Dhoni too joins the ranks of Kapil & Sachin

First it was Kapil Dev then Sachin Tendulkar and now Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Abhinav Bindra. Can you guess what is common in all of them? Yes, apart from being sportsmen, all of them have become honorary Lieutenant Colonels in the Territorial Army. Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh pinned ranks on the shoulders India’s cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Olympian gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra at a ceremony recently. Dhoni has been commissioned into the elite Para Regiment, while Bindra was commissioned into the Sikh Regiment. The respective regiment chiefs Lt. Gen. Vinod Bhatia and Lt. Gen. Sumer Singh were also present on the occasion.
 
It was only on September 13 that President Pratibha Patil had approved the grant of honorary commissions to the two illustrious sportspersons in recognition of their achievements in their respective sports. The Indian cricket captain successfully led the country to victory in the World Cup this year and helped the team to reach the pinnacle in Test rankings for the first time in 2010. In 2007, Dhoni also led the team to victory in the inaugural T20 World championship.

Donning the Olive Green uniform, Bindra said that he would now build bridges with the army. Bindra was conferred the honour for winning the only individual Olympic gold medal for India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Happy at donning the maroon beret, Dhoni said that his childhood dream had come true and he would make every effort to live up to it. He said that becoming a member of the elite Parachute Regiment involved rigorous combat and airborne operations training and he would soon find time to train for it. The cricketer who had earlier interacted with the army on several occasions said that he would motivate the youth to serve the country by joining the army.

Just like the cricket team which has members from all over the country, Dhoni too opted for the Para Regiment that had members from all the regiments of the Indian Army. Along with Dhoni and Bindra, the army also honoured a doctor by profession, Deepak Rao, a martial arts specialist, who has trained nearly 15,000 army troops in close quarter combat, with the rank of a Major. In 2008, Kapil Dev was conferred the honorary Lt. Col. rank in the Territorial Army and in 2010, Tendulkar was made honorary Group Captain in the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Shot at History:

Apart from receiving the honorary honour, Bindra has been in the news for his book and his dream of London Olympics. Releasing the book of the Olympic champion, ‘A shot at history’ written by Rohit Brijnath and published by Harper Collins, in Delhi, Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken said that he hoped that the photo of Abhinav Bindra would not be replaced from the corridors of the Sports Ministry for the next century. The minister said that the Olympic medalist had achieved the feat without much support from the government or anyone else. Maken said that the book should be an eye opener for people to excel in life.
Recalling his failure at the Athens Games in 2004, Bindra said that it had taught him that there was no guarantee in sport no matter how well you do everything right. He said that he learnt that one had to be perfect on an imperfect day. However, somebody had convinced him then that his time would come and it came four years later in 2008 at Beijing.
The Olympian said that the country too needed to make strides in the arena of sports. He said that in this respect China could be emulated as it won its first shooting gold in 1984, even though many would not agree to send their five-year-olds to far off training centres to become champions.

Speaking about the 2012 London Olympics, Bindra said that he was hopeful of clinching another medal. He stated that he would work very hard and give his best for a medal at the Olympics. The ace marksman had secured a place in the London Olympics after finishing a poor eighth in the 10m air rifle event of the Shooting World Cup in Munich in June this year.

Speaking on India’s prospects, the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awardee said that all shooters- Gagan Narang, Hariom Singh, Sanjeev Rajput, Ronjan Sodhi, Annuraj Singh, Rahi Sarnoba, Vijay Kumar - qualified for the Olympics were capable of winning medals and some of them had won laurels recently too.

Born on September 28, 1982 to Apjit and Babli Bindra at Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Abhinav Bindra, currently is the World and Olympic champion in the 10m Air Rifle event. The gurus to spot the talent in the young lad were Amit Bhattacharjee and Lt. Col. Dhillon. In the year 2000, he happened to be the youngest and scored 590 to be placed 11th in the qualification round. Currently training under five-time Olympic shooter Gabriele Bühlmann of Switzerland, Bindra hopes to win more honours.

It was a proudest moment for Bindra in 2010, when at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony he got the honour of leading the Indian contingent. He also took the athletes’ oath on behalf of the 6,700 participants from 71 countries and territories.

