Tuesday, 23 March 2010
"Technological advancement throughout the world has really changed the way we live. Time and distance are no barriers to communication any more", roared Rakesh, who had just topped the IIM (A) results for MBA Graduates for 2010. His research and thesis on telecommunication stunned the world for its sheer brilliance and content.
Enraptured audience gave a thunderous applause after he finished his thanksgiving speech on receiving the Gold Medal.
Characterized by his academic exploits and extraordinary perception for human emotions Rakesh was an instant success in any gathering be it IIM Alumni or a local community meeting.
Happy with his achievements Rakesh went home to his mother who had raised him single handedly after the death of his father by running a foodstall of her own. Amzing lady with extraordinary capabilities, was very much the woman behind all his success.
Nearing his house, Rakesh began to recollect his future plans. He was very eager to start his own venture for making Semi-conductors for Telecom applications.
On seeing her son his mother was overwhelmed with joy and she started crying. Rakesh consoled her saying that her worries are all a thing of the past and the future is very bright.
Later on in the day his mother requested him to accompany her to the neighbourhood old age home, where she had been lending her hand for their rehabilitation activities. She wanted her son to see the Home.
On seeing Rakesh entering the Home with his mother, one of the inmates, a retired Senior Executive staying there with his wife, rushed to him. You are Mr.Rakesh, the Topper in this year's MBA right? asked the man. I heard your excellent lecture the other day and it was brilliant, he continued.
Gratefully acknowledging his compliments Rakesh asked him about the Home and its activities. When the inmate explained in detail about the lack of funds and amenities at the Home, he felt sad. Meanwhile another inmate approached Rakesh saying, "My son, while I heard about your lecture from my friend I was curious to know what these technologies and advancements you spoke of are doing to help us. We shall continue to suffer".
Yes, Indeed said Rakesh. These technologies and developments can also change the way you people live. He convened a meeting of all the members and was amazed to know about their talents. They were senior professionals in various fields while in employment. He identified some key persons in different fields like Education, Literature, Finance etc. Within a few months he arranged for some financial assistance from Banks and the Old-Age home was doing roaring businesses in the fields of "Publishing", "Tutorial College" for aspiring Civil Service candidates etc. The Home became a bee-hive of activities and the inmates were living luxuriously and most importantly with their heads held high!
For Acrosticonly
Labels: Acrostic
My days begin when the streaks of sunrays reach the earth and with the enchanting smell of incense sticks lit by my wife in the pooja room.
Yesterday's memories start fleeting away welcoming the new hopes for today . My prayers for the health, wealth and prosperity of everyone, conclude with the traditional Aarathi.
Sitting in my balcony with my cup of tea and the inevitable morning news paper, I saw my wife who looked as if she had something to say. When I said, "yes, what is it dear" she began to tell that my Grand Daughter's birthday was a month away and wanted to know if I had decided on the gift for her.
Utterly taken by surprise I said, "No". We decided to get her a lovely dress, skirt and blouse, along with a gold chain.
Rushing with the daily chores during rest of the day I tried to recollect the days when my first child, my daughter, was born. She was such a beautiful tiny angel that we had called the entire neighbourhood for the anniversary. She had grown so fast, got married and now we are planning for the birth anniversary of her daughter. Time flies indeed.
Visiting them abroad every now and then, though heart warming, was getting to be difficult for the sheer exertion it entailed.
In spite of of the old age we continue with the fellowship meetings at the neighbourhood orphanage and do our little bit for the betterment of the needy children.
Vast resources and wealth owned by the people are of no avail if they cannot help to eradicate the poverty of that orphaned kid who wails for support.
Awed by the crowd that clamors for buying Gold and Diamond jewelery at the newly constructed "Mall" while the News Paper headlines were screaming at me about the increase in people below the poverty line. A real life Anachronism, perhaps.
Lingering on everyday, we move along like a chugging train as I am aware of the norms of 'My Survival".
