Google+ and you : The same rules that apply in life apply in google+ too

Google+ = +You 

Be yourself on google.

But you are different to different people. You have circles on Google+ You can be a writer in your writer circles and a zombie in your zombie circles.

Know what you want in your life. Know what you want from Google+ and Google+ can be that for you. You just need to know the right chrome extensions and the settings. If you want it to be like facebook, it can be. If you want it to be like twitter, it can be. But have patience, especially if you want it to be like facebook because your friends are gonna take some time to be on Google+.

Your life is boring if you don't have a good circle of friends. The same with Google+. If you don't have interesting people in your circles, then your stream is definitely going to be boring. Go find some interesting people. More the merrier, interesting the better.

They say "A man is known by the company he keeps" . In G+Arena we call it "A plusser is known by the people in his circles and the people in whose circles he is". You find some interesting people circle them and through them you find more like minded interesting people. For the second part(to be in interesting people's circles) keep reading.

When you see a bunch of people discussing your favorite topic, you join the conversation. When a see an interesting post go drop your opinion,add value. Adding comments to a post can be a great way to find like minded people. And once in a while skim through the comments of some interesting posts and you will find many like minded people who fit into your circles.

When you have too many friends, if is difficult to catch up. This can happen to you on Google+ too. Don't be in a hurry too add to many people into your circles. Thanks to circle sharing, if you are adding hundreds of people in one go you are not doing it right. Even if you want to circle people from shared circles, I suggest that you go through their profiles before adding them to your circles.

If you want to be famous,  you must be interesting enough. If you are on Google+ to build your followers, then you must post interesting content regularly in whatever field that interests you. There is no shortcut :P

I am not popular but I am happy.  I don't have thousand of followers on Google+. But I am still happy with Google+, because it has given me a chance to meet and converse with many interesting people. If not for Google+ I would never have been able to exchange a formal greeting with them, forget about discussions.

Live life your way. Don't follow others advice when you are happy with your life. Similarly all these are just my experiences  that I thought might help you too. But if you are happy with Google+ the way you are using it now, I see no reason you should follow my advice.

Hey Girl!! Are you celebrating Independence Day?

Come tomorrow we will all be celebrating the Independence Day. Few are just happy that they have got a three day weekend and they would be snoring away to glory tomorrow. There are other few who bring out the patriotism that was hidden with them for almost 365 days, barring a day or two when India beat Pakistan in cricket or when India won some sports tournament. There are very few others who will remember those great men who sacrificed their lives and freedom and so that we have freedom of speech, expression and taking the responsibility of our lives.

Tomorrow we will see so many guys riding up on biked holding the national flag, their head held high that they are living in a nation which uphold independence. But the irony is that the same guy would have asked his sister/wife to stay back at home. The same guy would have asked his daughter to stay back at home. On one side we feel proud about ourselves for upholding these ideals on the other side we are blind to the Freedom that is snatched from our own sisters, wives and daughters at home. What is more disturbing is that this has never occurred to our minds. Why so? The only thing I can think of as reason is the kind of upbringing we have had. In most of the families, a girl who wants to be independent and live her life on her own terms is always seen as liability. Isn't it strange that, "When a guys wants to do something on his own, people call him independent. But when a girls wants to do something on her own, she is termed Rebellious". We live in such a hypocritic society and everybody seems to blissfully ignorant about the same.

The issue is not just with the guys. Its the same with the girls too. If you are a girl there is a high probability that you have heard these dialogues from some Old lady somewhere some time – “Girls these days have changed, they don’t have any responsibility they don’t know how to cook, they won’t wear sarees, they won’t wear burka, they won’t follow traditions..culture, and they don’t respect elders so on and so forth”. The irony is that the same girl who felt suffocated when her parents thrust so many rules on her, when she goes on to become a woman will, try to thrust the same rules on her daughter. What a pity! Coming from their mothers who are considered as the source of wisdom by many girls, they give in. And hence a girl who was a topper in her class till her degree, all of a sudden turns out into a unrecognized (sorry recognized at home) house-wife, who will cook a good meal and raise her kid. All that her degree was worth is to help her kid to do home work (wow topper in degree to a house-wife doing some daily chores). What a life? or should I say what an irony of life .

