MY SALAD DAYS

So much to say

About the days

When I walked this way

And gave out a "yay"!!

A little desire

Filled in me the fire

And took me so higher

I could give my best

I am free of regrets

Know what I got to say

About the best of my days

Yeah, they were my salad days!!

I walked along a lonely street

No one to share my anguish with

You came up to me

To befriend me

Now when I turn around

I find happiness abound

Life looks so beautiful

Everyday is adorable

Yet there is so much to say

About the best of my days

Yeah, they were my salad days!!

Now that I have seen
what life has got to give
hear to me once
its out of experience
each day is a new day
filling our life with every ray
come along, walk this way
life goes on come what may
I shall remember these days
as the best of my days
yeah my salad days.

How Microsoft has impacted my life and how I plan to bring a change in the society being an MSA.

Hi friends. I am Sowmya Garimella, from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam and this is my story on how Microsoft has impacted my life and how I plan to bring a change in the society being an MSA.

Over the past three decades, computers and software technology have seen great development. As a kid I was always fascinated by this magical machine that could play songs and movies, could paint colorful pictures and had games too. It was my best playmate. Back then I didn’t know how these things actually worked.  I praised my own self for the masterpieces that I made using the MS Paint. I love writing stories, articles and poems. I was introduced to MS word by my dad. He taught me how to use the MS Word and to save my work. The different fonts, colors and styles that MS Word provided added beauty to my work and the good thing is I am using MS Word to write this article. It always ensures that I haven’t made any errors J

We were taught computer science at school. That was where I learnt that all the credit for the splendid work I have been doing all these years actually goes to Microsoft. Eventually we were introduced to MS Office with MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel. Slowly we have learnt to use them and this made our work easier and effective.

Microsoft has offered a wide range of software and hardware products to meet the needs of users from various disciplines. Microsoft Operating System started with Windows 1.0. Later versions like Windows 2.0, Windows 2.1x, Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, Windows NT, Windows Xp, Windows Vista, Windows 7and Windows 8 came up with further improvements in each version. The latest Operating System is the Windows 8.1 OS. The features of this operating system are just amazing. I really like the start menu with colorful tiles and the facility of adding apps of our interest on the start screen. The search engine by Microsoft, “Bing” added another feather in the cap. It saves lot of my time by making the searching process easier.

The Microsoft Virtual Academy has been of great help to me in learning new things and in expanding my skills to a great extent. The free online tutorials provided here are designed by industry experts. The Self Assessment questions at the end of each class help us in evaluating our own selves. Not to forget, the Windows smart phones are a sensation in the world of smart phones. Giving a tough competition to the Android phones, Microsoft has developed an amazing range of smart phones with Windows operating system. I feel unlucky that I don’t have a Windows phone. But Microsoft has again won my heart by making available its apps in the android mobile store. I have downloaded almost all the Microsoft apps which fulfill my requirements. OneNote, MS Office, OneDrive, Bing Search etc are few apps that play a vital role in making my daily chores simpler. I was asked to give a seminar in my class as an assignment for the next day. I forgot about the work and went to college without the presentation. Ten minutes before the class started, my friend reminded of the work. I was dumbfounded for a moment but then I realized that I had the whole MS Office in my phone. Bing Search was there for my rescue too. I quickly downloaded all the required info and started my presentation using my MS Office Mobile app. I completed my work in time. This way, Microsoft products have played a major and a vital role in my daily life helping me in all my works.

How I plan to bring a change in the society being a Microsoft Student Associate:

 

As an MSA, I wish to educate people about the various products by Microsoft and various benefits of using them. For this, I would organize tutorials and boot camps for students through which I can bring to their knowledge various useful tools like Windows 8.1 enterprise preview, Windows Virtual studio etc. I would also like to bring out the useful resources available in Microsoft Virtual Academy. I have been greatly benefited by these tools and so I wish to share the same with many other students out there who aspire to learn new things.

At Andhra University, there a many students who are talented and are budding web developers. I plan to organize seminars, workshops etc. which would help students learn about various Microsoft products and tools.

I am looking forward to work with Microsoft. I am sure it would be a great learning experience too. I assure that I will put in all my sincere efforts and live up to everyone’s expectations.

                                                            Thank You!                 

Knowing Gandhi.

