Your personal superhero

         Imagine if you have your very own superhero who by his/her will wants to help you out from the next thing you want to persuade your father and buy to listening to the rants we have about how that food we are eating is not satisfactory enough (and puts up with those). Sounds nice? Sounds exciting? We already have that. We just don't take notice of it that much. Who is that? What is that which this crazy writer is talking about? Is it Superman? Did we get Batman himself to be our personal agent? One word can answer that: Mother. Yup your mom. The same mom who you think nags all day to get you to do what she wants. Today's young thinkers like fantasy where magic and super powers rule over the power of reality. We don't realize how gifted we are in having a magical person like that.

 

Who said superheroes are the ones who save the whole world with amazing powers? This superhero stays consistent to save YOUR world every single day and every second. This person over here goes to extreme lengths (even to the extent where we would not expect) in order to ensure your needs are met which IS amazing. There is nothing expected in return. Not even recognition or a nobel prize. Just an acknowledgement that whatever is done is appreciated. Probably the least we can do. Remember that this does not happen to everyone or everytime. Be enlightened and be appreciative of the wonderful gift of a person who we cannot repay in any amount of money or lives. A simple thing which would not require even 0.1% of our attention span or brainpower. We still have 99% of that to spend on other stuff in life so set aside at least a little for someone who really deserves it.

 

We love to sleep and wake up late (no I'm not looking at you early risers) and make up excuses to prolong that snooze a bit more. Your superhero (or superheroine) makes sure you are up and going with whatever you need for the day just by waking up earlier than you can imagine. With this supreme effort which takes a lot of determination and willpower, she makes sure that the whole household begins the day without a hitch. Now don't get me wrong here. There are a lot of fathers who do just the same as how mothers take care of the house. The ratio is just slightly lesser compared to mothers. Could be due to the fact that they have to report to work. All I'm saying here is to not ignore or underestimate the work your superhero (mom) accomplishes in the morning hours itself. Most of it is behind the scenes since we don't get off our behinds and actually witness it.

 

From the moment you step into the world for the first time clutching on for your dear life to the moment when you proudly declare on the mic in front of a huge crowd regarding your accomplishments, your mom does not leave your side. The most powerful thing is this: whether the world appreciates you or spits on you, she shields you and protects you with the best she can. If that cannot convince you then how about the fact that she would sacrifice her needs in order to give you a better life? A lot of us have seen and heard about these wonderful people giving up their meals for the day in order to ensure that the little guys/girls do not go hungry. Combine this with fathers and you get a new MEGAZORD- I mean parents. Parents are those who combine (link special powers if you want) their strengths and save your world. The next time you plan your schedule, force yourself to include some quality time with them. That quality time will end up making you smile forever.

Have you brightened up the world yet?

Everybody has some talent within them. Whether it's juggling a lot of items along with a favourite pastime of watching your movie (Don't try this at home kids) or an invention inside that brain waiting to be made, you may just have the required talent to get yourself noticed in the world. What stops people from going to the next level? Is it their own confidence? Is it pressure from society to become one thing and never become what they wanted? Is it because of financial problems? The answer to all of these lies in the questions themselves and also with the person who does have a dream of making it to the place which was supposed to be. The problem and the root cause is: people tend to follow famous personalities a little too much than create famous personalities from their own creativity.

Lot of people in the world are really happy to stand by and watch. A lot of them are also wondering why they didn't do something for which they would be proud of. A talent is not just meant to be a money spinner. You could use your talents in order to make the world a better place. Offering or volunteering for charity is one of the ways to help and the best part is it improves your own way of doing things. The creativity inside grows with experience and experiments since little can be achieved if you just think and not act on it. Learning from others gives a wealth of experience but learning from yourself can also help you figure out the real key to a hidden potential.

