I, Me, My Selfie Generation!

June 30, 2014

Author – Eshaa Patnaik

Intense dialectic between exclusion and self-empowerment?

Are you selfie ready? The new Pond’s “#PondsSelfieReady” TV ad campaign uses this punch line to attract more youngsters to participate in their contest. My first reaction as any young self-respecting and media savvy person was that I should try it out and post my first selfie on Facebook at least. Most brands have tried to leverage the word to their advantage. So much so that in the recent 16th Lok Sabha elections, our prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi used it to his fullest advantage. Modi took selfies at numerous occasions and connected with the emerging crowd of “net generation Indians”. Our youth are imbued with sophisticated technical skills and to connect with them or use their language, one would require being media savvy.

For those who came in late, a selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken either with a camera held at arm’s length or in a mirror. The popularity of the word “selfie” can also be gauged from the fact that Oxford Dictionaries announced it as the “word of the year” for 2013. This year there may not be something as popular. To be honest, it definitely captures a snapshot of our social-media-obsessed moment. Social media was earlier accused of feeding the voyeuristic urges of people, but now it’s taken on an entirely new meaning.

Our social media has one defining feature now. It’s absurd stress on self-absorption… Gone are the days of looking at oneself in the mirror and being happy at your reflection. Now we need nothing short of at least 20 comments on our selfie posted on Facebook to make us happy. I got many responses when I asked around about the so called “selfie generation” or category. Some felt that it was a sheer waste of time, some felt it was something that only teens engaged in; but the most interesting comment that I received was that the selfie helped in self-realization.

It satisfied the urge to announce that “they had arrived” and most importantly to use their space in social media as a personal memorial. The trend has caught on very recently of being individualistic and different. And nothing better than using the internet and social media to announce it to the world. The narcissist culture on cyberspace has firmly established itself.

Are we talking about a trend here or have the youth always been a confused and self-absorbed lot? Is it something to do with the present one, the Millennial Generation (starting from the mid-teens to 30), or it something like a fad and caught the fancy of all for some time? In a research study done at the University of Michigan, psychologist Jean Twenge has labeled the current generation of young people the “iGeneration,” or “Generation Me“.

In her books, Jean Twenge describes how young people today “take it for granted that the self comes first”, and has labeled this time a “narcissism epidemic”, stating that we are “living in the age of entitlement”. Sara Konrath, another researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research calls the current generation “one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history. It’s not surprising that this growing emphasis on the self is accompanied by a corresponding devaluing of others”.

Although going to the extent of “devaluing of others” may not always be very appropriate when we talk of selfies, but a generation gap wider than the normal gap seems to be the case here.

This brings me to my first question – Selfie? Intense dialectic between exclusion and self-empowerment? Without going too deep into sociology to explain away the selfie, it definitely poses us a question. Are we not either involved in empowering ourselves with exclusivity or excluding all others from our world? It definitely is a fad for now, but the popularity of this trend makes me believe it’s something that’s going to stay on.

Factfile –
http://www.narcissismepidemic.com
http://www.generationme.org
http://time.com

Old Indian Brands that Faded Away – Bhule Bisre Brands

Levine Lawrence

June 27, 2014

The other day I was watching the Hindi movie ‘Barfi’ and I felt that the hero’s name rhymes with Murphy. Later I realised that the hero’s deaf character is actually named after Murphy Radio! That triggered something in me and truck loads of nostalgic memories tumbled out of my mind. Today, in a billion people market like India, numerous brands jostle in the market to get a foothold into consumer’s mind. Back in those good old days of pre-liberalised India, there were a handful of brands in any industry category. When we look back, we find many of those brands faded away into oblivion along with their outdated technology. Here is an ode to the old Indian brands which ruled the Indian market:

Murphy

The recent Anurag Basu movie ‘Barfi’ not only touched us with its heart-warming charm, but also made us sentimental about the bygone days. Set in the 1970s, the film depicts the story of Murphy “Barfi” Johnson who was named after the radio that was bought on the same day he was born. Back in the 1960s-70s, when radio was the only form of entertainment and information, Murphy Radio was the most powerful brand in India. Every household, actually every wealthy household had a Murphy radio or a Bush radio set, which was triode valve radio fitted inside a large wooden cabinet. The names of medium wave or short wave radio stations were labelled on the dial panel with two huge knobs for volume and tuning.

We Recommend…

Saregama Carvaan Hindi – Portable Music Player!

