Category Archives: General

FUN n TP

Success needs Breaks;)

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Think Big: Remember, success always comes to those who really want to succeed in life. So, don’t be afraid to think big. And then, plan ahead to achieve all that you are dreaming of.

Plan your career: A lot of people keep cribbing about how success keeps eluding them. The most common reason they cite is that their boss is not helping them succeed. However, the problem is most people don’t spend much time in analyzing which direction their career has taken and if it is running on track.

It is very easy to lose sight of your goal and the path you need to tread on. Sit down and chalk out a fresh career plan. Where am I? And, where do I want to reach in X number of years? Only you can decide on that and execute it. But if you truly think that your senior is the reason for you not reaching where you want to be, then communicate and clear the air.

Be Bold: Learn to face challenges. Some may prove to be tough obstacles right upfront, while others may not be so straight forward. But a true go-getter is a person who can take on whatever is dished out to him/her of you have any issues with your colleagues, be bold enough to raise them and clear them out.

Work as you have fun: But it’s just the opposite what most end up doing. So, make sure you’re serious when you sit down to work. Enjoy the weekends and work hard during the week. Go for regular outings parties, long drives, etc. Choose something that gives you maximum fun on your day off and come back rejuvenated.

If you think you deserve more, make sure you demand it. Most employees lose out on getting good salaries and desired posts because they never open their mouths. Communicate what you think should be yours and let your work justify the need.

Take a break:

You can’t possibly work 9 to 5 without a break, so don’t pretend yourselves and us. Work Life can be quite a drab if you don’t take time off during the day to unwind and break-free. And it is not about just going to wash room or coffee break. Be a little more creative and you will find a host of breaks staring you in the force. Indulge in them and you will find yourself staying light years away from stress.

Recreations break: Most companies these days have a recreation room well equipped with a carrom board, table tennis, pool table etc. Make it a point to spend at least half-an-hour there. If you do not have a recreation room at your office, try alternative ways of unwinding. Log on to www.shockwave.com,www.orangeshark.com Yahoo / MSN Games or check out http://midday.com/crosswords/index.htm. Or pick up a newspaper for the cartoon strips.

Wash room Break: Don’t underestimate the efficacy of one. Whether it is to catch up on your afternoon siesta or to enjoy your own space, a loo break can do wonders. Even 2-3 minutes away from the maddening crowd at work is enough, it eases frayed eves.

Lunch break: Doesn’t matter what’s in your Tiffin box, half-an-hour away from work with your colleagues can really charge you up. Just make sure you don’t discuss work. Discussing colleagues is allowed though. In fact, you might have already found out that it is quite therapeutic.

Coffee break: If you want to distress coffee is the thing for you. It makes for a great gossip drink and also has the potential of keeping your eyeballs open. Moreover, you can take this break as often as you want.

Ideation break: If you are in the creative line, you need this break. Turn on your favorite music and spend a good 15 minutes thinking of ideas and developing them. If you are not the creative type, plan your day or week ahead.

Environment

Organic Cotton – Now I know what it is!

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What is “organic cotton?”
http://www.djc.com/blogs/BuildingGreen/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/cotton-plant.jpgOrganic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic producers use only methods and materials allowed in organic production. Organic cotton is grown without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. In addition, federal regulations prohibit the use of genetically engineered seed for organic farming.

Ecological Footprint
Cotton covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world’s insecticides, more than any other single major crop. Other environmental consequences of the elevated use of chemicals in the non organic cotton growing methods consist of:

* High levels of agrochemicals are used in the production of non-organic, conventional cotton. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 16% of the world’s pesticides.
* Chemicals used in the processing of cotton pollute the air and surface waters.
* Residual chemicals may irritate consumers’ skin.
* Decreased biodiversity and shifting equilibrium of ecosystems due to the use of pesticides.

