Journey to learning

Dyslexia----a commonly uncommon disease.

2008-02-02T02:44:00.000-08:00

There is no end of diseases in this world. Every day the names of some new diseases are catching our attention. Sometimes I wonder that whether the All Mighty God has created as many diseases as the number of the people in all over the world. There are many ailments and their patients, we encounter everyday, but we hardly know or identify them.
Dyslexia is such a disease from the list of those generally unrecognizable ailments. Many books, articles or films have been made so far that dealt with Dyslexia at length. But off late I watched a Hindi movie ‘T Z par’ and this really made me to ponder over it. The story portrays the misery of a boy who is suffering from dyslexia but his parents are unaware of it. Though the boy lives in the lap of all kind of luxury and comfort, he finds himself very alone and helpless. Despite his mother’s full effort he fails to read and write properly. Everyone misunderstands him and thinks that he is just neglecting his studies intentionally. He is unable to fare well in his academic world and becomes the eyesore of everybody starting from schoolteachers to parents.
But what is this Dyslexia and what are its symptoms? Let us try to search it together.
The word Dyslexia is derived from the Greek word ‘dys’(inadequate) and ‘lexis’(language). Dyslexia may also be defined as disease where a patient finds difficulty with the written language i.e reading, spelling and writing. This is quite different from reading difficulties resulting from other causes like deficiencies in intelligence, a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from inadequate reading instructions. This disease is not an intellectual disability but it results from neurological differences. Dyslexia can occur to anybody, irrespective of the level of intelligence. To a Dyslexic, letters and words may appear reversed. This disability of reading and writing of the patients generally becomes evident in the early years of schooling. Many Dyslexics never learn to read and write properly in the entire life. Recent studies have revealed that Dyslexia is located in the brain. Damage to the brain can cause reading disability similar to Dyslexia. In many cases Dyslexia appears to be inherited.
Dyslexic children seems to have problems in developing early reading skills, hearing individual sounds in words, analyzing whole words in parts and blending sounds in words. They find trouble in translating thoughts into language and the vice-versa. Most of the children with Dyslexia are of average intelligence, although many of them show unusual talent in the field of arts, athletics, graphics, architecture, drama, music etc.
The causes for this disease are still unknown although the researchers have confirmed that such conditions are often inherited.
Some of the symptoms that indicate Dyslexia are:
1.Difficulty in learning or to recognize written words.
2. Difficulty in Rhyming.
3. Trouble in understanding the meaning of a single sentence.
4. Writing or arithmetic learning problem.
These are the few indicators that alarm you about your loving kid and tell you that it is the right time to take the help of a doctor instead of misunderstanding your offspring.
Dyslexia is a life-long condition but it can be cured with timely and proper intervention of the Parents. When a child is diagnosed with Dyslexia, the parents should inquire from his or her school or from a diagnostician that what problems exactly are facing by their kids. The primary focus in the treatment of Dyslexia is on the learning process…..

Euthanasia -The mercy killing

2007-05-24T03:10:00.000-07:00

The most precious possession in one’s life is her own life. It is a true fact that everyone loves most his own life than any other possession. But when this valuable life becomes unbearable due to terminal suffering, few people muster the courage to put it to an end forever. Yes, this is how the concept of Euthanasia could help those pain stricken people. The word Euthanasia implies mercy killing or it can also be interpreted as assisted suicide. A person is being assisted to end his life to give him respite from his extreme physical pain and illness.

But this concept has not been accepted throughout the world. The practice of Euthanasia is illegal for human in United States. It is only performed there on persons who are on a death row for execution. A lethal injection is used to give them a quick and painless death. Killing is regarded as a sin as well as a sacrilege. It is also believed to be against the principle of humanity and medication. It came from Hyppocrates, the father of modern science, who said, ‘I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel’. Doctors are still bound by this law. The first oath taken by the doctors after they complete their medical degree is also the same. In the whole world only Netherlands and Belgium allow this practice. The topic of Euthanasia was brought to the forefront of public opinion with the trial of Doctor Jack Kevorkian in the late 1990s. He was sentenced to 10-25yrs in prison for the murder of Thomas Youk after giving him a lethal injection. Euthanasia, like abortion, is a heated topic. People have divided into two different sects. Different people hold different view about it. Various religion and church are of the view that we all God’s child and our life is His greatest creation. So we have no right to destroy it. On the other hand, the proponents of Euthanasia are of an altogether different view. They think the state and the church have no rights to impinge upon one’s wish to sever all ties with this world.

