Movie Review : Madras Cafe

Madras Cafe is based on India’s involvement in Sri Lankan civil war and it’s aftermath. Although a commercial movie, the film has a realistic feel to it. Some of the documentary footage of the genocide in Sri Lanka has been used in the movie. Movie depicts bloodbath, but violence is not repulsive. There is a steady development of story and action, gives a Hollywood Movie feel. For a change no… Bollywood musical extravaganza, romance or comedy used for entertainment.

John Abraham’s personality takes the movie forward, but John and Nargis seriously needs to focus on their acting and expressions. Rashi Khanna’s acting is passable. The supporting cast which acted as Sri Lankan’s did a good job.

On the whole, John Abraham has succeeded to create an impact with his production debut. A great must see political thriller.

By Pushpa Ramesh

Massive Open Online Courses - FREE !

In an attempt at "inclusive education", the rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer tremendous opportunities to individuals (housewives/students/professionals) to pursue academics from reputed International Universities and Colleges, without having to pay course fees.

One of the early innovators - COURSERA (www.coursera.org) believe in connecting people to a great education so that anyone around the world can learn without limits.It is worthwhile to read what they have to offer and how it will benefit you, if you have spare time and want to upgrade your competencies.

UDACITY (www.udacity.com) is one such institution whose mission is to bring accessible, engaging, and effective higher education to the world. They believe that higher education is a basic human right and they want to empower students to develop their skills in order to advance their careers.

Some of the other "Massive Open Online Courses" providers are EDX (www.edx.org) who have an arrangement with Harvard and MIT and offer interactive online classes in subjects including law, history, science, engineering, business, social sciences, computer science, public health, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Even Stanford University (www.scpd.stanford.edu)under the aegis of Stanford Center for Professional Development has made available FREE Webinars and Live Lectures presented by Stanford faculty, industry experts, and senior researchers.

Future Learn (www.futurelearn.com) in UK, also offer online courses from some of the world’s best universities for free, enabling everyone, everywhere to enjoy learning throughout their lives.

This is a great opportunity for those seeking to validate their competencies and maybe in the next decade, one will be able to have a certificate or a degree from one of the most prestigious colleges and universities, at the click of a mouse and the only investment will be - TIME and DEDICATION to complete the course.

Contributed by an eLearning Consultant.

Choose to live a life that matters...

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won't matter where you came from or on what side of the tracks you lived, at the end. It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant. So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured? What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave. What will matter is not your success, but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence, but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what. Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice. . . . . So choose to live a life that matters.

By anonymous

Beauty!!!

There is no denying the fact that a pleasant face does bring a smile on the onlookers face. “Looks” are something we have been blessed with it (however we look), because that’s how the Creator wanted to identify us.

Beauty in today’s terms is a creation of mankind. It was man who decided that fair skin, sharp features, size zero figure, etc. is beauty. In-fact since (the features associated with what is perceived as beauty) have become a popular belief many people have gone to un-natural lengths to achieve beauty.

The opinion that a person with ‘good looks’, have the world at their feet, is a little exaggerated. They too have their ups & down’s. And there are times when beauty becomes an obstacle.  The curfew time for a good looking girl is more than, that of others. Family members always feel the need to be over protective. Many married spouses feel insecure, if their husbands / wife are friendly with a good looking person of opposite sex. Females are busy comparing their vital statistics with the slimmer lot because they assume that everyone who looks at them focuses on their waistlines and nothing else. Everyone’s eyes and ears are with the beautiful one; because it is assumed that they are flirting with each and every-one that they smile at or talk to. And.., if they don’t smile, then they are assumed to be proud and have a bad attitude.

There is beauty in each one of us. Let’s look for the beauty within.

By Pushpa Ramesh