When NorthEast Beckons!

With a thick mist of fog swirling all around you along a mountainous road at an elevation of almost 1484m, in the month of June if I might add, supposed to be the hottest month of the year, the mind can scarcely halt comprehending the exceptional beauty of the surroundings in a place known as one of the wettest places in India- Cherrapunjee.

When people talk about in wonder appreciating the sublime natural beauty of the North East, there is just one piece of advice from my side: please believe it. And don’t just believe it, make an effort to actually experience it in person. Though blessed to have relatives in Assam where I should have made considerable progress in satisfying my travel bug for the Northeast, it is only just recently where I got the chance to visit the ‘Scotland of India’ – Shillong.

It wasn’t just any other trip. It was all the more special for the simple fact that this was the first time we went on an ‘all-female family trip’. With my mother taking the lead and me being the (only)face of enthusiasm for our gang, we managed to coax our not so enthusiastic cousins and aunts to sign up for this trip.

I know I am babbling a lot, but actually I am just stalling for time: otherwise how do you even begin to explain the wonderful concoction of feelings rushing past your mind on seeing such serene beauty? There is a reason why people fall silent on such occasions- words don’t do justice in such an occasion.

When the road to the destination itself is full of ‘instagrammic’ beauty(as the more tech savvy young crowd prefer to call it nowadays 😛 ), you are enthused with energy in what is  otherwise a long and tiring journey. I could see where Shillong got its nickname from- small green hills dotted the landscape for as far as the eye could see, and they looked so charming in their own right. Normally I am not one for clicking photos, but this time I made sure I had sufficient of them to show off my ‘amazing photography skills‘ (okay apologies, just ignore this comment 😛 )

With the sound of pitter-patter of raindrops keeping us almost constant company through the entire trip, this is the view from a raindrop stained glass window 😀 .

There is nothing better than feeling the wind rush past your face while sticking your hand out to try and take an awesome click 😀

This is one of my personal favourites- sort of gives off a feeling of venturing into the unknown. You never know what is right around the corner 😉

This picture just gives me an incredible urge to just take out my bicycle and cruise along this long windy road.

The evening light just enhances the beauty of the place, don’t you agree? 😀

I do have tons of other pics just covering the road alone, but then we all should know when to stop, right? (Philosophical mode on :P)

Now coming onto the main topic of interest, I think I should mention one thing: the downpours of Shillong are unbelievably chilly. I don’t know why but I think I just wasn’t expecting to be shivering to the bone at a time when other parts of the country typically experience heat waves(in fact I didn’t find Dehradun even remotely chilling when I visited it in January).

Shillong is very famous for its waterfalls- the most prominent of which is Elephant Falls. This particular one consisted of three falls in succession, with bridges and stairways connecting the three. Water as an element has a very invigorating effect on me, and I personally have a very soft spot for waterfalls.

This is the first of the three falls of Elephant falls, a name which was derived from a rock resembling the face of an elephant which was once found in this place.

The image at the left shows the top view of the falls, taken from just above the bridge. At the right hand side, you can actually see two of the falls in tandem.

We wanted to visit the Shillong View point after this, but unfortunately on our way there we were informed that it was closed.(It closes after 3pm, if I remember so correctly). So we took a u-turn and set our sights on visiting the other attraction the place had to offer us-Umiam Lake.

Umiam Lake is situated at some distance from the main city, approximately 15 km away. It was created in the early 1960s by damming the Umiam river. I think for this particular case, I’ll just start the description not with words but by a beatiful sight which took my breath away:

The spot under the tree seems so perfect for a reading session, doesn’t it? 🙂

The sunrays give such an accurate impression of bursting through the clouds to cast an aura of peaceful tranquility.

Yeah we went for a motorboat ride  which lasted for around 10 minutes(too short if you ask me). But the main thing is I got to try jetskiing for the first time in my life! 😀 It was so exhilarating: cruising along at an unbelievable speed across the vast lake, surrounded by such majestic mountains and  with the cool air rushing past your face, it ended too soon for my liking.

