Procrastinated!!

PROCRASTINATE

Quite a word, isn't it? This word was literally ringing in my head for some time so then a thought struck my mind. Why don’t I dedicate one whole post to this word? And in this post, I will remind you of the part the word plays in your daily life.

OK then, for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Procrastination means ‘postponing things one should be doing’. And well, we can see a lot of real life examples around us including ourselves. Just think for a moment, have you given your clothes for laundry? Have you shaved? Have you finished your assignment? When do we have to start studying for an upcoming test?

Well, the things I've mentioned above, majority of the people prefer postponing them for a later time and end up doing all of them at the last minute . For instance, because I’m writing this post, I've postponed a lot of things which aren't worth talking about right now. But then the main question arises? Why do we procrastinate?

I’m not asking the question to you. Rather you should ask this question to yourself. Why?

Well according to me, Procrastination happens when we are emotionally or physically drained or maybe you can even say that we are lazy by nature. Once this bug (read procrastination) bites us, Newton’s First Law takes us down. The object, which in this case is nothing but us, tends to remain at rest unless an external force acts on it. The main problem is that we lose interest in doing that one work and ultimately end up delaying a lot of things and do things which in the first place are totally avoidable. Stress, anxiety and tension are also the major reasons why we procrastinate and it’s damn true. I've experienced it myself infinite number of times and due to that, I've faced a lot of trouble later on. Lack of motivation to do something is another reason why we avoid doing things.

So then, what’s the solution for keeping this bug away from us?

It’s pretty simple but people choose to dump this one hell of an idea- Get your ass up and start exercising your body. Now you get it? But nowadays, most of the people don’t (By the way, all the credit goes to Television, Facebook and other nonsense stuff we keep looking into). Exercise is a very important part of one’s life and it keeps all your worries at bay as well as increases your productivity level as well as make you feel like doing all the pending work you have. Balanced diet is another important thing which would keep your energy level high and then, your to-do-list is completed effortlessly. And one more thing, never lose hope. Keep yourself motivated no matter what circumstances you are in.

In the end, I’d say one thing to all those who procrastinate- Don’t make the saying ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ into reality. I’ll prefer keeping it out of my life.
13BCE0237

Blog Report

Well, as a part of my English project, I was given a choice-
either work on letters or blogs. After a lot of brain-storming, I finally
decided upon writing blog.  The reason is
that while I was in 9th grade, I heard about blog somewhere because
one of my mother’s cousin used to write it (Currently, He’s inactive). So then,
one day, I suddenly decided to maintain a blog and ended up writing some posts.
But then, I lost interest after sometime and discontinued. But then again the
decision was taken, I WILL revive my blog. 

The reasons this time where completely different. I wanted
my posts to be more matured (the posts I wrote previously were quite amateurish
according to me, by the way) and be more informative and one most important
thing, I should be able to convey my thoughts in a more meaningful manner.

So the first post which I wrote after a hiatus was Indian
English. I was quite fascinated and annoyed the way Indians speak English. So
when I sat down to write down my first post, Indian English came to my mind.
And well, this time, I researched for a lot of videos and pictures that would
help my blog better. The main focus of my blog was that how our cultural diversities
has affected the way we converse in English with distinct accents and on how we
ignore grammar while speaking English later resulting in nothing but trouble
all the way. This post, I confess, was the most researched post I’ve ever
worked upon. 

And then the second post arrived which was on childhood. You
see, amidst all the chaos and trouble I was facing currently, a lot of thoughts
were going in and out of my head and that one thing which was always and is
still there in my mind was the time when I was a carefree kid. The main
emphasis of this post was that how childhood makes us forget all the anxiety, depression
we have in our minds for a moment and makes us want to relive those beautiful
moments.

Talking about the third post, I was initially writing a post
comparing our film industry with that of Hollywood. But in the end, I ended up
writing a post comparing old songs with the current songs. Strange, isn’t it? The
main focus of this post was on the reason why the so-called melody in today’s
songs has disappeared all of a sudden. 

Speaking of response, although I tried my best promoting the
blog but I was unable to gather number of comments I expected to gather. But
nevertheless, I received a few responses which you can see in the comment
section of each post.

I've learnt a lot while writing these three posts (and this report as well). The most important thing
that I learnt was that you should be very much regular with posting new posts
and it should be always kept short (Well, that depends on you depending on the knowledge
you have about the topic on which you are writing) but should make an impact on
the reader irrespective of what the post is talking about. 

