Month: August 2021

Disparities in Health Care

 The issues around health infrastructure and access to facilities have gained momentum in the Covid-19 pandemic. Health plays an integral part in human development. WHO defines health as “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. 

Better health is important to human happiness and well-being. Everybody knows the importance of healthcare these days, given the pandemic situation. But an important question that needs to be addressed is that does everyone have access to healthcare facilities? 

Access to quality health services is imperative for prevention and treatment of diseases. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) of 2005-2006 reveals that 58.2% women from the rural areas belonging to the age group of 15-49 are anaemic. Sanitation and hygiene are crucial to maintain good health. As per the survey of 2005, only 30-35% rural households have access to proper toilet facilities. 

Access to safe drinking water is another major problem in rural areas. In many areas, safe drinking water from tap, borewell, pipeline or pump is not available. The people of these areas travel for hours to access drinking water. Lack of water or exposure to unhealthy drinking water can affect the health of the people. 

The disparity between rural and urban health infrastructure was evident in the NFHS. Mortality of infants and children in the rural areas is about 50% more than that of the urban areas. People from the rural areas spend far less on healthcare facilities. According to a report by the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health ( NCMH), 80% of the health infrastructure, medical manpower, and other health resources belong to the urban areas. The socio-economically weaker people from the rural areas are the most affected by the highly expensive healthcare and lack of infrastructure. 


The rate of malnutrition in rural areas is alarming. There is a glaring difference between rural and urban healthcare which is evident from the rate of  Anemia, disability, death rate, birth rate, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, life expectancy, total fertility rate, communicable diseases, sanitation and hunger. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched in 2005, with the aim to provide equitable, accessible and affordable quality healthcare to the rural population. It focuses especially upon the vulnerable groups. NRHM aims to improve the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent health services. 

Poor health leads to lower productivity and deprivation among the people of rural areas. Poor health care is a constraint in the process of development. Effective implementation of the healthcare schemes is necessary to uplift the facilities and make healthcare accessible to the people residing in the rural areas. 

As the famous saying states “Health is Wealth”, health and development have a positive correlation. Therefore it is crucial to develop the health facilities in order to eradicate the rural-urban divide and develop rural India.


PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: A journey to discover yourself!

As the word says- Personal Development undoubtedly arises a way of improving yourself to achieve your desired goal in life. It’s a way of recognizing your strengths and how to work better on them. It not only allows you to achieve your goals but also encourages you to carefully search for many of your skills and interests to make yourself better. Of course, it’s not a short process. Improving yourself and rising to greater heights isn’t a cup of tea. As learning has no end, developing yourself too doesn’t have.

PERSONAL GROWTH IS ESSENTIAL.

Personal growth is a way of informing that Yes! You are upgrading yourself day by day. Even if they continue to be small steps, that doesn’t matter. You are at a satisfaction that you have started achieving your key objective. Let’s take an example to see how you tend to find new skills and interests in you. Imagine you are visiting the place, say Delhi. After exploring every place, you feel to go to Agra to witness one of the Seven Wonders of the World-TAJ MAHAL. Therefore, isn’t there an interest coming within you to visit many in and around places to gain certain experiences that probably you may not get? Clearly, you won’t allow it to go. You take advantage of the decision and the rare opportunity you have. Similarly, you are on a journey to discover your skills and how to mold them well. At this point, you might find something very different and engrossing and you end up willing to attempt it. It’s basically to make you understand that you have so much to learn in your life. You have to take an advantage of it and use the chance to your fullest.

THREE FEATURES OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT:

1.SELF-INTROSPECTION

  • Calmly sit down and find out what are your strengths, weaknesses.
  • Don’t ever forget to remember your success and failure because these two can totally change the whole dynamics of development.
  • Success makes you realize you are learning different qualities and actions. It inspires you to learn more and strive for bigger success.
  • Once a failure doesn’t always indicate a failure. You learn from your mistakes and warn your inner self to not repeat them.
  • Certain minor changes encourage you to shape your personal growth better day by day.
  • There is no person in this world who hasn’t faced a failure. It is evident that when you are on a tour of accomplishing something extremely big, you fall. But at the same time, you should rise like the sun.

2. BUILDING YOUR OWN IDENTITY

  • It’s very essential to note no one knows you better than you. Think what makes you, YOU.
  • Identity is all about questioning you on what you are.
  • Your identity shouldn’t be defined by others, because you live for yourself.
  • It is also important you don’t go and ask others to tell you how you are. You will undoubtedly be lost in a place where maybe it’s difficult to come back. You are transforming yourself for your good.
  • In the same time, when you are socializing with people, you find certain qualities interesting, you should give a try to inculcate them.
  • Construct your own identity. Let people know you are unique.

