Category: Education

An Introduction

I don’t know politics but I know the names
Of those in power, and can repeat them like
Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru. I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar,
I speak three languages, write in
Two, dream in one.
Don’t write in English, they said, English is
Not your mother-tongue. Why not leave
Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins,
Every one of you? Why not let me speak in
Any language I like? The language I speak,
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses
All mine, mine alone.
It is half English, Half Indian, funny perhaps, but it is honest,
It is as human as I am human, don’t
You see? It voices my joys, my longings, my
Hopes, and it is useful to me as cawing
Is to crows or roaring to the lions, it
Is human speech, the speech of the mind that is

The poem “An Introduction” by Kamala Das talks of the desires, the disappointment and the struggles that generally a traditional Indian woman had to face in her time. She says that she doesn’t know politics but can rant the names of all the politicians in the country. She introduces herself as Indian, detailing her skin tone, her place of stay and the language that she prefers to write. She talks of the people that criticize her for using English as a medium to express her thoughts. She says that she knows that her English isn’t perfect but English is able to express her thoughts better than any other language can for it gives voice to her aspirations, her troubles, joys. English is as useful to her as cawing is to crows or roaring is to lions.

Here and not there, a mind that sees and hears and
Is aware. Not the deaf, blind speech
Of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the
Incoherent mutterings of the blazing
Funeral pyre. I was child, and later they
Told me I grew, for I became tall, my limbs
Swelled and one or two places sprouted hair.
When I asked for love, not knowing what else to ask
For, he drew a youth of sixteen into the
Bedroom and closed the door, He did not beat me
But my sad woman-body felt so beaten.
The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me.
I shrank Pitifully.

She then moves to talk about puberty and the changes that took place in her physically and later emotionally. She talks of the disappointment she faced in love when she asked for love and was violated. She talks of the pregnancy that followed it when the weight of her breasts and womb crushed her.

Then … I wore a shirt and my
Brother’s trousers, cut my hair short and ignored
My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl
Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook,
Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh,
Belong, cried the categorizers. Don’t sit
On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows.
Be Amy, or be Kamala. Or, better
Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to
Choose a name, a role. Don’t play pretending games.
Don’t play at schizophrenia or be a
Nympho. Don’t cry embarrassingly loud when
Jilted in love …

She then proceeds to tell the consequences of her physical violation at the age of 16. She started to crossdress by wearing a shirt and her brother’s trousers. She cut her hair short and ignored her womanliness which was a rebellion against her own sex. People then started to advise her to be a woman, dress in women clothing such as sarees, cook and be a wife. She was asked to quarrel with servants and fit in with the rest of the world. She was asked to fit in with the rest of the society and not bawl when left disappointment.

I met a man, loved him. Call
Him not by any name, he is every man
Who wants. a woman, just as I am every
Woman who seeks love. In him . . . the hungry haste
Of rivers, in me . . . the oceans’ tireless
Waiting. Who are you, I ask each and everyone,
The answer is, it is I. Anywhere and,
Everywhere, I see the one who calls himself I
In this world, he is tightly packed like the
Sword in its sheath. It is I who drink lonely
Drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns,
It is I who laugh, it is I who make love
And then, feel shame, it is I who lie dying
With a rattle in my throat. I am sinner,
I am saint. I am the beloved and the
Betrayed. I have no joys that are not yours, no
Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I.

She then proceeds to talk of a man she met and fell in love with. She then talks of how her lover was every man who sought a woman, “the hungry haste of rivers” just like she was every woman who seeks love. She talks of how her lover was impatient in love and she had all the patient in the world such as the “the oceans’ tireless waiting” She talks of the un-deluded freedom that a free woman or any soul for the matter could cherish, the various experiences that life has to offer.

