How To Have Fun & Make Money From Social Media

Social media is now an indispensible part of our daily lives. Students, home makers, working professionals, entrepreneurs, and even politicians have recognized the power of social media as an essential platform for them to interact and communicate with their network of friends, relatives, acquaintances.

There was a short period when homemakers somewhat felt left out of all that is happening in today’s digital, social world. Not anymore!

After making a quiet start with finding and making “friends” on Facebook and Twitter, these educated, young and smart women have found ways to make “spending time on social media” a rewarding hobby or pastime. This is achieved by participating in Contests conducted by various brands which aim to promote their products.

Here is How It All Begins:

Mrs Sneha is a qualified software engineer who gave up a well paid job a few years after marriage since the challenge of balancing work life and home proved too enormous, especially after the birth of her first child. Her son is now 4 years old, goes to a play home, has friends in the neighborhood and is generally independent. This gives her somefree time now and then on a typical day.

Sneha tried taking up feelance software jobs but soon realized it was heading towards a full time job working from home. This again was something she didn’t ask for and could not accommodate. She soon began dropping assignments one by one.

What then could she do with her spare time?

She turned to social media, where else! Although she had Facebook and Twitter accounts, she was using them occasionally to interact with her relatives who live abroad. Now she started spending more time on these platforms. She was able to get back in touch with most of her college friends. They would mee every evening, have some pleasant exchanges and have fun conversations.

But then, after sometime, this too lost its charm. 

Now what did Sneha do?

In the course of her conversations with friends on Twitter and Facebook, Sneha came across posts on her timeline from which she used to hear of people winning smartphones, laptops, meal vouchers, IPL match tickets, shopping vouchers, etc.

She had a fling at a few of them – these were contests conducted by brands such as Cadbury’s, Nokia, Garnier, Allen Soly, etc – all very famous brands.

Typically, the brands give a theme or topic or keyword about which contestants have to tweet or post comments. It could be something as simple as “I love to gift Cadbury’s because …” or as complex as “What features of Nokia Lumia 1520 excite you into wanting the phone.”

Initially, Sneha went through a period of learning, during which Sneha only managed to win low value goodies, such as a T-Shirt or a Mug or some cosmetics hampers – each worth a few hundred rupees only, but was good learning. More importantly, she made many friends, observed their contest playing skills and strategies and assimilated them quickly. In course of time, she developed her contest playing skills so much that she too started winning gadgets, movie tickets, passes for celebrity events and Flipkart vouchers. So much that she now claims her wins are valued at a minimum of Rs 30,000 - 50,000 every month!

When I heard her story, I was breathless!

Who said social media is a waste of time! You just have to be smart to give your time to the right accounts – be it Facebook or Twitter!

Violence Behind Closed Doors

Domestic violence is frequently associated with mere physical abuse meted out to the spouse. This is in fact a very wrong notion. What people do not understand is that verbal abuse constitutes a large part of what we refer to as domestic violence. Domestic violence is also known as spousal abuse, intimate partner violence (IPV), etc. 
The impact that domestic violence can have on the relationship between the husband and wife is simply unimaginable. What starts off as a mere negative remark on say, the dress worn by either of the spouse can quickly escalate into a full blown showdown between the two. This can further get elevated into a series of frequent fights caused due to flimsy reasons.
It is very often verbal abuse that goes unnoticed and unobserved by family. This is because, while physical abuse leaves visible scars which are seen by all, verbal abuse never leaves behind any visible scars but the scars are imprinted in the mind forever. The scars left behind by verbal abuse leave the person scarred for life.
The scars left behind by verbal abuse result in the person losing confidence in one self, going into a shell, isolation from others, etc. Verbal abuse leaves a person emotionally weak and vulnerable. This is a time when such people should ideally be around people in order to avoid negative thinking. This also helps them regain their self-confidence and self-respect although it might be a very slow process.
Victims of verbal abuse very often put on a brave front and put up a facade of being happy when in fact they are at one of the lowest points of life. It is extremely important to ensure that these people are never made to feel left out and isolated. They should always be surrounded by a happy atmosphere which helps them come out of their shell and also regain their self-respect.

