The Meaning of Red Roses: Romance and Love! 

 The red rose not only carries the deepest meaning among all the rose colors - It is one of the universal symbols of love and affection. This flower’s long, eventful history lends it a breadth of significance. The red rose has been incorporated into many works of art from classical poetry to paintings. It is also the inspiration for many artists and lovers across cultures. Shakespeare made an allusion to roses in Romeo and Juliet, and the poet Robert Burns created a poem on the beauty of the red rose. In the present day, the red rose figures not only in music and media, but also as religious and political symbols. Because of that, the red rose symbolizes courage, respect, and prosperity, making them an appropriate gift when we want to make a dramatic statement. Among all these meanings however, love is what most people associate with this red flower. Any six-year old can tell you that a red rose is the traditional symbol for romance and love. As the practice of exchanging roses and other flowers as signs of affection grew more popular, the red rose became the flower of choice for lovers because it sends the strongest message of love. This tradition still lives on to the present day. Sending someone a bouquet of red roses is still the most popular way to say “I love you.” Red roses make meaningful gifts for expressing emotions during an anniversary, Valentine’s day, or for no apparent reason at all. For new relationships and budding romances, a bouquet of red rosebuds signifies the start of romantic intentions, a message of commitment, and a tentative invitation to bring the relationship to the next level. Even a single, long-stemmed red rose can evoke a powerful response from its recipient. This is a trait no other flower can convey.
By- Nitin Latwal

Jan Lokpal versus Democracy

BY ANKIT GOYLA

Jan Lokpal Bill promises an independent democratic system, like the Election Commission of India, to ensure corruption free government and to ensure that people’s voice reaches the top authorities as soon as possible and gets some justice. ‘Lokpal’ means ‘ombudsman’ in English and so the bill that suggests the creation of a central system for the representation of the public through such a representative or Lokpal is called as the ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’. 

I think that the institution created because of the passing of this bill would have immense power to prosecute bureaucrats and those in power, even if it is the Prime Minister, in case any of them goes on the wrong path. It would definitely control the amount of corruption in the system and also lessen the number of scams budding in the system. It is a very successful arrangement in a lot of Scandinavian countries and this system needs to be created in India to make India a more efficient democracy. The bill also promises a similar system at the state level which will ensure eradicating corruption from its roots.

Activism has always helped the leaders in a democracy to check and correct themselves. Activism also works as a catalyst in sanctioning any pending decision that is for the good of the government. The Jan Lokpal bill has been sitting in the Rajya Sabha for the past forty two years. But after Anna Hazare’s activism along with his supporters all over the country struggling for the bill to be passed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently has promised that the bill would be introduced in 2011 in the monsoon session of the parliament. And so, we can see that activism is playing the role of an effective catalyst in this case.

So, I would like to conclude by saying that activism and democratically elected institutions can never be on a collision course because activism is an essential element that ensures that democracy is working according to the true democratic principles. Activism also checks that the democratically elected institutions work efficiently even after the people running the institution are elected in a democratic manner. Therefore just electing the people in power through a democratic process in not enough, certain amount of activism is also essential in ensuring that decisions made by these institutions are not wrong and are in the common interest of the public.

IPL versus World Cup

When we talk about World cup, we talk about cricket playing nations being pitted against each other, national fervor, highly charged emotions and patriotism. On the other hand, IPL is a professional league, wherein the concept of clubs and corporatization of cricket comes into the set-up, and thus involves little element of emotions or patriotism.

World Cup has great social appeal because it involves even those in the game who are not avid cricket followers but still watch the match because their nation’s pride is at stake. People are seen going crazy in the stadium painted in their country’s colors. World Cup also involves country’s finest cricketers leading the team towards a common goal and so cricket fans get to see them work together in a do or die fashion and so it becomes popular amongst cricket enthusiasts. In fact, in India, we experience unofficial ‘Bharat Bandh ’ when a match like India vs. Pakistan is held. Heavy viewership during World Cup matches attracts the sponsorship from mega brands and corporate houses because it provides the right exposure and visibility to them. But, World cup is primarily sports and then business or anything else. Usually only big brands or the brands that can afford such expensive but short slots get to advertise themselves.

IPL, conversely, is more of business, and so even small brands get a platform to gain exposure and visibility. It has introduced the new concept of clubs, cheer leaders and players from different countries coming together in one team which makes it more popular. But even though TRP maybe high for IPL because of the entertainment factor, nothing can compare the kind of viewership for India vs. Pakistan match in world cup or for every time when India made it to the finals in the same. But then, it has less of social appeal because it is pure entertainment masaala and less about emotions or patriotism. 

Conclusively, I think, IPL is a successful venture by the BCCI and has become popular but not as popular as the matches that are played between countries with long history of rivalry in the cricket world. Also, IPL is not as socially binding as the World Cup because of the lack of feeling of patriotism to it. But IPL definitely is all about business and so has more marketing appeal to it than the World Cup. Both the formats are liked by some and disliked by others.