Review: Mausam

Director- Pankaj Kapoor

Producers- Sheetal Talwar & Vinod Lulla

Music- Pritam

Lead Actors- Shahid Kapoor & Sonam Kapoor

Released on- 23rd September 2011 (India)

1. Entertainment:  Its entertainment value is low as all that the movie has is slow romance, songs popping up unexpectedly and a predictable story line.

2. Best part : The only good thing that i found in the movie was how it smartly covers the major incidents of India i.e. from Babri Masjid to Godhra riots.

3. Songs: Songs are fairly good and has also been liked by many. Lyrics is nothing new or out of the blue but the song composition makes it sound good. 

It all starts from a slow love story, how Harry finds excuses to meet his new found love Ayat every now and then. The romantic part is boring and formal. Finally, when its time to confess about love, Ayat disappears. And then in the second part, when Ayat wants Harry to come over for an official love confession with family members, Harry disappears. It went out to be monotonous and the question in mind was, what next? It seemed like a tit for tat situation !

The strangest part is that during all the bad happenings, may it be in Kashmir or Gujarat, Ayat is present to experience it. The whole story seemed deliberate and not acceptable in some parts.

The role of Rajjo can be tagged as an important one. She plays a subtle villainous role without whom the story couldn't be stretched up to the extent it did. Though she is married, she still carries a soft corner for Harry who is in love with Ayat. Her grudges explode as a revenge against Ayat when she burns off a letter written by Ayat to Harry.   

The unacceptable ending makes all the 'little bit good' go down the drain. How possibly does a man with a paralyzed left hand climbs up a giant wheel to save a kid? Even if we let go off that part, how does he catch hold of the kid with that same left arm and come down safely? Weird it is !!

I wouldn't even call it a one time watch because if you don't watch this movie you wont be missing much of anything in life except for Shahid sporting a moustache!

Rating: '*' (1/5)

 Growing mobile phone market in India

India has been highly contributing in the mobile phone market. It is not unknown that India is now the world’s second largest mobile market after China with 262 million users. Around 10.16 million users were added in March 2008. The Indian market is much more fragmented unlike China which has 392 million subscribers. Every person from kids to adults own a mobile phone in the present generation , major part of them owning more than one mobile phone. It has become more of a craze and it is doubtful whether mobile phones are used what they are made for. The unbounded use of mobile phone for its features has increased its market potential. Its not just about making or receiving a call but much more than that.

SMS-ing is something which major part of mobile owners cannot stay away from. The latest cuts are to the SMS pricing with offers at 10 paisa/ SMS available. The other rates are amongst the lowest in the world. The growth that has been on a fast track is expected to remain so and as of now it is also moving towards the rural areas.

The Indian users have become very much savvy towards extra features that a mobile phone can provide. They are never satisfied with the phone they own and thus look towards a better one available in the market. Any large phone retailer will have a variety of different models on display. Currently, Nokia is believed to have a huge share in the market. The others include Samsung, LG and Apple phones. Though many of these feature filled phones are quite expensive, there are other phones available which are less expensive in comparison due to the competition prevailing in the market. We can find a new mobile phone in the market every 4 days and no doubt we get influenced to own it.

Mobiles have taken such a toll over the mass as well as the market that fixed landline phones are hardly to be seen. This has accounted fixed line owners to get into the prepaid market. Like most other countries India too is leading towards a growing mobile phone market.

          

 Social Media- A Boon or a Bane

           The reach of social media has become enormous world wide. In today’s generation it is next to impossible to find a single youngster who is alienated from the social media. There are numerous social sites with a huge number of active users. When it comes to analyzing its aspects, we can find many negatives and positives to it. Nothing in the world is perfect as we can philosophically say, so is the case with social media.

            It cannot be favored by proving it to be a complete boon nor can we call it to be completely negative. It is a mixture of both i.e. it is a boon as well as a bane. There are millions of social media users today which is mainly covered by youngsters. Facebook being one of them with 600 million users has been ranked 2^nd by the Alexa toolbar. Its revenue is expected to be US $ 2 Billion. According to the official data global consumers spend more than 6 hours on social networking sites.

