My students will be empowered by PTE English Language Test

For those who have been following my blog knows by now that I am working as an Assistant Professor in a reputed engineering college. For those who haven’t, you just heard it from me 🙂

As a person who is into the education field, we Professors (kindly excuse because this is how we would like to be called and invariably called by the majority)have to keep ourselves updated not only with our subjects but also with other things which would have a greater impact in the lives of our student. The reason for this is to ensure that our students who passes out either gets placed or get to find their way to join some reputed Universities abroad for their higher studies.

While I do not believe in ranking of the Universities since it differs from one source to another except with the World’s Top 10 which more or less remains the same, I believe in the quality of education and have a fair idea as to where one could get this. But when we look at securing a seat, due to their quality, they tend to get an overwhelming response for their courses every year. One needs to be ahead of others in order to secure the admission. While the CGPA’s play a vital role, other things like extra curricular activities were also given equal importance by these universities. But the major part is clearing the English Test. Only when a student has a good score in this, he or she can apply without any trouble for an overseas university.

There are few problems faced by the students in general (common problems) which includes:

1) Preparing for University admissions

2) Sending the credentials to each & every University to name a few.

It is at this juncture I had come across Pearson’s PTE Academic and I have found their English Language Test is far superior compared to others. Even I couldn’t believe initially that there is one like #DefinitelyPTE which existed before & blamed myself for having missed out on it. The program offers superior coverage and flexible terms and conditions including taking up the test, applying to unlimited universities etc.,

You might ask why this test and what is so important about it? Take a look at the video

When you have the score being accepted in top class universities across the globe like NUS, Stanford, Harvard apart from hundreds and hundreds of other universities with 100% acceptance in Universities of Australia, New Zealand and Irish Universities and 96% of Universities in the United Kingdom with ever growing list of Universities in the US, EU and Asia, why would you need to give a second thought?

To sweeten the offering, the students are also offered PTE Preparation Course

All I can say is this – “Make hay while the sun shines” & let us all come together to give a big shout out saying #DefinitelyPTE

Do we face the same crisis yet again?

We, the Indians depend on rain water. It is mainly because that the majority of them are working in agriculture and it cannot thrive merely on ground water. The farmers conduct lot of pujas and homas to please the rain god which is the tradition that has been followed for centuries.

Those days, we never had the so called pump sets or bore well machines that could draw water from the wells. Still, the irrigation was practised without much hiccups. They adopted various means and measures to save the precious resource – WATER.

What is happening now?

Despite all the latest technology and equipment, we still do face lot of trouble in saving water. We do not save the resource when the nature God is kind on us and allow them to go waste and curse them in return when there is a drought. Aren’t we not responsible for our own woes?

A chennaite would have clearly understood the wrath of the nature since they are the ones who witnessed severe floods, a couple of years back. Though it showed the real human side of many, it did not help in saving the water. We witnessed as to how much of water has gone through the canals and found its solace by reaching the sea. The Chembarambakkam river could not hold the sheer capacity of water that came flowing in from four corners. This is attributed to few reasons:

1. Most of the river beds in Chennai and elsewhere has been occupied and has been successfully converted into plots and residential areas.
2. Drainage systems and even the river beds haven’t been cleaned for ages allowing the silt to get deposited which has invariably resulted in congestion and clogging.

Before going any further, let us take a quick look on an amazing Initiative by Livpure here:

 

And also do not forget to sign the petition

While the above mentioned reasons are something which is not in our hands to implement on a full scale, how many of us have been recycling water? Even if it is not 100%, how many of us ensure that we store the water that comes out of our RO systems and use it to clean our floors or toilets? How many of us ensure that we close our taps properly every day? How many of us do not unnecessarily waste water by allowing the over head tanks to overflow for hours together?

Let us be the change. The change starts at home….

Athirasam

Iron deficiency is one of the major problems which the Indian women face in the present day. The effects of them are very many. Since Iron is one of the important content that needs to be taken care of, all the time, deficiency of the same cannot be taken lightly.

