Category: World

Myths about Counseling

Mental health challenges affect millions of people around the world. In any given year, unfortunately, misconceptions and myths around counselling and talk therapy often discourage people from seeking help and contribute to the stigma surrounding mental health issues. The truth is that counselling has the ability to help almost anyone with mental health concerns, social issues and personal development. But another truth is that every person is very unique – they will respond to and experience counselling differently and a method that works for one person is not necessarily going to work for someone else. If you have tried counselling before and didn’t find it helpful we encourage you to try again, with a different counsellor and/or different method.

Myth 1: Counselling is only for major issues or “crazy” people : Yes, counselling can help you through major life issues and traumas but those aren’t the only situations where counselling can work for you. Sometimes we just need someone unbiased to talk to about a situation or feelings we’re having – and that’s okay. It’s normal to seek help for problems large and small or simply when you’re not feeling quite yourself and you don’t know why. Counselling does not need to be used as a reactive measure when life gets hard. It can also be preventative and help provide you mental and emotional tools and strategies to use in future times of stress. We see physicians for prevention through annual check-ups – we can think of counselling in the same way.

Myth 2: Admitting that you need help and going for counselling means you’re weak: The concepts of weakness and vulnerability tend to get confused with each other. There is vulnerability in sharing what you’re going through and what you’re feeling, but that is not a sign of weakness. It is courageous to open up to someone. It’s an act of strength to take steps to better yourself when you’re not feeling your best. Vulnerability is not a weakness but rather a quality to take pride in, not be shameful of.

Myth 3: Counselling doesn’t help or will make the situation worse : Every person is different, and every person has different needs – the results from counselling are not going to be identical for everyone. But most of the time, counselling will provide you with support, new perspectives, and a plan to tackle your problems.

Myth 4: The counsellor doesn’t know me, so they can’t help me : When things aren’t going quite right and we want advice, we turn to our family and friends – people that know us and care about us. Having social connections is extremely important for maintaining mental wellness but our loved ones normally don’t have the skills or the objectivity needed. We’re not recommending that you turn away from loved ones or that their advice can’t be helpful, but counsellors are an excellent additional resource to guide you through difficult times. An unbiased, impartial trained professional can give insight into the situations and feelings that you’re having that you would not be able to get from people that are close to you. Professional counsellor’s training and experience can help beyond the well-intentioned advice of your loved ones.

Myth 5: Counselling takes a long time and costs a lot : The length of time, or number of sessions needed with a counsellor will greatly vary depending on many factors, such as:

  • How long you’ve been dealing with the issue
  • The severity of the problem
  • The time you need to make any necessary changes (i.e. Habits, copying mechanisms, etc.

Myth 6: Couples counselling is only for people that have problems in their relationship : Just like you need to water a plant to make it grow, or practice an instrument to master it, you also need to work on a relationship if you want it to thrive. Take the plant analogy – you wouldn’t just water your plant when its leaves are wilted and it’s near death. You would water it on a regular basis, even when it’s healthy looking and vibrant. Working on skills with your partner like communication, conflict resolution, and intimacy when your relationship is strong, is just as important as building on those skills when times are tough. Having the desire to improve your relationship with some help doesn’t mean your relationship isn’t good or that it won’ last – it means that you care enough about your partner to invest in the relationship.

Myth 7: They will blame my parents for everything : Every struggle you go through is unique. And the process to heal from those struggles is going to vary. Much of your work with your counsellor will be guided by you – the areas of your life you want to focus on: past, present and future. For some situations it can be helpful to analyze your past and see how your environment and the people around you shaped how you respond to things today. Some situations are best solved by looking at current behaviours. Regardless if you and your counsellor analyze your past or your present, the most important thing to keep in mind is that counselling is not about assigning blame, but learning how to have a healthy mental outlook and have healthy relationships with yourself and others.

Myth 8: All counsellors are the same – If you didn’t have success with one, counselling won’t work for you : You don’t “click” with every single person you meet and everyone doesn’t respond the same way to the same exact form of any kind of treatment. Counsellors and counselling treatments are no different and not every counsellor will be a perfect fit for you. That’s okay. We want you to see results from your counselling experience. When you request counselling from Calgary Counselling Centre, we ask many questions to make sure you are assigned to the type of counsellor you prefer and that you’ll receive the type of treatment that is most likely to achieve the best results. If after a few sessions the relationship with you and your counsellor doesn’t seem to be a match, you can request another counsellor. We promise, your counsellor will not be offended by this, on the contrary, they want the best for you.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits traits associated with a human mind such as learning and problem-solving.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by humans or animals. Leading AI textbooks define the field as the study of “intelligent agents”: any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals. Some popular accounts use the term “artificial intelligence” to describe machines that mimic “cognitive” functions that humans associate with the human mind, such as “learning” and “problem solving”.

AI applications include advanced web search engines, recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon and Netflix), understanding human speech (such as Siri or Alexa), self-driving cars (e.g. Tesla), and competing at the highest level in strategic game systems (such as chess and Go), As machines become increasingly capable, tasks considered to require “intelligence” are often removed from the definition of AI, a phenomenon known as the AI effect. For instance, optical character recognition is frequently excluded from things considered to be AI, having become a routine technology.

