lit my face when I looked back upon the year gone by.
I had a lovely time on my birthday with family and friends surrounding me after four years.
And this time around, I wasn't drunk like I had been on my last birthday and had no hangover the next day The only one suffering this time around was my stomach(all that rich food). Thank God for the weekend to work all that off.
Oh yea- I worked the whole day on my birthday with an important deal being signed up. Finally I have my financial relief coming up. *party time!*
I want to thank all those blog friends who wished me a happy birthday. Thank you, you guys- your wishes made my day all the more brighter and brought a huge smile on my face. Mwaaahh!
Now it's back to studies and work. Am very distracted at the moment so I think I had better write later. See y'all later.
Just like there are blog meets for Bcuk guys, so's a community being formed in India for such meets.
I hope I go to one to see what it's like soon.
Here's some details about it. If anyone's in India at this time, maybe you guys oughta attend it.
The Indian Blog & New Media Society (www.ibnms.com) is pleased to invite you to a 3-day Blogging workshop at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi later this month. Following up on last month’s BlogCamp, this is another effort by IBNMS to enable blogging enthusiasts - both rookie and experienced - leverage this medium for both personal and professional reasons.
All sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants to raise specific queries and also to try their hand at what is being discussed (you will need to carry a laptop and datacard for this).
Schedule: The sessions will take place in the Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from 6.30 - 8.30 pm on the dates given along with sessions below:
Session I, Saturday, June 28
Blogging Technology: How To Set Up And Manage A Blog
What is a blog? How to set it up on platforms like Blogger, Wordpress etc? How do you get your own domain like www.myname.com? Hosting on your own severs. Custom options. Adding photos and videos. Adding subscriber sign up boxes. Using tools like LiveWriter. And more…
Session II, Sunday, June 29
Marketing Your Blog
How do you make your blog more visible? How do you generate greater traffic? How do you get comments on your blog? What is SEO? How do you generate advertising for your blog?
Session III, Monday, June 30
Benefits Of Blogging For Executives, Businesses And Professionals; How To Make Money As A Blogger
Using blogs for personal and corporate branding. Engaging with stakeholders through blogs. Using blogs as a PR and communication tool.
HOW TO REGISTER
There is no attendance or registration fee. You can register on the spot, or in advance by sending a mail to ibnms.in@gmail.com. You may attend one or more sessions.
WANT TO VOLUNTEER / SPEAK?
If you would like to speak at any of the sessions above, do let us know and we will be happy to consider you for the same. And we are always looking for volunteers - call us if you can spare some time.
And do help us by spreading the word around.
CONTACT US
You may contact the following for any queries, clarifications etc:
I've been in a thoughtful mood today. Thinking of nothing in particular except about my foolishness while reacting to things and circumstances and my decisions at times. I wish I wasn't such an emotional person.
As it is, yesterday hadn't been a very good day - not very productive, you see. Today has been pretty much the same actually. *AND I STILL DON'T HAVE MY 'PICK-ME-UP' POT OF NUTELLA!*
I was in no mood to study today but did so for a couple of hours in the morning.
After that, I left my books aside. I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do! I could have sat down with a book but was in no mood to read; no mood to listen to music either. So what then?
It's been raining on and off today the whole day. Earlier I thought, I'd not go outside. It is dirty out there on the roads and the pot holes on the roads are filled with rainy, muddy water. *Heaven forbid if you're walking and a vehicle passes by. You'll be drenched in mud.*
And yet, I just had to get out of the house. So I decided to go to the cinema. It'd been a long time since I went to the cinema anyway.
I was quite surprised to see that there weren't too many people around today despite it being a Sunday. Seems like the inflated cinema ticket prices are keeping the normal cine-goers away.
I went for the film "The Happening", written and directed by M Night Shyamlam.
Yet again, Night Shyamalam (I'm going to call him MNS from now) manages to create a thought-provoking, thriller film. Full marks to him for creating decent seat-gripping suspense. (It has been termed as Horror Sci-fi film.)
I even heard some girls gasp and scream.(certainly the ones sitting next to me did!) I mean who's ever heard of the trees and the air conspiring and attacking the human kind? (I mean, why should nature bother when we ourselves do it so well with pollution and creating chemical weapons and what not ) The thought that nature decides to take things in its own hands is indeed, terrifying.