In order to get them from the food, there are few items which are available that would make your body get sufficient iron content. One of them is Athirasam. Let us see as to how to make it.

 

Ingredients:

Jaggery – 1.5 cups

Rice Flour – 2 cups

Elaichi Powder

Water – One Quarter Cup

Oil/Ghee – As required

Dry roast the rice flour and remove from heat. Heat jaggery along with water in a pan till it melts and filter it to remove the dirt. Pour it in a pan and let it boil till the syrup starts to thicken.

Switch the flame to low and check the consistency. Put few drops of syrup in water. If the syrup doesn’t dissolve and a soft ball is formed, this is the consistency we are looking at. Switch off the flame. Add rice flour in little quantity to stir it so that lumps can be avoided.

Add enough rice flour to form a dough.  Now heat oil/ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Take the dough. Round it to the size of lemon. Take plastic sheet. Grease that and also your palm with oil. Take the lemon shaped balls and flatten it to form a disc shaped batter. Now put it carefully in the oil/ghee on low/medium flame.

Fry it till it turns to golden brown and flip it carefully. After it is cooked, take it out and press it to remove excess oil.

 

Selling a (S)mart phone isn’t easy

Do you consider yourself smart? Not many would ask you this question but if they did, you might behave as if you have heard an out of the world question because we think ourselves as the smartest person in the world.

While it may be due to the knowledge we have acquired through education, it cannot be upheld since the knowledge gained through experience may stand out against all the odds which would ridicule even the highest qualified person. Mine was one such which I am more than glad to share it below.

My very first phone was a Samsung flip phone which was the rage back then. The cost of an incoming call those days were Rs.4 per minute(how I wish Jio came in then which would have made it to become the World’s biggest and the only telecom provider by now). I was not the type who would want to upgrade the gadget to flaunt it among my friends and even after completing my studies, I maintained the same mindset which was seen by my colleagues as a real surprising factor since they invariably upgraded their mobile once in a year citing the fact that the new phone came with a new version of OS be it an iOS or Android. I am not mentioning about the now defunct Windows OS for smartphones. I use to wonder seriously as to what these new version would have to do with a person who would use his/her phone only for making calls or sending an SMS(now it is WhatsApp) or to the max by watching a video or listening to some songs which most of the time does not convey a meaning and even if did, those must have been censored(but in our country, it works only for visuals and not for audio).

Coming to the point now. One fine day, I decided to sell my flip phone. The touch screen phone came into existence only by then and it was priced at an unbelievable rates. Hence I knew that I can still get a good price for my mobile. Instead of placing an ad on a newspaper, I decided to sell it among my friend’s circle and with the help of SMS booster pack(WA was not there back then), I started sending an SMS to all my friends with some attractive wordings.

They knew very well that my mobile phone was very much qualified to be listed as an antique piece and hence no one did actually bothered to reply and some were kind enough to reply mentioning that they are not interested. Some, when they saw me next day in the college disappeared instantly making me feel as to what error did I commit?

Before we could see as to what happened next, take a look at the video.

 

At last, an idea did struck my mind. I rephrased my wordings and it did the MAGIC. The wordings were “Authentic Antique Samsung Flip Phone for sale. I would wanted to sell it in the first place for any price because I know it is Priceless but would be willing to give it away for anyone for FREE if I am assured of getting a new sari in exchange”. This was mainly targeted towards my female colleagues and one of them did agree to it readily. I got what I wanted and so as her.

It was such an experience and I later came to know that my colleague was a Samsung fanatic and she had had a collection of close to some 50+ different models which she has sourced from various places either as a barter or for free. I am sure that by the time she gets really old, she might have some amazing collection which might fetch her a great price. Who knows? These pieces might fetch the price similar to that of the first desktop being developed by Apple which was sold as a junk but had actually fetched few thousands of dollars later.

