The You tube Phenomenon

If you are a good singer and have not yet got a break, try You Tube. The recent craze on You Tube is a song by Dhanush. The song is called ‘Why this Kolaveri di” and it has captured the imagination of millions of youngsters throughout the country. Being on You Tube made this actor and singer more popular than the fact that he is the son-in-law of superstar Rajnikanth. Another song ‘ O mere jaana, tune nahin jaana’ has become a rage among youngsters. 

The song was composed by a student of Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Rohan Rathore, who was ditched by his girlfriend as he was suffering from cancer. He died 15 days after recording the song. You Tube helped his voice and story reach millions of people throughout the world.The brainchild of three former employees of Paypal, who started it in 2005, it has become the favourite website for viewing videos free.

Some other singers/bands that have become famous on You Tube are Beygairat Brigade (Aloo Ande), Rebecca Black (Friday), Jusitin Beiber (Never say never) and others. Begairat Brigade is a Pakistani band, whose song ‘Aloo Ande’ has catchy and controversial lyrics. The band decided to use You Tube to vent their anger on the socio-political scenario of their country. Had they released an album, as is done conventionally by singers and bands, they would have certainly faced a ban and probably a jail sentence. Similarly, Rebecca Black, an American singer who sang ‘Friday’ has used the medium extensively to promote her song. The music video has been viewed more than 30 million times by viewers across the globe. Similarly, Justin Beiber became famous, in fact even more famous than established singers and bands due to You Tube. 

Music on You Tube is a medium to draw attention of listeners towards a singer or a band. Some have been noticed and others, ignored. Yet, a factor that unites all these singers and bands is their desire to be heard and their use of technology to do it.

It is interesting to note that around 12 percent of all videos that are available or at this moment being uploaded on the website violate copyright. Some videos use copyrighted materials like songs, trademarks, logos and others. The number of videos uploaded daily is 200,000 or more. Eighty percent of all videos that are uploaded are amateur videos. An amateur video is made by a person who is not in the business of filmmaking. They can be made on a cell-phone or a handheld video camera. It includes amateur music videos too.

www.jayhind.tv, is the first Indian channel exclusively designed for the Internet. The brainchild of Abhigyan Prakash, the executive producer of ‘Movers and Shakers’, it is hosted by Sumeet Raghavan, a popular television anchor. The channel was started after the success of You Tube and Internet has become a very popular medium for entertainment and information.

Manjula Jain, an avid cook who enjoys cooking healthy dishes, became popular on You Tube. In an era, when cookery shows are common on television, she was lucky to have You Tube. She, just like many others, has utilised the website fully.

You Tube has made unknown faces popular not only in their countries, but all over the world. Had they used or chosen any other medium like television and others, it would have taken a lot of time to get noticed. Probably, some of them would have remained unknown.

Some artists, businessmen and others who have become on famous You Tube are Kina Grannis who recorded and uploaded her amateur music video and is now on the verge of a record contract, Marie Drigby who uploaded her amateur music video and has now been signed by Hollywood records, Tom Dickson an entrepreneur who uploaded a video demonstrating a product. He was featured in the Late Show with Jay Leno.

Everyday, countless budding musicians, singers, theatre actors, businessmen and others upload their videos on You Tube. Recently, a version of ‘Why this Kolaveri di’ was uploaded on You Tube by Sonu Nigam. His son, Nevaan has sung the song in his own style and it is very popular on the website.

It is time to sing Christmas carols

Christmas is celebrated by millions across the globe. In every festival, music is an integral part of the celebrations. Christmas carols are sung on the eve of Christmas in churches and on the streets. Several popular singers like Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon also sing songs for the occasion. Fans love their songs as each is different from the other.

Songs like ‘Jingle bells’, ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’ and others are sung in different versions. Christmas carols use hymns and chants also. Use of electronic and traditional musical instruments is common.  Some of the commonly used instruments are electronic keyboards, cymbals and others. The history of music during Christmas saw changes according to time. In ancient England, singing on the eve of Christmas was banned by Protestants because they considered it sinful. The times have changed, and now the festival is synonymous with music.

Jim Reeves, a popular American country singer and song-writer, sang and wrote several songs on Christmas, and is considered one of the most prolific Christmas carol singers of all time. He was one of the few singers whose songs topped the United States Christmas carols charts several years after his death. Some of the memorable numbers sung by him are ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, etc. to name a few.

Christmas carols give a sense of happiness to the listeners. In many western countries, music is played in shopping malls, and other places frequented by shoppers for Christmas shopping during the holiday season. Christmas is also the time for new music and movie releases. Special countdown lists are compiled by popular music channels, web sites and television channels before the occasion.

