Let's redefine ideas

How many nights in a month, on average, have full moon? I think your answer to this question must be “What? Don’t you know!” Answer is obvious. Its only one night every 28 days. But, a full night of moon is possible for more days. Do you remember your childhood days? How awestruck you were watching moon on a clear sky? Or, what about a cloudy night with a full moon? Didn’t you ever play hide-and-seek with the moon? In my childhood years, I sometimes spent hours simply gazing the sky with eyes wide open, following the moon. I wanted to clear the mystery of whereabouts of the moon in broad daylight. Have you gone through this experience again after gaining maturity? Perhaps, no. It seems to be childish or wastage of time. We are too busy to spare time for such activities. Or you may reject the idea for reasons best known to you. A break from routine life is a good idea. That’s why we plan trips, parties, etc. How about spending a full night of moon? I again am asking th...

Last night I was helping my son remember a small speech he was supposed to deliver in his school the next day. My wife asked me to hear out what he had remembered so far. He stuck at a particular sentence twice as he failed to recall a word (kind of a keyword, which might help him to recall the following text). I advised him to understand and memorize the context and the purpose of the message not the exact words. He retorted, “How will then I remember if I don’t remember exactly what is mentioned here?” He then snatched the notes from me and started reading it aloud (it helps to cram, I mean, memorize any content you read). I was lost into thoughts. I want to relate this incident with the situation of our education system. I myself am a college lecturer. I have been teaching computer science for last 13 years. Of all the students I have taught till date, I have found that only 5% students are willing to go extra mile, who wish to learn more, do some experiments and seek answers ...

It happened with me (Perhaps happens with most of us) that I craved to do something but failed to believe in it. I wanted to write a story on youth but feared whether I will ever be able to write something worthwhile (the last time I wrote a story was when I was 15). I struggled with ideas, with my pen and paper. I gave up every time. In less than one year, something became alive within me. An idea clicked me and I decided to give it a shape. I began with the initial story and then kept writing - whatever came to my mind. This process gave birth to more insights and ideas to make it better. Then I re-wrote some parts, even re-wrote the already re-written sections.  In five months, I was ready with the initial manuscript, which I shared with one of my colleagues who taught literature. On his suggestion, I made some minor as well as major changes to the plot. After one month, my script was done. For next one month, I edited the manuscript to make it crisp and error-free. After seven...

We encounter many situations in our life. Everything is very real to the person who encounters such situations. What is true to one person may appear rubbish or wrong to the other. As we grow, we feel affected by the certain things happening to us. For example, "feeling loved" is a very real and genuine emotion for a young person. "Love" and "Breakup" are very important events in one's young years but this all may be stupid in the eyes of a middle aged or an old person. As we see in real life as well as in movies, fathers mostly dislike their young boy or girl admitting a relationship. Similarly, working and earning money to lead a good life is very genuine concern for a family person but a child is never concerned for such issues. The experiences, priorities and aims belong to a certain time of your life whether it is important for you to do, it never can outdo other person's same set of things especially of different age groups. Therefo...

Success doesn't come easily, for sure. "Success has many parents but failure is an orphan." This is a famous quote by Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari. Failure can come anytime and owning it as much hard as is to get out of it. Becoming successful is always an attractive option. It definitely takes lots of efforts and determination to become a successful person. I believe that retaining your success and digesting it is as difficult as becoming successful. It may take your old personality out of you if you failed to realise that it went over your head. If you are doing something insignificant then its final outcome will not impact you much. For example, you were trying to book flight tickets online but couldn't, then this will not take your confidence out of you. However, if you are doing something important then its final outcome will surely shake you from your feet. For example, you were preparing for Indian Administrative Services (IAS) e...

In many of the competitions, be it sports, cultural etc, there are mostly 3 categories of prizes-1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Is there any more? Yes, many a times, there is a consolation prize also. It is for those whose performance was not one f the best but was not bad either. It is a type of motivation to someone who couldn't win but had all the qualities to be a winner. Why I began with this simple observation? Coming to the point, we all are regular users of social media apps like Whatsapp, Instagram etc. I never fail to check messages on my Whatsapp. Many of us start our day by sending and reading "Good Morning" type messages. Most of these messages are motivational types which carry the idea of "Think Good, Do Good", "You Can Do  It." If you are a regular Whatsapp user, you might be receiving 5-10 such messages daily. Sometimes we forward the messages to others also. These lovely, inspirational messages adorn the gallery of your handset. You read the...

