It’s a pointless effort

Do we all have a trait in common? In fact, we have many, but here is a unique one that none among us can willfully deny.  If you’re scratching your head wondering what on earth it could be, let me answer for you. It’s our innate urge to jump in and prove ourselves right. No matter what a conversation is about, and how it progresses, almost all of us are guilty of spending substantial amount of time and effort to prove a point about something or someone. Here is my question to all those who try hard to prove their point? What do you gain in return? The harder you try to prove, the more time and energy you spend, the more stubborn both you and the partaker become. You can never prove yourself right with prolonged arguments. It does nothing other than draining out your invaluable time and effort. Neither do you succeed nor does the partaker agree to what you are trying to prove. Simply put, no matter how hard you try, you can never prove your point to a person who holds a dynamically different opinion and is stubborn beyond belief. 

You might wonder how to heal your depressed mind when someone is vehement about proving you wrong. The only solution is to ignore and move on. What’s right for you may not be right for me. Your perspectives, beliefs, and opinions belong to you and needn’t be what others might feel about a similar situation. In other words, you needn’t lose sleep over doing things what’s right for the world, despite knowing that it can be wrong for you. You needn’t fret or freak out if you truly believe that what you chose, said, or did is right for your life. Don’t fall into traps set by opinionated minds. You will only do harm to your body and mind by mounting more and more tensions, anger, and hard feelings.  As long as you’re aware that your opinion, belief, idea, or value is what you need in life, stop thinking about what the world has to say. Listening to it will only wear you down and escalate your anger. You might end up taking foolish decisions or doing mindless actions that you will regret or feel bad about when you look back later in life. 

In short, refrain from proving yourself and instead be confident about what you do, speak, think, and believe in. You can never force others to believe or agree with you, no matter how hard you try.  Let me end the post with the reason why I penned this down. An ex-boss once told me that my works lack quality. Like anyone else out there, I too am fallible in my own way and was annoyed and heartbroken. I had literally worked my butt off to complete all the projects before the slated deadlines. While clients appreciated all the works, my ex-boss always made me feel as if I wasn't competent enough. But I held back my sadness and resentment because I knew he was wrong. And the best way to disarm such negative people is to ignore them. So I moved on with my life, rather than waiting to prove him wrong.

The Tharoor obsession

Not the just film fraternity, the whole country was saddened by the passing away of veteran actor Shashi Kapoor. Soon after he took his final bow, the entire social media was flooded with condolence messages from all four corners of the globe.  However, the team of a well known channel was so caught up in the rush that they confused Shashi Kapoor with renowned writer and Congress MP Dr. Shashi Tharoor. The goofy name mix-up didn’t go unnoticed on Twitter. Soon the channel became the butt of all jokes and was trolled left and right for the blunder. In his typical self, Dr. Tharoor too took no time give the wittiest response to the blooper which was first noticed and tweeted by ANI’s Nishant Singh.

Though the channel apologized to Dr.Tharoor later, and wished him good health, the mistake once again goes on to prove that Indian media will never get rid of its “Shashi Tharoor obsession”. His name is so ingrained into their brains that they hastily jump in to affix the surname Tharoor to anyone named Shashi, only to make themselves the laughing stocks of the nation. There is a constant display of toxic rush to make wrong judgments and air malicious allegations against the trailblazer parliamentarian from Trivandrum. What surprises me the most is his dignified and composed responses to voyeuristic media reports with manipulated and malicious claims against him. He is patience personified and wonderfully polite.

Print or visual, our media houses leaves no stones unturned to shamelessly peek into every single moment of Dr.Tharoor’s life, political or not, and make a lurid headline out of them in the name of freedom of press.  It isn’t unknown that in addition to this gossip-mongering section of the media fraternity, both opposition and some of his fellow party members too dislike him for reasons best known to them. They work as a team most of the time, play multiple roles and become the journos, witnesses, lawyers, judges, and the jury, declare their “verdicts”, make him the villain, and show him in bad light every single day, with absolutely zero evidence to substantiate the reports and comments aired. This is nothing but a TRP-driven witch hunt.

I am yet to figure out what exactly is making them so uneasy and uncomfortable. Had he been the kind of person that most politicians and scandal-mongering journos try to portray, he would not have become a Lok Sabha MP twice over, both when his party won and when they lost. Despite being called an elitist, Tharoor won real elections both the time and never took the “shortcut” Rajya Sabha route to become an MP. Moreover, one cannot easily ignore the reluctant admiration that most of these dislikers have for Dr. Tharoor’s oratory skills and the free flowing broad knowledge, for the widely –read books he has written over the years, and the fact that he was always confidently avoided or walked away from all political traps.

Despite lauding for his speech at the Oxford University or for his recent literary works that went on to become the best sellers, both journos and petty politicians never think twice before starting vitriolic and disdaining attacks against him just to grab headlines and get attention.  When will our leaders and media houses get rid of their despicable obsession with making sensational and superfluous comments and airing spiteful news reports against Dr. Tharoor? Grow up guys! Whatever the controversies or allegations are, let the law enforcement officials and judiciary exercise their duties and come up with their verdicts. We needn’t take over their duties. So, get over your unhealthy obsession to malign Dr. Tharoor and instead focus on relevant and must-talked-about issues that our country is currently dealing with. 

Let’s self-censor

India produces more movies than most countries in the world.  About 1600-2000 movies in both Hindi and regional languages are released each year in our country. The gross box office collection until December 2015 was a whopping $2.1 billion, as per recent data. Our film industry is not just robust and money-minting; bit also educates and reflects the society at large.  But, in India, movies have always drawn a visibly uneven interest from movie lovers and scissor-happy censors who are keen on recommending random cuts rather than certifying movies. Adding fuel to the furor are some foot-in-mouth remarks of people who play divisive religious & political cards for momentary gains.

Censoring of films came in to existence in India in 1920, with the passing of the Indian Cinematography act. But lately, censors have been acting like paranoid parents and imposing several meaningless edits that clearly disfigure the art. Censoring has now become moral policing on a different level. Is that really necessary? Should films be censored stringently or do we need to moderate the censorship guidelines a bit?  Despite having strong and meaningful story lines to boast of, many films are becoming targets of ire and censorship for all the illogical reasons possible. Unwanted controversies get stirred and futile debates get ignited overnight. They spread like wildfire in no time, despite being long on contentious statements and short on substance. Guys, we've got many other real issues to debate on! A movie is not a burning issue.

Most of us have the knowledge and metal ability to clearly recognize the borderline between film and reality. Yet some people raise a whole cacophony of arguments and counterarguments for no reason. The entire hullabaloos finally end up curtailing directors' freedom to speak their mind. Numerous plot-changing scenes and dialogues that are deemed “undesirable” by a few handpicked appointees get snipped off from many worth-watching movies. It’s undemocratic and ominous, especially in a country like ours. That said, I don’t believe in overlooking explicit violence or vulgar and crass content. But censoring cult classics or romantic and historical dramas with the same yardstick is beyond logic and reason. In a modern world with an ever growing number of educated people, film censorship should be a tailored cut down that doesn’t spoil the beauty and essence of the art.

By the way, aren’t censors and people who clamor for unreasonable bans on movies aware that anyone can get seamless access to uncensored and unrated content online at the click of a button? In other words, censoring indirectly encourages piracy.

What is blockchain technology?

Of late I've been reading a lot about blockchain technology and its benefits. As per a news report on The Guardian, nearly $1billion was invested into blockchain in 2016. However, being in its nascent phase, not many are aware about this disruptive innovation. If you’re scratching your head wondering what blockchain is, let me share some basic information about this invisible technology.

Are bitcoin and blockchain same? They’re essentially different but are closely related. Blockchain technology enables the existence of crypto currency, and it’s the heart of bitcoin; whereas bitcoin is the best known crypto currency. Bitcoin was created in 2008 by a cryptographer with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It’s is a digital currency and helps perform peer-to-peer transactions without using third parties like banks. But the application of blockchain extends beyond bitcoin and crypto currency.

Blockchain is a shared, immutable, verifiable online ledger to make and record transactions, agreements, contracts, and so on. It can be equated to a long excel spreadsheet where timestamped data is permanently recorded as files named blocks. Each block in this open-source distributed digital ledger is linked to its predecessor and is arranged in linear, sequential order. So it’s virtually impossible to go back and edit or delete any previously recorded data. It's encrypted and decentralized, or no one gets exclusive control, making it difficult to alter data, take-down the network, or corrupt it in the blink of an eye. A hacker has to gain access to all computers at the same time to hack or tamper data. Blockchain runs on specialized software.