In India, Christmas carols are commonly sung by popular singers, church choir groups and members of the YMCA. A notable Hindi number called ‘Khush Ho Khudawand Aaya Hai’ was sung by a choir group of YMCA, New Delhi, which can be viewed on Youtube. Since, Christmas is the time to celebrate the teachings of Jesus Christ, several gospels from the Bible are also sung by popular singers on that day as well. 

Fashions on the campus

The tendency among college students to pay more and more attention to fashion is continuously growing. With the exception of the poorer students, almost all students regard it as-‘Fashion Parmo Dharma’.

It is an essential form of their duty o march with fashion and sometimes more quicker than fashions and actually set afoot a new fashion movement or fashion development. A visit to a college of today would indeed be an interesting experiment for those who wish to know something about the influence of fashions on these youth and vice-versa.

Boys and girls spend much of their precious time on personal grooming and dress. They are seen dressed in showy, gaudy and colourful outfits. They are perfect connoisseurs in the matter of dress and eye one another’s clothes with keen interest. Each tries to excel the other in the quality and design of his or her clothes. Critical remarks are freely gifted to classmates whose suits do not sit upon them properly or whose trousers do not match their shirts while envious glances are cast upon those who are striking in design and perfect in tailoring.

Everyone aims at wearing his or her clothes to the best advantage and producing a favourable impression upon their girl friends and boy friends (BFs and GFs). It seems as if costly clothes and styles are an additional qualification along with their Bachelor’s degree. This dandyism has disastrous results as students keep adjusting their hairstyles and nailprints and pay scant attention to class lectures. They look appreciably at their own nicely tailored outfits and get filled with the comfortable feeling that they are not behind anyone. Therefore the number of fops is on the increase in colleges. 

Almost every boy keeps in one of his pockets a comb with which he makes frequent styling gestures in front of girl’s colleges or his colleagues. A trend among college boys is to wear what are known as ‘muscle shirts’, ‘cargoes’ and tight-fitting jeans, which bring out in clear relief the ‘behinds’ of the wearer. These are really crazy fashions, which should be modified. It is not only the male students who are eager to look smart and modern, females go two steps further. They regard fashion as their special prerogative.

They think that in trying to look fashionable, boys are encroaching the domain that rightfully belong  to them. Girls have a natural and inborn love for pretty dresses and in colleges they get a real opportunity to demonstrate their love. Formerly they used to come to colleges dressed in colourful sarees with gay borders and tight-fitting jumpers designed to bring their figures into relief. Then the time came of tight-fitting ‘salwar kurtas’ and tomboy styles of ‘bell-bottoms’. But these are now outdated and their place has been taken by gabardines, stretchables, T-shirts and cut sleeved suits, which gives prominence to, and accentuate their anatomical proportions and curves. They generally have short hair and try to look like boys. These girls also spend a great deal of money on cosmetics which they use in extravagant quantities to make up for the lack of natural colouring. Their fashion no doubt shows taste and ingenuity and they enhance the charm and appeal of the wearer but they are a distraction to boys. Scents and perfumes are used by these Juliets to excite and stir their Romeos.

It is not only fashion in dress that marks college students. Going to movies, costly restaurants and cyber cafes and bunking classes are also part of fashion. Every students thinks it desirable to know all about famous entertainment web sites and leading Hollywood and Bollywood stars. They may forget the formulae of mathematics and theories of Political Science, but they do not forget the e-mail addresses of their GFs and BFs, and the names of films popular stars may have acted in. Large blowups of these stars adorn students’ rooms.

Similarly, drinking alcohol and coffee in discos and pool clubs is regarded as a mark of prestige and advancement. Moreover, the habit of smoking being consciously cultivated by boys and girls and to have a packet of a leading brand of cigarettes shows that this chap or this girls is keeping pace with the times. But is it the right way? Evidently these people are not taking their studies seriously; they regard going to college as a mere hobby or recreation and examinations and class lectures as evil. Looking attractive is their chief task. This craze for fashion is proving highly detrimental to them by usurping all their attention and time.     

Google wraps up 2011 in style

Google—the most famous search engine on Internet—is known for doing ground-breaking things. Before the beginning of this New Year, the search engine has come up with a list Zeitgeist-2011 that provides details on ‘How the world searched Internet’ in 2011. Google has analyzed the billions of queries that were typed into the search engine over the year to give a glimpse of 2011. It provides us with a list of people who rose to popularity and what were the most searched terms, this year.

Rebecaa Black tops the list of the fastest rising personality on Internet in 2011 after her music video ‘Friday’ went viral and received over 167 millions online hits in 2011. According to Google, searches for Rebecca Black and related searches like Rebecca Black Friday jumped over 10,000 per cent between 2010 and 2011 and made the young pop singer ‘the fastest rising search’ on Google in 2011.

Other rising personalities’ names include Ryan Dunn–a stunt artist who died in a car accident, Adele–a singer whose album sold over 2,08,000 copies in UK in the first week of its release, Justin Beiber–a young singer and a few others.  

