Social Media Marketing

Why do you need a personalized background (BG) for your Twitter Profile?

Personal branding is the key term here.

Let us look into the “WHY TO” for creating your own personal twitter background.

In our earlier article, Twitter, the power of Micro-blogging we have given few tips, tools, guides, how to use, free twitter background creating applications etc – Power Of Twitter article Link Here

Here are a couple reasons for why you might want to build your own BG for twitter:

WHY Twitter BG

Your Twitter BG should be created keeping in mind the above 4 categories:

BRAND – What does your Brand speak of

PRODUCT – Core Products Mentioned

AUDIENCE – Target Audience expectation

MESSAGE – What you intend to Tell them

Who needs to create a personalized twitter background profile?

Corporates, Professionals, Freelancers, Marketing Consultants, Freelance consultants, Artist, or anyone who needs to reach out to a target audience with a clear message, a personalized background helps you tell people who you are and what are you here for.

It also helps you to create a one pager profile including your core services, your skills, interests, website/blog & other details with your contact information for others to reach you directly.

For eg.

Take a look at our Customized Twitter Background, simple, nothing too flashy but yet creative and connecting with the user out there. We needed to keep in mind that:

1. We are a creative advertising & marketing agency with core services

2. Offering across multiple platforms.

3. We needed to portray ourselves as we really are, corporate yet creative and in sync with the latest in technology out there to help our clients achieve the best outcomes / goals.

@Techdivine

Make sure in the process of creating a customized creative twitter background, you do not forget who you really are and what is the message that you would like to give your user.

Guide to creating your own Twitter Background:

Size requirements: There are mainly two things you need to be sure of:

1. File size needs to be less than 800 Kb
2. Your Background image should fit into most screen resolutions (To be safe: Create an image higher than 1024 X 768 Pixels)

Next, the actual dimensions. This is important because improperly-sized images can be covered up by your Twitter profile or can start to tile, which often leads to an undesired effect. In most circumstances, you want your background to be large enough not to tile. To achieve this, the total image size should be around 1600px wide by 1200px tall. This encompasses almost all screen resolutions. The dpi can be kept at a little higher resolution of around 90 here for a high quality image.

Dimensions of Margins:

Right Side & Left Side: Maximum 240 Px width and Max 500 Px height

This is so as to keep in mind that the middle area of the twitter content does not majorly overlap the background image at most of the resolutions. Keep in mind that a computer with a low resolution of 800 X 600 Px will see only part of the images and not the whole picture / background image. So make sure, the text content in the design is always closer to the margin area and smaller in width size.

Creating a customized Twitter Page:

Use a background image that is free from copyrights or create your own using photoshop or such other image editing software.

How to plan a twitter background for your Personal Brand?

What we considered when we planned our Twitter BG:

What our Twitter BG means:

The core is the Coffee cup on top middle with the letters TD on top of the foam distinct denoting identity clearly visible across any platform and medium.

Techdivine Mark

The coffee mark denotes the core efforts and hours of inputs of a creative artist.

Dedicated Hours

The white badge denotes our flagship product which is social media marketing services.

social media services

The wood and pencil in the scene stand for traditional values, integrity, strength and ethics whereas the edge of the laptop denotes fresh ideas with the best that technology has to offer.

Strong Values

Monitoring tools

Finally on the left side our contact information with few of our core connecting platforms including Blog, SNS, site and our core products and services.

Social media connect

Just like we had planned above on how we needed to present ourselves to our friends, colleagues, peers etc via our twitter BG page, the first thing you need to do is create a simple storyboard of what you need to tell your audience. Once you are clear with that, start with the background of your design.

Step 1: Creating a Background – Select the right background that suits your theme, message and style.

Step 2: Select few Props for your page like Books, carts, chocolates, graphs, fabric etc depending on what is your core product and service.

Step 3: Make sure the Contact details furnished by you are accurate and not too complex for the reader to understand. Remember, the average surfer would spend not more than 15 – 30 secs on your page unless you have something very exciting and bang on target. So make sure the textual content is not too much, but has the right links and contact sources.