Bindra did his schooling at Doon School, Dehradun, and his graduation in Bachelors in Business Management from University of Colorado, US. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctorate in Masters of Business Management and Diploma in Sports Mental Management from Munich. However, on September 8, 2008, he was conferred Honorary Doctorate in Literature from SRM University, Chennai.

Box

Honour Scroll
·    2008 - Beijing Olympic Gold Medalist 700.5
·    2010 - Gold and Silver Medalist at Intershoot Netherlands
·    2007 - Gold Medalist Air Rifle Australian Cup, Sydney
·    2006 - World Champion Air Rifle World Championship Zagreb
·    2006 - Common Wealth Games, Melbourne – Gold, Silver, Bronze medalist
·    2005 - Asian Shooting Championship Bangkok - Gold Medalist
·    2005 - National Champion
·    2004 - Broke the Olympic Record of 96 Atlanta Olympics at Athens Olympics
·    2004 - Common Wealth Games Record Holder
·    2004 - Athens Olympics (Finalist)

Awards:

      • 2009 - Padma Bhushan
·    2009 - Rajiv Gandhi Award
·    2009 - Bharat Shiromani Award
·    2009 - India Youth Sports Icon
·     2001 - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
·     2000 - Arjuna Award

Are you right for the job?

The aim of selection process is to match individual skills, abilities and experience with the requirements of the job. When this matching fails, both employer and employee suffer in terms of performance and satisfaction. In order to find the right job fit, selection begins with assessing the demands and requirements of the job. In order to find a right job fit, we need a right job description. The process of creating a proper job description is by job analysis.  Job analysis involves developing detail description of the tasks involved in a job, determining the relationship of a given job to other jobs and ascertaining the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for an employee to successfully perform the job. Job analysis is important to keep the attention of employers in selection process.

 Most important parts of a selection process are resume, interviews, group discussions, tests and references. Let us try to understand more details about each process.

RESUME
Resume is the first step in the selection process. It provides pertinent information about the employee, which the company needs if the individual is hired. Information on the resume is concerned with the professional history and skills. It includes previous work history with employment dates, job responsibilities and duties, education and trainings and objective in seeking an employment. Well written resume is often a key to move into the second stage.
 INTERVIEWS
An interview is a conversation with a purpose. There are mainly three aims to be fulfilled i.e. obtaining information, giving information and motivation. Employment interview should provide an appraisal of personality by obtaining relevant information about the prospective employee’s background, his training, work history, education and interests. The interviewer should give information about the organization and job. Interview should be a friendly relationship between employer and employee. Sometimes types of interviews in selection process are:

Patterned Interview
This type of interview is well planned. It mostly measures the personality, motivation and interest that are required by an individual. The applicant suitability in regard to job competence and knowledge is evaluation through such means as school and work record, reference checks and tests.

Non- Directive Interview
Basic to the procedure is the minimum use of direct questions. Questions that can easily yield yes or no answer are avoided and instead general questions are substituted. It is felt that more an individual is allowed the freedom to talk about herself, without the limiting nature of direct questioning, the individual reveals her personality more as it really is and not as an individual thinks the interviewer wants it to appear.
Stress Interview
The stress interviewer in which the pressure is purposely put on the applicant may have some value for jobs where emotional balance is a key requirement. It involves putting the candidate under relatively severe emotional strain in order to test his responses. It is often characterized by the rapid firing of questions by several seemingly unfriendly interviewers.

GROUP DISCUSSIONS
The group discussion offers some promise for the appraisal of leadership and team work. Several job applicants are placed in a leaderless discussion and observers sit in the background to evaluate the performance of the applicants. The procedure has been to assign a topic for direction. In a group discussion, knowledge about the topic can also be assessed. Key point on which the observers focus is who assumes leadership, how conflicts are solved, how this is done and how members accept information. 

TESTS
Employers conduct selection tests mainly to determine an individual’s performance, accuracy and contribution to the work environment and job.  Tests are used to select those persons who are most likely to stay on the job.

Intelligence or mental ability test: They are used to measure ability to learn in an individual.

Clerical ability tests: They are used to measure aptitude to do simple work. They measure speed and accuracy with which an individual can perceive differences, sometimes verbal comprehension and mathematical ability and reasoning.

