DATE: 02/12/2008 20:12:42 / MOOD: in love




1. Get up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful.

2. Prepare for the morning the evening before. Set the breakfast table. Make lunches. Put out the clothes you plan to wear, etc.

3. Don't rely on your memory. Write down appointment times, when to pick up the laundry, when library books are due, etc. ("The palest ink is better than the most retentive memory."- Old Chinese Proverb)

4. Do nothing you have to lie about later.

5. Make copies of all keys. Bury a house key in a secret spot in the garden. Carry a duplicate car key in your wallet, apart from your key ring.

6. Practice preventive maintenance. Your car, appliances, home and relationships will be less likely to break down "at the worst possible moment."

7. Be prepared to wait. A paperback book can make a wait in a post office line almost pleasant.

8. Procrastination is stressful. Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do today; whatever you want to do today, do it now.

9. Plan ahead. Don't let the gas tank get below onequarter full, keep a well- stocked "emergency shelf'' of home staples, don't wait until you're down to your last bus token or postage stamp to buy more, etc.

10. Don't put up with something that doesn't work right. If your alarm clock wallet, shoe laces, windshield wipers-whatever- are a constant aggravation, get them fixed or get new ones.

11. Allow 15 minutes of extra time to get to appointments. Plan to arrive at an airport one hour before domestic departures.

12. Eliminate (or restrict) the amount of caffeine in your diet.

13. Always set up contingency plans, "just in case." ("If for some reason either of us is delayed, here's what we'll do..." Or, "If we get split up in the shopping center, here's where we'll meet.")

14. Relax your standards. The world will not end if the grass doesn't get mowed this weekend.

15. Pollyanna-Power! For every one thing that goes wrong, there are probably 10 or 50 or 100 blessings. Count 'em!

16. Ask questions. Taking a few moments to repeat back the directions that someone expects of you, etc., can save hours. (The old "the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get" idea.)

17. Say "No!" Saying no to extra projects, social activities and invitations you know you don't have the time or energy for takes practice, self-respect and a belief that everyone, everyday, needs quiet time to relax and to be alone.

18. Unplug your phone. Want to take a long bath, meditate, sleep or read without interruption? Drum up the courage to temporarily disconnect.

(The possibility of there being a terrible emergency in the next hour or so is almost nil.)

19. Turn "needs" into preferences. Our basic physical needs translate into food, water, and keeping warm. Everything else is a preference. Don't get attached to preferences.

20. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

21. Make friends with nonworriers. Chronic worrywarts are contagious.

22. Take many stretch breaks when you sit a lot.

 
23. If you can't find quiet at home, wear earplugs.

24. Get enough sleep. Set your alarm for bedtime.

25. Organize! A place for everything and everything in its place. Losing things is stressful.

26. Monitor your body for stress signs. If your stomach muscles are knotted and your breathing is shallow, relax your muscles and take some deep, slow breaths.

27. Write your thoughts and feelings down on paper. It can help you clarify and give you a renewed perspective.

28. Do this yoga exercise when you need to relax: Inhale through your nose to the count of eight. Pucker your lips and exhale slowly to the count of 16. Concentrate on the long sighing sound and feel the tension dissolve. Repeat 10 times.

29. Visualize success before any experience you fear. Take time to go over every part of the event in your mind. Imagine how great you will look, and how well you will present yourself.

30. If the stress of deadlines gets in the way of doing a job, use diversion. Take your mind off the task and you will focus better when you're on task.

31. Talk out your problems with a friend. It helps to relieve confusion.

32. Avoid people and places that don't fit your personal needs and desires. If you hate politics, don't spend time with politically excited people.

33. Learn to live one day at a time.

34. Everyday, do something you really enjoy.

35. Add an ounce of love to everything you do.

36. Take a bath or shower to relieve tension.

37. Do a favor for someone every day.

38. Focus on understanding rather than on being under stood, on loving rather than on being loved.

39. Looking good makes you feel better.

40. Take more time between tasks to relax. Schedule a realistic day.

41. Be flexible. Some things are not worth perfection.

42. Stop negative self-talk: "I'm too fat, too old, etc..."

43. Change pace on weekends. If your week was slow, be active. If you felt nothing was accomplished during the week, do a weekend project.

