Hornbill Rock Festival- Rock On! Nagaland

Nagaland is known for its tribes and natural beauty. The people of the state are known for their love of music. No festival is complete without a song and dance performance. It is not surprising that the state holds the longest running rock festival of the country. The Hornbill Rock Festival is an event that is held over a period of seven days along with several others.   

                                                      

The rock festival is an attempt to encourage new and emerging rock bands from all over the country.  Friendly competition among youngsters has been a tradition of the state. Auditions are held in November in Kohima, the state capital. Over the years, the number of bands auditioning for a chance to perform at the festival has gone up considerably.

The cash prize of Rs.15,00,000 is the highest given in the country. It is sponsored by reputed companies. Members of the band are also given individual prizes in cash and kind. The festival is organised by Music Task Force of the Department of Youth Resources and Sports. The event is managed by XL.

Some bands that have performed in the festival are Original Fire Factor (OFF), Cadence, Alice in Wonderland and others. Original Fire Factor is a local band and has won the competition once. 

Some bands from Bengaluru, New Delhi and others have also won.  Alobo Naga and the band is one of the several bands that perform regularly at the competition. The band gained international recognition with the song ‘Painted Dreams’, which was included in the VH 1 world countdown.

The event is based on international rock festivals like Download festival and Ozzfest. The organisers and officials hope that the popularity of the festival will pave the way for it to go international in a few years.

Herbal hair care

Everyone loves beautiful hair! So, if you want to make it healthy and shiny, clean and trim, here are a few tips to give your hair a new style, the natural way.

Natural hair cleansers : Let us start with a simple home-made shampoo or natural hair-cleanser. First of all, mix 10 reethas, 10 shikakai pods and 10 tbsp.  of dry amla with 10 cups of water in a pan and let them soak overnight.  On the next day, reduce this preparation to half its quantity by boiling it on a slow fire. Cool and mesh these herbs. The extract that comes out can be used as a herbal shampoo.

Is your hair dry: Massage coconut or olive oil into your scalp. Soak a towel in hot water, squeeze it and apply on your hair for 15 minutes. This hot-towel therapy helps the hair absorb oil and moisture. Then massage the scalp once again in the same way and shampoo after same time.

Bring back the bounce : You can make your hair bounce again with this simple remedy. Soak 1 tbsp. of fenugreek seeds (methi dana) in water overnight. Grind this to a paste and rub into your scalp. Shampoo after half-an-hour. After shampoo, wash your hair with a mixture of vinegar and lemon juice.

Drive out dandruff :  Dandruff is a common hair problem nowadays. Use of medicated shampoos provide only short-term relief. If your skin is sensitive and the shampoo is strong, you could even develop an allergic reaction to it. Dandruff in your hair might be the cause of a pimply face. 

So, do not worry, apply sour curd on the scalp and leave it for 30 minutes. Then use a regular shampoo and viola! Your hair is now healthy and clean. Another simple tip would be to oil your hair and leave it overnight. Mix salt in a little lemon juice and apply on your scalp. Wash it off after an hour.

Mehendi (henna powder) is also widely used as a natural hair conditioner. You can add lemon juice and curds (yogurt) to make a thin paste. Apply this on your hair and wash it off after an hour. If you want your hair colour to be rich brown, then add coffee or kattha (catechu) to henna, along with sugar, lemon juice and tea-water. Apply this to your scalp and wash it off after half an hour. You will have a beautiful reddish brown colour.

Don’t stand in queues, book tickets online

If you want to book a seat in Barabati Stadium to watch an IPL match or to see a movie in a cinema hall, it’s just a click away. You need not reach a few hours early and stand in a long queue in scorching heat to buy tickets. Websites such as bookticketnow, bookmyshow and kyazoonga provide a service to book tickets online.

PVR, Big Cinema, Fun Cinema and Inox multiplexes have their own sites for booking movie tickets.

 Booking tickets online could be a little costlier because these sites charge a fee for processing the service and the bank also charges some money for online transactions. These charges vary from website to website and bank to bank. In most of these websites, the charges range from twenty rupees per ticket to hundred rupees and most of the banks charge twenty rupees per transaction.

