In Pursuit of Happiness

Men throughout their lives go all out to achieve whatever they yearn for, however at the end of the day, they all want one thing- “Happiness” in whatsoever terms they might define it. The question is, can anyone define happiness objectively? I guess no, yes one can very much define happiness on the lines in which he/she feels happiness is. But, his definition won’t reflect what everyone else feels about happiness, so obviously it will only be a subjective interpretation. What about people who take half measures or for that matter don’t take any efforts to achieve anything?Aren’t they happy? On the contrary they might be at perfect bliss without doing anything or without reaching any feats. On the other hand, a man with all the opulence and success might not be happy at all and even be frustrated because he wanted to achieve even more, but isn’t able to step beyond and has reached a saturation point.

Peace of mind or tranquility without any intoxicants can be perfect happiness. For that, we should enjoy whatever we are doing , but again that “Whatever” should be what we aspire to do, in other words that “Whatever” should be our passion. Reaching our dreams is very important to feel the sense of achievement, but that also doesn’t guarantee perpetual happiness. We can also make a conscious effort to be happy. The key is “One should always be happy but never satisfied” because if you are satisfied , you won’t strive for more. One shouldn’t measure what one’s reach is? But try and strive for more.

We celebrate “The Joy of giving”. Not only giving to those among us, but also to those who aren’t enough privileged. You can’t be happier than you are while bringing a smile to a crying face or feeding the hungry. But, the bottom line is, it doesn’t matter in what manner, we define happiness or even not bother to express it, we all can be happy as we know that it’s not only the great things that bring happiness, but even the little ones do.

Market-The Pulse

The Share Market, these two very words rule the basic pulse of the investors, the numbers going up and down and with it the very pulse of the shareholders. What a game to play but indeed a dangerous one, some people even invest their entire life’s savings here and you can’t guarantee the returns. As we all know during Pre-Liberalization the Middle Class was very much oblivious to the Sensex, actually they felt it was beyond their reach and things like the Share Market was confined mainly to the elite. However, as and when the Government of India introduced its new economic policy of LPG(Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) things began to change. Private sectors became strong ,Foreign Institutional Investors came in, there were mergers and acquisitions globally. Business Journalism also prospered and people began to know more about the Market and its trends and traits. The middle class and the lower middle class invested more notably in the market. There was a boom and the Sensex even reached the 25K mark. It was also haunted by the Harshad Mehta Scam followed by the Chetan Parekh scam. There are so many factors that determine the rise and fall of shares of the different companies listed in the SENSEX and the NIFTY. For instance, if a giant MNC takes over an Indian firm or initiates a Joint Venture with it, where the prospects are conducive, then their share prices would go up. Here, the rumours also play a key role, if there is a rumour in the market of such acquisition or venture or for that matter even a potential merger then also there are chances that the share prices of the companies involved would go up. A prospective development in the Business Environment also aids the Market like ONGC or RIL finding a new Oil field somewhere or FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) major like HUL getting a new market. Airtel’s Zain Acquisition was also helpful to the Market. Ups and downs in the business scenario abroad also affects the Sensex and the Nifty.
The current scenario of the Share Market is even more volatile, due to the number of scams that rocked the nation in the year 2010 and the political instability where the parliament sessions were disrupted after the opposition walked out demanding a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) many foreign investors are unwilling to invest in such state of affairs. On top of that the rise in crude oil prices, the oil marketing companies like IOC, HPCL and all are incurring losses in providing petrol at subsidized prices to the people, they are still incurring a significant amount of loss even after the recent rise in petrol prices. The Government has also raised the subsidies to be provided by the upstream Oil exploring companies like ONGC and OIL Ltd to the oil marketing companies so that their loss burden is alleviated. As we know that ONGC and Oil are profit making companies with ONGC being the flagship oil explorer of the country. An ideal scenario would be when there is a bullish trend in the market, investments are coming in, investors are pumping in money,people are buying more and more shares, all this will have a positive impact on the market and the Sensex will go up. Sensex is also affected by political trends .When the 24 years old Communist rule ended in Bengal and TMC won the elections, Congress won in Assam and Congress led UDF won in Kerela ,where also the Communists lost the elections though by a very small margin,the Sensex did gain a few points. The Sensex looks up when there is a pro-liberalization and stable government at the centre and also in the respective states. In my opinion a long term investment can serve well for the investors and obviously the Bullish trend and not the Bearish trend. I feel Bullish tendency can benefit a large number of investors whereas Bearish is a negative trend for the market and gainers are very few. In fact, today the Sensex Slumped by 192 points and the Market experts say that the trading sentiment was bearish amid a browbeaten trend on global markets following weak US economic data.

