Shades of memories...

                      Here is an end to a fascinating journey, a phase to be cherished and remembered for the decades to come. An end that paves the way for a new Beginning, a new reality to be faced, a new world to take on. It is an end of three wonderful years, it is an end of BMM. Ever since the  first day of college, learning for life had begun. Everyday was like a fresh page with something to discover accompanying with madness, excitement and off course discipline.
                      When I look back at those days, I feel proud to be a part of it. I was really blessed with some good friends who went onto to become my close friends. The faculties with whom we had a relation like a parent and a child. I am able to sense the  transformation that I had been through in these three years. I will always keep those moments of laughter, fun and learning close to  my heart. I take with me the values, discipline and pure moments of joy. I take with  me those moments of working together hand-in-hand, those scenes of pride being a  part of CSFC (Chetana Self  Financing Courses). Though we began as rebels, but we ended as a family.
                      

A letter to Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik

Dear Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik,

                               A true delight to write a letter to a personality who has become so popular within no time. Before the current incident occurred that created an outrage in the entire nation, I did not know about you and I presume neither people of India. I thought of researching a bit about you before writing this, since your trending on Twitter. So you are a political analyst, a social activist and a 'journalist'. You are also an expert on international affairs, but what about being a human being, and more importantly being an Indian?
                             So you interviewed the terrorist and mastermind behind the 26/11 bomb blast Hafeez Saeed. Proud? aren't you? and you went as a journalist, so no problem with that. I don't want to make any accusations as to how dare you interviewed a terrorist or there should be a case filed against you. Ironically, even Indian police couldn't reach to Hafeez Saeed, but you left them all astonished. Let me put before you my thoughts as a citizen of this nation. I don't want to link your interview to any political party or any personality. These thoughts are straight from my heart.

1. My first question to you is, how did you even reach to Hafeez Saeed? I find no connection given the profile that you have. How should I accept this that a terrorist's boss who sends ten terrorist to kill innocent people of my nation with no real cause, is being interviewed with exchanging smiles by a journalist of my own country.

2. So Mr. Vaidik, what did you ask Hafeez Saeed? what are his hobbies? or what are his plans for Eid? I am sure you did not have the courage to ask, why did he kill innocent citizens of your country? what right does he possess to kill hundreds of innocent people? why doesn't  he accepts the charges against him and surrender? but not your fault, you went there as a 'journalist'.

3. Sir, where did your morality go when you were interviewing that devil who showed no mercy towards the lives of our people. Didn't your conscience prick you when you were having a chat with a terrorist who was a mastermind behind the most deadliest attack on your country. Did not even imagined what the families of dead in that attack would be feeling? but not your fault, you went there as a 'journalist'.

With no intention to hurt you, but this is what I feel being a citizen of this country. How should I  forget those moments of fear that I was going through along with thousands of people during the attack. How should I forget about those brave police officers and soldiers of my country martyred during that attack.

But anyways ways, how does it feels to become so popular all across the nation, 24 hours coverage on news channels, trending on Twitter?

I hope the tea  Hafeez Saeed served you was refreshing. I wish it could refresh your conscience. Kindly disappear from the news channels, there are lot more important things to be discussed.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jaison Rebello

Decades of master class Brazilian football, humiliated in 90 minutes?

       
               So we have 7-1 resounding at every corner of  the football fraternity. The Brazilian team or for that matter the world never had imagined at this point of time that they would witness such devastating scenes at Mineirao. Social media flooded with mocking jokes, sympathies and criticism, it was all going against Brazil. All hopes and dreams shattered. Germany had showed up its class of brilliance in those 90 mins, whereas Brazil seemed vulnerable till the last whistle blown by the referee. The entire stadium with 80 per cent of Brazilian spectators rolling in tears, it was all over for Brazil on their very own land. But, did those 90 mins minutes portrayed what the Brazilian football is all about? I believe NO. Those 90 mins can never conclude what Brazilian football is known for.
                Brazil being the favorites in the 2014 FIFA World cup, entered with a stunning roar of world class players like Neymar, David Luiz and Thiego Silva. But there was a darker side awaiting for the Brazilians.
It is every football lover's dream to win the world cup by their team in their very own land, and so was the dream of Brazil. The question remains, can Brazil overcome the humiliation faced in those 90 mins against Germany? will that spirit of Brazilians and the love for football be broken down merely because of those 90 mins? will the class of Brazilian players carried along for decades never be taken forward by the future players? I refuse to believe.
              Brazil is known for football and will always be. They will surely come back stronger and do it with the samba style, as they say.