Those were the glory days of BBC, Voice of America, Radio Moscow and our own All India Radio. Vividhbharati, the colourful movie songs and trivia programme was transmitted by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation due to a ban of film songs on Akashvani! Today, it is hard to find these radios even in junkyards! I got to know that the happening star of yesteryears Mandakini’s husband Kagyur Tulku Rinpoche was the cute face of Murphy brand. Yeh kahaani toh poora filmi hai!
http://www.hindustantimes.com

Premier Padmini

Which city in India is synonymous for its local trains and taxis? Of course, amchi Mumbai! While things transform fast in this ever changing maximum metropolis, one thing that has not changed is the black & yellow iconic taxi. Premier Padmini, the name that unfolds a flurry of nostalgic memories from the good old days is alive and kicking in Mumbai. Originally named ‘Fiat 1100 Delight’, this cute and compact automobile was manufactured in India from 1964 to 2000 by Premier Automobiles Limited, under license from Fiat.
In the pre-liberalised era where its only competitor was the bulky Hindustan Ambassador, Premier Padmini flourished due to rising popularity among youngsters and women. As compared to the Ambassador, the car looked more modern in appearance, more fuel-efficient and was easy to drive. However, Premier Padmini was only available in petrol version and so was limited to the upper middle class. With the arrival of cheaper and more fuel-efficient cars from Maruti Suzuki in late 1980s, it was twilight life for the grand old lady of Indian automotive scene. But Premier Padmini found a second life when jugaadu Indian taxidrivers began refitting its engines with a gas kit to run on LPG or CNG!
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.livemint.com

Dyanora

Dayanora TV via www.withinandwithout.com

Do the names Crown, Orson, Dyanora, Weston ring a bell in your mind… oh! My! Then you have serious case of Nostalgiphilia and you need to get treated soon! These were the brands that once ruled the Indian consumer durable market, particularly the television market. Leading among them was the Dyanora TV which had a bigger market share in South India. Launched in 1975, the brand belonged to the Dynavision Company, which was joint venture between Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation and an entrepreneur Obul Reddy. Dyanora benefitted from the limited competition in the market due to severe restrictions on manufacturing of TVs during the Licence Raj era.

We Recommend…

Jensen 3 Speed Stereo Turntable with Built In Speakers; Vinyl Player!

The Dyanora TV was large solid sized cabinet enclosing a cathode ray tube and electronic circuit board. The front panel had space for speakers, buttons for volume tuning and channels. There were 8-10 buttons for TV channels, but there was only one channel – DD National! With the arrival of Japanese and Korean brands, Dyanora had to bid aideu from our lives. Onida is the only brand from that era that has survived the foreign brand onslaught!
http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in
http://ajithprasad.com

Konica

When was the last time you went a nearby studio to process your film roll? Before the digital era dawned on us, how did we preserve old memories? Photographs on negative film and printed photos! What seemed like a normal activity for us today, it has become such a rarity. Konica and Kodak were the standard names, which had their branded colour labs ubiquitous in every Indian town. Although Kodak is known as the pioneer in photographic films and cameras, Konica has an equally ancient history tracing back in 1890s.
Konica entered India in the early 1980s and began selling its 35mm colour film rolls at Rs.120, while Kodak’s rolls were costlier. That was the era when it cost Rs.250 to get a set of 36 photos printed on a postcard size! Professional photographers used to mint money during weddings, festivals, religious ceremonies, charging a sizable sum for a photo session! By early 2000s, the decline of film photography had begun and in 2003, Konica merged with Minolta to form ‘Konica Minolta’. Soon in 2006, Konica Minolta exited the photography business completely and Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
http://indiaphotoculture.blogspot.in

We Recommend…

Booming Brands – Inspiring Journeys of 11 “Made In India” Brands

Great Indian Brands That Faded Away

Levine Lawrence

June 23, 2014

These days news doesn’t shock me. What with all the breaking news and sting operations, I am a little blinded and deafened by the razzle dazzle. Yet, a recent news update managed to shook me – our good old Amby will be no more! Just as I recovered from this shock, another news struck me – the Campa Cola compound will be demolished. What a tragic end to such an endearing brand!
The monsoon rains came in just in time to drench me into a serious melancholic state and with that, truck loads of nostalgic memories tumbled out of my mind. How will I recover from this bout of Nostalgiphilia?

Today, in a billion+ people market like India, numerous brands jostle to get a foothold into consumer’s mind. Back in the good old days of pre-liberalised India, there were a handful of brands in any industry category. When we look back, we find many of those old Indian brands faded away into oblivion along with their outdated technology. Here is an ode to those forgotten trademarks that once ruled the Indian market:

HM Ambassador

Indian Brands - Ambassador car — Ambassador car

It is termed as the “grand old lady of Indian roads”, but I would dispute that title since it is more apt for Premier Padmini! Our good old Amby was rather the “grand old uncle of Indian roads”. If there was a car that represented powerful presence on the Indian roads, it has to be HM Ambassador. It’s a different matter that there were not many vehicles on the road those days anyway! In fact, the erstwhile great Indian socialist republic should take pride in the fact that powerful politicians, senior government officials, taxi operators, middle class Indians all travelled by one car, which is actually a reincarnation of a British car, Morris Oxford III.