The next day, we went to visit Cherrapunji amid a torrential downpour. Situated almost 53-54 km from Shillong, the entire road through the mountains was covered by a dense fog. Watching mountains tower above the clouds is a familiar sight, but this was the first time I had seen fog on the mountain road itself. It was an entirely new sight for me, one which I enjoyed in peaceful silence(I am sure our driver didn’t enjoy it that much though,  having to drive under such low visibility :P)

It’s because of this fog that we were unable to see the majestic Seven Sisters’ waterfall in all its glory. Just imagine standing on a platform, where you can hear a thunderous sound from seemingly far away, but yet you can’t see the source of that sound. I was literally hopping from one foot to another praying to God to let the fog lift just a little bit so that I could atleast glimpse the source from which such reverbarating sounds were emanating.

    Just then the fog lifted for just a little bit, and here’s the mindblowing view we were blessed to see! 😀

We also stopped on Mawsmai caves on our way back. It’s a major tourist destination in Cherrapunji. It was an altogether different experience-an underground exploration of sorts. We had proceeded without a guide into the caves which had a spacious opening but which was getting narrower by the second. Filled with water, we had to trudge through several narrow openings, sometimes by clambering up rocks. It was fascinating to watch the various formations of the rocks all up and around us. All too soon, like all good things, this too came to an end.

This trip was very memorable for me. We didn’t get even an instant to get bored. Every possible second that we were not taking much deserved sleep, we were either travelling on the road or exploring. You can guage this by the fact that we covered all these places in just under effectively 14-15 hours. It was a rejuvenating experience, and I thank my lucky stars that I got the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature from such a close range.

P.S- Now you guys can stop yawning and rejoice , the post has effectively come to an end! 😀

Bucket List 1:Trekking to Triund!!

Have you ever experienced that numbing yet scintillating feeling, when you are just at a loss of words in the face of extreme serene beauty? When you are just dumbstruck, wondering about where this moment was all your life?

No, I am not talking about love right now <wink wink>, though without a doubt true love is a feeling that can’t be compared with any other feeling, period. The experience I am talking about comes only second in this regard, and that of course is related to experiencing nature in its most glorious form.

Everyone has different interests, and I have always had a penchant for trying out adventure sports. Now I am not saying I am very brave and that sort of stuff(sometimes I am afraid of heights 😛 ), but I have always daydreamed about activities like rafting, bungee jumping, trekking etc. I don’t know how I developed the urge to try them out, but they have been on my to-do list for as long as I care to remember. My parents have always been very protective of me and apprehensive of all these things since my childhood, but finally on one fine day, I was allowed to go on a trekking trip(yaiyee!!).

Now the thing about Triund is, no words or articles or essays can ever do justice to it. No matter how many fancy words like ‘awe-inspiring’ or ‘exhilarating’ I use, you just have to visit the top of the Triund trek to actually understand what I am talking about. Triund is situated in Dharamshaala, cradled in the gorgeous greeny laps of the Dhauladhaar mountains in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India. It is said that the trek to Triund is not that difficult, with its rating being in the range of ‘easy-medium’. Now the first and foremost things to remember about a trekking trip is: get exercise. Loads of it. Get those lazy muscles of yours to stretch out and be active for atleast a couple of weeks to snap them out of their sedentary lifestyle. And if you actually commit the mistake of going for a 9 km long trek without any exercise at all, then God save you (just as he saved me! 😛 )

I know I am getting a little bit repetitive here, but trekking your way through those narrow trails, surrounded by the majestic evergreen trees, is really something different. And when I say narrow, it actually is narrow. Sometimes the rocky trail was so dangerous that you had just about space to just accommodate only one of your feet at a time. While you could see the entire landscape in front of you, at the same time, those deep gorges could sure make your heart beat stop for a moment or two! Sometimes you could also see mules riding up or down the mountain, carrying supplies for the tea shops which are almost in the middle of the trail. I doubt I can find a person who hasn’t heaved a sigh of relief, or just been plain happy on setting sight upon the tea shops, mainly because they signified that half of the trek has been completed, or simply because who doesn’t like some yummy noodles along the way, right? 😀

