years, and human-driven emanations are multiple times bigger than volcanic CO2 discharges,” clarifies Gernon. “The mainland circular segments that seem to have saved the planet in the profound past are just not present at the scale expected to assist with balancing present-day CO2 discharges.”

In any case, the group’s discoveries actually gave basic bits of knowledge into how society may deal with the current environment emergency.

Why India can’t have an Official Language

Our Home Minister Amit Shah mentioned about promoting one nation, one language in one of his tweets in 2019. He also added that it should not be done at the cost of other languages. Some of us might know that 14th September is celebrated as Hindi Diwas in our country. So why can’t we have Hindi as an official language?

Critics

After Amit Shah statement, critics said that if Hindi becomes the official language, then other languages like malayalam, tamil, telugu and more, will lost their importance. South Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also said “this one nation, one language will never be a reality” because it will never be easy to have a common language in India.

Also in the New Education Policy (NEP) draft in the year 2019, Hindi was asked to make mandatory in every state. This was also criticized by the South Indian governments and they refused to dilute the state’s two language formula. This resulted in changing the draft and not to have Hindi as an official language.

Steps taken

India is a big nation, so there should be a language that will represent India on world stage. Talking about Hindi, it is spoken in India, Fiji, Suriname, Mauritius, Trinidad, Tabogo and Guyana. So India is working actively to have Hindi recognised as an official language of the UN.

Advantage of having an official language

A Chinese research concluded that

When we have an official language, it can even help to eliminating poverty. As China have experience in fight poverty so we can also learn the power of having an official language.
China also mentioned that an official language also helps in having communicate without any language barrier.
Official language also help to built unity among the citizens
Also helps when people migrate from one city to another, as they can communicate in the same language.

Disadvantage of having an official language

According to the 2001 Census, 41% of India population are native speaker of Hindi dialect. But what about 59% of the population who are non – Hindi speakers? Politician Shashi Tharur said

India should not even try to add Hindi to the list of official language of UN because what if in future our PM is from South part of India and does not speak Hindi, then how will he give speech in Hindi on behalf of India.

But apart from all these we still agree that there should be an official language for a country to function.

As per as official language is concerned,

English is also been promoted in India. Promoting English can result in heavy school fees, as we’ll have to teach the whole population to speak English.
Enough English teacher will also be required and if not then it won’t be successfully become the official language.
This will also result in neglecting the weaker section of the society who won’t be able to speak English and their career opportunity will get affected.

Eventually we need to figure out to take a right decision about official language and keeping in mind of the consequences that could possibly be in long terms situations.

Must Reads (General Fiction)

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Introduction

According to the dictionary, fiction refers to a type of literature in the form of prose that describes imaginary events and people. Fiction is the genre, in which the author whips up imaginary characters and plot and weaves a tale around them. Though untrue and fabricated fiction might be used to relay information and express thoughts on a number of issues that are realistic and often worth highlighting.

Fiction is a very diverse genre of the equally diverse literary canyon. Fiction writing often requires ingenuity and thinking out of the box. Fiction is easily one of the highly read genera in the world. There is such incredible work in the fiction genre that it leaves a reader to browse through a plethora of amazing plots and characters. Several fictitious characters such as Jane Austen’s, ‘Mr. Darcy’ and ‘Elizabeth Bennet‘ or Bam Stoker’s, ‘Dracula‘ have gone down in history as some of the most cherished and timeless characters

Below is a list of four must read fiction books.

1. The Time Traveler’s Wife

Image result for The Time Traveler's Wife book

‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’, is American author Audrey Niffengger’s debut novel. This story revolves around Clare, an artist by profession, who meets her husband Henry under strange circumstances. Henry, afflicted by a genetic disorder is a time traveler of sorts with no control over it. Struggling to control his impromptu trips to strange places and times, naked as the day he was born, Henry finds acceptance and love in Clare. What follows is an enthralling journey full of time spins, confusions , heart-breaks, beginnings and endings.

Time Traveler’s Wife is an absolute must read, with its gripping plot and engaging romance. Full of love and longing, this book is bound to make you burst into guffaws and ugly cry.

2.The Silent Patient

‘The Silent Patient’, by Alex Michaelides is a psychological thriller that tells the tale of Alicia Berenson, a successful painter, who leads a lavish life with her husband ,Gabriel, an extremely sought after fashion photographer. One evening Gabriel returns home only to be met with five bullets to the face by his wife. What follows is a tale filled with gripping mystery as Alicia refuses to utter even a word or offer something in order of explanation. Now, enshrouded in disrepute, Alicia initiates a cycle of speculations by the public that transmutes her into a public mystery.

Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist is obsessed with Alicia’s case and wants to get her talking. The quest to solve this mystery leads him down a risky path…

3.Beautiful Disaster

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Jamie McGuire’s, ‘ Beautiful Disaster’, is a new adult book sporting the cliched, good girl- bad boy plot. Abby Abernathy, the good girl. Travis Maddox, the absolute bad boy. As these two collide in college and interact over a bet that can make Maddox go abstinent for a month or can get Abby stuck in Maddox’s apartment for that equal period of time.

Abby might end up winning more than just the bet!

4. In an Instant

Suzanne Redfearn’s, ‘In an Instant’, is a tale of hard life or death decisions made about in an instant. sixteen-year-old Finn Miller meets with a horrible car accident that causes her and ten others to fall off a mountain. It is a tale of love, family and guilt that makes us introspect over the humane in us and accentuates the ramifications of decisions.

LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE OF NORTHERN INDIA

The languages were evolved at two levels namely the spoken and the written language. The old Brahmi script of Ashoka has uneven letter size by the period of Harsha, the size of letters become even and regular. By comparing the scripts of Hindi, Gujarati, and Punjabi, we can easily discover the changes of how they slowly developed over a long period. About 200 languages are prevailing for spoken languages in India. But some of the languages are spoken in only particular regions. Out of these only 22 languages have been recognized by our constitution. Hindi is spoken by different people in different forms. Rajasthani, which is a language spoken in Rajasthan is another variant of Hindi. This classification is based on the literature written by several poets over years. The Hindi that is spoken now is called Khadi Boli. In the 13th century, Khusrau has used Khadi Bholi in his compositions. But the extensive use of Hindi has started in the 19th century and also it shows some influences of Urdu.

PERSIAN AND URDU:

By the end of the 14th century AD, Urdu emerged as an independent language. By the existence of Turks and Mongols in India, Arabic and Persian were introduced. Urdu was served as an interaction between Hindi and Persian since Persian served as a court language for many centuries. After the conquest of Delhi (1192), the Turkish people acquired this region and slowly Urdu has become a formal language. As time passes, many people around Hindi started speaking Urdu. It became more popular in the early 18th century. Poetry in Urdu is also written by some Mughal emperors.

Khusrau(1253-325) is the earliest known Urdu poet. He was a follower of Nizam ud-din Auliya and he was a poet in the court of Sultan Balban. About 99 works have been completed by him. Laila Majnun and Ayina- I-Sikandari dedicated to Alau-din-Khalji was the most popular works written by him. Ghalib, Zauq, and Iqbal were the other well-known poets in that period. Iqbal’s “SareJahann se achcha Hindostan Hamara” is sung in many national celebrations of India. The Nawabs of Lucknow patronized the Urdu language and slowly it reached its height and now it has been adopted by the Pakistanis as their state language.

Most of the literature was written in Persian since Persian was the language of court during that period. Amir Khusrau and Amir Hasan Dehelvi wrote poetries in Persian. The account of kings, important political events, and incidents during that period was written in Persian by the historians like Minhas-us-Siraj and Zia Barani, and Ibn Batuta. The tuzuk(autobiography) of Babar is originally written in Turkish by him. But later it was translated to Persian by his grandson Akbar. He patronized many scholars and got Mahabharata translated to Persian. Another unique piece of literature in Persian is Jahangir’s autobiography (Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri). The history of Akbar is dealt in it. Abul Fazl’s Akbarnamah and Ain-e-Akbari. Another good piece of poetry was written by Faizi. The Shahjahan’s days were written by Chandra Bhan. By the 20th century, Iqbal wrote some good poetry. All of these have become a part of Indian culture.

HINDI LANGUAGE:

During this time, there was growth in many regional languages like Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Marathi, and Gujarati. The 1st book in Hindi was Prithviraj Raso. It dealt with the exploits of Prithviraj Chauhan. The language has undergone several changes as the area where it was originally spoken expands. Many Hindi writers had looked to Sanskrit classics for guidance while writing literature. Due to the influence of the Bhakti movement in southern India, many poetries and prose written in Hindi were affected. Between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, the Hindi language has evolved during the Apabhramsa stage. This was characterized as Veergatha Kala (early period). Many Rajput rulers have patronized the poetry written in this period. Kabir and Tulsidas were the famous figures of this period. Surdas wrote Sur Sagar in which he talks about Lord Krishna as an infant. The festivals of Rama and Krishna are still celebrated grandly. Another important poet in this period was Nandadasa. Rahim and Bhushan wrote spiritual stories. In the 17th century, Bihari wrote Satsai which talks about shringar(love).

Many writers have contributed to the development of modern Indian literature over the last 150 years. And in 1913, Rabindranath Tagore Tagore became the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for literature (Geetanjali). Hindi prose came into its own during the 19th century. Bharatendu Harishchandra and Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi translated the works in Hindi from Sanskrit and other languages. Vande Mataram, a patriotic song in Sanskrit was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterji (l 838-94). IT was later translated to Hindi and became very popular. Swami Dayananda has also contributed to the growth of the Hindi language. His SatyarthaPrakash was the important literature. Mahadevi Verma was awarded Padma Vibhushanis the first woman writer in Hindi to highlight issues related to women. Maithili Sharan Gupt is another important name. Jaishankar Prasad wrote beautiful dramas.

HINDI LANGUAGE MAKES PROGRESS IN MODERN PERIOD:

By the end of the 18th century, the development of modern language was started. The main writers of this period were Sadasukh Lal, Inshallah Khan, and Bhartendu Harishchandra. Shakuntala is translated to Hindi by Raja Lakshman Singh. Many proses of Hindi literature were written by Bhartendu Harish Chandra, Mahavira Prasad Dwivedi, Ramchandra Shukla, and Shyam Sunder Das. A great contribution to the development of Hindi poetry was given by many poets like Jai Shanker Prasad, Maithalisharan Gupta, Sumitranandan Pant, Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’, Mahadevi Verma, Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ and Haribans Rai ‘Bacchan’ made a great contribution to the development of Hindi poetry. Prem Chand, Vrindavan Lal Verma, and Ellachandra Joshi were great novel writers of Hindi.

Banned cartoons and their reasons

You may have came across the word “ban” Or “censored’ used in movies, but do you know these terms are also used for some cartoons in some countries which are liked by other countries. Let’s have a look at some popular cartoons which are banned in some countries and their reasons.

