The participants role-play as diplomats representing a country or NGO in a simulated session of a committee of the United Nations, such as the Security Council or the General Assembly. Participants research a country, take on roles as diplomats, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult, and then develop solutions to world problems.

MUN-ing came to India in the late 90′s and non urban cities are still untouched. In these cities reside higly intellectual students raring to be given an opportunity. Fravshi International Academy, a one of a kind instituition, daring to look beyond was the first school in Nashik to introduce the concept to its students. Not surprisingly it is the host for Nashik-MUN, yet again looking beyond and taking things to the next level.

Nashik-MUN is a three day conference being held from the 14th to the 16th of June. Aimed at bringing the MUN culture to Nashik, the conference is expected to attract 200 delegates from all over the state and possibly the nation.

It will have four committes which include the UN Security Council, the ECOSOC, the DISEC and a special committee called the Continuous Crisis Committee(also called the CCC)

You can view the details online and register on: www.nashikmun.com

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The Wall Street Journal calls Ravi Subramanian, the award winning author of four bestselling books, as ‘The John Grisham of banking’. This may sound a bit exaggerated but Subramanian deserves this kind of praise. ‘The Bankster’, his latest fiction novel, proves it rightly so. The multi – layered thriller novel keeps the audience gripped from cover to cover, an effect usually created by John Grisham books.

The prologue provides a good start to the story and explains to us the structure of the novel. The novel has three stories running parallel to each other: at Angola, Mumbai and Devikulam. In Angola, a CIA agent is about to exchange weapons for blood diamonds. In Kerala, Krishna Menon is trying to prevent a nuclear power plant from damaging the lives of the locals and in Mumbai, the employees of an international bank are being killed one after another. Karan Panjabi, an ex- employee of the bank attempts to uncover the truth behind these murders.

The story is tightly knit, leaving no loopholes for doubt. It is amazing to see how Subramanian has put every piece of the puzzle in the right place and made a complete picture for us. While reading the book I often wondered how these three stories could possibly be connected, as the locations were so far apart, but I was completely awe- struck to see the way it all fell in place. The book is a joy to read also because of its language, which is simple and free from the banking jargon. We can see what a sheer genius Ravi Subramanian is through this well plotted and interestingly weaved story.

The story is spread across 47 chapters, and every chapter takes you to a new location of the story. This is a wonderful technique used by Subramanian to create suspense. But sometimes, the suspense just seems too much, a little too ‘filmy’. In fact the whole narrative seems too detailed as if written for a film script. The spoofs of some real life characters and events help us relate to the story, but at the same time makes us feel as if there is a lack of creativity. Most of the characters in the story are unidimensional and not dealt in great depth, making the readers crave for some more details.

The style of writing keeps us bound to the book for hours on end. In spite of its flaws, the book is worth a read, if just for the incredible ending and the well thought of story. For all those who have given up on Indian fiction, this is a book which will revive your hopes. Should give it a try, if only for the revival of Indian fiction in our lives.

The Bankster:

Ravi Subramanian

Rupa Publications India

Price: Rs. 250

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History, as we are well aware, has always been narrated through the victor’s perspective. It is proof of how the hero chooses to portray the villain. Never have we doubted the mythological stories. Asura is one such narration that actually makes you think why the hero gets to be the hero and the villain, to be the villain. It is a tale of the loser, a story of the vanquished and this itself makes it an interesting read.

Synopsis:

Devas wreak havoc in the ancient Asura empire resulting in warring, petty kingdoms. It is in this time of desperation that the common men like Bhadra put their faith in a young savior- Ravana; whose ambition to succeed and iron strong will-power lead to the establishment of a vast empire, free of the Devas. However the poor Asuras bear the brunt of being poor throughout, as nothing actually has changed for them. And then history is changed by one action of their hero, their king-Ravana.

