Want that coif?

Governed by societal considerations, men have to take several rounds to the barber shop throughout their lives. For people who have found the right haircut, it's comfortable. But for not so fortunate ones, like me, still looking for the right one, it becomes an ordeal. From the time I've gained consciousness, I've looked at other people's hair-styles and generally found them attractive and in vogue. However, I've not been able to reciprocate the same for myself. Some accentuate my face, while others simply won't stop curling. I have had so many blunders and been the butt of jokes, in both school as well college life, regarding my hair style. I have tried hard to emulate the John Abrahims, Dhonis, et al, but the experiment has always backfired. The most difficult part has been the barber himself. It has always been impossible to explain him about the haircut I want. He is never abreast with the latest trends in the hair-style industry. Tell him to do a Dhoni cut and he's not aware that Dhoni has cropped his hair. You always have to explain him the details to the point when you yourself might want to do the hair-styling. And it's difficult as I'm not well conversed about basic techniques of hair-cutting. He tries to understand but follows whatever he thinks is right. I wish all these hair-styles had a name and just like a restaurant system, you order the hair-style from the menu and poof!!! May be such system is prevalent in famous salons like the Habibs, but in normal circumstances you have to depend upon your barber. So, I've surrendered in my quest to find the right hairstyle and today I left myself on the mercy of the barber. And maybe it's my skull profile but I'm still not satisfied.

Self study vs Experience

Stepping into the corporate world, one is always nervous about the treatment one can expect. There is always a challenge to remain employable, well equipped with the latest happenings. As I'm yet to be nurtured or marauded by the job environment, I've always thought how to keep abreast with the latest developments. How can a person meet the expectations of his/her employer at all times? I feel it can be done either by self study or you can gain the relevant experience. Gaining experience might be tough as you might not be able to grab the right opportunity. This leaves us to self study. One can use internet to gain some valuable insight. But then self study lacks authencity. A company might not believe you and might consider it a hogging the limelight act. This conundrum becomes more relevant when people wish to change their streams. Taking my example, I have an engineering background but also possess keen interest in finance. I don't have any relevant experience in the same and might not be able to gain one due to lack of expertise. However, I have knowledge about various fundamentals through internet and course books. The latter, though is a sincere attempt, might not help me fetch a finance job as I don't have anything on my resume which reflects a finance profile. How do experienced people bail themselves out in such circumstances? May be I might realise latter that things aren't that tough once you enter the river.

Advertisements: The third angle

Are advertisements meant to be a break in between your favourite serial or show, so that you can complete your all important work side by side? For me they aren't. I'm generally on a look out for these fillers and hence an ardent viewer. Generally their jingles stay in my mind. However, I've started looking at them in another perspective. In order to catch the mood of the audience, these ads show subtle pictures of our society. They show things to which common audience can relate to. For instance, take the new ad of Bajaj XCD wherein its pride owner tries to mock a stranger with his own choice of bike. The ad clearly shows that today people take more pleasure in other's losses. Why would a person nudge a complete stranger at a red light and make him realise that he made a wrong decision? Whenever it's about money related issues, ads always show a daughter coming to the rescue and proving to her parents that she has now become the son they never had. These kind of ads try to attach a sympathy factor with them. You would always approve of such ads which show an emancipated women. Another case is the life insurance ads which depict the growing insecurity among the people. Whenever a wife finds her husband lying lifelessly on a couch, first thing which comes to her mind is death. A comfortable nap never crosses her mind. However, such ads become efficacious only when the audience can put themselves in the character's shoes. It's when they see a disaster looming that they go in for insurance. But some ads are good just because of their humour quotient. Bingo ads, though meaningless, leave a giggle on one's face. So, next time when you look at any ad see for the subtle signs. And who knows you might find them more interesting than the main program itself.

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Idle time has reintroduced me to my old friend, T.V. It has brought back all the associated nostalgia, days when we used to stare at each for even the whole day, legitimate indulgence. However, things had not been the same after I joined college and hostel. And as it is said long distance relationships don't fare well. But, things have started to go normal, thanks to the idle time. Browsing through the idiot box, your eyes suddenly stop to a gory screen, with even more dreadful captions on it "Gurgaon mein ghoomta shaitaan ka aatank". Ok, what does that mean. "Jaanne ke liye dekhiye aaj raat 8 baje". Glancing on the top right corner, you come to know that it's again a news channel. With a giggle you go to the next channel. There is a comedy show going on, with a host coming in between each act and standing in front of one of the worst special effects screen, again a news channel. As you browse along, you will notice that these channels have tried to bring in everything which a normal as well an abnormal intelligence would wish to see. You have movie trailers, music videos, suspense, comedy, drama, and a bit of news sprinkled on the top. But why has this syndrome come up of late? It's not that nothing is happening in the worlds and that's why the channels are on a break. In order to outwit each other, these channels have overdone themselves. The channels have gone to the degree of creating cartoon enactments from a lot serious case of Arushi. One channel even tried to show an MMS of Arushi, thinking that they have hit the jackpot, which proved to be a hoax. Who would enjoy tarnishing the image of a girl who cannot defend herself as she's no more? Most probably the targeted audience is the one which is deluded, cynical and frustrated with their own lives. Why do the news channels try to create a sense of fear amongst its viewers? They have redefined xenophobia. If they are to be believed, even our family members are plotting and feigning against us. I wonder why these channels are functioning in this age when people want to go on a strike at one whim or the other.

