Importance of Uttarayan Essay

Shivya: Hi Shivam, how is your uttarayan going? Shivam: Very nice. How about you? Shiyya: Enjoying. But I do not know why uttarayan is celebrated. Can you lighten me? Shivam: Well shivya there is more to Uttarayan than just holding a string and a kite. Let us today understand the religious aspect of Uttarayan. Het can you pls. share with us the information that you have? [By that time their other 5 friends join them and take part in the conversation. All of them give information about the topic which entilighten us about the religious aspect of Uttarayan] Het: Hello everybody. Well Uttarayan is celebrated in many parts of the country and also in some other parts of the world with great zeal and enthusiasm. It is a harvest festival which is basically celebrated in the Hindu communities. In Indian, the states of Bihar, Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu celebrate the festival with great fervor and gusto. Now I will tell Harsh to share some of information that he has. Harsh: U know Het, In Tamil Nadu the festival is known as Pongal, in Assam as Bhogali Bihu, in Punjab, as Lohiri, in Gujarat and Rajasthan, as Uttararayan. In Uttar Pradesh it is celebrated as Khichdi or Donation festival. In Bihar it is known as Til Sankranti or Khichdi festival. Outside India, the festival is given due importance in the countries like Nepal where it is celebrated as Maghe Sakrati or Maghi, in Thailand where it is named as Songkran and in Myanmar where it is called Thingyan. Shivya: Wow I thought Uttarayan is celebrated only in Gujarat. But I can bet it must not be celebrated anywhere like in Gujarat with the sky becoming so colourful. Devayani what information you have to share with us. Devayani: Well you know the way Makar Sankranti is celebrated in every state of India with faith and joy, it can be guessed that the festival has some religious beliefs. This festival is mentioned in many of our religious text, which enlighten about the festival’s religious significance. The religious scripture, â€Å"Gita† which is known as the voice of Lord Krishna, illustrates that six months of Uttarayan is the day time of deity. And, the 6 months of Dakhshinayan is the night for Gods. It is believed that person who scarifies his body in Uttarayan get a position in ‘Krishna Lok’. That person gets liberation, whereas, the one who dies in Dakhshinayan, has to be reborn. In the era of Mahabharata, Bhishma Pithama had a blessing of wish death. Although lying on the bed of arrows, he did not sacrifice his life in the Dakhsinayan, and waited for the Sun to go in Uttarayan. It is believed that on the day of Makar Sankranti, when sun entered in the Uttarayan, Bhishma Pithama, discarded his body. Scientifically, this day the sun begins its northward journey and enters the sign of Makar (the Capricorn) from the Tropic of Cancer. It is like the movement of sun from Dakshinayana (south) to Uttarayana (north) hemisphere. It is the one of the few chosen Indian Hindu festivals which has a fixed date. This day falls on the 14th of January every year according to the Hindu Solar Calendar. The festival is considered to be a day from where onwards all the auspicious ritualistic ceremonies can be solemnized in any Hindu family. This is thus considered as the holy phase of transition What do you say Ashiti. Am I right? Ashiti: Yes Deyanai, in fact another one religious story is also there which states that, Yashoda Mata kept fast to have Lord Krishna as her son. The story of Gangawatran is also linked with Makar Sankranti. It is said that on the day of Makar Sankranti, Ganga followed Bhagirath Muni and met the ocean. Conjunction of Ganga and ocean is the reason behind crowd of devotees taking bath in Ganagasagar on Makar Sankranti. Capricorn is a sign of Saturn. On the day of Makar Sankranti, sun enters into the sign of Saturn. Sun God is the father of Saturn. Father goes to meet his son in his home. Saturn and Sun, both are might planets, who’s auspicious blessings can make humans achieve great success. Hence, on the holy festival of Makar Sankranti people delight sun and Saturn. Shankranti means transmigration of Sun from one zodiac in Indian astrology to the other. As per Hindu customary beliefs, there are 12 such Sankrantis in all. But the festival is celebrated only on the occasion of Makara Sankaranti i.e. the transition of the Sun from Sagittarius (‘Dhanu’ Rashi ) to Capricorn(‘Makara’ Rasi). Lastly Jai can you put some more information on the topic. Jai: Yes my dear friends. Makar Sankranti holds special significance as on this day the solar calendar measures the day and night to be of equal durations on this day. From this day onwards, the days become longer and warmer. It is the day when people of northern hemisphere, the northward path of the sun marks the period when the sun is getting closer to them. The importance of the day was signified by the Aryans who started celebrating this day as an auspicious day for festivities. The reason behind this may be the fact that it marked the onset of harvest season. Married women pray to Sun God for long life of their husbands and give gifts to their elders, in return take blessing that the way days are getting longer, similarly, the life of their husbands also keep increasing.