Step 4: Your Logo, icons for the pages should again be in sync with the theme you have selected.

Step 5: Once your image is ready, go to sign in to your twitter account, and follow the steps given below:

customize twitter

Done!

One very easy to use and yet wonderful site for creating your own twitter BG’s in seconds below:

http://www.freetwitterdesigner.com

Feel free to share your own creative designs for Twitter profiles too here with us.

Happy customized tweeting!

TOP 10 BRANDS ONLINE

If FACEBOOK was a country, it would be the World’s 3rd or 4th largest country today – Source: ET – 13/1/10

India, today ranks at number 3 amongst Blog & Micro Blogging users across the globe – Source: ET – 13/1/10

socialmediamarketing

Top 10 BRAND’s Online:

Survey conducted at www.techdivine.com with 350 Members and Readers across.

Demographics TOP 10 Brands Online

Survey conducted on the basis of a BRAND(S) most frequent online use, recall, experience, popularity on the following grounds:

• CONNECT (Constancy of use, need of use, association)
• REACH
• BRAND RECALL
• ONLINE EXPERIENCE (Product, Applications, Other Value added Features)

Top 10 Brands Online

TOP 10 Brand’s based on users personal experiences Online:

• FACEBOOK
• TWITTER
• GOOGLE
• MICROSOFT
• YOUTUBE
• WORDPRESS
• AMAZON
• YAHOO
• STARBUCKS

WordPress was a wonderful addition by users to the top 10 Brand’s list based on the increasing online user experiences with BLOGS and Blogging.

Also, given below are few Comments of users based on their choices (Most repeated Features from users comments are put below)

BEST FEATURE:

• Facebook – Viewing & sharing profile, pictures, application, status updates
• Twitter – Resourceful links and mobility of use
• GOOGLE – Still a pleasure to Search
• Microsoft – MSN, MySpace, Live & Bing
• YouTube – Catching up with funny videos, old videos
• WordPress – Widgets, User Friendly Blogging tools
• Amazon – Reading pages of books
• Yahoo – Groups
• Starbucks – User Preferences

What’s your take on the top 10 Brands online.

Give us your comments and views.

Thank you.

Admin

TECHDIVINE Creative Services

—

Related Posts

Blogging Made Easy

Twitter & Facebook: Why SNS

Social Media Marketing

Everything I touch seems to have life. Or is it that our passion rubs off on to those around us.

LIFE: Stay Positive

Well, if that be true, let’s stay and share things that can make us more positive everyday.

Belief and system have never gone hand in hand and that’s why we have those with the unconventional approach positively changing million lives. We have been so hooked with the “this is right” approach that we at times tend to forget the bends and twists that life gives us to feel the curves ahead. It’s not just a bumpy ride it’s a life time of learning that comes out of it.

During loneliness we seem to miss the presence, during downfall we miss the hand that shoulders us, during pain we miss words of comfort. We never heard anyone say, I missed a bag of money or a big house when we are sad, down or hungry. For those who have lost touch, these are some human emotions which are still around with few across the globe.

We miss being well, at times miss just being human or can I quote being human enough.

I recently met a lad in his early thirties, eyes moist, heart uncontrolled, palms untamed, asking me “Where do I go from here?” and when I asked him what are you looking for, he cared to mention in his haste of finding the way, “I am looking to be free and successful” I laughed not in his face though and I said, “If I knew it today, I would be on Forbes magazine too”.

But something told me that his definition of success was going to be different. Why? To start with he had just parked his brand new Hyundai outside the café shop and his well styled hand stitched Italian shoes were only overshadowed by his branded designer wear. So it was clear, he was not looking for money’s success tunes to bless his disturbed soul.

I just looked at him and his constantly shaking and restless fingers and bulky eye bags that told me he needed someone to just listen to him.

I felt, it was simple. You can’t be guided but only heard to. It’s true every man makes his own destiny. But not every one of us would get a chance to touch someone’s heart and make that impact. Not all of us are blessed like the holy mother (Teresa) or as wise as the Swami (Vivekananda) himself, but all of us have the ability to either make someone or well, even break someone. I had not such a huge opportunity, but at least to sit and listen. So I did just that.