Crowd Funding

Crowd funding is a concept which until a few years back, was relatively unknown to the Indian population although it was quite popular among the people of other countries. Crowd funding is a very simple concept to understand. It is basically a process by which monetary contributions are invited from people in order to help generate funds for various projects, causes, etc. Crowd funding is now being used to fund various projects like films, campaigns for social causes, music albums, and a lot more. 
One of the most recent examples of crowd funding in Karnataka is that of the film Lucia directed by Pawan Kumar, an upcoming director. The film Lucia was produced entirely through the process of crowd funding. This sort of a process helps not only generate funds but also makes sure the director retains the complete control on how a film has to be made. This ensures that the creative sensibilities aren’t compromised for the sake of funds. It gives the director complete freedom to produce the film entirely based on his vision.

In the process of crowd funding, there is no concept of a single contributor or a single producer since many individuals come together to fund a single project. This is beneficial in a way because the entire burden doesn't fall on one person. This ensures that, in case of a failure of the project, the financial burden of the failure doesn't fall on just one person. Also, another advantage or benefit of crowd funding is the fact that each of the contributors feel personally involved in the project.

There are various websites where one can register and initiate a crowd funding process for a project. Some of the common crowd funding websites include kickstarter, crowdrise, pledgemusic, and many others. The process of crowd funding gives a good insight on how funding for projects work and helps understand the differences between a single contributor and multiple contributors. 

Back from hibernation

After an extremely long period of hibernation, I finally decided to pull up my socks a bit and get the blog active again. In the period of this one year where I was under hibernation, a lot of things have happened. For one, I finished my graduation and was going through a period of confusion. This period of confusion resulted from the fact that I wasn't sure if I wanted to take a break from studies and explore various career options or continue with my post graduation. The confusion, magically got solved in no time and I eventually ended up enrolling for a post graduate degree in Communication at St Joseph's College of Arts and Science, Bangalore.
This period of one year also lead to a little more exploration of my hobby of clicking pictures. Bought a new lens to explore more of photography in a practical manner.
By April 2013, I had already completed a year of my post graduation. Yay!!
April - May, went on an annual family holiday to Chikmagalur. Explored places like Belur, Halebid, Belavadi  in a span of four days.

Stay tuned for more regular updates from my side. :)

Cheers!

Manisha

Portrayal of Women in Media

Women in society and media have been typecast in a set manner from as long as one can remember. Here's my take on women in media or the portrayal of women by the media. This was written as a part of one of our Culture Studies Assignment back in my undergraduate course.

     Media is an important tool of communication as well as a tool used to propagate ideas, ideologies and perceptions. Keeping all this in mind, one can say that media is that single tool which can mould the human mind and the thinking patterns according to the perceptions of the society at large. This gives rise to the question of how media portrays a particular gender, specially the female sex.

     Media has always tried portraying women in a manner in which the society wants to look at them rather than how women want to be seen. This is more to do with the societal perception of women being treated as people lower than men and they are not treated on par with men everywhere.

     From centuries, women have been considered to be subservient to men and women should always be docile, non-questioning, all enduring, etc. This is the same image given out by the media as well. This image of women has been ingrained in the female sex right from the time of their birth because of which, their own perceptions about themselves echoes the same sentiments.

     Nowadays, media projects women in such a way that they are shown to be commodities rather than living beings. Media compares women to objects and puts them on an equal footing. While men are treated as Gods, women have always been considered as mere objects of sex, a commodity. Women have never been given the same status as men irrespective of their class in society. The recent ads like Slice, Hero Honda, etc prove the point that men treat women as mere commodities.