The 80/20 Principle - Richard Koch

                   I happened to read this book titled 'The 80/20 Principle' and surprisingly the first book I have completed reading. But I must say, it was worth every page and every second I spent on this book. I would really like to appreciate Richard Koch, the author of the book for wonderfully putting across this mesmerizing principle that could transform millions of life including me.
                   Let me get straight to the point and tell you what exactly the book has to offer. It simply reveals you the secret of how to achieve MORE from LESS. From the very first page it is clearly understood what the author wants to convey.The book is divided into four parts, each delivering different aspects but on the common grounds of 80/20.
                   The first part talks majorly about what is the 80/20 principle. It basically means 20 per cent of the valuable inputs gives out 80 per cent of  the output, for eg. for a company, 20 per cent of the product yields 80 per cent of the profits. Similarly, 80 per cent of the consequences are because of the 20 per cent of the overall causes. The rule is simple, eliminate the 80 and concentrate on valuable 20.  The book also states how 80/20 is better than 50/50 and other proportions.
                   Moving onto the second part, it majorly discusses about how 80/20 principle can be applied in business life. It talked about how hooking the vital few sets of customers is beneficial than focusing on all the customers. This part is majorly helpful for business management and clearly indicates in which all areas can it be applied. The few things which I found remarkable in this part was that it suggests how the available  resources can  be filtered and the valuable ones can be applied or used to achieve greater productivity. Keeping it simple instead of complex is one of the things that I completely agree with the author. The author also quotes examples of his own professional life absolutely relevant in understanding the concept. The book also analyzes that  filtering the worthy staff/employees is imperative for company's growth. This part is crucial for the business oriented people and will benefit to a greater extent.
                  Part three moves onto to the personal lives and how it can be implied effectively. Most of us very often fail to balance among work, family and friends and that  is where the author suggests to apply the 80/20 principle. The book proposes that a person should discard most of the things that he puts effort into and  apply superior effort into things that remain. In simpler terms focus on things  that you love to do rather than everything. Always be selective in things that you do, be it a competition, work, friends, efforts or for that matter priorities.
                The book beautifully argues that time management is not the solution for everything, but identifying things that are essential and dedicating maximum time to those things which will yield greater productivity. As the author puts it, 80 per cent of the achievement is attained in 20 per cent of time. Also the right thing to do is multiplying the 20 per cent of the time that gives out 80 per cent of the results.
                 The next section is lot to do with 'your money, your life'. I would like to share a really profound quote from this chapter 'Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least'- Johann Wolfgang. You need to ask some important questions to yourself, these are some of the questions - What are you interested in? Are you working towards your interest? Which type of career will make you the happiest?  these are some of  the questions that will direct you where should your maximum effort be used. But what is most critical to my view is you cant put in 80 per cent of your efforts into either your work or personal life. You need to be balanced when it comes to your work and personal life.
                  This section guides about the amount of relationships that should be maintained. Koch also gives out  numbers of personal  and professional relationships that  a person should have. Roughly eight personal and seven professional relationships, build those and make them stronger. About the rest? only if you see opportunities, maintain it instead of stressing out too much.
                  In the next section koch suggests how to choose a field narrowly. Also he firmly believes success requires knowledge and I clearly agree with him on this. More so while going through this section I reflected a thought that, you cant apply 80/20 principle in terms of knowledge, it has to be 100 per cent. Specialize on your core skills, is the overall idea of this section.
                  Chapter 14 is all about how to  multiply your money, it is an optional section in the book. But the author  fails to  give other alternatives other than investing your money in the stock market and also choosing the vital few companies to invest in. One of the phrase that I liked in the section is 'money begats money', this phrase conveys lot more.
                  Chapter 15 does not convince me much as it describes seven habits to be happy. I believe people can only describe the events than can be happier, but  nobody can tell you how to be happy. The reason why I say this is each one of us know what makes us happy, the only need is something to guide to that path.

