FROM EDITOR’S DESK
MAGAZINE ON EDUCATION
Needs vs. Luxuries
VOLUME 03 | ISSUE 07 | DECEMBER 2015
What products can’t you live without? Managing Editor Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI Editor James Paul Associate Editor Dr. Prasant Palackappilly CMI
Columns K. L. Mohanavarma Dr. K. N. Raghavan Dr. Jose Cletus Plackal
Chances are, your answer to that question in early 90's would be very different from your answer today. If someone asked you to write a list of things you couldn't live without, your car, clothes drier and microwave would likely make the cut. However, if your parents were asked to write the same list when they were your age, they might have labeled those same items as luxuries, Pew Research Center study found. The study also found that as the years go by, people think they need more things. It's not always easy to distinguish between what you need and things you want, but doing so can help you budget your money for things you need and want most in life. Luxury is no longer restricted today to only the rich and the selected few but is being used for mass marketing now. Students are easily tempted by luxury products in the market. Even the middle income parents are forced to buy these products for their wards, who are trying to be at par with the so called 'rich' class mates. The concept of luxury has been changing dramatically across time and culture. Earlier, luxury was connected with things like wines, champagne, designer clothes and sports cars.
Marketing Manager Varghese Kachappilly CMI Design Sajo Joseph
According to Scott Halliwell of financial institution USA, you have two types of needs: absolute needs and near necessities. You will die if you don't meet your absolute needs – food, clothing and shelter. While you might be able to survive without your near necessities, not having them would make it difficult or impossible for you to work, go to school or contribute to your community. Near necessities include hygiene products, cleaning products and transportation. Everyone has the same absolute needs, but a near necessity for you isn't always a near necessity for everyone. For example, if you are in school, your textbooks are a near necessity, but if your friend doesn't go to school, books are a luxury for him. Your definition of needs and luxuries will be different from your parent's definition, but you can all use the same variables to determine your individual needs. Whether you are still living with your parents or you have struck out on your own, developing a budget will help you be disciplined about your finances. Knowing the difference between your necessities and luxuries is an essential part of budgeting.
Contact: Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O, Kakkanad, Kochi-39. Phone : 0484 2973979 Mobile : +91 9497711010 E-Mail : editor@rajagirimedia.com Web : www.pallikkutam.com
Are our campuses become a place for showcasing luxury products for the rich? Where is the borderline between luxury and necessity? We did a study on this.
CONTENTS
20 CO VER ST OR Y COVER STOR ORY
Luxurious student life Students are fascinated with all kinds of luxury when parents are trying hard to meet both the ends. Our students are obsessed with costly brands. Our campuses resembles the costly life of digital age students....
22 Is luxury a necessity for the students? Certainly not... Dr. P C Alexander
Designer clothes, luxury cars and electronic gadgets and games all form part of the new generation luxury of the younger generation.
24 Dangers of luxury Adv. Hariraj M R
Thinking in the context of education, there was a period not far in history of this country, where formal education itself was considered as opulence.
27 Luxury and student life Anjali Sreenath
Now the parents have all wealth and wanted their kids to perform well in their academics. So they will be all fascinating gadgets and give them where kids will not have time to study their subjects.
29 Keep your values
Adv. T. Gopalakrishnan Education helps to frame an individual to be a better one and the invasion of luxury in their styles often keeps them away from developing values and appears an in human approach to other creatures.
DECEMBER 2015 BE +VE CONTOURS OF CHANGE
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Express yourself
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Able or a bubble? Reckoning time for startups
Nirmala Lilly
REGULARS NEWS.................................. 06 INSIGHTS........................... 08
Joe A Scaria
EXPERT COUNSEL
STORIES OF LIFE
POLICY WATCH
15 18 35
Sehwag says Sayonara
INFOTECH.......................... 41
Dr. K. N. Raghavan
INNOVATIONS.................... 43
Symbiosis, Separation and Rapprochement
SPORTS.............................. 60
Dr. Jose Cletus Plackal
RAINBOW............................
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KBPS: Another spoiled brat of the State Government? Dr. D. Dhanuraj & Deepthi Mary Mathew
HEALTH MONITOR
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Teas to help beat stress
CREATIVE LIVING
45
Scamper off into probortunity
SUBSCRIBE NOW TURN TO P AGE 14 PA
Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran
GUEST COLUMN ASPECTS
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Ovarian lottery
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Indra and Virocana: God-Demon Dichotomy
K. L. Mohana Varma
Dr. Augustine Thottakara
BOOKSHELF EDU BIZ REFLECTIONS
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The Plague
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Growing e-learning market in India
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Albert Camus
Who is truly the wealthy one? Jose Panthaplamthottiyil
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NEWS
In a first, two Indian institutes in world’s top 200 wo Indian institutes have for the first time made it to the top 200 list of the world's best universities. The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has taken the top spot among its Indian counterparts, bagging the 147th rank. The only other Indian institute to make it to the top 200 is Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, ranked 179th this year. It has made great progress from last year when it was ranked 235th in the world.
Science making the top 40 for the first time.
(8), China (7), France, Sweden and Hong Kong (5).
In an exclusive interview to TOI, Ben Sowter, QS head of research, said, "India has two institutions in the top 200 this year, which has occurred as a result of QS evolving its methodology to be more evenhanded across subject areas and it has revealed strength in research in
Sowter adds "If, however, India and her universities are serious about competing internationally, then they have to start engaging internationally. How does it make sense for Xi'an Jiaotong University to have higher proportions of international students and faculty than IIT Delhi? The only answer is the quality and quantity of local demand. A typical international student who might want to go to an IIT probably can't meet the entry standards - and if they can, then they're going to MIT or Imperial," Sowter said.
According to the QS World University Rankings 2015, there are 14 Indian institutions in the World University Rankings and half of them are among the global 400. The bad news is that the University of Delhi and the University of Mumbai have lost ground. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the world's top university, closely followed by Harvard. The University of Cambridge is tied to Stanford University for the third place. London is the only city in the world with four universities in the top 50, more than Boston and New York (3) Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong and Beijing (2), with the London School of Economics and Political
According to Sowter, India should worry less about rankings.
engineering, technology and the natural sciences. If you want to compare India and China, the primary shortfalls are money and consistent policy leadership." Thirty-four countries are represented in the top 200. The US is the dominant nation, with 49 institutions, ahead of the UK (30), the Netherlands (12), Germany (11), Canada, Australia, and Japan
Sowter added "The current priorities of its HE system are domestic, the country has unique demographics that are very difficult to comprehend for many outside observers. What India should probably focus on, is having its universities focus on fostering global citizens with leadership potential, whilst maintaining its strengths in research in engineering, technology and natural sciences.
President's medal for innovation
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he sight of a bruised puppy on her way to school last year sparked an idea in Diva Sharma's mind. On returning home, the class XII student developed a stress monitoring mechanism for animals to give them urgent medical care. Her project has recently been shortlisted for National Innovation Foundation (NIF)'s Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2015 award to be given by the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee, on November 30. The project involves hardware as well as software. "There are some wearable sensors to measure health indices, which are then recorded
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using the computer software for further application. The software tells us what health problem the animal has and what immediate treatment should be given. I chose four parameters pulse rate, heartbeat, respiratory rate and body temperature. Depending on the results of these four factors, one can gauge the urgency of medical care required," she elaborates. This is one of the 31 ideas from 40 students out of 28,106 entries from schools across the country. Being a science student, Sharma tends to stay occupied with school classes followed by three private tuition sessions. So, finding time for an extracurricular
activity was not easy. But her love for animals helped her complete the project in about seven months. "I started working on the project during my summer vacations (in 2014) when I had plenty time. Afterwards, I used to take some time out at night. This is how I could finish the project," adds Diva, who sought an IIT Delhi faculty member's help. "I don't think I could have completed the project without his guidance." PVM Rao, coordinator of the innovation centre at IIT Delhi, says, "I played the role of a mentor and guided her about the feasibility of the project.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
NEWS
ICRISAT, IIT Bombay launches free online agriculture course he National Virtual Academy for Indian Agriculture will launch an online course on diseases of horticultural crops and their management in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. The two month free online course, which begins on November 30 and concludes on January 29, 2016, is an initiative by a team of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in agriculture and educators from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and its partners together with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. "Complementing Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's dream of a Digital India where - Quality Education reaches the most inaccessible corners driven by Digital Learning, we are excited to see the launch of MOOCs (Part-II) in India, which offers high quality learning opportunities for students across the country," said Dr David Bergvinson, Director General, ICRISAT. "The course materials have been methodically planned and prepared by highly experienced team of educators and professors in the agricultural field, who have devoted their time and effort to educate the Indian masses on sustainable agriculture practices," said Dr Sumanthkumar, Scientist - ICT for Development, ICRISAT. The Part-II course will cover distribution, symptoms, causes, disease cycles and management of diseases of important horticultural crops and their economic importance.
ICSE board plans major revamp
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chools affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) board will soon undergo revamp in syllabus, infrastructure, teachers' training and modernization. The road map in this line was discussed by educators from ICSE affiliate schools across the country at the 58th annual general meeting started here on Wednesday. "The way we read, learn, work, communicate and find information have changed drastically in the last few years. The implication of these changes is tremendous in all walks of life. We need to rethink our practices as educators in response to these changes and this is why we are here," said secretary-treasurer of Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate (ASISC), K V Vincent. The participants in the meeting including over 1200 principals from various schools would discuss on how to bring in a major revamp in the syllabus and examination as per the need of the hour. This year's theme is 'Education in a changing world'.
CBSE issues guidelines to schools on singing national anthem CBSE has asked schools to sing the national anthem in proper manner and sing it as stated in the constitution of India. Board has given guidelines on how to sing the anthem including time duration in which the national anthem is to be sung. In a recent circular the Central Board of Secondary Education stated that "in its framework of the values education lists the Article 51(A) of the Indian Constitution- Fundamental Duties that contains 10 principles and the first one is "to abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the national flag and the national anthem. The board has framed four behavioral descriptors for students for this principle. The second descriptor entails singing of national anthem with decorum." In a further link in the circular the board has given the wordings of the full version of the
Pallikkutam | December 2015
anthem and its playing time which is approximately 52 seconds. "A short version consisting of the first and last lines of the national anthem is also played on certain occasions," it stated.
Playing time of the short version is about 20 seconds. Board has further defined occasions on which the full versions or the short version will be played. The full version of the anthem shall be played on the following
occasions including "civil and military investitures, national salute, during parades, on arrival of the President at formal state functions, When the national flag is brought on parade, when the regimental colours are presented etc. The full version of the anthem must be played accompanied by mass singing on the unfurling of the national flag, on cultural occasions or ceremonial functions other than parades and on arrival of the President at any government or public function, the instructions read. In all schools, the day's work may begin with community singing of the anthem. School authorities should make adequate provision in their programmes for popularizing the singing of the anthem and promoting respect for the national flag among students.
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INSIGHTS
Ambitious parents can harm child's academic performance arents are generally highly ambitious about their child. Parent ambition can generate two diametrically opposite responses in children. When parents have high hopes for their children's academic achievement, the children tend to do better in school, unless those hopes are unrealistic, in which case the children may not perform well in school. Although parental aspiration can help improve children's academic performance, excessive parental aspiration can be poisonous. The study is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Previous psychological research has found the association between aspiration and academic achievement, but this study highlights a caveat.
Much of the previous literature conveyed a simple, straightforward message to parents - aim high for your children and they will achieve more. In fact, getting parents to have higher hopes for their children has often been a goal of programs designed to improve academic performance in schools. This study suggests that the focus of such educational programs should not be on blindly increasing parental aspiration but on giving parents the information they need to develop realistic expectations. Unrealistically high aspiration may hinder academic performance. Simply raising aspiration cannot be an effective solution to improve success in education, suggests the author.
Passion brings more success than talents
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exhibit a passion for these interests in their teens are more likely to be successful later on, regardless of their inherent talent.
The study finds that the two objectives are not mutually exclusive – in fact, each feeds the other. Young people with strong callings are more likely to take risks, persist, and ultimately get jobs in their chosen fields, satisfying both their personal and professional career needs. The researchers also found that those who
Given the economic reality today, people commonly face trade-offs as they make decisions that pit the two sides of careers - the 'heart,' or intrinsic side, and the 'head,' or extrinsic side - against one another. If you experience a strong calling, you need to be cognizant of your relative preferences for intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards and potential tradeoffs between the two, then decide accordingly, suggest the study. The study found that, in certain fields, one's drive or passion afforded a competitive advantage over others, even when unrelated to objective ability or talent.
nenthusiastic, uncommitted, and uninvolved, male and female workers alike are now, more than ever before, unlikely to be "doing what they love" at work. Should you pursue your passion or strive toward a secure living? A new Tel Aviv University study finds talent is less important than passion when it comes to professional success. The study is published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
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Breakfast is the most important meal for a student
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direct and positive link between pupils' breakfast quality and consumption, and their educational attainment, has for the first time been demonstrated in a ground-breaking new study carried out by public health experts at Cardiff University. The research found that the odds of achieving an above average educational performance were up to twice as high for pupils who ate breakfast, compared with those who did not. The results of the research are published in the Public Health Nutrition journal. It offers the
strongest evidence yet of a meaningful link between dietary behaviors and concrete measures of academic attainment. While breakfast consumption has been consistently associated with general health outcomes and acute measures of concentration and cognitive function, evidence regarding links to concrete educational outcomes has until now been unclear. The current study offers the strongest evidence yet of links between aspects of what pupils eats and how well they do at school. The study assumes importance in Indian context, where there is a perception that government funding for free school meals may be soon scrapped. For schools, time and resource towards improving child health can be seen as an unwelcome diversion from their core business of educating pupils, in part due to pressures that place the focus on solely driving up educational attainment.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
INSIGHTS
Mood swings in teens decline with age dolescence is typically regarded as a period of heightened emotionality. Although the teen years are an important time for youth to learn to regulate their emotions, little research has looked at the development of teens' emotional stability. Now a new longitudinal study has found that adolescents' mood swings decline gradually as they get older, which should reassure parents about their moody teens while also helping identify when instability is considered risky and requires intervention. The study is reported in the journal Child Development. The research found that the early adolescence is the period of the greatest volatility, but adolescents gradually stabilize in their moods. An important message to teens, parents, and teachers is that temporary mood
swings during early adolescence might actually be normal and aren't necessarily a reason to worry. Teens' moods could become more stable because events that are new in early adolescence (such as first romances, which can be exciting, and conflicts with parents about leisure time, which can be frustrating) happen less frequently as teens grow older. And it's likely that adolescents figure out over time how to deal more effectively with changes in their moods. Anxiety was the only mood that didn't fit in with this overall pattern. The variability in teens' anxious moods waxed and waned, with an initial increase, then a decrease, followed by an increase again toward the end of adolescence. This trend could be explained by the transition toward adulthood, the researchers suggest, which might induce more anxiety swings in late adolescence due to teens' increasing responsibilities (such as leaving school, going on to higher education, or getting a job).
