Tracing Newspapers

Hey Everyone,

This is a post that I wrote in May 2010.
Its been one and a half year but nothing much have changed since..
Some of the links in the blog might be dead by now..but that would not affect the big picture :)

It has been in my mind for quite a while,but recent mishap of Boeing 737 Dubai-Manglore, acted as spur and inspired me to write this post.

Oxford Dictionary defines Newspapers as 'Regular printed publications of loose folded sheets with news etc.'
what does it define news as?
News..'Information about important or interesting recent events, when published or broadcast'!
consider published here.

Let us take a very short ride into the past and trace how was the structure of newspapers in india a few decades back.

The history newspaper in India began in 1780, with the publication of
the Bengal Gazette from Calcutta(now kolkata).
The newspapers collected their news from the news agencies. India has
four news agencies namely, the Press Trust of India (PTI), United News
of India (UNI), Samachar Bharti and Hindustan Smachar. Newspapers and
magazines in India are independent and usually privately owned. About
5,000 newspapers, 150 of them major publications, are published daily
in nearly 100 languages. Over 40,000 periodicals are also published in
India. The periodicals specialize in various subjects but the majority
of them deal with subjects of general interest. During the 1950s, 214
daily newspapers were published in the country. Out of these, 44 were
English language dailies while the rest were published in various
regional languages. This number rose to 2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209
English dailies.y 2007, 62 of the world`s best selling newspaper
dailies were published in countries like China, Japan, and India. India
consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007, making it the second
largest market in the world for newspapers.
Enough of these boring facts!

ahh..India sure has been a land mark in terms of consumption, But my
question here is what kind of consumption.


Let us trace these 'kinds'.
We wil skip to the beginning of this year in the vast timeline of newspaper..for things have changed very fast in the past few years which has brought a revolution.One of the major component being The Internet,it wont be of much use to trace what were newspapers like
in the days of Gandhiji!

Kinds of consumptions be divided into most simplest but widely covering
:-
Positive &
Negative.

Wil have to Agree what is Positive and what Negative varies according
to individual but I am talking about magnitude where any sane person wil agree 'Peace' as Positive and 'Terrorism' as Negative!

Over the years Newspapers hav undergone changes,lets not forget the
increase in its weight(pages)!
Out of tons of sections in the news paper...I may want to focus on its
very first page.

Its an amazing day...today you didnt even burn your breakfast...the coffee has the temperature you wanted with that smell of brew..you finally take your breakfast plate with your fresh edition of news paper and sit on your dinning table...You jus place that fat paper on the table and there it is..On the very first page The Mood Spoiler!
Headlines of your newspaper...
'5 year Old Raped by some dumb losers of life!'
or '1250 years building collapsed with 77 dead 155 injured but a dog
unscratched as it is said every dog has its day!'
or 'I am not Pakistani, i am an actor Damn it!'
and many other...
Want Evidence?
Evidence 1
Evidence 2
Evidence 3
Evidence 4
Evidence 5

Let me talk personally now...I hav been reading The Times of India for 5 years...and almost every edition since last couple of years!
Times is respected all over the world...but sincerely speaking even it has been under this cyclone...Lately Times has also been quite negative when it comes to the headlines on the first page..!
Frankly no one wants to hear his national politician guilty in some bribe case or its judiciary system being criticized or its incapability in controlling population..as his very first news sentence!

Positivity is needed!

I agree let it be a plane crash or a some high profile sting operation or any of the above negative news..people have the right to know!
but then i never said that editors should delete these news
completely...I just want these news to be just shifted anywhere in their 50 pages but the first page.

Then What should be on the first page?
something like this..
Positive 1
Positive 2
Positive 3

any news with 'general' positivity in itself may b published on the very first page!
Inventions...Go Green progress..national positive achievements..sports honor..successful deals..etc!
You never know this may evn help cure certain mental disease one of the major bein depression...Number of people havin mental stress in a street are more than the lamp post in that street!

So,it is my sincere request to all the news papers to be a little positive in its first page because terrorist can wait if you can create life in Lab!

