Month: July 2021

Ice hotel ❄️

Hello guys!

Jumping straight in to the topic.Have you ever heard of an ice ❄️hotel?YES ! An ICE hotel when you hear it’s name doesn’t it remind you guys of “frozen”.

Yes it’s really an ice hotel which Melts every year and is also rebuilt every year.

From:icehotel.com

But you may get a doubt that if it’s a ice hotel how can we stay in it won’t it be cold but contrary to our thinking it’s very warm in ice hotel

It working is similar to that of how an igloo works.

This ice hotel is located in the village of jukkasjavari in north sweden.

It is the world’s first ice hotel!!

This hotel’s opening was done in the year 1990 and evey year its been rebuilt from December to April.

From:cntraveller.com

In this hotel everything from chairs to beds everything is constructed from snow and ice blocks living up to its name ice hotel everything is being built by ice blocks taken from nearby Torne river.

Creation of every room and even decorations are done by artists who are specially invited.

This hotel’s main attraction is a bar with glasses made of ice and an ice chapel .It is a popular attraction especially for couples.

From:good housekeeping.com

The bathrooms facilities are buit for guest nearby the hotel.Each and every detail in this hotel is an effort of so many people every year!.

It has been listed as one of the seven wonders of sweden!!

From visitsweden.com
From:forbes.in

It’s a place which should be definitely visited once when visiting sweden.

Thankyou^^

The BooK Thief

The book thief is a historical fiction novel written by Australian author Markus Zusak . It was published on 2005 and soon after became an international bestseller

It is one the most heartbreaking story I have ever read. Markus Zusak has dine amazing job of presenting the sorrows of Germans especially Jews during the Nazi rule. The story follows a young girl Liesal Meminger , who is a thief . Well , don’t get me wrong, she is a book thief. Well this nothing , the story is unique in its own way because the story is told by the death itself . “When death has a story to tell , you listen”.

This book is a whole journey of laughter , love, pain , sorrow and friendship.

Bhagat Singh

We don’t need occasion to celebrate heroes and Bhagat Singh is one of the greatest hero India has ever seen. He was born in 1907 in the family of freedom fighters . His almost all the family members were active in politics. From his grandfather Arjun Singh to his uncles Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh, all had served the country once in their lifetime. Thus, the spirit of freedom was embedded in his heart from very childhood.

Bhagat Singh was not a great supporter of non violence , yet, he was also not a firm believer of violence. He took the path of violence out of helplessness and to protect his homeland. Just as the former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote about him ,”Bhagat Singh did not become popular because of his act of terrorism but because he seemed to vindicate for the moment, the honour of Lala Lajpat Rai, and through him of the nation , he became a symbol ; his act was forgotten , the symbol remained , and within a few months each town and village of the Punjab and to lesser extent in the rest of Northern India, resounded with his name .”

Bhagat Singh at the age of 12 went to Jallianwala Bagh hours after thousands of unarmed people gathered at the public meeting and had been killed. At the age of 14 he was amongst the villagers who welcomed protesters against the killing of a large number of unarmed people at Gurudwara Nankana Singh on 20 February 1921. He stated the act of bravery from the very young age but his real struggle of freedom began when he joined Young Revolutionary Movement.

He joined National College in Lahore in 1923. In 1926 he founded Indian Socialist Youth Organization ” Naujawan Bharat Sabha”. He also joined the Hindustan Republic Association in 1924.

He was so devoted to the freedom that he ran away from his home when his father arranged his marriage. He wrote in a letter — “My life has been dedicated to the noblest cause, that of the freedom of the country. Therefore , there is no rest or worldly desire that can lure me now”.

In December 1928 Bhagat Singh along with his companion Shivaram Rajguru, shot British officer, John Saunders . They had mistaken Saunders for James Scott, whom they had originally planned to assassinate. They were agitated due to the death of Lala Lajpat Rai and believed that James Scott was responsible for it. They fled away from the crime scene and were not caught for many months

In April 1929 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt was arrested for bombing Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. It was during this trial that Saunders’ case reopened.The police found some evidence regarding Saunders and thus Bhagat Singh was convicted and hanged in March 1931, at the mere age of 23 ( Many that believes that Bhagat Singh was not given a fair trial, thus, it is suggested to read “The Trial of Bhagt Singh” by AG Noorani, as it gives the detailed account of the case)

The life of Bhagat Singh inspires many till now. He fought for what was right. He became famous not for his violent act but for his strong opinion regarding justice and freedom. He was brave and courageous man who prioritised freedom above anything else.