I enjoyed the film on the whole but there were some things which struck me during the movie. Thought I'd share it with you guys.
As I mentioned earlier, it packs a decent amount of suspense in the first half where you're trying to understand things. It is a different matter of course, that this suspense crumbles down to nothing and throws one in the deep end, leaving one wondering if he wanted to say something more.
However, we must applaud his thinking. He is trying to bring awareness among people by implying something like - "Be scared of nature's wrath. You never know what it may do with innumerous weapons at its disposal." R-E-S-P-E-C-T for that thought.
I'd have expected MNS to give it a twist in the end. Remember "The Sixth Sense" or "Unbreakable"? Those were films that you took with yourself outside the cinema hall.
There's no logical or illogical explanation given in the end, for the event shown in this movie. Sure it starts by saying there are some things which can't be explained but then again, we're still exploring and discovering new things and all we need to do is be careful with what we're doing. Which is a perfectly fine thing to say.
However if he meant to show nature's power of destruction and our response to it, at least he could have shown Greenpeace protesting against the governments in the end, forcing them to act before it is too late or something.
And it was definitely a disappointment to see Mark Wahlberg forcing himself to express emotions. Normally he does a good job. I liked him much better in his previous films; be it "The Departed", "We own the night", "Boogie Nights" or even the unforgettable "Planet of the Apes".
But of course, I'm no critic and I'm certainly no expert. I found the movie worth watching once despite its faults. I leave you with the trailer of the film.
It is again cloudy today with a cool breeze flowing by.
I've been up since long and studying but no longer. Work beckons again. Alas! My one hope of a break this weekend is gone-pouff! in the air.
I was to travel to Delhi this weekend for work. That trip might also have brought some pleasure as I'd have met a friend I long to meet these days. I was looking forward to teasing him silly until he begs for mercy. Sounds a bit mean I know but he'd have enjoyed it and so would have I.
Now, I'll just have to wait one more week before I can think upon that. Finances are becoming delicate and almost threadbare with the savings rushing by so fast that you wonder where did it all go.
And yet, life brings hope and pleasure at just being here today and living it as it comes.
It is already 2.30 AM, Thursday has already begun. And yet, I feel there is something I've forgotten- something that I should have done but don't know what.
I feel much better health wise, by the way. The sun shone today despite clouds hovering about. One could see the silver linings on each cloud. (Perhaps it's a good sign for things to come?)
Oh and yeah, I started with the revision on the first subject of my course and hopefully, if I keep up the pace, I'd be able to finish it by Friday.
I leave you with this poem, to dream in peace.
Song Of A Dream
Once in the dream of a night I stood
Lone in the light of a magical wood,
Soul-deep in visions that poppy-like sprang;
And spirits of Truth were the birds that sang,
And spirits of Love were the stars that glowed,
And spirits of Peace were the streams that flowed
In that magical wood in the land of sleep.
Lone in the light of that magical grove,
I felt the stars of the spirits of Love
Gather and gleam round my delicate youth,
And I heard the song of the spirits of Truth;
To quench my longing I bent me low
By the streams of the spirits of Peace that flow
In that magical wood in the land of sleep.
NO, I'm perfectly fine and I'm not in the mood to quote anyone or anything tonight. I'll just post my own comments and be gone for the night, thank you.
I've been in a bit of crazy mood lately, with working on some business transcription work and studying (hardly 4 hours a day these days; work comes first at the moment. I'm always tied up in these knots even before I try to find out just how did I let that happen!
One moment, you're telling your contact you'd like some work and the next moment, you're bombarded with 300 minutes of conversation that needs to be transcribed in a day.
It is very interesting to say the least. I'm transcribing interviews, given on the radio, by some very prominent personalities.
It is quite a learning experience, I must confess since I knew nothing very little about these people, their views and their lives before I took up this work.
No, I'm fine my it. But there's something else which has irritated the hell out of me and made my life a living misery these days.
My dust allergy is back in full force.
I've got a running nose 24x7 (not nice, I know) and keep on sneezing a thousand times in a day. And the throat- dear God, when I try to speak these days, I'm no better than a frog croaking!
Not that it's a matter of concern really. I would feel fine soon. It's just the weather. We've been having these dust storms with some rain recently.