I have stopped giving the right to anyone to guide me. But I am always ready to listen to you. Why? Simply because, I realized when things go wrong after listening to someone else, you can even blame yourself for it, so why take the pains. Just follow your heart.

After I had listened to the young lad, it was clear, he wanted to rectify a wrong in a different kind of way & it was well unique.

He was a successful corporate hero in his early thirties. He had shaken up a few chairs, competed wildly in the jungle to survive the rat race and pushed a few bright minds down the clogged drain to come out well, successful. It was Darwins theory simplified, ‘only the fittest survive’.

It was not until a month ago he had realized that one of his peers whom he had pushed right below in the routine rat race of the corporate world, died of a massive heart attack. He had left behind his mother with his wife and his two year old kid. With that of course the young couples mortgaged house and a car loan. When he went to their house to pay his respects, the deceased’s family let go of a wrath of anger blaming him for his downfall and corporate agony.

It sounded so ‘movie-like’

It was real and it’s as real as it could get. Probably that’s why when movies on these come up, we tend to quote, “that was filmy” reassuring ourselves of such things not happening with us or around us.

Now after listening to this lad, I had a feeling that there was something more than meets the eye. He was restless even after sharing it and his beady eyes screamed of shutting this sudden chaos around him, but his heart never quoted a sense of dismay for the family that was affected. It was not even sheer guilt eating him up and when he blurted, I was shocked, “I cannot take this blame. It will affect my corporate stature. How do I get free?” he said.

I did not know what to say. I just finished my coffee, put my bill money on the table and smiled as I moved out of the café.

Never surround yourself with things that can negate your life or add sinful energy to your thinking. As everything you touch has life, it gets affected one way or the other. So stay positive, stay calm & live Free!

I guess it is true. Life gives us lessons through ‘us and others’, everyday. Listen, pay heed to it and well get on with it.

It’s a long road ahead. Life isn’t short.

It’s long enough and we have enough time to think, act, react and play it well. We may not be able to even choose the path at times, but we can at least try to steer it right.

Stay positive, dream big and play it well.

Learn, grow and be well.

Live Free!

day of the glimmering dawn

On an early luminous morning, I rose with the gleaming clouds radiant with the globe of sun lit in the sky.

I got geared up to backpack for my tour to the city of Nawab’s (Hyderabad).

Well I was returning the same evening, so there was nothing to backpack really, but just thought it might add to my reader’s interest of something exciting that might be coming. Ahem!

As I completed with my calorie burning session for the day and drove to the Mumbai Airport I was already waiting for the day to end. Why, ‘coz I felt it was going to be a routine day assignment with zilch added to the learning kitty, so I thought.

Yet, the day went off smooth, with even few new learning’s added to the food for thought pool for the day.

I had ample time still left, so I wandered around the streets. As usual landed where I first start off or end up in most of the cities, at the Art museum.

I was close to Hyderabad Birla Museum center (Art center) and shockingly experienced the utterly un-courteous poorly maintained, staffed with sad and dark minded traditional non art valuing staff and suffocating, hot and humid interiors with no ventilation (No A/c  or fans were switched on even after asking / requesting).  It was undoubtedly the most awfully maintained Art Museum I have ever visited in my entire life.

Left the sad area, not so soon though and later landed in the nearby cool, calm and beautiful Birla garden and saw idols, and sculptures of Gods (Shiva / Nandi) and many others.

SHIVA Nandi

Finally I got my Meru and landed back at Hyderabad Airport and realized I was ONLY 3 ½ hours early than my reporting schedule.  Hmmmm, hungry, famished and extremely glad with the royal treatment received at the Birla Art museum (still could not get it out of my system especially since it was at an Art museum).

Anyways, I went to airport coffee shop and ordered myself a ‘cut the carb and fat down’ Italian Salad Sandwich with a Big Mug of Coffee. Had a relishing meal and got on board. I usually dislike flight food unless it’s Jet.

Luckily the Meru experience was comfortable throughout as I landed back home with few good learning and some bad experiences with a decent meal coupled with my very favourite Coffee.