Some Expensive Fruits in The World

Everyone loves to savor me. Fruit are very nutritious to our help and a very important diet. But do you know that there is some fruits exist in the world which will cost you a fortune?  Yeah! you will definitely be awestruck to know about their price. Then come and let’s talk a look about them –—

  1. Buddha Shaped Pear: You can easily understand from the name that the pear is of a unique shape and the shape is of mini Buddha. It is an expensive fruit in world and it cost almost rupees 665 per one piece in Indian currency or 9 $ per piece in world market. This unique shaped pear was first invented by Xianzhang  Hao in his farm of Hebei province in China. Now, it is under China’s fruit mould company. Obviously, this Pear need special treatment, cultivation and Technology for achieving this unique safe.
  2. Sekai-ichi Apple: It is known that Apple are the most nutritious fruit to ‘keep away a doctor’. “Sekai-ichi” is a Japanese word, which means ‘world’s number one’ and indeed it is number one  Apple above the Other apple ,in not only test but also in cost. It is actually cultivated in Japan. It cost almost $ 21 per piece of Apple or rupees 1588 per 907 gm apple in Indian currency. It has a very beautiful color shape and delicious in taste.
  • Sekai-ichi Appl

    • 3. Sembikiya Queen strawberries: As its name ,these strawberries are indeed queen of strawberries in not only in cost, but also in the taste, texture, color and size. It cost almost 85 $ per a box or rupees 6427 per a box ,where the box contains 12 pieces of strawberries. These strawberries are formed only in Japan.

    Sembikiya Queen strawberries

    4. Square watermelons: As its name, these watermelons are really a in the shape of a square box. These watermelons are cultivated in Japan in a special weather and various technology. This square shaped are given by the square glass cases where the watermelons are kept during their growth. These watermelons are almost 5 kg and about cost? They dollar 800 rupees or rupees 60000 per one watermelon.

    Square watermelons

    5. Taiyo – No – Tamago Mango: Now, let’s talk about the king of ‘The kings of fruits’, mango Which is Taiyo – No -Tamago mango. These mangoes are also farmed in Japan. It cost $ 3.66 for per box and rupees 226837 in Indian currency per box and the box contains only two pieces of mango. It has a very ablaze and bold color of red orange and yellow that will surely make you drool and about test?  it is sweet tangy and must delicious.

    Taiyo – No – Tamago Mango

    Yubari melon: It is not only The King of Melon but also king of every fruit in the view of cost. It is the most expensive melon in the world. It is a cultivated in the region of Yubari in Japan do you want to know the price? then don’t faint ! The record price of this melon is $ 45000 or 33 lakhs in Indian rupees per piece. It has execution test and it is big in size.

    Yubari melon

    What is Marketing Mix?

    The term marketing sounds simple right? But do you have the clear idea about what is the whole concept of marketing mix? No worries you will have it after going through this article.

    Marketing mix refers to the elements or components that are mixed by the marketers in order to interact with the customers in a much better way. These are basically the tactics used to promote the products. It provides broad guidelines for putting the right products in the right place, at the right time and price. Hence marketing mix plays a very important role for achieving the objectives . Majorly it is divided into the following elements:

    Product:

    Product is something that is actually offered to the customers for satisfying their needs and wants. Marketers need to clearly look out the conditions in the market before launching a product because customer is the king in today’s market scenario and if the product is not satisfactory for them they will switch over to some other brand as there is stiff competition in the market. There can be two situations the product can be known to the market or it can be the newly launched. More efforts will be required in new one because there will be the need of attracting the new customers and making them aware about that product along with the requirement of that product to the market. Product can be tangible that can be seen and touched or intangible which can’t be seen nor touched.

    Price:

    Price is the cost charged for a product. It is the most important element of marketing mix as it plays a very crucial role in attracting customers . Price must be set up in such a manner that it must be beneficial on behalf of both the customers and the sellers. Some products involve huge prices that gives them luxury while for some of the necessity products the prices offered are comparatively low.Marketers must link the price to the product’s real and perceived value, but they also must consider supply costs, seasonal discounts, and competitors’ prices.

    Place:

    It refers to the ultimate place where the product is being offered. Mostly the product is produced in one part and demanded in various parts so various distribution channels are used to make that product available to the customers who are more likely to buy it. Also product can be sold virtually the main difference in that case will be that there will be no personal touch between the buyer and the seller.

    Promotion:

    It involves adopting all those strategies that are responsible for making the customers aware about a particular product to increase the sale. These strategies leads to the huge changes in the profit potential of a business by helping the business to achieve its goals. It can be done through:

    • Advertising
    • Public relations or publicity.
    • Sales promotion.
    • Direct marketing.
    • Personal selling.

    Print Media during Pandemic

    THE INTERVENTION OF DOWNFALL

    On January 27, 2020, with the first Covid-19 case an alarming situation was alerted by the Government of  India, where it was strictly advised to keep distance in crowded places and wear masks when outside, with the growing cases Prime Minister Narendra Modi eventually announced the first complete lockdown on 25 March 2020 – 31 May 2020, limiting the public movement, which was later increased. 

