Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev(Full Name:Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj), regarded as the greatest Indian all-rounder and one of the best all-rounders in the history of cricket, was born on 6th of January, 1959 in Chandigarh, India. He represented India and Haryana at national and state level respectively. He also played for Northamptonshire and Worcestershire during his career. He is known for being the only cricketer to have scored more than 5000 runs and picked over four hundred wickets. His greatest achievement was leading an underdog Indian to glory in the 1983 ICC Cricket World Cup.  

Kapil Dev entered the scene of professional cricket with his debut for his state team Haryana in first-class cricket. His debut match was against Punjab in the Ranji Trophy in 1975-76. He impressed by picking 6 wickets for 39 runs in this match. He started bowling as a spinner in this match and later switched to fast medium bowling. He batted right-arm and bowled right-arm fast medium pace. He was a middle-order batsman with tremendous power and was known for power hitting. His ability to bowl and bat fast racked to the national team. He made his debut for the Indian national cricket team during the 1978-79 series against Pakistan. In his debut appearance, he picked seven wickets in the series. He was nicknamed as ‘Haryana Hurricane’.

Kapil Dev was the sixth child in his family. His parents were Ram Lal Nikhanj and Raj Kumari Lajwanti, who had moved from Rawalpindi to Chandigarh during the Partition. His father ran a construction and timber business. Right from a young age he was interested in games than academics. He gained attention at a higher level when he was just thirteen years old. He asked to fill up a spot in one of Chandigarh sector teams. His performances led to repeated call ups. This attracted selectors from the state level and was picked in the state team. At his time, he was the only true fast bowler India possessed. Throughout his career, he played with aggression and matchless passion. He was filled with energy and self reliant even when he was young. Kapil Dev regards his father as his role model and idolised G. R. Vishwanath when growing up. G. R. Vishwanath was a match winner in those days and is regarded as one of the greatest Indian batsmen. The Indian team never lost a match whenever Vishwanath scored a century. 

There were many highlights during his career: leading the Indian to victory in 1983 World Cup, his match saving knock of 175 not out including 22 boundaries against Zimbabwe, becoming the youngest player to score two thousand runs and pick two hundred wickets. At the end of his international test career, he boasted a record 434 wickets including 23 five-fors (which was later broken by Courtney Walsh) and 5000 runs with the bat. In one day internationals, he managed to score 3783 runs and pick 253 wickets which consisted of one hundred and one five wicket haul. His first class record is equally impressive with the numbers of 10,800 runs including sixteen centuries and 815 wickets. He was declared as the Indian cricketer of the century by Wisden magazine in 2002. Since his retirement, he has been involved in cricket administration and broadcasting roles.

References:

Cricbuzz

SELF-LOVE

See the source image

Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth. Self-love means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. Self-love means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others. Self-love means not settling for less than you deserve. When you love yourself, you have an overall positive view of yourself. This doesn’t mean you feel positive about yourself all the time. That would be unrealistic! For example, I can temporarily feel upset, angry, or disappointed with myself and still love myself. If this is confusing, think about how this works in other relationships. I can love my son even though I sometimes feel angry or disappointed with him. Even in the midst of my anger and disappointment, my love for him informs how I relate to him. It allows me to forgive him, consider his feelings, meet his needs, and make decisions that will support his wellbeing. Self-love is very much the same. Which means, if you know how to love others, you know how to love yourself!

Self-love can mean something different for each person because we all have many different ways to take care of ourselves. Figuring out what self-love looks like for you as an individual is an important part of your mental health. Self-love means accepting yourself as you are in this very moment for everything that you are. It means accepting your emotions for what they are and putting your physical, emotional and mental well-being first.