The later part of the trail was the most exhaustive too, with the path getting steepier and curvier. The last one kilometer is actually called the 22 curves because you have travel 22 curves before you can reach the top. At the risk of making a complete fool of myself, my friend and I were so exhausted by that time that we stopped to take 5 min break after walking for every 2min!(Now don’t take that too literally and start laughing at us :P) No wonder we reached the top almost an hour late than the rest of our group. But the view on the top: just let me say it just made me want to keep spinning around in circles, slowly of course, because the entire panorama view was something I couldn’t get enough of. Specially when the sun is just bidding us adieu for the day, its golden rays cast a magical net over the entire landscape, a view which makes you tuck away all bad thoughts in a box and toss it over in the sea. I guess it’s a moment when even if you wish to be despondent, you just can’t, because its just that enchanting.

Now if you were impressed by the day, just prepared to be absolutely enthralled during night. Most of us living in the cities, have just seen a mockery of what we call ‘stars’ in the night sky. You want to see the real deal? Just lie on top of Triund and feast on the marvellous night sky view. Thousands and thousands of twinkling stars will keep you soothing company throughout the night. Plus, camping with bonfire and singing songs throughout the evening was an extra bonus too. Who hasn’t thought about sleeping in a tent for once, right? 😉

But boy, in Triund, you just don’t stop being surprised. I opened my eyes to a mesmerizing view of the grand mountains, just before sunrise(I am really running out of adjectives here). With a gentle breeze making us feel comfortable, we watched the white fluffy clouds just drifting their way across the mountains, showing a new form of camaraderie which is rarely seen nowadays. And when the sun finally arose, the verdict was finally given: coming here was one of the greatest decisions ever taken.

After clicking lots of pictures(and I really mean lots and lots of them), we finally bid adieu to the spot. One thing which I forgot to mention about Triund was its absolutely gentle dogs. The entire time we were there , I doubt anyone ever heard them barking. In fact, one of them accompanied us too on our way downhill. Considering they go up and down the trail a lot, no wonder they were in such good shape!

So guys, don’t keep putting off your bucket list. Life will keep rushing on, no matter what you do. Just find a little time in between to ensure that you actually are living in the true sense of the word, and not just existing. Because being happy has never hurt anyone, right? 🙂

How do you view a half filled glass of water?

Writing something about life is exactly how life actually is : vague and unpredictable. You start by thinking about one topic, and as soon as the words start flowing, you realise that you have penned down an altogether different experience! This is exactly how I ended up writing this article, the idea of which I never realised I had in my head till the moment I gave my fingers a chance to express themselves. Never quite realised that they had a mind of their own too!

The world loves to think and decide on its ability to see everything as absolutely black and white. In fact, they quite pride themselves on this fact. Present any case to a normal person and ask him to give a judgement, he will give his answer in absolute terms: that this is right and that is wrong. The thought that shades of grey do exist in every situation never seems to cross anyone’s mind.

Take the case of the old age phrase of seeing a half filled glass of water as half full or half empty. This example has been used for centuries to test the level of optimism in an individual. See the glass as half full with water, and the world will view you as a person who can fight every obstacle because he is so full of positivity. And god forbid, if you see the glass as half empty, then nobody can help you. You are so full of negativity that you are doomed to suffer for the rest of your life. In short, the world labels you as a pessimist.

But this classification seems very incomplete to me. Okay so person A is seeing the glass as half full and he is smiling, and person B is seeing the same glass as half empty so he is frustrated. But is this it? The only word that comes to my mind on imagining this scenario is : Stagnation. This is a very stagnant situation, with nobody actually doing anything about the situation. With just letting things be, they are contributing to a whole population who are just content or just discontent with life. In other words, the phrase ‘The only thing constant in life is change’ holds no meaning for them.