    This affected the work of billions of people living in India the ones who had their livelihood depending on daily wages were on the edge of depression and existential crisis. One of the aspects which were deeply affected by the lockdown was production in media, specifically Print Media. 


    SURVIVAL OF PRINT MEDIA

    “Everything that rises has to set off someday.” 

    The print media has enjoyed its glory days for more than 120 years and it is one of the most reliable and old fields of Media and sources of news. Covid-19 has severely impacted print media and has resulted in a sharp drop in the number of readerships due to disruption in circulation. The print media was trying to keep afloat financially and at the same time to keep the readers informed. 

    Though we all know, that the new technologies and introduction of online media have already affected print media, the time of pandemic and the inevitable challenges have worsened the situation even more.

    Along with that, some of the cascading effects of the pandemic on print media include:

    • journalists being laid-off.
    • cut down on the number of pages in the newspaper.
    • major newspapers were drastically reduced at a national level.
    • national newspapers decided to restrict the physical copies.
    • all the media houses and publications faced a financial crash.

    The question arises that would there be a post-pandemic “old print media” recovery? It is very doubtful and threatening to think upon the fact that the old print media houses might convert themselves to digital media which is so much more easy, convenient, and perhaps less expensive and may create more profitable situations as compared to print media. As they have gone under heavy financial loss during the period of the pandemic which has been going on for over 19 months now. 

    Small states newspapers did face a horrible pandemic onslaught because of the cut on advertisements because of the lockdown, despite all of it newspapers have remained peculiar in providing a wide range of coverage of the pandemic, combating misinformation and providing public health updates, and entertainment to help the normal public cope with pandemic boredom, being locked in their houses on their own.

    PRINT MEDIA AND EDUCATION

    It is said that print media had played a crucial role in educating people on the precautionary measures during the time of the pandemic. It educated people all over the country through the leading newspapers, in all the languages, besides mass circulated social media as well. 

    The people who are still unaware of the advancement in technology and are far from affording digital techniques of staying updated, print media for them has been and will always be reliable at any time. 

    The new methods of media and coverage might be easier to manage and less expensive but print media cannot be outdone with the new evading advancements, for it holds the 120-year-old of trust which is quite resilient to shatter. 

    “The quality of news coverage has diminished because the giants of the print media are no longer being nurtured properly.”

     -F. Lee Bailey (an American criminal defense attorney) 

    Fantasy – A wizardry Land of the lost wanderers

    Photo by Mohan Reddy Atalu on Pexels.com

    We have always come across the word “Fantasy”, which is different for every person in this universe. For a poet, it is a place where they can get lost and live in those unending stories which don’t have any obstacles. Whereas for some philosophers, fantasy would be something which makes them realize as a beautiful place to live, and for saints, it would be a place where they can encounter God and live a peaceful life.

    Sometimes, Fantasy is when a dreamer dreams about their dreams. However, this is a controversial topic as for some fantasy is just a mere illusion of Thoughts.

    Although, Fantasy is where unexplored ideas pop up and due to fantasy many great personalities have contributed their best parts to the world of notions.

    However, the feeling of Fantasy gives us satisfaction to tackle the real world and provides us a sense of delight in accomplishing our dreams.

    “These mortal wizards are the explorers of their wonderland, where they traipse, fondle, gaze over their mystical thoughts.”

    The substantiality of our existence is revealed through our reality and our delusion of unrealistic thoughts. Those fictitious stories sprinting through our nerves and then vigorously to our hearts make us feel like the fairies of the fantasy land.

              We mortal beings are so devoid within ourselves but are fulfilled with the phantasm which exists within our heads forever. It is like the unrealistic elements of those magical fables which make us feel accomplished and satisfy our existence. 

                 Our existence relates to those oblivious thoughts which are every time inside us, inside our minds. Maybe this virtual world is filled with infinite fictional stories which are yet to be discovered. These never-ending illusioned stories flickering might be part of those parallel universes which is still a mystery.

                        It is the conundrum of my abundant conviction. We are the wizards of our concocted minds, which are still drifting around these mystifying islands. The mortals have a different notion.

                    The shattered humans are astray from their delusion and ponder about their fictional characters drifting in those summer haze forests, valleys which are still a blur of memories in this mortal world.

       They are emancipated with those clasped thoughts between the virtual land and the magic land. Perhaps, these fantasies are the mirage of our parallel universe, maybe it’s just the artistry of thoughts popping up out of the crafted minds.

         In those fantasies lies the stripped and naked pain or grief of those humans who are escaping from the harsh reality. The mortal beings are fragmented into deep emotions, sparkling in those never-ending illusions.

                        These artists dilute themselves in those fantasizing moments to get lost, lost from the truth. These tales are smoldering with the reality of their aura, possibly their identity lies somewhere deep under the ocean of those unreal dragons, or the mermaids which is still make oneself a bliss whenever he/she is living on those islands.