The rain's a relief of course, but the dust storms- those are killers! *sigh*
I'm going to have to take care of myself since I know there's no one I can turn to at the moment. I can't go home cos I wont be able to work if I go there. Ma has started with the "re-marriage" chapter once again and I'm in no mood to justify my "I'm-happy-as-I-am" phase.
And I can't really afford to not work at this time. There are some important projects coming in that will soon require my attention.
Anyway, good news is, I've finally managed to finish seven study assignments! Yayyyyy!!!
Basically this means, I'm done with first year's syllabus! The project work was of course, submitted last month to the University, if you remember.
Tomorrow onwards, I shall start revising on the first year course. It should take me around a month to finish it off.
After that, I will start preparing my Thesis and work on the rest of the assignments- if I haven't killed myself by then.
Am quite happy with the progress. It seems like I'll be able to give my exams and PASS THEM and go back to Germany where my friends await me with a bottle of Proseco.
Off to sleep now. Need to rise and shine early if I want this year to be a success for me in any manner.
The Rules:
Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
1. What I was doing 10 years ago: In those days (God! that sounds like I'm old!) Ten years ago, I had my head in the clouds and used to dream of a knight on a white charger. Ahem..
Apart from that, I was preparing for civil services exams. I had this idea in my head that it would the world a hell of good if I was a diplomat.
2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
The day is already over out here so I shall put in things that I'm to do tomorrow.
Get my work for the weekend finished, buy some supplies, flirt with a certain rogue who's been more busy last week than I (NO QUESTIONS!), call up T and find out if she fared well in exams and last but not the least, finish my assignment on Statistics.*pain in the backside, it is!*
3. Snacks I enjoy:
Samosas, Delhi Chat, all kinds of Pakoras, tiny sandwiches that my mum makes, Bhel, ...... *forget it! There are too many of these*
4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire:
Invest wisely, care for family, travel around the world and work on a cook book with traditional recipes from all around the world, donate some to green causes and kick ass of all those guys who seem out of reach, build up my own company to make sure those billions are not lost.
5. Places I have lived:
Gandhidham, Ahmedabad, Bremen, Braunschweig, Paris, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore.
I tag adamantixx, antlady69, kendrive, MagicalMysteryTour and skip2468
to the terrace of my flat to enjoy the rains! *What were you guys thinking, you pervs!!*
It's been raining on and off since the last few days. It seems like monsoons are finally here, to relieve us from the blistering heat! Absolute bliss.
The rains will settle all that dust down and finally, I'll be rid of this dust allergy which caught me few days ago, with all that wind and dust blowing about. Running nose is so disgusting! Yuck!
While I go up and enjoy raindrops falling all around and on me, I leave you to enjoy Madonna, telling us how the rain affects her.
"Chirping birds are perched on
branches of huge trees,
as if playing a melody in symphony.
Beauty of lush green trees is greater than heaven,
leaf buds bring good news and blessings written on them."
This is a poet's image of — hold your breath — Ahmedabad, contained in Mirat-e-Ahmadi, a historic account. The city may be anything but green today, but 300 years ago, Ahmedabad was described as a city of gardens and orchards, which were grown by the sultans who ruled then. Particularly, the maverick sultan Muhammad Begdo who encouraged people to plant trees.
Albert de Mendeslo, a German traveller who came to Ahmedabad in 1638, wrote about the environment of the city: "There are so many other gardens around Ahmedabad and the whole city is so full of trees that it looks like one big garden. Anyone who comes to the city sees such abundance of them that he may well think he is going into a forest."
Eminent historian Ratnamanirao Jote dedicated a whole chapter to gardens of Ahmedabad during the Muhammedan era in his book 'Gujarat nu Patnagar', which he wrote in 1928.
"If somebody saw today's Ahmedabad he will surely laugh at the chapter on gardens of this city in this book, but there were plenty of gardens in this city. The feudal lords and sultans who ruled, loved gardens. We see an instance of it at Naginawadi in the middle of Kankaria lake."
Jote chronicles more than a dozen big gardens in the city like Baug-e-Nagina, Shahwadi, Baug-e-firdosh, Baug-e-Shaiban, Harade no Baug, Fatehbaug, Jeetbaug, Gulab Baug, Baug-e-tot and Shahibaug. He wrote: "Many foreign travellers saw this whole city as an orchard."