Indian Brands - Ambassador car mark II | Team BHP — Ambassador car mark II | Team BHP

I remember my first Amby car journey across south India right across Bangalore, Madras, Coimbatore and Palghat and back. The car deftly dealt with road bumps, pot holes, unruly truck drivers, speeding autorickshaws and all. Repairs were easy since any truck spare part fitted into this tough all-terrain vehicle. The filmsy looking Maruti couldn’t match the road presence or the safety of the good old Amby. But we filmsy Indians who had no concern about quality and nostalgia went wholeheartedly for Maruti and ditched the pride of the nation!

Campa Cola

Hope you know the Campa Cola compound controversy in Mumbai. But have you heard of the real Campa Cola that was produced by Pure Drinks Group way back in the 1970s? If you haven’t, please don’t read further and spoil our fond memories by asking stupid questions like why it looks like a duplicate of Coca Cola!
Campa Cola was a completely original cola soft drink that had monopolized the entire Indian market in the absence of any foreign competition before 1990s. It had a strong taste of cola and was extremely fizzy, much like our Thums Up, which Coca Cola tried to kill it and revived after it sensed we Indians like our drink strong!

Faded brends of India — Gold Spot-ad | Buzzoop

However, Campa Cola could not stand the onslaught of the ugly American MNC brands that have killed such great Indian brands like Gold Spot, Limca, Double 7, Thrill, Double Cola, etc. Do you remember the “Gold Spot, the zing thing” ad on Doordarshan? If you don’t, you need study your history properly about a bygone era that was pre-liberalised India!

Godrej Storwel

Do you remember where your granny kept all the valuables at home? If you are from rural Bharat, the other India, most probably, your mother keeps all the valuables in a particular all steel almirah, which is otherwise known as ‘Godrej almirah’. In the bygone era, all Indian households had a steel cupboard that was locally made but called Godrej almirah. The Godrej Storwel almirah was the rock solid protection against all internal burglars. When external thieves broke in, we used to simply surrender the keys rather than harm the family treasure!

As observed in many Saas-Bahu TV serials, when the mother-in-law of the house handed over the charge to the eldest daughter-in-law, she always hands over the keys of a Godrej almirah. This heavy duty steel cupboard held all the valuables in the house including sola singhar, sindhoor, family jewels and dowry. Almost always the colour was a smoky grey with a full-size mirror fitted on top. Sadly, with the passing of age, this ageless wonder has ceased to be the quintessential element of an Indian household.
http://www.livemint.com
http://www.godrejinterio.com

HMT Watches

Indian Brands - HMT Watch | Watchuseek — HMT Watch | Watchuseek

In the heydays of Swaraj after India’s independence, the government aspired to build a self-reliant country that produces all the goods needed for its citizens. In this endeavour, Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd set up a watch manufacturing unit in collaboration with Citizen Watch Co., Japan in 1961. As the first manufacturer of wrist watches in the country, HMT Watches popularised the hand wound watches, which might have been the only the second technological gadget at home apart from a radio.

The 17-jewel manual wind mechanical movements were quite something for a generation that was not exposed to any technological gadget. HMT’s Pilot and Janata watch brands were quite affordable at around Rs.500-1,000 and represented the working man’s watch during the 1970s and 1980s. But soon Japanese watches like Seiko, Citizen invaded the Indian market. Further, the homegrown Titan Watches grew rapidly took grab the market share from HMT Watches, which soon faded away from consumer’s memory. Now, there has been a revival in interest among young watch lovers who love the idea of owning these vintage watches.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

———-

Here is a book that talks about the inspiring journey of booming brands that are proudly Made in India.

Great-Book-on-Booming-Brands-in-India — Get the Book

Experience The Power of Music Therapy

Amrutha Girish

June 20, 2014

Music is an abstract part of life that awakens a subtle feeling of bliss within all. Be it is H.W. Longfellow saying “Music is the universal language of mankind”, or George Eliot uttering, “Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music”, everyone nods in agreement to the fact that music is truly a powerful source of feelings and entertainment.

A cousin of mine plays retro music to his father who is an avid music lover to either pacify him or bring down his temper and it really works! Some individuals work more efficiently with soft music playing in the background. Some students do their homework only when hard rock is blaring out of their speakers. I start my day on a harmonious note with an instrumental track that helps me get through in solace.

We, at some point in our lives experience a sense of pleasure when our favorite tracks are played on the stereo or when melodious music notes reach our ears through headphones. Although we don’t need researches to prove to us the benefits of music, some findings by well known health institutes provide confirmation of the pleasant influence of music on our health.

In a recent study, neurologists have discovered that listening to music engenders the release of the neurotransmitter Dopamine – a vital signaling molecule in the brain. When pleasurable music is heard, Dopamine is released in the striatum, which is artificially targeted by intoxicating drugs and which is known to respond to the pleasure state linked with biological acts like eating and sexual activity.

