Express News Service
In March 2020, the world spoke only of the pandemic. In March 2021, it seems to be speaking only of Zoom fatigue. Video-conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Skype for Business, StarLeaf and others have become ubiquitous.
They have their advantage as a readily-available solution for those working remotely, but the convenience comes at a price complete and utter exhaustion.
In a recent advisory, the American Psychoanalytic Association (APSAA) has formulated the term ‘Pandemic Trauma and Stress Experience’ or PTSE. This can be caused by having to adapt to a prolonged pandemic way of life, filled with uncertainty, fear, and loss.
Express News Service
When two lonely hearts meet in a city ravaged by religious divisions and oppressive middle-class values and expectations, their gender ceases to matter.
The Married Woman, ALT Balaji’s latest miniseries based on Manju Kapur’s novel of the same name, had a timely release this International Women’s Day.
The 10-episode saga directed by Sahir Raza, and starring Ridhi Dogra, Monica Dogra, Suhaas Ahuja and Imaad Shah in leading roles packs the proverbial punch, albeit sensitively.
Leading lady Astha (Ridhi Dogra) lives an ordinary life in an ordinary home in the early 1990s complete with misogynistic husband Hemant (Suhaas Ahuja), cantankerous in-laws, demanding children, broken pressure-cookers and constant reminders to be grateful because ‘all her needs are taken care of’.
College admissions can be nerve-wracking experiences at the best of times. When Kavitta B Bedi’s daughter faced the arduous college admissions process in 2019, she realised there must be a better way for students to demonstrate who they really are beyond school marks, test scores, college essays and application forms.
Bedi teamed up with Katherine Ernst Mehta and started Xtraview, a digital startup where a team of experts from varied fields, interview student applicants in an unscripted and unbiased virtual setting.
Katherine Ernst Mehta
These interviews can then be used to bolster traditional paper applications to colleges and other institutions. “Our aim is to help students speak, showcase and succeed. We want to empower them by highlighting the different aspects of their personalities. Our platform gives every student an equal, unbiased opportunity to seize their dreams,” the duo says emphatically.
Express News Service
Writer Janet Chawla met her husband and moved from California to Delhi 42 years ago. The language, the people, the culture… it was all alien to her. She wanted to make friends to be able to assimilate into her new life and found company at the American Women’s Association (AWA), now called the American Spouses Association. This social organisation for the wives of American diplomats gave Chawla a chance to befriend others like her.
She liked the taste of good company and looked forward to joining other such clubs. Women’s International Club, Delhi, happened next. It was a place for Indian women to meet and interact with foreigners and diplomats, and share life experiences. Today, Chawla is a club veteran. For many like her, these have offered a home away from home with their enduring appeal standing the test of time. Now, meetings, demonstrations and discussions have moved online.