If online news reports are anything to go by, many banks have started using blockchain technology for money transactions, record keeping, and other related backend functions. Use of blockchain is not limited to financial sector alone. It enables seamless innovations in real estate, health care, supply chain, insurance, and so on. It might take years for blockchain to become a low cost and more efficient option, but rest assured that blockchain is to tomorrow what open-source software did a quarter of a century ago. This is the reason why the hype and buzz around this electronic innovation is real and is here to stay.


Here is a video to help you know more about blockchain technology:

Have I left out any important information on blockchain?

Out of the closet

Not every ad is revolutionary or leaves a lasting impact. But some manage to strike that right chord with a heartfelt message and quickly win the appreciation of both viewers and customers.  The key reason behind the imperishable success of such ads lie in the strength and relevance of the message conveyed. One such is the UrbanClap ad that I came across today. A laudable effort taken amid the raging debates about the scrapping of Article 377, UrbanClap’s LGBT-themed ad gives a positive message and depicts the beauty of gender acceptance in a convincing and compelling way.

It’s about a young homosexual girl whose dad has a hard time accepting her sexual orientation, in spite of being a rebel in his era, and marrying a Muslim woman despite oppositions from family and society.  With the aid of her supportive mother, she finally proves that right to love is equal for all, including the LGBT community.

Advertising is no more just about knowing the product. Brands no more tend to play safe and stick to comfortable and marketable stereotypes.  They’ve learned to break new ground and make ads made in support of sensitive issues and marginalized sections in the society. Brands like Tanishq and Brooke Bond Red Label have broken societal stereotypes and adopted such creative tacks before. They’ve successfully replaced old and boring product-driven ideas with many thought-provoking and socially relevant ad campaigns. However, still-taboo topics like homosexuality are scarcely-discussed when compared to religious unity, remarriage, dating and menstruation. Here is the reason: Most brands, ad makers, and marketers are scared to approach this sensitive area. They fear the strong backlash of a largely homophobic section of our society, should they take up such bold subjects that are rarely discussed in open in our country.  With every ad in support of LGBT getting launched, both support and scathing condemns surface from all four sides.  But reviles are often more in number when compared to applauds because several prejudiced views on LGBT community still continue to thrive in many parts of India.

Indian brands that have displayed the grit to make LGBT-themed ads are just a handful –Anouk, Red Lotus, and UrbanClap to name a few.  Their ads successfully link convincing stories and brand propositions realistically, while urging the society to let go of outmoded norms and embrace the change for good. Hence, most viewers are emotively compelled to recognize and accept the facts narrated in such ads. These path breaking steps taken by well-known brands definitely deserve lots of accolades and recognition. Because, such bold decisions might sometimes invite more brickbats than bouquets; still they choose such socially relevant concepts and unhesitatingly embrace LGBT causes.

Will more brands ‘come out of the closet’ with such innovative ad campaigns?

P.S. – Some brands and ad makers shamelessly go overboard and showcase their shallow progressiveness by stereotyping the LGBT community. They are unlikely to be perceived as groundbreaking, and will never do any sustained good for the brand or the viewers.

It’s an art, not a chore

Content Writing – It’s been almost a decade since writing has become my bread and butter. The decade long journey has been a great learning experience. But I still can’t wrap my head around disturbing trivialization of the art of content writing. Even the knowledgeable clients and managers are guilty of taking an assembly line approach and overlooking the research and thinking that has to go into each project. From a writer’s point of view, this is silly and laughable, to say the least.

Quality writing is hard and time consuming. You cannot simply throw some words on a paper and call it content. But despite leaving no stones unturned to help the bigwigs above the ladder understand this simple rationale, never have I succeeded in any of my attempts. The repetitive question pops up at every meeting and I remain dumbstruck wondering how to deal with the barrage of “How long is it going to take?” queries. “It depends,” is the utmost honest reply that I can give, but no manager or client would wholeheartedly accept it as an answer for this titular question. The intricacy augments further when I am left with no basic information on a project or the niche a client is into. I will leave that for another post.

As diverse as each project is, so is the time required for research and writing of each one of them.  I envy writers who take an hour or two to write an impressive post.  I take a bit longer, or sometimes sleep on it before finalizing the copy.  This blog is a simple and sincere response to all those who've pitied on my “incapability” to set time-frame for quality and plagiarism-free content writing. Content writing is more than throwing words down on a paper. Quality content writing is an art, and it’s very difficult to quantify how much work and time will go into it. “Good” is never the same for everyone, so is the time to write “good content”. It’s is not a simple errand, and involves several steps such as research, competitor analysis, actual content writing, proofreading and optimization, and so on. Simply put, content writing is neither an overnight process, nor easy as writing a check.

Many times, I get compelled to crank out content without a little breather. I am a perfectionist and it definitely causes unfathomable anguish every time I fail to fine tune my work for lack of time. I’ve gotten shouted down even before expressing time constraint or inadequacy of basic facts. I’ve been ridiculed and repeatedly vilified as untalented and incompetent whenever I tried to cite the necessity of time. The scoffs were hurting and insulting at the start, but over the years, I’ve learned to take it on the chin and move on. Because, I know what I do and what I do works well and pays off for my clients, though they never acknowledge it aloud.

Fear of failure is stomping my big dream

You can love your work, hate your work, or tolerate it for the sake of having a stable career and a reasonable paycheck. Those who belong to the first category are very small in number. Very often, they are pioneers and trailblazers who have carve a niche of their own. A decade back, when I started off my content writing career, I wanted to be a part of the first category. 10 years into the profession, I do love what I do and am passionate about all things content writing. But I still haven’t been able to love it to the fullest and gel completely into the first category. So where do I fit in? I belong to that narrow space between first and third categories. Wondering why? I still have a long-cherished dream to pursue; my dream is to start a business of my own.

Content writing is my forte and my dream is to start a company that provides genuine and plagiarism-free content. However, I keep pushing my entrepreneurial ambition aside all the time. Fear of failure is holding me back and stopping me from diving in.  Over the years, I had the chance to meet some good mentors who have created significant and measurable impact on my life and career. I am well aware that all the ground makers out there, who made a real difference, started off in the simplest manner, took the risk, and scaled up with genuine hard work, passion, and hope. But I am completely monopolized by the fear of failing.

It generates a strong feeling of uncertainty that overpowers my mind and paralyzes it from taking any action. In case if I fail, I have nothing to fall back on. Absolutely nothing! I am scared of losing a cushy job and a dependable income that helps fend for myself and my family. I haven’t yet made too many connections to pitch my idea.  I don’t have the money to bootstrap. And I don’t have a bigwig’s back. How will I start out and stay afloat? I am not able to trust my gut and am forced to play safe.

I have read countless articles that educate on various ways to transform my fears into motivations. But I still haven’t amassed the courage to apply what I have read into real life. It takes substantial amount of time and generous amount of money to setup and successfully run a business. But what if I fail? Failure sucks and the impact will be much higher if I bootstrap and have no money left after a misstep. After a failed entrepreneurial stint, I won’t be able to get back into a fulltime job easily. I live in a society where failure is viewed as negative, and the opposite of success. Rather than motivating me for finding out those “10,000 ways that won’t work”, I will be repeatedly told that I have miserably failed.

Will I ever be able to overcome my fear, forge ahead, and pursue my dream?

‘Active Status’ in LinkedIn Messaging – An interesting new feature (and On by default)

With no grand announcement LinkedIn just unrolled a new feature called ‘Active Status’. It’s a hollowed out green circle that shows when you are online and available to chat through LinkedIn Messaging. If there is no green circle, the connection is either not active or has disabled the ‘Active Status; feature. This might sound simple but has the power to significantly change the way you use the professional networking platform. It can also put you in trouble for not being able to keep your job search private.

With ‘Active Status’ feature for desktop and mobile app, your LinkedIn contacts can see if you are online and available to message. The feature is quite similar to the one on Skype. Messaging features are widely used on most online platforms. But messaging on LinkedIn was not that frequent in the past. But the new feature might improve the amount of messaging on LinkedIn, helping many users, particularly the large number of candidates and recruiters out there. Eventually it might also make LinkedIn more engaging.

If you want to keep tab on active users like recruiters and HR Heads, you might appreciate this feature, but if you are not keen, you can turn it off anytime. ‘Active Status’ is on by default, but you can turn it off anytime. Most of us are quick to turn off chat on Facebook. What about LinkedIn messaging?

LinkedIn messaging might enhance communication but ‘Active Status’ might also alert the innumerable number of overzealous message senders out there. Hence, it’s better to shut off the feature if you don’t want your contacts to know that you are online.

Here is how you can turn off the feature:

Source - ZNet

The LinkedIn Help page has adequate details on how to turn Active Status in LinkedIn Messaging off or on.

