Kindle - Reader's Companion in lockdown

After I posted my 'Gone with the wind' review, many people asked me that in the current lock-down situation, how am i getting hold of good books.
The answer to this is my dearest gadget 'Kindle', the e-reader.
So in order to answer the curious reader's questions, I have listed below some FAQs about Kindle.

• * What is Kindle?

'Kindle' is a special e-reader device, designed and marketed by Amazon. Kindle enables users to browse, buy, download and read the ebooks/newspapers/magazines.
It uses special technology of e-ink and LED back-light which is different than the technology used in smartphones/tablets. The battery life of Kindle is amazing and you can go on for many weeks on one full charge.

• * Why should you buy Kindle?

If you read lot of books, you are qualified to buy a kindle.
Now what qualifies as 'lot of' is open to interpretation. But if you read everyday for an hour or so, you have a valid case to go for kindle.
if you don't read quite as much or you pickup a book only if someone recommends you, you may not rip all benefits of owning a kindle.

• * What are the benefits of Kindle over having collection of paper books?

The most obvious reason for buying kindle is that you can carry nearly unlimited amount of books around in your pocket. If you tend to read outside, while traveling, while waiting in lobby/reception/lounge or read in the dark regularly, the Kindle gets upper hand over the paper book.
All of the current Kindle models have atleast 4 GB of storage space. With even large books often sizing under 1 MB of space, that’s an absolutely huge shelf space you get for your books and you can carry it all around with you wherever you go.
Honestly, as much as I love to have nice paper collection of books, with my tiny house in Mumbai, it is nearly impossible to spare decent size space for storing books. Also the simple maintenance like dusting, covering can also be tiresome.

• * Should you buy a Kindle device or just use the Free App?

If you are a lite reader, or the smartphone back-light doesn’t bother you, then Kindle app may suit you rather than buying expensive gadget.
Using it on your phone is not ideal, but it can certainly be done.

App has 2 major advantages - 1) app is absolutely free. Of course you still have to pay for the books that you download (unless you’re planning to read only the free stuff available). 2. app resides on the device that you already have ie your smartphone.
Kindle is small and light, but it’s still another device that you’ll have to charge and carry with you if you want to take it anywhere.

The biggest drawback of using the app, is the backlight on your phone. it’s just not as nice as the e-ink and LED lighting that Kindle provides. You can definitely read in the dark on your phone, but it is pretty harsh and will take a toll on your eyes.
Now a days, we all are already spending too many hours looking at a screen, and reading on one will not be preferred. Also reading on phone can be extremely difficult in direct sunlight.

Probably the best way to figure out if you should buy a Kindle is to try using the app first. Read couple of full books over the course of a 2-3 weeks to see how you like using the app on your phone or tablet, and if you think you’d prefer a Kindle, then you can decide about buying.

• * Do you need constant internet/wifi connection to use Kindle?

No. The books are downloaded on your device similar to how we have photos stored on phone. So no Wi-Fi or internet required in order to open already purchased and downloaded books . You can also turn pages, search for words and view all notes/marked paragraphs within each title without an Internet connection

• * Does kindle affect eye health?

The e-ink screen and built-in LEDs of the Kindle provide soft lighting that is very easy on your eyes without making it hard to read at night. The high-end models like Oasis have adaptive light sensors to automatically adjust to your current lighting.

• * If you are a night reader, should you buy Kindle?

Lot of us read at night before going to bed. Reading paper book would require night lamp to be kept on and that may be irritating/distracting for your partner. The LED light of Kindle is mild enough to not wake up or cause distraction.

• * All good so far, but how much does it cost?

Kindle is available in various models, ranging from approx 8000 INR till 22,000 INR.
The high-end models provide major feature of having compatibility with 4G, that means you can use data SIM in the device.
If you have to go economical, I will recommend to go with intermediate model (like Kindle Paperwhite) that provides decent amount of features along with affordability of around 12000-13000.

• * and how much does it cost to buy books?

The books price varies largely, starting with millions of free books to in thousands for rare books.
However, most of the common and famous self-help, novels, children's books range from 0 to 500 rupees each.
The good news is, every day, Amazon sells a wide range of top-tier novels and non-fiction books at knockdown prices.
When you browse Amazon for eBooks, you will stumble upon 'Deal of the day', 'Monthly deal', 'Lightening deal', 'Limited time deal' and many such.
If you keep close watch on the book you want to get hold of and have little patience, you will certainly break a pocket-friendly deal within days.
This is based on my own experience of using Kindle for 5 years. I personally have not bought any book for more than 120 rupees and I have decent collection of famous titles as well as authors.
In any case you will notice that almost always, Kindle edition price will be way lesser than paperback price.

• * After purchasing a book, can you copy/access them on multiple devices?

Yes. You can access your Kindle library on up to 6 devices, and these can be actual Kindles or PCs, tablets or smartphones running the Kindle app

• * what about aftersales service?

