Anti-Boredom Month - July 

How many times has that ‘oh so peppy ‘ voice at the FM station seemed like a drag to you, on your way back from work? How many yawns did you smother at the meeting? How many times did you look at the watch during the day that seemed endlessly long and routine? Bored, stiff? Well, so are the teeming masses at corporate offices around the world. They get caught up in the web of a string of mindlessly mundane activities.

It is estimated that, at any given time, there are 10 million people    suffering from depression. Of these, an estimated 10 percent will commit suicide. The Boring Institute, a clearinghouse for information about boredom, says that, of the signs most frequently listed as indicators of depression, boredom is almost always neglected.

"The next time someone tells you they’re bored to death," says Alan Caruba, the institute’s founder, "take it seriously."

The American Psychological Association lists "Finding little or no pleasure in life" and "experiencing a change in eating or sleeping patterns," along with "losing interest in hobbies or sleeping patterns" among the signs of depression, "but the presence of an extended period of boredom is not mentioned," says Caruba. "It should be. It is just too easy to dismiss boredom as something that will just go away on its own. Minor efforts to encourage a young executive or an aged parent to "get over it" are usually the only effort made.

Originally and continuing still, The Boring Institute was created to poke fun at celebrities, movies, television, and other media-related personalities and events that are fraught with boredom as the result of over-exposure. "Anti-Boredom Month" came about as the result of Caruba’s growing recognition that boredom was tied to many personal and social problems. In 1985, he created the event to call attention to the life-threatening aspects of boredom.

In addition to depression and suicide, Caruba says that boredom is tied to social problems that include addictions, crime, divorce, the decision to drop out of school, loss of productivity on the job, low voter turnout for elections, and other problems affecting individuals and society in general.

Courtesy: The Boring Institute, USA

Independence Day Thought: August 15, 2006 

"She (India) has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim ... her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity. From Persia to the Chinese sea, from the icy regions of Siberia to Islands of Java and Borneo, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales, and her civilization!" -- Sylvia Levi 

Onset of autumn…and festivities… -------September, 2006

Autumn…a season of changes…of azure blue skies and cotton clouds lazily skidding by. A time to gear up to the festivities around… to soak up the resonance of  ‘dhaak-beats’…and feel the white softness of swaying ‘kaashphool’. Let us usher in the season of gaiety.