LinkedIn is not Facebook

Pause for a second before hitting that Post or Share button on LinkedIn, because, what you are about share might do more harm than good to your authority on the go-to-site for building professional relationships. Professionals like you and me turn to LinkedIn to build professional network, look for potential opportunities, and enhance professional growth. It’s a one stop destination for all this educational and professional. But lately, the quality of posts, comments, and articles have plummeted significantly.

LinkedIn is becoming a casual landscape where people are free to post anything, no matter professional or not. Simply put, LinkedIn is slowly morphing into a social media platform for people to hang out, chat, and share irrelevant content of all sorts. There is a major disconnect in the objective of the platform and the expectations and ideas of some users out there.

With so much content out there, it’s always tempting to share most of them. But remember that the rules are different on a professional networking platform and breaking them will definitely infuriate your audience. Some of the faux pas aren’t really bad, but some others can leave permanent damages on your online reputation and professional aspirations.

On most of the days, our LinkedIn feeds are loaded with a whole lot of posts that should land on a Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus page. From personal posts, random quotes, irrelevant images and memes, birthday and anniversary wishes, to requests to contribute for charity programs, the line between 'social networking' and 'professional networking' is blurring. Some LinkedIn users bitterly fail to pull in the reins on the amount of content they share, and often run the risk of looking like spammers. Some others even overlook the danger of sharing sensitive information to hundreds of strangers and many more from extended network. A sizable number of users post numerous profanities and leave us baffled. A lot of articles and group posts are self-congratulatory and mindless link building exercises that add no value.

With millions of users from all over the world, it’s not easy to stand out on a platform like LinkedIn. If you intend to network professionally, refrain from sharing inspirational quotes, cartoons, memes, selfies, or controversial posts. Instead, upload them onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and you’ll get thousands of ‘likes’. If you can sell through knowledge and add value, there is nothing wrong in promoting and marketing a product or a service on LinkedIn,. But incessant number of meaningless, manipulative, and sales-y posts as status updates will hurt trust and ruin reputation of a person/company/brand.

Every online platform has its own identity and purpose. The next time you plan to share something on LinkedIn, take a step back and think twice whether you have something really insightful for your LinkedIn connections. Remember why you joined the platform in the first place – it wasn’t to share random low-quality content and get your reputation tarnished.

A cringe-fest

Indian TV shows have had some of the most ridiculous plots by far. Titular characters turned into chudails nevlas, makkhis, daayans, and even ichchadhari naagins on various TV shows, taking audience to a whole new level in suspension of disbelief every time. But, Indian television has now hit a new low with the making of a show on the crass love story and supposedly unique bond of a 9-year-old boy and an 18-year old woman.

Major backlash arose right after the launch of its promo which shows a prepubescent boy putting vermilion on his adult wife’s head. The episodes are much worse and awful than the promo. It features a mismatched couple, an 18-year-old woman and her nine-year-old husband, and narrates the story their so-called unusual relationship. To shock us further, it is a consensual marriage.

The much younger husband is totally besotted with the young woman. He is seen stalking and photographing his future wife. He rescues her from cockroach, proposes for marriage, gets married, celebrates suhaag raat, and is even gets ready to go on a honeymoon with her. Isn't it cringeworthy? It’s almost Lolitha in reverse.  However, the makers have the weirdest reason for portraying the strange relationship – The child prince has to be protected by a bodyguard, the reason why the 18-year old, who has always longed to marry a prince, agrees to marry the 9-year-old prince.  Looks like the makers are yet to hear about Raksha Bandhan. Or, portraying her as a expert bodyguard too would have been an acceptable alternative. A woman who walks in heavy and ornate lehengas all the time and who is scared of cockroaches agrees to marry a child to keep him safe. Seriously? She is neither a trained bodyguard or a closet ninja.

Simply put, the show sells stupidity and continues to get a lot of flak for the creepy storyline which is no less than crude, appalling, and downright shameful. The makers of the show are totally unfazed and keep boasting of portraying an unconventional love story, but the fact is, it has the most bizarre plot till date, and is a clear glorification of child marriage.

The show is loaded with double entendres. It is not even adhering to the basics of censoring rules in our country and is still getting lauded as a major breakthrough in TV shows. What if the story was told in reverse? What if an adult man was shown marrying a 9-year-old girl? The entire team would have definitely faced a whole lot of hullaballoo, mass boycotting, and even legal hurdles. So, why doesn't the same apply to the present situation?

Fun Fact - In a few months, there would be a time leap, as always, and the boy would reach a consensual age to woo and seduce his much-older ‘wife’. A love-triangle is a close-second possibility.

The possible subtle reason behind the awkward storyline - Any publicity is good publicity and there's no such thing as bad publicity. The makers will go on displaying go on displaying gross, regressive, and indigestible content to raise more eyebrows and get more viewers with peanut sized brains.

When a small bottle of liquid changes one’s life forever

“He threw acid on my face, not on my dreams.” When Laxmi Agarwal said this during her TEDx talk, I stood up and clapped, forgetting for a while that I was sitting in my hostel room and watching the video of her talk on my laptop. She is an inspiration, an embodiment of courage and grit, and so are all the acid attack survivors who chose to fight back and win, rather than whining over their past. A few strong women survivors together run a café, named Sheroes Hangout, in Agra, and tell their stories to the world. Kudos to the way they chose to emerge to the social mainstream, rather than hiding their scarred faces. It has ignited the hopes and dreams of many other survivors who want to get out of pain and isolation.

Acid attack, it is not something unheard of, at least in our country. It keeps shaking our conscience again and again, practically every other day. The laws were modified a few years back, but have we done enough to deal with this horrific infliction on women? Acid is still readily available in our country, and costs less than a packet of milk. Despite strong laws and punishments, the number of acid attacks continues to rise each day. And irrespective of having lawful curb on the sale of acid, illicit buying and selling still happen in full swing.

As per a report on The Guardian, “women make up 80% of acid victims”. It debilitates them, ruthlessly robs them of income, livelihood, opportunities, and sometimes life as well. With hardly a few advanced burn hospitals and specialized experts, getting timely and adequate medical treatment is far from easy. Survivors need multiple reconstructive surgeries, and soon they will be neck deep in debt.

You cannot even fathom what acid can do to a human body. It burns skin, eats the flesh, it can blind, disfigure, and literally leave person’s face unrecognizable. Why do the perpetrators do this most ghastly crime? The obsession with superficial beauty and fairness is a strong reason why perpetrators use acid to ruin a victim’s chance to lead a normal life. May be they want to deprive the victim of love and acceptance. Sadly, the perpetrators win in many cases and victims get ostracized. They suffer in many ways, undergo tremendous amount of trauma, and can never dream of a career, marriage, or even a normal life. They are literally treated as outcasts. Isn’t that mind numbing cruelty? What shocks me most is the fact that acid attacks often happen for all unimaginably trivial reasons possible.

Are all acid attacks getting reported? No, says the volunteers who work for Stop Acid Attack campaigns. Several cases go unreported, and not every victim gets the needed support and recognition. The struggles are endless and the pain is more than excruciating. No one deserves such terrible fate. No one. We need to stop acid attacks once and for all.

Dangal: Empowering or reinforcing patriarchy?

Aamir Khan’s Dangal raked big moolah in India and abroad, and reached the 2000 crore club. It won all major awards, and continues to get lauded by both public and critics. Dangal is definitely a feel-good, crowd-pleasing film. But the subtle narrative is not really about the two sisters. Instead, it focuses mostly on their despotic yet affectionate father and his unfulfilled dream.

Dangal is not a Bend It Like Beckham like movie where the female protagonist beats all the odds to achieve her dreams. The movie justifies dictatorial parenting and reinforces the age-old ideas that it hopes to fight . Yet, many people are touting it as a feminist movie, just because two important characters are female wrestlers from Haryana.

The female protagonists fight sexism and male privilege throughout their journey, but the girls are not chasing their dreams, instead striving hard to make their father proud. They are docile, puppet-like, and blindly obey their father, who is an autocrat kind of a person. He imposes his interests and choices on them. He is the decision maker, and believes he knows what’s best for the girls. That’s not even remotely close to empowerment.

Along the way, the girls face severe ridicules yet go against all odds to get successful and make it big in a world that’s traditionally envisaged by men. But, it’s not the girls who win at the end, it’s their father, the patriarch. From chopping off their hair, to denying their favorite food, and making them undergo grueling training even from a tender age, the father forces wrestling on them by all means. Does such a story propagate woman empowerment in any manner?

By putting the burden of his unfulfilled dream on his young daughters' shoulders, Mahavir reinforces the prevalent norms in our society. The movie is about his dreams, predicaments, and challenges. How on earth does this break misogyny?