Haven't you come across a friend of yours(a girl) who has wants to be independent but gives up her job as it is not a tradition in their families to work after marriage? Haven't you come across a colleague of your who doesn't want to come for a trip as her parents don't agree? Haven't you come across a friend of yours who is always lively and bubbly, but suddenly goes silent because her boy-friend is over possessive? Haven't you come across a friend who has felt ashamed in-front of a crowd because she has got to go to a rest room as she is having her cycles? What do we do in such circumstances? We all maintain our golden silence. We may not be able to do much, but our understanding of their problems and our small reassurances can give them a mountain of hope.

So what can you do as a boy?

1.) If you have a sister at home, make sure that she gets the same treatment that you do.
2.) Never tell her things that can shatter her self-confidence and do your bit so that she gets what she rightfully deserves.
3.) If you have girl-friend or a wife, you can be protective about her. But make sure that it doesn't suffocate her.
4.) When a friend in your gang says or does something that might hurt the modesty of a girl in the team, educate him.
5.) Try to suppress your MALE-EGO which has no logical reason. Stop being a MCP.

What if you are girl

1.) Stand up for yourself and speak out. Remember you can't blame somebody for spoiling your life, if you don't stand up for yourself. But when you stand up you got to take the responsibility for you life. And when you don't speak for yourself, you are doing the greatest harm to yourself.
2.) When you can't stand up for yourself, at-least speak for yourself. When you can't speak for yourself at-least make sure that the person who is doing the injustice to you feels guilty about it.
3.) Whether you are part of a gang of friends or team at office or family at home, try to establish a system where there is reward for good treating girls well and a high cost of treating girls badly.
4.) Nobody wants to be seen as an individual or an organisation that doesn't respect women. This is independent of what they are actually. When somebody treats a girl badly, make sure that the other guys in the team chide him for that. As an individual one may treat girl badly, but in-front of a group nobody want to be seen as MCP. Use this to your advantage.
5.) One of the things that you should be familiar is the MALE-EGO. You should tie the good treatment towards women with this. After all he is no man who cannot respect a woman. Imprint this in the minds of men who are around you in your daily lives. A real man respects a lady, and his lady respects him for that.


(Few of the above may go wrong for girls. So make sure that you have the support of at-least few good men. And I strongly believe there are at-least a few good men irrespective of where you belong)


I have taken up my Independence Day resolution. What about you ?

A society in which a woman is not entitled to have her self respect, shall decay in the course of time; as depriving a woman of her self respect is like disrespecting the very essence of our existence : Motherhood.

Right to Information Act

Recently I came across a video about RTI. It was 44 mins long. So I had to postpone watching the video 4 times. I thought it is better to put down the important notes from the video, so that at-least lazy people like me can know the gist in few minutes. These are just my observations from the video . Please visit RTI site for the authentic data.


Question 1 : What is RTI?
Answer      :  RTI is an acronym of Right To Information.


Question 2 : How is RTI a part of our fundamental rights..?
Answer      : Right to  freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right. People cannot speak or express when they don't know. So you are entitled to your right to information and and hence RTI forms a fundamental right.


Question 3 :  What are the rights I am entitled to under RTI?

1. Ask for any information from the government.
2. Inspect any government document.
3. Ask for photocopies of any government document.
4. Inspect any government work.
5. Ask for sample of materials of any government work.

Question 4 : How do I apply for any information under RTI?
Answer   4 : Write your application in a plain white paper, like you do for your leave application ;) and submit it to the public information officer(PIO) in the government office from which you want to collect information. Keep a photocopy of the application.



Question 5 : Whom to contact?
Answer   5 : Every government office will have Public Information Officer(PIO) and you submit your application to him by paying a nominal fee. Don't forget to take the receipt for your payment.
629 post offices have been designated as Assistant Public Information Officer(APIOs). This means that you can go to any of these post offices and submit your fee and application at the RTI counter in these post offices. They will issue you a receipt and acknowledgement and it is the responsibility of that post office to deliver it to the right PIO. The list of these post offices is given at http://www.indiapost.gov.in/rtimanual16a.html


Question 6 : What if I don't get  a response?
Answer   6    : Your RTI application is supposed to get a response in a max of  35 days, failing which the salary of the employee is liable to deduction.