The day was over as I rolled back under my Mickey Mouse sheet for a sound sleep unruffled and dozed off into the sweet arms of nidra.

 hey, needed to ramble something off my routine at least once in this blog… come on! What say?

Cheers

Long live Art and artists

TECHDIVINE is a registered trademark catering to Designing solutions for Print, Web, Animation, VFX and Publication, Marketing and Account Management solutions for a 360^. Brand and Strategic Management for varied mixed media.

The Brand TECHDIVINE has been associated over the last two years with high profile brands catering to services like Account Management, Client Servicing, Branding, Publication, Training, Designing, Visual effects and Animation.

TECDIVINE STUDIOS blogs – TD Studios and Techdivine at wordpress have been maintained by our Brand & Product Consultant Mr.Ananthanarayanan V

Owing to the amazing response that the wordpress blogs have generated of various articles, write ups from different authors and the publication success of the Coffee table poetry book EXPRESSIONS launched under the brand, TECHDVINE Studios is proud to announce the introduction of the new section in the blog: The YOUNG TALENTS write up section

The new Section – Young Talents write-ups:

A hot cup of coffee and a good book to read……….. that with the young talents ideas makes a great start for one’s day!

This new section under the head YOUNG TALENTS is dedicated to all the young writers and talents who love making up stories, who enjoy exploring the world of words and experimenting with it.

This heading “YOUNG TALENTS” in the blog would feature interesting and fascinating write-ups of young writers (Age group upto 15 years) who want to express their ideas, concepts, thoughts and share their wonderful experiences with all of us…..

So keep writing, keep reading, keep commenting

TECHDIVINE STUDIOS

TECHDIVINE is a registered trademark catering to Designing solutions for Print, Web, Animation, VFX and Publication, Marketing and Account Management solutions for a 360^. Brand and Strategic Management for varied mixed media.

The Brand TECHDIVINE has been associated over the last two years with high profile brands catering to services like Account Management, Client Servicing, Branding, Publication, Training, Designing, Visual effects and Animation.

TECDIVINE STUDIOS blogs – TD Studios and Techdivine at wordpress have been maintained by our Brand & Product Consultant Mr.Ananthanarayanan V

Owing to the amazing response that the wordpress blogs have generated of various articles, write ups from different authors and the publication success of the Coffee table poetry book EXPRESSIONS launched under the brand, TECHDVINE Studios is proud to announce the introduction of the new section in the blog: The YOUNG TALENTS write up section

The new Section – Young Talents write-ups:

A hot cup of coffee and a good book to read……….. that with the young talents ideas makes a great start for one’s day!

This new section under the head YOUNG TALENTS is dedicated to all the young writers and talents who love making up stories, who enjoy exploring the world of words and experimenting with it.

This heading “YOUNG TALENTS” in the blog would feature interesting and fascinating write-ups of young writers (Age group upto 15 years) who want to express their ideas, concepts, thoughts and share their wonderful experiences with all of us…..

So keep writing, keep reading, keep commenting

TECHDIVINE STUDIOS

‘Be formed my friend, be very formed, as water. Water does not break, nor does it crash. You put it in a jar, it becomes the jar… be free… yet be formed!’ Quoted Bruce Lee.

 It is so true.

 When we feel disturbed not through exertion or excess work but through stagnation or incapacitation, the strongest of the tone and the harshest of words seem to flow as free as water, don’t they?

 Thoughts tremble under the weight of time and voice cracks with every anxious decision. The decisive moments are not the only pensive ones anymore.

 As we dreadfully approach another possible personification of a plan, the feet feel the weight of the head as much as the palms feel the sweat of the brow. But at the end, we still go ahead with it and that’s when the hammer hits the iron ‘hot’.

 So with a strong heart powered by the huge mug of “Black Coffee” we charge ahead and make another, oops, yet another jump to the vexed hands of the listener, we pull it off big time or on the contrary we say, here we go again!

 Dismal behavioral patterns often seem to be a huge face of such extreme rollercoaster lives.