That said, Mahavir is not a complete patriarchal stooge either. The father teaches the girls to be fearless and persist, no matter what the situation is. So, the movie definitely makes us want to cheer for women who make it big in male dominated fields like wrestling. But a Mahavir-like dad and his ‘hanikarak’ ‘craziness’ will do more harm than good in real life. Wondering why?

While all is hale and hearty in reel, it’s not the same in real when parents force their dreams on children. We can see an alarming rise in the number of students who choose suicide as a way to deal with wrong and forced career choices and pushy parents who project their unfulfilled dreams on their children. Why do they kill themselves? Because, they simply fail to deal with the intense psychological pressure. Still, several parents consider their children as tools fulfill their unaccomplished dreams, aspirations, and desires. Children should be allowed to chase their own dreams. They should not be forced to follow the dreams of their parents.

A strange obsession

A string of recent movie releases clearly highlight a strange obsession that most of our filmmakers continue to have. They are endlessly fascinated about the notorious and heinous people out there, and the fixation continues to grow every year. Two among the soon-to-be released movies are clearly gangster flicks that narrate nothing but sheer despicability and ruthlessness in all terms. The protagonists are violent, cruel, and psychotic most of the times, yet get treated like folk heroes on screen.

While filmmakers reiterate that the casts have little resemblance to anyone living or dead, and the movies are just fictionalized narrations, they drop many sly hints to underline where they have drawn aspiration from. Is the likeliness added knowingly? I don’t know. Perhaps, filmmakers are unwilling to openly admit real-life connection fearing backlashes, legal and otherwise.

While cinema is just a mode of entertainment, turning baddies into emblematic embodiments of valor and heroism is not even remotely close to entertainment. Do they stories make us feel good? Absolutely not! The increasing trend of extolling cruel, fearless, and unforgiving people in every second movie is highly disturbing to say the least. The impact that it will create on the audience is unfathomable negativity and sometimes a dangerous urge to emulate the characters on screen. Wondering why?

Protagonists of such movies try to control their destiny in their own way until the inevitable downfall. They steal and feed families, they lie unhesitatingly when it benefits somebody, and they kill remorselessly when someone rises strong enough to become a threat. And most part of the audience get easily fancied by such larger-than-life characters. Don’t such movies convey a distorted and disfigured sense of right and wrong? They do.

While we all know that films needn’t give out inspiring messages all the time, it’s disheartening to see how the appalling is transformed to become the appealing, while audiences clutch to their seats anxiously to see if cops catch the ‘virtuous’ protagonist or not. Very often, the lead character hails from a poor background which makes it totally ‘justifiable’ to take up crimes to make both ends meet. He grows up with larger-than-life persona with a unhealthy concoction of charisma, violence, and shadiness.

The audiences are so taken by the character, no matter what he does. He breaks rules, yet is regarded as the powerhouse of strength and mystery. Audience empathize first and then blindly admire them for all wrong reasons, no matter whether a hero stalks a woman in the name of love or kills someone to steal money. It’s high time to stop this glorification. It's not at all cool to be a law-breaker and there’s hardly any entertainment in narrating stories about ganglands and mind-numbing cruelty.

Oren Peli launches new social networking app

It’s been a decade since Oren Peli made his directional debut with Paranormal Activity, a horror film franchisee that later went on to make a whopping $890.5 million at the box office. Oren Peli is now launching ‘Spot’ a new iOS and Android app to create, find, and join local events, reports TechCrunch. The launch came as a surprise, as Peli, who is best known for making horror movies, has forayed into a whole new space that’s entirely different from what he is good at.

When asked about his new initiative, Peli told that before kickstarting a career in movies, he started off as a developer of animation software and video games. So, he is just returning to his old career. What’s new in ‘Spot’’, when compared to Meetup, Tinder, and so on? It has a very simple design and focuses on small group activities. ‘Spot’ helps people connect around shared activities and interests. Simply put, it is an effortless way to connect with new people, find new friends, and so on. The idea came to him when he was newly single and wanted to connect with new people and make friends. He couldn’t find a service that was simple and less time-consuming.

The Spot app helps create events in 4 categories – hobbies, sports, community events, and single events. You can search by keywords or check the map view to find the events nearby. Both public and private events can be created and shared via social media, and participants can chat with each other through Spot app.

You can create an account by connecting to Facebook, Google, or email, get a verified sticker by verifying phone number over SMS, ban users from your events, and report inappropriate behavior.

Spot is available globally, and the app is free.

Sunglasses that generate solar power

Engineers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have made a pair of sunglasses with semi-transparent organic solar cell lenses. And before you jump in to ask that much genuine doubt let me answer it, no, you don’t have to stare at the sun directly for the shades to work. The power generated is enough to operate devices like hearing aids. This is an innovative way of incorporating clean energy into mobile applications.

The lenses are cut like ordinary glass. They have a thickness of about 1.6 mm, weight about 6 grams, and easily finds in commercial frames. They are both light and transparent. Organic solar cells aren’t exceptionally efficient, but they are flexible and versatile, making it the right option to choose when a rigid, opaque cell is not an option.

“The Solar Glasses we developed are an example of how organic solar cells may be employed in applications that would not be feasible with conventional photovoltaics,” said Dominik Landerer, a PhD student at KIT who was a part of the project. They work in dim light too.

The arms of the shades contain custom PCBs to convert the current and use it to run the 2 displays that show temperature and brightness. The cells generate about 200 milliwatts of additional power. That’s hardly enough for your phone, but can run or charge a low-power device.

If solar energy can power a mobile device, it totally makes sense to have solar cells in something you wear, and gets a whole lot of sunlight.

Human libraries: Yes, they exist!

Strange yet indigenous that’s what I can say about the idea of setting up human libraries where you can ‘borrow’ humans. Or, you don’t have to take pains to read an entire book to know or understand someone or something. Instead, a person can sit down and explain to you in the most palatable language possible. The concept was devised based on the idea of knowledge sharing which has been around since time immemorial. Simply put, it's a library of people, or it replaces books with people who can kick-start engaging conversations.

Will the concept of ‘human books’ work? It works, says many. The idea first originated in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2000. It soon became a worldwide movement for social change. If you are wondering what is the aim of setting up human libraries, here is the reason why the concept is taking the world by storm – It helps people learn to appreciate and respect others, understand social barriers, learn positivity and hopefulness from human books and human experiences. Australia is the first country to have a permanent human library.

People volunteer to become ‘books’ and make their experiences openly available, especially on topics that are difficult or time-consuming to explain. Or, you get books that speak from the heart. How does it work? If you are wondering how to borrow a ‘human book’’, let me share the information that I gathered from a handful of posts on human libraries. It’s just like any other normal library. You can go through a catalogue, choose a ‘book’ on a certain topic, and get a fixed amount of time with ‘it’ to ask questions freely, and will get honest and interesting answers in return.

It’s been 17 years since the first human library was launched. Today, you can find human libraries in more than 70 countries including the United States. Many believe that human libraries are the next big thing. Wondering why? We need them in today’s polarized world with numerous quick-to-judge people. It’s time to confront stereotypes, get rid of fears, embrace diversity, and feel more secure and forward-looking.

When it comes to sharing a life story, it’s beneficial for both the narrator and listener, or when it’s kind of cathartic for the narrator, the listener gets a good, inspirational, must-remember message.

Can ‘human books’ be more interesting and informative than the printed ones, e-books, and audio books?

Should we fear the rise of Artificial Intelligence?

Aren’t humans the smartest creatures on earth, or are we getting replaced by AI-powered machines? The trepidation of artificial intelligence taking over the world is worrying many people, and some numbers from a recent survey are adding fuel to the fire. AI will outperform humans in just 45 years, that’s the core finding of a recent survey that I read today. 352 machine learning experts were asked to predict the future of AI, and here is what they had to say:

According to the survey, conducted by University of Oxford and Yale University, most of the current jobs are expected to get automated in the next 100 years. From transportation to science, heath, and finance, every aspect of our life will get significantly transformed and reshaped by AI. But when it comes to chances of AI performing all human tasks better than us, the possibility is 50 percent. Will AI create catastrophic outcomes that lead to human extinction? Will humans succumb to machines? There is a miniscule 5% chance, says the survey.

As per the report, AI will outperform humans in many tasks like driving trucks (by 2027), translating languages (by 2024), and writing high school essays (by 2026, and carrying out surgeries (2053). Can robots be trained to drive or perform surgeries? Perhaps yes, but how can they think and write like humans and publish books by 2049 as they survey says? I doubt. That said, artificial intelligence tools can enhance proofreading, but writing from scratch and writing in an interesting and effective manner is something only humans can do.

Everywhere you go; people are talking about automation replacing humans. Admittedly, it is frightening, especially if you have any technique based jobs that AI robots and tools can easily handle.