Ways to practice self-love include:

  • Becoming mindful. People who have more self-love tend to know what they think, feel, and want.
  • Taking actions based on need rather than want. By staying focused on what you need, you turn away from automatic behavior patterns that get you into trouble, keep you stuck in the past, and lessen self-love.
  • Practicing good self-care. You will love yourself more when you take better care of your basic needs. People high in self-love nourish themselves daily through healthy activities, like sound nutrition, exercise, proper sleep, intimacy and healthy social interactions.
  • Making room for healthy habits. Start truly caring for yourself by mirroring that in what you eat, how you exercise, and what you spend time doing. Do stuff, not to “get it done” or because you “have to,” but because you care about you.

Why is self-love important

If you grew up without any models for self-love or anyone who talked to you about the importance of being good to yourself, you might question its value. Well, without self-love, you’re likely to be highly self-critical and fall into people-pleasing and perfectionism. You’re more likely to tolerate abuse or mistreatment from others. You may neglect your own needs and feelings because you don’t value yourself. And you may self-sabotage or make decisions that aren’t in your own best interest. Self-love is the foundation that allows us to be assertive, set boundaries and create healthy relationships with others, practice self-care, pursue our interests and goals, and feel proud of who we are.

Movie Review- The Perfect Date

Movie The perfect date

In olden days love was simple , yet turned out to be the most beautiful one. But as the technology developed and world became modernized day after the other , people expected same out of love. They wanted something unique and exquisite out of love. In this process they fail to understand the real version of their partners. They struggle to unleash the real version of their inner soul to their soulmates(find another word). Most people are attracted by the gifts and gestures by their partners with no clue how they feel about the same. This is the reason why we are getting a feeling that love is complicated.

Driven by Dreams:

The hero is a young high school lad who has 3 important dreams

  1. To get admission in Yale University
  2. To have the most popular girl in the city as his girlfriend
  3. To have his own luxury car
    He works after his school in a subway shop to save money for his education. Disheartened by the fact that he is not able to save enough money for his expenditure , he is desperate to find ways that will fetch him more money. Once he was offered money to take a girl called Celia to a date. That’s when an idea sparkled in his mind. With the help of his friend he built an app where girls can book him for a date with their expectations out of him so that he can match them on the date.

Realisation:

The idea worked out. Bookings started to pour down from all over the city and he was overwhelming with the success. He changed himself everyday according to the expectations of the girl he dates. He also starts to date the most popular girl in the city.But at one point of time he realises he has lost the ones who have loved him for who he was without any expectations. Things he did to bring back things normal and the ways he cherished what he had in his life unfolds thereafter.

Love is all about accepting the person for who they are at the moment . Anything that is force fed will not last longer. Also there is no time for that you must fall in love. You can take your own time to figure things out.

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/12/712246447/the-perfect-date-a-teen-romcom-by-any-other-name-is-reasonably-swee

JOURNEY TO SANITY – DOUBLE STANDARDS

EMOTIONS ARE GENDER NEUTRAL

We have been conditioned in such a way that it is believed, that women are supposed to be fragile and sensitive in nature where as men are supposed to be thick-skinned and emotionally numb. However, in reality emotions are gender neutral. It’s not manly to be strong and harsh. And similarly, it’s not feminine to be weak and to cry. The experiences faced by men or women might be different but since they are both humans and have emotions, it is not wrong to express it.
(So, the next time someone tells you to man up and stop crying, you know what to say)

SHARING RESPONSIBILITIES AND RESPECTING THE OPINIONS OF YOUR PARTNER DOES NOT MAKE YOU A ‘JORU KA GULAM‘

Understanding, Compassion and Mutual – Respect should be the basis for any healthy relationship. It is the basic need of a human to be heard and acknowledged. Hence, it doesn’t make a man a ‘Joru Ka Gulam’ if he is respectful to the opinions of his partner and understands him/her. Society in general tends to question and mock those changes that question their years of belief. In order to avoid their inner-conflict, they discourage the progressive mass so that they don’t have to change and no one can question them. (Yes, kind of like a defence mechanism – Pointing fingers at the other person before they point at you).

FAMILY RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD NOT BE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF A MAN OR A WOMEN.