So why be content with just optimism and pessimism? What I sincerely believe as an ideal option is an active realist. Such a person will see the glass as half full AND will strive to fill the remaining half too! Isn’t this very trait what drives people to the ultimate pinnacle of success? Our world has been filled with awe-inspiring examples of human determination which wouldn’t have been possible if the people were just content with the way things were. Just imagine, we would still be living as cavemen, content with just the sun in daytime with the moonlight to guide us during nights!

If Dashrath Manjhi (The Mountain Man who carved a path through a mountain in 22 years using just a chisel and a hammer) were to be just an optimist or a pessimist, he would have just tried to find meaning in his wife’s death and made his peace with that, or would have spent his entire life cribbing about how God snatched away his one true love. But what he did placed him on a different pedestral altogether. All of us give the example of true love in the form of Taj Mahal- an ultimate symbol of love built by Shah Jahan for his wife. But Shah Jahan used the labour of others, Manjhi did not. By devoting his entire life to carving a path through the mountain for the benefit of others, his indomitable spirit finally triumphed. For me, Manjhi is the ultimate example of an active realist.

So people, if you have a dream or passion, just follow it through. Or if you can’t, just stop cribbing. The world is filled with enough sorrow as it is.

Service charge, Service tax and VAT in restaurants

So I guess, we all know what the deal is here. Especially, if someone is a foodie like me ❤ All of us who regularly go to food joints and restaurants to have some yummy food have an idea about the extra charges that are applied to the total bill apart from the actual food charges. Well, we got to know this, don’t we? I am sure nobody here would like an embarrassing situation of having less cash or credit on hand 😉

Apart from the issue of being ready for the expenses, there is also the concern of restaurants cheating us due to our inadequate knowledge. We as customers don’t actually sit down to calculate the extra charges, in an effort to avoid an unpleasant situation, but having basic knowledge about it ensures that nobody can cheat the daylights out of you, that’s for sure.

The real reason why I became interested in this topic was however different! Since we are students, my friends and I usually contribute equally while eating out or in rare cases, we pay in accordance to who eats what. So naturally you can understand it’s quite a headache to calculate everyone’s share in the second case, specially where taxes are involved!

So here is the bill which really gave my grey cells a run for their money:

 

Okay I know what you guys are thinking. Why not just divide the bill in two parts, young lady? Why go to such lengths for the trouble of calculating? See, the difficulty here is that I actually had one Drinks X and two Drinks Y. Hey, you can’t blame a girl for being thirsty, can you? 😛 So obviously my share was so much more than my friend.

Therefore , I had to understand the basic structure of the bill in order to calculate my share. So here goes!

Okay so there are basically four types of charges and taxes which are levied:

• Food Charges
• Service charges
• Service tax
• Value added tax

FOOD CHARGES:

These are the actual charges of the food and drinks that we have ordered. These are the prices that are indicated on the menu. eg in this case the food charge of the dish is Rs 275.

SERVICE CHARGES:

These are the charges that we have to pay the restaurant for its services. There is no tax guidelines for it. Basically it can be considered equivalent to giving tips to the waiter. It’s usually below 10%. An important thing is that these charges should be mentioned on the menu, otherwise you can question their inclusion in the bill.

So don’t feel obligated to give further tips to the waiter if you have already paid the service charge. No fun in paying double!

SERVICE TAX:

Service tax is the tax levied by the government on the services rendered by restaurants. Since it’s difficult to ascertain taxes on services rendered based on the amount of food we have ordered, hence there is an abatement of about 60% on the tax. Hence the total tax is 12.36% which is levied on 40% of bill which includes your food, drink and the service charge. For shortcut, 12.36% x 40% = 4.944% is what is usually denoted in the bill as service tax. This is same in all states. The restaurant must be air-conditioned for service tax.