Semester Term Memory Loss!

Hey Everyone,
             
  I have almost completed 15 months in Engineering now. Throughout this journey one of the most common phrase I have come across is "This X book by Mr.FamousAuthor will cover your syllabus and will help you score excellent MARKS in your exams". The minute professor says the name of the book, the faces of our, how shall I put it gently, yeah The First Bench Gurus, gets lighten up like they have discovered the secret of happiness in Life!


For most FBGs that IS the key to happiness, Go to a book store...Buy Mr.FamousAuthor's book..go home and start reading it..By reading I mean read it so fast and hard by the end of 2 hours you have 'by heart' each and every word of the 4 line paragraph with the places of full stop and commas and if focused a little hard they even remember the page numbers. In the next semester I had a doubt..so I went to the cleverest FBG and asked weather it was the same concept as the 4 line paragraph? He said and I quote "I dont remember that but the answer to your question is this" and then followed a 2 page long explanation in the same exact way as given in the textbook(with the commas and all). While my mind was still stuck on what he said...He doesn't remember what he did few months back!


What is the point of learning something when you cannot remember it? I got an answer from my inner self bathed under the tap of Mumbai University's education system, It is to score MARKS!
According to the latest research...and by research I mean my observation..
Most engineering students are facing a serious condition called STML, which stands for Semester Term Memory Loss!
In this condition, students tend to forget what they had learnt throughout their semester as soon as they come out the examination hall. The effect might not be immediate but the Memory Loss increases with the increase in time.


I am not sure about my other friends, but I know I am suffering from this condition. I dont remember a word of Chemistry I did 5 months back and its plain sad!
Why do I care about Chemistry when I am going to be an IT Engineer?
More on that in my next post!


So STML, I am on a mission to control it, not hoping to eradicate completely(I think that is humanly impossible). I have a three point way to control STML:


1. Take interest in what you read. Thousands of engineering srudents are learning the same concepts as you are and lakhs learnt it before you did. Have some respect for the white haired and bald syllabus setters sitting in kalina. Try not to get carried away by 'out dated syllabus' hype.


2. Read to Learn not to Score!


3. The most important: Break the ice between the book world and the real world. It is very important to link what you read with the things around us. Once the link is set. Magic happens!
You start learning and understanding the way you have never before.
Simple things around you can help break the ice. This is how it happened to me.
My sister and I at times have problems on deciding what mom should make us for dinner. I was learning the wonders of Java that time. I wrote a simple piece of program that would give me random 3 dishes on clicking a button. Now anytime we have a problem deciding what to eat, we know who to ask.


Mr.FamousAuthor's book thought me how to code but not what to code!


This is how I dicovered happiness for my stomach and upto some extent...Life ;)

What Engineering Really Teaches Us

What have I learnt?

here are a few things that i have learnt during my engineering days:

1. Patience: First thing i learnt in engineering.You wait till the examiner feels like taking your viva.It does not matter if you have been waiting in college since 8 in the morning and he arrives at 1230.He still needs a lunch break at 1245.
2. Time Management: How to juggle assignments, fests, vivas, practicals, proxy, chilling, stationery, and 75% attendance; what better way to learn how to fit it in 24 hours?
3. Image Processing: No, I don't refer to matlab or any such thing. I mean how to keep up a smiling and respecting face in front of the teachers even as the dole out mountains of assignments, and recognizing which lecture we must avoid at all costs today.
4. Vocabulary: The face may be pasted with an all deceiving smile, but the mind is free to use its certain choice words.
5. Sorting and Searching: Sort the textbooks at the start of the sem with an aim to study regularly. Search for the Easy Solutions at the end of the sem at each and every bookstore you know before your classmates poach them.
6. Comparators: Not how much portion that guy/gal has finished; rather how much free time he/she has left now.
7. Application of Technology: varied uses of BBs, WhattsApp, Pen Drives, Vodafone Internet Plan to access Google at the time of immediate knowledge requirement when your tried and rusted brain fails you on entering the examination center.
8. Digital Logic: He has done the assignment. Hence he is my best friend.
9. Female Chauvinism: They can draw, therefore they can dictate.
10. Career Guidance: Engineering definitely helps you decide what you are gonna do after your four years,viz. MBA.

