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The Oscar nominated LION is definitely worth a watch, given its theme of search for identity and one's roots in a post-Google Earth global scenario. Set in India in the first half, the movie traces the journey of a 5 year old Saroo from his home town in Khandwa, to Calcutta, and later across the globe, to Tasmania in Australia. The journey is both within and without, in the sense that the internal quest of the protagonist for a sense of belonging and roots merge with, and culminate in his external voyage halfway across the earth. Sheer grit and determination, coupled with a raw intensity of emotions and memories of his lost childhood, propel Saroo to launch a search for his estranged mother and family a good many years after he lands up in Australia. True to the real story, the movie shows Saroo's struggle to blot out the memories of his life in India and attempts to settle down to a life of cushy comfort in his adopted country. His conflict is understandable; he feels his...

The annual rigmarole of final examinations is on us once again. Look around you, and you will find students crazily cramming up facts, figures and formulas, and parents nervously egging them on. As for teachers, they compete with each other on how many questions they can squeeze in an examination paper. After all, each minute detail of the syllabus is important, and needs to be reproduced on paper. That's how they have been trained by our education policy makers and school authorities. One thing is certain in the Indian education system: Much as we crib and curse the examination system and rote learning, they are here to stay for a long time. Because no one is willing to risk on experimenting with an alternative system of assessing students or evaluating real learning. It is too much hard work - overhauling the entire system, sensitizing policy makers, retraining school principals and teachers, counselling parents, and preparing students alternately. Who has the time or inclinat...

Ever faced a situation when you were walking blindfold and fumbling your way through? Performing a job without seeking feedback is somewhat like that. You grope your way through hoping you will somehow reach your goal, but chances of that are quite slim. You need to know where you are going, whether you are doing the right thing or not, and how you are doing. The only way to find out is through performance feedback. Performance appraisal and evaluation is at the core of human resource management. We all work to earn appreciation, rewards, and a steadily increasing pay package. At the end of the appraisal period, when all this is denied to us saying we haven’t performed as per company expectations, it comes like a slap in the face. Why didn’t they tell me earlier? You want to scream. If you had sought out feedback on your performance from time to time, perhaps you would have sensed that you would have to put in extra efforts to come up to expectations. You would have...

Bollywood seems to have woken up and smelt the coffee....of late, its movie offerings have become more realistic, authentic and grounded. They have actually begun to make a lot of sense! You don't have to leave your brains at home, and the take-away from Hindi movies can actually be very positive. Recent Hindi films like Queen, Neerja, Nil Batte Sannata, Dear Zindagi, Jolly LLB are quite engaging while being firmly rooted in reality. Sentimentalism and maudlin melodrama are kept firmly in check, and larger than life heroes without any flaw do not emerge to solve all problems. The ultimate is of course Dangal, which is actually a slice of life story, based on the struggles of the Phogat sisters. Kahani 2 and Akira have raised pertinent social issues as well. What is even more heartening, is the involvement of top stars and the backing of big production houses in these projects. Stars like Aamir Khan have always been involved in backing socially responsible films like Taare Zame...

Have you faced a situation at the workplace when you have felt that all your coworkers were the worst possible you could ever had? And that everyone seemed to be busy plotting and scheming against your plans, and was gleefully waiting for your downfall? Welcome to the club. Every single working person has faced this situation at least once or more in his/her professional life. Professional life is full of landmines, created by the push and pull of office politics, the changing equations between people working together. And it does not matter whether you are working in a corporate office, or educational institution, or NGO, as long as you have coworkers, you will have to deal with power struggles, conflicts and stress. Managing co-worker relationships involves walking the tightrope between friendly and not too-friendly, creating a balance between aloofness and bonhomie. You need to be friendly to garner the support of your coworkers and have a healthy work atmosphere. A...

Communication overload - Sounds familiar? Post the internet and social media revolution, we are being bombarded round the clock with information, news, messages, mail, images, data...So much interaction, exchange of communication, voicing of opinions, yet are we actually communicating? As compared to our previous generations, we are a much more networked, connected lot, but paradoxically we are also the most isolated and lonely. Most of the time, when we communicate, either the message does not go across properly or is misunderstood by the recipient. So many barriers occur in our communication with each other. Technically we have removed most barriers and gaps, but the fact is that mental and psychological ones have increased. Take for example, the voicing of opinions on social media. Earlier people used to have addas or informal chat sessions where such discussions would take place face-to-face. Today, most of us are either too busy to meet and catch up, or are separated geogra...

Bollywood movies are coming of age, it seems, if the latest offerings are anything to go by. "Nil Batte Sannata", "Neerja", "Kapoor and Sons" and now Dear Zindagi. Slice of life films with a solid story-line, believable situations and stellar acting. Gauri Shinde, who had earlier directed the gem "English Vinglish", comes up with another winner, this time focusing her lens on the trials and tribulations of a yuppie cinematographer, grappling with issues like parental neglect in childhood and commitment phobia at present. The whole gamut of fears that plague the "now" generation is highlighted in "Dear Zindagi". Loneliness, addiction to technology and the resultant isolation in actual life, the need to always act in a certain way, emotional vacuum, fear of building relationships, the protagonist faces all these and more. The film is path breaking in the sense that for the first time, the confused and vulnerable heroine is s...