Two people form a relationship and they are called partners for a reason. They are part responsible for every aspect of a household. So why should the burden of the entire family fall on the shoulders of a single person. It is normal for a woman to have a successful career and to support a family financially. (No, it doesn’t make him less manly by earning less or letting his wife handle finances). Similarly, household chores should not be the sole responsibility of a women. It doesn’t make a man submissive if he cooks for his partner or does basic household chores. Rather, such relationships are built on mutual respect and compassion which tend to last longer.

STRONG, BRAVE AND INDEPENDENT ARE NOT TERMS SYNONYMOUS WITH MEN.

It is acceptable for a women to be strong yet sensitive, to be scared yet courageous enough to face it. Adjectives like strong, brave are often used for men, whereas it’s completely normal for a women to have each of those qualities. We have women officers who are equally as brave as the men. There are men who prefer household work over finances and it doesn’t make them dependant on their partners or submissive in any way.

Do not forget to read more from the series 🙂

JOURNEY TO SANITY – ACCEPTANCE

JOURNEY TO SANITY – SUNSHINE 🌤️

JOURNEY TO SANITY – MINDFULNESS

JOURNEY TO SANITY -JOURNALING

OPEC

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC):

• A permanent Intergovernmental Organization ofb14-oil exporting developing nations.

• Created in 1960 at the Baghdad conference by
Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

• The other members of OPEC include Algeria,NAngola, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, and United Arab Emirates.

• Qatar which was a member, left OPEC on
January 2019.

• Other oil exporting nations join OPEC meetings as

observers.

• Mission:
 To ensure that they remain stable so that there is an efficient, economic and
regular supply of petroleum, to the consumers.
 To ensure steady income to the oil producers. It will also ensure the business interests of the investors in the petroleum industry.

• Headquartered at Vienna, Austria.

• The OPEC Secretariat – executive organ:
located in Vienna.

• Releases the publication called the ‘World Oil
Outlook’. OPEC+ :

• A group of 24 oil-producing nations: 14 members of the OPEC; and 10 other non-OPEC members, including Russia.

• Born in 2017 with a deal to coordinate oil production among the countries in a bid to the stabilize prices of oil.

• Reached deals for members to voluntarily cut and ramp-up production in response to changes in global oil prices.

• Members collectively agree on how much oil to produce.

2300 year old step well found near Erode

Kodumanal Excavation site

• Located – Erode, a district in Tamil Nadu.

• Northern bank of the Noyyal river – Tributary of River Cauvery.

• Excavation – Megalithic period; Early historic period. • Habitation-cum-industrial site.

• Excavations since 1981.

• Industrial complex – beads and semi- precious stones were manufactured.

• Iron smelting units – forged steel at the site.
• Trade centre – 5th – 1st BCE. • Village – Chera capital of Karur with the Chera port of Muciri in Pattnam in Kerala.

Excavations

• Circle-shaped step-well – found for the first time. • Scientific dating – 2,300 years old.

• 2020 – Rubble masonry wall of 3.5 metres – waterway.

• Current excavation – trench was dug near the
last year’s trench • Result – Discovery of the well.
• Well – 2.65 metres wide; Depth – deposits were
removed.

• Steps – weathered rocks, slopes down from the
ground to the well that served the habitation.

• Two rubble masonry walls existed on either
side of the steps.

• Site – habitation come industrial site
 Water – Used both for household needs as
well as for polishing beads and other industrial activities.
• Other Findings:
 Pottery – Black and red ware, black slipped
ware, russet coated ware and red slipped ware.
 Beads – Quartz and clay.
 Potsherds
 Megalithic cairn circle
 Iron sword
 Double edged axe
 Small daggers

Huge spike in fuels prices

Huge spike in fuels prices

• Four factors influencing rise in prices:
 Crude oil, freight and processing charges to the dealer.
 Excise duty charged by the
government.
 Dealer commission to the gas station.
 Value Added Tax levied by the state government.

