A Letter from a Father..

 Twenty-six years before, two beautiful angels were born in our house. They filled our house with all the colors of joy and happiness. We named them, Aadya and Aarav.

Me and my wife got busy in raising our angels and in our new life. Time started flying soon and we celebrated the first birthday of Aadya and Aarav. Then we sent them school for the first time.

 

They made us a proud parent with their outstanding performance at school. Especially my Aadya was too talented and her brother always support her in her all achievements.

She finished her primary school, then high school and in the appearing year only Aadya and Aarav both got admission in IIT Delhi. It was the partying moment for parent like us.

After four years of the hard work, Aadya was placed in Intel and Aarav got the opportunity to work with Yahoo India.

Me and my wife celebrated the moment of achievement and success of our children. Moreover, one moment that is more special was awaited next.

Yeah, the wedding bell was to be ring.

As soon the news got spread to our relatives and friends that Aadya and Aarav coming home after completing their studies, many proposals started coming for the wedding.

But there was something that broke me, I was shocked and disappointed too. I gave my both children equal love, care and opportunity everything they needed. And they both gave me the same love and care, respect and made me proud.

But the proposals we got for my son’s wedding, family wanted to buy my son with lakhs of rupees for their daughter. And the wedding proposals for my daughter came with the offer of buy their son with lakhs of rupees for my daughter.

I asked, "WHY"? Why is it like this? Why should I follow such evil practice in the name of tradition and culture when I am not following all the traditions in the same way it was there? Why only these things should be followed?

For my daughter people are bringing the alliance who are earning either little bit less or equal to her, even then why should I pay for her wedding? Only the reason is that she is a girl?

Moreover, for my son, why should I take money to get him married? Does dowry promise happy wedding life?

Marriage is not only of a girl, it is for a guy too, then why should a girl family have to bear the expense and if the guy family cannot afford, is their really need of Big Fat Wedding for a happy life ahead? Can anyone promise me this?

If I will get the logical answers for my all questions, then I will accept the dowry and will happily give for my children’s wedding.

But if not, I am sure  I will get an eligible groom for my daughter for a dowry free wedding and will like my son to marry an educated  girl from a middle class family who has spend the money on the education of their daughter instead of saving it for her wedding and dowry. My family do not want to show-off for 3-4 days but we want a happy life ahead.

Mine was a wedding with No dowry and so will be my children’s.

I know this will be like a drop in ocean that cannot change the society. However, I cannot keep crying in the name of society and tradition and this cannot stop to take stand in my life. I got chance two times and feel proud that I took stand in my life.

Let the society people think whatever they want to say, let them say whatever they want to say, I do not care.
I am not like other orthodox who like to debate on tables but do not dare to implement even in their life.

If we cannot afford Skoda, it does not mean we take loan to get one, neglecting other important things in life. If I can afford Hyundai or Ford, I will buy that and will enjoy my life with my family.

Show-off for a day is never long lasting, understand the fact. This will neither help the life of children. Moreover, the so-called society will talk for time being, until you support them with your silence and showing that you did a mistake.

My wife and both children support me for this and for the simple wedding.

Finally, my daughter got an eligible groom for her who is marrying her and my son is marrying a girl, as he wanted one to be his life partner.
Very soon my both children getting married and I can proudly say, there is not even a single paisa dowry is involved in both the wedding. And no big fat wedding too.

People who want to give blessing to the new couple are most welcomed. And who want to use it as gossips and to complaint for not giving a big feast for the wedding, they will never stop complaining, no matter what the case is.

Life is yours

Choice is yours

Decision is yours

‘Stop complaining about a crime if you too are involved in such a big one’

TAKING and GIVING the Dowry is a Crime and an Offensive Act

From

A proud Father

to all the fathers and future fathers

Achha Idea- Idea Cellular ad Rakshabandhan

Last day I turned on the TV after a long time. While switching, I stopped on one TV channel showing one commercial ad.

A young girl, wearing kurta, earrings and bangles, on a bike stops near a police officer to ask for direction. Policeman addresses her as behenji (sister ) and guides her.

[After seeing the scene I thought girl got angry listening, the word ‘Behanji’ (sister) as sometime this word is used to tease the girl in traditional Indian dress.]

On hearing ‘sister’, she checks his wrist to see that he isn’t wearing a ‘rakhi’ and asks him why. He replies that he has been on duty since morning. She takes a rakhi, ties it on his wrist and wishes him ‘Happy Raksha Bandhan.’

[Cool..]

Police officer gets emotional and check, whether he has anything to gift her and find nothing. Then he insists that she take his number and call him if she ever has a problem.

