Contemporary Issues in International Business Assignment - 1

Contemporary Issues in International Business - Assignment Example It should be also noted that the environment in which international businesses operate is briefly explained so that the position and the challenges of global clothing industry to be fully understood. Businesses that operate globally have to face a series of issues. The willingness of investors to support global business initiatives is not standardized. In fact, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows in markets worldwide present high variation, being reduced from time to time, usually because of local political or economic crises.1 FDI has become popular due to the low level of its risks, compared to other internationalization strategies. Justin explains that FDI can be described as ‘the investment in the real assets of a foreign company so that a product is produced or marketed.2During the last five years, FDI shows important downturns probably because of the recession of 2008. The specific fact is reflected in Graph 1 and Graph1a (Appendix) where the changes in FDI globally, both as inflows and outflows, are presented. The recent trends in regard to FDI globally are also presented in Graph 2 (Appendix) where the emphasis is given on the FDI inflows in developing countries. It should be noted that a firm that wishes to secure its position in the global market needs to be able to continuously improve its productivity in order to respond to global competition, which tends to favor the most powerful organizations.  In fact, due to globalization, competition has become stronger not only in the international market but also in local markets.[i] Another issue for international business is the elimination of trade barriers. In practice, it has been proved that trade barriers can significantly threaten the prospects of firms in the global market, either temporarily or permanently.   

Obesity in Black American Women Essay Example for Free

Obesity in Black American Women Essay Culture, Biology and Lifestyle Cause Forty Nine Percent of Black American Women to be Obese Abstract. Obesity is a major factor in health today. Certain ethnic groups and genders suffer from obesity more than others. Around 49% of all Black American women are classified obese today. There are many reasons for this. But the three the Black American women are susceptible to are culture, lifestyle and biology. Forty nine percent of Black American women are obese. This is an over representation compared to 38% of Latina women and 33% of non-Hispanic white women. (Phelan, Johnson, Wesley). Many factors determine a person’s weight and health status. Economics, lifestyle, diet, culture, biology and society all affect a person’s body size and composition. Culture, biology and lifestyle have the largest impact on why Black American women are obese. Health, economic and societal implications of obesity are overwhelming and affect every person in this country. The medical community defines obesity as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater. BMI is simply a comparison of weight to height. The actual formula is weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A BMI of greater than 25 but less than 30 is considered overweight and a BMI of greater than 40 is considered morbidly obese. BMI is a comparison of weight to height, not fat to height. BMI is a useful tool for most of the population, but does not work well for heavily muscled people, such as body builders. Fat is damaging to health. Muscle is not. The general population knows that obesity causes diabetes and heart problems. But obesity is much more severe than that. Obesity causes health problems that many find eye opening. Obesity causes hardening of the arteries, increased cholesterol and cardiac failure. In addition to damaging the heart and arteries obesity causes cancer. Twenty percent of all cancer related deaths in women are attributed to obesity (Dixon). Fifty percent of all Type II diabetes patients are obese. (Dixon). Obesity is associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome and fatty liver disease (Kogiso, Moriyoshi and Nagahara). Obesity causes many more not so well known, but still very concerning health issues. Thirty one percent of all arthritis patients are obese. (Dixon). Sixty three percent of women who suffer from osteoarthritis are obese (Dixon). Obese women show a 37% increased risk of depression (Stunkard). Obesity can cause infertility and pregnancy complications (Phelan, Edelman). It even can reduce the effectiveness of birth control. Obese people are three times more apt to suffer from sleep apnea (Visscher, Seidell). And for the real shocker, 300,000 deaths per year in the United States alone are attributed to obesity! Obesity is only second to smoking in preventable deaths per year in the US. (Visscher, Seidell). The reasons nearly half of all Black women in the US are obese are complex and many. We can point our finger at economics, lifestyle, society, biology, diet, culture. Culture, lifestyle and biology are the primary reasons 49% of Black women in the US are obese. Studies have shown that culture can have a profound effect on body size. Several studies have found that the Black American population has a preference for larger body size (Johnson). Portia Johnson, in her article, Scholarly Perspectives on Obesity in Black American Women, references a 2002 study that shows that African American men prefer African American women with a larger body size. The same author also cites a 2006 study that shows that African American women â€Å"describe a model of health that speaks to the Black womens cultural belief that a larger body size is ideal† (Johnson). African women also have a preference for larger bodies. A 2006 study on ethnic Zulus, Zulu migrants to London, and Anglo Londoners show a preference for larger body size by the Zulu migrants and the ethnic Zulus (Brewis 88). Each participant in were shown gray scale images of women of known BMI. The participants were asked to choose which image represented the most healthy and attractive body. The Anglo Londoners chose a BMI size of 20, the ethnic Zulus chose BMI 26 and the migrant Zulus chose a BMI of 24. Dr. James Kirby and colleagues made the interesting discovery that simply living in a community with 25% or more non-Hispanic blacks increases ones propensity of being overweight (Kirby et al). Similarly Dr. Kirby discovered that living in a community of 25% or more Asians decreases a person’s propensity of being overweight (Kirby et al). Kirby surmises this is due to the availability of healthy food, parks, sidewalks and recreation facilities in each community. Kirby found that a predominance of black Americans live in communities with fewer recreational facilities, gyms, parks and fewer choices of healthy food than other ethnicities. The same study also found more fast food restaurants and convenience food stores in predominately black and Hispanic American communities. Perhaps the most convincing evidence is in the words of African American women. In her article ‘Voices from the Inside: African American Womens Perspectives on Healthy Lifestyles’ Jill Rowe