Author: Poojitha Bhaskaran

I am a UG Student interested in writing articles and blogs. Happy reading!!

MOTHER SENTIMENT SONGS – Part 1

Mothers are always special to everyone. Right from the time of birth, we are always closely attached to our moms. No one can understand, love, and care for a person unconditionally more than a mother does. She is the fundamental need for a child and no one could ever try to replace her place. The relationship of a child and mother is always everlasting and strong than any other relationship as the bond is formed 9 months before birth. So, many beautiful songs portray the astonishing bond between a child and a mother.

  • Song: Amma endru 

Movie: Kannan

Singer: KJ Yesudas

Lyricist: Vaali

Composer: Ilayaraaja

This melodious song is a tribute to all mothers. It describes the qualities of a mother and she is quoted as God. The care and love showered by the hero on his physically challenged, aged mom is portrayed. The line “Amma endru azhaikatha uyir illaye” meaning there is no life that doesn’t call amma is enough to narrate the worth.

  • Song: Chinna Thayaval 

Movie: Thalapathy

Singer: S. Janaki

Lyricist: Vaali

Composer: Ilayaraaja

Another soothing melody that explains the motherly love for a son. This song comes when the hero sees his mother for the first time in a temple. The lyrics are penned in a way how a mother would sing for her son.

  • Song: Aarariraro 

Movie: Raam

Singer: KJ Yesudas

Lyricist: Snehan

Composer: Yuvan Shankar Raja

        A very beautiful song that everyone remembers thinking of their mothers. It is a lullaby that a son sings for his mother and praises his mother in all ways. Everyone felt and wanted this line to happen in our lives when we heard “Iraiva ne aanai idu thaaye enthan magalai maara” – God, please give an order that my mother should become my daughter.

  • Song: Neeye Neeye 

Movie: M. Kumaran son of Mahalakshmi

Singer: KK

Lyricist: Vaali

Composer: Srikanth Deva

        This is a very enthusiastic song that shows that mother and son both are made of one soul but two human forms. This song portrays the love and affection that a son has for his mother who is a single parent. The whole movie revolves around the friendly bond between the mother and her son. The line “Unnai pol orr thai than iruka enna vendum vaazhvil jeika?” meaning when I have a mom like you, what else do I need to succeed in life? is always bliss.

  • Song: Kaalaiyil dhinamum 

Movie: New

Singer: Unni Krishnan and Sadhana Sargam

Lyricist: Vaali

Composer: AR Rahman

        A lovely song that a son sings for his mother first and later to his pregnant wife as a husband. The song tells that the definition of love and affection is ‘Amma’(Mother).

  • Song: Aasapatta ellathayum 

Movie: Viyabari

Singer: Hariharan

Lyricist: Parinaman

Composer: Deva

        “Aasapatta ellathayum kaasu iruntha vangalam… amma va vaanga mudiyuma?”

A thoughtful song that explains that although you can buy everything with money, no money can buy a mother and her love. Also, it says that no relationship can equal a mother in its lyrics.

These are some songs that come to every Tamilian’s mind when we think of a tribute to mother. Stay tuned to know a few more in part-2.  

TAMIL SONGS WITH BEAUTIFUL LYRICS

Music is the art of combining sounds to create a tune that is soothing or refreshing to listen to. Songs are musical compositions that are produced to be sung in a human voice. It is a combination of music and lyrics that represent a life situation, devotion, or affection. Songs with feel-good music and lyrical meaning go directly into the heart and touches the soul. Here are some such songs in Tamil that are worthy to listen to and enjoy.

  • Ovvoru pookalume solgirathey – Autograph

This motivational song digs your soul and makes you believe in yourself and your life. Its encouraging lyrics energize even a despaired man to regain hope. Lyric was written by lyricist P.Vijay, music composed by music director Bharathwaj and sung by legendary singer K.S.Chithra, this song has Tamil people’s hearts.

  • Ella pugazhum – Azhagiya Tamizh Magan

Another inspiring song that cheers up everyone to give their best at whatever they take up. A very uplifting song that has been specially made to honor the almighty. Composed and sung by music director Isaipuyal AR Rahman, this song has its lyrics penned by great poet Vaali.

  • Nadhiye Nadhiye – Rhythm

This song personifies water(river) as a woman. The lyrics are penned in such a way that each and every quality of the river is compared with the qualities of women. A feel-good and proud song for women to realize their own value. This beautiful song is composed by the legend AR Rahman, vocals by singer Unni Menon and written by lyricist Vairamuthu.

  • Poovasam purappadum – Anbe Sivam

A romantic melody that depicts the love that the couple share for each other. This song is written in comparison with the portrait. The sketches are given life by comparing it with the feelings and love the hero and heroine have for each other. This melody composed by music director Vidhyasagar, sung by singers Vijay Prakash and Sadhana Sargam has its lyrics written by Vairamuthu.

  • Aanandha yazhai – Thanga meengal

This is a soul-penetrating song that describes the bond a father and daughter share. The lyrics show the father’s love for his daughter and how he admires her. This lovely father-daughter song is sung by Sriram Parthasarathy, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, and lyrical magic by Late. Na. Muthukumar. The lyricist won the National award for this song.

  • Aariro aaraariro – Deiva Thirumagal

Another song that depicts the father-daughter relationship very smoothly that it’s always a bliss to hear. This is a lullaby that a father sings for his daughter. The song perfectly describes the movie’s scenario that how a mentally challenged father with 5-year-old maturity can take the place of both mother and father. A heart-touching melody sung by singer Haricharan, composed by GV Prakash, and written by Na. Muthukumar.