Some of these sites provide you with a facility to book tickets for dramas, theatre shows, sports events, musical concerts, workshops, sports camps and live shows. These sites have a calendar of events with their details for events scheduled in upcoming months.  

People can book flight, train and even bust tickets on the Internet. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is one of the most visited website for booking train tickets. Recently, the website has begun its flight booking service too. Passengers from Mumbai can book season tickets too.

Makemytrip.com, Yatra.com, Goibibo, Cleartrip and Travel Guru are among the leading players providing online ticket booking services. Travellers can not only book tickets online but also know the details of the hotel rooms available within their budget. Many state transport departments have their own websites for providing online bus ticket booking service. Redbus.in is a website that provides a service for booking seats in buses run by private transporters.

Apart from this there are several other online booking services that make life easy. You are expecting guests at your home during the weekend and your LPG cylinder is expected to run out of gas. You don’t have time to go to the refilling centre to book a new cylinder. You can do this online and the cylinder will be delivered to you at your doorstep. However, for the time being, people are linked with a few selected refilling centres.

Lavani-Musical heritage of the Marathas

Lavani ,was loved by the battle-hardened Maratha soldiers. After a long and tiring day on the battle field, they were treated with a dose of this song-and- dance form. Some historians believe that it started in 1560. However, it gained immense popularity during the rule of the Peshwas.

Lavani songs are often a mixture of traditional and erotic lyrics sung and performed to the beats of the dholak and other traditional musical instruments. They are sung by female singers who wear sarees measuring 3 metres. A typical Lavani song is sung at a fast pace. The lyrics of the songs range from romance and society to politics

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There are two forms of this genre—the Nirguni Lavani (philosophical) and the Shringaari Lavani (sensual). The devotional form of the Nirguni Lavani is popular all over the Malwa region. The ‘Shringaari Lavani’ is a medley of song-and-dance performances by female performers and is mostly about love. The lyrics are written by male poets.  Some renowned Lavani performers of the present era are Satyabhamabai Pandharpurkar and Yamunabai Waikar.

Marathi films contributed to the popularity of this genre among the masses. Films like ‘Pinjara’ and ‘Natarang’ blended traditional music with social messages. They helped to show it in a positive manner. Those who earlier thought that Lavani was only an erotic form of entertainment, now consider it as an art form. Historians feel that Lavani has helped shape the history of Maharashtra. Lavani is also popular in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. 

Bring women to the fore

Women have always been considered the weaker sex. They have had a hard time in trying to get rid of this label and proving to the world how strong they can be. Today gender equality is seen as a major issue in global development. Although gender discrimination has become discreet in comparison to what had prevailed earlier, it still exists, the extent depending on which part of the country one is in. 

Therefore empowerment of women has become a major concern in the world, not only to make them aware of their rights, but also to develop their power to demand it. There is no need to remind one of the inequality and oppression that prevailed several decades ago. India is no stranger to gender inequality. 

It was in the 19th century that a lot of reform movements relating to women’s issues were undertaken. Raja Ram Mohan Roy raised his voice against practices like child marriage, sati and polygamy. Other thinker like Maharishi Debendra Nath Tagore and Keshub Chandra Sen joined the fight. As a consequence, various legislation banned child marriage and polygamy.

The Constitution of India, adopted in 1950, not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the state to adopt measures to prevent gender discrimination. Various rights have been accorded to women in the Constitution through legislation passed over the years. 

But many women have been deprived of several benefits as society still prefers to keep alive certain rituals and discriminatory practices. Many times, girls are not allowed by parents to have higher education as they would have difficulty in finding a suitable boy to match the girl’s qualifications for marriage. Female foeticide and in fanticide is still common in many areas.

   Empowerment of women is a massive task which cannot be done alone by an individual. It needs every person of society to pitch in and help in carrying out the policies framed by the government. Today, many women’s forum which once protested over crimes against women, have realized that this is not enough.

 A better way is to fight long-term battles to influence policy-making and create awareness of the right. It does not necessarily imply the rectification of an iniquitous relationship; it must be an attempt to change the stereotyped image of women in the country.