Impacts of taxes on fuel price hike

• Increasing central and state taxes on fuel – key
reason for high fuel prices.

• 2020: Centre hiked the excise duty on petrol and
diesel by Rs. 13 and 16 per litre.
 To shore up revenues.

• Example: In Delhi, central and state taxes – 57 % of
pump prices of petrol and is about 51.4 % for diesel.

• Central government has not cut central taxes – taxes
on auto fuels should be cut to curb inflation.

Fuel price hike and inflation

• When fuel prices rise, so does inflation.

• Higher the inflation – lower will be the inflation-adjusted returns.

• India’s retail inflation became 6.3% in May 2021- breached the upper
limit of RBI (6%).

Way forward

• ICRA: government may cut cess levies on retail prices
of petrol and diesel to ease prices.

• Petrol consumption is estimated to grow 14% and diesel 10% year-on-year in FY22.
 Reason: Recovering economic activities and mobility – easing of curbs and accelerating Covid19 vaccinations.

• Higher consumption of fuels – support a rise in the
indirect taxes levied on them. • Growth in consumption would result in Rs. 40,000 crore of extra cess collections.

• Existing fuel price can be cut by ₹4.50 per litre for
petrol and diesel.

Life Is Precious

  Life can’t be described by only one or two words. It is a mixture of everything. The mixture of happiness and sadness, success and failure, comfort and pain, love and hatred, relief and sorrow and struggle and giving up. Life is not perfect, but it is beautiful.

Life is a journey. Everyone takes every step in a very unique way. The journey may take you down by great storms and bumpy roads but it does not matter, what matters the most is how many times you stand up and continue. Each moment in your journey of life, you are presented with an opportunity to react differently. You may even make the same choices over and over again because you do not know otherwise. You have the power to change things and not to walk around in a constant circle.

A new experience every time influences a person’s way of looking at life. Thus, there cannot be one single way in which one cannot look at life. Consequently there cannot be one single meaning and purpose that one might find to his or her life. Some of us, especially the ones who suffer in life, try to relate it to the lives of people around us who have suffered the same or more.

It shows how life carries on even after death, almost taking the course of the ancient. Every devotee believe that the soul leaves the body after death, and the body goes back to dust. Life is not about the body or the soul. Life is what is beyond the body and the soul. That is the reason why it continues even after death in various forms. 

Vaccine passport system introduce by European union.

News

• New Vaccine passport system has come into effect across the European Union from July 1st

Green Passport

• European Union – EU Digital COVID Certificate.
 Ease travel restrictions for people travelling to
EU countries.

• Digital proof – Attests informations of the person.
 Vaccinated by any one of the four European Medicines Agency approved vaccines.
 Received a negative test result.
 Recovered from the viral infection.

• Certificate – digital signature which is verified
when the QR code is scanned. • Issuing body – own digital signature key, all of which
are stored in a secure database in each country.

• Certificate – recognized by all 27 EU countries,
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway.

• Possession of the certificate – exempted from free
movement restrictions.

• Member States – refrain from imposing additional
travel restrictions unless necessary.

• Lack of certificate – subjected to the usual travel
restrictions and quarantine rules which are in effect
in every country.

Issue

• EMA – listed only four vaccines.
 Vaxzevria (Oxford-AstraZeneca)
 Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech)
 Spikevax (Moderna)
 Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).

• None of the three vaccines – approved for use in India till date is featured on the list.
 Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V.

• Only essential travel is allowed into EU
countries and that too special permission has
to be taken.

• Global concerns – Delta variant (first detected
in India), more restrictions are put in place.

Stand of the European Union

• Reason behind excluding – Serum Institute of India’s Covishield is a biologically different product.
 Needs to apply separately for EMA clearance.

• Serum Institute of India and AstraZeneca – Process of seeking clearances.

• Covaxin – yet to gain recognition from the
World Health Organization.

• Claim – Hint of racism.
 Vaccines cleared by the EMA are those taken
by residents in Europe and North America.