Don't get me wrong here. There is a lot of stuff you can learn by following the ones who have actually succeeded in what they wanted. But at the same time, considering that your life might be different compared to theirs, it cannot be taken as a "How To" manual. It's one thing to always know that you can learn a lot of things from everyone. It's completely different and misleading to think that you should also be successful by emulating their actions. This is where your own talent comes and plays such an important role. Often one's own talent is ignored for the effort spent into trying to imitate someone else. You may have been able to achieve something through a tried and tested method but you could just be hiding a special something in you which would revolutionize the entire concept you actually sought to imitate. One of the best things to have while aiming for success is to never overestimate yourself and importantly: to never underestimate yourself. 

 

For you might be the answer you were looking for in order to take the top by storm.

Friends, The real reward of online games

I'm sure you would have tried an online game at some point in the past or the present. Who knows, you might in the future. Everyone with a internet connection would have at some point. Could be a entertaining and simple flash game or a huge MMO (Massively Multiplaying) or perhaps even played online from a offline game. Games are generally conceived as a waste of time by many and at the same time, a few of them go on to win at World famous events and earn their living. The former are indeed right but there is a obvious catch as you might have guessed. Too much of gaming would earn you a lot of misery. If you aren't taking it up as a career that is. Normally, a relaxing thing tends to draw us in till we decide that we want to stay in it no matter what. Few manage to have a balance between a virtual escape and their identity in real life.

The time I encountered a online game was at the beginning of my college life. A funny fact is the game was shut down when I finished college but let's not go there. I have, from the game, experienced a change in myself. A change so big that I would look back and wonder if there was a different person who was present in my life than myself. I was told repeatedly that games are merely for kids (as kids we were told games were for toddlers and so on...) and that no matter what there would never be a chance for something positive to come out of it. But things were different. I did not even think of it as a escape from reality and instead my growth was impacted in a positive way. I improved my use of languages, got to know a lot of things and most of all, I ran upon a hidden goldmine: FRIENDS. "What?" you ask. Actually you heard that right. A game, something which was considered useless by a lot of people brought me a LOT of great friendships which have lasted (and still are lasting) for more than 5 years! Making friends is easy but keeping them together is not a small feat.

Over the course of years, people would leave the game to concentrate more on studies or their family. But we never broke apart. Not even a single person lost touch and even today, still recognizes who they were inside the game and outside as well! Can you imagine that this was caused by just a game? It is amazing and I'm always astounded when I look back and think about it. A tight knitted community is a wonderful thing to have, whether it is from a game or not. Let me "borrow" my title from the top of this blog and say "You would not be mistaken to be optimistic to the point of foolishness if you are looking for wonderful memories with people all over the world". And who knows, You could even meet your future partner as well! It has happened in many online games throughout the world. A revolution in the way people play games has begun to revolutionize the way people act in life as well. Over the time, you could find positives changing your life for the better as you hurry to join your partners-in-crime to chat or have fun.

Don't get me wrong though. Playing a online game is great if you manage to make friends with some nice people. At the same time, you need to ensure that it does not cause problems in your own life (like some important stuff and exams). If you manage yourself well, you might just find a treasure of memories to be cherished throughout your life. The best part is: You'll have made some great friends who you never knew existed!

So what do YOU speak?

Communication as we know it is an essential ability in this world. Lack of this in our life will mean that ideas are diminished even before they start to take shape and relationships between people broken without even a reason. In the ancient times, people might have spoken in a single dialect or a single language across the world. Today, one will be astounded at the number of languages existing in this modern era. Some languages have a natural flair of attracting people and some are inbred into everyone such that they gain expertise in it subconsciously as they speak. There's a curious thing about languages though: one word can mean a compliment in one whereas the same word might even turn out to be an insult in another! Each language is unique in its own way and some of them share the same script for reading and writing their alphabets. And we come to the prized question: So what do YOU speak?