44. "Worry about the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves." Pay attention to the details in front of you.

45. Do one thing at a time. When you are working on one thing, don't think about everything else you have to do.

46. Allow time every day for privacy, quiet and thinking.

47. Do unpleasant tasks early and enjoy the rest of the day.

48. Delegate responsibility to capable people.

49. Take lunch breaks. Get away from your work in body and in mind.

50. Count to 1,000, not 10, before you say something that could make matters worse.

51. Forgive people and events. Accept that we live in an imperfect world.

52. Have an optimistic view of the world. Most people do the best they can.

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DATE: 02/12/2008 20:02:26 / MOOD: in love

Are you on the looking out for ways to make your life carefree? Use these 7 steps to attain personal change. And when you do, you'll find that the old comfort zone has now expanded and what once looked like a danger zone has now become a place you feel safe with.

 

1. Learn to Change Yourself

When we find ourselves in an unsatisfactory position due to circumstances beyond our control, such as a job we no longer enjoy or people we no longer like, most of us try to change the situation. We complain, moan, criticize, judge, and condemn. There is only one way to change a disappointing situation. And that is to change ourselves.

 

2. Set Changes

When we stay well established in old positions, even if they are no longer relevant, there is no possibility of a change or improvement. That's when it is time to take a risk.

 

3. Begin like a New Start

When we start a new adventure or a new enterprise, there is a buzz around it. We've all felt it. It's like the first day at a new school or a new job. Sadly, we soon lose that feeling under everyday routines and habits. In taking personal risks, we can re-discover it. As Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds said, "When you're green you grow; when you're ripe, you rot."

 

4. Re-Invent Yourself

Real personal change happen when we do more than just learn a few new skills and habits. Learn to cast yourself off from one identity to another. Tom Peters goes so far as to say that the imagination and zeal to regularly re-create yourself is the definition of greatness. And it doesn't have to be something you do just a few times in a lifetime; it can be something you do every day.

 

5. Manage Your Own Self-Esteem

Taking risks is fraught with difficulties and dangers but we can keep going if we learn how to manage our own morale. The keys to morale management are working on your belief that things will turn out positively in the end and creating a support system to help you through tough times. This can be your own support group, the inspiration of people who've been there and done that, and keeping the whole process light.

 

6. Step Back

When we take risks, it is valuable to be able to distance ourselves from what we are involved in and take an objective position. Here we can see what is going on without being in the fray. When we do that, we can accept criticism dispassionately and not personally. It's also the place we can go to take a breather and chill out.

 

7. Be Prepared To Fail Before You Succeed

All risk carries with it the possibility of failure. Fear of failure is one of the chief reasons we hesitate to take risks in the first place. But we can overcome the fear of failure by making friends with it. As William Faulkner says, there is far more to learn from failure than from success.

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DATE: 02/11/2008 20:14:45 / MOOD: in love

No rise or fall of a star has been as been quite as dramatic or spectacular as that of Rajesh Khanna. From 1969 to 1972, the Rajesh Khanna phenomenon swept Bollywood off its feet and the hysteria he generated was unlike anything seen before and after. As hit followed hit and women all over the country swooned over him, Rajesh Khanna admitted feeling 'next to God.' In fact, Rajesh Khanna could perhaps be called Hindi Cinema's first superstar. And yet in one of life's greatest ironies just 5 years later by 1977, his career was in shambles as film after film began failing at the box office. As he fell to the 'angry young man' onslaught of  Amitabh Bachan and found himself totally rejected by filmgoers it is said he went to his terrace in heavy rain asking God not to test his patience...

Born Jatin Khanna, he was the adopted son of his parents. After a stint in theatre, he was selected by the United Producers' Talent Contest. He made his film debut in Chetan Anand's Aakhri Khat (1966). His earlier films however did nothing for him till Aradhana (1969) came along.

Released in November 1969, Aradhana made Rajesh Khanna a star. In the double role of a father and son, both air force pilots, Khanna cut a most dashing figure in uniform. His mannerisms - the crinkling of his eyes and shake of the head asking the heroine to come to him found instant favour with the audience and aided by such S.D. Burman ditties as Mere Sapnon ki Rani, Kora Kaagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera, Roop Tera Mastana, Gun Guna Rahe Hain Bhawarein and Baaghon Mein Bahar Hai, Aradhana was a golden jubilee hit. Barely a short while later in December the same year,  Raj Khosla's  Do Raaste opened to full houses and also went on to be a golden jubilee hit. What's more in Bombay, the two films had their main theatres right across the road from one another, Aradhana at Opera House and Do Raaste at Roxy!

