Things we wish we knew in school

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
- Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was not wrong when he said that above quote cited above. We indeed make a lot of mistakes and sometimes the best way to cope with it, is to shrug our shoulders and say, “oh well, it was a good experience.” Or better yet, “we need to experience everything in life – even if it’s bitter and bad.” Honestly, that’s just a coping mechanism.

The FIRST

This publishing house was started with a dream - a dream of giving voice to those beautiful stories that keep taking birth in the minds of all young budding authors waiting to grab the ink and spell their imagination before the world.

It is said FIRSTs are always very special . The first kiss, first salary, first love..... and today we stand at a juncture where our first book is about to release. Time's Lost Atlas  is a very unique concept where 11 authors have come together to write about 11 events which changed the world in a span of moments.

And so it is also time for our first contest, our very first book giveaway ~

We are excited... are you? So LIKE that page and stay tuned for further updates on Time's Lost Atlas.

Movie remakes

Kitney aadmi thhey? [Sholay]

Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, poora naam. Baap ka naam Dinanath Chauhan.  Maa ka naam Suhasini Chauhan, gaon Mandwa, umar chhattis saal, nau mahina aath din... aae yeh solwaah ghanta chaalu hai. [ Agneepath]

Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, naamumkin hai. [Don]

Movie remakes might be the trend but nothing beats the magic of the original movie. I am simply unable to remember a single Bollywood remake that was better than the original Bollywood movie. Many remakes actually turn out to be a disaster.

However, there are four kinds of remakes in India:

Babaji ki Booti

                                                  

Drink for the nerves and weed for the souls. The song “Babaji ki booti” gained tremendous attention showing a jeering “Babaji ka thullu” to everyone. The lyrics and the behooving music are perhaps the main reason for the grand success of the song. Mankind has been an addict to various sorts of intoxicants from time immemorial, but “Babaji ki booti” is one of a special kind. 

Most of the intoxicants bring the beast out of a man but “Babaji ki booti” turns you into a sage or a saint. It makes you detach yourself from this materialistic world and land in a different zone altogether. The song “Babaji ki booti” describes how a few puffs of it helps you make worries vanish and overcome all the frustration of the world. No matter what your problem is- lost love or a dictator boss, Babaji ki booti is the best solution.

The song and its video is a quintessential demonstration of frustrated youth. Youth that is peeved by the hogwash of this materialistic world. The song labels alcohol as bad habit but “Babaji ki booti” as a natural gift. One of the protagonists in the video of the song tells his friends that a few puffs and they will become heroes, their lives will turn into a film and problems will reduce to zero. He says that the Babaji is wonderful, calling him a source of pleasure and a force to overcome the sorrows of the world.

The art of remaking

Remaking a movie is a huge business. Since my childhood half of the movies I watched are remakes. They either get welcomed with a red carpet or get bounced at box office.  Copying from Hollywood is an art in India.  Oops! I should not call it copying. Remaking a movie is a stylish way of saying that you have copied!  Sometimes copying is done with permission and many a times they are simply copied. Their songs, posters, dialogues or the full length-movie, everything can be easily remade by our film makers. Recently I came to know that my favourite movie Zindagi na milegi Dobara’s poster is similar to a 2005 movie – Lords of the Dog town’s!  Now the yet to be released Dhoom 3’s poster looks like it is inspired by The Dark Knight Rises. Of course it is edited a bit

We are so cliched

It was the pen-ultimate day of my school life, when I was summoned on the stage to give a Talk on School life. It was my Ted-X talk, but I was not there to speak about the paradigm that changed my life or to impart some techniques about enjoying school life to the juniors who stood there with sheer enthusiasm and primal expectation.

What I actually spoke that day was about the journey I had at the school and when I finished everyone did clap for me. 

Today, after 3 long years when I look back to the D-day, I wish I would have been bit more specific about the choice of topic I made and I wish, I would have leveraged them with bit of more ‘gyan’ about life, but the irony is, I learned the things only when I came out of that school.

In school we were always coaxed to follow the clichéd pattern by teachers and by our dear parents, but when you grow up and join college you realize ‘I am so clichéd’, things like ‘out of box thinking’ will box you and your enthusiasm down leaving you alone to curse the way you lived your school life.

Remember there’s no gain in following the rules all your life and get rejected on the day of placements with a remark “We are looking for someone Unique”.

