The era of deluxe education

Gone are the times when the word deluxe only was an adjective to commodities like  buses, cars, hotels, apartments and cuisines. But now this word speaks loud of the splendid educational institutes, with high profile management and splendid architecture, lavish swimming pools, grand air conditioned classrooms supplemented with costly online learning screens, most stylish uniforms, deluxe school buses and a multi digit school fees- unaffordable by most of the parents but paid out of urge of status. And student learning - Oh It's OK with the learning, who cares if that too is deluxe or not????

Most of the richie kids attending there hi-fi institutes come wrapped in airs of money, giving a shit to education or learning. They attend schools or colleges as an obligation and for the want of a degree. This becomes an advantage to the institutes that are capable of giving all the luxuries and facilities of the structure in lieu of heavy fees , but are not suffice enough to deliver quality learning- thereby transforming education to industry-'The deluxe child raising industry'.

When we talk of  India growing as the world leader, how can we forget the amount of focus that needs to be paid to the learning of students, who actually are the future of the nation. Students and parents are into a rat race of admission into a world class school or a top ranking college. But beware of the fake allurements presented to you by them. Join an institute or a system that imparts you learning, not just luxury. Even a less equipped school or college can be better than 1000 other high profile ones, if they are capable of helping a child to not just read a book, but learn the practical sense of it and then keep him motivated to learn further, ceaselessly without any race of brands and degrees. 

This is high time when Indian education system needs a strong- a very strong learning management system that can bring back the charm of learning through technology, which is buried beneath the heavy weight of technological transformation- especially the revolution of social media ,which has led to banning of cell phones and tabs in education institutes due to unnecessary engagement of students leading to time wastage. We need a system that can convert this time wastage to time utilization and instead of such bans, schools and colleges be promoting and supporting e-learning.

Aayushi Kapoor

Connecting reverse....

As Steve jobs once mentioned,

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

This is the true story of life. 
Just think what will you be on today's date next year? Will you be a multimillionaire entrepreneur, one in the series of Bill gates, Mark Zukerberg, Ratan Tata or one similar....or will you be the CEO of the company you are currently serving in as a normal employee...or will you have made some world record..or will you be any ...just any other thing that can come across your mind...
You can't answer this...you can only imagine this..or may be plan for the same...but the question that you can most appropriately answer is what  you were a year back on today's date and what you are now.
You can very aptly describe the changes you have gone through during this period. And the reason that you can answer this question so beautifully is that you can connect all the dots very precisely now.You can clearly see why did you get up early and worked on Sundays when others were wrapped in their quilts till late and enjoying their weekend. You now can visualize why  you missed your best friend's marriage just to give finishing touch to your official tasks when all other friends were updating their Facebook status with the pics of the different wedding ceremonies...you can see all the good that you have jotted down while juggling with the adversities that existed at that point of time...these questions, which were that time labelled as "some questions have no answers", become very transparently answered when they are looked reverse...that is from present to past.

So don't ever worry when you don't get answer to WHY's of the present...they will definitely have fruitful answers in future. Just one important rule needs to be followed....be positive and do good....and all the dots will connect beautifully one day. And let this be your new year resolution.

Manzil

Roshni ki ungali tham,
ik kadam hum jo chale the

Dum ujalon k sheher k
har kadam humne bhare the

Par andekha kar dooriyo ko,
zid pe apni hum ade the

Dur se dikhti thi manzil,
fasle thode bade the

Thi lagan, paane ki manzil,
dar na ab toofan ka tha

Dagmagai jab bhi kashti,
patwar le hum bhi date the

Badhte badhte is tarah se,
manzilo ka rukh yu samjha

Lehere hi nahi chal rhae thi,
kinare bhi sang me bahe the

Yu laga ik pal ko jese,
hum kahin pe tham gaye the

Dikh to ab bhi rahi thi manzil,
par fasle ab bhi wahi the

Har mashakkat kar ke bhi,
jab door utni hi h manzil

Soch kar ab ho achambhit,
bich dariya me khade the

Fir achanak man me aya,
 mud ke piche dekhte hn

Aur mudte i aya samajh ke,
manzil se raste bhale the

Chalte chalte jane kitni
par kar li thi manzilen

Nayi manzil dikhti thi wo,
har roz jiske liye badhe the

Composed by: aayushi kapoor

"Bachpan"

Palak jhapakte dekho
kese waqt palat ye jata hai....
mere bachpan ka mere aaj se ik tuta tuta naata hai.

girte padte jab bachpan me ghutne tuta karte the....
sar par ghar uthakar hum zor zor se rote the.
par ghutno ka wo dard bda kam nazar ab ata h...
jab dil tute ya sapna koi tut mera jata hai.

kaisi ajab ye zindagi hai..
socho to man muskata hai...
jab dard na tha to aansu mere sath bada nibhate...
ab dard me hain hum to ik aansu bhi ruswa kar jata hai.

bas phulo se the rishte naate....
kaanto se hum darte the.
apne ghar ki phulwari ki badi hifazat karte the
bade hue to bat smjh me ab ja kar k aayi hai ki
phulo ke chubhne ka dard kanto se zada satata hai.

itni bate thi karne ko...
par shabd bade kam aate the.
ab shabd sare sikh liye jab...
samajh wo hi nahin pate hain...
jo kehte the tera tutlana bhi samajh me humko ata hai....

choti si thi mutthi fir bhi kitna kch ajata tha....
ab bade ho gaye hath to pakad me kuch ni ata hai....

