MARVELS BEYOND THE MIST!

A few weeks ago, I got a text from my friend saying that a guy, who had been my classmate during high school, had committed suicide. I seriously thought that this friend was playing a prank on me. Later I discovered the truth. He did commit suicide. I had always seen this guy to be one with great self-esteem and self-confidence. Then why out of nowhere should he take this decision. That was all people spoke for a couple of months. Everyone had only one question. The same question, to be exact. Why?

Now thinking about this issue of suicide, I did a little research and the results I got were too shocking. Statistics show that every five minutes, someone, somewhere in India, attempts suicide. This makes suicide the third major cause of death. Also, annually more than 1,00,000 people commit suicide in India, of which one-thirds are youth.  Diverse backgrounds, diverse goals and diverse opinions! But same decision!

Today, the youth in India form one of the most vulnerable groups, who on the one hand are expected to be the leaders, the backbone of tomorrow’s India, while on the other hand, are a browbeaten and baffled cluster. There is an imbalance between the youth population and the limited opportunities for admission in schools and colleges, and specifically in professional courses. This puts the youth under great pressure. First class and second class are hardly adequate results anymore.  Parents are helpless too, as both public and private institutions have caused economic burden to them. If you think getting admission is the toughest thing that youth can ever experience, rethink! Placements are another hell. You need to get everything right. And even after getting placed, the comparison in relation to the pay received, causes all the more pain. A person with the pleasure of working but with limited salary is certainly not welcome in this society. People have come to a point where they are ready to trade their work pleasure for money. Tough deadlines and hectic work atmosphere have taken the lives of many youth.

Friendships and relationships have also played equal parts in this gamble for life. Youth are too sensitive to sort any sort of relationship problem. The problem may be anything; Fight with best friends, bitter misunderstanding with girlfriend/ boyfriend followed by an even bitter break-up, family issues with parents fighting over their lives or over financial issues. But the youth are greatly affected. They bundle up all these grievances in their hearts and eventually give their hearts a complete rest so they will never have to face the same, again.

 I am blaming all. There are plenty of youth who have followed their heart to be what they wanted to be. But the fact that this suicide virus is taking away the lives of millions of youth is alarming. Something has to be done to cripple it. In battle between the thirst to have their dream life and the urge to fulfill the expectation of the society, many are shattered. While a very few regain their stand, the rest take the ultimate decision of ending their lives.

When they have the guts to face the pain of ending their lives for one moment, why aren’t they having the same guts for a moment longer to face the battle?  If a person is disturbed, all that has to be done is just talk. Words can do wonders, even help see beyond the mist. And you will never know what marvels are awaiting you! 

Bookaholic: Are You One?

By Harinie Thiagarajan:

Have you ever been teased by your friend because you are just too obsessed with the book you are reading; too involved in it that you missed the private joke that you friends cracked in cafeteria? Are you the kind of person who cannot leave a library without borrowing a book or cannot take your hands off the new edition novel for which you have been waiting for ages? Well then, join the club. People call us, “nerds”, “geeks” or “book-worms”. But we call ourselves, “the bookaholics”. It is more fun to be a bookaholic than it seems. Here is how it works.

You start a book, feeling damn bored. Then you get into the heart and soul of it, too absorbed that you have no idea what is going on around you. Hunger and sleep will not even be the matter of concern. The only thing that matters will be to know if the last page of the book rips your heart or heals your scars. Most impossible task will be the one where you had to close your book without getting to run a study-marathon. That’s not all! Days and nights run too fast. You start reading a book and once you decide to stop reading, you notice 3 hours have gone. There are times when you start reading a novel to make your travel less-boring but eventually realize you have missed your stop (Again!!), yet feel clandestinely pleased cause you can have a couple of more time to read during your journey in reverse direction.

The most exciting thing is to follow the author very carefully, listening to every interview to know when his/her book is due. When the date comes, you rush to the nearest book store to grab the first copy. In case you are obsessed with online book reading, you haunt every e-book portal to know if that book had been posted. Every request board contains your thread. There are times when, even after reading 3 to 4 novels in a week, you feel your appetite not satisfied. Books have the amazing ability to transform you to another world. By the time you finish reading a book, you may have laughed, cried, blushed or even cursed the villain in that book.

Most of the novels are converted to movies these days with elaborate screenplay and added characters. But the pleasure of knowing the story from reading a novel is incomparable as you get to get to imagine the casts and the scenes; you let your imagination go wild; sometimes even placing you and your crush in the lead roles of the book.

In case you smiled at any point while reading this article, then you are certainly a bookaholic. And I am proud to say, Welcome aboard!!

Read full article at: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/11/bookaholic-are-you-one/

Gametrender: Android's salivating dessert-The Ice-Cream Sandwic...

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Human value slaughterer

We live in the age of technology. With every minute tickling away, more and more sophisticated gadgets are being developed to make life easy. From cooking to cleaning, from medicine to marketing, there isn’t a field without the presence of technology. Internet has made earth a Global village. With every corner connected, we can stay in touch with our kith and kin no matter how far away they are. If technology brings people closer, then why are the human values reducing. We prefer to stay hours together in social networking sites, chatting with an unknown friend from an unknown country but we run out of topics while talking with our relatives. Technology has even reduced the distance between Mars and Earth but ultimately distanced us from our neighbors. Family ceremonies and get-together have long lost their original meaning.

We, human beings are distinguished from robots by our ability to recognize people and share feelings with them. Now that technology has shaped a scenario where that basic sense of human feeling is lost, then in what way are we different from a robot? Is this what we actually expected out of technology? It has provided simple solutions to many complicated problems that we face in our day-to-day lives. But regrettably, it has complicated our simple way of living. It’s high time we realize the actual the importance of values and ethics. “Remove the weeds before it is too late”. Only when we comprehend and mark the difference now, the future generation will enjoy the privilege of having human relationships. 

Lights! Camera!! Action!!!

Feb 27, 2011. The much awaited Oscars are to crown the makers of movies, who stole the hearts of millions. Celebs from every language, country  and genere arrive at the Red Carpet with anticipation of winning the highest ever possibe award. But the question is, are the awards given to deserving films? Has the current, so-called modernization changed the way film should be? Let's take a journey through " THE ROAD TO THE OSCARS".

A few decades ago, films had an entirely different role to play. The youth those days were inspired and groomed by the films. The movies were more about the story than about the people playing the roles. It was more about what they listen from a movie than about what they hear. When asked people of that generation, their first response about the films would be the remarkable place occupied in millions' hearts. Trust me, songs did not decide the box office of any movie.

But these days, one cannot even guess the height a movie would reach. A movie with a never-in-the-world plot may be a super-doper hit while one with an appreciable theme may not even reach a house-full for 3 consecutive shows. The fans are not to be blamed and neither are the critics. The trend these days have changed so much that people prefer "MUNNI" and "SHEILA KI JHAVAANI" than anything between moderate and decent. These days even the movie critics hane change of opinion. A movie graded GOOD by one critic would be invariably graded somewhere from BAD to WORSE. These situations cause stunning impact on the financial value of the movie irrespective of its genre.

Ofcourse I'll never deny that movies are supposed to a machine for time travel. But I personally feel that maybe, once a while, there would be atleast one movie that can make my goose flesh rise! With this hope, I wish GOOD LUCK for the deserving nominees to win the OSCARS!