Advertisements and Young India

Advertisements in India are expressions of what youth wants, what youth sees and what youth wants to live as a whole. The reason I say 'expressions' is because of some popular taglines like, 'Jo tera hai vo mera hai', 'Darr ke aage jeet hai', 'Aaj kuch toofaani karte hain', 'Do what you love-love what you do', and so on and so on are all expressions which convey the thinking, the attitude of young India. Again, the reason I say 'Young India' is not only because all such ads are made keeping in mind the youth, but the majority of Indian population is also youth.

When advertisements are made, the main thinking behind them are the consumers or the target audience. The taglines I mentioned were conveying some sort of thinking of the target audience for which the product/service had been made, i.e., the youth.

When we talk about violations of ethics in making these youth-targeted ads, then an image reflects somewhere in the back of our minds. The image of 2-3 persons jumping around buildings, image of a person doing crazy stunts on a bike, image of an almost naked girl coming out of the pool, image of a boy who is running to save himself from a group of girls just because he sprayed a deodorant on his body or the image of a film-star suggesting the members of our Cricket team to play wild on the field putting behaviour aside.
What an irony! I was talking about 'an image', but so many came into my mind.
Thus, such advertisements are a mere exaggeration of what youth wants. One needs to change with time because change is the only constant thing in this world. The ad-makers can't bring back the era when ads were just about "Lijjat paapad", "Saundarya saabun Nirma" or "VIP vests and briefs", because that era has gone. Hence, putting the stamp of 'violation of ethics' on today's next-gen ads is wrong in my view.
If you want to verify, go and ask a group of students whether they like today's ads or not, or whether those ads make an impact on their minds or not! I am pretty sure that the majority answers will be affirmative, because even I enjoy watching such ads.          

Movie Review: 'Madras Cafe'

New era movie makers can bring almost any plot on the screen. When 'Vicky Donor' released, nobody could think of such an unimaginable story. Shoojit Sircar(director) does a fabulous job once again, and In all the 3 departments that make a movie brilliant, 1.Research--2.Screenplay--3.Editing.

A youth born after the assassination of Late Mr.Rajiv Gandhi (ex-P.M. of India) had only heard the story of his killing either from his/her parents or read somewhere in books/internet. Thus one could find great number of youth inside the hall and in the ticket line. 

This film narrates the whole incident in a very interesting and brainy manner. The affliction and agony that the Sri Lankan people suffered at that time and the loss of the lives of the soldiers of I.P.K.F.(Indian Peace-keeping Force) has been brought to the screen wonderfully. After 'Ek tha Tiger', R&AW(Research & Analysis Wing, India) has come into limelight and several movies, like 'Agent Vinod', 'D-Day' and now Madras Cafe, have connoted the lives of R&AW agents. John Abraham(Major Vikram) plays the role of the same and you could relate his character from the one he played in 'Force', yet he was efficient and toned enough for it. After a poor exhibition of her acting skills and a dubbed voice in 'Rockstar', Nargis Fakhri gets a fair chance. She plays the role of a foreign war correspondent and gets to speak English dialogues in her own voice in this movie which she does, not so badly. The new face Rashi Khanna performs well as the wife of John. Non-actor persons like Siddharth Basu(Producer of game shows like K.B.C. and Dus ka Dum), Piyush Pandey(Chairman of O&M advertising agency) and Dibang(Senior Journalist) have also been given a chance to play the roles of the R&AW officials which they carry off well. 

The film could not release in Tamil Nadu owing to the protests by Tamil diaspora as they felt that there is a poor depiction of the L.T.T.E.(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels in the movie and Prabhakaran (Bhaskaran in the movie) has been shown as a villain. Still the movie could manage the first week collections close to Rs.30 Crores and well deserved 30 crores. One has to applaud John Abraham and his production house for coming up with such unique creations and the diversity in the direction of Shoojit Sircar.

In the end, the movie creates a feel of sympathy for Rajiv Gandhi which the anti-Congress people would mind in the on-going corrupt political scenario of the U.P.A.(United Progressive Alliance) lead country. On the other hand, the people aged 50+ who found an ideal leader in Rajiv Gandhi would love the movie. Yet the movie brings us closer to what changed the political history of India and which should be known to every Indian! Its time to get off the 'Chennai Express' and have a cup of 'Madras Cafe'!! 4 stars ****

The Impact of Cinema in my life!

