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Transcript of Stills-December
www.readstills.com
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OF
COVER STORY
PROGRAMMING
FUTURE PAGE...5
INSIDE:
Sports 2013 Collage.....& More!!
Dress like you’ve hired a stylist
World’s best trekking locations
Photographer Bhawana Verma’s Interview
DECEMBER 2013
What’s inside ?What’s inside ?
Style.........3How to dress like you’ve hired a stylist.
Tech............5The future of programming
Sports........9Sports 2013 Collage
People.....13Photographer Bhawana Verma’s Interview.
Enhancing creativity, empowering children.
Travel.....17Most amazing trekking locations of the world.
Lifestyle..20Best places to eat around the world for Christmas
A complete information on the current and future world of programming. Also find interesting information on types of programmers and find which one are you!
Learn how to be your own professional stylist with a quick review of common mistakes.
A summary of the important sports events in the year 2013 - A phenomenal year surely in history of sports! Who knows where you would end up
celebrating. We have laid out the best places in the world to eat around during Christmas!
If you want take your adventure spirit to whole new level, get this down in your to-do list!
Amateurs or professionals. Take a bow to this professional. Exclusive Interview by STILLS
A must read for everyone and we hope that it inspires you to volunteer for a social cause..
How to dress
like you’ve hired A
Style
stylist
Don't buy everything from one place. Don't let merchandisers fool you with their impressive
brand name presence and marketing! It is great to
take a gander at store's display to get inspiration, yet
don't download the window showcase of your
favourite store onto your body. What you should do is
that you mix and match and do whatever it takes not
to purchase everything from one store. The chances
are that the window dresser is nowhere near as
stylish as you could be, don't you think? Shops will
dependably orchestrate their clothes on hooks or
presentations to demonstrate to you how all the
pieces they're offering can work together... So if you
catch yourself admiring one skirt at a distance, then
snatching up item after item thinking you're making
some miraculous, Nobel-worthy style-discoveries,
hold onto your shopping basket for a second and
exhale quietly. This capsule outfit you're collating,
comprising pieces conveniently positioned parallel to
each other could be about to render you style victim.
Resembling a walking talking manifestation of H&M
or Zara's spring collection is not going to win you any
style followers. You will look one dimensional. It's so
clear and frustrating when you see a fabulous looking
lady from far off, however when you get up close, you
understand she's essentially beautified herself in
garments gathered singularly from the front
showcase of Zara.
Something about being stylish hinges on upon
mystery. Blend and match your looks from better
places — present the odd surprising item, for
example a family treasure or something you got as a
gift or you singled out your ventures.
AccentsStyle intensifying really identifies with patterns: the
little or minor ways an overwhelming pattern gets
joined into your every day wardrobe... With the rights
stresses brought into your fundamental dress
consolidations, you'll still seem as though you,
however only a little a greater amount existing apart
from everything else.
Never try too hard
Neon: Neon ought to be presented in pieces. It's
exceptionally vital to remember the foundation
sense of taste for your neon execution: for daytime
camel and white tones work preferable with neons
than black. This arrangement keeps the look crisp
without too harsh a difference... Fuschia pinks and
oranges will work flawlessly on Indian skin tones...
By and large, be careful about neon on the lower
hald of your physique. Settle on something like a
harsh corrosive green smaller than expected skirt
with a slack white T-shirt over fuschia stockings or
trousers — these are much harder to force off.
Animal prints: It is not phenomenal that ladies go
gaga for this addictive material so devotedly that
they are unable to quit wearing it. What is the most
effective method to detect this in your friends? Their
world turns into one huge chasing cabin, made from
panther print totes, stilettos, nail craftsmanship,
telephone spreads, and even quilts. Utilize the
animal print in accents and accessories such as a
leopardprint cardigan. Moreover, provided that
you're trying for an ultra striking panther print dress
and you feel a little hesitant, balance the tone with a
dark cardigan instead of a sequined jacket.
Vintage: It flies above second-hand clothes when
the designs are famous of a specific period, without
trading off on the quality or fit of the piece of
clothing... Colour fading is not dependably self-
evident, particularly in shabby shops, so dependably
hold your picked piece up to the light before you
purchase to guarantee nothing has been bleached
or spoilt. In conclusion, check for development
pieces of information as indications of value which
have which have withstood the sands of time: boned
bodices, hand sewing, flat lining, bound buttonholes,
handset zippers, covered buttons, piped seams,
bias-bound edges, bound seam allowances, silk
linings. These are all telltale signs of quality
construction in any era.
FUTURE OF PROGRAMMING
A considerable measure of things that appeared insane
ideas (GUI, Prolog, the Internet, E-mail) came to be
reality and revolutionary, yet we could be still held back
today by the same doubt over some IT advancements.
Programming is changing. The PC era is reaching a
closure, and programming engineers now work with a
blast of mechanisms, work capacities, and issues that
need diverse approaches from the single machine
period. In our period of exploding information, the ability
to do some kind of programming is increasingly
important to every job, and programming is no longer the
sole preserve of an engineering priesthood. Where is
this article headed? The objective is to have the ability to
depict the kind of programmers, key aptitudes that
programmers require for the nearing decade, the spots
they might as well centralize their studying, and
separating between fleeting patterns & long haul shifts
and at last the conclusion portraying the semantics of
programmer mentality.