1. SpongeBob SquarePants

This is the longest running Nickelodeon show ever. It got banned because of violence and foul language which are used in this show. Countries like Russia, America and 120 others have banned this show from watching.

2. The Simpsons

This is America’s most popular cartoon show till now. This show had scenes where public figures like Donald Trump, were insulted. This show also promoted disorderly behavior which were totally misleading for kids. After sometime, the show is now available to watch, but there has been argument going on this show as countries like US have censored this cartoon show.

3. Mickey Mouse

This is world’s first cartoon show which had voice, and the first word that Mickey Mouse said was “Hot Dogs”. This cartoon show got banned in 1930s in the Romanian region because Romania government stated that big Mouse in this cartoon will scare the kids rather than making them laugh.

4. Doremon

This is a Japanese cartoon show which is ban in more than 50 countries because of the character Nobita. The Nobita character is a lazy character who always depends upon the character Doremon for helping gadgets. An argument concluded that the Nobita character was promoting laziness, procrastinating, etc, which resulted in banning.

Cartoon shows should be developed keeping kids as their main audience. It should have the simplicity and cleanness that attract audience and also focusing on the impact and effect that it’ll leave mainly on audience. That’s why shows that promotes foul language can always make a big effect on kids. This makes banning a healthy and better option.

INDIAN TRENDS- AN EMERGING FASHION INDUSTRY

India is a country with an ancient clothing design tradition, yet an rising fashion industry. Fashion are often stylish , trendy or classic but never stagnant. It’s ever evolving, ever changing to give us a glimpse of what’s occurring within the world in and around us.

Fashion doesn’t exist independently. It’s history is entwined with art, culture, industrial and social modification of that decade. Whether it’s a shift in social and political scenarios or emergence of art movements, pop-culture or technological innovations, fashion has continuously emerged as a storyteller of that time.

“India”, a land so known for amalgamation of cultures, has always been an inspiration to textile and fashion designers in our country. Right from the fascinating kanjeevaram silks from Kanchipuram, the brilliant brocades from Banaras, the intricately woven Patolas of Patan, the colourful tie-dyes and leheriyas of Rajasthan to the gorgeous Kalamkari paintings from Andhra Pradesh, designers have gone back to take inspiration from these ancient craft forms. India accounts for approximately 95% of the world’s handmade textiles, heartening statistics indeed considering that our ancient heritage craft, weave and a textile particular to each region.

STREETSTYLE DRESSING:

Archana Rao:

Archana Rao played with silhouettes, colours and embroideries in her collection ( The Wildflower). Featuring flirty and fun tulle ruffle skirts, edgy Khaki trench coats, dainty sarees and elegant tea-length dresses with a corset, the entire collection was handmade from recycled and upcycled fabrics.

Gauri and Nainika collection:

Free-spirited and utterly feminine, Gauri and Nainika collection included a wide range of wartime inspired demure pencil dresses, wrap dresses with polka dots and shirt dresses. Vintage colour palette of scarlet red, bottle green and classic black took centre-stage to build the visual narrative.

READY TO WEAR DRESSING:

Anita Dongre is a well known indian fashion designer.Her signature style showed an affinity for indigenous craft tradition, coupled with a modern aesthetic that soon made Anita Dongre one of India’s leading fashion designers. Anita Dongre believes that fashion plays a defining role in enhancing a person’s confidence and sense of self.

This vibrant summer kurta with a delicate keyhole neckline is the ideal balance of style and comfort.

An alluring kurta set with bright color inspired by ornate floral inlays. A notched neckline, wrist-length sleeves, flowing pants and a light organza dupatta make the regal look complete.

INDIAN BRIDAL WEAR:

India is a land of festivities, weddings and celebrations, you would want to keep a close watch on the trends in the traditional Indian bridal wear.

Falguni and Shane Peacock:

Mermaid gowns featuring Indian chikankari and other embroideries done of delicate fabrics, in case you were looking for a dramatic gown for your wedding, Falguni and Shane Peacock is your label. And that’s not it, from rhinestones to feathers, there is nothing that is out of bounds for the duo.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee:

A global luxury designer label that seamlessly blends traditional techniques with modern designs.Bridal designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee celebrated plus – size fashion in his spring/summer 2020 collection campaign making it a part of the wider movement in Indian fashion in order to make it more inclusive in terms of size and skin tone.

Hot pink lehenga with all-over floral motif resham, sequin work. Comes with fabric blouse & embroidered dupatta.

JAYANTI REDDY:

For the wedding, Mira Rajput wore a stunning purple lehenga that featured an intricate gold floral embroidery all over and a scalloped-edged blouse with a front tie-up detail. The heavy-duty wedding look by Jayanti Reddy is a masterpiece on its own.

Manish Malhotra:

is a former Indian fashion designer turned costume designer and stylist, widely known for his works in Bollywood, Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Hollywood, and television. In 1998, he ventured into modelling and runway fashion designing with his couture Reverie-Manish Malhotra.

Celebrating the occasion called “Life” Manish Malhotra’s latest collection “Ruhaniyat” was the designer’s tribute to artisans and craftsmen as his association with the Mijwan Foundation completed 10 years.

Inspired by the historical cultures of Punjab and Awadh, his collection showcased the opulence of Mughal Era through the vibrant hued kalidar kurtas, flared ghararas, diaphanous dupattas detailed with minute beaded motifs and decorative thread work.

Masoom Minawala’s latest appearance at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival got everyone talking. The content creator made India proud when she walked the red carpet looking beautiful in a Manish Malhotra sari.

Ridhi Mehra:

Drawing inspiration from Kutch and its royal heritage, Ridhi Mehra’s latest collection ‘Reflection’ blends the traditional mirror work, bohemian embellishments along with a riot of colours. She has mixed elements of Gota Patti and zari on the silks as well as the prints that highlight the fabrics like chiffon and organza.

Must Reads (Mystery)

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.
-neil armstrong

Mystery literally refers to something, that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. It is a fiction genre in which an event such as a crime or a murder keeps unfolding without much revelation till the end of the book. Mystery books are the kind of reads that keep readers hooked and on the edge of their seats. Mysteries are a joy to read with unanticipated plot twists and turn-outs that it blows ones mind. Mystery is one of the widely read genre with many prolific writers.

Below is a list of five must read mystery fictions.

1. And Then There Were None:

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One of the most prolific writers in the genre Agatha Christie, describes this book as one of the most difficult to write. Following a group of people onto Indian Island, this story explores crime and murder. The ten people on the island including a former governess, an adventurer, an ex-detective, each think they have been hired to do some particular job not knowing the mysterious labyrinth on the island that consequently traps all ten people on the island. With each death the story is thrown into a deeper mysterious aura, leaving the reader befuddled with thoughts and guesses.

A brilliant mystery and an absolute must read!

2. The Guest List

Lucy Foley’s, ‘The Guest List’ is a mystery set amidst a wedding. A happy couple joining in matrimony is faced with a gruesome wedding surprise- a dead body!

A wedding planned right down to the last detail of a T.V star and a magazine editor was bound to catch eyes and garner attention but it might all just shift focus.

A series of guests all dresses to the nines, a volley of drinking groomsmen, expensive champagne and awkward speeches later does a mystery unfold involving all the guests on the list. Loads of suspects with killer motives all enclosed in a big wedding.

3. The Last of the Moon Girls

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Barbara Davis’s ‘The Last of the Moon Girls’, revolves around Lizzy Moon, a girl who wants nothing to do with Moon Girl Farm, which is passed down in their family and has evoked questions and rumours about their strange legacy. Tragedy struck! Lizzy’s beloved Grandmother Althea dies, taking the severe accusation of killings to her grave, Lizzy must do everything to clear her Grandmother’s name and her family legacy. With Andrew Greyson, one of the few in town believing in Althea’s innocence, Lizzy is determined to et things right.

A gorgeously artful story-telling with tints of magic and craft.

4.The Secrets of Lost Stones

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Melissa Payne’s book, ‘ The Secrets of Lost Stones’ tells the story of a 32 year old woman Jess Abbot who has loses everything from her home to her job and her eight year old son Chance, to a tragic accident. Unable to cope with the humongous loss, Jess bundles up what’s left and leaves for the small mountain town of Pine Lake, where she gets a place as caregiver to strange old woman.

Surrounded by numerous rumours, Lucy is a strange old woman who has taken in several other people besides Jess including a Star, a teenager on the run with a painful secret and a little boy with heart-shaped stones. Jess soon learns the extent of pain and loss in the world and discovers above her suffering, grief like no other. Perhaps it was fate.

5. Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Glendy Vanderah’s ‘Where the Forest Meets the Stars’, is a story of Joanna Teale, who, after overcoming her mother’s demise and battling breast cancer, determined to prove that she has not given up, throws herself into her work, researching on nesting birds in rural Illinois that is until a mysterious child shows up at her cabin door, barefoot and in a ragged condition. The girl, Ursa, claims to be sent from the stars to witness five miracles. Joanna concerned about the girls home, reluctantly takes her in. Jo seeks help from her aloof neighbour, Gabriel Nash, to find out more about Ursa.

What follows is a series of unexpected events and beautiful bonds.

LITERATURES OF SOUTH INDIA

LITERATURE

Literatures is a piece of writings that are valued as a word of art. The literature works maybe novels, plays, or poems, fiction or non-fiction that have long-lasting importance. It is also known as the preserved writings of a certain language or people. It is used to describe anything from the creative works including any technical works, scientific works. Fictional literature includes plays, poems, short stories, and songs. The non-fictional literature includes biographies, autobiographies, essays, newspapers, journals, essays, and diaries. The four Dravidian languages in India had developed their works of literature. These Dravidian languages are Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.

TAMIL LITERATURE

Tamil, being the oldest language among these developed the Sangam literature. Sangama literature is the oldest literature in Tamil. Tamil as a written language came into light during the Christian era. The literature of the Tamil language was compiled together in 600 AD. The poets in the assemblies who helped in gathering the Sangam literature over 3 to 4 centuries were patronized by the kings and chieftains. Poets from various parts of south India gathered in Madurai and these assemblies are known as sangams and the literature produced in these assemblies is known as “Sangama literature”. The Sangam literature was the collection of poems and songs written by different poets praising the heroes and heroines. This literature was unique and high in quality. Three sangams were held. The literature collected in the first Sangam was lost. About 2000 poems with more than 30000 lines of poetry have been found in the second Sangam.

There were two main groups. They are Pathinenkilkanaku and Pathinenmelkanaku. The eight anthologies named Ettuthogai and the ten songs named Patthupaatu come under Pathinenmelkanaku. Pathinenkilkanaku has eighteen works about ethics and morals. The most important work among these is Thirukural written by Tiruvalluvar. Thirukural is divided into three parts. The first part deals with epics, the second part deals with polity and government, and the last part deals with love. Besides this Sangam literature, there is a work named Tholkaapiam which deals with grammar and poetry. Around the 6th century, there were two famous epics namely Silapathikkaram and Manimegalai. During the 6th to 12th century, Tamil devotional poems written by Alwars and Nayanmaars impacts the Bhakti movement. Kambaramayanam and Periya puraanam were two literaaly classic works.

