Transition of Thoughts

Weaving thoughts into words

Month: October 2012

Are our role models beyond genuine criticism?

The last couple of weeks has seen two role models in the news day in and day out – Rajat Gupta & Lance Armstrong. Both were the best in their respective fields. Both inspired millions across the planet to live, to work, to be happy and contented. Both had achieved so much and more that they could safely say “I have done more than my part of the work God sent me for.” Both were legends in their own right.

But then, they cheated. They showed the world that they are mere mortals like all of us. They showed the world that they are not God – a pedestal many of us had given them. They got punished, ridiculed and disgraced for their actions by millions across the world who revered them. But did all of us agree to that? Did we really believe that they had done something wrong? From reasons like “They are being unfairly targeted” to “The amount of charitable work they have done in their lives, even ten of us won’t be able to do”, people wanted to defend them. Can role models not do any wrong? Is it wrong to criticize someone for the right thing? Are role models beyond any criticism?

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Book Review – Urban Shots: Bright Lights

In a short period of time, Grey Oak Publishers have created quite a name for themselves in encouraging young authors, bloggers and giving a chance to debutante writers. Multi – story anthologies with works from a variety of authors maybe the best thing for first time writers. And this is where the anthologies like ‘Urban Shots: Bright Lights’ come in. This one has 29 stories from 21 writers across varied backgrounds.

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Movie Review – Chakravyuh

Prakash Jha has never shied away from making socially relevant movies which awaken the audience. Whether they are hits or misses, he is never afraid of moving towards uncharted territory. His accomplished repertoire of works includes movies like Gangaajal, Apaharan, Raajneeti and Aarakshan to name a few. And now he’s back yet again with Chakravyuh. Does it work? Let’s check it out.

The story revolves around three friends – Adil (Arjun Rampal), Kabir (Abhay Deol) and Rhea (Esha Gupta) who join a police academy together. But Kabir, the hot – headed guy he is, drops out much earlier and disappears for 7 long years only to reappear at a college reunion. Rhea and Kabir who get married are high ranking police officials by then. Adil gets transferred to Nandighat , an area so badly infested by the Naxals that even policemen fear for their lives. His mission – Capture their leader, Rajan (Manoj Bajpai). When all of Adil’s efforts go in vain, Kabir comes up with an interesting plan. Does Adil succeed? What’s Kabir’s plan? Is the Naxal movement extinguished? The rest of the flick talks about all this and more.

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Why is it so easy to be sad but so hard to be happy?

Happiness and Sadness are two emotions which define one’s life. They are the emotions which walk hand in hand with each other. They are states of the mind which arrive at different intervals in life. If either of them would disappear, life would be poorer without them. At times, there are extended periods of happiness while at others there are extended periods of sadness. But the irony is such that when there are extended periods of sadness, we all complain. But in case of extended periods of happiness, no one thinks one bit that sadness could be lurking anywhere around the corner.

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Guest Post: An Examination of the Open Education Revolution

For some time now, the world of higher education has been shifting and evolving. As the U.S. Ivy leagues demonstrate, secondary education was at one point heavily concerned with reputation and name recognition. While this certainly hasn’t changed completely, there has been a recent shift towards more open and accessible learning across the globe.

A college education has become more about each person obtaining the skills and information needed for a successful career than it is about attending the most prestigious school or graduating with the highest of honors. This trend, however, has occurred in many different steps and over a longer period of time. The first step toward “open” education was the broad acceptance of online learning and the online college classroom.

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World Cup T20: The Calypso party begins tonight!

They hadn’t won a World Cup since 1979. Their fans had lost all their hope in the team as it got battered and bruised for years on end. They had mercurial players on and off but the consistency was missing. People and players so tired of losing constantly in cricket had started moving to much more rewarding sports like athletics and football. There were constant problems between the players and the board on matters of any kind from payments to performances. But then, the unthinkable happened.

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8 Health tips for those with desk jobs!

I am neither a health nor a fitness expert. Neither am I a freak whose in the gym everyday after work to ensure I have that 6, 8 or family pack. I am just a simple guy working in a desk job. So what’s the big deal? There are millions like me, aren’t there? Yes, there are.

But my post is about health. It’s about the fact that we need to put our health over and above the work we do. If we don’t maintain good health, how will we work? The need for this post has arisen from personal experience as well as seeing people around me suffer.

So I have made a list of health tips one needs to keep in mind in order to last long in life. Obviously for those who aren’t too bothered about lasting long enough or feel we don’t need to bother what happens in future, they can ignore the post. –

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