Importance of cleanliness

Cleanliness is very necessary for all of us. It is a habit of keeping ourselves physically and mentally clean including our house, pet animals, surroundings, environment, schools, etc. We should keep ourselves neat and clean it all the time. It helps in making a good impression in the society as it reflects a clean character. We should maintain the cleaniness of the environment and natural resources water, food, land, etc. together with our body cleanliness in order to make the possibility of such as life existence forever on the earth. Wholesome neatness will lead to cheers of greatness. Cleanliness makes us healthy in every aspect like mental, physical, social, and intellectual. Generally, we all notice in our homes that our grandmothers and moms are very strict about the cleanliness before worship.

We should always take care of and observe our personal and surrounding cleanliness to make our future bright and healthy. We should not make our surroundings dirty as it results in the outbreak of several diseases. We should not keep our hands dirty when we do to eat something. We should never eat junk foods or stale foods and also avoid ready-made cool drinks. For our spiritual life, we have to keep our soul clean from all vices. To have a clean soul we need godliness within us. In the same way, to keep our body free from any dirt, we need cleanliness. Moreover, cleanliness not only improves but our personality also increases our image in society.

” Be stealthy to be healthy than wealthy ”

Reducing your carbon footprint

Carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent. Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbon dioxide and methane, can be emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, land clearance and the production and consumption of food, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, transportation and other services. Here are some ways to reduce your carbon footprint:

Photo by Ella Olsson on Pexels.com
  1. The choice of diet is a major influence on a person’s carbon footprint. Animal sources of protein like red meat, rice (typically produced in high methane-emitting paddies), foods transported long-distance or via fuel-inefficient transport (e.g., highly perishable produce flown long-distance) and heavily processed and packaged foods are among the major contributors to a high carbon diet. Scientists at the University of Chicago have estimated that the average American diet – which derives 28% of its calories from animal foods – is responsible for approximately one and a half more tonnes of greenhouse gasses.
  2. Another option for reducing the carbon footprint of humans is to use less air conditioning and heating in the home. By adding insulation to the walls and attic of one’s home, and installing weather stripping, or caulking around doors and windows one can lower their heating costs more than 25 percent. Similarly, one can very inexpensively upgrade the “insulation” (clothing) worn by residents of the home. For example, it’s estimated that wearing a base layer of long underwear with top and bottom, made from a lightweight, super-insulating fabric like microfleece, can conserve as much body heat as a full set of clothing, allowing a person to remain warm with the thermostat lowered by over 5 °C. These measures all help because they reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool the house.
  3. There are many simple changes that can be made to the everyday lifestyle of a person that would reduce their GHG footprint. Reducing energy consumption within a household can include lowering one’s dependence on air conditioning and heating, using CFL light bulbs, choosing ENERGY STAR appliances, recycling, using cold water to wash clothes, and avoiding a dryer. Another adjustment would be to use a motor vehicle that is fuel-efficient as well as reducing reliance on motor vehicles. Motor vehicles produce many GHGs, thus an adjustment to one’s usage will greatly affect a GHG footprint.

“Proxima B – Planet supporting life?”

Humans have been developing technologies and doing research in the field of space since the last 5-6 decades. We have been successful in launching various space missions which include launching satellites, landing on moon in late 60’s, satellite and rover to Mars and many others. With  the help of these missions and discoveries made by them, we are able to understand space and various other phenomena in it with a close view. The Hubble telescope, launched in 1990 has helped us to view space very closely and helped us to know about the existence of other planets at distance as well as centauries. Since these observations do facinate humans and the desire to explore it more, we are developing new technologies which would help us to reach out to these planets. The closest planet which we are in the run to land on is Mars. As per the plans of Spacex, they are planning a manual spaceflight to Mars by 2024. 

But there have been other observations also, and we have achieved results which do show the presence of planets like earth. We are still finding the question of existence of life on other planet and thus brings up the curiosity of humans to find them and reach them out. We have been able to find out many planets which have possibilities of life on them, but we do not have the desired technology to reach these due to the distance barrier as they are situated at various light years. But still there does exist a chance to reach one of them named “Proxima-B”.

