Medical avtaar of animation
Medical animation industry is in a nascent stage in India, but it has a very bright future, writes Parshvadeep Singh

Medical animator enters the realm of high art, achieving a combination of truth and beauty”

The animation industry in India, though a late starter, is considered as one of the fastest growing segments of the entertainment and media industry. Animation gained significance as India was discovered as a destination for outsourcing animation work due to low-cost skilled labour.

Over the past two years, the domestic market for animation has grown significantly, and so has the quality of production. Though a majority of the work done by the animation industry in India is outsourced work, this is expected to change in the future with increased demand from the domestic entertainment industry.

The biggest consumer of animation still remains the entertainment industry, but it also has its presence in other fields as well. It is widely used in construction industry to create a walk-through of a new construction to ensure that every aspect is properly planned. The aviation industry uses 3D animation in the simulators used to train pilots; the automobile industry uses 3D animation with other software to see the real time effect of various road conditions on an automobile.

However a recent development has been the use of 3D animation in medical science to save lives. Today, surgeons can actually practice and understand a complicated surgery by first working on a 3D animated surgical procedure before performing the actual operation.

Medical animation has a large variety of applications and is used for education, demonstration, data capture, and manipulation.

Medical industry all over the world is just beginning to discover the true potential of 3D animation. The 3D animation is the best way in the field of medicine to communicate concepts that are usually complex. The medical animation industry is at a nascent stage in India, but has a very bright future.

This industry offers a lot of lucrative prospects. Junior animators can start from around Rs 10, 000 and get handsome raise within a short span, depending on their talent and skills. Add to this the fact that India is fast becoming the most-preferred destination for major production houses in the US and Europe who wish to offshore their production work to a developing country. A combination of both exports and internal demand has ensured that India is firmly on the road to becoming the global hub for animation projects.

There are three types of outsourcing opportunities for India in medical animation:

n 3D medical animation

n 2D medical animation (to explain anatomy, treatment processes, physiology and other health-related areas)

n Medical illustrations (depiction of information useful in documentation).

Animators in the field of medicine can use their skills to demonstrate how pharmaceutical drugs work in the bloodstream and body; interactive models of the human body on both macroscopic and microscopic scales; interior and exterior scales; interpretation of patient data into 3D visual images; creation of instructional materials for medical students; demonstration of surgical techniques in virtual representation;

Breakdowns of how medical equipment/proposed medical equipment will work.

Being in a niche has its own pros and cons, it does limit the projects you can pitch for and in a situation where only a small number of proposed projects go ahead, it always helps to have the fattest potential pipeline. Staying within a niche means your pipeline is never quite as fat. The pros are you work in an area where visually you can be quite creative. Often medical animation is quite educational and a little boring. In medical animation modern visual FX practices are used to produce things that are more dynamic.

Some of the medical imaging facilities are used as techniques where sensors can be used to produce accurate, fully-interactive 3D representations of a patient’s body, replacing the current video imaging technology.

People with paramedical background have been employed in the field. Even doctors, health workers, PhDs in microbiology, have become trainers in the area. Typically, pharma companies, medical equipment manufacturers, apart from universities, research scientists and hospitals, outsource medical animation work to India.

Medical animation is a very detail-oriented career that requires a great deal of education beyond mere animation techniques.

Unlike most animation, you aren’t just dealing with the outside appearance and the “outer shell” of the model, where what’s on the inside doesn’t really matter as long as the exterior looks good and moves correctly. Medical animation tends to be more interactive and deals with layers upon layers of precise anatomical modeling that often must be accurate down to the cellular level.

It’s like being a surgeon, without getting your hands dirty, and it’s equally fascinating. Medical animation is probably one of the most exacting, difficult paths that you can follow in the animation field. But if it suits your taste, then it can also be one of the most rewarding.

(The writer is Zonal Manager, North, Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC)

COURSES There are plenty of 3D Expert courses, including Auto Desk Maya and Auto Desk 3D Max for medical animation. The duration of the Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3D Max course is about 14 months. For these courses, the candidates need to have completed Class XII. The demand for medical animators is expected to continue to grow as pharmaceutical companies want more realistic visual effects and companies continue to demand high-quality visual effects to promote their products. Looking at the increase in demand of career in medical animation, many private institutes have opened up, with special courses on medical animation and its reference courses. Some of the institutes providing courses in animation are: n Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics n Arena Animations Academy n Frameboxx

INSURE SUCCESS
Charandeep Singh on the booming insurance sector in India

With a huge population base and large untapped market, insurance industry is a big ‘opportunity area’ in India for national as well as foreign investors.

