WHY CHOOSE A START-UP?

Summer holidays, and I know every graduate student is looking for an internship or a job for those 3 months. Some want to earn, some aspiring for a good knowledge and an experience. Whatever maybe the objective it is always good to do an internship, apart from the well reputed college you belong to and the course you might have chosen along with scores you have secured, internship is that one thing which makes you stand out from the rest of the guys sitting in the waiting room for a job interview.

This is not a perfect guide to choosing an internship. I personally love corporate, the suit and tie along with the style, glamour and the respect with it but all of which comes for a price, slogging and surviving among the fittest. With the new cult of start-ups and entrepreneurs, it is a rather a tricky question to choose a start-up or a well set company. No doubt a well set corporate guarantees you a good pay and incentives and all that they could do to hire your services  but then it’s like been a part of a full grown tree, you’re a part of it but insignificant, no doubt climbing up the ladder slowly is another thing. Corporate have an impacting way of disciplining you; they make sure you bring in the best possible professionalism within your work. Workplace politics is well heard and it just trains you to rise among heavy tides and large fishes in the deep sea of human crave to climb the corporate ladder. After a stint with the company, when you plan to get another job, your CV might just shine brighter depending on the reputation and goodwill of the company for which you worked for. Money, Power and Status beholds the pillars of your career!

Start-ups. There is an energy which is different from the corporate; there is life and enthusiasm at the work place. Imagine how cool it would be the root of a tree, from where it germinated to reach that level of market competency. You are important for them, you are a valuable asset and they respect you, they are not in competition with one another but working together to make their little idea a success. This year top notch business schools and institutes have reported a rise in placements by start-ups. Yes, it the hip thing! It teaches you a lot of things, the detailing and you know every minute part of the working of a company. It is like a child to be nourished, to be treated like your child. If you are one of the initial promoters or part of the core team, shares are offered to you along with a good remuneration once the company goes public. Everything is chilled out but there is lot of work goes into making of a company, just like a cocoon turning into a full grown butterfly. Pay-Packages may not be that attractive but knowledge and hand-on experience received is priceless. Resistance from parents and people around, they will ridicule you at first and every start-up has a story. All they follow is a dream to stand out and create a legacy!

Every huge MNC started from the scratch, back in the garage to the plush offices, it was a vision that was nurtured to make it what it is today. World’s most valuable company Apple to Flipkart, one of the biggest e-commerce website which reached billion dollar sales year fastest than its competitor and way earlier than expected were all a brainchild of a few gentlemen who believed in their dreams. If you have an idea and think it can make the world better or revolutionize and create a difference in millions of lives then start up is just for you!

Marriages or Status show?

MARRIAGES, MADE IN HEAVEN?

Marriages have always fascinated me, although I end up being alone and the food items are the only thing I know in that whole wedding. I am as good as a wedding crasher for food! Days and months are spent for the wedding day to be made perfect. Everyone wants their once in a life time moment to be as big and special as it can get. The couple and their families get super anxious and feel it should be grand celebration and joy with nothing to be spared. Consisting of a various traditions and rituals along with events complied with chaos. There are so many things to look after; recently people hire the wedding planners who are the professionals to handle their wedding preparations so as to get this day personally customized and all set like they want it to be. In Indian weddings, lot of money, gold and expensive gifts are given, as a tradition from the bride’s family to the groom. It is now more than the ‘Saat Feras’ or the seven vows.

It is a pompous affair, plots or marriage halls along with a caterer are booked. You can judge how big the wedding is by the venue and the name of the caterer. The budget usually starts from a few lakhs for a modest wedding to ‘crores’ for a night of splurge and extravagance. Women in the most expensive ‘saris’ embroidered with fancy and over shinning ‘zari’ and heavily clad with gold from neck to hand, sporting a heavy and over-powering makeup by some beautician, kids are never comfortable with their clothes they always end up fidgeting, crying and dirty by the time the wedding is over, not their favorite part because they don’t get attention, feeling left out because the rest of the family is going head over the heels trying to set everything right. Men in suits and ‘sherwanis’, welcoming everyone and a smile to show how happy they are to see the guest at the wedding. Food, now that’s my favorite section, which is pretty wide and multi cuisine spread. A few asking for extra cheese on their grill sandwich piece or the pizza slice, old men usually clad in dhotis and kurta pajamas gossiping with other old men, nostalgia bred. It’s that day when all the relatives and friends get together.

The bride and the bridegroom dressed by a designer with a face makeover usually arrive by evening with a local band playing in front and accompanied by siblings, cousins and close friends. Devouring all the attention while they take a walk from the entrance till the podium where a metallic heart shape seat is kept for them. The podium is well designed by the decorator with flowers and the red carpet rolled all over. The photographers and videographers constantly trying to cover up everything they could, capture as many moments and clicking every guest who comes up on the podium to congratulate the couple.

Marriages now-a-days are so much of a fanfare and so loud. It is no more makes you feel the sacredness where two souls commit to each other, holistic and spiritual meaning has changed. It is like a competition, a run for prestige and pride. Another way to show off, both money and status, which is why it has become materialistic and consumerism riddled and so the grace of it is lost. Let it not be a showy or pretentious display but a meaningful and joyous celebration of the promise by two human beings to be with each other forever and a start of a new chapter to their life.