3. DEVELOPING YOUR TALENTS

  • Each person is god-gifted with a bunch of talents.
  • Try to improve on those rather than jumping directly into discovering others.
  • Just because you like other’s talent doesn’t mean you forget yours and put a lot of time into it.
  • When you find others talent very eye-catching, include that in your personal growth.

WAYS TO IMPROVE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

  1. COMMUNICATION: This helps you pour out the feelings in you and helps you share your thoughts. This in return builds confidence in you.
  2. SOCIALIZING WITH PEOPLE: Build connections with people, try to understand how they are. Find out what skills and qualities you can acquire.
  3. PROBLEM SOLVING: Help people with their issues by providing solutions to them. This encourages you to indulge yourself more in it and causes you to realize what you are good at.
  4. ADAPTING: Wherever you go you should be in a stage of adjusting yourself there. It’s not you stay in the same place surrounded by the same people.

IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

  1. SELF- MOTIVATION: Motivate yourself to strive hard to achieve your goal.
  2. BIGGER ACHIEVEMENTS: Success and failures teach you and show your capabilities on how potential you are to achieve something bigger.

Never stop yourself from accomplishing something you desire for just because others don’t like it. Remember, it’s personal development. You are living and improving for yourself. Many people come your way to either stop you or push you forward. Take it positively and step forward.

RAJAJI

C. Rajaji was born on December 10th 1878 at Thorappalli. He joined the Inc and participated in 1906 Calcutta conference. He participated in 1907 Surat conference and become a staunch follower of Gandhiji. During 1919 Rowlatt act he joined in Independence struggle. He was the leader of the Tamilnadu Congress during the Salt Satyagraha. Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha was successfully made in 1925. He won the 1937 provincial election and become the Chief Minister of Madras presidency. In 1937 he enforced a ban on alcohol in Salem. Rajaji resigned as Chief Minister in October 1939 when the Congress cabinet resigned, condemning the use of Indians in World War II. He did not support the Quit India Movement. He was the first Governor Indian General of free India. 1952 he formed the ministry in Tamilnadu. During that time he introduced “Kula Kalvi Thittam”. It was opposed by Kamaraj and E.V.R and at last Rajaji resigned from Chief ministership in 1954. In 1956, He spoke at the Amritsar Congress Conference on the Dakshina Pradesh, which includes Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Later he resigned form Congress and started Swantandra party in 1959. He was the editor of Mahatma Gandhi’s Young India newspaper. He was often referred as ‘Chanakya’ for his diplomatic skills. His literary works: Published a book called Prison Notes (Siraivasa Kuripugal). He wrote a biography of Socrates in the book Gokrathar. ‘ Sakkravarthi Thirumagal’ book about Ramayana. ‘Vyasar Virundhu’ about Mahabaratham. He died on December 25, 1972.

FINDING OUR PEACE!

We have transitioned well into the third decade of the 21st century now, with various changes happening around us everyday. With the inception of technology, internet, phones and numerous gadgets which have made our lives very easy, we have developed a lot as compared to the earlier few decades, and have also learnt to grasp and get accustomed to all the advanced machines we are introduced to. Life has become faster and easier for sure due to all of this, but we have reached a new high level of competition in life owing to all these changes. This has led to a lot of stress in our daily routine and the constant need to become all the smarter has seeped into our minds to such a level that we’ve started to miss the joy and satisfaction of the cute and lovely little things that happen with and around us each day. The happy space that we used to spend our childhood in with that chill-pill attitude has all withered away, and all that is left is the stress and hunger to be better each day and walk in sync with a thorough knowledge of what’s buzzing in the world. We have indeed become smarter, as the bar of gaining as much knowledge as possible goes higher and higher, but this is somehow leading to giving the quaint, happy time that we desperately need and deserve a miss.
As we progress into a more advanced future, it is equally important to enjoy and savour all the cherishable moments in life, all because we have been gifted with only one! We need to destress, detoxify and rejuvenate ourselves once in a while to find ourselves, our interests, calmness and happiness, a state of mind with contentment and lasting inner peace. We need to take a break from the tiring routine, give all the tensions and work a break, and take a fun ride in the quest to get freshened up completely – a deep cleaning ritual if we may call it so! The real outside world is mesmerising, and we ought to experience its beauty with all our senses and live each moment in a stress-free environment. We can probably keep those electronics away for a few days and embrace the charm and charisma of the nature beheld before our eyes. It is necessary to detox and keep our calm in the chaos of the world in order to function efficiently, as it improves our productivity. To achieve this, we need to dive deeper into our mind, find what disturbs its peace and balance, rectify the problem, and voila! But this is quite easier said than done. The process of introspection is complicated, and we need to take out special time for concentrating on it. But just like the body needs its set of nutrients in order to function smoothly, the mind too, needs its own feedback mechanism and reboot protocol in order to set itself to a composed state. So, we need to figure out various ways of restoring this balance, explore what we like to do to freshen up our mind, how we can cope up to stress, how we can stay peaceful amidst all the ruckus and how we can maintain the level our productivity. And lo, with some patience and a strong determination, we are just there!

