Beyond candles: Towards Real Awakening

The Google India homepage, as I saw it this morning, carried a little candle lit in the memory of the Delhi brave heart. I hovered the cursor over it hoping for a hyperlink, as happens with most Google displays. But the candle didn’t lead you anywhere. Similar is the case with the massive angry protests on. Yes the rapists deserve severe punishments.

I’m no patriarch. And there’s nothing wrong with paying tribute. But the very next morning, as I sit looking at the headlines there has been a consistency in the news I’m informed of. One, the protest are still on in delhi, says the reporter and I’m glad that no one’s forgotten the case but then there’s another bit of news, the channel informs me of new rape cases across the country .

Ten rupees?

Manohar pours water overloaded tea in a dust stained glass and brings it to me, humming a tune from a new bollywood movie starring his worshiped hero Shahrukh Khan. He hands the glass to me and sits down  next to me, close enough to initiate a homosexual relation, "Bhaiya ji, tell me na bhaiya ji, when shall I become Super-Ishtar ''.

“It’s a long wait Manohar. Continue at your efforts. You would definitely shine one day, like a real Ishtar. Ok?” He walks back to his cooking vessels.

Poli-ticks

“Na thakenge, na rukenge, aur na jhukenge (We will not get tired, we will not stop and we will not bend),” says Narendra Modi in the latest advertisement followed by blowing of a conch shell.

Politicians are opportunists. They are characterized by a quest of power and desire to manipulate the majority. In the Great Indian Context, the most talked about politician, by the day is Mr. Modi!

As the people of Gujarat cast their vote there stands a dilemma in the mind of Mr. Narendra Modi. He knows, the time is right. And that his party stands in a dilemma today. They and everyone of us knows the Congress vote percentage would fall in 2014, thanks to 2G,CWG and RahulG .The BJP realizes that its chances lie in providing an alternative. And Modi knows that within the infighting, he would emerge the PM candidate. But in this very set-up hovers his dilemma.

'Testing' times

The God gets down low but fails to stop the ball rattle his woodwork. I felt sorry for him. Not angry.

Jadeja bowls probably the worst ball of his test debut and Trott steps out before it bounces for the third time, unperturbed how his sportsmanship will make it to the headlines and hits the ball mercilessly to the fence. I laughed it off.

The Pursuit of Happiness

The old man sat on the woody bench in the corner of the City Park. Wait! he did not prefer being called an old man. So a middle aged man he was, but wait! That won’t be true. He was an old man after all.

So an old man sat on the wooden bench all alone with a black bag beside him. He was lost watching a game. His eyes looked at the children, playing hide and seek. The excited seeker running around trying to find the hiders. The hiders silently hidden below the benches and behind the trees. The seeker walked around, as serious as Sherlock, but he couldn’t spot anyone. Soon, too soon the seekers enthusiasm faded.

Coursera - Gamification by Kevin Werbach

Melissa Gena

A Bachelor's of Business Administration (SCL) graduate from Golden Gate University and an MA from Gonzaga University she is an avid learner, almost always taking one course or another (especially with the advent of Coursera and Udacity) and studying technology, leadership, and innovation through the words of a variety of authors both online and in print. Since 2002, She has co-founded and sold a web hosting company, and has worked primarily for small technology start-ups. She also has a blog on which she writes about a variety of things.

For the past few months, I have been happily experimenting with (and occasionally writing about) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). I was thrilled to recently receive a message on my blog from Soumabha, inviting me to write a guest post about my experiences!

The first course I signed up for was Gamification, taught by Kevin Werbach, of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. This course was particularly interesting to me because it addresses my loves of both technology and psychology – in particular, motivation. We see examples of gamification popping up all over the Internet these days, but as I learned in Professor Werbach’s course, many of them are ineffective. Before I get into the course details, though, I’ll share my thoughts on some of the other elements that I have found to make my experience with MOOCs better or worse.

#7: Superman vs Thor

It is the Kryptonian vs the Norse God, both invincible in their own right. Let us fight it out and see who wins the laser-eyed Superman or the god of lightning Thor...

Name : Clark Kent
Affiliation : One of the founding members and leader of The Justice League Of America
Background : Cast away from the impending doom on his planet Kryptonite, he crash landed on planet Earth ( much like Dragonball Z fame Goku) and has been living there since. In his teens he finally got the hang of his awesome superpowers and chose to use them to protect earth from the wrath of the villains. He dawned his trademark suit so as to avoid being identified which was designed by his foster mother Martha Kent. He is the leader of the Justice League by his own right and protects the Earth from treacherous villains like Doomsday , Braniac and his biggest foe Lex Luthor.

Name : Thor Odinson
Affiliation : The Avengers
Background : Thor is the Norse God of Lightning and is the son of Odin , the ruler of Asgard. Being banished after defying his father he comes and falls in love with Jane Foster. Being robbed of his mighty hammer Mjolnir Thor loses all power and becomes the common man Donald Blake. Even after learning humility Thor refuses to go back to Asgard and makes Midgard (Earth) his home. He joins the Avengers and has on several occasions saved them from aliens, his brother Loki and other frost and fire giants.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!!!

The FDI debate

I promised myself and my family I won't do a post during my exams, but then there are some things I can't resist,like eating too much, playing FIFA or writing something that bugs my mind, so I couldn't resist penning this one.

So to begin with I made a mistake today. A mistake of following the Parliament debate on allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail. Honestly I was confused about the  pros and cons of FDI and so I wasted time listening the speeches from the parliament. While people from the parliament were supposed to be wise men ,with all due respect I must say, they all turned out to be jokers - each one of them Sushma Swaraj, Kapil Sibal, Mulayam Singh etc. What these jokers conducted wasn't a debate it turned out to be a circus, of stupid speeches and statements.

Coursera - Greek and Roman Mythology by Peter Struck

Having played Age Of Mythology in 9th class I grew a strong liking to the Greek, Egyptian and Norse Gods. Odin and Zeus especially fascinated me. So when I took the course with a minor game mythology background I had no idea how wonderful it would be.

The lectures were spread out into 10 weeks, 8 for Greek Mythology and 2 for Roman (I thought they had similar cultures and history but the course taught me different as we learnt that Romans don't even want to be associated with the Greeks). The major books and topics covered were -

Doomsday - the Gangnam Style

Well most of us have seen this meme and all of us have heard 'Gangnam Style'. So what if this is true??!!! What if the Gangnam Style is our undoing and brings about the apocalypse.There have already been talks of how Gangnam Style was the ancient rain dance and the Gods were so furious that they sent Hurricane Sandy to devastate the East Coast of America. Few people also claim that the presence of  'PSY' in 'Apocalypse' actually gives them the jitters. (Pathetic !!! They bested even the worst PJ masters).