In short, AI will benefit us in many ways, and pose many challenges as well. Should we fear or hope about the future of AI? I think it should be a mix of both.

AI will definitely eliminate some jobs, but will create new careers as well. AI can revolutionize several areas like security, agriculture, healthcare, and environment. But AI technology cannot match up to the kind of cognitive thought process that humans possess. In other words, AI can never infuse the artistry and unique human abilities to cater to specific or changing needs, or, no AI-powered human-like robot can exist with all versatilities that we possess.

We, humans, can understand and use concepts in permeable ways, tailor an accepted norms to suit a specific need, try related concepts, or brainstorm and find innovative ways and ideas. No AI-powered robots or machines can do all these perfectly.

Can a machine come up with ideas? It can give valuable insights that trigger ideas, but it’s up to us to translate the insights and connect the dots to create a perfect idea. Simply put, we humans will surely have a leg up on AI.

That said, no matter what the impact will be and however fast it will happen, there’s no denying that AI-powered robotics workforces will soon become a reality. But, can they completely surpass humans? I don’t think so.

Ohmni - The Telepresence Robot

The area of home robotics is highly interesting, and keeps growing by leaps and bounds. There is no dearth of robots that are available to do our domestic chores. Many companies are exploring newer and innovative ways to best address growing potential markets out there. Here comes the newest addition to this ever-growing list – Ohmni Telepresence, a robot that automatically connects so that you can easily video chat with your family members or roam around your house virtually. Isn’t that great? This smart robot is the brainchild of Ohmni Labs, co-founded by Jared Go and Thuc Vu. The company aims to bridge the gap between human connections and bring people together digitally.

Ohmni Telepresence is a home robot, and has a built-in camera that sits atop a tall shat. The base has a flat platform and wheels that are powered by Glide Drive that includes brushless motors that help get around easily and smoothly and not create disturbing noises. Ohmni Telepresence encompasses easy carry-on capabilities, and can be folded easily. It is 4’ 8” tall and weighs just 20lbs. No matter whether you are working hard at office or away on an important business trip Omni Telepresence helps communicate with your family easily. It also acts as a caretaker and keeps an eye on both children and old people at home. Ohmni has already helped someone save his mother’s life. A user from San Diego was on a business trip. He grew worried when his mother didn’t answer his calls one morning. He activated Ohmni and found that his mother was in bed, unwell and unresponsive. He was able to get her the needed medical attention right away.

Telepresence robot is not something totally new. But when it comes to usage at home, Ohmni is the first of its kind, stands out of the crowd for several reasons. It’s affordable pricing is the most important one among them. For just $1899, Ohmni Telepresence is definitely a great deal, given the number of amazing features that it contains. This telepresence robot comes bundled with a tablet, and includes auto docking station that helps charge the robot with a tap on your smartphone. The wheelbase of Ohmni Telepresence is a tripod, and its moving neck can be tilted to different angles as per your need.

You just have to log onto the website with an existing Google or Facebook account – or, there is absolutely no pesky software installation. Users can have Wi-Fi network credentials pre-installed easily on Ohmni Telepresence. The battery used is made of lithium iron phosphate. It’s safer than the commonly used batteries, and lasts for about 5 hours. Ohmni can be customized into different colours and materials. The robot is 100% remote controlled and work in real-time. Or, you don’t have to dial or call to keep in touch your dear ones.

The key advantage is the ease with which it brings together people who are separated by large distances.  While text and voice calling apps, help stay connected, Ohmni automatically connects and helps video chat easily. It lets you virtually join your family, interact, and experience life together.

Would you like to buy one for yourself?

Mastercard unveils biometric card with fingerprint sensors

The days of having to enter your PIN number to make a transaction could soon be over.   Here is a next-gen biometric credit card that helps authenticate payments with fingerprints! US-based Mastercard has unveiled the new biometric card with a small fingerprint reader that can store up to 2 fingerprints on its chip. It resembles a regular card, and the sensor is thumb-nail sized, and sits on the top right corner.

Once the card is ready for public, here is how it might work. As and when the card is available, you have to visit your bank branch and get your fingers scanned. The EMV chip in the card stores the encrypted digital template of your fingerprint. You can save 2 fingerprints but both have to be yours. Or, you cannot authorize someone to use your card with their fingerprints. Once the template is saved, you can use the card at any EMV card terminal. In other words, you don’t have to fear anymore about ATM frauds, or struggle to shield your PIN number from prying eyes anymore.

Biometric login is quite common these days, and has slowly replaced PINs and passwords that were our primary means of unlocking doors, safes, and smartphones. Wondering why? Its unique, secure, and most importantly convenient, given the chances of forgetting passwords and signatures. No two people have the same fingerprint, the chances. Hence it makes complete sense that Mastercard is testing fingerprint sensor enabled cards that help safely authorize each transaction. You don’t have sign any papers or enter PIN numbers anymore, just place your thumb, and you can prove your identity and pay your bills.

The biometric cards are currently tested in South Africa. Mastercard plans to roll them out to other part of the world by the tail-end of 2017. However, you will have to wait for banks and other financial institutions to get on-board without delay.

When it comes to contact-less payment, Apple holds the monopoly now, as it uses biometric method in Apple Pay to authenticate payments.

Are fingerprint-sensor-embedded cards more secure? Will it help prevent fraudulent activities? What do you feel?

A squeezable phone

HTC is all set to unveil the HTC "U" in Taiwan soon. The tagline on the event invite reads: “Squeeze for the brilliant U.” The company has already given a glimpse of the device via a small teaser video posted on HTC’s Twitter account. Wondering what’s new in the “U”? If rumors and “leaked information” are anything to go by, the line-up of features in HTC “U” is highly impressive. But why would someone ever want to squeeze a smartphone? How on earth is a squeezable phone going to help an ordinary user? The first article that I read had a misleading headline, and I felt the Taiwanese company will start selling a rubber like device. But I went ahead and read the post, and checked for more details on other websites like Venture Beat.

Here is what I learned about the HTC "U" smartphone:

The smartphone was rumored to be named HTC Ocean. It has advanced metal frame with embedded sensors. The device won’t bend, but users can easily control the settings and carry out various tasks by squeezing the sides or by swiping up and down on them. In short, a user can control the phone easily with one hand, and doesn't need to stretch his/her thumb across the screen, unless they want to use the on-screen keyboard. The new feature will help users launch apps or camera with just a squeeze. Interesting, right? The technology used is called “Edge Sense”. HTC "U" is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip, and will include Sense 9, one of the most-talked-about user-interface. It’s expected to include an exciting blend of incredible features that already exist in the HTC U Ultra and the HTC U Play.

Let me now leave the technical details behind and tell you about what an ordinary user can expect – better camera, storage, memory, and many more features. I read the TG daily article to get more details on HTC U. Here is what I found – The ‘squeezable’ HTC U will have a 5.5-inch 2560X440 display, with MicroSD slots, and Android Nougat 7.1. It will have a 12-megapixel back camera, a 16-mega pixel front camera, and IP57 dust/water resistance, but might ditch the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The aforesaid details have not yet been confirmed by the company but the end product will undoubtedly be as surprising as the range of features that are listed in the leaked information about the super-smart HTC U.

This flagship smartphone will be officially unveiled on May 16th. Planning to buy one?

A butter lover’s dream

Almost everything eatable, even the blandest of foods that you know, gets better and delectable with some butter on them. But for fear of overdoing and putting ourselves on the road to heart ailments, we keep avoiding the use of butter. What if you can convert rock-hard butter into spray? Biem Butter Sprayer helps turn a stick of butter almost instantly into a spray, so that you can dole out the golden deliciousness in measurable amounts. While sprayable versions of margarine is already available in the market, Biem Butter Sprayer helps avoid the artificial route and use fresh butter sticks to cook your favorite gourmets.

How to use it? The process is very simple. Slide a butter stick into the sprayer. When you pick it up to use it, a built-in motion sensor in Biem Butter Sprayer turns on its heating element. The butter you need gets heated to almost 95 degrees Fahrenheit in seconds, after which you can grab the Biem Butter Sprayer. Hold the sprayer by its handle, aim onto the food in a steady motion, and in seconds an air pump blasts butter in needed amounts. With no chemical propellants or CO2 cartridges that constantly need to be changed, Biem Butter Sprayer is safe and effective. It uses a rechargeable battery to melt butter sticks.

This innovative kitchen gadget promises the best of both words. You can enjoy having butter and not fear about compromising on taste or health. Biem Butter Sprayer is the first ever butter sprayer that can transform a stick of butter into liquid spray in just seconds. It has an accelerometer that helps detect when you pick it up and turn it on. The special patent-pending nozzle of Biem Butter Sprayer helps prevent clogging and ensures portion control, thus cutting half the calories that you normally consume.