Birth order does not determine personality types
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ho we become only marginally correlates with our birth position amongst siblings. Psychologists from the universities of Mainz and Leipzig, Germany, came to this conclusion in a study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
while middle children develop a talent for diplomacy and last-born's are expected to be rebellious. To shed some light on the so far inconsistent findings on whether these differences actually exist, the researchers analyzed the data of more than 20,000 grownups from Germany, the USA, and Great Britain. They found that central personality traits such as extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, and The question of whether a person's conscientiousness are not affected by position among siblings has a lasting birth-order position. Only regarding impact on personality has occupied self-reported intellect small effects scientist for more than 100 years. Lay were found: Firstborns were more people as well a scientist share a likely to report a rich vocabulary and number of beliefs: Firstborns are less difficulty understanding abstract supposedly perfectionists, for example, ideas.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
Singing together creates faster bonding
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e have long known the power of a good singalong. Now, research from the University of Oxford has shown that singing is a great icebreaker and can get groups of people to bond together more quickly than other activities can. The study is published in the Royal Society's Open Science journal concludes that singing groups bonds more quickly than creative writing or craft classes. One of the key differences between humans and other primates is that we can exist in much larger social groups. Singing is found in all human societies and can be performed to some extent by the vast majority of people. It's been suggested that singing is one of the ways in which we build social cohesion when there isn't enough time to establish one-toone connections between everyone in a group. The research wanted to explore whether there was something special about singing as a bonding behavior or whether any group activity would build bonds between members. The research is part of a series of studies looking at how music leads to social bonding. Given that music-making is an important part of all human cultures throughout history we think it probably evolved to serve some purpose. Evidence suggests that the really special thing that music does for us is encourage social bonding between whole groups of people playing and dancing together, suggests the study. Really close relationships still depend on interactions between individuals or much smaller groups, but this study shows singing can kick start the bonding process.
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BE +VE
Express yourself Nirmala Lilly Art of communication is the language of leadership - James Humes Communication and leadership are the two sides of the same coin. There are so many training programs available for the development of both. I used to attend these programs often. Communication became a stumbling block to my career growth in the corporate world. I did my schooling in Malayalam medium, so communicating in English was a big challenge. I had ideas swarming in but I was unable to articulate myself. There were instances in which my colleagues took credit of the work I have done. Of late, I realized the importance of these qualities and I pursued it and I am still pursuing it hard. Skill to effective communication is very important for career growth. This has to be cultivated at a young age. Reading, listening, writing and speaking are the ways to acquire communication skill. Developing communication skill is essential for effective leadership. During my career life, I realized the importance and the edge of leadership skill.
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Communication is the mark of a leader. We know many very great leaders who were and are powerful speakers.
Good communication skills are a prerequisite for a leader. What purpose does it serve a good or great communicator if you do not use this skill? Does it matter if you’re a great singer, but no longer sing? Or, if you are a fine teacher but do not teach? Communication is the mark of a leader. We know many very great leaders who were and are powerful speakers. It is of no use, even though you have the substance and unable to articulate. We should take learning language as a passion. I have noticed a top management person who is very elderly and highly respected, referring dictionary and learning new words and adding vocabulary to his knowledge bank. I have also noticed that most of us have inhibition while articulating ourselves in front of others. We tend to ask these questions to ourselves : "What will they think if I say this? Will I make grammatical mistakes? Am I cent percent correct about what I am saying? Will they like it? Will they disagree? How are they going to project their disagreement? Will they make fun of me? Will I be able to handle it?"
Pallikkutam | December 2015
BE +VE These questions will block us and most of the times we don’t express ourselves at all. There will be instances in which you have the idea and you know that this idea would help but you are afraid to articulate. While you are thinking over these questions, someone else would express half of what you had thought and get applauded. You would be still thinking ‘I had a better idea but I am not sure whether I should present it now, I will wait for the right opportunity’. We fool ourselves with this consolation and remember 'right opportunity will never come again.' We should make effort to overcome these inhibitions. If we need to improve our grammar, then we should make effort to improve our vocabulary. We should learn to be more confident about ourselves. Even if, our content might not be fully correct, we can make it a point to express our thoughts. Likewise we need to improve ourselves based on each question that blocks our mind. This helps us in building more confidence. Try something new
Pallikkutam | December 2015
Try something new always: speak before a large group, enter a contest, participate in roles that challenge you, and participate in a debate, or a seminar. Speak at every opportunity and you will progress greatly.
always: speak before a large group, enter a contest, participate in roles that challenge you, and participate in a debate, or a seminar. Speak at every opportunity and you will progress greatly. Improve your skill and use it for your advantage. Once you are comfortable and have effective communication, take the leadership challenges. Leadership can change you forever! And it will allow you to change and influence others, and they in turn will inspire more individuals. This creates a ripplingeffect, and we never know how far it goes. Someone’s rippling effect changed our lives, now it’s time for us to change the lives of others. I challenge you to continue on your path of improvement and use your new skills to seek out and inspire others.
‘Sometimes inconsistent communication is better than no communication at all’ - Lizzie Macgill
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CONTOURS OF CHANGE
Joe A Scaria
Able or a bubble? Reckoning time for startups
Not only do these young firms create jobs that may appear to be a trickle but add up to a mighty number, they also bring a fresh dynamism into the market by their ability to be nimble and give competition to established players, as well as trigger innovation.
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f one were to put a finger on the most glamorous part of India’s business ecosystem over the past five years, it would likely be startups. Post the 2008 global meltdown, they have been the silver lining across economies and India has not been different. The latest of the oomph moments for Indian startups came a few months ago when Japanese telecom and internet major SoftBank group
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invested $100 million, or a cool Rs 660 crore, in budget hotels market-place, OYO Rooms.
entrepreneurs everywhere, literally from Kashmir – where Asia’s largest Iftaar party was held by the Dal Lake this year by Loudbeetle.in – right That was SoftBank’s fourth investment down to Kerala where our own in the country in a matter of 12 months, SmartCity is basking in the limelight. after betting onSnapdeal, Ola and Housing.com. SoftBank itself has been At a time when the job market is just one of the many investors showing signs of significant strain, including Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia startups are indeed a timely crutch for Capital and LightSpeed who have also the economy to get a boost and for come to believe in the India startup scores of youth who enter the job story. The startup bug has bitten market each year to be employed.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
CONTOURS OF CHANGE On that employment aspect, particularly, startups in India have a special significance owing to the ability of startups to create jobs in small numbers which in turn add up to an ocean of employed youth. That is no small advantage for a country like India which has to create 10 millionodd jobs each year. Even in a developed-country economy like that of the US, new and young companies are seen to be the primary sources of job creation. In fact, if the US has clawed back from the abyss of 2008 and the Federal Reserve is thinking of raising interest rates, a good part of the credit should go to the startups. Not only do these young firms create jobs that may appear to be a trickle but add up to a mighty number, they also bring a fresh dynamism into the market by their ability to be nimble and give competition to established players, as well as trigger innovation. Indeed, the sheer number of young firms in an economy is a barometer to measure the overall dynamism in the economy and a pointer to the prospects of the youth who are job market-ready.
For sensible business projects, there should be no reason to fear. After all, if a profitable business is being built, funds will chase it. redoubtable brick-and-mortar giants like Tata Motors or a Mahindra and Mahindra. Of course, India is not alone in such valuations. After all, over a year ago when Facebook bought Whatsapp, the valuation was at a then mind-boggling $22 billion. Whether or not Indian startups are mimicking international trends in valuations is not the point. What matters is whether the startups will earn revenues, notch profits, and finally satisfy all stakeholders.
It is in this area that clouds are hovering over the startup horizon. In recent weeks, even some of the All those positives give startups a better-known startups have been halo of their own, but worry-lines are showing signs of strain. Food also emerging about the stability and delivery startup, TinyOwl laid off 300 valuation of the many startups that employees in two rounds, media have been spawned in recent years. reported the troubles and subsequent layoff plans of Housing.com, and Startup valuations are downright baffling. Flipkart’s $16-billion valuation Zomato decided to lay off 10 per cent keeps it on a higher pedestal than such of its staff.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
The turbulence is so strong that some even feel the question is not whether there will be a startup meltdown, but when that will happen. Startups have been brilliant in presenting their ideas and getting all those venture capital millions. The acid test is now, when they have to prove that their brilliant concepts are also workable and profitable business ventures. The same VCs who put their money into the startups will now be keen to get their returns in a hurry. After all, they made their investments during the days of low interest, and if the Federal Reserve does raise interest rates, there is a likelihood of funds flowing out of the country. “Start up India, Stand up India�, was a recent clarion call by Prime minister Narendra Modi in an effort to instill the startup culture among college students and young Indians. For sensible business projects, there should be no reason to fear. After all, if a profitable business is being built, funds will chase it. But if the idea is merely to begin a startup as a fad, the startup promoter will have to chase funds. In a sense, now is a time of reckoning for Indian startups. If they are able to ride out the present troubles and actually bring in the revenues, the nation will be proud to have some international-class, technology-driven brands. That they also address our employment crunch will be a big bonus.
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EXPERT COUNSEL
Dr. K.N. Raghavan
Sehwag says Sayonara
Virender Sehwag belongs to that rare breed of cricketers who added lustre to the game by their uniquely simple and straightforward approach and a positive mindset that could transcend all the hurdles that came their way.
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t was January 1999 and I was umpiring a Deodhar Trophy match between North and East zones at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. North had won the toss and was making slow progress against a disciplined East attack when the fourth wicket fell and a short stocky batsman walked to the wicket and started hitting the ball to all parts of the ground right from the word go. And then I witnessed something which I had not experienced before in my career as an umpire. Normally an umpire watches the front foot of the bowler as it lands and then shifts his gaze to the strikers end. Invariably the batsman on strike would be preparing to receive and play the ball when umpire’s gaze moves to his end. But I found that this new batsman was already in position to hit the ball when my gaze moved to him from the front foot of the bowler. Initially I thought that it was an attempt to unsettle the bowlers but soon I found that this batsman was seeing the ball so early that he was in a position to hit it as he wished, by the time it reached him!! East zone bowlers had no clue how to bowl to this batsman as whatever delivery they tried was despatched to the fence with minimum effort. Finally he got dismissed in the only way possible when he slipped and fell while trying to take a cheeky single. As the batsman departed I asked him his
Pallikkutam | November December 2015
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EXPERT COUNSEL name and he replied shyly “Virender Sehwag�. I thought that Sehwag would be an automatic choice for the 1999 ICC World Cup but he did not make it. Selectors gave him a chance against the touring Pakistani side in 1999 but he could not score many runs in that match and he was not given further opportunities. He earned a recall to the national side for One Day International matches in December 2000. But it was only in 2001 that he could make it to the test squad and he promptly announced his arrival with a century in his debut test match at Bloemfontein. He played the first few matches in international cricket as a middle order batsman who could also bowl. It was during the tour to England in 2002 that he was given an opportunity to open the innings and he proved his mettle by hitting a fifty and century in successive test matches. Ever since, except for a short break in 2007, he had opened the innings for India in all formats of the game, till he was dropped from the side in 2012. The records that Sehwag set during his career speak for themselves. He became the first Indian batsman to score a triple century in test matches when he hit 309 against Pakistan at
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Multan in 2004. He bettered this effort by hitting 319 against South Africa at Chennai in 2008, which remains the highest score by an Indian batsman in
The records that Sehwag set during his career speak for themselves. He became the first Indian batsman to score a triple century in test matches when he hit 309 against Pakistan at Multan in 2004. a test match. In fact, all the top three scores made by an Indian batsman in test cricket have come from his bat. In the course of his innings of 293
against Sri Lanka at Chennai in 2009 he set many records for quick scoring in test matches. Despite his attacking style of batting he was a big innings player as could be seen from the fact that he crossed 150 in all his last 11 test centuries. It would be an act of great unfairness if one tries to describe Sehwag based on statistics alone. For one, Sehwag possessed no interest at all in breaking record or setting new ones. Once in Pakistan he and Rahul Dravid came within 4 runs of breaking the then existing world record of 413 runs for the first wicket. When asked whether he felt disappointed at not being able to break the record, set incidentally by Indian batsmen Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy in 1954, Sehwag confessed in his inimitable style that he did not know about the existence of such a record!!! Sehwag’s greatest contribution to Indian cricket was the refreshing air of nonchalance that he brought to the top of the batting order. Hitherto Indian opening batsmen, with the possible exception of Sunil Gavaskar, had always been undone by bowlers who could hurl the cricket ball at great speed and those who could swing and seam it sharply. It was Sehwag
Pallikkutam | December 2015
EXPERT COUNSEL who stood up and showed that a cricket ball is meant to be hit and the faster it came on to the bat, the faster it got despatched to the fence. None of the factors which play on the minds of other batsmen, such as the reputation of the bowler, his past performances, the condition of the pitch, the amount of grass on the surface etc, ever bothered Sehwag. For him, batting always remained a simple art where the bat was employed to hit the ball irrespective of who was bowling or where the match was being played. Such an attitude would have been treated as arrogance had it been shown by any other player but coming from Sehwag, who was always a picture of simplicity and humility, both on and off the field, this irreverence and apparent insouciance held a positive appeal and won the appreciation of millions of cricket lovers, from India as well as from other countries. Picking up one’s favourite Sehwag innings is a difficult task as each of his forays to the wicket had brought immense excitement. For me the best Sehwag innings in test matches would remain the 201 he scored against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2008. India had lost the first test at Colombo by a huge margin of an innings and 239 runs, with none of their leading batsmen having any clue about tackling Ajantha Mendis and Muthaiah Muralitharan, who wove circles around them to pick up 19 wickets. In the second test Sehwag showed the way with a magnificent 201 (out of India’s first innings total of 329) and followed up with 50 in second innings as India won the test by 170 runs to square the series. India lost the series 2-1 but could salvage some pride only on account of the double century by Sehwag, who alone amongst the famed Indian batting line up could tackle Sri Lankan spinners with ease and confidence. This was a series where Rahul Dravid could hit just one half century in six completed innings while neither Tendulkar nor Ganguly could muster even one score above 50. One of the paradoxes that had foxed cricket observers was Sehwag’s
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relative lack of success in limited overs’ matches, especially given his ability to tear apart bowling attacks and score runs quickly. Apart from one double century against West Indies at Indore, the impression remains that Sehwag was not able to do full justice to his talent in the shorter formats of
While cricket would be poorer by his retirement, lovers of this game would remember him forever, as a phenomenon which happens only rarely in sporting history. the game. He also possessed a sound cricketing brain, which he demonstrated on many a occasion, like at Perth in 2007, when he convinced skipper Kumble to continue with Ishant Sharma and the fast bowler justified the confidence placed on him by dismissing Ricky Ponting. However, with a much younger Mahendra Singh Dhoni establishing himself as the captain of the national team in all formats of the game, Sehwag did not get an
opportunity to lead the country in international matches. Apart from his cricketing brilliance and style of batting which enthralled cricket lovers world over, Sehwag would occupy a unique position in the history of Indian cricket as the first player from a middle class family living in a small town to reach the upper echelons of the game at the national and international levels. While Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly formed a part of the national squad from 1990’s onwards, it was only after the entry of Sehwag in early 2000’s that the side could start winning matches and tournaments outside India consistently. In many ways Sehwag was the trendsetter whose path was followed by the likes of Dhoni, Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar, Mohamed Shami and many others, hailing from small towns, who made it to the national side and performed with distinction in the international arena. The success of Indian team during the period between 2007 till 2011 was due to not only to the ability and expertise of seniors like Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman but also on account of the refreshingly fearless and uncomplicated approach of these youngsters who took on opponents as equals without being bogged down by any historical baggage. The role of Virender Sehwag in scripting this golden age of Indian cricket where the national team won ICC world Cup in 2011, T20 World Cup in 2007 and reigned on top of the test rankings has not been recognised or appreciated as yet. Virender Sehwag belongs to that rare breed of cricketers who added lustre to the game by their uniquely simple and straightforward approach and a positive mindset that could transcend all the hurdles that came their way. While cricket would be poorer by his retirement, lovers of this game would remember him forever, as a phenomenon which happens only rarely in sporting history.
The author is the Commissioner of Customs in Kochi, Kerala.