Artificial intelligence was founded as an academic discipline in 1956, and in the years since has experienced several waves of optimism, followed by disappointment and the loss of funding (known as an “AI winter”), followed by new approaches, success and renewed funding. AI research has tried and discarded many different approaches during its lifetime, including simulating the brain, modeling human problem solving, formal logic, large databases of knowledge and imitating animal behavior. In the first decades of the 21st century, highly mathematical statistical machine learning has dominated the field, and this technique has proved highly successful, helping to solve many challenging problems throughout industry and academia.

The various sub-fields of AI research are centered around particular goals and the use of particular tools. The traditional goals of AI research include reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, learning, natural language processing, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence (the ability to solve an arbitrary problem) is among the field’s long-term goals. To solve these problems, AI researchers use versions of search and mathematical optimization, formal logic, artificial neural networks, and methods based on statistics, probability and economics. AI also draws upon computer science, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and many other fields.

The field was founded on the assumption that human intelligence “can be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it”. This raises philosophical arguments about the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings endowed with human-like intelligence. These issues have been explored by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. Some people also consider AI to be a danger to humanity if it progresses unabated. Others believe that AI, unlike previous technological revolutions, will create a risk of mass unemployment.

Artificial Intelligence Characteristics

  • Deep Learning. Deep learning is a machine learning technique that teaches computers to do what comes naturally to humans, to learn by example.
  • Facial Recognition
  • Automate Simple and Repetitive Tasks
  • Data Ingestion
  • Chatbots
  • Quantum Computing
  • Cloud Computing

Following are some sectors which have the application of Artificial Intelligence:

  • AI in Astronomy. Artificial Intelligence can be very useful to solve complex universe problems
  • AI in Healthcare
  • AI in Gaming
  • AI in Finance
  • AI in Data Security
  • AI in Social Media
  • AI in Travel & Transport
  • AI in Automotive Industry

Climate Change

Climate change is basically known as a change in the structure of the climate, which has been running for many decades and centuries. Various natural factors that change the nature of the Earth’s atmosphere are also known as ecosystems which are pressurized on the environment.These special external systems, which put pressure on the environment, may be natural, such as variation in Earth’s orbit, inequality in solar radiation, volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics, etc. and various human activities such as greenhouse gas, carbon emissions etc.

Various activities of human beings, such as deforestation, excessive use of land have also been included in this particular external system to bring about change in the environment, the formation of different conditions has been made naturally as it involves ocean activity. It includes-environmental variability and the presence of life on Earth.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Climate change refers to the change in the environmental conditions of the earth. This happens due to many internal and external factors. The climatic change has become a global concern over the last few decades. Besides, these climatic changes affect life on the earth in various ways. These climatic changes are having various impacts on the ecosystem and ecology. Due to these changes, a number of species of plants and animals have gone extinct.

When Did it Start?

The climate started changing a long time ago due to human activities but we came to know about it in the last century. During the last century, we started noticing the climatic change and its effect on human life. We started researching on climate change and came to know that the earth temperature is rising due to a phenomenon called the greenhouse effect. The warming up of earth surface causes many ozone depletion, affect our agriculture, water supply, transportation, and several other problems.

Reason Of Climate Change

Although there are hundreds of reason for the climatic change we are only going to discuss the natural and manmade (human) reasons.

Natural Reasons These include volcanic eruption, solar radiation, tectonic plate movement, orbital variations. Due to these activities, the geographical condition of an area become quite harmful for life to survive. Also, these activities raise the temperature of the earth to a great extent causing an imbalance in nature.Human ReasonsMan due to his need and greed has done many activities that not only harm the environment but himself too. Many plant and animal species go extinct due to human activity. Human activities that harm the climate include deforestation, using fossil fuel, industrial waste, a different type of pollution and many more. All these things damage the climate and ecosystem very badly. And many species of animals and birds got extinct or on a verge of extinction due to hunting.Effects Of Climatic ChangeThese climatic changes have a negative impact on the environment. The ocean level is rising, glaciers are melting, CO2 in the air is increasing, forest and wildlife are declining, and water life is also getting disturbed due to climatic changes. Apart from that, it is calculated that if this change keeps on going then many species of plants and animals will get extinct. And there will be a heavy loss to the environment.What will be Future?If we do not do anything and things continue to go on like right now then a day in future will come when humans will become extinct from the surface of the earth. But instead of neglecting these problems we start acting on then we can save the earth and our future.

Although humans mistake has caused great damage to the climate and ecosystem. But, it is not late to start again and try to undo what we have done until now to damage the environment. And if every human start contributing to the environment then we can be sure of our existence in the future.

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos ,(born January 12, 1964) Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S., entrepreneur who played a key role in the growth of e-commerce as the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon an online merchant of books and later of a wide variety of products. Under his guidance, Amazon became the largest retailer on the world wide Web and the model for Internet sales.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1964. His mother, Jackie, was in her teens when he was born and she was only married to his biological father for about a year. She married Mike Bezos when Jeff was four years old. Mike was a Cuban who escaped to the United States when he was fifteen. He put himself through college in New Mexico and eventually became an engineer at Exxon.Jeff went to Princeton and studied electrical engineering and computer science. He graduated summa cum laude in 1986 with a GPA of 4.3 on a 4.0 scale.After he graduated from Princeton, Jeff joined a high-tech startup in New York called FITEL. After two years at FITEL, he joined Bankers Trust Company.

