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Showing posts from 2017

Stand up comedy

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Ron was happy to be back in his city during the season of festivities. As he navigated through the now infamous Traffic Jam , old memories started to show up at every turns. It was not too long ago that he was that angry young man who at times felt like a rebel without a cause. He was going through a difficult time trying to keep up with the whims and fancies of the rebel within him and that upset him even more. Usually fellow students avoid such characters, more due to stern instructions from doting parents than by choice of their own. But Ron had a different shade too, he had the capability to bring comic relief to serious situations. In addition to being annoying, he could recite, sing and pull out a fast one on almost anyone. The folks knew he would flip a sad moment into a celebration even before the tallest hand could make a trip around the face of the clock . Path leading to a career of choice was not one adorned with rose . On the contrary it was a challenge. Once at ...

Handwriting Fun Project

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We form a cusp generation, as we started treading the cyber path after we graduated from a teenager. Not too late, but it was not too early either. Long distance calls were exorbitantly expensive and the known way of communication was through letters. Phones were meant to be used in case of emergency or to deliver short messages like … “I reached hostel safely.” Message was not the only interesting aspect of letters, it was the entire Jing bang. The pen pals, the paper, ink color, handwriting and not to forget the precious little things on the cover… the coveted postage stamps. I enjoyed every aspect of this process and it’s not only stamps I collected, I also treasured many a letter. An artist friend managed to remain untouched by computers creating an opportunity to communicate through lengthy personal letters. Not frequent, but immensely satisfactory feeling, nevertheless. An email announcing the receipt of my letter last year brought down the last bastion of letter writing...

A Rothko – what makes the art market tick

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A painting sold for a stupendous price of $72.84 million at an auction at the Sotheby, New York on May 16, 2007. I was introduced to this bit of information while watching an old Documentary.  We generally accept that art can be very expensive but this work by Rothko baffled me completely. Name of the Artwork: White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) Dimensions: 6’- 9” X 4’ – 8” Painted in: 1950 Style: Color field – Abstract Expressionism Name of Artist: Mark Rothko (Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz) An American painter of Russian Jewish descent. 25 September 1903 to 25 February 1970. I gathered these information but miserably failed to equate the product with its price tag and decided to dig deeper. Expressionism was an artistic movement of the mid-twentieth century where the artists were at the liberty to convey attitudes and emotions through nontraditional and usually non representation means (Merriam Webster). Tate org further elaborates t...

Somenath, Friends, Hostel 16, Campus life, Et al.

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It was 11th May 2015 and I was sitting on an airplane traveling to Kolkata to meet Somenath’s family. Memories of the past 20 years came rushing to my mind like a giant waterfall the realization that life is a one way traffic got me thinking. Somenath was one of my closest friends and has now left us forever on the 9th. Kolkata, I knew will never be the same place again. I argued with myself “wouldn’t it be a great way to remember a friend by sharing some of those golden moments with rest of the world.”  The opportunity to re-live those moments once again got me tempted to this narration. I knew the word processor would help me bring back incidents from deep inside my memory lanes. Our college experience would have been half as interesting had it not for Somenath. With him around there were hardly a dull moment and fortunately for us, he was always around. No matter how grave the situation was, it was never serious enough to be serious. For those who do not know, he was pe...

E-commerce for Dummies

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“Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe....We shall overcome, someday” Generations of Indians sang this song every morning in their school assemblies or while cheering teams later in the life. We are able to derive greater inner strength from this anthem.  We successfully overcome numerous obstacles “day in and day out” as we navigate through the challenges of life. Unfortunately, we do not consider this mantra while chasing dreams close to the heart. Leaving the few entrepreneurs, we conveniently shy off from grabbing the bull by its horns when it comes to setting up our own businesses or self-employment. This is particularly true for trained professionals like engineers in-spite being better equipped for it. They remain within the comfort zone of remunerations, oblivious of the fact that the same effort could generate more satisfaction, appreciation and higher revenue. A myth we heard during our younger days was that money flew in Kolkata streets. It could be mistaken f...

I Channel - I share with the world that my eyes see

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During the August of 2015, Varshika participated for  #ColgateMagicalStories   competition hosted by  indiblogger . Buoyed by the encouragement received from that effort, she continued to face the camera unscripted and is introducing her world to the outer world.   As part of constructive parenting I am supporting her with post production and with the camera. She have completed quite a few videos for her YouTube channel. Its called  I Channel  and she invites all to find some time and visit her channel.

Different But Unique

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20 May 2017 Each child coming to this world is A wesome, U nique, T alented, I mpressive, S pecial and definitely they are all M arvelous creations of God. Some of them are categorized under….. AUTISM. Autism or “ autism spectrum disorder ” represents a wide range of mental conditions that develops in early childhood and the term “spectrum” reflects its variety. Different combinations of genetic and environmental influences as we know, causes autism while creating unique strengths and differences in the affected individuals. I would argue there are more than one ways of doing things correctly in our world and if a child cannot learn the way most others does then we need to learn new techniques.  We therefore need to accept the fact that when it comes to a child, there cannot be normal or abnormal because each of them are unique. I was introduced to a personality albeit a feature article in the local newspaper and his name is Stephen Wiltshire. His website ...