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STORIES OF LIFE
Dr. Jose Cletus Plackal
Symbiosis, Separation and Rapprochement
W
hen I was a small boy, living happily in my house, a curious but pleasant ceremony took place at home. It was the ceremonial initiation ritual in which the tutor called Asan chanted invocation to gods and holding my right hand made me write the Hari Sree etc and the initial alphabets of Malayalam, in rice. This pleasant ceremony was followed by some unpleasant and shocking scenes as the Asan held my hand firmly and asked me to follow him to the Kalary which was close to my house. That for me was the rude shock and I refused to go away from my house. To my dismay and disappointment, my family sided with the Asan! Such a ‘betrayal’ was beyond the coping skills of a three-and a half year old tiny tot. I cried and pleaded but all that fell on deaf ears. From that first day on I hated going to ‘school’! That day I promised to myself, “I shall not study”. So the first year of my education was completely washed away due to the rough treatment meted out in the hands of an over-zealous teacher! However, I was fortunate to have had some wonderful primary teachers who nourished me with knowledge and nurtured my
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Pallikkutam | December 2015
STORIES OF LIFE
“
Every infant is born into this world with the primal pain of separation; separation from the paradise which is the mother’s womb.
inner spirit with TLC. So, in spite of the initiation fiasco, I managed to return to ‘school’ with the help of my dear teachers. Since I had this event of loss and grief deeply imprinted in my mind, I became sensitized to separation and grief. When I was working as the manager of a school, I began to notice the little ones who showed separation anxiety with attendant panic and tantrums. On closer observation it became evident that these children had experienced separation from their mothers at an early stage, prompting extra anxiety and panic at the impending separation from mother. Separation immediately after delivery had significant consequences for both mother and the child. I observed that those mothers who had experienced extra anxiety and pain on behalf of their infants showed extra emotion at separation from their babies. In the latter instance, the mother cried simultaneously with child. Every infant is born into this world with the primal pain of separation; separation from the paradise which is the mother’s womb, from the serenity and tranquility that is unique to the symbiotic mother-child relationship, to the hostile world of disequilibrium and inclement conditions attendant on separation. However, most of us recover from this initial separation and consequent grief and loss by the grace of mothering. The issues of early separation and consequent maladaptive behavior among children have greater significance to parents working abroad. If not dealt with on time, this rupture in mother-child relationship can have lasting emotional and other behavioral consequences. The following is the real and agonizing story of a young man who almost lost his life due to the grief and loss of early separation from his mother which was buried deep inside his mind.
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Joe (name changed) is a 25 year old, handsome, pleasant, intelligent, successful young man. He is employed in a reputed, multinational company with great success. He complained of uncontrollable grief, sadness, mood change, sleeplessness, etc. He also felt tired and exhausted, irritable, unable to focus on the job, leading to meaninglessness in life, suicidal thoughts, etc. Joe was physically fit
and had no previous mental or physical history. Hence the next line of investigation was to look out for precipitating factors. Joe mentioned about a recent separation event in which his best friend left for higher studies abroad. Ever since his friend’s departure Joe began to undergo the above mentioned symptoms of severe depression. “It was like a death in the family”, Joe said. “I cried and cried that night and couldn’t sleep at all”. Joe did not share this grief with anyone and was brooding over it day in and day out. On further
”
inquiry it was made clear that Joe and his friend had a deep friendship bond and it was a healthy friendship. Now, one important question that had a therapeutic significance was as to why such severe reactive depression now, and why it was lingering on. Joe’s childhood history gave the clue as to why he is overwhelmed by separation issues. When he was 75 days old his mother left him for job in a gulf country. She came after two years and left again leaving the child behind. This joyful meeting and painful parting ritual went on every two years. Each and every occasion when mother left, the boy felt sad, lonely and lost. The mother-child bond was ruptured irreparably, forever! “When mother died I didn’t cry”, Joe said. “But when grandma died, I was heartbroken”…
Rapprochement: Therapeutic intervention was focused on bringing about a rapprochement between the mother and child, with special attention to early separation and consequent emotional upheaval. Joe was counseled on the situation that led to mother’s inevitable departure and absence, how as mother she had suffered, etc. Using Bio-Feedback techniques and Brain Wave Modulation Therapy Joe was assisted in healing early memories of separation. The same method was applied to get over the recent separation issues with his friend. Joe has reported that he is out of depressive mood and is back at work. He needs follow up sessions for further strengthening his personal and relational life…
The author is licensed clinical psychologist (HRT), Jeevas Centre Aluva, Kerala.
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Luxurious student life
Students are fascinated with all kinds of luxury when parents are trying hard to meet both the ends. Our students are obsessed with costly brands. Our campuses resembles the costly life of digital age students....
COVER STORY
Dr. P C Alexander
Is luxury a necessity for the students? Certainly not...
Designer clothes, luxury cars and electronic gadgets and games all form part of the new generation luxury of the younger generation.
T
he Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines luxury as things that are expensive and enjoyable, but not essential and necessity as something that cannot be done without or avoided. Modern day students are so immersed in luxury that they have redefined luxury as necessity. There is no sense of contentment at any given point of
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time. Peer pressure, advertisements, easy accessibility to loans and profit driven industries all contribute to the senseless proliferation of luxury goods amongst children. Designer clothes, luxury cars and electronic gadgets and games all form part of the new generation luxury of the younger generation. Let us take the case of cell phones. They have become not just an
essential item for communication but instead something that takes control of a child’s life and parents have a right to be worried. Mobile phones have become popular and convenient making their demand high. Access is universal and there is little regulation in terms of purchase or usage. The attraction is a socially iconic ‘toy’ with virtually unlimited
Pallikkutam | December 2015
COVER STORY access. Every six months upgraded versions hit the market and somehow the younger generation force the parents to get the newer gadgets. The more expensive it is, the more their excitement, but there is no contentment or satisfaction and in no time they eagerly await the next version. All this leads to a lot of social stress. Some young people can get highly hung-up on the extremes of continuous contact. Stress can be caused by both sender's and recipient’s frustrations. The new phones pretends to be your constant, closest companion and the costlier it is, greater is the false sense of happiness. There is huge peer pressure to have a mobile phone with the latest technology and design. Parents accept this because they convince themselves of the safety benefits. The stress of maintaining communications for some is hard. The stress of wanting an equal flow of contact can be self destroying if it does not materialise. Owning a mobile phone, for some, provides a status among friends and a degree of self worth. Because the head and the nervous system are still developing in the
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teenage years, children and young people might be more vulnerable to harmful effects, than adults. Using a mobile phone whilst driving can be more dangerous than being ‘over the limit’ behind the wheel. Drivers' reaction times are 30 percent slower when talking on a hand-held mobile
We must not forget that all the luxury that the child gets is completely sponsored by parents and not earned by the kid. phone compared to being drunk and nearly 50 percent slower than under normal driving conditions. Using a hand-held mobile phone had the greatest impact on driving performance, but "hands free" mobile phones also affect drivers. It is exciting to be part of a growing technological world and all should enjoy its benefits, but in moderation. Children need to have agreed boundaries for mobile
phone usage. Communication within families is also essential to ensure safe practice. The teenage years are difficult for any family - but the best way of getting through them is communication, to accept, to laugh, to discipline where necessary and with the knowledge that you will get through it. As parents, it is important to manage the situation as it occurs. Listening and understanding both points of view is the best way forward. We must not forget that all the luxury that the child gets is completely sponsored by parents and not earned by the kid. At a later date, if things go wrong, the child will have nobody else to blame, but the parents. Parents give in very easily and often they take pride in the fact that children enjoy luxury, but it comes at a cost. They forget the basic necessities – the bare necessities of life, basic human values, the difference between right and wrong and not being human.
The author is the lead consultant at Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Aster Medcity, Kochi. He is achild protection and rights advocate.
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COVER STORY
Dangers of luxury Adv. Hariraj M R
Thinking in the context of education, there was a period not far in history of this country, where formal education itself was considered as opulence. Kaka-drishti, baka-dhyanam, shvana-nidra Thadhaivacha, Alpaharam jeernavasthram, evam vidyardhi lakshanam.
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At least three among the oft quoted Vidyarthi Panchalakshanam predicate strongly against Luxury. To be a successful student, extravagance of sleep, food and physical comfort shall
be shunned. Any attempt at acquiring knowledge, howsoever materialistic the knowledge be, is a spiritual pursuit. Any temporal distraction would negate one’s effort to expand the horizon of knowledge, says the scriptures.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
COVER STORY
This era can as well be described as the information era. We are often blinded by the enormousness of the mass of information that is actually available.
To define Luxury in precise terms would in itself be a Luxury. Everything beyond one’s necessity is interpreted as Luxury. It is but, a very subjective definition. Thinking in the context of education, there was a period not far in history of this country, where formal education itself was considered as opulence. Due to the explosive changes in society and technology, that which is luxury today would become mundane tomorrow. Due to inherent subjectivity of human mind, my necessity would be extravagance for another, and vice versa. Hence, to enumerate certain things as luxury and to demand its restriction, or even exclusion, from the lives of students would normally be interpreted as conservatism or intolerance. The amusing part is that such criticism is not always far from truth. Viewed in that perspective, can students of the present be found guilty of hedonism? At least among the rich the pen is replaced by a key board and a notebook by the tablet. While there still exist students who attend the school only due to the allurement of the mid day meal, we have an increasing number of students who revel in five star joints giving out junk food. But, look around and see the society. Affluence has
Pallikkutam Pallikkutam | September | December 2015 2015
certainly increased among all. At the same time the situation of the poor has gone from bad to worse. One would be unfair if students alone are to be accused of immoderation. They are what they are because they are a cross section of the society we live in. The fact remains that the contemporary student life is far more easy and luxurious than what it was earlier. Starting from serious distractions which destroy a student’s drive to study, to technological advancements which makes studying a cake walk, we find that the being a student is so different from what it was even a couple of decades ago. From my very limited experience as a parent, I find that today an overwhelming mass of knowledge is acquired not from schools, books or newspapers, but from Television, Multimedia and Internet. With very little prospect of sieving such information reaching young minds, parenting certainly is no longer a luxury. It is too early to comment whether this for good or bad. Human psyche has an inherent bias in favour of inertia. We hate change with the same vehemence we embrace it. I would not therefore venture to say that all these are bad and it requires strict restriction. After all, lack of comfort
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COVER STORY has not statistically produced better students, and high living has not deterred some from highest pursuit of knowledge. I would however put across my thought regarding use of technology by students. There again, I will restrict my consideration to the use of technology as a tool for study and assimilation of knowledge, fully knowing that it is but the tip of the ice berg.
pursuit. But those irrelevant materials would expand your mind in a passive manner. Such possibilities are totally lost when one choose keyboard over the book shelf.
use of technology has already eroded our memory power. If you ask yourselves how many phone numbers you remember now, and how many you used to remember earlier, you will find what the facility of carrying a phone book in mobile has done to our faculty of memory. Like muscles which are left unused, memory too will sag, and become weak.
Another danger is Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. The prospect of copying and pasting has taken away the essence of originality. It has taken away application of mind. One should confess plagiarism has become the rule The fact is that the increasing ease of the day in every field. Not just in with which our next generation is getting acquainted to is making them This era can as well be described as weaker. The physical convenience the information era. We are often In the process of they enjoy not only affects them blinded by the enormousness of the physically, but also emotionally. There sifting a book, you mass of information that is actually is hardly a failure they see in their life available. A school project which could will see a lot of data as a student. This has caused a not be prepared without many days of generation which is unable to stand which is not serious reading can now be managed adversity even to the lightest in minutes if you have the correct relevant for your quantum. I fear this will cause search tags. both in family edifice and current pursuit. But imbalance In fact the availability of sorted and social fabric. those irrelevant pointed material being available has I would suggest that while exposing already become, or will soon become a the student community to the materials would necessity than exorbitance. The next technology in all fields, they generation who never knew another expand your mind in advanced should also be compelled to undertake method of research will soon take it as a passive manner. work involving the old methods of normal to search the internet and will book, paper and pen, to give them the consider spending time in library as taste of such hard routes. Not only will weird. But then such ease in methods education. But even in Supreme Court it be a pleasurable detour from the does cause serious side effects. judgments. One has to assimilate and Google path, but also one, which will Internet gives you information you improvise information collected from instil originality and perseverance in need and that alone. As for a book, it books. It is this process that converts our generations. normally gives you information that information in to Knowledge and data you don’t need also. In the process of in to Science. The excessive usage of The author is an advocate, practicing sifting a book, you will see a lot of data technology erodes the creativity which mainly at the High Court of Kerala and active in many social organisations. which is not relevant for your current is inherent in the human kind. Over
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Pallikkutam | December 2015
COVER STORY STORY COVER
Keep your values Adv. T. Gopalakrishnan
Education helps to frame an individual to be a better one and the invasion of luxury in their styles often keeps them away from developing values and appears an in human approach to other creatures.
M
ost of the students are good at studies and some keep a difference in their attitude towards life. Education helps to frame an individual to be a better one and the invasion of luxury in their styles often keeps them away from developing values and appears an inhuman approach to other creatures. They lose the rein of life sometimes. It would be unfair to paint the entire older generation with the same brush. The younger generation is less
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pretentious about luxury consumption. Some of them are consumers for whom a luxury brand or an erotic vacation has become a way of life. The values of the brand well and are far more systematic when it comes to consume a luxury brand.
developed a discerning taste for them. They buy only classic shades and styles, which do not run out of fashion too soon. They buy dress worth thousands and abandon it in a year’s time because it has gone out of fashion.
When thinking about third world especially India, young people ie. most of the students born of the increasing number of rich. Having been exposed to brands from birth, they have
The emergence of luxury malls in India and more and more luxury brands coming in, such consumers have started interacting more with luxury brands and developed an appetite to
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COVER STORY consume them. The Internet and Social Media are also playing their part, getting people better acquainted with the life styles of the rich and famous worldwide. This has kept luxury marketers on their toes in India. Luxury brand marketers say they are not making any specific attempts to target young consumers. They want to be treated seriously, and want to access a certain universe and status. The young do not want to be treated as a separate category. Luxury brands are also ensuring that all internationally launched products are made available in India almost immediately. They often exploit not only the needs of students but their ambitions also. The likes and preferences of the students are shaped not by their necessities but by the products they seek to own or occupy. A tribe that promises to help change the way India Consumes luxury. It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It is a very clear path to happiness. We can each define ambition and progress of ourselves. The goal is to work toward a world where
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The reality of our times is that every student, after a certain age, owns a smart phone or tablet. Apart from just for the purpose of entertainment, there are several applications out there which are informative, educational and assist in the studying process.
expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests. Today, thanks to technology, a student’s life is much easier with the numerous applications that help in making even the most Himalayan Tasks simple. The reality of our times is that every student, after a certain age, owns a smart phone or tablet. Apart from just for the purpose of entertainment, there are several applications out there which are informative, educational and assist in the studying process. Now, with assignments being allotted online, and smart phones helping us get ‘Smart’ in the literal sense, downloading some of these applications can be a godsend for students. Student’s age is a kind of playing age. Even though they concentrate on their subjects their minds goes to play stations, computers and mobile phones. Now-a-days, I saw lot of students who hate everything other than mobile phones. I think they love it because they can download so many games there. So, what will happen if
Pallikkutam | December 2015
COVER STORY
In ancient India, a system of education known as ‘Gurukula system’ was existed. It had some values matured and saturated society never tolerate the same but seldom ignores its values. students having an own mobile phone, simply they try to play games. They are small, so they have to play games as we did in our childhood. But everything has some limit. If a student playing games every time then it is better to bring his mobile phone back. Because their studies and other useful activities are being destroyed by this mobile phones. But if they play games once in a while, then it is totally fine. Mobile phones change student’s habit a lot. In every day conversation the terms necessities and luxuries are used to mean products we have versus products we would like to have if we had enough money. The vast majority of students are having to work longer hours in low paid jobs or dip into already overstretched family finances just to get by. Student homes are equipped with large LCD TVs, Sky boxes, several high-end lap tops, valuable dresses, luxury cars and bikes. They lead a life of matured millioners and not of mere students. That is the order of the day. In ancient India, a system of education known as ‘Gurukula system’ was existed. It had some values matured and saturated society never tolerate the same but seldom ignores its values. A total consumerist society is not advisable in the case of students they certainly will be ready for a humanistic approach for a better universe. The author is a practicing advocate at Kochi.