A standout amongst the most treacherous types of
technical debt is what Sebastian Sylvan, an Employee
of Microsoft, calls future-coding. You may additionally
call it over-engineering, second-system syndrome, and
so forth. Its code is composed in an excessively
expound and general path with a specific end goal to,
what's to come coder explanations, pre-emptively
handle use cases that we will "most likely see in future to
come".
Sylvan finds it a larger number of deceptive than plain
"stupid code" in light of the fact that it transcendently
influences brilliant individuals. It's basically savvy
individuals with restricted experience – once you see the
downsides of prospective coding a couple of times, you
have a tendency to thump it off (despite the fact that
there are influential affirmation predispositions at work)
– however still, these are brilliant individuals you'd need
to contract and keep around in you association in light of
the fact that they'll do extraordinary.
The Two Street Lights Story
Let's say you're making a game where a large portion
of the time the player is navigating an urban
environment. One day the artists ask for a feature to
make it easier to place street lights in a level. They say:
“Can we have a way to click a path through the level
and have the game place lights at an even spacing
along it?” This seems like an easy enough request, so
you start implementing it.
Here's where our story forks into two divergent paths.
First option – the pragmatic coder
The pragmatic coder writes some quick UI in the editor
where the artist clicks on points in the level that gets
stored into an array.
On the runtime side he writes a dozen-line for-loop that
simply walks the path segments at equal spacing and
spawns a street light each time. Job done, the
pragmatic coder moves on to the next task.
Second option – the future-coder
The future-coder writes the same UI as the pragmatic
coder, but for the runtime he decides upon a different
approach. After all, he's read books about design
patterns and large scale software design, and he
knows about the importance of the Single
Responsibility Principle, and keeping code factored
for changes that might occur in the future.
Thus, he decides to abstract over the exact type of
path used. Sure, the artists only asked for a simple
path today, but in the future they might want a B-spline
or some other kind of curve, so he pulls out the logic for
the path into its own Path object that can step along the
curve in some kind of iterator fashion. Of course, that's
not enough, in order to change the behavior of the
curve he puts this Path object behind an interface and
adds a factory to spawn the right kind of path based on
some kind of configuration parameter. He also
updates the UI to allow for future kinds of paths. Maybe
he even implements a B-spline option just so that he
can test this properly with more than one option.
He has added a lot of new classes and glue code, and the
code that actually uses it is a lot more opaque and hard to
read than what the pragmatic programmer came up with.
It will be worth it in the future, however, when this extra
flexibility will pay off. The future-coder goes home late
today, but feels good that he's written an elegant system
that will stand the test of time, rather than just a dumb
one-off implementation.
DIFFERENT PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT
TRENDS:-
Distributed computing
The "typical" environment in which coding happens
today is truly not quite the same as that of a decade back.
Given targets, for example web applications, mobile and
big data, the notion that a program only involves a single
computer has disappeared. For the programmer, that
means we must grapple with problems such as
concurrency, locking, asynchronicity, network
communication and protocols. Indeed, the most
fundamental of web programming will lead you to
commonality with ideas, for example caching.
In light of these weights we see phenomena at diverse
levels in the computing stack. At a large amount, cloud
computing tries to moderate the harass of keeping up
numerous machines and their system; at the application
advancement level, systems attempt to exemplify
recognizable examples and theoretical away tiresome
detail; and at the dialect level, concurrency and systems
administration computing is made more straightforward
by the characteristics offered by dialects, for example Go
or Scala.
Device computing
Look around your home. There are processors and
programming in practically every electronic unit you
have, which surely puts your Pc in a little minority. Not
everyone will be occupied with programming for
embedded apparatuses; however numerous designers
will surely need to study what it is to create for a cell
telephone. What's more in the not so removed future
autos, rambles, glasses and keen dust.
Indeed, inside additional universal computing, the
ascent of the GPU exhibit as a progressed information
crunching coprocessor needs non-customary
programming. Diverse structure components require
distinctive programming methodologies. Hobbyists and
prototypers apparently equivalent are carrying
equipment to existence with Arduino and Processing.
Languages and programmers should react to issues
long ago the realm of authorities, for example low
memory and CPU speeds, force utilization, radio
correspondence, hard and soft real-time requirements.
Data computing
The predominant type of programming today, object
introduction, is for the most part threatening to
information. Its keep tabs on conduct wraps up
information in access methods, and wraps up
accumulations of information more tightly. In the
mathematical world, information simply is, it has no
conduct, yet the rigors of C++ or Java require
developers to stress over how it is entered.
As information and its dissection develop in vitality,
there's a comparing ascent being used and
prominence of languages that treat information as
a top notch native. Clearly, measurable languages,
for example R are climbing on this tide, yet inside
universally useful programming there's an
inclination to languages, for example Python or
Clojure, which make information less demanding
to control.
Democratized computing
More individuals than at any other time are into
programming. These shrewd, uncounted,
coincidental developers wrangle mystery in Excel
macros, create Javascript and paste stuff together
with web administrations, for example IFTTT or
Zapier. Sensibly, they know small about software
advancement, and aren't intrigued by it either.
Then again, a large portion of these cool
programmers will find it simple to create a mess and
cause harm, all while just really needing to finish
things. At the very most, this is pestering, best case
scenario, an obligation for managers. Additionally,
its not the programmer's blame.