            As far as usage is concerned most of the sites are used for entertainment purpose like sharing videos, commenting on status and images, cross comments, joining communities and groups and discussing on topics, etc. We keep on adding more and more friends not being sure whether we’ll b e in further contact with them or not. Most of the friends list consists of users whom you hardly contact. There are just a few with whom you get regularly connected to. So again, its just a competition among users to have the largest friends list. Chatting constantly on social networking sites about not so important topics leads to nothing but wastage of time. Moreover, there are games and other applications that are added by users which is of no use and is there just for the sake of it.

            Coming to the positive part of the social media, life is nothing without socializing. Social life is the best life. Contacting friends and family members constantly helps us keep connected and inform us about the happenings. Socializing has also become an important part in the professional world. To maintain contacts we need to be in constant touch with people and the best option to go about it is the social media. Social media also includes important and serious discussions amongst the experts and other users having knowledge about the topic. The best part about this kind of discussion is that it is open to the public i.e. anyone can view it as well as put in their own views.

            Social media helps discuss, debate as well as have a simple conversation with anyone around the globe. Whether it is a boon or a bane depends on the way a user uses a social site.

                                                            Infidel

            There lived a girl named Emily who belonged to a non-orthodox family. Emily was an ambitious, hardworking and responsible girl by nature. She had a best friend named Ann who was her classmate too. They were students from 11th grade. Emily was quite active and could answer any question asked by the teacher and was famous in school for being the 1st ranker in class every year. Ann was an average student academically and always depended on Emily to learn her subjects. Emily being helpful and loyal, always helped her in the best ways possible. They used to go to school together by school bus.

            Next morning as usual they went to school and during the first lecture itself the teacher announced a surprise test. Emily was quite confident of scoring well but Ann felt panicky. After the test was over, as Ann was sitting on the first bench, the teacher asked her to collect all the test papers. Emily was the last one to give her paper as she was on the last bench. When Ann collected Emily's paper she noticed that she had forgotten to write her name on it. Ann instead of informing her made some negative plan in her head. She, without anyone noticing wrote her own name on Emily's paper and wrote Emily's name on her paper. After a couple of days the test results are announced and to everyone's surprise Emily fails and Ann scores the higest in class. Emily was unable to believe it and was upset but was also happy for Ann at the same time for scoring the highest. The teacher feels very strange about Emily's result and decides to call her parents to school to make sure that she doesn't fail again. She issues a notice for the same and asks Emily to give it to her parents without fail. Emily’s parents are quite surprised by the notice and decide to go to the school the very next day. When the discussion was going on between her parents and the teacher, Emily requests her teacher to show her the test paper so that she could analyze her mistakes and improve. After seeing the test paper, Emily realizes that the test paper wasn’t hers but it was Ann’s. Emily doesn’t reveal this to anyone, neither her parents nor the teacher and keeps it to herself.

            The next morning in the bus Emily couldn’t understand how she could bring up the matter with Ann. Finally after reaching school she confronts her and asks her why she had done such an act for no reason. Initially Ann refuses of doing any such thing but when Emily says that she had already seen the test paper, Ann accepts her deed. When asked for a reason, Ann says that she was always jealous of Emily being so famous amongst everyone and she did so to bring her down in everyone’s eyes. Emily when realizes the thoughts of her best friend for her, feels very upset and hurt. They avoid speaking with each other for the next couple of days. They no more shared the bus seat with each other and neither did they share their lunch during break time. A week passes by and Ann finds it quite difficult to deal with her studies without Emily. She finally decides to approach Emily and apologize for the injustice and thank her for not revealing it to anyone. Ann does so and Emily forgives her very easily thinking that the situation must have made her do so and she won’t repeat it. They become good friends again and no jealousy seemed to exist in Ann’s mind anymore.

             The days pass by and so does their school days. After 2 years they pass out from school with good grades. Ann scores exceptionally well because of Emily's help. With not much difference in their result they end up in the same college.

    They go to college together in Emily's car everyday. They have a lot of fun with many extra curricular activites available for them. Emily being active in all fields and also good academically becomes famous amongst the college mates as well. Everyone admires her knowledge and her willingness in all situations, may it be parties, exams, sports, debate, dance, etc. Ann not being as active and as famous as her, again develops a feeling of jealousy.