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BEST PRACTICES
Chavara International Academy We, Chavara family are proud of our school, which considering education to mould students in to leaders with strong opinion and personality who we need in our nation very much today.
Our School Chavara International Academy (CIA) is situated in a beautiful area of Vazhakulam close to Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district in Kerala. This town is famously known as Pineapple City hence, the town is the largest Asian pineapple market. We are pleased and extremely happy to introduce CIA as the first full-fledged school in the city which follows ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) syllabus.
Founder CIA established in 2010, is owned and run by the religious community of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (C.M.I.) at Carmel Monastery, Vazhakulam. The Congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate is the
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first indigenous religious order of Catholic priests and brothers, founded in Kerala in 1831, by a great visionary and a social reformer, Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara and his associates. The congregation took up education as a service to the nation in general and to the Catholic community in particular following the footsteps of their forefathers. We inspired by the desire and enthusiasm of our founder Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara for him “Children are the treasures in the hands of their parents.”
education is fully value based and is neither job oriented nor student oriented. Education in India is passive and not meant to make our students to be smart.
Our Vision and Mission
We, Chavara family are proud of our school, which considering education to mould students in to leaders with strong opinion and personality who we need in our nation very much today. We give good education to them, strongly influence their character, opinion and give an opportunity to accomplish his goals and dreams.
The educational system followed by our country is more conventional than progressive. Reasons are many behind the slow pace of changes in the education here. Our system of
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”-Warren Bennis. We specially concentrated on creating leadership quality in our students taking responsibilities and moral
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BEST PRACTICES
We inspire the young and dynamics minds of our students to follow their dreams confidently, help them to achieve academic success.
values .CIA has a leadership of CMI fathers, who always stand up with great vision and charisma in them, not only do they foresee changes in society but also have a strong sense of ethics and work to build integrity in their fields. In CIA, we use its circumstances and resources to offer value oriented education as well as awaken their hearts and minds to explore new heights. Besides that, we responsibly make leaders, those who can convert vision into reality. Because it is said that, “Only a few leaders are born; many leaders are made.”
Our Motto The Motto of CIA “Inspire, Excel, Achieve” (IEA) holds up the three faced training of education. We inspire the young and dynamics minds of our students to follow their dreams confidently, help them to achieve academic success. In addition to that our campus helps students to excel and contribute to a changing global environment.
Campus and Salient Features Chavara International Academy has a beautiful campus with flowering trees
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and climbing flowers in the front yard and the shade-giving trees on the road –sides. Our eco-friendly campus uses solar energy and its pollution free environment soothes the eyes and creates an ideal learning ambiance for our students.
The class rooms are spacious enough and arranged with high-tech equipments like smart board, LCD projector and digital display boards which enables the competent teachers to conduct classes in such a manner that the students can use all the available modern resources at the click We aim to provide an environment that of a button. Along with, class room is caring and happy, where everyone reading corners and audio-visual values and respects each other and in language lab helps the teachers to which personal and academic growth teach in a unique and innovative way, flourishes. which makes the students feel We have approximately 250 students at involved in the teaching and learning the school, studying from grade 1 to process and improve the pace and grade 10. Our school successfully quality of education. started ‘Cabritocasa’ our kindergarten, We arranged purified drinking water beautifully furnished like a flower asses to all the children and also garden combined with our cute installed CCTVs at various prominent butterflies. places including classrooms for safety Each class consist 25 students with an and security. excellent student-teacher ratio which The immensity of this campus trained help them to concentrate on each child as an ‘English speaking zone’ and lays and evaluate their progress effectively. a place dwelling with wisdom of We promote small class sizes which Almighty. Those who visit here lead to more one-on-one attention from blessed to gain enormous knowledge the teacher and get to know each and enlighten. student as an individual, working with them to enhance their strengths and Along with their class room libraries improve their weaknesses. The school we are having a modern library in CIA building combine elegance and space with wide variety of books, which required for an institution for learning. stimulate our students with a spirit of
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BEST PRACTICES inquiry in them. It makes the children zestful to travel to a new world of imagination and become enthusiastic. Our students are connected to the net everywhere except in school and we provided a well furnished computer lab for their growth in technology. We have a boarding for boys from grade five and above. We are giving utmost care to maintain a homely atmosphere for students who stay and study here. Besides that, we provide school food service for students in the campus, which allows them to eat in groups and study table manners.
We believe that, the high quality education is the foundation for creating healthy young minds which are the leaders of tomorrow.
Our transportation system is available for children if their parents are interested to send them in school bus.
Faculty The message published in front of the Principal’s room says, “Be it known to all who enter here that Jesus is the reason for this school. He is the unseen ever-present teacher in its classes. He is the model of its faculty and the inspiration of its students.” We are asking the service of the great Guru, all knowing God to shape the mind of the future generation.
lead to the all-round development of the child in a fruitful manner. The CIA faculty gives a meaningful learning experience for the students and have comprehensive and competency based evaluation for each term along with class tests and unit tests. The parents can easily access their child’s performance, progress reports, Our teachers are our core strength, the attendance and payments through the primary force who lead the growth of school software in their mobile app. the school. We have a team of With these we are strengthen our qualified and well trained teaching students to a high level of intelligence faculty of 20 members along with 12 with a perfect personality, drive away supporting staff under the leadership their inferiority feelings. At the same of principal Rev.Fr. Rinoj Vattakkanayil time, we make them to think high of CMI and they are providing, friendly themselves by providing chances to attitude, love, care and guidance. It is perform on the stage and improve their their dedication, commitment Our communication skills, boost up them teachers recognizing the need to create morale and good public speaker. global leaders and citizens, the Extra Curricular Activities curriculum of the school urges to be designed so that it takes all the The school believes in all round potentialities and capabilities of development of the child. Besides a student into consideration so as to
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well planned academic curriculum CIA offers to train the children in several co-curricular activities. The CIA has a pair of full furnished basket ball courts. The school offers mandatory coaching in Arts & Crafts Music, Dance and various music instrumentals. The school has a perfect body with school captain, Sports captain and vice-captains and other cultural secretaries. We have a pair of well furnished basket ball courts and badminton and an Indore stadium is under construction. The school is set amidst natural surroundings with flower garden, vegetable garden and a wide variety of herbal plants and student members in each club frequently visits their allotted places and spend their mind and time to look after the plants.
For a bright future The aim of Chavara international Academy is to turn out young men and women, with a keen sense of discipline, responsibility, and leadership quality. CIA has undergone tremendous transition, from what it was five years ago, has proved to the world that everything is possible if we aim for the good of mankind. And we could give a state of happiness and satisfaction for all those who attached to this institution in one way or other. We believe that, the high quality education is the foundation for creating healthy young minds which are the leaders of tomorrow. Our campus, with its open and elegant face helps future oriented lessons that assist our students to be highly successful.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
POLICY WATCH
KBPS
Another spoiled brat of the State Government?
Dr. D. Dhanuraj & Deepthi Mary Mathew
E
ven in this glorified era of ‘Digital India’ and Kerala being announced as the ‘First Digital State’ in the country, the ‘young India’, our children, have to be too much dependent on text books, as the textbooks still enjoy an irreplaceable role in our curriculum.. Most of the times, the State owes its responsibility for preparation of the content of the textbooks, especially for the lower age groups. The justification being cited is the need for the democratic inclusiveness of the various stakeholders of the society by upholding the constitutional principles. Though the State has
Pallikkutam | December 2015
The failure of the state-run Kerala Book Publishing Society (KBPS) in its mandate to print the textbooks on time is a recurring news headline at the beginning of the Academic year. played a significant role in reviewing and revising the curriculum and content of the textbooks, many times it is embraced by the political controversies around the processes. The interests and expertise of the committee members and the key authors are doubted at times. Once the content is finalised, the State using its machinery tries to print and distribute the textbooks to the students on time. This has been the norm in the Kerala education sector for many decades. The recent ‘textbook crisis’ was indeed a blotch on Kerala which has once topped in the Education Development Index (2006-07). The
failure of the state-run Kerala Book Publishing Society (KBPS) in its mandate to print the textbooks on time is a recurring news headline at the beginning of the Academic year. KBPS engage in activities such as printing smart cards, textbooks and lottery tickets. KBPS was founded in 1976 with the purpose of printing and distributing textbooks and government publications at an affordable price. KBPS now enjoys the monopoly on printing and publishing textbooks affiliated to the Kerala State Board. KBPS is headed by a managing director, and this post was vacant for several years until September 2015
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POLICY WATCH when a senior bureaucrat was appointed to the position. The delay in textbook printing has been a headache for the ruling party in every year and the opposition seizes this moment every year. This year, in order to overcome the shortage, a short tender was announced by the Government of Kerala so as to get the assistance from the private printers. The opposition alleged foul play by the education department for helping the private players getting into the foray by delaying the issuing of required raw materials. The Government usually places the order for textbooks several months before the commencement of the academic year, so that the text books are available promptly. However, for this academic year that started in June 2015 KBPS received the orders in November 2014 which they were unable to print and distribute even in September 2015.KBPS kept giving deadlines which it could not meet. KBPS cited various operational inadequacies; this adversely affected none other than the lakhs of students in Kerala. The government tweaked in an interim plan of giving the bulk of the printing works to government owned printers; this was hit by a snag when these printers fell short of ink and paper. Several examinations were deferred for this reason. What ensued this was a political blame game which muddled the Kerala political environment. Kerala witnessed several agitations
Our government needs to contemplate on revamping the entire process of printing and distributing text books attached to Kerala state board. and protests by opposition parties and student organizations. Now, many urge, what needs to be addressed is the inefficiency which has crept into KBPS. KBPS did not have proper leadership in the higher echelons to guide them operationally and financially; it was functioning without a managing director and finance controller for several years akin to a sinking ship without a captain. Recruitments to these positions are strongly influenced by political lobbying. Moreover, a majority of the bone of contention is whether KBPS can nullify the demand–supply gap which has risen out of its technological backwardness and poor operations management. We haven’t heard about CBSE or ICSE students facing these predicaments, what is done better there? There is no shame in mocking models which are better and successful. Now, our government needs to contemplate on revamping the entire process of printing and distributing text books attached to Kerala state board. The question that needs to be answered here is; why should we insist on a Government run body alone responsible for textbook printing. The models across
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Pallikkutam | December 2015
POLICY WATCH
An outright decision of outsourcing might turn out to be futile in the Kerala context, even though that is the best possible solution to come out of this deep necked problem. the world are fascinating to explore them. The contentious issue in most of the cases is that of the content of the textbook rather than the printing as it is reported from Kerala. On the content side, the debate revolves around what is the standardisation plus centralisation of the examination systems adopted and accepted by the state. If the evaluation is highly based on the final term examination, one tends to align the content of the textbooks with the examination pattern practiced. If not, the market could respond to the situations by printing textbooks as and when it is required and the way it is demanded. Another way for the state is to announce the broader topics as in the forms of handbooks enabling the market to respond to the syllabus set by the state accordingly. This could help the private print players to innovate on the style, quality of the print and the distribution channels; textbooks having the same content could be priced according to the paper, ink and color used meeting demands of different types of customer layers. The Government could procure the textbooks printed by private parties and distribute the books through their channels. Alternatively, the government can issue vouchers to the students in exchange of purchase of books from the market. Can anyone remember reading a textbook that made the subject exciting? If the student perceives the
Pallikkutam | December 2015
textbooks are boring and content-lite, it is because the poor standards set by the government press. As a thumbrule, the government subsidises the textbook printing. However, in the most of the cases, textbook publishing overhead, the cost for book distribution, salary costs, rentals of the godowns, routine operating costs, etc could not be calculated easily. The inefficiency of the state-run printing process could be exorbitant, so much so that the state wastes it resources that otherwise could have been used for the scholarship for the needy students. An outright decision of outsourcing might turn out to be futile in the Kerala context, even though that is the best possible solution to come out of this deep necked problem. Outsourcing will ensure adoption of fast paced technologies and better operational practices which eventually results in the objectives being met. Reliability and quality of the private printers could be easily accessed and could be shared with the public efficiently. Knowing Kerala’s socio-political background, a phased manner of moving towards outsourcing will be of the best interest of the state.
Dr. D Dhanuraj is the Chairman to Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi. Deepthi Mary Mathew is Research Assistant at Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi
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HEALTH MONITOR
Teas to help beat stress
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Pallikkutam | December 2015
HEALTH MONITOR
It is not advisable to completely rely on herbal teas, but it's definitely a temporary solution for minor cases. Herbal teas do help in eliminating dehydration, relaxation, which eventually becomes a habit – good habit.
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tress is a very common problem faced by almost anyone, and it has become a part of lifestyle. Be it a mother who has to find balance between her work and family responsibilities or a child who has to face challenges in school. Stress has different meanings for everyone. And not everyone can afford to work out or have time to meditate. But that doesn't mean there is no other option available. Herbal teas have created a demand in every sector, but not necessary for working the same way for everyone. Although, doctors do recommend Chamomile tea for relaxing mind and body. "The therapeutic/medicinal effects of the various teas in the market are still inconclusive. At times I have recommended chamomile tea, known for its calming effects on the mind, but only for very mild cases of situational stress. If it helps my patients, well and good, if not, it won't cause them any harm," explains Dr. Kalpana Khatwani, Clinical Psychologist. It is not advisable to completely rely on herbal teas, but it's definitely a temporary solution for minor cases. Herbal teas do help in eliminating dehydration, relaxation, which eventually becomes a habit – good habit. Herbal teas do have potential benefits of antioxidants that are overall good for health. To be precise, it doesn't have medicinal qualities that can cure the problem, but it will help the person to relax. As explained by Neelanjana Singh, Nutrition Consultant, "Herbal teas are to a large extent healthy.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
For one, they do not contain caffeine. On the downside, there are some herbal teas that tend to be lower on antioxidant content than green, white, black and oolong tea. The composition of the tea is dependent on which plant (and which part of the plant- root/ stem/flower) is being used to make the drink. Therefore I feel that herbal teas can definitely be used for a specific purpose. For instance, Chamomile tea (flowers are used in this case) is rich in antioxidants that are useful in stunting the growth of cancer cells and inducing restful sleep." Herbal teas that are available in the market. 1. Kava: This herbal tea is often consumed after meal in parts of Kashmir. It is capable of reducing anxiety symptoms without getting addicted to it. Although, one must have Kava tea in limit, as it can cause liver damage. 2. Hibiscus: Scientific studies have proved that it can reduce blood pressure. It is recommended to have three cups every day. Hibiscus flowers are also used for making Karkade, a popular drink in Egypt. 3. Passionflower: It is also known as Kava-lite and claims to have given benefits similar to Kava tea. It is also used in Hawaiian punch and some soft drinks for its flavours. 4. Valerian Root: This tea is best for soothing anxiety symptoms and overcome insomnia. Make sure the first consumption should be taken at night, and also advisable not to drive after drinking Valerian Root tea.
