New year’s eve and the nostalgia!

Hi all,

Yes, I am alive. I know that I told in my last post that I will resume posting in December first week but I didn’t. Reason being that I went to a trip of western states of India. So I would be writing my whole experience of the trip next year (from tomorrow :P).

What about today? The last day of the year….

Well I have a habit of writing a diary. Every year end, I write a flashback series in my diary. In it I sum up the whole year month wise. I find this practice quite fruitful, because every month has some special importance in the whole year. It is up to us now what do we learn from that experience.

The yearend usually makes me nostalgic. All the good moments starts the slideshow in my mind. It’s not that the bad moment doesn’t show their presence… it’s just that I choose to ignore them. Also I try to let go of grudges I hold against some people because hey … as we go to new year , one more year get over from our lives.

I pretty much suck at the practice of keeping New Year resolution though. Every year I make a list, but I became a defaulter on day one itself… my resolution list looks somewhat like this…

So what’s next? Yea… new year party??

Me being an introvert usually hate those new year party… in my growing year..back in my home town, we used to have a club. Every member of the colony used to gather there and they used to call DJ and have a dance party…. And I hated that!!! But as my family members used to attend that party, so I was obliged to go with them. After all, I wanted to be with them as the clock stroke to the midnight. I am glad that I attended those parties, because I got to spend time with my family. At this time of year, I and my elder brother are at a different city and my parents are back at my hometown.

So cherish this time of the year and make sure that you have fun in the last day.

Here wishing you all a very happy new year and a year full of health, happiness and success.

Things you do when your exam schedule is out!

This article is written from a point of view of a college student. I guess, things what I am going to say doesn't apply to school kids.

Here I am trying to list out things we do after our exam schedule is out by the university. Obviously this list includes things other than studies. So, while I type this, I am just finding a way to escape from my studies. Procrastination level: 1000!!, also toppers, stay away!!

1. Panic:

While the whole semester is either wasted in the college fest, TV shows marathon, sleeping or doing …”nothing”, when the schedule is out, we start freaking out that we have so much to study and then complain about the lack of time given for preparation. Quite a valid point , I guess

2.Visit library:

Time to visit library. Yup, it’s time to go and  issue books and take it back to your room with a great zeal. But the time we open the text books, everything seems to be written in a very secretive language which would take a lot of time to be deciphered. Alas ! time to buy the reference book. 

3. Go through syllabus:

We usually  go through syllabus to know the numbers of chapter we need to read and number of chapters we need to skip to pass the examination. We usually start choosing important and long chapters to read but end up skipping it. 

4.  Plan a group study:

The most fun part of the exams.. planning group study! We all plan about the night stay at our friend’s home , we discuss the subject we would “read “ and finally end up having a long discussion about the latest movie we saw( read : Interstellar). Who studies at the group study anyway.

5. bang your head/ promise to read from next semester:

This happens right before the day of exam. That night when we are crying over all the long formula and theory which we couldn't get at all, the books have their revenge finally  taken from us.

6. Procrastinate :

 It means to put off work for final moment. And that is actually what we do. When it’s time to sit and study, we find  some very “urgent” task to do at that time. Oh come on! My imaginary cat needed a bath!!!

So these are the things which usually I go through after my exams come knocking at my door.

So wishing those ,who have their semester during this period, loads of luck . As for now, my exams start from this week and I am going for a brief hiatus. Next post after December first week .  Till then.. Take care..(What?? I too have some loyal followers!!)  

All  the GIF sourced from here

Reasons why I think November is the best month!

Only a week is left before the November month ends. I really like this month and every year I wait for November to begin. As the month is about to end , I would like to round up the reasons because of which, I think, November is the best month!!

1. The dawn of the winter:

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Yes... the winter is here. After going through all the heat and getting parched through all those months,, the winter seems welcoming in November. It is because of the fact that the winter have just started setting in and have not taken the vigorous form during this month. Time to take out those sweaters and jackets!!!

