I think the most difficult part about being in a relationship or the threshold of a relationship is to be yourself. When you have this fact in mind that you have to put your best foot forward, you tend to overdo things to impress your partner. You get this feeling that you must be better than what you are as a person and you try to prop up the weak sides of your personality. For example, if you are an introvert, but your partner is not, you tend to talk more and act louder than you would do normally. This is the biggest mistake that you can do. When you fake to be someone that you are not, it’s either noted by your date immediately, or it becomes transparent in a couple of meetings. Then you are generally taken to be a fake person.

Guard against that. Be yourself. You are a unique individual and people will only respect you if you respect yourself. There’s never any gain in trying to be someone else. If you feel some improvement is necessary, do it with the idea in mind that you can be a better yourself, but you can never be a good someone else. You would want your partner to know the person you actually are, and if you try to cover up the real you, you only make things difficult for your partner. The base of any relationship is trust and honesty, and it begins with yourself.

Be comfortable with what you are. A person at peace with himself will no doubt attract attention. No one wants to meet or talk to a person who appears to be a poor replica of someone else. When you maintain your dignity and self respect, it shows and you have a better vive going off you. Never be envious of personality traits that you do not have. There are many traits in you that others do not have. Exploit those to your advantage and you’ll feel the change in the response of the people towards you. Try it and let me know if it works!

‘The Daily Show’ has created a buzz! Jon Stewart, the host of the show, went after Jim Cramer and CNBC, accusing them of giving preference to entertainment over journalism. This debate over the term infotainment has always flared up, at one time or the other. The media has often been accused of sensationalizing issues and playing them up. Newsreels resemble entertainment videos and cater to the leisurely pursuits of people who want to know more about their favorite celebrities. There is always this reply by media-persons that the media brings up so-called trivial issues because the common people want to know about such topics.

I think the debate on ‘The Daily Show’ was nothing new. I personally feel that the media has a major role to play and we cannot entirely blame the media for them preferring entertainment over journalism. After all, they only meet the demand of their viewership. If people were not interested to see such broadcasts, they would not have aired them in the first place. I always feel that in any field, before we blame someone, we must turn the light on ourselves. Why do we see these shows that inform in an entertaining format? When we watch it with hungry eyes, we shouldn’t turn back and blame them for coming up with such a show. After all, no one threatened you to watch it! This is my take on the topic. What’s yours?

Friday 13th has always been a date of considerable interest among us. Steve, despite being a modern man in every sense of the term, wouldn’t buy something expensive if the date happens to be Friday 13th! I quizzed him often and he brushed aside the topic, saying he deferred the purchase because of other reasons. I tried to find out why people are so conscious, if not actually superstitious about the date. I came up with some interesting facts. It seems to me that Friday 13th was not always considered unlucky or even ominous. Then there were some major events that happened and changed certain conception about the date.

Numerologically, twelve is considered a perfect and complete number for various reasons, including the fact that Jesus had twelve disciples. Thirteen always stood out like a sore thumb and people began to frame stories around it. Then professionals reported that they suffered loses when the date was Friday 13th. Stock markets crashed and historically as well, it was considered unlucky because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Other theories tell us that Friday is named after Frigga, who was tagged a witch and banished. It’s believed that she met other witches on this date and made devilish plans! Stories also refer to the Templar Knights who were ordered to be arrested and executed on this date! Phew!

That was some history, I tell you! The point is that you can be wary of this date if your apprehensions are deep-rooted, but there is no point in getting scared of this date. I mean, I had never had any misfortune on Friday 13th, and on days I suffered set-backs, I can’t really remember any of those dates being Friday 13th! Have you faced problems or misfortunes on Friday 13th? Do you believe it’s an ominous day? Let’s pool ideas and dispel the myth.