Cinema in India has completed its glorious 100 years on the 3rd of May, 2013. Indian Film Industry has always been the greatest in terms of number of movies produced and released in a year. So many talented directors, actors, actresses and people related to films have come and gone but the industry stands tall on its feet in its centenary year.
Since my birth, the 'Khans' of the industry have been making their mark. During my childhood days if someone asked me who was my favourite actor,  I would instantly say ShahRukh Khan. His movies like DDLJ, Kuch kuch Hota hai, K3G, Mohabbatein, Baadshah were all great blockbusters at that time and depicted SRK as the personality which every boy would want to be.
As years passed and some brains deposited in my head, I changed my gear to meaningful cinema. And that meaning was certainly provided in the movies of Aamir Khan. Be it Lagaan (which teaches you being in unity and spirit), be it Rang De Basanti (which awakens the youth and is my all time favourite movie), be it Taare Zameen Par (which tells that every child is unique in his/her own way and in which I cried for the first time in theatre) and be it many other movies like Sarfarosh, Fanaa and not to forget 3 Idiots (the highest grossing movie of India ever), all are masterpieces.
The impact of cinema is such that one can't adhere to a single favourite. There will always be at least 2 to 3 favourites at a time. Not only actors, but as I grew up into an 18 above, beautiful heroines also started blowing up my mind (and also taking away my heart sometimes). Let me mention some names like Kareena Kapoor or Deepika Padukone who are not only known for their acting skills but also for their scintillating looks.
Talking about Bollywood music, Oh! I just love every new musical song of A.R.Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Amit Trivedi, Pritam (and even Himesh Reshammiya sometimes). Many of my friends like to hear English songs but my phone's playlist is always full of Hindi music.
The style and glamour that the movies offer to a young mind, makes another important impact. And I confess that I would like to keep Ranbir Kapoor's hairstyle that he kept in in the movie Rockstar, but still I haven't been able to copy him.
The off-beat, parallel cinema also keeps moving side-by-side amongst the blockbuster entertainers and movies like Udaan, Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Gangs of Wasseypur, etc. are good examples of it.
A lot of new young directors and talented actors are making the film industry stronger and likelier to watch. May this celebration of cinema keeps going on and on!

The road-blocks of Development

Development is when the people of a country are broad-minded, aware, educated and can be self-motivated. Development is when there exists no differentiation on the basis of caste, creed, gender or rich-poor. Development is when basic amenities are easily met. And to bring about this development, countries try hard so that they can remove the 'ING' from 'DEVELOP' and put 'ED' instead of it.
Many barriers block the roads which lead to development and in India, illiteracy is the major barrier. Without education one can't expect a country to pave the ways of becoming a developed country.
India falls into the category of those 'ING' nations which consist of around 65% population in rural areas. People of the villages mainly are farmers or skilled and unskilled labourers. In search of work and money, these labourers are migrating to urban areas and finding jobs according to their skill. Also, a common tendency of the farmers is being seen now-a-days that instead of cultivating vegetables and other agricultural goods, they are selling their lands to builders and MNCs, moving to urban areas and making the big cities more populated. This migration of uneducated poor people is in turn putting another check in the way of development by increasing poverty. Slums have grown from meters to square meters and there is no control over the situation.
In old times, people used to send their children to government schools and colleges. But these days a government institution just has a layer of dust over it. The educational system has fallen big time!
On one hand there are students who dream to secure their future and on the other, there are pupils who don't know the spelling of future. Schemes and plans of the government prevail but do not help largely as there is corruption and unfair policies which bring many terms and conditions with them.
India is developed in entertainment and media industry. It is developed in terms of number of youth. It is developed in handicraft and manufacturing industries. Big cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai consist good infrastructure as well. A city should not only be proud to have malls or metros, but also need to improve upon areas like cleanliness of the city, maintaining greenery and health and hygiene. No tourist from abroad would like to see rubbish lying on the roads.  
To eradicate such loopholes altogether, the people need to be educated, need to be shown a way of employment, need to be aware about their skills and rights and hence, make the country developed in real sense!!