This practice of mercy killing is common among farmers who kill their elderly pets to give them respite from the unbearable pain and agony. Euthanasia is also performed on old, disabled and suffering cats or dogs by their owners to end the extreme pain .When homes cannot be found for animals, animal shelters perform the same process on them.

But the practice of Euthanasia has not been legalized in all countries. If it is thought rationally, on one hand, Euthanasia is the only process which can end the tremendous pain and illness of the people who are suffering from any incurable and chronic disease. The patients who have to depend entirely upon medicines to keep their heart beating and are depraved of any physical as well as social activity, desire for mercy killing. They seek for a painless death. They deem it better to expire in sleep than to bear the pain throughout a death –like life.

On the other hand, the legalization of Euthanasia entails many hazards, both moral as well as social. This is against the humane quality to kill someone rather in religious term, to destroy the God’s creation. Legalization of Euthanasia will enhance the number of crimes. It will become impossible to distinguish between murders and wish death. IT won’t be a problem to perform Euthanasia on those suffering people who can communicate their wish to their relatives, doctors or to any other social institutions. But it will pose a big problem for those who are in coma or cannot express their wish. Unscrupulous relatives could take wrong advantage of the opportunity. They along with dishonest doctors, for financial gain, would make the murder appear as mercy killing. Crimes would be committed with legal stamp. So the situation is quite to be handled.

Euthanasia is a controversial subject and probably it will continue to remain so. Different shades of opinion exist upon the rights and wrongs of it but no solution has been found so far. It’s still debatable if one day euthanasia will unshackle the ailing people from their meaningless existence or be a potential weapon of mischievous people. The controversy is in its seed as it questions the very existence of human life, rather its termination.

Aftermath of Rape – An Indian Perspective

2007-05-20T01:02:00.001-07:00

Well, I am back again to write and my intention is to manifest the much hyped topic, oppression against women. I am not a neophyte here. Many eminent authors have devoted their precious time and thousands of pages to highlight it. Many full length works by various feministic critics, social workers, prominent leaders are also easily available. I am just a small fish among these giant fishes. But why can’t I share my thoughts, my anger, and my sorrows to all across the world? So I decided to write.

There are many questions which are eating my heart out. Why since time immemorial women are always looked down by men? Why are they always taken as befuddled creatures? Why it is expected of a woman to keep intact her virginity before her marriage while a man can be a philanderer? And the biggest of all, what should a woman do when she is deflowered by a man? Would she forgive him or punish the demon? All these bunch of questions stand together in one way of life or the other and irk me. And to find the answers of these questions, I need your participation. Let’s try to search it together.

In recent past, the rate of crime in every city has hiked up to a great extent. The safety of mankind is almost extinct in these ‘forests of nights’. But the most castigated and unsecured in the society is the women. It is no more a rare news that a woman has been kidnapped and deflowered by hooligans. But very few of the cases are reported and flashed into print or electronic media. Most of the incidents get lost into the darkness. The girls who are the victims of such crimes, being afraid of any further harm, do not come forward to punish the demons. And those who come forward to protest against this heinous act met with further danger. The social stigma attached with the virginity of a woman, prohibits the victims family to take any strict step against the criminal. Even when complaint is lodged to the police, the convicts come out unharmed by dint of their power and political grip. But some criminals have chosen a path by which they can evade being punished. In many cases, they propose to marry the victims, so that they can get a clean chit. Many families whose reputation is at stake compel their daughters to accept the proposal. But has anybody pondered about it that how degrading it in accepting such proposal. The most precious thing in a woman’s life is her self respect and virginity. A man who snatches forcefully that precious thing from her is unpardonable. But still girls pardon them and give their consent in marrying them for the sake of their family reputation and themselves. They embrace this hellish and degraded life only to escape from social stigma attached with it. But how far the society will continue to compel the castigated woman to accept a death like life from where there is no respite. It is not only tough but also impossible to live forever with a man who dashed all her hopes. The gory heads of the society leave no way out for the women who have been victimized other than to accept the insult with a stoical resignation. But still there are a few girls, though handful, who showed their courage and stood against the social stigma. They chose to fight for their self respect rather than embracing the disgraceful life.