Many such magics are created by great legends. The songs with soothing music and pleasing lyrics are always a delight to enjoy. Do check these songs and experience the pleasure of the Tamil words and verses. Translations are available for all these songs. However, no translation would match the beauty of the Tamil language.

ONLINE CLASS IS A MENTAL EXHAUSTION FOR STUDENTS

Education is taught in a classroom environment in schools all over the world. Students are conditioned from ages to this traditional form of teaching. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic throughout the world, the entire scenario has been changed. Although the decision of online classes was shocking to everyone, students were a bit happy as they don’t want to go to their schools and on the other hand, they were sad, as they will miss their friends. With the emergence of online classes, parents were forced to get mobile phones or other gadgets for their children even if they didn’t wish that from their hearts. Children went on cloud nine as they were given a separate pc or mobile in which they could play, chat, enter social media, etc. Nobody knows what they do with their smartphones. Even if the parent questions the children, they had a witty answer that they are listening to classes or doing their assignments. No matter how strict their parents are or how hard they try to spy, the children started breaking all these by using the term ‘privacy’. Let us see how this situation affects a child’s mental and physical state.

MENTAL HEALTH

As we know, students are more likely to get distracted even by small things. In that state, they have to sit inside their homes and listen to the monotonous classes online. The classroom environment can never be brought to home as they have to share space with the family members. In this case, they tend to lose concentration very often as everyone in the house is engaged with some tasks. This brings no difference however hard they try to focus rather makes the student stressed out. 

Kids start their social life only from school. They start to mingle with others only from that time. This important phase of life is missed out by them and they grow in a reserved manner. It becomes difficult for them to gel with society and others as they were homebound all these days. Again, this brings in mental stress for the introverts. However, Extroverts will cope with the situation better than introverts. 

Studies from experts also reveal that kids are prone to develop anxiety and depression from being confined in a single place. They come across many things that are irrelevant to their age in social media and begin to watch unnecessary bad things out of curiosity. This stimulates the child’s mental state to do the wrong. Moreover, they increased the video games playtime and got addicted to games such as PUBG and free fire which also affects the mental stability directly. 

PHYSICAL HEALTH

Apart from affecting mental well-being, online classes also affect physical health. Using mobile phones and PCs for a long time affects the eyesight and give rise to headache as well as fatigue. The rays from the gadgets cause eye pain and irritation. Children use the mobiles even after class time as they cannot go out and play with others. They use this technology as time pass. As a result, they lack physical activities like outdoor games. If they go to school, they had a separate hour for playtime during which they run and play on the ground. Also, when they return home from school, they enjoy playing games and cycling with their friends in the surroundings. This increases stamina and makes the physical body strong.  

Learning is not only about gaining knowledge but also about physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being. So, the emergence of online classes has created unwanted stress and irritation in budding lives. All these are not realized by the children as they lack enough maturity. Escaping from exams and other troublesome things, students continue to prefer online classes to get some lame advantages without knowing that they cannot escape from life exams. This would be realized one day or the other by everyone and that day they would regret the ‘lifeless life’ they led without spending time in the outside world.

POLLUTION

Pollution is described as the introduction of different wastes into the environment. These material wastes are called pollutants. Pollutants may be either natural which is thrown away by natural disasters, volcanic eruptions or man-made trashes like factory washouts, plastic wastes. Pollutants are harmful as they damage the quality of natural resources such as air, water, and land. Pollutants mixing in the air have a direct impact as they enter the body directly while breathing. Pollutants that mix in water also creates a hazardous effect on people’s life. People residing near the construction and manufacturing work areas are diagnosed with relatively higher hearing ailments. This contributes to noise pollution. Similarly, there are varieties of pollution in our surrounding world, some of which are unaware of by us. The fact is, we humans are the ones creating all this pollution without thinking about neither our life nor the future world and life. It is very difficult to construct a zero-pollution world. Still, the level and consequences of pollution could be decreased by taking some measures and being more sensible.

TYPES OF POLLUTION

AIR POLLUTION – Increasing industrialization has paved the way for poisonous gases to enter the atmosphere. This in turn creates adverse effects like respiratory and other diseases in human beings. The carbon and its oxides released by the burning of coal and fossil fuels are absorbed by the trees. But as we started cutting trees to find areas for accommodation, these carbon oxides mix the atmosphere and pollutes it. The fresh oxygen we breathe thus gets contaminated and can give rise to many skin diseases and respiratory disorders like asthma, bronchitis, etc. These impacts could be decreased by following afforestation and reforestation and adopting the use of natural gases and biogas.

WATER POLLUTION – Introduction of industrial effluents, pesticides and insecticides, domestic waste, detergents, and fertilizers contaminate the water bodies. Water pollutants are released directly to the nearby water sources without proper treatment. These pollutants in water mix up with all the water bodies and finally contaminate the ocean by the formation of algae which creates a threat to aquatic life. It also generates unfavorable effects on humans and affects the food chain. It causes communicable and non-communicable diseases like cholera, typhoid, dengue, etc. This could be prevented by conserving water, treating sewage before it is disposed and use of eco-friendly products.

SOIL POLLUTION – Soil pollution refers to the existence of chemicals, toxic compounds, salts, and radioactive elements in the layers of soil. Discharge of toxicants from industries, stagnation of polluted water, heavy metals, and other solvents stay in the soil and make it infertile for cultivation. Due to this, the texture and quality of the soil are lost damaging the growth of plants and organisms living in the soil. Percolation of dirty water, dumping of fuels and oils, dumping of pharmaceutical and other medical wastes also adds to soil pollution. These influence humans indirectly through the plants that we consume as food. Industrialists should follow the environment protection norms strictly and individuals must start practicing the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle the to lessen soil pollution. 

