# Happy Indian Air Force Day !

When I'm at my best, I'm my father's daughter!

#I remember distinctly that I often used to say this as a young girl,whenever I  achieved success in any small or big thing like winning a solo song competition at school or writing few lines on a birthday card ,I always thought I did a great job and I made my father and of course my mum  proud.

#However when things started making sense to me and I grew up, I realized that, these are no match to what my parents have done , in fact I was just leading  a very mediocre life.My father has served in IAF for over 21 years and he is my real Hero and hence I wanted to always do something so good in fact great that would make him proud, well, it is never too difficult to make your parents proud but to make your Indian Air Force "Hero" happy it is not a cake walk!

#Have you ever felt this way?

# I am sure we all want to make it big,but what exactly does that mean, does it mean lots of money,name or fame or something else?

#Today on IAF day October 8th , I would like to share a little bit about my second book "Mission 2 Be" which will show answer all our questions and it will surely make us feel that there is so much more to life than riches and wonders!

#Let us not waste this precious life, Let us rise up to more courage and power ,let us not think of small things that will eat us up rather than think of something big and selfless.

#Well "Mission 2 Be" is a narrative of two young women Pilots from Air Force, who wants to get approval for their new mission, a project empowering women pilots. 

#The story starts with discussion of going ahead with SWCT “Strong women in combat team” and how these two women, like true warriors make their own place and show the world that they deserve to be here.

#With a simple idea that a flying machine does not identify gender, so be it a male or a female pilot, all it needs to fly and fight for the nation is “Talent, Passion and grit”.

#The story also gives you a glimpse of another paramilitary wings CRPF and its ground reality, the story would like the readers to  have a peek-a-boo in to the reality.

So, this narrative does have some of the ,burning issues of country being talked  out openly.

#Another thing that this narrative will let you ponder is , what exactly we must prepare ourselves for, is it that we shall be ready and brave enough to fight and face the “Border Terror “ or “Various in-house problems ” and if both are so big and destructive are we getting ready to combat both?

#The story has its own flow and it will not sound like three or four different issues had been talked about separately, all are intertwined together and makes a beautiful and convincing story.

It’s a very positive story with great women characters, who will not just inspire you but will leave you with a connect.

#The first Hero of this story is an adventurous and passionate “ Flt Lt Nancy Pereira, the first Indian women fighter aircraft pilot, a young lady in her late 20’s,from Goa is all set to come up with her first ever,(SWCT) Strong women combat team, giving us whoop-de-do moments too, when she goes on for solo sorties” .

#Another Hero (not the 2^nd one )is “ Fg Off (Flying officer) Zanny , a very chirpy, bubbly and a lively young girl, based out of Hyderabad .She will not be, just  another “Hero” in terms of women empowerment , but  also ,she will meet us see, how India is truly a secular country and how beautiful is “Islaam” too, because Zainab, coming from a conservative big joint Muslim family ,is able to touch the sky with glory, It is something that a reader will understand and feel happy to meet and see this positive change.“

#Meet the Chief of Air staff (CAS)“R M Singh” , who is the pacemaker in this story, chief of Air force, a strong character who believes and give equal opportunities to young men and women in IAF(Indian Air Force).He symbolizes the true chief and IAF spirit, which has truly given equal opportunities to Women too.

#Another Major Characters are Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr  )“ Vishal Rathod” , Trainer of these two young Girls and there is this protagonist “Akhil Kumar” CRPF jawan ,as second half of the story makes us meet a jawan from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

#Story's ending is in fact a real beginning, which is very practical and motivating!!

# So do get your copy ,read it,gift it (This is my small gift to my IAF Hero,My Dad ) I strongly believe this story should be read by all young Children and teenagers and please do share some great insights on IAF and other paramilitary forces as an elder/Parent.

Please click the link below to fetch your copy now!

https://www.amazon.in/Mission-English-Author-Anu-Manhotra/dp/B07D1NK4V9

"I totally believe in my work and when I have something so good with me, I can't let it just sit with me. It shall dance, sing, fly, connect hearts and yes that is the reason I write."

