Advent of Paper

The introduction of paper was a long way back when ancestors used stones, clay pots, Papyrus for writing purposes. The word paper comes from Papyrus used in ancient times, which is still the most straightforward material for writing, primarily introduced in the Chinese court years ago by a complex method—lifting a small amount of the slurry in a rectangular sieve of a silk sheet surrounded by a frame. Shaking the sieve gently, evenly distribute the fibers, and as the draining away of water they settle into a sheet, then drying in the sun produced papers. This process produced a long-lasting, high-quality paper.

The raw materials for paper-making were hemp and linen rags. By 1800, paper mills required 24 million tones of rags per year, and raw material supplies were short. The search for allow-cost, readily available, and renewable alternative began. The Four drinier paper-making machine employed a continuous wire-mesh belt instead of individual paper molds to make a sheet of paper, making the process faster and cheaper. England, in 1803, put an end to the time-consuming process of hand-making paper by applying the machine.

From early childhood to the present, we use paper, which is essential for writing, and find its applications in schools, colleges, offices, and almost everywhere. It is material to express ourselves, may it be in any form.

Uses of paper:

  • Nowadays, manypapers are there for official purposes in schools, colleges, courts, and otherworkplaces.
  • From exercise books to encyclopedias, there is paper for all forms of printing. The type of paper depends on the product’s eventual use and lifespan. High-quality pulp from new cotton rag trimmings and flax is helpful to make banknotes, which must be robust and long-lasting.
  • Another valuable attribute of paper is its absorbency, whose application is in tissues and other products.
  • Because it is light but robust, clothes soak up liquids quickly.
  • In the form of laminated products, the packaging industry also relies on a steady paper supply.
  • Other specialty paper products include electrical board insulation, printed circuits for the electronics industry, filters for various purposes, disposable medical clothes, bandages, and automobile filters, among others.

India manufactures many papers, including printing and writing paper, packaging paper, coated paper, and specialty papers. Cream weaved paper, super printing paper, map litho paper (non-surface and surface size), copier paper, bond paper, and coating base paper are examples of printing and writing paper varieties. Kraft paper, boards, poster paper, and various types of packing material are available. 10.6percent increase in per capita paper consumption India makes India the fastest growing market in terms of consumption.

The importance of paper plays a significant role in everyday life. Starting from the educational institutions, healthcare, courts, service sectors, and other organizations, the role of paper is immense and is present everywhere. The working professionals use paper daily and are an integral part of our society. Originating centuries back, the applications till today are everywhere. Papers are of different qualities, shapes, and utilization, serving the same purpose – the expressions through writing and utility for our daily lives.

7 ways in which parents can instill reading skills in their kids

While schools and teachers teach the kids to learn, read, and write, the skill of reading with an interest and continue to do so comes from parents. From a very early age, asking your kids to read, making him or she understand the value of reading is something that comes from the parents.
Reading is not only essential for education but also for communication. Because of this, the ability to read for comprehension and to communicate effectively is vital and needs to be taught at a young age. Beyond that, reading for pleasure provides a wealth of benefits for kids as they go through school and into adulthood.

So, what are the ways in which parents can instill reading skills in their kids?

  1. Show them: The first and foremost way to do is by showing them. If your child doesn’t see you reading, he or she won’t value reading no matter how much you preach. Take time off every day and read a little of anything.
  2. Make reading material available: Give your child options to read. Instead of handing him/her one book, give options that vary in genre and type. Let them choose it on their own. Giving them an option makes them feel good.
  3. Discuss post reading: Whether your child fishes a story or a poem – ask them about it. Have a healthy quick discussion on whatever is being read frequently. This won’t just enhance the communication skills of your child but it would also help them comprehend what they read and learn.
  4. Introduce technology: It will only help them increase their confidence and self-esteem. Don’t be afraid to replace books with kindle at all. Sign them up into book clubs and encourage them to participate in the discussions.
  5. Promote writing: Alongside reading encourage them to write! Help them craft short stories or poems as they please and read it aloud with them. This will take them more towards reading and writing both, as they both go hand in hand.
  6. Ask questions: Ask questions on opinions, characters, and the story as a whole. Reading should always be active instead of passive, thus make them question what they read & teach them to be curious about it all the time. Sometimes, even including their friends in the discussion can help in a lot many ways.
  7. Regular activity: Make teaching a regular habit at your home. Set a time table if you want in order to make the activity regular and consistent. While this activity is done, keep the distractions as much as away.

