Screen Slaves

Our lower grade text books taught us “Get up early, brush your  teeth,drink water blah blah….”.The modern day manifestation of this is something like  “Get up at whatever time you wish,Open your mobile ,check for whatzapp ,we chat messages,check Facebook account,check mails…..etc”.I can see you people nodding your heads in agreement while you read this :-p

    This post is meant to celebrate our addiction to “Screens” .Read along to find out how much you fit in this scenario..

Let us examine a typical day in the life of so called modern professional.

1)      Get up ,check your mobile  err Smartphone for whatzapp/we chat/ messages;

2)      Fresh up yourself-now check mails from the “n” number of email  accounts you might have opened.

3)      Go to office-check official mails for a while and then switch to Facebook

4)      Like and comment stuff on Facebook and then switch to twitter.

5)      Then open TOI(Times of India) or any other newspaper and get acquainted with what is going on in the world…

6)      Then do some office work…get bored and reopen Facebook

7)      Harvest some crops on Facebook(Farmville) or Solve some criminal cases

8)      Keep on refreshing Facebook for new feeds to pop-in

9)      Else hook on to Reddit/Quora or start reading blogs

10)   Wrap up work  get into company  cab/bus and start playing Temple run or Fruitninja or Angry birds

11)   Reach home…switch on TV or  watch series…or go to a theater to watch a movie

12)   Check again to see if there is anything on the social networking sites…

13)   Sleep

14)   Repeat 1-14

Right from the time we get up till we sleep we are addicted to screens. Different screen sizes( viz smartphones,laptops,T.V.,Multiplex screens) have enslaved us.Unknowingly we have become the victims of a new kind of slavery called Screen Slavery.

I wonder how obsessed we have become with all these. We just can’t live without these.Be it in the name of socializing,entertainment,or information procurement we are just glued to them. While on the contrary we were the same people who have had a happy life without all these.But now all these have become an utter necessity.One can’t imagine his/her life without these…

While we are enjoying being "Screen Slaves" on the other hand we are missing so many things that screens cant offer.Just think when was the last time you have had a peaceful walk a midst nature having a nice conversation with your friend.When was the last time  you put your heart and soul in stuff that you love to do(Now don’t say I love to watch TV and I have been doing it regularly)..When was the last time you were soaked in the beauty of  a book,or you actually read  a newspaper in its “paper” form.All in all when was the last time you had a life without the involvement of screens..????? Hard to recollect ..isn't it?

 Just cut down on screens for a while everyday, you will have time to do some creative stuff. Life will be calmer and peaceful. You can actually socialize in person than on social networking sites.Your bonds might get strengthened. Instead of reading Inspirational stories and Quotes on Facebook,get out and start doing stuff.You may become more focused on your goals and success might embrace you sooner.

Let us stop being an e-zombie.Let us free ourselves from the “Screen-Slavery”. I end this post with this beautiful video that covers the gist of the post

Beauty lies in the eyes of the Beholder

"Beauty lies in the eyes of the Beholder"

Is what the world said

It is the unequivocal truth

My thoughts said

But my thoughts transformed,

The truth became a lie,

When i saw you

Because

Beauty lies in your eyes

Because

Beauty lies in your face

Because 

Beauty lies in you...

MTV Coke Studio Season 3

Music is celestial by nature. But its ethereal character is embellished by allure when it’s created in a sense of freedom. 

And MTV coke studio Season 3 promises to bring us such charismatic music.

The USP of such shows lies in the fact that they provide adequate  freedom to the musicians to create their own music; the music that they are passionate about. The music need not adhere to any  scripts or fit to certain situations. It can take its own form, travel its own journey in accordance with the imagination of the creator thus providing room for adequate fusion, collaboration and experimentation. The overall result is the emergence of some vivacious music.

MTV Coke studio season 3 is  already emanating promising vibes with its stellar line up of producers. The line up includes the following.

1 )A.R.Rahman:- After MTV unplugged this would be his second T.V. performance. With Shivamani also in his troop we can definitely expect some  magic from “The Mozart Of Madras”

2)Salim-Sulaiman:- The famous “Bollywood” music director duo with a fine sense of eastern and western music look promising .

3)Ram-Sampath:-He is known for his innovative sounds in the Bollywood arena .We can definitely expect some innovative touch here too.  

4)Clinton-Cerejo:- He has proved his mettle in the previous season with tracks like “Madari” and “Saathi-Salam.”.A lot of hope pinned up on him too..

5)Hitesh Sonik:- His tracks “Allah-hooh” and “Husna” left everyone spellbound in the previous season.Lets see what has he got in his repertoire  for us this time

6) Papon:- He is a guy gifted with a golden and melodious voice.This is officially his first project as a music producer .Will he surprise us or put us down? .lets wait and watch..