2. Festivals:

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A tons of festivals are just waiting for you in the month of November. Most of the religions have big festivals in November. Diwali,  Muharram, Guru nanak Jayanti and many more. Not only that , many cultural festivals like Thanksgiving Day  is also held in November.  Many important day are also celebrated such as No-shave november , International Mens' day, children's day and many more!!!

3. Weddings & birthdays:

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The wedding season just begins in India in the month of November. Not only that, you would find a lot of people having their birthday in November. Now this statement is purely on my personal experience. But everyday, during the month of November, atleast two people have their birthday on facebook account! even i have my Birthday in November. So get ready to be invited for a lots of treats and functions. Delicious food alert!!!

4. Food!! :

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All the foodie will agree to one fact. That all the best veggies is available during the winter. And November is the first month in which you to get to taste your favourite vegetable after a long hiatus. The feeling you get when you taste the first veggies/ fruit of the season.... bliss!!!

So it's time to go Nom Nom during November. Now can someone get me Gajar ka Halwa  ?

5. Picnics/ trips:

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Winter is the best time to go for a trip or a day out. The clear sky and the fragrance of flower in the air makes the trip more amazing. While the picnic season continue till winter, but November is the best time to go as the cold has not set in properly and thus no fear of adverse nature. What are you waiting for... go and plan a trip!!

6. Nostalgia:

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As the month of November ends, we come to realise that only a month is left before the year completes itself. Thus we all start to get nostalgic about the whole year. We plan out to do the things, which we couldn't do in the whole year. All the resolution we made in the beginning of the year , finally starts to get implemented. Because hey , it's never too late to start. So thank you November, for giving us a last chance!

I know that all the months and season have it's own charm. But I like November the most! if you agree with me then cheers!! 

Light travels faster than sound… revamped!!

Light travels faster than sound. If you remember your elementary studies correctly, you are sure to remember this natural phenomenon. The very reason , because of which we see the lightning at the sky first, and then after some time, we hear the thunder.

But I am not going to discuss science here.  Now this scientific fact applies on us, human too….

How? Well first go through this popular joke…

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Well, it is an old joke. Not funny any more… but its significance? In my experience it has turned out to be true in most of the cases. Hey… I am not being mean here… but take this example

You go to a book store (yup, I am a bibliophile)… you come across a very smart, good looking girl.. And then hear her speaking highly of the worst author (according to you) ever produced in the market….... Sigh!!!

The pang you feel in your heart… ohhhh!! So brutal!!!

There are many such examples and I hope you all must have came across such situations!

But as I told you that I love reading books, I also know the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”   so, the fact can be reversed also.. That some people appear to be dumb until they open their mouth. And trust me.. I have been through many such situations.

Apparently we live in a superficial world. We all are very judgemental when it comes to the looks of people. Remember, few years back… a guy with square spectacles and a book in hand was easily termed as “nerd”. Now, wearing squared spectacles is the “geek” look and is considered “in” thing in fashion. Also I really don’t like the conventional attributes given to particular people.  A  Blonde has to be dumb/ a Sardar has to be foolish. Why???

Not only that… if you are thin, then it’s problem.. if you are fat then it’s problem.. And even if you are fit… people would complain that you don’t have six pack abs.

When are we going to let each other feel free in our own skin??

I guess , never. So how to save as all from this bullying? Simple! Just feel you are fabulous and everything will fall into right places. 

International Men's day!!

Today is international Men’s day….. yup.. You read that right. There is also a day to celebrate Manhood. And that’s today!! Now when I read today’s newspaper.. I read an article about international men’s day. It was the least informative article I came across. It was written by a bunch of women journalist… ..highlighting the irritating habits found in men. It was done in good humour. But let me ask one question? Will that humour had been seen in same light if the same article was written about women on Women’s day(which is celebrated on 8^th march every year).