Mechanical ability tests: They measure ability to trouble shoot, spatial relation and assembly.

Personality tests: They are used to measure the non intellectual traits, most important for success or failure at work.

Interest tests: They are used to measure individual’s interests in terms of similarities with those people who are successful in their professions.

Achievement tests: They are used to measure specific performance related with the job.

REFERENCES
Many times applicants are required to produce documentary evidence that an individual’s performance is satisfactory in past positions. Such evidence is usually provided in the form of letters of recommendations or a letter of reference. These letters vary greatly in detail and information from writer to writer and such letters and statements are highly personalized, covering the characters and morals of the individual as well abilities and skills. And sometimes these letters are very limited in scope and only cover very few details and cover only dates of employment.

Psychological effects of Violent Media on Students

License to kill…..
Long long time ago, when the media didn’t invade our living rooms, people had to buy tickets to go and watch a movie. Usually parents would decide what was good for their kids and manage to see the movie without them, if need be.  And then in black and white, you can’t get very sacred of blood, right?

But now media is everywhere..you go for dinner, there’s TV playing there (even if it is on mute), you go to hotel to stay, the first thing the bell boy does is to switch on the TV in the room. Even hospital rooms and waiting halls are not spared of TV.
And what are the programs dished out on these TV channels?  Serials, news, movies, reality shows. And all of them nowadays have a generous dose of violence. Sometimes it is gory with weapons and blood, sometimes it is emotional with tears and taunts. But violence is there to stay.
And speak about movies. Have you come across a poster which did not show blood? Have you seen the newer and newer ways in which torture and killing are done? Now it’s no longer the simple trigger pulling! It’s all about big bad guys wielding primitive weapons and on a killing spree. Sometimes it is the hero who is doing it for cause and other times it is the villain. But the viewer gets caught  either way!
How does it impact the viewers? Do people forget after watching and get on with their lives? Or does the violence linger in the mind? Let’s find out.
Damage done to children’s minds
Durga Prasad, the father of a 6 year old daughter who lives in Singapore says, “ My daughter developed lot of fears due to violence in movies. She gets nightmares. She gets so scared, she gets up crying. She is afraid of adult males in places like metro stations and she asks us to take only taxis. Now we are avoiding all our movies.”
The damage done to this kid’s psyche cannot be undone very easily. Think of what kind of a life it is not to trust the goodness in humanity. How will she lead her adult life without using public transport? I am sure she will not express her fears and may be even learn to deal with them, but the subconscious mind will always be in a fearful mode.  She will have to unlearn mistrust and learn to trust others.
Ratna, a lady with teenaged kids reacts, “The repeated telecast of gory/violent/tragic incidents like acid attacks, road/train/air accidents, burglary (and the list goes on..) is very disturbing. Actually, the unending repeated telecasts of each and every news item puts me off. It seems so redundant and repetitive.
 Almost all the daily soaps in Telugu..There was a case pending  in SHRC about a serial too for violation of child rights. Almost all reality shows in Telugu, I hardly watch any of them.
And coming to movies, almost all recent releases always have posters where the hero wields a special weapon and there’s blood all over. And the movies have lot of meaningless violence.”
Sunanda, another parent with two school going children has taken precautions – they don’t have TV at home. They watch DVDs of some cartoons or healthy movies once in a way.
Neelu, the mother of a five year old says,” we watch mostly cartoons for her. She can handle the violence in them.  She thinks they are like fights among friends.But once we saw a murder movie and she was really scared. Since then she always asks us before a movie, ‘yeh bachhonwali hai?’”
But how many parents are so responsible? Do they have to sacrifice their entertainment? Don’t they deserve some TV or movie time after a day’s work?

Youth and violence
Deepa, a movie reviewer in her twenties says, “I hate violence in movies. But I watch it. It’s part of my job. But I can never become insensitive.”
Sailaja, a class IX student from Canada believes that there is a small possibility that youth can become violent because of the media they see. They may not realize it.
Sometimes I wonder if real life is learning from movies or reel life is showing the violence from the society. The news channels show crimes worse than those in the movies. So are they learning from movies? I personally feel movie is a very powerful medium and it needs to take itself seriously.