A few years ago, I was reading an interview of a famous actor in a leading daily. One part of his interview touched my heart. He was asked if he was interested in directing a movie to which he replied-"I want to act only. This is the best thing I can do and do it well." Was he restricting himself to a safer zone of his career? Should not one take risks in his life to venture into something new- to grow and learn? I found answer to this question from my personal experience. I was preparing for various competitive exams. Even after hard work (what I think) I couldn't score well in the two exams of banking jobs. It was a disheartening experience for me as I had devoted much time to prepare myself for these two exams and I was feeling very confident to get very good score also. However, this experience taught me a lesson of lifetime-"Do your best but do what you can do best" If you are a good singer and has been singing for last many years, I am sure, you have the ...

Today, our Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh is visiting our city - Chandigarh. Local editions of prominent national dailies and front pages of local news-papers are flooded with the news on the preparations going on for the planned visit to keep everything in order. There is nothing wrong in all this work as he is the person who is heading a big nation like India and deserves respect and nice treatment. But, there is something ridiculous and something annoying. What is ridiculous is that local administration and municipal council has hurriedly done patch work and is mostly doing cover up on their inefficient and lazy ways of working. With the help of hundreds of labourers, road berms and trees have been painted to give a refreshing look to roads. Shrubs and wild grass alongside the roads has been removed and everything is looking spic and spine. It is good and bad at the same time. It is good since maintenance work is the right of every city. It is bad since it is done only on the ...

I am writing this post on ' writing ' itself. Actually, many people, including me, are scared of writing. If people loved to write their ideas, everyone would have become an author. Ha ha... Talking about my fear of writing...One would say how I am writing and fearful at the same time! When some idea strikes my mind, I take many days to pick a pen and paper to jot it down. It gives me shivers when I pick the pen. I fear if I will be able to give right shape to my idea! Will it be liked by a reader? This fear signals 'DANGER' to my hands when there is something to write. It happens many a times the idea which knocked the door of my brain is disappointed and goes back to the unknown place from where it came. Phew... From my very childhood, the fear for writing started developing in me. The moment my learning 'oral' way was over, I was expected to pick pencil and start writing 1,2,3....A, B, C..... Many times I protested against the dictates of my teachers and...

One day  I was sitting in the balcony of our home and enjoying the cool evening breeze, sipping a glass of mango-shake. In such moments, my mind begins giving me ideas and I start composing them in my mind. One idea I got was related to the  juices -  inside every human being. This juice is the source of energy. I am, here, referring to our mind. Sometimes, thoughts surround you all-over like surround music. One may enjoy surround music, but not such thoughts. You feel like a victim, just flowing with your own thoughts, like a faithful servant. It happens many a times, especially when you are in a pensive mood. Such situation can be a draining one, especially if you start enjoying it. YES! many a times, we ‘enjoy’ such moods,  like taking small sips from a glass of juice . (Not knowing it actually squeezes juice out of you). That’s why many people fail to come out of their situations. Such situations can be due to our personal, family, social, professional or a...

Notes on Information cum Office cum Library Manager Post Indian Constitution Questions with Answers: Which one of the following Articles empowers the President to Appoint Prime Minister of India ? A. Article 74 B. Article 75 C. Article 76 D. Article 77 Ans: B The constituent Assembly formed the drafting committee of India constitution on: A. 29th August 1947 B. 30th August 1948 C. 29th August 1949 D. 29th August 1950 Ans: A Which one of the following sets of Bills is Presented to the Parliament along with the Budget ? A. Direct taxes bill and Indirect taxes bill B. Contingency Bill and Appropriation Bill C. Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill D. Finance Bill and Contingency Bill Ans: C Which of the following exercised the most profound influence in framing the Indian Constitution ? (A) British Constitution (B) U.S. Constitution (C) Irish Constitution (D) The Government of India Act, 1935 Ans: D In which article of the Constitut...