interviewed African American women on healthy lifestyles and food choices. One woman explains eating in African American culture as: It’s almost like every person in my family has something they cook real good and I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. When you go to your mama’s house, I’ve always gone to the refrigerator. That’s how African Americans show their love. From the birthday parties, to when you have company. My family, when we’re happy we eat. When we’re sad, we eat. We eat when we’re married, we eat when we’re born, we eat when we die. It’s always, who’s bringing the fried chicken and pound cake. (Rowe) Culture can significantly affect a person’s weight. But we should also be aware that biology can affect weight too. Researchers have found that Black American women have a lower Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). RMR is the rate at which energy (calories) are metabolized to keep organs functioning at rest. Black American women have a lower RMR than white or Hispanic women. This means they burn fewer calories throughout the day and function more efficiently than white Americans making it harder to lose weight (Johnson). A 1996 study found that the Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) of black American women was lower than for Caucasian American women. The researchers measured the REE of each participant and found that the Black women had a REE of 1790 calories per day at rest, while the Caucasian women had an REE of 1949 calories per day at rest. Simply put this means that Caucasian women burn, on average, 250 more calories per day at rest than Black American women do. This makes it harder for black women to lose weight (Johnson). Researchers have also discovered that Black Americans have an over expression of fatty acid transport protein. This means that more fat is delivered to fat storage cells making it easier for Black Americans to store fat than white Americans (Barakat). Researchers have measured and found more upper body fat in Black Women compared to white women. A larger below the skin level (subcutaneous) fat level was found in Black Women as compared to white American women (Conway). Diet and exercise are part of a persons’ lifestyle and both have a significant impact on weight and health. Several studies have proven that Black Americans eat more sweetened foods as compared to European Americans. Portia Johnson and colleagues cite a 2000 study on preference for sweet food amongst African Americans and European Americans. The study offered taste tests to each ethnic group and compared how each group responded to sweets. The researchers discovered that Black Americans ate more of the sweetened foods offered at various intervals during a taste test (Johnson). They conclude that African Americans could be using a sweetened food to compensate for greater perceived stress causing greater weight gain and obesity. Angelia Paschal and colleagues examined the results of a study on self-reported diet and exercise habits of African American men and women. They found that 55-75% of the women in their study rarely exercise. They also found that 76% of all participants did not eat the minimum daily requirements for fruit and less than half met the minimum requirements for vegetables. Not surprisingly this study reports that 62% of participants were diagnosed with hypertension and 14% were diagnosed with elevated blood sugar levels and/or diabetes (Paschal et al). A study that compared fitness of Latina American women to Black American women found similar results. â€Å"More than one-half of the women reported engaging in no regular physical activity. However, the substantial variability in the number of minutes exercised per week points to the need to investigate methods to enhance the duration of physical activity. † (Sanchez-Johnsen et al). Genesis, a church based health and fitness program aimed at Black Americans, found that many of the participants did not correlate obesity with poor health. The participants in Genesis completed a self-reported survey where only 16% indicated they were obese, but when clinically measured 87% were found to be overweight or obese. This indicates that participants failed to connect excess weight with medical risk, possibly due to cultural conditioning, personal denial or not associating body weight with health risk (Cowart et al). It is not all gloom and doom for women of color in the US. Culture, biology and lifestyle are all things that can be changed or at least worked with to lose weight and gain fitness. There are several programs in this country aimed at overall fitness for Black American women. The Genesis program has worked with black Americans through churches and found this combination very successful. Genesis provided health and diet education, exercise prescriptions and a motivation partner. Some of their successes include a 71% less soda consumption, fried meat consumption was reduced from 91% to 55%. The percent of respondents reporting no exercise at all went from 45% at the start of the program to 27% on the post pilot survey (Cowart et al). Just as diet, lifestyle and culture can be changed so can biology. Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) can be raised by obtaining a leaner body mass as muscle is more active than fat. Withers and colleagues have proved this with a study conducted on 49-70 year old women. Their study has found that aerobic training in older women increases RMR. They compared active women to non-active women and found that the active women had a significantly higher RMR. Having a body composition of more lean mass to fat mass greatly has â€Å"implications for increased independence and improved quality of life. † (Withers et al). Black American women have special challenges and considerations in weight loss and fitness. They face a culture that encourages eating and appreciates large body size, a more efficient metabolic system that uses fewer calories at rest, a propensity for their bodies to store fat, and a lifestyle that makes diet and exercise difficult. Yet knowing these challenges is half the battle. With knowledge, the support of the community and their family, and commitment they can overcome these challenges and reach a goal of lifetime fitness and health. Works Cited Barakat, HA. â€Å"Obesity; Overexpression of Fatty Acid Transport Proteins May Contribute to Obesity in Black Women. † Science Letter. 7 Feb 2006. 1218. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Brewis, Alexandra. Obesity Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives. New Brunswick. Rutgers University Press. (2011). Print. Conway, Joan. â€Å"Ethnicity and Energy Stores†. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 62. 5. Nov 1995. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Cowart, Luvenia. et al. â€Å"Designing and Pilot-Testing a Church-Based Community Program to Reduce Obesity among African Americans. † ABNF Journal. 21. 1. (2010). 4-10. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Dixon, John. â€Å"The Effect of Obesity on Health Outcomes. † Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology. Vol. 316. Issue 2. 25 Mar 10. 104-108. Endocrine Aspects of Obesity. