The train commute and opportunities lost

Standing at the Dockyard Road local railway station Rahul glanced at the indicator. The 10.11 train to Panvel was the next train it said. He would probably reach office at Mulund around 11 am. Which was cutting it too fine, but he would take care of it. There was an important meeting today. It was supposed to start at 11, but you know how things are on a Monday morning. He was sure there wouldn't be trouble. Guys from the head office were coming from Delhi. They probably got up at 11. Nobody was as efficient and hardworking as Mumbai-ites he reminded himself.

As the crowd grew in numbers he knew there was something wrong. He looked at the station clock. He could not believe it. It was almost 10.30 am. He was already late. The train from the opposite platform would take him to Sandhurst road station, which was a central line station. It would waste 5 to 6 minutes but at least he would be on his way. As he thought about it he saw a train far away coming to the opposite platform. Should he or should he not make a dash across the tracks. That was certainly risky. Not to mention all the females standing near the ladies compartment who he thought caught the same train everyday so they could see him. Any mistake would make him look like an idiot. He would probably make it if he hurried on the proper way. The train arrived at the station as he contemplated his options. He decided to wait for the Panvel train.

Five minutes after the train on the other platform had left he cursed his luck. Hell, he should have taken that train. After a couple of minutes He saw another train coming from afar to the platform opposite. He hurried down the steps and up the opposite platform going towards Sandhurst Road. He reached the platform as the train was coming to a halt. He had done it. At least now he wouldn't miss the meeting. He could say the trains were late and he wouldn't be lying.

As the train started he sighed with relief and looked at the poor souls standing on the other platform. People have to take decisions. The ones that don't get left behind, he thought to himself. The train moved slowly, but at least it was moving. Sandhurst road station wasn't very far and in a few minutes the train pulled in slowly at the station. He could change platforms for central here too. But he would have to walk the complete distance of the platform. So he decided to do the smart thing by going to Masjid station. There the foot over bridge was right next to the compartment he was in. As the train left the station he saw why the harbor line was held up. A train was standing just out side the station. Engine failure someone murmured. Flat tyre someone else joked. The train he was traveling in slowly grinded to a halt. He looked around. The train had left the station. Holy cow he thought to himself. He should have gotten down at the station. Before he poked his head outside the train he knew what the problem was. Since the trains going down had been delayed the trains going up to csm terminus couldn't get to the terminus and now they too had to wait for their turn to get into the terminus before they started their journey again. Rahul cursed his luck. If only he had got out at Sandhurst road station.

After 15 minutes of waiting the train started slowly. In this time Rahul had seen 3 central line trains whiz past him. He would have been in one of them only if he had changed to central at Sandhurst road station. The train pulled in Masjid station painfully slowly. Rahul got down and rushed to the other platform. There was no train but at least he was in the right place. He would be on his way now.

Fifteen minutes later he was still standing at the station. He saw the harbour line had started functioning. Three trains had gone towards his destination. He took refuge in the fact that he world have to change to central at Kurla anyway.

Finally, a train arrived. It was Thane. The Thane train was usually empty. Rahul chose a nice window seat and settled down in it. The train was slow but at least he was on his way. Suddenly he saw the titwala train on the other track. He groaned in despair. It was a fast train that stopped in Mulund. There was no way he could catch it since his train would stop at Sandhurst road station. Although, the titwala train was simply cruising alongside his train, the stop at Sandhurst road station left his train behind in the race. It would stop only at byculla which was the next station. Giving up on catching the train Rahul took out his phone to check the train timetable for the next fast train. He was late. And the later it was too peak time the lesser the fast trains that stopped in Mulund. The next train was half an hour later. He simply stared out of the window. As the train neared byculla station he saw the titwala train standing there at the station. Should he make a dash for it? The train would probably start as soon as his train pulled in. After thinking about for a few seconds he made his decision to not pursue that train and stay put. His train was moving and it would arrive 15 minutes after the titwala train at Mulund. But he was not taking the risk.

As his train slowly pulled out of byculla station he saw the titwala train still standing there. He expected it to start any minute. But it didn't. He was glad he did not catch it. There was probably some problem with the train. He smiled to himself. At last a right decision today. Suddenly the air rushing towards him felt refreshing. As he breathed the air happily he saw the titwala train catching up from the corner of his eye. In a few seconds it had zoomed past him.

As he traveled to his destination, which was now approximately 40 minutes away, he thought about the decisions he had made since he first stepped on to the Dockyard Road Station. After that it was all missed opportunities and bad decisions. It kind of reflected on his life. He was sure his boss would not be happy about his time of arrival today. He was lucky to have a good boss, but when he had been told to come on time it was inexcusable. He could always think of an excuse to calm his boss down. However, what should he do about his habit of missing opportunities in life?

harbor line
Today was special day a office
Harbor line was running late
Sandhurst road
Csmt towards
Majid
The t was standing at Sandhurst road
What if I had seen the app earlier
What if I had caught that train earlier
Should I cross the tracks
Should have got down at Sandhurst road
How can a train arrive early. Even if it fits the signal system should not allow it to go further

The extra mile

You never fail until you stop trying. Albert Einstein

The boy looked at the ball longingly. He remembered playing with it. He and his brother used to play soccer, volleyball and basketball with the same ball. But that was before the accident. A cart load of big logs had fallen on his legs leaving him bed ridden. The doctors did their best. The casts were removed. The doctors confirmed his legs just needed some exercise to get in shape. His father requested him many times to try walking. His brother too urged him to play in the fields and revive the fun they had in the past. But try as much as he could, the boy found that the strength in his legs failed him. The brother had now stopped asking. The father did his best so that the boy did not fall into depression. The boy meanwhile resigned to his fate of a crippled person depending on others for many things.