   Months pass by and Emily gets a crush on a guy in college who's a classmate named Andrew. She thinks of confessing her crush to him but then feels too shy to do so. Surprisingly after a few days Andrew approaches her and reveals his crush for her. She being very excited shares everything with Ann, and Ann acts as if she is happy for her too. Andrew again approaches Emily the next day and proposes her to become his girlfriend. Though she takes a couple of days to decide she accepts his proposal. She is very happy as she observes that Andrew is a very good and a caring guy by nature. She spends most of the time with Andrew and Ann doesn't feel very happy about it. Ann was already jealous of her and started  thinking of ways to let her down again. She thought of creating misunderstanding between them and break off their relation. Ann being the only girl in touch with Emily for so many years knew almost everything about her. She went to Andrew and started telling him fake stories about her relationship with a couple of guys in the past. Andrew found this a bit strange and started getting suspicious thoughts. Whenever Emily was with a guy in college who was nothing more than a friend, discussing something related to studies or activities, Ann would call Andrew and show him how Emily was going around with other guys as well. A few days passed by and by this time Ann had sown enough hatered for Emily in Andrews mind. Andrew thought that he was with the wrong girl and broke off with her.

   Emily being in disbelief kept on wondering what had went wrong and what exactly was her fault. There was another friend Roma who had been well noticing what was going on and also knew that the sole reason beind the break up was Ann and nobody else. Seeing Emily so depressed she decided to go to her and tell her everything that had happened. When Roma reveals everything, Emily didn't take much time to believe her as she had already experienced this side of Ann's nature.

   Later, she requests Roma to come along with her to Andrew to explain him and make him understand the wrong situation created by Ann. When Emily narrates the whole story including what had happened in the past and there also being Roma for support, Andrew realises his misunderstanding and apologizes to Emily for the same. Andrew makes Emily understand that she was being merely used by Ann and she no more needs to be  friends with such a cruel and cunning person. Emily gave it a thought and knew that she couldn't take a risk by continuing her friendship with Ann because there was a possibility of Ann doing something even more bad in future. She finally confronts Ann and breaks off her friendship for once and for all. Not only Andrew, Emily and Roma but everyone including the other students and proffesors become aware of Ann's true face and she is isolated by them. She does apologize and everyone does forgive her, but then no one is able to believe her the way they did earlier.

   Emily and Roma become even more good friends and Roma never being jealous is always happy of Emily's achievements. Later, Andrew and Emily grow into a more closer relationship and get married after 5 years after passing out from college.

Revolution

Social media revolution 2011

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Social Media

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HOLOCAUST

HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE
IT WAS SPREAD FAR AND WIDE
FAMILY FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOES
CAME TOGETHER COZ WHO KNOWS
TOMORROW MIGHT BE THE LAST DAY
WHEN EVERYONE TURNS INTO CLAY
DUE TO THE BLOODY HITLER’S MISSION
MANY DIED OF STARVATION
SURGERIES WERE DONE WITHOUT ANESTHESIA
MANY INNOCENT DIED WHICH HAS NO RATIO
THEIR HANDS AND LIMBS WERE CUT APART
NO ONE KNOWS THE REASON FOR WHAT
ALL THIS WAS DONE TO JUST WASH OFF
THE EXISTENCE OF JEWS WHICH WAS A LOT
MOTHERS WITH THEIR BABIES ON THE SHOULDER
THE ATMOSPHERE WAS NO DOUBT GETTING COLDER
SOME WERE SHOT ON THE HEAD AND CHEST
IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST DISTRESS
IT TOOK THEM LONG TO COME THIS WAY
THEY HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO PRAY AND PRAY
NOW IT WAS TIME TO FADE AWAY
ALL OF THIS JUST CAME THEIR WAY
THEY SAT IN THE DARK EVEN DURING THE DAY
THERE WAS NO TIME TO BE HAPPY AND GAY
ALL WERE MURDERED YOUNG AND BRAVE
AND THEY WERE DUMPED IN A MASS GRAVE
CRIMINALS WERE BORN FOR MASS EXECUTION
THE VICTIMS WENT THROUGH GREAT HUMILIATION
HOW MUCH MORE BRUTAL COULD ANYONE BE
THEY WERE ALL PUT IN A CHAMBER OF ZYKLON-B
LIVING THE LAST MOMENT OF THEIR LIFE
THEY STEPPED INTO THE CHAMBER WITH CLOSED EYES
WAVING THE DEAR ONES GOODBYE
KNOWING THEY WILL NEVER SEE EACH OTHER ALIVE
SOME WERE BURNT ALIVE IN A FIRE DUMPER
AND SOME WERE FORCED INTO THE GAS CHAMBER
THEY WENT IN ALIVE AND CAME OUT DEAD
THEIR BODIES WERE THROWN IN A FIRE BED
SOME HAD TO LIVE AND SOME HAD TO DIE
SOME IN THE PATH OF HEAVEN AND OTHERS CRIED
THERE WAS BLOOD WHICH WOULD NEVER WASH OFF
HISTORY INDEED MUST HAVE BEEN VERY TOUGH
SOME CALLED IT FATE, SOME CALLED IT FAKE
THIS WAS AN ACT WHICH HISTORY USED TO MAKE
THEY ALL LIED DEAD WITH NO ATTENTION
HOLOCAUST WAS HISTORY’S BIGGEST DISCRIMINATION