In India, Anna Hazare, a social activist who troubled the UPA government with his gandhian style movement against corruption, has become the fastest rising Indian in the virtual world this year. The search engine has prepared this list by comparing the popularity of the personalities in 2011 to 2010.

Poonam Pandey is the second most searched personality on Internet in India this year after Hazare. Pandey grabbed the newspapers headlines after she promised to shed her clothes if Indian cricket team would win the cricket world cup. Indian team won but she didn’t keep her words. But her ‘daring’ promise made her a popular personality online. Others who follow her on the list are Steve Jobs, Anushka Sharma, Salman Khan, Justin Beiber, Kajal Agarwal, Katrina Kaif, Vijay Mallya and Aishwarya Rai.

Indian Premiere League and Cricket World Cup was the top two most searched terms on the most popular news items. They were followed by CBSE results. Shah Rukh Khan would have spent crores of rupees in promoting his movie Ra. One but the most searched movie on Internet was Bodyguard. And, Ra. One was the second most searched movie. Among general search terms, Facebook and You Tube grabbed the first two spots. 

Holidays can be so much fun

A long dreamt vacation. Here at last. A golden interlude. And a delicious feeling of laziness creeps over one. No more clock-watching. The day to be spent just as one likes it.

 Lingering in bed. Pottering about. Or perhaps going off to a hill station. A date with Nature. Landscapes steeped in beauty. Robbed in green or may be snowy white. Exhilarating. Intoxicating. One comes back with a bunch of fragrant memories.

Holidays can be so much fun if one knows how to extract the most out of it each day. If one works out a little schedule. Not very rigid, but at least outlined to enable one to get something done

.

For time is so treacherous. It can slip away so swiftly, leaving behind a faint trace of regret. Regret for many things which never came to be done.

I am not always lucky to go out of town. That is when I take up my hobbies. Stamp collecting is one. I remember seeing a very interesting feature film. It discussed at length Sant Tulsidas. The highlights of his life. The spiritual urge which moved him to pen the immortal classic Ramayana. Each stamp is fascinating tit-bit of history. It can be a very absorbing pastime tracing the why and where-fore of it. Learning about the people who select the designs, the revenue the stamps bring in, adding your own the foot notes of history to the stamps.

Here is another suggestion. Working out a planned project. Any project of one’s choice. For instance, one’s favourite toy shop. One could meet the proprietor and find out as to from where he gets the toys. Then follow the trail. Learn something more about the wholesale market, about production figures, about the investment angle. The number of toys exported, if at all, against those that we import, so on and so forth.

Or may be a science project. Experiments. Visits to museums, libraries. There is nothing more fascinating than delving deeper into a subject. Discovering its myriad facets.

If one is a book addict, then one may start a book club. This way one will have a larger selection to choose from. One can even edit a journal for fun. Record in it the happenings during the vacation. A list of favourite authors. Indian literature is replete with adventure tales. Very rich in its folk-lore. Why not do some research? Read as much as one wants to. A good idea.

Paint away the holidays. Splash the canvases. Step out to capture Nature. Translate in colours the calm of the quiet sea. Or the maddening riot of hues in April flowers. Paint to one’s heart’s content.

Visit a village nearby. Climb trees – that is what I often do. Roam the countryside. Swim in the rivers. Collect wild flowers. Back at home start a little vegetable garden. Approach a nursery for directions.

 There are a hundred and one things that one can do profitably during a vacation. For myself. I love exploring the city. Just taking a bus to anywhere as long as it drives me to something unknown. Some place, that looks mysterious. I walk and walk and wander amongst the labyrinths, till I end up in a cul-de-sac. For me, even after more than thirty years of familiarity with it, Bombay tantalizingly retains its mystery. I am always discovering some new facets. Its Chor-Bazzar with its exotic jewellery. The city abounds in fascinating haunts. It is a pleasure to come across a little wayside restaurant that serves delightful food.

I once spent a wonderful evening at a Dhobi Ghat. I sat with the washermen as they beat away the dirt on the hard stones. I went with them to their snacks. Sat watching them as they smoothed the clothes with heavy coal irons. And in the evening we all sang “bhajans”. Devotional songs, very emotional in content.

And I love outings. A day on the beach or at a secluded spot, far, far away from the madding city crowds.

Near a murmuring river. Spend a day, indentifying the trees. Following the birds, discovering their nests. And watching from some restful nook, the sun bidding good-bye to the day. The sky, a crimson glow. And then later, the night shyly coming in. the landscape softly outlined in the moonlight. At moments such as these the lips twitch to break into poetry. Fond lines come rushing back to memory as when Byron describing the Night sky sang- This is poetry of Heaven

.

The nightscape. The lights coming on, one by one. The moon hanging like a lantern in the sky. And looking at it, the mind suddenly wondering about the strange world that humanity is  about to stumble upon in its craters. The inky space and the unknown adventures.