The boy continued to stare at the ball. He decided to pick it up. He could. His hands were okay. As he bent down his left leg suddenly jerked up and kicked the ball. The boy could not believe it. The leg had moved. Maybe because of the bending action. Maybe some muscles had been pulled. But there was movement. He looked at the ball again. The kick had hardly moved the ball. It had moved a couple of inches. He wondered why he had not tried picking up the ball earlier.

Sitting on his wheelchair he started imagining if he could kick the ball once again. He wheeled himself near the ball. Just one more kick he urged himself. Maybe bending makes his legs work. He would try it without bending. His legs did not move. He gripped the arms of the chair, bent a little forward and tried again. His leg jumped forward again. But almost missed the ball. The ball spun sideways. Slowly. It settled a few feet away. The boy wanted more now. He wanted to try with his right leg. He spun his wheelchair towards the ball and repeated the exercise with his right leg. It hardly moved. But he could feel his muscles trying. He tried once again. No luck again. But now he had hope. If it could be done once it could be done once again. The boy spent the whole day trying. Mom noticed her son's activities. But did not interfere. Dad's provocation and prodding had not resulted in so much results in a month that the ball had got within a day.

She told dad in the evening but could not stop him from letting the boy be. Brother too was overjoyed. Though the boy responded well this time but he was tired.

The next morning when he opened his eyes he found the ball next to his wheelchair near the opposite wall. He got up by himself. Usually he called out to mom. But today he wanted to get the ball. He thought his mom wouldn't let him. She worried all the time. He lowered himself onto the floor and almost fell on his face. He started to crawl towards the ball.  His hands were doing most of the work.
He realised that and he stopped. Even if it takes him the whole day he would make his legs do the work.

It took him quite some time but he did it. He was near the ball. His mother found him that way and thought he had fallen down. She immediately helped him to the chair. He explained what he had done and tears of joy ran down her cheeks. This day he spent crawling around the house. It was excruciating and his mom was always hovering around him to make sure no accidents happened but on his insistence left him to do what he wanted. Dad and brother were overjoyed to hear about the progress. Mom advised them not to push the boy and to let him recover at his own pace.
Months went by and the crawling became bouts of walking and then running.

Today the soccer team he was the captain of, won the championship. Everybody was in awe of his achievements. A crippled boy who had overcome all the odds to lead a soccer team to victory. Everyone see the success only the family had experienced the failures and hurdles. They knew success had not come overnight. It had been hard work.

nouns

living room

1. Sofa
2. Chair(s), 
3. Recliner(s)
4. Ottoman and/or footstool
5. Coffee table, sofa table center table
6. End tables, occasional tables
7. Decorative pillows, floor pillows
8. Sofa blankets
9. Television
10. Media cabinet
11. Bookshelf, decorative ledges
12. CD/DVD players
13. Cable box, satellite receiver
14. AM & FM receiver
15. Surround sound system & speakers
16. Floor & table lamps, wall sconces
17. Drapes, curtains, valances, rods
18. Window blinds, shades, shutters
19. Telephone
20. Books, book ends
21. CDs and DVDs
22. Plants and plant containers
23. Fireplace screens & equipment
24. Paintings, prints, posters, photos
25. Decorative objects & knick-knacks
26. Magazines, magazine rack, basket
27. Rug(s), carpet pad
28. Desk and chair
29. Ceiling fan, overhead lighting
30. Light bulbs
31. Extension cords, surge protectors
32. Wall clock, table clock
33. Candles, candleholders, lanterns
34. Mirror (standing or hanging)
35. Trunks, baskets, boxes
36. Game table and chairs
37. Games, puzzles, toys
38. Armoire, étagère, display cabinet
39. Coat rack, hall tree
40. Screen, room divider
41. Computer monitor, hard drive
42. Dog bed, cat bed or tree

Capacity Building is Important

Capacity building is an important part of our student curriculum. Schools are adopting this aspect of education only to fulfil certain norms. It is high time the education industry understood the repercussions of not implementing measures that contribute to the overall growth of a child’s character.

Read more about capacity building by Sauban. Sauban writes blogs about Education, Digital Marketing, and consumer products and services. He is an English Language Trainer, Business Communications Expert, and a Capacity Building Consultant along with being a content and copy writer.

Steve Jobs Speech

Connecting the dots

Put up for adoption

Promised to send steve through college

Saw parents life savings going to college which he thought was not useful in anyway

Dropped out and started attending classes which he thought was interesting like calligraphy. At the time it did not help him nor could he see how it would help him in the future but when he developed apple he put in for the first time beautiful typefaces with proper spaces. This was copied by windows later so it is possible that good looking fonts would have probably taken a lot of time to come in to personal computing if steve jobs had not taken up that calligraphy class.

Love and loss

Fired from own company. Very publicized event. He tried to get back into the company. Whatever he had worked for had been taken away. But he realized he still loved what he did. During the next 5 years he founded pixar, next and married.  Apple bought next. He went back to apple. He went on beuase he loved what he did. The only way to be satisfied is to do what yo believe is great work and to do great work is to love what you do. Keep looking don’t settle . it gets better keep

Death

If tday were the last day of my life will I be doing what I am doing.

Remembering that you are going to do die is the best way to avoid the trap to thinking you have something to lose.