#How to Become a Great Public Speaker?

Undoubtedly this element will finally show and convince others about your confidence and fluency in English.

# I meet so many young students,professionals ,teachers and managers who come up to me after my training workshop and tell me that even though they have lot of ideas and good hold on English Grammar,they are still not able to speak with confidence.

#So what is it that one needs to do to become a great speaker?

#Let us discuss few important pointers and as usual not talking about easy breezy tips, I would love to share some powerful and practical tips today ,that will surely help you to improve your speaking skills:

#1. MT = MT stands for “Mirror Talk” , sounds cliche but it really works believe me I say so because I did this a lot myself. 

     I would like to acknowledge that I was a very reserved and a shy girl at school and college even though I had great ideas, I never had the courage to stand up and share those ideas but I soon realized after I stepped into the corporate arena that if my ideas were to be heard they have to wear my voice and it was then, that I decided I will do everything possible to improve my speaking skills.

     

I    I found my best friend in mirror and I started sharing everything with my friend before I could actually speak up in front of the others and it really helped,because mirror just like a true friend never interrupted and also it gave me regular feedback in terms of  my body language my confidence while I was speaking and rehearsing ,it gave me a clear picture about how and what I was speaking and I was wise enough to note every bit of it and hence I started working on it too.

     So the first tip is to do a lot of “MT” Mirror Talk, it is a lot of fun too believe me and it helps us to feel like a celebrity and I enjoyed every bit of it and let me share openly  that  “I do MT even today”  before going for my seminars, guest talks or motivational talks, I still practice in front of Mirror and it really adds to my confidence.

Surely there is a lot of psychology that goes behind it , like it helps you to see how confident you look , it helps you to add more intonations and on top of  it, this helps you to improve your facial gestures and body posture too.

Mirror is certainly a true friend, it supports and it encourages you to look good, feel good and sound good.

  

#2. Magical moment  of movements : Well, it plays certainly the biggest and the most powerful role in communication.

Some call it as Body language, some name it as “Non-Verbal” language and now the new term is ruling that is “Bio Language” however If I have to talk about my journey of connecting and communicating with professors, Teachers, students, friends and corporate geeks I would say I have always experienced a magical connect when I communicate with the confident bio language along with the words as it supports and add more power and grace to the words.

It could be as simple as a curve on my face while I greet and meet or it could be use of my hands to express my opinion and point during a training workshop.

So, do practice the magical technique and use these small yet powerful bio language tips to make you sound and look likes a celebrity and a true star.

Believe me just few quick tips that I am about to share will help you to work on your bio language.

1. Please use your hands and facial expressions along with the powerful words by understanding the meaning of the content first.

2. Always maintain an eye contact but do not stare at people and embarrass them and point to note here is

A. Always focus on the face of the other individual but not on their lips and cheeks

B. Focus on their forehead, eyes or at the bridge of their nose. So don’t keep your eyes glued at one position.

3. Use of hands confidently.

4.Feet Talk : We never focus on our feet, because we are so much into face , upper body posture that we ignore totally the feet talk.

A. We point our feet  towards the interesting zone, it could be people or that place so make sure you are not pointing your feet away from people you are talking to.

B. Stand confidently and while giving presentation or lectures you can move around slowly and as I am not an expert in body language but out of my experience I would just say that context is more important because one body language gesture could mean something else in a different context but the main idea here is to share the importance of the feet language too.

C. For ladies it looks very elegant when they sit with legs crossed at ankles.

 #3. Intonations : Well, language is like a river that flows ,and to speak in a beautiful flow we must master the art of Intonations too.

I strongly agree that being a non native speaker we need to practice this art however if you start to understand the words and have good vocabulary it will be easy to master this art of Intonations.

Well, let us define “Intonation”.

Simply put the high pitch and the low pitch in our voice, when we speak can be defined as Intonations and if you want a simple word to relate it means “Speech Music” .This speech music will help us to understand the meaning of the words better.