TELUGU LITERATURE

The golden age of Telugu literature was the Vijayanagara period. Uttaraharivamsam, a literary work was produced by the court poet, Nachana Somanatha. Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529), wrote an excellent prabandha named Amukta Malyada. Ashtadiggajas, eight Telugu literature were popular works in his court. Among them, literature named Manucharitram, by Allasani Peddana was the greatest. He was known as Andhra kavitapitamaha. Some of the author’s and their literature in Telugu are listed below:

Dhurjati – Kalahasteeswara Mahatmayam and Kalahasteeswara Satakam
Pingali Surana – Raghavapandaviyam and Kalapuranodayam
Ramakrishna – Panduranga Mahatmayam
Ramarajabhushana – Vasucharitram, Narasabhupaliyam and Harishchandra Nalopakhyanam.
Madayagari Mallana – Rajashekharacharitra
Ayyalaraju Ramabhadra – Ramabhyudayam and Sakalakathasara Sangraham.

KANNADA LITERATURE

Apart from Telugu, Vijayanagaras’s extended their patronage over Kannada and Sanskrit writers. Kannada literature was contributed by many Jain scholars. After the 10th century AD, the Kannada language was developed. The Kannada literatures in this period are Dharmanathapurana by Madhava, Dharma Parikshe by Uritta Vilasa, Kavirajamang by Rashtrakuta king, Nripatunga Amoghavarsha, Adi Purana and Vïkramarjiva Vijaya by Pampa, Shanti Purana by Ponna, and Ajitanatha Purano by Ranna. The title of Ratnatraya was given to Pampa, Ponna, and Ranna.

During the 13th century, many literary works were developed in Kannada. Some of them are Harishchandra Kavya and Somanatha Charita by Harishvara, Harivamshabhyudaya and Jiva Sambodhana by Bandhuvarma, Jagannathavijaya by Rudra Bhata, Madana Vijaya by Andayya, and Suktisudharnava by Mallikarjuna. The first Rama Katha in Kannada composed based on Valmiki’s Ramayana named Tarave Ramayana was written by Narahari. Sarvajna’s aphoristic tripadi (three-lined) compositions serve as a source of wisdom and ethics. Honnamma was the first outstanding poetess in Kannada. She wrote Hadibadeya Dharma (Duty of a Devout Wife).

MALAYALAM LITERATURE

The people of Kerala and the surrounded areas speak Malayalam. The language of Malayalam emerged in the 11th century AD and become an independent language in the 15th century. A commentary on Arthashastra and Kokasandisan are two great works written by Bhasa Kautilya. Rama Panikkar and Ramanuj were two great authors of Kannada literature. Malayalam has a powerful form of expression even though it has emerged lately. People always enjoy writing in their mother tongue. Nowadays, many newspapers and magazines are published in the magazine.

Organ Donation: Myths and facts

Every years, many thousands receives the gift of life, a life saving transplant of Heart, Kidney, Liver, Lungs, Pancreas and Interesting. And thousands more people receive Corneas and other tissues that restore sight and health. Organ transplantation is one of the medicals advances of our time.

How does it work?

It all starts when someone’s organ begins to fail and that person will need a transplant to survive. The steps are as folllow:-

A through evaluation is conducted at a transplant centre and the person is a good candidate for transplant, he or she will be put into the National Transplant Waiting List.
Once a person is on the waiting list, the wait for organ begins.
A national system matches people on the waiting list with donors. That factors matching donors to recipient includes
- Blood type
- Body size
- How sick the patient is
- Distance from donor
- Tissue type
- Time on list

What isn’t taken into account, organs are never matched based on

Race
Gender
Income
Celebrity
Social status

There is no telling how long the wait will take. Infact, some people don’t receive an organ in time, because the Waiting List is really long and there aren’t enough donors available. That’s why an average of 20 people on the Waiting List died each day. Imagine how many could we save if we all were donors.

Becoming a donors

Most of organs transplant comes a deceived donors. For example, a person comes to the hospital with a life threatening brain injury, such as from an accident, stroke, our lack of oxygen. The doctors work hard to save them patients life but sometimes nothing can be done. There’s a complete, irreversible loss of brain function. The patient is clinically and legally dead.

Thats when being a donor can turn a time of loss into a time of hope. Because machines have blood containing and oxygen flowing into the organs, they can be passed along. One person can give life to as many as eight people through organ donation, and enhance the lives of fifty people or more with eye and tissue donation. But now minutes matter, matches must be found and transplants must happen quickly.

Organ Procurement organization

The hospital contracts an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), it manages the recovery process. The OPO checks the state of organ donor registry, if the person is already registered as a donor they inform the family, if not they’ll ask the family to authorise donation.

A medical examination is taken place. They check the medical and social history and the person is eligible to be an organ donor, the computer begins to search on the National Waiting List for well matched patients The best matched patients are contracted by the transplant team. This is the call that every person on the Waiting List was waiting for.

The Transplant

A surgical team recovers the organs, then Corneas and other tissues. The organs are sent to the transplant hospital where patients and transplant teams are waiting and the life saving transplant takes place. It will take health living and medication to keep the organ working well in its new home.

You too could make the decision today, sign up on your state registry as an organ, eye and tissues donor, any age is the right age, Young or old, any day is the right day to sign up as a donor. You can register through your drivers license or you can register online. Remember to tell your family so that they can support your wishes. More than 1r5 million people have already registered, and we all need to save kore lives. So let’s share the gift of life.

Why do Insectivorous plants exist?

If you find insectivorous plants strange and fascinating then this blog is for you.

What are insectivorous plants?

Insectivorous plants are those plants that derive some nutrients by trapping and consuming animals, mainly insects.

Categories of being insectivorous

There are essential two things that a plant has to do to be considered insectivorous:-

Ability to take nutrients from dead prey:- a plant should have the ability to trap the prey and absorb nutrients from it. Those prey is usually insects or small vertebrates like, salamanders. It is not enough for the plant just to have defenses that can kill an animal that’s trying to snack on it. It also has to get it’s animal’s nutrients.
At least have one adaption:- the plant need to have one adaption that actively lures in, catches, or digests it’s prey.

Doing at least one of these things and absorbing the nutrients for it’s benefit make it a insectivorous plant.

Plant traps

Over millions of years and across hundreds of species, plants have developed five different types of traps, most of them are from different times. And traps can be passive, if prey just fall into them and can’t escape, or active, if plant actually moves to catch its prey.

Pitcher plant:- pitfall traps are the standard and passive trap used by plants like pitcher plants. Prey lands on the plants slippery surface and slides down into a pool of digestive juices.
Sundews:- these are flypaper traps in which the prey become stuck in a sticky substance that is produced by the plant leaves. These traps can be passive as well as active. Sundews have sticky moving tentacles that react to contract with prey.
Venus fly trap:- these are snap traps which are active, using rapid modified leave
Bladderworts: they have bladder-suction. This creates little negative pressure vacuum inside their traps, which, when triggered by prey, pop open and suck the victim inside before snapping close.
Lobster-pot trap:- they passive traps that force prey to move towards the plant’s digestive organ by having little inward pointing hairs that keep prey from moving backward out of the trap.

All of these unrelated plants have not only developed the same kinds of traps but it looks like they have also developed that same molecular mechanism for digesting their prey.

Reason of existence

It goes back to idea of convergent evolution. All these different insectivorous plants are responding to similar environmental pressure:-

Found in open sunny places that have moist but nutrients – poor – acidic soil. Many of them live in bogs and fens.
In these kind of habitat where nitrogen and phosphorus is not present in the soil, the plant tend to developed two kinds of leaves one for normal photosynthesis and one that are modified onto their particular type of trap.
This results them to invest more in modified leaves than normal photosynthesis leaves as they have to live in a place with enough sunlight as well as to trap preys

Insectivorous plants can stop paying carnivorous temporally once they’re put in nutrients rich soil and if they don’t get enough sunlight and water.

Insectivorous plants are pretty rare and they are only found in certain kinds of habitats, they are just less likely to fossilize than other kinds of plants that are more widespread.

Sleepwalking

Did you ever Sleep walked? Here’s what I came to know that every 1 out of 3 kids aged between 4 to 8, sleep walk. And that’s a lot by the way.

Sleep walking formally known as Somnambulish is a strange phenomena where people get up and do things in their sleep, sometimes more than just walking and when they wake up they don’t have any recollection of what they were doing. Moreover, if they find way back to their bed they may not ever know that they were sleep walking.

Sleep walking is nothing about embarrassed about though or terrified for that matter, it’s relatively common. In a recent study Stanford found that 1 out of 3 people sleep walk at some point of their lives. It is specially common among children, between the age of 4 and 8. So what happened when we sleep walk.

Reasons

A leading theory about why we sleep walk is:-

In normal sleep cycle, your brains motor system continues to issue physical commands to the body.
Whereas those who sleep walks are suppressed by sleep chemical called GABA.
GABA access act as a break in your brain, it brings your mind and body down to rest by neutralizing Glutamate a chemical that causes excitement.
In sleep walkers there’s a glitch in the process that suppresses your boby from moving around namely that you don’t produce GABA.

So that’s why you are moving around when you’re still asleep. There are few causes of GABA deficient in the body:-

Genetic sleepwalking :- when sleepwalking runs in the family
Underdeveloped system:- when the boby simply hasn’t matured enough to produce the proper amount. That’s why it is more common amongst kids.
Depression:- Those who suffer from depression are three times as likely to sleep walk.

Myths

You would have probably heard about the myth that you shouldn’t wake a sleepwalker because they’re going through a psychotic rage that could even kill you. But these are myths, if you see anyone sleepwalking, you are asked to wake them up gently, especially if they are in the kitchen or holding a knife.

Recently there was a story about a lady who drove 190 miles in her sleep without hurting or killing herself or anyone. She should be definitely called lucky.

Health and fitness

Health is an important aspect in anyone’s life. Fitness is a proof for a healthy person. By achieving a healthy body, we can achieve a healthy mind. Small habit changes in our day-day life will change our life completely in a healthier way. Food is the first thing to take into considering when we talk about health. There are lots of aspects to having a healthy life. I will share with you the small steps that you need to take to start your healthy journey.

Proper diet

The first thing that comes to our mind when we think about being healthy is being on a proper diet. It is not just about what we eat, it is also about when we eat. Healthy food aside, having your food at the right time every day will cut off lots of health issues. Many of us skip breakfast and eat straight at lunch time. You haven’t had anything for the past 12 hours so your stomach is literally empty with stomach acid in it. There are many risk factors when high stomach acid is secreted. The main function of this acid is to digest the food that you intake so better give it some food in the morning otherwise it will cause some serious health issues.