India is the fifth largest life insurance market in the emerging insurance economies globally, growing at 15-20 per cent annually. This impressive growth in the market has been driven by liberalisation, with new players significantly enhancing product awareness and promoting consumer education and information. The strong growth potential of the country has also made international players to look at the Indian insurance market. Moreover, saturation of insurance markets in many developed economies has made the Indian market more attractive for international insurance players

Scope

The World Insurance Report of 2009 describes the penetration of life insurance in India as ‘still woefully low’. India had 16 per cent of the world population, but only 1.68 per cent of the world life insurance market in 2008. A mere 20 per cent of the insurable population aged 20 to 60 years is currently covered by life insurance. The average number of policies held by per Indian consumer is just 1.33 as against 5.2 policies per consumer in mature markets. As we can see from the numbers, the potential for expansion of the market is huge especially with rising per capita income and a growing middle class that is expected to constitute 32 per cent of the total population in 2010. The insurance penetration levels as a percentage of GDP is expected to grow to 6 per cent by 2012 from the current 4.8 per cent which would translate to a CAGR of 13 per cent for the industry in the next five years.

Insurance companies in the developed world, where insurance has a much higher penetration, realise the huge potential of insurance industry in India. Add to it the fact that the possibility of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in the sector rising up to 49 per cent and we have just another factor that holds promise of leading the growth in this industry. Although currently FDI is capped at 26 per cent, it’s expected to be raised soon. This will result in increased investment by foreign companies, especially by the foreign partners of private life insurance companies.

Fitment

A person with “Courage of Conviction” can be a golden resource for selling insurance products. Job opportunities offered by insurance companies are myriad. Since, the industry is predominantly manpower centric. The thumb rule in insurance is “More the Merrier” According to M.S. Sidhu, former National Head Corporate Business Bajaj Allianz, ”To have maximum fleet on street pays, as it increases the number of distribution hands, and only training cost is involved. So, it is an inexpensive proposition as well”. It works on a simple adage, more the number of “distributing hands” in the market the higher is the revenue generation. So the requirement of human resources is abundant.

Jobs in insurance sector are basically characterised in two categories — firstly, those who are on the payrolls of the companies and are permanent employees. Second category is that of the part timers. Those who are on the payrolls are the distribution managers. Basically, the manager, the sales team are the first line managers.

Candidates with good leadership abilities, apart from excellent networking skills, are the ones who are most successfull in this job.

For the job of the distribution manager most of the companies scout for local talent. According to U.S. Samundri, Senior Divisional Manager with Bajaj Allianz, ”Since one of the important job requirement of the distribution manager is to recruit and if the person is an outsider having no local know how, he won’t be able to have quality people in his team”. These candidates get internal promotions and apart from their basic salary package companies float good incentive schemes through which their income levels go up, and they touch higher echelons of their insurance career.

The backbone of the insurance industry are the financial advisors associated with each organisation. They are the ones who constitute the sales team of distribution managers. They are the part timers. Normally people with good social contacts, homemakers, retired persons and sometimes youngsters who have a strong desire to earn money, are the ones whom the companies associate with them as financial advisors.

Summing up the job fitment of Insurance advisors, Jatinder Sandhu, Location Head with leading Life Insurance Company, says, “We want greedy people not needy people as our advisor force”. Companies have extensive and elaborate reward and recognition programmes to keep the their advisor force upbeat, which can be in the form of doling out extra money, to higher percentages of commissions to organising foreign junkets for their star performers.

ING Life Insurance has launched a special module for its consistent performers where by advisers who perform consistently for two years, will be able to have a team of advisors reporting to them and then they are designated as Financial Consultants.

Alternate avenues

These days banking institutions have also become very proactive in selling insurance; since it is high profit earning franchise or them. So there is channel, which is called Banc assurance channel in which banks have tie-ups with specific life insurance companies and they sell the insurance products of those companies with which they have a tie up with. The modus operandi with which the banc assurance channel works is that insurance companies give dedicated resources to the bank, and they use the database of the account holders of the bank to further life insurance proposition to them.