  1.  This planet is supposed to be the same size as Earth and lie at a distance of 4.24 light years . It was found in the nearest Alpha centauri. 
  2. Proxima B revolves around a star named Proxima Centauri and is supposed to be at a distance suitable for supporting life on it. It lies at a distance of 75 lakhs kilometre and has an expected time to complete its orbit around it’s stars is 11.2 Earth days. But Due to the smaller size of its star, Proxima B lies in the habitable zone as per the experts.
  3.  It is supposed to have water reserves if it has an atmosphere around it. As per the computer model and analysis, it does give the possibility of atmosphere and water. 
  4. Some scientists also believe that as this lies close to its star, it could be tidally locked, like the moon. This means that one side if this planet remain s towards the star and the other remains in dark . This suggests the possibility of keeping the area hot which faces the star, while others remain cold. This suggests the life to be supported at the border area. But it’s just a belief and scientists do have a conflicting thought on this. 

But the main question which comes to mind is “Can we reach there with the same technology we use for other planets and how long will it take”. It’s believed that with the current technology it would take thousands of years to reach Proxima -B thus making it a difficult task with the current technology. But scientists are working on unmanned vehicles which can be light weight and thus able to reach it. Breakthrough starshot technique is being tested for the same and it’s believed we can reach Proxima -B through this. It is believed it would just take 15-20 year to reach this planet as they would be travelling at very high speed. These would be working on lightsail instead of rockets to work and go beyond the distance. Once they are made, they would be left in the earth orbit and laser light would be travelling to them which would power them and would thus move towards the destination. At an expected speed of 1/20th speed of light. 

It seems that some of these technologies and work experiment could help us reach out to the nearest of planets which could support life but there are some of problems with these, which are:

  1. These would be really expensive experiments. 
  2. We still do not know how to stop these vehicles once they reach out there. Which surely means we would have less time analyze the planet and soon it will pass it 
  3. Surety of life isn’t confirmed. 

“So these experiments bring out the hope of life and our possibilities to reach them out. Scientists and their teams are working on research work and ideas which could make this dream a reality and could help us to reach out other life forms of dynasties if possible and thus opening new life possibilities , adventures, risk but with learning being the better probability”. 

WOMEN AND GENDER EQUALITY: An Outlook

The road towards gender equality has been slow-moving, but people and organisation around the world are committed to meet the objective. We can see that the social and economic policies that are made nowadays by the government have much thought in them. They aim to put women on equal footing with men in all fields. Creating a world which is equal in gender is assumed to be the most challenging effort of the country. It is fundamental for achieving equal human rights, peace, security, sustainable development and productivity.

Every year March 8 is marked as International Women’s Day. It represents women power; it celebrates womanhood and reminds us if the wonders they have given to this world. Do we need it? Yes, for many years. Many women shine in the world despite their stereotypical society. Parenting plays a vital role in women empowerment. Receiving opportunities and the understanding of making use of them make women successful in a gender unequal world. We live in urban development, and many women are privileged here. However, when we go deeper into rural areas, where the majority of the population resides, we see how deprived they genuinely are. We must also look at urban poor people; opportunities are quite narrow for them because the boys either get it or grab it before them.

Women in rural areas talk about National Rural Employment Guarantee schemes. It makes more sense to them than women’s day. Women whose occupation is farming want their farm and produce saved and fundamental rights protected. Their perspective doesn’t go beyond that. This happens because many of them aren’t aware of any scheme at all, as many women are not allowed to socialise freely, move away from home or a particular territory. They must understand the power of the common objective of gender equality as they will ultimately be at the ‘benefit’ receiving end of it. They must fight for women’s right, which is a human right.

We have been talking about Women’s Day. Many females exist in a socially disadvantaged atmosphere. They need this day as a symbol of women empowerment. In firms and politics, until the female’s performance is measured with the same yardstick, which is used to measure men, there will be inequality. Even though there is consciousness awakening is such platforms, there is still a long way to go. When women become successful again, they have much pressure on them. They must keep setting examples for other women; they are subject to societal expectations, and they sometimes have to carry themselves like men. They have so many qualities that they possess, and men don’t. They must keep moving forward.