Let me support with an example.

When you understand what you speak and you make sense out of it, just like your mother tongue you don’t need to practice it separately just focus on understanding few concepts.

1. When you ask a question, your pitch will go high.

For instance: Could you please get me  a book ?

So this means that the sentence ending should be in high pitch.

2. If you are saying a simple statement or declarative you should have a low pitch .

My name is Anu.(Pitch will go down)

3. If you have many things to mention in one small sentence then you go in a flow.

For instance:

I love to study,dance,swim and travel.

So words like study, dance and swim will go in the same flow and the pitch will fall down with the word travel.

4.    Connect the words: When you practice speaking , please make sure not to stress on every word too much ,(remember that language is like a river it needs to flow)try to connect the ending of the word with the beginning of another word.

For Instance : Bob is on the phone

Will sound like  “Babizon da foun” If a native speaker will speak.

 #Points to remember:

·         Try to emphasize the important words or when you have something important to share and

·         Use a low pitch when you finish the sentence or when you see a period/full stop.

For Instance : 

Tomorrow I have a meeting at 4:00 clock. (Important information is meeting, so do stress on it )

4:00 clock (Pitch would go down as it is the last word in the sentence before the period).

Stretch the words: It is also seen that native speakers sometimes stretch the words where they want to draw attention.

Example : I request all of you (“Awwwlllll “instead of all ,so this word is stretched to show the stress and importance of the word “All”)

Contract the words(Squeeze two words) : Remember while you practice your speaking skills, in order to sound natural, please do learn to contract the words like  “Shouldn’t “ instead of “Should not”, ”Wouldn’t” instead of “would not” , “They’ve” instead of “They have”.

So it means two words are made shorter for speaking purpose by adding apostrophe as explained above.

 #4.JAM Sessions : Well, just as much as this word sounds sweet, so are the results, it is indeed a great exercise for the beginners to practice speaking these are “Just A Minute” sessions ,wherein you have to think about any topic randomly and quickly start talking about it without stopping and pondering too much, see how and what you will talk, your brain will try to talk continuously and certainly the tongue will support, its magical and entertaining too, you can play this JAM with your friends or even entire family ,just pick a simple or any topic of your choice that comes to your mind, like let me give you a few now:

1.Family

2.Challenge

3.English Language

So, hope you tried all the above three  topics and enjoyed it ,make sure you do this and later when you get time to think , do get some nice ideas dressed in beautiful words and vocabulary.

 #5.Grammar: When we talk about fluency in English most of us dread about the grammar part, but to be very frank we shall not worry about it so much as it is not a big deal to master all the tricky parts of grammar, all we need to speak fluent English is understanding of  few concepts like tenses, subject and verb agreement and I don’t think we need a separate grammar book to learn this because when we are reading, listening and speaking we are acquainting ourselves to these grammar concepts which will come naturally and the grammar that we are taught at school.

Having said that it doesn’t mean that you stop focusing on the grammar rules, as we are living in the era where technology is helping us learn so we shall make best use of it ; even today when I have few questions , I immediately check it on you tube and prepare my own notes (I maintain a separate notebook for Grammar ) as we have many videos which are presented by great English teachers in India and from teacher all over the world, so never stop learning.

Few days back in my English Grammar book I prepared the tenses chart , so you can also do the same to just keep going back to the nuts and bolts to stay correct and flawless .

And to add this tinge of confidence,please do register for my upcoming book titled "English & Business Etiquette" and just drop a line @ vinumanhotra@gmail.com

#Power Postures @ Work/Office.

Thanks to all the readers,mainly the young professionals and fresh graduates who are loving these blogs from my upcoming book "English and Business Etiquette".An employability guide.

 #Many of you have asked me to write about the body language,which is non technically and non officially also referred as "Bio Language" by many .

#So after having discussed "Power dressing"  let me quickly give you some great and important tips about the bio language.