 But the idea is to have that cup of coffee meaning, to get up again desiring that energy, that freshness booster and be formed like water and be ready to accept that one’s “Eureka ideas” might be differently felt by the onlooker.  Like the old saying goes, not every mud thrown gets you in a dump and not all pats in the back land you to the top.

 So this is for a very nice friend of mine, “be formed and always desire the freshness of the coffee. Do it all, but just DON’T GIVE UP!”

 God bless and be well

 Ananth V

 Image Source: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com

As I pondered at the starry sky for the moments that were spent I could plainly see the spills on the carpet and the stains on the mattress. I kept thinking I needed to improvise, a change would be good said my sanely perplexed brain.

Again, the dove flew off like the starry night before. Today, it reminded me of a work of art from one of the famous Italian painters and my mind wandered into one such artists words. He had said that an object that has been assimilated or formed and now needs no addition, no editing and no change is pure beauty…

Thank god for those famous quotes by artists.

That’s what I felt today, at the end of the day… it was beautiful… it was stunning… it was pure and perfect ….. simply because it was “SIMPLE”

My brain came to the present and looked at the wonderful things that were gifted to me till date.

It did not make me overlook the demands and the twinge, but gave me enough nerve to keep fighting, never go down on hope and have a conviction, a stronger faith in myself.

I had a horrible yesterday but had an awesome day today.

Had an amazing and astounding 10 hour sleep (keeping in mind my usual sleep of not more than 4-5 hours), woke up fresh, had a glass of my favorite mixed fruit Tropicana, did some workout and had a stupendous brunch fit for a king with a great friend of mine who also is an important part of my routine, someone from whom I take a lot of advice.

The day ended perfectly with a call from my side to a very kind and sweet relative wishing him on his birthday today which is a huge deal because of the fact that I barely remember even my own birth day.  

At the end of the day, I had good food, great friend, amazing family and an awesome book to read not to mention my grand day with loads of real keeping fit routine and some virtual game plays on my computer.

So, I had grown up a bit today but with zest and loads of energy.

I was responsible for something that was not part of my job, I was with and around those who cared and vice-versa, I put enough energy into my physical and mental training today and after a long time could write a simple post for a blog, not too long and just like my day, could keep it simple.

So I guess, it’s not just the remarkable mind blowing things that make impact on us. It’s also these simple aspects from our everyday that make us cheerful, gives us hope and courage to face life with belief, dedication and optimism.

So….

When things go wrong

And life gets crude

Hang on to the soulful hope

That never keeps you aloof

Kiss her hand and breathe in her heart

Sing a song to the blues

and play your part!

— Ananth V

god bless and be well

Image source: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com

Ananth V

A case to begin all cases:

A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection, that’s all that counts!

A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection. With that of course god’s ultimate gift to mankind “MEMORY”. The world seems so beautiful.

People say memories of the past and anxiety of the future ruins our present. Well, I can’t talk too much about future and pressures as in today’s chaotic world I am one of those blessed individuals whose job so to say is one of the least stressful jobs on earth.

I am a teacher.

I got myself few diplomas, a degree, few certifications and a secure (a term which has become almost obsolete) job in a MNC about 5 years back. I was into the creative art and animation as a hobby for as long as I can remember. For it gave me a peace of mind and a lot of calmness to relax that every inch of tensed muscle in my body. Soon, I had made that hobby my work so I never had to feel the pressure of work again. So I said to myself.

I Left my “secure job” and 3 years had passed. Then one day, I met a young chap (meaning someone of my age, 5 years ago…. That is to say, I was a lot younger and more immature then….and life was good). He came to me and said, “Ananth, I am changing my job. I am shifting back to finance field where I was.” Hmmm…. Another one of my kind, I thought…with that doubt in mind… He continued, “Yes, I know there will be heavy pressure and I won’t enjoy doing it, but at least I will have some respect for what I do but could not handle the pressure of doing a job which especially in India, if more so related to the field of art hardly gets any recognition and respect even from those most close to you.” I told him to sleep over it. Give it some more thought. And not change the field just because he was unable to cope up with the pressure of being related to the field of art. He used to teach and freelance for money, the most important and easily understood term today.