Keep specific timings for your breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you take food at proper timings, it will solve many health issues. Breakfasts should be taken around 7 to 9 AM. Lunch should be taken around 12 to 2 PM. Dinner should be taken around 7 to 9 AM. So make sure you stick to the timings and have a healthy diet!

Next comes the healthy food. Make sure you take vegetables thrice a week and fish twice a week (if you are a non vegetarian) and one cheat day to eat your favorite junk food. Intake of all kinds of food is important. Junk food and outside food from time to time would be fine but making it as a part of your diet would cause major health issues.

Sleep schedule

Another important factor that ruins your health is lack of sleep. I know most of us have issues with falling asleep at night time and that becomes a routine. The first step to do is to not make it a routine and not normalizing the sleep schedule. If you can only sleep at 1 then consider it a serious issue and work towards changing it.

Ways to stabilize your sleep schedule

Push in all your work within 11 PM and make yourself completely free at night. If you are a work from home dude then plan it accordingly, you require 6 to 8 hours of sleep, that’s all matters.
Avoid using mobile phone or laptop after 11 PM. Make sure you have at least 30 mins gap without screen time before sleeping.

Exercise!

Fitness is achieved by exercising your body regularly. It can be anything that you do. A simple 1 hour walk in the morning will keep you active throughout the day. There are many forms of exercises that you can do. You can workout everyday with simple moves. The ultimate goal is to exercise your muscles and not make them lazy. Some forms of exercise are,

home workouts
Going to gym
Morning/evening walk
Cycling
Dance workout
yoga

Meditation helps you exercise your mind. It calms and clears your mind. If you start doing it you will definitely see the results in your day to day life.

Conclusion

These are some factors that affects our health and if we bring more concentration into all of this, we can be healthy mentally and physically. Make time to focus on your mind and body.

Are you a Smartphone Zombie?

Few days back i saw a question on a site asking “I want to put my phone aside and study, but i’m not able to do it? Is there any I can get rid of it?”

Well we can say that we all faced this phase where we get too much addicted to Mobile phone and couldn’t keep it aside and focus on other works. A research recently released the details of a study which told us where in the world was the biggest Smartphone penetration:-

South Korea
Australia
Israel
U.S
Spain
U.K

But this doesn’t mean that people in this countries are using mobile phones all the time. Based on a 2016 study led by Statistica, it does look like people in those countries might fall into the category of smartphone zombies. The study also said that

Brazilian spend the most hours on average connected to a smartphone as 4 hr 48 mins per day.
Chinese spend the most hours on average 3 hours 3 mins
Followed by U.S 2 hours 37 mins
Italy 2 hours 34 mins
Spain 2 hours 11 mins
South Korea 2 hours 10 mins

One thing range true for all countries in the study, and that was the fact time spent on a smartphone for the average person was up quite a lot from 2012 to 2016.

It’s not totally people’s fault that we are addicted to the smartphones. We have this exciting thing in our pocket that flashes, beeps and invites us to use it. NPR in 2018 talked about this manipulative object we carry around with us, that is just so irresistible. The story mentions Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov, and what we know as Pavlov’s dog. The psychologist one day realised that when his dog heard a bell or a buzzer, he knew it was feeding time, thereby associate with a sound to eating, which led to the dog drooling and looking excited.

Modern psychologist tells us this is what is happening to us when we hear a beep or a ding inside our pocket; we become excitable, like Pavlov’s dog. Our reward is coming, and we get a hit of dopamine and we want more. We check our phone on average every 15 mins and that make the tech use psychological tricks to keep us checking in.

All the time spent checking in may affect our sleep, our relationship, our work, or even all the creative things we might do to have a flourishing existence. Psychologist tend to agree we should be checking in less, and tech producers need to start thinking about creating less powerful digital drugs. But that isn’t easy because as most people now need those beeps and likes, and need to feel that they are not missing out on something.

Experts even states that putting your phone down, you may experience withdrawal symptoms, such as craving, restlessness, irritability or difficulty in concentrating. So from now on you might turn off notifications, have a plan for the day and stick to it, take off the apps you really don’t need as that might lead to a kind of app surfing. In general, not many people are against these technologies, but we should be focusing on what we might call device quality time, educating ourselves and being productive and creative.

Classic treasure (Part- 2)

“Classic literature is still something that hangs in the air like a song.”
-Gilbert K Chesterton

Some of the must-read classics.

1. The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s his novel is set in Long Island, near New York City. This book, from the narrator Nick Carraway’s perspective tells the story of his dealings with an enigmatic billionaire Jay Gatsby and his fetish for his former lover Daisy Buchanan. A classic worth your time!

“I wasn’t actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

2. The Catcher in The Rye

J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in The Rye revolves around a 16 year old disillusioned and confused adolescent named Holden Caulfield, following his expulsion from prep school. The book touches upon critical subjects of morality, religion, lies and deceit, isolation, youth, sexual identity etc.

“I am always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”
J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

3.Gone With the Wind

Image result for gone with the wind book

American writer Margaret Mitchell’s book is set in Clayton County and Atlanta, Georgia, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era. It primarily revolves around Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who is faced with sudden penury and must do everything to come out of it. It encompasses a sweeping romance and a fictionalised account of the civil war based on facts. The book captures how human persevere and endeavour to survive in the worst of situations.

“Burdens are for shoulders strong enough to carry them.”
Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind

4. Anna Karenina

Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina’, is regarded as one of the greatest novels of all time. The book follows an engaging affair between Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky and subsequently an introspective self discovery and religious epiphany by a character Konstantin Levin. The novel spins the themes such as marriage, fidelity, life, creation, society, class etc. One of the absolute must read for literature lovers.

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

5. Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel gives a peek into the future of America, where books are illegalized and any books found are burnt by people specified for the task called ‘firemen’. The book tells the tale of a fireman Guy Montag. Destroying literature and knowledge starts to weigh heavily upon Montag’s conscious, who ends up quitting his job and working towards safeguarding literature. The title of the book is selected based on the ignition temperature of paper at which it readily catches fire.

“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

6.Lord of the Flies

Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding’s book pivots round a group of boys marooned on a strange uninhabited island and their hapless attempts at governing themselves. The explores various themes like primitivity, civilisation, rules and order, wisdom and knowledge, youth , power, religion, identity etc.

“We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”
William Golding, Lord of the Flies

7. The Diary of a Young Girl

Otherwise known as ‘Anne Frank’s diary’, ‘The Diary of a young girl’, is a series of writings in Dutch by Anne Frank while in hiding with her family for two years because of the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands. The diary contains a thorough first hand account of Anne Frank’s life before and after the Nazi occupation. Anne has divulged details of private life, the love and longing for her family and her life in hiding.

“Where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.”
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Furoshiki

In kanji, ‘Furo’ means ‘bath’ and ‘Shiki means ‘unfolding (a cloth)’. Furoshiki is a cloth wrapper which is used to wrap goods to make them easier to carry around. It is also very popular to wrap gifts with this cloth wrapper.

It art of furoshiki started in the Nara period (710-794), people knew it by the name ‘Hirazutsumi’ which means ‘folded wrappers’. In the Nara period, people thought of giving gifts wrapped up in ‘tsutsumi’ (cloth wrapper) and this was commonly called as ‘Hokeifuhaku’. It properly emerged as ‘Furoshiki’ in 756.

People started to use it to carry toiletries and clothes while going to public baths. It became very popular to wrap wedding gifts in furoshiki.

Furoshiki, or the cloth wrapper, comes in various designs and motifs. some of the most popular motifs are crane, fan, pine tree, and waves. Wrapping gifts in these furoshiki with these motifs is considered to be very auspicious and is said to bring blessings and good luck to the newly married couple.

The cloth material that is generally used for furoshiki are cotton, nylon, rayon or silk.

There are a few different techniques of wrapping furoshiki for different objects. ‘Hirazutsumi’ is the technique for wrapping flat objects without any knot; ‘Bintsutsumi’ is to carry bottles; ‘Entoutsutsumi’ is for long shaped objects; ‘Hikakutsutsumi’ for rectangular objects; ‘Yotautautaumi’ is for flat objects just like hiratzutsumi but this technique requires 2-4 knots; ‘Katakake fukuro’ is the technique for carrying objects on shoulders.

WHY SHOULD WE ADOPT THE ART OF FUROSHIKI IN OUR CULTURE? The answer is very simple. It is an eco-friendly method and helps in reduction in usage of plastic as the furoshiki cloth can be used again and again.

Bu unfortunately, this trend that should have bee increasing for the sake of our planet is in reality declining in recent times and opposite is taking effect, plastic usage is on the rise. PLastic bags being more convenient are making people shift from using furoshiki to using plastic.

Seijin no Hi

‘Seijin no Hi’ or the ‘Coming of Age day’ is celebrated on 15th January every year in Japan. This is a national holiday for people who have turned 20 years of age anytime between 2nd April of last year to 1st April of the ongoing year. It officially started in the year 1946, in the city of Warabi city, formerly known as Saitama.

Every area in the city holds the ceremony in the local city halls. The people residing in the area who are registered to be turned 20 between the period of 2nd April to 1st April are invited to local city hall of that area. Speeches are given by the adults of the area, generally by important city hall figures and the people who have turned 20 are given souvenirs as a token of their memory of becoming an adult. The ceremony may be followed by a party, small scale parties are held for the new adults to welcome them into their adulthood in many areas. Families celebrate this event together.

Now lets talk about the clothing. Both the boys and girls wear traditional clothing. Girls wear ‘Furisode’ which is kimono with really long sleeves that is worn by unmarried women. As for boys, they wear traditional clothing which is called ‘Hakama’. A Hakama is worn over a kimono and is tied down at the waist and falls approximately to the ankles. But recently boys have started wearing western style clothing as it is more comfortable to these events. Girl’s start preparing for this event months ago. During this period many salons start advertising to style girls for this day. many photo studios also provide them with special photo options to make this day even more memorable.

Do Vampires exist?

You probably have seen in movies and shows about these supernatural creatures such as Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards, etc. But did you ever thought from where did we got these idea? Do the supernatural creatures really exist. Let’s learn about vampires first.

Think about the features that a vampire have. What’s the first thing you thought? Shape teeths to suck blood may be? Glowing eyes? What if I tell you some people with these features exist.

There is a Vampire Disorder in which people suffering from this condition frequently have pointed teeth like carnivore animals. This disorders also has a difficult scientific name Hypohydrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia. Therefore, they look similar to the legendary blood feeding creatures from movies.

Symptoms

People with more prominent symptoms of this illness are

Extremely thin and pale
Eyes are outlined with dark circles
Teeths are typically pointed
Hair is absent
Also they don’t like stakes not actually the beef kind

Problems

The biggest problem for such patients is not mistaken for considered as vampire but something else.