7)Amit trivedi :- A revolutionary music director as far as Bollywood is concerned mainly known because of his ability to produce innovative sounds.He had his share of fame in the last “Coke studio” Session with tracks like “Bari bari” ,”Banjara” and “Nirmohiya”.We can expect some reverberating tracks from this guy.

Apart from these producers we have some mind blowing singers like “kailash kher”,”Vijay Prakash”,”Sona Mohapatra”,”Benny Dayal”” Aditi singh Sharma” etc and Lyricists like “Amitabh Bhattacharya”,”Prasoon Joshi”,” etc  who will be part of the season.We also have many folk  ,desi  and  international artists who will be part of the musical extravaganza.

The promos are already out.And they look great. One of A.R.Rahmans song “Zariya” has already  been released and it has taken many hearts captive.You can find the promos and the song here

http://www.youtube.com/user/cokestudioatmtv

The first episode will be aired in MTV on Aug 17^th 8.p.m.Do watch it without fail.Let’s Celebrate music.

And do read my blog Reciprocating thoughts and Passion for Reviews ,analysis and trivia of every episode of Coke studio.

Happy Friendship Day :-)

A bond unconditional,
Yet sublime,
A bond void of expectations,
Yet full of joy,
A bond created by people,
But nurtured by angels
A bond called friendship
"Happy Friendship Day"

“All that matters is to Smile and Make others Smile”

His most cherished dream was shattered. He had spent days and nights working on it. He had surpassed all limits of hard work and perseverance to turn his dream into reality. He had toiled relentlessly to make his “design” emerge as a winner .A “design” that would have made him a millionaire overnight….But probably “destiny” wasn’t satisfied with his effort. It expected something more from him. And maybe   that’s the reason why the evaluators chose someone else’s design over his.

The result had torn him apart. His eyes didn’t shed tear, but he cried from within. His mind shouted “I need an explanation” but he didn’t speak a word. At once he rushed out of the office…

He got into the car with his head full of  “whys, how’s, what if’s”. Physically he was driving yet mentally he was grieving and analyzing his failure. And furthermore to add to his mental turbulence he got stuck in a traffic jam. It was like rubbing salt to a wound. No wonder his annoyance got intensified.

His bad mood and frustration worsened when he had a collision with a car. Though the collision wasn’t serious but  it had created a dent in the other car. As expected this guy had to bear the outburst of the car owner. The anger in him wanted to knock down the car owner but he restrained his wrath knowing it was his mistake. He paid some money as compensation and settled the matter.

He came home, threw his bag and lay down on the sofa, watching the ceiling….

”where did I go wrong”?

 ”was his design so much better than mine”?

“Or has he bribed the evaluators”?

 “Will I get another chance to be a millionaire”.

His mind was churning zillions of such questions.  It seemed as though he was throwing the questions at the ceiling and expecting an answer, but alas the ceiling kept mum.

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“Hey when did you come”…? Asked a female voice. But this guy was so engrossed in his thoughts that he hardly heard her. After a couple of times when she finally spoke in a loud voice he acknowledged her question saying “just now”..He didn’t talk anything else.

Seeing her hubby worried she came closer to him and asked “Honey, Whatz the matter”. He didn’t reply. She repeated the same question but he kept mum. When she asked him again he yelled at her saying “Please leave me alone and get out of my sight”. She thought of persuading him to talk but decided that it would be better to leave him alone….

“Papa…………….” a cute little angel called him. His 5 year old daughter came running to him. She held a piece of paper in front of him and said “Papa, Please make a boat for me”. But his dejection of failure had made him deaf, even to his own angel’s voice. His design not getting approved and his missed chance of becoming a millionaire had made deep wounds in his mind.

He told his daughter to go to her mother and get the boat done. But the kid was stubborn and she started pestering him. His anger spiked up and he slapped his daughter.His daughter started sobbing and ran to her mom …

His frustration had grown leaps and bounds. Not able to find solace he left home at once…

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He came to a nearby park and sat on a stone bench. His mind was at the apex of frustration. Along with the thoughts of failure now he was also fighting the guilt of ill-treating his wife and daughter. Especially the action of hitting his cute angel was hurting him a lot.He sat with his hands on his head wondering why the day was so cruel to him…

But wait!!!!!!It wasn’t that bad after all………………..

His thought chain was interrupted by a balloon seller‘s voice. The balloon seller was a boy of around 12 years .He carried colorful balloons with him wooing all the small children. The boy was screaming in a loud voice to get attention of the people. Probably his marketing strategy…. :-)

Hearing this loud voice his attention was diverted towards the balloon seller. As he was watching him, he saw that the balloon seller was approached by a small girl and her father. The girl was almost the same age as that of his daughter. Probably the girl was fascinated by the balloon and had persuaded her father to get one for her.