For Acrosticonly
Labels: Acrostic
पूचो न कुछ मुझसे यारों
में तो मरा हुआ हूँ
जीते ही मार दिया था मुझको
बहुत डरा हुआ था में तो
कमाल का वक़्त था वह जब
तुम और में मिले थे
बेकार लगती थी सब कुछ
सिवा प्यार की वह बातें
पता ही नहीं था , प्यार होता क्या
तब तक, जब तक में तुझे खो चुका था
तुम्हारे बिना जीना भी क्या जीना है
अच्छा हुआ, में तो मरा हुआ हूँ
Poocho na kuch Mujse Yaron
Mein to maraa hua Hoon
Jeete hi maar diya ta mujko
Bahut dara hua ta mein to
Kamaal ka waqt tha wo Jab
Tum aur mein mile the
Bekar lagthi thi sab kuch
Siva pyaar ki woh batein
Pata hi nahi thaa, pyar hota kya
Tab tak, Jab tak mein tujhe ko chukaa thaa
Tumhare bina jina bhi kya jina hai
Achcha hua mein to maraa Hua hoon
I wrote this for Writers' Lounge
Labels: Poetry
Monday, 22 March 2010
Do you know your near and dear well enough? We often take for granted, the acts, sacrifices and gestures of our close relations as a part of normal day to day activity that we fail to notice the intent Love, Affection and Care that is behind such things. For eg: your wife neatly arranging the things that you have to carry with you to office, like your Blackberry,Laptop,Spectacles,Purse and the inevitable Lunch Box containing fat free food! You always got your important message on time, you never missed your credit card payment,Your eye check up was not needed before a good three years gap,you could buy that gift for your boss on time and thank God your cholestrol and BP were under control thanks to this simple habit of hers which you never bothered even to acknowledge.
When you planned that trip to USA to meet your children, after your retirement, for a long Holiday the arrangements your Son made to send a “Bouquet” through the Cab driver who came to fetch you and your wife from the Airport along with a Flask of homemade coffee, which he knew, you loved was not just an ordinary gesture. It shows the deep love and affection he had for you and his desire to ensure that you never missed your favourite drink. The extra length your son-in-law went to arrange a full fledged office room complete with PC,wireless Keyboard,Broadband and webcam etc for you during your stay with them to ensure that you never felt bored and got your share of intellectual activity that you were used to was no ordinary act. Remember, he knows how you miss that Exquisite Office of yours. The video clip, which your daughter sent from USA showing your 4 years old Grand Daughter singing "Happy Birthday" on your birthday with her inimitable American accent was not just an ordinary mail. It was meant to tempt you to make your trip earlier to see your Grand Daughter and give them the pleasure of your company.
There was this friend, who just happened to stay in the same neighbourhood with you, that volunteered to finance your son's foreign education efforts till you got your Bank Loan sanctioned, was not just an ordinary friend. His timely gesture, without and expectation from you, was pure act of friendship distilled and deserves your gratitude for life.
Fortunate are those who are blessed to have the company of their parents with them during their own old age! They can very well appreciate the feelings and desires of the poor old souls and would do well to take good care of them. You cannot forget how your Dad never wanted to buy a car because he wanted to finance your studies or the special food your Mom prepared for you to fortify your strength for withstanding the rigours of Competitive Academic pursuits! The least you could do is to keep them with you instead of sending them to the most advanced “Old-Age Home “.
Labels: Values
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Clandestine research to develop
Harmful chemicals for destruction
Evil designs need condemnation
Mass annihilation of humanity
Irreparable damage to ecology
Culminating in arid earth
Across the globe famine
Loss of atmospheric protection
Withered plants and Lagoons
Atrophying in aimless destruction
Restitution to normalcy, mirage!
Fact , not any fiction
Awaits us as price
Ready to face reality?
Encourage efforts to prevent.
For Acrostic
Labels: Acrostic
Insensitive acts of violence
Non conformity to ethics
Harassing the helpless person
Usurping a rightful claim
Menacing acts of insurgence
Alienating the nation’s wealth
Needless forms of aggression
Insidious nature of enemy
Treacherous behavior of criminal
Yes, list is endless
For Acrosticonly
Labels: Acrostic
Never did they Lie
Explain they always did
Great souls of wisdom
Languishing in lonely life
Eschewing their past moments
Caring for little kids
Trying to spend time
Eagerly needing the affection
Daring death to come
Enormous is their contribution
Lasting for everlasting time
Diligently carved for generations
Enshrined in their tales
Religiously shared with children
Save them from neglect
For Acrosticonly
Labels: Acrostic
Searching for the salvation
Unknowingly falling a prey
Instigated by religious beliefs
Causing an untold misery
Igniting young minds aflame
Detrimental to the society
Endless acts of violence
Blowing up even themselves
Oblivious to the agony
Mayhem and enormous Loss
Behind such abhorring acts
Eternal peace, they want
Regardless of wanton massacre
Sordidly done, left behind
For Acrosticonly
Labels: Acrostic
Policy to protect
Obviously a fact
Legality wee-bit compromised
Induces to ponder
Cases of brutality
Ensuring resultant clarity
Baseless allegations apart
Real-life instances on
Unprotected vulnerable citizens
Trace the history
About needless violence
Law enforcers inflicted
In performance of
Their sacred duty
Yesterday and before
For Acrosticonly
Labels: Acrostic
Friday, 12 March 2010
With the abounding influx of blogging, we are fortunate to get so much to read and enjoy on a variety of subjects. While the contributions on Technology, Literature, Poetry or other related subjects are doing wonderfully well it is the area of “Humour”, “Satire” etc that worries me a little. Humour, according to me, is a very sublime emotion that has the unique quality / power to entertain both the person who initiates it and the person to whom it is addressed. The result being a good laugh that is good for the Heart!, literally.