#I will try  not to discuss the easy- breezy things and tips on body language today rather I'll be focusing more on the power postures and few impressive tips that will help you to not just look like a great professional but also it will make you feel like one great super star at work.

So let us dive deep into understanding those magical tips;

#As mentioned earlier in this blog I am sharing some of my secrets the magic tips from my own life, to help you all add more confidence and sunshine to your life.

1.Hands on : The number one tip for the power posture lies in your own hands.So, do remember the power that you ever wanted in your life is in your own hand gestures and I am very serious when I present this tip.

Because most of us underestimate the use of hand gestures while speaking and we give a lot of importance to the eye contact when it comes to connecting with people, but the truth is if you are able to use your hand gestures for supporting the words while speaking ,you will sound more trustworthy .

#It is very natural in some cases, which is absolutely true in my case too because it seems impossible for me to talk without using my hand gestures and it happens with everyone who speaks from the heart, be it a man or a woman you have to use your hand gestures while you talk and certainly not so much that you look weird but only use to support your words these gestures of hands make you look more trustworthy and honest and people listen to you.

For instance if I have to tell the audience that I have two (use hands to show the number/point because corresponding gesture will always help them to remember)very important details today to share with you all,people will listen and also retain that for long as you supported the verbal information with your hand gesture.

#Hand gestures are very powerful to convey your true emotions, sometimes when you are short of words.

#Just look at the picture below,yes it is me and this was certainly not a rehearsed moment,it shows that I am very happy and overwhelmed with the love,support and positive feedback from the participants at one of my training workshop.

#Many charismatic leaders ,speakers and corporate trainers use the hand gestures and communicate and connect well.

#Another very common and powerful hand gesture is known as the "Steeple " see the picture below.

Steeple your hands

The above picture shows the hand steeple, where the fingers are making a little "roof top", is showing a lot of confidence and authority. This hand gesture is very popular with the speakers, lawyers & political leaders. 

2.Acknowledgement : Please do remember while you communicate you are not just talking but also listening , and when you listen, do acknowledge.

Acknowledging is a simple way to show others that "Hey I am with you and I am listening to you".

As the first duty of love is to listen, so love the speaker and acknowledge them by "Listening" and we can acknowledge  by nodding or tilting our head when we are listening to one speaker at a huge gathering/training workshop or even at the business meetings at our workplace(Where we are a part of an audience) one should always contribute to these gatherings and meetings by nodding and also sometimes leaning a little forward,So that you listen well and even connect well with the speaker and while you communicate face to face in a group or with another person you can support these gestures with small acknowledging words like “Ahha” “Okay” " I understand" as these small words and gestures take us long way to connect with the speaker .

#You can actually infuse and imbue more energy to big gatherings and dull meetings at the workplace if you are acknowledging the speaker well.So do make your contribution even as a listener and be a great one!

3.Upright posture: while upright posture is very crucial and it goes without saying that a good posture  makes  you look great, assertive and a confident professional. It is not always easy to maintain it for long working hours however we should follow few pointers to avoid the bad posture at work because it makes us look lazy and also it might have detrimental affect on our health .

So make it a habit of getting up after an hour or so ,from your workstation and  just walk few steps to relax your body.It keeps you fit and active.

Another thing to have a good and upright posture is to improve workstation ergonomics.

4.Eye contact: Well, we all agree that this is the most talked about element of the non verbal language at work.

While no denying to the fact , do remember that too much eye contact is also considered as inappropriate and unprofessional.So if you are considered as an assertive and confident professional and if you go overboard with this non verbal prompt you will be not just making another person feel uncomfortable but also ruining your chances of being titled as a true professional.

So,when we talk about eye contact,it is very necessary to know that eye contact along with the  bridging technique is the most powerful technique to convey your message. 

And to learn and master the art of "Bridging" and other powerful postures  to communicate with your business associates or superiors at work.

Do send an email to get registered for my upcoming book titled "English and Business Etiquette".

you can drop me a line at vinumanhotra@gmail.com

#Business casual is certainly not so casual!