Anyways I thought to look about this day more on net. I hope you all the know the saying…”when in doubt… google it out”.. so I did the same and found the significance of the day very important.

The event was first observed in the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago on 19^th November 1999. The founder of this movement , Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, choose to observe this day on 19^th November,  because it was his father's birthday. Also when I visited the official website of this day… I came across these lines…

“The November IMD is a significant date as it interfaces the popular 'Movember' charity event and also with Universal Children's Day on Nov 20 with which IMD forms a 48 hour celebration of men and children respectively, and of the special relationships they share.”

If you are thinking what is “movember”… you can read about it here….

When I thought about it deeply… I realized that how the work of man for the improvement of the society is taken granted for. If I look back at my own household… the role my father played in upbringing me is same as that of my mother. Comparing both would be a great sin.

The day is observed to highlight the story of all the men who have somehow helped in shaping up the society and making it a better place to stay. Not only that.. we also have to think about all the boys and men who are constantly being trafficked by the society in slavery or sex trade.

Child labour is prominent in many parts of the worlds especially India and the labours also include those small boys who have take up financial responsibility of their family at a small age just because “they are the man of the house”.

You can read more about this day on the official website here.

Finally three cheers for us men!!!!

Happy birthday to me! + My fav. cupcakes recipe

So, today is my birthday!!!
Happy birthday to those who celebrate today... I know that we people born on 17th of November rocks!!
My friends tried to surprise me by bringing a cake...(it wasn't a surprise because I saw them returning from the Cake shop :P), but thanx a ton to them for bringing such a yummy cake.

Isn't it great... well it tasted great too......

Talking about cakes.... I just love them... and it also comes from the fact that my mom bakes really delicious cakes...... I knew that my friends were going to bring a cake for me... so i reciprocated their gestures by baking them all my favourite Chocolate cupcakes...

As I want all of you to have it... I am sharing it's recipe:

 chocolate brownie cupcake:

Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 2 cup

Butter : 100 gm

Condensed Milk: 1 tin

Coco powder : ½ cup

1 teaspoon coffee

½ teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dark chocolate : 25 gms

Milk :20 ml

Vanilla essence:  3-4 drops.

Recipe:

Melt the butter and the dark chocolate together in the microwave( it’s easy in such way). Sieve flour, coco powder, baking powder, soda, coffee together. Add condensed (whole tin) to the melted butter. Add flour, baking powder ,etc to the butter and milkmaid batter. Use milk to smooth the batter. Add vanilla essence in the end.  Beat it and bake it.

Icing:

Chocolate ganache:

1:2 ratio of chocolate and cream respectively.

Chocolate could be milk chocolate or the dark chocolate, Broken into pieces and in room temperature.

Cream could be double fat or single fat, beaten with icing sugar and vanilla essence.

Take the cream in a microwave proof bowl and microwave it for a minute. Take it out from the microwave  and add chocolate pieces to it and melt it from the heat of cream. You have to make sure that the cream is hot enough to melt the chocolate. Mix well and let it cool.  

Hope you all like it :)

  

it's a bird/ it's a plane.. it's a unibrow!!!!!

So , it is neither a bird nor a plane. Yup, today’s topic is unibrow! Now you may think why I used the famous phrase from Superman to describe unibrow….

Well that’s what I am going to talk about today… that how a simple ,harmless thing such as unibrow is thought to be weird and frowned upon in society….( using both the eye brows :P).

Unibrow is a condition in which there is hair growth in-between the two eyebrows, thus making the two eyebrows appear as one and hence the name unibrow/monobrow.

That’s it. Nothing  else. But still a huge deal is made out of fact if you own a pair of bushy eyebrows and god forbids  if a Unibrow.

When I was young, my parents told me I am lucky to be born with it. In fact , my father also have one. And so did my grandfather. So it is common hereditary trait in my family, and I am happy to inherit it. But I am guy, and I don’t feel the burden from the society to be beautiful or well maintained. I know a lots of girls who have to thread away their Unibrow ,unwillingly .  I don’t want to sound chauvinist here , but that is the case.