These are some of the pointers one needs to remember in order to make the child like reading consistently. Hope these points shall help! Comment below, in case we have missed anything.

How to Smartly tackle your child’s tantrums

Let us just face it, tantrums are difficult to handle. Whether you are a new parent or an old one, tantrums come in different phases and ways! Tantrums are annoying and can often make you really angry but, there are ways to deal with it. While some parents resort to beating and scolding, there are some other ways to deal with them as well.
Today we are going to talk about the ways to deal with your child’s tantrums in a much smarter way.

  1. Positive attention
    A lot of kids tend to throw tantrums simply because they are not getting enough attention. So providing healthy positive attention to your kids is important. Make them feel heard and understood always. A lot of tantrums are done out of the sheer frustration of not being understood by the parents.
  2. Offer choices
    Kids love to have control over some things and as an adult, you should be smart with it. Offer them minor choices such as which juice do they want – apple or grapes or what clothes do they want to wear today. This understanding of having control over certain things makes them feel hopeful as well as valued.
  3. Distract them
    There is an advantage that adults have over the kids and that is the attention span. Kids, by default, tend to have a low attention span which makes it easy for us to distract them. Every time you feel they are about to throw unnecessary tantrums – try to distract them.
  4. Teach them to be calm
    Make this very clear through the communication and action that there are nicer ways of asking things and make them believe that they are always heard when they are obedient and nice. The more tantrum they create the harder it is for you to understand them.
  5. Know their timings
    If your child has just woken up from sleep, it could be bad timing to go out shopping! As an adult, you should consider their moods too before taking them anywhere. The bad mood of your child can ruin yours too!
  6. Know the cause
    One cannot handle the tantrums cleverly if one doesn’t know the cause. Try to understand the root cause behind this behavior. Is the child angry or just sleepy? Is he or she is a bad mood or it is being done to drive attention?

Sometimes taking expert help is also important. As the experts can understand well about child psychology and help your guide well in the parenting lessons. If there is any point that we have missed, do let us know in the comment section below!

How to increase the efficiency of virtual business meetings?

The advent of health crisis has drastically changed the work culture for brands across the globe. The traditional well-structured boardroom meetings are now replaced by chaotic virtual meetings. To top it off, constant delays, technical issues, low productivity, and lack of result-driven meetings have adversely impacted the business operations of various brands.
While there seems to be no end to this health crisis, the only way out is to develop an efficient virtual business meeting framework. Such an efficient virtual meeting framework will not just pace up your business operations but rather it will also help you to optimize on the resources.
Having said that, let’s have a look at some strategies to foster an efficient virtual business meeting work culture.

Setting Virtual Meeting Agenda: Instead of wasting time on pointless interactions, it’s always better to have a well-set business meeting agenda. A well-defined meeting agenda helps employees to figure out the main objective of the meeting. With a clear objective, it becomes relatively easy to avoid aimless discussions in virtual meetings.
Takeaway: Before your virtual business meeting, share a meeting agenda with your employees to increase a business meeting productivity.

Virtual Meeting Duration: Unlike traditional boardroom meetings, you cannot have a closed and distraction-free set-up in virtual meetings. The difference in the set-up is bound to hamper the attention span of meeting attendees. Hence, ensure that your virtual business meetings are short and to the point.
Takeaway: Focus on organizing virtual meetings of about 15-30 minutes rather than opting for hour-long time-consuming meetings.

Meeting Structure: Structured virtual business meetings are directly proportional to the level of your work efficiency. Thus, before you organize a virtual meeting, plan out some aspects like meeting goals, the meeting flow, key pointers to discuss, and time allocations for each task. This structured framework will ensure that all the important issues are being analyzed and discussed.
Takeaway: Organizing a well structured virtual meeting will help your brand to speed up the decision-making processes.

Virtual Software Usage Training: An organization consists of employees from diverse age groups. At such times, every employee may not be techno-savvy. Therefore, it becomes imperative for an organization to support these employees by guiding them on online meeting software usage. Perhaps, you can assign this task to the IT department of your organization.
Takeaway: Train your employees in virtual business meeting software used to save your business meetings from aimless co-ordination and confusion.

Likewise, there are many other tricks like smart time management and the use of technology-driven resources for improving efficiency. However, one thing that you need to incorporate in your virtual meetings is discipline.
Be strict and professional when it comes to dealing with lazy or inefficient employees in virtual meetings. If possible, try to limit the number of participants in your virtual meeting. In case if you have many participants, then you can break them in small groups to avoid confusion.
Thus, by practicing these tricks, we are sure soon you will start noticing the positive change of increased efficiency in your virtual business meetings.