Regarding service centers, there are close to no service center for Kindle in India. So, you can trust kindle for one year as long as it is in warranty. After that, trust with 'All is well!!!'. But there is rarely any problem in e-readers because they are not very-complex devices as smartphones. Buy a good cover for your device and you can let go the worry of clumsy handling.
I have been using my device for 5 years now and never ever faced a slightest issue.
In case you really try hard and manage to damage your device, no worries about purchased contents. They are linked to your Amazon account and stored on Amazon cloud. So can be easily retrieved on new device using same account.

• * What more features Kindle has?

Apart from being great e-reader, it has many more features. It is integrated with 'Goodreads', in-built dictionary, 'most highligted passages' etc

• * Is Kindle only option in e-reader?

There are other e-readers available in the market like Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Clara HD, Nook etc.
But like 'Colgate' is synonym to tooth-paste, Kindle is to e-reader. :)

• * So is it worth making investment?

That’s going to depend largely on your budget and how much time you spend reading.
I spent around 10K on device few years back, it has been giving highest ROI since then.

If you have taken efforts to read such a long post, i reckon that you can try with reading a good book too.
So happy reading and remember - “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Gone With The Wind (GWTW)

One of my reading goals of 2020 is reading at least few classic books. It seems only fitting that the first one I finished in this category is truly epic and classic  'Gone With The Wind'.
GWTW is a novel by American writer Margaret Mitchell, first published in 1936.

Before going into the book and movie details, let me put down some interesting facts about GWTW -
- As of 2014, a Harris poll found it to be the second favorite book of American readers, just behind the Bible.
- More than 30 million copies of this novel have been printed worldwide
- it received the prestigious the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937
- The author 'Margaret Mitchell' wrote no other book after GWTW, it is the only novel she wrote in her lifetime
- She started writing it in 1926 and eventually finished in 1936. Also the book's final moments were written first and then wrote other events that led up to them
- The book is accused of being 'racist' and has great deal of racism, in content as well as language. The N-word and the euphemism “darkie” are all over the place
- The movie with the same name was released in 1939. It received 10 Academy Awards (eight competitive, two honorary) from thirteen nominations.
- For movie, casting took 2 years and the "search for Scarlett" led to 1,400 women being interviewed for the part.
- After the first release in 1939, the movie has been re-released many time with improved technology and restoration. But there is no known re-make.

Now coming to the novel - frankly this post is not a book review. There are ample reviews available on net that describe the story-line, characters and era context. What i have put down is how I have perceived the characters.

As an Indian, I didn’t study the American war history in my academics. What I know about it has been cobbled together from bit of my reads and research lately.

GWTW is a war era novel but undoubtedly remarkable and unique reading experience.
It is indeed a long read, near to 1000 pages. Took me 4-5 times the time compared to what I take for any std size novel.
But I have never been so enthralled in any book. In spite of its length, I was never bored and constantly picking it up for reading as and when I could.

It is very difficult to place this book in a single genre. GWTW is not just a romantic story involving Scarlett, Ashley and Rhett but also a well researched account of the American civil war.
Along with portraying the era, characterization and artistically-drawn relationships are the best things about this book. Each and every character is so brilliantly portrayed, and the lead characters are so fully rounded that you can barely believe they're fictional.

Both Scarlett and Rhett, bounce off the page and overwhelm your thoughts even after you finish reading the book.
During the read, you may like or dislike these lead characters, but they encroach your mind throughout.

There is everything in here. A brutal war and its aftermath, moving romance, virtues of ethics and morality, all centered around one of the most complex characters in all of literature, Scarlett O’Hara. It is a bold of author to sketch the protagonist female as selfish, spoiled brat, materialistic bitch.
But in spite of all this, she still emerges as powerful, fiery woman.

Then there is Rhett, the only character with the ability to conquer Scarlett. He is an absolute alpha mate.
Just like the ladies in Atlanta I found myself at times entranced by his charms, but at many occasions I did not like him as well. I sympathized with him and was often amused by his sarcasm and satire. A classy anti-hero.
The evolution of his relationship with Scarlett is so carefully and artfully structured that the final 100 pages will make your heart ache.

I haven't watched the whole movie yet, but have seen few clips on web.
Both, Vivien Leigh and  Clark Gable, seem perfectly fitting in the characters of Scarlett and Rhett.

So overall, an incredible classic converted into equally epic movie, immensely special and the one that will posses you for a while.

Stream/college selection after 10th std

In the morning, I read news that CBSE 10th results are going to get declared today.
The news triggered 2 yrs back memories and so thought penning-down this post for benefit of all students and their parents.

For our children, the first struggle or decision we make regarding their education is while deciding which board/school to be chosen while admitting them in school in KG/1st std.
we do all kind of RnD through various modes, discuss with colleagues, relatives, internet forums, parenting groups.
Once that is sorted, the feeling is of 'done and dusted' remains on mind for a while.