BMM ki nishaniyaa

Long hair, crazy outfits, uncanny, repugnant behaviour, and body art. BMM student? Certainly Yes! You need some more to describe him, a person who walks in with headphones and iPod on, and some piercings. How can we overlook the ‘look’ he carries for presentation? A complete ‘sabhya’ look is what they call it. Looking at this attire, they believe you aren’t serious of anything; your casual approach towards college assignments, presentations makes them think you just don’t bother.
But, is it so? Well, out of habit of ‘being a BMM student’ let me clear this fuss out. BMM trains and not tames the students, if I say this, it wouldn’t be wrong. It trains you to be a serious professional with a casual approach.
Media is serious business and a lot of hard work goes in to reaching the top. Working on projects can be tiresome, but when it’s BMM, how can you forget the fun factor. Breaking the monotony of books and libraries, it gives you an opportunity to explore yourself through projects and field work. Meeting and interacting with  people from the ‘industry’ becomes a part of daily life, which I guess is quiet a serious job which requires you to be proactive and outspoken. There is no scope for lackadaisical attitude or complacency. Though the job opportunities are high, at the same time the professionals have to face cutthroat competition. The students have to be mentally prepared for it; in fact they themselves have to be on their toes.
With the boom in the media industry and the boost in the pay packages of the Advertising professionals and the Journalists, people perception has changed and the Industry and the course is now regarded as quite fashionable. The recession in 2008 along with all the other sectors hit the media too as every sector is interlinked. Advertising budgets went down, retrenchment of advertising executives and journalists took place but the picture is quite rosy now. Again, the industry is flourishing , lot of jobs are available but the bottom line is you have to be competent enough to survive the competition and climb up the ladder , and all this starts in the college, if you are serious no one can stop you and if are not you will perish.

Somethings to Explore

The strength within helps us in making the right choice or decision and also in taking the right path. We are young and dynamic full of ideas and we come across a lot of things but we have to decide upon what is the right choice for us. I am not saying that something miraculous will happen and we will be shown the right path. It is up to us to make the choice, it is the positive energy which will help us in making the choice.We often use words like inspiration, motivation, spirituality in everyday conversations. How important are these words in a person’s life! Talking about the best in the business; someone like Shahrukh Khan or for that matter Sachin Tendulkar , could they have been what they are today without a source of inspiration or a motivation in their lives ? Each and every one of us should have a source of inspiration, something to draw strength from, a sense of spirituality. I would like to quote an example of one of my friends who once became very frustrated with his life. Successive failures in clearing his exams made room for negativity and nihilism, the monotony had set in deep, studying for long hours didn’t make a difference, he had no inspiration whatsoever and he had lost all hope.Later somehow, he started learning the violin, he prepared his schedule in such a manner that he could devote at least an hour of his day to violin, with time he got rid of his monotony and he fared well in his exams. This is a kind of spirituality, for me anything by doing which we get a peace of mind and positive vibes is spirituality, for some it can be playing an instrument or singing, for others it can be praying or reading a book or meditating. We need not keep on looking for an inspiration or a source of strength or a motivational force, it can be very much within us, we just have to explore it and identify it.There is a strength within us which helps us to destroy all the negativities and induce positive energy.I can even quote my own example, whenever I am sad, depressed and surrounded with negativities and filled with confusions, I pray, meditate and visualize Lord Shiva, in no time I get a feeling of confidence and a state of ultimate bliss, the feeling induces within me an energy which is so strong that it makes me feel that I can achieve anything in this world. The feeling is not superficial because everything seems possible and can be made possible when a person achieves a positive state of mind. I discovered my inspiration and the source of strength in Lord Shiva, for you it could be a supportive friend, a lover.It is up to us to find that source of inspiration. Let it work for you.

DON’T KILL ME

In this era when we are talking about ‘Women Empowerment’, women being at the forefront walking along with men contributing
in the progress of the country, many times even ahead of men, we still find many cases of female infanticide in the country. Still, there are parents who don’t want a girl child. Although, there has been a decline in the infanticide cases, but still it is quite evident. Female infanticide as we know is the intentional killing of baby girls due to the preference for male babies and from the low value associated with the birth of females. It is hard for us to believe this as we are from the Urban India, but there are female infanticide cases in the urban world as well. The advent of technology and misuse of pre-natal sex detection and also attitude of the unscrupulous
medical practitioners, who are facilitating the female foeticide
through induced abortions. There are strict laws and penal actions against violators, but the laws have not worked. Over 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in India in the past two decades. It is pertinent to note that the fall in the juvenile sex ratio is much higher in the economically developed States in India. There is steep fall in sex ratio in States like, Punjab, Haryana,
Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with the Union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh. In Punjab there are only 874 females per 1,000 males. The situation in Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra
is also similar - the females are 861, 921 and 922 respectively
per 1,000 males. Kerala is the only State where females are 1,058 per 1,000 males. India cannot afford to wait till the next census in 2011 to determine whether the growing practice of female foeticide and the girl child mortality rate had gone up. In India the reason behind rise of female foeticide is because of the strong son preference in society, the small family norm practices
like tradition of giving dowry, laws that govern property inheritance and the cultural perception about the familial name through the male line. The mortality of girl child is also high because
of parental discrimination against their daughters in terms of health care and nutrition. We may think what can we do in this regard, how can we change the parents perception. But, I would like to state over here that we are the future of India, we have the aid of media, and we are the future journalists, future ad-makers. We should use our resources and create awareness among the masses against this menace. In whatever way, we should contribute
to eradicate female infanticide from the country. An on-line survey
showed that 16% of the people
still feel that infanticide should be legalized in India which is appalling.
22% feel that society lacks knowledge about female infanticide.
When asked who is supposed to be blamed for it, 30% said it’s the families, 60% said it’s because of carelessness and 10% answered that it’s due to other reasons like molestation etc. 92% feel that the Government is not doing anything about it. When asked to give suggestions, people said that it is advisable to keep helplines. It also important to educate the masses and inculcate it at the school level.Distribution of leaflets can also spread awareness. It is pivotal on the part of the Government to keep a tab on the hospitals regularly
to avoid such situations.