Question 7 : Has RTI been successful?
Answer 7      : RTI has been successful in many cases. And it has been effectively used by the poor and deprived. So there is no reason it can't be successful with the educated ones like us.

Question 8   :  IS RTI really powerful ?
Answer 8        :  RTI application can be a powerful alternative to bribery in the government offices. When you pay a bribe the officials are not liable to you, but when you file a RTI they are liable to answer you. RTI along with lokpal can bring about the much awaited transparency in the government offices. RTI will make the babus liable to disclose any information that people request whereas Lokpal would make all the offenders punishable irrespective of their positions. In total these laws will put the power into the safest hands in a democracy : People.

Question 9  :  What can I do after knowing all this ?
Answer 9       :  As an assignment try to file an RTI in the government office nearest to you. You can request for  information like who the contractor for the incomplete road is, why the METRO project is getting delayed, why there are no enough government in your office route, list of all the MLA's of your area in the last 20 years. You can think of many more such information that might help you to know more about the government spendings or which will prompt the officials to think twice before doing something wrong.
You can also create awareness about RTI among your friends and colleagues,



Question 10 (taken from RTI site): How does this law help me in getting my work done? Give me a proof
Answer 10   :
Let us take the case of Nannu. He was not being given his ration card. But when he applied under RTI, he was given a card within a week. What did Nannu ask? He asked the following questions:

1. I filed an application for a duplicate ration card on 27^thJanuary 2004. Please tell me the daily progress made on my application so far. i.e. when did my application reach which officer, for how long did it stay with that officer and what did he/she do during that period?
2. According to the rules, my card should have been made in 10 days. However, it is more than three months now. Please give the names and designations of the officials who were supposed to take action on my application and who have not done so?
3. What action would be taken against these officials for not doing their work and for causing harassment to the public? By when would that action be taken?
4. By when would I get my card now?

In normal circumstances, such an application would be thrown in a dustbin. But this law says that the Government has to reply in 30 days. If they don’t do that, their salary could be deducted. Now, it is not easy to answer these questions.
The first question is – please provide the daily progress made on my application.
There is no progress made. But the government officials cannot write in these many words that they have not acted for so many months. Else that would be admission of guilt on paper.
The next question is – please provide the names and designations of the officers who were supposed to take action on my application and who had not done so
If the government provides names and designations of the officials, their responsibility gets fixed. Any officer is most scared of fixing of responsibility against him in this manner. So, the moment one files such an application, his/her pending work is done.





For a full list of FAQs about RTI visit RTI site

Sometimes

Sometimes you have to set your eyes off the target to enjoy the race. You loose the race, you can be happy that you enjoyed the race at-least. And you win the race, Bingo. What good is winning a race if you didn't enjoy the race at all.

Caveat : I do believe in goal setting and slogging for your goals. It' just that I don't slog, when I don't like something.

Ads : Short and expressive

Can you put across an idea effectively in less than 10 seconds with an audience that you have no connection with? Ads answers affirmatively to this. And that is the reason I have always believed that ads are the best form to show case one's talents if one is interested in fields like acting, direction and cinema.

Marketing in itself is a huge market and it is in-fact a science. It is as much science as math or physics is. But instead of studying static entities like geography and algebra, it ties to analize  the more dynamic entity namely human beings. With dwindling attention span of the current generation it is really a difficult task to capture the imagination of the you and old alike. But there are few marketing campaigns that achieve this feat seamlessly.
And the  marketing campaign of Kotak Mahindra on the eve of turning 25 is one such example.

This was their ad campaign in print

and these are there videos in the TV and internet.






and this is their website for the event http://25.kotak.com/

Why was I impressed with the ad campaign?