At Bankers Trust, he setup…show more content…He helped the company build the most technically advanced hedge funds on Wall Street. In 1994, Jeff read a statistic that said the Internet was growing at a rate of 2300% per year. He decided to leave D.E. Shaw and Company to form Amazon.com, which he named after the seemingly endless South American River.He and his wife, MacKenzie, drove to Seattle to be close to a book wholesaler called Ingram. Jeff, a programmer named Shel Kaphan, and a contractor named Paul Barton-Davis built the prototype for Amazon.com in Jeff’s garage in Seattle.

They spent a year developing database programs and creating the website.Jeff raised a million dollars to finance the company through twenty-two angel investors, whom consisted of family, friends, and former colleagues. On July 16, 1995, Amazon.com went live to the world and Jeff told the testers to spread the word that it was open. Within 30 days, the company had sold books to all fifty states and forty-five foreign counties. By September, the site had sales of $20,000 a week. Jeff has a unique management style. He invokes loyalty from his employees and most of them see him as a colleague. He has a distinctive, loud laugh that he uses to “charm and disarm” people. He is known as a fun person to work with, but his employees and investors know that he is serious about his company.

When Jeff Bezos first started his virtual venture, he wanted to call the company Cadabra, as in abracadabra. He phoned his Seattle lawyer to try out the name, but the attorney misheard Bezos and replied, “Cadaver! Why would you want to call your company that?” Bezos quickly reconsidered and adopted the name Amazon.com, after the world’s second-largest river.Despite Amazon’s stunning revenue numbers—the company’s gross profit in 2019 neared $115 billion—it hardly ever declares a major profit, as Bezos’ strategy has always been to reinvest profits into the company’s growth. But that doesn’t bother Jeff Bezos. “To be profitable [now] would be would be a bad decision,” he told PC Week. “This is a critical formative time if you believe in investing in the future.” By expanding the site’s offerings far beyond it’s initial book inventory, Bezos has turned Amazon into the largest online retailer in the world. “There are always three or four brands that matter,” Bezos told PC Week. “With the lead we have today, we should be the No. 1 player.”Amazon’s runaway growth has made Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world. By owning 12 percent of the company, Bezos’ net worth is estimated to be $116 billion. He maintains the world’s richest man status despite going through a divorce in with wife MacKenzie, who received 4% of Amazon in the settlement (valued at $38 billion). But you wouldn’t know how rich Bezos is from his pay stub. He has collected the same $81,840 salary from the company for over two decades.

INTER-RELIGIOUS HARMONY

Hindu and Muslim residents of Sendhwa town in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh came together to cremate 75-old-year Sitaram who had no family member left behind. People from both the communities attended his funeral ceremony and cremated him with full honour. This instance depicts inter religious harmony. Religious harmony in India is a concept that indicates that there is love, affection in between different religions. 

The Indian constitution supports and encourages religious harmony. In India, every citizen has a right to choose and practice any religion. Maintaining peace and harmony in a multi-religious and multi-lingual society like India becomes an important administrative responsibility.

Communal harmony is of paramount component for the social, economic and cultural development of any country. Swami Vivekananda has rightly said “Different religions are like the streams which lead to the same ocean”

The factors that breed harmony can be found both in history as well as have to be part of conscious government strategy to maintain tranquillity and an atmosphere of tolerance:

  • Nationalism as feeling of adherence to nation’s ideals helps citizens rise over differences. 
  • Humanity, respect for human life and liberty should be inculcated in every citizen of India.
  • An impartial administration, above all, which all sections especially minorities can bank upon is a must.  

National Foundation for Communal Harmony was constituted in 1992. The vision of the National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH) is to have India free from communal and all other forms of violence, where all citizens especially children & youth live together in peace & harmony.

It provides financial assistance to the child victims of societal violence for their care, education & training, aimed at their effective rehabilitation. It promotes communal harmony and national integration by organizing variety of activities either independently or in association with State Governments, NGOs & other organizations. 

Ways to promote inter religious harmony:

  • Promoting the spirit of the Preamble of Indian Constitution: This reflects the spirit of national integration of our national leaders who fought against British empire, culminating in India becoming free in 1947.
  • Political & Administrative measures: Each ethnic, tribal, religious and linguistic group should have freedom to protect their own culture and freedom, as also envisaged by the Constitution.
  • Set up an Interfaith Dialogue Committee: This will help promote understanding between different religions.
  • Promote Moral Education in Education institutions: This should include the basic teachings of all religions.
  • There is a need to ban all communal parties and communal organisations by which the danger of communalism can be made less serious.