In the Indian context, the success of any programme depends upon the milieu in which it operates and therefore an attitudinal change in the community is required. Time will no doubt prove the efficacy of women’s participation and so casting women in a stereotyped role will definitely have to change.

Veggietales

Who says there is no such thing as vegetable humour? The choice of vegetable reveals much about one’s personality. One can also guess the favourite vegetable on the basis of one’s prominent traits. Think of your favourite vegetable and see if the shoe fits.

Asparagus: People who like Asparagus

1. have deceptive looks, they look serious but in fact are fun loving.

2. are travel freaks and make voracious readers.

3. spinach and broccoli suit them.

Broccoli: People loving Broccoli:

1. are assertive and seek status, power and financial gain.

2. are always well groomed and enjoy every moment of life.

3. possess conventional values.

4. tomatoes and corn suit them.

Carrot: People who like Carrots

1. have independent ideas.

2. make responsible parents, show keen interest in children’s activities.

3. lead a simple life and at the same time are detail-oriented.

4. squash and green beans suit them.

Bell pepper: People who prefer Bell Pepper

1. are social, charming and understand human behaviour.

2. give their best to whatever they undertake.

3. prefer garlic and tomatoes.

Corn: People who choose Corn

1. are devoted workers and rarely complain.

2. are loyal and have moral values.

3. make abiding friends.

4. prefer broccoli and tomatoes.

Cucumber: People who like cucumber

1. always keep busy and are productive.

2. are known for their sense of responsibility.

3. are loyal to family and committed to traditions.

4. are fond of chilies and tomatoes.

Eggplant: People who favour Eggplant

1. are tactful.

2. make great donors.

3. have a great sense of humour and are nonconformists.

4. are great motivators.

5. go for garlic and spinach.

Laugh Out Loud (LOL)!!!

Many of us, who are registered with social networking sites and surf the Internet frequently, love to see updates, wall posts or tweets that tickle the funny bone. Internet is full of sites that serve humour. There are hundreds of websites and thousands of communities that update satirical, funny and amusing messages, pictures and videos every day. Some are interesting and a few are just ordinary. Anyway, these are the sites which are the best ones to start your day with.

Fakingnews.com is an Indian website that comments satirically on the political and social scenario of India. The site suggests: “Please don’t visit this website if you are too religious, too political, too sentimental, too serious, too liberal, or too anything.” Some of the news updates of the website went viral on the Internet when some other news sites, including The Australian, re-printed the news ‘Unable to attract even a single girl, frustrated man sues Axe.’

Fark.com is a site with a twist for news lovers. It publishes satirical views on interesting, bizarre and amusing stories submitted by a community of news junkies. It does not select news on the basis of their relevance or importance but rather for the stupid elements in them. It categorises news in many sub-categories such as unlikely, stupid, silly, interesting, etc. The founder of the website, Drew Curtis, says, “Fark is what fills space when mass media runs out of news.”

Offisialatyachaar.com is a website for employees who are not happy with their boss and want to vent their anger. The site has several audio tracks with funny lyrics, including an amusing anthem and jokes on the boss. The site also enables users to customise jokes and send them to others. The site has several incomplete stories of official torture (atyachaar) and asks users to complete them. Users can participate in ‘Boss’ Sick Name’ contest. Users can download wallpapers on office humour. People can order T-shirts and mugs with funny one-liners on them such as ‘If work is worship. I am an atheist’.

JibJab that produces e-cards shot to fame in 2004 with an animation featuring George W Bush and Al Gore, the rival candidates in the Presidential election of that year, singing their own version of Woody Guthrie's song ‘This Land is Your Land’. The website now specialises in amusing personalised animated e-cards into which you can place photographs of your friends and relatives. There is a site Engrish.com that displays the misuse of English in non-English speaking countries. It has a collection of hilarious bloopers committed in writing English texts.