Was diagnosed with cancer. 3-6 montsh most. Get everything settled. No one wants to die. Yet death is the destination we all share. No one has escaped it. That is as it should be because death is the single best invention of life. Its lifes change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. You tme is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma and other people’s limitations and opinions. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

Stewart brant grant? Whole earth catalogue

Open Office Space Layout

Open office has been popular for quite some time. Office space planning and designs have undergone rapid changes in the recent past. The traditional office setup is no more preferred by many companies. Businesses love open office layout ideas more than cubicles or fixed office setups. All employers who spring up to the contemporary ideas of open office layouts expect tangible results from the real estate investments. They share some common objectives, which includes;
Easily attract new talent to their company
Recruitment becomes an easier task
Enhanced productivity in the work place
Promotes innovation
Open office layout ideas increase density even in the expensive markets, which lowers the cost of real estates.
Budding recruits and existing employees have differing opinions about the open office layout ideas.
The young generation of current millennials prefer the open office plans. For instance, they are quite comfortable to work in any coffee house. Some employees however, have different perceptions towards an open office layout plan like the lack of privacy.
We have collected a seven step process as a guide. It helps you manage the office plan changes successfully.
Learn about the office space layout ideas planning requirement
Whether you plan for setting up a new office or decide to renovate the existing the layout, note down the three reasons to validate your decision.  
At times, you can find solid reasons, to renovate your office plan layouts. It can be due to an acquisition, merger, and lease, relocation of your company or a necessity for consolidating space with existing departments.
Some of the reasons may not be straightforward; whatever you should spend quite some time to analyze all facts during the beginning of the process. It helps you understand the process, convey your ideas and plans, and challenge each of your ideas.
For instance, if you do not have sufficient space, you can simply redesign to increase the density of your office. It costs low than moving to a new place. Just in case, if you are not satisfied with the existing layout of the office, is renovation the right solution?
Second, as stated earlier, identify three objectives that you think about setting up modern office designs.
Some of the likely reasons may include the following:
Prepare your office for growth
Enhance productivity and increase efficiency
With modern office design concepts, you can project a contemporary brand to all audiences
Setup a sense of pride
An easy way to attract younger talents
Next, you should do some investigation. Take time and assess your competitors in the relevant industry. You can learn a few best practices from the contemporaries who innovate regularly. 
For instance, a software company office layout differs a lot of from a real estate office. Similarly, a legal firm’s office won’t be the same as the bank’s office layout. Make youself informed about the trend and the basic requirements.
Make visits to the reputed offices pertaining to your industry. Or, just use the social media platforms, YouTube, and Glassdoor to know more about the current open office layout ideas and trends.
Create a ‘mood board’. Don’t panic. This is not a fancy term. It is just a simple way to accumulate your thoughts and ideas in a single place. Write and pin-up all the ideas, concepts, and suggestions you collected. Definitely, the mood board will help you when you plan your space and design it.
Based on your top three goals, you should consider the functions of all departments. If you wish to increase the density of the office space and reduce the cost, think how it may affect each department.
If you wish to promote innovation in your workspace, breakdown silos, etc think about combining the departments that might work together. 
Sometimes, you may want to involve the employees to work together as a team. It might require more space to conduct meetings.  
To end with, look for the practical needs of your office. You should have more room for expansion, provide sufficient space for technology like computers, networking, etc allocate space for departmental storage. If you opt for the open office layout ideas, you should consider the safe storage of the files to ensure the confidentiality.
Choose the right office layout design to build your brand
How do you wish to project your company to the world? Your brand, products or services, etc influence the office layout plan. On the other hand, you may choose to renovate to boost the internal culture.

It is common that people change their opinions quickly. So, visitors show both positive and negative impression in a few seconds. Creation of a strong visual image is essential to make your brand impressive. It supports your objective and helps brand promotion.
Next, who visits your office? Is your office, ‘back-office’ that has no visitors or head-quarters that receives a lot of visitors, recruits, press, bankers, members, investors, etc.? 
Your office visual design makes a strong impact both on your employees and the visitors. It can be the biggest inspiration for your employees. It helps affirmation of your company objectives.
Some of the modern office design concepts make yourself familiarize with the trending industrial designs. These designs employ an urban and contemporary loft. It emphasizes realism through the raw materials.   
Another modern office design concept involves incorporation of the comfiest home designs. For instance, it includes comfortable home furniture like sofa, typical residential features etc. This concept gives the feel like being at home.
The biggest invention in the office space layout planning is you can easily manage the change in the modular furniture.
You can do it quickly, in a few seconds. You can destruct it quickly; it looks contemporary, meets the purpose. Above these, whenever you want to change your interior, renovate the office space, you can easily change it. Re-assemble it any time as you desire and create new designs with no hassles.
Besides, if you wish for leasing your office, negotiation becomes easier. Whether your office furniture is leased or purchased, you can disassemble and assemble without any damages. It saves your cost, your investment and also helps you get credits on LEED sustainability.   
Encourage collaboration of the employees 
Many employers consider improvement in productivity, performance, and efficiency of the employees while designing a new layout for the office. So, the list includes encouragement of collaboration among the employees.
High on the list of goals for many employers contemplate a new office layout is improving productivity by encouraging collaboration between workers. It also offers a great benefit. You can get the most desirable office design when done in a right way.
Many types of research and studies state ideal designs/distance for collaboration.
A research done by Cornerstone OnDemand states that the perfect zone for collaboration is a maximum of 25 feet radius. It results with a 13 % gain in overall productivity of the employees. When high quality employees are seated closer to high volume contributors, it enhances the effectiveness by 17 %.
The high volume contributors provided a high quality of work naturally, and vice versa.
However, there is a possible downside. There is a need for effective management of distracting and disturbing behavior, which is termed ‘toxic behavior’ of the employees. We also created a few guidelines for the managers to deal with the employee issues related to behavioral issues.
The one major drawback of the open office layout ideas is noise! Distraction due to noise is a major concern that you should address when you plan for the office layout.
Just in case if you construct a new building to setup your office,  you are fortunate enough to explore many ways to isolate the noise and create a pleasant ambience.
Noise issue and the distraction have different perception in a different generation of employees. They also react in a different way. However, it certainly affects the privacy.
While the employees of the millennium love to embrace a musical ambience, it may discourage the older employees. There are many options to explore different ways to reduce the noise in your existing office. You can create noise-free ambience and employees do not experience any difficulty in doing the tasks.
Modern office design concepts are not just the only area where you can think about the collaboration of the employees. Open office layout ideas give you multiple opportunities to setup space for quick meetings, lunch, cafeteria, exchange ideas through chit chat, etc. Just make sure you allocate sufficient room for casual meetings with a comfy seating arrangement.
Never overlook the benefit of collaboration. It provides a positive work atmosphere. Also, do not forget including a spacious conference room.  Include the provisions for different means of official communication to make the conference more professional. 

