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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDUMONDAY, JULY 3, 20172

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EAR SHOT ASHOK RAJAGOPALAN

Push yourselfDo you have thepotential but no clue onhow to becomesuccessful? This videogives you the much-needed message — pushyourself. The speakertells you that there arepossibilities that you

will have bad days and you aren't the first person to feellost. Nonetheless, you should wake up in the morningwith the mindset to win. With compelling visuals and anenergetic tone, this video gives you the instant motivationto fulfil your dreams without any self-doubt and to keepworking hard. Watch and share this with your friends sothat they also get a reason to start working. Watch thevideo at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9gwmyPMByMThe science of practice

Have you everwondered howpractice improveswhat we do? Thisvideo explains indetail, the sciencebehind how practiceaffects thefunctioning of our

brain to do things effectively. It also talks about howmastering the art of practice needs to be consistent. Thevideo elaborately describes how an individual’s physicalactions affect the working of the brain. With an animatedvisual to give a better understanding of the process, thespeaker explains how practice is a repetition of ouractions and gives some tips on how you can get the mostout of your practice sessions. Watch this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2O6mQkFiiw

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VIDEO CAFE

b Shruti Mishra

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane TrilogyGenre: Platform gamePublisher: ActivisionThis “N. Sane” game has been developed by VicariousVisions and published for PlayStation 4. It is a collectionof the first three games in the Crash Bandicoot series —Crash Bandicoot, Cortex Strikes Back and Warped —which have been remastered. New features includehigh-definition 4K resolution, high-quality audio, unifiedcheckpoints, pause menus and save systems, amongothers. Players can use various jumping and spinningtechniques to defeat enemies. The graphics look greatand preserve the vibe of the original Bandicoot saga,making it more appealing than ever!

Gravity Rush 2Genres: Action-adventure game, Action role-playing gamePublisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentIf you are fascinated by gravity and wonder what it wouldfeel like if you had the ability to manipulate it, this gamewill fulfill your dream. Developed by SIE Japan Studioand Project Siren, the game's plot revolves around Kat,who has the ability to manipulate how gravity affects her.Players can choose between two different gravity styles —Lunar and Jupiter. Gravity Rush 2 features more livelyand colourful cities compared to its predecessor, theability to chat with the city's inhabitants, and destructibleenvironments.

What Remains of Edith FinchGenre: First-person narrative adventurePublisher: Annapurna InteractiveThe plot of the game is as intriguing as its name. Thegame is a collection of short stories about a cursed familyin Washington State. Players take the role of Edith and travel back to herfamily home in Washington to explore the history of herancestors. The environment has a surreal feel to it andthe game's narrative draws you into it.

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GAME ON

b Sarthak Saraswat

“Weren’t we supposed to meet atthe gym yesterday? Whathappened?”

“Sorry to have left you in thelurch. I couldn’t inform you be-cause of the...”

“Who said anything aboutmeeting you in a church? I askedwhy you didn’t show up...”

“I said ‘lurch’, not ‘church’.When you leave someone in thelurch, you desert them. You leavethem in a difficult situation — youdon’t offer them help.”

“Well, the good news is that Ididn’t feel that you’d left me in

the lurch. There were a couple offriends who were working out. So,I didn’t need you to rescue me!”

“You do realise that I’d neverleave you in the lurch, right?”

“I’m not so sure about that! Tellme, where does this word ‘lurch’come from?”

“No one is really sure. Somepeople believe that it was actuallythe name of a board game playedin 16th century France.”

“Was it because you were play-ing some game that you forgotabout our meeting?”

“Very funny! I completely for-got because things have been alittle crazy at the office. Nobody isreally sure...”

“Yes, everyone is talking aboutit. Is it true that your boss wasfired yesterday?”

“It is. Both he and his sidekick,Shyam, were asked to go. They

individual...”“Was always ‘kicking’ or walk-

ing by the ‘side’ of the importantperson, he began to be called‘sidekick’.”

“Exactly! So, can I refer to youas my sidekick?”

“Of course, not! We don’tspend too much time together.And nobody in his right mindwould say that you’re an import-ant person! Tell me, why was yourboss fired?”

Failure“He’s been going through a toughtime ever since the stock marketmeltdown, and ...”

“Stock market meltdown?What are you talking about?”

“A ‘meltdown’ is a quick andcomplete failure of something. Inthis case, I’m...”

“You’re talking about the col-

lapse of the stock market. Howabout this example? For the pasttwo months, my father’s companyhas been experiencing a financialmeltdown.”

“Sounds good! The word canbe used with people as well.When a person has a meltdown,he loses control of his emotions.He freaks out. My boss had a ma-jor meltdown when he was askedto quit.”

“I might have a meltdown thenext time you don’t show up.”

*****Medically speaking, there is no

such thing as a nervous break-down, which is very annoying todiscover when you’re right in themiddle of one. — Marian Keyes

The author teaches at the Englishand Foreign Languages University,Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com

were told to...”“Sidekick! Tell me, how....”“A sidekick is someone who is

always around an important per-son. He...”

