In to the world of make up

A face with a creamy foundation, eyes that look extra black with eyeliner on the lids, lashes that look elongated, red cherry lips which have a coat of lipstick and the list goes on. Make up -A world of a woman which keeps most of the men confused.

Most of the women like experimenting in almost everything that forms a part of their appearance. So what is wrong when they choose to express themselves through make up? At some point or the other we all hear to such stereotypical questions and opinions from various sources - Make up means you aren’t naturally beautiful, and it means you desperately want to look beautiful. It is for those people who would want to catch some attention and also for people who do not have enough morality to accept the way they look. People who spend money on makeup are sometimes considered to be anti- intellect. I have seen many men dominating women even when it comes to their personal choice of how they like themselves to be looked.

It is a natural truth that each one of us wants to look good but, looking good to oneself is sometimes more important than looking good to others. Women enjoy choosing from various colours, matching things and putting them all together. It shows their creativity and is a way of expressing themselves. It is not an easy task to do all these so perfectly. Men on the other hand like women being simple as they do not understand the intent behind putting in such huge efforts.

Makeup opens doors, communicates, and individualizes. It is sad that many of my peers denigrate makeup lovers as shallow and pandering for male attention, while in reality, physical appearance is one of the most influential factors in dealing with other people. Make-up isn’t about beauty at all. I enjoy being artistic, and hence, creating different looks. The outcomes of the looks I create also depend on my mood. It also makes me feel confident.

There’s no shame in embracing color, and no, it says nothing about intelligence. Sure, there are cheap thrills and negative stereotypes, but who cares? Make up thrills women and the obsession for it can make them happy by being able to change their appearance almost instantly. But no, how do we explain it to men? From head to toe, the way you carry yourself speaks it all, being it with make up or without make up is ones personal choice. Let us learn to respect each other’s choice of expressing themselves and make this world a colorful place.

BOLD EDUCATION- BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW

A human invests most of his growing age in our education system entrusting on them to make him a strong independent Man. He would be rubbed on various topics and is expected to become a saint in all the scripts taught to him. He would graduate and finally would be eligible to tear his bubble and enter the real world dreaming to fly high with the wings that his graduation has given him. 

When a child is bullied at school that’s when his first failure picks up, as 99% of them do not speak up and silently accept whatever is happening with them. The same child grows up with the same acceptance in his mind and let the society bully him forever as he would still not know how to tackle it. When the problem becomes serious, they would think they are too old to take support from others and it slowly develops into depression. 

 

A baby is taught how to eat food, walk, play and what not everything right after they attain the age to learn and capture things keeping future in mind. The question I have for the people who are responsible in designing a child’s future map - Why do they not give importance to grow the mental health of the child? I am sure all the parents, teachers and everyone who is old enough know how things work in the real world and that these things are not inculcated in the so called education system that we are in. Is it that the society expects us to learn by ourselves because the older generations did the same or is it because the law makers just want to produce such talent which obviously is weak compared to such talent which would have been strong had mental ability been put into implementation at a very young age? People often heard that staying happy is the ideal life but one never highlights how to get into the state of happiness once they fall of it.

The need of the hour is to change our education in such a way that it would build necessary survival skills in children such as speaking up and voicing opinions boldly. By learning skills that promote self determination as a young child, would pave a colourful way for them to effectively use their voice or other means to speak up on their own behalf. Children need very clear expectations, protection from harm, and loving guidance from the adults in their lives. Our education system needs to provide opportunities that would develop the skills necessary to make an individual independent as well as to interact freely and joyfully within their environment. These few minor changes can give thousands of brains a silver lining and would make the future of our country a new ‘bold beautiful’.

Familiar Surnames vs. Fame

The new birth right which Indian society has been giving to few lucky births in this rapidly growing country is profession and fame for the generations being born to celebrities. Be it Ranbir Kapoor or Rahul Gandhi it is passing on for generations now and can have a huge influence in the lives of other equally deserving people who do not have a great house hold name. Despite royal titles having been abolished, Indians can’t seem to give up on the idea of dynastic rule.

Be it any sphere of life, we tend to trust the generations preferring to take over irrespective of whether they might deserve or not. Be it Business, Bollywood, Politics and Profession it is evident all over in the country.

There are names that outshine the ones with familiar surnames and can be a challenge for them to prove the common man vs. the great grand fame being inherited. People say that a child has to carry on the legacy created by their ancestors and outshine them, but the same child need not sacrifice his interests and lead life that is being dictated just to make it to the headlines.

 I often heard ‘Rahul Gandhi did not have an option?’ but what happened when he started his action in the political arena?. It’s all about a person and his persona, hard work which will make him succeed and mere surname and no hard work will not hide your weaknesses. Few children become a mere liability by causing damage to the so called name by not performing well in the passed on career. Be it Sonam Kapoor , Abhishek Bachan it clearly indicates the fall if you do not possess the inbound qualities of their past generations.