"Dressing well, shows your manners and it is also a creative way of expressing who you are,without having to use words"

#However I will be very honest,that the biggest challenge for me as an HR Head was to come up with a "Business casual" dress code .

#Casual Fridays and Smart casuals, were few terms that made my job even more complex while framing few guidelines for my company.As there are no set rules for business casuals and mainly it depends upon the workplace,the culture and mainly the nature of work itself.

# So, I decided to take few tips from an Indian professional, and I was lucky that I met this gentleman who introduced himself as Mr.Bengal ,he was the 1st runner up of Mr.Bengal aka "Sharad Ghosh" and the first thing that he crisply told me, when I happened to discuss my confusion about the "business casual" was that "business casual never mean you only think of getting away from the business formals; all you need to remember is just having a little relaxed look and the focus should be on the term Business".

#And he also said that, when in doubt it is always good to stay in more formal look than going for more casual look.

#So let me now present to you all some great tips ; after having understood in detail about the business casuals from Sharad,who is also working as a counselor at INIFD (Siliguri) apart from being a well known face in modeling.

Let us first try to decode this confusion for lovely ladies @work.

Business Casuals for women in India:

Let us first try and understand what exactly is the business casual.

#Style of clothing that is less formal than the ( formal )business wear, however it still gives a professional and businesslike impression as it is worn at the workplace.

# Don’t let the word casual stay in your mind, while dressing on Fridays and Saturdays keep workplace in mind; is a simple rule for the Business casuals, that are allowed in many Indian offices on weekends.

#Western business casual dress for women mainly include slacks, Khakis and chinos, Long skirts (knee length Skirts) and business dress. A cowl neck top or a boat neck silk top would look great. or neatly ironed cotton shirts always look great and you can be creative with colors mainly during daytime business events on weekends. Avoid wearing jeans and T-shirts.

#My personal choice would be to pick something which is free spirited and feminine and that would be from my recent favorite “Fable street”  it is certainly a match for any women, trying to flaunt the bold, creative or a complete professional look. It certainly offers something unique and absolutely Wow.

#In ethinic Indian wear, you can flaunt Kurtas with palazzo or Salwar kameez. Avoid wearing the leggings (slex) with Long Kurtis, instead go for Salwar or a simple trouser.

#The best store to shop for kurtis and kurtas in India is “Khadi India” clothing store in Connaught place, New delhi.

#Do remember it is always good to wear a stole/scarf or a jacket.Even though if you are going outside the office for daytime event and you pick an ethnic Indian wear ;better wear a complete look and I believe that a kurti goes with a stole or scarf pretty well.

#Casual jackets.

# Sweaters in winters with different patterns and colors.

#You can carry your colorful handbag and wear accessories matching your attire.

#Open toe shoes and sandals however don’t wear flats and flip flops even on weekends.

Business Casuals for Men in India:

#Number one rule is don’t get too sporty.

# "poor man's velvet," which is popularly known as corduroy is a popular choice for business casual along with Chinos,Khakis and cotton pants keeping the “Jeans” away.

# Polo shirts , shirts in a variety of colors, though not too bright, and if the shirt is 100% Linen, I highly recommend it because linen shirts are best for hot and humid temperature as they are good conductor of heat and your linen attire will remove perspiration  and will offer you maximum breath-ability and keeps you cool.

# Sweaters and turtlenecks in winter with different patterns and casual jackets.

#Loafer shoes with socks on and leather shoes and for some outdoor events even sneakers are good choice if they are kept clean and dirt free.

# Do match your belt and shoes with your overall look.

So remember that even when you wear business casuals, you still need to appear well groomed, neat and a true professional at work (With a little relaxed look).

#To get more insights you have to wait for my upcoming book titled "English and Business Etiquette" and to register for this book please email me at loyal.anu@gmail.com

Resume Vs Visumé

#Are we promoting ourselves enough?