Loneliness in of Mice and Men

8. Loneliness is a very important theme in Of Mice and Men. Which characters are lonely and why? Of Mice and Men illustrates the loneliness of ranch life during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Steinbeck creates a lonely and a blue atmosphere at many times in the novel. He uses words ‘Soledad’ which is referred to solitude, which means loneliness; and the card game ‘Solitare’ which means by one’s self. Not all the characters are lonely; Steinbeck makes it clear that only Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy are the lonely characters in the ranch.The loneliest character is Crooks. He is isolated from the other ranchers because of his race. He isn’t allowed to join any social activities at the ranch and is completely left out alone. He’s so lonely that he considers reading books to accompany him. Even though he doesn’t show it, he is desperate to have someone to talk to. When Lennie comes in his room, Crooks just keeps o n talking to him and doesn’t care whether he was listening or not. Crooks says to Lennie â€Å"A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is, longs he with you.I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick. † This shows that he desperately needs a friend to talk to and he’s at the point where he is becoming emotionally sick of it. Crooks also says â€Å"An' never a God damn one of `em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'. It's just in their head. † This shows that he has no hope for a bright future and that he doesn’t believe that the men from the ranch are ever going to a better place. The second loneliest is Candy, an old swamper at the ranch who is disabled due to an accident in the past.His only companionship is his ancient dog, until Carlson shoots it for him because it is old and useless, just like Candy. Later on in the novel, he wishes he should have shot the do g himself, which is similar to the ending of the novel. When his dog dies, he looks for new friendship, he doesn’t want to grow older being by himself. He hopes George and Lennie will become his friends when he hears them talking about their dream ranch. He offers his savings for the dream, which makes George and Lennie's dream begin to be actually possible to achieve. S'pose I went in with you guys. That's three hundred and fifty bucks I'd put in†¦ How'd that be? † This shows that he really intends to be part of the dream. He is useless at the ranch, he knows that he’s going to be sacked sooner or later and he will have no place, no friends and nothing. That’s why he is giving his savings for the dream ranch, which possibly he could live the rest of his life in. Candy desperately tries to be a part of the dream shows us how lonely he really is. Curley's wife is the least lonely character out of all three.She’s controlled by her husband, Curley , who doesn’t let her speak to any of the men on the ranch, which leads her into being lonely. Even though Curley's wife is mentioned frequently, Steinbeck doesn’t reveal her real name throughout the whole novel. All the ranchers consider her as an object, instead of a normal human being. The ranchers don’t even bother to start a conversation with her because of her husband, who thinks he is all tough and strong. Curley’s wife has no female friends on the ranch, so the ranchers are her only option, but too bad they don’t want to be friends with her.She realizes that Lennie isn’t like the other men and she intends to be friends with him. She says to Lennie â€Å"Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever once in a while? † This shows that she’s trying to say that she is desperately wants to talk to somebody as she hardly ever talks to anyone because nobody at the ranch listens to her. Although she has a husband which sho uld make her not as lonely as she really is, the fact is that he ignores her and just goes out to Cat houses once in a while, yet he doesn’t allow to talk to anybody or to go anywhere.I think in conclusion, loneliness have a big affect on people. It makes Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife suffer. Crooks says he’s sick because he doesn’t have anybody to talk to. Candy is very old and his old dog is his only friend, which then gets shot, which makes him even lonelier. Curley’s wife dies because she has no one to talk to as well, so when she starts talking to the childish Lennie, who accidently kills her in the barn. I think the other men like Slim, Carlson and Whit are also lonely but they don’t make it as a big deal and they just go on with their lives