World Health Organisation

• Stand of the WHO
 Vaccine passports should not be made mandatory for travel and should be optional.
 The proof of COVID-19 vaccination should not
be required as a condition of entry and exit from a country.

India’s stand on the Issue

• Recent G20 ministerial conference – External Affairs
Minister registered a strong protest over the issue.

• Sources – India was prepared to initiate reciprocal harsh quarantine measures against countries that discriminate against Indians.

India’s concerns – three-fold

• Vaccine inequality – vaccine passports being restricted to passengers from countries that don’t have the same access to vaccines

• Gain recognition to Covishield

• Indian-approved vaccines – Worldwide recognition.
Stance of Africa .

• African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention – statement raising concerns
 Covishield vaccine was the “backbone” of the EU-supported international
COVAX alliance’s programme in Africa.

Current Status

• Nine countries – agreed to independently make
exemptions for Covishield
 Austria, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland,
the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland have.

• Estonia – accepted both Covishield and
Covaxin.

• Hope – enough pressure will be built on the EMA to include exemptions for Indian vaccines
as well.

Pet.

A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person’s company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence and relatable personalities, but some pets may be taken in on an altruistic basis (such as a stray animal) and accepted by the owner regardless of these characteristics.

Two of the most popular pets are dogs and cats; the technical term for a cat lover is an ailurophile and a dog lover a cynophile. Other animals commonly kept include: rabbits; ferrets; pigs; rodents, such as gerbils, hamsters, chinchillas, rats, mice, and guinea pigs; avian pets, such as parrots, passerines and fowls; reptile pets, such as turtles, alligators, crocodiles, lizards, and snakes; aquatic pets, such as fish, freshwater and saltwater snails, amphibians like frogs and salamanders; and arthropod pets, such as tarantulas and hermit crabs. Small pets may be grouped together as pocket pets, while the equine and bovine group include the largest companion animals.

Pets provide their owners (or “guardians”) both physical and emotional benefits. Walking a dog can provide both the human and the dog with exercise, fresh air and social interaction. Pets can give companionship to people who are living alone or elderly adults who do not have adequate social interaction with other people. There is a medically approved class of therapy animals, mostly dogs or cats, that are brought to visit confined humans, such as children in hospitals or elders in nursing homes. Pet therapy utilizes trained animals and handlers to achieve specific physical, social, cognitive or emotional goals with patients.

People most commonly get pets for companionship, to protect a home or property or because of the perceived beauty or attractiveness of the animals. A 1994 Canadian study found that the most common reasons for not owning a pet were lack of ability to care for the pet when traveling (34.6%), lack of time (28.6%) and lack of suitable housing (28.3%), with dislike of pets being less common (19.6%). Some scholars, ethicists and animal rights organizations have raised concerns over keeping pets because of the lack of autonomy and the objectification of non-human animals.

CHINA AWARDED A MALARIA FREE CERTIFICATION FROM WHO

News

• After a 70-year effort, China has been awarded a malaria-free certification from WHO.

Malaria

• A life-threatening disease caused by Plasmodium
parasites.

• Vector – Mosquito.

• P. falciparum and P. vivax pose the greatest threat.

• 2019: 229 million cases of malaria worldwide.

• Most malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Also prevalent in South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Western Pacific, and the
Americas.

• 40 countries/ territories are malaria-free -WHO.

• China – first country in WHO Western Pacific
Region to be awarded a malaria-free certification in more than 3 decades.
 Other countries in the region – Australia (1981), Singapore (1982) and Brunei
Darussalam (1987).

• India is not yet a malaria free country.

China’s Malaria elimination journey

• 1950s: Chinese health authorities worked to locate
and stop the spread of malaria.
 Provided preventive antimalarial medicines.