NOISE POLLUTION – This form of pollution is increasing and creating an unsafe environment. The increase in sound levels becomes dangerous for living creatures and causes several disturbances in society. An increase in industries, technology, use of vehicles, parties, bursting crackers, and loud political meetings contribute a lot to noise pollution. Unlike, other pollution, noise pollution can also bring about serious issues like hearing impairment and other troubles in the eardrums. Not only humans, but this kind of pollution also badly hits the wildlife. We must become aware of these unnoticed yields and help in building a safer and better society.

SOFT SKILLS

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are the traits that make your character. These are the skills that are common for anyone who is seeking a job regardless of the work domain. Soft skills are opposite to the hard skills that are completely related to the job stream. Hard skills differ from person to person while soft skills are common to all. These are the skills that should be demonstrated in our work environment and cannot be added to the resume. Some of the soft skills are communication, leadership, interpersonal skills, teamwork, critical thinking, creativity, work ethic, and many more.

Communication

Communication is the most important soft skill that anybody can possess. It is the speaking and writing skills that show the way you express yourself and your thoughts. It is a crucial skill for people in sales fields. Some common skills that fall under communication are presentation, public speaking, verbal and non-verbal communication, and listening.

Leadership

It is the quality that takes a person to higher positions. It shows how you mentor and your co-workers and employees and guide your teams. This includes the quality of volunteering and taking responsibility. This skill helps you to grow in your career. It is also critical for entrepreneurs. The leader must be able to take decisions. It includes decision-making skills, management skills, and mentorship.

Inter-personal skills

Inter-personal skills are the ones that we use unknowingly on a daily basis. These include the way we communicate with our teammates and co-workers. The relationship we maintain with others in the work environment and the optimistic approach towards things also are considered interpersonal skills. Some other skills which come under this are empathy, patience, diplomacy, etc.

Teamwork

It is the coordination that you maintain within the team. Taking the consent of each team member before starting work, giving equal opportunity and priority to each member’s opinion, discussing the plans and executing it in the right way, working together and faster to accomplish tasks – all these are combined and said as teamwork.  

Critical thinking

It is the ability to analyze and understand the problems and find out a solution for them. The person should have the quality of making the right decisions and changing them if they went wrong. The situations need to be handled smoothly without tension and stress. Observation, logical thinking, troubleshooting, flexibility, curiosity, and acceptance of changes come under critical thinking.

Work ethic

This is the quality of being punctual, organized in their works, submitting reports before the deadline. It is most essential for any type of job, be it small or big. Some of the work ethics are being independent, dedication, attentiveness, multitasking, time management, and so on. Employers are more likely to offer the job to a person with a good work ethic as it shows your professional behavior and organized approach towards work.

Creativity

It is a skill that requires innovative thinking to find a solution. It is needed in every field but it is most indispensable for designers, architects, and artists. Some skills that are included in creativity are thinking out of the box, imagination, mind mapping, application of the idea, experimenting, etc.

Apart from these, there are many more soft skills like planning, management, business ethics, business etiquette, self-confidence, time management and stress management, decision making, etc. You can cultivate these skills by practicing in your day-to-day life with your colleagues and friends.

Do check this course to learn more about it. 

Source: https://learning.tcsionhub.in/courses/career-edge-young-professional/

IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN OUR LIFE

There are so many things that have advantages and disadvantages in life. More than pros and cons, these things leave an impact in our life either good or bad. One such thing is social media. Every one of us uses social media knowingly and unknowingly. Our day starts with and ends in social media. Social media doesn’t only include WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. It covers all that provide us information through the internet and keeps the world connected. Such media which influence our day-to-day life has both advantages and disadvantages. Let’s explore that in this article.

ADVANTAGES

Starting with the advantages we have many to cite as an example. Social media is a platform used to portray ourselves to the outside world. Here, we share content and get to other’s content which keeps us bound. It enables us to engage in social networking. It is widespread across the globe and allows us to create a community. It connects us and makes our communication easy and accessible. Through this, we could build our relationships stronger. Social media supports education through different learning platforms. This provides knowledge to every single part of the world. It develops the students’ interests to explore more and more. Social media also helps in building customer relationships through digital marketing. It makes customers fall for your services and give their feedback. Information spreads faster than wildfire in social media. This helps to get emergency helps like finding the missing persons. During this second wave of the pandemic, social media helped out to get blood donors, oxygen cylinders, and some rare dugs. It lets us share our achievements and also lets us know others’ accomplishments which motivates us to do a lot more. It provides support and encouragement through our community. It gives us a way to connect with our distant friends and relations. Also, social media is used for relaxing and getting relief from work stress.

DISADVANTAGES

After going through a lot of advantages, let us see some disadvantages of social media. When coming to disadvantages the first thing that comes to our mind is privacy problems. Sharing some content or posts may seem inappropriate for others and problems can arise from it. Also, sharing our personal and professional info can cost us sometimes due to hacking and other threats. Some people may try to bully us by knowing our details. This is a very bad disadvantage of social media. Another, we get influenced by others so much that we start changing our lifestyles. Scrolling for long hours will have a very bad effect on our body and health. We change our sleep cycles due to this unending scrolling and ruin our eyes and sleep. Although social media connects people, there is a lack of emotional connection between them. Due to these social media, we end up sending messages even for important issues and lost the habit of speaking over the phone. When we speak over the phone, the emotions are also conveyed along with the messages. In chatting, only our messages are sent and not the emotions. So, anybody in the conversation cannot sense that feel. We engage ourselves most of the time in social media and fail to spend time with family which is the most essential one. Finally overusing will lead us to get addicted to it and it becomes very difficult to get over the addiction.