                   Being frail or fragile is the reason for he/her to be the daredevil in their cloud of thoughts. It’s very outlandish but it is the reality of oneself hiding through their existence.

    “Perhaps it’s an eerie or a bewilderment of one’s self.”

    ISSUE OF STATUS IN INDIAN SOCIETY

    Everyone in this world tries hard to earn a living. According to his income he lives, arranges best facilities for himself and the family. 
    From the day a person is born he is born normal.  Until and unless parents don't feed with a silver spoon since childhood. When he dies, he dies with an image that he had made on his own. Some become rich, and some can just have two meals a day. It's all about how one deals with life. 
    While giving the theory of state, a great political thinker Aristotle, stated that in this world neither everyone can be rich nor everyone can be poor. The imbalance in the standard of living is naturally created by the universe for the survival and functioning of the society. 
    Aristotle supported slavery theory on the ground that being slave or working under someone's supervision doesn't mean he/she is inferior than you, or his/her work is inferior, or is of low standard. If he/she is providing you his service doesn't mean he is beneath you and liable to be your slave. According to him every work deserves respect. No work should be considered inferior, also not the man who is doing that work. 
    Whether it's human nature or it's the culture of Indian society, or the morality of a country like India is so weak, that every single person wants to be supreme over others, wants to rule, wants to overpower. Everyone fights for power. 
    In India since ancient times kings ruled over its people. India was ruled by Britishers.  Labourers were ruled by their owners and zamindars. History is full of this horrible culture. 
    After Independence, under the facade of democracy, leaders ruled and are still ruling over its people. We are a democracy just in name. Reality is quite different. The ground reality is very brutal.  Money is power, and power is money. High standard of living matters. One who cannot afford a good living, good house, good clothes, good accessories, good amenities are considered as inferior by those who have the money. 
    One who has money can easily purchase a person's respect. He feels entitled to order him. 
    Respect should come from the people around him by his behavior, his attitude, and his actions. Not because he holds a special post in an office or a government. 
    At the same time we appreciate all the journalists, actors, actresses, singers, dancers for their skills and abilities. But they should not take it to their heads and consider themselves superior over the fans. 
    A person who is lacking in something is the thing he tries to show off the most. Sometimes a person has nothing but just because everyone has treated him like the most important person he considers himself superior and center of importance among others. 
    In India, status of work matters a lot. If you have no good job, no money, no power you have no value in society, and your surroundings. A person who has power, can slap you, can kill you. 
    In India it's too easy to rape, get jailed, give bribe and get bail. It's easy to commit a crime, it's easy to get a position at an officer level. On one hand for the poor it's hard to earn and on the other hand it's easy to give lakhs of money to be spared from the law. Law is made just for powerless, middle class, moneyless persons. Not for the rich. 
    India is the country where clothes, money and a glass of whiskey matters. Nature, love and equality are ignored. It is a country where democracy exists in an undemocratic way, Equality exists in a non-equal way. 
    Only few are able to touch the height of success and remain grounded, believe in real equality, not have ego and pride, remain down to earth, consider everyone as human, and eager to help each other. 
    Money, position, post, and luxury cannot define success. What matters is your behavior, your knowledge, your moral, your nature. This is how people remember you, how you behaved, how you treated people around you. This makes you immortal in the memories of people you met in your life. 

    Thin line between pride and arrogance | Are people just envious of my success?

    Am I really arrogant or am I just confident? How to deal with people calling me over-ambitious or arrogant when I am just working towards my dream?

    Let’s first dive into difference between pride i.e., self-confidence and arrogance.

    As we discuss previously, pride is having satisfaction over our abilities and our accomplishments.

    Previous article: https://eduindex.org/2021/07/22/pride-prejudice-and-aggression/

    Arrogance is having excessive pride over one’s or a particular group’s accomplishment to an extent wherein we believe that our abilities are nothing compared to others and the success would have come sooner if I had done it alone.

    In psychological context, there are two kinds of pride. 

    • Authentic pride- Positive feeling about ourselves, loved one’s success, our actions after successfully coming out from comfort.
    • Hubristic pride- It usually involves ego coupled with arrogance. Has an exaggerated self-concept.

    PRIDE

    1. Any act that boosts our self-esteem, building trust about what we are capable of, and recognizes it, accepts our flaws. It pushes you to perfect your talent and bring forth a blooming personality.
    2. You accept the potential of those working with you and try to form a group that will put in collective work to achieve your collective goal.
    3. Values other’s input and doesn’t hesitate to ask for guidance.
    4. Accepts constructive criticisms, filters their work to make it more productive.
    5. Never slacks off.
    6. Is aware of strengths, weaknesses, and areas which can be improved.
    7. Keeps striving better (Knows that knowledge is boundless).

