Indian Institute of Students

The topic "Nature v/s Nurture: What Shapes our Personality?" has been a controversial and a debatable topic since four hundred years ago when Shakespeare, in “The Tempest” mentioned about these two aspects of our lives. Between the tussle amongst Nurture and Nature, nurture plays the more important role in shaping our personalities. I will be sharing my view for the nurture side, as I am a firm believer of this fact myself. Shakespeare first introduced to us the Nature v/s Nurture debate four hundred years ago, in his literary play known as "The Tempest".  What actually is nurture? Nurture in the sense of this debate is the ideology that the environment in which a child grows up determines his personality, and not by inherited genes or characteristics, i.e. nature. According to a popular theory backed by psychologists, every one of us is born with a blank slate or “Tabula Rasa”. It means that who we are is determined by what we learn and observe. A very go...

Meet Siddharth Slathia. Aged just 22 years, and hailing from Jammu, India, he is one of the best in the pool of talented young Indians who just love music. Music is his world. You can, if you want, view his covers of Bollywood songs in his YouTube channel-  SiddharthSlathia . He has done a large number of playbacks including recent hits " Banjara " and " Galliyan ".   I got an opportunity to conduct an interview with him. Here's what he had to say.  1. Do you have ambitions of full-time singing as a profession?   A: Of course! I have already recorded 11 songs with the Saregama record label and aspiring to do bollywood playback and my own pop albums as soon as I get good opportunities from the industry. I also compose and have at least 50 original compositions ready. 2. What are you doing now, at present, apart from your singing?  A: I am pursuing Bachelor of Music from Jammu University and I was also working as the Chief...

I was asked recently to speak on this topic. In a hurry, I scripted this, and to my surprise, my audience applauded. I think you'll like this as well, so I decided to share it with you all. Read on..  Many people have a phobia of snakes. But people, like the snake charmers, love to play with these mystical creatures. We see a snake charmer toying with a snake, by attempting to make it sway sidewise, just by playing his instrument. Factually speaking, snake charmers carry out a profession that is deemed illegal, and is prohibited by laws of the land. In today’s world, it is next to impossible to spot them in urban cities. These snake charmers earn most of their money by performing shows in rural areas. This is because law enforcement and police bodies are less stringent than that in big towns and cities. These people play their musical instrument, to make the ophidian reptile “dance” to their tune. In reality, snakes are visually blind. What more, they cannot even ...

L ittle do we recognize the value of our subconscious mind. This mind of ours has great potential, and almost everything that we do or react to eventually arises from our subconscious mind. Just that, it has to be played a trifle with. I will be sharing a hint from our daily lives, a fresh incident that is bound to amaze you. Read on, and you'll understand what I am really trying to say.     Representational photo.  Ramesh Ramaiah /Wikimedia Organisation It was three days back when I travelled to the town of Bandel to meet my grandparents who reside there. All well and good. Yesterday was the date to return. I boarded the Bardhaman-Howrah down train, and was surprised to find that most of the seats were empty. Quickly, I grabbed hold of a seat and in a moment was seated. Stations came, and they passed by. It was after the train passed Chandannagore station that a blind young man, probably in his twenties, boarded the same compartment and started playing a banjo-lik...

Two days after winning the Indian Premier League cup, two time champions Kolkata Knight Riders were felicitated today at the Eden Gardens. The Knights have equaled the record of holding the cup for two years after the Chennai Super Kings, led by India skipper M.S Dhoni. The felicitation program was organised jointly by the Cricket Association of Bengal and the West Bengal government. Well, honestly, I could not visit the Stadium- and I did a good thing. According to reports, there was utter chaos before the program was to begin. It was so worse that mounted police had to be brought in to control the situation. Thousands could not even enter the stadium because it was already over-packed. However, at the end of the day it was all good and fine. It soon became known that the King of the Knights, Shah Rukh Khan will arrive late to the party because of a delay in flight. The anchors for the day, June Banerjee and Rudraneel did a fine job. Greatly aided by Usha Uthup, who kept the ...