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Edelman, Allison. â€Å"Special Feature: Do We Have a Problem? Obesity and Contraception. † OB GYN Clinical Alert. Dec 2011. n. pag. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Johnson, Portia; Yvonne Wesley. â€Å"Scholarly Perspectives on Obesity among Black Women. † ABNF Journal. 23. 3. (2012). 46-50. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Kirby, James, et. al. â€Å"Race, Place, and Obesity: The Complex Relationships among Community Racial/Ethnic Composition, Individual Race/Ethnicity, and Obesity in the United States. † American Journal of Public Health. 102. 8. Aug 2012. 1572-1578. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Kogiso, Tomomi. et al. â€Å"Clinical Significance with Fatty Liver Associated with Metabolic Syndrome. † Hepatology Research. Vol. 37. Issue 9. Sep 2007. 711-721. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Paschal, Angelia. et al. â€Å"Baseline Assessment of the Heath Status and Health Behaviors of African American Participating in the Activities for Life Program: A Community Based Health Intervention Program. † Journal of Community Health. 29. 4. Aug 2004. 305-318. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Phelan, Sharon. â€Å"Obesity in the American Population: Calories, Cost and Culture. † American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Volume 203, Issue 6, Dec 2010. 522–524. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Rowe, Jill. â€Å"Voices From the Inside: African American Women’s Perspectives on Healthy Lifestyles. † Health Education and Behavior. Vol. 37. Dec 2010. 789-800. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Sanchez-Johnsen, Lisa. et al. â€Å"Ethnic Differences in Correlates of Obesity between Latin-American and Black Women. † Obesity Research. 12. 4. Apr 2004. 652-660. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Stunkard, Albert. â€Å"Depression and Obesity. † Biological Psychology. Vol. 54 Issue 3. 1 Aug 2003. 330-337. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Visscher, Tommy, Jacob Seidell. â€Å"The Public Health Impact of Obesity. † Annual Review of Public Health. (2001). 355-375. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Withers, RT. et al. â€Å"Energy Metabolism in Sedentary and Active 49- to 70-yr-old Women. † Journal of Applied Physiology. Vol. 84. Apr 1998. 1333-1340. Web. 18 Feb 2013. Bibliography Brewis, Alexandra. Obesity Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives. New Brunswick. Rutgers University Press. (2011). Print. Brewis’ book is a must read for anyone studying, researching or working in health, weight management or fitness. The author takes a look at obesity from an anthropologist’s standpoint. Where did obesity originate? How does if effect certain races/genders more than others? These are some of the questions answered. The author has lived in different cultures and worked with different ethnicities obtaining answers to some of the mysteries surrounding weight gain. She has uncovered reasons why obesity is prevalent in the United States and other countries. And discusses why some ethnicities are more vulnerable to weight gain after migrating to the United States or other developed nations. The author has studied the culture of the Pima Indians of both the US and Mexico and explains why obesity affects the US Pimas more than the Mexican Pimas. Brewis also explains why some ethnicities find larger body weigh acceptable and why some ethnicities have larger males than females and why they find this perfectly normal. Biagioli, Brian. Advanced Concepts of Personal Training. National Council on Strength and Fitness. (2007). Print. This book was by a medical doctor. This manual is applicable to anyone interested in learning more about physical fitness, nutrition, physiology, body composition and exercise mechanics. It is the National Council on Strength and Fitness’ guide for all their certified personal trainer candidates. The manual contains 540 pages with many illustrations explaining obesity, Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), Body Mass Index (BMI) and physiology. This manual includes chapters on special populations such as women, children and special needs individuals. HBO The Weight of the Nation. HBO Documentary Films; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Institute of Health. Et al. Various actors/directors. (2007). DVD. This is a four part documentary on obesity in America. Each part is approximately one hour long. The parts consist of consequences, choices, children in crisis and challenges. The films explore why the United States is facing an obesity crisis, and what we can do about it now. Various health experts narrate the films. Interviews are conducted with a host of citizens dealing with obesity right now. They tell in their own words the challenges they face. There is significant commentary and interview on ethnicities, females, citizens living in inner cities and the issues surrounding obesity and weight gain. The Skinny on Obesity. Perf. Robert Lustig et al. UCTV Prime. 12 Apr. 2012. Web Video. This video series plays on UCSF Prime TV online. Dr. Robert Lustig is endocrine expert at the UCSF Children’s Hospital. This is a seven part series that tackles the basics of the obesity epidemic such as sugar, hormones, fast food, childhood obesity, and endocrine system. Each part is about 15 minutes long. Only a basic understanding of health and physiology is needed to fully understand concepts presented. Platkin, Charles. The Automatic Diet. New York. Penguin. 2005. Print. This book discusses how to slowly improve your diet over time with small changes. Dr. Platkin holds a master of public health and is one of the nation’s leading public health advocates. He writes The Diet Detective, a syndicated article that appears in hundreds of newspapers throughout the country. His book takes the reader through small steps of diet and lifestyle changes that together create a whole new diet makeover making healthful eating simple and thus ‘automatic’.

Julius Lester Essay examples -- Children Literature African American E

Julius Lester Julius Lester is an African American Jewish Professor at UMass-Amherst who writes children's books along with teaching classes in departments of Judaic Studies, History and Literature. Before Julius was a professor at UMass-Amherst; he was a graduate of Fisk University in 1960, where he began as a professional musician and singer. He then furthered his career to direct the Newport Folk Festival and then went on to host a live radio show. Presently, Julius is known as "foremost among black writers who produce their work from a position of historical strengths." Julius writes children's books to teach moral and political values. In many of his books, he uses African American characters to relate back to the days of slavery. For example in his book; John Henry, he uses an African American character and ,makes him into a hero. The character in the book is able to break through a cave faster than a machine which symbolizes strength and courage among the African American race. In Les ter's book, How Many Spots Does A Leopard Have?, he uses n...