We need to ask this question to see what kind of image we project and are we really projecting any image or not because most of us feel shy to talk about ourselves and promote ourselves as that is considered arrogant.

However one simple and easy way to deal with this issue is to know your professional achievements very well, and never shy away from presenting it at the right time to the right people.

So when we talk about creating an image of ourselves,to be presented to our potential employer, what comes in our mind?

Yes,you guessed it right, "Resume"

Resume is that piece of paper that reaches out to so many people, even before we get to meet them and it conveys a lot about us. isn't it?

• It presents our Educational Qualification
• If we have Experience in the professional field, it conveys that
• It also gives few necessary personal and contact details
• Sometimes it even conveys our interests and Strengths

But I wonder if it is able to present my attitude,my personality and my X factor?

Of course not, so how can I present all these traits,which are not presented  in the "Resume" well, the answer is Visumé

Resumes Vs Visumé

#Well, I strongly believe one thing that will change within a year or two is the way we reach and connect with our prospective employers.

#We relied a lot on resumes and as an HR I have given a lot of advice myself as to how to market and present yourself on that piece of paper called “Resume”.

#Many professionals were highly paid to conduct specialized workshops to just help the young professionals get their resume right and all of a sudden there is no demand of these resume writers and seeing it decline within 15 years span is showing signs that technology is really changing at a very high pace and we all need to match it to stay up to date.

#I am a big fan of “Visumé” myself now, and I strongly believe this video resume will help you to stand out and present a real you, which is far  better than the written resume.

What is a Video resume?

#Visumé  as it is popularly called, is a small video created by a candidate and uploaded on a particular website, these websites work with the various companies and are closely in touch with the HR department, and they help in forwarding your video profile to these companies, who are looking out for the resources to join their esteemed organizations.

#The video resume can be even directly forwarded to the HR team and according to the job profile , you may keep the video simple or specific to the company’s requirement.

#And yes we do have expert in these field as well, just like the way we had in the written resumes we have professionals who can help you create a perfect Video resume.

So I am sure that this is a great tool in your hand to market yourself , when compared to the traditional resume.

Tips on creating Visumé:

1.    Keep it simple and short not over 90-120 seconds

2.    Wear a professional attire while creating the video and imagine that you are sitting with an HR professional, so give complete attention to your “Visual Image” hence bio language also plays an important role.

3.    Keep the background and location also simple and professional.

4.    Do prepare and practice well, A simple and crisp script with your confidence can get you your dream job.

5.    Create not just one but few videos for different kind of companies and you can dress accordingly while creating the video.

What are the benefits of Visumé:

1.     A video resume helps you to capture your attitude and personality. Explains and presents you far better than the traditional resume.

2.      You get to speak, what you think are your USP’s: As you are the creator of the video ,you get a chance to talk about your strengths ,your unique selling points, unlike the HR interview where you probably give answers only to the question asked by the recruiter/HR.

3.      Very easy to create as any video which is as small as one minute to 2 minutes maximum, is not at all a tall order.

4.     Visumé is the new norm, well to stay current, Visumé is the best option as it has taken a lead over the traditional paper resume.

5.      Visumé helps you to present your social skills ,it also shows the potential employer that you are more awake as an Individual towards the latest trends and technology.

 
Possible disadvantages of Visumé:

Though I can't think of many,I would like to share one for sure that is;

#Few studies find that these video resumes are actually unfair and discriminatory in nature , hence it is wise to keep these video resumes ready with you and do check with your prospective employer before sending them over to their HR Team.

While I talk about this topic of promoting yourself, I certainly would like to suggest all my readers to check out the book “Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It! By Peggy Klaus.

That will certainly give you a lot of insight and wisdom for your professional and personal life as it helps you to value yourself and understand your accomplishments and most importantly why they matter and when and how you need to present as most of us  shy away from even talking about the very crucial professional highlights sometimes hence it could be highly perilous for our career and life.

#So keep reading and learning and don't forget to drop a line at vinumanhotra@gmail.com