The internationally recognized symbol for peace was originally designed for the British nuclear disarmament movement by Gerald Holtom in 1958.
The symbol is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D," standing for "nuclear disarmament". In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an upside-down "V," and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down.
In Unicode, the peace symbol is U+262E: ☮.




Photo of the first peace badge made by Eric Austen for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1958 from Gerald Holtom's original design.





How connected are we?

             Social life in India is gradually decreasing upto some extent. It is not the same as it used to be earlier. When was the last time you visited your cousin? When was the last time you had a family get-together? These were some things which used to happen quite often earlier but now a days not many people find time for such occasions. Everyone is running out of time and no one is able to give out time for socialising the way they used to do previously. Today, socialising means internet (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

So, where exactly are we heading towards? 

Maximum youth today if asked about how they are in touch with their friends or relatives, most of them will have social networking site as an answer. No doubt social networking site is a boom in today’s world but we as humans have started living in a virtual surrounding. In today’s time meeting friends means meeting them online, though this might not be applicable to all. This is somehow ruining our culture of socialising. There were days when our parents or we ourselves used to meet up our close ones face to face very often, may it be for a chat or some work.

The virtual world has taken a toll upon us. There is no single place in the city where we cannot find internet services. Today, instead of making a call we prefer dropping an e-mail, instead of meeting up we prefer chatting online.

So, how exactly is this affecting us?

          Our communication skills are going low in some or the other way. We find it difficult or rather uncomfortable to interact face to face. We are unable to express our thoughts the way we used to do it before. Every youth today spends maximum amount of time sending messages through their cell phones. What we need to do is figure out how to bring back our typical socialising ways. Youths need to understand that chatting and e-mailing stands nowhere in front of physical face to face meetings.

Message ::

Start socialising- not the virtual way but the real way!

Studying abroad

These days it is quite normal and highly sophisticated to go abroad, especially among we Indians. Every second person you meet has either a relative studying or working abroad. Ever thought why? Well, its difficult to figure that out. It is a normal belief that if you’ve been abroad for any reason it adds to your status. May it be for a job, education or vacation. We are often found discussing about how poor or backward India is upto some extent. And usually youths are found debating on how India is lagging behind as compared to the developed countries. Have you ever wondered why is India still called a developing country?

Well, one of the main reasons could be youths going abroad for education or jobs and never coming back to India for serving with their services. Many doctors, engineers and other top professionals abroad are mostly Indians. They are serving other countries with their talents and helping in that particular countries development. So how possibly can we expect India to reach heights soon? This can happen only if youths after getting trained or gaining knowledge from abroad come back to India and serve. It is still a major question why Indian youths prefer to go abroad to study even after having top education facilities available here itself.

Though it is true that in India employment is a worry even for highly educated personals but then this should not be regarded as an excuse to stay away from India. If you are educated enough you surely would have the capability to start your own business and ultimately create employment for a mass of people. This will lead not only to more employment but also less poverty and it will head us towards development.

The sad part is that once you step out of your house you find ample amount of hoardings, advertisements, banners all over the place publicising your career aspects abroad. Maximum youths get excited by these ads hammering their brains wherever they go and thus creating a positive impression of the same in the back of their minds. People these days who would’ve never even thought of going abroad start dreaming about the same after this constant viewings of ads.