Language Exerts Hidden Power Essay

Language utilizes the hidden power to express, convince and influence human beings. Language can be used in different forms and styles, however, we are never fully aware of the importance of the hidden power that language can express. Language can be revealed in many different ways, which can cause different perspectives from people. In Text A, â€Å"Tversky and Kahneman (1981) demonstrated systematic reversals of preference when the same problem is presented in different ways†. It shows the effectiveness of euphemism and vagueness. The people did not appreciate the straight forward statement, it may be because of the harshness and the reality that shocks the reader. The difference in the preference of the programs shows how human beings are more likely to prefer the positive facts than the negatives; Program A had seventy-two percent preferences. This can show how language has the power to convey something disastrous, however, in a euphemism way, in which the reader will more likely to accept. However, the complicated statements, those with fractions instead of exact numbers, seem to favour the reader. This may be because the reader needs more time to process the factual information in their brains, which may have the same effect as ‘Lost in Translation’; the more your brain processes, the more details and facts are faded away. In addition, the fractions used can make the situation of the Asian disease problem seem less serious, because fractions appear to be less in number than the exact real numbers. In this particular text, power is revealed by the factual information. The difference in presenting the statement does not differ the meaning of the Asian disease problem. However, the power of manipulating and influencing the reader depend on the way the author chooses to present the factual information. The language chosen will be the power that controls the reader’s minds. Different presentations will lead to different interpretations from the readers. Therefore, writers usually use certain style of language to ensure that they can influence and convince the readers. This can represent how human beings are slightly unaware of the importance of language. We tend to ignore and skip through words easily, in which we only want to read what we believe and what we want to see. Similarly, Text B expresses that in our world we normally ignore the flaws and the little ‘holes’ in our communication in language, which also shows the lack of awareness of the importance in language. Slowly, we will tend to lose the ability to control the power that is hidden in language. The ‘Lost in Translation’ ties in with text B as well. When people start to learn a new language they normally translate the words back into their foreign language in order for them to understand the meaning of those words. However, during those translations, many details and little ‘holes’ in the language will disappear and fade away. Native language enables human beings to communicate freely and comfortably, however, it influences out thoughts when it comes to learning a new language. Those little ‘holes’ will be filled in by the influential thoughts from our native language. Therefore, though we are learning a new language, we will still be moved and differentiated by the influence of our native language. The hidden power of the influence of a certain language is strong, it ties with the culture and the tradition of the certain country. From these, we can see how ignorant human beings can be when it comes to realizing how much language influences our lives and how we interpret things. Nevertheless, the power in language can cause negative effects as well as those positives. There are so many languages spoken in our world, therefore, many people can speak more than one language. This means that those people have more than one choice of language to express themselves. This can be positive, however, negative, because there isn’t always the same ‘sayings’ in different languages. As human beings, we manage to experience many different emotions and incidents, where many of those are indescribable in language. Therefore, we can say language is powerful, however, not as powerful as our own minds. â€Å"Language should be a direct mirror of mind† though many thoughts cannot be put into words. In text C, it suggests that language plays an essential role in thinking and the interactions between people, in which the power hidden is the linguistics, philosophy and the psychology side of language. We communicate through language by expressing out what we think in our minds using words, phrases and sentences. Therefore, Noam Chenosky expresses that language is a direct mirror to our minds, which is true to some extent, however, many emotions and thoughts cannot be fully expressed by language. Language can be so powerful that it’s complicated, and those technical studies of language can contribute to an understanding of human intelligence. Human beings have not paid much attention on the hidden power of language, therefore, we only have a rare glimmerings of understanding. Though the understanding of language is limited, most people think and do things depending on what they know and what they believe, which ties in with text A strongly. When people prefer different presentations of the same statement, we can assume that they all have a different perspective, which means they have their own beliefs and knowledge over the statement. Overall, all three texts agree with Rita, Mae Brown’s statement of â€Å"Language exerts hidden power, like a moon on the tides† to a reasonable extent. They all show the human science of language and how language is powerful in our minds. The power inside language is great, however, we have never noticed it. It influences the way we think and the way we judge certain things. Though, due to our lack of awareness of the importance of language, we do not see how it influences out perspectives and perception. However, the possible negative effect of the power in language is that due to the many different languages people may be able to speak, they may find it difficult to express their thoughts and emotions because there are so many choices.