                  The part four is truly interesting in my opinion, I sincerely appreciate the author for showing the other dimension of the principle. It addresses critical views that others had about the book. When I  analysed this principle, there are certain things to which I slightly disagree. I  agreed with the fact that you should always choose the vital few to achieve higher productivity, but you can't ignore the rest 80 per cent only  because it is not beneficial, instead why can't we improve that 80 per cent and filter it into more vital 20 per cent. Improvising can be the key to make the rest 80  per cent effective, but I know for the fact that it is very easy to say and extremely difficult to do.
                   To summarize it all, this book proposes thoughts that are imperative to today's world, as the tagline rightly says 'The secret of achieving more with less'. It incredibly suggests principle to achieve success in work as well as in personal life, which rarely people have succeeded in doing so.  The central premise of this book simply gives out the art of achieve  80 per cent from 20 per cent.  On a lighter note, I have not applied the 80/20 principle in reading this book, in manner of speaking I have read 100 per cent of the book and not 20 per cent and I am sure the author would not want its readers to read only 20 per cent of its book and presume to know 80 per cent of it. 

Indian elections 2014 - A case study

           
               

             It's been a fortnight or so we have witnessed the greatest event in the history of Indian politics. It was a biggest turn around one could never imagine, I am talking about the sensational win of BJP in the lok sabha elections, which showed an exit door for the dynastic rule. It was the biggest  mandate given by the people of India with BJP winning 282 seats and 335 seats to NDA as whole, whereas UPA only achieved 61 seats with congress yielding merely 46, making it as the worst defeat ever. In many of the states like Gujarat, uttar pradesh and bihar, BJP experienced a landslide win keeping congress no where in the picture, but hey! wait ! we are  missing someone here without whom BJP would never imagine this win. It was this one man who changed the entire Indian politics on his feet. He showed what  potential he has in contributing to the development of India.
                    This charismatic personality is Mr. Narendra Modi, who has been most popular figure since months now. His work was truly appreciated in Gujarat as the chief minister, but what made him a national figure is the vision he had for the nation because of which the people of the nation brought him to the national front.
                     In the last 12 months or so,  there was this whole game of gamble occurring in the Indian politics. The UPA government was loosing its rope and hope of  surviving for more five years, the PM was quite as ever. There was absolute drama taking place in this course of time from ministers switching the parties to breaking alliances, harsh words been exchanged among the party leaders, Communalism was at the forefront, it was all happening.
                    But on the judgement day people had given its verdict, the frustration of people was clearly evident towards UPA government. It was the 'Modi government' who came out to be victorious and Rahul Gandhi who presented it self as a youth icon was vanished by  the people (I have been kind in using the word vanish)
                    But this was not an overnight deal for the Modi government of winning this election with such a clear mandate. There was one aspect without which the BJP win would be a little difficult and  that was the AD CAMPAIGN  which began from the very first day when  Mr. Modi  was nominated as the prime ministerial candidate. This was the most influential  campaign I had ever seen, the product was high influential though. I would like to applaud the copywriters of  such a spot on campaign of 'APKI BAAR, MODI SARKAAR' and that credit clearly goes to Piyush Pandey, the brain behind the campaign. The campaign began like a storm and it carried out exceptionally well with all media like television, radio, print, internet and most importantly WORD OF MOUTH. There were 3D rallies organised for the people. I had even met people  who didn't even know whose is the candidate for elections in their locality, but only knows Narendra Modi. The Modi wave began to spread all over the nation, whereas on the other hand the congress campaign miserably failed to connect with the people. The BJP campaign clearly emphasized on Modi  government rather than BJP government.
                       In my opinion the nation has great hopes with Narendra Modi government and there is a desperate need for India to lead towards development. Whether Narendra Modi can make a difference? yes, he has the capability, whether he will? it will be closely looked upon by India in coming years.
                      To conclude, this lok sabha elections 2014 will  not only be a case study for the political and journalism students but also for the advertising students.