Finally he did not leave the field, but left the job, saying may be some other work environment might cheer him up and provide more mental support to continue what he is doing. He left the job after a lot of convincing and fights with his seniors that he was sure he would not want to continue for personal reasons. He came back home and made few calls and got into another institute with a better pay scale to maybe, just may be help him gain more confidence in talking to his family and friends now that he had a job which was paying him literally as good as an engineer with an MBA or a CA/CS (naming them because even today, these are supposedly the more and most desirable jobs, trust me).

Few days later, while he had got well adjusted to this environment and was getting back home at 11:30pm from Andheri back home he met a kid sitting on the pavement opposite to the well known Leela hotel from where he was just coming out after his corporate presentation. He just stopped for a moment and then rushed back to the kid.

This19 year old was his student from the earlier institute. After a long discussion, this chap realized that after he had left the earlier place it had been 3 months since and still that institution had found none to replace him. Result was the fees from students were collected regularly and those deferring payments were put into defaulters and fined. But there were no sessions happening. There was no faculty.

This kid was a cobbler’s son with a bright & creative mind. So to say had been lured by the famous lines of getting the BIG moolah and glamour that the creative industry was posed to him by those selling it so much that he fought and convinced his dad to arrange for that huge sum for his diploma in animation course as he was somehow convinced that this industry holds for him all the riches and would take him to another level. He would get a pay check of at least Rs.8-10K to start with and sky would be his limit with his abilities and skills. Now he had ended up paying all that he could, his dad was down till his neck in debts and to worsen the case, there were no classes being conducted because of lack of faculties.

So much to say, the course and the infrastructure were anyway not up to the mark. Then both( the sir and his ex-student) tried for a lot of legal ways to help out for refund, but the system was so jacked up that they found themselves being mocked by society more and more and there was no justice at all. His dad, the cobbler died of a heart attack. He had no job and this course was finished by some emergency trainer who had little idea of how to go about with the course and needless to say there was no learning and no job for this kid. He now sits on the streets mending shoes just like his father.

Talk to him about Photoshop and flash, his eyes lit up and then die off with that same speed and intensity. That young chap and trainer came back home that day realizing that he was not just working and he did not just have a job. But as a teacher he had a huge social responsibility of taking good care of a noble profession which is sad to say becoming a faint identity. He now teaches and trains whenever anyone asks him if he has the time and not so just on the basis of monthly fees to the real needy. He has to face societal brunt for that. But at least he sleeps peacefully.

The above story is for any noble profession today. Be it delivering education or something as massively important as saving lives as in a doctor’s job. There are very few doctors’ who take cases without that patient fulfilling the basic formalities of “FEES”.
There have been so many a lives put in stake and so many futures given to shape by these noble professions, but in today’s social pressures, unless there is money involved there is no value for life or knowledge.

We are talking today about nuclear pacts, global warming. But what happened to those who are living at the tip of a life nothing less than a volcano mountain, ready to burst at any point of time. Their only mistake is of being born in a poorer section of the society. Their lives and pains are simply put out with simple lines by big time money makers as “Only the fittest will survive” (I guess they had the privilege of studying Darwin’s theories, “They cannot handle today’s competitive pressure” and only those with power and money will survive.

We close the above mentioned miseries with such simple lines learnt in our MBA class and big corporate chairs not even realizing that in this way we are going against war with our own people. If such noble professions today start refusing service just for the sake of money and if the society supports that, why are we even discussing a green world, a better technology and happy world? All that you do always comes back to you then and there. Life is as simple as that. So if we refuse help knowingly or with pure bliss of ignorance it is going to hit us back some day soon. Life is not just about numbers and targets. It’s about Lives and a smile.

Wouldn’t life be more fun if there were good competition and great learning all around us? Did not we feel happy in school when we were put against a large chunk of students and asked to compete? So why not help everyone raise the bars and lead a life of greater significance. Why not deal with the current misery, bureaucracy and corruption and actually kill the problems at their root cause. I get scores of mails and calls everyday from parents and people asking me where do I put my kid for further studies?
I am not a counselor or someone of that level to advice, so I don’t. I keep numb as even if I did I am sure I would be falling short of places and institutions both big and small to recommend today.