    ARROGANCE

    1. Believes that I have everything I need and that my gifts are beyond immeasurable.
    2. Believes that I have no flaws and cannot make a mistake or create complications from my actions.
    3. Every bad outcome is due to the people affiliated with my work.
    4. Looks for external validations.
    5. Thinks that there is no need to practice or attend meetings because I can win no matter in the end.
    6. Is okay to not follow moral rules (Legal ways) to achieve my needs.
    7. Other’s input is worthless (but will take others’ great ideas making it own saying you got this idea from me) and find them distracting.
    8. Works alone even though being a part of a group activity.

    SELF-REFLECTION

    If you need to know, whether you really are being arrogant due to impatience or intentionally or people are envious of your success, potential; self-reflecting on your actions, thoughts, and intention will help you resolve your doubts and get back on track with change in yourself or environment.

    Self-reflection: Ability to witness and evaluate our own cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes. To give an objective thought about your behaviors, thoughts, attitudes, and desires.

    You work hard, burn the midnight oil, respect everyone and their opinions, and achieve success. But in the end, you get judged as an overachiever, arrogant and rude. Those judgements try to bring your down, make you doubt yourself.

     Well, let me just highlight that it is okay. These doubts usually arise because you care about how you respect not only yours but others’ effort that goes into bringing about results which is beneficial for everyone.

    Look at few differences I have mentioned above and reflect.

    Are you dismissive of your colleagues’ efforts? Do you assure them to implement their ideas but you end up doing completely different without informing them? Do you go late to meetings and displace your external anger on their capabilities?

    Few more points to take note of:

    1. Not being honest about their work, where you want improvements, and blaming entire failure on their recklessness. (This is concerning leadership).
    2. Thinking you are superior and forcing rules obnoxiously while you try to put them down.
    3. Seeking constant validation.
    4. Yes, you have achieved great things, burnt that midnight oil but boasting about it is not going to change the outcome of your efforts. You have to keep learning and communicate and inculcate views of your colleagues to bring the best out of them and to bring about a team with the same goals and motivation.

    Negative critics/members with less motivation, insecurity and less self-esteem may see you with the lens blurred with their issues.

    Reach out, write a diary, and find out ways to bring out the best in you. People will usually have prejudices regarding your ethnicity, your way of leading, the cause of your goals, gender, religion, race, color, and everything that has nothing to do with you or your work but everything about themselves.

    Do not give up because just like supporters exist, people against you will try to affect you. Believe in yourself, your teammates, reflect occasionally, and keep moving forward with your head held high.

    BOOK REVIEW: “WINGS OF FIRE”

    “WINGS OF FIRE” is the autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam, a great scientist in Indian science history and a great person. He is very well known across India and is a recipient of India’s three highest civilian awards – Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna. This book cover the entire life of APJ Abdul kalam before he became president of India and in 2013 another autobiography titled ”My journey: Transformation Dreams into Actions” was released.

    BOOK REVIEV:

    Wings of Fire is an autobiography of Kalam of his early life, his professional life and also the journey how he become a scientist in ISRO. It is the story of a boy from a humble background who went on to become a key player in Indian space research/Indian missile programs and later became the president of India. The book has been very popular in India and has been translated into multiple languages. I recently picked up a copy and read it in a couple of days. It was very engaging initially, but tended to drag a bit towards the end with lot of technical details and procedural information of his space research and missile projects.

    I loved the initial chapters of Wings of Fire since it gives a vivid picture of our country during 1930 – 1950s. Kalam was born in Rameswaram, a southern religious town in Tamilnadu. The initial chapters provides an interesting glimpse of religious harmony which existed before India’s partition. Kalam in younger years wanted to be an officer in air force, however he couldn’t clear the interview. He met Swami Sivananda after this failure and I found his words to Kalam interesting and in a way prophetic.

    Kalam describe how he started his academic life and started his career in ADE and engaged to design hovercraft. Later he moved to Indian Space Research which was the brain child of Vikram Sarabani. The book covers a lot of “behind the scene” information and technical details about India’s satellite and missile program (SLV-3, Prithvi, Agni, Thrisul, Akash and Nag). This might interest technically inclined readers but is sure to put off readers who bought the book to get to know Kalam or to know his principles/ideas. The book does give a glimpse of the participatory management technique adopted by Kalam, but at the same time it doesn’t go into details. Wings of fire covers Kalam’s personal life only briefly which is strange for an autobiography. For example, we don’t know why he decided to remain single or his activities outside space research (even though we can conclude in the end that he was married to science and technology).

    One of the things that stands out throughout the book is kalam’s positive thinking. Yet in the book he rarely mentions anything about lethargy/corruption of bureaucracy or politicians. The secret to his success seems to be his ability to ignore negative things around him. The book also gives a clue to his popularity in India. Kalam is a simple, secular, inspiring humanitarian.