I confess that I tried to be regular in this second innings
of writing blogs and well, I've been successful to a large extent though I
still need to buck up and write some more blogs knowing that a lot of things
are kept in store for the future so that time is not too far when I’ll be
posting on a regular basis.

But for now, the revival has been quite satisfying according
to me and I hope to keep posting more interesting and detailed stuff in the
near future.

13BCE0237

The Song goes all awry

My dad to date has a strong liking for the evergreen songs between the 1950’s to 1980’s which speak volumes about the music composers in those days and recommends the same to me. And he is not the only person to do that. Every time we hear the songs from that era, a nostalgic feeling arises within ourselves every time we listen to them and why not? They are classics and definitely are priceless gems which will never tarnish and are immortal. Some of my personal favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sZg4EUB3IM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AeyCl-DliQ

Times have changed, but not really for good.

Now, my dad doesn't take a liking to the songs which are churned out nowadays (except for a few, of course) and that’s completely justified according to him and I  also agree to it. Each one of you would surely agree to that. Today’s songs are like fast food. You get addicted initially, enjoy it but you’re never be able to savor it properly and you end up getting bored of it after a while. In short, such songs have a very short shelf life. Still not convinced? Check these out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DK-ZWyxZ8k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

Both the songs took the whole world by storm but are they still so popular now? No. Why? Because they were dethroned from their so-called No.1 position and soon they were out of public’s mind.

People’s taste for music has changed a lot over the years. We are a part of Gen X who is insanely impatient. We see/hear, love, dump, go for something else and the cycle goes on and on. The songs of today- Hindi, English or of any other language, have totally lost their melody, save for a few but they too aren't anywhere close to those classics which we still adore. One can easily blame it on the amalgamation of music with technology. That shows how rapidly technology is advancing but the real concern is, people are misusing it. And now majority of the tunes aren't generated instrumentally, but electronically as a whole which according to me robs the song of its chastity. And the same goes for the lyrics which are written nowadays. People claim that it is done so that it could fit in with our generation who love cool, funky and sometimes, even vulgar stuff. Some of them make an effort to convey something meaningful but that's rare and most of the lyrics are written keeping in mind how much money it will bring in . Check out these videos and see for yourselves the level to which contemporary music has sunk to-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kWLyInyjOE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFBqPtWj8p8

It’s great to have music of different genres since we all have distinct tastes. Some love pop, some love metal rock (By the way, I despise it) and the list goes on. But the contemporary music could be more enriched if it has more of melody and soul in it. One suggestion could be encouraging folk music which is slowly but steadily happening and in addition also has created a fan base for itself. Less amount of electronically generated music may also be a solution. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but it should be used at the right places and should be in sync with the lyrics, not just for the heck of it.   And say no to Song recycling and Plagiarism. That’s something I think is totally stupid and mauls the melody of the original, but some people never seem to learn and end up embarrassing themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMBCfxN1lU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf4SEpvl77M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDHaFHUVxio

Slowly but surely, now people are drawing themselves towards the evergreen melodies and towards new talent who believe in pure music, not cacophony. And when I see others savoring them, I feel that some hope’s still there.

KARTHIK VARDARAJAN

13BCE0237          

Remember the time when.............

“Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age. The child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.” 
― Edna St. Vincent Millay

Remember the time when you went for your first outing and hmm ...you did something which got you embarrassed and today, you laugh over it?

Remember the time when you and whole of your family got together on a certain occasion and you had that adrenaline rush in you, running places?

Remember the time when you explored something new and beamed with joy?

Remember the time when you used to lead a carefree life devoid of any tensions, problems, living life king-size?

Well, That's Childhood.

Sometimes, when I realize that the past few years of my life has been spent in nothing but tensions, anxiety, loneliness, despair, frustration etc., those memories come from nowhere and strike you like a bullet. And I've always told my father and still keep telling him that "Wish we start growing up all over again"

.

“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” 
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Childhood is that phase of life when you are inquisitive, learning new things, making friends, going out on vacations and having the best time of your life. We never care about what is kept in store for the future and who would at such an age? We discover and explore tons of stuff in our day-to-day life. Even today when I watch videos and pictures taken by my father when I was just a kid (in 4^th grade or so. Okay, in all those years), those memories just capture me like roots holding a tree and takes me to a world where there is optimism written all over.