Applications of Information Technology

Driving force in educational reform Students have many opportunities to learn the basic computer skills to facilitate their learning. Multimedia learning centre (MMLC) in secondary school Classroom with a projector 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT at Home ? Smart home technology ?Allows people to control household and other domestic appliances over the Internet ? Personal computer ?Has become a necessity for many households 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT at Home ? Personal computer Uses of personal computer 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT at Home ? Home office ?Refers to a small computerized office setup at home ?Self-employed persons can work at home and communicate with others through the Internet. Clients Self-employed person Colleagues 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Public Places ? Information kiosk ?Provides information on nearby facilities in public places ? Electronic Money ?Can be used for petty cash payments ?Example: Octopus Octopus Kiosks 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Public Places Internet access service ?It is provided in various public places. ?The public can obtain information from the Internet more conveniently. Internet access service in public area 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Business ? Office automation ?Office automation helps office workers improve working efficiency productivity, data security and communications with others An automated office 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Business ? Intranet ?A private and small-scale Internet of an organization ?Helps improve workflow and enables efficient collaboration and  communication. Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Business ? E-commerce ?Refers to commercial activities carried out in an electronic network ?The Internet is now the most popular way to conduct e-commerce. e-bay, a popular online auction site 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Business ? E-commerce We can also purchase groceries online (http://www. wellcome. com. hk) We can book tickets online (http://www. cityline. com. hk) Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Government ? Information technology has become an  important means of providing government services. ? Under the ‘2004 Digital 21 Strategy’, the Hong Kong SAR government has committed to developing e-government. 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Government ? Electronic Service Delivery ?A web site that provides a wide range of government information and services ?The services include, application for government job vacancies payment of government bills purchasing books making appointments for The use of public services 1. 1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life ? IT in Government ? Employers concerned about exposing of company confidentials More difficult for employers to monitor work progress 1. 2 Information Technology and the Information Age ? Digital Divide ? Describes the growing gap between those people who can access and make effective use of IT and those who cannot ? Separate people into two groups ?Internet users ?Non-Internet users.

Athens of America Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Athens of America - Coursework Example In addition, they liked participating in pottery, literature, music and skills in carpentry. All these developments in Athens happened in Philadelphia. In 1876, Philadelphia developed the Centennial exhibition. It was a centre where people took their art for exhibition. Art is an activity borrowed from the Greek people. Architects in the city developed the first rural cemetery. That was in 1836. The cemetery served the city for over a century. People in Philadelphia were very much into music. It made them develop a recording industry to promote their music culture. The city boasted of developing many recording studios in the US. The art of music came from Greek because, before music, Philadelphia concentrated in entrepreneurship. It is evident with the rich culture; Philadelphia had followed the ways of Athens. People in that city did their work with much hard work. Textile industry was a common thing during the early years. Philadelphia had its own textile industry in Manayuck. The textile industry grew rapidly in the early 1800s. The textile industry transformed the banks of Schuylkill River. The city dwellers participated in early industry revolution. The Schuylkill River provided the best flood plain and best landscape to build industries. The people in the city were hard working that they established the best flour centres. It led to developments of roads linking various towns to the city. The local administration at that time was impressed by the hard work of the people. The Schuylkill navigation company improved the conditions of the river in order to boost industrial revolution. The city possessed rich people like Wigard Levering. He assisted the local people in promoting the industrial culture. He ensured it was a success by leasing his property for development of farming and dwellings (OConnor, 2006). Nathan Levering was the pioneers of carpentry in Philadelphia. He assisted in building housing projects