I know so many doctors and teachers today who have refused to render their honest and very much possible services to people because of lack of their ability to pay money. I am not asking you to do charity as all of us need to survive. But only that, do keep in mind that whatever you do, you are affecting someone or the other and what you can decide is HOW you affect them.
Remember, life has a way of balancing itself, what goes will come back. So the next time you decide not to cure a patient or teach a student for the sake of money alone Please think twice. As your decision is not just another corporate rule, it’s a way of life.

You have the power to be true to what you have sworn to do. To make the country a better place is not the government’s duty. It’s those who have given that power to the government to take good care of our HUGE family, our world.

So grow and let grow as it’s not everyone’s privilege to say that all I need today is “A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection, that’s all.” I know the great mentors like the Mahatma and Swami Vivekananda are gone. But a bit of their souls rests in all of us. So let’s try to search and find them, take all the pieces and get them back. That’s possible only if all our heart and minds would act as one.

Everyone has come across some day something like this to say, to make a difference, to make impact…. A case to begin all cases.

I apologize if I bored you and wasted your precious time with so many words and story but what can I say…… I am paid for it!

Ananth V

Case to begin all cases

A case to begin all cases:

A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection, that’s all that counts!

A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection. With that of course god’s ultimate gift to mankind “MEMORY”. The world seems so beautiful.

People say memories of the past and anxiety of the future ruins our present. Well, I can’t talk too much about future and pressures as in today’s chaotic world I am one of those blessed individuals whose job so to say is one of the least stressful jobs on earth.

I am a teacher.

I got myself few diplomas, a degree, few certifications and a secure (a term which has become almost obsolete) job in a MNC about 5 years back. I was into the creative art and animation as a hobby for as long as I can remember. For it gave me a peace of mind and a lot of calmness to relax that every inch of tensed muscle in my body. Soon, I had made that hobby my work so I never had to feel the pressure of work again. So I said to myself.

I Left my “secure job” and 3 years had passed. Then one day, I met a young chap (meaning someone of my age, 5 years ago…. That is to say, I was a lot younger and more immature then….and life was good). He came to me and said, “Ananth, I am changing my job. I am shifting back to finance field where I was.” Hmmm…. Another one of my kind, I thought…with that doubt in mind… He continued, “Yes, I know there will be heavy pressure and I won’t enjoy doing it, but at least I will have some respect for what I do but could not handle the pressure of doing a job which especially in India, if more so related to the field of art hardly gets any recognition and respect even from those most close to you.” I told him to sleep over it. Give it some more thought. And not change the field just because he was unable to cope up with the pressure of being related to the field of art. He used to teach and freelance for money, the most important and easily understood term today.

Finally he did not leave the field, but left the job, saying may be some other work environment might cheer him up and provide more mental support to continue what he is doing. He left the job after a lot of convincing and fights with his seniors that he was sure he would not want to continue for personal reasons. He came back home and made few calls and got into another institute with a better pay scale to maybe, just may be help him gain more confidence in talking to his family and friends now that he had a job which was paying him literally as good as an engineer with an MBA or a CA/CS (naming them because even today, these are supposedly the more and most desirable jobs, trust me).

Few days later, while he had got well adjusted to this environment and was getting back home at 11:30pm from Andheri back home he met a kid sitting on the pavement opposite to the well known Leela hotel from where he was just coming out after his corporate presentation. He just stopped for a moment and then rushed back to the kid.

This19 year old was his student from the earlier institute. After a long discussion, this chap realized that after he had left the earlier place it had been 3 months since and still that institution had found none to replace him. Result was the fees from students were collected regularly and those deferring payments were put into defaulters and fined. But there were no sessions happening. There was no faculty.