Give priority to design the workspace, productive for employees
The phase of designing the office layout plans is the best time to create a productive, safe, and healthy workplace for your employees. 
Many times, chances are there that may lead to accidents like trips, falls, and slips. Create non-slippery pathways, secure the way to steps with solid hand holds. If there is a requirement of heavy lifting objects in your office, you can either design it with mechanized lifts or use custom furniture. It helps to prevent injuries. 
Liberty Mutual states that the top reason for injury in the workplace is due to overexertion, which is caused by lifting, pulling, carrying, or holding.
Provide comfortable seating arrangements both in terms of size and proportions. Ensure to arrange for ergonomic desks. Besides, remember, all employees have the need to move frequently. Sitting at the desk for hours leads to several health consequences. You can include creating pathways in your open office layout ideas. 

And, you can save a lot by using the energy saving lights. Harness the power of green technology as a part of your modern office design concepts. It makes the workplace pleasant. It also saves you a considerable amount both in investment and minimizes the cost of energy.  You also gain a social responsibility by using green lights to improve environmental sustainability. Reputed designers and architects use biophilic design which is comfortable for the employees. 
A few special considerations for small offices when you create an open office layout plan

Layouts for small offices may appear a difficult task.

First, you won’t be able to provide a dedicated space for the cafeteria. You can have the flexible, customizable, and easy-fit watchwords for the small office layout plan. 

You can include a compact kitchen mess. By adding some doors, you can transform it into rooms for a meeting. Besides, you can design custom mobile desks as rolling workspaces during the forenoon. And the same can be aligned as a conference table or co-joined workspace in the afternoon.

Be wary about your budget: Use your calculator too

If you look for open office layout ideas, calculate the floor space you need.

This is the core of the planning your work layouts. It involves counting on the number of employees, private cabins, conference rooms, utility rooms, storage rooms, kitchens, etc.  You can get the instant estimate based on the space requirement using the free office space calculator online. 

Some of the inspirational examples of open office layout ideas

Aeria Games

Based on Berlin, this is a Gaming company, features spacious and bright open office space for the main workplace. They didn’t use prefabricated desks. Rather, they choose to fill the workplace with custom tables. The layout has room for conference spaces in case of necessity. 

Hudson Rouge

Hudson Rouge is a luxury brand advertising company. It has open space office layout and harnesses brightness to enhance the brand.

The main work place of this company is designed as an open plan studio. It facilitates both official and casual meeting, as well other collaboration areas. The highlight of the design – Light. The open studio features the unobstructed views to all directions except east. It allows maximum penetration of daylight. The entire office as well the rooms are transparent. They used frameless glass fronts to facilities clear vision on the entire office. The unique combination of the open office layout ideas creates solid vision and sense of ideation, which boosts the brand’s creativity.

Kixeye

This is a gaming company, based at San Francisco. It is a small office with brilliant open space office plan. The company used echo-reducing panels on their ceiling to reduce the noise disturbance. Besides, the company also offered headphones for the employees. 

Economia

It is a Newspaper and Magazine publishing company in Czech. Brilliant use of fun elements cleverly adds compelling vision. The design features huge letters, which effortlessly breaks up the office space as well as appears whimsy.

Economia has a massive open office space layout, spans more than 2 lakhs square feet. You can easily fit many JP office workstations in this spacious open office space. 

One Workplace

A furniture company, rather a deal harnessed their office serving as a showroom and a work space. The company span across 25,000 square feet, inclusive of warehouse. Warehouse depicts the latest designs and products in style, which also blends with the workspace. It helps enhancing the services to the customers

What is break out area?

A breakout area refers to the area in a workplace that is not a part of the working area. It is a separate informal space where employees can relax, enjoy and take a break from the office chores. The employees can rest, eat their lunch, have coffee, tea or snacks, and even hold informal meetings with the fellow employees in these areas. This concept is in line with the health and safety laws which state that it is essential to give regular breaks to the employees from the computer’s screen. In this way, break out areas add life to every office.Most of the small and medium companies would consider this space as an unnecessary lavish component. However, they should ponder over its benefits in the company’s performance. It can serve as a space that lifts the performance of your employees.