Public Distribution System

What is Public Distribution System?

Public distribution system is an Indian Food Security System program established by Government of India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. This system has been entrusted with the responsibility of distribution of food and non – food items to the poor population of India at subsidised rates. Major commodities like staple food items such as wheat, rice, sugar and essential fuels like kerosene are distributed through a network of fair price shops. These shops have been established in several states across the country. This system is maintained by Food Corporation of India (FCI).

Under this scheme each family which is below the poverty line is entitled to 35 kg of rice or wheat every month. On the other hand, families which are above the poverty line are entitled to 15 kg of food grains. As of 2018, there are around 5.27 lakhs fair price shops in India. Public Distribution System is operated under the joint responsibility of center and state governments.

How did it come to existence?

This scheme was first started in 1945, during the time of second world war. But it attained its current form in 1947. Rationing of food had already started in India during the Bengal famines in early 1940s. This rationing system was revived to meet the acute shortage of food in the early 1960s.

There has been two types of this system i.e. Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) and Targeted Public Distribution System (TDPS). In 1992, PDS became RPDS which focused on poor people living in hilly, inaccessible and remote areas. In 1997 RDPS became Targeted PDS (TDPS), and under this fair price shops were established for the distribution of food grains at subsidised prices.

Responsibility of the center and state governments

PDS is the joint responsibility of both center and state governments. The center government has the responsibility of transporting, storing and procuring the food grains. On the other hand, the state governments are responsible for the distribution of the same through the network of fair price shops. The state governments also have other responsibilities like identification of families below poverty line, issuing ration cards etc.

Fair Price Shops

Fair price shops, also known as public distribution shops, are established by the Government of India which distributes food grains to poor people at subsidised prices. These shops mainly sell rice, wheat and sugar along with other essential commodities at much lower price than the market price. To buy from these shops one must have a ration card. Today, these shops are present in almost every village, town and city in India.

Shortcomings

  • Some fair price shops owners swap the grains provided by the government with inferior quality grains and sell the original stock in the market for higher price.
  • Many FPS dealers indulge into malpractices like black marketing and hoarding.
  • As these dealers resort to cheap tricks, the good quality food provided by the government does not reach the poor people.
  • Sometimes the illicit fair price shops owners make fake ration cards and sell the stock out in the market.
  • The coverage of these FPSs has not been up to the mark.
  • There is huge ambiguity as to which families are above or below the poverty line.

Despite of all the shortcomings, Public Distribution System is one of the most important food security networks in India.

WANDERLUST

In this pandemic, what is the thing that we miss the most? Ofcourse, it’s getting out of our homes and socializing. Travel! Who doesn’t like traveling? Exploring new places, getting to know new people and their culture sounds pretty exciting to me! It’s fascinating to watch their lifestyle and understand it during the time of staying.

LIVE IN THE MOMENT!

I, myself, have traveled a lot of places during my summer breaks and have learnt a great amount during those travel. Traveling isn’t just always about the fun elements, but also studies have shown that exploring new places can do wonders for both physical and mental health.

HOW DOES TRAVELLING BOOST OUR MENTAL HEALTH?

  • IT’S SUCH A GREAT STRESS BUSTER :

From working at home and working at the office to students focusing on their studies, can create a lot of tension and stress.

Doing workouts might be one of the best ways for stress release, but I’m sure most of us are either just too tired or lazy to do so! So what’s the best alternative? Just pull out your car or bike and go out for a long drive! Traveling need not mean going on international trips or vacations, but sometimes, going to your favorite place or spot can help a great deal too!

  • A NEW WAY TO REINVENT YOURSELF :

People talk about new starts and beginnings and everyone likes to be independent but honestly it’s easy to love others but harder to love yourself. You might be surprised when you travel to a new destination and find out what might be your insecurity is just a way of living of people there.

These days many of us have become so subconscious regarding all the diet and fitness. They calculate the amount of calorie intake and avoid oily foods, but I remember when I traveled to Punjab, India, and there people eating oily foods and were never once insecure about gaining weight and just enjoying their life, so apparently when you travel north, the temperature drops, and you need to take more calories in order to have a normal body temperature and sustain. Traveling widens your horizons of possibilities of life.

  • A GREAT SOURCE OF HAPPINESS :

What is better than traveling with your friends and family? It gives us so much joy and excitement. We forget all about our personal life and drama, and just live in the moment!