One day while reading the newspaper, I came across a clipping about a course on Gandhian philosophy being offered in a University. I felt that was the right opportunity for me to seek the answers to all my questions I had in my mind for all these years. I got myself enrolled for the course. It was the first day of the course and when I entered the classroom, I realized that I was the youngest student in the class. All the others were in their sixties. They might have joined in order to get rid of the boredom of their retired lives. The class was quite interesting. The professor who came to teach us was a person with an appearance that demanded respect. His name was Professor Ranga Rao. He was a man in his fifties, with a pleasant smile on his face. He started the class putting forward a question for all the students in the class. The question was very simple. “What do you know about Gandhi and why did you join this course?” The answer that most of them gave was that they knew Gandhi as a freedom fighter and that they came here because they admired him and his principles. Finally, it was my turn to answer. I stood up and said, “I know Gandhi as a freedom fighter and as the father of this nation. But that is not all that we have got to talk about him. The reason why I am here today is, I want to know who Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was and how this Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became Mahatma. Through this course, I intend to find the answer to all those questions I had in my mind since my childhood”. Listening to this, Professor Ranga Rao bore an expression on his face that said that he was both surprised and also pleased to hear to something different than the routine responses from the other students. After a moment, he asked what my questions were. I said “ what would have happened to our country if Gandhiji was not thrown out of the train? Would he still fight for the freedom of our country?” There was a mysterious silence in the room.  My question left everyone amazed and some gave me a stern look which said “have you lost your mind!!” I ignored them and sat down and waited for Professor Ranga Rao to speak. He appreciated my interest to find out the real man within Gandhi and said that I would get all the answers by the end of the course. The course started with a brief introduction about Gandhiji’s family and his childhood. I must say that it was through Gandhiji’s life story that I learned that no one is born great but their deeds make them great. As a kid, he was no different from the other kids of his age. Though he was not interested in sports and physical education, his desire to stay with his father and serve him was a unique quality he possessed. After we were done with the first day’s class, Professor gave me a book “The story of my experiments with Truth”, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi. I started reading it as soon as I reached home. I was totally in love with that book. It gave me an insight of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the person I was in search of. I was amazed by the way Gandhiji had accepted and written in the book, all the mistakes he had made throughout his life. It needs lots of guts and great courage to tell the world who you actually are and what kind of personality you possess. Throughout the course, I have known and understood a person who had a diverse personality that could make a nation fight with its mighty enemy. The honesty with which he confessed his mistakes, let it be his eating non-vegetarian food without the knowledge of his parents or be the forceful behavior that he showed towards his wife to educate her and to convince her to adopt the Western culture of dressing and dining, each and every instance shows that he is a man who has made truth as his language and honesty as his religion. As a man with great will power, incredible charisma and undeterred belief in the truth, Gandhi has risen to be the Father of the biggest democratic country in the world freeing it from the clutches of the tyrants. These qualities made him grow from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to MAHATMA. My experience of learning the real man within Gandhi answered every single question I had in my mind.          

FRESH WINTER SALAD

Ah! Winter reminds me of those hot aloo pakoras, paneer pops, and asparagus soup boiling hot with its outstanding “khushboo” pulling me towards it. But as soon as the thought of calories and fat content hits my mind, I take my hands off them. My wish of enjoying these steaming hot delicacies sitting in the balcony with my family, taking pleasure of the cool breeze….vanishes with the very next thought of calories.

Calories is just another factor most of us are concerned or conscious about rather. Every teenager is conscious about his or her looks and physique. It is not only the matter of physique but also health. With winter ahead and flu in its rage, it is very important that we think twice before we eat anything. I know most of you will be truly upset with my suggestion of avoiding the “junk food” sold out there in those “always crowded fast food centers”. But when it comes to health, nothing else seems important.  

So guys and girls, let me suggest you a simple, healthy and delicious winter dish. In Oscar Wilde’s words,” To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist—the problem is entirely the same in both case. To know how much oil one must put with one’s vinegar.” But don’t you worry! Because I am here to direct you with your oil and vinegar. And one more thing guys, this is a very good option for all those who are on a diet. You can make this fresh in the morning and carry it in your lunch box and avoid outside salad's which are still high on calories.

The ingredients that you require to prepare the Fresh Winter Salad are:

• 1 Orange peeled and separated in individual slices
• 2 carrot peeled and cubed
• 2 small guava’s cubed
• 1 cup of lettuce leaves chopped roughly
• 1 cucumber peeled and cubed
• Juice of 1 lemon and 1 tsp of lemon zest
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• Pinch of crushed dry mint leaves.

See that all your ingredients are ready. Wash the fruits and vegetables thoroughly before you cut them. When you have completed peeling your fruits and vegetables and have sliced them, mix them all in a bowl. Sprinkle salt, pepper and dry mint leaves. Add lemon juice and lemon zest. Toss it well. Serve it in a serving tray garnished with lemon zest and dry mint leaves. And there you go! A healthy and delicious Fresh Winter Salad. Try it out at home and believe me you will love it. It has got a variety of both fruits and vegetables in it which will help you increase your resistance power. The citrus fruits or Vitamin C which are the main ingredients of the salad are very essential for enhancing our immune system. Lettuce leaves is an excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B2, and C, folic acid, manganese and chromium and also adds a good flavor to the salad.With all such nutritious ingredients, your salad will give a perfect start for your busy day. So friends have a beautiful and healthy winter ahead!