Thereafter till 1972, it looked like Rajesh Khanna could do no wrong. Film after film swept the box-office. But there was more to him than just his mannerisms as he built the image of a vulnerable, gentle romantic. In films like Khamoshi (1969), Safar (1970) and Anand (1970), he came up with sensitive performances straight from the heart. Anand saw perhaps his greatest ever performance as a man stricken with cancer but wanting to live life to the fullest before he dies. In Anand, Rajesh Khanna more than justified Frank Capra's immortal observation,

"Tragedy is not when actors cry. Tragedy is when audiences cry."

Indeed at the end of Anand as Amitabh sits by Khanna's dead body and as the tape recorder plays Khanna's voice, you cannot help but cry along with Amitabh.

As Khanna went from strength to strength, even a guest appearance in Andaaz (1971) generated more hysteria than the hero of the film  Shammi Kapoor. In fact symbolically this represented the end of the Shammi Kapoor era and the peak of the Rajesh Khanna era. Though Khanna worked with top heroines of the day like Waheeda Rehman, Nanda, Mala Sinha, Tanuja and Hema Malini, his most popular pairings were with Sharmila Tagore and Mumtaz. The BBC made a film on him, Bombay Superstar, and a textbook prescribed by the Bombay University contained an essay, 'The Charisma of Rajesh Khanna!'

Rajesh Khanna formed a brilliant combination with director Shakti Samanta, Music Director RD Burman and 'his voice', singer Kishore Kumar resulting in such films like Kati Patang (1970) and Amar Prem (1971). With  Hrishiesh Mukherjee, he gave fine performances in Bawarchi (1972) and Namak Haram (1973) ably carrying both films on his shoulders. The same year (1973) also saw him score with a strong performance in Aavishkaar, Basu Bhattacharya's realistic study of a marriage gone sour.

By this time however, Rajesh Khanna's films had started flopping but he failed to see the writing on the wall as the success of films like Daag (1973), Namak Haram, Aap ki Kasam (1974), Prem Nagar (1974) and Roti (1974) still kept him afloat. Also Amitabh Bachchan had stormed the Industry with his intense 'angry young man' performance in Zanjeer (1973). With his tall and lean looks, Amitabh became emblematic of the new kind of action hero. Every hero fell to the Amitabh onslaught and Rajesh Khanna was no exception. He tried to stay in the news however with a sensational marriage to the 'Bobby Girl', Dimple Kapadia who at 16 was 15 years younger than him!

With Amitabh's success, different kind of movies began to be made with a stronger accent on action. Rajesh Khanna's romantic mannerisms now appeared jaded and out of synchronization with the times. Even films with old regulars Shakti Samanta (Ajnabi (1974), Mehbooba (1976), Anurodh (1977)) and Hrishida (Naukri (1978)) came unstuck at the box-office. What's more both Shakti Samanta and Hrishida went on do a series of films with the new superstar, Amitabh Bachchan! And to top it all, even his marriage to Dimple was on the rocks and subsequently she left him and resumed her acting career with much success.

Though Amardeep (1979) and Thodisi Bewafayi (1980) brought Rajesh Khanna some reprieve, it was the triple success of Agar Tum Na Hote (1983), Avtaar (1983) and Souten (1983) that proved to be the last strong flickers in a dying flame. Avtaar particularly saw a good performance from him in the role of a self-respecting garage mechanic.

In the 1990s with his film career all but over, Rajesh Khanna entered politics and even served a stint as Member of Parliament with the Congress - I Party. He made an undistinguished comeback of sorts in Rishi Kapoor's Aa Ab Laut Chalein (1999) and is now all set to make his debut on Television with the serial Batwara.