This conflict between advantages and disadvantages continues to grow. Nothing can be perfect in life. It is our efforts that help us lead a perfect flawless life. We have to ensure that whether we are making good use of social media. If we feel that we are getting addicted to social media, just try to come out of that routine. Everything lies in our hand’s control and nothing can go out of it until we don’t allow it.

GENDER EQUALITY – MYTHS AND FACTS

Gender equality – When the term is said, we immediately start thinking of men and women and the differences between them in our society. Do we think of other genders? Do we know how many genders are there apart from male and female? No or maybe few. But the actuality is there are different genders of people living all over the world. Without being aware of this, we just speak only about males and females or transgender at times. When we speak about the difficulties faced by them, are we also adding the opportunities and recognition they got along with this? No. It is our responsibility to give equal importance to the good and bad in our society. So, let’s try to understand the myths and facts about the some more commonly known genders – male, female and transgender.

MALE AND FEMALE

I would like to start with the good changes in society for women that are left unrecognized most of the time. Starting with the change in family backgrounds, we had certain roles and responsibilities to be played, as men should work in the outside world, and women were stereotyped to carry out household chores in the olden times. But now we live in the era where both men and women work in the corporate world and share the household responsibilities equally. So, no longer there exists a male chauvinistic society. Still, we talk about the olden scenario rather than the reality. Talking about social development is as important as raising a voice for the differences.

Moving on to the traditional differences, I already said women are stereotyped to play certain roles which are being criticized as a major difference. But the reality is women are said to carry out household chores as they are the physical exercises a woman can do. Those days there were no corporate jobs. All the men had to do physical work which women couldn’t carry out and she shouldn’t do as it affects her uterus. This was the scientific reason behind the traditional practices. And again, this is also misinterpreted as women are made to sit in their houses.

The next one is about male-dominant domains – Women emerge and maintain their place in every field making every domain equal for both genders. They work in prominent roles in the so-called male-dominant domains such as Army, Navy, Airforce, and many more. Still, certain fields come under the dominance of men even after women laid their step into it. For example, they have already started driving autos changing the tag “male dominant domains”. But we recognize this as their special talent than treating them equally. All men and women are equally bestowed by the lord and there is nothing special when a woman does the same a man does. 

TRANSGENDERS

Coming to the transgenders, the myth is they are not given enough support and chances to prove themselves. But the fact is they are provided with opportunities to showcase their talents. The difference is between whether they utilize it effectively or not. They are persons like Kalki Subramaniam who changed her identity from transgender to an entrepreneur cum inspirational speaker and some individuals are asking alms from the people in public places instead of standing on their legs. 

So, many such good things are happening around in our society. We should feel proud and accept the changes taking place rather than complaining blindly. NGOs are working for different genders other than the above-mentioned to grant the place they deserve in society. It all depends on how we perceive them. Let us look deep into them and together build a better society.

ONLINE VS OFFLINE CLASS – WHICH MAKES BETTER SENSE?

We all live in a society where education is taught in schools and colleges in the classroom environment. We have been following this method of teaching from a very old time. Suddenly we were forced to face a situation like a pandemic and were told to make ourselves ready for whatever is going to happen next. As a result of the lockdown schools, colleges and all other educational institutions were shut. The government advised the institutions to take up classes through online mode. When all the students and teachers heard this, it created a mere shock. But we had no other option to choose. So, we started to adapt ourselves to the situation. It has been almost more than a year by now since schools and colleges started to function online. Having a year of experience taking up classes online, I would like to describe the pros and cons of both online and offline classes that I have understood.

ONLINE CLASS 

Starting with the advantages we gained through online classes, all of us would have felt that we got more time for relaxing and engaging ourselves in doing our hobbies. When we had offline classes, we would spend time dressing up and traveling to school or college. But online, we don’t have to spend our time on all that and we could use it effectively. Also, the training or lectures can be conducted from anywhere in the world. Participants are just needed to log on to their internet from anywhere. Online learning is more flexible as it is offered through many platforms. Another advantage that I felt personally is that people who were reluctant to open up and speak in the classroom gained some confidence and interacted in the online mode. This would help introverts to come out of their cages. It would also help them to build their interpersonal skills and come out of their comfort zone. In online teaching, the lectures are taken through videos, presentations, or activities which is more interactive than the conservative classroom environment and encourages students to engage with interest. 

OFFLINE CLASS

Although we have considerable advantages in online learning, we always prefer offline classes as we are conditioned to listen to lectures in that way from our childhood. Maybe online classes would be comfortable for kids even after when they grow since they are practiced to that way of learning. If we ask ourselves a question, whether we are comfortable with online class, we would say no but yes, we got used to it by now. Not only this we have many advantages in offline learning. The concepts related to mathematics and algorithms were clearer when it was taught in the board-chalk method and it would be easier for us as students to clarify our doubts. The student-teacher relationship is developed better in offline classes than on virtual platforms. The subjects that needed laboratory training would be possible only through offline mode. In offline classes, we would be made to sit in one place to listen to the lessons and we are not allowed to move from there. This would make something go into our heads as we have to look at the teacher’s face and make eye contact frequently. So even if we are not in the mood to listen, we would end up listening in one way or the other. But in the online way of teaching, there is no one to monitor us and our activities. We can do whatever we wanted to whenever it’s a boring session. This would affect only us as the students during their exams and skill test. Another one is that we couldn’t spend time with our friends virtually as we do in our schools and colleges. Those moments that we share in between the classes and breaks are heavenly and nothing can replace the joy that we get through chitchatting and roaming around with our gang.