Since the balloon seller was standing very close to him, he could easily see them and hear their conversation. The small girl demanded for a pink balloon. The balloon seller gave it to her and told her father that it costs Rs 6/-.Her father gave balloon seller a Rs 10/- note. The balloon seller didn’t have the change and he conveyed the same .Her father asked him to keep the change.

The small girl who had just become the owner of a ‘pink’ balloon was extremely elated. She was emanating a beautiful smile .Rather a contagious smile. Seeing her daughter smile even the father was smiling. On the other hand the balloon seller who had just earned extra 4 bugs was also smiling…

Having watched such a beautiful scene closely, even he couldn’t help. He also smiled as if ,it was a  reciprocation to their smiles. ….:-) J.

Further the boy(balloon seller) ran to a nearby bakery and bought a bun. The boy instead of eating the bun packed it in a piece of paper and started to head somewhere. Amused by the boy’s behavior he followed him just to know what he was doing with the bun. What he saw next….was a very cute thing

The boy came to a place where in a small gal (probably 3-4 years old) was playing. He called her and she came running to the boy screaming “dada….”.She was the younger sister of the boy. Brother and sister sat together and ate the bun with the larger piece of bun taken by the younger sister…. :-).Both Brother and Sister were happy ,contented and smiling…..

Seeing their beautiful smiles and happiness his mood had undergone a giant transformation. His eyes were moist shedding tears of happiness. He felt calm and good

He purchased a balloon from the balloon seller and returned home.

Back home, he was completely a transformed person. He called his young angel and presented her the balloon. He asked her to bring the paper and made paper boat for her. She was extremely happy and kissed her father. He then hugged his wife from behind and said “sorry,”.  Even she smiled…J

-----------------------*-----------------------------------------------------------------*----------------------------------------------

Later that night he retrospected  his entire day--right from his failure to the beauty that he had witnessed. He thought ,

”I can do an award winning design anytime, or I can become a millionaire any time. But I can’t afford to lose these beautiful smiles around just because of my tension and frustration. I can’t compromise on the allure these smiles bring”. He had realized a beautiful truth that said

                               

                               “All that matters is to Smile and make others Smile”

He too smiled and spoke these lines in his mind looking at the ceiling….and this time the ceiling replied back saying

                                  “All that matters is to Smile and Make others Smile”


This post is written as a part of ‘All that Matters‘ contest at BlogAdda.com in association with INK Live 2013.

$300 dollar house

Issue 1

“A portion of land mostly on the outskirts of city. Rich in Rags. Most of the sewage water and city waste surrounds the area. Amids’t this you find a considerable portion of the world living, in their so called houses. The houses are in a way architectural wonders. Mostly made with rags tied to poles. Or sometimes using waste aluminum /iron sheets. And the dwellers here emanate zero sanitation and poor health…”

In a word it’s called slum.

Be it a Metro, town or a village they are present everywhere-The slum dwellers. They live in highly unhygienic areas and unstable houses. There is no protection for them, neither from rain nor from sun. And they and their area breed diseases. Not just slums but many poor villages depict the same scenario. It’s not that they chose this lifestyle. They just don’t have enough money to move to a decent lifestyle.

Food, Clothing and Shelter are said to be the basic needs of people. In the above case people are almost deprived of one of their basic needs “shelter” and also “health”.

We always talk about developing the society. We talk about increasing the standard of living, producing a trained and educated human resource. When we say “society” we must consider people dwelling in these areas too. And as far as People in these areas are concerned nothing is possible until and unless they get their basic needs right. If they don’t have their basic needs satisfied they will never ever think of development/education.

Issue 2

“The houses are drowned in water .Buildings have fallen down to the level of land. Everything is either submerged or thrashed down completely. There is devastation, destruction everywhere..People have no homes.”

  

This is a typical scenario whenever we are struck by natural calamities.”Rehabilitation” is usually done .But it’s a time consuming process. And pretty costly too.. Until rehab centers are built people are deprived of their homes and they are left as wanderers…

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As it is evident, the answer  to the above mentioned issues(and many others) is an efficient housing solution .A solution that is not only cheap but something that can be built very quick..Luckily one such solution exists

“The $300 dollar House”

It's a project headed by Christian Sarkar and his team. The sole purpose of this project is to make sure that the poorest of the poor has a stable shelter. A “Shelter” that can ensure protection from Rain, sun and wind. A shelter that can ensure sanitation. A shelter that can be built quickly. A shelter that can ensure good health, education, to the dwellers .Basically a shelter that is a “Health delivery System “as he calls it. And the most remarkable thing is that all this is achieved at a cost of Rs 300 dollar.