At the end of pleasant, weary day one finally treads homewards. Satisfied, happy, just in being alive. And in the process of living, one gets that rare but rewarding glimpse of what one truly is. 

Common errors in English

There are peculiar mistakes in English made by Indian students. It is imperative that they should guard against these errors as far as possible, both in writing and speaking.

For example, instead of writing “He was appointed clerk”, “He made Cuttack his headquarter”, “He was made king”, Indian users of English add an unnecessary ‘as’ and write “He was made as a king” “He was appointed as a clerk”, “He made Jaipur as his headquarter”.

 Similarly “What to do?” is not permissible in English. The correct expression is “What am I to do?” Another example of misuse is the word ‘sick’ used for ‘ill’. It is perhaps due to the Hindi word BEEMAR. It is wrong to say “I am sick”. “He fell sick”. Instead we should say “I am ill”, “I fell ill”. The word ‘sick’ can be use as an adjective in this sense, “A sick man”. When used predicatively the word means either ‘vomiting’ or ‘ready to vomit’ or the mental state of ‘weariness’, ‘boredom’, or ‘disgust’. For example, “I am sick of this life”.

 A common error is the use of “the same” for a pronoun (it, them, they, etc.). The sentence “After reading this book you are requested to return the same” will sound better if written as “After reading this book you are requested to return it”. Other examples of misusage are: “He was invited for/at dinner”, “The compartment was over crowded, there was no place there”; “I always travel in second class”; “I have left smoking”; “Though he is poor but he is wise”, “Send this letter on at my address”.

 The correct expressions are “He was invited to dinner”; “The compartment was overcrowded, there was no room there”; “I always travel second class”; “I have given up smoking”; “Though he is poor, he is wise”; ‘Send this letter to my address”.

Yanni - A self-taught genius

Yanni live in concert

There are a few musicians who are self-taught. It is said that such people have the natural and inborn talent of a musician. Yanni is one of them. Giannis Chroysomallis, popularly known as Yanni, was born in ‘Kalamata’, Greece and is a citizen of the USA. An avid swimmer, he set a national record in the 50 metres event at the age of 14. 

A Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, he decided to be a musician right after his graduation. He shot to fame with his live performance at ‘Acropolis’ with Iranian conductor Shahrdad Rohani and the ‘Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’ of London. It was watched by millions in the USA and the rest of the world. Some of the memorable numbers from the concert are ‘Santorini’, ‘Acroyali (Standing in Motion)’, ‘Aria’ and others. ‘Aria’ was played in the background of the award winning ‘British Airways’ commercial. It is a perfect mixture of contemporary music along with western classical vocals. His music has been used for television promotion of every Olympics held since 1988. His genre of music is termed as ‘New Age’, but he prefers ‘Contemporary Instrumental’. Although, Yanni’s songs are instrumental, except a few, they are loved for their harmony and melody. His song, ‘Acroyali (Standing in Motion)’ sounds like a piece composed by the legendary musician, Mozart. He feels that a lot of contemporary instrumental numbers are inspired by Mozart and Beethoven as they were the legends who have shown the path for new musicians.

He is the first artist to have performed at the ‘Taj Mahal’, India and ‘The Forbidden City’, China. Some memorable pieces from the Taj concert were ‘Adagio in C minor’, ‘Renegade’, ‘Love is all’, ‘Niki Nana’ and others. It was his tribute to one of the most beautiful monuments on earth. His use of unconventional musical instruments like ‘Didgeridoo’, ‘Bamboo saxophone’, ‘Charango’ and others give a unique flavour to his music. His song ‘Playing by Heart’ from the album ‘Ethnicity’ was played by one such instrument. His fans love him for composing his numbers from the heart.

Yanni recently performed at ‘Acapulco’, Mexico and has come out with a new studio recorded album. He has also performed at the ‘Burj Khalifa’ (world’s tallest building, Dubai, United Arab Emirates).

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Abhishek Pandey


“Pictures deface walls more often than they decorate them.” When William Wordsworth said this he was not aware that walls can mean something else other than a vertical concrete structure. In the virtual world walls are synonymous with Facebook pages where users share their sweet, bitter memories in the form of pictures and texts with their online pals. More often than not their walls are decorated with pictures. This week, YS brings you a list of websites that you can use to play around with your pictures and astonish your friends with your Photoshop skills


Sometimes we—especially those not well-versed with Photoshop and similar sophisticated photo editing software—face difficulty in correcting images of our fleeting moments.


There are many photo editing websites— which are made in Flash providing hundreds of features to beautify images online. Users need not have Photo editing software installed on their system for using features available on these sites. Many websites provide online editing services free and while a few websites charge a fee for accessing premium services.