6 Vital Life Skills which prove helpful for your Child’s All-Round Development

Life skills play a crucial role in fostering a child’s all-round development. While parents often prioritize education and co-curricular activities for their kid’s development, they often tend to underestimate the importance of teaching life skills to their kids.

Alternatively, kids who are taught life skills right from their childhood, grow up to be responsible, independent, and compassionate human beings.
Thus, if as a parent, you wish to encourage your child’s all-round development, then you must focus on imparting basic life skills to your children. 

Having said that, here’s a checklist of some essential life skills that you need to teach your kids.

Communication Skills: The ability to express your opinions with clarity and confidence goes a long way in developing an impressive persona. Therefore, to hone your child’s verbal and oral communication skills, it’s advisable to incorporate simple communication exercises like listening to audio stories or reading books and newspapers.

Direction Skills: Navigation skills are among the essential life skills. Without proper navigation skills, your children are bound to be dependent upon others for directions. To avoid this, try to develop their sense of direction by teaching them the basics of google maps operation and map reading.

Cooking Skills: You need not teach them Masterchef level cooking, but learning basic cooking skills is necessary. Such skills come in handy when your kids shift out of the house for their further education. Perhaps, you can start with non-fire cooking activities for preschoolers and gradually shift to more complex recipes.

Time Management Skills: Surviving in the world of cut-throat competition, your kid is certainly going to need efficient time management skills. Thus, you can start early by teaching them to prioritize their assignments and projects. Additionally, you can always motivate them by adding a twist of reward for effective time management.

Basic Medical Skills: Basic medical skills like cleaning a wound, applying a band-aid, or checking the expiry of medicines before consuming can prove useful at the time of unfortunate events. Likewise, ensure that you make your kids aware of emergency contacts that can be reached out for in the times of need.

Financial Literacy Skills: While you may consider your children to be too young for this, but kids these days are way smarter than what we think. Introducing basic financial concepts around savings and investment can help your kids to develop a strong financial IQ in the near future. If your kids are too young, then you can start by teaching them the significance of saving.

Thus, this is not an exhaustive list as there are many more life skills that contribute to a child’s all-round development. However, by teaching them these skills, you will start noticing a positive change in their personality.
Similarly, if you have any interesting parenting insights on teaching life skills, then share those insights with us through your comments.

5 Easy techniques to strengthen your kid’s communication skills

Parents are the very first teachers of their child even before they are admitted to the school. Kids begin to communicate with their parents before everyone else and that is why they play a key role in developing the communication skills of your kid.

Acquiring good communication skills is important because kids with good communication skills tend to become confident adults by all means. If parents work at stretching the basic foundation of communication at an early stage, they don’t struggle much on that sphere as a young adult.

Here are several easy techniques that parents can use in order to enhance the communication skills of their children.

  1. Habit of reading
    It is pivotal for kids to have an ingrained habit of reading. Whether its a novel, storybook, or anything else – make sure that they read more. Reading enhances language skills such as vocabulary which stands to be a strong point in communication.
  2. Let them socialize
    It is important for kids to socialize as much as they can. Find their friends or let them find on their own but don’t stop them. Make them share their toys and indulge in as much playtime as they can. Socialising will build their communication skills further without a doubt.
  3. Talk more
    Your kids cannot develop good communication skills if you don’t talk to them. The more they talk to you, the better they would get at communication. Therefore setting up a healthy debate and discussion with them on the topic they might have read or heard about shapes their speech.
  4. Time to think
    A major part of communication is thinking and correctly organizing thoughts. So, while your emphasis on reading and talking it is also pivotal that kids get time to think on a variety of subjects. Let them form opinions & let them take stands. It is important for a good communicator to think better than everyone else.
  5. Write it out
    Every kid cannot be a writer and that’s a fact but you can always encourage them to write. Remember, communication skills is consist of verbal as well as write communication therefore exploring writing as a hobby with them from an early age is not at all a bad move. You can always motivate them to read a story and they write it down in their own words. This exercise helps in the overall development of the kid’s communication skills.

These were the few tips that you as a parent can incorporate at an early age for your child to learn and have a good hang on communication.

Places you must travel before you turn 40

Let us face the fact that there are millions of places to travel and enjoy if you are a travel freak. On the internet you will find thousands of articles like cities you must travel in your twenties, places to visit before you turn 30 and many more. So if you are about to turn 40 or 50 and you haven’t been to any of the places, that does not mean that somehow your life has been shortened and you missed most of it. Actually travelling is for all ages with the only difference being that is different generation will have a different perspective on the definition of a great travel adventure. After all, life does not really get started until you turn for 40, so here are some of the places that you must travel before you turn 40.