They always have to check their temperature.
Have to stay away from the sunlight
Have to strictly avoid hot weather

They don’t have sweat glands and as you know these glands serve as a thermal regulating mechanism of our body. Imagine what could happen if it is broken. And above all this is the most typical syndrome of this disorder.

For example, Actor Michael Berryman, who suffered from this disease made a career playing horror movie characters.

So now you’ve probably figured out vampires exist or not.

Classic Treasure (Part-1)

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.
-Italo calvino

Books are man’s best friends. Among these amicable companions are books that are deemed intimidating and difficult to go through. The classics. These books being old, require a little more exertion to get familiar with. These books are composed of excellent plots, intriguing characters and amazing themes. These books, rather than being taken as a burdensome chore should be approached with certainty and enthusiasm. These masterpieces are sure to be worth your time!

Curated below is a list of n timeless classics to sweep you off the mundane into the magical.

1.Pride & Prejudice:

Image result for pride and prejudice book

Pride & Prejudice is English novelist Jane Austen’s brilliantly woven satirical romance that touches upon some of the most familiar socio-economic issues, manners etc. A must for people beginning to traipse into classics.

“If a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal it, he must find it out.”
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

2. Jane Eyre:

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, a book with a cracking plot and diverse themes of love and longing. The situations the character feels in this story, are realistic and relatable making the book almost lifelike and timeless. A must read in the classic genera.

“I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me.”
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

3. Little Women:

‘Little Women’ is Louisa My Alcott’s most popular book that draws up a picture of American life in the early nineteenth century. The March family based in the story is the author’s own family. The book highlights themes such as love, principles, ambition, poverty and femininity brilliantly.

“Women have minds and souls as well as just hearts, and they’ve got ambition and talent as well as just beauty. And I’m sick of people saying love is all a woman is fit for.”
Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women

4.Wuthering Heights:

Emily Bronte’s acutely fashioned English classic, Wuthering Heights tells the tale of two families Earnshaws and Lintons and their relationship with Earnshaws’ adopted son Heathcliff. The most striking themes in the book are love, suffering, revenge, jealousy, the supernatural, society, race and class. An absolute must read.

“I have not broken your heart – you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

5. Emma:

Jane Austen’s yet another masterpiece weaves the story of a woman named Emma who is an inopportune matchmaker Emma who sets out a series of debacles in her quest to make the perfect matches. The book mainly revolves around courtship, marriage, matchmaking, social standing etc. A joy to read in classics.

“I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him.”
Jane Austen, Emma

Hina Matsuri

Hina matsuri or doll festival or girl’s day, is a festival for girls which is held on 3rd March every year. It is also called ‘Joshi no Sekku, ‘Momo no Sekku’ or ‘Sangatsu Sekku’. This day is also known as ‘Momo no Sekku’ as the peach flowers start to bloom around this period. On this day, the members of the family pray for the health, happiness and prosperity of girls of the family. Now this has become a tradition to dispaly Hina-Ningyo or the Hina dolls on this day. This festivity dates back to the Edo era when these dolls were specifically used to ward off evil spirits back in those days.

Hina-Ningyo dolls consists of around 15 dolls that are seated on red cloth underneath them with a Heian period setting. They generally have a 5-7 tier setting with the bottom or the 7th tier displaying the items that the emperor and the empress use while they are away from the comforts of the palace; on the 6th tier, items that are used in the palace are displayed; on the 5th tier, dolls of helpers of the palace are displayed; on the 4th tier, dolls of ministers are displayed; on the 3rd tier, dolls of male musicians are displayed; on the 2nd tier, dolls of ladies of the court are displayed; and on the top or the 1st tier, imperial dolls or the dolls of the emperor and the empress are displayed.

Photo by Evgeny Tchebotarev on Pexels.com

Families celebrate it by having a meal together, eating ‘Hishimochi’ or ‘diamond shaped rice cakes’ and drink ‘Shirozake’, that is made of rice malt and sake. Although the customs differ slightly from region to region, the main gist of celebrating this festival remains the same.

Aryabhata

Aryabhatta (476–550 CE) was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works include the Aryabhattya (499 CE, when he was 23 years old) and the Arya-siddhanta.

Time and place of birth

Aryabhatta mentions in the Aryabhatiya that it was composed 3,600 years into the Kali Yuga, when he was 23 years old. This corresponds to 499 CE, and implies that he was born in 476.

Aryabhatta provides no information about his place of birth. The only information comes from Bhaskara I, who describes Aryabhatta as asmakiya, “one belonging to the Asmaka country.” During the Buddha’s time, a branch of the Asmaka people settled in the region between the Narmada and Godavari rivers in central India; Aryabhatta is believed to have been born there.

Education

Education

It is fairly certain that, at some point, he went to Kusumapura for advanced studies and lived there for some time. Both Hindu and Buddhist tradition, as well as Bhaskara I (CE 629), identify Kusumapura as Pa?aliputra, modern Patna. A verse mentions that Aryabhatta was the head of an institution (kulapa) at Kusumapura, and, because the university of Nalanda was in Pataliputra at the time and had an astronomical observatory, it is speculated that Aryabhatta might have been the head of the Nalanda university as well.Aryabhatta is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the Sun temple in Taregana, Bihar

Works

Aryabhatta is the author of several treatises on mathematics and astronomy, some of which are lost. His major work, Aryabhatiya, a compendium of mathematics and astronomy, was extensively referred to in the Indian mathematical literature and has survived to modern times. The mathematical part of the Aryabhatiya covers arithmetic, algebra, plane trigonometry, and spherical trigonometry. It also contains continued fractions, quadratic equations, sums-of-power series, and a table of sines.

This college was a little different!

An unforgettable era, which can not be captured on a camera!!

College life is a story captured in a paperistic picta. It is like the save button to a mind’s eye. The black-white days have their beauty of ugly faces but this phase adds color to the journey. Even after living in a world mixed with sour and sweet people, this makes the heart to beat a little faster, the body to feel a little more pleasure, and the soul to rejoice a little longer!!

Every click is perfect with its imperfections. Blurry, abrupt, random, odd, and accidental snaps are what this time is all about. The slideshow from that first unknown hi to the known goodbye outlines the whole adventure of casual wear, crowded canteens, cool teachers, hilarious talks, loud giggles, bunking lectures, graduation, farewells, and the drift.

Every year many silly people graduate the college.
But this year was a little unusual.

This is coming from the one who has never been to college ever before. I have heard stories from everyone around me, saying ‘this is the best moment where you not only explore yourself but also the real world.’ But why does my college feels not the same as theirs? Am I not born lucky? Why do I see the screens instead of blackboards?

It was the day of summer when a deadly virus entered our region and took control of each and everything around it. Since then, the rule of ‘no mobiles in class’ changed to ‘only mobiles and not you.’ Our hands were filled with devices, rooms with assignments, faces with masks, and days with the lockdown. This time it’s not classrooms but google meet, exams but no papers, festivals but no celebrations.

It’s a tough time for both warriors and survivors to sit inside a room for days with taunting parents, not seeing friends for days, missing the old memories, and facing tragic situations have made this age even harder than before. Although, it is good in every mood. Even after all this, we learned many good skills without paying any bills, introspected ourselves without ringing the best friend’s doorbell, and spent time with kin without acting mean.

We take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little part of each other everywhere.
And you all became simply special.

Delta or Delta plus? which one is more threatening?

DELTA OR DELTA PLUS VARIANT? WHICH IS A BIGGER THREAT AND WHY?

India has been immersed by an awful spread of novel Covid, particularly during the subsequent wave. It was fuelled significantly by the Delta variation, found first in Quite a while and observed to be ordinarily more irresistible than the first strain, and added caseloads consistently to a disabled medical services framework. It is likewise now the most predominant variation causing a flood of cases across the globe. In India, where the case tally has spiralled down, there’s as yet a conceivable chance of a third wave coming up and a fresher, more unnerving change, Delta Plus was found in certain conditions of the nation and still thought to be a potential danger.

The Delta variation of the infection, known to be significantly irresistible, contagious and serious in its assault drove the second flood of the infection in many pieces of the country. Simultaneously, the Delta Plus variation, likewise sequenced during a portion of the cases recognized during the subsequent wave, is said to convey forward changes from two variations supposedly infects even the individuals who have completely immunized, and furthermore cause passing. Yet, which among the two would it be advisable for us to be the most careful of? Could one be more potentially irresistible than the other?

DELTA VERSUS DELTA PLUS VARIATION : HOW WOULD THEY THINK ABOUT?

Both the Delta and Delta Plus variations have been classified as Variants of Concern (VoC), and are spreading in numerous nations. The most significant dangers were found in our own, where immunization inclusion is as yet on the lower side.

While the Delta variation (B.1.617.2) keeps on being a prevailing and quickly rising variation unleashing destruction across the world, it is likewise answerable for the outrageous storm of cases and pulverizations looked during the second wave in India. Not exclusively were greatest cases observed to be genomically followed to this variation of the infection, it actually stays to be a disturbing variation adding cases, even after the decay of the second wave direction in India. In states actually recording stressing caseloads, the Delta variation has been considered mindful.

In the meantime, the Delta Plus variation, which as well, was sequenced in Maharashtra, India, is a disturbing infection variation. Containing transformations of two COVID variations the Beta variation (found in South Africa) and the Delta variation (found in India), the Delta Plus contains two striking changes L452R and P871R.

WHICH ONE COULD RISE QUICKER

While the Delta variation of Covid was intensely liable for driving a dangerous second wave, the ascent of cases was additionally very quick with the variation in view of its high contagiousness. In any case, the Delta Plus variation, which contains transformations from the Delta variation has been named significantly really concerning. In examination, the Delta in addition to variation is said to spread very nearly ‘60% quicker’ than the Delta variation.

In any case, while clinical perceptions have proposed a higher infection danger, the presence of the Delta Plus variation is as yet on the lower side and has simply been found to spread at a much slower rate than anticipated. Until this point in time, three states represent most analysed instances of the new variation Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.

Presently, while the Delta variation is as yet a predominant COVID strain, and the infection particularly dynamic, specialists recommend that the Delta variation, with its serious striking side effects could stay to be a waiting danger we may confront.

The proof accessible on contagiousness and spread have likewise agreed through examinations and genomic discoveries. According to specialists, Delta Plus, in spite of its extreme provisions and capacity to quickly spread, isn’t really rising quicker at the present time.

MANIFESTATION OF BOTH THE VARIANTS

The Delta variation of the infection is viewed as outrageous because of the seriousness of manifestations it causes, in contrast with the first strain. High lung contribution, respiratory challenges and gastrointestinal protests (even with gentle or moderate cases) were what separated it from past variations of concerns.

The Delta in addition to variation, in the interim, which is said to convey highlights from both the Delta variation and the Beta variation could be significantly more extreme in nature. A few examinations have recommended that the variation could without much of a stretch outperform resistant protections, and tie unequivocally to lung cell receptors. More examinations are in progress to decide an expounded rundown of potential signs and side effects.

