A Year of My Blogging Journey

I completed a year of blogging last month (February). But I failed to write about this landmark on the D-Day. I thought better late then never. 🙂 So here am I with one year reminisces.

Before I go on to take pride in fact that I completed a year, I must confess I have been a very errant blogger. I wrote only 97 posts in a year. There have been weeks (and initially months) when I never posted anything. 😦

Crazy Stats

Therefore, total number of hits in the blog are also meager: 23, 403. However, 97 posts have 1, 254 comments! Meaning, discussion and communication do happen in this blog. Yay! I am sporting blog stats widget in my blog for two days, so that you know I am not lying. 😛 I thought this was also the right occasion to write about my favorite posts in this blog.

20 Search Engines That You Can Use

I wrote in my personal resolutions post that I will do some link blogging, that is share some knowledge about links that I know about. Here is first link blogging post about various search engines that you can use. If you have your own experiences to share about any of these search engines, your views are welcome. 🙂

Alternative Search Engines to Google

Search Mash

A compact sear engine that will bring you results from all: blogs, videos, music…with a single click. You can play the video right there in the sidebar of your window by clicking the video thumbnail.

Search Crystal

You can compare the results of your search from various search engines like Google, Yahoo, flickr, msn, ask in the same window. You can add this as a widget in your blog, web site. It is available on Facebook as well.

Sputtr

Search everything in one place: Google, Snap, yahoo, stumbleupon, del.icio.us, Twitter, Flickr, Newsvine, Amazon, ebay, Cnet, imdb, and so on. I am tired, can not possibly list all of them together. Make this your homepage.

Quintura

It is a visual search engine, you can deepen your search using the tags that appear as word cloud. There is also a version available for kids.

Happy Holi!

Happy Holi to all of you! 🙂

I am not writing this post just to wish Holi though. I am writing this in irritation. Most of us haven’t learnt the first rule about Holi: Don’t play holi with the unwilling.

In Delhi, weeks before Holi, people start throwing balloons on passer-bys. These vella people, who indulge in balloon-throwing, have two categories: kids and rowdy hooligans. You can berate kids gently yet firmly but what do you do about the rowdy men who throw balloons at you in dark, when you are returning home from work. They ride scooters and bikes and throw balloons at you back! Imagine somebody driving around with balloons just so they can have unknown victims on road. I simply hate such people.

This season, luckily, I had only one balloon hitting me. It was thrown by two men in 30s who skidded away on their scooters, after hitting me on my back. They did not have guts throw on face either. God knows I was looking for a stone to hit them.

Frankly, I am not even open to idea of being hit by balloons by kids whom I don’t know. You would find groups of them on every nook and crevice of a gulley. Every now and then when you are running an errand, you are hit by balloons full of water. Perhaps it is ok on day of Holi. Not weeks before that! What kind of parents they are, who hand their kids ballons to hit unknown passer-bys- young girls and old folk. Kids did not even spare my grandfather. He was hit with a balloon on his spectacles. Naturally he was upset. When Holi is approaching, you have to think twice before going out of your house.

My office did not have a chutti on Good Friday. But I did not go. Who would want to travel on your own, on a day when you know public transport will be scanty. Also, hooligans will make most of the opportunity. They throw balloons into moving buses and autos as well. Really, they do. I have seen. Not only this, in the name of festival, you are forced to be civil with some unwanted people. I firmly kept that away. God forbid, if Holi is to become harassment in my own country, I may not want to play it in future.

Movie Quirks: Meme

Nita has tagged me to write 10 movie quirks about me.

1. I first went inside a movie theater when I was 16. Too late, wasn’t it? My first movie was Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya. I was mesmerised with sheer experience of watching a movie in theater. 🙂 Since then Kajol has been my favorite actress. No matter what she did, I have liked her.

2. When I was younger, I used to like SRK because he could emote so well with eyes. It was also a time when I could not decide whom I liked better: George Clooney or Brad Pitt. I am no longer a ardent admirer of any actor (if you discount my wee bit soft corner for Kajol). With every performance, my opinion about the actors changes. But I must admit, have liked most of the male actors at one point or the other.

3. The movie-watching activity is completely captivating experience for me. I prefer to watch with rapt attention, without any interruptions. I don’t even need a popcorn. I do not even pay attention to a crying baby or a talking couple unless they are too loud.

Expressing My Angst at Jodha-Akbar

Finally I have some time to pen my thoughts about this movie. 🙂

Prologue

After hearing too many people going gaga about movie Jodhaa-Akbar, I decided to share my succinct views on Ashutosh Gowarikar‘s this deeply ‘researched’ magnum opus. I promise, I will not get into the controversy of Jodhaa being daughter-in-law or wife. Neither do I care if Jodhaa existed or not. My views are strictly in public interest for the like-minded. 😛

The movie is a visual delight with some great music. I bet you have heard that before. Well, now you can safely stick to MTV for the songs. As for love story, I will give you some not-to-miss glimpses in case you missed those glorious 3 and half hours of movie. 🙂

Book Meme – Recall What You Read

I came across this book meme on blogosphere longtime back.

One book that changed your life

My answer is cliché.

The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

It gave me an important message about life. The thing we are looking for in our life is actually somewhere nearby us. We have to look hard for it.

Another book would be Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather. Read it, it would be quite revealing about yourself.

One book that you’ve read more than once

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

No, I am not that big fan of Watson and Holmes duo. And usually no matter how much I love a book, I do not read it again. But there was a period in my life when there was a scarcity of books to read. I had read up all the books from my mother’s school library. I was out of school and there was no local library. I re-read the little books I had to kill time.