If you google the word “unibrow”… you will come to know that it is called Synophrys in medicine. But that’s not all you will come across. You will find suggestion/search results about Unibrow removal/shaving/waxing etc. That’s sad.

Apparently in fashion’s world it is considered a sin to have a Unibrow.

I would like to argue here that Unibrow is not ugly. It is a part of a person’s body and it helps them make a personality distinct from others. This September I was sitting for my first job interview. Many of my friends suggested me to shave my brow and make its brows. I denied. My denial was followed by long speeches which told me that having a unibrow will give the interviewer hint that you don’t groom well and thus you are not meant for professional world ( WTF!!). I decided to go with my beloved Unibrow and guess what? I got selected.

If you talk about different cultures, western Asian countries such as Tajikistan, Azerbaijan consider Unibrow sign of Valour, Beauty and even Virility… (Yea, own your face, haters!!!). Even in India, it is also not usually treated that badly . I guess the situation is bad in rest of the world.

I would like to request my uni”bros”  and uni”sis” to please embrace them… and the rest of you,,, please spare our beloved brow.

Lastly, I want to share with you a pic of talented and beautiful Indian actor Kajol who rocks in her movies with her acting talent and beauty ,while embracing  her very prominent Unibrow!

Image Source

7 things you go through before appearing for your first job interview

The last year of college is a real decisive year of our life as most of us apply for job. Here's a list of things we usually go through before appearing for our first job interview.

1. Make your resume/C.V

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Making resume is a huge task. It is the first impression the interviewer get of you. Sadly, it is one of the dreaded part for us student. Suddenly we are out of all the talent we thought we had and end up bluffing in the resume.

2. Read about the company/post you are applying for:

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 From knowing the name of the founder of the company, the name of the current CEO and knowing it's current market cap... we do a whole thesis about that company .

3. STUDY!!:

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Yea... study... do the thing , which most of us have not done in all those year while we were religiously bunking the classes.

4. Improve communication skills:

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Yes, communication skills. Most of you who are good at this won' t understand the problem faced by people who are bad in communicating. Simple question like "tell me something about yourself ?", could make them go speechless!!!

5. Shopping:

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The only up-side of going through the interview, wait... if you hate shopping, then one more downside. We all need to be dressed well on the interview day. Most of us don't have formal clothes...  thus we go shopping!!!. quick question? does anyone knows how to tie a tie?

6. Grooming:

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I guess this apply mostly for  us,guys!!! We need to shave our precious beard, clean our nails, trim that unkempt hair of ours... and finally... take a BATH!!!! phew! so much to do :/ 

7. Panic:

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We start to panic a lot... "what if I am not selected/ what if I cant answer the question/ what if the interviewer turns out to be a monster and eat me!!" and all sort of question start racing our mind when we sit through the interview process and wait for our turn.

So these are the basic things which we go through while appearing for our first interview. We may pass it with flying colours or fail at it... but one thing that we all must remember is that the best is still out there for us ... and that we must keep trying for the best :) 

No-Shave November !!

The internet is full of #noshave this month. No prizes on guessing as it is the “No-Shave” November  month. When I saw the social media being flooded by the pics of unshaved guys, I thought it is just a part of cultural activities. But then I thought to look up in internet about this event. I was surprised to  found out that it is a cancer awareness campaign. It is aimed at creating awareness mainly  about the prostate cancer and other cancers affecting male.

So why grow hair? Apparently the reason behind this is to cherish our hair, which the cancer patient usually looses.

Thus you can find all the social media buzzed with guys and their unkempt facial hair. Women too participate by let going of shaving of the bodily hair. So it is all cool right? Maybe I should also snap a pic of my beard( which I anyways rarely shave) and upload it in FB, instagram etc… right?

No…..