I’m now 18 and have realized that the world is not a simple place to live in. There is no free lunch. There are good and bad people all over the place and I have to deal with them all by myself and that are when I see that I've matured and my childhood is nothing but now a memoir of old photos and videos, which are currently lying somewhere, a place unknown which can be found only by chance.

“Grown-ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets.” 
― Roald Dahl

As said by Roahl Dahl, we all have secrets within ourselves as we grow. Our fantasies, our dreams, our personal problems, relationship problems which make us look like a soul in despair. Growing-up means taking up a lot of responsibility on your hands and remaining faithful to them, leaving very little time for ourselves. When we think of childhood, we think of the innocence and the simplicity we possessed but then we realize we are beyond these things and now have both good and bad qualities beneath our souls but we can’t help it because some unavoidable circumstances at some point has made us so. But one day, out of the blue when we realize that we were before and what we are now, then our childhood memories will act like a balm on those sufferings we had to endure during those hard times. Not every time, but when you need it the most.

“Grown up, and that is a terribly hard thing to do. It is much easier to skip it and go from one childhood to another.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

I wrote this post because…… because I miss my childhood. I miss it each and every day of my life. What days those were!!Full of energy, that glitter in the eyes when I get something new or see or learn something new, pulling off pranks which may seem silly but worth remembering even today and the list doesn't simply end here. So my final message to all those kids who are on the verge of becoming teenagers and then to adulthood, Go out! Enjoy the sunlight, play sports, spend time with your family and friends. Never get tensed, depressed. You’ll be surely facing that at some point of time but for now, LIVE A TENSION-FREE LIFE!!

And the last thing- “Enjoy your childhood. Learn, explore and play”. This may look stereotypical but still, CHILDHOOD TIMES IS LIKE A PRECIOUS GEM. NEVER LOSE IT, YOU MAY REGRET THEN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!

“[...] I grew up out of that strange, dreamy childhood of mine and went into the world of reality. I met with experiences that bruised my spirit - but they never harmed my ideal world. That was always mine to retreat into at will. I learned that that world and the real world clashed hopelessly and irreconcilably; and I learned to keep them apart so that the former might remain for me unspoiled. I learned to meet other people on their own ground since there seemed to be no meeting place on mine. I learned to hide the thoughts and dreams and fancies that had no place in the strife and clash of the market place. I found that it was useless to look for kindred souls in the multitude; one might stumble on such here and there, but as a rule it seemed to me that the majority of people lived for the things of time and sense alone and could not understand my other life. So I piped and danced to other people's piping - and held fast to my own soul as best I could.” 
― L.M. Montgomery, My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. Macmillan from L.M. Montgomery

Cheers…….

KV

KARTHIK VARDARAJAN

13BCE0237

Quotes taken from-

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/childhood

Indlish-The New Language In Town

I still remember a teacher of mine who was constantly made fun of because he spoke English with a mixture of Malayalam and English and the constant use of the word “that” while he talked. Sample this-“I want to say that, this class does not behave properly that, you people do not study at all that, I’m fed up!” Strange, isn't it?

Well, that’s not the only case I've encountered, there are lots and lots of people I've met and interacted with who speak really bad English or you can say that they speak 'Indlish', mixing their native languages with English. But one can’t deny the fact that we Indians have a unique approach towards English, the way we write, speak and manipulate it. So here it is-INDIAN ENGLISH

Indian English????What’s that? These questions must be hovering around in your mind, right? So here we go!!

Indian English is the group of English dialects spoken primarily in the Indian subcontinent. After India got independence, attempts were being made to make English our national language but due to protests from several states in India, it was retained only for official purposes. The widespread of English all over India led to different sort of adaptation in different states due to which people from one state may speak English in the way they speak their dialect and that reflects on the way they interpret the language and for them, some words in English may have different meanings for them. Here is a sample

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9arM_agKFA

India, as we all know, is the mother of innumerable languages like Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, English and a zillion dialects. But the thing is, people speak it while also mixing their local dialect in it. Bihari English, Anyone? This leads to the invention of new phrases and words in the so-called ‘Indlish Dictionary’. People here have a habit of using words which the Americans or the Britishers don’t usually use or have stopped using or maybe have never even heard of them ever. Here are some of the words- Half-Pants according to Indians and Shorts according to others (read American English). Purse in place of wallet, Hotel in place of restaurant and hotel (actually most of the Indians prefer using the word Hotel since it’s easier to pronounce, I suppose), Tomato Sauce instead of ketchup and zillions of words of which we have laid the foundation stone. For more words, check this out-

http://www.immihelp.com/newcomer/indian-english-american-english-language-dictionary.html

English has become a very integral part of our life. We see it everywhere. Posters, movies, magazines, newsletters etc. In fact, it is really hard to survive in this world without knowing English. Everyone expects that an educated well-to-do person speak classy English, write Shakespearean English and be the perfect English gentlemen. Some of us fulfill all those needs and some of us do not so unfortunately. In the past many years, while killing my time browsing Facebook. I've also come across some really horrible English. English, which one after seeing would definitely would not want to live on this planet anymore. You can see millions of such pictures online due to the widespread of Internet to every hook and corner of this world.