Time is changing. People are shedding their aged-old notions about such issues. The victims are getting much support, instead of teases. But still there are some dirt left out. A spark is needed to burn the ‘unextinguished hearth’, to clean the dirt minds, to shake the aged-old perception and to bring about a revolution. Let us stand together and support the victims of such inhuman act. Let us make the world free.

Promoting your website – The Guru’s Mantra

2007-05-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well, so you have decided that you are going to develop a website and want to do business with it. And the questions which are tinkling in your mind are how you can promote it? Or how people will know about your website?

The first step obviously your decision to go for it, which you already have taken. The next step is to build your website and here these things you must consider. If you are developing it of your own, you must take care of these. Or if you are developing it through any vendor, you must specifically ask for these features.

Website title: Your website title must be dynamic, so that it can address the content of the page. Or in other words in every page a part of page title should change. Like the contact us page can have title like your ‘company name – contact us’ while about us page can have title like ‘company name – about us’.
Website URL: All URL shall be search engine friendly. Avoid query string in URL. If you are using Linux-Apache, then a simple htaccess file can do the trick. It is called mod rewrite. If you are hosting in windows server, the same thing exists there too. I must give you an example for better understanding. Say you have a product listing page and when anybody clicks on the product listing page then the detail page appears and the URL which carries the product number for the identification of product. Using mod rewrite you can easily omit the query string part to pass it internally.
Try to make the URL always in lower case.
Put as much as text content as you can. All images of the page must have descriptive alternative names.
Avoid flash as much as you can.
Try to minimize number of images.
Avoid background pictures.
Use Meta tags and Meta keywords and Meta description should have higher density keywords. You can judge the keyword density using many online keyword selector tools.
And last but not the least. The content of your website should be rich enough to address the context. Mind it, content is what will help you to retain potential customer.

Now you have your website ready and you are ready for promoting it. Here you must know how search engine works? A search engine crawl or spiders your page and the based on site content it indexes your website against the keyword. Like if its gets any keyword mobile phone then it puts your website URL, title against the keyword mobile phone in its database. Some search engine like google, MSN crawls automatically where some needs manual submission. It is important for you to get higher ranking in search engine as generally people psychology never lets them to search more than twenty results at a time. So, if any body types the keyword mobile phone in any search engine, you must end in top twenty results in order to get him visit your website. Now search engine ranking depends on mainly two factors, namely inbound links and outbound links. That is the number of links are directing to your domain and the number of links present in your domain. With search friendly URLs you already created as many links as possible in your own website. The next step is to create inbound links. Here are the steps you follow.

Start visiting forums regularly and place your website URL in your comment and post. As the forum will be crawled by search engines they will get links which directs it to your website.
You can advertise your website there too.
Visit various directories listing website and submit your website URL.
Submit your website to all manual search engines.
Start writing article on your website in various article publishing websites.

You are almost done. Now the next step is for promotion. First add google analytics code at the bottom of all your pages. This will help to invite google spider on regular basis. If possible try google adsense. Try to place affiliate links if it’s not harming your interest directly. If you are selling any products then I will advise you to create your own affiliate program.

Once you complete all these steps, it’s the time to sit back and relax. The only job that now needs to be done on regular basis is to monitor and control. Try adding new pages, new content. Replace old content with new one. I am sure with such finer proceedings you will be able to hit the bull’s eyes.