• A major effort to reduce mosquito breeding grounds

  • use of insecticide spraying. • 1967: Chinese Government launched the “523 Project”.
  •  Nation-wide research programme aimed at finding new treatments for malaria.
     Led to the discovery in the 1970s of artemisinin.
     Core compound of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) – most effective antimalarial drugs available today.
    • 1980s: China – one of the first countries in the world to extensively test the use
    of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs).
  • • 1988: more than 2.4 million nets had been
    distributed in China.
  • • 1990: number of malaria cases in China fell to 1,17,000; deaths were reduced by 95%
  • • Funding by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, launched in 2002.
  • • 2021: China was declared as a Malaria free country.

What are Differences between Copywriting vs. content writing

Copywriting vs. content writing—it’s all the same, right?

No, they are most definitely not the same. It’s not exactly the difference between apples and oranges—more like oranges and tangerines—but close enough. For young writers looking for work, it’s incredibly important to know the differences between the two; each presents a unique set of challenges and skills to do well. Here, we pinpoint the major differences between copywriting and content writing.

Purpose

The greatest distinction between copywriting and content writing lies in its purpose. Copywriting is selling your personas on your brand; content writing is subtly telling them about it while delivering valuable content.

Copywriting is the art of selling people on an idea, brand, or ideology. The best copywriting fuses the products and ideology of a brand together to create branding. Copywriting is advertorial in nature as its intent is to pitch customers to use a brand’s products and/or services.

For the Mad Men fans out there, this is what Don Draper and Peggy Olson did all the time at Sterling Cooper (or whatever agency they were with at the time). They weren’t selling products, but ideas and emotions that were tied to products.

Content writing is the art of creating content. It needs to either inform, educate or entertain; it needs to have a clear purpose and/or reason behind the piece; it needs to represent the brand’s voice; it needs to be a good read. The best content writing is focused on the quality of the editorial, no matter if it comes from a brand or a publisher. For brands (and some data-driven publishers), content writing aligns with strategic business and marketing goals to attract audiences and potential customers.

Here’s one way to look at the two: content writing passes information along to your audience while copywriting reveals what your brand is all about.

The two, of course, do share similarities. For one thing: goals. Both copywriting and content writing ultimately seek to convert a reader into a sale or a lead. Another similarity: they both need to be well-written. What is well-written for one differs from the other, but quality writing, for whatever purposes, entices readers to keep reading.

Bottom line: The ultimate objective of copywriting is to sell an idea whereas content writing aims to create valuable content to help the audience understand your brand and generate interest.

The job

A truism: copywriters write copy and content writers write content. If you’re confused at what this means, then you should know all shall be explained. Another distinction between copywriting and content writing lies in the job description.

A copywriter is a professional whose job is dedicated to producing copy. This can come in many forms (see below), but the general idea is that a copywriter writes marketing material for a living. It is their trade, craft, skill—whatever you want to call it.

Now, a content writer can be anyone. They are not necessarily a professional writer, but someone who produces content. Thanks to the democratization of the internet, anyone can write now, including professionals, executives, authors, bloggers, software engineers, CEOs, brands, etc. Of course, the best content writers understand the craft of content writing, but it may not be their trade.

Bottom line: A copywriter is a professional who writes marketing copy; a content writer can be anyone producing content.

Types of writing

A copywriter writes marketing material, a content writer writes content—but what kinds of marketing material and content? This is the last major distinction between the two.

Traditionally, copywriting was limited to advertising in the days of yester-yore (again, see Mad Men). But the internet changed the scope of what copywriters can write for beyond witty slogans. Today, the list includes, but is not limited to:

  • Ads, online and off
  • Slogans and taglines
  • Web page content
  • SEO content
  • Email campaigns
  • Television or radio commercial scripts
  • Video scripts
  • Press releases
  • White papers
  • Catalogs
  • Billboards
  • Brochures
  • Postcards
  • Sales letters
  • Direct mail letters
  • Jingle lyrics
  • Social media

Copywriters today see plenty of overlap with content writers and technical writers, but remember: the point is to sell you an idea as part of a marketing campaign.