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Advantages
Cotton growers who make the transition to biologically based growing practices expect to not only offer a healthier and cleaner product, but to also benefit the planet. Some of the contributions to the different ecosystems include:

* Protecting surface and groundwater quality (eliminating contaminants in surface runoff)
* Reduced risk insect and disease control by replacing insecticide with the manipulation of ecosystems
* Long-term prevention of pests through beneficial habitat planting.
* Conservation of biodiversity
* Eliminate the use of toxic chemicals used in cotton
* Organically grown crops also yield soils with higher organic matter content, thicker topsoil depth, higher polysaccharide content, and lower modulus of rupture; therefore reducing considerably soil erosion.

Work

Got a friend at work place?. How to handle

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workplace

Most people spend their life at work. In fact with the growing working hours, increasing pressures and greater addiction to work, for some their job has become their life and their office has become their home. In such a scenario it’s difficult to maintain relationships out of the work place. Having a close friend at work can actually be a source of stress relief and joy for an employee. Here are some of the benefits of finding a close friend in your colleague at work:

(i) S/he is your comfort face: To see someone you can relate with is an added advantage of being at work. Just knowing that someone you connect with is also around you, can add to the comfort factor in times of stress and pressure.
(ii) You can confide in him: Sometimes you just need to share your heart with someone. And if that someone is a close friend who is your colleague, is a cherry on the pie. When you confide in your close friend, you know that you will be understood.
(iii) Have a coffee break with him: It’s always great to have coffee and lunch with a friend. You may not have the time to socialize with your friends, so eating together or having coffee with your close friend can assist in making up for the lost friendship.
(iv) Discuss career growth with him/her and expect support: If your colleague is a friend, then career guidance and support becomes natural. It’s easier and meaningful to discuss your future with someone who knows you and your work and has your best interest in mind.
(v) Will watch your back at work: The world has become competitive today and you truly need a close friend at work who can watch your back for you and warn and guide you in your best interests. So go ahead and find a good close friend at work, and you will find more fulfillment in time and life spent at work.

We can make close friends easier than dealing with rude colleagues. At some point in our careers, most of us are forced to work with colleagues, whose people skills are unpleasant, if not atrocious. The thought of having to regularly interact with such people, who are routinely negative, argumentative, stressed out, or just plain mean can make your job a terrible and trying experience.

Well, while you can not change them or control their behavior, you can control your own reactions to it. Because how you interact with rude colleagues can affect your career. Tactfully handling difficult personalities requires strong interpersonal skills and diplomacy, which can make you stand out for all the right reasons.

The rude colleagues are jerks and they need to be tackled by tact. First, try not to let their rude behavior affect your work. Though it’s natural to dwell on such situations, you should not get too stressed about them, especially if they don’t affect your routine work or your career path. Focus only on your work and save your energy for those in the office who deserves it.

If their rude behavior does affect your work, try to spend as little time as you can with the person. Choose to work on projects with other individuals, and keep a distance from your rude colleagues.

Stay calm. The workplace is not a place to become dramatic or over emotional. If the other person is rude or nasty, try to still respond with dignity and define limits regarding the specific behavior. If you react with an angry outburst, you will almost make the situation worse.

Be firm when you deal with a rude colleague. Being too nice or easy going might lead to getting walked over and having more rudeness directed at you. You can smile and be cordial, but do not be a doormat. Be tactful and teach them a lesson at appropriate opportunities without disturbing work place environment.

