Pen is mightier than sword

"Pen"- this three letter word plays a predominant role to target a wide audience. The maxim highlighting the power of a pen was first penned by an English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu. It is considered as the omnipotent ruler of the world. It expresses a personnel or public opinion. It implies press, literature, newspaper books and other writing. It may also imply opinions, ideas, thoughts, beliefs, positive and constructive views. It represents diverse persons such as scholars, thinkers and  philosophers  publishers, writers and authors. On the contrary, sword connotes force coercion, violence, weapons, negative postures and destruction. The days are gone where deadly battles were fought to bring a change since the sword suffers from serious inherent drawback. We are living in an era where ideas have   a considerable impact than violence. An idea can cause a revolution, a change and a difference.

The pen commands an authoritative power of changing the face of the world. With the advent of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Guttenberg, the printed words became the most effective means of propagating one's ideas and beliefs. The written words are immortal and can inculcate a permanent impact on several generations. Many religious books like Gita and Mahabharata, Bible have inspired millions of people to tread the path of righteousness. Ideas are easily expressed through the power of the pen. The sword can only engender subjugation and violence but cannot propagate ideas. Albeit pen is a small instrument, yet it has the power of cultivating an awakening spirit among the masses.

India witnessed its glorious independence on the 15th Aug 1947 against the British rule by the supremacy of the words. The freedom fighters and social activists contributed their cumulative efforts for the attainment of one goal i.e. freedom. They were able to instill a spirit of nationalism and unity among people through the printed words. The triumph of our freedom movement can be attributed to the impact of the pen. Our constitution also espouses the power of the pen. Therefore, declares freedom of speech and expression as one of the fundamental rights under article 19(1)(a).Major social evils like sati, purdah system, female infanticides, untouchability, child marriage prevalent before independence were eradicated using this effective tool. Enforcement of the new economic policy1991 in India was a product of the pen. It has consolidated the position of our country at the world's panorama and has succeeded in achieving unprecedented growth since then.

Who can forget the notorious men like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Napolean Bonaparte in the history?? They tried to conquer the world using the power of sword but their desire remained unfulfilled and fell to dust .It is realized that the pen acts as a device to raise one's voice against tyranny and oppression. Pen exercises an effective control over the mind's of multitude. Many great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther, Nelson Mandela have manifested the power of Pen to the world.

Pen can resolve many intricate issues. Strained relationships between different nations can be improved by the peaceful and amicable agreements. Establishment of United Nation Organization marked as a historic event in the world's history to overcome the poignant disaster caused by the world wars. It was made possible with the persuasive ability of the pen.

Today we are living in an era where the entire world is moved by the influential thoughts. India is a democratic country and confers certain fundamental rights on its citizens. People are empowered to express their thoughts freely. People have a greater unflinching conviction in the power of the pen than that of a sword. Newspapers, periodicals, social media inform people about significant event on a daily basis.

With the advancement of information technology the almighty power of the pen can be viewed as an effective tool of a common man. Various movements and campaigns took place over the internet with the presence of social networking sites, blogs and web forums. They triggered various social- economic problems existing in the country and had spread awareness among the masses. Recent example was the Anti corruption movement started by the social activist Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejrival who brought into light various scams related to corruption and money laundering. Many eminent personalities came forward and associated themselves to support this noble cause via twitter and facebook.

The pen has a stronger influence than the sword. The written word can bring about a change in a person; however this weapon should be use judiciously and carefully. One must be careful in expressing and propagating one's thought.

Save our Mother Earth

The earth is an unique creation of god as it is the only planet in the solar system which support life. Environment is an integral part of the earth. Environment simply means nature which support and affects various forms of life. It is defined as the sum of total physical surrounding biological factors around us that directly influence the survival growth, development and reproduction. In the word of Abraham Lincoln "The past is the cause and present will the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to infinite." Environment has a self-purifying and self-cleaning capacity which has been deteriorated by man's continuous thoughtless actions which he did in the past and present actions might be cause of tomorrow.

Environmental Pollution is a serious problem and has grown very acute in the recent years. The word "pollution" is derived from a latin word "pollutionem", which literally means "to make dirty". It is the addition of certain unwanted contaminated wastes to air, water, land, largely resulting from human activities to such level of concentration which leads to undesirable affects on the quality of surroundings . It adversely affects human beings, animals, plants and material.