In what capacity can suppliers of programmable
environments serve the "unintentional developer"
better? Do we require new languages, better
frameworks in existing languages? Is it true that it is
an instructive concern? It is safe to say that it is even
an issue whatsoever, or just life?
There are insights towards an alternate future from
Bret Victor's work, and activities, for example
Scratch and Light Table.
Unsafe computing
At long last, it is worth looking at the house of cards
we're building with our present approach to software
improvement. The issue is basic: the mind can just fit
such a great amount of inside it. To be a programmer
today, you have to have the capacity to execute the
program you're composing inside your head.
The point when the issue space gets too huge, our
response is to compose a framework that makes the
issue space more diminutive once more.
- Fenil Dedhia(references and sources mentioned at the end)
Along these lines we have working systems that run on
top of Cpus. Libraries and client interfaces that run on
top of working systems. Application frameworks that run
on top of the aforementioned libraries. Web browsers
that run on top of the aforementioned. Javascript that
runs on top of programs. Javascript libraries that run on
top of Javascript. What's more we know it won't stop
there.
We're like goal-oriented waiters stacking one teacup on
top of the other. At this time, it looks pretty unbalanced.
We're making quicker and more powerful CPUs, yet
getting the same sort of subjective application execution
that we did a decade back. Security openings develop in
frameworks that put substantial amounts of systems at
danger.
Why would it be advisable for us to utilize PCs as this,
concurrently building a house of cards and restricting
computing power to that which the programmer can fit in
their mind? Is there an approach to hit reset on this view
of software?
CONCLUSION
“The most dangerous thought that you can have as a
creative person,
is to think that you know what you are doing
because, once you think you know what you are doing
you stop looking around for other ways of doing
things" –Bret Victor.
We presumably all have a spot of the future-coder in us,
however we should oppose him! The end result is that
the future-coder practically never wins. In reality,
anticipating the future is basically inconceivable, so
don't even attempt. It hardly ever pays off. Best case,
you've recently squandered a ton of time, however in
reality reflection has cognitive overhead all around the
task when perusing or debugging code, and can make it
harder to manage unanticipated changes (incidentally),
and also cause execution issues. Also indeed, when it
does pay off it doesn't really purchase every one of you
that much and is really a net negative on the grounds
that it skews your instinct into believing that future-
coding is an exceptional thing.
The human mind didn't advance to think in conceptual
terms. You will likely have recognized this when
attempting to comprehend another numerical thought –
its much simpler assuming that you begin with cement
illustrations instead of the completely general definitions
and verifications! Basic code that simply does one thing
in the stupidest way that is available sits down for a bit for
somebody to comprehend, while assuming that you
need to hop through unique classes and factories it can
take a crazy measure of time to comprehend
something that really isn't all that complicated.
All these extra virtual calls act as barriers to inlining, in
addition to the overhead of the virtual function calls
themselves, which cause performance issues. Yes,
you've been told that you shouldn't worry about
performance for code that isn't in a hotspot, but the
reality is that for many applications there aren't any
real hotspots anymore. It's depressing to look at the
profiler for gameplay code and see that your warmest
“hotspot” takes 5% of your frame time, and has already
been optimized to death. By that time it's often too late
– performance has been siphoned off by tens of
thousands of small inefficiencies added over many
years, all because people didn't want to worry about
minor performance hits for code that wasn't on the
mythical “hot-path”. Simple code tends to be cheaper
to execute, most of the time, in addition to being better
in almost every other way as well.
We should just hack things together in the quickest
way possible, with no regard for future maintainability?
No, of course not. We should focus on doing things in
the simplest way possible, not the quickest way
possible. Often, the simplest way requires removing a
bunch of cruft that has accumulated over time,
deleting stateful flags, pulling logic out into clearly
You may as well enhance for straightforwardness,
coherence and modifiability. Provided that you do, you
will likewise wind up with code that is more maintainable,
simple to change and upgrade in the future. Take the
case above where our heroes required to include
underpin for a B-spline. Wouldn't it be great if we could
accept that there was no library for introducing a B-spline
as of recently with the intention that they needed to
include it. We'd need both sorts of programmers to haul
that code out into its own function. The motivation for
doing this isn't to try to predict the future, though! You pull
it out into its own function because doing so makes the
code easier to read today, by making sure the B-spline
functionality is hidden behind a sensibly named function
instead of cluttering up the “flow” of the main function
with unnecessary details. The minor cognitive cost of the
extra function call is vastly outweighed by the increased
readability of hiding unimportant details. It's not about
predicting the future, it's about increasing readability.
Sensibly named function calls without side effects very
nearly dependably add progressively to coherence then
they require, in the event that they're virtual less thus,
assuming that they have symptoms even less in this way,
provided that they're in a class even less along these
lines, et cetera.
It's all a trade-off and the break-even point for any
given abstraction will change depending on the
specifics of what you're doing. Not many deliberation
strategies have no merit whatsoever, however the
way to programmer hell is cleared with best-
practices, connected too early. You might as well
delay applying these deliberation systems until the
cognitive and different expenses of utilizing them are
unmistakably exceeded by their profits (e.g. when
you have exhibited reusability for a segment). There
are regularly genuine systems even in game
engines where its splendidly sensible to apply a
considerable lot of the reflection systems you've
perused about in books about outline designs and
huge scale software plan and so forth., yet the lion's
share of code is better off assuming that you keep
things straightforward, and abstain from attempting
to predict the future.