Hence, teachings of different religions should be compiled and distributed among the people of the country, including teachings of Saint Vivekananda and other saints who propagated religious harmony and respect for all religions. Such teachings also need to be integrated in the curriculum of schools and colleges.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk(born June 28, 1971) is an businessman. He was born in South Africa. He moved to Canada and later became an American citizen. Musk is the current CEO & Chief Product Architect of Tesla, Inc., a company that makes electric vehicles. He is also the CEO of Solar City, a company that makes solar panels, and the CEO & CTO of SpaceX, an aerospace company. In August 2020, Bloomberg ranked Musk third among the richest people on the planet with net worth to be $198 billion. In January 2021, Musk became the richest person in the world with a net worth of US$209 billion.

When Jeff Bezos first started his virtual venture, he wanted to call the company Cadabra, as in abracadabra. He phoned his Seattle lawyer to try out the name, but the attorney misheard Bezos and replied, “Cadaver! Why would you want to call your company that?” Bezos quickly reconsidered and adopted the name Amazon.com, after the world’s second-largest river.


Despite Amazon’s stunning revenue numbers—the company’s gross profit in 2019 neared $115 billion—it hardly ever declares a major profit, as Bezos’ strategy has always been to reinvest profits into the company’s growth. But that doesn’t bother Jeff Bezos. “To be profitable [now] would be would be a bad decision,” he told PC Week. “This is a critical formative time if you believe in investing in the future.” By expanding the site’s offerings far beyond it’s initial book inventory, Bezos has turned Amazon into the largest online retailer in the world. “There are always three or four brands that matter,” Bezos told PC Week. “With the lead we have today, we should be the No. 1 player.”

Amazon’s runaway growth has made Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world. By owning 12 percent of the company, Bezos’ net worth is estimated to be $116 billion. He maintains the world’s richest man status despite going through a divorce in with wife MacKenzie, who received 4% of Amazon in the settlement (valued at $38 billion). But you wouldn’t know how rich Bezos is from his pay stub. He has collected the same $81,840 salary from the company for over two decades.

The origin of Month July

July is the seventh month of the year. It was originally the fifth month of the Roman calendar, which consists of 31 days. This month was named for a Roman general, Julius Ceaser. Quintils is the roman name of July month. It means fifth. The albeit ruler , Julius was born in this month.its in his honour that month name changed to July.

July belongs to the Zodiac sign cancer and Leo.Those who born between 21June to July 22have the zodiac sign Leo whereas for those who born between July 23 to August 22 have Leo as a Zodiac sign.

July is warmest month in Northern Hemisphere and coolest in Southern Hemisphere.July’s birth flower is water lily and birth stone is Ruby.Ruby is symbol of contentment.The full moon of July month is known as Buck moon.It is also called Thunder moon and Wort moon.

Which countries are open for Indian tourists.

Destinations such as Maldives, Croatia, South Africa, Switzerland, Russia, Lebanon, Germany, Ukraine, UAE, Turkey and Iceland have started allowing non-essential travel, subject to vaccination or other conditions.

India’s biggest online travel portal, MakeMyTrip, has seen a 35% jump in searches for international leisure packages in July compared to that in the previous month, with the Maldives and Russia ranking high on the list of preferred destinations.

“As positivity rates drop, we hope it encourages more countries to open their borders to Indian travellers,” said Vinay Malhotra, regional group chief operating officer, South Asia, Middle East and North Africa and Americas at visa processing firm VFS Global.

Aloke Bajpai, group CEO at Ixigo, said search enquiries on the company’s platform for travel to overseas destinations have seen 80-85% increase in July as compared to last month. “With several countries easing travel restrictions, interest in leisure international travel to countries such as the Maldives, Switzerland, Germany, Qatar and Turkey is rising,” he said.

Some countries such as Qatar and Switzerland require a full vaccination certificate (Covishield) from Indian travellers. Iceland has given an option to travellers to either submit a full vaccination certificate or a Covid-19 recovery certificate. Unvaccinated travellers can travel to countries such as the Maldives, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Nepal and Ukraine by providing a negative RT-PCR report issued within 72 hours of departure.

To cash in on the increasing interest, SOTC Travel has introduced a range of offers such as ‘Buy One Get One Free – Get your Companion’s Holiday Free’ for overseas destinations. Daniel D’souza, country head for leisure at the company, said the most popular destinations in terms of enquiries include Dubai, the Maldives, Russia and Switzerland. The company has seen a 35-40% increase week-on-week in enquiries, he said.

Kanika TTekriwal, CEO, JetSetGo Aviation, said travellers are still conscious about the high likelihood of contracting the virus via regular flights. As a result, her private jet and helicopter services company has been seeing 10-12 booking queries each day since air travel suspension was lifted for the Maldives and some European countries.

Effects of air pollution

Effects of air pollution

  • Human health
  • Animals
  • Plants
  • Material
  • Stratosphere
  • Environment

Impact on plants

  • Reduced plant growth
  • Damage to leaves of crops plant
  • Susceptible to disease, pest, Frost

Impact on materials

  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Monument, sites

Impact on health

  • By VOCs, suspended particles
  • Lung cancer
  • Headache, dizziness
  • Respiratory diseases
    • Asthma – By SO2, smoking
    • Bronchitis – NO2
    • Influenza, cold- NO2

Effect on human health

  • Irritation of eye, nose and throat.
  • In severe cases, there may be headache, nausea and loss of coordination and concentration.
  • It lowers our resistance to cold and pneumonia.
  • CO has affinity towards hemoglobin which cause disturbance in
    • transportation of oxygen
    • impairing our concentration
    • slow our reflexes
    • make us confused and sleepy
    • feel suffocation.
  • SO2 in the air lead to disease of lung and other lung disorders such as wheezing and shortness of breath.
  • Chronic respiratory disease- lung cancer, heart disease, damage to the brain liver or kidney.
  • Effect of arsenic, Asbestos, Mercury and Benzene can cause mutation, reproduction problems or even cancer.