A voice over signs off saying, “Public aur police ka beech bandhan - ek accha Idea” (A bond between public and the police is a good idea).

Wow, really  nice idea. But do it really happens in India? Do our Policeman so helpful and caring that girls get feeling of respect towards them?

The image of Indian police is never of someone we should approach when we need help. Generally, people are scared of them, girls always try to avoid to deal with the police person.

More than the street eve teaser, some time police people creates problem for the girls out of their home. Then how can she expect for a help from them.

However, the idea cellular latest Rakshabandhan ad is reminding the relation between public and police.
A try to change the perception as well.
Whatever, we wish this to be a reality as well..11

Travel Diary by Akriti [Intro Part..]

Life is not to regret

Life is not to look back

Life is not to only see it and enjoy

Life is to dream your dreams

Life is to live your dreams

Life is to travel

It is, let’s try-discover-adventure...

It is the answer of “whom do I love most?”

It’s me dude... “my life”- I love the most.

Hello to everyone reading this,

This is Akriti, a girl, one among you.

Reading the above lines, you must be thinking, a girl who sleeps on a rose bed in a golden palace had written it.

However, it was never like, that I was born with a silver spoon...or the journey of my life was a rose bed.

From past more than twenty years, I am experiencing a morning after every dark night. Some time it is a pleasant morning, sometime most beautiful, sometime a normal one, a desert morning or a snowy morning or a beach morning, sometime very exciting...but yeah sure..Morning is there.

So, I had developed a “let it go”- wala attitude, be happy and jolly.

Once I read a title of a book ‘ I am not 24...I am 19 from last five years.’ Cool man !!

 Even I am 23 from last 4 years.

Don’t kill your inner call.

 

Listen to your heart..call of the person inside you.

Who wanna enjoy the colours of life..wanna travel across the boundaries to see the amazing creation of the nature.

Who wanna dance on the remixed tunes..Laugh aloud with the friends..love to do all the crazy things.

And with all these..it calls you to fulfil your crazy dreams.

Focus on your dream..what happen if no one is there to give you a company, start your own journey all alone.

Let others say what they wanna say. Dude, what your earphone is for ??

I want to see the different places, different parts of the world.

Love being at home all the time..Me??  No baby. It’s not me at all.

I started my journey few years back, and don’t wanna stop before I die (Not a continuous trip at all). and wish to get a life partner who love travelling like me and wanna go on the new journeys with him ;)

Forget it “had never done before...it never happened this way before”. Dude, at some point of time u were born for the first time in this world, and you won’t get this life twice to live.

Stop thinking much and put your rugged jeans on, pack your bag with your dreams and self-confidence, with “let’s do it attitude”, and go out.

Life is there beyond the horizon.
Feel how beautiful it is!

...to be continued....

With lots of love

Akriti [A call inside you]

The Education and Employment Gap

RAMAN

MBA-Marketing & IB from one of the Top B-School of Pune

DESIRED PROFILE-  Brand and Promotional Marketing

PROFILE BEING OFFERED- Business Development Executive  or Sales executive(sales person in easy term)

VENKATESH MURTHY

B.Tech|Computer Science|abc Engineering college[top engineering B’School]

DESIRED PROFILE -job in Top IT company| 6-7 lakhs per annum

CURRENTLY WORKING - Customer support officer|IT BPO|2-3 lakhs

EKAANSH KUMAR

MBA|Marketing-Finance|abc Business School [top private B’School] Annual fee-3.5+ lakhs

DESIRED PROFILE - Management level job|MNC company| 6-7 lakhs per annum

CURRENTLY WORKING-Business Development Executive|xyz Pvt Ltd.|1-2 lakhs + incentives

DEEPALI
MBA| Finance|abc Business School [top private B’School]|Annual fee-3+ lakhs

DESIRED PROFILE - Management level job|MNC company| 6-7 lakhs per annum

CURRENTLY WORKING -Relationship Manager-getting clients| International Bank|1-2 lakhs + incentives

These are the stories of so many other Raman and Deepali in India whose parents spend lakhs of rupees on their studies and these student give their years to study with the expectation to get a good job ( as comes in the media every year during placement season) and support their parents , after all their so much of investment.

However, their dream shatters as soon as they step out in real corporate world.

The scenario of education and employment today.

·         It is not that there are not enough jobs available.

·         Neither the story is that demand of professionals is more than the supply per year from the institutions.

·         Nor it is the other way that no one is getting high salary white-collar job.

“24/7 Customer Pvt. Ltd. wants to hire 3,000 people this year.