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HEALTH MONITOR 5. Peppermint: Apart from solving digestion problems, it also acts as a mild sedative. It's a caffeine free tea. It can be consumed in any temperature – hot or cold. Peppermint tea will give extra benefits if consumed at night before sleep. 6. Chamomile: A passable solution recommended by doctors. It helps people to overcome insomnia, hyperactivity or stress. Chamomile
People suffering from insomnia must consume Lemon Balm tea. This medical potion can also help in fever caused by cold or flu.
Junk food diet can damage your body in just one week
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cientists gave six men a diet of pizza and burgers and within days they were more than 7lb heavier and showing the early warning signs for diabetes You know a fast-food diet is bad for you -but you can't come close to guessing just how bad it is. An experiment that aimed to mimic the US diet and lifestyle put volunteers to bed for a week. Six healthy men were fed 6,000 calories a day of pizza, burgers and other junk food. It took just two days for their bodies to go haywire and show signs of serious disease. At the start, three of the men were a normal weight, three were overweight and none were obese or unhealthy .They were all on bed rest throughout the study . In a week, they had gained an average of 3.5kg (7.7 lb) and showed signs of insulin resistance, the forerunner of diabetes. Half of the population are suffering from diabetes or are prediabetic. And the vast majority don't know. Researchers designed the study to find out about insulin resistance, the main culprit in Type 2 diabetes. They found that insulin resistance is a key component -but the mechanism by which obesity promotes it is not yet fully understood.
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Guenther Boden and Salim Merali of Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, US, said their aim was to recreate the average American diet and find out how it can lead to Type 2 diabetes. Merali was quoted saying, "Here, we have shown that feeding a common US diet to healthy non-obese men at two to two and a half times their regular caloric intake for as little as one to two days produced severe systemic and adipose tissue insulin resistance in every one of six study subjects. Boden added, "It was a diet of pizzas, hamburgers and that sort of thing. They took to the diet and liked it." The study lasted a week. "In that time, the men gained an average of 3.5 kg and showed signs of insulin resistance as well as oxidative stress," the team wrote in a science journal. By day two, all had a rapid and continuous rise in both blood insulin and insulin-resistance levels. It is truly a wake-up call for us all that all of them suffered severe systemic and adipose tissue insulin resistance in such a short span of time. Now granted, enforced bed rest isn't something that happens to many of us, but on the other hand, it's pretty close to what life is like as a couch potato, which many of us are. Food for thought.
ranks third in demand after Green tea followed by peppermint tea. 7. Lavender: Made of delicate flowers – Lavender tea helps to overcome indigestion, anxiety, irritability, tension headaches and nervous breakdown. Lavender is also used as aromatherapy for relaxation. 8. Ginseng: Even though the tea tastes bitter, it helps in insomnia, nervous exhaustion and stress. It can also reduce cancer cells and help prevent obesity. Ginseng is available in three flavours – American, Siberian and Asian. 9. Skullcap: This plant is also used as tea, which helps to overcome premenstrual syndrome, nervous exhaustion, muscle spasms and headache. Skullcap also helps in curing paralysis through stroke. 10. Lemon Balm: People suffering from insomnia must consume Lemon Balm tea. This medical potion can also help in fever caused by cold or flu. Lemon Balm tea is also known as Melissa. It also helps people with mental disorders. 11. Lemon Verbena: Made of plant with incredible properties that can help alleviate insomnia, indigestion and nausea. It also helps in breaking down of cellulites and lessening acne. 12. Linden flower: The fragrant of this flower tea soothes one from nervous tension, anxiety, headaches and indigestion. Linden tea also helps to reduce irritable components in mouth or throat during sickness. 13. Hops: This natural plant carries estrogens, which is an elixir for woman suffering from premenstrual syndrome. Avoid drinking Hops tea during the day at work as it is meant to attain good sleep. Herbal teas do not have medicinal qualities and should not be taken alone. It doesn't have the ability to cope up with future stresses. Although, if the stress is under control with small efforts of staying fit, eating healthy and drinking herbal tea everyday – there is no way one can fall sick.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
INFOTECH
You can now use Android apps without downloading ith rumours continuing to build about the merger of Chrome OS and Android (despite Google's denials), the company just gave us a taste of how that marriage would work.
with your offering and download the full app." 74% of downloads happen organically, not through paid ads, and businesses and developers looking to grow their user base could
In a revamp of its search engine, Google now integrates data from popular apps into its results, whether or not you have the app installed on your phone.
Limited run
If developers want their apps to be showcased in Google's search results, they'll have to build in code that will work with Google's indexing engine. This allows Google's search engine to have deep links into the app and app content.
leverage the blurred distinction between the web and apps to attract more users and downloads, if they provide a good first impression.
At a glance, Google's app streaming technology could mean that fewer users will develop your app. Why download Hotel Tonight if you can get the exact same search content, along with competing results, directly as part of a Google search in the browser?
65% netizens in India are internet addicts: Study
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s many as 94% of Indian netizens surveyed by a telecom service provider feel that internet has improved their lives while 40% think spreading rumours is the most annoying internet habit among Indian netizens.
Inviting people to play online games, Essentially, this allows the apps to "stream" content to the browser, much sharing inappropriate like how Steam Machine can stream content, sympathygames. VentureBeat speculates that mobile developers and marketers have seeking posts on Facebook and a lot to be excited about with this new trolling (offensive technology as it could drive organic posts to elicit angry growth and app adoption. responses) are the "As that happens, app publishers get other major bad a chance to create a first impression habits, the study by telecom service right inside one of the most popular provider Telenor said. The survey apps on the planet – the Google search revealed that as many as 65% of app," the publication said. "Create a Indian netizens are internet addicts. great first impression and you have the According to the study, 33% Indians opportunity to have users fall in love hate excessive selfie-takers against
Pallikkutam | December 2015
It's too soon to tell how Google's rivals will be affected by this new business, and if app developers will reduce their spending on rival platforms, like Facebook ads, if their apps can be showcased on Google search.
A new business opportunity
But what if you don't have the app and don't want to install yet another third-party app on your phone? That won't be a problem because Google will now let people run apps in their browsers on their phones.
Not all apps will be capable of spilling their contents and running inside a browser at launch. Initially, only nine apps will work with Google's clever way to bridge the Android and Chrome divide. These include Chimani, Daily Horoscope, Gormey, Hotel Tonight, My Horoscope, New York Subway, Useful Knots, Visual Anatomy Free and Weather.
Estimates say that more than 350 billion app downloads will occur 2020, up from just 2.5 billion in 2009.
the regional average of 21%. In an effort to learn more about their customers, Telenor conducted the internet behavioural survey across India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. From profanitytolerance levels to selfie-approval ratings, respondents across the region replied about what they love and loathe most about the net. "This survey gives us a very stimulating way to look at who our customers are and their online preferences. As online access increases in the country, it is great to see that 94% of the Indians surveyed say that internet has improved their lives – the highest percentage among the surveyed nations," said Sharad Mehrotra, CEO, Telenor India.
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INFOTECH
Meizu M1 metal smartphone goes official in China hinese handset maker Meizu has unveiled a new smartphone M1 metal, and it is already available at a few online Chinese smartphone stores. The dual-sim phone features a 5.5-inch (1080x1920p) LTPS display and runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Powered by 2GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 MT6795 Helio X10 processor and 2GB RAM, M1 metal comes in two variants, one offering 16GB of internal storage, and the other offering 32GB of internal storage.
Google offers Rs 1.27 cr. to Delhi boy
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elhi boy Chetan Kakkar has set a new record for international placement for Delhi Technological University (DTU) by grabbing an offer of $1,90,000 (Rs 1.27 crore approx) per annum from Google. An alumnus of Springdales, Pusa Meizu M1 metal Road, Kakkar said DTU campus has packs a 3140mAh made a great difference to his battery and sports 13MP primary camera prospects. with LED flash, along Kakkar's parents are teachers at Delhi with a 5MP University. Rita Kakkar is in the faculty secondary camera. of chemistry department and Subhash
The phone can also support microSD cards of up to 128GB, and is available in five colours -White, Gold, Gray, Blue, and Pink.
The connectivity options of the phone include 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.1, micro-USB, and A-GPS. There is no word about M1 metal's availability in markets outside China.
Kakkar is a teacher of management studies. A final year student of DTU's information technology department, Kakkar will be joining Google, California with a compensation of Rs 1,25,74,200 ($1,90,000) after he completes his study in 2016. The highest offer made so far in DTU campus has been Rs 93 lakh.
Data tariff to fall 15-20% post Reliance Jio entry: Fitch I: Fitch Ratings has slashed the telecom sector's outlook to 'negative' from 'stable' for 2016 and said the impending entry of Reliance Jio will increase the competition and pressurise credit profiles of top-four telcos. The agency expects data tariffs to fall by at least 15-20% as incumbents compete on price with Jio, which is likely to offer cheaper tariffs to build market share and voice average revenue per user (ARPU) will decline on lower usage as rising data usage will cannibalise voice. "We expect competition to intensify as Reliance Jio, part of Reliance Industries, enters the market with likely cheaper and faster datafocused tariff plans armed with sufficient spectrum and access to funds," Fitch Ratings said. The agency added it expects the 2016 credit profiles of the top-four Indian telcos to come under pressure amid tougher competition, larger capex
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requirements and debt funded M&A. Fitch Ratings though retained the rating outlook on the sector as 'stable'. "We expect blended monthly ARPU to fall by 5-6% to around Rs 160 (2015: Rs 170) due to a decline in
Jio is likely to launch its cheaper and faster 4G-focussed data services in Q1 of 2016 -- having invested about $14 billion -- partly to acquire 800MHz spectrum in 10 circles and higher-bandwidth spectrum of 2300MHz/1800MHz in 22 circles. It expect industry revenue to grow by low single-digits (2015: 9%), driven solely by data services as voice matures and subscriber growth slows.
data tariffs, which will more than offset the rise in data usage," it said. Fitch said it expect the incumbent telcos to offer discounts and promotions to higher-ARPU subscribers in anticipation of Jio's entry to prevent user attrition.
"Data's contribution to revenue will rise to around 25-27% (2015: 18-20%) as data traffic will double -- aided by the proliferation of cheaper smartphones, lower data tariffs and improving content availability," it said. The top four telcos' average operating EBITDA margin will narrow by 100-200bps (2015: 35%) due to pricing pressure on the higher-margin data services and a rise in marketing spend as data competition rises, Fitch Ratings said.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
INNO VATIONS INNOV
Developing electronic circuits within plants
The Cuckoo mystery new study due to researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark shows that navigation in migratory birds is even more complex than previously assumed. In an experiment, 11 adult cuckoos were relocated from Denmark to Spain just before their winter migration to Africa was about to begin. When the birds were released more than 1,000 km away from their well-known migration route, they navigated towards the different stopover areas used along their normal route. The release site was completely unknown to the cuckoos, yet they had no trouble finding their way back to their normal migratory route. This individual and flexible choice in navigation indicates an ability to assess advantages and disadvantages of different routes, probably based on their health, age, experience or even
personality traits. The study is published in Scientific Reports. Cuckoos are particularly suitable for navigation studies, as they lay their eggs inside the nests of other bird species. Growing up without contact to siblings or biological parents, the young cuckoo has no one to follow during migration. Flying alone and at night, it relies entirely on instincts, inherent abilities and the experiences gained later in life. Now, scientists can conclude that these traits are combined into a complex individual decision making strategy. The next step is to develop smaller transmitters that will enable us to follow young cuckoos on a relocation flight. Without prior migration experience, their choices will reveal new insight on how they navigate from unknown locations, expects the researchers.
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esearchers at Linkoping University in Sweden have created analog and digital electronics circuits inside living plants. They have used the vascular system of living roses to build key components of electronic circuits, including wires, digital logic, and even display elements. These components could develop new applications for organic electronics and new tools in plant science. The results have appeared in the journal Science Advances. Plants are complex organisms that rely on the transport of ionic signals and hormones to perform necessary functions. However, plants operate on a much slower time scale making
Grow your own way: A wake up call arming temperatures will take a heavy toll on agricultural productivity, according to climate scientists. How will society adjust? One possibility might be increased trade: If one country suffers a decline in, say, wheat production but can still grow as much rice as ever, then – in theory – it might grow more rice and trade for its usual amount of wheat instead. But a new study coauthored by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) economist suggests that international trade will do little to alleviate climate-induced farming problems. Instead, the report indicates that countries will have to alter their own patterns of crop
Pallikkutam | October December 2015 2015
production to lessen farming problems – and even then, there will be significant net losses in production under the basic scenarios projected by climate scientists. The results are published in the Journal of Political Economy. The study concludes that the overall impact of climate change on farming is expected to be large: Even with adjustments in both farming practices and trade, farming production would decline by roughly one-sixth, using the baseline scenario for climate change projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and incorporating weather projections over a 30-year period.
interacting with and studying plants difficult. Augmenting plants with electronic functionality would make it possible to combine electric signals with the plant's own chemical processes. Controlling and interfacing with chemical pathways in plants could pave the way to photosynthesis-based fuel cells, sensors and growth regulators, and devices that modulate the internal functions of plants. These results are early steps to merge the diverse fields of organic electronics and plant science. The aim is to develop applications for energy, environmental sustainability, and new ways of interacting with plants.
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INNO VATIONS INNOV
Optical secrets of marine animals esearchers of The University of Queensland have uncovered a new form of secret light communication used by marine animals. The new study shows the shrimp use circular polarization as a means to covertly advertise their presence to aggressive competitors. The team determined that mantis shrimp display circular polarized patterns on the body, particularly on the legs, head and heavily armored tail; these are the region's most visible when they curl up during conflict. Fiddler crabs also exhibited similar behavior. They also use linear polarized light as a form of communication. The results are published in the journal, Current Biology. In birds, color is what we're
familiar with; in the ocean, reef fish display with color. This is a form of communication we understand. What we're now discovering is there's a completely new language of communication, concludes the researchers. Linear polarized light is seen only in one plane, whereas circular polarized light travels in a spiral - clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. Researchers found that shrimp can reflect and detect circular polarizing light, an ability extremely rare in nature. The findings may have applications in satellite remote sensing, biomedical imaging, cancer detection, and computer data storage.
Coconut oil fights blood infection oconut oil may be effective at combating infection with Candida albicans, according to a study published in the American Society for Microbiology's new open access journal mSphere. The study found that coconut oil consumption reduced gastrointestinal colonization by C. albicans in mice. The extension of this finding to the human population is something that needs to be addressed in the future. C. albicans is part of the normal gut microbiome of humans and some animals. In immunecompromised individuals and older
Source of happiness identified! ver history, many eminent scholars like Aristotle have contemplated what happiness is. Now the researchers of Kyoto University know more about what it means to be happy. They narrow in on the neural structures behind happiness. People feel emotions in different ways; for instance, some people feel happiness more intensely than others when they receive compliments. Psychologists have found that emotional factors like these and satisfaction of life together constitutes the subjective experience of being "happy". The neural mechanism behind how happiness emerges, however, remained unclear.
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Understanding that mechanism will be a huge asset for quantifying levels of happiness objectively. Overall happiness, according to their study, is a combination of happy emotions and satisfaction of life coming together in the precuneus, a region in the medial parietal lobe that becomes active when experiencing consciousness. Research revealed that those who are happy had more grey matter mass in the precuneus. In other words, people who feel happiness more intensely, feel sadness less intensely, and are more able to find meaning in life have a larger precuneus.
adults, however, C. albicans can leave the gut, enter the bloodstream, and cause invasive infection affecting organs including the kidneys, liver, spleen, lungs, brain, and heart valves. Roughly 40% to 50% of individuals who have systemic C. albicans infection will die from it. Clinicians can use antifungal drugs to prevent C. albicans infection in some high-risk patients, but this isn't ideal because it can contribute to the emergence of drug resistant strains. Previous research has shown that changes to diet, including changes in the amount and type of fat, can alter gastrointestinal microbiota. In vitro studies have shown that coconut oil, in particular, has antifungal properties.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE
Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran
Scamper off into probortunity In order to indicate the coexistence of solution and opportunity in a problem, a new word “Probortunity” is coined. A problem is considered here as a unique opportunity and an opportunity as a unique problem.
