Category: My Musings

What to do in Bangalore on a weekend.

What to do in Bangalore on a weekend.

I came to Bangalore on August 2015 and will be leaving for good on 31st March 2017 (Hyderabad calling). Those who know me know to what extent I adore this beautiful city. I understand the woes of traffic but Bangalore has everything else that suit my taste and temperament and I must mention that I would be leaving this city with a heavy heart.

I decided to write this post long ago but finally completing when I have left Bangalore for good.

Cutting it short, this post is intended to give an idea to Bangaloreans who feel that they are wasting their time during weekends. The activities suggested in this article will not only help you to build your profile (resume) but will also help you in personality development and skill building. Let’s have a look :-

Languages

Bangalore has some amazing centers to learn languages and all of them have weekend courses. Here are the best of the lots :-

French- Alliance Francaise de Bangalore 

Spanish- Institute of Foreign Language & Culture

Japanese- Sakura Nihongo Resource Center 

German- Max Mueller Bhavan

Fitness

Bangalore has no dearth of gyms & fitness centers but the one which has really stood out is CULT. They provide a holistic power packed fitness training which includes Zumba, Boxing, MMA, Yoga etc. They have centers in HSR, Kormangala, Sarjapur, Bellandur, JP Nagar & Indiranagar.

What more? You can even become a Certified Zumba trainer at Bangalore. Click here to know more about it.

NGO/Volunteering/Social Work

There are a lot of NGOs in Bangalore where you can volunteer. I would like to recommend two of them because I have been closely following their social media posts and though I couldn’t get a chance to join either of them, I am pretty much sure that they both are doing commendable work and also have a very organized volunteering opportunities. They are U&I  and The Nudge Foundation. You can contact them to find more about the nature of their work

Books & Reading

For nerds and bookworms, we have the legendary Church Street! On this street, you can find four major bookshops and take my words, all four will make you fall in love with them. They are- The Bookworm, The New Blossom, The Old Blossom & Goebe’s Book Republic.

Bibliophiles at Bangalore also have a group named Books & Brews and they organize Bookshop hopping, book reading party and similar interesting ‘bookish’ activities.

Certifications

6-Sigma Certification at KPMG, Business Analytics Certification by IMS Proschool, Big Data Certification by IBM are some of the certifications that you might be interested in. Most of these conduct classes on weekends.

Apart from all these, there are several activities that you can take up in Bangalore- Dance classes, Horse Riding & Golf classes at Palace grounds, Cookery Classes at Foodhall and so on.

Bangalore is a vibrant cosmopolitan city and I would urge everyone to go out on weekends and explore the multiple opportunities that the city beautiful has to offer.

Cheers!

-KA

 

Time Management Hacks by KA

TIME MAn

First thing first, I do not consider myself pro in Time Management neither I think I have achieved great things in my life by managing my time. But since many people have asked in the past and present, I think there is no harm in jotting down a few points about it.

DISCLAIMER : This post is strictly objective and not preachy, which means, I am writing how I manage my time, it is not necessary that these points will help the one too who is reading this post.

About myself: I am a Dentist-turned-Manager, currently working as a Marketing Manager at Oliveboard. I also have my own venture- I am the founder and Editor-in-Chief of International Dental Journal of Students’ Research. I also work for The Bootcamp, where we help students to prepare for GMAT to get through ISB Admission process. I am an Early Entry Admit to Indian School of Business and I will be joining the batch of 2017-18. I am an avid reader and you can find my book reviews on my page The Booktrack. I love learning new languages and have cleared basic proficiency level exams in Spanish and French and currently I am learning Italian (Online) and Japanese (Weekend Classroom Course) simultaneously. Also I go food/drinks hunting every weekend and I also love to cook and. For more details, please visit my LinkedIn Profile.

I have been a multi-tasker since my college days and have been able to manage different things decently enough so far. I would like to share a few pointers that, I feel, help me to manage time and get stuff done.