Palak jhapakte dekho
kese waqt palat ye jata hai....
mere bachpan ka mere aaj se ik tuta tuta naata hai.

-Aayushi Kapoor

Life is a resonance of extremes

Life is a resonance of extremes

A continuous low note or a higher one can create sound but not music, because music can only be created by resonance of extreme notes...music is bliss..a reinforced frequency produced by overlapping of different sound frequencies....ans so is life.

The psycho-social equilibrium, that we commonly call as life, can only be attained by successful overlapping of its different frequencies, which are happiness, sorrow, joy, pain, loneliness, togetherness, ups and downs, thick and thin....if we stick to any one of the above frequencies, high or low, life loses its meaning. There has to be a constructive overlapping of different emotions, different reactions, different thoughts, different ideas to compose the music of life.

No person has ever born on this earth who hasn't faced any adversities of life. Each one of us have felt one or the other pain. people have seen separation from their loved ones, greatest reason being death. people have seen hunger, poverty. There are orphans. there are people without homes, unemployed, penniless. But even than life has so much for them too. even the beggars smile. they don't have homes, but they light diyas on footpaths on Diwali.They have seen every star break in night sky, but they don't make wishes,may be they've left them for us.  They know the taste of the most miraculous liquid on this earth, that is water. They know the warmth of a torn blanket on a cold winter night. They have felt the ecstasy of the morning dew, they know how to catch rainbows. And as long as they know this, life will continue to propagate because a perfect resonance has occurred between all the high and low notes. 

The most beautiful music is hence produced.............

'BRAND' BAAJA BARAT....

'BRAND' BAAJA BARAT

We , today, are in the era where "NIKE' is more relied upon than the feet to run and "CRIZAL" more than the eyes for vision. "AMUL" has taken over nani's hand churned butter and "CADBURY" is more in demand than Kaju Katli. Not just these, but even water is branded, people want the one advertised by Hema Malini. Brands have not even spared the air we breathe, even that is demanded "HITACHI".

Is this brand obsession just a result of demand of quality or is it an ostentatious phenomenon,serving as the genesis of inequality???

Ask yourself why you prefer a date at "STARBUCKS" and not at a normal, not branded, coffee shop. Is it the quality that drags you there or......???? May be quality, but you know the answer...

And since you know the answer, it requires great introspection, a reversal of thoughts and a change of pattern. Don't succumb to the hegemony of brand players rather make wise decisions that can make both of you happy- the pocket and you.

Brand obsession is a contagion; it's an epidemic which spreads at the speed of light and makes you so ill that you can't even imagine. It makes you a blind and the specious temptations advertised by these brands suddenly make you abandon "LEVIS" and fill your wardrobe with "ZARA". So, we see it keeps changing, therefore it's all the more clear that its not quality that pulls rather you choose the name better to exhibit in the hour and this oblivion makes you pay those extra pennies which are not a reward of just the quality, for sure.

Interestingly, this brand epidemic ends not just with goods, but even marriages, 'BRANDED MARRIAGES' and we are soon to witness the day when brides would get BRANDED GROOMS and vice-versa, may be with a tag of "RADO" or "GUCCI" or any other big name. Will you still choose the one better to flaunt about??????

Deepest Valley Lies Beside The Steepest Mountain

 Deepest Valley Lies Beside The Steepest Mountain  

William Henry Bill Gates, one of the most successful entrepreneur and philanthropist and the role model for every individual who aspires to become rich, was born with a golden spoon in his mouth and Albert Einstein with an extra chamber for intelligence in his brain , Sir Isaac Newton with  an inbuilt microprocessor , Thomas Edison with a god-gifted idea of light bulb, Sidney Poitier with an MOU signed by god to get the Oscar and Walt Disney with all the goodies of Disneyland.

If you think so, then you are absolutely wrong!!!!!!

Every successful man on this earth was once grappling with the whirlpool of frustration and failures. Even after passing out form Harvard, Bill Gates failed at his first business 'Traf-O-Data' but he didn't lose hope and sliding a long distance though the ups and downs ultimately succeeded in building the 'Microsoft' empire. Albert Einstein, the noble  prize winner, could not even speak until he was four and could not read until he was seven and was even expelled from school and refused admittance in polytechnic school. He still fought with the circumstances and his disabilities and ended up making his name synonymous with genius. Sir newton, whose laws of motion we and every object obeys, used to fail in maths in his early days and Edison failed literally a thousand times before he could lay the invention of the light bulb. Worse irony ran through the life of of Walt Disney, the master of imagination, as he was chucked out of a newspaper company on the grounds of 'lacking imagination and having no good idea'. Thereafter, he saw a series of failures back to back and even got bankrupted before he could actually discover the formula for success.

Similar tough terrains have been there and will be there for anyone who wishes to reach the zenith, and whether you will reach there or not is actually decided in that deep valley of failures. It somehow follows Darwin's 'selection principle' of survival of the fittest. If you manage to struggle and cope with those tough times you will definitely reach the pinnacle but if you get disheartened and you quit, then you may merrily raise the count of a huge number that comprises the people who didn't dare to take one, but "Last Step" and that is what made the difference.

It's always the last mile of a journey that takes the greatest courage and determination and none other than YOU can motivate yourself for that last step. So, never fear failure, rather keep patience and keep striving.

Remember the lower you get suppressed, the higher you rise, BUT ONLY IF YOU WANT.