They have already completed projects in Haiti and Have built Rehab centers in Bihar( For Flood victims) and Pondicherry(For Tsunami Victims).Great work sir….

Before concluding I just hope that the project gets good exposure and implementation. I wish Christian Sarkar and team all the best for their Endeavor and salute them for not just providing a house to the poor but for giving them a dwelling place which they can proudly  call as “HOME”.

Watch this video to know more:

Franklin Templeton Investmentspartnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.

The $300 House

   Mom had expressed her desire to buy a new house and she asked me to find out some good apartments that met our budget.  Obeying her Order I set out to en quire about the apartments.

   

 I  went  to  one of the big names in real-estate industry &  asked if they can give me the details of a 2.bhk flat.I was redirected to a pretty sales executive who explained me about the facilities,  amenities and the benefits which I would derive if I purchased the flat  .After listening to her explanation I then asked her the most important question. Cost????  She smilingly replied “Sir Flats start from 1.5 core only;and go up till 4 crores”. I was dumb founded. My mind quickly calculated the available budget, my salary, future hike possibilities and the EMI I would end up paying. And the only one answer I found was “the inability to purchase such a flat “; at least in the near future.

  I then approached small builders, but the story wasn't interesting there too. I was annoyed completely. At dusk I decided to end my search and started moving towards my car. I got into the car and I headed towards my home. My mind was full of thoughts that amazed me, and filled me with awe. And In the meanwhile I got stuck in traffic. My annoyance was compounded.

  But something caught my eyes during this traffic jam that superseded the thoughts that were currently going on in my mind. …

  

 My eyes fell on a slum area. Since I have driven through that road many a times I had seen that slum. But I never paid any special attention to it. But that day I did. 

   My eyes made a note of the houses in that slum area. They were in  very poor condition. Mostly made of rags and poles, that literally meant no protection from sun and rains, and moreover each house sheltered (if you say so) more than 10 to 12 people. No sanitation, No bathrooms and hence poor health.”Pathetic” is how you could describe the condition of the houses.

It was quiet contrasting for me to have witnessed the two extremities of “housing” the very same day. Food, Clothing and shelter are said to be the basic needs of a person. But in this case it was sad to see people almost deprived of one of their basic needs. We always talk about development, increase in the standard of living, trained and educated manpower. But nothing is possible until and unless people get their basic needs right. If they don’t have basic needs satisfied they will never ever think of development/education.

With my mind pondering over these thoughts, I reached home. I switched on my pc with an  intent to check mails and social-networking sites. I saw a mail from #Indi blogger regarding the “Idea Caravn” Drive. It mainly consisted of the TED Videos. I started watching the TED videos by Franklin Templeton India. There were many inspiring & Motivating videos. But one video caught my attention because it complemented the chain of thoughts I had that entire day.

The video was by Christian Sarkar explaining his Project “The 300 dollar house”. The sole purpose of this project is to make sure that the poorest of the poor has a stable shelter. A “Shelter” that can ensure protection from Rain, sun and wind. A shelter that can ensure sanitation. A shelter that can ensure good health, education, to the dwellers .Basically a shelter that is a “Health delivery System “as he calls it. And the most remarkable thing is that all this is achieved at a cost of Rs 300 dollar.

Christian Sarkar also talked about  the way in which he executed the project, the massive help he got without even asking and he also showed  the prototypes. He further explained about the projects in Haiti and India.

After watching the video my mind inferred the following…

1) One advantage of this 300 dollar house is that it indirectly influences development. To elucidate—imagine a person who has a stable house, and every family member has good health. He has nothing to worry about rain/winter or health of his family members. He will then obviously invest his time in getting a better lifestyle. He will try to send his children to school. He will try to lead a life a notch above compared to what he used to do previously. And this indirectly influences the development of society.

2) Since the cost is very less, Government can easily set up these houses and get it done quickly too as compared to the previous housing schemes for poor people like the Indira Avas Yojana.

3) The 300 dollar house can also be responsible for speedy rehabilitation in places affected by “Natural disasters” like floods, Tsunami, Earthquake. The village constructed at Bihar (for flood victims) and at Pondicherry (for Tsunami victims) using the 300 dollar house is a good illustration for this.

   As I finish watching the video, I wish that the project gets good exposure and implementation. I wish Christian Sarkar and team all the best for their Endeavor and salute them for not just providing a house to the poor but for giving them a dwelling place which they can call as “HOME”.

This is the link to the video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haMM-hiG6k4&feature=player_embedded

Franklin Templeton Investmentspartnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.

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