Tata Group, expects to hire 65,000 people this year”

But  About 80 per cent of people only want 20 per cent of jobs in MNC’s, which they see as their ticket to a better life, only white collar jobs are attracting youth whose aspirations distort reality.

“Companies prefer the experienced candidates and no one want to give a fresher to learn and get experience for the desired profile.”

Not every job meets everyone’s need nor does every candidate meet the needs of every job.

Every year about millions of students getting graduated in engineering, accounts, management etc, but as a fresher only about 20% get the job they expected, the salary they expected. 

And rest are still in search of the job profile and the salary so that they can take care of their and their families expenses on their own, so that they can repay the loan they had taken for their education...

Prashant | 24 | son of farmers from a village from outside Karnataka. 

He had just finished his MBA—in Finance—from one of Bangalore's top colleges.

His father borrowed Rupees 4,00,000 for his  studies.

Now, almost a year after graduating, Prashant is still looking for an entry-level finance job.

Why is the scenario like this even when the jobs are available in numbers and at the same time, the number of qualified people required for the particular jobs are so high?

The Only answer is The Education and Employment gap

The academic institutions [ supply end]

No doubt, India has immense human resource power.

And there are around thousands of  universities and institutions providing graduation and post graduation education to thousands of students.

The Industrial sector [ demand end]

Even the media is flooded with the news which industry  or sector is providing n numbers of job with the unexpected high salaries.
Top MNCs hiring candidates for top level management or operational level at high packages.

However, this is not the 100% scenario, they are showing the small as the big picture.

This is true that the job opportunity has increased in numbers in last few decades due to Foreign companies entering Indian market, booming of service sector and IT sectors.

But,Not all graduates get suitably employed.

All the jobs available are not for the freshers, but the companies want the candidate with the experience .

In a survey, conducted annually by Pratham (a nongovernmental organization):

75% of technical graduates and more than 85% of general graduates are unemployable by India's high-growth global industries, including information technology and call centres.

We don’t have a jobs crisis, we have a skills crisis.

There is not the case of high supply and low demand. Here, the demand is high and the supply is also high, but the quality is too low.

• The main reason for the entry-level jobs is the lack of skills
• According to the employers, the students coming out from the colleges after their engineering and management studies are not prepared to join the workforce.

In the real business or corporate world, the theoretical knowledge gained by the students in order to get the highest marks is not that much required as much of practical knowledge of the business.

Moreover, the syllabus, which students are studying, is out-dated and disconnected from the real world.

Only few professors understand this and teach the students what is hot in the market.

Companies struggle to get their demand fulfilled by quality talent

One survey says that only 3 out of 100 applicants can be considered to be hired.

The aspirations of the students are getting too high that they are not ready to take the low-level jobs available for the fresher.

In this tough competitive era, few students are able to qualify the IITs and NITs, other who want to study engineering, are getting attracted towards private engineering colleges paying so high fees. Fees in such universities and institutions are on an average 4-6 times more than government universities and institutions.

The same case is with the management students who are running towards private B-Schools paying much higher fees.

POSSIBLE REASONS BEHIND THIS:

• Everyone wants to enter MNCs because of its charm, dignity, high income and “white-collar” status.
•  Every year all media is covered with the MBA and Engineering students being placed with package of crore per annum.
•  Which they see as their ticket to a better life." In short, only white-collar jobs are attracting youth whose aspirations distort reality.
• Such colleges creating hype and doing promotions in such way that a student just by taking up admission there will get a high salary package job in top MNCs.

The main motive of any private institution is to make good business and increase their business every year. They are not there to do any social service.

With the increase demands for colleges, with all the facilities and glamour, providing high profile life style, they try their best to attract the students who are not able to get the admission through any reputed Government colleges or who want to live a lavish life during and after their studies. 

They are giving the admission to the students without creating a quality benchmark, but on the benchmark of the money available in the account of the students’ parent’s. 

Before taking the admissions for their dream course, they have weaved the dream of the top level “white collar” job with high salary and that too getting by placement.

Such colleges also help a lot to see such dream and claims that they are going to get them make their dreams in true.
It is so easy for them to promise, but reality is not so easy.

They focus on the numbers of seats filled, the positive feedback in terms of the life in college. But the most important thing is even u have taken the students in the college in the name of “giving opportunities to all”, make them employable so that they don’t have to suffer later.

 ___
Refrence: 

 http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/companies-work-towards-skills-gap-in-india/1/193097.html 

 http://www.onefoundation.in/q.php?page=Papers&p=d&id=1