The AICUF Story!

Halloween is a patchwork of ancient traditions, Christian influence, and a hefty dose of modern commercialization . It’s the one night a year when dressing like a zombie and demanding candy from neighbors isn’t just acceptable— it’s encouraged ✨. Behind the candy, costumes, and carved pumpkins lies a history of over 2,000 years. Let us begin in the windswept, misty hills of ancient Ireland, where the Celts celebrated Samhain (pronounced sow-in), marking the end of the harvest and the onset of winter. For the Celts, the night of October 31 was a magical time when the boundary between the world of the living and the dead blurred, with both kind and malevolent spirits having the ability to walk the earth during this liminal period. The Celts, therefore, lit huge bonfires to ward off evil spirits and wore animal skins or crude disguises to blend in with the ghosts, with these primitive "costumes" being the first step toward our modern-day Halloween getups.  Skipping ahead to the...

Arrêtez de griffonner. Tu me secoues. C'est ennuyeux. Tu fais attention? Faites une supposition sauvage. Rien n'est jamais sauvage quand on est avec toi. Alors toi c’est qui? Inévitable. Tu n'as pas choisi de rester coincé avec moi. Oui mais même quand nous serons séparés, tu n’arrêteras pas de me harceler. J'arrêterai de te harceler quand je mourrai. Tu n’as pas peur, n'est-ce pas? Parce que je . . . je pense que j’en ai. C’est vrai que j'essaie de me rappeler d'être optimiste et attentif et quelque fois cela m’aide, mais pas toujours. Regarde-toi, tu essaies d'être parfait même quand tu ressens. Quoi qu'il en soit . . . peux-tu être sérieux pour une fois? Je ne suis pas parfait, pas encore. . . pas autant que Mme. Preeti quand il s’agit de danser ou même pas autant que notre père quand il s’agit d’écrire. Ils sont tellement meilleurs. Le cours s’est terminé, maintenant je vais donc t’ignorer commodément. -------X------- J'essaie juste de traite...

  Creator: Niruti Stock | Credit: Getty Images We all start our week by lamenting the so-called 'Monday Blues' and stressing about our pending work. Many of us overlook the luxuries we own and curse the life we lead; we never take the time to step into someone else's shoes and live life from their perspective. Life is as appalling as it is enchanting and as unfair as it is beautiful. From time to time, we have all questioned our fate and wondered, “Why me?" At some point in life, we all stumble on a rock, struggle to rise, and conclude that 'nothing good can ever happen in my life.’ But have we ever paused to count all the 'good things' that have already happened to us? The purpose of this blog is not to make you feel guilty but to make you realize that, in many ways, you are in a better position than someone else. At the same time, it highlights a global initiative by WHO and Lions Club International. While the previous blog focused on the 'Leading L...

“Don Ko Pakadna Mushkil Hi Nahi Namumkin Hai!”     Who doesn't remember Amitabh Bachchan saying this iconic dialogue from Don (1978)? It was a time when India had always been obsessed with heroes. Whether it was Rajesh Khanna's characteristic smile, Amitabh Bachchan's angry young man persona, Salman Khan's charisma, or Shah Rukh Khan's signature open-arms pose, it was assumed that ‘heroes’ were the ones who created magic on screen and augmented footfalls. However, many Indian women will open this month's Festival Calendar on the 5th of October, celebrating twelve years of confident Vinglish speaking and close it on the 30th of October, wondering ‘Are Re Are Ye Kya Hua?’ That's because something unexpected happened then. Two women, complete outsiders, rose up in the 1980s and 1990s to become superstars in their own right. They seldom needed the stardom of a male counterpart to define their own. “Understand? You better understand! Many agree that the impact ...