Another model on which the life insurance companies work these days is called the alternate model. In this model the insurance companies give franchise to individual units.

“It is a high profit-sharing model in which the salary of the resource persons is borne by the insurance companies and the profits generated in lieu of the sales of insurance products is shared between the company and the franchisee holder,” quips Sharat Kapoor, senior executive with a leading life insurance company.

The days ahead

The Indian Insurance sector is a colossal one and is growing at the rate of 15-20 per cent Insurance adds to about 6 per cent of India’s GDP. A well-developed and evolved insurance sector is a boon for economic development as it provides long-term funds for infrastructure development at the same time strengthening the risk taking ability of the country.” India with its huge population of over1.2 billion and poor coverage of only 35 per cent of insurable potential has a long way to go” says Dr Pritam, former Executive Director with Life Insurance Corporation of India.

Opportunities galore The advent of globalisation has given rise to competition amongst the life insurance players. With as many as 23 Life insurance companies operating in India, the consumer has myriad choices to fill his product portfolio. Similarly, when these companies operate in India, they require human resources to operate which leads to employmentgeneration. More jobs on offer result in high per capita income, which will lead to the overall development of country. With an annual growth rate of 15-20 per cent and the largest number of life insurance policies in force, the potential of life insurance industry in India is huge. Foreign companies that are interested in FDI have deeper pockets compared to the relatively small Indian insurance companies. They bring with themselves the ‘best practices’ distilled through years of rich experience that they have had in this industry. This augurs well for the insurance sector because the deep pockets and ‘best practices’ of foreign partners can be dovetailed with the awareness of the Indian psyche and marketing experience, of their Indian counterparts to create a synergy, which can increase the reach of insurance in India making it more egalitarian. All these companies when the set up their Joint Ventures in India they need educated human resources to work for them. This reduces the white collared unemployment. Insurance is one industry, which is highly manpower centric, so these companies serve as high employment generation centres. With India being an agrarian set up, and not very vastly urbanised, in order to shore up their revenues the companies have given a bigger thrust on rural penetration. Most of the life insurance organisations are setting up more and more offices in rural India and thus, generating employment avenues for the rural youth. With this trend, rural youth also has a chance to get an exposure to the Corporate Culture. Thus when they move to other cities for better prospects this exposure comes handy for them.

Career Hotline
On air with flair
Pervin Malhotra

Q. I am a graduate and want to be a TV journalist. How should I proceed? Is it essential to do any course in this field? If so, which are the good courses?

— Lavleen Chib

Well, you need to be a journalist first of all. Just as anyone interested in management education attends a good B-school, journalists have equivalent journalism or media schools to hone their skills. But not all successful TV journalists or, for that matter, print or web journos have attended journalism school. Many have acquired gyaan and experience by starting out as cub reporters and sub-editors, relying on seniors to act as mentors.

While journalism courses have been offered since long both at the university level as well as privately, but the spotlight has been turned on them in recent years following a spurt in TV channels, the evolution of new media and the diversification of newspapers into niche categories.

Selection to most courses is on the basis of an entrance exam, followed by a group discussion and an interview. The entrance exam usually consists of questions on general knowledge, English/ Hindi and comprehension skills.

Most institutes offer internships, and students get to choose where they want to intern. However not all big TV companies including NDTV, Aaj Tak or Star News take interns.

Don’t expect the institute to transform you into an absolutely finished product – ready to go on the screen from day one. Journalism is a knowledge-centric profession that requires you to keep learning all the time. A course in journalism will give you the tools to practice your trade. But it’s up to you to keep your tools sharpened all the time by working with, and experiencing, live action never losing sight of the five Ws (Why, What, Where, When, Who) and the H (How).

Also, TV is a visual medium, so being presentable is equally important.

Institutes offering courses in broadcast journalism

Indian Institute of Mass Communication (www.imc.nic.in)

Mass Communication & Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia University.

Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune (www.simc.edu)

Asian College of Journalism, Chennai (www.asianmedia.org)

St Xavier’s Institute of Communication, Mumbai (wwww.xaviercomm.org)

Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media, Bangalore (www.iijnm.org),

Manipal Institute of Communication, Manipal, Karnataka (www.manipal.edu.mic)

Summer jobs

Q. I am in the 1st year of a BA (Integrated). My parents have been insisting that I do a summer job during the summer holidays. Do you think it is a good idea? What kinds of jobs are open to school students?