VALUE ADDED TAX:

This is a form of consumption tax which is state specific. Can be low as 5% or as high as 20%. Additionally, it’s different for food and drinks. For the state of Delhi, it is 12.50% for food and 20% for drinks.

Well there, I hope this post will have explained atleast some doubts which you might have regarding this topic!

How to calculate maturity amount on a Recurring Deposit

Nowadays, managing our finances ourselves is a task everyone should be familiar with. It gives us a huge advantage if we are able to calculate for ourselves how much we earn, how much tax we pay, what interest do we earn by depositing money in banks, is it really profitable or are we just incurring losses.

Well this post is just our foray into the world of Finance.

How I got enticed by this need to understand my financial matters, or how I started to get interested in savings even though teenagers are infamous for their spending habits is matter for another discussion.  Long story short, I got interested in a Recurring Deposit Scheme in Punjab National Bank which was offering 9% interest. A Recurring Deposit is a special type of term deposit which allows people to deposit a fixed sum every month for a specified period of time and earn interest, normally at higher rates than which are available for Savings Deposit( currently 4% for majority of Indian banks).

So I got excited and quickly calculated the maturity amount for a Recurring deposit of Rs 500 for one year. Using the formula given below for compound interest, I assumed that the bank was giving me interest of 9% per annum with the interest being compounded annually and proceeded with the calculations as follows:

                                              A = P(1+r)^t

where                        A= Amount received at the end of specified period                                              P= Principal amount invested (Rs 6000 in this case)                                        r = Rate of interest in decimal(0.09 in this case)                                                                     t = Time expressed in year ( 1 in this case)

Using this formula, I calculated my maturity amount to be Rs 6540. Rs 540 as interest on an investment of Rs 6000(Rs 500 each month for 12 months) was quite a nice amount, I thought happily.  So then, I quickly went to the bank and completed all the formalities.

However, upon receiving my passbook I was dismayed to see that my maturity amount was only Rs 6298!! Huh, what is this? What did I calculate wrong?

Determined to find out where did I go wrong, I now started to google my doubt. There were online calculators for calculating your maturity amount, but there was nothing specific about HOW it was calculated. Somewhere, I managed to find that the banks calculate their interest on a quarterly basis.

MISTAKE #1 : My assumption that the interest was compounded on a yearly basis

So automatically my formula was wrong. The actual formula which I should have used was as follows :

A = P(1+r/n)^nt

where n is the number of times the interest is compounded each year( 4 in this case          as it was being compounded quarterly)

MISTAKE #2 : I accorded equal importance to all my investment of Rs 500 each month. Obviously the Rs 500 that I deposit in the first month will generate more interest as compared to the Rs 500 that I will deposit in the final month.

So now I sat down to generate an Excel sheet:

Principle, P	Rate of interest, r	No of times interest is compounded in a year,n	Months remaining	Months remaining as expressed in year,t	1+r/n	nt	(1+r/n)^nt	Amount, A
500	0.09	4	12	1	1.0225	4	1.0930833	546.541659
500	0.09	4	11	0.916666667	1.0225	3.666667	1.0850061	542.503027
500	0.09	4	10	0.833333333	1.0225	3.333333	1.0769885	538.494237
500	0.09	4	9	0.75	1.0225	3	1.0690301	534.51507
500	0.09	4	8	0.666666667	1.0225	2.666667	1.0611306	530.565307
500	0.09	4	7	0.583333333	1.0225	2.333333	1.0532895	526.644731
500	0.09	4	6	0.5	1.0225	2	1.0455063	522.753125
500	0.09	4	5	0.416666667	1.0225	1.666667	1.0377806	518.890276
500	0.09	4	4	0.333333333	1.0225	1.333333	1.0301119	515.055971
500	0.09	4	3	0.25	1.0225	1	1.0225	511.25
500	0.09	4	2	0.166666667	1.0225	0.666667	1.0149443	507.472153
500	0.09	4	1	0.083333333	1.0225	0.333333	1.0074444	503.722221
						TOTAL AMOUNT		6298.40778

  So finally, I got my answer! 😀

So this is how you can calculate your maturity amount for a Recurring Deposit. I hope this can be of use to someone who was just as confused as me!

