Should children be spanked or not?

Well I came across an interesting article in Time Magazine. The article discusses about whether children should be spanked by their parents or not. This is a hot button issue in U.S as most of parents do not spank their kids. But in contrary its a common sight to see parents (and relatives) spanking kids in India. I have thought about this many times, I am always pro to no spanking. But after reading this article I feel that it's not really bad to spank the kids once or twice if the kid did something which he/she is not supposed to do.
A strict no spanking will make the parent loose control over the kid and it will be difficult for the parent to bring up the kid disciplined. But spanking should not be over used. Parents should also be careful on how they behave in front of the children because the children learn from the parents (afterall parents are the first role models for the children). If the parents keep shouting around the house to get work done then the kids will also try doing it if they want something.
People in US follow a interesting way to punish the kids for their wrong deed. Its called 'Time out'. If the kid misbehaves, then the kid is made to stand in a corner or in a room for some definite time. After the time out is over everything is normal, the parents then reasons to the kid about what mistake he/she did and why he/she was punished. This makes the kid realise their mistake and won't repeat it again.
Well I should say that I was lucky to have parents who seldom spanked me. But I still remember the day when my dad spanked me real hard for some mistake that I did'nt do. I think that's the only time I got spanked by my dad.

Varta...

India, Why no sports?

Why is sports not given much importance in India. Now a days most of the kids do not play any game, instead they watch TV or they play video games. And most of the parents encourage their children doing that. The parents think that watching TV is better than playing as the kids wont get tired.
Sports is not only for fun, It builds character, makes a person competetive, strong decision maker, makes him/her think of strategies to win and teaches the person to take win and loss on his/her stride.
I have seen quite a few people in my office who are academically brilliant but they find it difficult to handle unforeseen situations. They just succumb to the pressure or they are not confident to take a decision or they become to scared of losing. If at they loose in their attempt the loss affects the person a lot. And the person takes a long time to come back.
Whereas a person who was/is a sportsman handles pressure situations well. The person keeps his/her cool during the pressure situation and takes a confident decisions and also ready to face the consequences of of the outcome of the situation.
Considering all this I dont understand why Indians dont favour sports. In U.S.A the parents try their best to make their children involved in some sport or the other. Probably thats why Americans are better managers than we Indians are.
I am not telling everyone should become a sportsman at big level, but I feel that everyone should play some sport or the other and become stronger individuals.

Quotes on sports from famous personalities:

You can't win unless you learn how to lose.
~Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Former LA Lakers player)

I don't know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.
~Richard M. Nixon (37th American President)

Games lubricate the body and the mind
~Benjamin Franklin (American Statesman)

When a man wants to murder a tiger, it's called sport; when the tiger wants to murder him it's called ferocity.
~George Bernard Shaw quotes (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature)

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.
~Michael Jordan (Former Chicago Bulls player)

When I play, I'm boiling inside. I just try not to show it because it's a lack of composure, and if you give in to your emotions after one loss, you're liable to have three or four in a row.
~Chris Evert

Varta...

Vrrrrrooooooooommm!!!!!!

Yesterday I watched Disney/Pixar 's Cars. It was an awesome movie. I really loved the way the movie is taken. The whole movie was for about 122 mins and I loved every minute in the movie. There were few scenes where you dont realize that its an animation movie. Great job by Pixar!

Cars is about a rookie race car called Lightning McQueen, who things only about two things, The Piston cup and the freebies such as fame, helicopter etc. that come with the championship. All this changes when he finds some new friends at a place called Radiator Springs on Route 66 which runs between Chicago and Los Angeles. At Radiator Springs he comes across some interesting cars such as Mater, Sally, Hudson Hornet, Luigi, Guido and many more. From his new friends he learns new things in life and reconsiders on the kind of car that he wants to be.
The movie does not entertain only kids but does entertain even adults. The movie has got comedy, sentiments, speed, rivalry and more.

Varta...

