ThinkerViews – Views And Reviews Personal views and reviews for books, magazines, tv serials, movies, websites, technical stuff and more.
The issue of Reader’s Digest India for the Month of April 2012 hit the stands which we were keenly awaiting… So let us take a dig into the content of the same. The editorial refers the cosmetic surgery as one of the blooming business. Which is in fact a fact. We hear people dieing from Cancer, Heart Disease etc., But if look overall, the more money is spent for cosmetic surgery than on the cure of these deadly decease. Of course the cosmetic surgery have its good side too, it is not only for the wealth people and to make them looking good or better, but it also helps people who were burnt by accident or attacked with acid etc, to regain their appearance.
React section have mostly responses about the article “Want to be successful in business, avoid college” – which was printed in “In My Opinion” section of February 2012. Of course, not following the chosen path leads to some great advancements and innovations but we must remember that every drop-out is not successful indeed. As per our opinion it all depends upon the combination of talent, imagination, luck and time of decision. So rather get armed with the correct in-depth knowledge of what you love to do before blindly doing something, and then follow your dreams!
Right here right now section, explores something interesting. The mobile mania in people leads to some new status of health. Now the words like sleep-texting are also added to the dictionary (like sleep-walking). In future we may hear about some legal cases having those mentioned too! Some events over Europe are arranged in the spring. A comprehensive list with briefing about the same, not only adds to the general knowledge but helps planning the tour schedule to those who are wealthy and planning to have trips to abroad in summer vacation. The list includes
- Kite Festival (France)
- Feria De Abril (Spain)
- Sachsiluuten (Switzerland)
- Scoppio del Carro (Italy)
- Cukoo Day (UK)
There is only one book reviewed in this issue and that is “Behind the beautiful forevers Life, death and hope in a Mumbai undercity” by booker prize winner author Katherine Boo (She is an American journalist). In the detailed two page review by Ashok Mahadevan about the same, we got the glimpses of the content of the book.
When read some problems in Ask Laskas section, the thoughts come to the mind that are we loosing our sensitivity or humanity! How such problem could arise? India is the country where even the neighbors are taking care of the children living near by. Its all like a family. Are we loosing these roots? We must not.
This time Bittu Sehgal came with the article “Learn from the nature” in the Greenheart section. By reading the article and seeing the picture it flashes our mind that a lot of innovations human kind made is by seeing or learning from the nature. If we will not take care of the nature, our main source of inspiration may be drained. Small yet nice article.
In My Opinion – this time the article is about the Mixed Race Children. Sophie Robehmed (British-Lebanese journalist) takes her views about the same. She thinks that despite of fear of some people that mixed race children will have the nationality or identity issues but they are actually great hope to the future. She comes up with some strong aids to her thoughts. Well, if someone is a cross-bread child in the communal tension the person might understand the point of both the communities and majority of such people can even stop such riots happening. Remember the famous dialogs from the Hindi film Bombay (directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Arvind Swami, Manisha Koirala)! May be the noble saying “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (Entire world is my family) have to play its role here!
Titanic was departed for its first and last voyage on 10th April 2012 from New York! So there are 100 years about the tragic incident and still we feel the sadness of loosing the people and greatness of building such a nice ship both togather. Its impact will remain alive for very long as we smell. James Cameron made the latest attempt to revisit the incident in a very nice way by his movie Titanic (remember similar movies came in past too), by spending actually more time on this ship (or its remaining) then its any actual passenger did. Now he is also going to re-release the movie in 3D! Reader’s Digest came up with an article about Titanic (the ship) with the title The “Unsinkable” Titanic. A step by step detailed documentation of the events, added with some unknown and/or interesting facts, rare and historical photographs makes the article a must read material.
Cosmetic Surgery – Cure or Curse? is the central theme article. It is a boon for someone who met with a tragic incident and it may be simply an aid for those who wanted to change his/her appearance to look better according to the personal definition. It may be a way for criminals to create a new identity or it may be your way to rectify God’s mistake! In short it may be necessity for someone and may be aid for the other. The cosmetic surgery have its own attributes. The article explores the details from the angle how it is running as a business! In addition to the emotional and social context, it also explores its psychological effects too. The writer have also shown the dangers of getting addicted to the same and some important stuff that your cosmetic surgeon will not tell you! Worth reading article.
Concentration is not less than an art. We have experienced it so many times. Whether it is the time to do preparation for the exam or doing some important work, focusing the goal is one of the most important stuff. We all have at least faced the lack of needed efficiency at certain time in life. It is proven that the ability to concentrate have large impact on one’s efficiency. An article showing some basic but important tips to concentrate better, is a good read.
There comes the story of John who was on death bed and his relatives were mentally prepared for the same, though an on time heart transplant saved his life. Almost 12 years later his son was also diagnosed with the same problem. It is about the journey of hope and it also brings the facts in light that many people loose their lives just waiting for the heart to get transplanted. Awareness in people about blood donation should reflect in donating the body also to avoid such cases, there is no other solution.
We all are familiar with Internet search giant Google! It is also considered as one of the best environment to work at. People working there combines fun with work and they call it Googley! An article showing behind the scene glimpses about the work culture at Google is there in this issue with the title “Google – Life in the plex”. People are allowed to play at alley or bring pets along with at the office, anyway you deliver the work there is no restriction on you. Most important thing I like is their motto “Don’t be evil” and they have followed it so far. It is very tough to control yourself from misusing the biggest data source have under your control in addition to wealth and gadgets.
In the historic culture of Mexico, the name of Plaza Garibaldi is famous for Mariachis. What they are? Who they are? Read the article and you will get interesting information.
Julia Samuel, a Dutch TV Star (Miss Mosquito Net) and her mission to fight back malaria in the Ghana and other African area is explored well in an article about the same. Her motto is help should reach to those who actually needs it and not to be concentrated on media exposure, is worth taking note for. Her journey was not easy, she fought Cancer on her way. Her fighting spirit is applausable. These people are the real humans who makes the world a better place to live. Kudos! You can get more information at http://driveagainstmalaria.org.
Few funny and factual stuff about “April Fool” in addition to regular sections like humor, quick study and others makes the magazine worth read.
We must mention the article “The Future Of The Flight” which is a semi sci-fi stuff. It is a very detailed article with illusions, models and computer generated graphics about the flights of the future. Peter Popham gives good info here. If you want to know more about the model discussed, you can visit http://fanwing.com.
King’s Speech movie may have made the people to change their perceptions about speech disorder but fighting it in the routine life on daily bases is not less than a battle. Keith Austin’s article is worth reading of course.
Despite of awareness of repeatation of the content, we must mention that on 100th anniversary of Titanic a number of memoirs, stories, investigative series and more are around all us. Number of segments exploring the details about the same are there in the second half of the magazine as well.
Final verdict: Of course go for it, it is much better then spending the same amount of money towards something which is useless or brings you nothing but some unimportant stuff. Just go for it.