However deciding next course and taking appropriate admission after passing 10th is also equally imp milestone and decision has to be made with good amount of introspection and very wisely.

Once the respective board declares the results, most of the students/parents start struggling about their next course of action.
Which stream to choose, which college to choose, how to select coaching classes - these are some of questions that linger.

Below I have noted few points and tips which I feel should help the anxious students as well as parents.
Though some of the things are very much Science stream specific, but it is common that science students face the dilemma the most.

So here are my notes -

- Do not decide the stream (Sci/commerce/Arts) based on your 10th %.
These % are mere indication of how you have written your board papers and may not reflect your interest/inclinations in true sense.

It is quite a common perception that if student gets say above 80-85%, he/she is fit to go to science.
But eventually if the student is not interested in any of science driven careers, he/she will struggle later to decide career choice after 12th.

So choose the stream based on student's inclination, ability towards doing hard-work, mental-ability.

- Do not fall for peer pressure. Students tend to decide choice of stream by getting influenced by their friends, siblings, cousins, even parents.
Parents need to carefully make them aware of  future career options of every stream than blindly choosing stream because someone else is doing the same.
Do seek professional advise from career counselor in case you are not aware of various career choices of every stream.

- Next question is how to choose college.
I would like to bring another aspect about choosing right board before going for college selection.

Now since most of the students are taking their 10th education from diverse boards, it is also important to choose right board for 12th.
So make a cautious choice if student should continue in his/her current board like CBSE or ICSE, or whether should opt for moving to state board.

most of CBSE schools have jr college ie 11th/12th attached to school.

My recommendation will be to stick to 10th board unless there are valid reasons like no availability of  jr college offered by 10th board.

Otherwise I do not see a good reason to switch to different board after getting well-versed with your 10th board for last many years.

- The admission process for central boards like CBSE is different than centralized process of state board colleges.
So in case student decides to continue with same board as of 10th, the admissions are carried out individually by respective colleges. They do not have centralized process.
eg Every college has their own forms to fill in, own schedule of deciding admission lists, fee structure etc
So do your pre-study of which all colleges offer the stream you have decided and the apply to those colleges individually.

- If the student decides to enroll into state board, he/she has to follow centralized admission process driven by Maharashtra govt.
The main dilemma in centralized process is which college options should be given.

I will highly recommend to choose colleges which are in close vicinity of your residence.
There is no point in wasting students precious time and energy if he/she has to change 2 trains, hop-in/hop-off train/bus and take 1-1.5 hrs to reach best college chosen.

Remember that for science students, 11th/12th are not for enjoying college life, rather focus on studies.
So don't get bogged down by aspiring for best college which may be far away.

- Let us say the student has decided to go for science stream.
The next huddle is to decide about coaching classes.

Since last few years, many new patterns have emerged in institutes like integrated, semi integrated, non-integrated.
let us see what these terms mean.

1. Semi Integrated model - Since few years now, the renowned coaching institutes like Fitjee, Allen, Lakshya started collaboration with local colleges.
In such allied model, the core subjects like physics, maths, chem are taught  by institute professors.
Non-core subjects like languages are taught by college professors.
All the practicals are carried out by college and in college premise.
The core subject classes are held in college premises or at institute facilities.

The advantage of above model is enormous saving is student's time. As they do not have to attend double lectures ie at college as well as classes
The con is that the institutes focus largely on preparing students for common entrance exams ie jee, KVPY, mh-cet, NEET etc.
So in case the student has inclination towards aspiring some other field besides engineering/medicine, this model may not be of much help.
Also, getting into semi-integrated model comes with high tuition fees. Combined fees for 11th-12th can range from 3 lakhs to 5 lakhs. The college fees is has to be paid separately.

So in case if financial constrains, please opt for non-integrated model.

2. Integrated model -
Some institutes like PACE (IIT&Medical) offer coaching classes as well as college benefits ie non-core subject teaching, conducting practicals.
The student doesn't have to seek admission in any other college if enrolled in such institute.
In Maharashtra, PACE is affiliated to state board. So in case student has inclination to stick to non-state board, the decision has to be re-evaluated then.
The typical fees for integrated model can range from 2.5-5 lakhs for 11th/12th together.

3. non-integrated model -
this is traditional model similar to 10th std format that student would have followed.
The student has to attend college for all subjects and attend coaching classes separately.

- in integrated as well as semi-integrated models, the corresponding institutes carry out qualification entrance test. The tuition fees would vary as per the score in these exams.

- So in case student decides to take up semi-integrated model, choose the institute carefully.
Some of the institutes offer collaboration with sub-standard colleges with not-so-good facilities.
The college matters a bit as after-all student is going to spend 2 yrs there.

I hope above points will help in clearing some of the common confusions that arise during 11th class admissions.