एक 'पुनीत' आत्मा को नमन

दादी-नानी से सुनी होंगी तुमने कई कहानी,
पर आज सुनाता हूँ मैं तुम्हे मेरी दादी की ही कहानी।
एक प्रिंसिपल साहिबा थीं जैसे रानी, नहीं चलने देती किसीकी मनमानी,
था रुतबा ऐसा की इज्ज़त करते थे सब, हर काम हो जाता था एक नज़र देख लेती थीं जब।

काम के साथ-साथ परिवार के लिए भी थीं कर्तव्यनिष्ठ,
नहीं होने दिया किसीको संस्कारों से वंचित,
दादाजी का भी खूब साथ निभाया और सफलतापूर्वक अपने सेवानिवृत्त जीवन में कदम बढ़ाया।

 कुछ ही महीनों बाद हुआ एक नन्हा, जिसे सबसे ज़्यादा मिली उनकी गोद की ममता,
पगतलियों पे उसकी हाथ फेरना लगता था उन्हें प्रिय, दाना-मेथी उनके हाथों की खाना थी नन्हे को प्रिय।

बड़ा हुआ वो नन्हा तो लेता था उनसे हिंदी का ज्ञान और साथ बैठ के देखता था T.V. के Programme,
वक़्त गुज़रा तब वो नन्हा उन्हें समय न दे पाया, क्योंकि बड़ा हो गया है, ऐसा उसके दिमाग में आया।
वृद्धावस्था में घट रही रही थी उनके मस्तिष्क की काया, ये उसे समझ न आया,
देना चाहिए था उन्हें और समय, ये तब जान पाया,
जब हो नहीं सकता था उनका कोई इलाज,
जब कोई काम नहीं कर पाता था उनके दिमाग पर राज।

खड़ी हो जाती थी वो दरवाज़े पर तो रोक लेता था उन्हें,
कभी कहीं चलने लगती तो टोक देता था उन्हें,
बस इतना ही ख्याल रख पाया, कि उन्हें किसी भी मुश्किल स्थिति में आने से बचाया।

पर नहीं पता था कि  मुश्किलें उनकी और बढ़ जाएँगी,
अभी कम-से-कम चलती-फिरती तो थीं, फिर अचानक यूँ बिस्तर पर आ जाएँगी।

जब पकड़ के ले जाना पड़ता था उन्हें गुसलखाने,
तब याद आती थी उनकी डांट कि,
"मेरे cushion covers ख़राब किये तो पड़ जायेंगे तुम्हें कान पकड़वाने"

पीड़ा अत्यंत हुई जब देखा उनके शरीर में लगते तारों को, नलियों को,
बहुत नियंत्रण करके आँखों में आँसू आने से बचाया,
उनके अंतिम क्षण में भी उनके हाथों पर अपने हाथ फेर कर आया।

जब कंधा दिया उनकी अर्थी को तो अनुभूत हुआ,
कि ये बोझ उनको पकड़ के खिसकाने के बोझ से कहीं भारी था।
अब जब भी देखता हूँ उनकी तस्वीर, तो कर लेता हूँ उनसे बात,
बताता हूँ कि क्या चल रहा है, मेरे और सबके दिन-रात।

दुःख जो वो सह रही थीं, वो असहनीय था,
उनके लिए भी और सबके लिए भी।
याद आती है उनकी 'दुर्लभ' मुस्कुराहट जब दादाजी उन्हें सुनाते थे
'you are my Soniya' या 'तुम्ही मेरी देवी हो' जैसी lines,
लगता था कि ये smiles बनी रहें for miles!!

पर अच्छा किया ईश्वर जो उन्हें पीड़ा से मुक्त करवाया,
अब रह गयी है ह्रदय में उनकी 'पुनीत' काया,
कामना है यही कि बनी रहे सब पर उनकी छाया।

महिला दिवस पर उस नारी को नमन,
जो, दुआ है, बनती रहे मेरी ही दादी हर जन्म !!

Inspirational Story!

An atheist professor of Philosophy speaks to his class on the problem Science has with God. He asks one of his new students to stand and the conversation begins.

Prof: do you believe in God?

Stu: absolutely Sir!

Prof: is God good?

Stu: sure.

Prof: is God all powerful?

Stu: yes.

Prof: my brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill but God dint. How is this God good then?

Student is silent.

Prof: you can’t answer. Can you? Let’s start again young fellow. Is God good?

Stu: yes.

Prof: is Satan good?

Stu: no

Prof: where does Satan come from?

Stu: from God.

Prof: that’s right. Tell me son, if there is evil in this world?

Stu: yes.

Prof: evil is everywhere. Isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?

Stu: yes.

Prof: so who created evil?

Student doesn’t answer.

Prof: is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world. Don’t they?

Stu: yes Sir.