Utterly Butterly

Well suddenly I got reminded about Amul Ad's that are put up on hoardings at strategic traffic lights all through out India. I used to love those ad's a lot. I am not sure how many of the Chennai dwellers have seen the Amul ad opposite to Good Shepherd Convent at the intersection of college road and Nelson Manickam road (if I am right).I used to be a big fan of these ads and I used to watch out for any change in amul ad everyday while going to school. I just loved the way the ad dealt with the current affairs in the country from Sourav to Sonia. The ads used to be funny and provocative.
I think the advertisement hoarding opposite Good Shepherd does not exist anymore, thanks to the new Orchard building. I think I remember seeing another Amul hoarding near the traffic lights at Spencer's Plaza (Mount Rd and Ethiraj salai).
Interestingly I found that Amul's website has the list of amul hoardings year wise. So undoubtedly i will be a regular viewer of this segment of Amul's site hereafter.
The site also has the story of how the ad's concept developed.

It all began in 1966 when Sylvester daCunha, then the managing director of the advertising agency, ASP, clinched the account for Amul butter.
"Eustace Fernandez (the art director) and I decided that we needed a girl who would worm her way into a housewife's heart. And who better than a little girl?" says Sylvester daCunha
In 1969, when the city first saw the beginning of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna movement, Sylvester daCunha, Mohammad Khan and Usha Bandarkar, then the creative team working on the Amul account came up with a clincher -- 'Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry'. Bombay reacted to the ad with a fervour that was almost as devout as the Iskon fever.
That was the first of the many topical ads that were in the offing. From then on Amul began playing the role of a social observer. Over the years the campaign acquired that all important Amul touch.
"We ran a couple of ads that created quite a furore," says Sylvester daCunha. "The Indian Airlines one really angered the authorities. They said if they didn't take down the ads they would stop supplying Amul butter on the plane. So ultimately we discontinued the ad," he says laughing. Then there was the time when the Amul girl was shown wearing the Gandhi cap. The high command came down heavy on that one. The Gandhi cap was a symbol of independence, they couldn't have anyone not taking that seriously. So despite their reluctance the hoardings were wiped clean. "Then there was an ad during the Ganpati festival which said, Ganpati Bappa More Ghya (Ganpati Bappa take more). The Shiv Sena people said that if we didn't do something about removing the ad they would come and destroy our office. It is surprising how vigilant the political forces are in this country. Even when the Enron ads (Enr On Or Off) were running, Rebecca Mark wrote to us saying how much she liked them."
There were other instances too. Heroine Addiction, Amul's little joke on Hussain had the artist ringing the daCunhas up to request them for a blow up of the ad. "He said that he had seen the hoarding while passing through a small district in UP. He said he had asked his assistant to take a photograph of himself with the ad because he had found it so funny," says Rahul daCunha in amused tones.
For 30 odd years the Utterly Butterly girl has managed to keep her fan following intact. So much so that the ads are now ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running campaign ever.

Kudos to Sylvester daCunha and his creative team in coming up with such a brilliant way of marketting. I think Amul would have been one of the early trend setters in the Indian marketting industry.

(Pic Courtesy: Amul)

Varta...

India is the talk of the World

Well its been some time now that India has been in the lime light of the World. Thanks to outsourcing. India has become the ousourcing power house for the whole World. I came across a funny thing that had happened in my office( which also happens to have a seperate department for Call center). In one of the project, a project manager(PM) was facing some problem, and since the project was handled by my organisation and another organisation, the PM called up the client manager to ask what he should be doing. For which the client manager gave him a support number in France. So the PM calls the number and talks to a support person. Soon he realised that he was able to hear the support person on the phone as well as diretcly from the neighbouring cubicle. So the PM stands up and peeps into the neighbouring cubicle. Guess what, the support is being done by my organisation and hence the call got forwarded to the neighbouring cubicle. This is heights of outsourcing I guess.