Social Consequences of the War on Drugs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Consequences of the War on Drugs - Essay Example Criminal justice system in America is currently struggling to deal with the criminal cases with respect to drug abuse. Majority of the jail inmates in America at present are related to drug crimes. Reported drug crimes are increasing at a rate of approximately 1300% every year. In fact officials in criminal justice system have no time to look into matters related to crimes related to other areas because of the flooding of drug crimes. Drug crime penalties and punishments should be increased drastically to prevent people from repeating the same drug crime again and again. Law enforcement agencies are partly self-financed in America and as a result of that they are less accountable to the public. In other words, drug war has been spread into civilian societies and drugs worth billions have been seized every year. Since drug abuse is more common among teenagers, public schools students in America need to undertake periodical drug tests inside their school campuses even if the school doe sn’t have the previous history of drug abuse cases. Even without search warrants, officials can conduct periodical checking in schools and school parking lots as a result of the current drug war policy. America is confined drug war in its territories alone. They know very well that collective efforts are necessary to counter drug abuse related problems in an extremely globalized world. So, they are trying to persuade other countries, especially neighbouring countries to take strong actions against drug abuse. Some criminologists argue that the creation of more prison capacity may create more crimes whereas limited prison capacity may force the people to stay away from criminal activities. It is a fact that correctional officials may refuse to accept new inmates of the facilities are not enough to accommodate more prisoners. In such cases, criminal justice system may force to reduce the imprisonment punishments and may focus more on providing other types of penalties. Such punishments need not be as effective as the jail terms. In short, construction of additional prison spaces to accommodate more drug criminals is necessary for the successful implementation of drug war. African Americans are more vulnerable towards drug related crimes compared to Whites. If the drug war continues in its present form for the next 10 years, 6 in 10 African American males in the age group of 18-34 will be in prisons. In other words, a substantial portion of governmental expenditure will be for increasing the prison capacities and therefore adequate funding may not be received by education and other social programs in future. Thus, construction of the healthy generation will become impossible in future as a result of the shortage of funds used for social activities and infrastructure developments. United States is one of the worst countries in the world as far as labour shortage is concerned. Increased imprisonment of teenagers for drug abuses may increase the labour shortage problem further. Majority of the drug related prisoners are sentenced for non-violent crimes. Sentences of drug related crimes are comparatively longer than that of other types of crimes. As a result of the long sentencing, drug criminals will become unemployed and marginalization in the society once they were released from

Financial Reporting in the Face of Accounting Scandals Essay

Financial Reporting in the Face of Accounting Scandals - Essay Example The job of financial reporting is to give an overview of the short and long term financial position of a company. This is done by producing the Balance sheet, which provides a picture of the company at a point in time, the Income Statement which gives an account of the business's performance during the year in terms of revenues and expenses, the Cash flow Statement which presents the cash inflows and outflows fro the company divided into operating, investing and financing activities and finally the statement of changes in equity which basically explains the change in a retained earnings of the company during the financial year (Graham 2005). These four statements are aided in understanding by notes to the financial statements which provide additional and in depth information about specific items mentioned in the four statements. Accurate and transparent financial reporting of a company's accounts is significantly important in this age of massive investments. The four statements listed above provide information to the investors in making important investment decisions and to lenders regarding credit decisions (Piotroski 2000). This is done based on the position of the company presented in the financial statements which allows investors to judge whether the company is profitable and whether they would be able to get a significant return on their investments with this company. Creditors similarly can judge the ability of the company to pay off its debt in the future and whether they will be able to receive their money back with the interest payments. These statements are also utilized for assessing the cash flow prospects of the company as well with the same purpose in mind, to benefit investors and creditors. Cash flow projections are very important for decision making as cash inflows and outflows are ultimat ely the most important things in terms of a company's ability to payoff investors and creditors. Without this liquidity, there would be little to payoff with (Kaplan 1995). Furthermore, financial reporting gives information about the ownership of assets of the company and its related liabilities which allows users of the statements to assess what the company holds and how it is performing in general. It is also an indicator of the management's performance during a fiscal year, allowing shareholders to judge whether the current crop of management and the Board of Directors is doing a good job handling their investment (Kaplan 1995). As such, the existing shareholders of the company need financial reporting to assess whether their investments are worthwhile. Prospective investors can utilize them to judge whether the company presents a better investment option compared to others in the industry and in general. The all important tax collections that government authorities perform are b ased on the financial statements of the companies which make them important for the Government (Watts 2003). Even the employees of the company, who are organized in the form of labor unions in many countries, use the financial statements to assess the company's performance and negotiate for compensation and promotion with the management. Financial analysts and those on the

Research and Referencing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research and Referencing - Assignment Example devices are made of extremely trendy design and size so as to persuade the target customers to purchase the specific brand as compared to competitors within the region of Hawassa. This might prove effective for the mobile phone selling organization to amplify its customer base and loyalty in the market among others. Consumer behaviour is a very important term for the industry players of mobile phone segment in this era as it solves all the queries related to buying such as taste and preference of the customers, price margin, feasible time of purchase, the effective ways followed at the time of purchasing and the specific reasons for purchasing etc. If all the above mentioned queries might be analysed and evaluated by the marketer or the entrepreneur of a mobile phone, then the demand and total sales of the product lines might get increased as compared to their rival players. Certain other factors that influence the buying behaviour of a customer are individual and environmental (Sata, 2013). Among individual factors such as knowledge, perception, personality, attitude, life style etc offers high influence at the time of purchasing. Similarly, environmental factors like social class, culture, family etc also need to be determined at the time of launching or developing a specific mobile phone dev ice. Thus, from the above mentioned points, it might be clearly analysed that the prime factors that affect consumer buying decision are price, social factors, durability, brand name, features of the product and after sales services offered by the