How break out areas foster team building and enhance productivity?

1. Increased productivity

The mind needs frequent breaks to get refreshed. Furthermore, breaks can alleviate the work pressures of the employees and make them feel happy. Thus, the breaks can enhance the productivity of the workers. Well-constructed breakout areas with well-thought Modern Office Interior Design creates a space for the employees where they can invigorate their minds.

2. Enhanced collaboration

The breakout areas have a conducive ambiance and facilitate the casual flow of ideas. The employees or rather teams can come together in these areas, brainstorm and put forth their thoughts. Thus, break out areas foster team building and create a space where inventive thoughts are encouraged.

3. Space for creative thinking

Creativity is the key that takes the companies forward in this competitive era. However, the employees cannot properly exercise their brain amidst pressure and serious workspace. The task related to problem-solving and creative thinking requires a serene and affable ambiance. Breakout areas in Modern Office Interior Design serve as spaces where your team members can exercise their minds and think out ideas that can bring laurels to the company.

How to create an efficient break out area

Meeting people and hating people

Why do people hate?
Is it because they know something about some people what others don't?
Most probably than not, it is the opposite. People usually hate the people they know nothing or know very little about. The haters have heard about these people from other people who may or may not have had a genuine reason to be angry with the hated person. As time passes by, this opinion will be consolidated by other bad reviews about the person. This bad opinion will turn to hate if let to simmer. If the person belongs to another caste, religion, race then it becomes easy to hate the whole community.

In digital marketing we know that many times consumers will definitely read reviews of other customers before deciding to buy. But it is also a fact that 68% of consumers will form an opinion with only 1 to 6 reviews.

Recently after Facebook was accused of polarising people with its algorithm, a study found that most people who interacted with other communities read polarising posts but were not affected by them. People with little interaction with other communities were the most aggressive in their hate.

This fact was highlighted by videos of a Jewish vlogger. His question to random Jewish people of Israel was about their opinion of Palestinian Muslims. The responses varied of course. But the people who hated the Palestinians most were found to be people who had actually never even met Palestinians. A couple of men in separate interviews actually praised Palestinians and they were found to be people who lived at the border and interacted with Palestinian Muslims every day.

The hatred we see for black people in America is usually from those white people who live in complete white neighborhoods. In this scenario if the news that you watch shows a community in bad light your opinion will get worse. And most white people who hate Blacks watch Fox news.

Back home we see hatred for Muslims from those Hindus whose only introduction with Muslims is through hate speeches of Hindu right wing hate mongers. There is a similar equation of Hindus and dalits and Christians and of course vice versa is applicable.

It is easy to fill a mind with hatred when someone doesn't know anything about the other person. Talking good about someone will probably make you neutral about that person. But talking bad about a person will make you hate him.

The only solution is better intermingling of people. This too is discouraged by community leaders for fear of dilution of original thought and original seed - inter community marriages. That is hate for change or hate of the unknown.

This is the reason many Maharashtrians  hate North Indians. Mostly for ruining a nice city like Mumbai and taking away jobs. North Indians are also blamed for corruption and the huge crowds in the city especially the local trains. Maharashtrians suspect all North Indians to have a criminal back ground which they had fled to come to Mumbai and the increasing theft and rape statistics in the state was due to them.

I was surprised that I was the first Muslim that a colleague of mine had interacted with. And she confessed that she believed Muslims to be very aggressive people before she met me. I am sure she was trying not to offend me.

So before making bad opinions or hating people try meeting them and talking to them to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and fights. There are people who make profit by spreading hatred. If you are not one of them, then you could try to benefit by peaceful co existence.

Is it Hard to Learn How to Hate Someone

Eco-Conscious Commercial Interiors

Commercial interior designing, the art of conceptualizing a space for business plays a vital role in the success of a business. This includes hotels and lounges, restaurants and retail spaces, offices, banks, theaters, hospitals and examination rooms, libraries, schools, clubs, spas, shopping malls, and whatnot.

This aspect of interior designing differs from the one used for residential purposes in the fact that the latter highlights the livable space of the residents and their tastes. On the other hand, the commercial interior designing focuses on functionality, safety, and elevation of financial gain without compromising on the aesthetics and design making it more difficult task than the other.

Eco-conscious designing of commercial spaces has been on the rise recently due to the trend in the conversion of business strategies to reduce the carbon imprint and numerous benefits that come along with which helps in boosting the business. Kathy Fidew, the author of ‘The Manual of Interior Plantscaping,’ believes that they bring people together and builds an environment for cooperation and trust.

Plants act as focal points to attract attention to areas where people need to head and at times help to frame or conceal boards and objects. In rooms with less cloth and curtains, plants like Ficus trees and peace lilies act as natural sound mufflers by absorbing sounds of higher frequencies, thus changing the acoustics without altering the design of the room. Creating visual depth and delineating spaces to creating the feeling of the false ceiling to cover up tall ceilings are also what foliage can offer.

Bill Wolverton, the former research scientist of NASA, found out that the Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene and formaldehyde present in the air can be converted into less harmful products by the plants and thus create safer and clean air. The psychological aspects of using plants within a business area and retail spaces include stress reduction, enabling positive mood, reduce fatigue, refocus attention, etc. This helps the employees and staff within an organization.

Heschong Mahone Group conducted a study in a California based call center to find out that the employees who had a view of some sort of foliage or vegetation performed far better than those working within four walls.