Interestingly Time magazine is going all gaga about India in its Asian version and regular(US) version. Time Asia talks about the remaking of India. It talks a lot about Mumbai.
Time(US) talks about India Awakens, Hooray to Bollywood, Outsourcing, In search of next Bangalore etc.

Varta...

Citibank harasses with fake credit card bills

Check here to find how Citibank harassed Charanjit Singh with a credit card which Mr Singh did not ask for.
These credit card companies perster people until the person falls as a prey to them. I have personally experienced this. I wonder how they manage to get the extension number at various offices. Representatives from different credit card company call up the extension and force us to take a credit card. Once when I was in Bangalore, a credit card representative from State Bank of India called me on my extension and breifed me about the benefits of the card and asked me to take the card. I told her that I already have one and I am not interested in taking another card. She kept arguing with me and finally she got angry and shouted saying "We are giving you so many benefits, what is your problem taking it?" I got angered and put my receiver down. Is'nt this like intruding into my personal space? Cant anything be done for this? I am very sure most of the software profesionals in India would have faced this from numerous banks.

Varta...

Eight grader from NJ becomes the Queen bee

Friday when I was doing channel hopping, my attention was caught by the Spelling bee program on ABC. Recently there has been quite a lot of buzz about the spelling bee competition. There was a recent Movie released, a episode on spelling bee on Bernie Mac show and quite a few advertisements featuring kids taking part in the spelling bee competition. All these put together, it made me curious to see how this competition is. Hence I watched this program. Katharine Close, an eighth-grader at the H.W. Mountz School in Spring Lake, N.J won the national spelling title. Her wining word was 'Ursprache'.
This was the first time the spelling bee competition was covered live by a leading broadcasting channel. Take a look at what happened in 2004 spelling bee competition.


If you are not able to view here then try here.

Varta...

Why whine instead of a laugh?

Why are'nt there many comedy serials on TV now a days. Long before when DD metro (DD2) used to be ruling the television world in India, there were some good comedy serials such as Flight 172, Zaban Sambhal Ke , Dekh Bhai Dekh and Tu Tu Mein Mein to name a few. Recently its all these crying, villainous serials that are dominating the air time of all the channels irrespective of the language.
Whereas the American televisions are dominated by the comedy serials like Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, Seinfeld, That 70's Show etc. These serials have be aired again and again countless time on every channel possible. My personal favourite is Everybody Loves Raymond. I have watched and I am watching the episodes of this serials whenever I get a chance and I dont get bored at all.
Well television is a medium for entertainment and comedy is one of the best source of entertainment. That being said, it makes me wonder why the Indian media does not produce or try to produce some quality comedy series instead of these tear dripping stereo typed mega serials?

Varta...

The World Islands

TEN real estates are constructing The World Islands near Dubai. The World islands are a group of man made islands arranged in a shape of the different continents in the World. It consists of 300 artificial islands divided into 4 categories such as private homes, estate homes, dream resorts and community islands.

(Pic Courtesy - Ten Real Estates)

Varta...

Youth for Equality

Most of you might be aware of the strike against reservations by students in India. There is an official site for the students who are on strike. The site is called Youth for Equality. The site has details all about the protest and upcoming events that are being organized at different places. So if any one of you are interested in participating in any event check the site for more details. The image on the left is the logo of YFE, with each color having a meaning such as Black - Protest, Red - Labour, Yellow - Merit, White - Non-Violence and fist meaning unity and strength. It is really disheartening to see the way the police had treated the students who were on stike at the photo gallery. There is also a petition which will be sent to the President of India. If interested, you can sign the petition here. This is a petition requesting the President of India to advise the government against the shortsighted decision on reservations for OBC's.
Interestingly you can see a list of blogs for different regions to inform people about the happening in their city. This is to enable the people in that city to join the protest if they are interested. As per this site there are a few events organized in certain parts of U.S also.

(Pic Courtesy - YFE)

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