Your emotions are directly or indirectly linked with the people you are close with. So when you travel with them, your mental state elevates and you feel a great amount of love and happiness. Emotions are a very powerful thing. Once under its influence, you do things that you normally would never dream of. Happiness is one such emotion, it can give you a great deal of self-confidence.

  • IT MAKES YOU RESILIENT :

Every one of us likes to be in our comfort zone, and keep things under control, so when faced with some strange and peculiar situations, we tend to panic and lose control!

With traveling to new places, where you know nothing about the people or their culture, basically diving into an unfamiliar place will help you get resistance to panic and once you master your emotion and become confident, you also try to push yourself out of your comfort zone. So believe me when I say ‘Normal is Boring‘! Be creative and push your limits, it’s never too late to learn new things!

How to boost your self-esteem?

Self-esteem is basically the overall opinion about yourself, how you feel about yourself which includes your abilities and limitations. Everyone lack confidence at some point of time in different situations which is temporary but having low self-esteem leads to unsatisfied and unhappy with themselves for most of the time. Generally people who are having low self-esteem are:-

  • Critical about their own personality
  • Ignores their positive qualities or aspects
  • Uses negative or cuss words to describe themselves
  • While having self-talk with themselves, they are always negative or self-blaming.
  • Doesn’t believe if someone compliments them.
  • When things go wrong they always blame themselves for the failure instead of considering other things in account such as actions of other Individual or some crisis externally.

With these things in low self-esteem person, it reduces the quality of life which often leads to:-

Fear of Trying – The person who has low self-esteem will always doubt themselves in terms of their abilities, worth and challenges to experience something new in their life.

Fear of getting judged – People with low self-esteem may avoid the social gathering or some activity based on a group of people, just because they are afraid of being judged on negative basis.

Self-care – People with low self-esteem lacks in taking care of their self as they neglect themselves.

Negativity – Person with low self-esteem constantly abuses or neglects themselves which leads to attracting negative feeling which eventually causes anxiety, sadness, depression, shame or guilt.

Self-harming behaviors – Person with low self-esteem always puts themselves in a situations where they are at increased risk of harming themselves. For e.g. – Drug abuse, eating disorder or suicide.

There are many causes of low self-esteem like unhappy childhood, relationship break ups, low performance in academics, ongoing medical problem or Mental illness. But there are simple ways to boost your self-esteem and that are:-

Record your story

recording your life story is a fun and therapeutic strategy that countless people have used not only does it help you remember what you love about yourself but telling your story also motivates you to maintain that positivity in the future but it’s not just about reflection the fact that you’re writing down your story plays an important role because when you write something down you have to be clear you have to be concrete you’re forcing yourself to be specific about who you are so if you’re feeling confused your story can give you the clarity that you’re looking for.

A Point to Pride

Instead of looking back in time you can also boost your self-esteem by setting goals for the future for example, you’re an aspiring author but you’ve never actually written a book before you’ve written plenty of short stories but you’ve always been too scared to try something bigger maybe you’re worried you’re going to fail or you’re just feeling overwhelmed and you don’t have enough faith in yourself to take on the challenge how can you build the self-esteem you need to accomplish your dreams try setting something called a point of pride a point of pride is one specific goal that you accomplish in order to prove something to yourself.

Self-evaluation

You can boost your self-esteem by changing basic things like the way you speak for example you might be using self-critical language you undercut your own success you belittle your own accomplishments and you overrate the value of the people around you. The problem is you probably don’t even realize that you’re doing it it’s become almost automatic for you so how do you change something that you don’t even think about try studying the way you speak every time you undermine your own achievements go and write it down that way you can focus your attention on your harmful language and gradually change it for the better you may not notice a difference at first but over time this simple strategy you can use it to make a huge impact on your self-esteem.

Self-compassion

One of the hardest things of building self-esteem is learning how to forgive your own mistakes you want to be perfect, you want to be respected and successful so whenever that doesn’t happen you either pretend that nothing happened or you become your own worst enemy you criticize yourself and you hold a grudge but both of these approaches have the same fundamental problem they’re focused on preserving the good you’re trying to maintain this fragile image of yourself you expect to be that perfect successful person so you react negatively every time that doesn’t happen you either ignore your mistakes or you tear yourself down and slowly but surely you chip away at your self-esteem so what should you do instead the real secret behind your self-esteem has nothing to do with preserving the good it’s about forgiving the bad you’ll spend the rest of your life making mistakes we all do there’s just no way around it so before you can believe in yourself you have to learn to live with those failures little by little you can boost your self-esteem by actively forgiving yourself each time you say something stupid or make a careless error just take a minute to acknowledge what you did wrong.

When a person is having a high self-esteem then they appreciate themselves and others too, they see the world from the positive light and also understands other people’s problem. Their relationships are loving and calm full and also they speak up calmly and tell other their opinion towards and topic freely.