References & Source: Sebastian Sylvan & Edd
Dumbill's and Bret Victor's articles and video
respectively on future of programming.
Who are you? I’m a programmer
Sports SPORTS ENDEAVORS 2013AT A GLANCE – (India)
For sports Year 2013 has been the year of major
sporting events. The year was full of achievements as
well as significant turnarounds for Indian sports world.
Let's have a glance at major sports happenings of this
year in India.
India defeated West Indies by 2-0.
To begin with, in cricket, India won test series against
West Indies by 2-0 on West Indies tour to India. Last
match of the series played in Wankhede stadium
Mumbai. In this last match India defeated Indies by an
innings and 126 runs.
Left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was declared as man of
the match for taking 10 wickets while Rohit Sharma as
man of the series for scoring 288 in two innings. Pragyan th Is the 7 Indian left arm spinner who took 10 wickets in
a test match. With this series Sachin Tendulkar declared
retirement from international cricket.
Sachin retires from international cricket.
Legendary cricketer and India's pride Sachin has th
played 200 test at Wankhede stadium, Mumbai
against West Indies and announced his retirement
from international cricket. The moment was an
emotional moment for every cricket fan in India and
world. Along with this an official announcement has
been done from prime minister's office that Sachin
will be awarded with Bharat Ratna award. Many
famous personalities recommended him for this
award. He is the first sportsperson to be given this
honor.
rd3 Asian Champions trophy: India stands fifth:
rdIndian Men's hockey team defeated Oman by 6-1 in 3
Asian Champions trophy at Japan. Pakistan won the title
for the series. Indian women's team finished with silver at
end of series.
It has been announced by FIH recently that India will be
hosting the 2018 Men's hockey world of cup.
TH18 Asian Archery competition: India won gold.
thIndian men team finished with gold in Taipei in 18 Asian
Archery competition with 2086 points. The Trio of
Abhishek Verma, Sandeep Kumar and Ratan Singh won
over Korean0 Men's trio making nation proud and
assured for a bright future of archery.
In a series of seven matches India won by 3-2
against Australia.
India defeated Australia by 3-2 in a series of seven
matches .In the last ODI of series played in
Bangalore Australia is defeated by 57 runs chasing
the target of 383 by India. Rohit Sharma shined in
this match by scoring 209 in 158 balls with the help of
stunning 16 sixes. From Australian side Faulkner
scored the fastest century of ODI in 57 balls. Rohit
Sharma was declared man of the match and man of
the series.
Along with this Virat Kohli is declared as No.1
Batsman in international cricket ranking.He scored
total 344 runs with an average of 114.66.He jumped
by 3 points after the series and secured no.1
position. Shikar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are
under top 20 of this list.
WTA placed Sania in top 10 in world women's
doubles ranking
- Prachi Sharma
In latest WTA ranking declared in October 2013, Sania th th jumped from 11 to 9 position. She won two
consecutive titles of Pan pacific and China open in
month of October and thus consecutively stepped up by
positions in World ranking. Number one ranking is
shared by Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani. Both the ladies
belong to Italy.
IBL- Hyderabad Hotshots became first winner.
The IBL tournament was inaugurated in New Delhi in
August. This tournament offered the highest prize
money ever for any badminton tournament in world. The
Prize money was amount of 1000 US dollar which was
given to Saina Nehwal as winner of the women's
singles.
Hyderabad Hotshots won the first Indian Badminton
League title 2013.Hyderabad Hotshots won over
Awadhe warriors in the final clash.The match was
played in Sardar Patel stadium, Mumbai.
For women's title Saina Nehwal for Hyderabad Hotshots
won over PV Sindhu and for Men's title Gurusai Dutt
deafeted by Ajay Jayaram.
ITF Doubles 2013: Sanam Singh and
Vijayant Malik won the title.
ITF Men's future Tennis doubles tournament had been
organized this October 2013.
The title was won by Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik
of India .The title winners awarded with an amout of
US dollar 15000 .They won against Evan King of USA
And Costin Paval of Romania by 7-6, 6-4.
PV Sindhu secured bronze in BWF
world championship 2013.
Indian badminton player P V Sindhu secured a Bronze
in BWF Championship 2013.She was defeated by
Ratchanok Inthanon in semifinals. She became the
third Indian Player after Prakash Padukone and
Ashwin Ponnappa to win a medal in BWF world
championship.Ratchanok Intanon of Thiland won
Gold and Le Xuirui of China finished with silver medal.
Junior Women Hockey world cup 2013: India
brought home first bronze medal.
Indian women hockey has a bright future, clear
indications are given by Junior Women Hockey team
when they brought the first bronze medal to India in
junior hockey. India won the match against England in
penalty shootout by 3-2. The tournament was
organized in Monchengladbach, Germany this July
.Netherlands leads the tournament with gold and
Argentina finished with Silver. Indian vice –captain
and forward Rani declared as player of the
tournament.
Archery world cup (Stage 3): thIndians at 4 position.
Archery World cup was organized this year in July in
Colombia. Indians finished fourth by winning one gold
and two bronze. Deepika Kumari won gold and a
bronze for India while she paired with Antanu Das to
win another bronze against Mexico in mixed team.