Violence in video games
Sailaja says, “I’ve seen the video games guys play. They’re so violent and guys are addicted, a couple friends of mine were on those games for 8 hours straight last night. I think with so much violence everywhere, people are becoming insensitive”
Gone are the days when video games were about eating carrots, digging a treasure, breaking a wall or winning a princess. Now there are games where the player is a suicide bomber! New weapons, strategies, how many people you can kill and the like are what thrills video gamers.

Fake vs real violence
Sailaja herself doesn’t mind the violence in movies and soaps, as she knows it is fake. But she just can’t stand violence shown in news channels. “It’s real, and makes me sad. I feel the world is getting destroyed.”
At times, the mindless live telecast of violent attacks has even sabotaged the rescue operations as seen in the Taj terrorist attack in Mumbai. 
Rahimuddin, a senior citizen says, “ The real crime stories make us feel there is no one to trust. They show how relatives or servants collude to kill old people for property or money. These episodes are enacted and shown. It is very scary. I can’t sleep peacefully. I am afraid to keep servants”

The good side of showing violence in news channels
Another youngster Adil feels this real violence has a useful angle to it, “ Showing atrocities on some castes or sections of society also helps us to realize that these evils need to be eradicated from society. I think it is good that such items are getting national attention and people like me want to do something about it”
A senior citizen Rukmini feels,” when they show real crimes on some shows, we can prepare ourselves to prevent such crimes”.

Media responsibility
Several times gory pictures of earthquakes, terrorist attacks, accidents and murders are flashed on news channels or in newspapers and magazines. There is a small statutory warning somewhere which says  that the pictures may be disturbing and should not be shown to children.
Similarly, many of the reality shows have a brief warning about viewers not attempting the stunts shown in the episode.
But these are like the ‘smoking is injurious to health’ type of warnings. Does it really prevent anyone from becoming a smoker?
Media must be more responsible in reporting. In the mad rush for improving TRP ratings, all semblance of ethics and morals are gone. Even laws are not helping. No one cares as they are never enforced.
Is the world really going to dogs? Is doomsday not very far?
Seeing the violence in media, one feels very dejected. Isn’t there no good in the society? Is the world coming to an end? NO. That’s not true.
I believe that media only wants to highlight what is sensational, what is out of ordinary and what is rare. That’s what determines the ratings. Imagine if media showed the sunrise and sunset every day, people wouldn’t care. But the ‘rare’ eclipse will bring lot of eye balls. Astronomically, both events are equally profound.
If media were to cover all the good things in the world, a 20 page newspaper wouldn’t be enough. Nor would a 24 hr news channel. Its only because ‘violence’ is rare it is showcased. And that it has to be shown repeatedly for two to three days.
Few years back when started doing some social work, I was surprised that there are many organizations and many people working for the good of some section of the society or the other. You name the cause and you find hundreds of efforts – education, gild child, environment, old people, destitutes, street children, disabled, peace. The list can go on. None of these efforts get media attention. Even if they do, it is a very small item in a news channel or a small paragraph in a remote corner of page 8 of a newspaper. You need to have specially designated days to remember them – like world disabled day. You don’t have such days for bad, right? Every day is a robber’s day, a terrorist’s day, a murderer’s day..think about it.
What can you do?
So youngsters, there is hope in this world. Take the violence with a pinch of salt! It has always been there in the society. It’s only getting showcased now as never before. But focus on the good. And you will notice that the good keeps growing. This is the power of collective consciousness. If most of the humanity can think good thoughts, the energy levels and frequencies of the society will change and more good will come. If we focus on the bad, THAT will increase. We attract what we think. So when you see a real news item reporting violence, you will do a greater service by sending out your love to the victims rather than hatred for the perpetrators. Not to say they should be left scot free. It’s YOUR focus we are talking about. In any case, law will take action and they will be punished.
Uma Garimella is an expert on teaching learning process and regularly conducts workshops for teachers and students through the organization she founded: Teacher’s Academy. She is a consultant at Centre for Education Technology and Learning Sciences, IIIT-H and Honorary Director, Centre for Faculty Development and Management, NMREC, Hyderabad. www.TheProfessor.in

King Khan

Live life king size goes the old adage and that holds true for Bollywood King Khan, Shahrukh Khan, who turns 46 on November 2 this year. Metros and cities across the country and world are agog with King Khan’s latest venture Ra. One. Reports in the media state that the movie is a super duper success and has already raked in 176 cr moolah and set to earn more laurels despite the negative sentiments.