Music Therapy - Projects Abroad — Music Therapy – Projects Abroad

Music has remained an integral element of human society, having some bearing on both personalities and emotions. As early as 400 B.C, Hippocrates in Greece made use of music therapy for his patients. Much later in the 18th and 19th Century, numerous scientific studies were conducted to show that music could influence mood and speech, prolong attention span, relieve stress, stimulate imagination, and induce creativity. Overall, it is a great stress buster and emotional strength booster.

Music therapy has now becoming a rapidly growing trend in the west. Similarly, the ancient Indian society was well advanced in this realm. Nada Yoga is an ancient Indian science of sound vibrations, which explores sub-consciousness through sacred music that originated in the Vedic times.

Indian classical music traditions were quite evolved under the Hindustani and Carnatic music styles. Rãgas like Darbari, Kaanada, Kamaj, Thodi, Hansadhwani, and Pooriya are found to help in defusing mental tensions. Music therapists resort to the personal preferences of patients. Albeit personal penchant differs, it is suggested that the most natural tempo for a musical piece is 80 beats per minute – about the same rhythm as the average human heart rate, which is the music of life!

Music Therapy india — Music Therapy Trust

Listening to some classical music, both Indian and Western (especially Mozart) improves the ability to learn poetry and foreign languages. You don’t necessarily need classics; sitting by a rushing brook with birds chirping around or the sound of waves hitting the shore could have a similar effect. If you don’t live in the countryside or in coastal areas, I suggest downloading an app that has soothing nature sounds to relax.

From infancy to senility, music is a constant comforter right from a mother’s womb. Music therapy has proved invaluable in treatment of many disorders, including schizophrenia, amnesia, dementia and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, mood disorders such as depression, aphasia, among others. It helps diseased people to recover faster from strokes and also helps them to cope during the surgeries. Musical compositions stabilize irregular heart rate as well, easing the flow of blood in the veins. Researcher Dr. Thaut says, “The brain that engages in music is changed by engaging in music”.

Better than listening to music is playing music. You become so engrossed in singing or playing an instrument that it transports your conscious to a whole new world. However, a word of caution here – extreme dependency on music provokes people to constantly wear headphones that could cause chronic hearing loss or internal damage to the eardrum.

This immense love for music probably explains why folk music developed across regions of the world to serve mankind as a loyal companion in success and sorrow. Music is the glue that binds cultures; it is the very spirit of love and nationalism. From planting crops to wedding, all festivities are incomplete without music. Plato’s words rightly bring out the essence of music: ‘Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to imagination and life to everything’.

Temple of singing bowls

So this World Music Day, bring some harmony into your chaotic lifestyle by listening to soothing music!

Here is a great Infographic on Music Therapy by clarityway.com

Factfile –
http://www.knowyourraga.com
http://www.themusictherapytrust.com
https://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com
http://www.projects-abroad.co.uk
FB TempleOfSingingBowls
bejoyfulatyourheart.blogspot.in

Restoring the Ecology of Uttarakhand

Caleidoscope

June 16, 2014

Author – Kavya Devarapalli

Kedarnath after the floods | Bharat Baswani

Mountains… those mist clad peaks were my first crush. Totally blown away by their beauty and magnanimity, over the years my passion has just increased. Every time I got a few days off, I packed off to Uttarakhand to fall in love with them all over again. I was born in Uttarakhand, spent my greater part of childhood there, but later had to shift to Lucknow for higher education. However, I always missed those mountains, trees, rivers, cold winds like hell and the love of Pahadi people. But over the years, I noticed a steady decline in the tree cover, vegetation and river flow in the places familiar to me. I could sense that we are fiddling around with nature in the name of development.

The last time when I visited Uttarakhand after a gap of three years, I was flabbergasted to notice the drastic change. Phenomenal amount of deforestation had taken place and the green luscious cover was replaced by barren lands labelled with ‘UNDER CONSTRUCTION’ signboards. The big stretch of river flow was reduced to trickling streams, courtesy, the vast number of dams built upstream. It was painful to see such a dire state of my region, which I had always remembered as green and prosperous since my childhood. It appeared as if someone had stolen the life out of this region. After I came back from my depressing visit to Uttarakhand, numerous questions were hovering in my mind. Why is my birth place in such a sorry state? What brought about such a radical change? What was the government up to? They forced me to search for answers, which led to this bitter reality.

Uttarakhand floods | CSE Pictures

Uttarakhand’s ecology has been seriously harmed in the name of development. There has been extensive deforestation of mountain tracts, clearing forests for human activities like agriculture, settlements and urbanization. Massive infrastructure development such as hydro power projects and roads was happening at an alarming rate. The contribution of hydroelectric dams to the destabilization of Uttarakhand’s ecosystem far exceeds than any other factor. Huge tunnels were drilled in the hills by blasting rocks , forests were cut to build water channels, road, townships etc. Building material was extracted from river beds, and huge quantities of debris were dumped in rivers.