One book you’d want on a desert island

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Desert If there is a book like that. 😛

One book that made you laugh

A guide to Naughty Girl’s Life – This book is hilarious. It has some teeny weeny advice to naughty girls on various aspects of life. I will try to put up a suitable sample of comic some humorous excerpt from the book if I get time.

One book that made you cry

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

This personal blog post will tell you how intimately this book moved me.

One book that you wish had been written

How to Calm an Impatient Soul

I need ultimate guide to curb patience. Impatience is a killing malaise in my life. 😦

One book that you wish had never been written

It would be unfair to pick on one. There are dozens, especially if you look at the later works of a famous, successful writer.

After writing one or two good books, some of these celebrity authors write nonsense monologues. Their books seem self-obsessed with their prose. These books seem as if they have been hastily written to meet a publisher’s deadline. I feel such books should be banned as we readers end up wasting our hard-earned money on their silly, conceited books.

Two books you’re currently reading

Complete works of Rudyard Kipling

Don’t worry I am lying. 🙂 I have not even begun to read this book because the font size is not to my liking. Have you ever abandoned a book because you do not like the small, uninteresting font it has? Or is it just me?

Hey, but I am reading The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru. Started this morning.

One book you’ve been meaning to read

Some vain books like Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella 🙂

The Lord of the Rings series. I am looking for a free book with nice fonts. If you have the book, feel free to lend it to me. 🙂

If you feel like doing this meme, consider yourself tagged. 🙂

Another Book Meme:
How many books have you read?

Play “Salaam India”

My audio artist Nicholas Kharkongor unexpectedly gave me passes of his play Salaam India. He had written the play, inspired by Pawan Verma’s best-seller Being Indian. I am avid lover of plays. So naturally, I was thrilled.

I went to the play with my favorite partner. The play narrated story of four different families. These stories had vignettes of real India. They covered all classes of society: poor laborers’ family, middle-class business community trying to handle MCD sealing drive, a urban family’s tyrst with relationships and finally a national meeting of representatives of different communities to decide on a National dish that will be tax-free. 🙂 Hilarious thought, isn’t it.

Well, the play honestly revealed the hidden ironies in our society. There was a laborer family with their set of problems. Economy may have risen, but they wonder why it didn’t impact their life. Bribe in India, but don’t be sure if that gets you returns. 🙂 A software professional dabbling in astrology web site. and politicians drag, don’t they? This play is “essentially India”. Whatever that means. 😛

This play had very interesting medley of characters. A gujju businessman with firang wife. A argumentative south-Indian lady. A boisterous Punjabi. An America-return desi.

A still from Salaam India (image source: Hindu)

The actors? Very talented lot. Before coming to this play, I had heard of only one actor: Lushin Dubey. Lushin also happens to be the director of the play. But after watching the play, I would vouch for all four actors in the play. They portrayed four different characters each. In all, we saw 16 characters in the play. Sometimes, they had to switch in to other character within minutes. They pulled it off with ela’n. Their costumes fluidly changed with their characters with simple effects of accessories such as dupatta, kashmiri topi, etc. I thought whoever had planned it, planned it well to keep the play screening smooth. After it was a play staged live and not a movie where you had retakes. I was impressed.

Nicholas, it was a great play, nicely written and staged. Thank you for inviting me! 🙂

Read More:

Review of Play by Mid-day
Review of Play by Hindu

My Trip to Goa: Day 3

Lost in Goa

After indulging in water sports in Goa, we started moving toward our rented Kinetic. What! we did not remember where we parked it. All exit points looked same to us. Sand and shacks everywhere. And you know what, when we asked for the directions, we were told that we were still at Candolim beach and not Calangute! Calangute was just a road away at next turn! We spent 15-20 minutes to search for our bikes, but no avail! 😦 I was getting tired, hence I was very chauvinistically suggested that girls should sit at Barista so that guys could get the bikes! Well, we girls revengefully ordered most expensive drink at Barista, hoping to get it paid by absentees. 🙂

At a Goan Disco

At night, we decided to go to famous disco called Tito’s at Bagha beach. They were having a full-blown party-cum-stage show that night that cost 4500/- for a couple. There was a long queue that would have easily taken us 20 minutes to buy their tickets. The show was too crowded inside as well. We decided to go to Mambo’s that was adjacent to Tito’s. It was also crowded, yet comparatively it was not as suffocating as Tito’s. They were charging 1200/- per couple. We were starving for dinner. So we verified at the counter, if they did serve food. They answered yes, a false claim that we were to discover later in edibles. 😦 Once inside Mambo’s, we were told in the kitchen that only kathi rolls were available. I guess that night we all had only kathi rolls, drinks and hookah. I had gin and tonic. I don’t remember what else I drank that night, but I remember being bit tipsy. 😛

Happy Women’s Day!

March 8, 2008: So today is women’s day! Last year on this day, I wrote this post in my blog when I was so much gaga about receiving so many women’s day messages. I naively thought now that this day was getting lot of attention, some real positive action would follow. This year, the days passed unnoticed. There were hardly any sms-es, except those from DoT and service providers. I searched the local newspaper for any play or show taking up women’s issues in my city. There were none!

It was good old Internet that could bring up something for me about the day.

Read here to know why we have International Women’s day! According to a blog post I randomly came across, women’;s day is national holiday in Russia. Read this blog post to read an interesting way in which Russian women celebrate their women’s day.

Happy Women’s day, though! 🙂