Speaking about the success of his latest release, Ra. One, Khan said that he made the film after his kids said that he did not make anything for them. For this reason, he decided to something different and science fiction took off. The actor said that he hadn’t forgotten his early days when his films failed to ring the cash registers. He said that to highlight the film, he entered into a deal with UTV Indiagames to launch Ra. One game across social networks and gaming platforms.

All credit for the social avatar of his character - G.One surely must solely go to Shahrukh only. Agreeing that it was no longer the days of posters and trailers, Shahrukh added films needed to be promoted more aggressively and hence the game for Ra. One.

The actor revealing the story plot said that the movie is about a father-son with lot of special effects, action tale about a video game designer who finds the real and virtual worlds melting. He said that the title ‘Ra. One’ is short for Random Access 1.0 and also a pun on 10-headed Lanka King Ravan.

Describing the Bollywood Badshah, Ra. One director Anubhav Sinha said that the actor had this ability to be the perfect combination of who he was and what the public wanted him to be. He said that the actor was very spontaneous. Recalling an incident, Sinha said that during the production of ‘Ra.One’, he had asked the actor to record a birthday video for his son, to see when he would be away, instead the actor sang and danced for him holding everyone’s attention.

Unmoved by all the praises heaped on him, a grounded Shahrukh says that he has faced a lot of failures. He said that people had written him off after his film ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’ produced under his banner tanked at the box office. Not to forget the internet company that also bombed.

Khan states that he doesn’t take any advance from any one, but believes that people who work with him will not suffer as he is good. With over 70 films behind him, actor, producer and television presenter Shahrukh made his Bollywood debut in Deewana in 1992. Since then slowly and steadily, King Khan has been climbing each ladder successfully. His films that have driven people crazy are Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Chak De! India (2007), Om Shanti Om (2007) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008). However, even till date films like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004), Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) and My Name Is Khan (2010) have been earning revenue in the overseas markets.

With 14 Filmfare Awards under his belt, Shahrukh has received eight of these in the Best Actor category, which is a record for any actor. For his contributions towards Indian cinema, the Union Government honoured Shahrukh with the Padma Shri in 2005.

The actor became popular on the small screen for his role as Commando Abhimanyu Rai in Fauji and as the son of a circus owner in Aziz Mirza’s Circus. The actor has been compared to the veteran thespian Dilip Kumar for his acting style. Khan etched his name in the hearts of the people for his portrayal in Darr and Baazigar.

Khan has worked with every top director be it Yash Chopra, Mani Ratnam, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Karan Johar or Sanjay Leela Bhansali to give one hit after another. In the same breath, he has worked with Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai but has been paired with Kajol in six films, which have been runaway hits.
    
Coming from the heart of Delhi, Shahrukh has earned a place in the dil of every filmgoer. He has a hand in everything beginning from films, TV shows, advertisements, owning teams in Indian Premier League and F1 racing. Starting his career as a negative hero, Shahrukh soon reversed roles to that of a hero to say “Main Hoon Na” when people looked around for saleable heroes.   

Shahrukh has won the hearts of his fans by his charismatic image and witty humour. An Oscar would have been Shahrukh’s, only if he had said a big yes to director Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. The actor had refused to don the mantle of a host show in the movie which later went to Anil Kapoor. The Badshah said that ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was a very nice movie, however, it was not an Indian movie.

Many Bollywood actors have wax statues in Madame Tussauds, but King Khan has two- one here and the other in France. Just like his films, his stage shows too are also very popular. Like the Bollywood Shahenshah, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh has also hosted the very popular television show, ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’.

Born to Taj Mohammed Khan and Lateef Fatima on November 2, 1965 Shahrukh did his schooling at St Columbas in Delhi, graduation in economic honours from Hansraj College and Masters Degree in Mass Communications at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Married to Gauri Chibber, Shahrukh is blessed with a daughter and son. Come Christmas and Shahrukh’s ‘Don 2: The Chase Continues’ will hit the screens. We at TCG wish Shahrukh Good Luck.