Problems and Aspirations of Youth Essay

INTRODUCTION: Trying hands on contemporary writing and then reigning over hearts of millions is not that easy as has been proved by one of the prominent writers of the day – Chetan Bhagat. Very few authors have managed to reach out to such a wide audience as Chetan Bhagat. There is originality of content in his writings and when he writes people feel as if it is their story. He is a phenomenon that has affected everybody, touched everybody’s life. Indian Publishing shall now be divided into pre and post Chetan Bhagat. He has created those kinds of landmarks. Chetan Bhagat projects his readers’ viewpoint in his writings. According to him,† A writer’s first job is to strike a chord, and not to please elitist circles,† He does it by caring for his readers and listening to them,† It can’t be just the language, as it is simply the common language of the people. It is more about what is being said and communicated that strikes a chord.† Chetan s trongly believes that the language should be colloquial- a popular fiction has to be a dialogue with the people on the streets. CHETAN BHAGAT:- A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Chetan Bhagat (born on 22 April,1974) is a contemporary Indian author who has written four novels namely :- â€Å" Five Point Someone- What not to do at IIT†, â€Å" One Night @ The Call Center†, â€Å"The 3 Mistakes of My Life† and â€Å"2 States: The Story of My Marriage†, respectively. He grew up in Delhi in a Punjabi family in an uncertain home environment where his parents used to fight a lot. His father, an army officer, was very strict and he wasn’t allowed to watch television or films. So, Chetan and his brother used to make up movie stories and perhaps that’s where this tact of writing all sprang up. Bhagat attended Army Public School (1978-1991), Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi (1991-1995), and then studied at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmadabad (1995-1997), where he was named â€Å"The Best Outgoing Student† He fell in love with his IIM Ahmadabad classmate Anusha and they eventually got married. His novel â€Å"2 States: The Story of My Marriage†, is a fictional version of his love story. After graduating from IIT and IIM, he joined Peregrine, a financial service company in Hong-Kong. It shut down in six months but Chetan stayed on in Hong-Kong for eleven years, moving to Goldman Sachs. It was to spite his boss that he started writing his first novel. No doubt it was a great moment for Bhagat but he was in a bank and dissatisfied. His boss was very bad. So to take revenge on him. He started writing in office. CHETAN BHAGAT’S WRITING STYLE AND CHARACTERS The secret to Chetan Bhagat’s success is he writes in ordinary English – and it is reassuring for young people to know someone knows what they are going through. In other words, Bhagat’s writing style tends to be simple with linear narratives and vivid storytelling. His protagonists tend to be named after avatars of Hindu deity Vishnu, like Hari, Shyam, Govind or Krishna. All his books have a number in the title (e.g. ‘five’ in the first, ‘one’ in the second, ‘three in the third and ‘two’ in the fourth book.) When asked about this, Bhagat replied that he is a banker and he can’t get numbers out of his head. Bhagat, 35, is the first to admit that he is no Arundhati Roy, the Indian Booker Prize winning author and says he knows critics feel his books are shallow. But Bhagat, who enjoys a rock-star like popularity among his readers, aged mainly 13 to 30, said he has the ultimate riposte—â€Å"My books sell.† Bhagat says that he writes for ‘ordinary young people’ who feel suffocated by their parents’ desire for them to become doctors, lawyers, or engineers. According to Bhagat- Indian youngsters live under pressure-cooker conditions to succeed. There is cut-throat competition to win places in India’s elite universities with youngsters compelled to score highly from primary to high school. Entrance to top universities often requires ninety percent- plus averages and most children have afterschool tutoring to attain such marks. A paragon of this philosophy can be seen in his novel â€Å" One Night @ The Call Center†, where the hero, who answers the phone calls from clueless Americans about their cooking appliances, remarks,† Every cousin of mine is becoming a doctor or engineer,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.You can say I am the black sheep of my family.† Bhagat believes that India tends to have an academic and social revolution to prevent young people simply regurgitating what they learn without thinking. He wants to convey this message across to the Indian youth- even if they don’t get stratospheric marks, they are still entitled to a happy life; and it’s not the end of the world if they fail. He generally talks about youngsters’ worries, their anxieties and all those things which preoccupy them, by means of his writings. His writing subjects include parental academic pressure along with pre-marital sex, drinking and other topics taboo in socially conservative India. CHETAN BHAGAT’S NOVELS 1. FIVE POINT SOMEONE- WHAT NOT TO DO AT IIT! â€Å"Five Point Someone†¦.† was his first book which adopted a breezy, ironic tone to explore the lives of exam-oppressed students who cram to get into the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and then rebel against the stultifying atmosphere of academic competition. It features soft-drugs, binge- drinking, and an affair between a student and his professor’s daughter. To be clear, the story of â€Å"Five Point Someone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  revolves around three studentsHari, Ryan and Alok who come from three different backgrounds. The book is about their years in IIT Delhi and how they cope with the pressure of studies, family and relationships. The book was well received by the public, especially among the younger generation, and brought Bhagat a large following. It was adapted into a play by the theatre group ‘Madras Players’ and also by ‘Evam’. This book was adapted into a movie called ‘3 Idiots’, though Bhagat has stated that he was not involved in the scriptwriting in anyway, and was involved in a controversy with the director and the producer of the movie over crediting his contribution to the script. Directed by Raj Kumar Hirani, and starring Aamir Khan, R. Madhvan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, and Boman Irani in pivotal roles, it was released on 25 December, 2009. About a week after the release of the movie, ‘3 Idiots’, Chetan Bhagat claimed for the credit for the story and this credit row became a national issue. On January 1, 2010, Star News channel got Chetan Bhagat, Aamir khan and Abhijat Joshi- the so-called script writer, switched to each other at their respective places through Star News correspondents. During this programme, Chetan Bhagat claimed that before the release of the movie ‘3 Idiots’, neither he had been shown the preview of the movie nor given any participation in the script writing. At that time he was told that the adaptation of ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ to ‘3 Idiots’, was just two to three percent or at the