So, both offline and virtual learning have their advantages but the online mode cannot provide as much pleasure and enjoyment as the real meetings. Let us hope and pray to get things better and come back to our normal lives with a bang.

INFLUENCE OF CINEMA ON SOCIETY

Cinema has been a part of our society right from the ages and we don’t have to explain it now as we are spending most of our free time watching movies in this quarantine. Cinema is said to influence the lives of people in many ways. It helps people to break themselves from the olden thoughts and culture. Movies are said to provide good pleasure and rejuvenate us. Even though it has many benefits, it also leaves a negative influence on people, especially on youth. 

ADVANTAGES OF CINEMA

Cinema has a lot of advantages if we try to focus on the positive side. It is the reflection of society. It portrays the facts that common people are not aware of. Cinema has always been a platform to showcase the hidden vulnerabilities right from abuses to murders. We have many movies portraying the different aspects of society. The films related to society are taken with the motive to reach these messages to the public. We have movies depicting the difficulties faced by women to get their rights and recognition in society. These encourage every woman to stand and fight for themselves. Similarly, we have movies like Dangal which depicts the hard work, never give give-up attitude, and the father’s support for his daughters. Movies like Dear Comrade and Jersey showcase the difficulties to get selected for a sports team despite our talent and passion. They reveal the beast-side of the higher officials who take advantage of the helplessness of the talented people. All these have always been motivating for everyone and guides them to take each step carefully. It also characterizes the truth behind politics and social media. Moreover, it convinces people to accept different artforms and cultures. It depicts family values and relationships. The artists who act in films create an excellent impact on people’s thoughts. People get convinced easily about something they don’t agree with if actors keep them as a request to their fans. For example, we have many in our society who are not ready to get vaccinated. But they change their mind and become ready to get their jab if their favorite actor or actress does that and ask their fans to do the same. That shows how fans are influenced by their fav artists’ words and we have many more to cite as an example. Thus, it makes people learn and be aware of the things that are covered up in our society.

DISADVANTAGES OF CINEMA

Although there are many advantages, we have disadvantages too. Movies influence people badly at times and get addicted to them. They get deviated from their life and desperately wait for the first look, teaser, trailer, or movie release. They also became mad in the name of fans bathing the cutouts and posters with milk. Cinema showcases violence and vulgarity in action and other sequences. These influence kids in a very bad way that they start using unparliamentary language. Most of the time, romantic and other genres are just fantasy showing things that are quite impossible in actual life. On seeing these, people tend to believe that the same happens in reality. This increases their expectations and later everything will go in vain. For example, we have movies expressing college life as a carefree and most enjoyable life. But we get to know the fact only we step into our college life and get disappointed as we expected it to be the same as shown in the films. The sexual content shown in the cinema arouses the young to engage in eve-teasing and several cases of abuse that happen in our society.

On the whole, Cinema has its good and bad influence on people as well as society. So, it is our responsibility to take the good things and leave the bad things behind. Everyone can leave a happy and regret-free life if we always try to follow “Too much of anything is good for nothing”.

LIFE LESSONS FROM COVID-19

Everybody was stuck in shock when we all heard about CORONAVIRUS. But we didn’t think that it would have such a worst impact on our lives. In fact, we didn’t realize its seriousness at first. When the coronavirus slowly started to spread all over our country, we started to realize the seriousness. As we all know, due to the pandemic, the whole of India was kept shut for many days. Every company went through its worst phase. Gradually, we accepted the scenario and started doing the unthinkable. Schools started taking classes online, IT and other companies functioned through work from home and many others remained pathetic not knowing what to do. Many families couldn’t get enough money for daily necessities. Moreover, they had to spend more than normal for the pandemic made us spend more on medicines and sanitation. With all these, on one hand, we got to learn a lot of new things.

First, we learned to spend time with our family. Before the pandemic, we would live in our own way. We don’t spend time without family. We had our own reasons like returning home after tight schedules either from school, college, or work, and even after that, we had certain tasks to be accomplished. We would spend most of our time in the outside world and only had time to freshen up and relax ourselves to start off the next day. Due to this lockdown, we were not allowed to step out of our houses which made us spend quality time with our family. Also, by this, we realized the value of family and relationships. Not only this, we learned to value life. We realized that life is the biggest gift one has been bestowed with. After losing our loved ones, and seeing our near and dear losing their loved ones, we started being grateful for being alive at least. These were the biggest lessons life taught us through this pandemic.

Lockdown restricted us from using vehicles and this paved the way to reduce air pollution. Now, we see and hear that our EARTH is healing. Holes in the Ozone layer are disappearing. As a result, the environment changed in a good way. We are now released from breathing the poisoned air and the quality of the air has increased. 