Likewise, content writing has plenty of opportunities to write different kinds of content, including, but not limited to:

  • Blog posts
  • Newspaper articles
  • Magazine features
  • Whitepapers
  • Email newsletters
  • E-books
  • Books
  • Print magazines
  • Social media posts
  • Podcasts
  • Television
  • Film
  • Radio

Yep—even TV and film is considered content these days, just a different kind (but that’s another story).

What you really need to know is that brands of all kinds need copywriting and content writing to stay fresh, so there’s plenty of opportunities for writers out there to try their hands at both. It’s just a matter of seeing which one you have a knack for and sticking with that one.

THE LAW of ATTRACTION [LOA]

WHAT EVER YOU THINK, COMES BACK TO YOU. THE UNIVERSE IS JUST LIKE A MOUNTAIN, WHEREIN YOU SHOUT , THE VOICES ECOES AND COMES BACK TO YOU. IT IS SAID EVERY POSITIVE THOUGHT IS TEN- THOUSAND TIMES STRONGER THAN A NEGATIVE THOUGHT. WHY IS IT SO, YOU MIGHT WONDER ? IT IS THE UNIVERSE, WHO LISTENS TO WHAT EVER YOU ARE SAYING. WHEN YOU MAKE A THOUGHT, THE UNIVERSE CONSPIRES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. FOR INSTANCE; IF YOU ARE WITH YOUR MOM AND APPRECIATE HER FOR WHAT SHE HAS MADE, SHE WILL GIVE YOU ANOTHER PORTION TO EAT. SIMILARLY, IF YOU THANK UNIVERSE AND PAY GRATITUDE TO IT, IT WILL SURELY DO GOOD TO YOU.

A HUMAN MIND GETS LOADS OF THOUGHTS THROUGHOUT THE DAY, WE CANNOT STOP OURSELVES FROM THINKING. BUT, WE CAN SHIFT OUR THINKING TOWARDS POSITIVITY. A HUMAN MIND CAN DO WONDERS. NOTHING IS UNACHIEVABLE. IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN MIND, YOU CAN BRING IT TO REALITY. WHY CANT WE? SUCCESS DOES NOT STOP ITSELF FROM COMING TO YOU, IT IS YOU WHO THINK THAT WE CANT SUCCEED. WHAT EVER YOU THINK IS ACHIEVABLE.

THANK THE UNIVERSE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE GOT. THANK IT FOR WHAT IT WILL GIVE YOU. STAY THANKFUL AND PAY GRATITUDE, THE UNIVERSE SHALL ALWAYS BE THERE TO HELP YOU.

Good and Evil

TWILIGHT


Novel by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight is the first book of a series that brought the vampire-romance genre back from the undead in 2005.

Main characters are Isabella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.

Edward is a vampire. Bella is a human. The lion shouldn’t be with the lamb, as we have famously read, but despite being a forbidden love, the relationship of Edward and Bella in Twilight illustrates that love isn’t governed by any rules. It is boundless, and cannot be restricted by what other people may think is wrong or right. Edward goes against his natural instincts to be close to Bella, and while their relationship is fraught with complications, the book goes to painstaking lengths to show that Bella’s world is changed for the better when she becomes involved with Edward. He cannot offer her a normal future or a normal relationship but he can make her happy despite the challenges that face them.

“I’ve never given much thought to how I would die. But dying in the place of someone I love seemed like a good way to go”. Bella in twilight

The novel starts with Bella who recently shifted to Forks, United States of America. She met Edward Cullen in her new high school, Forks high school. Edward, the vampire is possessive, angers easily, and stalks Bella, his human love interest. He even sneaks into her house to watch her sleep before they start dating. During a trip with her classmates, Bella encounters a family friend, Jacob Black, who informs her that the Cullens are supposedly vampires according to his tribe’s legend.

This Book is about how Bella Identify Cullens true identity… And fell for Edward. How Cullen family fought to James, vampire for saving Bella.

Bella is bitten by James but Edward sucks the venom out of her and she survives, continuing as a human

On one date Edward says to Bella, “You are my life now.”