Some producers have chosen YouTube communities to spread laughter. Mainduck a YouTube channel features ten online shows such as ‘U for Urvashi’, ‘Horror Scope’, ‘Cut the Crap’, ‘Sahi Rishta Matrimonial’, ‘Angry Vrajesh wants to die’, and many more. The channel has over a million views and around 1,500 subscribers.  Many stand up comedians such as Rajeev Nigam, Kapil Sharma, Papa CJ Comedian, Russell Peters, etc., have their own websites to interact with their fans.  There are many sites with funny content that will make you roll on the floor laughing (ROFL). A few of them are: Collegehumour.com, Oddee.com, Santabanta.com, Desicomedy.com, Funtoosh.com, etc.

Platonic love: what a joke!

Does such a thing as ‘platonic love’ really exist or are we just deluding ourselves? Are we, by branding any relationship as ‘platonic’, trying to ease our conscience and denying our sexuality?

What started me to thinking on this rarely discussed and unchartered path was a talk with a young friend 18 years of age.

She has been friends with a neighbour of her’s, who happens to be five years older than her. Though he, at times, appears to be condescending and patronising yet he listens to her like no one has before.

She says that with him she can be her headstrong, rebellious self and not pretend to be all sugar and spice.

He can read her like a book and so can she; just seeing his expression, she knows if things are amiss. Despite being aggressive and sharp-tongued, she is able to soothe his tensions away by just rationally talking things over. It is as if they take turns in being irrational and rational yet they are so attuned to each other’s need that they can communicate their thoughts and feelings without words.

They share a beautiful relationship now, but she wonders how long it would last. People are pestering her parents, who, in turn, are questioning her about her friendship. She admits that she cares for her friend but is confused when asked if she loves him.

Why do we, as a society, need to ‘label’ relationships?  Why do we need to ‘legitimise’ it by saying our friend is like a ‘brother’ when we do not care for our brothers half as much as we care for the friend?

We  had put these questions to a Psychology lecturer in the university and she surprised us with her insight. She said that in our society, repression of sexual needs is a way of life. This system has been handed down from generation to generation without anybody questioning its validity.

So much so that the younger generation in order to adhere to socially acceptable behaviour, is subconsciously repressing its desires.

They seek an outlet by deluding themselves that they share a ‘platonic’ relationship with girls and vice versa. When they are questioned about it they are embarrassed and feel guilty as if caught red-handed committing a crime.

It is due to this reason that in spite of being mentally and psychologically mature, the Indian youth is not physically mature. They would rather ‘hide’ behind ‘morality’ than ‘seek’ and ‘accept’ the reality of their physical responses. Would we ever be able to muster the guts to be honest about our relationships? It remains to be seen.    

Parikrama-The Face of Indian Rock

Their song ‘Xerox’ was called the face of Indian rock. Parikrama, the rock-and-roll band from New Delhi was formed in 1997. It has several live performances and original numbers to its name.

The band, unlike some others, has maintained its identity by composing pure rock and metal songs and is popular among college students and youngsters in India. It is one of the few bands in the world does not have any official policy on copying and plagiarism. Their original numbers are available for downloading on their official website (www.parikrama.com).

The band consists of lead singer Nitin Malik (vocals), Sonam Sherpa (lead guitar), Subir Malik (keyboard, synthesiser), Srijan Mahajan (drums) and others. All of them, except Nitin Malik (who is from Hindu College) are from Kirori Mal College, New Delhi and were members of MUSOC (music society of the college). Sonam Sherpa runs the Parikrama School of Music in New Delhi, which emphasises on the finer aspects of a genre that  is often confused with loud and meaningless music.

Parikrama is one of the most sought-after bands for college fests throughout the country. They have performed in institutions like Indian Institute of Technology and others.  It also holds the distinction of being the warm-up band for Iron Maiden concerts. When the legendary band visited Bangalore, they chose Parikrama. It is the only Indian rock-and-roll band to perform at the Download Festival, an international music festival held every year at Donington, UK.

The band often fuses Indian classical instruments like mridangam, tabla and flute with conventional instruments like guitar, drums and keyboards. They have been influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and The Doors.