Technological advances have brought the world closer than before. And they have also created attractive options for the soul yearning to learn the language he/she desires. Looking at the internet, there’s a wealth of resources which can aid you in your quest to mastering a particular language and you don't even have to take classes! Of course if you are planning to take up a career in that language, then certifications from a reputed institution would prove to be your best friend forever. Pursuing studies at official institutions like The Alliance Francaise or the German Embassy would give a great boost to start off your career as well as serve to improve your skills in the language. What better a place to study a language than the representative’s place from the language's homeland? Speaking of homeland, over here in India (I suppose this might hold true for other places in the world as well) we have a concept known as "The Mother Tongue". This is possibly derived from the family language of the mother before her marriage to a man. Their offspring have a natural ability to speak fluently in that particular language since it also happens to be the first ever language they are exposed to. As a result, they also learn to write and read the script of that language at an early age. That’s one language down and many more to go. There’s work to be done here!

In the current era, English is often used as the common language for communication across many countries. While English serves to attract people as the common medium, there are other languages as well which prove to be irresistible for their artistic impact they have on people. I don’t know about you guys but over here in India, there are a lot of languages spoken which are spread across all states. You might be interested to learn Hindi, which is considered as the national language or perhaps you might be more inclined towards Gujarati or Marathi or Oriya along with a taste of the South Indian flavors of Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu to finish it off! The possibilities are endless as the ones I have mentioned barely scratch the surface of the rich culture that is present in India! And then we have what are termed as the foreign languages: French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian etc. Of these, each language mentioned has its own base of followers solely dedicated to achieving ultimate nirvana in literature. And there are people who love to learn a language not for making a career out of it but for the love of the language and sometimes a bare necessity for those who wish to travel to the home of that language one day. It’s a literal feast for those who love a language and get to travel to the place where it originated from!

I’ll conclude with a personal profile of my own. As I told you about the concept of The Mother Tongue, mine is Telugu. Other languages which I speak are Hindi, Tamil and English. I’m impressed by the French language but unfortunately I’m as good as an infant since I probably know barely two to three words in it. Will have to learn it someday! My favorite language (no prizes for guessing) is English. I do have some fascination for the language and hence I always strive to improve my grammar and vocabulary in it. I doubt that I’m making much progress though! The forms of English known to me are the original British English, the Americanized version and the mixture of both which is spoken here in India. The best of both worlds you could say!

And so I bid adieu to all for now. Bonne chance for those in French and Good luck for everyone else! Have a great time! ^_^

Probation: The Silent Watcher

Every employee has experienced it at some point of his/her life. None have been able to (or can) avoid it. The testing time for an employee begins the moment he sets foot into an organization, whether he's worth a truckload of experience or a newbie looking to make it big in the corporate world. Probation is the name of the game which specializes in testing your potential and especially both your attitude and patience. This is the one phase which can make or break an employee's career for it can provide that much needed boost to climb up the slippery promotional ladder or it can also add to one's despair by greasing that ladder enough to make you fall to oblivion.

The corporate world welcomes employees by inaugurating the unavoidable gateway in your job called Probation. This is the time where you get a golden opportunity to give that vital first impression to your boss and your colleagues. At this period of time, you will be constantly watched for everything you do mark my words. You would do well to remember that your colleagues come in the junior(probably in age) and the senior(experience or age) flavors. Both are equally important to consider as the friendship or relations you create with them can have a great impact on how you shape your work atmosphere for the future. They have been in the organization before you. You're entering into uncharted territory and making friends rather than foes can help you progress along the way. Respect and admiration from both sides is the key to that fine beginning here.

One of the main things to look at next is how you handle and react to your mistakes and, other's as well. Get a little too tensed and you might drop low in the stress testing area. Stay too cool and you might be taken for someone who isn't very determined in work. The elusive balancing act is to show seriousness and stay calm at the same time. Making a mistake is not wrong and making up for it in a better way can propel you by leaps and bounds. It shows people that you aren't afraid to take responsibility and convinces them that you are eager to learn and improve. The most dreadful thing one can do is to lie than admit a mistake. Remember that your boss will be more open to supporting you when you tell him/her the truth. One lie, one discovery and your career is as good as yesterday's rotten tomato. And that one bad thing might just become the catalyst for an unwanted impression on you: the lack of trust. The bottomline is: Show them what you are capable of, learn from your mistakes and always be honest in your work.