     Cinema too holds the same views about women. In most movies, women are shown to be very homely, traditional housewives who always stand by their family in times of difficulty irrespective of how they are treated by the same family members. In movies where the woman is shown to be a working professional, her professional success is always at the cost of her marriage, her children, in-laws’ grudges, etc. There is hardly any instance of a women being allowed to work, willingly by her family as they lose out on the free servant during the hours that she works. Another important aspect of this is, the lady of the house Is always supposed to do all the household work while holding a 9 to 5 job, tend to all the family members’ needs and keep the household running in perfect sync even while she is ill. This is compounded by the fact that she never gets any help from any member of the family when she is in need of help, due to health reasons or otherwise.

     Another important aspect to the portrayal of women in cinema is that her professional success should always be at a lower level compared to her husband’s or else there are ego clashes and verbal/physical spats filling up the TV screen. This is common to all movies which show women in the role of working professionals.

     In the case of cinema and daily soaps, there are two extremes which are shown. While one end of the spectrum highlights those qualities of a woman which portray her as a person who puts up with all the negativity and negative treatment meted out towards her with a smile on her face, the other end of the spectrum portrays women as vamps, conniving and who is out to make the life of the protagonist a living hell.

     Even in real life, actresses are given lead role only until their marriage after which they are either given small, insignificant roles just to make their presence felt or they fade into oblivion. Models and actresses are given such distorted images of their body that they try to make all dietary and health modifications in order to attain the perfect figure so that they look appealing to the opposite sex. This is another aspect of women which media uses to its benefit. Media projects women to be beautiful only when they attain a certain level of fairness (Fair & Lovely advertisements, Ponds’ Fairness Cream Ads, etc) and have that perfect figure (Kellogs’ K Challenge). The media depicts that only when the above two criteria are met will men be swept off their feet looking at women. Also, media projects women in such a manner that society accepts only fair women and the dusky or dark ones are not worthy of even a look.

     Overall, media should treat women on par with men and women should be considered to be individuals in their own right.

The Sniper - Liam O' Flaherty

Read something which I spent a very little time on but touched my heart in more ways than one. Here's a little snippet of what the story made me feel about our actions, our thoughts, our desires. 


1619 words of simple English but profound underlying meaning. A story based on the Irish Civil War, 'The Sniper', by Liam O' Flaherty is a story of wars, informers, death, that desire to be appreciated and praised which blinds people to such an extent that we fail to see the person at the other side, either knowingly or unknowingly and fulfill our wishes, aims, aspirations. Many a times, we turn victorious without any mishaps blocking our path while there are times when you wish with all your heart that you could take that one trip back in time and delete that one action of that one moment which has now changed your entire life. Although it is not always to think before acting, whenever possible, pause to think for a moment about the outcome of your action and then proceed. Stalling for a moment resulting in a slight delay in translation of a thought into action helps prevent one feel guilty later and sometimes, helps prevent a lifetime's worth of guilt from engulfing you.
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/sniper.html

The Last Journey

Below is an article written as part of an assignment for my Feature & Magazine Writing class in college. Sharing of views is always welcome! :) 

When The World Turns Upside Down

Sudhabai and Srinivas Rao lived in Bangalore and led a happy middle class life for most part of their lives. Surrounded by  a large extended family, Rao, a middle level executive in a reputed private firm settled down to the comfort of living in a house owned by his brother  on a nominal rent. For many years, this arrangement suited them since the brothers had to look after their aged mother and could share the responsibility. Together, they took excellent care of their mother – giving her security, comfort, care and attention – apart from the socializing opportunities she would get in the surroundings of her loved ones right till her death.

As years passed by, Rao’s children completed their education. His daughters were married and well settled. His son had a good job in a reputed multinational company. Rao was all set for a happy retired life.

But fate had other plans. The son went wayward, taking to gambling and drinking. Rao’s brother sold the house and the new owner showed no mercy. And Rao too soon fell ill and died suddenly.

That left Sudhabai virtually alone to fight her way through life’s most challenging phase. The son only got worse and cleaned up their savings.