She managed 4 perfect 10s against China to win gold
for her team.
T-20 international series: Indian women team
won against Bangladesh:
Women Cricket team of India Won the T-20 series with a
fantastic victory of 3-0 against Bangladesh. The last
match of the series was played in Vadodra in which
India won by 10 runs against Bangladesh. Bangladesh
was chasing a target of 129 but finished with 113/7 in
twenty over.
India looses series by 1-2.
India although won the third and final match against
Pakistan in Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi but lost the
series 1-2 against Pakistan. Matches Played at
Chennai and Kolkata were won by Pakistan.The
series was played in early Jan 2013.
Overall the year was satisfactory for Indian athletes
and sportspersons and given the clues that India is
growing as sporting nation accepting new
challenges.
People
Bhawana Verma*Photographer
1.How did photography became your passion and profession?I always had the quest to learn something new and I started photography just for fun. I was fortunate to have met my mentor Ashok Salian under whose guidance I learnt the art of photography which gradually became my passion and now a profession.
2.How do you educate yourself to take better photographs?I like experimenting and exploring something new, be it with lights or creating new looks. In fact, my quest to learn something new got me into doing different kinds of photography be it street, candid, beauty or fashion. So in a way this quest of trying out new things helped me in understanding what kind of photography I enjoy the most. Besides this, I like to keep myself updated about new fashion trends. I also like to take feedback from my mentor whenever possible.
3 . H o w w o u l d y o u describe your style?How long have you been a photographer?My Style is Candid and I enjoy capturing people the most. As I specialize in beauty and fashion photography I like to add this element of candidness to capture the uniqueness of my subject. I started photography 3 years back when my hubby gifted me my first dslr camera. The journey from b e i n g a n a m a t e u r s t r e e t photographer to becoming professional fashion photographer
4.If you had to choose one lens which would it be and why?My favorite lens is 85mm. It is a great lens to capture portraits.
5 .What would you advice to the young photographers?Try everything. Fashion, Photojournalism, portraiture, nudes, whatever. You won't know what kind of photographer you are until you try it. Besides t h i s , u n d e r s t a n d t h a t photography is an art and a creative person first develops passion for his talent then his talent may get him commercial work. So first try to develop the passion for photography before you think of making it your profession.
has been beautiful. I would like to thank my hubby for always encouraging me and my mentor for his guidance and blessings.
/bhawanavermaphotography
Contact:
An ace Photographer with speciality in styles: Fashion, Portrait, Candid, Interior and
Travel.
STILLS exclusive Interview with
Bhawana Verma:
We at STILLS are excited to present to you an exclusive short interview of one of the rising ace photographers of our country - Bhawana Verma. One look at her website or facebook page will impress you; We guarantee!
Photography is all about capturing that perfect slice of time and aesthetics. Why do we take photos? To capture memories, to capture moments, to tell stories and tocommunicate with others. Why do we need photographers? Or why we are debted to them as a society? the answer is they help meet the needs of our community. It’s about giving people a visual reminder of their beauty and dignity. It’s about making individual connections with others who deserve it. It’s about really seeing people – the lens is just a tool to facilitate that connection. Photography is a very challenging and creative field and we at STILLS immensely respect all photographers!
thanks Bhawana Verma to take time out for this Interview! STILLS
www.bhawanaverma.com
With a Master's degree in Computer Application Bhwana Verma could have landed on a job with one of the software giants, but she had art of photography as her muse, in her mind and heart. She chose to create magic with camera and made a profession out of her passion.
Enthusiastic and bubbling with ideas, Bhawana has lent her creative skills to a large number of assignments that include fashion photography, model portfolio, magazines, catalogs for eminent designers and celebrities.
Enhancing Creativity, Nurturing Humanity and Building Lives, such great things are promised at most of the NGOs but very very few of them benefit society and leave an impact. One such organization is the Swapn Organization located in Delhi. Swapn is a marathi word meaning “Dream” and the organizations motto is to fulfil dreams. They work with underprivileged children and women, equipping them to better deal with the future. Swapn as an organization is tirelessly working to live up to its name and promise of making dreams come true. Their contribution and successful events in the society testify their perseverance, honesty and hardwork. If you really want to donate your hard-earned money ensuring it's worthwhile or contribute to the society by participating, you have found the right place.
The two main pillars and essence of the organization's vision are Dr. Rachna Khanna Singh and Khushi Soni who come from very distinct professional fields. As a musician, one understands and appreciates the flourish of creativity and its importance in an individual's life. As a medical and mental health professional, the other brings a perspective and a different life experience to the table. Together, they both acknowledge the cathartic value of music & art and the power it holds in shaping one's life. In an effort to give back to the society, they envision a more constructive social environment and the exigent need to turn this vision & dream into a reality! As we know, the present situation of the under privileged class of India is pitiabler wherein people, especially children and women are reluctant to even dream, let alone trying to fulfil them. Swapn helps them in daring to dream and harness their potential in order to create a bright future for India.
Events conducted by Swapn:*Eye Care Camps
These camps provided people with free of cost eye
check-ups and spectacles. About 4,848 people have
visited the camps where 1,614 spectacles have
been provided to them and 637 cataracts have been
diagnosed by the camp doctors.