Review:

Asura is a re-narration of an old epic, an obsession of turning a myth into imagined history by the author- Anand Neelakantan. Ravana the ten-faced, most celebrated villain of our country has a different story to tell- “For thousands of years, I have been vilified and my death is celebrated year after year in every corner of India. Why? Was it because I challenged the Gods for the sake of my daughter? Was it because I freed a race from the yoke of caste-based Deva rule? You have heard the victor’s tale, the RAMayana. Now hear the RAVANyana, for I am Ravana, the Asura, and my story is the tale of the vanquished.”

The book starts with a flashback of Ravana’s life as he slowly nears death in the battlefield. It then goes on to depict the life of Ravana, how he like any human was subject to the ten base emotions of anger, pride, jealousy, happiness, sadness, fear, selfishness, passion, ambition and intellect. The book goes on to show  how these emotions make Ravana who he is- a man of character, a man with a burning ambition, a man who had the audacity to dream big even in  the face of utter poverty. This story is a simulation of the King- Ravana’s life and Bhadra-the poor asura, a faithful follower of his king.

The first half of the book focuses on war strategies and guerilla attacks by Ravana in order to build his empire and thus it becomes monotonous. The author might risk losing his reader’s  interest. However the plot does pick pace in the second half of the book, with the kidnap of his daughter and the war that follows. This book captures the evil aspects of oppression, caste discrimination and meaningless rituals and how Ravana tackles them and fights for the rights of his people. Anand Neelakantan’s version of Ramayana is truly refreshing. Thus ends a well crafted story at THE BEGINNING-most interesting chapter of the book !

Verdict:

Time to question those who defined the hero and the villain of our very old myth of Ramayana! Time to treat your imagination! Time to think beyond the obvious!  Time to appreciate The Vanquished!

A must read, I say!

-Guest Post by Rashi Sharma.

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His new film, which he adapted from a novel by Matthew Quick, is indeed about such serious things as desperation, spiritual isolation, obsession and confusion. Yet the wonder of his achievement is that it’s deeply serious and blissfully funny at the same time, because it’s also about yearning and desire. Oh, and the doomed loyalty of Philadelphia Eagles fans. (Robert DeNiro and Jacki Weaver are terrific as, respectively, Pat’s father, an obsessive-compulsive gambler and Eagles fanatic, and his mother, a good woman beset by appropriate anxiety. Chris Tucker is memorably funny in the small role of Danny (Pat’s exuberant buddy from the hospital ward).

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both arguably give career best, awards-worthy performances. We’ve frankly never seen Cooper in a role like this, one that requires him to not only to carry the film, but to play a nuanced character in Pat who is big in personality, but also tremendously vulnerable. And Cooper toes all of it deftly, both commanding and pushing the story forward. He’s also outrageously funny. His driving ambition to reunite with his wife Nikki is what confirms to us that we’re looking at a man with a history of mental illness. Otherwise getting past Cooper’s baby blue eyes becomes a problem in itself. Lawrence may be an even bigger surprise to many as Tiffany, a young woman who is sexy, tough and also easily bruised, who not only has to manage Pat’s unpredictable nature, but also keep herself on an even keel to stop from sliding into self destructive tendencies. And the actress simply nails it.

If there’s a criticism to be leveled at Silver Linings Playbook, it’s that the mental illness elements recede into the background during the final half-hour to allow things to progress as a more conventional romantic comedy. The film ends predictably, but there are times when the path to get there isn’t obvious. The narrative is more substantial than we expect from entries into this genre and the humor is organic to the experience, not a series of tacked-on jokes. The best romantic comedies have three ingredients: well-developed characters, strong chemistry between the leads, and an interesting story line to propel their relationship along. Silver Linings Playbook lacks none of these and, as a result, is a winner all the way.

-Guest Post by Akriti Gupta.

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Amidst all the corporate funda, expensive labs, and front page news makers  are individuals, from hitherto unknown villages and towns, making such innovation to help their villages grow- believe it or not, without proper education. Western corporations can no longer just rely on the old formula that sustained innovation and growth for decades: a mix of top-down strategies, expensive R&D projects and rigid, highly structured innovation processes. Jugaad Innovation argues that the West must look to places like India, China, and Africa for a new, bottom-up approach to frugal and flexible innovation.