Biophilia, the natural affinity of humans towards plants, increase at such locations giving them a feeling of safety and soothes their minds which lead them to trust the surrounding. This particular trait alone leads to better customer satisfaction in a commercial area. Research has shown that customers believe that the value of the product being sold is greater when some sort of vegetation is present in the commercial area as opposed to no plants.

To convert a business into a thriving and booming enterprise may sometime lie in the hands of a talented commercial interior designer with lots of experience. The eco-conscious way of designing interiors far outweighs the traditional methods in every aspect of the success of a business. It is high time we realize the need of the hour and adopt this efficient and eco-friendly way to create just the right haven for customers and employees alike.

Life in secondary school

Urmila and her life in secondary school

Urmila was a chirpy little girl who liked to play with her friends and her little doll. Her favourite game was playing teacher. She used to gather her friends and teach them her favourite subject Math and English. Her parents were so proud of her and used to point out how she usually got all the sums correct and sometimes to show off her talents they used to make her recite tables. She also loved to recite poetry in all languages she learnt at school. Everyone was sure she had a bright future. 

Her father was a cab driver who earned enough to send her to a good Convent School where it is believed she would get the best education. Urmila had been quite a good student till the 5th standard but for some reason her grades started falling. In the 7th she almost completely stopped taking interest in studies. She would play with her dolls and fought with her mother to avoid sitting down for studies. She had by now stopped playing teacher.

Urmila sit down to study or no television for you today. Said her mother.

Urmila shrugged. She would just throw a tantrum and within some time they would let her watch her favourite serial. 

Her parents started pleading with her and shouting at her. They did whatever they could to try and make Urmila work harder at studies. But for Urmila studies had become boring. It was a common phase among school going children the parents exclaimed throwing their hands up. But for something so common it was surprising there was no cure.

Mr Shetty too was complaining about his son. Exclaimed Urmila"s father. "But he doesn't have an answer to this problem either.

There was a time when Urmila used to love going to school. School was where her friends were. She loved to play with her friends while waiting for her dad to pick her up. 

Now she hated going to school because nobody played with her after school. Everyone had tuitions. She used to sadly sit near the gate waiting for her dad. Where once she used to make her dad wait for her she now requested him to come early. 

Why do you come late dad, she cried. If you cannot come in time let me come with the school bus.

What could be the reason for the change?

Although Urmila parents noticed the change in her attitude they did not notice the change in her environment. She had to study more subjects now than she had to earlier. There were more things to remember. Teachers did not explain the lessons at school and tuition teachers were interested in completing homework and giving more practice. Urmila's child spirit was being killed. Her parents too reminded her she was growing. She had to be responsible. She tried to help around the house but that was not enough. Responsibility meant getting more marks than the neighbors son or daughter.

Will it be a surprise if she fails in standard 9 and is given a leaving certificate by the school that doesn't want to spoil it's average? Schools really don't care. They have enough students to take care of and show as an example of good teaching. Even if they are doing a bad job of it.

Schools have to change the way they approach subjects. We have to change the way we approach subjects. Most of history is important to the one who is interested in it. It is a subject that had been much politicised anyway. What if we have history for information only. Maybe just a period that shows history in audio visual format. That's it. No questions or exams should be required. Similarly, math is a vast subject. Why not teach basic math full the 7th standard. 

Standard 7 should be board exam. Till then students should learn to read, write and talk languages. Do basic math, know basic science and know some information from geography, civics, history, economics and even home science. Enough to help students to tackle most careers. For example trigonometry out geometry is not going to help a student who will decide to take up a career in finance or journalism. 

But what about engineering?

To tackle this problem students should be given psychometric tests and counseling so that they can choose their future occupations. Once they have chosen they can jump right into the kind of studies that will help to be good at what they want to become. So students need trigonometry can take up that and students who need chemistry can opt for that subject.

Keeping a buffet for students who cannot decide or who think they have chosen wrong can have open studies for them to join whenever they realise their calling.

Today we have schools that have academics and for holistic growth of the child give them physical education. Why can't we have sports schools that have academics or maybe a dance or drama school that also teaches academics. 

See you still love solving problems of math math problems addition subtraction multiplication extra she also used to love reading the stories that Weiner books other subjects did not interested but shit with them anyway because she loved going to the school. Badnam but now subjects had increased and become more difficult her friends although used to play with her as usual but the frequency and the way they approached studies at change. None of her friends now State Bank after school so she did not have anybody to play with she remembered she used to wait for her dad to pick her up while playing with friends now most of the friends left early because they wanted to attend tuitions. Nagma's dad Nagma had also ask her to go for tuitions and Nagma was now really desperate because she did not want to go unfortunately everybody was attending attending some class or the other and some of our friends now ahead of her in grades. Nagma who has been good in math and English without even trying had started lagging behind in Harsh studies her grades ok in science but not but now she was on the borderline some of her classmates and already made or changed groups and the intelligent children used to hang out together. Sum of Badmash old friends was still with her and shared Nagma dilemma. Mistress of gloomy the looming tuition class and the loss of plate I'm used to give them enough stress that they hardly played even during the play time of school.
Magnus parents 2 had changed from the usual happy Kapil 2 people who were constantly comparing her to the other students in her class for some reason the students who came first or in the top 10 ranks intelligent and Nagma was a little dumbo be because she could not cope with studies
Nagma now goes to a local tution teacher to improve grades local teachers formula to improve grades is continually write answers to the questions in the textbook and solve problems in the MacBook now Nagma finds herself this interested in maths and English to if this continuous problem Nagma will be either or drop out or as he usually a school High School if he fails in the 9th will ask her to leave since schools have to maintain their average results Nagma will join the ever increasing number of students who are the do not pass matriculation or attempt matriculation from privately however there now has become to get good marks or pass in the matriculation examination the lost your wish we haven't even talked about is what is Nagma going to do in life but a question has become how much marks will not make that and after that how much marks will she get in higher secondary what stream will should take in college how much marks will she get in college Nagma as dreams and aspirations have all been lost and will fade away in the coming years.