E-Commerce – An overview

2007-05-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

The benediction of science and technology are so many to describe. But the invention and application of internet services deserve special mention. Internet services are being randomly used throughout world. Right from shopping to fixing a business deal, everything is being done with the click of a mouse. People have become computer savvy. Their lives have been shaped by various electronic gadgets. With their dependency of electronic gadgets, terms like e-book, e-cards, e-commerce etc. have evolved.

The term ‘e-commerce’ is now a very well-known word. The word ‘e-commerce’ itself signifies ‘e-commerce through electronic medium’. It can also be described as the selling and buying of goods and services on the internet. A new term e-business has also evolved to mean the same thing. We can say it is commerce conducted electronically or simply interpret as an online business. It includes customer service functions, sales, marketing, advertising and many more. It also conducts exchange of goods, information, products or services via electronic medium.

Through this medium a buyer can make his purchase just with a click of a mouse, sitting at home but the seller had to crack hard nuts. So conducting e-commerce is not that easy as the word sounds. To start an online business a big and proper planning is the first thing. There should be an adequate source of production. Proper funding also plays a crucial part in any kind of business to keep it going. But that’s not all. To create markets for the products and to collect customers for selling those products are also vital points to remember. To taste the pinnacle of success, a strong customer service should be there.

E-commerce is also advantageous to other traditional businesses in many respects. If an e-commerce site is implemented well, the cost of transaction is quite lower than others. Moreover an online shop never closes. They always remain open and this provides the customers the opportunity to shop anytime of the hour. With the advent of e-commerce, the concept of shopping from home has emerged. Information about any article is available on the net. Customers can search and gather knowledge according to their needs. Before making any kind of purchase, the customers could widen their frontiers of knowledge so that they did not repent later. Geographic limitations are no more a hindrance in commerce. E-commerce makes the products and the services easily available to the customers without any geographical hurdles. Through this type of commerce the sellers of the goods and services are reaching easily to a wide range of customers, both inland and abroad. The buying process in this type of commerce is also advantageous. It provides the customers with a platform to search product information through global markets with a wider range of choice. They can tally the prices also to buy the cheap but the exclusive article. Delivery time and costs are saved when such purchases are made like e-books, audio clips, software games etc. Distance education is delivered via internet. Global reach of internet able different organizations to send messages worldwide, exploring new markets that traditional markets have difficulties accessing.

But there are also various disadvantages in this kind of commerce for both the buyers as well as the sellers. Expenses of getting popular server for the organization are very high. It is difficult enough to get people know about the product of the company and to made them visit the site. The demerits involved from the buyer’s angles are mainly the touch and feel factor. You cannot smell the product, nor can you take its warmth. You are only guided by feature list and the visual impression. Above all to get all these, rather to enjoy the beauty of the product you have to count days for its arrival. If the shipping is lengthy, certainly it will take the test of your patience. And when you come to realize what you purchased is not what you were looking for or the quality is not at par, there is no easy way to get it exchanged or return it to the seller.

With all these merits and limitations, E-commerce is here to stay. Because it is powered by the most precious thing in modern world, yes, it is time. In future it may change its color, can shift or penetrate into a different media, but the purpose will never be eradicated. In this fast paced world, people want to buy time so that they can invest it in earning money and E-commerce targets that. So, you know who will win.