most just five percent and rest of the plot was different, but when the movie released and hit the Box Office as the biggest hit of the time, Chetan felt bad, because the story was not just five percent from his book rather it was seventy to eighty percent of his book. He kept mum for a week but when his fans and readers kept on asking him why he didn’t take any action or show any reaction against the makers, at that point of time Bhagat sought the shelter of the media and came into the lime-light with his credit claim. On the other hand Aamir khan in one of his interviews made it clear that there was no similarity between the movie and ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ and also as Aamir had not read Bhagat’s novel, Bhagat prohibited him to go through ‘Five Point Someone’, saying that both the movie and the novel were quite different from each other in story as well as plot. And now after the release of the movie, seeing it to be a big hit Chetan Bhagat is claiming for credit? It is quite wrong on his part because he wants to snatch the credit of Abhijat Joshi- the actual script writer of ‘3 Idiots’, who worked on the story along with Raj Kumar Hirani – the director. Aamir also interrogated Chetan Bhagat saying that Raju Hirani had directed ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’ and its sequel ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’, so Chetan Bhagat would claim that these two movies were also his creations! Aamir labeled Chetan Bhagat as publicity hungry writer. Chetan Bhagat defended himself by saying that the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had told him that there was hardly any similarity between the movie and the novel apart from the five percent of loose inspiration. He added that he relied upon Vidhu and said so to Aamir prohibiting him going through ‘Five Point Someone’. It was only after the release of ‘3 Idiots’ that Chetan Bhagat realized that he had been duped as Vidhu kept him in dark by lying and that was why he claimed for credit. He said that as per contract signed between him and Vidhu, he had been promised full justice by displaying his name among the main star-cast, but his name was given towards the end among assistants’ names in the rolling cast. This really pinched him. At one occasion during the promotion of the movie ‘3 Idiots’, interacting with the media persons in a press conference when a press reporter asked Raju Hirani, Aamir and Vidhu Vinod about the authenticity of the story whether it was an original one or taken from Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’, Vidhu Vinod lost his temper. He raised his finger at that press reporter and asked him to shut up. This act of Vidhu further added oil to fire and the matter turned from bad to worst. All the news channels repeatedly telecasted Vidhu raising finger and saying ‘SHUT UP’. No doubt, the next day, somehow, Vidhu realized his mistake and openly apologized labeling himself a ‘BEAST’ and his action of raising finger and saying ‘shut up’- an insane or uncivilized act. When asked about Vidhu’s ill-mannerism from Chetan Bhagat, the later showed his gratitude to the media for bringing forth Vidhu’s real per sonality, as it would have been quite difficult for him to do so at his own level. A few days after this incident another interview with Chetan Bhagat was telecasted on news channel where he disclosed that Abhijat Joshi had threatened him to send a legal notice in his name if he ever claimed for the credit for the story again. Chetan Bhagat subsided for some time. It was a great shock to the fan-readers of Bhagat when a video clip of Bhagat’s interview on 24-12-2009 was telecasted on another news channel. It showed Bhagat in very high spirits saying that he had given his book ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ to the makers of ‘3 Idiots’ just like a daughter and after watching the premier of the movie ‘3 Idiots’, it seemed to him that his simple daughter turned into a bridal-look, so he would definitely give five out of five points to the movie. Chetan Bhagat also appreciated the adaptation of ‘Five Point Someone†¦.’ to ‘3 Idiots’ and confessed that he couldn’t have done this if asked for as Raju and Vidhu have done and added that his family is quite happy over this. Bollywood News channel Lehren depicted this incident of credit claim row and Vidhu’s misbehavior mere a pre-planned drama to benefit both the movie as well as the book. 2. ONE NIGHT @ THE CALL CENTER It was released in India in October 2005 also to popular demand. This book was about six people who work at a call center and about a night when they receive a call from God. Noted Bollywood film director Rohan Sippy bought the rights from Bhagat, but later Sippy let the rights pass on to director Atul Agnihotri, brother-in-law of Arbaaz Khan. The movie version of the novel is titled as ‘HELLO’ starring Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, Amrita Arora, Esha Koppikar, Gul Panag, and Sharman Joshi. Bhagat worked directly on the script of the movie, moulding it to fit the silver screen. However, the film did not succeeed commercially. ‘One Night @ The Call Center’ is a romantic comedy set in an office where bored young Indians try to resolve the mindless inquiries of Midwestern American Technophobes. The story is a comedy of romance and crossed lines. There are three main themes: – ex-girlfriend, bad-boss, and God. The story revolves around six friends who are selling home appliances to the US from a call center in India. Each one has an issue with love. Call agent Sam works right beside the girl who has just duped him. He is dating someone he can’t stand just to get over her. Esha is just short of becoming a model. Two inches, to be precise. Vroom wants to change the world. Radhika is trying to manage her mother-in-law, and hold down her job. Tonight is Thanksgiving in America, and customers are queuing up to complain about white goods going wrong. On this night of a thousand phone calls, when life couldn’t look more dismal, one unique caller got on the line- God: and that call is going to change everything†¦.A romantic comedy of six friends kicking against the system, against their boss, and against each other. The fact that ‘One Night @ The Call Center’, was an enormous success in India is very strange or unusual and troubling. Although it may seem a feel-good story about Indian empowerment in a globalized world, but Bhagat finds no other way to reach a happy end but through a ridiculous and an unexpected event saving a seemingly hopeless situation and a series of morally reprehensible acts. One might be able to forgive him invoking God- the ultimate fall-back guy when nothing else works: but the mean-spirited and outrageous means he chooses for his characters to find happiness and satisfaction is beyond contempt. In the opening page, we are asked to do a task- think about something you fear, that makes you angry and one thing you don’t like about yourself. After a deep pondering, one may come up with an idea and plod on with the reading. When you reach the end of the novel you find yourself thinking about what you said in the beginning and viewing it in a different way- clever stuff, actually Bhagat’s writing style is so easy that you are soon swept along with the narrative. The novel has a prologue, in which author- Chetan Bhagat encounters a beautiful woman on a train-trip. She offers to tell him a story- but will do so only on one condition that he uses it for his next book. It is set at a call center, describing the events of a single night shift†¦..and she warns him (as well as the readers) to expect at least one unusual occurrence: â€Å"it was the night†¦.it was the night there was a phone call from God.