While the majority of the indications are supposed to be like the Delta variation, underneath recorded could be the potential signs which draw a few concerns and consideration:

– Early-stage lung association

– Shortness of breath and breathing troubles

– Longer enduring fever and steady hack

– Gastrointestinal manifestations

– Skin rashes and sensitivities

– Dryness and watery eyes

– Appetite misfortune and queasiness

WHAT POSES GREATER THREAT FOR VACCINATED INDIVIDUALS?

With any variation, what studies have shown is that the greatest danger involves unvaccinated people. The Delta variation, with its serious side effects and high virus rate was seen to hugely affect the ones who were/are unvaccinated. The ones who gotten an advancement case, just proceeded to foster milder side effects and had a quicker recuperation course of events. The chances of hospitalization and mortality with immunization are definitely decreased.

Nonetheless, with the Delta Plus variation, not exclusively could the infection be conceivably compromising for the unvaccinated, however it has been seen to progressively influence the ones who have been completely inoculated too in various habits some asymptomatic, some experiencing gentle or moderate contaminations, and seldom implied the danger of hospitalizations. Until this point in time, more than 3 passing have been recorded in the nation, ascribed to the Delta Plus variation. Each of the 3 cases were connected to serious comorbidities also. Government reports additionally have given alerts that the fresher variation, while sidestepping the insusceptible guards, could likewise lessen a reaction to the monoclonal counter acting agent treatment.

It is additionally obscure concerning how powerful current immunizations are against the fresher variation, since it’s still leisurely spreading and a couple of cases have been distinguished up until this point. Notwithstanding, specialists and virologists keep on issuing preventative counsel, proposing that regardless of a low predominance, the Delta in addition to variation could dodge neutralizer assurance and along these lines, add to stresses.

Who was the First Plastic Surgeon?

Plastic surgery – the name implies an artificial substance – but it is derived from the Greek word “Plastikos” which means to mold or to give form. An important specialty has been taking shape, one that reshapes the lives of patients. So who was the first plastic surgeon?

John Staige Davis was the first plastic surgeon. He played an important role not only at his council group in Hopkins but also in the United States in the plastic surgery. He limited his practice in the field of plastic surgery in those times. He was the only plastic surgeon who was there when World War I took place.

In 1991, Dr. Davis published the first English language textbook of plastic surgery and it is still used today. He sends copies to medical school founder, doctors and at that time no one acknowledged receiving it. And though plastic surgery at Hopkins would not gain the standard they deserved until the next century, Dr. Davis was helping to build the foundation for the entire discipline of plastic surgery in America.

He used to pioneer the transferring tissue techniques known as “Z- plasty” and the use of small deep grafts to heal chronic wounds. He was the founding member of The American Board of Surgery and The American Board of Plastic surgery. Dr. Davis’s work and reputation starts Hopkins on its way to becoming a crossroad and destination for the country’s best plastic surgeons.

In 1942, John Staige Davis was part-time faculty member and was running a plastic clinic even though he was in his 70s by then and beyond his retirement age, two years from then a forth year medical student at Hopkins had the chance observe the master surgeon doing a cleft lip repair.

His successor Dr. Edgerton graduates and proceeds to work by joining the army and was serving at Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania. He was one of the few surgeon treating thousands of men coming back from combat with disfiguring wounds and burns needing plastic surgery. This horrendous war injuries united skill surgeon in their desire to heal wounded soldiers. This dynamic gave raise to a new and important speciality in medicine.

With the scientific foundation and tissue regeneration, transplantation, and stem cell biology plastic surgery is uniquely poised to make the next major advance in medicine. By regenerating or replacing missing body parts, plastic surgery can transform patients life in ways that could not have been imagined only recently.

John Staige Davis didn’t lived to see plastic surgery receive the recognition and support if required and deserved in the world. But his path-breaking work and clear vision allowed a greater dream to be realized.

An Unforgettable Love Story

Pyramus And Thisbe

"This is a beautiful story,
of a girl and a boy about to marry,
no less than any tale of the fairy,
and results in the creation of a berry."

Once upon a time, there lived a young couple remembered as Pyramus and Thisbe. Both were deeply beautiful and since childhood adored each other. However, the rivalry among the families restricted them from getting closer.

“The small hands turned to big hearts,
clashes also couldn't keep them apart,
though the distance was their life's part,
to exchange affection they were enough smart.”

They were privileged enough to be neighbors and their homes were separated by a single wall. As the saying goes, “love finds its way” the youngsters discovered a crack in the wall and stood there for hours whispering vows of love between themselves.

“He blames the cruel wall,
for their ultimate love fall,
she consoles him to be grateful for the crack small,
without which all their efforts were null.”

The couple was aware of the fact that their kin would never permit the union and therefore, they planned to run away to marry each other. The arrangements were made to fulfill the rituals, under a large tree beside a monument at the border of the city.

“Thisbe being first,
saw the lioness drinking water to quench its thirst,
saving herself was a must,
so she runs but her veil leaves behind in gust.”

The feline curiosity of the lioness interests her to play with the veil using its strong claws. After a while, this inquisitiveness ends and it goes from there. Right after this incident, the Pyramus arrives and encounters the veil with imprints of claws and bloodstains.

“The young man gets consumed by guilt,  
as it was because of him that this idea was built,
in between the mind and heart's conflict,
he stabs himself with a sword and lets his body split.”

Thisbe returns from her hidden space and discovers Pyramus dead under the same tree where they decided to meet. Under utter grief, she notices that he was holding the very veil torn by the animal and understands the whole sad scene. Therefore, she threw herself on the same sword that had claimed her lover’s life.

“Although they loved each other deeply,
were able to express their emotions freely,  
had faith in one another completely, 
but the  fate was formulated weakly.”

The couple’s blood was absorbed by the roots of the tree under which the couple perished, resulting in them becoming more delicious. Despite their disagreement, the families of both suspended their hostilities and buried a couple of lovers beside the other. At last, to honor their true love it still grows with sweet and reddish fruits. Today it is prominently sold as Mulberries.

The roots of Greek philosophy adds verisimilitude to the story as well as a funny twist of unconditional love. However, it also serves as a warning as love can be tragic if exceeds the limit.
What can give you smile has the power to take it back as well.

The struggle is real

Every person has it’s own philosophy
What suits you, belongs you

AS IT IS!!

Starting from Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest proves to be true even today, as everyone is striving to live. An individual tries to apply his consciousness to prepare plans for the future. One wants to move things as he wishes to regardless of the consequences. The never-ending desires keep adding up to the list and lead the being into the vicious cycle. While philosophy is an attempt to satisfy these reasonable desires. It is not an amenity but a necessity. In a broad sense, it means “love of knowledge “and tries to understand things that remotely concern man.

Several fields deal with different questions regarding the universe and man. The two broad branches were divided based on the belief of Vedas. Those who believed in it were termed as orthodox and the others as heterodox. Every book tried to solve the questions in their way. However, Bhagavad Gita made an effort to bring the direction towards an end of desire.

The meaning of Bhagavad Gita is 'Lord's song.' The words which were spoken by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra later got written down in the form of this pious book. 

It begins with teaching  Arjuna regarding the duty of the Prince to fight against evil. It gives a synthesis of the three paths of knowledge, action, and devotion. The fundamental focus is on the path of Nishkaam karma.

A middle way between pravriti and nivriti proves to be the ethical doctrine. Pravriti refers to the actions which one does to get the fruits in return. While, nivriti is the giving up of all the materialistic things and responsibilities to achieve a life of sanyasi. Therefore, nishkaam karma avoids the extremes and accepts the necessities of both the karma. It depicts that one should do work without any expectation of getting the same in return. A sense of detachment and duty should arise.

A person needs to have a mental state of equanimity. The actions should be done either for humanity or the devotion towards God.

Happiness is the only key to live a happy and healthy life. However, it is disrupted by the expectations raise due to the unfulfillment of desires. When a person starts following this journey of Nishkaam karma, it does not only benefit him but also the society. And in turn the struggle becomes saral.

To whom the pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for attaining immortality.

Importance of Voting – Why should we vote!

Importance of Voting in India:

Voting in India is a Constitutional right if one is a citizen over 18 years of age. However, that also makes it optional. It has been a tendency among voters, especially in the urban areas, to treat the voting day as a day of rest. While skipping the vote may not seem to cause any harm,the long-term consequences are disastrous.

What’s the need to vote?

We complain that we don’t have proper roads, no regular supply of water, no development, corruption etc. Rather than complaining if we elect a good candidate who will work for the people then that’s what the true power of common man.
Voting is not just our RIGHT, it’s also our DUTY.
Our country is a republic and its the responsibility of the people to elect the right candidate.
A good leader will make sure that the next 5 years will be safe, progressive and pro-development.
We should never think that how will it matter if one or two persons don’t vote. Our constitution has given a very important power to us to elect the person who can take forward the country on the right path, so we have to use our power intelligently.
We should always remember that we ( as an individual ) should not vote a person based on just caste (thinking that he is of my caste), religion. We should not accept any gifts or monetary benefits from any candidate in exchange for vote.
We should check the candidates standing for elections in our constituency and then among them, we have to vote for one candidate.
Please take necessary help from the staff in the voting poll centres as the incorrect process will make your vote invalid.
In 2014, the voting percentage of our country was around 66.5%, which can be improved if we all decide to vote and also create awareness of voting among our friends and family.
On the voting day it will be a holiday, but don’t go for outing/movie without voting as one day of enjoyment may cost us and our country.
Those people who have migrated to different cities due to different reasons and if they have their vote in their native then they need to plan to visit their native and vote as each and every vote matters for electing the right candidate.

It has become a common ritual to talk bitter about any candidate or an elected leader of any legislative assembly or the parliament. The faultfinding then comes down to the ‘System’ and how democracy is not working as it should. However, a very little room has been given to ‘What the people can do’ to strengthen the democratic roots and bring about a change in the system. Just as it is the responsibility of the elected leader to fulfill the well-beings of the voters, the same is the need for the people of India to contribute to choosing the correct leader for their representation.

Democracy has given people a powerful right- that is to VOTE. Voting is the fundamental basis of democracy’s ‘Of the people, for the people, and by the people’ slogan. Therefore, rather than enjoying it as a holiday, one must vote if he truly wants to contribute to the nation-building process and bring about a change. A Citizen should actually not need to find any reason to Vote. It must be done as a compulsive duty although there is no legal obligation to vote.

Every Single Vote Is Significant:

Needless to say, every citizen’s vote is counted in the polling process. If the people are equally divided between two candidates, one single vote can be a game-changer and a decisive factor. We have seen in the past how one vote from an MP can decide the fall of the government. Exactly the same way, a single person’s vote can confirm the win/fall of an aspiring MP or MLA.

