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A year and a decade ended yesterday. As we begin a new year and a fresh decade, let's take a quick look at what we did and what we lost. Some epoch-defining changes occurred: The Blahs and Nays:           Social media platforms took over our lives, gave us virtual persona and made us do things that couldn't have been imagined earlier (think eating/brushing/birthing/kissing selfies being posted).  We made many many friends on social media, and not even a fifth in real life. Connecting with family and extended family translated to texts on WhatsApp or Facebook. Phone calls became rare, visits rarer. Likes, comments and virtual pats became our lifeline. Mobiles with front, back, triple, quadruple, 360 degree cameras started replacing actual camera equipment, though the DSLR still has its followers. Mother nature and our home earth have been pushed to the extreme with our overuse of natural resources and large scale urbanization ...

What is Group Discussion? A group discussion (GD) is a method of interaction and communication between people of similar backgrounds who have come together for a common purpose. Unstructured group discussions are used by organizations as evaluation and screening methods to select suitable candidates for managerial and other positions. Institutes of higher education also use group discussions to screen applicants to management and technical courses. The behavior and performance of the GD participants are closely observed and evaluated by a panel of assessors. Since the objective of the assessors is elimination of unsuitable candidates and selection of suitable ones, the participants need to perform optimally and display their capabilities within the stipulated time for the discussion. Topics given for discussion can range from current affairs to economic developments, from business and commerce to global trends, socio-political matters, or from sports to entertainment ....

Becoming confident of yourself is not an overnight job. You have to work on it consistently and increase your self-esteem bit by bit. You have to shut out the negative voices in your brain from time to time. You have to make yourself believe that you can do it. Start with these baby steps: Look at yourself in the mirror and smile. This will instantly make your feel better. Write down on a piece of paper, five of your unique abilities or strengths. (It can be anything, like "I can judge people well" or "I am very helpful" or "I can think on my feet".) Write down five of your major achievements in life. (School/college life, or personal life) Do positive visualization, i.e, when you are thinking of a situation, think that you are handling it well. Visualize yourself as a confident and successful individual. Remember, what you think, you become!  Every morning after getting out from bed, read your list of strengths and achievements. Think tha...

Just came back from a week long trip to God's own country, Kerala. And all I can think of now is languid sailing along on backwaters surrounded by lush greenery. Or sunlit white beaches and blue skies. Or carpets of green tea gardens and spice plantations. Or rolling hills and.......you get the drift? Kerala mermerized us with her beauty and abundance. But what was most striking was the happy, warm smiles on the faces of its people.  Kerala sure knows how to warmly welcome you and make you feel at home. We loved the hospitality, the food, the helpful nature of people and the rich cultural heritage of this state. It was my first visit, but needless to say, it will be far from my last. We stayed in beautifully maintained homestays (booked via booking.com), where our hosts did everything to make us comfortable. Thanks to this wonderful place and it's lovely people. Already waiting to visit again. #travel #vibrantindia #kerala #...

Depression : The silent killer, the insidious serpent in the mind, the horrible black hole is now catching 'em young. Children as young as ten to twelve are falling prey to it.  Even a few years back, we used to think of our children as bubbly, carefree, innocent creatures immune to the harsh blows of life. Used to falling down and brushing off bruises with a smile, children had none of the chronic bitterness or anxiety that plagues adults. Today, the scene is starkly different. Studies report that about 2% of school going children are suffering from depression, which is the third leading cause of suicide among the 10-24 age group! Mind you, we are talking about depression that is radically different from"sadness" or a "feeling of low mood". Depression strikes children due to several environmental, physiological or biological factors, and leaves them confused and broken.  Imagine a child, who doesn't want to get up from bed, is irritable, or has fo...

Hello Folks, I hope you found my earlier post  on common interview questions and suggested answers  informative. Here, I continue with some more questions. Question 5 è   “Why should we select you for this position?” Why indeed! Don’t they know that better? Why ask you to brag about yourself? This question is generally the clincher in the interview.  The intention is to see whether you can market your skills and abilities effectively, and position your candidature to fit the role. The role-fit and culture-fit is being assessed here. Image: https://pixabay.com What you can say: Do your homework for preparing this answer.  List your job-related competencies and relate these to the position you have applied for.  Pitch your unique abilities as key to doing the job successfully. Emphasize your domain knowledge, skills and managerial abilities without sounding boastful. Give examples from your professional life, about instances whe...

Common Interview Questions è   “ Tell me something about yourself.” è  “Can you describe your strengths? What are your weaknesses?” è  “Where do you see yourself five years from now?” è  “Why should we hire you/What can you contribute to the company?” Seems familiar? Reminds you of the time when you had gone all ready to impress at an interview and had been stumped? When you came out of the interview feeling you could have done better? Given above are some examples of questions interviewers love shooting at candidates. Though interviews cannot be generalized, there are some standard questions that are usually asked to test candidate preparedness and self awareness. Interview questions can be categorized into the following; Ø   Those testing knowledge and skill Ø   Those testing confidence and self image Ø   Those testing candidate willingness and adaptability Ø   Those meant for assessing compatib...

I paused at the gates of the dreary building. The very thought of going in filled me with a strange kind of exhaustion, a lethargy I had never experienced before. I sighed. Let’s get the whole thing finished quickly. Dragging my feet, I stepped in and enquired about Baba. The anxious faces around me were awaiting their turn to meet their loved ones - those who had been banished to this rehabilitation home. Those unfortunate enough to be struck with a mental affliction in our country, deserved to rot in hell like this. In his heyday, Baba would have shuddered at such “rehab centres”. He was paranoid about social status and respectability. According to him, people like us did not suffer from mental problems….these things happened only to other “abnormal” people. I thought of the irony of it all. At the fag end of his life, Baba was a prisoner of his own demented mind, a dark shadow of his former self, in this rehab home. The geriatrician, the neurosurgeon, the psychiat...