Luckily for Sudhabai, her well settled younger daughter offered to look after her. And after some initial hesitation, she settled down to a comfortable and even luxurious life. Life went on this way for nearly ten years. Her daughter was soon to get her son married and Sudhabai was there to help her all the way.

But then, all good things have to come to an end. The grand daughter-in-law did not take too kindly to her grandmother-in-law’s presence. Life began to get a bit difficult and unpleasant – but alas, Sudhabai had nowhere to go but endure the ordeal of being “unwanted” by her near and dear ones. Things went to a logical end – in quick time, Sudhabai’s daughter, with a heavy heart, dropped her miserable mother off at a far away “Old Age Home”, never to be seen again. That must have been an emotionally draining moment for her daughter and devastating for Sudhabai.

In her final days, the caretakers at the old age home conveyed information about her failing health to her daughter. The daughter could not bear the thought of going through the moral conflict of visiting her mother in distress and not being able to help her. She let the information pass.

Sudhabai’s last rites were performed by her derelict son in the presence of her full extended family – most of whom were aware of her plight but no one ever could help in any way.

But when, how and why do these situations crop up? And is there a way to minimize the plight of helpless, elderly people in the evening of their lives?

There are many perspectives – sociological, economic, psychological and political - from which we have to look at the plight of women who lead a lonely life, especially in the evening of their lives.

Sociological Factors

For ages, not just centuries, India has had a tradition of joint family system in which all the burdens and comforts of life were shared by the extended family. Women, by default, have traditionally assumed the role of “homemakers” while men were seen as “bread winners”. As a result, women have been forced to play a subservient role in the family as well as in society at large. In the process, women have been made to look helpless and dependent – and left at the mercy of the men who govern and control their lives.

Although this was shaken in the second half of the 20^th century – and more so in the post liberalization India, it will be many decades (or centuries?) before we can see a whole generation of confident women who can stand on their own and shape their destiny – from cradle to the grave.

Also, it cannot be denied that there has been a gradual erosion of family values in the last 30 years – and what was once a fundamental unit of society is no longer so.

Economic Factors

The modern day working woman is educated, competent to perform the dual task of homemaking as well as a professional career outside the home. She is well informed, widely travelled and has good professional and social skills which give her the confidence to take on life in all its shades just like any other male would do. Although the absolute numbers of such women are on the rise, they are still a small percentage of the female population.

To the vast majority of women, economic comfort and independence are still a faraway dream that may not easily be realized. Things will only get worse if they have to bear the misfortune of becoming a widow.

Yet another factor is the ‘forced separation’ from children who have had opportunities to look for greener pastures abroad. This eases the economic pressure on the elderly through the financial help their loved ones can provide from abroad. However, often the lonely, elderly people (and women in particular) need physical help in many forms. The absence of this can make life miserable.

Psychological

Many elderly people feel neglected by their children. This is real to a large extent, and only an unavoidable perception to a lesser extent. There is every possibility of the elderly developing an inferiority complex, which takes away their ability to interact effectively and positively with their near and dear ones. As a result, there will be a gradual communication gap that adds to the challenges of life in the twilight zone.

Political Factors

India has made much progress in promoting equal opportunities in education and employment  for women. However, there is a lot more legislation required to secure and promote the overall well being of its senior citizens. In this respect, India has many lessons to learn from the developed countries on bringing in proper legislation to provide better care for the helpless and the elderly.

Here are some areas that need more attention to provide a better lifethe elderly, infirm and the helpless:

1. Government should allocate more funds for Care of the Aged. Old Age Homes are required in large numbers and this should be done on a Private-Public Partnership basis to ensure reasonably good standards.

2. There is a need for proper legislation to provide proper healthcare. In their final years, very few would have  the resources to provide for healthcare expenses. This leaves them at the mercy of their children which may not work well.

3. Aged people are often the victims of greed and neglect of their children. Widows, in particular, are vulnerable to threat, violence, blackmail and exploitation. There is need for stringent laws punish those who harass the elderly.