*Donation in Kind
Swapn distributed blankets to Earth Servers, NGO,
Blind School and Basti People. Swapn also provided
food to blind children studying in Janta Andh Vidyalaya.
*Crisis Intervention Call
Their counsellors are also currently a part of the
Crisis Intervention Cell of the Delhi Police which
mainly looks at providing help via counselling to the
rape victims as well as their families. In this venture
our counsellors go to the site where the rape has
taken place and counsel the victims there.
*Mentorship
A group of privileged kids from SWAPN go to slums
regularly and mentored the children there for whatever little
our children can teach. Games: underprivileged children
are taught games like SCRABBLE, CHESS; Read Aloud
Stories: privileged kids read out moral stories in english and
hindi to underpriviliged children; Art and Clay Modelling is
also taught. Many reputed schools have been a part of this.
*Uttrakhand Flood Relief Camps
Swapn helped the flood victims in Uttarakhand. So far 5
truck loads full of food, clothes, tents and other
necessities have been sent to Uttrakhand to help the
victims rehabilitate. Two of their team members were
placed in Uttrakhand constantly and were helping the
victims rebuild their homes.
*I LEAD INDIA
The I Lead India Youth Brigade is an activist programme
which is currently active in 27 cities of India & seeks to
mobilize the youth, between 18-24 years of age, to make
them agents of change. In every city 5 members are
selected as Youth Brigade who then brings about a change
under the able guidance of an experienced mentor.
The programs being enforced by the organization are:
*Healthcare: Education, Awareness and
Medical Service?Free health checkups
?Awareness and educational programs on
nutrition, hygiene, substance abuse and
sexual health etc
*Mental Health
?Assessment of mental health needs and
avenues for dealing with it
?Psychological counseling to develop and
strengthen coping strategies aimed at
addressing mental health needs.
?Alternative therapies like Art Therapy/
Music Therapy/ Play therapy
?Developing self expression and creativity
enhancement through various workshops
*Education
?Teaching via interactive means
?Formal education & classroom learning
?Outbound camps for experiential learning
*Personality Development
Encouraging all-round development through
training in
?Arts & Crafts
?Music
?Dance
?Theatre
?Sports
Swapn is always ready to welcome new
volunteers who would like to help them in their
mission by donating their time, energy and
skills. Volunteer opportunities are available in
the areas of Teaching, Project Development
and Management, Fund-raising, Marketing,
Corporate Social Responsibility, Information
Technology, Graphic Design, Counselling and
other various areas.
CONTACT SWAPN:
Dr. Rachna K. Singh: +919810021945
Khushi Soni: +919899151515
Support them in a new project or ongoing
initiative with your:
1.Time – become a volunteer and also
involve your employees
2.Energy & Expertise – teaching, technical
skills, organizing events/campaigns, etc.
3.Funding – they require both monetary
funding as well as supplies/resources (ex:
stationary, computers, building space for
our education centres, etc.)“Sometimes giving a hand to someone could mean the world to them.”
*Flash Mob
As a supporting hand towards the flood victims, SWAPN
organized the FLASH MOB with over 150 privileged and
underprivileged children. It was the First Ever Children's
Equality Flash Mob of the world. Intention was to make
the children aware of the Uttrakhand Floods as well as
make them sensitive by bringing the children together in
support of the victims. Through their endeavour they
hoped to impart a sense of equality, humanity and
cohesiveness among the children.
People Enhancing creativityempowering children
*Public- Police PartnershipAn ongoing project with the Delhi Police in which
workshops are being conducted for Police Officials at
all levels. It has been covered in various media
channels. So far the 20 workshops have been
conducted with over 700 officials.
*Book.art (an art exhibition by the children for the
children)
An exhibition was put up of the canvases painted by kids,
where in the art pieces were displayed and put for sale.
Post the exhibition the money collected was utilized in
bringing stationary kits for 100 underprivileged children.
*Self- Development Workshop in Restaurants
Workshops are being conducted for the personality
development as well as communication skills
enhancement of people from lower strata of the society
and working in the hospitality industry
*Devils circuit
A 5 km race with Mud, freezing water, fire, ropes, concrete
wall that block one's path. The course was designed to test
the participant's endurance, strength and spirit.
*Garba dandiya rass
The event graced by traditional folk garba dancers, who
alongwith performance also took a workshop each day
for teaching people garba. Small stalls were put up
exhibiting handicraft work of the rural women from
Rajasthan. The money collected from the event was
further utilized.
Travel This demanding 15- day (168km, 104mi) slog
through Corsica is legendary for the diversity of
landscapes it traverses. There are forests, granite
moonscapes, windswept craters, glacial lakes,
torrents, peat bogs, maquis, snow-capped peaks,
plains and névés (stretches of ice formed from
snow). But it doesn't come easy: the path is rocky
and sometimes steep, and includes rickety bridges
and slippery rock faces – all part of the fun. Created
in 1972, the GR20 links Calenzana, in the Balagne,
with Conca, north of Porto Vecchio.