From seasoning your steamed vegetables and popcorns to greasing your pans or flavoring your bread, the possibilities of using Biem Butter Sprayer are endless. It’s a culinary marvel and a user-friendly appliance to add controlled amount of butter to your favorite dishes, or season your frying pans and trays without using margarine or vegetable oil sprays.

Wondering how to clean Biem Butter Sprayer? It’s as easy as sticking it under a faucet.

Travemate - The First Robot Suitcase

For anyone who hates carrying heavy suitcases, here is happy news. You can soon purchase Travelmate, a smart suitcase from Travelmate Robotics. Wondering what’s new? Unlike other suitcases, you don’t have to grab the handle of Travelmate and drag it along. This GPS-enabled and LED-lit suitcase can follow you wherever you want to go, and stays nearly 3 to 5 feet behind you. Travelmate can be linked to your smartphone to record the location. This autonomous robot companion will follow you based on your location, thus making travelling much easier. In short, you get a sci-fi travel buddy, almost equivalent to having a trustable person who can follow you and carry all your stuff. Travelmate is the brainchild of a team of American robotics specialists from SMP Robotics.

Called "the first true fully autonomous suitcase," that can loyally trundle after its owner automatically, Travelmate can move both vertically and horizontally, and weave through the crowd effortlessly. If attached to non-robotic cases, Travelmate will carry them along with it. This innovative travel companion encompasses an optional camera which helps record your journey or patrol your home when you are away.

Travelmate can easily match your speed, up to 6.75 miles per hour. The battery charge lasts for 4 hours if the suitcase is used in fully autonomous mode, or 100 if used in standby or regular suitcase mode. No matter what the kind of usage is, the LED lights on the suitcase will indicate the battery level. The lights can be turned off whenever required. A TSA-compliant autonomous robot companion, Travelmate has fingerprint-enabled lock system to ensure unmatched security. You can open it manually as well. The removable GPS chip helps keep track of Travelmate. The chip can be attached to any other bag that you wish to track. Two extra chips will be provided with all models.

In addition to a smart lock and a location tracker, Travelmate contains dual USB charging ports too.

Irrespective of all advantages available, many are apprehensive of the usage of travel mate, as it might cause security risks and chaos in busy airports. But the company has ensured the best security possible. If someone intents to steal the case, it will soon sense the danger, lock its wheels, and sound an alarm.

Travelmate comes in three sizes, costing $399, $495 and $595. It’s available for pre-order on the company website.

Self-making bed – Best laziest invention ever?

For those who are too lazy to make their beds, OHEA “Smart Bed” is the one-size-fits-all solution that can ease the tedium. That said, many have dubbed it as the laziest invention of all time.

This is how the Smart Bed works. You get out of your bed and leave it unmade. If the automatic mode is turned on, OHEA Smart Bed can make itself in the morning, in about three seconds after you gets out of the bed. The panel on both sides of the bed swings open, and the mechanical arms emerge from each side. A set of smooth rollers are attached to these mechanical arms. The rollers grab each side of your blanket, before slowly moving from the foot to the head of your bed, tucking it neatly. At the same time, the pillows rise on another panel to make space for the moving arms.

The pillows are straightened using chords attached on each side of the bed. As the arms completely straighten out the blanket, they drop back into the bed’s housing, while the pillows are dropped into its positions appropriately. The side panels get closed and the bed is ready for you take a nap. The entire process takes nearly 50 seconds from start to finish. If you prefer manual mode over automatic mode, you can choose that as well.

OHEA Smart Bed doesn’t start functioning accidently or when a person is sleeping. It cannot be manually triggered to bed-making mode when anyone is on the mattress. It means, OHEA Smart Bed might have a weights sensor to prevent the bed-making mode from turning on suddenly.

Wondering how close it is to perfection in bed making? Not really, and here is the downside – you have to be a tidy sleeper, and cannot use your own sheets, duvet covers, and pillows. Moreover. OHEA Smart Bed doesn’t accommodate a second top sheet in between the main blanket and the bottom sheet.

Still, for those who hate making their beds, OHEA Smart Bed is truly a blessing.

What to do if it breaks?

Here is what the website states: "You would simply have to make the bed manually until a technician resolved the issue.”

Your laundry folding friend

Folding your clothes into organized piles is often laborious, time-consuming, and frustrating. But here comes a machine that can fold your clothes into neat piles in seconds. It’s about two third the size of your washer or dryer, weighs about 60 pounds, and can easily fit into most laundry rooms.

Developed by a San Francisco start-up, Foldimate can start folding clothes as soon as they come out of your washing machine. The commercial version of this laundry-folding machine will be available later this year. Foldimate is Wi-Fi enabled and is expected to cost around $800. Call it a robot or an appliance, Foldimate is an innovative and intriguing discovery.

To get started, you can clip your clothes onto the machine’s horizontal rack and press a button to indicate the cloth type. Foldimate will soon determine the thickness, size, and sleeve length of your clothes, and later adjusts its settings accordingly. You can opt for perfuming and sanitizing if needed. Once it completes folding the entire clothes on the rack, Foldimate soon spits out the folded clothes for you to remove.

According to the makers, Foldimate can fold your laundry perfectly and steam out creases successfully in less than a minute. It can also infuse fragrances into clean and dry clothing. This is possible for towels, shirts, and trousers. The machine takes almost 10 second to fold each item. It takes 20 to 30 seconds for de-wrinkling. Based on thickness of each fabric, Foldimate takes nearly 10 to 30 items per load. In short, you get a trustable and never-complaining friend to fold all the laundry fold you.

Will it be able to solve all your cloth folding woes? No. It won’t be able to automatically fold too small or too large items, or “replace ironing of dress shirts”. This means you will have fold underwear, bed sheets, and socks in the old -fashioned way.

Foldimate is not the only automated folding machine that experts are working on. A Japanese startup has built a similar machine called Laundroid. Laundroid is as big as your refrigerator and costs nearly $2700 USD. In short, it’s both expensive and difficult to handle.

So Foldimate is an affordable and user-friendly choice? Would you love to buy it?

P.S. – No matter what your problem is, someone is readying a solution to cater to your needs. In other words, you can get a solution for something as trivial as folding laundry.

The salad-making robot

When it comes to making salads, the kind of ingredients and toppings used are very important. Or else, a healthy meal might have more calories than a fattening hamburger. What if you can easily measure the amount of calories in the each salad that you choose to have? Does it sound near-to-impossible? Not anymore! A California-based company has developed a food robot that dispenses the quantities of ingredients, and offers details on the precise amount of calories used in each salad. It’s named Sally. In about 60 seconds, the robot can make more than 1000 different types of ready-to-eat salads. Isn’t that awesome? The green-and-brown robot is the brain child of Chowbotics Inc., one among the major companies in the potential million dollar market of food robots.

Why Sally? It’s possibly the “next generation of salad restaurant”, and can make tasty salads faster than humans. Adding more advantage is the feature that helps count the calories in each salad. Moreover, the level of hygiene is matchless when a machine prepares a salad, rather than getting it done by multiple people.

Does that mean the robot doesn’t need any human help? Absolutely not! Here is the human touch in Sally – The food robot doesn’t do all the chores right from start to finish. A human has to slice and fill up the ingredients into the canisters. The ingredients are stored in refrigerated compartments. You can simply place a bowl in the salad dispensing area, and later customize the order from the given menu. Based on calorie count, you can add or remove toppings as required. Once the selection is done, Sally will soon start preparing the salad.

The salad robot comes in compact size, weighs close to 350 pounds, and hardly occupies the same amount of space as that of a small dorm room refrigerator. It uses 21 different ingredients such as kale, romaine, Parmesan, and cherry tomatoes to make appetizing salads in less than a minute, while you can watch the entire process. In its current avatar, Sally is ideal for business settings and not for home kitchens. But after going “on a diet” quite soon, home users too might get a concise version of this remarkable salad making robot.

Will Sally improve its culinary skills? Will it be able to cook some scrumptious ethnic foodstuffs? May be in its next incarnation, if all goes well!

Flippy - The burger-flipping robot

Robots have reached the world of fast-food as well, thanks to Miso Robotics, an offshoot of CaliBurger, a West Coast burger chain. They have made a burger-flipping robot named Flippy. Why Flippy? Be it working around grill and fryer or doing the preparation works like chopping onions, food service robots can do the chores way more quickly and perfectly than humans.