Prof: so who created them?

Student has no answer.

Prof: science says you have five senses. You use to identify and observe the word around you. Tell me son, have you ever seen God?

Stu: no Sir.

Prof: tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Stu: no Sir.

Prof: have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Stu: no sir.

Prof: yet you still believe in Him

Stu: yes.

Prof: according to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that son?

Stu: nothing, I only have my faith.

Prof: faith and yes, that is the only problem science has. 

Stu: can I ask you something sir? Is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: yes.

Stu: and is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: yes.

Stu: no sir, there isn’t.

The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.

Stu: sir you can have lots of heat, super heat, mega heat, a little heat or no heat but we don’t have anything called cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We can’t measure cold, heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, just the absence of heat.

There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.

Stu: what about darkness Prof? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof: yes, what is night if there isn’t any darkness?

Stu: you are wrong again sir. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly it is called darkness. In reality, darkness isn’t, if it were you would be able to make darkness darker. Wouldn’t you?

Prof: so what is the point you are making young man?

Stu: sir my point is that your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: can you explain how?

Stu: sir you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir science can’t even explain a thought; it uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it. Now tell me prof. do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes of course I do.

Stu: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

Prof shakes his head with a smile beginning to realize where the argument is going.

Stu: since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work, and can’t even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour..Are you not teaching your opinion sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

The class is in uproar.

Stu: is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain.

Class breaks out into laughter.

Stu: is there anyone here who has ever heard the prof’s brain, felt it, touched it or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir!! With all due respect sir, how do we then trust your lectures?

The room is silent. The prof. stares at the student, his face unfathomable.

Prof: I guess you will have to take them on faith son!

Stu: that is it sir. The link between man and God is faith…that is all that keeps things alive and going.

Want to know who that student was…this is a true story and the student was none other than

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam!!

Budget device or Over-priced device, choice is yours!

M

obile handsets are being changed like footwear in today's gadget-friendly world. Both high-end as well as budget phones are easily available in the market. International brands like Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG, Nokia and others offer high-priced fully featured devices while Indian companies like Micromax, Karbonn and Lava offer us low-priced budget phones with plenty of advanced and latest features same as what one would find in Samsung, HTC or Sony.

But a question arises in everyone's mind whether these cheap phones are reliable or not? People love to simply reject these phones calling them 'Chinese' or 'Made in China'. But those poor fellows are far from reality. The truth is that these phones are inexpensive because they are made in India and manufactured in factories of Gurgaon/Noida, saving them from the huge taxes and import duties that come included with the international brands. Another revealing fact is that almost all mobile devices, including Apple iPhone is manufactured in China. Samsung, Sony or HTC don't make phones on their own. They hire a manufacturing factory to mould a design telling them what features they want and then put their branding stamp over the device. So just rejecting Micromax or Karbonn, by putting a tag of 'Chinese' over them is poor mentality. If you love India then you must love phones being made in India. And these days it's not the brand which matters, it’s the OS (operating system) platform and features offered which matter the most.

Google's Android shares over 70% of the market in terms of operating system in a mobile device is concerned and Indian brands especially Micromax mobiles have raised the revolution in the mobile industry by using Android OS in it's low cost strategy.

Micromax A110 Superfone Canvas 2 Review:

A new kind of war has begun in the world of technology, called the "PHABLET WAR" (Phone + Tablet = Phablet). Micromax has decided to jump into this war by releasing a phablet but at an affordable price, called the Micromax A110 Superfone Canvas 2.  With a massive 5-inch screen, they managed to fit in a dual-core CPU this time. The device would be competing with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 which happens to be the second edition of Note that set the trend for huge screen mobiles. The device was a big success last year and Micromax is trying to cash in on the people's love for huge screens although the same is a turn off for some. Still the device looks pretty formidable with the company trying hard to match up to the competence of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The device is slightly less in size as compared to the Galaxy Note 2 but 5 inches is still pretty big. It is also big on camera with the primary camera working at a resolution of 8 megapixels with auto focus and LED flash while the secondary camera is of VGA quality yet supports video calling nicely. The operating system is Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which is more than capable. The user will get access to the 3G technology with the Wi-Fi making sure that the user can access all the popular websites like Facebook and Twitter. The Bluetooth 3.0 is not the latest version and same is the case with the USB port. Internal memory of 2 GB can be expanded up to 32 GB with the help of a microSD card slot that makes the device flexible in terms of memory. Available in the colors of black and white, the device comes powered by 1 GHz dual core processor that facilitates multitasking and enhanced gaming experience. For the price at which the device comes, it includes lots of other great features like the Dual SIM facility that ensures that the user can keep two SIMs in a single device.

