THE MERCURIAN TIMES

T’WAS THE LAST CHRISTMAS, THE DAY OF MUSIC’S DEMISE Yet another legend has left for his heavenly abode. Just when 2016 was about to end and one was certain that the year won’t bamboozle anymore after the appalling loss of legends like David Bowie, Prince, Glen Frey and Leonard Cohen -here comes the gut-wrenching news of the demise of yet another legend. Bidding Adieu to GEORGE MICHAEL -may your soul Rest in Peace. The irony being real, it was his Last Christmas. Christmas won’t be the same again. It will be a constant nagging of the loss of a phenomenon, one of the best selling artists of all time, a teenage heartthrob, singer, songwriter and producer. He was a British pop star, who rose to fame with his band Wham!  He was born as Georgias Kyriacos Panayiotou to a Greek Cypriot father and English mother on 25 June, 1963 in London. He formed a boy band Wham! Along with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. Their élan, pizzazz, and spirits captured the hearts of the people making the...

RESOLUTIONS THIS YEAR I WILL WAKE UP AND BE AWESOME TRY,TRY,TRY DREAM BIG LIVE LIFE COLOURFULLY RELAX CREATE EVERY DAY CHOOSE HAPPY  DANCE IN THE RAIN STAY WEIRD CHASE ADVENTURE DO WHAT I LOVE THINK OUTSIDE THE LINES                            BELIEVE I CAN

LETS START THIS YEAR WITH A BANG   A couple more days for another year to end. It sure has been an eventful year; from the presidential elections in the United States to demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes in India, a lot has surely happened in 2016. But as it is said, all is well that ends well.   A new year brings with itself new hopes and aspirations. It’s the time to start afresh, do what you couldn’t in the previous year and achieve heights. Every year all of us set goals for ourselves, but it is only a matter of time in which we find them fading and not long before we have actually given up on them. Till the time it is December, we begin to chide ourselves saying, ‘How we have wasted an entire year and how much we could have actually done?!’  In 2017, let’s change this. Let’s make our resolutions a reality so that when December comes, we can feel proud of what we have attained. Begin with setting realistic targets for yourself and every single day o...

THE BEAUTY OF CHRISTMAS Christmas is the time for giving And for showing that we care, For honouring the child Jesus With the loving gifts and wishes we share. Let us keep Christmas beautiful Without a thought of greed, That it might live forevermore To fill our every need. It's the time for love and joy A time to reshape souls and life, A time to give your heart to everyone Whose lonely sighs show need for such love and joy. Let Christmas be a blessing Not just for you but to everyone you meet in life. Christmas is all about a glorious present that God gave the world more than 2000 years ago; Jesus; to provide for the reconciliation with God and the mankind. The utmost essence of the day is the profound rekindling of hope and the reassurance in the human faith. Essentially, it’s a spirit of love. It is the day reassuring that the hope invaded the world at Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago! But in order to embrace the hope, you need to humble yourselves befor...

THIEVERY  IN BROAD DAY-LIGHT Around one week ago I got a call from an unknown number, the person on the other end said he was calling from State Bank of India and my ATM card had gotten blocked and also that I’ll have to share few details so as to retrieve it, he asked for my aadhar card and ATM card number, fortunately I saw right through his sham, as I didn’t even have a bank account so how could he ask me for these details; I handed the phone to my father and he did the needful. This was an eye-opener; I was relieved as I didn’t have an ATM card but anyone else could have easily fallen into this trap, this is one of the most common ways of looting people. Once my aunt went to an ATM and two friendly bystanders got inside along with her, just as she was about to type the PIN both of them started peeking from over her shoulders; obviously, she panicked, grabbed her card and left but forgot to press the cancel button, within minutes she received a message stating that her...

DIGITAL WALLETS E-business students of SEMCOM college have carried out a survey under their initiative of 'Digital Wallet Mission'  to know the public reception of digital wallets, of the 100 residents surveyed, 78% were in the age group of 15-34 and 34% of them were women; this survey reflected that more than 54 % of them use digital wallets either once or twice a month while 24 % of them use it on regular basis. The acceptance of digital wallets has come with its one-click payment system and is considered as the fastest way of payment by about 50%of the surveyed population. The various offers provided by e-wallet service providers on payments made online attract users to switch to e-wallets over making cash payments. It has been observed that mobile bill payment and recharge have been the primary target for e-payments followed by e-shopping and travel booking. The various problems people face while using mobile wallets include hidden charges, difficulty in ...

LETS INTERN TO LEARN............ An internship makes the classroom’s abstract theories concrete by placing students in a real life work situations with co-workers where they have to perform actual professional tasks which a job carries. Doing an internship gives us a glimpse of the world outside of college and prepares us to face the real life mental pressures which await us in corporate system; besides,internships also enable a student to gain experience and a sense of independence and helps him to apply his theoretical knowledge with a blend of creativity.   Some of the prominent areas wherein you can find internships are: 1.   Sales and marketing: If you are articulate and like to interact with new people, a sales/marketing internship is your ticket to get a first-hand experience of the business world; it improves your confidence and enhances your convincing power, which increases your chances of claiming the title of sponsorship head during your college fest...

Swipe, Press, Click and Pay to go cashless!! On the evening of 8 th November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unpredictable speech on national television which opened the floodgates of facebook memes and whatsapp jokes before making way for any further discussion. All the currency notes of the denominations Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 were to lose legal sanction from that midnight. While the currency notes of Rs. 500 were going to be freshly issued, Rs. 1000 notes were completely done away with, instead fresh Rs. 2000 notes were going to be issued to the public. The objective of this move was to curb black money, corruption and terrorism. Even though people with black money faced hurdles, there were several implications that were inadvertently experienced by the common middle class people, farmers, banks etc. The primary problem faced by public was, while exchanging their own legal cash they had to wait in long queues to deposit their money and take out new currency notes...