— Vikas Verma

A. In the bigger towns, it’s quite common for college students to take up part-time jobs these days. When you analyse the reason, the first thing that comes to mind is the money factor. But, then it’s also a fact that many of these youngsters hail from well-to-do families. So, do they really need to go out and work? Well, earning your own money at this age is so much fun!

So, while I hate to admit it, your parents are right. There are several advantages of doing a summer job:

Fun Learning — especially about areas you are interested in; chances to explore.

Learning something new will help further your career and hone the talents you possess. It may well turn out to be a life-long asset rather than a mere two-month fling, besides adding weight to your resume.

Pocket Money. We could all do with some addition to our pocket money, especially when life in a big city is so expensive.

Confidence building opportunity to interact with a wide cross-section of people from various fields.

Experience — you’ll get a taste of work-life

Networking — you’ll get to make contacts that will be very useful later.

Flexi work hours — (4-24 hours a week). A short-term job allows you to make mistakes and learn, as it doesn’t usually carry too much responsibility.

What Type of summer jobs should one go for?

Any kind of productive job that requires effort and initiative, is fine.

Fast Food Joints (McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Barista, Nirulas, Café Coffee Day, etc), Sales Promotion (Consumer goods manufacturers), Market Research, Research, Event Management, NGOs, Youth Camp volunteers (you get to holiday for free!), Customer Care (Call Centres), Departmental Stores, Private Educational Institutes (take on student “counsellors”), Modelling etc.

The vocational route

Q. I am apeearing for my board exams this year, but I have not done very well in my Plus II boards. I doubt if I will get admission to any college for the course of my choice. So I’m thinking of doing B.Com by correspondence. With that, I want to add a vocational qualification to my resume. What are the courses available in Delhi ITIs where the minimum qualification for admission is Plus II?

— Devinder Duggal

A. You can get all the information about various courses in Delhi ITIs by carrying out a simple Google search. Still, the relevant website is http://tte.delhigovt. nic.in

The vocational courses in the ITIs requiring a minimum qualification of Plus II pass for admission are typically one-year non-engineering courses. There are several of these: Computer Operator and Programming Assistant, Desktop Publishing Operator, Digital Photography, Fashion Technology, Health & Sanitary Inspector, Secretarial Practice (English), Steno (English) and Steno (Hindi).

The ITIs will admit you on the basis of your marks in the Plus II Board exam, so you should have scored well enough in that exam. The application deadline is usually June-end. Also check out the varied course offerings of the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC), Okhla Industrial Estate, Phase III, New Delhi 110020 (GoI).

Quality check

Q. I am a chemistry graduate. Could you please tell me about the work of a Drug Inspector? What is the specific eligibility requirement?

— Simran Johar

A. With the proliferation of spurious and sub-standard drugs infiltrating the market, a lot is wanting in the department of vigilance. The strength of drug control organisations is woefully inadequate for the tremendous increase in the number of drug traders and manufacturers over the past 20 years. The Drug Control Department shoulders the mind-boggling task of keeping a watch over thousands of chemist shops, medicine supplies in hospitals and nursing homes and drug manufacturing units in each state.

The task force appointed by the Central Government recommends that there should be at least one drug-inspector for every 25 manufacturing units and 100 selling establishments. There is a requirement for close to 3,000 drug-inspectors in the country while the existing strength is merely a third of the requirement.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation recruits Drugs Inspectors through the UPSC exam.

To qualify as a Drug Inspector you need any of the following qualifications: Degree in Pharmacy or Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Medicine with specialisation in Clinical Pharmacology and Microbiology, Master’s degree in Chemistry with pharmaceuticals as a special subject or Associate Diploma of the Institute of Chemists (India) obtained by passing the exam with “Analysis of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals” as a subject or Pharmaceutical Chemist Diploma of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain or a degree in Medicine or Science with at least one–year training in a laboratory under a (i) Government Analyst appointed under the Drugs & Cosmetics Act or (ii) Chemical Examiner or (iii) Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, Great Britain (Branch E).

The writer is a noted career expert and director, Career Guidance India (CARING). Please send in your queries with your full name, complete address and academic qualifications to: The Editor, Jobs and Careers, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160030, or at careers @tribunemail.com

Salaries set to soar
India Inc upbeat on job front

India Inc may give salary hikes in the range of 9-12 per cent in the coming financial year to retain talent amid revival in the job market, according to consultancy Ernst and Young said.