Standard lithium ion battery of 2000 mAh makes sure that the user can operate the device for long hours and gets a talk time of up to 5 hours along with a standby time of up to 180 hours. Various multimedia features are the music player and the video player that ensure that the best of the entertainment world can be accessed in terms of songs and videos.
The phone draws a fine line between needs and wants, while every customer that Micromax had in the past begged the company for a dual core phone. The Micromax A110 Canvas 2, however, offers something that most companies have not been able to deliver with their phones. “Higher Specs” go a long way in our country, and the A110 has them, so one has the ability to say “I own a dual core phone, with a 5 inch screen”.

Micromax has come a long way from their first Android A60, and has also shown that they can give the user what they want. But need of a more refined user experience exists. The phone is an excellent purchase for the price and may be surrounded by competition soon. If you have about ten thousand to spend and an urge to get a big powerful smartphone, the Canvas 2 is as close to that goal as you can get.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review:

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is the latest sibling of the most popular and highly praised Samsung Galaxy Note but it is more advanced and unique. The wide and super clear screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9 will give you the perfect viewing experience. The innovative design of this Note will fit right in your hand with its slim body. With the Air View application you can quickly and conveniently browse your pictures without having to open any folders, saving your time. It has the facility of S Pen also that allows you to take directions, phone numbers and other information conveniently while on a call with its double-click. You can easily send e-mails, make calls or send text messages to your friends, share the locations of the meetings and can do so many other tasks with ease.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 carries a weight of 180 grams including the battery. It has a 5.5 inches wide super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels with 16 million colors making the display more vibrant and amazingly sharp. It runs on the latest Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean and has Samsung's TouchWiz user interface. The internal storage capacity of this device is 16/32/64 GB along with 2GB space for RAM to run heavy applications smoothly. External memory can be extended up to 64GB using a microSD card in the available slot. EDGE, GPRS, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, USB port, etc. are some of the connections that are available on this phablet. The primary 8 megapixels camera captures images with a resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels and supports features like auto focus and LED flash. It can also record 1080p videos. The secondary 1.9 megapixels front camera allows you to have live video chats with your friends and family members. Powered by quad core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A9 processor this Note contains an amazing fast speed. It holds a standard Li-Ion 3,100 mAh battery that delivers a good talk time and a very good standby time on 2G and 3G networks. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is the most talked about phablet by Samsung and is the best in terms of hardware you will find in any device till date.

Comparison between the two

·         Micromax A110 Superfone Canvas 2 when compared to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a smaller screen with the latter featuring a 5.5 inch screen as compared to the former's 5 inch. But hey! Isn't a 5 inch screen big enough?

·         The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes powered by the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system while the Micromax A110 Superfone Canvas 2 runs on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Going from Android 2.3 to 4.0 would still make you notice changes in your android device, but going from 4.0 to 4.1 wouldn't.

·         The battery is more powerful in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - 3100mAh as compared to 2000mAh in Micromax Canvas 2 but you have to give the benefit to Micromax considering the price difference between the two.

·         The primary camera is of similar strength with both the devices featuring an 8 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash.

·         Micromax A110 Canvas 2 in Rs.10000 gives you almost all the features of Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Galaxy S3 on which your so called 'cool' friends would spend Rs.35000 to 40000. 

 So who is cooler and intelligent, only you have to decide!

Soon after its announcement, people were eagerly waiting for The Note 2. It was launched at a price of Rs.39900 as initial offer. But its price was drastically dropped in India, going around Rs.37000 very soon and may drop to lower than Rs.35000 within the coming weeks, just because Micromax has sold over half a million A110 Canvas 2 devices which are available at almost one-third price.
Apart from it, youth these days is highly obsessed with a mobile's after sales support and its re-sale value. So answering it, Micromax and Karbonn have over 1000 authorized service centres all over the country, including Metros, Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities. Adding to it, they give a year warranty as well as 7-day exchange policy if the phone contains defect. In some days, option of extended warranty will also be introduced just like Samsung or Apple offer to their customers. And guys, mobile phones in today's world contain a very less re-sale value. Imagine! A Blackberry Curve is being resold for just over half a thousand bucks!