nayan1204

What makes a nation? Or more specifically what makes India a nation? What is that one thing that binds us, the people, together? Is it a common tongue like French which united the people of France, or is it a set of ideals and values that are prevalent among the United States of America?

When French became the national language of France, the country lost its rich linguistic diversity as countless other languages faded into oblivion. Is this what we want? Sacrificing our cultural identity for a national identity? With values and ideals closely linked with religion and culture, is it even possible to have a single set in a country as diverse as our? What do we do when some worship an animal, the others love to eat, or when some condemn what others depend on?

So, since it’s clearly not a language or a set of values that binds the people of India together, then what is it? What could a people constituting the descendants of the subjects of the Mauryans, the Guptas, the Palas, the Pandyas, and the Mughals have in common? That’s right. Their colonial past. This country united under the East India Company and its people are defined by the liberation from it. That is what gave us a national identity. We are the people who resisted the British.

Maybe the memory fades because the Crown left the country in the hands of the INC instead of being driven away by people like Bose and Singh. But it is high time that we remember. Either remember our colonial past or find something else that defines this culturally diverse nation of ours, because it sure as hell isn’t Hindi, Hindu or Hindutva.

Windows 8.1, Windows defender, Microsoft Word, Notepad are just some programs of Microsoft that I am using at this very moment, writing this blog to be a part of Microsoft Student Associates Program. Microsoft has been an inseparable part of my childhood, the fact that I am studying to be an IT Engineer is in itself possible because of Microsoft. My parents are sitting in the other room, using computer easily and at this very point I think how impossible this would have been without Microsoft, which has been able to reach out to people of different age groups. Microsoft has revolutionized the use of computers in a country like India. Being able to afford a computer and being able to use computers, inspite of the alienation that India has faced in relation to computer related technology for a long time until recent years is a big achievement.

When I look back to my own childhood, I can’t think of how life would have been without a computer, without Microsoft and it’s various products. Microsoft has had such a major influence and impact on my life, that since last 12 years, not a day has passed when I haven't used Microsoft software. Since everything around me chantingly repeated only one name ‘Microsoft’, I always wished to get linked to the Microsoft Corporation. I wished to be able to contribute in whatever capacity I can manage, to the successfully ongoing revolution that Microsoft has brought about in context of the use of technology in the world.

My first computer had Windows 98 operating system installed in it. That was the first time I heard about Microsoft. Drawing random designs, and sometimes painting sceneries, I developed my love for MS Paint! Somehow, the whole idea of bringing canvas to every household in itself was a big achievement on the part of Microsoft. Almost within a year I started using Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. The tedious projects became easier to do, easier to research about. The pain of writing long projects was overtaken by the happiness and ease of making a beautiful project in half the time using Microsoft Word. The clipart, the word art, various shapes and tools only added the grace to my projects. Before PowerPoint, presenting a seminar or project in such an efficient manner was not even possible. In later years I discovered more of Microsoft products. The first audio-video playing software I used was Windows Media Player which, I have to say, made a huge come back with its Windows 8 version. The movies and videos came to every household with this software, and the computer became a multi-media player. Windows Security Essentials, another Microsoft Product has protected my system from the start. Honestly speaking, Windows 8's Security Essentials' Defender and other applications work so efficiently that the need to use an antivirus has never been felt. Microsoft Excel with its formulae and tables has been a great help for collection and segregation of accounts data for my Dad. Microsoft FrontPage has helped a lot in designing my first of websites. Microsoft Publisher was a huge help when I wanted to design a newsletter for class. I was a big fan of Microsoft Student when I was in school. The Encarta Encyclopedia was always fun to go through even in free times.

A few years into the journey with Microsoft, I got an internet connection. When internet connection had recently come to households, no other browser except Internet Explorer was able to capture the market this early. With Internet came Search Engines, and my journey with BING began there, and the bright, ever changing background always kept the experience fresh. Skype is another outstanding product. It has made the world a smaller place for all of us, from personal to professional calls, everything has been made possible through Skype.

I've recently started learning the C# language and that too from an online course at the Microsoft Virtual Academy. It also provides Windows Phone 8 Development course, which has caught my interest, and I am already taking baby steps in this direction. Microsoft has been such an important part of my life, that my passion in programming and software development has been largely motivated and fuelled by Microsoft.

‘Technology changes the world’, I have always believed in this. Therefore, if I get to be part of MSA program, my foremost priority would be to drive student outreach and learning initiatives by hosting various activities. Also I would help driving initiatives around social impact and contribute to the industry by being an evangelist.

I would drive initiatives for various activities such as boot camps on understanding the basics of .NET, C#, Visual Studio, etc., seminars on understanding the fundamentals of IT, recent development in technology, recent inventions, and other such concepts. Also I would want to conduct workshops on basics of Windows Application Development, knowing Microsoft Word and PowerPoint in a better way, successful projects at our institution and what can be invented keeping that as a benchmark, idea sharing and other such useful workshops. Also, I would organize events with the sole purpose of spreading awareness about Microsoft and how we take Microsoft's contributions to the present day world for granted and hopefully help people realize that Microsoft has been an integral part of our world. I also consider it important to organize awareness programs about technology and how students from every field can contribute to the field of technology, as this is the core of the future, and this is what it will pivot upon.

The world would have been a completely different place without Microsoft. The company has done an amazing job in shaping the modern day world, the world in which people like me know about the great things man can do with the help of a machine. And I wish to be a part of this program so that I can contribute to the world that’s shaping up, the world of technology and Microsoft.

Majoritarian Rule

Majoritarian Rule

India, a nation.

Microsoft & Me

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