GR20, FRANCE:
This 33km (20mi) ancient trail was laid by the
Incas and is currently traversed by thousands
each year. The trail leads from the Sacred
Valley to Machu Picchu winding its way up and
down and around the mountains, taking three
high passes en route. Views of white-tipped
mountains and high cloud forest combine with
the magic of walking from one cliff-hugging
ruin to the next – understandably making this
South America's most famous trail.Inca Trail, Peru
Reaching a height of 5,545m (18,193ft) at Kala
Pattar, this three-week trek is extremely popular with
those who want to be able to say, 'I've been to the
base of the world's highest mountain'. The difficult
trek passes undeniably spectacular scenery and is
trafficked by Sherpa people of the Solu Khumbu. The
heights reached during this trek are literally dizzying
until you acclimatise to the altitude, and the
continuous cutting across valleys certainly has its ups
and downs.
Everest Base Camp, Nepal
Fewer folk trek on the Indian side of the world's
greatest mountain range. So, if isolation's your
thing try trekking in Himachal Pradesh. Hardcore
hikers can try teetering along the mountain tops
for 24 days from Spiti to Ladakh. This extremely
remote and challenging walk follows ancient
trade routes. The bleak high-altitude desert
terrain inspired Rudyard Kipling to exclaim,
'Surely the gods live here; this is no place for
men'.
Indian Himalayas, India
STILLS BESTTrekking locations of
the world!
'The land of the Dogon people' is one of Africa's
most breathtaking regions. A trek here can last
anywhere between two and 10 days, and takes in
the soaring cliffs of the Bandiagara escarpment
inlaid with old abandoned cliff dwellings. Dogon
villages dot the cliffs and are an extraordinary
highlight of the journey. The Dogon are known for
their masked stilt dancers, intricately carved
doors and pueblo-like dwellings built into the side
of the escarpment.
A 26km (16mi) journey through dramatic canyons
carved over centuries by the Virgin River, the Narrows
in Zion National Park is a hike like no other. The route
is the river, with over half of the hike spent wading and
sometimes swimming. The hike can be traversed in a
day, though some choose to take the hanging gardens
and natural springs at a more leisurely pace –
spending a night at one of the park's 12 camp
grounds.
Leading from Chamonix in France through the
southern Valais to Zermatt in Switzerland, the
Haute Route traverses some of the highest and
most scenic country accessible to walkers
anywhere in the Alps. The summer Haute Route
walk (which takes a different course than the
more famous winter skitouring route) takes
around two weeks to complete. It mainly
involves 'pass hopping' and demands a high
level of fitness, with every section containing a
high huff factor.
The Haute Route, France-Switzerland
The Narrows, USA
Pays Dogon, Mali Tasmania's prehistoriclooking wilderness
is most accessible on the 80km (50mi,
five- to six-day) Overland Track. Snaking
its way between Cradle Mountain and
Lake St Clair (Australia's deepest natural
freshwater lake), the well-defined path
(boardwalked in parts) passes craggy
mountains, beautiful lakes and tarns,
extensive forests and moorlands. Those
who want more can take numerous side
walks leading to waterfalls, valleys and
still more summits including Mt Ossa
(1,617m, 5,305ft) – Tassie's highest.
See the stunning subalpine scenery
of New Zealand's South Island
surrounding this medium three-day
(32km, 20mi) track. At the base of
New Zealand's Southern Alps, the
track passes through two national
parks: Fiordland and Mt Aspiring.
Highlights include the views from
Harris Saddle and atop Conical Hill –
from where you can see waves
breaking on the distant beach. The
main challenge for this popular hike
is actually securing a place among
the limited numbers who are allowed
on the track at any time.
This corridor of ice leads to the colossal
peak of K2 (8,611m, 28,251ft), the world's
second-highest peak. This incomparable
trek traverses some of the most humbling
scenery on the planet. What begins
following icy rivers boldly goes to the guts
of the glacier before leading to the granite
pyramidal mountains including Paiju
(6,610m, 21,686ft), Uli Biaho (6,417m,
21,053ft), Great Trango Tower (6,286m,
20,623ft) and ultimately K2. If the 15 days
doesn't floor you, take side trips to more
moraine-covered glaciers.
Overland Track, Australia
Routeburn Track, New Zealand
Baltoro Glacier & K2, Pakistan
Lifestyle Best places to eat
around the world for Christmas
We at are diehard foodie lovers and we
truly comprehend the value of the best dishes in
our lives. Christmas is the opportunity that
permits everyone to eat the best and exotic food
without carrying any guilt. Christmas is the
occasion when people like me spend time with
friends and families, enjoying the togetherness
with festive feasts that include delicious cakes
and best wine…no doubt.
So, for all people who are international foodies,
we are presenting the complete list of best
restaurants from all around the world that serve
tempting, delicious recipes for every Christmas
Eve and New Year.
Here is the list of the best places for your taste
buds during Christmas holidays:
Restaurant name: Duck & Waffle
Place: City of London
Duck & Waffle is famous for its hearty Christmas
meal like Bbq-Spiced Crispy Pig Ears, Smoked
Cow Ricotta salad and Pumpkin Arrancini. Some
more tasty delicacies like Jerusalem Artichoke
Tortelli and Spicy Ox Cheek will guarantee
titillate your taste buds.
Restaurant name: Dishoom
Place: Navi Mumbai, India.