So the question is, is it right on the part of our youths to choose to go abroad with a mindset of settling down there and never coming back to serve the country?

Is it right to hammer youth minds with such ads ?

Think about it !

Rang De Basanti

(Movie review)

Director: Rakesh Omprakash Mehra

Producer: Rakesh Omprakash Mehra & Ronnie Screwvala

Editor: P. S. Bharathi

Music: A.R. Rehman & Parsoon Joshi

Writer: Parsoon Joshi

Actors: Aamir Khan

              Madhavan

              Sharman Joshi

              Siddharth Narayan

              Kunal Kapoor

              Soha Ali Khan

              Alice Patten

One liner: Today’s impulsive and daring generation.

Story: The movie kicks off on a very light note with a group of college going friends on the run having all kinds of fun. The movie drastically changes in the second half. The role of Alice Patten who comes to India with a motive of making a film based on our national martyrs who gave up their lives for our country has been portrayed quite well. It is surprising how she observes this group of friends and finds her movie characters in them namely Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Rajguru, Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan. Though they take their respective roles quite lightly but finally they agree to be a part of it on a serious note.

There are some specific scenes which are run parallel to the actual movie along with the movie that Alice is making and it being in sepia mode makes it quite interesting and highlights the situation pretty well.

The candle litigation act after the death of Ajay Rathod who is the pilot of the aircraft that crashes due to the faulty spare parts of the aircraft inspires the story line. This incident becomes the starting point to give birth to a patriotic soul in the minds of the group of friends. When the defence minister puts all the blames on the pilot’s skills and stands him to be responsible for the crash, the friends are unable to digest the injustice done openly in public and decide to kill the minister. After doing so they also confess to the same through the medium of All India Radio.

Overall, the film has been put together in a brilliant way and clearly depicts today’s young blood that can come up with the best or worst of ideas for justice.

Personally I feel that though it would have taken a lot of time the youths could have chosen the path of justice in a non-violent way.

The sets and scenes are well put together and the dialogue delivery is impressive in an unusual way.

Rating: 4/5

VIBRANT GUJARAT

Gujarat – a state so vibrant,
Possesses the culture, spirit and talent;
On its path to greatly prosper,
Its religion and fame is no caricature.
May it be the worst of times,
May it be terrorism or crime,
Equality and togetherness is in its heart,
Bad phase is overcomed and life begins from the start.

Gujarat – a state so ancient,
Is on its way to development and creation;
With ideas to prosper and promising plans,
One day it will uniquely stand.
May it be the variety of cuisines,
May it be the quality it raises;
Tradition or passion, Gujarat has it all,
No one in this world can make this state fall.

Gujarat – the birth place of Gandhiji,
The person who bridged the gap to sanity;
The major national decisions were taken here,
The development we are leading to is no queer.
May it be the earthquake with a very high scale,
May it be the blasts which made everyone pale;
All the unwanted is very widespread,
The courage and strength we possess remains unsaid.

Gujarat – a place where many people are tolled,
Due to the diamond city and industries it holds;
The ancient places and possessions remain unfurled,
None of its aspects is hidden from this world.
May it be after decades, this state will remain immortal,
The birth of this place will always be celebrated as a festival;
The memory of Gujarat will be remembered by all,
The greatness of this place will always be recalled.

Scientific Communication

Scientific communication means to communicate the information to the public that is received with the help of various scientific tools. The access to such kind of information or message is not only restricted to scientist but also to the common man. The speed of such kind of communication is very rapid and thus helps in sending the information across the globe in split seconds. Electronic media helps increase the speed of scientific communication i.e. through e-mails, conference programmes, pre-prints, journals, etc.

Scientific communication includes information received about earthquakes, cyclones and other natural calamities, movements in our solar system, info about satellites, etc.

Mainly it had started off with the exchange of journals which also has its online libraries and can be accessed by anyone in any language. The movement from traditional media to electronic media has been dominated by a shared ideology. The very first journal was ‘Psycholoqy’ by Harnard in the year 1991 and his articles were termed as ‘Scholarly skywriting’.

Electronic media can always be said to be better than traditional media as it is less expensive, has a wider access and it helps speeding up scientific communication. Moreover, traditional media today has become extinct due to its miser use and better available alternatives.

The range or scope of scientific communication differs from place to place and with increasing education today it is expected to grow with the passage of time.