FUN n TP

My Cool Collection

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I have always wanted to have a cool collection of cool T shirts… So far so good. Following is a part of my collection which have been bought from various sources like Bluebustees, Street Shops, Malls, Loot mart etc… etc…  and a new latest avenue known as the Sheepstop. The latest entries in my collection are the ones by Sheepstop. These are good T shirts and also feel good too… Organic Cotton aha… Dont know what it is but feels good to wear 🙂

General

The Bird, The Book and The Buzz

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There were days when I was happy with my phone and email, conversing with my friends and sharing updates of my blogs very frequntly. Then came this new bird on the block. This birdie promised to deliver your updates to several people, sounded cool, so I got a birdie for me. This little birdie was able to carry a small snippet of just 140 charchters but that served the purpose very well. This birdie also helped several url shortners to grow. Indeed the Birdie helped people alot. The Angel Birdie.
This angel had so many hidden powers that other tried to imitate the birdies power as and when these powers became apparent.
First on the line was The Facebook, which had started as a web based yearbook for schools and colleges. They tried to match the birdies features feather by feather and also added in some more colorful feather from Raven of likeness and commenting. They came up with a book which allowed you to write messages in themagical cyber ink and those messages automatically appeared on the pages of your friends books as if by magic.
While the birdie was busy delivering updates to people and the book was overflowing with likes and comments some one was watching the birdie fly high and Facebook spread worldwide through their wonderful goggles riding their own wave of happiness. But some flaw in their surfboard didnt allow them to qualify for the race.

But these people, the cool people, they are too good and believe me they really are. If you have seen a computer and haven’t heard about them then you must be some ALF [read Alien Life Form]. These people with colorful shaded have always been following the funda of getting the intel from the successful people if they are behind schedule. They did this the very first time for their most succesful Ad based revenue model of the wolrd till date. [If you still havent got it, we are talking about Google and Overture.] Now we have tried to make a crude model to show you all that how they did it.

twitter+fb=buzz

They took the best pieces from everywhere and made the huge <ding> ahh … The Buzz. This buzz allows you to post to lenghts that make you happy, seriously way large post compared to 140 of our little birdie and 420 of the Book and the best part is you get it delivered in you inbox.
This is just the begining and as someone had said that this internet will change the way the economies work, markets dictate terms and people interact with each other. We guess the time has come for us to witness a new phenomenon.
Lets all wait and watch and we at MtaraM would be bringing you more from The Birdie, The Book and The BUZZ.

News, Reviews

Adam – The Indian iPad killer

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Apple’s iPad was, it’s fair to say, awaited with the kind of breathless anticipation usually reserved by nubile nymphets for rakish rockers.
But even as consumers rave about it, the technoscenti are already looking ahead ─ to a product that could make the iPad seem outdated, and, what’s more, is completely Made in India.

India is, of course, regarded as a software superpower but hasn’t really made waves in IT hardware so far. That could soon change, thanks to the Adam tablet PC of Hyderabad-based Notion Ink. Adam has generated enormous buzz on tech websites and gadget blogs ever since an early prototype was first demonstrated at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show), the world’s largest consumer tech trade show in January this year… Continue reading on  Time of India

FUN n TP

You know you are at SCIT when… by Jassi

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You know you are in when…

1. Classes start at 7 in the morning, you skip bath and more importantly you skip your breakfast, rush full swing, forget to carry your notebook along and somehow manage to reach at 7:25 only to find that the class has been cancelled / postponed.
You sigh for a moment and then mutter BC.

2. Once in a blue moon you make a visit to the notice-board with the hope of finding a note saying something about holidays, what you find instead is the time-table fluffing you with the horrible timing of the classes 7-10, 12-2, 5-7.
Makes you wonder if that’s their optimum time-utilization algorithm or a conspiracy to keep students’ asses stuck to the campus.

3. You have more batch-meets than the lectures. And the same old Gyaan (read: shit) is repeated in all of them.
Peculiarly, all batch-meets set-out with a scary notion of mandatory attendance.

4. Class is going on, you peep-out from the window to see pretty ladies playing basket-ball. You feel the urge to jump out of the window but couldn’t gather the balls. You start fantasizing, and the teacher asks you to explain what he had just explicated.

5. You find no time to eat or to sleep; but there’s always enough time to watch an episode of “Prison Break” or “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” or to catch-up a movie.

6. Every pretty girl you see on the campus turns out to be either from SIIB or from SCMHRD.

7. Dinner menu at the mess may flash Chicken Masala or Chicken Tawa or Chicken Hariyali or Chicken Whatever; the taste is ditto.