Around 70 dams were already in operation, including 23 mega projects generating 100 MW or more, and according to the Dehradun-based NGO People’s Science Institute, another 680 dams are under construction. Just imagine the immense burden built on these sacred rivers. The completed 70 dams had interfered with 640 km of river water flow, equivalent to half the length of the state’s major rivers. This was bound to have serious repercussions on the geology of this region, since Uttarakhand is nestled in the Himalayas, the youngest mountains of the world, which have a fragile ecosystem. The repercussions were going to amplify manifold. Much of this hilly state lies in the seismically most active Zones IV & V, with high tectonic activities that can change the topography of the land as well as the course of the rivers, which can increase the disaster’s potential.

Uttarakhand | Oxfam

Another major cause of this environmental degradation was the cancer of tourism that had spread across Uttarakhand. The tourism industry was promoted to such an extent that tourist arrival reached 25 millions, which is almost two and a half times of entire population of the state. The ecological imbalance had reached its peak and it was quite evident that either we had to take some drastic measures to restore nature’s balance or nature will find its own way. I often heard Uttarakhand Pahadi people predicting a catastrophe in near future, not because they are psychic but because they know their mountains and rivers. They used to say…

“Aaj nadi pahad rouna chanh, Bhawaa huaman roune” [Today rivers and mountains are crying, Tomorrow it will be our turn to cry!]

That is exactly what happened during 2013 Uttarakhand Floods. The balance was finally restored but at the cost of thousands of lives and massive property destruction. This manmade catastrophe finally brought the much needed attention to the growing imbalance in ecology of Uttarakhand. No doubt, infrastructure development is our prime need today, but when it turns into greed, the result is going to be devastating.

Uttarakhand-Pahadi | Christian Aid

An expert committee of the Environment Ministry was sought for a complete overhaul of the environmental clearance mechanism for proposed projects. The committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court, strongly suggesting the enactment of legislation for protecting small rivers and designating “eco-sensitive zones” for all rivers in the state. It also sought the immediate notification of a “river regulation zone” by the ministry. The panel concluded that the 24 proposed power projects would have significant biodiversity impact and sought the cancellation of projects inside protected areas like national parks, sanctuaries and the Gangotri eco-sensitive zone.

The major recommendations given by the expert committee are:

Mandatory environmental clearance for all projects of above 2 Megawatts that entail tunnelling, barrages and reservoir construction
Ensure that the mountain terrain above 2,200 metres be free from hydropower activity to prevent harm to Uttarakhand’s glacial sensitivity
Maintain minimum flow of water required in a river to sustain aquatic health and livelihood of local communities of around 50% flow in the lean season and 30% during the non-monsoon period
Bring back forest cover to the original level through reforestation schemes

I can only hope that these positive changes will restore the Ecology of Uttarakhand soon.
If rivers are there, trees will be there;
If trees are there, mountains will be intact;
If mountains (Pahad) are there, hill people (Pahadi) will have their existence”

So God give me (a Pahadi) existence; give me my mountains, my rivers, my trees, my love…

Factfile –

http://livingpoets.wordpress.com
http://www.rediff.com
http://zeenews.india.com
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com
http://indiatoday.intoday.in
https://www.flickr.com

Inviting Entries for Ecoideaz Innovation Contest

Caleidoscope

June 13, 2014

Hey Folks,

Have you heard of an innovative green idea that’s a great product and saves the environment as well?
Have you created an innovation that is eco-friendly and is made in India?
Have you heard of a poor farmer who has created a Jugaad innovation that needs recognition?

If yes, then here is a contest that provides the right platform for such eco-friendly innovations. Ecoideaz presents the Ecoideaz Innovation Contest that showcases India’s best innovations that can help save the environment.

So go ahead, nominate a green idea that you feel is India’s best innovation. Each nomination will be judged by our panel of experts and both the winning idea and its nominator will be given exciting prizes!

You could check out our last year’s entries here

– https://caleidoscope.in/eco-ideaz/eco-friendly-ideas-from-india

– Click here to nominate –

http://www.ecoideaz.com/contests/ecoideaz-innovation-contest

Recycling Ideas for Home Decor

Caleidoscope

June 13, 2014

Reuse and recycle is a mantra that most people are now becoming aware of and integrating into their lifestyles. Home décor is perhaps the perfect place to reuse and recycle. Look around your home. There are plenty of things which are going to end up in your trash and consequently in the landfill. The shame does not lie in the fact that there are so many things which are going to wind up waste. The shame lies in the fact that not many of use consider recycling and reusing them in order to make our own home décor.

With an enterprising attitude and a bit of creativity, you could use anything from cereal boxes, corks, milk cartons and even plastic bottles to create pieces of home décor which will rival even your best dinner sets in terms of allure. Below are a few different recycling ideas on how you can use common objects of waste in order to create truly remarkable pieces of home décor.