Banning products

Does banning a product make it more profitable?

If you read Robert Cialdini's book Influence: the Art of persuasion, he talks about the scarcity principal.
Some of this will sound really ridiculous however i have included everything i believe is out of sync.
Banning alcohol, gutkha, beef.: States that have banned, states that have not. Any particular reason.
Start rating for electric products. Do they have isi certification. Or is it just a gimmick.
Dirty water, ice from morgue for limbo water.

Banning has 2 distinct advantages. It increases the products value. Because it becomes scarce.

After exam

Studies over. Holiday on. This is probably the time children will have most fun simply because they know there is work to be done after the results. So even if they feel tired they still want to take advantage of this particular period which happens only after exams and specifically after board exams.

We should not stop them from having fun. But when they do take a break we need them to do something for themselves. Have a certain idea what they would like to do in life. 

We can categorize children into 3 broad types regarding career and future planning.

2 categories of students

1. Students who have an idea what they are going to do. Notice I did not say students who know what they want to do. These students have chosen science. Maybe they want to become doctors or engineers or chartered accountants. This all depends on their environment they have been brought up in. Maybe their parents are already in the profession they have chosen. It is also highly possible that the children have chosen the profession because they saw themselves as a doctor or engineer or a CA.

Part of this category are children who are from business class and they know what they would eventually be doing. Unless of course they decide on a different path.

2. The second and large chunk of students have no idea what they are going to do. They are the ones whose parents are either in small jobs or in occupations that are less glamorous. Chances are they are not earning handsomely either. That is the reason they do not encourage their children to emulate them. 

The problem with these children is that they have minimum direction and no aspiration since they have no one to emulate. They are now waiting for their results so they can choose their stream according to their marks. Good marks and they will probably go to commerce. Some will probably take up science. If some get not so good marks then they will take arts. Some will fail. For these students the options are for giving the exam again or get to work - or as parents would say learn something worth while.

These a the students that make a difference to the progress of any nation because they constitute a big chunk of the student body. And these are the ones that need direction.

Unfortunately, for them they have wasted 12-13 years of their life learning something which they did not grasp fully and something which they may not find useful in their professional life.

These children will go to college in herds. They will choose the college their close friends have chosen. They go to college because they want to enjoy college life. For most of them it's the thrill of wearing trendy clothes and being away from nagging parents. However, when most of them, not all, but most of them, graduate they will usually look for jobs by influence because they have no inkling what use the information that they learned in school is. 

So what's the solution for these children?

In the face of it, the solution is simple. You noticed how or school and college system works. It gives one size fits all information

 Give these children direction. And once they ate sure where they want to go - give them information.

 who are waiting for their results. Who will decide after results

Results agar pass ho gaye to science, commerce or arts. 

So this is for those students who have not decided. 

First. You are very late. You should have decided so that you could have planned your STD 10 result that way. 

Have you decided on you career.

Tags 5 minutes out to know what to do.

But there is good news for you. You will probably be the more successful people of the lot.

By successful I don't mean millionaires but people who have found a balance in life.

So today we will take the first step towards choosing a career.

When you talk of carets we think of engineering, medical maybe marketing, CA maybe.

lekin this is not the way to decide your profession

What you do is when you settle down for the night take a piece of paper and write down the T least 5 things you like to do. At least 5 

Apptitude tests. Psychometric tests.

one set of people are supposed to join their family business and depending on the business they pay attention to studies. agar shop hai toh pass ho gaye toh great and then commerce.

doctors ke bacche doctors etc

but there is a large section of students that has not decided what to do

how can that be solved.

Hi guys. Exams are over and what are most of us thinking about. Yes. It's party time. It is simple logic. Nobody knows what the result is going to be so we worry. And I agree completely. This is not the time to worry. In fact, it is never the time to worry. Worrying never solved anything. Partying too will not really help in anyway except give some satisfaction for a little time. How would you like to party when you want all your life. Sounds nice? For that you will have to pay a small price.
I would suggest using this time to do something constructive.
Note down things you enjoy doing
Catch up on hobby - learn something more about it.
Education is for becoming good human being
Games: swimming, take tennis, football.
Drawing, eating,
The people who want to become doctor or engineer will have already started running around for application forms and ncert books. They know what they want. This is for people who don't know what they want to do in life.
Cook, hotel management, gourmet, connosiuere
Drawing painting architect interior designer art appreciation guy
For those who already know what they would like to do they can start honing their skills

The ncert survey

The national achievement survey had highlighted what has been worrisom trend for some time. That the urban education situation has become bad. It is not easy to slide down below districts like ratnagiri and beed in education, no less. What use is then the connectivity, the technology, the facilities that people talk about when they stay back in the city for their child's education.

Girls leaving behind boys in studies has also been an obvious trend. People recognise that from news headlines during results. However, the options to choose from are limited. While most girls choose medical, many traditional families restrict girls to get into the medical field because it is service oriented and women will have to interact with 'all sorts of people'.