Jugaad Innovation starts with an innovation by Mansukh Prajapati who has designed a clay fridge that costs a meager Rs.2500. Proven results suggest that this fridge can store fruits and vegetables up to three days. All this, without use of any electricity! There are hundreds of such examples from various countries like India, China, Kenya and other developing nations.

For those who are thinking this book has all about village innovations, its not so. The book also features examples from various fortune 500 companies like Facebook, Google, Suzlon, Phillips etc. The book mainly concentrates on ‘frugal’ innovations. Innovations that use minimal resources at some point.

A wonderful read. One tip, however, is that you better not pick up this book if you are a light reader. This book takes time, but the read is truly worth it. On the rating scale, an easy 4/5. The one point where the book misses is the time it consumes. Regardless, a brilliant read!

For more resources on this book, do check out http://jugaadinnovation.com/

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What comes around is the usual college life, ragging, bunking classes, exploring the opposite sex et al. Another point that stood out is Arjun’s notions about his turban, and his paranoia that the turban is a reason for his misfortunes. The book basically takes us through Arjun’s growth as a person, through the teen years, the college experience, and his love for the girl (who unfortunately is elder to him).

Chetan Chhatwal is here to stay. His style of writing is remarkable subtle and humorous, yet balancing his tones. 55 is his first book and Chetan has managed to captivate us. This book is a perfect one-sitting, fun, light read. All the characters are straight out of the people we meet around us every day. The moments Arjun spends with his friends relatable to practically everyone.

All in all a decent read. To speak on the rating scale, a 3/5 will be a perfect score. The book loses out on the lack of a unique story-line, and also a few areas of the book where the descriptions makes us skip a few pages.

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What is Rotaract?

Rotaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they’re sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true “partners in service” and key members of the family of Rotary.

As one of Rotary’s most significant and fastest-growing service programs, with more than 8,400 clubs in about 170 countries and geographical areas, Rotaract has become a worldwide phenomenon.

What do these guys do?

Rotaract clubs organize a variety of projects and activities, depending primarily on the interests of the club members. However, within the Rotaract program, all clubs undertake three types of activities in varying degrees:professional development, leadership development, and service projects. Together, these three areas ensure a balanced club program and provide important experience and opportunities for the personal development of each Rotaractor.

Their Oomph Factor! 

Rotaract clubs are part of a global effort to bring peace and international understanding to the world. It is youth driven and non-profit organization. Rotaract was approved in 1968 as an official program for Rotary clubs.

Their reach!

Our global network of offices reaches over 200,169 members in 171 countries and territories. We attract and cultivate young people with global mindsets and we give organizations an incredible opportunity to interact and access young people from all corners of the globe.

The Attractions this year! 

Artinival! 

1. Art is a very offbeat field of interest and those who take it up, as either a hobby or profession, are usually under-appreciated. That is why our club has decided to provide a platform to budding artists to showcase their talent in various forms of art, such as painting, handicrafts, photographs, amongst others. Being the main event of our calender, the entire council is working towards making this event a huge success. With expected footfall of over 2,000 and more than 20 artists showcasing their talent, we indeed have a huge opportunity on our hands. This entire expo will have its focus on charity. All proceedings from this event will be donated to the Cancer Patients Aid Association and the Janvi Charitable Trust.

   Venue: St. Joseph’s Ground, Manuel Gonzalves Road, Bandra(West)

   Date: 24th March, 2013

   Time: Throughout the day! 

Check out these photos from last year! 

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Are You Kidding me?