4. Emotional well being is an important need that can have a soothing effect on the minds of people in distress. Government and NGOs should come forward to provide adequate social and recreational opportunities.

5. Government should launch vigorous campaigns to educate people about he benefits of planning for life in old age. Schemes should be introduced so that people contribute when they are strong and financially comfortable so that they can avail of benefits in later years if required.

A group of senior citizens in my neighbourhood had formed an informal "Residents Welfare Association" and were managing a park used by hundreds for exercise, walking, jogging. A virtually neglected strip of land with some trees was converted into a beautiful park with lot of greenery and fresh air. This was funded by through voluntary monthly contributions by users of the park. One fine day, government stepped in and made a rule that soliciting voluntary contributions should be stopped and that the Corporation will maintain he park. This is an example of government killing a fine initiative by its senior citizens.

Diet Resolutions Gone With The Wind

While you were wondering why the blog has been lying dormant since quite some time, I was thinking up ways to make my blog more interesting. After posting articles on the budget, advertisements, etc, I decided it was time to bring in some information on restaurants in Bangalore. So, below you will find reviews of two restaurants in Bangalore which are situated at either ends of the city.

While one is the Rajdhani located in the well known UB City, the other is another restaurant called Sukh Sagar, a famous eating joint of South Bangalore. 

Rajdhani

Rajdhani is a restaurant in the newly opened UB City. It is an authentic Gujarati cum Rajasthani restaurant. The people are seated under canopies in the open air which allow them to have a look at other buildings within the UB City. The menu mainly consists of Gujarati and Rajasthani dishes served in a thali. The quantity of food is unlimited. Each thali costs around Rs.250 plus taxes. They serve nearly 45 items on the menu. Some of the dishes are khaman dhokla, puran polis, malpova, rabdi, Gujarati and Rajasthani khadis, dal, four different curries, rotis, rice, khichdi, curd rice, etc. Although the menu varies everyday, the thali is prepared keeping the basic theme of serving the people Gujarati and Rajasthani food in mind. You can also see the chefs preparing the dough and the rotis from where you are seated.

The service is extremely fast keeping in mind the large number of people who come to have lunch over there. The waiters and managers are very hospitable. All the waiters are dressed in traditional Rajasthani style. As soon as you occupy the table, a waiter gets a traditional brass jug and bowl using which you can wash your hands. Once you finish your food, once again the same jug and bowl are brought for you to wash your hands. They also have juices and soft drinks which you can order separately. Once you go to this place, you will eventually end up going there either alone, or with family and friends again and again. Either way, you will end up liking this place. So, next time you want to go out for lunch, the first place you will think of is Rajdhani. Along with great food, you also have a great ambiance.

Sukh Sagar

This is a restaurant located in the heart of Jayanagar, i.e, Jayanagar 4th Block. This is basically a multi-cuisine vegetarian family restaurant where self-service facility also available. The self-service counter is ideal for the peak hour crowd, mainly college students and office-goers who want to grab a quick bite. They serve South Indian, North Indian and Chinese cuisine. They also serve delectable chaats, desserts, milkshakes and fruit juices.

The service is pretty good and fast. The ambience is very homely, just like the area in which it is situated. The crowd is a good middle class crowd. It is nearly always full at any time of the day or night. This is one place where you never come back disappointed with whatever food you have ordered. Here you get good value for money. The staff of the restaurant is very courteous and friendly. Also, the place is pretty hygienic.

If you want to go in a large group, it is better to reserve a table beforehand as there is a chance that you might have to wait to get a table especially during weekends. It will cost around Rs.150-200 for a meal for two people. Whenever we decide to eat out, the first option is Sukh Sagar!

Impact of Budget 2011-2012 on Students

I know it has come in quite late, but anyway, here is an article which talks about the impact of the Budget 2011 - 2012 on the students fraternity.