By the end of Twilight,  Bella is bitten by James but Edward sucks the venom out of her and she survives, continuing as a human. Bella professes that she’s sick of being the weak one who always needs to be saved, and would like the relationship to be more equal, she also wants to be a Vampire but Edward still has power over her because of what he is.

And I learnt a lot from this book – As Edward teaches us to “Let the person make their own decisions.

Carlisle Cullen, Edward’s father teaches us to “Stick to your beliefs, even if the world is against them and Respect the world’s beliefs, even if you are against them. …

The Twilight Saga is a series of five vampire-themed romance fantasy films from Summit Entertainment based on the four novels published by author Stephenie Meyer. The films star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner

Baltic Countries and their economic transformation

Baltics, also known as the Baltic States is comprised of three countries including Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The three countries are situated on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. In 1991 the regional governments of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia declared independence from the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR). Three countries have a collective population of just over 6 million. The three have been one of the better examples which have been progressing well after the breakup of the USSR. Many other former Soviet republics have been suffering the disarray of corruption and political instability.

In 2002 Baltic countries applied for membership in the European Union (EU) and by May 2004 all the three countries joined the EU. They also gained membership in NATO by March 2004.

Downtown Tallinn

Baltic independence in 1991

It’s truly astounding how the three countries have developed since 1991. None of them were independent since 1940. The three countries had large Russian minorities and many Soviet soldiers were still stationed there. There were no major national institutions and banking infrastructure with a crumbling economy. There was a growing homegrown national moment against the ruling government since the 1980s. The homegrown fronts won the republican parliamentary election against the ruling party in early 1990 and were allowed to govern but with limited power. The Russian president at that time, Boris Yeltsin had not contested their newly declared independence in 1991. The Baltic also witnessed no violence when the three governments had declared their independence.

The three nations also had almost no natural resources, unlike USSR which was resource-rich. They were still in a very vulnerable situation with a small population and no military of their own. Even though the countries were linguistically distinct with different languages, but people in all three countries had a united drive to strive for a better future. The three had implemented reforms with a shared vision. The governments of the three shared many policies, ideas, and experiences. The Baltic States also valued their new independence with a lot of enthusiasm and didn’t take it for granted. The other ex- USSR countries often had to ask for assistance from Russian Federation and also formed new alliances with the Russian government. Baltic countries on the other hand tried to stay away from joining the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States. In the subsequent years, all the three countries adopted radical economic policies and Estonia was the first mover and Latvia and Lithuania would follow suit. In 1994 Estonia introduced a flat income tax at just 24 percent and the other two also implemented the policies. Currently, Lithuania has a tax rate of just 15 percent which is one of the lowest. With early and fast deregulation and privatization, the Baltic countries were able to capture a large amount of foreign direct investment. Estonia also radically transformed its public sector with various digitalization implementations and less reliance on paperwork. Latvian and Lithuania’s transformation in this area was not as drastic but after some time both of them followed Estonia’s footsteps.  Transparency International ranks Estonia No. 17, Lithuania 37, and Latvia 42 out of 175 countries on its Corruption Perception Index for 2020. This is a commendable ranking considering they all the three are a relatively new entrant to the EU and many other EU countries have lower ranks than the three.

Success attributions

The success can also be attributed to the generous support that the three countries received from the international community and funds granted by the EU, World Bank, and the IMF. In 2008 Baltic suffered from the global economic crisis. The three soon adopted the Euro as their currency to avoid any future liquidity freeze issues that they experienced at that time. The economies al the Baltic rebounded quickly and due to good monetary measures, the three have a very low public debt. Baltic governments have also made swift progress in the Education sector and the three have attained commendable rankings in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Estonia has done a very commendable task in this area with top 10 rankings in many assessments.  But the Baltics also face many challenges with population loss due to low birth rate and emigration. Proximity and hostility with Russia still is a challenge that the tiny nations have to endure.