The band released their first single ‘Til I’m No One Again’ in 1995. Another song, ‘But It Rained’, based on the kidnappings in the Kashmir Valley is probably their biggest hit till date and was released in 1996. The members of the band were surprised when a crowd of almost 4,000 sang the number along with them during one of their concerts in Bangalore. 

Forge ahead, regardless

Most of us in this country, and in the east generally, are inclined to take things easy.  Foreigners often remark on this eastern trait in human nature. During the Second World War, the following  story was very popular.

A group of Americans and Indians, in the Air Force, arranged a contest to decide who could assemble an airplane in the quickest time. Eight hours after the contest had started, an Indian went across and asked the Americans how they were getting on.

“Pretty well,” answered the leader of the American group. “Six more bolts to be fitted and our airplane will be ready.” Then he asked out of curiosity more than out of courtesy: “How is your group progressing?”

“Not too bad,” replied the Indian, “six more chits to be signed and we’ll be ready to start on our airplane!”

I’m sure you are laughing. But if you love your motherland as much as you should, you would also decide to do something for her. In your life, at least, decide to cut out procrastination, complacency and red-tape. And go for action.

Read the biographies of the good and the great and discover the secret of their success. Just three major steps: planning, decision and then action.

When enrolling for a course on leadership, most students raise doubts. They do not realise that confidence must be based on knowledge and proper preparation and planning.

If a boxer enters a contest backed up by boldness, he has little chance of getting an award. He is more likely to get into a ward in the local hospital. All great men and world leaders tell us that they owe their success mainly to reading books that are informative, inspiring or instructive.

Jamshedji Tata won fame and fortune by just three qualities: Planning, pluck and perseverance. His early marriage forced him to give up college and enter into business with his father. 

He made up for this stoppage of his education by reading books and magazines and making notes from them, all his life. Edison did the same. Great people never stop learning. They believe that people who are too old to learn are too old to live.

Pioneers are different from leaders. They must have high degree of confidence in themselves. J.N.Tata was a patriot and an industrial pioneer.

Here is an amusing story about him. When he started the Empress Mills at Nagpur, he had used equipment of inferior quality to save costs. When the yarn manufactured in the mill was of a poor quality, the shares fell to half the market value. For the only time in his life, Jamshedji sat back and waited for his luck to change.

He, who always depended on pluck, now hoped that Fortune would pass by his way and smile on him. But, annoyed with his lack of pluck, Dame Fortune stayed back and sent another in her place. 

She sent her step-daughter, Misfortune, who burnt down the loom shed instead.Jamshedji was forced to act. This time he bought the best equipment and made failure a stepping stone to success.

ARTISTS

There are lots of stories told about famous artists, some amusing, some sad — we tell you three of those stories here.

Picasso’s paintings do not seem realistic at all, but when Picasso was a poor student in Paris, he painted life-size pictures of furniture on the bare walls of his room. These paintings looked so real that his landlord had to touch the walls to convince himself that it was not actually furniture that he was seeing!

The students of Rembrandt fooled him by painting a silver coin on his studio floor. Seeing the coin, Rembrandt bent down to pick it up.It was only when he heard his students laughing that he realized a joke had been played on him.

Whistler had great fun painting flies on window painting panes and mirrors and then watching people trying to swat them. But one of his jokes had a sad ending.A patron of his lent him a house to spend a holiday. The walls were covered with very expensive morocco leather, but undeterred by this, Whistler proceeded to paint life-size peacocks on them.When the owner saw the state of his walls, he was so aghast that he had a heart attack and died.

Documents anywhere, anytime

You have documents such as word files, pictures, videos, etc., on your desktop at home but want to access them on any Internet-enabled computer, smart phone or tablet anywhere, anytime. It is possible now. File storage and syncing websites such as Drop Box, Sugar Sync, Sky Drive, CX, Box.net and Google Drive have made it possible. Users can not only access their files but also make the content available to the public at large or send it to friends by sharing the unique link of the file with them.

The founder of Drop Box, Drew Houston, developed the online storage website because he used to forget taking his USB drive to class when he was a student. He made the website for his personal use and later made it public thinking it could help others like him. The website provides users with a facility to sync content on multiple gadgets by installing the Drop Box application.  