One can play around with texture, colour combination and tone and can retouch smile and frown lines. These websites also allow users to add text bubbles, create photo mosaic and place your photos on pre-designed magazine covers. Users can try their hand on these features to make a good impression of their photo editing skills on their friends.


You need not to be a master of photo editing software to apply effects to your photographs. In websites like funphotobox.com, enjoypic or photofunia, you can select a photo effect, upload your photograph and the effect will be applied on your photograph in a few minutes. If you want to create a photo mosaic of your pictures you can try it on picartia.com. On yearbookyourself website, you can place your pictures in vintage photos or make your own yearbook pages. If you want to add some celebrity hairstyle on your photograph, you can visit instyle.com and click on Hollywood Make Over tab to don the hairstyle or makeup of selected celebrities.


Some other websites that offer jaw-dropping photo effects include picnic, pixlr, aviary, loonapix, jpgfun, fotoflexer and phixr. Try your hand to have fun with pictures.  

Women can stand the heat

“All the time we talk about empowering women, and think India has finally come off the age. But to know the truth, go to the big corporate houses and you will find they hardly have any women employees. Some companies do not even mince their words, they blatantly have ‘women need not apply’ in their classified ads,” says an angry social activist.

A study reveals that, only about three per cent women hold senior positions in private sectors, while on an average, five to six per cent women are employed. This study comes as a shock, particularly when the number of working women has been rising steadily.

An official of a reputed company laughs and sheepishly admits his orthodox family’s stance for not employing women.

Another women chairperson points out, “It is unfortunate that women graduates from IIM-Ahmedabad – the top institute for MNC also do not pursue a career. It was found in a study that at least 70 per cent never joined any office.”

Not much has changed since 1974, when Sudha Murthy, wife of Narayan Murthy, had challenged JRD Tata for an advertisement saying, ‘ladies need not apply.’ She was employed to work on the shop floor in Telco. Now Telco regularly employs women unlike its counterparts with no women on the shop floor – where vehicles are manufactured.

An anxious official of a famous automobile company says, “We have recruited women in other sections but not on the shop floor. As it is, not many women want to be at the manufacturing site.”

Even IT and consulting firms do not want married women employees. The fear of maternity leave hampering projects is too much for these companies to afford.

There has been a case, where a woman, after successfully completing her summer training was rejected for the permanent post because of her gender.

Another woman on basis of anonymity says, “I was called for an interview in this highly established firm because they thought I was a guy. They said I should have written a Mr or Ms before my name. Needless to say I did not get the job.”

However, things seem to be taking a turn for the better now. There are other companies who prefer women to men because they have more emotional quotient than men and, this is what they and their clients want. As long as you have a person who is not customer sensitive, your company cannot grow”, adds an official.

Reserve Bank Of India – a brief for young students

By Sisir Panda

Dear students, have you seen the RBI building in Bhubaneswar? We will learn something about it today. Not the building but the RBI’s function. Management corner is not for management students only. Read on if you are in class IX or above.

Every country has a bank like Reserve Bank. These banks are known as central banks. They are not like our usual banks where you go and open an account. But they play a major role in the economy. Please go through the RBI website (www.rbi.org.in) in your free time. In the very first page to your right you will find among others a title ‘for common person’. Click it. Then you come to a new page. On the menu bar at the top there is an icon ‘financial education’. If you click it then you get a few options. One of them is for school children. There are cartoons and comics. Read them and you will have a fair idea of the RBI.

What are its important activities?

·        It prints notes under tight security. Controls their circulation.

·        It works as banker to the government and other banks.

·        If you want to establish a bank, you have to take permission from RBI.

·        RBI monitors the functioning of  banks in India.

·        Through different instruments and methods it controls and guides the monetary policy of the country.

The last part is a little tough to understand? OK, let us take a simple example. Suppose all of you enjoy Cadbury chocolate or Kitkat for that matter. If you have some money, then all of you will buy the chocolate. There is a small shop near your school which sells it. Now if all of you get a hundred rupees each, then you all rush to the shop. If the shopkeeper has adequate stock, then all of you get the chocolates. Everyone is happy:  the shopkeeper, for selling a large number of chocolates; the chocolate company for increasing its sales and, of course, you, the consumer, for satisfaction of your need. But it may not happen like that always.

Suppose the shopkeeper does not have adequate stock. Then what happens? He may increase the price since the demand is large. He may double it. Now if you all get rupees fifty instead of rupees hundred, then the price may go up but the increase will be small.

RBI basically controls that flow of money. If goods are adequate increase in money supply will ensure growth and happiness. But if prices are rising, then money supply needs to be reduced so that prices remain in control. We all want to stay comfortable, buy well and be happy. The RBI along with the Finance Ministry of the Government of India is primarily entrusted with that job.

Physical attraction causing friction

One of the basic human needs, sexuality, more often than not, is the main reason for disturbed relations between two human beings.