From Salem to Sydney , Natarajan’s cricketing journey is nothing but full of inspiration

“ If you travel deep inside some 340 +km  from Chennai, you get to see a small village called Chinnappampatti. With barely any transportation available you would only find buses that will take you there. If you happen to visit the place , ask for Natarajan , the whole village loves to talk about their humble chella paiyan, which loosely  translates into  go boy ,” says a local resident .

 And rightly said . Cricket has no limits. It doesn’t have the foggiest idea where and which place you are .  In India , people are so determined  by cricket that each and everyone wants to break into the national  team as if it is super easy and then you will find strict mothers who chase you  for playing the game and breaking the windows. Having said that , nobody believes in you as they do.

 In Tamil Nadu, cricket was never a career option but a pass time . however , with hard work , proper path and determination some do make it . And one of them is  Thangarasu Natarajan .

 Natarajan’s family wasn’t monetarily wealthy. While his dad functioned as a coolie at a railroad station , his mother ran a road side snack stall. being the eldest child  , Natarajan was constantly stressed  about his family , but cricket has been a friend in need for the Natarajan family .

In an interview with Times of India ,the left arm quick recalled his early  days of struggle , “ We didn’t had enough food on the table, it was truly a struggle .”

“ we all studied in a government school and there were no facilities or mentors who could help me with my cricketing ambitions ,”  says Natarajan.

At a time when basic necessities  like food and water were hard to come by  let alone cricket gear , the bowler sharpened his skills  by playing tennis ball cricket .

His fortunes started changing after his breakthrough performances in Tamil Nadu premier league (  TNPL) , first with dindigul dragons and then with lyca kovai kings that caught the attention  of former kings XI Punjab ( now Punjab kings ) coach , Virender Sehwag , and was bought for a Whooping 3 crore,  making  him the highest unpaid Indian uncapped player in the auction .

However , his dream came true when he was selected for the Indian national team , after some stellar performances for the  Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian premier league 2020.

The left arm quick picked up two wickets in his ODI debut and three wickets for 30 runs in his T20 Debut , helping the team win on each occasions . Upon his return from Australia , the Yorker king was taken  on a chariot in his village in Salem district of Tamil Nadu.

Natarajan’s cricketing journey is full of inspiration. It teaches us that with hard work and dedication , anything can be accomplished . We , as Indian cricket fans , wish Natarajan carries his good form for  team India in the foreseeable future and keep on making his fans and his loved ones proud .

“Life without a Father”

The title itself is horrible to even think about. ’Father’- this 6- word letter has a lot of emotions vested in it. Losing a father is something tremendous which happens to the child, no matter what the age is, losing a father breaks you in pieces” It is an indescribable experience, it permanently alters children of any age. Nothing is the same, you start a new life without your well- wisher, it is a whole transformative event for a child. Since we all know that death is inevitable, no one can stop that, but this doesn’t minimize the grief, the pain that a child experiences after losing a parent. The two main persons of our life to whom we call -“ mumma and papa” even thinking about a life without them gives goosebumps. For me, it is something from which I will never move on, I mean, how could I move on? He was the person who made me, who gave me a life, how can I forget him? Daddies & daughters have a very precious bond that nobody can ever replace. I lost him at the age of 20, where he was supposed to guide me, to cheer me up,  to enjoy my earnings, but everything went upside down. That night has taught me everything, for which I wasn’t ready at all. I didn’t even know that I could write down my feelings,  but since I lost him, writing my feelings on a piece of paper has become my go – to best friend. The realisation that I keep getting is that I will not be able to see him or hear his voice for the rest of my life, I will not ever see him or talk to him again” which always breaks me whenever I think of this, this is something dreadful. We are never really ready to lose a loved one no matter how ill they are. They had made our heart, they made us and now there is a hole where they once were and nothing can fill it in or cover it. I am the daughter who lost her father too soon, too much to process. Writing my feelings is my way of missing him, other than I can do nothing,  nobody can ease my pain or can understand through which I’m going, this is something so excruciating, that I am unable to even write. 

Father- the most powerful word connected with millions of sentiments. Nobody can ever replace those laughs, smiles, those secrets between a father and a daughter, it’s something so precious that I wish I could make a montage from my head to see those moments again and cherish them once again. I wish I could relive those moments, to see him once again, to laugh with him, to do every possible thing that I’ve missed. The man behind me is no more, and it breaks me to pieces, and I am left with zero energy to even pick those pieces to make it again. It shatters me whenever I think of those last moments of him taking his last breath beside me. I wish I could take all of his pain….I wish…..