    Google Classroom – The Future Of Teaching

    As more schools have transitioned to online learning, the platforms or apps that offer online learning have come up to be extremely useful. One such is Google Classroom.
    It was initially released publicly on August 12, 2014, but its usage increased recently during the pandemic period. Reportedly, its usage increased sharply, in 2020, when many schools shifted to remote education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then It has got a far wider use.

    What is Google Classroom?

    According to Wikipedia, Google Classroom is a free web service developed by Google for schools that aims to simplify creating, distributing, and grading assignments. The primary purpose of Google Classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students.

    Uses Of Google Classroom

    It has got a variety of usage which varies depending on the category of the user and can be categorized as follows :-

    A Teacher Can

    • Start a video meeting.
    • Create and manage classes
    • Create assignments and assign grades on them
    • Add materials to the assignments, such as YouTube videos, a Google Forms survey, and other items from Google Drive.
    • Use the class stream to post announcements
    • Send Invitation to parents and guardians to sign up for email summaries.

    A Student Can

    • Keep a track of classwork
    • Submit assignments.
    • Check feedback and grades
    • Share resources inside the class stream.

    A Parent/Guardian Can

    • Receive an email summary of the child’s work.
    • Review announcements and activities.

    Why Google Classroom?

    It offers a free service to schools or anyone with a personal Google Account, making it easy for learners and instructors to connect both inside and outside of schools. 

    It allows teachers to set assignments and have work submitted by students, mark them, and can even return grades on them and that too digitally. Thus reducing the usage of papers in classes. It saves time and makes it easy to communicate and stay organized.

    What does Google Classroom cost?

    Google Classroom is free to use. It also has a paid version for those who want some extra features. But as such there’s not much difference and one can get all the necessary things done via the basic unpaid version itself.

    Key Features :

    Make Assignments :

    It allows the teachers to create assignments for the students. The assignment can be further supplemented with any necessary documents. Students are notified about the assignments via e-mail alert. When finished, The students can “turn in” the assignments that the teacher can then grade.

    Make Announcements :

    The teachers can make announcements that go out to the entire class. Any announcements made, appear on the home screen of the respective class in Google Classroom and are visible to all the students who are added to the classroom. Also, an email message is sent out so that everyone is notified.

    Store classroom materials:

    The materials that are added to the assignments get stored in the google drive of the respective user.

    Allow students to interact:

     Students can comment on assignments and announcements and e-mail each other through the Classroom interface.

    Google Classroom – Where teaching and learning come together

    GET STARTED FOR FREE
    GO TO CLASSROOM

    BENEFITS OF CARDIO WORKOUT

    Cycling. Running. Dancing. Hiking. Kickboxing. When it comes to cardiovascular exercises, the options are endless to improve your overall quality of life.

    When part of an overall heart-healthy lifestyle, not only can regular cardio exercise lead to creases in your resting blood pressure and heart rate, but these basic changes can also mean your heart doesn’t have to work unnecessarily hard all of the time, says clinical exercise physiologist Erik Van Iterson, PhD, MS.

    But how often should you do cardio to reap the health benefits? The American Heart Association recommends achieving at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity heart-pumping exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise spread out over most days of the week.

    “Try getting in a 30-minute workout five or more days a week that raises your heart rate for the duration of the activity,” says Dr. Van Iterson. “Or try three, 10-minute workouts, five or more days a week.”

    The benefits of cardio go beyond just your heart. Dr. Van Iterson explains how it affects your entire body:

    1.BRAIN AND JOINTS:
    Cardio exercise can benefit brain and joint health. One study reported that physical activity may reduce dementia risk, no matter what age you are. Other benefits include:

    Increases blood flow and decreases chances of stroke.
    Improves memory and thinking ability.
    Combats decline in brain functioning with age.
    Helps protect against developing Alzheimer’s disease.
    Fights osteoporosis and reduces chances for a hip fracture.
    Helps manage arthritis discomfort and maintains joint range of motion.

    2.SKIN,MUSCLES AND WEIGHT:
    No matter how you choose to move, being active helps increase circulation, which leads to clearer, healthier skin. Other health benefits can go much deeper than just your skin, too.

    When you work your muscles, it increases oxygen supply, therefore allowing muscles to work harder. Over time, regular cardio exercise allows your muscles to adapt to an increased workload, making regular activities seem easier.

    When paired with a heart-healthy nutrition plan, safe weight loss comes with doing regular cardio exercise. Not only are you less likely to develop diseases like diabetes, certain cancers and heart disease, but your body can more easily circulate blood. Less sitting time and more physical activity also helps you maintain a healthy weight by burning more calories throughout the day.