File hosting websites come loaded with hundreds of useful features. Users can send their files as an email attachment. They can edit documents online and save them without making any changes in the formatting of a file. Users can upload unlimited content for free though the upload limit and features vary from one website to another and a few websites charge for using premium features.

 If you are running out of storage space on Google Drive, you can buy an additional 20 GB for $ 2.49 per month. Sky Drive offers the same space for $10 per year or 50 GB for $25 per year. Drop box Pro offers 50 GB of storage space for $99 per year.

These websites come with built-in file viewers and users can see PDF, word files and other documents, whenever required.

Google launched its file hosting service Google Drive on April 24, 2012. The service is an extension to its existing service Google Docs. Google Drive provides 5 GB space and allows access from computers and mobile devices. The application that is available for Windows can create special folders that sync with your cloud-based repository.

Users can drag a file into these local folders and that file will be uploaded to their account. The files will appear in the Web version of Google Drive, in the Google Drive folders on the computers of users, and in Google Drive apps on smart phones and other gadgets. These local apps also sync any changes a user makes to the files. The website is yet to launch its supporting application for Android, Apple and BlackBerry platforms. 

Office or home

It is good for a woman to work outside the house—then she has less time to gossip with the neighbours. Besides, it is said that a woman makes a better employee than a man. She is attentive, obedient, tidy, and efficient—in fact, she has all the qualities in office that are expected of her at home. 

In the office, she is a business executive, private secretary, salesgirl, typist or clerk; at home, she is the boss. It would be an interesting situation should a wife, working in the same office as her husband, have to take orders from him.

For too long now has woman needed a change from her place by the sink; her change in work appears to have done the man-of-the-house some good—he is kept physically fit by the bending exercise provided by household chores.

A man’s way of living today is largely determined by his wife’s desire to reap benefits outside the home. He need no longer struggle to pay for her luxuries—all he needs to do is to resign himself to a little homework. 

It does not perturb him that she has not sufficient time to cook and serve a proper meal, or cope with the mess at home. What matters more is that she is learning a new and rare virtue, the virtue of arriving on time.

She may now have less time to devote to her children—but she has few children to look after. She has decided upon a small family: it being rather awkward for her to request her employers for maternity leave every other year. Her being away from home also does away with the problem of unwanted guests.

It is her privilege to earn, but her birthright to spend. She learns to spend long before she sets out to earn. With her spouse’s money going out and her own coming in, the better half is also the better off.

The competition between them is almost over. The mere male finds his position in the office more and more usurped by his female counterpart, while any offer of help from him at home is welcomed. Soon, he will be wondering if it isn’t the most natural thing in the world to find the woman at the computer and the man at the sink.

 Some men shudder at this prospect. They compel their wives to stay at home. Others shudder to think of their wives at home. They let them go to work. Then it is like the boss being away.

But sometimes, the exit of one woman means the entry of another—the mother-in-law. In such a maze of circumstances, they are forced to realise that this is a world of Eves where Adam is overpowered by Madam. 

Zubin Mehta: A living legend

Several people of Indian origin have created a name for themselves in the field of performing arts. There are a few who have earned as much respect, love and admiration as Zubin Mehta.

Born into a Parsi family in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 29 April, 1936, he aspired to become a doctor. But, he ended up learning Western Classical music in Vienna. 

Zubin made his conducting debut in Vienna in 1958. The same year, he won the ‘International Conducting Competition’ in Liverpool and was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic. He rose from the ranks and became its Chief Conductor. He also conducted for the New York Philharmonic. 

Later, he joined the Israel Philharmonic as Music Advisor and was later made ‘Music Director for life’ of the orchestra, a unique distinction for a conductor. He has also conducted for the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic.

Zubin is known for his flamboyant, vigorous and forceful style of conducting. He has performed in some of the best theatres in the world and his achievements and life was documented in Terry Sanders’ film ‘Portrait of Zubin Mehta’.

Although a citizen of the USA now, he has not given up his Indian citizenship. He is also an honorary citizen of Israel and Austria. The Indian Government honoured him with a Padma Bhushan and later with a Padma Vibhushan in 1996 and 2001, respectively. 