Windows 8 is a hybrid Operating System meant for supporting different platforms. However, in a bid to strike a chord, the operating system has actually taken out the essence from all of them. It, therefore, isn’t completely “fit” for any(Touching the screen of a laptop !) The hybrid attempts to enrich best of both worlds – providing the old User Interface(Windows 7, XP) and metro interface — yes, seems tempting; but many critics prefer to call it horrendous. Old users can’t use the old User Interface as the default interface. There’s no shutdown option(no Start Menu !) like it’s previous avatars, so users already accustomed with Windows might have to struggle a bit even for shutting and rebooting. And, just in case, you are amongst the 2% who loves Linux, reports suggest that the two are not at all incompatible in dual boot, as had been the case with Windows 7. Sure enough, workarounds have been suggested; but firstly, workarounds can be dangerous(not to mention that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea), and secondly, they are not full-proof. All-in-all, Windows 8 doesn’t have any serious ambiguities. But the naive user may have to shell out time for getting somewhat acquainted with it.

Be what’s next !

The first hybrid operating system of the market can be a definite letdown for some, on the other hand, the list of added features are endless. Microsoft has something to appease everyone: developers, home users, administrators. Microsoft greets the App World(howdy to iTunes and Google Play), and introduces WinRT. It also has in-built anti-virus protection and comes pre-loaded with a lot of native Apps. DirectX 11.1 has also received a significant overhaul which results in faster and more efficient games and applications. Talk about security and Windows 8 happens to be secure at the deepest level. Cloud synchronisation(read online storage) got a new look with skydrive as the native App in Windows 8. Lastly, Windows 8 comes in different flavours, apart from being in different Avatars. That is, the operating system can be chosen based on the hardware(Phone, Tab, PC) and if it’s PC, users get to chose amongst Windows8, Pro or Enterprise(each having different functionality to suit their needs).

The Case Rests, Your Honour

Microsoft rules the PC segment, and though Windows 8 will shoo some users away, it’s vastness and friendliness can attract more. Other than the PC, it roars of being unchallenged, unrivaled, standalone Operating System in the market of smartphones, ultrabooks, slates and Tablets. This will define the new generation looks, as experts say, and the curve gets steeper day-by-day.

-Guest Post by Abhishek Ghosh.

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The form factor of the device is just splendid. The first feeling you get when you hold it in the hands is PREMIUM. The quality of the material is just top notch. The screen forms the largest part of the front, with the glass curving around the edges. HTC has used Corning Gorilla Glass 2, making the screen durable, and comparatively more resistant to scratches. The top sports a secondary microphone and another insert that hides a slot for the Micro-SIM card and the microSD slot with the power lock & unlock button placed right in the middle. One of the pain points of the phone is this very slot. It is not that very easily accessible. Even though it’s a 5incher, one might not feel it to be that huge. It can be easily handled by one hand. The ergonomics of the phone were really good. There’s a greyish brown metal strip right above the earpiece, which gives the phone a premium feel. The 2.1-megapixel front camera is located at the left side, below the earpiece. The front also features three capacitive touch buttons. The bottom panel features a microphone and a rubber insert that hides the Micro-USB port.  The right side features the volume rocker, which is also red in color, just like the pseudo-side grille. There are no controls on the left side. The grille makes the phone look more beautiful & explicit.

The Butterfly sports a 5-inch Super LCD 3 display with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 and has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, packing-in 441 pixels per inch. The screen’s pixel density is the highest among all flagship phones, and text and images appear extremely sharp. It’s one of the most beautiful screens we’ve seen and reading text and browsing the web, especially make for extremely joyful experiences. The viewing angles on the phone are excellent.

Coming now to the camera, The HTC Butterfly sports a 8-megapixel rear camera with auto focus, LED flash, and BSI (back-illuminated) sensor, which as per the company, takes better low-light shots. It’s a F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens. The phone has a dedicated HTC ImageChip, company’s own Image Signal processor (ISP), which allows users to take faster shots (the camera’s startup time is 0.7 seconds and it can take one shot in 0.2 seconds) and better shots in all light conditions and movement.
The phone also boasts of a smart flash that adjusts the intensity of the camera flash as per distance from the subject. The phone supports 1080p HD video recording, and slow motion video capture. The phone also allows users to click 6-megapixel photos while they’re shooting a video, which is pretty impressive compared to other phones. The Butterfly also features a 2.1-megapixel front camera that can take wide-angle shots, and facilitates 1080p video calling. The camera results were very impressive. Also during video recording, image stabilization worked brilliantly. The camera was all in all very good.