Effects on plant

  • Pollutant enters through stomata.
  • Pollutant Erode waxy coating of the leaves called cuticle
    • Cuticle prevent excessive water loss and damage from disease pest, drought and Frost.
  • Destroy chlorophyll
  • Affect photosynthesis
  • Damage of leaf structure causes :-
    1. Necrosis – damage to leaf structure.
    2. Chlorosis- loss /reduction of chlorophyll causing yellowing of leaves.
    3. Abscission – Dropping of leave.
    4. Epinasty – Downward curling of leaves.
    5. Death of plants.

Effect on aquatic life

  • Precipitation in the form of acid rain cause high acidity in freshwater lake.
  • Acid rain affect aquatic life especially fish.
  • Some of freshwater lake have experienced total fish death.

Effect on material

  • Due to corrosiveness, particulates can cause damage to exposed surfaces.
  • Ozone causes crackling of rubber.
  • SO2 and water form H2S – corrosion as well as disfigurement of Statue made up of limestone or marble.
  • Oxides of Nitrogen can cause fading of cotton and Rayon fibres.

Effect on environment

Global warming
  • Visibility
  • Pollutants in the presence of Sunlight produce photochemical smog.
  • Emission of greenhouse gases tends to global warming.
  • Chlorofluorocarbons carbons also cause Ozone layer depletion.

The phenomenon of trapping and reradiating heat by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is referred to Greenhouse effect.

  • Natural greenhouse effect keep Earth warm .
  • Global mean temperature of earth is + 15 degree Celsius.
  • Water vapour, CO2, H2O, CH4, ozone and cfcs present in minute quantities but maintain the temperature of Earth.
  • In the absence of greenhouse gases, the temperature of earth would be much lower than – 20 degree Celsius.

Enhanced greenhouse effect means global warming.

You, me and the screens

21 Virtual Graduation Ideas 2021 — How to Throw a Virtual Graduation Party

No one ever knew that coronavirus would stay on this long, and a 21 days lockdown would extend to a year and half now. All the plans, the expectations of getting a normal grad-farewell, went nowhere but into an invisible bin in space.
Day by day, breath by breath, I find it hard to live, to exist; sitting and wasting the last year of my graduation attending lectures online – what worse could happen. But no. The worse was yet to come an online farewell?! For real?

I get that this is not really as worse as the situation is out there. Millions of people have lost thier jobs and their only source of income. Many corners of the world has peoples starving to death. Here every passing second, I can hear the intensity of sirens increasing next street. My phone is buzzed with calls of my parents asking if I’m doing okay and also my relatives informing that they tested positive and we could do nothing but just be there emotionally, a thousand miles apart. Just like the cases, the number of deaths of knowns and unknowns are increasing and I’m so intimidated by the pain and anxiety this has left us with.

If we look back when everything was normal, when we could roam around with our friends and family, when we could have things we craved for at that instance, when we could watch skies changing colours while the sun setting down over chit chatting with our friends, when we could stay with them even if the sky turned dark. When there were no curfews, no restrictions, we could stay that way as long as we wished for.
Only if we knew in March’20, maybe then, we could hold on to our closer ones a little longer, we would enjoy that last sunset together a little longer, we would enjoy that one last meal together a little longer.
Only if we knew that time, we would appreciate those small little things more than we ever did. This pandemic taught us few lessons though; to reconnect with our loved ones; to appreciate and be grateful for every little joy of happinesses.

Ever since our births, we’re always taught to look at the brighter picture. This pandemic taught us few lessons though; to reconnect with our loved ones; to appreciate and be grateful for every little joy of happinesses. Even if we’re miles apart from our loved ones, we’re still connected to them by these screens; these megapixel screens act as a ray of hope to the darkness of despair around. In the end, all that I have now is just me and these megapixel screens. But, is it really an end if it’s not a happy one? Somewhere deep down in our hearts we still know we’re going to live that life before Covid again; where we would step out of our houses without masks & sanitizers. But this time hasn’t come yet. So, we still have to follow all the safety precautions as we know together we can get through this.

“United we stand, divided we fall”

Feminism: A Myth

All over the world people are misguided about the word feminism. According to you what does feminism mean? Is it to put men down and rule the world or is it to enjoy everything a man can? Let’s discuss about various myths and the actual meaning of feminism and the significance of it in a women’s life.

According to the Oxford dictionary feminism means “the belief that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men“. In more simpler words feminism is all about the equality between men and women and have the freedom of everything that they wish to do. Some people argue that they believe in ‘equality’ but they have no belief in feminism. Feminism has been made critical despite of it being a very simple concept.