The Pringles Planter

All of us love our Pringles chips. They’re delicious and they’re taste never gets old. However, the shape of the Pringles box or can is more recognizable than the taste of the chips itself. It is a cylindrical container about a foot in length and it is perfect for use as a planter. In order to make the planter aesthetically viable, take some twine or some rope and wrap it around the cylinder. You can then use sequins or other decorative items to spruce up its looks. When you’re done, you will have interesting looking planter which is compact enough to be placed anywhere and deep enough to hold a plant properly.

Paint Planters

Taking a cue from the Pringles idea, we can also use unused paint cans and reuse them as planters. They are a lot bigger than Pringles cans hence their use is in the outdoor garden. Get a bunch of tape, colors and stencils and make quirky designs on the cans in order to make them look attractive.

Cereal Box Decorations

Cereal Boxes get thrown out in the trash or get torn apart by restless children. However, if you can keep your son from tearing it apart and avoid throwing it in the garbage, you can make a few interesting shapes using a cereal box. Perhaps the most attractive of them is the three dimensional star. Visit Guidecentral in order to view the instructions to creating a star out of your cereal box. After you’ve made the star, you can color it any color you want and you are left with a very adorable looking home décor piece.

Plastic Bottle Stands

Plastic bottles are looked at as menaces to the environment. They do not decompose and they’re consumption in the modern world is quite unbelievable. However, if you’re smart, you can use them to make some great looking stands. Collect a few plastic bottles, you must have a few of them at home, and cut out their bases. Next, you need to fashion a stand. You can do this using a piece of metal or wood and a base. Glue the piece of metal or wood to the base and make sure that the base and the metal are perpendicular to each other. Next, make a hole in the center of the plastic bottle bases that you had cut out and place them on the metal one after the other. You can use chewing gum or sealant to keep the bases stable. With some peppy coloring, you can have a jewelry stand for you to keep your accessories in or even use it as a kitchen stand, storing small packets of spices and other things. In fact, you could co-ordinate the color of the stand with your favorite dinner set in order to create an even better and smoother décor.

Author Bio – Jim Deacon is an interior designer who also works as a freelance writer. Jim is famous for his creative and innovative ideas regarding recycling common commodity items into fashionable home décor. Contact Jim for advice regarding anything ranging from dinner sets to using toilet paper rolls to create wall art. www.makemyhome.com

An Oasis of Learning – Swaraj University

Caleidoscope

June 9, 2014

Author – Arpita Gaidhane

‘How long do you have to listen?’
This is a question that most Khojis at Swaraj University will ask you when asked what we do at Swaraj University.
What’s Khoji?
Khoji means ‘a seeker’… someone out on a quest.
What quest?
An individual mission for every person to follow. Enough riddles, you may say! So here it goes – How long do you have to listen?

My tryst with Swaraj University began a year ago, when I finally found what I was seeking through miles and miles of travel and exploration. I had long been unsettled, having given up a completely funded doctoral programme, because I felt that my questions wouldn’t be answered in academia. My masters thesis supervisor had clearly told me,
“Even if you experience Nirvana, unless you can objectively explain it to other people with empirical data, it is a useless question to engage with academically”.

Existential Questions

If education was not going to answer my questions, particularly existential questions as important as “Who am I?” and “What is the world really like beyond individual perspectives?”, why do I need such knowledge?

Disillusioned, I had returned home from London and spent a year travelling around the country looking up alternative education spaces. My travels pushed my perspectives far beyond their original understanding. Soon I realised that my boundaries were extremely limited and the world was hardly as it had seemed to be once. My notions of class, caste and gender all broke down once I actually met people different from me, but who had the same human core. More and more, I started wondering what kind of world I was living in and where I really belonged once my allegiance to categories had been broken.

It was around this time of great confusion and rethinking that I landed up at an oasis in a Rajasthani desert. At the foothills of the Aravallis, the oldest mountain range in the world, lies a place quite unlike any other that I had been to. The people at this place had a quiet reassurance among themselves and pursue what seems right to them. Body, mind and heart were not fragmented into shallow realms; there is a real drive towards listening to oneself and knowing who one really is. In this place, nature is the container of all activity, and people work towards building a community of ardent, driven and compassionate humans. This is a place called Swaraj University.

Conversations informed me that three like-minded people started this space five years ago, and it was inspired by the thoughts of great beings such as Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. The name ‘Swaraj’ emerged from Gandhi’s ‘Hind Swaraj’ concept which meant to signify self-ownership. In a world where people are constantly dependent on the economy and media messages, Swaraj University was meant to be a space for its seekers to know themselves and take their own responsibility.

As I walked across the beautiful Tapovan Ashram, campus of Swaraj University on the outskirts of Udaipur, and took in the sights of a lake at the base on mountains stretching out to infinity, my mind felt completely at peace with the silence that was only broken by chirping and barking.