Mendeslo also wrote in his travelogue — 'Mendeslo's travels in western India' — about the environment around the Bhadra fort. "The Maidan Shah is at least 1,600 feet long and half as much broad and lined with rows of palms, intermixed with citron trees and orange trees, which is not only pleasant to the eyes but also makes walking among them more cool."
Another traveller, Thevnots, who came to Ahmedabad in 1966, described Maidan Shah as 'the kings square'. "It is a long square, with trees planted on all sides," he wrote.
As if the terrorist attacks aren't enough to deal with, a new issue comes to the fore everyday in my country.
Things seem to be going crazy everywhere. Be it the Rajasthan Gujjars or Mumbai Marathi, no where can you see Indian solidarity. What ever happened to secular India?
Seems like people have forgotten they're still living in one country.
Latest example:
They left the city to pursue their dream of higher education. But 30 students, who returned from Bangalore on Wednesday morning, have only nightmares to recount.
The students of College of Pharmacy, who shared a flat in Devanahalli near Bangalore, were threatened,
terrorised and some of them even beaten up by local residents when they tried to stop a thief who broke into their room. They managed to flee after two traumatic days and reach the city on Wednesday. Even the police and trustees of their college refused to help.
For Upendra Singh Jadeja and six other students of Bachelor of Pharmacy, June 2 was yet another day till they returned home around noon from an examination and found the door open.
"My flatmate Mayur was the first to return and was shocked to find the room ransacked. He saw two people running away through the main door and another entering a room," said Jadeja.
Mayur came out of the house and locked it from outside, trapping the thief. "We reached by then and called the landlord and informed the police. When the police arrived, family members of the ‘thief' spoke to the cops in the local language and he was allowed to go free. His family members then threatened us with dire consequences right in front of the police," said Jadeja.
Scared, they turned to trustees of their college for help. "We called our college trustee Basava Raja, who refused to come to the spot but said that he would send two professors," he added.
"Meanwhile, we even met a trustee of the college who refused to help us saying that it was a dispute that took place outside the college and they were not responsible," said Jadeja.
"We were too scared to return and hence sent other classmates to check the situation. As our classmates reached the house, they saw the family of the thief, along with the landlord, waiting with batons and sticks. The group of 15-odd friends who had gone to check the situation was chased out of the building. We never went back to the flat," said Jadeja, who returned with others by the Bangalore-Jodhpur Express.
They now plan to meet the agent who had got them admitted to the college and even promised them proper accommodation.
Good going emptyhead! Glad you're putting these things on your blog and spreading awareness among groups you know. Three cheers for you!
Greenpeace is known for the tactics they use to save the environment. Be it sailing alongside the Japanese whaling fleet, or performing at the rock concert in Rio, Greenpeace makes a big splash with each of its protest.
The more recent of Greenpeace’s campaigns is to save the home & breeding grounds of Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa. Tatas have an port coming up at Dhamra in Orissa threatens a nesting site that is amongst the last honeymoon suites for the remaining Olive Ridleys, a highly-endangered species that swims all the way here from places as far away as Australia and the Philippines.
Greenpeace has already initiated signature campaigns and a candlelight vigil outside Ratan Tata’s residence in Mumbai to protest against the project. Now they have come up with the idea of subvertising.
Subvertising refers to the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements in order to make a statement(courtesy Wikipedia). Take a look for yourself.
I hope Mr. Tata hears what Greenpeace is trying to say. After all, he shares the planet with all of us, and is as responsible towards its delicate ecosystems. If you believe in the cause Greenpeace is trying to pursue, visit the Greenpeace Save the Turtles page .
to get things done. - says my daily horoscope today.
Well, I think I'm going to go by what it says today. Things do seem to have slowed down a bit in life.
I feel like lazing around today. Although, going anywhere in this godforsaken heat is an absolute no-no. I'm going to have to think up on things I can do at home. Bake something,perhaps?
Work has slowed down as well. At work, my clients keep me waiting 'cos their lawyers are too busy to check the agreements that I sent them.
Friends are busy today as well. Bugger it all! Am going to listen to Aerosmith while I go nuts.
The only one suffering this time around was my stomach(all that rich food). Thank God for the weekend to work all that off. 
See y'all later. 
) The thought that nature decides to take things in its own hands is indeed, terrifying. 
Yayyyyy!!!
, build up my own company to make sure those billions are not lost.