Most companies are expecting higher attrition levels over the next few months on jobs coming back into the economy resulting in salary hikes being used as a tool to retain talent.

“At an overall level, extraordinary jump in increments do not seem probable and the average salary increase is likely to be in the range of 9-12 per cent,” Ernst & Young partner and national head (People & Organisation) N S Rajan said.

However, Rajan cautioned that along with the pay hikes, companies are likely to follow a cautious approach of keeping tight monitoring and controlling of any additional salary costs. In spite of excitement around economic recovery, average pay hikes across sectors would be slightly conservative.

“While on one hand pharma and FMCG companies will lead the space with increments in the range of 10-13 per cent, the IT and technology companies will give reasonable increments close to eight per cent,” Rajan added.

Hiring activity up 17 pc in Feb

India Inc's hiring activity was up 17 per cent in February with telecom and auto sectors leading the rebound, a report by leading job portal Naukri.com said.

The naukri.com’s monthly Job Speak survey reflected renewed optimism among recruiters, with the new job index moving up to 947 in February compared to 808 in January.

This time the portal has introduced its new and expanded job index, which takes into account not only the jobs posted online by its clients but also those made by them with the help of the website's tele-calling team.

A year-on-year comparison of the job index shows a 14 per cent growth in February this year compared to the same month last year.

“Recruitment activity accelerated in February, reflecting underlying strength and positive momentum in the job market. The ‘cautious optimism’ that pervaded throughout the last year and a half has evaporated as most industry sectors are now looking to hire,” Info Edge COO Hitesh Oberoi said.

Hiring activity for the top 10 industry sectors saw positive growth last month with telecom registering a 27 per cent growth in the reviewed month compared to same month last year.

The recruitment in IT-software and auto sectors moved up by 24 per cent and banking and insurance rose 14 per cent in February, it said.

The IT sector has been witnessing a rapid growth in hiring and this trend is also reflected in the demand for IT software professionals, where the functional area job index moved up 24 per cent in February.

Professionals in sales and accounts also witnessed an increase in hiring by 18-19 per cent in February over January, the Naukri.com report said. Overall, the index seems to be moving in a robust manner with hiring moving up across all industry verticals, functional areas and cities. Among cities, Hyderabad emerged most bullish on hiring, with the city-wise job index moving up 25 per cent in the last month. Chennai witnessed a growth of 21 per cent, Delhi 12 per cent and Bangalore 11 per cent February. While, hiring activity for Kolkata picked up 21 per cent last month, after two successive months of dip in the index. — PTI

Realm of health
Ekta Tandon

Health is of paramount importance in today’s fast paced world. Physical disorders and ailments set in when the body’s natural processes are strained and impaired. Diet plays a vital role in the maintenance of good health and in the prevention and cure of disease. It plays a major role in the promotion of health and well being of an individual. A good and balanced diet improves the quality of life, while poor diet may lead to morbidity and diseases.

Nutritionists and dieticians are concerned with this aspect. While dietetics is related to food management, nutrition is related to the promotion of health. Due to changes in food habits of most of the urban population, the role of nutritionists and dieticians is becoming more important now. They suggest corrective food habits considering various aspects of an individual such as age, work routine and sickness etc. and thus improve the quality of their life. They also educate their clients about the preparation of food according to the principles of nutrition.

Skills required

The minimum requirement for a career in Dietetics and Nutrition is a graduate/post-graduate degree in Home Science/Dietetics and Nutrition/ Food Science/ Technology. Candidates desiring to seek admission into Bachelor courses in all these subjects should have passed Plus II in science stream.

Some colleges/universities also offer bachelors courses in Home Science for which science at Plus II is not necessary. The bachelor course is of three-year duration.

For post-graduate courses in Home Science/ Dietetics and Nutrition/Food Technology, graduation in these subjects is a must.

The post-graduate level courses are of two-year duration.

Besides, there is one-year Post Graduate Diploma in Dietetics and Public Health Nutrition (DDPHN). After doing post graduation, one can also go in for PhD and carry out research in food and nutrition.

Career Opportunities

Nutritionists and dieticians have multiple career options. They can work with government hospitals, government’s health department, school, collages, factories and office cafeterias for planning nutritional regiment. They can also be hired for sports hostels and athletes camps.