HOLISTATIONS        Well Christmas is round the corner and holidays are ringing  chime to our ears,sitting at home is never an option and recreation is just another variation .So to make these holidays a bit more adventurous here are the places that offer us variety of recreations!!!!!!!   AH WELL THAT ALMOST RHYMES!!!!! There is almost a treat around Delhi for all the history and nature lovers , people with exquisite taste for nature and history can have their perfect one day trip to these places on Christmas eve and can have fun with friends and familyand even enjoy some “MEtime” far from the chaos of the capital city.    1).Kuchesar Mud Fort Kuchesar is a  heritage village  located in the Bulandshahr district of  Uttar Pradesh , as is perfect for One  day trip from Delhi . Kuchesar is famous for the  mud fort  built by the Jat rulers here. This 18th century mud fort is surrounded by 200 ac...

DEMONETISATION: GOOD OR EVIL? Demonetisation refers to discontinuing of current currency units and replacing those with new currency units . It is a major decision and impacts all the citizens of the country because the value of the currency held by the public loses value overnight unless you exchange it with new currency units or deposit it in the banks. It is a transformational decision taken by the government to ban Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes from circulation in the market. In consequence thereof these Bank Notes cannot be used for transacting business and/or store of value for future usage. The Specified Bank Notes can be exchanged for value at any of the 19 offices of the Reserve Bank of India and deposited at any of the bank branches of commercial banks/ Regional Rural Banks/ Co-operative banks (only Urban Co-operative Banks and State Co-operative Banks) or at any Head Post Office or Sub-Post Office. The RBI is now issuing new currency notes of the denominations ...

               CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DIWALI Diwali,the festival that marks the victory of light over darkness, the triumph of good over evil , the everlasting win of hope over despair,is a festival of many meanings.The word Diwali is derived from the Sanskrit word  ‘deepawali’ which means ‘rows of ight’. The festival of Deepawali has various cultural connotations for different religious sects in India.According to the hindu legend, this festival marks the victorious return of Lord Rama and Devi Sita to Ayodhya after their 14 years of exile in which Lord Rama defeated the Lankan king Ravana who had abducted Sita  and restored the  victory of good over evil.The people of Ayodhya celeberated this return by lighting earthen lamps and expressed their joy through fireworks. In some parts of India ,like Bengal diwali is associated with goddess Kali killing the demons , Shambhu and Nishambhu, wh...

TRACXN Tracxn, a Palo Alto based start-up, is on a mission to create the world's largest analyst team that tracks start-ups for newbie capital firms, investment banks, corporate developments and universities. It tracks and curates data of millions of start-ups and sectors of interest effortlessly-anything from enterprise security, 3D printing and bitcoin to mobile payments. They mine thousands of signal and bring them together. Started in 2012 by Abhishekh Goyal and Neha Singh, registered in Banglore, operates at both California and Banglore, Tracxn develops and provides a next generation competitive intelligence platform to private companies . It addresses a crucial point of information and connection in the start-up ecosystem. At present, this IT-cum-finance firm works with over 50 venture funds. They aim to position themselves as 'Gartner For Start-ups Information.' Venture funds and corporate development teams subscribe to their coverage based on the are...

POM POM PomPom is a web based recycling company, started by CEO DeepakSethi, 36, who earned an MBA degree from Australia’s Deakin University and Kishore K. Thakur, 56, a commerce graduate from Delhi University. PomPom was established in November 2015. It  reminds people that recycling one tonne of paper can save 17 trees, and recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to run a TV for three hours! The founders invested about Rs. 1 crore in the venture, initially in app development and branding and later in vehicles, manpower, and warehousing. The revenue model is based on sale of recyclables. On the ground, they presently have 11 vehicles, one large Tata cantor, 10 Maruti Eco cars, around 30 staffers and other call centre employees. They are focusing on Delhi at first and are in early talks with schools and hospitals for the initiative. “The inspiration for PomPom came from our experience in the waste management sector,” says Deepak. They noticed that some ef...

InstaCar  Indore-based InstaCar is playing a monumental role changing road travel in India 'ride by ride.' Founded by Ishan Vyas, Anurag Gupta and Priyanshi Choubey, it is a fast-growing taxi rental marketplace with one dream: making each road trip happy. InstaCar became the first start-up in Madhya Pradesh to have received foreign direct investment after it raised $1 million in a seed funding round from Hong Kong-based Swastika Co. Ltd.  The experience of travelling out of town in taxis in India is less than standard. The company that was established with the mission to simplify car rentals for everyone by helping them find the most suitable car in a quick, smart and easy way has brought a revolution in this regard. InstaCar only allocates people who are responsible and trained in quality customer service to drive their cars. According to co-founder Choubey,“ We have trained the drivers to make the experience for the customers memorable. We provide on-the-go sn...

RAW PRESSERY  RAW Pressery was born when Mr Anuj Rakyan suffered from a football injury and was advised by the doctors to increase the intake of vegetables, fruits and proteins. He came up with the idea of  blending different fruits and vegetables in a hydraulic press to prepare fresh juice, the nutrition of which would be directly absorbed into the bloodstream. The former Investment banker, under the guidance of expert nutritionists and dietitians, prepared various recipes specialising in different areas like weight loss, immunity, glowing skin and energy. Raw Pressery came up with a very innovative idea of selling an entire day’s diet plan in bundles. These bundles include different juice bottles labelled with the specific time at which they are supposed to be consumed as per the diet plan and are delivered fresh on the day you want to do a detoxification diet.  The ‘All Good. No Bad.’ message that Raw Pressery spreads is implemented when it comes to t...