Another one, we started believing in our natural Indian medicine. Although we have many allopathy medicines for boosting immunity, we all made decoctions using Tulsi leaves, turmeric, pepper, ginger, lemon, honey, and so on. These were the traditional medicines prescribed by our ancestors to prevent our bodies from a virus attack. Literally, every good thing which was ignored before was given place and priorities. As time went by, we started to know how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and good hygiene. We started eating healthy food to sustain this pandemic. We all realized the importance of regular exercises and yoga. They create such a beautiful impact on our bodies. We learned one main lifesaving thing which is very much essential no matter whatever the situation may be, positivity. Positivity plays a crucial role in our life behind the scenes. Researches show that positivity helps in increasing the chances of recovery from any disease. It makes us feel good, boosts our energy and confidence. It is said to enhance mental productivity and inner strength.

We explored the new side of ours. We got to know more about ourselves and self-love and care. Last but not the least, we all understood the pain and struggles of spending our whole life inside the house as faced by all the housewives and mothers only when we were forced to confine ourselves inside the four walls of the house. We started sharing household chores and other work equally with our family. This definitely gave our mothers some relaxation for which they earned for many days. 

Going by the quote, “Every evil has its good and every ill an antidote”, we also had many good things that happened in this pandemic. All I would say is be happy with all the goodness around us and stop complaining about the problems.

LIFE CYCLE OF INNOVATION

INNOVATION

Innovation is the action or process involved in improving an existing product/service. It involves new techniques and ideas to create better products that add up value to the customers. Innovation enhances the brand value and is the key to the successful running of the organizations.

Example: Power banks – They are innovative reusable devices that replace conventional chargers in the absence of electricity. Power banks store the battery and give power through USB ports to the devices in need of charging.

LIFE CYCLE OF INNOVATION

The phases of innovation in an innovation life cycle can be the following

  • Ideation – Ideation starts with the necessity of a solution for a problem or to satisfy the customer’s requirements. The problem statement is identified first and the feasible idea to solve it, is generated. Curiosity, Creativity, Involvement gives impetus for a new idea to spark. This may either increment an old one or open a new market. Innovation potentials are generally identified through
    • Targeted search – This involves finding potentials through creativity workshops, idea contests, or LEAD user workshops.
    • Random findings – This involves discovering the new idea randomly while coming across some new products, suggestions, and customer feedback.
  • Research – This is one of the important steps as it involves identifying risks. After the idea is generated, research should be done to conceptualize and bring an idea into a form. Proof of Concept (POC) must be provided and it should prove that neither a similar product is available in the market nor POC is available and patented. This phase should ensure that the idea is possible by analyzing
    • Customer’s requirements – Customer’s unheard problems and needs.
    • Market potential – Market size and attractiveness for the generated idea.
    • Growth potential – Expected opportunities, growth, and scalability.
    • Risks and feasibility – Potential risks, technical barriers and laws, standards, and patterns.
  • Offering – This phase involves offering the product as a complete one to the market. Before it is offered, the availability of resources and scope of the product in the market must be analysed. The feedback from the potential customers must be obtained and incorporated. Use these customers as an anchor to obtain new customers. 
  • Commercialization – This involves launching the product as a commercial one to gain profit from it. The following points should be considered for commercialization
    • Sales plan and marketing strategy – How the product is delivered to the customers and attracting, convincing, and making the customers realize the need for the product.
    • Contracts and license management – Regarding the terms and conditions for using the product
    • Product management and engineering – Involves packaging, delivery, and installation. Striving continuously for future enhancements and updating the versions on a timely basis.
    • Customer support – Customer helpdesks, feedback management, etc.
  • Growth – This phase is to ensure leading the market. Continuous study on the competitors, new arrivals, and customer needs could help retain the market position. The product should be able to sustain the competitive market. Customer acceptance and support should be increased through the performance of the product. Eventually, revenue generation increases. The availability of the product must be expanded.
  • Retirement – A product goes through this phase when there is a replacement of the product by an advanced one. The product tends to lose the market position thereby failing to generate expected revenue. This may happen due to a decrease in demand, the substitution of technology or the product may no longer provide a relevant solution to the customers.

These phases of innovation are considered indispensable in the product’s lifecycle. So, it becomes mandatory to take care of every detail in the life cycle to achieve success and sustain in the market.

CYBERSECURITY – AN OVERVIEW

WHAT IS CYBERSECURITY? 

Cyber Security is defined as the measures taken to safeguard the connected networks and the data related to them from any attack, damage, or unauthorized access. Every organization like educational, medical, or financial organizations store a large number of user data or many confidential data which needs to be protected from outside access. These data if not protected keeps the company’s reputation at stake. The company needs to cover up data just like we hide our personal information in our online life. Healthcare organizations have their patients’ medical reports along with some personal info. Educational institutions will have the students’ and teacher’s personal as well as academic details. Corporate companies save their employee’s private details including their pay structure and banking details. 

Nowadays, we have highly privileged data such as intellectual property, patents, copyrights, etc… which have to be maintained as a secret from other competitive organizations. Losing this kind of information will affect the organization’s future on a large scale. With the advent Internet of Things (IoT), we have a lot more data to be managed and secured as we have widened the storage services through cloud and virtualization. This has given rise to a new stream called Big Data, which covers large volumes of data related to business and technology. 

WHY IT IS NEEDED?

All these details are confidential and need to be covered up from the external world so that no one could take easy advantage of them. Whenever we engage in any websites that have access to our data like name, age, or photos, the information will also be saved in the website’s server which allows the hackers to access the data. When the hackers see something beneficial in you, they use this data to threaten you to get something like ransom in return. Some steal this info to use your identity faking as their own. This may harm an individual or a whole company very badly. This summarizes the need for cybersecurity and the increase in scope for the field.