The problem of pollution assumes different forms such as atmospheric, water, land, noise, radiation pollution. Over exploitation of natural resources with an unplanned mechanism have brought about serious changes in the different components of environment. Urbanization, deforestation, unplanned industrialization, human population explosion, scientific and technological development are the root causes of environmental pollution. Man always has a greed for better lifestyle since the emergence of primitive man on this earth and in his thirst of cakes and adle he ignores nature.

Air and water are very essential for the survival of life and they are considered as a "panacea" for living beings. These revered things are highly polluted by automobile exhaust, combustion of coal and petroleum, tobacco smoking, effluent from factories and big industries, urban and rural sewage let into rivers etc. In addition to these hydrocarbons, nickel, dust, chlorofluorocarbons, pesticides, fertilizers etc are also driven out into the atmosphere from industries and their processes. We have the live example of the white monument 'Taj Mahal' located in the Agra city where the concentration of acidic gases in the atmosphere is so high that it reacts with the white marble causing blemishing of this historic monument with the passage of time. This shows the toxic impact of growing pollution even on lifeless things.

The problem of pollution poses a great terrorization for the mankind. Green House Effect, Acidic rain and Depletion of Ozone layer are some of the extreme effects of pollution. If the mushrooming problems of pollution are not controlled efficiently, the very existence of life on the earth will be in danger. To check pollution, we should stand united so as to exterminate this .Undoubtedly, Government is there to implement its policies regarding balanced growth of industrialization and urbanization but we should also understand our responsibilities as an individual. Every individual should resort to the program of tree plantation, taking up the habit of recycling the waste, to the usage of LPG or CNG in the vehicles instead of oil, rejection to smoking and adopting the measures of population control. Environment is an invaluable treasure which needs to be preserved for the existence of living beings. In order to accomplish this difficult task people should always believe in the core fact that. "Together we can make this world a beautiful place to live".

Fear of Public Speaking

Public speaking is imperative for successful careers. Everyone of us must have faced this phobia in one or the other way. Indeed it is the biggest hurdle in our life which is preventing us in achieving our dreams. People with high fear of failure tend to have low achievement. It may so happen that a person is going for an interview well prepared but at the time of exhibiting his skills in-front of the interviewer, he is unable to do so. This happens because of several factors such as nervousness, introvert behavior and anxiety. Some people resort to a complete avoidance of public speaking which further add fuel to the fire and doesn't solve the purpose. This fear is overpowering many people and due to hesitation one may even take up a profile which doesn't call for public speaking. It is interesting to know that it is quite normal to experience some degree of public speaking anxiety when engaging in presentations. Fear is not a permanent in nature and can be easily overcome.No one is a gifted Orator like Adolf Hitler. I am sharing few tips and tactics to prepare an individual for the qualities required in an effective public speaker.

1. Regular Practice: Practice makes a man perfect, this saying is equally important in our day-to-day life. You must know yourself and practice it thoroughly. Plan and rehearse mock practice sessions with your friends, family or with someone whom you are most comfortable with, it will be helpful in weeding out any left over fear and will boost up your morale. Once you  have had plenty of practice sessions, you will feel a sense of achievement.

2. Eye Contact: Fear is incredibly a strong feeling that can have an adverse impact on your presentation. It is imperative to maintain an eye contact with the person with whom you are interacting with. This shows your self-confidence and honesty. Don't panic and don't get aggressive if someone from the audience ask any question or makes any derogatory comment. Try to handle the situation confidently and with a beaming smile. Tell the audience what they want to listen from you.

3. Mirror therapy: Rehearse your speech and presentation beforehand. Public speaking is also about your mannerism. Try to practice giving your speech in front of a mirror this will be helpful in analyzing your areas of improvement, expressions and gestures. In-fact you can also ask someone who can capture your performance for reviewing it at a later stage.This will also be helpful in managing your unnecessary stress.

4. Identify your strengths: Identify your strengths and change the way you look at things. You can also do a SWOT Analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) to remove all the pitfalls in you. Unleash your Charismatic personality to captivate your audience. You must have a conviction in yourself, even when obstacles stand in your way preserving a positive attitude will help you keep going. Visualize yourself succeeding through every step of the speech from the beginning till the end.

5. Study and read articles on motivation: Reading articles and books on motivation is must to keep yourself focused. Many successful people have shared their testimonials that whenever they wanted to give up or to throw in the towel, a paragraph in the book or a motivational speaker helped them in putting back on the right track and to achieve their goals.Maintaining an optimistic approach is very essential.