-SUKHMANI PANESAR

P.S. I LOVE YOU – book review

About the book

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Genre:  Romance, Womens Fiction chick- lit

Published: September 1st 2003

Pages: 470

PS, I Love You was a number-one bestseller in the United States, Ireland, and several other countries. It was made into a hit movie in 2007 starring Hillary Swank as Holly and Gerard Butler as Gerry. Ahern wrote a sequel, titled Postscript, released in the United Kingdom in 2020.

Summary

PS, I Love You (2004), a novel by Irish author Cecelia Ahern, tells the story of a young widow who receives a series of letters written by her late husband before his death; these letters help her through her grief, compelling her to embark on a series of fun—and often funny—adventures. PS, I Love You is ultimately a tale of love and marriage, death and survival, loss and recovery, and the eternal bond that can unite two people, even after one of them has passed away. It is also about the very human and awkward experience of moving forward alone after the death of a soulmate.

Holly Kennedy holds the sweater of her husband, Gerry Clark. Gerry has just died at the age of thirty from a brain tumor. Holly smells his sweater to remind her of his scent and presence. But as soon as she does, the reality of her loss hits her, and she feels as if she is going to be sick. Holly cannot imagine a life without Gerry, who had been her junior high sweetheart and her one constant source of love and strength for more than fifteen years.

Holly spends her days alone, wandering from room to room inside the home she had shared with Gerry. Consumed with loss, her sleep is fitful, and she rarely leaves the house. One day, her mother, Elizabeth, calls her to check in. Elizabeth has received a large envelope addressed to Holly; Holly assumes it is just another sympathy card. Her mother’s comment that the words The List are written on the top of the envelope shocks Holly. She suddenly knows what the envelope contains and who it is from.

She flashes back to a scene from her past with Gerry. When he jokes that someday he might not be around to do the little things like turn off the bedroom light before bed, Holly laughingly suggests he write her a list of things to do and leave it in his will. It started as a joke, but now, Holly knows, he followed through, sending the list to her mother before he passed away.

After a visit with her best friend, Sharon McCarthy, Holly decides to retrieve the envelope from her mother. She discovers that it is not really an envelope, but a package with no return address. Above the main address are the words The List. She opens the package. On top is a letter in which Gerry assures Holly that she will be able to go on after his death and that she should open and follow the directions inside each small envelope only on the date written on the front of each one. The package contains ten small envelopes labeled with the months March through December. This month’s envelope tells her to buy a bedside lamp so she doesn’t have to get out of her cozy bed every night to shut off the bedroom light-switch. This letter, like all subsequent ones, ends with the words, “PS, I love you.”

For the next nine months, Holly looks forward to opening Gerry’s letters. She, Sharon, and Sharon’s husband, John, marvel at Gerry’s ability to put this project together. He had been so weak and ill toward the end of his life, it must have required a herculean effort.

In April, Gerry instructs Holly to buy a smart new outfit because she will need it in time for next month’s letter. In May, he tells her to put on her new outfit to face one of her biggest fears: singing karaoke live onstage. In June, he asks her to get rid of his belongings; “I’m already here…always wrapping my arms around you,” he writes. In July, he wishes her a “good Holly day,” which she interprets as an order to get ready to go on vacation. In August, he sends her on vacation to Spain for a week with her friends. In September, Gerry advises Holly—who has a hard time finding a job she likes—to get a career she finds fulfilling. In October, he sends her sunflowers with the instructions to plant more, in order “to brighten the dark October days you hate most.” In November, he encourages her to start dating. Finally, in December, he gives his permission for her to fall in love again.

Throughout these letters, buoyed by Gerry’s love and guidance, Holly emerges from the shell she has built around herself. She starts gradually by shopping for an outfit that will get her out of the blue-jeans-and-Gerry’s-shirts combination she’s been living in. The letters introduce more and more action and engagement, providing the springboard for Holly to reenter life once again. In the end, she doesn’t feel abandoned by Gerry or alone and single at a vulnerable time. She feels reconnected to all the amazing things in her life: her friends, her family, her newfound career in magazine advertising—and the eternal memory of one incredible man.

My Review

It is a very interesting read and very emotional one too. Love is the central theme of the book and it is presented in such a beautiful way. Dealing with the death of the beloved can be devastating but life goes on. You have to be keep on living and learn to be happy again for the sake of your family and friends but most importantly, for the same of your lost love who would never have wanted to see you unhappy.

A beautiful well written story which will make you cry for sure and also make you appreciate your loved ones. Cecilia Ahern has created some compelling characters. Her style of writing is simple and sometimes amateurish but the beauty of the story covers all the flaws. The poignancy of loss, letting go and rediscovery is beautifully captured in this story. Its a touching and emotional story about the long road of healing and finding yourself again after losing a loved one. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves to read chick-lit.