 

Memorable Films

Aakhri Khat

(1966)

Baharon ke Sapne

(1967)

Raaz

(1967)

Aradhana

(1969)

Bandhan

(1969)

Doli

(1969)

Do Raaste

(1969)

Ittefaq

(1969)

Khamoshi

(1969)

Aan Milo Sajna

(1970)

Anand

(1970)

Kati Patang

(1970)

Sacha Jhutha

(1970)

Safar

(1970)

The Train

(1970)

Amar Prem

(1971)

Andaaz

(1971)

Haathi Mere Saathi

(1971)

Maryada

(1971)

Apna Desh

(1972)

Bawarchi

(1972)

Aavishkaar

(1973)

Daag

(1973)

Namak Haram

(1973)

Aap ki Kasam

(1974)

Ajnabi

(1974)

Prem Nagar

(1974)

Roti

(1974)

Prem Kahani

(1975)

Mehbooba

(1976)

Amardeep

(1979)

Thodisi Bewafayi

(1980)

Agar Tum Na Hote

(1983)

Avtaar

(1983)

Souten

(1983)

Amrit

(1986)

 

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DATE: 02/11/2008 06:07:00 / MOOD: in love

CV is your marketing brochure through which you try to sell a commodity, ie your skills to the potential buyer ie the prospective employer. The sole purpose of your CV is to fetch you an interview call. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, creating a CV isn't as simple as just using flowery language and pretty fonts. There are certain things that put recruiters off and if you want to make a good impression, make sure you do not commit these mistakes in what is arguably the most valuable document of your job hunt. 

While the rules listed are well-founded, they are not carved in stone. At times you will need to break the rules. If you want to add these things knowingly and purposefully to your CV we advise you to do that.

The points mentioned here are not listed in the order of priority; instead they are listed in the sequence in which they usually appear on a CV.

~ Colorful or glossy paper and flashy fonts
Your CV is a formal, official document. Keep it simple.

~ Resume or CV at the top
Many people tend to add headings to their CV. The usual are CV, Curriculum Vitae and Resume. Do not do this.

~ Photographs until asked
Do not add your photo to the CV until you have been asked for it. Photographs are required only for certain types of positions like models, actors etc. 

~ Usage of 'I', 'My', 'He', 'She'
Do not use these in your CV. Many candidates write, 'I worked as Team Leader for XYZ Company' or 'He was awarded Best Employee for the year 2007'. Instead use bullet points to list out your qualifications/ experience like: Team leader for XYZ Company from 2006-2007.

~ Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
Proofread your CV until you are confident that it doesn't have any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. These are big put-offs for the recruiters. Moreover, sometimes these mistakes might land you in an embarrassing situation.

A candidate who submitted his CV without proofreading it committed the mistake of wrongly spelling 'ask' as 'ass'. Now you can imagine the type of embarrassment he must have faced during the interview, when the interviewer pointed it out. These mistakes tend to convey a lazy and careless attitude to the interviewer.

~ Lies about your candidature
Do not lie about your past jobs or qualifications or anything which might have an impact on the job. You may be able to secure a job with these lies today but tomorrow you may lose it as well.

~ Abbreviations or jargon that is difficult to understand
People screening your resume usually belong to the HR department. If they do not understand what the abbreviations and jargon mean, they will simply dump your CV in the trash can. Avoid over-using such terms as far as possible.

~ Reasons for leaving last job
Leave these reasons to be discussed during the personal interview. For example, some candidates write: Reason for leaving the last job: Made redundant. Avoid making such statements in your CV, they add no value. Besides, if you do get an interview call, chances are the interviewer will address the issue.

~ Past failures or health problems
Mentioning these immediately slash your chances of getting an interview call.

For instance, you have a gap in your employment because you started your own business which did not do well. Some candidates might write -- Reason for gap in employment: Started own business which failed. Do not do this type of injustice with your job hunt at this stage of writing the CV.

~ Current or expected salary
Leave it to be discussed while negotiating the salary.

~ Irrelevant details
Leave out the details like marital status, sex, passport number, number of kids, age of kids. These are usually irrelevant for most interviewers but at times could be used as a basis for discrimination.

~ References
Do not include them until asked. In fact, it is not even required to mention the line 'Reference available on request'. If the recruiter requires a reference, he/she will ask you to bring it along for the interview.

Now that you have run through the list, take a fresh look at your CV and prune away unnecessary details and unaffordable blunders that could have cost you your dream job.

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