P.S- While making the Excel sheet, I came across some shortcuts which I think would be useful to you guys as well.

1) If you have to copy the contents of one cell to multiple cells:                                               First select the range of cells for which you want the same value( for eg, I wanted the value of Rs 500 for the first 12 rows for the first column). After selecting, enter the value in the first cell of the range but DONT press the Enter key. Now press CTRL+ENTER keys. Voila, the value gets copied in the entire range of cells!

2) If you want to apply the same formula to a range of cells:                                                 As evident from the table, I wanted a particular formula to be applied to various cells, eg while calculating nt, I wanted to multiply the corresponding cells of n and t. But manually entering the same formula again and again is very time consuming, besides being really frustrating. So what we can do is, again select the range of cells for which you want the same formula to be applied. Now enter the formula in the first cell, then press CTRL+ENTER. The values are calculated by adjusting the cell values for the remaining cells eg C2 in the formula for the first cell becomes C3 in the formula for the second cell.

Where Maths, Science and History meet

Mathematics. History. Science.

There, I have stated the three words which occupy a place of fear or uncertainty or outright dislike in almost every child’s mind. I am very sorry if I have categorised your child in this category if you think that he/she loves all the three subjects, but let me quote myself one again “ALMOST every child’s mind”!  😛

As a child, I was the type that loved history. It fascinated me, to know about places other than the place I live in, about time other the era I was born into, about people I have no way of knowing except through the pages of a book which echo the words and memories of someone long gone.

Where I loved history(and still do!) my friend was the kind of person who adored mathematics and science. He was not enamoured by the memories of people long gone, until and unless there were scientific laws and mathematical derivations in their name. Hard and fast rules about how the world works, which event of nature is governed by which mathematical law, how we use nature to fulfil our every need by fashioning a gadget or some other new invention every single time, these were the concepts that excited him, made him forget everything else.

Its not that I disliked science and mathematics, its just that my brain understood something better if it was explained in a story like narrative. The way science and maths are usually presented in school- it’s like a a delicious sausage placed in something so vile and dry that most of the time we actually don’t get to appreciate the succulent material inside.

I first realised how science could be so interesting when I had the good fortune of encountering a brilliant teacher who not only understood the scientific and mathematical models of the world, but could depict the same to the students in an enthralling and spellbound narrative. His approach of explaining something would be like this- why the world felt the need for a particular invention, how was the process actually started, what features of the initial design failed that led to other inventors searching for alternatives, and how the actual design we see today came about. He was of the opinion that how can we expect to understand the world if we don’t know its history?

That sentence changed my entire mindset. Influenced by him, I now started to search for books that described how  science and mathematics actually formed the world we live in today. Trust me, it’s a great experience.

I think the same approach should be taken to educate today’s children. How long can education be supported on just rote learning? A child should be educated in such a a way that he feels excited and yearns to know more, and should view books and educational videos as an ally rather than an enemy.

Why only children? I believe that a person stops learning when he WANTS to stop learning….until then there is always a portion of this wonderful existence that you haven’t discovered….haven’t explored…..You will begin marvelling at the way human’s minds work…you will get lost in the world of science just as you would in the world of history….because now, they are not separate….they are a single entity…..

Is the concept of Family disappearing?

What does a family comprise of? One would begin answering that question by saying that family is a group of people related by blood and are classified basically into two types: joint family and nuclear family. But is this classification the only basis of identifying a family?

A family shouldn’t be judged based only on its size. There used to be a time when all the members of a family used to spend time together, actually KNOW each other. A small and happy family- sitting down for meals together, having an occasional trip together, have some activities that they performed as a GROUP together. But is that what happens even today?