Today, this isn’t the case since we have an amazing site called https://www.cashify.in/ which would not only help you in selling your gadgets much faster but would also help you in getting additional cash when you mention this code CLEANCASH while selling your products via the site.

The Story of a Suicide – an eye opener

The Story of a Suicide by Sriram Ayer is clearly an eye-opener since the author has discussed about the issues that were plaguing our society. He has effectively brought together various emotions like Love, Betrayal, Friendship, Sexual Abuse, Gay Life etc to name a few.

This 31 chapter story is a compelling read as the flow was really smooth from the beginning till the end without any deviations. Sriram has used the characters Sam, Charu, Mani, Hari, Alex, Aditya and few others really well that you would feel like watching a movie when you read this. Since the site http://www.storyofasuicide.com/ also has a audio book, I would be giving it a try later on today.

My Review:

The story revolves around 4 main characters – Sam,Charu, Mani and Hari. While Sam who was from a well-off family falls in love with Charu, Mani on the other hand who had a troubled childhood since his father was alcoholic gets attracted to Hari who also had a disturbed childhood as he was abused sexually by his uncle.We do come across few incidents like these on the newspapers and channels but in reality, majority of them gets hidden.

What starts with a happy note of Sam falling in love with Charu goes sour when she started avoiding him. Sam starts to believe that Charu was having illicit relationship with the professor, Alex. He wanted to expose her character to all and develops a plot in which Mani and Hari gets trapped. This leads to Hari taking the extreme step in the end.

How to tackle this?

In a real life situation, this is indeed alarming. Studies say that a decision like suicide is a momentary action and was not taken after taking into consideration, its consequences. A person does not have a right legally to end his/her life. When your mind is disturbed, all you need is either a distraction or a counselling which can heal the wound making you not to take the extreme step which will hurt the others like your immediate family members, friends and colleagues.

When you are in distress, do not hesitate to reach out to your near and dear for help. This is what I would like to convey through this blog post….

Children needs a Healthy Growth

Parents are the living Gods. There is a saying that ” God cannot be present all the time all over the place and hence HE has sent Mother”. This is very apt ever since the human beings came into existence.

It is parents who take care of their kids right from the time they were born till they are grown up. They take due care about their health from time to time. The growth will happen to a human being only upto a certain stage post which it stops. Hence it is really important that it is being monitored by the mother because there is no point in regretting it later. I have seen many parent who did not give due importance in the initial stages and when there was a retarded growth after some point in time, they did regret.

Growth is not only associated with physical but also psychological. When I say psychological, I refer to the growth of the brain. Human brain is like a super computer which can store hundreds and thousands of gigabytes of memories and hence it is really important to give due care to its growth especially in the younger stage. Only when your mind is sharper, you tend to think a lot which can be beneficial to you and people around you. The ones who has got proper attention get to see their mind functioning much faster than their peers which would see them in the likes of an engineer, physician or even a scientist. By giving constant exercise to your brain, you tend to make it sharper but n order to make the brain not being fatigued by work overload, it has to be nourished. This nourishment comes in the form of Vitamins and Minerals and hence it is a prerequisite that the food we consume has been enriched with Vitamin E, B, B6,B12, C and Magnesium. Not all of these can be obtained from a single source of food and our regular diet may not be good enough to supplement this as well. Hence one needs to ensure that these vitamins and minerals are made available to the kids.

Coming back to the physical growth. It is not only attributed about being taller but also stronger. A person may be tall but if he is not strong enough, there is no advantage of being tall. A person combining both can dominate even on sports irrespective of the genre since a sport requires both of these in most of the cases. Some of the sports that can be quoted to these two attributes combined together are basketball, tennis, swimming, badminton, boxing to name a few.

As we saw earlier that a human being keep growing upto a certain stage – 21 to 25 years for Male and 18 years for Female, even when we miss to show due care in the initial stages, we would still have time to make it perfect because a stunted growth will always lead to load of psychological issues including lower morale, depression, inferiority complex which in turn may lead to lot of adverse effects. Everyone deserves good nutritious food and growth and as long as one could afford, steps has to be taken to get the maximum if not otherwise.