When it comes to performance, The Butterfly is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S4 Pro quad-core processor with 2GB RAM onboard, and an Adreno 320 chip for processing graphics. This phone is till now the fastest droid handset. It scores a Quadrant standard benchmark of more than 7000 points. The Gaming experience on this device is just splendid. There is 16GB of internal storage, which is expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card, which just adds to its advantage. With Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the overall experience of navigation through the interface was extremely impressive, thanks to Project Butter and all the power under the hood. We did not experience any lag at all while launching apps, playing games, scrolling web pages or switching between apps. It’s safe to say that performance wise the Butterfly is the hands-down winner, compared to other Android devices.

The phone comes with a 2020mAh battery, and in our usage, it lasted us a full day. The phone lasted a good 13-14 hours. It’s worth pointing out that we had turned off Wi-Fi and auto-brightness, and the phone was hooked to a 3G network with the screen brightness at the highest level. It’s worth pointing out that the phone comes with neither NFC nor 4G/ LTE, which probably doesn’t mean much in. India at this point in time, but may be a deal breaker.

VERDICT

The HTC Butterfly is the most expensive Android smartphone in the market. It’s also one of the best Android phones we’ve used combining a major set of features, a brilliant HD screen and great ergonomics and build quality. We feel that the asking price of Rs. 45,999, is a bit on the higher side, if you compare it to flagships from other brands. Having said that, the phone outperforms all its rivals and the full-HD display is unique

Pros

Brilliant HD screen

Excellent build quality

Great performance

Cons

A bit overpriced

Complicated SIM card tray mechanism

Awkward placement of the power/screen lock

 -Guest Post by Monit Khanna.

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James Patterson (and Chris Grabenstein)

Rating: 3/5

No matter what your age, books like Enid Blyton’s Enchanted Woods or the Naughtiest Girl series are always a guilty pleasure. You go back to those books to lose yourself in childhood memories. James Patterson’s ‘I Funny’ is sort of like those books.

Synopsis:

Jamie Grimm is a middle schooler who wants to win the Planet’s Funniest Kid Comic Contest. He idolizes comedians like Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Wright, George Carlin and others. He wants to be a stand up comedian except for the fact that he can’t stand. Following an accident in which his family was killed, he is wheelchair bound. He lives with his completely humorless adoptive parents and his wheelchair doesn’t stop his step brother from bullying him around. The only good thing going for him is his Uncle Frankie who owns a diner on the beach where Jamie practices his comedy and his extremely supportive best friends. Jamie’s condition does not stop him from being funny and having big dreams. He wants to be treated as normally as possible. His Uncle encourages him to enter the Funniest Kid Contest. But Jamie is afraid that the judges might reward him out of pity. So will he win? Is he funny enough?

Review:

The book is a fun read. Patterson has made Jamie’s character very lovable and I admire the fact that he wants to be treated as a normal kid despite the fact that he is in a wheelchair. He hates pity. To hide the hurt he feels he tells jokes and quickly turns situations humorous when he feels anyone might broach the topic of his condition.

This children’s book is a blend of illustrations and texts, sort of like a graphic novel which assures that young readers will not get bored. I found those cartoon illustrations the highlight of the book. There are small aspects like the ever changing bumper stickers on the back of Jamie’s chair (“a day without sunshine is, you know, night” or an upside down sticker that says, “If you can read this, please flip me over.”) that keep you amused.

The humor does go over the top a little and some of the jokes will probably be funnier when you hear them out loud. So the book does get tiresome in parts. There are some moments when Jamie’s friends remind him that he can’t hide behind humor always which make for a refreshing change. The author has done a good job with the book. The writing is witty and delightful.

Verdict:

If you are a kid you will love this book, if not you will be looking for the nearest kid in the family to tell the jokes to and earn the title of funniest member in the family. So if like me you miss the age of Enid Blyton and Ronald Dahl, you might just enjoy this book. It will give you a good laugh and leave you with a sweet story and message.    

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