  1. I do not drive, I strictly use public transport to go to the office or anywhere. Apart from saving money, this gives me a lot of time to read.
  2. I am NEVER without a book in my bag, no matter even if I am going to a party. You never know when you have to wait or sit idle and there is no harm in flipping through the pages of a book in that spare time.
  3. I use the ‘Hidden time’ to read- Time when you are waiting for the lunch to be served, time when you are waiting for the bus to arrive or even while you are in the washroom attending to your morning tasks *wink*
  4. I do not plan and mostly an ‘impulsive indulgent’. I feel planning kills a lot of time. If I feel like checking out a new pub in the town, I do not start making plans with friends. I try to call one or two people, and regardless of the fact that they are willing or not, I go out.
  5. Coming to my language training, I save a lot of time by immediately revising the lessons once the class is over- This is a great trick as you will be able to absorb more in less time when the lessons are still fresh in your mind and will save the time later. This goes true for any skill that you are learning- Revise as soon as the class is over and see how much time you will be able to save in the long run!
  6. I do not go for movies (once in a few months) and I strictly do not watch any sports (maybe Cricket World Cup matches when India is playing) or TV Series. The last TV Series that I watched was Mahabharata Star Plus.
  7. I tried to join a Gym/Fitness Center but realized that it was taking too much of my time. Now I get down at one or two earlier bus stop and walk home daily from there so that I get my daily dose of physical activity
  8. I prefer Whatsapp over Phone call- this generally allows you to multi task.
  9. I always try to meet new people- I think this is a great way of learning and picking up some good traits from others and it also improves your communication and interpersonal skills in less time.
  10. I do not sleep for more than 5 hours, no matter what (But I won’t advise it to everyone, do it only if it doesn’t affect your day-to-day activities).

    I don’t know how much this post will help you but if you appreciate this post, kindly do me a favor- FOLLOW this blog (Green colored button on the left side of the screen if you are reading this on your laptop, or on the end of this article if you are reading on your smartphone).

~ KA

How do you know how stressed you are?

stress.png“Stress” has become just another word in our day-to-day life. In fact, the modern urban man is becoming accustomed to use the word “stress” for even a minor discomfort or inconvenience. I always used to wonder how to actually define and quantify this term (a few of my close friends know how much stressed I have been in last few years) that had become a invidious bedfellow of mine.

Last night, I was reading this book called Committed (Sequel of Eat Pray Love) by Elizabeth Gilbert) . Committed takes the story ahead from the point where Eat Pray Love had ended- Liz and Felipe are in love and now due to some unforeseeable circumstances, they must marry. This makes Liz to ponder and research on the entire idea and institution of marriage and the book begins with an extremely interesting account of the history and evolution of matrimony. While reading this book I came to know about the  Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), commonly known as Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, named after two psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe who formulated this scale.

To measure stress according to the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, the number of “Life Change Units” that apply to events in the past year of an individual’s life are added and the final score will give a rough estimate of how stress affects health.

Life event Life change units
Death of a spouse 100
Divorce 73
Marital separation 65
Imprisonment 63
Death of a close family member 63
Personal injury or illness 53
Marriage 50
Dismissal from work 47
Marital reconciliation 45
Retirement 45
Change in health of family member 44
Pregnancy 40
Sexual difficulties 39
Gain a new family member 39
Business readjustment 39
Change in financial state 38
Death of a close friend 37
Change to different line of work 36
Change in frequency of arguments 35
Major mortgage 32
Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30
Change in responsibilities at work 29
Child leaving home 29
Trouble with in-laws 29
Outstanding personal achievement 28
Spouse starts or stops work 26
Beginning or end school 26
Change in living conditions 25
Revision of personal habits 24
Trouble with boss 23
Change in working hours or conditions 20
Change in residence 20
Change in schools 20
Change in recreation 19
Change in church activities 19
Change in social activities 18
Minor mortgage or loan 17
Change in sleeping habits 16
Change in number of family reunions 15
Change in eating habits 15
Vacation 13
Major Holiday 12
Minor violation of law 11

You can add all the points and the final score can be interpreted as follows:-

11-149-You have only a low to moderate chance of becoming ill in the near future.

150-299-You have a moderate to high chance of becoming ill in the near future.

300-600-You have a high or very high risk of becoming ill in the near future.

Did you notice something weird? Because I did. I have no idea how authentic is this scale, or how accurately it can measure your stress level but a few points did amuse me :-

  1. Divorce comes in the second place, next only to death of your spouse. It means even if you are in a failed marriage and it is in best of your interests to end it, the entire legal and emotional wreckage involved with the procedure called ‘Divorce’ can stress you out to the level of actually falling sick.
  2. Marriage itself has a whooping 50 points to contribute to your stress level. Interesting, isn’t it?
  3. Marital reconciliation is also among the toppers! Ofcourse! Don’t we all know that nothing can be as stressful as going back to the same person to live with, whom you have already considered unbearable for once. *grin*

Calculate your level of stress and have fun!

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