From ancient times women are pointed out for the way they dress and for their aspirations. They have been constantly told to dress in a certain way and to live their life according to the norms of the society. Women are fighting for their equal rights from centuries for there right to vote, right to speech and freedom. People in the society have framed a woman according to their needs and expect them to fulfill their expectations. A married woman taking care of her husband, her in-laws and looking after their children is considered to be the ideal one whereas if she wants to work and be dependent, she is criticised and often being questioned on her motherhood. Similar type of Criticism she faces at her work place. These are the basic yet essential inequality that a women regularly faces.

Women-Women Conflict regarding feminism

Sometimes women also take feminism in a wrong way. They think that being a feminist means to humiliate men and they often misuse their power of being a women by falsely accusing a men in a crime. This is basically pseudo feminism. Women around the world debates for the real meaning of feminism which sometimes leads to conflicts. Some women of old generation are also against feminism and consider it as uncultural.

Myths

  • Feminists hate men.
  • Feminists are angry.
  • Feminists are unattractive and not feminine.
  • All feminists are lesbians.
  • Feminists are all pro-choice.
  • If you are a feminist, you cannot be religious.
  • All feminists are career women and do not support stay-at-home moms.
  • Feminists are Bra- Burners who hate sex.
  • Feminists can only be women.
  • Feminists don’t believe in marriage.

If you have ever found yourself saying “I’m not a feminist, but I am for equality,” then ask yourself why you do not claim the title? If it is because of the misconceptions of what a feminist truly is then empower yourself to raise awareness about what feminism is really all about. 

Feminists are all about equality between genders– which means feminists don’t want women to be more powerful than men any more than we want men more powerful than women. What may seem like a discriminatory act against men is actually an attempt to level the playing field between men and women.

While huge strides have been made towards complete gender equality, a great deal of work remains to be done, both in India and abroad, including the gender pay gap, access to reproductive healthcare, protection against sexual assault and violence and gender representation in media, among other issues.

How a Guy Can Be a Feminist?

Basically feminism is not only committed to changing negative stereotypes about being a woman. A large facet of feminism is understanding streotypes about masculinity and its effects on society and what it means to be a man. If you care about equality for your mother, daughter, grandmother, girlfriend, a friend, who is female then feminism should be important to you. Additionally, feminism is about equality for all marginalized groups- equality for those who are LGBTQIA, disabled, and ethnic and racial minorities. Caring about feminism means caring about people who fit into these categories.

Being a feminist is not something to be ashamed of. It is the right of every person who believes in equality for all.

Thank you for reading!

WHAT DOES ADOLESCENCE NEED?

Need for independence

With the growing physical and mental development an adolescent wants to express his opinion independently, to take part in different social activities and to become self-dependent like any adult member of the society. On attaining adolescence, the child who earlier used to depend on his elders, finds himself full of life and energy and cannot help but to take part in the diverse activities of the society. Thus, he defies the dominance of his elders and wants to proceed in life independently

Need for self-recognition

The adolescents not only want to take part in different social activities but also want self-recognition. They want to attract attention of other people by showing their abilities. The children in adolescence want to project themselves before the society in such a way so that people can appreciate their qualities and give them due respect and recognition.

Need for self-expression

There is a great desire among the children in adolescence to express their feelings, thoughts and ideas. At this age, every child wants to express himself in his area of proficiency like sports, dramatics, studies, music, literature, art or any other medium.

Need for social life

One of the important needs of adolescents is to take part in the greater social environment. Before entering into the age of adolescence, children do not get much scope to mix with people outside their family. But as they attain adolescence children want to experience the greater social-life and want to get involved closely in different social activities. This need for social life gets an outlet when the adolescents involve themselves in the activities of different social institutions like club, social welfare committee, community service etc.

Need for self-reliance

Another important need of children in adolescence is the need for self-reliance. There is a great desire among the children of this age to become self-reliant as soon as they attain puberty. And they start dreaming about their future professions and the ways to establish themselves in their respective fields. The children of this age are also very eager to acquire professional qualifications according to their choice.

Need for Philosophy of life, morality and need to know the unknown

The children in adolescence want to have a philosophy of life, a clear concept of morality and want to know all the things which are unknown to them. They have a lot of inquiries regarding the basic purpose of life. They want to know how human life can be goal-directed and what is the main aim of life. When the children attain puberty, they also indulge in a great deal of thinking over the concept of right and wrong, good and bad. They want to evaluate all the activities of themselves and people around them in accordance with the concept of right and wrong. There is always a tendency among them to do whatever is morally right. And if they do something morally wrong, they go through terrible mental agony. At adolescence, there is also a great desire among the children to know what is unknown to them. The new discoveries of science have a great influence on the minds of adolescents.

Need to satisfy sex-related curiosity

As the children attain puberty they develop a deep sex-related curiosity. This curiosity greatly perturbs them as the result of natural outcome of their sexual development. First, they try to satisfy this curiosity by natural means. But later, by being ignored or scolded by the elders, they try to satisfy this curiosity through abnormal ways. Adolescence is one of the important stages of growth and development of the child. At this stage a unique disturbance develops in the mind of the child. According to modern Psychologists, this disturbance in the mind of the child is not an essential outcome of his physical development, rather it occurs in the mind of adolescents because of unfavourable environment.