Whom to Vote?

Check the candidate’s manifesto and his/her background. If he/she is sitting MP then check his/her and his/her party’s work and based on that you can decide.
If you want to vote based on political party’s work then check the party’s last time’s promises and check which all party has fulfilled their promises and compare their work.
Think about the country, present and future of our next generations when you vote.

Non-choosers get NOTA:

At times, it is possible that one does not want any single candidate to be elected from all who are contesting. The election commission has made a special provision of NOTA. It stands for None of The Above. Hence if none of the candidates fit into your criteria, just hit the NOTA option and voice the opinion. Introduction of this alternative is believed to play a significant role in the future. In the late future, it may also be possible that the NOTA will decide the re-elections with fresh candidates.

We must honor the right of voting given by the constitution of India. The youngsters are well excited to exercise their right to vote as soon as they turn 18. The feeling after having cast a vote infuses a sense of pride for being a responsible citizen. As can be witnessed from the sharing of the inked finger on social media. The trend is continuing to gain popularity amongst the youngers and the elders as well.

Gone are the days when it was required for people to motivate them to vote. The vote share for the General Election of 2014 was 8% higher than the previous election. Voter turnout in the Lok Sabha Election 2019 was 67%. Voter awareness program has become successful in its mission and the vote share continues to increase till date in many state elections. With this increasing number of voter turnout, we will soon reach the 80-90% golden mark.

“Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, one another, this country, and this world.”
Sharon Salzberg

Richest Actors in the World – See where’s your fav actor stand!

Richest Actor In The World? Ever searched on Google? It’s not easy to get the title of the richest actor in the world. It requires sheer hard work and dedication and definitely smartness! Some here are Highest-Paid Actors of All Time from Hollywood and some from Bollywood. It will be fun to know and some names will shock you even!

Actors have been known to make a fortune out of their jobs. The glitz and glam have always caught the eye of the public. And their extravagant lifestyles have added to the fact that they earn enough to afford that. But ‘how much is still a question.

Especially when we talk about celebrities from the world of movies and cinema we know they are one of the highest-paid ones. But what exactly is their net worth and who tops in the list of the richest actors? Let’s dive deep into the statistics to know

#20 Leonardo DiCaprio (USD 260 million)

Leonardo DiCaprio Decorated His Home With 'Titanic' Items

Leonardo DiCaprio is often seen in a biopics and period films who got international attention and fame as a star in the epic romance Titanic (1997). Being the world’s highest-paid actors, his films have earned USD 7.2 billion worldwide. He has been placed 8 times on Forbes’ annual list of highest-paid actors: 2008 and from 2010 to 2016 with respective earnings of USD 45 million, USD 28 million, USD 77 million, USD 37 million, USD 39 million, USD 29 million and USD 27 million.

#19 Akshay Kumar (USD 300 million)

When Akshay Kumar Said There Is No Man Who Is Not Lustful | Anyone Who Disagrees Is Trying To Hide His Lust - Filmibeat

Akshay Kumar is the only Indians on Forbes list of world’s highest-paid celebrities2020. He is at the 52nd spot with estimated pre-tax earnings of USD 48.5 million during June 2019 to May 2020. Also popularly known as The ‘Khiladi of Bollywood’, he is in the filmy career for more than 29 years now and has appeared in over 100 films. He is also considered as a disciplined and punctual Bollywood celebrity.

#18 Brad Pitt (USD 300 million)

Brad Pitt Cover Story Interview - Brad Pitt Photos and Quotes

Brad Pitt is one of the most powerful and influential people in the American entertainment industry. He was chosen as People’s Sexiest Man Alive and has been nominated at the Oscars 7 times. Reportedly, he is consistently earning a minimum of USD 20 million for major big releases. His primary source of income is huge film releases and production company, Plan B Entertainment.

#17 Michael Douglas (USD 330 million)

Michael Douglas on His Childhood, Family and Career

Michael Douglas, the versatile actor, has been widely appreciated as a talented actor and for performances as a television and motion picture artist. He has received notice for his political activism and humanitarian as well as wide media attention for his marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones who is a Welsh actress.

#16 Salman Khan (USD 350 million)

COVID-19 effect: Salman Khan postpones events in US, Canada | Celebrities News – India TV

Salman Khan, The Bhaijaan of the Bollywood registered himself as the most numerous 100-crore club films. He was ranked 82nd with earnings of USD 37.7 million, according to the Forbes Top-Paid 100 Celebrity Entertainers 2018 list in the world. He is in the filmy career for more than 30 years now and has gifted Bollywood with his successful action films. He is popularly known as a host of Bigg Boss, reality show since 2010.

#15 Dwayne Johnson (USD 350 million)

The Rock for president? I'll run if the people want it, says Dwayne Johnson | US politics | The Guardian

Dwayne Johnson is not only an actor but also a retired professional wrestler, known by his ring name The Rock. Being the highest-grossing richest actor In the world of all time, his films have grossed over USD 3.5 billion in North America and over USD 10.5 billion worldwide. Central Intelligence and the HBO series Ballers has just wowed audiences with his fabulous appearances.

#14 Robert Downey Jr. (USD 350 million)

Robert Downey Jr. announces venture funds to save the planet, invests $10 million of own money | Totally Vegan Buzz

Robert Downey Jr. has made his presence in the entertainment industry at the age of five and is popularly known for his roles in Marvel/Iron Man/Avengers franchise in Hollywood. He is one of the versatile American actors and was named among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. His films have grossed over USD 14.4 billion worldwide and are listed as Hollywood’s highest-paid actor by Forbes from 2013-2015.

#13 Keanu Reeves (USD 360 million)

Keanu Reeves' profound take on life and death leaves internet speechless. 'He could easily pick up Mjolnir,' say fans | Hollywood - Hindustan Times

Keanu Reeves has gained international fame, especially in action film genres and science fiction. He was given the title “Hollywood’s ultimate introvert” by Lev Grossman in a 2005 article for Time magazine. He is the highest-paid richest actor In the world, earning over USD 250 million from The Matrix franchise. He is also a Musician! His John Wick franchise has generated more than USD 500 million at the box office.

#12 Will Smith (USD 390 million)

Will Smith ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes with eleven consecutive films gross over USD 150 million internationally and USD 100 million in the domestic box office. He achieved modest fame under the name The Fresh Prince as a rapper. His popularity increased on an NBC television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air which successfully ran for six seasons. He is the actor with small budgeted films earns the highest.

#11 Tom Hanks (USD 400 million)

Tom Hanks' 'Bios' Release Date Changed - Variety

Tom Hanks is known for both his comedic and dramatic roles. He is widely regarded as an American cultural icon and his films have grossed over more than USD 9.96 billion worldwide. Also been frequently regarded to as “America’s Dad”.

#10 Sylvester Stallone (USD 400 million)

Sylvester Stallone turns 75 and shares new family photo

Sylvester Stallone is also a screenwriter, director, producer and artist. He had a struggling life at the beginning but gradually rose to prominence with films like Daylight earning over USD 17.5 million, USD 20 million for “Driven” and another USD 20 million for “Eye See You”.

#9 Arnold Schwarzenegger (USD 400 million)

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Insane 3 AM Workout | Ladder

Arnold Schwarzenegger is also an Austrian-American bodybuilder, businessman, model, and politician. According to sources, he earns USD 20-30 million per movie and also has a variety of investments, notably real estate under his hat. He is the most recent Republican governor of California as of 2020. People also know him as “the Austrian Oak,” “Terminator” “The Governator”.

#8 Johnny Depp (USD 450 million)

Johnny Depp seeks appeal in UK wife beater libel case | Entertainment News,The Indian Express

Johnny Depp is the tenth highest-grossing actor worldwide as his films have grossed over USD 10 billion worldwide and USD 3.7 billion at the United States. Also, his name is written on the Guinness World Records as the world’s highest-paid actor, with earnings of USD 75 million.

#7 Amitabh Bachchan (USD 450 million)

Amitabh Bachchan thanks fans as he battles Covid-19, says their love took away the 'darkness of my loneliness' | Bollywood - Hindustan Times

Amitabh Bachchan, also known as “Big – B” is one of the most influential actors and was widely known as a “One Man Industry” in the 1970s and 1980s. He became famous from his roles as the “angry young man” at the start of his career in the 70s in Hindi cinema. He even hosted several seasons of the popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati which is a brand success.

#6 Jack Nicholson (USD 480 million)

How One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Is Different From The Book

Jack Nicholson whose career spanned more than 60 years has done a variety of role including comedy, darkly comic portrayals of anti-heroes, romance, and villainous characters. He is one of the most-award-nominated actors and wealthiest in American history. He has USD 100 million real estate portfolio under his hat and USD 150 million art collection.

#5 Adam Sandler (USD 500 million)

Adam Sandler to make four new films for Netflix | Entertainment News,The Indian Express

Adam Sandler is best known for his comedic roles and is the highest-paid entertainer in the world. He easily earns around USD 50 -60 million per year from his projects. Before making the jump to Hollywood, he got immense attention as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. He has also written and produced many films.

#4 Mel Gibson (USD 520 million)

Mel Gibson's Career Has Survived Controversy After Controversy, But How? - Variety

Mel Gibson is known for his action hero roles. He has his own production company, Icon Entertainment. He got the reputation as a serious, versatile actor from a role in World War I drama Gallipoli (1981). Also a filmmaker, he directed and produced the film The Passion of the Christ, a biblical drama that was financially successful and has highly contributed to his net worth.

#3 George Clooney (USD 550 million)

George Clooney's life and career in pictures: Photo flashback | Gallery | Wonderwall.com

George Clooney is the recipient of two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He earned USD 40,000 per appearance for the 19 episodes of Sisters and USD 100,000 per episode of ER. He was listed as the “Most Influential People in the World” in Time’s annual Time 100 and served (since January 31, 2008) as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace.

#2 Tom Cruise (USD 650 million)

Tom Cruise Turns 59: How Much is the 'Mission: Impossible' Actor Worth?

Tom Cruise is the highest-paid richest actor In the world in the world with his films grossed over USD 10.1 billion worldwide and USD 4 billion in North America. Being the heartthrob of around the world, he is a three-time Golden Globe Award winner. Mission Impossible Series has helped him to build an impressive net worth including high profile projects and endorsements.

#1 Shah Rukh Khan (USD 800 million)

Pathan' Shah Rukh Khan Is Ready To Rule The Box Office Only If He Avoids One Red Flag, Predicts A Celebrity Astrologer

Shah Rukh Khan also is known as The Badshah of the Bollywood or King Khan has been making waves globally as an actor, television presenter, and stage performer. He is the most stylish and influential people in Indian culture and has a significant following in Asia and the Indian diaspora worldwide. According to a popularity survey, 3.2 billion people know Shah Rukh Khan around the world, more than who know Tom Cruise.