The less than encouraging thing to notice is that in reality, many women don’t want to be treated as equal. They do not want to take up work which men usually do. When asked for a job with six days work till late hours, majority of women won’t say yes because it is late hours and they must go home to take on the burden of taking care of the family. They feel indebted to the family as they try to balance work and family life, and when they are unable to strike it, they feel guilty. It is because society has brought up women is a stereotypical manner that they are mentally conditioned to think this way. Some are lucky to have a family which backs them up while others have to prioritise and live by their code of life.

A heavily debatable opinion is that women have to be better than men to reach the same status, i.e. gender equality. There is much responsibility for this common objective on all of us. Cities must provide an encouraging environment for women to walk freely at night and do the things they want to, and we must not judge them. They must encourage themselves, and we must give them liberty and atmosphere to fly as they wish.

Society makes a perfect image of women- She has to be good looking, must cook well, must be well cultured. The day it accepts women the way they are, that day will bring about a significant change. A father is seen as the commanding figure while the mother is the nurture at home. That is how we are made. There are things that women must do too for themselves to be ‘gender-equal’. Today women must lead with qualities of both and stay unaffected from things that society labels them with. A sad fact of life is that in India, boys are social security of parents, girls are not yet. Thinking must change. It all starts with how we are raised, and we must raise our boys and girls equally. Once we do that, we will see a significant change till then, gender equality will stay a dream.

How to manage personal finances

Finding out “why”


This is the first step in planning your budget. The reasons could be you want to minimize your spending habits or you have a debt repayment plan and to be debt-free or want to save for any of your long term goals. This step is very necessary because without deciding the purpose of your financial budgeting you can’t plan a proper budget.

Priorities setting


After deciding your whys you need to set your priorities according to your priorities. It is about finding out what’s important to you then controlling the habits of spending and saving to achieve the “why”.
These include your long term and short term goals and syncing them in the order of your priorities. Like you are going to marry soon so you want to buy a house in the future or if there is a couple who wants to plan their children’s higher education expenses, so priorities should be decided at this level.

Track your spending habits


This is the most important step while planning a budget. Spending habits as if you are spending on the unnecessary things in your life. Check your monthly expenses yearly expenses and try to figure out which is unnecessary for you and cut out them.

Choosing the method

with the 50/30/20 rule, 50 % of your take-home pay goes towards your needs. 30% should go towards your wants or discretionary income. Remaining 20% of your take-home pay should go to your savings. for example, if your income is 50000 then 25000 should go towards your need like housing utility, insurance, groceries. 15000 should go towards your wants and the remaining 10000 should go towards your savings.

There are various methods of budgeting like zero-sum budget, anti budget, money flow, etc. Find out which one is best for your according to your spending and priorities.

live with your Budget


There is no use of the method you have decided if you don’t implement it in your life. create a spreadsheet use pen and paper for creating the spreadsheet or you can use many digital tools that are available online for the same like Mint, Clarity money, Tiller money, You need a budget, Digit, Qapital, etc.

Updating the Budget regularly


Review, Revise, Improve
There is no rule for improving your budget. It is up to you your personal satisfaction with your spending habit.
You pick up a budget applied and then not satisfied with the can savings then you can revise your budget again make it do some improvements accordingly again apply and see the result.
Here are a few helpful things to keep in mind while updating the budget-
Slash expenses- If in your budget you are finding yourself overspending then see where you can cut those expenses.

Create seasonal budgeting-

Besides the main budget, a seasonal budget for holiday and summer season should also be maintained.

Link existing habits with new ones-

If you have added some more new spending habits then link that with your existing ones.

Set dates to review and tweak-

You should always review your budget whether you are happy with it or not.

Get help if you need–

MMI offers free budget counseling to anyone struggling with the management of the budget.

“SMILE”:A POWERFUL WEAPON

Did you smile today?? – No, then smile a little before reading this article. A smile on a face is the most powerful gesture to a human being.

Smile is a beautiful, positive facial expression which provides happiness to the person observing and the one itself. Smile is a powerful weapon which connects to other people. ‘Scientific studies have confirmed that a genuine smile is generally considered attractive to others around us’. Smiles help you make great first impression in all aspects of your life.