Here are some of the pictures and videos I've collected and my comments on them which depicts that “Some people do not give a damn about English”.

This was the one I liked the most . You can’t even imagine what the person was imagining while he wrote this ‘proposal for phrandship’.

P.S- “ I watchman her in college”. Speechless!!

All I can say is R.I.P English and R.I.P  Photoshop.” UFO sayeeted in Pakistan”.

Anyone interested in tasty, delicious, mouth-watering snakes?

Ummm…..Read, bang your head and scroll down!

(I’m very much sure Rihanna will commit suicide if she happens to come across this.)

Is that really supposed to be a notice???”Theft are missing not taken action police and administration”

(Hats off to the police for atleast

getting the spelling of administration correct!!)

English classes for lalies only!! What kind of specie is lalies?Never heard of it though.

Had a good laugh? Didn't you? Now coming to the point, I’ll again take this opportunity to say that Indian English has become an integral part of our life. Nowadays, Indians have a habit of mixing English with their very own local language resulting in a completely different kind of lingo. In my school, order was said as ‘audi’, permission became ‘permi’, aggressive became ‘rangarh’ (By the way, I've never understood the word itself.), trolled became ‘bugging’ and many similar kind of words were used at that and is still used. That’s not the story of only my school, many schools and colleges have their kind of 'language'. Not only schools and colleges, different places have different lingo where a mixture of English and the local dialect is spoken sometimes resulting in the emergence of a completely new language. 

The well-known Indian writer UR Ananthamurthy had remarked English was a ‘father-tongue’, whilst the languages we speak in kitchens and backyards, the ones we gossip in, are our mother-tongues. But the widespread of English language in India has led to the use of English words in our backyard and kitchen talks and this is irresistible. And then suddenly while we are talking about this stuff, “Why this Kolaveri Di” comes to my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR12Z8f1Dh8

The lyric of this song itself indicates how we completely make a mish-mash of English sentences and words because we seem to be comfortable speaking like that now.

It may be OK to use such lingo but we have overlooked the fact that we, even after studying in an English medium school don’t even know the basics of grammar. It may be attributed to the negligence shown by our education system and we have to suffer in the later stages of our lives.
However, the biggest problem is our ACCENT. I've conversed with a lot of people and many of them speak English in such a manner that you cannot do anything but nod just for the sake of it. I read somewhere that schools in Tamil Nadu teach English with Tamil grammar because of which other people can't make out what they are talking about (Not all but some of them). This is a common phenomenon all over India and people from other countries make fun of it. Stand-up comedian Russell Peters has taken a lot of dig at Indian accents. Here you go!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNwXReoaCKQ

Here is a phone conversation from a movie on which I stumbled upon a long time back and it’s quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrd7sCnB-WA

And last but not the least, our very own Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Speech in the Parliament. Pure Entertainment!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DQpYxrB9W8

On the brighter side, language experts believe that ‘Indlish’ is good for the future. According to David Graddol, a British Linguist who studies English in non-English speaking countries, people will increasingly be called upon to be proficient in more than one language. Graddol says young people in countries like India will have an edge, since multilingualism will be valued as a professional skill. At the same time, India needs to be more aware of the evolution of English elsewhere in the world, as this will have an impact on its competitiveness.

But then the question comes, how should children in school be taught English? First of all, English is a language which should be relished and there are two ways to learn it- having fun with it or just learning it and today’s children know the difference between both. I believe that we should also focus on the linguistic aspect of the language so as to pronounce each and every word with precision. In addition to that, maximum attention must be given to grammar which is always ignored. Not to forget, always try to converse in English so that you come to know about your mistakes and rectify them instead of being made fun of.

English will always be the language of opportunity, but Indlish is the language of friendship. So we must speak in English but with correct syntax.