A year later, I find myself as a Khoji at Swaraj. Here, I have found a community to explore multiple perspectives and learned that I am not alone in seeing the world beyond black & white categories. From sustainability, to understanding what health means to questioning social justice, we have conversations and activities to explore the world in the changing context that we are living in right now. Rather than the remote and unrelated education that I had experienced so far, my learnings at Swaraj have been from working in the real world, meeting real people from all walks of life, and giving as much importance to my emotional needs and personal growth as to my career choices and work.

Sure, just like everywhere we have our fights and conflicts; but here it is celebrated. Failure is celebrated as a stepping stone to success, and we enjoy growing from our experiences. This is a space that holds us when we make mistakes and forges our relationships into stronger bonds through the scars that mark our experiences.

From vaguely finding out about one academic course at a time, I now have the opportunity to explore art, writing, healing, history, communication, facilitation, spirituality, simple living and much more. I explore all of these as a holistic organic way of living, not as ‘fragmented subjects’ to study, and I seek through all of them ways in which to grow and love and become a kinder human being.

So what is Swaraj University? It’s what you make of it. A space for the youth to follow their dreams and coexist with others who have similar crazy ideas of worlds without borders and making magic really come true. It’s an oasis to heal and to cherish relationships and work and the world as part of an organic whole. It’s a space for you to ‘Be’.

Factfile –
www.swarajuniversity.org

India’s Most Socially Concerned Celebrities

Anubhav Sharma

June 6, 2014

Continued from Celebrities supporting social causes

These celebrities are showing that there are better reasons to follow them, apart from their on-screen work. Due to their work, it has become trendy for other Indian movie celebrities to lend their time for various pressing social issues. Lets meet some of the India’s most socially concerned celebrities.

Salman Khan

In his early days of film career, Salman Khan had a notorious reputation of being a playboy with utter disregard to society. However, with his NGO for the underprivileged children, “Being Human”, he seems to have won many hearts. Salman Khan’s love for children helped him to initiate this project. Being Human works in the areas like education and healthcare for the underprivileged children.

Salman Khan has managed to raise funds with events, which happens quite often, and through the sales of his Being Human brand of apparel. Chillar Party, the first film made under his banner went onto win the national film award for best children’s film. Apart from child causes, Being Human also supports bone marrow transplant, which helps people suffering from leukaemia and thalassemia through the Marrow Donor Registry India at the Tata Memorial Centre.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

She is looked upon as the ultimate beauty in India. Today, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a global name for Indian Cinema. After winning the Miss World pageant in 1994, she joined the eye donation campaign run by the Eye Bank Association, when she pledged to donate her eyes. Later, she became the ambassador for the Indian Government’s Pulse Polio campaign to eradicate polio. In 2004, she established an NGO, the Aishwarya Rai Foundation, which works towards helping needy people.

In 2009, she was appointed as the first Goodwill Ambassador of Smile Train that helps kids with the cleft lip and palate surgery. Other major charity activities by Aishwarya are being the spokesperson for the United Nations’ International Year of Microcredit, the International Day of Peace in New York, and the International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS. She supports PETA as well.

Nafisa Ali

Nafisa Ali is a lesser known actress from the 1970-80s who is today more known for her social activism. Till date, she has been a part of various NGOs and projects. In 1999, Nafisa Ali started the Orissa Cyclone Relief fund when Odisha was struck by a massive cyclone. Later in 2001, she actively participated to rehabilitate the earthquake victims in 48 villages of Gujarat, where she helped construct 340 huts. During the Gujarat riots, she worked towards creating peace and harmony in the riot affected areas. She made a documentary on the same named ‘Where Did We Go Wrong’. Nafisa Ali is associated with Action India that works towards spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS, for which she made a documentary, named ‘United against AIDS’. She started a care home named Ashraya to provide support and holistic care for AIDS victims and HIV+ people.

John Abraham

There is a saying “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”. John Abraham seems to have taken this quote seriously. He says, “For me, doing social work and supporting NGOs is more important than endorsing a brand.” Being an animal lover, John Abraham supports various projects of PETA. He is also associated with the People for Animals, who work towards freeing the horses pulling Victoria Carriage on the beaches of Mumbai. His love for animals extends to the ‘Save Our Tiger’ campaign.

Further, John Abraham is also associated with Habitat for Humanity since 2006. Till date, he has helped build over 50,000 homes in India. Being a fitness freak and serious sports addict, John Abraham has been active in promoting sports by supporting the Delhi Waveriders in the Hockey India League and Guwahati football team for the Indian Super League.

Amitabh Bachchan

The megastar of Indian Cinema is probably the most influential celebrity in India today. ‘Big B’, who has been ruling Bollywood for decades, has made sure that people know him not only for his creative work, but for his social activities as well. Being the first brand ambassador for the Pulse Polio campaign by Indian Government, Amitabh Bachchan has influenced the masses with his ‘Do Boond Zindagi Ki’ TV ad. In 2005, he officially became the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. He also supports organisations to create awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Bachchan supported in fundraising for the tsunami victims along with his other colleagues through a concert. He donated Rs.2.5 million to Plan India to ensure a better future for girls in India. Recently, he launched a trust in the name of his father, Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan Memorial Trust, which work towards various issues like rehabilitation of handicapped, blood banks, feeding the poor, sponsoring a child’s education, taking care of poor farmer loans, etc.