The answer is a big and resounding NO!

In this fast paced virtual oriented world, the basic purpose of socialising in real life has been eliminated to such an extent that a teenager hardly knows about his own parents residing in their own house! Where technology on the one hand has separated children from their parents, the quest to achieve fame and power has distanced the parents from their offspring.

I mean, this is how a regular day in the life of a family usually plays out. The parents make breakfast and leave for work. The child has his own social agenda of the day planned out. There is hardly any communication between them the entire day. At the end of the day, both are tired and want to rest. There is no exchanging of funny stories, or what happened to each one during the day or any other discussion in general.

I am not saying that they don’t ever talk to each other. I mean, sure, some families do try to make up for lost time by going out for vacations and trips. But are a few days of companionship really sufficient to make up for the long hours of separation?

The newspapers are filled with news of how some teenagers commit suicide or get sucked into the shadows of a dark world under the supervision of completely unsuspecting parents. Or how a father poisons his entire family when he is not able to handle the financial debts. Why does a family member feel that he is alone? Why does he think that he can’t even talk to his own family? What is this invisible barrier that’s separating them?

Does a child only require his parents when he is small? When he needs to be tucked into bed, when he wants his mother or father to read out to him, when he wants their hand to grab hold onto when he is afraid? Do the parents stop loving their children because of a generation gap?

No. A family becomes a family again when the trickle of companionship and friendship seeps into their relation. A family becomes a family again when everyone actually enjoys spending time with each other. A family becomes a family again when they experience joys and sorrows of each member together.

So if you are part of a family that is very open and very happy, cherish it. Love it. Guard it.

If you are not, don’t despair. Work for it. After all, if we can’t cherish our own family, can we expect outsiders to feel the same for us?

Criticism: Is it necessary?

“Oh my God XYZ, your handwriting is awful.”

“Your article is not well structured. It is full of grammatical errors.”

“The event was not at all managed properly. The choice of venue, food and arrangements were not at all upto the mark.”

Any of these statements sounding familiar? Well since we know that nobody is perfect, there must have been a moment in your life when your work was not appreciated as much as you would have liked it to. In fact, some people are so unlucky that they get quite an earful of disapproving and humiliating remarks.

Welcome to the world of criticism!

Merrian-Webster defines criticism as the act of expressing disapproval and of noting the problems or faults of a person or thing. Criticism is an extremely psychological concept. It can be viewed in a myriad number of ways.

Not everybody in this world is created equal. There is an endless number of attributes and characteristics associated with the ‘even more endless’ population existing in this world. Different people, different style of work. But there is always scope of improvement. Hence if somebody points out your mistakes, well you should always be grateful to them right?

Well,its not always so simple. Humans have a need for recognition, they crave respect. People can disapprove in various ways- they can either laugh at you in a friendly manner, they can try to point out your mistakes in an effort to help you or they can shake your self esteem in such a way that you begin to feel humiliated.

What to do in such a situation then? Have a heated argument with the other party and bash them up? We are supposed to be an intelligent species who have control over our actions. Obviously then this approach doesn’t suit us.

In my opinion, the response to criticism can be threefold.

First, you DO NOT CARE what the others are saying about you. You listen to their criticism but you don’t give a damn about it. In short, you are completely neutral, neither you feel bad nor you do anything to improve your work.

Second, you DESTROY everything in your path. ‘Who the hell does he think he is? How can he talk to me like this? ‘ Such people can’t handle criticism at all. The ones with inferiority complex think the world is out to get them while the others with superiority complex think the world is not capable of appreciating their brilliance.

The third, and the most important, you DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO IMPROVE. You accept the criticism with the determination to make them eat their words the next time. You respond constructively, you try to improve yourself with your hard work.

So Criticism-is it really necessary? In a social world, you can’t escape criticism. But what’s really necessary is how YOU RESPOND to it. Make it or break it, it’s all on you mate!!