A well grown child will always be confident among lot of other qualities which includes vibrancy, pride, self motivated, cheerful among others.

In my opinion, this would be given the utmost priority. Its time for our children to catch up on lot growth…..

Before you could go, do not forget to know the criticality and the importance of the child growth by clicking the link -> https://growthplus.horlicks.in/

Datsun redi-GO is here

Datsun redi-GO is the talk of the town for the past few weeks ever since it was slated to be released in the Indian Market. Coming from the stable of Datsun which is into automobile manufacturing business for few decades, there is no doubt as to why this has caught up so much of attention among the general public.

I travel almost 30 kms everyday. Everyone of us travel. The mode of travel alone differs from person to person depending on the time and distance. It can be from a simple walk to commuting on airplane. Some are compelled to travel on a different mode due to city traffic, fuel mileage, travel convenience etc., Even though one could afford to travel in a hatchback, due to the above reasons coupled with safety, they take a different mode of transport. I am no exception.

I travel by college bus. But with Datsun redi-GO I am all set to travel from my home to my workplace on this day in and day out. I do not want to test this anywhere else since this 60km travel everyday will stand as a testimony to its performance.

Why did I decide to change my mode of travel?

Reason 1:

Small Turning Radius:

With a small turning radius of 4.7 metres, I can travel even on shortest routes to reach my workplace with ease without having to worry about being late. This would also help me to a greater extent to tackle City traffic till I go past the congestion(as my college is located on the outskirts).

Reason 2:

Superior Air-Conditioning:

This is surely one of the encouraging factor for me to take the hatchback to my college. This may not be needed while I travel in the morning but while I am coming back in the noon at 3PM, this is surely a prerequisite.  With its large arge 89 CC compressor, the hatchback will remain cool and comfortable throughout the journey. Adding to it,the aluminum compressor assembly ensures superior performance. With its integrated center AC vent makes sure that 50% of the air flow distribution is given to the passengers on the rear seats which means I can car-pool and can get my colleagues also which would be economical.

Reason 3:

Datsun Pro-Safe 7

Safety is the important aspect for any one. Being a woman, this would also fit into the top priority for me. I was impressed with the amazing features which includes:

1. Performance augmented brakes.
2. Reinforced crash protection shell.
3. Opti-View.
4. Superior suspension system.
5. Adaptive electric power steering.
6. Force absorbing bolster support and
7. Energy absorbing steering and airbag.

Each and every feature is unique which ensures superior safety for the passengers and drivers and since Datsun redi-Go gives utmost comfort without compromising on safety, it would not take much of my efforts to persuade my better half to get me one since this would reduce my travel time considerably which would also serve as our family hatchback during my holidays and on the weekends.

Thank You for your time and reading my blog post.

Fun. Freedom. Confidence. The ultimate Urban Cross – Datsun redi-GO – the capability of a crossover with the convenience of a hatchback.

 

 

Being Fantastic

Fantastic – the word which we use it very rarely, especially in my profession.

What takes for some one to be fantastic is that he/she needs to think out of the box. They also need to make an impression that was not created by some one else earlier. Being fantastic is unique and it requires determination and hard work to reach out to that place/position.

I do not recollect using this many times because as I said earlier we use it very rarely but when it happens, it is like a celebration because a person has beaten all the odds and emerged victorious among such a heavy competition since students would never go down without giving a tough fight with each other. Even though I term it as a Fight, this is a positive one which creates a positive Impact as well. This will set the precedent to their juniors because one would always try to excel the record that was created by their seniors.

As and when the record gets broken, it gives them an immense sense of Pride and Pleasure which can evidently be seen on their face and body language. After all it is they who had put in all the hard work to reach to that position. As a kid, I had uttered this word many a times especially when I saw my father excel in his venture and helped our family cross the tide of financial crisis after the passing of my grand father but as and when I grew up, I understood that few things outside the family needs proper mentioning and applause too.