“Is a friend or a close associateof the important person. The twospend a considerable amount oftime together. Dr. Watson wasSherlock Holmes’ sidekick. Robinwas Batman’s sidekick. In ourmovies, the comedian is alwaysthe hero’s sidekick.”

“If you knew the meaning, whydid you ask me what theword....?”

“I wanted to know why thisperson who hangs around iscalled a sidekick? What did...”

“There are several explana-tions for this. According to onetheory, in the past, one of themeanings of the word ‘kick’ was‘walk’ or ‘wander’. Since this

Left in the lurch?

know your english)S. Upendran

Professor Kimberly Schimmel is aProfessor of the Sociology of Sportand an affiliate to the Women’s Stud-ies programme at Kent State Univer-sity. She was in Chennai recently tofacilitate an MoU between Kent StateUniversity (KSU) and SRM Instituteof Hotel Management and CateringTechnology. In this interview, shetalks about what sets KSU’s hospital-ity management programmes apart,work options available to studentsafter completing the course, andmore.

What are the skills students de-velop while pursuing the pro-grammes and how do they benefitfrom them?

Our Bachelor of Science degreeprogramme in hospitality manage-ment prepares students for careersin major hospitality industry seg-ments. This is done through aca-demic and research programmes,collaborative partnerships, creativeapproaches, and ethical principles.Graduates earn multiple certifica-tions including ServSafe, First Aidand CPR, and TIPS responsible alco-hol service. Our bachelor’s pro-gramme students also have the op-tion to earn a minor (specialisation)in event planning.

The Master of Science pro-gramme in hospitality and tourismmanagement provides an integratedhospitality and tourism graduateeducation, with an emphasis on re-gional, national, and global implica-tions of the field. Students learn todevelop critical analysis skills, re-search abilities, and understand ad-vanced hospitality and tourism is-sues. Graduates are prepared tosuccessfully secure positions of lead-ership in industry or pursue a ter-minal degree in hospitality or tour-ism management.

What makes KSU’s hospitality andtourism management programmesstand out?

First, ours is the only four-year

programme in our state that is ac-credited by the Accreditation Com-mission for Programs in HospitalityAdministration, which sets veryhigh industry standards and strin-gent review standards.

Also, our programme is one ofthe few in the United States to hostthree active student chapters of pro-fessional organisations (conventionmanagement, club managements,ETA Sigma Delta international hon-our society) and the only one in theState of Ohio to do so.

Our students are required to com-plete internships towards the end of

the programme, many of whichserve as a “springboard” to paid su-pervisory or management positionsupon graduation. We place internsin the top hotels, restaurants andcountry clubs such as Hilton, Marri-ott, Hyatt, Darden, and Texas Road-house.

In addition, students have the op-portunity to be placed in internshipsin various hospitality properties inFlorence, Italy, at Kent State Uni-versity’s Florence campus.

We are currently working to ex-pand our international internshipplacements, which is one of the

goals for my current visit to India.

What is the significance of the MoUsigned between Kent State Univer-sity and SRM Institute of HotelManagement and CateringTechnology?

Our collaboration with SRM willallow us to explore opportunities forstudents to immerse themselves incurrent practices and study futuretrends in both India and the UnitesStates. Thus, we can equip studentswith a more international perspect-ive as they enter the ever-emergingglobal economy. We also have the in-frastructure at Kent State Universityto offer faculty exchanges.

Does having prior experience be-fore joining a programme help?

Absolutely, it does help. However,we do not require prior experiencefor admission to our programmes.We have structured them so that stu-dents can enter as novices andgraduate with internship and leader-ship experience that positions themfor immediate employment in thehospitality industry.

What are the work opportunitiesavailable to students after complet-ing a bachelor’s or master’sprogramme?

Our graduates are employed invarious management positions, in-cluding, but not limited to, the fol-lowing titles in hotels, restaurants,country clubs and banquet centres:hotel front office manager, cateringand sales manager, food and bever-age director, food distribution salesmanager, general manager, restaur-ant manager, banquet manager, hu-man resources and marketing man-ager, clubhouse manager, and eventmanager.

We also have quite a few alumniwho have launched their own entre-preneurial endeavours.

Tete-a-tete)

Lessons inhospitalityFascinated by the hospitality industry?Professor Kimberly Schimmel from Kent StateUniversity sheds light on how aspirants carve aniche for themselves

b Sarthak Saraswat

Cutting edge: Springboard to a top-notch position.

Professor Kimberly Schimmel

SPEC

IAL

ARRA

NGEM

ENT

That people can change in fun-damental ways is not readilyaccepted by many individuals,even when they are presentedwith evidence. We tend tothink that our personalities areetched in stone, and there islittle we can do to changeourselves. So, we expect theschool-topper to continue win-ning laurels, the athletic kid toblaze a sporting trail and thetimid, shy teenager to remaingawky and awkward. But fast for-ward 25 years and we learn thatthe first-ranker dropped out of aprestigious college to start atrekking company, the athletehas put on so much weight thatwe barely recognise our school-mate, while the quiet one whomeverybody wrote off is a leadingtech entrepreneur.