† That’s a lot of pressure to put on a book- and since the phone call comes on page241, that’s also an awful lot of suspense to leave the reader in for a very long time. The story is narrated by Shyam Mehra, who works at the Connections Call Center. Here Indians man the phones all night, fielding calls from American consumers who are having troubles with their electronic goods. The company is kept afloat by its account with Western Computers and Appliances, but isn’t doing spectacularly well (â€Å"call volumes are at an all time low†¦.Connections is doomed†) and there is talk of â€Å"rightsizing† i.e. downsizing. Shyam works in the WASG bay which stands for the Western Appliances Strategic Group, handling home appliance issues i.e. people having trouble with their refrigerators, ovens, and vacuum cleaners. The novel focuses on Shyam and handful of his colleagues- a motley crew of Indians who, for a variety of reasons, have wound up in the same job. For quite a while ‘One Night @ The Call Center’ is fairly predictable; the characters and their personal stories are introduced, the bad boss is shown being bad, the American callers are unlucky. Bhagat does not do any of this particularly well, but it’s modestly engaging and there seem to be some possibilities. Priyanka’s sudden engagement to a Microsoft-man she has never seen, stirs the things up, and each of the characters has his or her own story which Bhagat at least offers a glimpse of. He is at his best in describing the workplace- silliness, dealing with customers and bosses, though not particularly creative or imaginative. Bhagat has a self-righteous and important streak that undermines much of his possibly valid social criticism. Claims of intellectual superiority hardly mask the pathetic inferiority complex they all seem to suffer from. At Connections they are taught: – â€Å"the brain and IQ of a thirty-five-year-old American is the same as the brain of a ten-year-old Indian. This will help you understand your clients. You need to be as patient with them as you are when dealing with a child. Americans are stupid, just accept it.† It was quite surprising that the novel ‘One Night @ The Call Center’ was getting an American release, as Americans aren’t exactly shown in a flattering light here. The thirty five is equal to ten rule just makes one stunned. The Indian call center teaches all the agents that a thirty five year old American is as intelligent as a ten year old Indian child!! One would wonder how Americans will take this saying. Perhaps one sort of has to insult the people who call all night long to complain about idiotic problems now and then to stay sane and not end up screaming at them after one stupid question too many. The author does acknowledge that in spite of the vast intelligence Indians have, the country is plagued by corruption and thus very behind America. In a nutshell, it can be said that Bhagat raises valid issues and concerns- but does not take them in the least seriously, offering neither reasonable descriptions of the issues, nor any sensible way of dealing with them. The characters one finds working in these places like call-centers, the cross-cultural issues (some of which he even manages to begin to convey), the different faces of modernizing India, the family pressures especially on women; Bhagat even lays a decent foundation. But in going completely overboard like God! Operation Yankee fears! ; He undoes all of the promise of the book, and with his morally defective happy end, sends such a wrong message that one has to condemn the whole exercise. 3. THE THREE MISTAKES OF MY LIFE It is Bhagat’s third book, about cricket, religious politics and rebellious love. About how three friends get caught in a tangle to earn some money and fame, and how they sort it out. The book was published in May 2008 and had an initial print –run of 200,000 copies. The novel follows the story of three friends and is based in the city of Ahmadabad in western India where the author had begun his independent life and so this city is quite close to his heart. Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment has bought the rights for making a movie based on this, and it will be directed by Abhishek Kapoor of ‘ROCK ON!’ fame. The book has fiction: – sentiment, romance, social message, business, life, relations, religion and of course cricket. It’s the story about three friends Omi, Govind and Ish who are struggling to decide their goal. The story is presented through Govind’s eye; he is a brilliant student of mathematics. He has an aptitude and penchant for business and it’s his three mistakes of life that are presented along. Govind is a true Gujarati, interested in coming up on his own in life through business. Ishaan or Ish- a failure in studies but a great cricketer (obviously great in the local school team), has a passion in playing, teaching and watching cricket. Omi comes from a family of priests with no inclination of becoming a priest and just moves along with his two friends. The journey of these simple people in life, how their lives get affected by the worst disasters in Gujarat’s history is portrayed in a simple yet efficient way by Chetan Bhagat. This book also teaches you how your dreams crash into pieces by unexpected events but how with the support from people around, you get back on track, focus and rebuild your dreams. Vidya, Ishaan’s sister, a teenager with her eyes on Govind, represents typically homely Indian girls trying to lose their virginity and so-called boys feeling shy and guilty after having sex with them†¦. as Neha in ‘Five Point Someone’ and here Vidya in this novel. Ali, a gifted batsman and son of a local Muslim politician, plays a prominent role in the story. It’s the story of how Govind, Ishaan and Omi come up with a sports store in their area and how they achieve success in it by clubbing it with Math’s tuitions and cricket coaching classes. The writer has thrown in the angle of Ali a gifted batsman who is in need of coaching and as Ishaan is an avid cricket player whose passion lies in playing, teaching and watching cricket, comes in as Ali’s savior because he does not want a brilliant talent to be wasted. Then there is a love angle of Vidya and Govind thrown in. And to top it all Chetan Bhagat has placed the novel in the era when Ahmadabad suffered with a nightmare of an earthquake and riots. The book traces the lives of these characters and their trials and tribulations. This novel especially comes at a time when people only want to come up with excuses to show or feel how different they are rather than see the common aspects and bring oneness which can keep us together and achieve our common goal of growth, peace