1. Marketing campaign spread over print, media and internet(you tube banner ad).
2. Print ad on TOI first two pages. Pleasing + Capturing the attention + User participation.
3. Youtube Videos. Short + Creative + Emotional appeal + No on the face promotion of products.
4. Over all : Celebration of 25th anniversary can easily connect with you and old alike.
5. Over all : Concentrating on the long term brand building rather than promotion of individual products.

3G : Mom is the world..

"Guys of your age should be going out with girlfriends and having fun, Shravan" she told. 

Shravan is her only son and her only hope in life. Two decades ago when her husband died, she lost all hopes and was crestfallen. Plans of killing herself crossed her mind too. But when she looked into the innocent eyes of Shravan, she knew she had to live and indeed she did. She got back to her life. But there was no life in her. She started to hate everything around her. She locked all the doors around her which would lead to the world outside. Her only connection to the outside world was Shravan. And Shravan made sure that his Mom didn't miss the world too much. Though he didn't hate the world like his mom did, he didn't find it interesting. His Mom was the world to him. He felt comfortable with him Mom and he was happy being that way. He didn't feel the need for extra love and care from others as his mom always made sure that he gets enough.

"May be thats true. But they don't have a Mom like you :) So they have to. I don't know Mom. Whenever I sleep on your laps, I feel so protected and get peace of mind. I am happy for that. I have no regrets of not having a Girl Friend" said Shravan. They hugged each other and he slept on her laps.

"Wake up Shravan, Its 7 you need to go office..", the sound brought him back from sleep. He woke up to see the smiling face of him mom. This had been the routine right from the day his Dad had expired. He never woke up without looking at his mom's face. The smile on her face was his driving force. He spoke to  his Mom for sometime and got ready for the office. He was having breakfast and the bell rang. It was the signal from his friend Sharath, who was waiting for him outside. "Ok Mom, I am leaving to office", Shravan said looking into his phone and he left. 

She (Shravan's Mom) had died 2 years ago. Shravan was in a situation similar to what his Mom was in a few decades ago, but this time it was more worse because he had no one else. Nobody ever imagined that he could cope up with the loss. Looking at the way he had  handled himself for the first few days after his Mom's demise, everybody felt that he would not last longer than a week or so.  But thanks to the new app 3G Buddy(Virtual simulation of your loved ones), which brought back his mother to life and hence saved a life (or should i say two.?).

There are many Shravans out there in the world. I wish 3G Life will being their loved ones back to life.

What is your October Indirank...?

The long wait for the October Indirank is finally over. And the results are here. And I am not happy with my results. My previous ranking was 50 and so is my current ranking. When life is all about growth, no growth : no life. And stagnancy stinks.....

Since I have blogged regularly of late and am having decent traffic, I naturally expected my rank to improve. And so I am disappointed :(

Guys please console and motivate me to keep blogging :) Hey did I tell you that I wrote my first 55er.

I like the way you lie : My first 55er

All I wanted was to hang around her and have some fun. But she was a serious kind. I looked deep into her eyes and said “Love you, dear” . "I like the way you lie", she said and walked away. As she was walking away, I heard the words “But still I love you”.

Highlights : Bangalore Indiblogger Meet

When     : 3rd October 2010
Where    :  Fortune Park JP Celestial
What      :  Indiblogger Meet
Twitter    : @indiblogger
Trending :   #indiblr








There are going to be a zillion posts on this topic. So i will only write about the highlights.

• Awesome location :  Fortune Park JP Celestial.
• Cave like entrance and lots of cavemen (read as indipolice)
• More than 250 bloggers.
• Live tweet streaming was great and innovative.
• Meet started 20 mins late.
• Girls to boys ratio was very low, and only few hot chicks :(
• Introductions were long and a bit boring. But a wide variety of folk were out there
• 3 lucky guys walked away with HP printers for theirs intros. I didn't get any though I deserved one
• Write on our backs : The comments galore, wish my blog had so many comments
• 15 mins wasted on mobile blogging, he could have as well just shared the link http://m.wordpress.com/
• Case study by Raghava(who called himself bling photographer) was inspirational
• Open discussion for guidelines of the forum.(Indiblogger teams attempt to portray themselves as democratic)
• Three winners for sprit of bangalore photo contest.
• A clean,simple,great  ppt on how HP is adapting to the new generation demands.
• Snacks and tea time. Samosas were worth loosing the sunday after-noon nap.
• Promotion of social causes in the meet was nice :)
• I mentioned about my sanskrit site
• Voila we got indiblogger T shirt...