Things I wish I had known during school life: -

·        Do not Rush, Consider the options: - If I am back in school again and someone questions me about my plans; I’d say that my priority is to known what the options are.
All you need to do is discover things you like and once done with the research pursue it with full passion, because the famous quote by Steve Jobs goes like-
‘The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it’.

·        What you think and what you want are two different things: - When you pass out of your school and join college then you will feel ‘hot summer of your hometown is much soothing than the cold impassive whips of college’. Computer science engineering is not about installing windows and defragmenting unorganized files on the disk.

·        Girls are not only for Sex: - Indeed, your girlfriend can always help you earn those extra brownie points, for example- you need to get the movie tickets booked and there’s a long queue, push her in front and later enjoy the movie with her at the back seat.

In school your Principal will manage things for you and after school your own Principles will take you everywhere.

Pranav Shree

The era of Super-geniuses

We admired Superman for being the man of steel, loved Batman for his ability to maneuver the Batmobile to catch Gotham's goons in the dark of the night. Then there were Spiderman, Ironman, the incredible Hulk, Captain America- all figures of indomitable physical prowess and an intellect equally equipped to handle crime. These were the people we idolized growing up.

Online Education

Online Education has caught up in last two-three years like never before. Everything, whether it’s the preparation of MBA entrance, employability tests like AMCAT to complete degree programs like MBA, MCA and BBA etc. are being delivered online. Even the trend of e-books has increased in recent years. Coursera, Khan Academy, Udemy, Udacity etc have taken online education to a complete new level.

Years back, when I was in twelfth grade, the choice of course and college used to be the hot topic apart from the numerous formal and informal fare-wells in school, coaching institutes and friend groups. At that time, the very thought of not making it to a college and going for a ‘correspondence’ used to give me spine chills.

However, today I am seeing a different trend among students. Students these days are moving towards online education. No doubt, if somebody makes it to a good college does not leave it but those who cannot make it do not feel abandoned. They are gladly accepting online degrees. In fact many students feel online education is better as they get to earn a degree and work experience simultaneously. The trend is more visible with post graduate education where students feel work experience is necessary to understand the concepts and applications

Today, students will prepare for their boards online (www.meritnation.com), prepare for competitive tests online (www.pagalguy.com, www.testfunda.com), take graduate-post graduate degrees online (www.EduKart.com) and even take employability tests online (www.myamcat.com)

Students are getting attracted to online education because of factors like low cost, ease of access, self-paced learning and access to recorded classes in case they miss one. With channels like facebook, Skype and other online discussions forum, networking also doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Internet and social media channels will only continue to grow. Chances are the same for Online Education too.

Priyaa

Happy Moments...Well Mostly!!!

Voices of a Home-maker

She may not be eligible for a home loan considering she doesn't have a tangible income. But she is what makes a house home. Yes, if you think about it, there is a fine line of difference between a house and a home. A residential structure comprising floor, walls and ceiling might make a house. Let's throw in some furniture as well. But it is the presence of a homemaker that makes it a home running fine and full of life... that's the power of housewife!

Macguffin plot in HIMYM

What exactly is the Macguffin plot device?

It is a plot vehicle adopted by several writers to advance or propel a story forward, a fulcrum in certain cases but which is of secondary importance to the developments in the main story. The use of this plot device was mainly popularized by the famous filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, who used it in multiple creations of his. This device is mostly used in thrillers, detective fiction and suspense stories where the Macguffin is revealed at a critical moment. The same device has been used in several TV seriates where usually the Macguffins are restricted to one episode or to one season. But there are shows like HIMYM who use the Macguffin for the entire set of seasons as a single thread.

Umwelt

Umwelt as per wiki means the environment or surroundings to which a particular organism is adapted to or which affect its behaviour. In simple words it comprises of everything which makes up the “model” of the world suitable for an organism to live. As I started thinking about this word nothing other than “facebook” came to my mind. Facebook is umwelt to all possible human beings from a toddler to a retired old man. A toddler creating a profile is slightly tough as he can punch only the air with his fists and not the keys of the laptop. Parents of today are more than happy to create an umwelt for their kiddos who just started breathing the not so fresh air of the earth and are rocking the world in their cradle.

Education in India

We have seen best and the worst of higher education in India. The long march of educated unemployed knocking at the doors that do not open. The frustrated youth who find everything uninspiring – the campus, the teaching fraternity, the country’s leadership and later that job that has nothing to do with what they have learnt. They are in that job just because they do not get anything else.