Despite a plethora of myths about sexuality, experts seem to agree that sexuality is more often than not the major reason for souring human relationships.

Even though sexuality gives birth to both positive as well as negative relationships, it is the negative ones that have increased in number in the past few years, say psychiatrists.

Problems pertaining to sexuality usually manifest in the form of pre-marital or extra-marital affairs, incest, homosexuality/lesbianism, gender identity disorders and problems arising out of age gaps.

Sexuality is an area that is ridden with misconceptions and myths and has done a hell of a lot to add to the stress of daily living, stress that is not confined only to the metros but is to be seen as much in smaller towns and villages.

Sexual relations are the most enhanced form of communication between two people and also serve as an indicator of the path a relationship takes and one can be physically honest only if one is honest mentally as well.

The main problem is that love today is only skin deep and when the physical attraction wears down relationships start souring.

Extra-marital affairs are usually a result of unfulfilled sexual needs of a person in marriage as also an attempt by some to seek psychological support from outside, denied to them in their present relationship.

Sex is also an important issue that vexes an adolescent mind, the most being that of attraction to someone from the opposite sex. S/he loves me, s/he loves me not goes on and on in the mind obsessively with almost metronomic regularity.

Awareness of sexuality is also not the prerogative of the adolescent or the young mind and is to be seen in young children as well.

For some it is during childhood that they start getting negative sexual vibes from everyone around. And the negative inputs continue for the rest of childhood, leaving in their wake a whole lot of distortions regarding this extremely important aspect of our lives.

Walking to stay fit

In an attempt to keep fit in these demanding routines more and more people are walking up to the need for a morning or evening walk. This fact came to the light when the Yuva Sambad team conducted a survey among 400 morning and evening walkers. Out of those surveyed, 40 percent walk for more than 2-3 km, 27 percent walk for less than 3 km while 29 percent walk for less than 1 km.

Jogging is the most prevalent activity among morning walkers. More than 50 percent people jog, while 27 percent settle down for normal walking, 9 percent loved standing and 14 percent walked briskly during the morning.

Going all alone for a walk is very boring, as revealed by 53 percent people who go along with a companion, 24 percent people go out with their family, while 43 percent enjoyed the company of friends and 33 percent went along with their neighbours.

In reply to a question if friends or companion failed to turn up for a morning walk, what would they do, 15 percent said they would not go out in that case, 25 percent said they would go alone, 25 percent said they will try to achieve their aim of walking in some other way, 32 opined that they would return early if their companion fail to turn up.

Regarding the place where they go for a walk, 31 percent said they found parks far from their houses very suitable. While 29 percent people preferred walking on open and wide roads, 25 percent said that they loved strolling in parks near their homes. Whereas 15 percent prefer jogging in big grounds 14 percent of them go to parks by a vehicle.

On being asked as to why they go for walks, 40 percent of them said walking is the best exercise. The reasons they go walking in parks were numerous; 26 percent felt that one gets lots of fresh air while walking in parks, 34 percent said that it made their bodies and minds healthy.

Exercise is another way of keeping fit and fine. Therefore 79 percent of the morning walkers prefer exercising, 63 percent start their routine by running, 20 percent prefer aerobics while 10 percent go in for yoga. Vipassna, another form of fitness exercise, was done by 7 percent of the people.

Morning and evening walkers were annoyed by the deteriorating conditions of the parks; 33 percent said that the parks were always dirty while 42 percent found the parks dirty sometimes, 25 percent of them said that they had no complaints regarding the cleanliness of the parks.

 The people are conscious of their surroundings. They were not satisfied with the greenery in and around the parks; 22 percent said that the parks are not watered properly and they lacked shady trees said 25 percent of the people. The grass in the parks was scanty and the green and brown patches looked ugly to 20 percent of the people. The parks lacked greenery said 17 percent of them, while to 16 percent of the walkers the parks looked more like a plain ground as there was hardly any grass in them.   

You know English but are you fluent in it ?

As most of you must have realised, knowing English does not automatically mean you can speak or write English fluently.  And the importance of being fluent in English cannot be underestimated if you are reaching for a place in the top levels of international business or trade.  Today’s world is totally communication-oriented and most business and social interaction is transacted instantaneously no matter the people involved are thousands of miles apart in different countries, thanks to the rapid development of communications technology.  And the global language, as we all know, is English.

Knowing English is extremely important and this is why Asian, African,South American and Eastern European countries place so much stress on learning and studying English.  The language has crept into every country to an astonishing extent.  In India, even semi-illiterate rural and urban dwellers use thousands of English words without even knowing they are doing it.  Some of them are kerosene, machine, car, highway, doctor, teacher, principal, apartment, complex, quarter, road, bridge.  You will be able to come up with many such words.