“A smile cost nothing, but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.”– Dale Carnegie

How Smile acts as a Weapon? Let us understand-

  • To defeat bad mood- in your bad and frustrating mood, showing a smile to the world can actually give your brain a happy boost.
  • To conquer your enemy- a smile with confidence marks a strong effect on the enemy side. Jealous people are conquered by a smile which make them think that you a strong.
  • Smiling is contagious- Smile also has the power to elevate others mood and make things positive.It passes on the feeling of happiness from one to another.
  • Smiling makes a person attractive- We are naturally drawn to people who smile. There is a real physical attraction factor linked to the act of smiling.Use the attraction power of smile to draw people in.
  • Lowers stress- smiling relieves stress.It activates neuropeptides which are known to fight off stress. 
  • Keeps away from depression- a smile on the face keeps us away from depressed thoughts in mind.
  • Promotes positive thinking- Smiling can help you develop stronger paths in your brain for positive thinking.The more you smile, the more you get positive thoughts.

Smiles may strengthen the body on a cellular level. When you smile you reduce the rigidness of your cells and this relaxation can help reduce the risk of stress-induced cell mutations.

Think of how you feel when someone passing by gives a gesture of smiling, now imagine the same feeling of acceptance that you can give to someone…..

Now, you choose how to live your life-with smile or without. “Stay Happy Stay Healthy”

Keep Smiling….!!!!

“Cooking – A great pastime.”

I never actually liked to cook for me and my family. Cooking is something which I always found to be very complicated and difficult. I felt that it was not my cup of tea. But, the lockdown that was implemented due to COVID-19 inspired and gave me the time to learn cooking. I feel that this lockdown is responsible for bringing out the cook in each and every one of us.

Cooking doesn’t only serve the purpose of feeding people. But, it also has many benefits. Today, I am going to discuss with you a few of them.

◆ Cooking makes you creative. When you like cooking, you always feel like preparing new dishes every day. In this process, you experiment with innovative recipes. This helps to boost your imagination and creativity skills.

◆ Cooking helps to relieve your stress. While cooking you get involved in the dish so much that you completely focus on it, thus forgetting your tension or stress. It thus brings positivity in your thoughts and keeps you away from the pessimism.

◆ Cooking keeps you fit and healthy. If you cook for yourself, you know better what is good for you and your health and you cook accordingly. You choose your ingredients wisely and avoid junk food, thus becoming more fit.

◆ Cooking brings you close to your family as through cooking, you can express your love towards them. It is a way of showing your support and care. When your family helps you in cooking, you create some good memories with them and you communicate well with them.

◆ When you get your recipe tasted by someone and receive appreciation for it, you feel very happy. You feel like you have accomplished something and this sense of achievement makes you proud. It also makes you more confident and focussed in life.

◆Cooking teaches you to be patient and the importance of hard work. To prepare a good dish you need to be calm until it gets cooked perfectly. You can’t just add all the ingredients at once. Also, you might not be able to prepare the perfect recipe in the first attempt. You have to keep trying until you get success.

◆ Food cooked in restaurants is quite tasty and buying such food saves your time. But, it is expensive as compared to home-cooked food. Cooking on your own can save a lot of your money.

◆ Cooking can be a great profession. If you can cook well you can become a chef or start up your own business of home cooking or own a restaurant. You can take classes for cooking both virtually and physically.

Thus, we can conclude that cooking has many physical and mental benefits. It is a productive hobby which does not have any side effects. It can take you away from the stress of your daily routine and make you feel cheerful.

Hence, you shall try to take out some time from your daily regimen and try to cook something for yourself and your family. This will just change your mood and make you feel much better.

The Chapekar Brothers and assassination of W.C Rand, The British plague Commissioner of Pune 1897

During late 1896 dreaded disease of plague had struck Pune and by early 1897, the disease had spread critically. In February 1897 alone, there were 657 deaths reportedly due to plague. About half of the city’s population had left it.The government set up a Special Plague Committee in March that year to handle the menace and control the spread of the disease. It was chaired by an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer W. C. Rand.