This kid was a cobbler’s son with a bright & creative mind. So to say had been lured by the famous lines of getting the BIG moolah and glamour that the creative industry was posed to him by those selling it so much that he fought and convinced his dad to arrange for that huge sum for his diploma in animation course as he was somehow convinced that this industry holds for him all the riches and would take him to another level. He would get a pay check of at least Rs.8-10K to start with and sky would be his limit with his abilities and skills. Now he had ended up paying all that he could, his dad was down till his neck in debts and to worsen the case, there were no classes being conducted because of lack of faculties.

So much to say, the course and the infrastructure were anyway not up to the mark. Then both( the sir and his ex-student) tried for a lot of legal ways to help out for refund, but the system was so jacked up that they found themselves being mocked by society more and more and there was no justice at all. His dad, the cobbler died of a heart attack. He had no job and this course was finished by some emergency trainer who had little idea of how to go about with the course and needless to say there was no learning and no job for this kid. He now sits on the streets mending shoes just like his father.

Talk to him about Photoshop and flash, his eyes lit up and then die off with that same speed and intensity. That young chap and trainer came back home that day realizing that he was not just working and he did not just have a job. But as a teacher he had a huge social responsibility of taking good care of a noble profession which is sad to say becoming a faint identity. He now teaches and trains whenever anyone asks him if he has the time and not so just on the basis of monthly fees to the real needy. He has to face societal brunt for that. But at least he sleeps peacefully.

The above story is for any noble profession today. Be it delivering education or something as massively important as saving lives as in a doctor’s job. There are very few doctors’ who take cases without that patient fulfilling the basic formalities of “FEES”.
There have been so many a lives put in stake and so many futures given to shape by these noble professions, but in today’s social pressures, unless there is money involved there is no value for life or knowledge.

We are talking today about nuclear pacts, global warming. But what happened to those who are living at the tip of a life nothing less than a volcano mountain, ready to burst at any point of time. Their only mistake is of being born in a poorer section of the society. Their lives and pains are simply put out with simple lines by big time money makers as “Only the fittest will survive” (I guess they had the privilege of studying Darwin’s theories, “They cannot handle today’s competitive pressure” and only those with power and money will survive.

We close the above mentioned miseries with such simple lines learnt in our MBA class and big corporate chairs not even realizing that in this way we are going against war with our own people. If such noble professions today start refusing service just for the sake of money and if the society supports that, why are we even discussing a green world, a better technology and happy world? All that you do always comes back to you then and there. Life is as simple as that. So if we refuse help knowingly or with pure bliss of ignorance it is going to hit us back some day soon. Life is not just about numbers and targets. It’s about Lives and a smile.

Wouldn’t life be more fun if there were good competition and great learning all around us? Did not we feel happy in school when we were put against a large chunk of students and asked to compete? So why not help everyone raise the bars and lead a life of greater significance. Why not deal with the current misery, bureaucracy and corruption and actually kill the problems at their root cause. I get scores of mails and calls everyday from parents and people asking me where do I put my kid for further studies?
I am not a counselor or someone of that level to advice, so I don’t. I keep numb as even if I did I am sure I would be falling short of places and institutions both big and small to recommend today.

I know so many doctors and teachers today who have refused to render their honest and very much possible services to people because of lack of their ability to pay money. I am not asking you to do charity as all of us need to survive. But only that, do keep in mind that whatever you do, you are affecting someone or the other and what you can decide is HOW you affect them.
Remember, life has a way of balancing itself, what goes will come back. So the next time you decide not to cure a patient or teach a student for the sake of money alone Please think twice. As your decision is not just another corporate rule, it’s a way of life.

You have the power to be true to what you have sworn to do. To make the country a better place is not the government’s duty. It’s those who have given that power to the government to take good care of our HUGE family, our world.

So grow and let grow as it’s not everyone’s privilege to say that all I need today is “A nice cup of hot black coffee and a good speed internet connection, that’s all.” I know the great mentors like the Mahatma and Swami Vivekananda are gone. But a bit of their souls rests in all of us. So let’s try to search and find them, take all the pieces and get them back. That’s possible only if all our heart and minds would act as one. Everyone has come across some day something like this to say, to make a difference, to make impact…. A case to begin all cases. I apologize if I bored you and wasted your precious time with so many words and story but what can I say…… I am paid for it!