    3.PANCREAS,LUNGS AND BLOOD:
    Your pancreas is the organ that helps convert the food you eat for energy while also helping aid in digestion. Staying active helps improves blood sugar control, decreases stress on this vital organ and reduces your chance of developing type 2 diabetes. It also helps improves good cholesterol levels while lowering blood fats.

    “Your lungs are also positively affected by physical activity,” says Dr. Van Iterson. “Cardio helps decrease how frequently you have to breathe as exercise ability improves and can lead to reductions in fatigue and shortness of breath in chronic lung problems.

    4.MOOD:
    Our moods fluctuate on a daily basis but staying active helps boost your mood, especially after a stressful day. So next time you’re feeling stressed or you’re having an off day, get to moving your body.

    “Not only that, but it combats depression, improves your self-esteem and releases tension-fighting hormones like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine,” says Dr. Van Iterson.

    5.SLEEP AND ENERGY:
    There’s a reason why you feel amazing after a workout. Physical exercise helps your energy by releasing endorphins, giving you more, lasting energy throughout your day. When it comes to hitting the sheets, struggling to fall asleep is the last thing you want after that long, busy day. The good news is that cardio helps you doze off faster and promotes REM sleep.

    “Make sure to avoid rigorous exercise too close to bed or you’ll be too energized to count sheep,” warns Dr. Van Iterson.

    Grab your workout clothes and throw on your sneakers, you’ll not only boost your immune system — helping you steer clear of the cold or flu — but by improving your cardiorespiratory fitness, you can also increase your chance of living longer.

    Fashion!

    Man is a social animal and always wants to show himself in the society in a very presentable way. He likes variety, change and novelty. Old, stale, stereotyped and typecast things are not liked by him. He wants things to suit his changing moods, likes and dislikes and therefore, takes recourse to fashions. His hunger for being new, novel, refreshing, different, sensational and attractive makes him a fashionable being. To be fashionable is an integral part of his complex psychology. He feels bored, tired, fed up and in a rut by using the same clothes, styles, designs, food, colours, lines and textures after a certain period of time. What has been in fashion for sometime appears dull and tiresome and then he wants a change, something different, new and uncommon. This search for something thrilling, new, offbeat and unconventional gives rise to fashions.

    Fashions are never static. They are always changing. What is in fashion today will become obsolete and out of date the next day. And people never like to be out of fashion. They want to be in the mainstream and flow along the current of the fashion. Fashions work as a very powerful force in the society and also reflect change, progress, prosperity and advancement. They influence human behaviour, etiquettes, moods and ideology in a way as no other thing can do. They are of much social and psychological significance and which is why to be out of fashion is to be out of the stream.

    People living in cities and towns are more fashion conscious than their counterparts in villages and rural areas. In city life thousands and thousands of men and women belong to different classes and cultures live and mix up with one another and they have a lot of opportunities to imitate one another’s fashion or can improve upon the existing fashions. Newspapers, magazines, fashion shows, movies, television viewing, social gathering etc are a great source of changes in style and designs. Young men and women imitate the style of their film or sports heroes or heroines in everything – in clothes, hair clothes, hair styles, shoes, ornaments, foods and drinks and also in manners.

    In big cities and towns there are fashion designers in droves. They are ever engaged in creating new fashion, styles and designs to increase the sale of their goods. The beautiful men and women are used as models to display their latest designs and styles. Fashion shows and parades are held in five star hotels, exhibition grounds and halls. It is big and well organised business and big cities like Bombay, Bangalore, Delhi etc are big fashion centres in India. The expert fashion designers can well in advance recognise the incoming and outgoing trends in fashion and taking advantage of it , create new styles and fashions. They produce consumer items in latest fashion and styles which may be described as avant-garde.

    Fashions also change according to seasons and environment. They have to be in harmony with the moods, needs and lifestyles of the people. Changes in fashion are evolutionary than revolutionary. Sometimes changes in fashion look sudden and abrupt but actually it is not the case. Thry are gradual and in stages. Fashion practitioners know full well this evolutionary nature of it and take full advantage and make a fast buck.

    Fashions are part and parcel of our life. They are essential and appreciable but it never means aping the west or slavish and blind imitation of others. It simply means to satisfy our urges of change, novelty and the latest. The tyranny of fashions should never be allowed to prevail.

    Grief and Bereavement.

    Life isn’t as easy and smooth as we assume and expect it to be. With life comes hardships and sufferings. For some, it’s the loss of a loved one, and for others, it’s a financial crisis or maybe some sort of physical, emotional or mental abuse. Grief is linked to anything that overstresses your mind that causes extreme pain leading to heart break.

    Grief is something that everyone will experience at some point in life. In simple words, grief can be defined as a reaction that an individual revert in response to any type of loss while bereavement is a type of grief that is linked to the death of the loved one.