The Union Budget for the year 2011-2012 which was announced earlier this week has left the people wondering whether to rejoice over the revised tax slab which gives them a sort of a breather or sit

and worry about the rising prices of essential commodities and luxury items alike. Like all Budget presentations, this year’s Budget too has some advantages while at the same time posing some

disadvantages.

With a change in the tax slabs and prices of various commodities and goods, the difference in the spending power of individuals who fall into the following broad categories of working class, senior

citizens and students will vary.

There will be a definite impact on the students due to the increases in the prices of stationery items which forms an integral part of a student’s life. With the increase in the prices of stationery items, it

becomes increasingly difficult for a student to limit his consumption of pen, paper and other essential study resources. This also adds to the monthly expenses of the student thereby imposing restrictions on

their spending capacity as many students are forced to utilize their pocket money in the most economic way possible while at the same time using the same money to enjoy.

The major point of worry for the students will now be whether to buy their textbooks or get them photocopied as the printing paper used for such purposes will also see a rise in the prices. It won’t come as a surprise if more students are found lined up near photocopy machines bargaining for the Xerox rates rather than at bookstores buying the original prints.

Another problem faced by students is when they stay in hostels or PG accommodations. Students are often forced to stay in hostels due to the fact that they want to study in ‘excellent’ colleges which are scattered across the length and breadth of our country. In such circumstances, when the food is bad, they would naturally prefer eating out to eating the bad food and getting into health complications. So, what this year’s Budget implies to such students is that they would be spending more on things like getting ready to eat food from outside and also eating out in restaurants.

The next big problem faced by students is the issue of wearing branded clothes however costly they may be. This is exactly what will happen to the extremely brand conscious section of students who will have to shell out more than previous times for the same brand of clothing that they used to purchase before. This is due to the fact that the prices of branded clothes have drastically risen, thanks to the Union Budget of the year 2011-2012. While it is going to be a tough choice to make for the students over their clothing’s brand choices, it surely comes as a boon to the owners of branded clothes who will rake in a good percentage of profit this time around.

The 2011-2012 Budget has surely brought in changes to the Indian Economy and the student community in more ways than one. What is to be seen is how well the students adapt to change in their spending patterns as also their lifestyle! They surely need to give a thought on Saving and Splurging!

Tanishq Ad Analysis

Here is a piece I wrote as an assignment for my Advertising class in college. We were supposed to analyse an advertisement based on various parameters like - visualization, the Big Idea, creativity, etc. The article below will give you my opinion about the advertisement I chose to analyse. I had selected a print ad of Tanishq's Akshaya Tritiya Jewelery Collection.





This Tanishq advertisement has been created keeping in mind the mindset of the Indian population who are deeply rooted in traditions and culture. With this mindset, they are sure to go buy gold, however costly it might be and however small the quantity they purchase.


The Big Idea of this advertisement lies in the Indian tradition of buying a certain amount of gold on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. This idea is rooted in the fact that gold symbolizes Goddess Lakshmi, the harbinger of wealth and prosperity to all Indian homes. Also, the purity and sanctity of Goddess Lakshmi is compared to the purity of Tanishq gold.


The creativity of the advertisement is enhanced by the usage of the concept of symbolization. In this advertisement, the coconut symbolizes the Indian home. The gold necklace symbolizes both, the woman(Lakshmi) of the house, and Goddess Lakshmi, the harbinger of wealth.


The target audience is directly aimed at without the special mention of any one section of the population as this occasion is celebrated by all Indians, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds.


The visualization of this advertisement is simple and complete. The advertisement has been made to look very pleasing and and at the same time conveys the message in a simple and direct manner. This increases the chances of the reader pausing to look at this advertisement and registering it in her mind. In plain and simple words, Tanishq welcomes the people to their stores to buy gold.


The advertisement is visually appealing because the viewer can instantly connect with the visual of the advertisement due to the portrayal of "Indianness."


Overall, this Tanishq advertisement is complete in all aspects. A truly complete advertisement indeed!