Urban Education Worse than Poorer Districts

future trends of digital education in India

Urban India has usually been quick to adapt new technology after the advent of computers in India. Technology revolutionised the publishing industry, the automobile industry and almost every aspect of urban life. Yet for some reason it did not influence education. However, that seems to be changing now. Coaching classes have adapted video for revision and extra lectures, online schools are sprouting all over the internet and some education companies have come up with study platforms to teach various syllabus of national and state boards.
The challenges to overcome
The teacher ratio according to recent surveys has increased and will keep increasing to an acceptable level in the years to come. Unfortunately, the other concern about the quality of teachers has probably become worse. Many institutions including government and government aided ones prefer having teachers on contact because it helps them to xyz. Unfortunately there is no motivation for the teacher to do a good job. In fact, it becomes a reason for him or her to do next to nothing in class so parents send their children for tuitions. Many parents send their children to teachers like this because they know the children will pass the class with good marks. After all the marks a in the teachers hands. Sine see a marked improvement in their children which is compared to absolutely zero happening in class. So this double benefit gives the teacher some extra income. Unfortunately, whatever the teachers intentions he will not be able to help all the children. Helping complete the syllabus, explain concepts and assess each child is a humongous task. This is the reason why parents find their children fall further and further behind the class although in the earlier years the child may have shown a lot of promise.
Technology takes care of a couple of huge tasks. One the sharing of information. If one of of the jobs of a teacher is explaining concepts then that task can be easily offloaded to technology. A recorded lecture can explain a concept to one child and to every child whenever the child wants and as many time the child wants. Recorded lectures can do a better job because animation and illustration can be included in the lecture for better clarity.
Assessment
Computers can be easily stored with as many questions as possible and programmed to compile a questionnaire very easily. Artificial intelligence is even right now capable of compiling a questionnaire according to the abilities of each child. So a smart child can become smarter and a week child can be supported with easy questions and slowly helped towards difficulty levels. Scores can be found immediately. And software can easily find strengths and weaknesses. This can give an immediate assessment to the child about which concepts are clear and which concepts are difficult. This information can help the teacher to concentrate and explain the concepts that are not clear to the child. And this is just the tip of the Iceberg of what technology can do. The sky is the limit once we start investing in technology. Highly qualified and experienced teachers can teach a class of thousands without even having to be present. Introduction to students via Internet unsolved we are problems even if Delhi Vinay place which does not have access to qualified teachers.
The scope of artificial intelligence is such that holographic teachers can easily answer most of the questions and difficulties any child would have. It is only when human intervention is absolutely necessary for specific disorders or weaknesses of a child that human teacher's presence will be needed.
The train of homeschooling is also catching on. Parents are realising that the school is not giving their child what they believed should be offered to have a healthy mind and body. Although many schools or not offering high quality teaching they are also lacking in physical activities. The students are not encouraged in sports and many times the school does not have adequate facilities for any kind of sports activities.

The assessment trouble

Maharashtra does not have the best statistics when it comes to education yet when it comes to assessments the state has refused to accept the parliamentary standing committee's recommendations that there should be assessments in class 5 and 8. Failure to pass the exam will give the student one more chance after two months failing which the student will be retained in the class. The no detention policy has given us more problems than it has solved. The biggest problem is that we do have matriculation passed students who have no inkling what they have been taught in school. And English medium students who cannot even say one proper sentence in English. This is the situation in urban areas.
The committee rightly pointed out that there were abysmally low learning levels in children and there was no motivation for then to learn it for teachers to teach.

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had stressed on continuous assessment throughout the year which is a very good recommendation. Rather than assessing a student on one year end exam students can be given multiple exams. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights supported “the assessment of children in Class 5 and 8” but not their detention. It found the 2 months period for a re-exam a short time for children to build up confidence to reappear for examination. 

Meanwhile Maharashtra board that has been opposing such a move has gone ahead and ordered books over 59 lakhs on PM Modi. Leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil has claimed that the Books Published by Pune-based Bhara-tiya Vichar Saadhana - that has links to the RSS - contains adult and objectionable content. He says the books are inappropriate for children. 

PNB Share Price goes down as NIrav Modi accused of fraud

Nirav Modi and PNB Punjab National Bank Fraud seems to be one of those news pieces again. Huh! Okay someone's done something bad. Hmm. These bright guys all corrupt. PNB Share Price is down? let me buy now or hell sell sell. Okay Let's go back to work.

Nirav Modi according to economic times we find that the man was a celebrity. He was another Vijay Mallya if you compare lavish lifestyles. Expensive suits, and cars. Hanging out with celebrities mostly beautiful ones and gifting expensive stuff to them.

Nirav Modi is another Gujrathi Entrepreneur - Diamond Merchant. Hmm Gujrathi's are good at this. He was a diamond supplier whose big break came when he was able to sell a diamond necklace at a Christie's auction for a whopping 3.56 million,

So How is Nirav Modi making PNB Share Price Sink?

Well Nirav Modi has - you guessed it - borrowed from the bank. Around 11,700 crores. That does not look good in the account books at all. PNB complained that Nirav Modi had defrauded the bank of the money.

Why should you be concerned?

You should be concerned only if you are a tax payer. Yes. If you are running around trying to find ways to submit bills and make sure that you tax liability is lowest possible. Yup You. That guy who is bossed around by the HR Accounts guy that your papers are not in order and yes your aadhar card should be linked to everything including your middle finger. This fraud includes your money. Nirav Modi has - thanks to the thorough capabilities of PNB - taken taxpayers money.

Tell me How does that feel while you try hard to make ends meet and save every rupee from tax.