and prosperity. The language is simple, it connects well with the youth of India and the narration has improved as compared to the earlier novels. Chetan Bhagat has again proved that to be best novelist you don’t need fabulous vocabulary or you don’t need awesome critics review, all you need is a thread to connect to the plain minds of people. Truly this novel teaches you- life will have many setbacks. People close to you will hurt you, but you don’t break it off, you don’t hurt them more. You try to heal it. It is a lesson not only you, but our country needs to learn. The story involves some of the major headlines of early 2000 like the Gujarat earthquake, India-Australia test series, the 9/11 WTC attack and not to forget the Godhra train mishap. Apart from cricket, business and religion it also has the mesmerizing love story between Govind and Vidya the story is good, since the events are from recent past and it’s easy to connect with it. It can be completed in one sitting. But there are not many surprises as it has not gone away from Bhagat’s typical style of writing. It is less on humor content as well. Chetan has been very clever by stating ‘3 mistakes’ and you keep flipping the pages for knowing the other two mistakes as the first mistake you will come to know quite soon. It is a book with nice ingredients of real events and fiction perfectly cooked for a delicious dish. No mistake in giving it a read. 4. 2 STATES: THE STORY OF MY MARRIAGE This book is about how love marriages work in India and is again typical of him in the first person. It is like his first book ‘Five Point Someone’, expected to be inspired by his own life. The book is funny and completely different from his previous novels; perhaps this time Bhagat did not want to write about friends any more. ‘2 States†¦.’ is about Krish and Ananya, who are from two different states of India. They are deeply in love and want to get married. But their parents do not agree. To convert a love story into a wedding, the couple has a tough fight ahead of them. Perhaps it is no secret that Chetan, a Punjabi and Anusha, a Tamilian, had to work hard to have both sets of parents agree to their relationship and subsequently their marriage. To provide a further glimpse into their personal story, Chetan decided to take up penning this book after leaving his banking job and having decided to become a full-time writer. While Anusha emphasizes that when Chetan announced to her for the first time this book would heavily lean on their life story, she indeed was a little wary. In fact Anusha also stresses that before writing the book, both Chetan and she spoke to their parents assuring them that it was not about them. While Chetan accepts that a lot of portions of the book have been dramatized at the insistence of his wife, he credits his fans for conceptualizing this book. When Anusha read the book, she loved the female lead, who is modern, liberated and educated. India is opening up and parents are learning to accept love marriages despite prejudices about caste. Bhagat has dedicated this book to his in-laws and it would be for the first time any Indian writer has dedicated a book to his in-laws. In fact Chetan Bhagat admits that one of the biggest challenges would be to make sure that his in-laws still want to talk to him after reading this book. He surprises us by saying that he hopes that his wife’s parents will still be his in-laws. But, interestingly, Anusha’s parents had actually flown down from kolkata to attend the launch of the book ‘2 States†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ There is no second opinion about this that Indian love marriages are not easy. It’s just the boy and the girl who fall in love, but everyone- i.e. both their clans, have to fall in love too. In the end, the boy and the girl start questioning whether there’s anything more left to it and even fight. But it’s important to know what parents think of your marriage. Parents still have the remote control when it comes to emotions. According to Bhagat- however independent you are, getting married without parents’ approval is not good for the relationship. No doubt parents’ protesting against children marrying outside caste or religion is archaic today, still there are some honour-killing incidents in the recent times. Bhagat inspires by saying that if all else fails, the parents should do it for the sake of country. ‘2 States†¦.’ we all know well, is the story of Bhagat’s own love marriage to a Tamil Brahmin. Bhagat found that his own marriage had scope for humor because this Punjabi-Tamil is a continuous thing and a lot of Indians can relate to it. The story is fictionalized but the feelings that Bhagat had gone through, are the same as what the characters experience. And of course it was difficult for him to convince his own parents to accept his Tamilian wife – Anusha, who was also a banker. So, there are jokes about Punjabis and Tamilians in this book. More importantly, Bhagat used it to address to his strained relationship with his father. Speaking about ‘2 States†¦.’, Bhagat says that the story is not a memoir, it was nice, the feeling of suspension of disbelief, but as it involves his own family, so he wants to make it clear that it is a work of fiction. That is why there are character changes and the dramatization is higher. Calling it a fluffy novel, Bhagat says that it is personal and treats the complex issue of inter-community marriages, the fun way. And sends home a bigger message of homogeneous society. According to Bhagat, homogeneity is important for a country to move forward. Today’s youth are traveling to different cities for studies and work, and they will meet someone; but parents are still rooted in prejudices that have to be addressed. To take his stand point firmly, Bhagat cites the success stories of Korea, Taiwan and China that have seen progress from a developing country by adopting homogeneity. Chetan Bhagat believes to do what your heart says. Knowing what you want and sticking to your decision is most important. And he himself did just that. He fell in love, knew what he was doing and followed his heart. And so, a book happened. Bhagat feels that his best stories are those drawn from his own life and experiences. The more personal the book, the more unusual and funny it becomes for him. People relate to it better because they know him, his wife and his twin sons. He strongly believes that the function of literature is to reflect society and by means of his novels he is causing some change in a large part of India, which is far more satisfying. AS A COLUMNIST Bhagat has an open-ended column in Dainik Bhaskar, a large Hindi newspaper and another at The Times of India, English daily. He says,†the main purpose of the books and films is to entertain, but the columns allow me to give my views on how the nation should be run.† His articles are written in simple English to achieve mass appeal. He also visits Educational Institutions in India to give motivational talks. ON TELEVISION Bhagat was a judge on a reality show by Star News called ‘Star Anchor Hunt’ AWARDS Chetan Bhagat has been honoured with ‘Society Young Achiever’s Award’ in 2004 and ‘Publisher’s Recognition Award’ in 2005.