In fact, a belief in our ability tochange is linked to innumerablepositive outcomes. An article inThe New York Times by Jan Hoff-man describes the work of psy-chologist David Yeager whofound that a simple interventioncan boost students’ ability tocope with stress. Asking studentsto perform reading and writingexercises that led them to believethat our personalities are malle-able at the start of the academicyear turned out to be beneficialto them. Relative to a controlgroup, students who were asked

to focus on the fact that peoplecan change, exhibited lowerlevels of stress and were moreconfident.

New lookPsychologist Douglas LaBier sug-gests the following exercise if youwant to alter some aspects ofyourself. First, identify somequalities that you think youmight possess but that have notblossomed for some reason.Then try to imagine what thenew you would look like if youexhibited that quality morestrongly. What would your dailylife be like? How would your rela-tionships change as a result? Howwould you feel about yourself?Will you view your work througha different lens?

Then, in order to make thenew image more vivid, write acouple of paragraphs describingyourself. Finally, think aboutwhat you need to do on a dailybasis to strengthen those dimen-

sions of yourself. Justas you would buildyour body muscleswith exercise over aperiod of time, youcan try to make mi-cro-changes to yourpersonality thatslowly add up overtime.

For example, youmay be frustrated thatyou are always late nomatter how much youplan ahead. Well,don’t give up so eas-ily. Think about smallchanges that you caninject into your life. In

addition to using your phonealarm as a reminder for variousappointments, you can set yourwatch a few minutes ahead. Also,add ten minutes more when youhave to factor in commutingtime. Make a to-do list the day be-fore so that you have fewer last-minute surprises. Now, how willpeople around you react whenyou show up on time? Can yousee the surprise on your boss’face when you hand in reportsbefore the deadline? Perhaps,your friends will start taking yourword about time more seriously.As a result, you may feel more incontrol of your surroundings andyourself. No matter what aspectwe want to change in ourselves,believing that we can is most im-portant. And, when we exudethis belief, it also influencespeople around us in positiveways.

The author is Director, PRAYATNA.arunasankara@gmail.com

Malleable youIf there’s something about your personality you’ve been wantingto change, here’s good news — it is entirely possible

think)aruna sankaranarayanan

SREE

JITH

R. K

UMAR

You have bagged that cool summer in-ternship and are excited about the op-portunity to earn and learn. As a regularreader of this column, you plan to followthe footsteps of Plan Priya and start in-vesting early. And then you have a num-ber of questions. How will I get paid formy internship? Can I just go to a mutualfund office and buy a mutual fund theway I buy toothpaste from a conveniencestore? Do I just hand over cash to theperson at the mutual fund officecounter?

Plot your courseWell, you see, the world of finance worksa little bit differently. Before you embarkon your personal finance journey, youneed to get organised and check a fewboxes. What are these?● Firstly, you need to get a bank accountfor yourself. Even if you are not officiallyan adult, you can still open a bank ac-count. Do you know that anyone overthe age of 10 can open and operate a sav-ings bank account independently,without involving the parents? So, whatare you waiting for? Your internship sti-pend will most likely be credited to yourbank account through an interbankmoney transfer. Wouldn’t it be cool togive your own bank account number tothe company that you are working for,instead of your parents’ bank accountdetails? ● PAN number — The permanent ac-count number or PAN would be requiredpretty much everywhere when you startsaving, investing or buying high valueitems. The youngest PAN card holder isan infant. So, if you don’t have a PAN

already, you should apply for one andget it at the earliest. ● Aadhar number — It is quite likely thatyour parents had applied on your behalfand got an Aadhar number for youalready. If not, you should do this at theearliest as increasingly Aadhar numberis mandatory for a whole lot of activities.

Do you know that you can start invest-ing as small an amount as ₹500 throughthe systematic investment plan in mu-tual funds? This is a good way to start in-vesting your internship stipend ormoney from part-time work or even yoursurplus pocket money. But before youcan start investing, you need to com-plete a process called KYC — short forKnow Your Customer (The customer isfrom the perspective of the mutualfund). Even a short while back, you wererequired to fill up a boring form, attachproof of residence, proof of identity andso on. But today, we have a processcalled eKYC, wherein this whole processcan be done paperless just by furnishingyour PAN and Aadhar number. You justneed to fill up a few fields in an onlineform and you are ready to start your in-vestment journey.

So, check these three items off the listand get ready to watch your moneygrow.

The writer is an alumnus of IIM Bangaloreand co-founder, Money Wizards.chari.venkatesh@gmail.com

Get that passbook ready.

Learn to earn

money matters)venkatesh varadachari

ISTO

CK

Three things you need before you jump into theworld of investing