Health and recreation clubs, canteen and nursing care facilities also require the services of nutritionists and dietitians.

Employment opportunities are also open to them in the catering department of star hotels and restaurants and research labs of food manufacturers.

Moreover, they could find openings in the mass media where top priority is given to disseminating vital information on healthy living.

They can also opt for research career mainly in universities, public or private sector research institutes, food-product manufacturing companies and hospitals. Teaching the science of nutrition of dietetics in colleges and universities is also a good option available to nutritionists and dietitians.

Besides all these they can also work as private consultant or private practitioner.

Challenges

Timings can be a challenge, especially in a hospital setting. Troubleshooting patients can be another challenge. As this is still an upcoming career, remuneration is also a challenge.

Pay package

Dietetics and Nutrition is a remunerative job. Those working in government hospitals, academic institutions, research institutes and other agencies have salaries as fixed by the government , are between Rs 8,000 to Rs. 15,000 per month depending upon work profile and experience. Private sector hotels, restaurants, food manufactures offer higher salary and attractive perks. Independent Practitioner and Private Consultants also have good earning that largely depends upon number and nature of their clients.

(The writer is Nutritionist & Dietician-dailydiet.in)

Institute watch There are several universities in India those offer B.Sc/M.Sc courses in Nutrition and Dietetics. Some of them are: Panjab University, Chandigarh Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar Indira Gandhi National Open University ,New Delhi Lady Irwin College, Institute of Home economics, PUSA institute, New Delhi University of Madras, Chennai Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai University of Mumbai, Mumbai Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore Maharaja Syajiro University of Baroda, Vadodara Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur; Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Allahabad Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad National Institute of Nutrition ( NTR University of Health Science), Hyderabad

Is your job making you obese?

Stressful working conditions and lack of exercise have been strongly associated with being overweight or obese in a study. Researchers at University of Rochester Medical Centre found that 72 to 75 per cent of the employees studied were overweight or obese.

Lead author Diana Fernandez, an epidemiologist at the URMC Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, said her research like many others linked high job pressure with cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, depression, exhaustion, anxiety and weight gain.

She explained: “In a poor economy, companies should take care of the people who survive layoffs and end up staying in stressful jobs. It is important to focus on strengthening wellness programs to provide good nutrition, ways to deal with job demands, and more opportunities for physical activity that are built into the regular workday without penalty.”

Surprisingly, boffins also discovered that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables had little effect in offseting the effect of chronic job stress on weight gain among the employees, who were mostly sedentary. Exercise, on the other hand, appeared to be significant in dealing with stress and keeping a healthy weight.

Fernandez said, “Other studies have shown that adults tend to eat more fatty foods while watching TV. But this requires more investigation.” The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine published the research. — ANI

Inside View
Field for those with innovative streak

Fazle Ghufran in conversation with Nikhil Pran, Director of Pran’s Media Institute

How do you perceive the mesmerizing world of animation?

This is a world of amazing graphics, special effects and exotic technologies that mesh and converge to create unbelievable real and virtual experiences. It’s a world that beckons creative minds to unleash their influence.

Animation is the art of conceiving an act by drawing inanimate characters or objects, which are made suitable for filming. Animation is a type of optical illusion. It involves the appearance of motion caused by displaying still images one after another. Often, animation is used for entertainment purposes.In addition to its use for entertainment, animation is considered a form of art. It is often displayed and celebrated in film festivals throughout the world. Also used for educational purposes, animation has a place in learning and instructional applications as well.

How lucrative is a career in this field?

It has recently become a very high paying profession and also its requirement of niche skills and inventive thinking has attracted people who have the ability to think out of the box. With the expanding world of media, demands for animators also seem to be on the rise as every medium of communication use animation in one way or the other. The special effects, extraordinary graphics and the multi dimensional approach are sweeping everyone around the world of their feet. A lot of creative people are choosing the Animation and Multimedia field and going home with a fat pay cheque.

Demand for animation production services from India is growing with emergence of organised sector. The main area of opportunity have been animation production services for TV programs. Theatrical feature films, game and advertising films, entertainment industry is growing at Rs 30,000 crore per year. It needs trained animations and visual effects artists. In India there are 240 TV channels and 180 are more coming up. India has a huge potential for developing games for domestic and international markets.