Celebrate your Christmas in purely mumbai
style with palatable and exotic taste. All time
favorite starters such as Pav Bhaji, Vegetable
Samosa and Keema Pav. Mains include some
toothsome dishes like Turkey Naan, Paneer
Tikka and above all the infamous Biryani that will
really give you a glimpse of Indian delicacies. To
experience Christmas fully with a twist, try their
traditional Christmas pudding and the ultimate
Indian sweet Kulfi will tantalize your taste buds
with utmost flavors.
STILLS Restaurant name: Amici Miei
Place: Shoreditch
If you love traditional Italian delicacies such as
Pumpkin Flan with Raschera Founde, Duck Terrine
with Crostini Bread and Caramelized Onion then
you should visit Amici Miei for a delicious feast.
Indulge yourself in divine home made desserts
such as Sicillian Cassata served with Almonds,
Mint and Hot Chocolate sauce.
Restaurant name: Neighborhood
Place: San Diego
Serve excellent appetizers and specializes in
sipping whiskey with great beer selection. It
provides pretty good value for beer and food. The
mood inside is incredibly hip, progressive and
concurrently comfortable.
Restaurant name: Gaylord
Place: Oxford Street, London
Gaylords is the only place in London where you can
find true Indian food in very fine ambiance. Their
paneer tikka and black dal are lip smacking. Soft
butter chicken made in cream and expensive
spices just melts in your mouth. Tamarind mojito
is interesting and out of the world. One thing you
will find very unique that they serve fresh coconut
water, something that is unusual in
restaurants…..so they not only cares for your
craving but your skin as well…(Bonus for girls….)
Restaurant name: Greek on the Green
Place: Brazil
You can enjoy Christmas like never before as they
ready to arm up your day and night with their
finest delectable Greek food. You can enjoy your
meal with the glass of decent wine. The excellent
vibes of the interior will give you a soothing and
relaxing feeling of vacations.
Restaurant name: Meze Meze
Place: North Finchley
They are the best in offering Mediterranean cuisine
delights such as hummus, kisir, tabule and other
dips. Their Lamb Shish, salmon kebab, kofte are
simply appetizing. Try their famous Baklava to end
your year in an earthy, exotic and Mediterranean
way.
Restaurant name: Hunan Gourmet
Restaurant; Place: Columbus
This restaurant has a wide menu selection with
soothing ambiance that appeals to the guests. Hot
and sour was great. Shrimp egg foo young was
excellent. Chicken with string beans, Szechuan
scallops are also yummylecious. Their lo mein type
dishes are terrific and Mongolian beef is great too.
Hunan tofu is very presentable and colorful with
broccoli, red peppers, onions, mushrooms and the
spicy sauce that bring life to a vegetable dish. They
have their traditional dragon dance once a year on
Chinese New Year.
Restaurant name: Hazev
Place: London
Hazev is the staple of life that serves the bestest
Turkish food. Their enormous platter include
grilled meats, minty and fresh salads and
tabbouleh, tempting sausages, tomato based
smoky meat, large bowls of creamy hummous,
plenty of warm fresh bread and always
compulsory to serve the bowl of spicy chilli sauce.
Wait…this is not all….you will also get the finest of
wines that are served in ultra reasonable price.
CAKEAnd now it is time to soothe your sweet tooth. I
know that no festival is complete without sweets
and when we are taking about Christmas how is it
possible to forget the cake..
Bakery: Macrina bakery
Place: Seattle
This bakery is world famous for its Macrina's Red
Velvet Cake. Buttermilk is the secret ingredient to
create this moist red cake. It comes in four tasty
slices adorn by a not-so-sweet white chocolate
cream cheese icing. It will entice your taste buds
and you will forget everything for its super soft
texture.
We are sharing the secret recipe with STILLS
readers for one of the best cakes of the world.
FOR THE CAKE: 6 large eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1
teaspoon, vanilla essence, 4 ounce melted
unsweetened baking chocolate & 1 cup sifted flour.
Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla together until thick
and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Alternately fold
chocolate and flour into the egg mixture, ending
with flour. Pour the batter into 3 8-inch cake pans
that have been well greased and floured. (Do not
use oil to grease the pans: use butter or Crisco or a
similar solid fat). Bake the layers in a preheated
350 degree F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until a
cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool cakes in pans for 5 minutes; then carefully
turn out on racks and allow to cool completely.
FOR THE SYRUP: ¼ cup sugar, 1/3 cup water & 2
tablespoon Kirsch. Make syrup by mixing together
sugar and water and boiling for 5 minutes. When
syrup has cooled, stir in kirsch. Prick the cake
layers and pour syrup over all 3 layers.
FOR THE FILLING: 1½ cups confectioner's icing
sugar, 1/3 cup unsalted butter, 1 large egg yolk & 2
tablespoon Kirsch. To make the butter-cream
filling, beat together sugar and butter until well
blended. Add egg yolk; beat until light and fluffy,
about 3 to 5 minutes. Fold in Kirsch.
CAKE ASSEMBLY: For toppings, use 2 cups
drained canned sour cherries & whipped cream.To
assemble cake, place 1 layer on a cake plate.
Spread with butter cream filling. Using 3/4 cup of
the cherries, which have been patted dry, drop
cherries evenly over cream. Place second layer on
cake. Repeat. Place third layer on top. Fold 2
tablespoons confectioners' sugar into the whipped
cream. Cover the sides and top of the cake with
whipped cream.
We hope you have a great time making it.
Wishes you all a Merry Christmas!
STILLS
STILLS