Can you spare some marks?

Board results are out and so is the anxiety for admissions. However the latter has changed its color of late. Anxiety has become more of an external attribute rather than an internal one. Things seem disorderly when they get out of your control. Getting admission in DU is no longer a matter of you choosing which college to go. Your grades are important but equally important are of others. You have got 95%, congratulations, but so have Chintu, Monu and Bubbly. 90s are becoming the new 80s and 80s the new 70s and 70s are still searching their alter ego. But I'm unable to comprehend the fuss. Being from the science background makes me a neutral spectator of all the helter-skelter made by the commerce students. Why is DU considered their only Mai Baap? Why do students feel doomed if they miss the cut-off lists? Aren't all the colleges good enough? A mismatch between colleges has been created mainly based on the popularity quotient. Students right out of 12th start giving judgments about which courses to pursue and which not. I wonder where do they get all this gyan from. Well, there are some acclaimed courses like B.Com hons. or Eco. hons., but what about the rest? Why do the colleges even bother to teach them if they are of no value? Obviously some colleges will stand out in one parameter or the other, but overall DU should act as a monolith, with quality of education at par amongst all the colleges. All of them are at a stone's throw distance. It should be very easy to share each other's infrastructure or faculty. Anyways, even if we assume the current state of affairs, how can just 3 years of college govern one's whole life? If you are missing cutoffs by a whisker, then it's obvious that the system doesn't expect you to be anxious. The whisker-missers will adorn the next college. Every kid cannot get a chocolate; the box has to go empty. If a student is dedicated he/she would excel in his/her field irrespective of the college one has attended. And it's not that fresh graduates are homing in fat packages so that they would not have to pursue post graduation at all. One gets so many chances in life; well if God is picking on you then it's a different story all together.

What's with these kids?

Summer holidays kick in and bring along with them bags of boredom, frustration and what-the-hells. They seem worthless and a torture during the college days when you have absolutely no work to do and you are reduced to the point where studying is considered a viable option. IITs have been famous for leaving its students literally idle during the holidays. There had been times when basic functions like attending nature's calls featured in the to-do lists. But days were not like these during the school years. We used to get some holiday homework, which was more of a test for parents. I remember enjoying looking at my parents who used to slog in making models and trying to display their artistry which acted as a proxy for mine. They even went to the extent of making the Qutab Minar using bamboo and popsicle sticks. I've passed those days but my parents have not been relieved from the onus as I've a brother still climbing the school ladders. However, there has been a little twist. Since I've have absolutely no work to do, the holiday homework conundrum has been bestowed upon my shoulders. Now when you have tasted the college curriculum, you tend to weigh everything based upon their final percentages. I would rather waste my time in an assignment which is worth 15 marks rather than 5 marks (Well the latter might not be even considered). So extrapolating this logic to the school life, I found that my brother's holiday homework per subject would have fetched him just 5 marks out of hundred. Why would one go into so much trouble for just 5 marks which, in normal circumstances, might not even matter in the final grades? Each subject requires you to make a model, a project file with pictures, some course based homework and in extreme situations writing poems. The rate of return for all this is almost zero. May be school wants to teach that marks are not the only thing in the initial stages of your life. But even then, an incentive of 5 marks, which you might not get in entirety, is very little. For me it is, and that is why I've decided to opt out from helping my brother. I would rather torture myself with boredom and ennui than being a part of this travesty.

Is levy of service tax on office rent justified?

Well this is yet another new feature introduced by this budget. According to the new rule, the property owners who rented their immovable properties for commercial purposes would now have to pay tax on the rent earned. This has incensed the landlord-tenet community. The point of contention being that the renting of property doesn’t come under any service provided, so why this service tax? Well this what I feel:
1. This would reduce the margins of small and medium retailers as they would now have to squeeze out this new service tax besides VAT and other taxes on their sales.
2. It might give rise to more inflation because in order to offset this tax, the retailers might pass it on to the consumers.
3. If we leave the inflation part, the tax might be justified due to the exorbitant earnings by the landlords from rentals in view of the increasing property prices. The government would definitely want to put a check on it.
4. Being not a commerce student, I don’t have much idea about taxation, but isn’t it lead to double taxation. The government in already taking income tax from the retailer on his earnings. He would shell out the service tax on rental from his earnings only. So isn’t it harsh on him to pay so much taxes. I might be wrong on this, there might be ways to get exemption from the income tax. Kindly enlighten me on this
Well, who says ET is difficult to read. I have assimilated this information from our dreaded newspaper itself.