How to improve Personality

Photo by John Diez on Pexels.com

A research study by psychologists at the University of Illinois suggests that we can change our traits provided we want to change them.

We can become the best version of ourselves if we want to. So, if you are willing to become the most terrific version of you, here are some personality development tips to your aid:

We are taught to be kind to others. Yet, many of us fail to be kind to ourselves. Studies show that self-compassion brings positive traits like optimism, extroversion, wisdom, happiness, positivity and resilience. According to Emma Seppala, research psychologist at Stanford University, self-compassion involves three steps:

  • Recognize that you deserve care and concern like anyone else and that is why you must be kind and understanding with oneself.
  • Recognize that making mistakes and failing is part of life. So, do not be hard on yourself when you commit a mistake or fail and indulge in self-critical thoughts.
  • Be aware of one’s emotions and feelings.

Contrary to popular belief, self-compassion does not mean letting yourself off the hook. Rather, it means taking corrective action, albeit without being too self-critical.

Don’t overthink and overanalyze. Neither let any negativity like shame, anger, jealousy or greed stay in your consciousness for too long. Instead, learn to take it easy; forgive easily and drop grudges against people as soon as they pop up. Being light in mind and heart makes you truly happy from within. And who does not like happy people?

We all like people with whom we can easily mingle and talk to. No one likes a person who responds with a straight face. So, learn to be warm. Flash that smile more often. Be friendly and be ready to share and help.

Doing things with style adds zing to your personality. The secret to doing things with style lies in working with passion and a relaxed mind. So, while you work at something, don’t let anything distract you from putting all your energy into it. At the same time, stay relaxed.

It is vital not just to pretend to be a helpful person; you genuinely have to do that to be that person. For instance, you realized that someone is in need, you can guide and say that I feel if you go to that person, he can be of help to you. Or you can give small piece of advice. Satisfactions that you get after helping someone is amazing, and believe me that will reflect on your face and personality development.

 Today is the age of networking, be social with people, you should often go for outings with friends, you will have self-knowledge about things and develop confidence to travel independently. Secondly, with your network, you know how to speak and interact, when to take credit of yourself and when to share and help. When and how to say no without hurting, you will learn all these basic things when you are with people around.

You can only learn when you are adaptive, if you are rigid with your though process than it is next to impossible to learn new things and personality development.

How Olympics went for India.

Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold medal in the men’s javelin event in Tokyo on Saturday brought the nation’s Olympics performance to a spectacular close.

The 22-year-old athlete’s gold medal — the nation’s first in a track and field event since it gained independence from Britain — consolidated India’s greatest ever performance at the Games, winning a total of seven medals.

Bajrang Punia

Former Asian Games gold medallist Bajrang dominated the men’s 65kg bronze medal bout from start to finish, which ended in a 8-0 scoreline in favour of the Indian 27-year-old.

Bajrang’s bronze is the 7th medal in wrestling at the Olympics for India. He is the second Indian to bag a medal in this Olympics after Ravi Kumar Dahiya.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Dahiya won his first two bouts on technical superiority. In the semifinal, he pinned the Kazakh wrestler Nurislam Sanayev down in the final minute to win by fall, after trailing in the bout on points. There were reports that Dahiya endured a bite from his opponent, Nurislam Sanayev in the semi-final match.In the final, Dahiya had to settle for silver as he was defeated 4–7 on points by ROC wrestler Zaur Uguev.Dahiya became the second Indian wrestler to win an Olympic silver after Sushil Kumar.

Mirabai chanu

26-year-old Mirabai Chanu who in weightlifting buried the ghosts of Rio Games with a sensational performance on Saturday in Tokyo. She became the first athlete from India to win a medal on the opening day of the Games.

The Olympic Games are about perseverance, fight and redemption. And Mirabai Chanu’s story proves it right. The 26-year-old from Manipur picked up on Saturday what she had agonisingly left behind at the Rio Games 5 years ago.

P.V Sindhu

PV Sindhu scripted history on Sunday as she defeated He Bing Jiao of China to become the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals. Sindhu defeated He Bing Jiao 21-13 and 21-15 in the bronze medal match.

Lovlina Borgohain

Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) signed off with bronze medal in the Olympic Games after a comprehensive 0-5 loss to reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli. The 23-year-old from Assam has become only the third Indian boxer to ensure a podium finish at the showpiece after Vijender Singh (2008) and M C Mary Kom (2012).

Indian men’s hockey

The last time India had won a hockey medal at the Olympics was way back in 1980, when the country won its last gold. Now, a 41 year jinx has finally been broken, thanks to an edge of your seat thriller of a bronze medal match, which saw India beat Germany 5-4.

Apart from these there were players who gave their 100% but couldn’t manage a medal still won the heart of billion people. India’s women’s hockey team couldn’t win for the bronze medal match still The P.M and fellow countrymen felt their emotions and congratulated them on their historic feat.