How Contemporary Father’s are postively parenting their daughters!

According to Barnett and Kibґiа, positive parent-child relationships heighten many different aspects of psychological well-being while these negative relationships produce psychological distress. Our society mainly concerns mother and child relationships and understanding the impact of the father and daughter relationship on society is almost negligible.

Daughters who have or are being raised under disruptive relations with their fathers are generally plagued with a host of problems throughout their lives and too often problems harming their psychological health, their children as well as other interpersonal relations.

In the age period of adolescence or as young adult women, these girls are more likely to develop psychological and emotional problems and they are more likely to become depressed than the daughters who maintain close relationships with their fathers (Amatο&Dοrius, 2010; Cаrlsοn, 2006; King &Sobοleski, 2006; Stеwart, 2003).

Father – An Underestimated parent

Fathering, since the era of kings and kingdoms were considered a prominent part of the patriarchal society where the sons/daughters were brought up by the fathers whereas the mother was the second parent for their children. The king was the one who taught their sons and daughters about archery and self-defense.  “Man is the creator of the universe”, as rightly pointed in Hinduism and other religion, as Lord Brahma is the creator of the universe and he is the man behind the lives of many living bodies. Man is considered as the priority for giving a contribution to a new soul, without a man a woman cannot contribute to a new life.

Therefore, a father is always a major part of the upbringing of the children.

Father and their Daughter’s :

The reflection of the father affects a daughter’s psyche as her first impression of the opposite gender depends upon firstly looking to her father as her other romantic relationship affects the way she has a positive relationship with her father. The stronger bond she has with her father, the more vigorous and strong understanding she will have for her romantic partner.

Good Parenting is very crucial to build a child with optimistic behavior and psyche. The mindset of any child depends majorly on the place he/she has grown up. The environment impacts a lot in a child’s initial stage of development.

Due to certain cultural and societal norms, we can examine that nurturing of children are often imposed on the mother as a mother is rightly a source of invention, a mother gives life to a soul, so her existence often becomes prominent as she is biologically more connected to a child before he/she is born. Often in this scenario, fathers are distant from their children due to certain norms set by the society that a father is a breadwinner, protector, head of the family, and a medium of finance in the family. So, the Mother becomes a center point of upbringing children,

 As we scrutinize any culture and society, a mother is often subjected if her child is not appropriate in his/her behavior in the further stages of life as the mindset of parenting is towards a mother, not a father!

But as we look in the contemporary society and family structure, we see that fathers are taking a lead role in parenting and this brings a major topic which is called “Fathering”.

Profoundly, fathers are becoming good fathers by having excellent fatherhood qualities that raise their children with a better persona.

Reasons why fathers have taken a lead and gave a contribution to parenting? Well, certain reasons which are so-called “contemporary issues or modern issues” like; divorce of parents, death of a partner, foster parenting, extramarital affairs of father or mother, etc are the reasons counted to be a change in parenting structure.

As we look at the optimistic side, the children raised by fathers are more confident in their professional and personal life as they consider their father as a reflection (to note that certain cases where contemporary issues are going inside the family). As per the study done by the experts in parenting and family structure of society brings us the data that those children who suffer the pain of losing parents or suffer from the environment where their parents do not have a good relation often tend to get discouraged and affects their personality and relationship with the outside world.

In certain cases, the family structure where there is a divorced single parent, the child is often depressed which somewhere or the other affects the cognitive, social, and emotional disbalance in his/her behavior which often makes them negative in personality.

Paternity vs Maternity:

In the provided 2 positions often there is a huge bridge between maternity (Motherhood) and Paternity (fatherhood). The quest is majorly upon, why do paternity be related to father? rather it is denoting both the parents, whereas maternity is only reflected, mother! Paternity is rightly fatherhood as a father is the main key to parenting as he is the divine creator of the whole universe. So, a father is a crucial part of parenting.

Fatherhood is a topic where still researchers are exploring and bringing new notions behind an ideal father-daughter relationship. The contemporary fathers create a benchmark for fathering and prove that fathering or paternity is specifically associated with the father and not the mother.

Breaking the Taboo:

A father in this contemporary society with all those societal norms and ethics breaks all those rules and nurture their daughters without any gender discrimination. The father nurturing was often misinterpreted as a father is a male and a daughter is a female. But this taboo is broken as fathers are the best companions of daughters in their early teenage life where a daughter goes through several body changes in which father becomes a guide, friend, motivator, therapist where she can share her psychological needs and boost her self-confidence by talking and sharing her thoughts with the first man in, her life.

“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed and yet, one of the most valuable assets in our society”

– Billy Graham

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

Raja Ram Mohan Roy, also the initiator in the Indian Renaissance ( a period in History that sees the transition in terms of Art and Literature) brought a revolution in society because of his positive approach towards life.  The title ‘Raja’ was bestowed upon him by the Mughal emperor Akbar II, in 1831. From his early childhood only he was outward and had a different perspective of seeing life. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born on August 14, 1774, to Ramakanta Roy and Tarini Devi in Radhanagar village of Hoogly district, Bengal Presidency. He belonged to a wealthy Brahmin family but his father was orthodox. At the early age of 14 yrs only he wanted to become a monk but his mother simply denied it.