  1. The wine regions in France
    The land of wine and cheese bacon in France has some of the spectacular wine regions. The burgundy region is mostly for the red lovers, for a romantic setting in the vineyards of the Alsace region or for a beautiful setting, drive your bicycle and explore all the provinces and the Rhone Valley wine region.
  2. Tuscany in Italy
    Tuscany is a little mediaeval village situated on Hilltops with picture-perfect scenery and good rustic delicious Italian food. Spending a week or two in your own Villa in the village will help you effortlessly blend into the local life. You would definitely love the outside dining set with your new neighbours in the balmy sunny evening while looking at the valleys below.
  3. The Greek islands
    With the impossibly beautiful whitewashed villages, the magical sunsets and the stunning caldera, you might feel that you have arrived in paradise in the Greek islands of England. You would love the Santorini island which is mainly known for the breathtaking scenery, sunsets and the romantic aura.
  4. Petra in Jordan
    This legendary lost city is the main site for the people who come in search of the treasury, temples and the historic monuments. Petra is an ancient city that can only be accessed through a narrow gorge and had been forgotten for centuries by the Western world until it was rediscovered in the year 1812. If you are a person who loves to visit the ancient ruins, a pilgrimage to Petra in the valley of Moses is an absolute must.
  5. Cappadocia in Turkey
    Cappadocia is well known for its stunning landscape which is made up of the volcanic rock formations also known as the fairy chimneys. At various point throughout the time, the rocks were inhabited with castles, houses and the larger ones even had cities. The best way to explore the region is to take a hot air balloon ride at sunrise, sipping some of the champagne and enjoying the marvellous sight below.
  6. Angkor Wat Cambodia
    You must not visit the incredible sunrise over the Angkor Wat temple while you are visiting Cambodia. The Temple is a religious structure and was built using hands. People from all over the globe have been flocking to witness this beautiful sight.

Plans for a home loan? Here is the checklist

Home loans are recently in demand. While the rates of real estates are touching the sky a lot are moving towards home loans. Taking home loans requires a destined procedure to follow. But, even if the market is loaded with home loan deals here is what you need to consider before applying.

  1. Know your ability to avail loan 
    Each individual has a restriction on the loan amount that depends upon various factors. The loan amount that is sanctioned depends upon the individual’s salary as well as its ability to repay. So before jumping into availing the loan, it is best to self-asses your own salary and willing check your capacity to repay.
  2. Read documents carefully
    It is best to spare some time and carefully go through the documents. There are many hidden costs involved that are usually mentioned in the documents. Hence, be completely meticulous about the documents.
  3. Loan tenure
    The tenure of your loan also plays a significant role. Your amount of EMI is inversely proportionate with the tenure. This implies that longer the tenure smaller would be the amount of EMI and vice versa. Depending upon your income and other factors you can choose the tenure. You should Calculate the available surplus under various situations and evaluate the available monthly surplus for each situation.
  4. Choose your lender
    There are ample of banks available in the market to provide you loans. However, it is of your best interest to research well. Do not opt XYZ bank merely because your cousin told you so. Use the internet and do extensive research on it. After all, it is all about your home and finance.
  5. Check the CIBIL scores
    CIBIL scores are counted based on your pending bills, any check bounces, existing loans, uninsured existing loans, loan repayments, maintained your bank accounts, how many times you have applied for a loan or a credit card, and credit taken. If your CIBIL scores are average or above average, chances of availing the loan surely increases. However, if your scorecard is below average you need to first work upon the CIBIL scores and enhance it.
  6. Extra charges – Get yourself well versed with the extra charges you would be asked to pay. Usually, these charges are involved in your home loan amount. These charges could be the processing fee, service, and administrative fees, etc. Asking and clearing doubt about these charges are necessary.
  7. Rate of Interest  
    The rate of interest plays a crucial role while opting for the home loan. Whether you opt for a fixed interest rate or variable one – it would hugely impact your EMIs. Fixed interest rates stay fixed irrespective of the volatility of the market, on the other hand, variable interest rates keep fluctuating depending upon the market.
    When it comes to buying a home loan please ensure that you also check the credibility of the builders. NL Builders for that matter are best in the arena. Their credibility has no level to match up. Availing a home loan becomes easier when you have builders like NL Builders for your home.  Home loans definitely make houses affordable to us. However, considering these things before choosing a home loan is a sign of wisdom.