CIA TRIAD

  • CONFIDENTIALITY – Also known as privacy, this deals with restricting unknown access by using authentication encryption. Various methods used here are data encryption, two-factor authentication, biometrics and Username, ID, and password. 
  • INTEGRITY – This ensures accuracy and consistency even after unauthorized access. It is done by bringing in file permissions, version history, and backups. Checksum uses hashing algorithms to compare the hash value before and after any changes in data. If the data remains the same, the hash value returned is also the same. But even if a minute change is done in the data, the hash value returned will not be the same. By comparing the hash values, we can ensure integrity. 
  • AVAILABILITY – Making the data available only to the authorized users and performing hardware repairs, software updates, and backups on a timely basis. Avoiding attacks by using security software that doesn’t allow malicious attacks.

TYPES OF ATTACKERS

  • AMATEURS – Sometimes called script kiddies, these people are the ones with zero or low knowledge of hacking. They just follow the instructions found on the internet out of curiosity or just try their skills out. Still the results can be highly serious.
  • HACKERS – This group of people tries to get access to computer networks. They are further classified into three.
    • WHITE HAT HACKERS – These people break into computers to find out the flaws and fix them with the prior permission of the organization.
    • BLACK HAT HACKERS – These people break into computers with malicious intent and without permission. They try to take advantage of the company’s weaknesses.
    • GREY HAT HACKERS – These people fall somewhere between white and black hat hackers. They engage in unethical things but not with the intention of harmful attacks like the black hat hackers.
  • ORGANIZED HACKERS – This category includes cybercriminals, hacktivists, terrorists, and state-sponsored attackers.

CONSEQUENCES OF HACKING

The seriousness of the consequences differs with the scenario. But on the whole, the company or the victim is the one who faces the aftermath. For example, the attacker might use phishing techniques to hack your details. There might be some attachments in the mail that seems to be genuine and on clicking that it may look legitimate and ask for your details but actually, it might be a trap of the hackers which may cost you. Another example may be Denial of Service (DoS). We often come across website traffic because a lot of users try to access it. But the overloading may be done by the attackers to shut the website down. Again, this leads to unimaginable consequences. There are many more techniques and examples to cite. 

AWARENESS

Awareness leads to prevention. We can be more cautious when we give our private information like DOB, Banking details, ID proofs on any site. We should also be aware that all our picture uploads and other things are stored in the servers which might cause some problems similar to those we come across in our day-to-day life. It is always suggested to stay intact and stealthy when it comes to our social-media life.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

“There is nothing that can destroy a woman and her power.”

Women empowerment is explained as accepting women’s thoughts and helping them to take a stand for themselves. This has become a topic of concern in today’s society. But do we care about empowering women? The answer is probably no. We, as a part of our society, give many speeches on this. Do we indeed mean what we say? Do we follow the same with the women around us? Again, the answer will be no. Indian society is likely to appreciate empowerment when it is about others. When it comes to our own family, we start to think about society. The REAL empowerment starts when there is nothing to think about a woman taking a stand for herself. 

Women empowerment should be focused on encouraging women to fight for their rights. Whatever a woman does should be done because it is her right and not because she is allowed to do it. No one has to let her do something that she wants. A woman can do whatever she wants without seeking any permission. A man does not ask for a woman’s permission to do something. Then why should a woman get her father’s or husband’s permission? Let me cite an example. We all have men in our family. Have we seen our father or brother asking for permission to do a job? No. But we would have seen our mother or sister seeking permission to take up her job or studies and also would have come across many ‘NO’s. 

What is the need for somebody to allow us to do something when we have the right? First, women should understand this point. She must not get impressed by someone’s sympathy. From the ages, a women’s mindset is fixed that her work is to take care of the family, engage in daily chores and take care of children. We convince ourselves to do all these right from the beginning which should not be done. No woman should compromise their career, dreams in the name of family. The traditional mindset should be withdrawn from women’s minds first. She should believe that she can achieve things beyond family. She has her own identity and being one’s daughter or wife is not her true identity. We can expect the change from others, especially, men only if we become the change. 

Women empowerment doesn’t mean that women should be given higher priority. Empowerment should work towards an equal status both for men and women. If a noble thing or achievement is done by a woman, we see it in the headlines of newspapers or magazines mentioning them as woman officer, woman pilot, female poet, or female artist. But we don’t identify any male artist, male poet, man officer, or man pilot. This describes how equal society is. Equality in society will be established when there is no particular mention given to either man or woman.

In addition, we must acknowledge that society is changing practically towards equality. We have started addressing the chairman as chairperson, man-made as artificial, and mankind as humanity. A six-year-old girl raising questions on the terms coined in the patriarchal society stands as proof that this is not going to last anymore. Her questions went viral and she was answered by some of the achievers. They explain to her about our old patriarchal society and the influence of patriarchy in language as well. The world needs to change and it is changing. We must agree that this little kid has already reached halfway to create an equal society.

Designation or Profession shouldn’t be linked with genders. It should be generic. Our work towards this would be supporting and standing for all those who are ready to take a stand for themselves. “Equality is the soul of liberty” should not be ignored at any cost.

IS UNEMPLOYMENT GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE?

“An unemployed existence is the worst existence of life than the death itself”

Unemployment is a very serious issue not only in India but in the whole world. Many people do not have employment. The problems of unemployment are severe in India due to population growth. It is not a problem to be neglected but a problem to which a solution is a must. If this problem is neglected, it turns down to be the doom of the nation.