There are five main departments in the average game company: art, design, programming, sound, and support. Many companies divide each into sub-categories. Given the huge demand for trained games developers in India, salaries for trainees may range from Rs 7,000 to Rs. 10,000.

What skills do you look for in candidates looking to join a course in animation?

Multimedia is the means of putting together graphics, art etc to convey a message to a certain type of audience in an appealing manner. Therefore, just being creative would not be enough and one needs to be technically competent and being a good artist would act as a great catalyst to get a dream job in animation and multimedia.

The backbone of this industry are all the bright young inventive mind to be a part of a movement which is moving only upwards.

How good is the training scene in this field in India?

There are many courses being offered in animation and multimedia, even though the cost could be steep you will definitely reap the rewards and benefits once you start working.

After completing the course there are many fields that a person can be chosen for like visual artists, graphic designer etc. Some of the institutes offering courses in Animation and multimedia are: Arena Multimedia Centres, C-DAC, Mohali; Pran’s Media Institute, New Delhi, National Institute of Design (NID), Paldi, Ahmedabad.

Fortnightly Quiz - 358

1. Which landmark reform bill was recently passed in the US House of Representatives?

2. Which Indian player’s photograph will grace the cover page of the April issue of the world’s best-selling cricket magazine, Wisden?

3. What is the term used to describe the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends money to other banks?

4. Which revolutionary, who ignited the Naxalite movement across several parts of the country, died recently?

5. Where are Arjuna tanks manufactured in India?

6. Name the world’s four biggest weapons-importing countries.

7. In which Indian city is the Asia’s biggest Tulip garden situated?

8. On which day was “Earth Hour”, when everyone was asked to turn off lights for an hour in many countries of the world, observed recently?

9. Who is Formula One world champion?

10. With which sport is Lionel Messi associated?

— Tarun Sharma

Winners of quiz 357: The first prize by draw of lots goes to Nitesh Katoch, class IX-C, Manav Public School, 61, Anand Avenue, Maqbool Road, Amritsar, Pin Code - 143001

Second: Satakshi Gupta, class IX, St Joseph’s Convent School, Pathankot, Pin Code - 145001

Third: Dixit Jangra, class IX, Little Angels Convent School, Khanpur Road, Gohana, Pin Code - 131301

Answers to quiz 357: Women’s Reservation Bill; Carlos Slim; The Hurt Locker; Kathryn Bigelow; Delhi; Agatha Sangma; Ezhimala (Kerala); Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act; Kapil Dev; Australia

Cash awards of Rs 400, 300 and 200 are given to the first, second and third prize winners, respectively. These are sent at the school address.

Note: Kindly mention the pincode of your place to facilitate the delivery of the prize money.

Answers can also be sent at quiz@tribunemail.com

Name ……………….…………...........
Class ....………….......….……...........
School address ……….....…............
............................................................
...........................................................

Happiness @ work
Gems of ancient wisdom
Give feedback regularly

To encourage good workers to do better and the bad to do well enough, create a system of incentives and disincentives.

In such a system, regular gestures, even though small, matter. An incentive may not always be as great as a promotion or an increment or a disincentive as shocking as a demotion or a sack, but small gestures like a good word, a pat on the back, a letter of appreciation or a look of disapproval or a word of caution. And, let this feedback be quite frequent.

When Hanuman brought the entire Gandhamadan Mountain to save Lakshman, Rama hugged him and called him a ‘dear brother like Bharat’.

The gods showered flowers on Bhishma for renouncing the throne and taking a vow of celibacy so that his father King Santanu could marry Satyavati, a fisherman’s daughter.

“Arjuna, run away and you will be defamed. Fight, for you will attain fame if you die and the kingdom if you win,” said Krishna in the Gita.

Rama chided Vaanara King Sugriva when he impulsively jumped to attack Ravana on their arrival to Lanka. “It is not for a King to rush into risks. How could you take such a dangerous course without consulting anyone,” said Rama.

For delivering the fatal blow below the belt and smashing Duryodhana’s thigh, Balarama cursed Bhima that his name be tarnished for all time.

To know the secrets of divine weapons, Karna lied to Parashurama that he was a Brahmin. When the guru found out the truth, he cursed Karna that he would forget it all when he would need it the most.

Use both the carrot and the stick to good effect.

— Sai R. Vaidyanathan

The writer can be contacted at svaidyanathan@tribunemail.com