Affordable places to visit in india

India the land of culture, heritage, devotion and beauty. There are many beautiful places to visit in India and we cannot talk about all places in this article. So, here are 4 affordable places to visit. If you are travel lover then this is great for you all.

1) Goa

Goa is one of the cheapest country to visit. Alcohol is also very cheap here. You can have unlimited fun and crazy party all night and can even return with full pocket. The best time of the year to visit is October to March. Must visit places to visit is Calangute Beach, Fort Aguada, Dudhsagar falls, Anjuna beach. Goa is also known for its cruise and its water sports. You can check many websites for price. Average 4 days/ 3 Nights will cost you around 12,000 per adult on twin sharing with many amenities.

2) Nainital, uttarakhand

Nainital is famous for its misty lakes and mountains. Nainital is very beautiful hill station. It is also known for its cheap hotels and meals. You can do boating here at barely any cost. The area of interest lies in its name which it has gotten from the eye shaped Lake the Naini Lake thus due to this eye shaped Lake it’s called Nainital. Must visit places include Naini Lake, Tiffin top, Snow view point, Mall road, Eco cave gardens and High Altitude zoo. Average 3 days/ 2 Nights will cost you around 4,500 Rs per adult on twin sharing with other amenities as well. It can be seen that how much affordable is this place. Best time to visit is throughout the year.

3) Udaipur, Rajasthan

Udaipur also know as city of lakes. It is also called as Venice of East. It is also termed as jewel. It has abundance of natural beauty, awesome architecture and breathtaking temples. Must visit places include Lake pichola, City Palace, Fateh Sagar Lake, Jaisamand Lake, Sajjangarh palace, Jagdish temple. In addition to this it cost very less on average 6 days/ 5 night stay cost you around 17,700 INR per adult on twin sharing. Best time to visit is from October to March.

4) Darjeeling, West Bengal

Darjeeling also know as Queen of Himalayas, has jaw dropping and mesmerizing sunrises, the breathtaking beauty of the hills, the charm of past and all those beautiful smile of beautiful people. It is one of the most appealing hill station. And all chai lovers it offers best quality chai. Hotels and lodges are at reasonable price and it’s also cheap. Must visit places include Darjeeling Himalayan railway, Tiger hill, Batasia loop, Himalayan mounteering institute, Darjeeling ropeway and Nightingale park. Average 4 days/ 5 nights will cost around 8,375 Rs per adult on twin sharing. Best time to visit is from February to March and September to December.

So these are the places that have jaw dropping and breathtaking beauty. Apart from this they are also very affordable and hence you can easily visit with low money in your pocket. You can even check rates on different websites and there you may can get offers too. Hope you all like it.

6 tips for students to reduce their stress and depression in Covid-19 situation

We all know that from 2020 to till now we are continuously fighting with Covid-19 as well as with our mental agony and depression. Due to lockdown situation for such long period ,our mental health is at stake. Everyone specially school and college students are the main victims of this situation. School ,colleges are remained closed from more than one and half year. Online classes make them more depressed. But if there is a will there is a way to come out from this constant depression and stress.

Tips for students to manage their mental stress and depression in this situation

1.Avoid using your mobile phone excessively for fun:

Excessive use of phone is one of the main reason of getting depressed. Excessive use of smart phone can also affect your health badly.

2.Use smart phone for progressive purpose:

There is a lot of things to do with your smart phone other than excessively using of Facebook ,Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp for fun purpose.

a. Learn some new things like cooking , crafting , digital drawing, gardening from google as well as You tube

b. Read novels from internet it will help you to increase your vocabulary.

c. Learn how to make website and how to write content ,write your own blog in your own website.

d. Create your YouTube channel as per your choice create content in which you have sufficient knowledge.

e. If you are college students you can attend various National Webinars which is relevant for your domain of study for enhancing knowledge.

f. Various free certification courses are also available on google.

g. Learn foreign languages like French, Spanish etc.

h. Learn how to play guitar and other instruments from YouTube.

3.Reading books, journals:

a. Read story books or any other historical books which helps you to enhance your knowledge.

b. Read journals related to global business , spots , economy and current affaires.

4.Yoga and exercise:

a. Yoga is a art which heals one’s mental agony, mental stress and depression. Gives your soul a wonderful peace. Physical benefits are also there.

b. Daily morning walk or exercise is very much needed for keeping yourself healthy both mentally and physically.

5.Help your mother for household works:

Help your mother for her household works ,it will give satisfaction to both of you.

6.Do your works by own:

Rather than depending upon someone do your essential works by own like keep cleaning your room, wash your own cloths. It will release positive hormones in your mind and you will feel relaxed and satisfied.