Give Yourself a Hug

“Society taught me that no matter what size I am, I will never be good enough. I’ll always be too skinny, too fat, too short, too tall. Too this, too that.”
– Unknown

People from all walks of life, battle different forms of insecurities every second of the day. Insecurities basically sprout when all the broken fragments of society i.e. us, force other people to adhere to the so called norms of the society to ‘fit in’.

One of the biggest insecurity people encounter is with regard to their body and looks. The fact that beauty is absolutely subjective, seems to escape our minds while establishing the perfect body type , nose and lip shapes.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is woman-ideal-bodies-looking-herself-mirror-feel-insecure-fat-cartoon-hand-drawn-style-flat-vector-design-human-177767081.jpg

Body Image

Body image refers to the subjective idea that a person has of his own body, it may or may not be actually the way he/she appears. According to Psychology Today, “Body image is subject to all kinds of distortions from the attitudes of one’s parents, other early experiences, internal elements like emotions or moods, and other factors.”

Negative body image may start forming when you notice, say, a minor flaw in your body and then overthink it out of proportions, so much so that it leaves an indelible impression on your mind.

Body image of a person influences his/her social interactions and some level of mental functioning. Negative aspects of body image can lead to severe social and behavioural distortions.

Also quoted from Psychology Today, “Thoughts and opinions about one’s body can start forming as early as 3 years of age. Often this is a direct result of a parent’s relationship with their own bodies. How a parent sees herself is influential and can mould a child’s ideas about their body.“

Although its as hard to be Ken as it is Barbie but the negatives of body image have been largely found in women. The statistics of men are found to be lower in this context.

Insecurities

According to statistics about 80% women and 34% men are insecure of and dissatisfied with their body. Body insecurities cause people to break down.

These insecurities stem mainly from the desire to look a certain way and fit a certain beauty standard. Teenagers feel the need to be perfectly thin or perfectly proportionate and muscular, lack of which could lead to a state extreme mental trauma.

Also, people instead of focusing on their own physical and mental growth, divest a large portion of their time in useless comparisons with other people, which leads to them cornering their mental selves even further instead of something positive coming out of it.

Give Yourself a Hug

Everyone in this world is insecure of one thing or the other. Body insecurity is a serious peril that people need to overcome, in order to enjoy this limited life to the fullest. Body insecurity and the negativity that it gives rise to prevents people from seeking joy in their life, it constantly looms like a dark cloud over their head.

People dealing with such issues need to look for the silver lining in this dark cloud. People need to stop striving for perfection sand embrace themselves, flaws and everything.

People suffering from insecurity need to strengthen their will and imbibe and assimilate the fact that,’ All bodies are beautiful’, completely.

Every circle of darkness in life is followed by an impending circle of light. We must have a firm belief in the goodness of things and have a strong self confidence.

Wound your arms tightly around yourself and let your love heal you. Give yourself a tight hug!

”Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.”
–Rachel Naomi Remen

Reference(s): https://www.psychologytoday.com

To Read List – 2021

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

As it is rightly said, “Between the pages of a book, is a lovely place to be.” Books fit all the cliché surrounding them, they put dreams in your eyes and give wings to your dreams. Reading is an exercise like no other. It sweeps you into a magical universe and transmutes your mundane into a bewitching dream.

There is such diverse content available in the literary spectrum today that leaves ones mind in a state of bafflement and awe.

Today we explore some of the genera of the great literary abyss.

1. Mystery

Murder on the Orient express – Agatha Christie

Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn

The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

The Murders in the Rue Morgue – Edgar Allan Poe

2. Romance

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Me before You – Jojo Moyes

Beautiful Disaster – Jamie McGuire

Red , White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

3. Fantasy

A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle

The Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman

Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

Or What You Will – Jo Walton

Gardens of the Moon – Steven Erikson

4. Sci-Fi

The Time Machine – H.G Wells

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Becky Chambers

Nineteen Eighty- Four – George Orwell

To Sleep In a Sea of Stars – Christopher Paolini

Children of Ruin – Adrian Tchaikovsky

5. Non- fiction

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck- Mark Manson

A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf

Becoming – Michelle Obama

We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

Ghosts Of The Tsunami – Richard Lloyd Parry

“Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.”
– Lena Dunham

Setsubun

Setsubun has its origin in China, and it is said that it entered in Japan in the Heian period. It is a fun festival celebrated the day before the first day of spring. it is also known as the ‘bean-throwing festival’. Setsubun is a traditional ceremony that is performed by the Japanese people to banish demons, and is celebrated on 3rd or 4th of February. People scatter beans or the ‘mamemaki’ to drive demons away. This is one of the many rituals that are performed to dispel evil. One of the elder in the family dresses as a demon while children throw beans at them and the children also scatter the beans all around the house. Usually people start to scatter beans from the room that is the farthest from the entrance and then gradually come towards the entrance while scattering beans throughout the house. Windows are left open and beans are thrown out of the windows in order to throw out the demons along with it.

On setsubun, beans; usually soybeans, are scattered everywhere around the house, be it outside or inside while chanting ‘oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!’ i.e. out with demons, in with good luck! It also a custom for the members of the family to eat the same number of beans as their age, this is said to bring good health. People also eat Makisushi rolls in complete silence while facing the lucky direction of the which is determined by the zodiac of the year, and the makisushi roll is eaten as a whole without slicing it as it is considered that slicing it would mean slicing your good luck. People close their eyes and make a wish while eating the makisushi rolls.

Many people visit temples during the setsubun as nowadays, many shrines hold special events during setsubun.

Attraction

Ever thought why do we get attract to someone? Well everyone has different answer to it. For some it can be the way one look, smiled, walk or may be their was an unusual aura around that one.

What is attraction?

Attraction, especially in a romantic way, is a complex process that take place in our brains, and has had it’s roots since it’s beginning of the humankind. It’s our minds way of telling us who has the potential to be our partner, our friend, or even our soulmate, and is based on a complex blend of our interest, values, experience, and desire. Physical and romantic attraction, which are often focused on, are only small facets of a much larger equation.

Psychologist look at the ingredients of attraction is in a form of pyramid, split into 4 different sections.

The base of the pyramid is made up of health and status:-

Status – 1. internal (confidence, self set, beliefs) 2. External (person’s job, possession and appearance.

Health – Physical attributes, smell, basic level of intelligence.

If the potential partners passes these initial requirements then we move to the center of the pyramid, which are the emotional factors:- includes

trust comfort someone wants,
their emotions intelligence, and
unique characteristics.

The final portion of the pyramid is “Logic”.This is the part that differentiate us from other animals, and is the part where our brains seriously

considers whether we are totally compatible for that person.
It ensure that the other person is aligned with us in term of what they want – things such as marriage, children, even the city they want to live.

According to this model, the more alignment there is, the more attraction there is, but it doesn’t always have to follow from bottom to top – like online dating.

What makes someone Attractive?

The answer to this questions make come to our mind is physical traits. Due to the influence of media, we tend to favor women who is younger, and more feminine features, in men on the other side, qualities such as broad shoulders, a deep voice, and strong jawline are highly upon.

Scientists suggest that, these also have an evolutionary origin because these traits are associated with a higher chance of producing health offspring and passing of good genes. Also, values, culture, and the environment, that we grow in also plays an important role.

Hence, attractiveness is complex, there’s a number of different perspective to consider, and at the end of the day, there’s very little we can choosing who we are attracted to. As each person looks for unique set of traits and, while physical traits are often focused there are far more factors that come into play. A person’s upbringing, behavior and even lifestyle have major influence. The most important thing to remember is to be happy and make the most of it.

Hatsumode

Hatsumode refers to the ‘first shrine or temple visit’. It marks a person’s first visit to the shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple during the new year. It used to be an absolute custom to visit a shrine or a temple during the new year that is located in the direction of one’s home; it was considered to be extremely auspicious and is said to bring prosperity in the next year. This practice used to be called ‘ehomairi’. But, nowadays, it has become a common practice to visit famous shrines and temples, not bothering about their locations. The visits to the shrine or temples begin at midnight on the new year’s eve, and are made by a large number of people.

during Hatsumode many people get their fortune predicted by drawing an ‘omikuji’ which is a paper that tells you about your luck in the upcoming year. many people buy various charms and amulets, along with talismans that are supposed to ward off evil and increase one’s luck in the upcoming year. These are kind of like lucky charms. many people even bring charms and amulets of the previous year and offer it to kami, to purify and incinerate them, in order to return it back to the heavens. Many people write their wishes on wooden wishing plaques and hang the in the shrines to get their wishes granted by the kami.

The most popular shrines that are visited by people during the new year are Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine, Kamakura’s Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine and Kyoto’s Yasaka Shrine. These shines expect millions of visitors on the first three days of new year each year. It is the most auspicious to visit the shine on the 1st of January, but nowadays, people avoid going to the shires on day one as it gets very crowded.

Shogatsu: New year

New year is the most important and the most elaborate of all events that took place in Japan. Whilst, there are differences in the local customs on how new year is celebrated, at this time all the houses are thoroughly cleaned and decorated and the holidays are celebrated with family members, friends and many people visit shrines. officially, new is observed from 1st January to 3rd January, and during this period all the schools, colleges and offices are closed.

these preparations for the new year are undertaken to greet the toshigami; the god of the incoming year (the chinese zodiac gods, for eg. year 2021 is the year of the Ox). cleaning of the houses start early and then the houses are decorated traditionally; ‘shimenawa’ or the sacred rope made out of straw with white papers dangling on it known as the ‘shide’ is hung over at the front door as a mark of the toshigami’s temporary abode and in order to keep the evil spirits away. ‘Kadomatsu’ or an arrange ment of tree springs are also placed at the entrance of the house. The ‘toshidana’ or the special alter for the toshigami is placed and is filled with the ‘kagamimochi’ or the rice cakes along with ‘sake’, persimmons and other special food all to honor the toshigami, who is residing in the house temporarily.

The night before the new year is called the ‘omisoka’. A large number of people visit Buddhist temples to hear the bell ring 108 times at midnight that is believed to end all evil of the last year. People believe that eating the ‘toshikoshi soba’ or the year-crossing noodles will extend family fortune just like the long noodles.

The very first day of the new year known as the ‘ganjitsu’ is celebrated with family members. People also visit shrines and temples on this day. Early in the morning of 1st January the emperor performs the rite of ‘shihohai’ in the imperial palace and prays for the prosperity of the nation. On the 2nd of January, the public is allowed to visit the inner grounds of the palace. On the 2nd and 3rd January people meet with their friends and acquaintances and extend greetings for the new year.

Oshogatsu and Koshogatsu

Shogatsu means the first month of the year. ‘Oshogatsu’ or the’ big new year’ is calculated by the Gregorian calendar and ‘koshogatsu’ or the ‘small new year’ is calculated according to the lunar calendar.. Koshogatsu starts with the first full moon of the year, i.e. from 15th January.

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