The commission appointed more than 800 officers and soldiers on duty in Pune rather than employing doctors for the job of implementing the measures. The measures included entry into houses forcefully, examination of its occupants including women, taking them to segregation camps and preventing people affected with plague from leaving or entering Pune.People were denied permission to conduct the funerals of their loved ones unless the deaths were registered. If plague was the cause of death, the dead had to be cremated in special grounds designated by the government.

A medical camp for the plague, in Pune 1896, source of the image Google

The Chapekar brothers  Damodar Hari Chapekar, Balkrishna Hari Chapekar and Vasudeo Hari Chapekar and a friend of them Mahadev Ranade initially belonged to Chapa small hamlet near Chinchwad, then a village near Pune, in the state of Maharashtra, India

1.Balkrishna Hari Chapekar 2.Damodar Hari Chapekar 3. Basudev Hari chapekar 4. Mahadev Ranade. Source of image Google

Regular harassments of Rand commission had prompted the Chapekar brothers and other members of the revolutionary “Chapekar Club” to take action against the person who started it all—the commissioner. On 22 June 1897, brothers Damodar Hari Chapekar and Balkrishna Hari Chapekar assassinated a British official W. C. Rand and his military escort Lieutenant Ayerst at Pune, Maharashtra. This was the first case of militant nationalism in India after the 1857 Revolt.

Chapekar Brother statue at Chinchwad, source of the image Google

All three brothers were found guilty and hanged, an accomplice was dealt with similarly, another, then a schoolboy, was sentenced to ten years’ rigorous imprisonment.

CHANGING GENDER NORMS

Our society has from the very beginning been governed by gender norms, assigning a place for each of the sexes and it was always expected for us to adhere to it . But in recent times with rising consciousness about the biased wall that separates the different sexes, society has strived to make the workspace more habitable so that there can be peaceful co-existence. History has led us to believe how that society which is deficient in practicing equality can be defunct and not let the country prosper as a whole. Naming a few revolutionary figures like Mary Kom, Kalpana Chawla, Vikram Seth, Gauri Sawant, Sanjeev Kapoor who should be lauded for breaking gender barriers and helping us become a progressive and prosperous society, have also contributed in breaking the various prejudices and stereotypes attached to categorizing work according to the sex. These virtuous legacy holders have not only left a visionary impact on the young minds but also have helped a few of them to achieve their dream. In the 21st century with the oncoming of many revolutionary changes, breaking gender barriers was a highly anticipated evolutionary change. We are still singing glory songs of the famed queen of Jhansi Rani Laxmibai in the post-colonial era who did not submit to British authority and fought to save her kingdom. She was one of the few brave hearts who could not be subjugated by male dominance. It was uncustomary during those times for a woman to rule a kingdom. When talking of female rulers during the colonial times, one cannot miss mentioning Razia Sultana the valorous Queen of Delhi sultanate and who is notable for being the first female Muslim ruler of the Indian subcontinent. The UN also has incorporated this changing scenario in its selection for possible women candidates for the post of general secretary a post traditionally held by men. In this way, the UN which is very active and vocal in its agenda for abolishing the gender disparity has successfully helped pinpoint the existing problems in the society. The Air Force has taken a major stride towards achieving gender parity by allowing women in combat roles. “Indian Air force (IAF) ensures equal opportunities are given to all men and women” (as published by Hindustan Times). Even in the medical field where a registered nurse was seen as an occupation solely for women to pursue, it is now becoming a common trend for even men to work as registered nurses. Women in the past, who were forced to confine themselves in the house and take care of the children have turned the tables so drastically that now women functioning in the economy have become a crucial part in managing the market economy. Similarly bonding with the baby, engaging with one’s child has also improved the father-child relationships over the world. This has proven effective in may manners and now even men are engaging in babysitting duties. World-renowned chefs like Gordan Ramsey, Sanjeev Kapoor make us realize that men actually possess culinary skills and can work just fine without burning the house down. These success stories help us realize however small our dreams may be, they still are worth achieving.