At the end of the day the quality matters. Dynasty can help in giving a good start to one’s career but later on the talent and knowledge sails the person.

Demonetisation for a new India

Narendra Modi, first prime minister who really made some huge progress when it comes to attacking one of the biggest social evils ‘black money’. I am not a Pro BJP person nor a person who blindly supports Modi , but one should really appreciate the secrecy and suddenness which was maintained in announcing ‘Demonetisation’. This man showcased few wonderful leadership tactics. His boldness and decisiveness made him stand out. He brought a sense of optimism especially among honest people, educated and salaried employees. That night we really saw the upper class scurry and beating their heads trying to escape the nets of the tax officers.

 Every decision has both pros and cons and the same is with demonetisation. This is one of the biggest moves taken by India after 1991. So here I intend to present my view on both sides of the coin.

This exercise is a major assault on the poor. There are people who do not have bank accounts and would have faced difficulties in exchanging the old notes with the banks. Small business men would have seen a sudden drop in sales as the cash flow was at a minimal for a month or two. But these issues were solved eventually. If things work out, the government can compensate the poor by passing on the benefits received by it by the tax offenders. This could be done by allocating the expenditure in such activities which can do a greater good to the society.

Black money is much more in the form of gold, real estate, commodity stocks and offshore accounts. Cash is not the biggest factor contributing to the black money. Once the notes are banned the prices of real estate also fell steadily. Indirectly demonetisation would have an effect on all the sectors where unaccounted money is involved. (We may never know if a new scheme is being introduced to catch the black money stored in such other instruments too). However, it also made carrying large amounts of money in a smaller briefcase with the introduction of 2000rs notes.

Demonetisation has demanded for a huge investment by the government in re calibrating the ATMs, printing new notes and a lot more. There was also a huge burden on the bank employees. However, it can actually benefit long term prosperity of India. People had to stand in long lines to withdraw their own money. But we can also think it in this way:-  Numerable patriots have laid their precious lives for freeing our nation from alien rule, therefore, in order to free us from this social evil we all can endure it smilingly. Inconveniencing ourselves for a greater good is always better than suffering forever.

Funding for criminal activities is mostly done through unaccounted money. There will be a stop on these criminal activities due to the note ban at least for a while. When government’s budgeted expenditure is more than the revenue it is termed as fiscal deficit. Now due to demonetisation tax revenue would increase the revenue in the hands of the government hence reducing the fiscal deficit.

As the levels of unaccounted cash dropped in the economy, the demand for goods and services would drop which in turn keeps a check to the inflation levels. Demonetisation has also waived off the whole black market of making illegal currency.

 Foreign investments into the Indian markets would increase only when our country has a good credit rating. Due to political stability and economic transparency credit rating agencies would upgrade the credit score of India which would increase the scope for more foreign investments.

   

The transition towards digitisation and a cashless economy will definitely help curb corruption in the long run. The increased transparency and record of transactions will make it considerably difficult to hold black money and carry out under-the-table deals hence making corruption difficult.                       

          

Economists are busy in listing out many more merits and demerit of this policy. The government is saying that there are only advantages of demonetisation policy and this will be seen in the long term. Definitely Modi has created a positive wave among the masses and we have climbed a step in a hope towards change.

Generational modifications in money

I asked one of my cousins who is five years old – where does money come from? She replied, from the ATM. This is a too obvious an answer because kids these days hardly get to see lumps of notes at home, or inside wallets. People have stopped conducting transactions in physical cash as electronic cash offers way more advantages in the digital world that we are in today. We do not know what a thousand rupee note looks or feels like. It is just a number.

Technology has certainly made our life easy. We get to live in a more relaxed environment than before. We hardly go to the bank to transfer money or to e-sevas to pay our bills. One touch and everything is done in the blink of an eye. Online banking, mobile banking, wallets and related applications make our lives terribly simple and relegate paper money into the background. Sometimes I feel that my generation does not value money like the previous generations did. “If you can transfer money with the click of a button, where is the value?” Counting cash makes you reminisce over the hard work it took to earn the money, but since we only transact virtually we miss out on a tangible relationship with the money, and we end up spending it without giving a serious thought.

Few years ago, taking a loan or being indebted to someone was considered a bad sign. Now people hardly live without a credit card or a personal loan. Taking loan for a purpose is valid but I am still sceptical about credit cards. (Credit cards allow us to purchase expensive merchandise by giving us an option to divide the payments into monthly instalments charging some amount of interest). Undoubtedly, it increases our purchasing power but how far this power is necessary is questionable.