Live Tweets

And few things off the record ....

• The most famous line : I write some crap stories on my blog
• The most innovative idea of the meet : IndiBRA
• The coolest chick in the house :  Indipolice chick at registration desk (man she was hot)

Who is she?

Of late I was thinking "Who is my closest companion.?"

Mom?.. Dad?..Bro?..(from the title you know it's a female) Colleague?.. Friend?...  Nope

Let me tell you about her

The first thing I do when I wake up is hold her in my hands gently and stare at her lovely face to see if she has got something to say to me. Most of the days I am reluctant to wake up and feel like sleeping again holding her in my hands. If I don't find her find on my bed when I wake up, I jump out  in a hurry, and start searching for her frenziedly. My heart beat becomes normal only after finding her. My day starts with her and ends with her, barring bath (I should admit that generally I don't take her along for bath, for some strange reason.) Barring that she is with me 24/7. She watches me getting dressed up, she is with me when I have my breakfast,I decide when to go office only after looking at her,she is with me when I ride to office, she sings for me when I am riding. She sits by my side when I work, she accompanies me when I go for lunch, she is there for me whenever I need her. Most of my friends envy me because of her. Some feel I don't deserve her while others while others feel she is too obliging. A few true friends feel that I give her too much attention. Some of my friends really get pissed off when I hold her close to me and start playing with her in-front of them;). But I can't help it. Well most of my day surrounds her and I enjoy every second of it. In fact my day ends with her in my bed. Sometimes I sleep just holding her in my hands. At other times when I don't I just wake up, stare at her for some time, play with her then get back to sleep.

Oops I forgot to tell you that I put her on charge before I sleep!!!. Don't be confused I was speaking about my phone ;) Yes indeed my phone is my closest companion and this is true for most people. And hence what I expect from my phone is what I expect from my companion.


The features I wish my phone had........... My favorite phone would be


A phone with a mood detector : I think this is what differentiates a companion from a phone. Our best friends are the ones who can read our moods very well. They know when to shut up and when to pull our legs. I wish my phone could do the same. A phone that can detect my mood and play songs accordingly.
Just imagine if your phone could play your favorite romantic song in low volume when you are thinking about the moments you had spent with your GF. Or just imagine if your phone can constantly remind you about your GF's birthday and suggest you the kind of gift you can get for her(This one would be an instant hit with the guys). 
Just imagine if your phone could suggest you with names of your best friends or autodial them when you are not in good mood.
Just imagine if your phone could cool your nerves when you are tensed.
Or at last imagine if your phone could search the net for a hot video of your taste and start playing it when you get horny ;)

A phone that I can converse with : Somebody please get rid of these keyboards from phone. I just hate them. Until and unless phones become interactive they are just machines. They can't become your companions if you cant talk to them. Touch phones are fine but phones with which we can converse will be great. I feel like we are still in stone age when I need to type, to convey my thoughts or do something. A phone should be your PA. You just tell you PA to do something. How to do it is her headache. You don't type for her. If talking with your phone is one part, the phone talking back to you to convey something is the other part. 


A phone that simplifies social networking : I get to know what my friends are upto through social networking. So sharing on a networking site has to be simple, easy and an enjoyable process. Just click a photo and say share it on facebook as my profile image. And dhuumm.. my friends should be able to see it in their updates. It should reduce the time lag :) 
And the other aspect is more social networking has to be incorporated into my phone. When I play a song on my player in the phone, I should know how many of my friends like the particular song. After all we the youngsters live our lives through social networking, sharing is a part of our lives and we share our lives. So why not through our phones?
    

In short a phone to me is 

"Somebody with whom you can SHARE your LIFE and something through which you can SHARE your  LIFE with others"

  

Tata DOCOMO OneTouch Net Phone promises to be one such phone. Let wait and see.....