What is fluency?  What does it mean?  Fluency means getting into the habit of being able to respond quickly following the grammar and syntax of a language so that others knowing the language can immediately understand what you say or write.  And how do you become fluent in a language?  That’s easy to understand.  Aren’t you fluent in your mother tongue: Odia, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, whatever?  And how did you, even as a child, become fluent in the local language? Because you were in an environment where everybody spoke the language!  It just came naturally!

This does not mean you have to go and stay in England, America or any other English-speaking country to become fluent in the language.  In India, as in other countries, there are English medium schools, and if you are a student in such a school your task is half done already.  But don’t despair if you are in a local medium school.  If you have English-speaking friends, tell them you want to be fluent in English and ask them to help you by talking to you in that language.  They will be happy to help you.  Try to respond in English.  At first, you will be hesitant, but will soon fall into the habit.  Besides friends, there are hundreds of English channels on TV.  Watch them and listen to them talk.  Watch English movies and try to follow them.  Fluency is a habit that can be acquired.  Today when somebody talks to you in English your brain reacts in the local language and you consciously translate in your mind and then utter the words.  The more you listen to English, especially among friends, the more your brain will tend to respond in English.  After some time, you will be surprised how quickly you become fluent in English once you start trying to respond in that language.  As your vocabulary increases the response will be automatic—your brain will take over.

Many software packets are available on the Net that you will find helpful, among them audio tutorials.  Some of these packets will even test your fluency.  You just have to record a passage on the software and it will tell you how well you have done, even changing the order of some words.  You will also learn to pronounce the words as the software will repeat the passage.

All that we have said above requires that you understand the basics of English grammar and syntax.  But since you are reading this article and understand it, you already have the basics.  Your ability to join a company at the higher levels will expand in sync with how fluent you are in the global language—English.  It’s not easy.  But it gets progressively simpler as you continue.

Start now!

Friendly Fundas

A friend perhaps is the greatest gift you give yourself. Often when we cannot talk to our parents or siblings for reasons unknown, a friend comes in handy.  Being a friend needs skills. YS tells how.

=   Like yourself

The first important step is to accept yourself the way you are. If you do not like yourself, how will you like others? When we genuinely like ourselves, we are happy naturally and this shows in our personality. We have more to offer since we are not always busy with our reputation and image.

=   Give space

Remember, only wet clothes cling and they are discomforting. Now surely you do not want to be one. If you have problems being friends just let go. Give your friends space, they do not want any one breathing down their necks every second.

=  Choose wisely

Identify friends you want to be with. If you are comfortable with only one that is perfectly normal. No one expects you to be equally close to all and sundry. But choose people who are actually nice, helpful and easy going.

=  Time it

Friends are as important as relatives, so give them time. Now they too are a part of your life.  Take a few minutes out of your busy schedule and go out with your friends. If this is not possible, talk on the phone.

=   Remember

Try to remember important dates, birthdays, your friend’s parents’ wedding anniversary. Send flowers, a nice card or e-mail when your friend is down in the dumps.

=   Lend your ear

If you want to be listened to, the golden rule is to be a good listener. It will go a long way in keeping a healthy relationship.

=  Be interested genuinely

Do not fake that you are listening; your body language, eyes speak otherwise. Sooner or later your friend will get to know this and of course you will never want to hurt him/her.

If your friend is not there to defend herself/himself against rumours or criticism, you stand up. Would she/he have not done the same for you?

Always remember ‘to have a friend, be a friend.’

Online censorship in the offing

It may sound scary but it is true. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is being legislated in the USA, which is all set to set a precedent for Internet censorship

Frequent online users must have seen an advertisement in which an appeal has been made to oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The bill is called the Protect IP Act in the US senate. SOPA is a new bill proposed in the USA. If passed, it will allow the US government to block Americans from visiting websites that infringe the law.

Websites will be blocked if any infringing material, links or user-posted content is found. It means these sites will be liable for their content and even for user-posted content over which they have little control. The links and posts shared on social networking sites and micro-blogging websites like Facebook and Twitter will be monitored and if found to infring the law then the links can be deleted. The US government states that the bill has been designed to block ‘rogue’ websites.

Many companies including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Mozilla are up in arms against any such bill that is against innovation. They are of the view that if the USA implements this bill then IT will set a precedent for Internet controlling laws around the globe which means censorship could become a new standard after the USA sets the ball rolling.

IT companies have made an appeal to the public through an ad which says, “Our basic Internet freedoms are on the chopping block—it’s time to tell your congress person that American censorship isn’t ok.” USA will be the fourth country to use a DNA-based website blocking system after China, Syria and Iran.

It is a million-dollar question whether we need these harsh Internet laws? The answers of many would be ‘no’. All the opponents of the bill have their own reasons to oppose. Users are opposing the bill because it will not allow them to publish or share material which they do not own or have copyright rights. None of us would be able to download movies, e-books or songs using Torrent.