This is my memory of money - The clinking of coins in the piggy bank was one of the happiest achievements of children in my generation. It used to take years to fill the piggy banks. For today’s children it’s not the coins that they get to put in, but notes which would usually contain a three digit number.

These days we see many browsing every available option to invest and grow money — from stocks to mutual funds to what not. Earlier people used to invest only in banks. “Why the risk? You should always play safe with money,” – an old pensioner suggests.

So the way we play with money has changed and it’s both good and bad.

Even 'SHE' Can!

“The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret”. 

According to me both men and women are capable of perfecting equally but the biggest limitation to this factor is that we see and hear lot of discrimination, stereotyping and prejudice which is affecting the performance of women not only in sports but also in every sphere of life. 

 Few years ago, people had a fixed perception of women that they possess qualities which are subtle in nature. They were considered emotional and sensitive so they were not allowed to play anything which needs strength or aggression. Often people even argue that the biological processes that happen in a woman’s body makes it impossible for them to perform well in sports which requires lots of physical strength. Yes, I do agree with this argument, but biological factor is not the only major thing on which one should decide about women’s performance in sports. More than biological processes concentration, hardworking and willpower play a major role which am sure even a woman can have and that too a strong one compared to men.


‘The women’s game in sports is simply not as fast and exciting as the men’s game. Who would rather watch it? It’s just the way it is. Hard to create marketing to get fans to watch a slower game’- replied by a man when asked about buying a ticket to watch women’s football. It’s a confirmation that we are in man’s world. Less publicity is given to women doing anything (other than fashion). Often the coverage which a woman star receives either concentrates on their feminity or a debate on their dressing (especially in India when it all happened on sania Mirza), or they are rather treated as sexual objects. Praise and encouragement on their sportsmanship is shown in very few cases. If more people sit and give time to watch women’s sporting events they would surely realise their talent and skill (like what was shown in Chak De India. It is absolutely right!)

Female athletes work as hard as their counterparts, yet they are never as popular as men. Most women sports stars are not offered the same endorsements as their counterparts receive. The paper and media should devote more space to women’s sports in order to let the world know that they are no less.

Men can choose sports as a profession and can dream of a living out of it, but the same is not possible with women (though law provides for equal increments). We need men who are supportive and are willing to show world that women have just as much talent as men do.

Many statistics prove to the fact that females involved in sports do much better in school and have higher self-confidence and self-image than males. But when they come out of the school females are made fun of for playing a male- oriented sport. In order to show such people their superiority women should not be ashamed of doing something they the world can truly understand equality if a team is made based on best sports persons rather than making it a gender based team.

People say women who do well have attitude, maybe they do, but I think they should. We have to believe in ourselves when no one else does- that makes us a winner in this male dominated society. Winners like Sania Mirza, , M. C MaryKom, Saina Nehwal ,P.T Usha, Karnam Malleshwari , Anju Boby George, Jwala Gutta, Pv Sindhu (and many more) proved their talent and carved a niche in sports world by showing their courage and strength. Let’s all be proud of them and support the right talent.





-insights have been taken from various other articles.

Clean India

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” When few of my friends returned back from US they started cribbing about how unclean our streets are and that they are never taken care of by the local government.( In India, it’s the duty of the local government to keep the streets clean). So where is the problem coming when the responsibility can be clearly seen? Is the government fulfilling its duty rightly or is it the citizens who are unable to foresee the efforts made by the government?

We Indians take pride in keeping our houses clean, but in the public places we behave in a pathetic manner. Temples are supposed to be one of the holy places. I have noticed many temples courtyards revolting with filthy dirt. Our heritage sites are also facing a threat due to littering by the tourists. The sites are getting a very ugly look as the plastic covers lie all over the place. 

This is the situation of India gate the capital's landmark site from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the 'Clean India Mission.

 If we cannot keep our holy places and heritage sites clean, how can we dream of changing our neighborhoods? Its high time that people change their attitude and support a good mission for a better cause.

The other day I was travelling by metro and bought a real juice can, after consuming it I had to hold it for a couple hours to find a disposal tin. This is a very common situation where citizens like me do not like littering on the streets. The new government has promised many waste bin on every street but I am yet to see them. This is the situation of a poor man – “At present we clean and put the waste in front of the door. There is no other place where we can take it. No dust bins provided, no places earmarked. Few years ago there were large waste bins. Government has removed it. So after sweeping and cleaning, where to put the waste?” One should know where to reach when hurdles come.

Our prime minister has launched a mission ‘Swacch Bharat Nirman’ which has brought a hope among citizens to dream about clean India again. (I hope it does not disappear into the air like the Ice bucket challenge.) Our health and tourism will definitely improve our nation`s GDP only if public understand that the success of any mission depends on our own efforts. It is our responsibility to maintain hygiene first and then our surroundings.