Some of the students who made me and my college proud with their academic and cultural excellence had got the mention very promptly at the right time because anything that is being conveyed late will not carry any value. Any due credits to the person concerned should be given then and there. When you do not give the due credits on time, it acts as a detriment for that particular person as he/she may feel being ignored which is not a good sign. So let us give the credits and it need not have to be monetary. Even a simple gesture and a certificate would make them feel really motivated and can come up in their life.

As a Professor, I had delivered my duty diligently till date and I always feel happy and proud about it because this is something which cannot be emulated by others because we do not set or create records but we make people who create one and be referred as Fantastic by the others.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Music according to me…

Music according to me is something which is unique. I relate everything with my life events.

When you start connecting everything with your life, you know that everything is happening for a reason. Music has been my prominent companion as I studied in hostel during my higher studies and to beat the boredom, I had relied upon music player because not all the time you would be indulged in studying, isn’t it?

I use to record all the latest songs which was released by then and they use to serve as an inspiration for me. When ever I was worried, it is this music which has always helped me a lot. Music need not be in any form because even if it is without any wordings like that of a theme music, it has helped me beat the vacuum that was created due to the absence of my parents.

Music has also played another role since I was a dancer and one cannot dance without a proper background music which adds as a greatest support. Hence Music has helped me a lot while I was performing the dance in the State Level competition. It is something I cannot forget till date. What I also won’t forget is the song for which I danced. Those days are really memorable and cannot be erased from my memories.

Music to my present age is my profession. When I get feedback from my superiors, it is one kind of music. The same is pleasant when it is an appreciation. The sound or noise created by students inside the classroom is another kind of music. It is how we face and deals with it makes the real difference. The music in the work place is an on going process and whether you like it or not, you need to get used to it. Hence I have embraced it with a smile. Since my college is bit far away from my place and as I travel in the college bus, the other thing that makes me to rest peacefully is the Music. I have a good collection of songs on my mobile and I always had the habit of listening to it from the time I board the bus till I reach the college and vice-versa.

Music hence plays a vital role in my life from time to time and it is always been a supporting factor for me on all the instances. I consider Music as my Life. Without Music, there is no life and there would only be a vacuum…

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

Navigating my Students

Navigation applies to my profession to. It is how I use it that makes the difference.

Earlier I was of the mindset that navigation refers to the actual meaning of finding the route which I use to do it with the help of a map and I had never lost y of the location as and when I ventured to new place for my studies and work.

Later on as I got placed as an Asst Professor, my vision got enhanced and I got to know that in my profession I am the Navigator since students use me to find better prospects for them. It is such a lovely feeling because you are in a crucial place where all you do is just help and your help can make others excel in their life.

As a navigator, my first and the foremost duty is to make them find the right path at the right time there by minimizing on errors and when this happens, they get placed in a better position without any worries. All they need is guidance through me and when I help them with it, it is easier for them to travel in the path shown by me. This path would only lead them to better prospects and not otherwise.

When I am not sure about a certain thing or a prospect, I do not take things for granted. On the other hand, I take the help of my fellow colleagues and pass on the right information to my students. Even a real navigator can go wrong due to wrong update or because of unavailability of Technology but I would never fail in my updates as I would verify more than once before passing it on to my students.

I also believe in creating a chain, a chain that is never broken because I firmly believe that everything is inter-connected. A person who takes the help from me is bound to help his junior in the near future as it is also his moral duty to ensure that his junior gets placed in a better position as well. I still have a database of my old students which means I am never disconnected from them. I can contact them through email or mobile phone when ever I require any help. Till date I have not used this for my personal enrichment but only towards helping the others.

Navigation has taken a greater role in my professional life. Through my skills and my knowledge, I had helped my students to a greater extent. Though I do not wish to name them or remember it for anything else, I remember it for my personal satisfaction that I had helped some one go up in their life.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.