Problem + Opportunity = Probortunity Problems are not negative things that seek only solutions; they are hotbeds of opportunities. A well-defined problem often indicates its solution. Of course, it demands careful analysis and systematic exploration to design desired solutions. But to explore opportunities hidden inside a problem is much more complex. It demands a lot of intuition and creative thinking. One has to transcend virtual limitations set by the problem to reach out to the opportunities hidden therein.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
In order to indicate the coexistence of solution and opportunity in a problem, a new word “Probortunity” is coined. A problem is considered here as a unique opportunity and an opportunity as a unique problem. This repudiates the negative connotations attached to a “problem”. A problem is considered as the locus of opportunities. It is that synergy between a problem and opportunity indicated by the coinage probortunity. The next obvious question is: how to extract the opportunities hidden within a problem? There is a large number of
creativity techniques to assist it. SCAMPER is an effective method to mine out opportunities that abide at the heart of a problem, developed by Robert F. Eberle, an educational administrator in Edwardsville, Illinois, USA. Eberle referred to the famous 83 questions designed by Alex Osborn to facilitate his brain-storming sessions. Eberle decided to keep the list short, simple and used the memory tool of an acronym to make it easy to learn and remember. SCAMPER stands for: S = Substitute, C = Combine, A = Adapt, M = Magnify (or Modify), P = Put to
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CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE Other Uses, E = Eliminate (or Minify) and R = Rearrange (or Reverse). As the word “scamper� signifies, the SCAMPER allows playful and brisk childlike steps into discovering opportunities hidden within a problem. In matters of creativity, children are, of course, the torch-bearers! Given below is the list of sample SCAMPER questions. To make a useful reading we may keep in mind a real problem hounding you at present. It could be something related to your study, research, business, career, life, etc. Experience how SCAMPER questions lead us to explore the hidden opportunities within a given problem.
S (= substitute) Questions S-questions are based on the possible substitution of the components, materials, places, procedures, people, ideas, styles, strategies, and even emotions involved with something else. Some typical s-questions are: Can I replace or change any part of the problem/ product? What resources or materials can I swap or substitute to enhance the product? Can I utilize other materials or ingredients? Can I use other processes or procedures to develop the product? Can I change its shape, color, roughness, sound or smell? What if I change its name? Can I substitute one part for another? Can I replace someone involved in the production? Can some rules of production be changed? Can I change my feelings or attitude
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Gutenberg was a blacksmith by profession, working with a coin punch. He combined that technology with the technology of a grape press to come out with a movable type printing press. Combining different known technologies, a new technology took shape!
towards the problem at hand? One may freewheel and develop enough number of s-questions to facilitate the movement from a problem towards an opportunity. Let us also list a few other verbs that could allow us to rephrase squestions. They include: alternate, colorize, exchange, proxy, relieve, rename, replace, reposition, reserve, surrogate, swap, and switch. One could easily find that many new products and services could be developed by asking and implementing s-questions. A typical example is the effort of Boeing to design a lighter and fuel-efficient aircraft utilizing the efficient new generation composite materials. Every big company, for that matter, develops new products and services asking s-questions.
C (= combine) Questions Creativity depends very much on putting things together and on putting things in place. A typical example is the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440. Gutenberg was a blacksmith by profession, working with a coin punch. He combined that technology with the technology of a grape press to come out with a movable type printing press. Combining different known technologies, a new technology took shape! Thus cquestions are important in inquiry of hidden opportunities. Sample c-questions are: What parts, ideas or materials could be possibly combined to define a new product? Could we combine objectives or purposes of
Pallikkutam | December 2015
CREA TIVE LIVING CREATIVE things? Could we combine resources and talents together to develop a new way of thinking? Few other verbs that could substitute c-questions include: bring together, come together, conjoin, intermix, link, mingle, package, unite, amalgamate, link, relate, and synergize.
A (=adapt) questions
additional features or otherwise add extra value? Is it possible to raise the price by increasing value? Other verbs having similar role are: amplify, boost, expand, grow, increase, lengthen, multiply, overstress, strengthen, augment, enlarge, heighten, raise and stretch out. A typical example for new service using m-questions is Fancy hands, which altered the virtual assistant model by developing a system that facilitates distributed team to cope with the tasks, rather than making all to be seated in an office.
Another way of developing unique concepts, products or services, is to ask questions oriented towards adaptation of the existing ones, the so called a-questions. For example: Could you take a solution from somewhere else and adapt it to suit the current problem? Could you draw similarity between the current situation and something else? Could you identify One has to transcend another context, where you could position the product at hand? Are there virtual limitations any ideas outside your field that you set by the problem can incorporate to the solution of the problem at hand? Some substitutes for to reach out to a-question are: acclimatize, adopt, alter, the opportunities change, conceptualize, emulate, incorporate, match, readjust, revise, hidden therein. settle in, vary, amend, bend, conform, familiarize, make suitable, refashion, transform, revise, modify. A classical example for a-question is how Facebook adapted their products for P (= put to other uses) questions utilization on mobile phones, instead of Another powerful method of laptop and desktop browsers, for developing alternate products and which it was originally designed. services is by asking questions that M (= modify, magnify) seek to use the current products and questions services to other uses. We may ask questions like: Is it possible to utilize Modification and/or magnification this product elsewhere, maybe in provide another way of developing another industry? Who else can utilize unique products. Could you change any aspect of your process or product this product? Is it possible to recycle the product’s waste to create to enhance its capability? Could you something new? How could a child or modify the shape, feel, appearance, color or form of your existing product? older person utilize it? Is it possible for What aspect of the product could you people other than the intended target market to be able to use it? Can you make stronger to develop something new? What would happen if you have utilize this idea in an alternative place? modified the processes involved in the Can people with various disabilities utilize it? Can you utilize this idea in manufacture? other industries or markets? Similarly we could also ask Some verbs to substitute p-verbs “magnification” questions or minclude: employ, luxuriate, manage, questions: Can you make the product reposition, spend, waste, apply, bigger, higher or larger? Can you increase the frequency? What can you employ, exhaust, handle, take advantage of, utilize. A typical example duplicate? Can you create multiple of a company that asked p-question to copies? Is it possible to include
Pallikkutam | December 2015
improve their product is Ecoscraps, who converts food waste into compost, instead of using it for landfills.
E (=eliminate) questions Yet another category of questions that help development of innovative products are the “eliminate” questions or e-questions. For example: How can you simplify the product? What can you tone down or understate? What components you can remove without changing function? Is it possible to eliminate the rules and routines? How can you reduce cost, effort or time? How can you make it lighter, faster, smaller or more fun? What is unnecessary or non-essential? Should you break it into different parts? Some other verbs replacing e-verbs include: abolish, curb, eradicate, excrete, exterminate, jettison, lessen, liquidate, purge, reject, simplify, throw out, wipe out, destroy, exclude, and waste. The invention of Windows 8 by Microsoft to do away with a mouse can be considered an example.
R (=rearrange, reverse) questions Finally we have questions promoting rearranging or reversing certain processes involved in the making of the product, the so called r-questions. Examples: Can you interchange existing components, patterns or lay out? Can you transpose cause and effect, negatives and positives? What if you reverse the process? What if you turned it upside down? Can you rearrange or reverse the concept involved? How could you accomplish the opposite effect? Alternate r-verbs include: adjourn, back up, change, drive backward, invalidate, overturn, put off, readjust, relocate, reorder, repeal, reschedule, retreat, switch, turn around, withdraw, annul, delay, postpone, quash, rearrange, reposition, swap and undo. A typical example of product development resorting to r-questions is Uber, who have rearranged the process by which people search for a taxi. One could easily scamper off into probortunity asking SCAMPERquestions!
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GUEST COLUMN
Ovarian lottery K. L. Mohana Varma y friend Raju (not real name) was upset. He is a rich selfmade sixty plus businessman of Kochi. He was one of the many children born and brought up in a large matriarchal household in his ancestral home in a remote village, with below middle class facilities all around. He fled home when he was in eighth class and returned to Kerala after a gap of thirty years as an experienced streetsmart business leader and very quickly established himself among the higher strata of Kochi society. He married late and he had one son, now aged 20 and he was, according to Raju, his real problem. I was not very close to Raju and knew very little of him. But one day, a call
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My son is missing. Three days now. I have not disclosed it to anybody. Even to his mother. I have told her some blatant lie of sudden trip to Calcutta, Tokyo, China etc. and I think she has swallowed it.
came and self-introducing himself, he wanted to meet me immediately about an urgent matter. I did not ask him about his purpose. I could guess the mission. I wanted to keep the surprise of the suspense to myself. As a writer, my novels, stories and columns generally deal with a lot of insights in the fast changes happening in our society in the last two generations and hence I had many readers who felt very close to me emotionally. Many of them were happy to just pour out their problems to me as they feel I can understand them. They come for some advice, but I know they don’t want any. Everybody require a safe and sound ally to whom they can pour out their secret
Pallikkutam | December 2015
GUEST COLUMN
From the day one, the son was born, his ambition had crystallized. He wanted his son to be really the greatest. He knew the hunger, poverty and struggles he had to face before making good.
problems and worries. It can be the temple, doctor or confession table. A writer is cheaper, humane and understanding. And to me, the writer, it is not at all a waste of time. They are my best raw materials and I really and honestly try to help them. Raju was really highly upset and he was almost in tears when we sat down in my working room at home. He was looking at the small framed image of Mahatma Gandhi kept on my computer table and I told him. Just to see that I don’t tell lies and remind me that somebody is watching me. Raju suddenly blurted out. My son is missing. Three days now. I have not disclosed it to anybody. Even to his mother. I have told her some blatant lie of sudden trip to Calcutta, Tokyo, China etc. and I think she has swallowed it. He showed me a sms message he received that day morning.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
I am OK. Tell amma not to worry. Raju said. After this message, I am sure, he has destroyed the sim. Then Raju slowly narrated the story. From the day one, the son was born, his ambition had crystallized. He wanted his son to be really the greatest. He knew the hunger, poverty and struggles he had to face before making good. His son, Raju, he was sure had the smartest brain a child could have. So he wanted to give the boy the best of schooling and all types of facilities a child can aspire. He wanted to ensure that his son does not face the difficulties he had to face in life. Varma sir, tomorrow is his 21st birthday and I had arranged for a birthday present, a maroon Benz and declaring him as Managing Director of my pivotal company. Raju waited for my sympathetic response. But I kept mum. He went on and on. The best school. The best facilities. The best vacation trips. The
best food. The best dress. The best entertainment. The best of high society children. And the best of love from mother and father. I can’t understand why he left. What should I do ? Finally he stopped and wiped his tears. Obviously he wanted some reaction from me. I waited and gave him enough time to recompose himself. I asked him. At what age did you leave your house? Thirteen. Why did you leave? I was fed up with poverty and I wanted to be on my own. I told him. Don’t worry. Your son also followed you. It took seven more years more for him.
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GUEST COLUMN But why? He had everything a young man can dream of. Perhaps your poverty and his luxury are same. Warren Edward Buffett, the American business magnate, investor and philanthropist is one of the wealthiest and influential person in the world. He is noted for his adherence to value investing and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. He had a theory which he calls as the ovarian lottery. The theory is simple. It works like this. Suppose that just 24 hours or so before you are born, a genie pops up and makes you an offer: either you can be born as planned, into the life already determined by the geography and economic, social, political circumstances of your parents, or you can choose the Ovarian Lottery. That choice means you can determine what kind of world you want to live in. You make all the rules as to how wealth will be distributed, who gets to go to school, how political issues will be decided, what
Either you can be born as planned, into the life already determined by the geography and economic, social, political circumstances of your parents, or you can choose the Ovarian Lottery. is done about global warming, everything you feel strongly about you get to make the rules. However, there's a catch to the second choice: Your ticket with your name on it is thrown into the Ovarian Lottery bin which means it will be drawn, at random, from a pool of 6 billion tickets. Things such as where you are born (United States or Bangladesh?); what race you will be (white, black, brown and so on); what gender (male, female); what your IQ will be... all these things will be completely up to chance. Well, then, do you choose the lottery, which lets you decide what the world will be like... but you take your chances of where and how you'll be born into that world? So far, Buffett says, no one has opted for the lottery. What if we applied the Ovarian Lottery theory to the company for which you work? In other words, what if you could decide the rules as to pay increases, what kind of job descriptions would be followed, etc., but
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Pallikkutam | December 2015
GUEST COLUMN your name ticket would be drawn from a lottery. So what job you held and how you would be paid and where you would work would be determined by lottery. So... would that make you happy to be where you are?... or would you opt to take your chances to be CEO... or the mail carrier? This is a good perspective to have when setting the rules for our world. We should be designing a society that, as Buffett says, “doesn’t leave behind someone who accidentally got the wrong ball and is not well-wired for this particular system.” He points out that he is designed for the American system and he was lucky to be born into it. He can allocate capital, and he lives in a place and at a time when those skills are well rewarded. (His pal Bill Gates is quick to point out that if Buffett had been born in an earlier time, he’d be some animal’s lunch because the Oracle of Omaha, as Buffet is nick-named, can’t run fast or climb trees.) When Buffett talks about this lottery, he often concludes by asking:
Pallikkutam | December 2015
The tsunami of technological inventions changes yesterday’s luxury into today’s necessity. The first printed book appeared in a school classroom in Kerala only 170 years back. It was the luxuries’ item in education then. 120 years back, owning a pen and notebook was a luxury.
If you could put your ball back, and they took out, at random, a hundred other balls, and you had to pick one of those, would you put your ball back in? Now, of those hundred balls … roughly five of them will be American.… Half of them are going to be below-average intelligence, half will be above. Do you want to put your ball back? Most of you, I think, will not.… What you’re saying is, “I’m in the luckiest 1% of the world right now.” Here the main question comes into view. What is luxury? The tsunami of technological inventions changes yesterday’s luxury into today’s necessity. The first printed book appeared in a school classroom in Kerala only 170 years back. It was the luxuries’ item in education then. 120 years back, owning a pen and notebook was a luxury. So let us have a proper perspective and face it with a smile.
The author is a Kochi-based novelist, short story writer and columnist.
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ASPECTS
Indra and Virocana God-Demon Dichotomy Dr. Augustine Thottakara
Suras are gods, and possess noble, virtuous and positive qualities; they are benefactors of humans and helpers of humans in all their righteous and respectable endeavours. uras and Asuras appear in the Hindu scriptures right from the time of the Vedas. In Vedic period their characters and their roles were rather ambiguous. Very often both these species were portrayed as intelligent, virtuous and benevolent characters. Asuras were not wicked beings, creating disorder in the society, harming virtuous people, and causing damages to persons and events. They were benign and peace loving supra mundane beings. In Rgveda, gods like Indra, Varuna, Agni, etc., are sometimes addressed as ‘Asuras’. The parallel term in Zoroastrian scriptures is ‘Ahura’; and Ahura is always depicted as
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kindhearted, virtuous, noble and spiritual benefactor of humanity. But in the period of Epics and Puranas, the divide between Suras and Asuras become very pronounced and explicit: Suras are gods, and possess noble, virtuous and positive qualities; they are benefactors of humans and helpers of humans in all their righteous and respectable endeavours; they possessed extraordinary powers, and are friends of God and good people. On the other hand, Asuras are demons; they are malevolent, evildoers, and take joy in obstructing all good and beneficial projects of gods and humans. Suras and Asuras in this
period were in constant conflicts and wars for supremacy and hegemony. Interestingly both Suras and Asuras were, according to legends, sons of sage Kasyapa in his two wives, namely, Aditi, the mother gods, the adityas; and Didi, the mother of demons, the daityas. There are, however, instances in which Suras and Asuras worked together as friends. The story of the churning of the milk ocean to obtain the nectar (amrta) is a classical example for this fellowship. Another interesting fact is that the Gurus and guides of the Suras and Asuras are Brhaspati and Sukra respectively; and these two are brothers.