I am actually very pissed off.  Many of you may think that i am dumb or stupid because I didn't knew about the reason for conducting this event.... but how would I had come to know?   Every pic I saw on social media mentioned  about “no-shave November”, but a word or two about cancer awareness was  not visible. This term was being coined by the many cancer charities/societies which also includes American cancer Society. If you are interested in doing some charitable work, please search on the net with the keywords “No shave November” and you will come across many sites which will help you out in doing it.

But please…. If next time someone ask you “ why is your beard unruly/why haven’t you shaved?”, please don’t reply that because it is “movember”(moustache+November) or “no-shave November”…. Simply tell the truth….

That you are lazy or that you love your beard….. just like me J

Bali Jatra: not just any fair!!

Yesterday i went to a fair called "Bali Jatra". It literally means A voyage to Bali.. Bali being  the Indonesian island. This fair /festival is held annually in the eastern  Indian city of Cuttack, which is situated in the bank of the river Mahanadi. The fair is held in one of the banks of the river.
the fair has a huge historical significance. The fair is held to mark the voyage carried out  by Odia mariners , called Sadhabas , to the island of Bali,Java, Sumatra and other south east Asian islands, in 16th  century. Thus the name "Bali Jatra". This fair begins from Kartik Purnima,a hindu festival which every year falls between end of October to mid of November. It is celebrated on this festival as the mariners used to consider this day very auspicious.
Enough of the history... lets come to the present. the fair is HUGE and i mean it. i was welcomed to the fair by a huge gate shaped like a boat and by the tsunami of people.

it was my first visit to this fair and i have to say that though i was exhausted( it took four hour to complete the 3/4th part of the fair),  i enjoyed a lot. 

An aerial view of fair( taken from a giant wheel )

the pic  which you see above covers only 1/4th part of the fair. there was trade of lots of things, right from clothes ,jewellery to gym equipments and even tractors. Of course there also was huge variety of food stalls .

You may think that why i am blabbering about visiting a fair and all. I know  fair even huge and beautiful than Bali jatra are held around the world. But what made me really like this fair is that it made me nostalgic. Back in my home, we used to have small annual fair. i remember how in our childhood days,me and my elder brother used to get dressed up and wait outside our home for my father to return from his job in the evening and to take us to the fair. The Cotton candy, the balloon shooting, the rides... all sweet memories where brought back by this fair....

so while i relive those memories... if you are in Cuttack next time around, do visit Bali Jatra and get amazed by the magic

music/magic?

....errr music... of this guy... i am still confused what he meant :)

How are you?

Hi all...

My name is Raj,,, and (yes that’s my real name... no suffix or prefix added...and no, i am not a SRK fan either....). You would find discussion , articles, my opinion on the day to day things which we all go through... welcome to the “every day me blog”.

Hey ,how rude of me ... i didn’t ask how are you all......

So,

How are you?

Kaise hain aap? कैसे हैं आप ?

Kemiti accha? କେମିତି ଅଚ୍ଛା?

Keeyan aahyo? कीयां आह्यो 

Kem cho? કેમ  છો ?

Comment Allez Vous?

If you know any of the five language wriiten above, it is for sure that you know either Hindi, Odia, Sindhi,  Gujarati, or French. Or it might happen, that just like me, you speak all these languages. Well i speak all these languages,,, well to be honest , je parlez un peu francais.... but never mind.... i guess you are getting the point that I’m  trying to say here.. Languages!!

I just love learning new languages. It helps you know a lot about culture of the people associated with languages. Also what really fascinates me is the accent. When you try to learn a new language , i bet you can’t get its accent right. But overall, learning new languages is fun. Now there is a theory. When you start learning a new language, the first thing you learn is the slangs/ abuses used in that language. Of course it is a kind of safety precaution to help you not being getting fooled from the speakers of that language. This theory doesn’t apply to the languages you learnt from your parents,,, obviously!!!

Lastly learning local language of the city you are staying in, help you connect with the people of that city.

So what are you waiting for? Go and embrace a new Language J