Life in a local

THE IN AND OUT OF THE LOCAL…

LOCAL TRAIN,

It’s that transport system which carries a million people every day from one corner of the city to another, more than that it’s the life-line of a city called Mumbai. I have been travelling in it for the past three and a half years; I guess that’s enough of experience to write a short testimony. A service that’s been prevalent for the past 150 years and it all start with our colonizers laying down the foundation. Some may have spoken highly of it who thought of it as fantasy but never really travelled, while the one for whom it’s an everyday schedule, curse it.

http://photogallery.indiatimes.com/news/india/bring-on-the-rain/articleshow/20634170.cms

Bee shaped from the front, evolved from different designs over the years; from the tram look to the boring box type form, modestly built. Experimented with different colors every time but the graffiti type pan-stains spat by travelers have never failed to make its impression on the coaches, that’s why they look so creative. Classified into first class and second class and divided into various compartments for the ladies, luggage and the handicapped and a general compartment, sadly men don’t get reservations anywhere. A service which is available for 20 hours a day and 7 days a week. Foreigners visit the city just to experience this daily havoc. Trying to board a Virar Fast Train from Dadar or a fast train from Kurla is considered the most daredevilry task. And by chance if you get in, it’s a journey like sleeping in bed with a monster. I doubt it is possible to move or stretch even a little bit of your body, sometimes you might end up standing on someone else’s feet. It’s an everyday scene, nobody complains because it’s an important part in the common man’s life. First class and second class look equally crowded in the peak hours. Standing at the door is equally risky, everyday 3 to 4 people die due to falling out of train.

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There are conflicts, fights and arguments but if you are a newbie better not get into one. Right from the manual labor class, to the diamond merchants and share market brokers along with the formally dressed corporates, you will find them all. In this getting a seat is a fortune but yes a fourth seat is one of the simple luxuries that the train can offer. You could hear the folk songs and praises of God being sung by a group or some people playing virtual games or talking real loud on the phone, watching pirated movies or maybe listening to music, while some will be sleeping with their mouth wide open and women normally can be seen knitting sweaters or playing their favorite sport that’s gossip; all saturated and tired and their face will represent the years they have spent travelling regularly. Standing in the first class section, you could get the best stock market tips by pinning your ears to the Gujarati uncles talking to each other or giving orders to their brokers. The guys who up-down regularly exactly know the time and the platform on which train will be stationed along with the destination and board the same train every day. Along with the ticket, a free full body massage is guaranteed, like squeezing water out of washed clothes before you put them to dry, which you may not find pleasing but you don’t have a choice. ‘Phude Chala’ ‘age chal’  ‘chad fatafat’ along with hurls of abuses is something you expect to hear from the crowd at every station the train stops. To get down of a train you don’t have to put efforts, just stand in between the crowd when the station is about to come, the rest will be taken care of. But if you fall down or break a bone there won’t be any mercy, people will stamp on you and still board a train, but yes Mumbai people are helpful , they have stood together during testing times and helped when there were catastrophes. Returning from his workplace middle class men survive on the famous ‘Vada Pav‘ and the calorie conscious prefer ‘bananas’, both are the everyday energy source for this hard working men and you could hear chants or Kirtans of God sung by outmost enthusiasm with dholaks and that is how they find spiritual time in their schedule. Life is an everyday struggle for them; they all leave their homes in the morning with a hope to earn bread and butter for their family while their loved ones pray for their safety. For years it has been the same story for them, whether they hate it or don’t it; life leaves them with no option.

Check out this article on the BULLSEYE magazine!

life and social media!

THE SOCIAL IN SOCIAL MEDIA!

The Ellen De Generes selfie was shared by a record breaking 3.3 million people on Twitter, it would be a dream to be a part of that star studded photo, comprising of all the big names in the Hollywood. On the other hand Twitter and Facebook flooded with statuses and tweets of how unlucky Leonardi Di Caprio was for not winning the best actor award after being nominated for the 5th time and that he deserved it for his spectacular performance in The Wolf of Wall Street. Though the Academy Awards were happening in the US, but the whole world got updates as they happened. I guess a decade earlier we wouldn’t have imagined this would have been possible.

Our social life is governed by online applications like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Snapchat and what not. We have made our lives more open and made the world a smaller place to be. Even before we eat in a restaurant or sip a coffee in Starbucks we check-in on Foursquare, making sure to click a picture of your food or coffee upload it on Instagram and Facebook with all the possible hashtags, messaging the same to your close friends with Snapchat and tweet on twitter of how good the food or coffee is. The comments, likes, shares, followers, retweets and popularity on this virtual world has become kind of a parameter of how socially gullible you are and on basis of these little things sometimes our happiness and status quo in the real world is based on. Our world revolves around them, we update our life events and we want the whole world to know what is happening in our lives and theirs. All the time our mind is on our phone, in a constant habit checking for updates or notifications. We want to know everything, important or not important. 

The distances are covered, and everyone is connected through the dot com world. We want everything to be quick and don’t want to lose time on loading so are moving towards faster internet service, like recent from 2G to 3G, which costs a little extra but time is more important than money. Smartphones makes this services stay in your pocket and available all the time. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone, and I know I am not the only one! 

You can get attention for your work as a singer, film maker, writer or any creative field by the use of social media. Talent can be channeled and can attract attention for your work through it. Companies have taken online social branding and marketing too seriously and put up ads of them looking for people who could handle it for them. There is a lot to benefit from this online uproar. People find their life partners through tons of dating sites and applications and in a way this also helps who are feeling lonely and there on make some new friends.

Over last few years, there has been a constant innovation and we have had everything from Facebook which is now losing its sheen to Instagram, Snapchat and Whatsapp which are current hotshots, over the time even they will go out of fashion and we will need something new and different apart from them. It makes me wonder what’s next?

Check out my article on Bullseyemag.com