What makes Flippy standout? As we all know, flipping burgers is not an easy job. There are many common hazards associated with the job, such as slips, trips, cuts, and burns. With increasing demand for burgers, humans need a reliable helping hand to cook more burgers quickly, and serve the increasing number of burger lovers across the world in a time bound manner. This is where Flippy enters. The robotic kitchen assistant works wonders when it comes to burger-making. It can detect, flip, and grill tasty burger patties.

Flippy looks like a small wheeled cart with a six-axis robotic arm. The robot can be installed either in front of or next to any grill or fryer. It uses thermal and 3D sensors as well as advanced cameras to get clear understanding about the environment around. Flippy leverages artificial intelligence technologies to solve some of the biggest pain points that burger chefs often deal with. A.I. enables Flippy to be trainable and adaptable. It might soon learn and cook new foods based on seasonal menu changes.

Fast, safe, and makes no mistakes – Flippy outsmarts humans with these three advantages. It can grab unwrapped burger patties, place them on hot grills, keep track of temperature and cooking time, and alert cooks when to add toppings or cheese. However, Flippy can just plate burger and cannot wrap them or add finishing touches.

Wondering if several burger chefs are going to lose their jobs with the arrival of Flippy? No, they won’t. Flippy cannot fully displace humans. Though it can handle many repetitive tasks simultaneously and perfectly, it cannot completely replace human touch. That said, chefs of some top restaurants might soon find this co-worker in their kitchens.

Media voyeurism

Insensitive and controversial reporting is not new in India media. Today it escalated to a whole new level when a leading media house dared to ‘monetize the death of an old man who jumped to death from a high rise. Leaving ethics and morals aside, they posted the heartbreaking image the man jumping off the building. In other words, rather than trying to save the man, the journo was keen on clicking images. It’s the height of insensitivity and irresponsibility. Ever suicide is a tragedy, and should not be trivialized and treated as an incident to profit from. Finding the suicide story and the tear-jerking image on the cover of the newspaper was more than upsetting.

The tone of reporting and the mind-numbing image of the man jumping off the building will shake even the hardiest soul. The lexical choice and the image used were deeply upsetting and force every reader to relive the tragedy. The tasteless headline and sadistic reporting completely flouted the mandates of media ethics. Imagine the impact it created on the victim’s family and friends!

Using tragic situations for monetary benefits is sheer sadism and utmost cruelty towards a grieving family. Neither the reporter nor the photographer took a genuine effort to introspect and restrain from printing the vivid account of the incident and heart-rending image. Instead, they published it with little guilt, thus rubbing salt into the wound of the bereaved. Such cringe worthy media practices are what diminishes worthiness and relevance of journalism in today’s society. The potentially distressing image and intricate details raise many ethical and legal questions.

Most journalists are trained to narrate their stories in appealing, unbiased, and most importantly in humanized manner. But inappropriate reporting for momentary fame is unethical, and encourages more such merciless coverage of heart wrenching tragedies. The media are not helping anyone by showing explicit images of a man committing suicide. This insane and distressing method of sensationalizing tragedies and cashing on deaths by showing how it happened must stop. The reporting of suicides has to be handled more sympathetically, while complying with the internationally accepted codes of conduct and best practices.

Inaccurate and insensitive reports about suicide deaths leave the most impact on those who are already vulnerable. They might commit copycat suicides. The risk increases manifolds when the coverage is as extensive as the aforementioned one, or when someone relates himself/herself with in the report. The effect is similar when a news report features minute details on the method and location, or glorify the death in some manner. Hence a genuine level of mindfulness and sensitivity is indispensable while reporting deaths and other tragedies.

Stop manual scavenging

If you had to pick one, which is the cleaning chore you hate the most?  Is it cleaning bathrooms and clogged household drains? Forget cleaning, can you even to stand near an open manhole for a few minutes, or peep into it once? You can’t, nor can I. But have you ever thought about those massive numbers of sanitation workers who clean latrine pits, manholes toilets, and urinals clogged with dirt and faeces everyday– all with their bare hands? They are called manual scavengers. There is nothing dehumanizing that cleaning the created by others. Sadly, people are cleaning shit for a living, and everything about it is heart-wrenching. They spend more than of their earnings on alcohol, get trapped in poverty, and face heavy discrimination everywhere.

Despite being outlawed, manual scavenging is the predominant occupation of a large number of people, and results in the untimely deaths of many workers, mainly due to carbon monoxide poisoning. As many as 59 sanitation workers have died in Bangalore city alone between 2008 and 2016. Innumerable deaths have gone unreported and nobody makes a hue and cry. Or, we continually remain apathetic about the entire issue. Manual scavenging is both dangerous and demeaning. It’s banned but only on paper. This dangerous occupation is inherently cast-based. Dalits and low-castes are locked into this illegal practice. According to a 2011 Census, nearly 8 lakh people are involved in manual scavenging. They are poorly rewarded and often endure several health issues, as they work in the most hazardous conditions.

With buckets, brooms, and baskets, they clean drainage holes and dry toilets on a daily basis. They have to literally strip down to their underpants, and are not given any protective gears, gloves, or gumboots to wear before clambering into stinky manholes. Alcoholism is deep-rooted among manual scavengers. Wondering why? No one in absolute senses would get close to a smelly toilet or manhole brimming with filth. Alcohol dulls senses and makes it easier to enter into dirty toilets and manholes. Skin diseases are common among manual scavengers, and many are afflicted with fatal leptospirosis, tuberculosis, asthma, and hepatitis as well.

Irrespective of the announcement of several governmental and non-governmental cleanliness campaigns, nothing significant has been done so far to address the plight of these poor sanitation workers who are mostly illiterate and don't have any other source of income. No development initiative or  cleanliness mission can be successfully accomplished when these sanitation workers, dubbed as manual scavengers, are forced to do the most hazardous and degrading job to make ends meet.

No manual scavenger willingly agrees to do this utmost unhygienic job. They too have to eke out a living like us. It’s high time to end this pernicious practice and rehabilitate manual scavengers. With a stringent ban, many people will go jobless. But availability of alternative livelihoods and financial assistance can help them gain confidence and live in a better and dignified manner.

Nepotism - Good or bad?

Not a month has gone by since a national award winning actress accused a prolific director of nepotism. Soon began some strong and pertinent debates on the feudal side of Bollywood. Nepotism is not new in showbiz. It’s not that nepotism is not prevalent in other businesses, but it's rampant in Bollywood. The most evident example is the growing number of talent-less star kids who are ruling the roost in the industry. That said, some stars with zero familial connections also have climbed up the ranks and made it big in Bollywood with grit and hard work.

It’s not a buzzword, it’s as old as the hills. But is nepotism really bad? The implications depend on how it's practiced. When kept within clear and reasonable limitations, this customary concept can even be transmuted to profitable networking that helps procure plum jobs. It’s not the prerogative of well-known families alone. Here is how you can take advantage of this much prevalent practice –

1. Make yourself known to the powerful and renowned. Build strong connections such influential people. Make sure they like you for who you are.
2. Give them a clear idea about who you are and what you are good at. If an opportunity comes up they will immediately have your name on their minds
3. Have all the required skillets and experience to outshine and win hands down.

It totally makes sense to work with the known and trustable, and the best fit are family members and close friends. But undermining the growth and development of non-familial people is what leads to severe malices and major pitfalls that hinder the opportunity to explore the benefits of nepotism.

When looked at from a business perspective, here are the benefits of having “framily” as workforce - Hiring a friend, relative or family member can boost trust, confidence, performance, and retention. With no mandatory background checks, they can be assigned to perform critical and confidential tasks. Employing a competent family member or acquaintance will also reduce hiring and training costs. Being pre-seasoned, friends and family members can contribute several valuable ideas. Levels of loyalty, morale, commitment, and cooperation will be much higher, thus creating a tightknit workforce. Very often, young men and women work in family-owned businesses for low pay rates, thus boosting the bottom line.

But here is the downside:

Some are reluctant to hire outsiders. The rich and well-connected get hired most of the times and many deserving people return empty-handed. Problems arise when relatives outnumber non-relatives, or when non-relative members experience unfairness and favoritism. Lack of professionalism and merit makes many take undue advantage of preferential treatments. In other words, those who don’t work up through the ranks won’t be fully committed to their duties, and never deliver expected results. This is where ethical problems can crop up. It also results in a sharp dip in the morale of non-familial members.

Nepotism takes the wrong deviation when rewards, promotions, and salary hikes are awarded without adhering to the set benchmarks. This is an unethical step and affects loyal long-term employees who are more eligible and deserving.

At times, preferential treatments can also create a wrong sense of entitlement. Tardy heirs who are way below par in terms of qualification and experience ascend thrones that once belonged to experts and veterans. The end result can be as grave as public and costly legal disputes and mudslinging that end up ruining both professional and personal relationships.

So, what’s the final word?