Indian festival

2007-05-10T02:56:00.000-07:00

India is a country of festivals. Festive season never takes leave from this country.Throughout the year,different festivals are celebrated in different parts of India. Like the country's variegated states, its culture and customs are also different.
In West Bengal, the most popular festival is Durga puja.This is celebrated with a great festive spirit. Both rich and poor mix together alike during the fesival. In the eve of Durga puja people do their shopping, go to the eateries, go pandal hopping and enjoy the days to their heart's content. All forget their agonies and miseries, offer their prayer piously to the goddess of strength to destroy their sorrows and to absolve them. No one keeps ill-will against the other and stretches hands of friendship. In this festive season, the city is bedecked with ligthings like a newly wed bride.People of all caste and creed participate in this festival with much fervour and gusto.
There are many more festivals in India like Diwali,Holi,Id,Christmas etc. that are celebrated with the same festive spirit.
Diwali is a festival of light.People decorate their house with lights and burst crackers. Holi is another big festival which is celebrated by all people.It is a festival of colour. People as well as their souls is get coloured by the colour of holi.
Rakhshsbandhan is such a festival in which every sister prays for her brothers' safty and long life.
There are many more festival that are celebrated throughtout India. These festivals are of great importance to both India and its people. Indian culture is already rich like its variegated states but these festivals enrich the Indian culture to a great extent.They add shine and colour to the lives of people. They erase the lines of sadness from the faces of the people,though for short period of time.

Internet Marketing

2007-05-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

Internet marketing

On this 21^st century the impact of computer and its use in all the fields of work is quite visible. And it is more dominant in the world of commerce where the word Internet Marketing has become the modern buzz. Internet marketing is a major part of the electronic commerce. It includes information management, public relation, sales and customer services. Electronic commerce and internet marketing has grown up as the favorite marketplace for computer savvy generation. The reasons behind this upsurge are easy availability of low cost computer and high speed internet connection with the steady rise of plastic money. People, who have internet connections at their home, feel happy to use internet to make purchase at their own convenience and in their favorite comfort zone. It is a marketing which is done on the web or through e-mail and is completely different from regular marketing. It includes various marketing strategies to support a company's online marketing. In this field internet is used as medium of communicating company's messages, attracting prospective customers and conducting market survey as well as research. It also includes advertising, selling products and services through websites or e-mail to the customers. It is used to meet with the customer's queries and to receive their orders through internet.

Internet marketing was evolved in 1990s as a simple text-based websites. Then it only offered information about products to the customers. But over the time, there came a sea change in its work. Now internet marketing is used not only to provide information about the products but also for selling spaces, software programs, business models and many other products and services.

This kind of marketing is the backbone of modern capitalism. This allows a company with an idea, program or service to reach to the maximum number of customers possible. But there lies a challenge .To win a customer it is important to entice him with catchy websites. The content and presentation of the website also plays a very significant role in it. It should produce a long-lasting impact on the minds of the customers.

When internet marketing first emerged, very few persons were indulged in this business but with the span of time more and more people have joined the business, seeing its benefit. In the beginning of internet marketing, it had only B2B or Business 2 Business model. Over the period of time, B2C (Business to Customer) and P2P (Peer to Peer), model was developed. But the current use of the word 'internet marketing' refers to direct response business strategies.

There are number of benefits associated with internet marketing. In this type of marketing information about a product is always within the customer reach. Customer can log onto the internet and learn more about the products. They can make their purchase at any hour. This marketing procedure is also less expensive than other marketing media, and helps companies to reap the benefit. They do not have to bear any additional sales forces. Moreover, internet marketing expands the business frontiers from the local markets to the national and international market.

But there are also limitations associated with internet marketing. An online purchase does not allow the customer to feel, taste or touch the product. So to keep up constant flow of customers, originality and authenticity of the product is must. And the crux of this entire effort is the slow internet connection which drives away the probable buyers from venturing and exploring the web market. And last but not the least, the onslaught of hackers and crackers brings in the point of vulnerability and fear of possible fraud.