In a population of 1.32 billion, it is really hard to make everyone employed. From a survey of unemployment-employment based on expenditure which was carried out in July 2011-June 2012, the employment rate was 2.7%. But a survey based on educational levels for July 2017-June 2018 reported the rate as 6.1%. This reveals a crisis of quality jobs among the educated youth. The unemployment rate among people of 15-29 stood at 27.2% for women, 18.7% for men in urban areas, and 13.6% for women, 17.4% for men in rural areas in 2017-2018. This shows a genuine increase in the unemployment rate. As the education levels are rising, the aspirations are also rising. The categorization is that one with a job is considered employed and the one without a job and trying to find a job is considered unemployed.

THE PROBLEM

Unemployment emerges as a major problem because we are more concerned about our status in society than grabbing the opportunities. If everyone tries to opt for a white-collar job, that particular field will be crowded and the remaining left empty. Unemployment is first and foremost an economic and social problem as it brings about money for the unemployed as well as for the nation. It can be sorted out by entrepreneurship and by focusing on agriculture. There are many causes for unemployment but a few among them share a larger part. The caste discriminations fail to treat every individual equally. As a result, low caste people remain unemployed on a large scale than the high caste people. Another cause is our education system. The education should be technical and practical but we are guided theory-oriented. The education we gain must be job-oriented to overcome unemployment. The rising population creates unemployment and this, in turn, will create a serious impact. Awareness about the increasing population alone cannot help, implementation could only help.

As unemployment touches its peak, poverty also starts to touch its peak. This unemployed condition paves the way for an individual to choose the illegal way to get money. They tend to take alcohol, drugs or at last commit suicide out of stress. Unemployment increases crimes and also it affects physical and mental health.

THE SOLUTION

These problems could be solved by improving the education system as said earlier. Developing the rural areas could stop the migration of people to urban areas thereby reducing the population in urban areas. Government should encourage and develop agriculture-based industries in rural areas. More opportunities can be created if we allow foreign companies to start their unit in India. On the whole, we must follow the saying, “United we live divided we fall” to bring all these into action.

DESIGN OF BUYER-CENTRIC FUNNEL

What is a buyer-centric funnel?

A Funnel in business terms is the customer’s travel from a normal visitor to becoming a loyal customer of a particular product or a company. Buyer-centric means organizing the different business approaches from the customer’s perspective rather than building it from the seller’s perspective. A buyer-centric funnel is a marketing model built in a consumer-focused way that transforms normal visitors into constant customers.

Why do we need this?

In a normal world, the sales process is vendor-centric where buyer’s questions are not answered properly. So, to address the consumer’s problems, we bring in the buyer-centric approach which breaks the sales process into different stages such that it sustains existing customers.

The Buyer’s journey

The consumer funnel model build for the buyer’s journey should include the 3 stages:

  1. Awareness – This is the phase where consumers explore and understand the problems they have. About 80% of the customers will be in this stage. So, the model should be built with more insights about the problems and with the possible solutions. The benefits of the proposed solutions should also be mentioned. No marketing of the product should be done.
  2. Consideration – In this phase, the product’s information should be provided followed by a free trial or demo. Try to approach in an appealing way such as giving customer stories. This triggers the customers to buy the product which is the ultimate destination. An average of 15% of the customers reaches this stage.
  3. Purchase – The customers would be ready to buy the product in this phase. Only 5% of the customers will reach this stage and be ready to purchase the product. The main aim of this phase lies not only in selling the product but also in retaining the customers.

Getting to know your Buyer Personae

This is one of the important parts where we identify the key characteristics and the target audience. Try to understand the customer’s business goals and thrive to provide those to the customers. Analyze their problems and pain points more deeply and find out what they are exactly looking for. Then try to give the needed solutions or the features that are the customer’s highest priority. Understand what they like and do not like about the company and address the questions and concerns they have. Next is to know what influences consumers to buy the product. Before buying a product, a customer looks for the pros and cons of the product. Good services make the chances of buying the product higher. Design and re-design the funnel until the customers reach the ‘Wow Moment’.

Wow Moment

The moment which drives the customer to explore more when he/she comes across something interesting and cool is the ‘Mini Wow Moment’. The moment which urges the customer to buy the product as soon as he/she is satisfied enough is the ‘Full Wow Moment’. 

Factors to be considered to reach the Wow Moment:

  1. How many steps are involved before achieving a Wow Moment?
  2. How much time is taken to reach a Wow Moment?
  3. How much friction is involved before reaching a Wow Moment?

Keeping these factors to the minimum is important to design an effective Buyer-centric funnel.

Flip the Funnel

To change the traditional market paradigm, the Flip the Funnel approach is used which means investing fewer resources on the new customers and giving huge importance to retain the loyal customers. As a result, the existing customers share their experiences with their peers and act as a new client acquisition channel.

Flipping the funnel is done keeping the following factors into count:

  • Look at the data – Frequently analyze the current marketing data. Three key metrics cited for this analysis are
    • Average acquisition cost
    • Average retention cost
    • The average cost of acquiring a new customer through a referral
  • Adapt new customer service rules – If a customer is not addressed when he reaches the service department, then the company would lose the customer. In order to avoid this, companies should have 24/7 customer support and reach out to every customer in need.
  • Identify influencers – Identify the influencers who make or break the business and treat them well.
  • Reward customers – Recognize and reward customers on a timely basis and always have track of customer’s purchases.
  • Convince management – The key considerations of this hardest part are
    • Metrics and benchmarks
    • Outside validation
    • Small steps, quick wins
    • Manage expectations                             

Don’t oversell, make the customers believe that the strategy is easy.