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ASPECTS The Bhagavad-gita (XVI.6) divides all living beings of the world into two broad categories: beings with divine and noble qualities (daivi sampad), and beings with demoniac and evil qualities (asuri sampad). The sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita describes the divine qualities briefly and the demoniac qualities at length. The Asura qualities are pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, cruelty, harshness and ignorance (Gita XVI.4).
Korean and Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. He is considered as the bliss-body of the Gautama Buddha. Buddhist concept of emptiness (sunya) is seen embodied in this form of the Buddha.
Prajapati
The word “Prajapati” means ‘the lord of beings’, ‘creator of beings’. In the Vedas Prajapati is depicted as the deity presiding over procreation and protection of life. In later times, he is Indra identified with many mythical Indra is the King of gods and Lord of progenitors, like Brahma, the creator heaven (svarga). His weapon is god, and important sages like Marici, thunderbolt (vajra), and his vehicle is Atri, Angiras, Narada, and others. the white elephant (airavata). In RgMahabharata speaks about fourteen veda he is celebrated mainly on Prajapatis. Visvakarman is supposed to account of his victory over Vrtra, an be the leader of Prajapatis. Prajapati is Asura, who blocked rain and water, and also sometimes identified with Visnu caused severe drought in the world. He and Siva. is fond of drinking Soma, the alcoholic In the Upanisads Prajapati is depicted beverage. In Epics and Puranas he is as an eminent preceptor. Prajapati in depicted as a chivalrous and the present story is an eminent teacher courageous warrior against Asuras and and Guru. In the lesson on ‘Dama, wicked humans. But he is also prone to Dana and Daya’, based on commit follies and mischiefs, and often Brhadaranyaka Up. V.2.1-3, Prajapati is got punished for these, mainly by the a preceptor of three disciples, namely, angry sages. Arjuna, a hero of god, human and demon. Mahabharata, is supposed to be the The story of Indra and Virocana is in son of Indra in Kunti. In the later periods of Hinduism Indra fades away Chandogya Up. from the religious-mythological Prajapati’s Proclamation and scenario and becomes a minor god. His the Response of Gods and place is taken by Visnu and his Demons incarnations like Rama and Krishna, and Siva and his sons Skanda and Prajapati, the progenitor of all beings, Vinayaka. once declared loud: “The Atman which
Virocana Virocana is the King of demons, the Asuras. The word “Virocana” literally means one who is ‘sun-like’, or ‘the illuminator’. He is the son of Prahlada, the great Visnu-devotee, and father of Bali, the great Asura King, known for his munificence and kindness. Like Virocana, Sumbha and Nisumbha, the Asura brothers, were also considered to be Kings of demons. Mahisasura was another famous Asura, who was conquered and destroyed by goddess Durga. Indra and Virocana were always inimical, and were always in constant strife and rivalry. It should also be noted here that Virocana, or Vairocana is an important concept in Japanese,
Pallikkutam | November December 2015
In the later periods of Hinduism Indra fades away from the religiousmythological scenario and becomes a minor god. His place is taken by Visnu and his incarnations like Rama and Krishna, and Siva and his sons Skanda and Vinayaka.
is free from evil, free from old age, free from death, free from sorrow, free from hunger and thirst, who desires only truth, whose resolve is of the truth, he should be sought, him one should desire to know. He who has found out and has understood that Atman, attains all the worlds and all the desires. Thus spoke Prajapati” (Chandogya Up. VIII.7.1). Gods and demons heard this proclamation. They were particularly attracted by the statement, “He who has found out and has understood that Atman, attains all the worlds and all the desires”. They decided to seek this Atman for the sake of wealth and fame. Therefore, gods deputed Indra, their leader, to go
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ASPECTS to Prajapati to find out this Atman, and demons deputed Virocana, their leader, for the same purpose. Both Indra and Virocana approached Prajapati in the prescribed manner, namely, with sacrificial fuel in hand as a gift to the preceptor Prajapati, and with the will and desire to surrender totally to the Guru. They lived at Prajapati’s place for thirty-two years as brahmacarins, observing all the disciplines and prescribed regulations of studentship (brahmacarya). Then Prajapati asked them: “Desiring what have you been living?” They replied: “Desiring Atman we have been living.” They recounted what Prajapati proclaimed earlier, namely, “The Atman which is free from evil, free from old age, etc.…” Prajapati asked them to look into the eye of a person; they did that. Prajapati said what you see in the eye is Atman. He asked them to look in the mirror and in the pan of water, and told them that what they see in the mirror and in the pan of water is the Atman. They were satisfied and went home thinking that they have known the Atman. “Then Prajapati looked at them and said: ‘They are going away without having perceived, without having understood the Atman.’” Virocana went back to the demons happily and declared that they should worship the body, which is reflected in the eye, in the mirror and in the pan of water. It is the Atman. They started to do it. Demons lacked the discriminative knowledge. They could not go beyond the elemental body and the materiality of objects. They got stuck in the destructible body and in the changeable matter, and worshipped them as the Atman. They were shortsighted and the horizon of their thinking was limited. They could not perceive things in the proper
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“
If the body is welldressed, the reflection is also well-dressed; if the body is welladorned, the reflection too is like that. How can it be then the Atman?
” perspectives, because they were emotionally vacillating, mentally feeble, intellectually inferior and spiritually impure.
Indra Reflects Indra too went back happily, thinking that he has understood the means and methods to know the Atman. But on the way he reflected on the whole process and found out that the conclusions are illogical and have lacunae. The reflections in the eye, in the mirror in the pan of water are that of the body. If the body is welldressed, the reflection is also welldressed; if the body is well-adorned, the reflection too is like that. How can it be then the Atman? He came back to
Prajapati, fuel in hand. Prajapati asked him, “Desiring what, O Indra, have you come back, since you went away satisfied in your heart, along with Virocana?” (Chandogya Up. VIII.9.2). Indra explained his problem. Prajapati said, “So is it indeed, O Indra. I shall explain this further to you. Live here another thirty-two years” (Chandogya Up. VIII.9.3). At the end of this period Prajapati said, “He who moves about gracefully in dreams, he is the Atman. He is the immortal and the fearless. He is Brahman”. Indra was satisfied and went back. But on the way he reflected on this matter, and he encountered problems to accept this explanation. It is true, what one sees in dreams is not like reflection of body in mirror, water, etc. But Atman, who is immortal and fearless, cannot be the one who moves in dreams, because in dreams it weeps, suffers pain and dies. How can it be the immortal and fearless Atman? Indra went back to Prajapati, and Prajapati asked him, “Desiring what, O Indra, have you come back, since you went away satisfied in your heart?” (Chandogya Up. VIII.10.4). Indra explained his problem. Prajapati said, “So is it indeed, O Indra. I shall explain this further to you. Live here another thirty-two years”. At the end Prajapati said that the Atman is to be sought in the person who is fully asleep. Indra, as in the previous cases, thought this is alright, but later found out that Atman cannot be found in the person fully asleep. He came back to Prajapati and explained his difficulty. This time Prajapati asked him to live the life of a brahmacharin for only five years. “Verily, for one hundred and one year's Indra lived with Prajapati the disciplined life of a celibate student of
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ASPECTS sacred knowledge”. Then Prajapati explained to Indra the dynamics of life; the body is material; it perishes with death; the Atman is eternal; it survives the death of the body; but Atman needs body to experience pleasure and pain; pleasure and pain happen only in embodied existence; it is through the medium of body and senses that Atman can say ‘I smell this’, ‘I speak this’, ‘I know this’, etc. The senses are the tools of Atman. However, Atman is not touched by pleasure and pain and other bodily changes; the liberated Atman/self disentangles itself and rises above the states of bodily existence, like waking state, dream sleep state and deep sleep state.
The concluding passage of Chandogya Upanisad Brahma expounded this to Prajapati, Prajapati to Manu and Manu to his descendants. He who has read the Veda according the prescribed rule, in the time left over after performing his duties to the teacher, he who, after having come back from the teacher’s house, settles down in his household, continues the study of the Vedas in a clean place, and has virtuous sons and disciples, he who withdraws all his senses into the Atman, who practices non-injury to all beings, he who behaves thus throughout his life, reaches the world of Brahman and does not return again - yes, he does not return again (Chandogya Up. VIII.15.1).
Observations (i) Indra and Virocana represent two opposing camps, two opposing principles and two opposing characters. Indra is the symbol of truth, nobility, knowledge and goodness. He represents the sattvaguna, which is the principle of luminosity, knowledge, goodness, etc. Virocana is the symbol of wickedness, sin and ignorance. He represents the tamas, which is the principle of darkness, lethargy, ignorance and sin. Indra is the resident of heaven, the region of happiness, peace, love and harmony; the region of light and goodness. Virocana is the resident of
Pallikkutam | December 2015
the netherworld, the region of darkness, miseries, discord, conflicts, hatred and enmity. (ii) Virocana got stuck in body and matter; he could not rise up. As a result his vision of life, world-view and concept of human person, etc. are limited and matter-centred. The goals and values of life are clogged down to body-matter dynamics. Artha (wealth), Kama (pleasure), Dharma and Moksa (liberation) are the four values of humans. Virocana, and persons of his calibre, consider and value only Artha and Kama as useful and worthy of our strivings. They are convinced that
Indra was ready to pay the price for gaining the saving knowledge. He patiently lived one hundred and one years at the abode Prajapati as a brahmacarin, observing all the strict rules and regulations of a Vedic student.
other end is the supreme, pure bliss, which is God himself, who is pure spirit, eternal, transcendent and beyond all mutabilities of the world. God is the inner Controller and Lord of all. The essence of the Upanisadic spirituality may be viewed as a pilgrimage of man to this supreme Bliss, using, but also transcending, the lower manifestations of the Reality. It is an ascent of the self in embodied existence to the supreme Self from matter, going up through life, mind and consciousness. Virocana and his kind of people will never be able to carry out this spiritual-religious duty and endeavour. (iv) Virocana lacked the discriminative knowledge to discern things and see and evaluate objects in the correct perspectives. He was not able to discriminate between body and spirit, between important and unimportant things, between, as Sri Sankara says, eternal and non-eternal things (nityaanitya-vastu viveka). He worshipped body as Atman; he could not grasp the contradiction contained in this: Atman is indestructible, eternal, pure spirit, and body is destructible, transient, gross and uncouth matter.
(v) Indra intelligently reflected (manana) and meditated (nididhyasana) on what he heard (sravana) from Prajapati. This Kama is the goal and Artha is the reflection and contemplation enabled means to attain it. This is the Carvakan him to understand and single out the philosophy, and Virocana is a follower flaws in his thinking process. And he this doctrine. returned again and again to Prajapati to get things straightened up, to gain (iii) Body and matter are not bad and are not to be rejected or repudiated; we clarity in the thought, precision in the conclusions and focus on the actionneed them in our embodied existence. plan. But we should have the courage and good will to transcend them and go (vi) Indra was ready to pay the price higher whenever and wherever for gaining the saving knowledge. He necessary. In man (humans) there is a patiently lived one hundred and one harmonious blending of all the five years at the abode Prajapati as a constituents of reality, the sheaths brahmacarin, observing all the strict (kosas), as Taittiriya Up. characterize rules and regulations of a Vedic them. He/she is a combination of student. His timetable, study matter, life, mind and senses, programme, his relationship with the consciousness and God. At the bottom teacher, etc., are elaborately explained one end is the lifeless, transient, in the Dharma-sastras (Cf. Manu-smrti imperfect and gross matter; and at the II.69-249).
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BOOKSHELF
The Plague by Albert Camus Albert Camus believed that human suffering is meaningless in itself but an individual can make his or her life meaningful by rebelling against suffering.
A
lbert Camus' The Plague is set on the Algerian coast. The novel follows Bernard Rieux, a doctor in the city of Oran, who becomes alarmed when he notices an increasing number of rats dying in the town streets. It's not long before the mysterious disease has spread to humans, killing a hundreds of people a week and causing some residents to try to leave the city in a panic.
for human sins. Camus brings out this idea through Dr. Rieux’s attitude towards Father Paneloux, the Jesuit priest who preaches that God has sent the plague to Oran in order to teach the people a lesson. In the context of the two world wars (the novel was published in 1947), this reflection on suffering and death and the desire to assign certain purpose to life proved to be immensely valuable.
When people start dying in the Algerian city of Oran the authorities are unwilling to accept that the city is in the grip of the bubonic plague. A handful of men like Dr. Rieux and Dr. Castel throw themselves into the task of fighting the epidemic, but they are hindered by the short-sightedness of others. During the early days the people of Oran sink into a prolonged state of self-pity. Gradually they realise that the plague is a collective tragedy and many of them choose to rise above selfish considerations and help fight the epidemic.
The Plague doesn't have a happy ending, of course, though it's not quite as hopeless as you might think. Initially, Dr. Rieux is a little resigned to the disease that's threatening his city: "One hardly knows what a dead man is, after a while," Camus writes. "And
since a dead man has no substance unless one has actually seen him dead, a hundred million corpses broadcast through history are no more than a puff of smoke in the imagination." But it is, perhaps, a human instinct to search for meaning in every tragedy. Whether it's a civilian airplane shot down by a missile, a seemingly never ending war or a deadly virus that shows no sign of abating, we can't help but ask "Why?" even if we know there's no answer. Eventually Dr. Rieux concludes, "It has no importance whether such things have or have not a meaning; all we need consider is the answer given to men's hope."
Social/Historical context: Albert Camus (1913-1960) believed that human suffering is meaningless in itself but an individual can make his or her life meaningful by rebelling against suffering. Being an atheist he did not believe that God had assigned any meaning to suffering, that is, suffering cannot be said to be just punishment
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Pallikkutam | December 2015
BOOKSHELF
The most remarkable thing is that Camus succeeds in leaving a lasting impression with the use of the minimum number of words possible. Writing Style:
Of course, the answer isn't always the one we want. But if Camus teaches us anything, it's that even when tragedy is inevitable we have no choice but to look for that meaning and to find it in one another. Just when it looks like the plague will destroy the entire city of Oran, it recedes, though not before it's killed countless residents. Dr. Rieux
Pallikkutam | December 2015
manages to live through it; several of his friends aren't so lucky. As Dr. Rieux says, of the plague's survivors, "For some time, anyhow, they would be happy. They knew now that if there is one thing one can always yearn for and sometimes attain, it is human love."
Camus’s language is deceptively simple and hides layers of subtle meaning. The narrative is taut and fastpaced. The most remarkable thing is that Camus succeeds in leaving a lasting impression with the use of the minimum number of words possible. The premise of the novel is an interlinking between diseases that plague the body and doubts that plague the mind. This parallel is continued throughout the story, making the novel extremely rich and open to many interpretations.