KARTHIK VARDARAJAN

13BCE0237

Reference Source-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1563290/The-rise-of-Indian-English.html

http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2010/jan/27/english-hinglish-for-indian-students

http://www.the-nri.com/life/lifestyle/indian-english-hinglish

http://forbesindia.com/article/biggest-questions-of-2013/will-english-continue-to-rule-the-indian-tongue/34441/1

Wikipedia

Youtube

https://www.facebook.com/ripenglissss

(Facebook- R.I.P English)

January 1st 2010 12:00:00 midnight - The Beginning Of A New Decade

Well guys, this is the last blog I'm writing in this decade 2000-2009. On 31st December night, all of us will be partying like we used to do on other ten 31st Decembers. But on this 1st January 12:00:00 midnight, we would be welcoming a new decade in our lives- 2010-2019.

But if you rewind back to 1st January,2000. This is quite amazing to note that we achieved many things, lost something, discovered a new way to make our lives easier and much more. From match fixing scandal to 9/11 WTC attacks, from Gujarat riots to the invention of I-pod, from Ambani brothers' war to Tsunami on 12/26, from Indo-US nuclear deals to the beginning of recession, from India becoming T20 cricket champions to the birth of Indian Premier League, From 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to the launch of the world's cheapest car, Tata Nano. From the Flopenhagen(It's actually Copenhagen, media has given this term because this summit failed) summit to Slumdog Millionaire stealing the show at Oscars by sweeping almost all the awards, all the wonders happened this decade.

Truly saying this decade was like duniya ki kahani mein twist(the twist in the story of the world). This decade we all made too many discoveries, too many inventions, too many achievements etc. etc. etc.

Now the focus turns on the upcoming decade which is just 48 hrs away. You all must have seen or heard about the movies "2012" and "Avatar". Well, 2012 depicts that the world would end on 21st December 2012. If you ask me about this, I would say that this is all methods to make you a victim of this hoax. And now to Avatar. This movie is based in the year 2031 which proves that all izz well!!!!So keep a positive mind and start a fresh, new life everyday with fulfilling your wishes, living life to the very best, being happy and making others happy with what you do. Remember there are two types of persons in this world- Good persons who do good deeds and bad persons who do false deeds, so be the first one and the world would appreciate you.

So we hope that the coming decade will be kahani mein mahatwist( a huge twist in the story) for you, your family and for the whole world and the mankind.

Wishing you and your family a very, very Happy and prosperous New Year!!!

kv

HOW TO SAVE YOURSELF FROM THE EVIL CLUTCHES OF SWINE FLU????

HI guys,

After many days(I must say months), I'm back to blogging!!! Since these 1 to 2 months, we were stuck hectic schedule in which a cluster of marraiges, school events, exams(THANK GOD THEY ARE ALL OVER NOW!!!), that is why I could not find much time to write blogs.

So finally I decided that I will write blogs keeping in view the latest headlines in media or any issue which is in the limelight.
All of us very well know what is mainly being highlighted these days and the whole world is agitiated with it. You must have guessed by now that I'm talking about Swine Flu Breakout.

Swine flu is an H1N1 virus that is believed to be originated from swines since they had this flu. The first case of swine flu came in Mexico in March this year. The world never knew that this disaese would soon spread globally and would become the cause of many people's death. This flu is communicable and could be spread by cough, sneeze,touching and keeping contact with an person infected by swine flu. This generally starts with cough, fever, running nose, high temperature and pain or some unfeelingness in the throat. If you don't have a immedate check-up, it can prove to be fatal. It generally attacks your immune system. People who have died due to this flu were diabetic or were struggling with respiratory problems. Once the virus grows over in your body, it will prove to be more dangerous than the HIV virus.

Now coming to the point that how will we protect ourselves from this could-be-deadly disease............

First of all we should remember NOT TO PANIC. It is a curable disease in its initial stage. We should not loiter much in crowded areas. Another fact is that by eating pork meat, you would not get this disease. After coming home from work or from crowded place, you should make it a point to wash your hands properly. It is also advisable to drink lemonade. It is very important to keep your immune system strong by exercising and eating healthy food and not having excessive sweets. And the most important point to be noted....... If you feel the symptoms of this disease, then immedietaly consult a doctor and also have your household members checked up. If you are much concerned about others, then spread awareness among others and have group discussion about this disease and how to save yourself from it.
Remember HEALTHY FAMILY, HAPPY FAMILY!!!!
cheers.....
kv