Personal life.

He married thrice and had two sons from his second wife. His first two wives died early but his third wife survived even after his death. He got his education in Bengali and Sanskrit from his village school. Later he was sent to Patna for higher education and to learn Persian and Arabic languages which were a part of the Mughal court. He was fond of studying and read Quran. Further, he went to Kashi to master Sanskrit and in no time he learnt it and started reading scriptures, Vedas and Upanishads. After attaining knowledge in these languages he started studying English. Euclid and Aristotle had a huge impact on his thinking. After attaining so much knowledge from various sources gave a new dimension to his life which even he was not aware of. He had never thought that because of him, society will change he will become the creator of the new modern society. After getting his education, he started working as a clerk under the service of East India Company. Later he was promoted to the position of Diwan. This was all due to his dedication to his work.

Abolition of Sati Pratha

While the society saw a lot of changes and barbarism, Raja Ram Mohan Roy thought of changing the society so he talked to Lord William Benedick who helped him after seeing his plea. He made a rule that Sati Pratha would not be followed anymore. Those who tried doing so would be prosecuted. It was very difficult to accept the new normal but it proved to be a blessing in disguise for the girls.

Pardah system

The time when wearing a mask in hot weather is so difficult, we can understand how difficult it must have been for women to cover themselves or to keep a veil around them, But it was done. The time when trying to change society was almost impossible, Raja Ram Mohan came up with the idea of changing the mentality. He opposed the idea, brought a revolution, and unveiled an era of freedom for women for which women are still thankful to him that he understood the problems of a woman in spite of being a man.

Child Marriage

These days it is very common not to be married even at the age of 30 yrs and during the Eighteenth century… children were married at an early age of 8-9 yrs. It was important for people to understand that a child does not have the mental capacity to understand relations till the time he/ she attains maturity and he/she needs to understand himself first. During that period Raja Ram Mohan Roy stopped this corruption in the society as he himself was a sufferer in the hands of fate due to his three marriages.

Brahmo Samaj

He founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828, Its chief aim was the worship of the eternal God. It was against priesthood, rituals, and sacrifices. It focused on prayers, meditation, and reading of the scriptures. It was against idol worship and followed the British learnings. Today it exists in the name of Adi Dharma.

CONCLUSION

We learn from him that it is very important to raise our voice against misdeeds and injustice…we expect a change in society but we ourselves are not ready to change. It is mandatory as said by Gandhiji “ to be the change that you wish to see in the society .’’ 

Pride, prejudice and arrogance.


Augustine, it is “the love of one’s own excellence.”

Pride:

Pride is a double edged sword.

Pride is usually considered in 2 ways
1) The feeling of satisfaction that comes from one’s own achievement or those affiliated to us.
2) Having a high opinion of oneself which sometimes expresses itself in the form of arrogance or excessive belief over one’s abilities.

The opposite of pride is humility

Prejudice:


It is described as a stereotyped attitude towards a particular social group.
There are many types of prejudices. There’s ageism, sexism, racism, those from different religions and ethnic groups, people who are overweight or underweight,  people with sexual orientations and the list is endless.
It varies according to environment who are more likely to become a target. -Prejudice does not need a base or proof. It is mostly based on an individual’s delusional theory regarded someone/something because of something they went through.

-Scientific postulates need proof, trial, and error, and goes through thorough objective examination to form a theory.
It is deduced from natural occurrences to aid the growth of every being on Earth.

-Thus there is a clear boundary between prejudice and science.
Thinking that a human born into an ethnicity they had no control over, is preposterous cannot be ever justified.
Well, I mean have thought over this.
You treat them like a monster, take away the room for growth, or won’t let them have an understanding of the world, force upon them their ancestors or someone’s act, treat their every mistake or an act of love as sin.
You are letting them realize that no matter what they do, they will always be regarded as criminals. In order to live a normal life, in order to escape from Hell on Earth, they will have no option but to take actions that align with their prejudices to have a chance at life.
Aren’t you giving birth to the one you are so wary about? How will assuming negative about someone you haven’t met going to remove the things you want?


It is humane to worry about wolves in sheep’s clothing, it is natural to protect someone you love. But hatred and pride blind not only you but also others from peace, from a true safe environment.
   The mutual understanding that prejudice exists but at the same time, trying to resolve those by complete honesty and understanding will protect you from external influences ( yes, I mean someone who wants conflicts to exist between the groups), and will give the groups a chance to make way for growth despite the differences.
It is very easy for me to say and I realize how idealistic or dreamy it seems, but without interaction between conflicting groups, without a wish to make things better for innocent ones around you, the casualties, hatred, and stereotypes are bound to grow and create wars. 

When prejudice causes a group to be treated differently than others in situations that call for equal treatment, it is called discrimination.

Arrogance:


It can simply be defined as aggressive evolution of pride, and manifested in form of extreme expression emotionally (within one’s mind or vocally).  To exaggerate one’s own worth or importance often in a pompous manner.

  • Doesn’t believe they can mistakes or faults.
  • Tries to put blame on others.
  • Creates a fearful environment.
  • Always wants to be right.

We will talk about the thin line between pride and arrogance soon in following articles. 🙂