He was voted by the people of Israel as the ‘117th- greatest Israeli of all time’. He has received several prizes from the United Nations and has his name inscribed in the Hollywood Hall of Fame.

Zubin, nowadays, runs a music school for the ‘Israeli-Arabs’. He has become a legend in the field of Western Classical music, a genre, which like its Indian counterpart, is very difficult to master. 

Good writing = good prospects

Good writing is determined by certain basic rules that holds true whatever be the writing genre—creative, personal, or business. The following seven rules will help you to refine your communication skills and increase your writing power.

1.       Create an outline

Before beginning to write, it is a good rule of thumb to map out what you want to say, so that you arrive at your goal. A sound general formula for written documents comprises an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction presents your thesis or raises questions or concerns you plan to answer in your document. The body is made up of your supporting material and develops the thesis. The conclusion ties all your information together and reaffirms the original thesis. The key is to travel from opening direction to closure.

2.       Establish a thesis

A thesis is a statement of purpose, intent, or central idea in a piece of writing. Unless you are writing a suspense novel, your reader should never have to guess the point of your document.

The thesis should be stated clearly in the beginning of your document and the remainder of the document should illustrate and support it. Once you have determined your thesis and have started writing the rest of your document, it is a good idea to return frequently to the question whether the document continues to support the thesis.

3.       Provide direction with paragraphs

The next major step in developing your writing is to organize your ideas. If the thesis is the engine of your document, paragraphs serve as the road map; their primary function is to organize your illustrative points into manageable groups.

Each paragraph should function as a unit and should say something worthwhile. Each sentence in a paragraph should illustrate both the thesis of the document and the topic sentence of that paragraph.

4.       Know your audience

Even before you decide on your thesis statement, you need to identify your audience.

Ask yourself “What are the backgrounds, needs and interests of my audience?”  The audience should always determine the style and the tone you will use in your writing. You risk alienating readers and undermining the effectiveness of your writing if you use a style that is inappropriate for a particular audience.

5.       Maintain your tense

Literary exceptions aside, you should try to maintain the same tense throughout your writing. If you begin in the past tense, you should attempt to carry that tense throughout your document. Shifting from one tense to another makes the document unclear, shows uncertainty on the part of the author, and fail to engage the reader. This holds particularly true if you are summarizing a meeting or a report.

6.       Beware of the thesaurus syndrome

It is important for your document to be engaging, and one way of doing that is by using a rich vocabulary. Nevertheless, it is not advisable to use unfamiliar language. When you are unfamiliar with all the subtleties of a particular word, the chances of using it incorrectly are great and mistakes could be obvious to the reader. You should strive to use a variety of different words, but not at the expense of a natural, readable tone.

7.       Keep it concise

The most effective writing provides a maximum amount of information, in a minimum amount of words. This does not mean that every sentence and paragraph needs to be short; rather the goal is to write in such a way that every word, sentence, and paragraph counts. Assume that your reader’s time is valuable and that you want to give them as much information as quickly as possible. Take care to delete unnecessary phrases such as ‘the fact that’ or ‘the reason why is’.

Attractive applications for your iPad

iPad has been in the International market for more than two years. There are several iPad applications that are must-haves for any user to utilise the gadget to the utmost because iPads come with only a few selected pre-loaded applications to execute basic functions such as seeing videos and photographs, listening to music, etc. Users can add applications to suit their requirements. Some apps come for free and some have to be paid for with a credit card.

These applications enable you to do your work. Several others can simply entertain and amuse you with their unique features. Applications make the iPad different from other tablets available in the market though android phones are inching closer with the increase in number of application in its store. 

Apple applications store has over 200,000 options. Here is a list of the best free apps in their respective genres and other useful apps that maybe worth your money.

Garage band is an application that enables users to add sound effects to music files. The sound effects include echo, reverb and distortion among several others. Users can play a keyboard either by attaching a USB MIDI one to their device or by stroking keys on a virtual keyboard. Users can learn to play musical instruments by purchasing the desired lessons from its Lesson Store.  The app costs users around Rs 250.