There are many creative persons who cannot afford setting up their own companies to showcase their creative ideas. They will be discouraged to put up ventures even in the virtual world where one needs relatively lower investment to set up a production firm and easily communicate with the world. People will not take the initiate fearing heavy penalties, as proposed in the bill.

Public petitions against the bill are circulating online, requesting President Obama to veto the legislation, named as the ‘E-Parasite Act’ by its opponents.

The growing tragedy of student suicide

Jeevan Nair

According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 7390 students committed suicide in 2010, up 26 per cent from 5857 in 2006 (all-India figures).  We can better understand the enormous tragedy of the situation if we realize that in 2010 twenty students killed themselves each day of the year!  And the suicide rate is going up. The 2010 figure represents a 9 per cent gain over 2009.

Odisha is no exception.  In the Capital City alone 13 student suicides took place in the last one year, four of them in a period of just 45 days.

The reasons for this grim state of affairs are many, all valid: shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate infrastructure, a growing number of students competing for inadequate seats in good schools and colleges, curricula created by bureaucrats that are out of sync with today’s employer needs and parents forcing children into colleges/courses ignoring their inclination and propensity.  Add to this extra tuitions, out-of-school trends, coaching classes, competitive exams, reservation policies, admission processes, quotas and love affairs in a permissive environment and one gets a better understanding of the intense pressures that beset today’s students from all sides.

Also, the growing hunger for quality education among the young people to qualify for higher-paid jobs adds another dimension which also accounts for falling standards of teaching as well as the dichotomy of a growing number of vacant seats in colleges despite the rise in student numbers.  ‘Deemed’ universities and coaching institutes are mushrooming beguiling parents with tempting claims and quite a number fall into the trap only to find that not only have they spent huge amounts for no benefit but also wastes years of their wards’ formative period.  Today, students and their parents understand the value of a good college and avoid institutes which have a low pass percentage.

Counselling is the best tool to remedy the students’ misery.  But not as it is done at the time of admission.  Counsellers should interact not only with students but also with parents and teachers and should be available 24/7.  In many cases, parents are responsible for student stress by making insidious comparison with other children who they feel are doing better.  They fail to realize that each child is different, has different propensities, capabilities and interests. Parents are usually blind to this aspect because they judge progress by report cards alone.  Teachers are more familiar with the child’s inclination and can make suitable suggestions during counselling.

Parents should concentrate more on providing the child with a happy and stress-free environment at home.  They should spend quality time with their children to learn their feelings and emotional stress, if any.  They must be ever on the look out for behaviour that is out of the normal as the first sign of stress is a change in behaviour or habit.  On their part, teachers should desist from any type of favouritism.  A child should never feel that he is not getting as much attention as others in its class.

All this will not eliminate stress altogether but the student will know there are people in the school and at home who will listen to him and guide him in stressful situations. 

Parents and teachers who wish to know more about how to raise children and teach them can resort to the Internet.  There are scores of sites which provide the advice of experienced child counsellers and child psychologists.

We have focused on child counselling because when the child grows up in a caring atmosphere, it will develop into a balanced, thinking young man or woman.  From childhood itself they will realize that there are people who really care for them at home and at school and college ready to help them.

In spite of the best parental and school care stressful situations will still occur, but suicide will no longer be an option.

Multifaceted Personality

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika

WE ALL know Dr. Bhupen Hazarika by his songs. Dr. Hazarika was also an accomplished filmmaker, author, political activist and journalist. A postgraduate in Political Science from Allahabad University and Ph.D. from Columbia University, USA, he also participated in India’s struggle for independence. He was awarded the ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 2001.

He sang his first song at the age of 11 for the second Assamese film ‘Indumalati’. and went on to sing 1,500 songs some of which he composed or produced.

The music of the film ‘Rudaali’ starring Dimple Kapadia and others won instant recognition. The song ‘Dil hoom hoom kare’ caught the imagination of listeners and critics. Dr. Hazarika was the executive producer and the music director of the film. He was an accomplished filmmaker.

For his contribution to cinema, he received the prestigious ‘Dada Saheb Phalke’ award. A rare feat indeed, for a man who started his career as a singer and a journalist.

Some of his Assamese films have won the National Award in several categories. He tried his hand at politics by contesting the assembly elections. However, he lost. Some experts believe that the people of Assam did not want Dr. Hazarika to lose his charm, humility and honesty by joining politics. He believed in the unification of the northeast as a single entity.

 He hosted and produced shows on the region to showcase its beauty. These shows were aired on Doordarshan. He wanted the people of the country to experience the rich cultural and social heritage of the region.

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika died of multiple organ failure on 5 November 2011. His achievements are an inspiration to several artistes of the country. In his death, he has left behind a legacy of perfection and uniqueness in the field of music and filmmaking.