Cinema and its social responsibility

2007-04-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of cinema, it has been a very important and popular medium of mass communication. Cinema is a form of art and like any other artistic form, it also bear the influences of the contemporary society. The contemporary trends of the society is always explicitely visible in cinema.The first Indian cinema is Raja Harish Chandra in 1913.
To various people it means various things.To the producer and the director of the cinema, it is a medium of business and monetary profit.To the actors and actresses, it is a way to appease their appetite for fame and glamour.To the directors, it is way of artistic exhibition as well as of financial gain.
As cinema reflects society, it is bestowed with the responsibility of social cleansing. Through the medium of cinema, the society is cleansed of its dirts. Previously such cinemas are made which bear a social message. Different big producers made films on unemployment, poverty, over-population,epedemics, anti-violence, illiteracy etc. Then it was seen as a form of art.It also provided entertainment to the general mass of people. It is believed that cinema best mirrors the humanity on screen. But now-a-days, cinema is no longer an artistic form but has only become a medium of entertainment.The spirit of ameliorating the society has died a gradual death.
Different producers are making cheap sensual movies that tickle audience and fleece their pockets. Many movies are made with the label of art films but actually the producers, as George Orwell comments,'exploit white women's legs'. Actors also accepts the weird movie offers to savour the quick source of money. The value of true acting has ebbed out, now what remain is the exposure of flesh. Freshers are bagging movie offers by cladding scanty of clothes. So the resurrection of cinema is the need of the hour.

Is woman really free?

2007-04-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

No more eyebrows are raised at the thought of a woman going out to work.Thanks to the various organizations,authors and feministic critics who have struggled a lot for the freedom of woman.A lot of lip service has been paid to the idea of equality of man and woman.

Apparantly a woman is free enough to pursue her wishes.She has ventured and succeeded in all the fields of knowledge.In the present state of society,woman is walking equal steps to man.Women's position ,both inside and outside the house,has been changed and elevated from that of the position what our grandmother and mother had tolerated.But if the entire situation is placed under scrutiny then an altogether different picture will appear before us.Actually we will find that the position of women is no better than before.Still in India the birth of a baby-boy to a baby-girl gives more pleasure to many parents.There are many such parents who pamper their sons while deprive their daughters from basic needs.It is believed that women are weak,both physically and mentally.Though the mental strength of women varies but the fact of feminine physical weakness, cannot be ruled out completely.The biological structure of women has tied their hands.For men she has always been an object of lust and desire.Her structure itself has prohibited women from many activities.A woman cannot travel alone at night or she cannot go to any unknown places.Woman is always exposed to the risk of deflowering.Moreover, to add to her woes, there are several social stigmas attached with the disgrace of a lady.While men have various ways to wash their hands clean of any degraded or disgraceful work.But not content with this pre-eminence,men endeavour to sink women still lower.In many countries women are paid less wages than men for the same work.
All along women are taught to acquire the so-called qualities of a woman like susceptibility of heart,delicacy of sentiment and refinement of taste which are again synonymous with epithets of weakness.It is expected that a girl should be a goddess of meekness and mercy.It is as if the duty of women to forgive men for any of their crimes.Again the qualities like bravery,courage and impetuosity are called masculine.The girl's formal lessons at home prepares her to acquire the femininity.Since time immemorial men have usurped women.Throughout their life they remain enslaved to men.
In a woman's life marriage plays a very crucial role.A lot of changes take place in her life.They face an different situation in life.But their slavery only changes from their father to husband. As before marriage a girl is supposed to listen to her father so after marriage a good wife should listen to her husband.All the vital decisions of the house are always taken by the male members of the family.Marriage itself is an institution of prejudice.
In many countries,still men and women are paid unequal wages for equal works.If it is seen honestly,we will find that women work more than men.In case of working women,the problem is worse.They have to do all the works,both inside and outside of the house.Moreover they have the additional work of child bearing,giving birth and rearing it.
Women face various kinds of hurdles in their life but domestic violences add to their woes.Domestic violence is prevalant in the lower strata of people.Women have to confront extreme castigation. There is no respite from her agonies.
There is a notion that women enhance the beauty of the house.Many women are also with this kind of concept. They find pleasure in thinking themselves the queen of the house.But actually their activities are only the outcome of their husband's wishes.Housewives are financially dependent on their on husbands. Even working women are not fully independent.
Is there any of end of this lifelong oppression?When would they actually be free?Free of prejudice and oppression?

The journey begins

2007-04-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Its a fresh start. My voyage to learn and explore this inexplicable world of internet. Being virtual what I never tried to learn yet I set off towards that