DREAMS...

Honestly, out of all d options available …I never thought of writing blogs…but when I got an opportunity …I didn’t wanted to just let it go.. without trying my hands on it…so here it is my first blog..J

…DREAMS…

Being d generation next… we all have our goals set…we all know exactly what we are doing right now and what will our next steps be... basically we all think we know what we are doing with our lives right now and have a glimpse of our future set right in front of us…

But while doing the whole planning thing..most of us start forgeting or start compromising with the most important essence of our life….our Dreams…and d Dreams of which im talking about are not mere successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep..blah blah….what im talking about …are the ones which make you feel alive…the ones which you dare to see with your eyes open…and also the one which you often start rejecting on facing the reality…

But it is only Dreams which can make you realize the reason behind your existence in this world…Dreams which help you adding colors to your imaginations…Dreams which keeps holding on to you until you start giving them up…

By forgetting our Dreams we start compromising with the person we wanted to be…we forget that we are capable of doing anything and almost everything we want to happen to us….we forget a very important part of our existence…

Your dreams may seem stupid or silly to others…but why cares about others…it is your dream…and how does other people judging it make a difference to you….and after listening to these people we may land up in a bigger apartment with a bigger job and a bigger amount of pay check….but after throwing away your dream would all the comfort still make you happy….i doubt it…and happy and successful is a rare combination of people who have followed their dreams…

Catastrophe happens….it happens that you don’t want to and you land up in the wrong profession…with all wrong kind of people around you….but trust me…hold on to your dreams tight and they will surely come to your rescue and if not…they will surely give you a reason…a reason to live…a reason to go back home when you will consider its quite unnecessary…and will surely light your way back home…when it is dark and you are unsure of your way…just hold on to them…..and they will guide you through the rest….

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

KOMAL AGRAWAL

Story of a Birthday Gift!

Hey Everyone,
    
      Its less than a month for my birthday. Not sure, if to be excited or to feel sad over entering the last of the so called 'teen' years. With birthdays comes gifts(usually), which is what I am going to focus on. Yeah, I am going to ramble about gifts this time. Its about this one gift that makes me feel guilty, which makes me feel different, which makes me feel happy, which forced me to write this post!

How do you decide what to 'Gift' someone?

Very difficult question to answer.

I am trying to figure it out..I have started to look a little closely..and I think a pattern is emerging....but more on that later...

Lets talk about being at the receiver's end. We all have been there, during Diwali, New year's season, When you visit your aunties and uncles house(even though you dont know their name, they give you envelope full of crisp warm notes..ahh Gujratis..i love em') Your Birthday, Valentine's day(only if you are a girl....if you are a guy..you are on the other side my friend), When you become famous over some other guy's idea you read about on the internet, etc

Over the last 18 years of my life, I have been showered upon by a lot of gifts(not bragging), well I thank my parents and my relatives for all those pencils, eraser, colour pencils, compass boxes, train sets, basket ball, basket ball hoop(one year after gifting the basket ball), video games, watches, ipods(yeah, we're now entering the cool gadget stuff), digital cameras, laptop and many more they wrapped for me. But the most amazing gift I have received till now is not listed above.

Okay I would not drag like How I Met Your Mother(No offense..Its an Awesome Show!) and break the suspense..
I received this gift last year, I am not sure if that person wants her name to be disclosed here. The gift was *drum roll please*...
'A plain Note Book' !

It is an eco friendly 192 pages notebook wrapped in a thin transparent plastic and on plastic was written 'Explore 80 mins of your life :P'
I was awestruck by the simplicity and elegance of the thought. So sober yet awesome, not expensive but priceless, quite but inspirational !

One year have gone by and I still have that book. It is still blank and plain, fresh as it was a year back, untouched. I am not proud about it. Sometimes I flip through those empty pages and feel guilty for not inking it yet, sometimes it reminds me I can always have a fresh start and...
sometimes it makes me write a blog! :)