There are several applications that game lovers can download for free. Checker Free HD, Air Hockey Gold, Angry Birds, Solitaire Ace and New York 3D Rollercoaster Rush HD Free top the chart of free games available in Apple App store. 

There are several other paid games which are popular among iPad users and the list includes Plants vs. Zombies, Real Racing, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, Flight Control, Labyrinth 2 HD, etc.

Navfree turns your iPad into a satellite navigation device. It provides you with detailed directions for your desired destination. It has voice and on-screen instructions, offline map use and address search among many other features.  Users can use live search via Google and Microsoft Bing. The app comes for free.

You may not like astronomy but Star Walk will not fail to impress you. Point it at the sky, and using the iPad's digital compass you'll see a virtual starscape on your screen. It gets even better when you start moving around—you will see that the view pans with you, highlighting what constellations you should be able to make out.

Notes Self is an application in which you can create multiple notebooks and stack them on a shelf. Each notebook has a default paper style—lined, squared, and others. Users can mix paper types in one notebook and download their own templates.

Several other iPad applications that are popular because of their interesting features are Wolfram Alpha for reference, Quick Office Pro HD, AccuWeather, Dropbox, Bloomberg, Ever Note, Feedler RSS Reader, The Guardian Eyewitness, etc.

Yesterday is dead ,Today is ALIVE, Tomorrow is not born yet

Alexander Graham Bell once expressed, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

 The habit of postponing is a dangerous enemy of success in life. People make various excuses for this. One of them is, “I am waiting for the right time—the big opportunity.” This frame of mind is a great obstacle in accomplishing goals. The mediocre wait for an opportunity, the enthusiasts and achievers build opportunities. They are ever alert, up and doing. Every morning the sun shines and brings with it an opportunity. We must consider every day as a chance given in our best interests.

Opportunities

Opportunities do not come, but it is no use wasting time in waiting for them. Many people even fail to recognize opportunities as they are sometimes disguised by hard work. And what if the opportunity you have been waiting for suddenly strikes and the circumstances are not in your favour? You will forgo the opportunity and presume it to be the end of the world. Hence we must not pile up our plans waiting for the right time.

The only time we have and which is right is ‘now’. If you do happen to miss an opportunity, do not cloud your eyes with tears. Keep your vision clear so that you will not miss the second one. Alexander Graham Bell once expressed, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” So, opportunities do come and go but do not wait for any sudden inspiration or circumstances. When they happen—and if they happen—use it to your advantage. But do not wait for them.

START NOW

It is never too late to be what you might have been. You will have to make a beginning. Why not do it today? Many times, all that stands between most people and the top of the ladder is the ladder itself. Half of the things that we do not succeed in are due to the fear of making the attempt. If you have decided what it is that you want to accomplish and have made a certain plan of action, then it’s no use making excuses for not doing it now.

Sometimes, people postpone their efforts saying they do not have enough resources or they were in a better condition yesterday and could have done it then. What they do not realize is that by doing so, they are losing their ‘today’ —which could have been utilized for at least making a beginning.

NO PERFECT TIME

Man is ever demanding, resources and circumstances never appease him. If you wait for a ‘perfect day’ to make a start, all you will ever do is wait. There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and make use of whatever condition you are in  at present to your benefit. Quoting Tagore, “If you shed tears when you miss the sun at night, you also miss the stars.” Hence if we lose our present due to certain things we lack, we will not be able to utilize what we already have. The greatest achievement of a person is to live up to one’s opportunities and make the most of one’s resources.

TIME IS PRECIOUS

Time is life. Wasting time is wasting one’s life. If you spend time regretting the past or worrying about the future, remember—you are allowing the present to slip away. If by some error the yesterday was lost in grief, do not lose today by keeping it in your memory. D.S. Jordan has beautifully put into words the importance of the present—“Today is your day and mine, the only day we have in which we play our part. What our part signifies, we may not understand; but we are here to play it and now is our time.”

As it is always said, time and tide wait for none, so acknowledge the present day  of our life and make hay while the sun shines…