    A person under grief usually undergo five stages of it that is subject to one’ environment. However, we can culminate it in below five stages and these are:

    1.Denial: It is the first stage of grief where an individual is reluctant to accept the reality that the loved one is gone to never return. It’s the most difficult phase where it’s hard to feel anything and that empty feeling is hard to explain.

    2.Anger: Denial is followed by anger where you’re partly aware of what has happened and the bereaved will never come in person, and the discomfort this thought provokes, leads to resentment.

    3.Negotiation: Now, here comes that negotiation part where individual attempts to postpone sadness by visualizing a “what if” scenario. Like what if it wouldn’t have turned out this way and life wouldn’t have lead despair and anguish.

    4.Depression: After bargaining our feelings, our attention moves to the present reality that gives rise to the empty feeling. The stage where it is difficult to carry out day to day activities. Losing someone is very depressing and it is a normal and appropriate response in the given situation. Grief is no doubt a process of healing, so is the depression a necessary step along the way.

    5.Acceptance: After going through the above stages, now comes the time to accept your reality that the loved one is gone and it is impossible to meet him/her in person. It’s the time to accept that ‘It is what is it” and that’s how I’ve to live my burying it in heart and move forward in life with a smile on your face.

    Grief is indeed necessary because this is how life works. The pain of grief can often cause you to retreat into your shell and withdraw from others. But having face-to-face support is necessary. Even if you’re not comfortable talking about your feelings under normal circumstances, it’s important to express them when you’re grieving. It’s not necessary to talk about your loss all the time, but be with someone, who’s presence is just enough to lessen your burdened soul. The key is just not to isolate yourself while healing.

    Psychological Disorders Part 7

    Introduction

    In Psychological Disorders Part 6, Disruptive Disorders were discussed. They are rare and chronic but can be controlled with the help of medication and therapy, so if you think you have any, you should consult a psychologist. This article will discuss Depressive and Substance-Related Disorders.

    Depressive Disorders

    Depression is a mood disorder that involves a persistent feeling of sadness and a loss of interest. It is also called a major depressive disorder or clinical depression. This can cause trouble in doing daily activities. It is also important to remember that you cannot just snap out of it and it takes time but medication and therapy can help with it. Symptoms for depression are:

    • Feeling of sadness, hopelessness, or emptiness
    • Frustration and angry outbursts
    • Loss of interest in normal activities
    • Sleep disturbance like insomnia or hyposomnia
    • Reduced appetite or increased appetite
    • Lack of energy
    • Slowed thinking
    • Anxiety or restlessness
    • Unexplained physical problems like headache and backache
    • Trouble concentrating and remembering things
    • Suicidal thoughts
    • Feeling worthless

    Although there are different types of depressive disorders based on the duration and timing:

    Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder is a childhood condition in which the child has extreme anger and irritability.

    Major depressive disorder is when the person feels a loss of interest in activities.

    Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) is chronic depression.

    Unspecified depressive disorder is when the case cannot be categorized into one particular category.

    Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a type of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) wherein the person feels depression, anxiety, and irritability before a week or two of the menstruation date.

    Substance depressive disorder is when the person experiences the symptoms of depression while using alcohol or any other such substance.

    Depressive disorder due to medical condition is when the person is going through depression because of another medical condition.

    The cause for this is firstly, biological, people with depression have physical changes in their brains, secondly, brain chemistry, difference in the functioning of neurotransmitters, thirdly, hormones, change in the level of hormones can also cause depression like after delivery which is known as postpartum, and lastly, inherited traits, you are more likely to have depression if someone in your family has or had it.

    Substance-Related Disorders

    These are the disorders that involve the use of alcohol and drugs. Examples of this disorder are:

    Alcohol-related disorders involve consuming alcohol wherein the person has a problem controlling the alcohol consumption. Symptoms include being unable to limit alcohol consumption, wanting to cut down the consumption but being unable to, spending a lot of time drinking or recovering from the use of it, craving alcohol, failing to fulfill major obligations because of the consumption, continuing to drink knowing the problem it is causing, giving up on work and hobbies, developing a tolerance for alcohol resulting into consuming more, experiencing withdrawal symptoms like nausea and using alcohol in unsafe situations like driving.

    Drug-related disorders involve the inability to control the use of legal or illegal drugs or medication which affect the person’s brain and behaviour. Symptoms are the same as alcohol-related disorders, the only difference is of the substance being used.

    It is important to note that substance-related disorders negatively affect the health and immunity of the person.

    Conclusion

    Depressive and Substance-related disorders are very common and serious. The way to deal with both of them is to approach psychologists and doctors. It is important to note that these two disorders can often be related, meaning that a person starts abusing alcohol because of depression and a person suffering from depression because of alcohol-related disorder. Depression is a very serious disorder, please consult a psychologist immediately if you think you are suffering from it.

    References

    Note: this is just Part 7 of the Psychological Disorders series.