Consumer behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 3

Consumer behaviour - Essay Example Culture, as far as semiotics is concerned, stands for the way through which people communicate, consciously as well as unconsciously, through various cultural aspects, including visual images and language. Understanding the implicit meaning of such elements, allows marketers to create informed decisions and communicate the messages more efficiently to potential consumers (Lawes, 2002). Theory of Consumer behavior: Theories of consumer behavior constitute a wide area in the field of Microeconomic. Microeconomics discusses behavior of individual agent of an economy, like an individual, a family, a firm etc. Consumers Behavior which is considered to be a major part of Microeconomics discusses how a rational consumer behaves under different circumstances. While discussing a consumer’s behavioral pattern at some particular time under a particular situation theories of consumer behavior take into account elements from a wide range of areas including psychology of a rational consumer , sociological perspectives, anthropology and finally economics. Theories of consumer behavior actually aim at providing rigorous understanding of the decision making process of a ration buyer in a market economy. It also tries to find out impacts on a consumer’s choice of certain things of several actors like family environment, preference pattern of friends, and behavioral pattern of the socio-cultural group he/she belongs to. In the studies on consumer behavior, examination of a consumer’s behavior is mainly based on his/her buying behavior where a consumer is assumed to play the roles of the user of a commodity, the payer of price of the commodity as well as the buyer of the commodity. (Solomon et al. 2006) Consumer behaviour is partly unpredictable, though in some cases the type of marketing strategies might affect the purchasing behaviour of the consumer. There are different sections of consumer in a society formed according to the basis of monthly household inco me for example lower income class, higher income class etc. (Earl and Kemp, 2002; Solomon et al. 2006) The purchasing behaviour of a consumer partly depends on Consumer Psychology. A purchase decision confronts the consumer with a host of potential changes. Most important is the problem structuring that occurs prior to taking any decision: becoming aware of the need or availability of a new product or service, collecting information of alternatives, and thinking about the future circumstances relevant to the purchase decision & also considering the possible outcomes contingent to the decision. Now these types of action vary within the different sections of consumers. In this context the marketing of the product has a quite influence on the consumer purchasing behaviour. (Earl and Kemp, 2002; Zaichkowsky, 2006) At this point of time one question is evident to be raised- is it product marketing that makes people buy products? In the 21st century effects of marketing on consumersâ€⠄¢ purchasing behaviour can not be ignored. In fact it has become a prime factor that determines how a consumer would behave towards a product. In the present world, marketing has become an important phenomenon. Marketing refers to the persuade people in purchasing of the product that is supposed to fulfill a

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Among Children Research Paper

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Among Children - Research Paper Example Atopic eczema is the most prevalent chronic inflammatory disease in children. The prevalence of this disease in Western countries, in children of six years old, reaches 20% (Department of Health, 2010). ADHD is significantly associated with dermatitis. Allergic comorbidities (asthma, allergic rhinitis) are not significantly associated with ADHD (Rubin, Fein & Vandenberg, 1983). The clinical relevance of this association is small, as it does not establish a causal relationship between them and the direction of the association. From time to time, most of the people have trouble concentrating or paying attention in class. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that help transmit messages between nerve cells in the brain (Department of Health, 2010). Besides in the form of tablets, methylphenidate is also available as a patch, called Daytrana, which can be placed directly on the skin to allow the drug to be absorbed. There are various disorders that prevail amongst the children and female in the current era. One such disorder is the attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) disorder. This paper will elaborate upon the background, features, symptoms, and causes of the disorder existing amongst children. It will also discuss the relationship of ADHD to Eczema and explanation regarding the safety of the ADHD medications on children. This topic has been chosen o be studied due to the reason that the prevalence of ADHD has become widespread amongst women and children these days. The symptoms of the disorder are now commonly occurring amongst the people of young ages. Therefore, it is necessary that the topic is studied in terms of its relevance, significance, and background.