Factfile –
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
http://blogs.halabol.com
http://entertainment.oneindia.in
http://www.bain.com
http://forbesindia.com

Indian Celebrities Supporting Social Causes

Anubhav Sharma

June 2, 2014

Indian movie celebrities are considered a part of a glamorous world that is far removed from harsh realities of daily life. Often, we get an illusion that these celebrities are way beyond the problems faced by common man and pay no heed in social issues. However, there are a few celebrities who have tried to break this stereotype and are playing a vital role in shaping our society to make it a better place to live in. These celebrities are showing that there are better reasons to follow them, apart from their on-screen work. Due to their work, it has become trendy for other Indian movie celebrities to lend their time for various pressing social issues. Let’s have a look at some major Indian celebrities supporting social causes.

Aamir Khan

Considered the ‘Mr Perfectionist’ of Indian Cinema, Aamir Khan is one of very few actors who remain far away from the rat race of producing run-of-the-mill movies. He is probably the only actor who has taken up his responsibility towards society so seriously that he created India’s first talk show on social issues, ‘Satyamev Jayate’. When the TV show was launched two years back, he gained immense popularity and his research on various social issues was appreciated.

Apart from that, he has raised voice in support of numerous campaigns and protests such as Narmada Bachao Andolan, Jan Lok Pal Bill and the Supreme Court judgement against homosexuality. His support generated severe criticism from political groups, but he did not back out. Apart from his individual activities and talk shows, Aamir Khan tries to build awareness about social issues through his movies as well. His movies, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots have tried to educate people various social issues like corruption, child care and education system. Further, he is the brand ambassador of Incredible India tourism campaign as well.

Dia Mirza

When she entered Bollywood in 2000, Dia Mirza was often compared with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Although she created a niche for herself, she vanished from the industry after working in a good number of movies. Later this pretty actress was found busy with her social activities. Dia Mirza is actively involved with the Andhra Pradesh Government to help raise the awareness about HIV/AIDS and female foeticide.

Apart from that, she also supports PETA, Cancer Patients Aid Association, NDTV Greenathon, Greenpeace India, Coca Cola Foundation, and CRY. Dia Mirza expressed her support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan along with Aamir Khan. She has been acknowledged for her work in creating awareness about environment-related issues and was felicitated her with the IIFA Green Award in 2011. She is also the Eco Brand Ambassador for Panasonic.

Shabana Azmi

Apart from being a well known actor of her time, Shabana Azmi has always been an active social activist. Shabana is known to raise her voice against various social issues, but her attention goes to women and child-related issues. Shabana has advocated for the cause of slum dwellers, victims of Latur earthquake, and displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

Way back in 1989, she took a four-day march against communalism from Delhi to Meerut. In 1998, Shabana Azmi was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund as well for the HIV/AIDS programme for the SAARC region. Today, Shabana Azmi runs an NGO named Mijwan Welfare Society in Azamgarh district, UP, which works for the underprivileged children. Under Mijwan, she has set up a school, a college, a computer centre, and a sewing centre in a small remote village. She also organizes various fund-raising activities.

Rahul Bose

Rahul Bose is one of the few socially concerned celebrities who are equally known for social activism. Way back in 2004, he was a part of the relief campaign in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands after the 2004 Tsunami, which led him to create the Andaman & Nicobar Scholarship Initiative via his NGO, The Foundation. This scholarship provides education to underprivileged kids from the islands. That apart, Rahul Bose is associated with several charitable organizations such as Oxfam, Worlds Youth Peace Movement, the American India Foundation, and Planet Alert, which have chosen him as their ambassador.

Particularly, he is closely connected with Teach for India for bridge educational gaps among the underprivileged. Further, he is the founder of The Group of Groups, an organisation which acts as an umbrella for the 51 charitable NGOs in Mumbai. In 2009, Rahul Bose travelled across Canada lecturing about global warming and climate change under the Climate Action Network and he participated in the protest at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.

Vidya Balan

The latest one to join the list of social activist celebrity is the bold actress of Indian cinema, Vidya Balan. The actress, who is also known as the ‘female’ hero of Bollywood, has added one more feather to her long list of appreciated work. Vidya Balan has begun to work for the cause of drinking and sanitation campaign after the Rural Development ministry approached her to be the brand ambassador for a cause, which is still a persistent problem in rural India where women’s basic need is neglected. In March 2011, she endorsed World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour campaign in India. In 2012, she has campaigned for the cause of nutrition in India for Child in Need Institute, an NGO based in Kolkata. For her attempts to empower women, Vidya Balan was awarded the Prabha Khaitan Puraskar 2012 by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce.

1...213214215...245 Page 214 of 245