Things To Be Doubly Sure About When You Rent Your Place To Someone

A lot of us buy property and rent it out. At times it turns out to be highly beneficial, but it takes not so long to turn it into a nightmare if not done carefully. Renting, also known as hiring, is a concurrence where a payment is made for interim use of a good, services or property that is owned by another. Some reasons why renters can have better financial deals than homeowners are:

No maintenance or repair bills.
There is a definite advantage that renters don’t pay maintenance bills.

Access to convenience.
This is one more financial benefit to renting, over buying a house of your own is having access to amenities.

No need for big down payment.
Another field where renters have the better economic deal is signing. When purchasing a house with a mortgage, you always require a sizeable payment.

Diminishing property value.
The value of the property is changeable, and this affects homeowners in a big way, as this decides the amount of taxes you need to pay.

Rent amounts are fixed.
For the span of the lease agreement, rent amounts are fixed.

It is not easy for you to handle the keys to your house over to a complete stranger for care, there are decisions you need to make. Despite, the decisions that you take now, before even searching for a tenant, will make the biggest effect on the success of your rental. There are some questions to answer before you rent out your house:

Why rent your house?
Despite, it is very important to decide whether or not renting your house is a good idea. If you are confused about renting vs. selling your house, then renting is the best decision you could ever take, as it has more financial benefits.

How to rent your house to the best tenants?
This is the most important decision that determines the success or failure of your rental is the person you allow in.

A shady tenant can potentially cause years of stress, headache, and economical loss-while an eminent tenant can provide years of security, peace, and repose. Therefore, don’t underestimate the importance of renting to only best tenants

Pre-screening the tenants.
As soon as you receive a phone call from a respective tenant, always pre-disguising them before time. This means to try out and qualify the tenant over the phone before spending time without going out and showing a house to them.

After having a look at our complete guide to renting, you will understand the process of seeking an attention-grabbing listing, managing tenants’ interest and impressing potential tenants as you show your unit.

It is as important to generate interest; it is also responsible to pay a closer look as you get to know your respective tenants. Will they be responsible tenants who will pay rent and won’t destroy your property?

So hopefully this guide will help and also make your job as a landlord as easy as possible.

9 things to do on the weekend if you are left alone

Weekends do not necessarily have to be the time for a huge party or outing, sometimes you can just have a little downtime. It is great to let your hair down and spend some quality time with friends, however, some alone time to be just by yourself is really important in real life.

Here are 9 things that you can do on your weekend if you are left alone.

1.    You finally get the chance to read the book your friend suggested.

In this modern life, we all are very busy and it is very easy to make a list of things that we want to do if we had enough time for it. You may want to read that book but after a busy and tiring day, things like reading books get pushed to the back of your priorities. Take the alone time that you have got and spend it doing something for yourself.

2.    Eat without judgement

Having as much as food as your heart desires with absolutely no judgement what can be better than this? Eat as much as you like and use the excuse that since you were home alone you did not want the food to go to waste.

3.    Have an endless movie or TV marathon

With no one disturbing, stopping or making you miss the important part of your favourite show and no judgement that you are completely wasting your day in front of the TV, you will have endless hours of laziness and you can enjoy feeling completely content.

4.    Taking over the kitchen and cooking

Alone time is a perfect time for experimenting in the kitchen obviously with precautions. Try all those recipes that you have seen in the magazines and on YouTube.

5.    Take a long bubble bath or shower

Peace and calmness in the entire house is the perfect environment for you to relax. Light up some candles, for yourself a glass of wine and let yourself in a long bubble bath.

6.    Sorting your things

Having some alone time is the perfect opportunity to get yourself together and make sure that everything is in order. Clean up your cupboard, room and throw out what you no longer need. Having a clean room will make you feel fresh and will also help you have a mind as tidy as your house.

7.    Get some fresh air

Being cooped up all day at work can easily become quite boring and you may find yourself a bit fidgety. Simple things like a brisk walk will help you get fresh air that you need for your brain to calm down and it will also make your weekend more satisfying.

8.    Online shopping

After a long and busy weekend, you need to reward yourself. Rather than going outside in the crowd, snuggle up in your blanket and order yourself some lovely treats from the online websites in the comfort of your home.

9.    Exercise

While all the above points may seem enjoyable, it is very easy to become restless when you have a day on your own. If you do not like to workout in the gym you can always get a yoga, Zumba or workout DVD that will help you feel good about yourself.