The final thing is the work itself. Be sure to complete your work on time and you will leave with a happy mind everyday(and a happy boss). Never miss a deadline as it is one of the attributes which show your dedication to your task at hand. Always stick to the given task and discuss any concerns or grievances with your boss beforehand. It wouldn't do good to inform the boss about a difficulty at the last minute which could have been solved a long time back. It would only serve to demote yourself in his/her eyes and repetition of this can stunt your career graph by a large margin. You must prove that you are a dependable person who always does his/her best to finish any task assigned at any point of time for life in the corporate world is comprised of change and adaptability. Often you would have to reinvent the way you handle your task. Keep up with it and you would have absolutely nothing to worry about forever.

I guess that's all I have for now. I have covered most of the points which would ensure a smooth trip through the testing times. However I still feel that I have a long way to go so please feel free to add any points which you think I might have missed. Alright then, do your best and have fun! ^_^

An Economical Interlude

Today afternoon when I was aimlessly browsing the internet, my friend pointed me to a website which had numerous articles. Now I'm not a person who reads a lot but that doesn't mean that I read too little either. Then again, I'm not what one would term as a voracious reader. Asking for article recommendations from my friend was met with an opinion to follow my own instinct and choose articles to read. I ended up choosing one on Charity, one on Logic and another on Economy. Very different topics when compared to each other and each had a story of it's own to tell. I was particularly interested in the way the article on Economy was written. It offered a statement from one of the founding fathers of economy and proceeded to debunk the economic myths which are held in great regard as of today.

The article also served to explain the way The Great Depression was handled. The author expressed disappointment that the current state of economic affairs were simply praising the numerous economical myths rather than look at hard factual logic. It had been a bane when The Great Depression actually happened. It created more problems than solve the one problem at large: Unemployment. The author wrote in the article that Jobs are more of a concern today than ever. This is of course the cold bitter truth. The recession of 2008 took the world by storm and proceeded to devastate both the big and the small guys, the former cutting down their monetary expenses and the latter being forced to close down in an unfortunate turn of events due to a financial crisis. Employers who were hiring in droves transformed into Employers who sought to send away people in droves. This gradually had a great impact on the world's economy with every Industry being affected in one way or the other. How many tragedies have we seen on the news depicting suicides over unemployment? The number is depressingly large.

This doesn't mean that the economy was fabulous before the recession though. Some sectors did have a great advantage over others and were booming so much that they were tipped to become bigger in the future. One fact is, no matter how small or how large, in the end every Industrial sector depends on all of the other sectors in a direct or an indirect way. When production is affected in one sector it would slowly begin to affect another unless the rate of production remains constant. Production is also equal to the number of jobs created as well as lowering or increasing the demand of products in the market. As we know, lower production means high demand and with that we encounter an irritable and shady fellow named Inflation. Go down the opposite lane and you would meet his equally irritable but a rather...."charitable" fellow called Deflation. They are equally unwanted as one serves to reduce production and the other proceeds to eliminate demand to such an extent where production creates waste. You would do well to take a trip back to the past and examine and compare the prices of commodities with the present. This would present a very large difference to raise many eyebrows indeed.

The article points out that production is the key to a thriving economy. I'm inclined to agree and at the same time would add that demand along with production is the way towards a successful economy in the future. More demand would mean more production and in turn more production would mean more opportunities thus solving the unemployment scenario. I wouldn't say that production on it's own is incapable of standing up to improve economical conditions. I would place demand as a supporting companion to the main character that is production. At the same time demand is a rather unpredictable character, a double agent like those you see in movies. When demand increases in power beyond the maximum level of production it naturally invites Inflation to the party and wreaks havoc on people, rich and poor. High prices anyone? When it goes down to abysmal levels, it forces production to bow it's head out of the way due to it's creations being shoved onto forgotten shelves. Both tend to disrupt the economy of a nation and in turn invite a third person known as unemployment.