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EDU BIZ
Growing e-learning market in India Better start-up environment along with higher internet and smartphone penetration is aiding the sector
T
he education sector in India is no longer bound to just classrooms. Thanks to new start-ups and higher internet and smartphone penetration, the online learning space in India is growing manifold. The e-learning market in India is estimated to be around $3 billion. The central government's efforts to make digital learning available to students in
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every corner of the country is also aiding the sector. Currently, online training in India focuses equally on both school and college-based courses as well as midlevel professional courses. For instance, Bengaluru-based Entranceindia provides practice papers for all engineering and medical entrance tests in India. The company aims to help students focus on the
right subjects and contents rather than swim blindly in an ocean of study materials available across different media. Also, they focus on convenience-based training because online capability enables students to get access to subjects anytime and anywhere. According to industry experts, the future of education in India will depend on online courses.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
EDU BIZ “A major setback of Indian education system is the delay to update syllabus. Hence, in future, rather than obtaining a three-year degree course from a tier-1 or tier-2 city in India, there will be more takers for a professional course that is updated with the current industry demands,” said Krishna Kumar, founder of an online training start-up Simplilearn. According to studies, India and China will lead the growth in project management roles, generating about 4 million and 8.1 million roles, respectively, by 2020. Hence, the business looks to grow from now on.
aggregator role. These companies also offer blended classes, integrating both online and offline experience, along with self-take courses. Though a majority of their users are from India, these portals have seen a significant number of users from abroad also. Bengaluru-based Simplilearn offers more than 200 certification courses in project management, information technology service management, Microsoft certification, quality management and financial management. The company has over 300 courses across 150 countries, with over 600 employees and has trained over 200,000 professionals across the globe.
Intellipaat, started in 2011, provides online training to IT professionals including corporate Another reason why online training training, and self-paced courses and offers over will gain momentum is because of the 80 technological courses across different need for re-skilling, For instance, about domains. According to chief executive officer a decade ago, all that a software Diwakar Chittora, the company is witnessing professional was required to know almost a 1,000% increment in terms of growth.
were programming languages. Now these professionals need to update themselves on other aspects like big data analytics and cloud computing. Better salary hikes and promotions are also the reasons why people undertake new courses. A lot of start-ups are already setting their foot in what they think will be the next big thing in India after ecommerce. While some companies like Simplilearn and Intellipaat look to generate content, especially aiming at mid-level professionals, others like Learnsocial plays more of an
Pallikkutam | December 2015
The company caters to corporates like Genpact, Ericsson, Sony, CISCO, TCS, Wipro, and Tata Communications among others. Hyderabad-based Learnsocial is a six-month old company and works on an aggregator model. It aims to cater to both mid-level professionals and students alike. “We want to become the Amazon of online learning. We want to provide thousands of posts on learnsocial.com, aggregating content from various experts, content houses or universities,” says founder Raju Vanapala. Learnsocial has close to 200,000 users and has trained more than 1,100 learners.
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SPORTS
India v Pakistan Cricket's biggest rivalry Ashish Nehra held his nerve, dismissing Moin Khan with a full toss off the final ball, prompting Ganguly to quip: "Thank God there was no Miandad batting". India-Pakistan cricket relations are in the news today, after a meeting between the heads of the BCCI and PCB at the Indian board's headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium was disrupted by members of the Shiv Sena. The BCCI was forced to postpone the meeting with Shahryar Khan and Najam Sethi, who had arrived in India on Sunday in a bid to convince them to confirm the IndiaPakistan cricket series in December, which leaves us to ponder the chances of that happening. Good enough time as any to recall some classic India v Pakistan cricket matches - and what memories they gave fans on both sides of the border. India overcome Imran
This is the match no Indian will ever be allowed to forget. You all know about it: One ball, four to win, full toss, hysteria. At Sharjah on April 18, 1986, Pakistan were chasing 246 to win the Austral-Asia Cup. From 215 for 7, they were carried to the final over by Javed Miandad, that maverick who was never one to back down. Batting out of his skin, Miandad held his nerve while Chetan Sharma lost his, serving up a full toss off the final ball which Miandad duly swung away for six. It would take years before India managed to shake the psychological scars of that match. Aaqib outdoes India One of the more famous pub quiz questions on India-Pakistan cricket is 'who were Aaqib Javed's hat-trick victims at Sharjah in 1991?' The answer: Shastri, Azharuddin and Tendulkar. On October 25, 1991, during the final of the Wills Trophy, Pakistan piled up the highest score of the tournament, 262 for 6, and handed it over to Aaqib. Starting off by getting Navjot Sidhu in his first over, Aaqib rocked India with a hat-trick in his third, each lbw. He finished with figures of 7 for 37 as Pakistan comfortably won by 72 runs.
India only managed to beat Pakistan six times out of 26 in Sharjah, and their most famous win came in a low-scoring affair on March 22, 1985. Having opted to field on a greenish track, Imran Khan bowled outstandingly to claim 6 for 14 as India were bowled out for 125. Ravi Shastri started the slide with a first-ball duck, and only three batsmen made it to double figures. As Rameez Raja admitted years later, Pakistan were so assured of victory that they became complacent. From 35 for 1, they proceeded to fold for a paltry 87 to Bangalore goes bananas hand India a 38-run win. Pakistan met India in a quarter-final The shot heard around the world clash of the 1996 World Cup in
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Bangalore, a high-voltage match which Wasim Akram oddly skipped. Propelled by Sidhu's 93 and Ajay Jadeja's stunning assault on Waqar Younis (his last two overs cost 40),
India reached 287 for 8. In reply, Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail set off like men possessed and thumped 84 off the first ten over. Then Sohail chose to taunt Venkatesh Prasad after hitting him for four, only to have his stumps splayed next ball. Pakistan never
Pallikkutam | December 2015
SPORTS recovered, and the run-out of Miandad Aaqib grabbed five. Fittingly, a crowd to bad light, an unknown Hrishikesh of 45,000 gave Anwar a standing ended Pakistan's reign as world Kanitkar etched his name in history by ovation. champions and a career that had hitting spanned the three Sachin's 98 in the 2003 World Cup is still regarded as winning decades.Sachin four one of the best ODI innings ever played. Tendulkar's with one 98 in the ball to 2003 World Cup is still regarded as one spare. Earlier, Anwar and Ijaz had put Chauhan seals a thriller of the best ODI innings ever played. on a record 330 for the third wicket. In an international career spanning 21 Blitzkrieg in Chepauk Centurion conquered Tests and 53 ODIs, Rajesh Chauhan's May 21, 1997 - an unforgettable day in most famous moment came in the The first match between the two teams Chennai, when Anwar broke the record second match of a three-ODI series in since June 2000 was the best of the for the highest individual innings in an Karachi on September 30, 1997. 2003 World Cup. A fine century from Chasing 266 from 47 overs, India had ODI. His breath-taking 194, off 146 Anwar propelled Pakistan to 273, but stumbled after Sourav Ganguly's exit balls and with 22 fours and five sixes, Tendulkar and Sehwag launched a for 89. Through Robin Singh and Saba stunning assault. As Akram recalled set up Pakistan's match-winning total of 327 for 5. Inzamam-ul-Haq made his Karim, they recovered and took 33 off afterwards, Shoaib Akhtar refused to three overs from Saqlain Mushtaq to bowl after the Indian openers belted swing the momentum India's way. his first over for 18. India raced out of Pakistan hit back with the wicket of the blocks, and Tendulkar went on to Karim at 257 for 6, but Chauhan swung score 98 from 75 balls. Yuvraj and Saqlain for six with three balls to spare Dravid then finished off the match to ensure victory and keep the series coolly to hand India their fourth alive. consecutive World Cup win over Pakistan. The axe man cometh Two nights later, India ran into Ijaz Ahmed. At the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore, India failed miserably to defend a poor total of 216, as Pakistan romped home with 142 balls to spare. The man of the moment was a murderous Ijaz, who clubbed 139 off just 84 balls. It was savage hitting, and India were left to once again lick the wounds of defeat.
presence felt with a stunning catch at slip to get Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid's maiden century and a fighting fifty from Vinod Kambli were in vain as
Pallikkutam | December 2015
A Karachi classic
The first match of a historic tour to Pakistan in 2004 ended with India beating the hosts by five runs. In front of a capacity crowd of 33,000 India were oddly asked to bat and, led by Sehwag's 59-ball 77 and 99 from Dravid - bowled by Shoaib, of course - made a daunting 349, aided by 30 extras. From 34 for 2, Pakistan were pushed by the genius of Inzamam, who made 122 off Kanitkar holds his nerve 102. A stunning tumbling catch from In the last of a best-of-three final under Mohammad Kaif kick-started the slide, floodlights in Dhaka, India were and the equation came down to nine chasing 315. Tendulkar's 26-ball 41 was from the final over. Ashish Nehra held followed by a 179-run stand in 30 his nerve, dismissing Moin Khan with overs between Ganguly and Robin, a full toss off the final ball, prompting only for India to lose six wickets in ten Ganguly to quip: "Thank God there overs. After a brief interruption owing was no Miandad batting".
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FOCUS
Clean Kochi Battle by nature friendly home makers With twenty years of solid experience in the field of building quality living spaces across the state, Melonwood Homes has already carved a niche for itself in the field among a select category of audience.
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the platform was so ideal for Melonwood Homes to launch as a brand as it epitomized the values that the organization strove to embrace.
Sajo Jacob, Founder and Managing Director of the organization said that
Melonwood Homes has established itself as one of the most sought after builders in Kochi. Thanks to the emphasis being given on the signature standards set by the organization – quality and design. With twenty years of solid experience in the field of building quality living spaces across
elonwood Homes has been in the limelight for upholding a noble cause by joining hands with the Times group. The program titled ‘Clean Kochi Battle’ was aimed at identifying the best green apartment in Kochi. By sponsoring the program, the organization has primarily announced its entry into the big league.
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the state, Melonwood Homes has already carved a niche for itself in the field among a select category of audience. The DNA it exemplifies with trust and honesty as service hallmarks and design and quality as execution hallmarks. The company can rest assured of the best possible innovative design with functional layouts and high end quality finishes. The adoption of state-of-the art technologies and on time delivery is
Pallikkutam | December 2015
FOCUS other hallmarks that Melonwood can boast of compared to its peers. The Company has finetuned its core values after a short interaction with some key clients. The culture being nurtured in the organization is clearly encapsulated in its most honourable core value ‘Client-first’. This speaks volumes on the inherent quality associated with the brand. Sajo Jacob, has been in the business of building quality homes for more than two decades. For such a long time, he never felt the need of undertaking any marketing initiative, which spoke a lot about the trust he enjoyed from his existing customers and the power of word of mouth advertising he enjoyed. “Now I feel that it is the right time for us to expand to the next level” said Sajo Jacob. The fact that Melonwood Homes won the Times of India, Brand IconMost Innovative Builder Award 2015, also underscores the quality of the brand.
He added that Melonwood Homes would continue to give emphasis on quality and design the core pillars of its execution strategy. It Eco-friendliness is the most is something that runs in the spirit of the important value that Melonwood Organization. Sajo Jacob, an engineering Homes strives to embrace to the graduate , leading the best possible extent. company forward with a clear vision.
Eco-friendliness is the most important value that Melonwood Homes strives to embrace to the best possible extent. Situated at Vazhakkala, Kakkanadu the new project Melonwood Greens, stands for boundless green life and thoughtful designs. The project offers a rare opportunity for nature lovers to lead a healthy lifestyle and an even rarer opportunity to care for future lives.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
Apart from ‘Greens’, another project is also actively going live at the moment, named Melonwood ‘Rejoyz’. For all the projects of the Company, eco friendliness is a value it strives to achieve in the best possible manner. “It may not be possible to execute ecofriendliness in the full meaning of the term due to cost constraints and for meeting different kinds of customer expectations. However, we make sure that it is adhered to the best possible extent” added Sajo Jacob. Another villa project of the Company is all set to launch at Seaport- Airport Road, Kollamkudimugal, Thrikkakara (near Bharatamata College). Plans are afoot to launch 21 spacious units with 2300-3400 sq.ft in 1.21 acres of land. The gated community also comes with all the state-of-the art amenities.
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RAINBOW
COLOURFUL Idioms in English.
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Tas Jawaharlal Nehru
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I
n English, Idioms are derivatives of situations, contexts and emotions. There are umpteen idioms using words of colours like black, white, blue and red etc...
1) in black and white : (written down in print, and considered official). (e.g) The agreement is prepared in black and white. So, it is reliable. 2) in the pink : (in the state of robust good health). (e.g) Our professor is an octogenarian in the pink of good health. 3) green-eyed : (jealous or envious). (e.g) Ram's sudden rise to the managerial position has made even his closest friends getting green-eyed at him. 4) Jaundiced : (affected by or exhibiting envy, prejudice or hostility). (e.g) Lazy people take a jaundiced eye on the growth of hardworkers.
Pallikkutam | December 2015
RAINBOW
Sudoku 11 Sudoku 10 Answer
Difficulty Level:
Word Search 03 PALLIKKUTAM ASPECTS BOOKSHELF COVERSTORY CREATIVELIVING EXPERTCOUNSEL GUESTCOLUMN INFOTECH INNOVATIONS INSIGHTS NEWS PERSONAL POLICYWATCH RAINBOW REFLECTIONS SPORTS STORIESOFLIFE Pallikkutam | December 2015
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REFLECTIONS
God’s five-sense breakthrough to humanity Jose Panthaplamthottiyil
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ark Link, in his Daily Homilies, recalls a poem written by Cyril B. Egan under the title, A Kind of Prayer. In this poem we come across the story of a man who is looking all over the place searching for something. Everyone wonders what he is searching for. Then someone asks him that question. He responds saying, “I am looking for God.” Then he adds, “Don’t tell me I’ll find him in my heart (Though in a sense that’s true), and don’t tell me I will find him in my fellow man (Though in a sense that’s true too). What I am looking for is a God making a fivesense break-through to humanity.” The man in Eagan’s poem is in search of a God making a five-sense breakthrough to humanity. That means he is looking for a God whom he could see and touch and communicate with. However, he is not alone in this search. Man from time immemorial has been thirsting to see God and experience his saving power in his life. It was this thirst for God that made him cry out, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). It was to quench the thirst of man to see God and save him from all his iniquities that God came down from heaven and was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. And we recall this historic event with joy and gratitude during the Christmas season.
When we feed the hungry or welcome the stranger or clothe the naked or care for the sick or visit the prisoner, we are actually seeing and touching him and experiencing Jesus. Yes, God is definitely present in a clean heart. Yes, he is also present in everyone who comes across in our lives. However, don’t we have the craving to see God and experience him in our lives? It was to make this possible that God became man. When Jesus, the Son of God, was born in Bethlehem, shepherds went and adored him. The Wise men from the East went in search of him, found him and adored him and gave him gifts. Later the people of Palestine were able to see, touch and experience the saving love and power of God in Jesus. Today we can see the same
Jesus, touch him and experience him provided we have the eyes of faith. When we feed the hungry or welcome the stranger or clothe the naked or care for the sick or visit the prisoner, we are actually seeing and touching him and experiencing him. For he has told us, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren that you do unto me” (Mathew 25:40). Jesus while he came down from heaven identified himself with the poor and the marginalized. It is when we serve them sharing our time, talents and financial resources with them that we get the opportunity to see and touch Jesus the Son of God. Mother Teresa of Kolkata saw, touched and experienced Jesus among the abandoned people in the gutters of the city of Kolkata. Like Mothers Teresa, those who serve the poor and the abandoned with love and compassion still receive the grace to see, touch and experience Jesus even today. This Christmas season reminds us to see, touch and experience Jesus by serving the poorest of the poor in our midst. It is when we do that our Christmas celebrations really become meaningful in our lives. Moreover, it is only through seeing, touching and experiencing Jesus in the lives of the poor and the marginalized that we will find true peace which symbolizes Christmas.
Printed and Published by Fr.Varghese Panthalookaran CMI on behalf of Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O, Kakkanad, Kochi-39. Ph: 0484-2973979. Printed at St. Francis Press, Kochi. Editor: James Paul