8. 90% of the teachers that teach you are the alumni of SCIT itself. The rest 10% couldn’t find a job elsewhere.

9. You find more committees than the committee-members.

10. The only time pupils are seen in formals is either when there’s a GL or a company is visiting for interns / placement.
No wonder why this phenomenon is rare.

11. The one who copied the assignment gets more marks than the one who devised it.

12. SCIT conceives in the idea of “No books”. SCITians believes (have to) that “Google is God and Googling is worship”.

13. You see Romeos and Juliets cuddling around cozily in the college buses.
Their motto: Tel lagaye duniya, hum bajayenge harmuniya :X

14. The answer sheet in the exams compels you to answer a 10 marks question in barely half a page, and a 5 marks question to answer in 2 full length pages.

15. Sachin hits a century and you hear screams all around “Mighty Mighty SCIT”.

by Jaswinder
Events

Rapid fast presentation – Pecha Kucha 20×20

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http://bjovanovic.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/pecha-kucha.jpg

Pecha Kucha Night was devised in 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Tokyo’s Klein-Dytham Architecture (KDa), as a way to attract people to Super Deluxe, their experimental event space in Roppongi. Pecha Kucha Night events consist of around a dozen presentations, each presenter having 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds. Each presenter has just 6 minutes 40 seconds to explain their ideas before the next presenter takes the stage. Conceived as a venue through which young designers could meet, show their work, exchange ideas, and network, the format keeps presentations concise, fast-paced and entertaining.

In 2004 PKN began running in a few cities in Europe, and has since spread virally since has become a worldwide phenomenon, now running in more than 260 cities in almost every corner of the globe.

A typical Pecha Kucha Night includes eight to fourteen presentations. The presenters (and much of the audience) are usually from the design, architecture, photography, art and creative  fields, but also often includes those from academia and the business world.

One of the attractions of Pecha Kucha Nights is the wide range of the presentations. Most consist of design professionals showing their creative work, but presenters often speak about such topics as their travels, research projects, student projects, hobbies, collections, or other interests. Organizers is some cities have added their own variations to the format. Variants include Pecha Kucha mash-ups with other Japanese pop-culture contributions: Pecha Kucha karaoke (creating a narrative of someone else’s slide show) and Pecha Kucha Iron Chef (dueling presenters competing for audience appreciation).
http://www.playgroup.com/blogs/images/useruploaded/steve/steve_1.jpg
In Pune, the first PKN was held on October 23’09 and had 90 people in attendance.

Twelve individuals from the fields of dance, journalism, architecture, fine arts, poetry and literature met at well-known architect Christopher Charles Benninger’s office. The presentations included a slide show on the evolution of a chair by senior architect Shrikant Nivasarkar, Falguni Gokhale’s journey as an artist; Varsha Gavandi’s interesting facts on Chinese gardens and demonstrations on the finer nuances of classical dance by Kathak dancers Kaveri Agashe and Sheetal Kolwalkar.

General

Valentine Bid

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bid for a valentine

BID for a valentine

Background: Since the days of Adam and Eve there has always been an effort to rejoice on V-day, however there has always been a strong objection from either party involved and more often the clients here after referred as people from Venus.

Objective

To help the people from Mars identify a suitable association/alliance with one of the person from Venus for maintaining a long term strategic partnership in the future.

Scope

This involved the procedure only for the preliminary steps of the process and in no way is associated with the after effects or any unsuitable consequences resulting in a full time strategic merger or off springing of a new entity.

Budget/Costing

The costing and the methodology will depend entirely on the client’s strategy and exposure due to inherent dynamic nature of the sector. Approximately a four figure number.

The bidder has the exclusive rights to terminate the contract in case the performance of the client fails to meet the negotiated matrix.

inspiration from Mommy, crafted by Utk and RR