Construction Conflict & Story of the Cats

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Re-Conflict & Re-Solution A review of the story of the cats and the monkey in retrospective of a completed construction project

Baby Names in India & Current Trends - A Guest Post

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Parents are particular about selecting a perfect name for their new born but often caught in between keeping it unique or to follow the latest trends. However, the trends of Hindu baby names in India are continuously changing with time. For finding the best name, it is important for parents also to check if it is meaningful and easy to pronounce. Before picking a name, always keep in mind that you will be calling your kid with that name for the entire life. Lets see what are the recent trends of Baby Names in India Sanskrit Names 1 According to the Hindu beliefs, a name builds the personality of a person.  Sanskrit names are unique and have strong meanings and mainly inspired by Hindu Goddess. Hence, people are keen to get a Sanskrit name instead of selecting the usual Hindi names.  Here are some examples of Sanskrit names- ·          Adhrit ·          Nirav · ...

A Kleptoparasite

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This week I got introduced to a new phrase. That is kleptoparasite . This was part of a scientific article that reported the discovery of a previously unknown species of beetle in the Costa Rican jungle. These are tiny creatures that hitchhiked the fighter ants while travelling frequently as part of moving their homes. They are stowaways who hide themselves in the bottom of those ants so well that their body textures and odor mimics that of those ants. So much so, that the ants are unable to detect the intruders even while touching with their feelers. There is a certain advantage when one travels with a large group of army ants. But protection or free rides are not the only objectives for these tiny parasites. These creatures also steal from the food stores of the ants. While there are others small creatures that has similar stealing habits, I find these beetles particularly shameless. They exploit the ants to the maximum. Ironically, there are so many human beings sp...

Is there a good word

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How responsible are we with our words when we report about those mindless massacres by various terrorist organizations. A few days back there was a devastating blast in a shrine in Sehwan claiming many innocent lives. I read a report the following day on this deadly attack. It read somewhat like this: “ Over 100 people died when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the shrine in Sehwan in the outskirts of Hyderabad city in Sindh. ISIS has taken credit for the attack that prompted the new Army chief to swear revenge ”. Finding a news article on a fresh Violent incident has become too routine an affair and it no longer leave a lasting impact in the conscious mind, even though it goes on to instill another dose of fear in our subconscious mind. But I was quite annoyed to read that “ISIS has taken CREDIT for this heinous act. Credit since my early days has been associated with “praise, approval, or honor”. “She got her due credit for the invention or her boss took the credit ins...

Republic Day of a Grown Up Nation

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B eing clean is a sign of goodness and spiritual purity and w e need to make our country clean. I believe that the cleanliness drive should start by cleansing our mind and heart before following it through to our surrounding and environment. But before we proceed, let decide to do one another thing .. draw a line. On one side of the line we place our way of life, perception of right or wrong and on the other side our political belief, politics, stubbornness and the likes. Those who fail to have a positive mindset should not be allowed to hold back rest of us from moving in the right direction. One such right direction is the ambitious “Clean India Mission” (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) launched by the Prime Minister in October 2014. The goal of drastically improving the country by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It is disgusting to see some citizens including few so called leaders ridiculing this mission because they don’t agree with the ideology of the party...

Are you preparing for your 100th Birthday

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One of these days while browsing a magazine, this small news clipping caught my attention. I made a note of it with my phone cam. Few days later I heard a radio program while in the car that spoke about the same subject. Arguably, o ne has to win jackpot with the right set of genes to live long. It also suggested that one’s lifestyle and geographical location plays equal vital roles. The information available from various sources differed but what I discovered about the world of centenarians is simply amazing. An article published on 12 July 2011 reported that the highest number of centenarians of the world resides in the US . Japan does not have as many centenarians but it has a higher proportion of its population aged 100 years or more. Japan’s average life expectancy of 82.9 years is the longest lifespan among  the OECD countries as illustrated below. On 11 September 2015, Japan Times quoted  Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimating the number of cent...

Red Carpet: Why you need a face Lift

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Glamour of The Red Carpet We have grown up seeing red carpets rolled out for VIPs and celebrities at every occasions. But, is the Red carpet red enough or it’s time for a change? I went about digging its past to propose a new future. The earliest known reference in literature according to Wikipedia is found in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus , written in 458 BC. Clytemnestra , the vengeful wife of  Agamemnon offered a red path to walk upon his return from Troy. Agamemnon, was wary of disrespecting Zeus and his fellow deities by walking on such luxury and responded: "I am a mortal, a man; I cannot trample upon these tinted splendors without fear thrown in my path." In 1821, President James Monroe was honored in South Carolina with a red carpet laid out to the river. Red as a color has long been associated with prestige, royalty and aristocracy and royalty with the passage of time gave way to film royalty. Walking the red carpet became most glorified when the movie...