Let me underline the importance of demand with a fitting example. The recent and temporary price rise of Onions in the Indian market showed how demand can eventually overwhelm production. Due to unexpected circumstances, the availability of the number of Onions decreased to such a minuscule amount that prices were raised by a ridiculously large amount. The situation was prominent until the supply was put back into order. Demand is the important piece in the puzzle which constantly changes to bring about radical changes in the economy of any nation. Production is for naught when there isn't a reasonable demand to match up to it since nobody benefits when stuff produced in large quantities is not being sold at all. With this I end my rather amateur musings on the economical climate. This is just a newbie's point of view and you're all free to extend your opinions onto me. Here's hoping for a better future with affordable prices for all. Later then! Have a great time and a Happy New Year everybody! ^_^

The Magic of Little Things

The importance of little things has always remained a core aspect of my thoughts for a very long time and I doubt that there's anything which would say otherwise. Many times or should I say, for most of our life, joy and sadness arises from those little things which develop over a course of time. Everything starts small and grows healthier the more it is "fed". Sometimes they can make a big difference for someone or everyone. For example, your smile can brighten up an otherwise gloomy day of your friends and dear ones and it makes you happy as well! A simple and sweet "Happy Birthday" can make a person very happy on his/her birthday. Parents taking time out
to spend time with their children can make a huge difference in bonding between the two. These are just some of the very many examples out there in the world.

It is said "from a tiny spark may burst a mighty flame". There's no bigger a truth than this! Everything we see today might well be something which grew out of something small. This is true for both the good and the bad side. Understanding between people will eventually blossom into great friendship. At the same time, misunderstanding between people will eventually breed anger, hatred and misconception. In the beginning it would look almost negligible but will slowly grow into such a catastrophe that the root cause is almost forgotten. People would then try to solve the problem but alas, that alone will not be enough. The real solution lies in tracing the roots of the problem in order to eliminate it. Let's take the positive side. Just imagine that you cross a certain person everyday on your way to work or on the road or anywhere. Now add a little something to it. You smile and wish him/her every time you happen to meet. Now after a long time, just think that you've stopped that practice and you instead ignore that person. What would happen? That very person, even if he/she were a stranger, would come up to you and inquire if you were not well or if you were falling on bad times. That's how much difference a small but great thing can make!

You would have heard about people who don't spend time with their parents either because they're busy or they simply make excuses for it. Looking deeper into this, some of them do this because they had it the same way before. Remember that I talked about parents finding time to go and spend some time with their children? Unfortunately, that wouldn't have happened in this case. Just think about it. Just because the parents didn't want to do a nice little thing which would have ensured a closer bond with their children, they would reap bitter rewards for the rest of their lifetime. They would have money, a nice home and all facilities in the world. But an important thing would be missing: the fond vision to stay as a happy family. However, there are some who realize that revenge is the wrong way and eventually create happy memories later on. But in the end, the little things we have done in the past will eventually catch up with us, whether they were negligible or not worth bothering at that moment.

There's also a famous example about tyrants ruling with terror among innocent people. Those tyrants fear more than the people who are affected because they know that one day, someone, however small he/she may be will rise up and bring about their destruction as surely as the sun rises and sets everyday. This is made good by our day to day stories and examples in real life as well. India's struggle for independence is a good example in itself when we look at Mahatma Gandhi's use of simple but powerful things called non-violence and righteousness. Therefore, let's not underestimate the incalculable power of little things in our life because they eventually have the power to make or break moments, to separate or bring people together and in the end, make our life happier or more tragic. With this food for thought, I'm now off to the real world. Adios!