Paid menstrual leave - Good or bad?

It’s not yet a law, but if the bill gets approved in the parliament, Italy will be the first western nation to give paid “menstrual leaves” to women who experience painful periods. If implemented, companies in Italy will be lawfully bound to grant 3 days of paid leave every month to women employees who experience painful periods. While the decision is generally looked upon as a positive step to help working women who suffer from pain and cramps, some believe it might backfire and make it difficult for women to be a part of today’s competitive workforce.

Menstrual leave is not a new concept. The practice exists in many countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. In March 2016, a Bristol-based company introduced menstrual leave policy for all female employees.

Shouldn’t women with severely painful periods and complicated issues like endometriosis be allowed time off work? Absolutely! But why can’t that be normal sick leaves? Moreover, why should all women, regardless of pain or cramps, get 3 paid sick leaves? It just takes back women to the time they stayed away from public eye during “that time of the month". The fight to break age-old taboos related to menstruation still continues. Menstrual leave will reinforce old stereotypes and further stigmatize the issue of menstruation.

Menstruation doesn't make a woman less competent. So the special leave entitlement creates catch-22 situation. It could help deal with painful periods, but the policy might become another excuse not to hire women. The decision will overturn gender equality, the reason why claiming menstrual leave can be a bad idea. Employers will become more focused on hiring men than women, in order to reduce costs. This is one among the major downsides of the policy. Here is another reason why those extra days of paid leave might do more harm than good - Menstrual leaves will easily draw the attention of antagonized male colleagues and might increase the likeliness of sexual harassments.

Given the fact that women have come way far without this advantage, menstrual leave is a totally retrograde idea. Many dread the possible dis-incentivizing that the law might result is in. It might also result in widespread negative stereotyping that women are emotional and indisposed during periods. Furthermore, menstrual leaves should not be connected with maternity leaves. Paid maternity leaves are a necessity. Giving birth and nurturing a child is more arduous than cramps and pain during periods. Hence, maternity leave is a basic human right.

Period is not an ailment, and not everyone suffers excruciating pain. Many women have scaled corporate hierarchies and broken several barriers even without maternity leaves. Hence, asking for periods leave or choosing to have it is equivalent to speeding backwards. The point is that none of us want to be treated as weak and hormonally-addled. Most of us can handle menstrual cramps, and doesn’t need a handout to deal with the physical and mental discomforts of menses. For those whom its debilitating and needs medical attention, sick leaves are always available to avail.

Breaking the mould

Women are no more confined to household chores. They go out, work hard, achieve their dreams, and earn big bucks. Indian Air Force inducted its first batch of women fighter pilots last year. Women on the ground too are making outstanding headways. But many people still carry the perception that women should confine themselves to a handful of professions. We claim to be the part of a women-empowered society, but continue to believe that there are many jobs that women cannot do. Though some badass women have dared to defy and break the pre-set paths and succeed in their chosen careers, women continue to face several difficulties. Or, blatant stereotyping is still rampant.

That said, here is the happy news – More and more women are now making their way into the traditionally male-dominated workplaces and striving to set newer heights of achievements. The change is highly heartening. They are beating the odds and succeeding in unconventional careers, thus break the mold. One among them is cab driving.

Women are bad drivers; we still hear that often, don’t we? Before jumping into conclusions, read the story of Shanno Begum, the first female Uber driver in Delhi. She has proved that it only takes hard work, passion, and determination to debunk the myth of ‘women specific jobs’. Though she did several odd jobs like cooking and selling vegetables to earn her bread and butter, it was driving that came to her rescue. The job involves several safety issues, but hasn’t stopped women like Shanno Begum from taking it up.

More and more women like her are now deciding to get behind the wheel, driving proudly, proficiently, and cautiously that most of the men drivers out there. They continually prove the patriarchs and trolls wrong, earn numerous accolades, win hearts, and give strength and courage to many others who are dreaming of embarking on similar jobs. Women-only cabs run in most of the major cities in our country. With such secure ferrying services, women are more self-reliant and no more fear lurid harassments from male drivers. It’s a win-win situation.

Would you be surprised find a female driver in your train? Not anymore! But it was beyond imagination in 1998 when Surekha Yadav became the first female driver. She was the first to drive the ‘Ladies Special’ train from Central Railways to CST. Come March 2011 and she drove the Deccan Queen from Pune to CST despite topographic difficulties.

It’s no longer rare to find women bouncers in night clubs. More women are now frequenting nightclubs and letting their hair down. Given high probability of sexual harassments, depending on a man for safety during wee hours is almost a no-brainer. This is the key reason behind the increasing demand for female bouncers. They are strong-willed, do their jobs with panache, and inspire many others too to follow their dreams and walk paths that are less taken.

When compared to men, women are more patient, understanding, and good at making futuristic decisions. Her mental strength is ineffable and her positive spirit is infectious and inspirational. Be it household financial matters or sensitive relationships, women are excellent managers and handle things with ease and perfection. But eyebrows are raised when they step out of homes and take up jobs that were once considered as the divine birthright of men.

From becoming gas station attendants to serving customers at bars, women are excelling in every filed imaginable. They are doing a lot to overcome the barriers and break the proverbial glass ceilings, but the struggle continues. They still face an uphill battle to prove themselves. The path is fraught with many difficulties.

With an ocean of possibilities out there, let hope that more women will identify the plethora of unexplored professions, and prove their worth, thus bridging the gender gap. If she can give birth to her child, handle all household matters, and take care of her family alongside her work, there is nothing that a woman cannot do.

Feminism is not what you think it is

A topic which triggers more misconceptions than it dispels, feminism is once again is becoming the reason for heated debate. Thanks to a young actor’s wife and her uninformed take on feminism and motherhood, which she openly expressed recently.

When defined plain language feminism means men and women should be treated equally. But many people fail to understand the simple concept. The star wife is no different, the reason why she recently made some foot-in-the-mouth comments about feminism, motherhood, and working women, during a recent event on Women's Day.

It’s always laudable to find proud stay-at-home mothers like her, who wear that label with pride. Home makers work round the clock. Their services are priceless and invaluable. It’s not easy to choose a life-long unpaid, unappreciated, and unrewarded job, and yet remain happy throughout. It’s not contenting to successfully fulfill duties with no apparent benefits, holidays, or vacations. Yet she chose to remain a stay-at-home mother. It’s a great accomplishment and worth as much as a professional achievement. The services of both ace homemakers like her and accomplished professionals should be hailed equally, as both are of paramount importance.

When it comes to homemaking and career, choices are subjective and vary for many relevant reasons. While women like her are privileged to remain as stay-at-home mothers, many ordinary women have have to balance both career and motherhood. None of these choices is questionable or inferior. But the actor’s wife made a cardinal mistake by making some ignorant statements about feminism and harsh comments about working mothers. She unapologetically shamed working women who leave their children behind and go out to work. Her comments were insensitive, regressive, and echoed her wrong notion about feminism. Adding fuel to the fire was a strange analogy about her child, and the half-assed opinions on women who stand up for their rights.

In the same breath she urged the world to respect homemaker women and verbally bashed women who chose to work alongside raising their children. She went on and related her choice of being a homemaker to traditions and ideals. It’s a wrong perception. Such conventional ideas are the root cause of most of the discriminations that women face in our society. The comments also reflect her failure to understand the struggle and conflicts that most ordinary women undergo in their daily lives. Neither are they privileged like her nor lucky enough to have a sure shot solution to successfully manage both work and family. They don’t enjoy the luxury to make the so called ‘right ‘choice.

Career or homemaking, every woman has dreams and ambitions of her own. Aspirations about a successful career can never be regarded as a negligence of familial and parenting duties. Apart from fulfilling her ambitions, very often, women have to work to financial well being as well. So, why do we shame such women for their choices and at the same time laud men as hard-working and focused? Why do we make them feel guilty about their choices?

There is nothing “aggressive” and “destructive” in feminism. What she forgot is the fact that feminism is what let her make her “choice”. Shouldn’t she show some gratitude for her freedom to make unapologetic choices? "Feminazi”, the word she used is highly derogatory and demeans the efforts all women who fight for equal rights.

Many women have proven their ability to balance both career and motherhood. But this immature lady didn’t think twice before undermining the laudable efforts of such countless successful working mothers around the world. She is married to a successful film star. She can devote her entire time to her child, and yet find prospective opportunities if needed. But life is not a bed of roses for all. She should try to step away for a moment and look at the reality.

The star-wife is a twenty something woman who has hardly seen enough of life to judge and make such comments. She is not an academic and doesn’t have any credible achievements to boast of. Wondering what was the rationale behind choosing her as a speaker! She could have at least researched for some relevant points before doling out such distasteful statements or judging other women.