Unfortunately this art of making humorous posts / articles is quite a challenging task in that, very often one ends up by making a poor joke or making himself look ridiculous. This excellent tool of merriment was expertly handled by Authors like George Bernard Shaw, Robert Lynd etc who produced such wonderful works like “Pygmalion” and our own inimitable R K Narayan , whose stories like "Malgudi Days", "Financial Expert" etc were in a class of their own. I read somewhere that even Bernard Shaw had a taste of his own bullying nature once. He was walking on a narrow lane in the London suburbs when he saw a poor farmer coming towards him from the opposite direction. One of them had to get closer to the side wall to let the other pass. Bernard Shaw, not in his finest of moods, barked “I don’t give way to fools!”. The farmer politely stepped aside to let him pass saying, “I do Sir.” Well that is what I call a good repartee! Adroitness and cleverness in reply, not necessarily abusive or even sarcastic.
Do write about comical situations and funny episodes of people, no problem. Just ensure that everyone laughs. I know, it is the fashion nowadays, to make a dig at someone and make funny remarks about the mannerism or idiosyncrasy of that person. Well they are fine up to a stage. You may find that you start losing your popularity sooner or later, if you depended ONLY on this kind. Well, before I begin to sound like a social reformer , I want to end this post. This is not a criticism or complaint against the excellent Humorous Blogs. Just an appeal to excel and enjoy with everyone.
Labels: Humour
Another season of IPL is here again and there will be virtual feast for the die-hard fans of the participating teams. Whatever may be the Politics, controversies or issues regarding this mega event, one cannot deny the fact that this provides the pristine joy of competitive cricket from the world's best cricketers which the fans can savor without any inhibitions whatsoever!!
What is more, one team has opened their own website/fan club to entertain their fans and the fans would get hefty discounts on match tickets! Two teams have changed their Jersey colors to stunning styles and if you want to read all about this, go to this url: http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article?id=item/2.0/-/story/cricket.yahoonews.com/highvoltage-glamour-jamborees-opening-night-20100312/.
Eager to see the Schedule of Fixtures! Go to url: http://www.iplt20.com/fixture.php and watch the matches for non-stop action!!
Eager to see the Schedule of Fixtures! Go to url: http://www.iplt20.com/fixture.php and watch the matches for non-stop action!!
Labels: Trivia
Thursday, 11 March 2010
IMPACT OF CHARITY
Have you ever wondered what impact the act of charity produces on the beneficiary. Well if you haven’t, then you are missing something. I have been making my little bit of contributions to deserving charities, like children’s home, destitutes home etc. While I was making one such donation I had an unforgettable experience. I was waiting for the caretaker of the Children’s Home, that housed about 200 kids, and I saw some young kids playing there. One of them got curious and came over to see who was standing at the office. Spotting me, the kid enquired what I had come for. I just said I was paying some money to the Home to defray their expenses. The kid started running towards his friend shouting “Hey Ramu, I told you na, the Home will not be closed. See here is an Uncle who takes care of our needs.” This really shook me because the fear of losing the support of the Home, was so deeply buried in their hearts.
EFFECTIVENESS
Another issue that crops up is the need for organized collection and distribution mechanism which ensures that the donations reach the ultimate beneficiaries as intended by the donors. It is in this aspect that GiveIndia scores exceedingly well. Their fool proof system of screening deserving NGO’s which include checking Governace,Operations, Management, Human resources, Accountability and transparency. Exhaustive indeed! They also get an independent assessment from sister organisations about the NGO’s prior to induction. When I wanted to ensure personally about the background of GiveIndia I checked their website and would like to share just one example of their “conditions” for enrolling an organization. It says, I quote,
“The organisation must disclose in its annual report the total cost of international travel by all its personnel (including volunteers) - segregating those incurred on organisational expense and those that were sponsored, along with the name and designation of the person(s) who traveled, and the purpose(s) of travel.”
Well you cant ask for more!
SELECTION OF BENEFICIARY
The choices of beneficiaries that you would like to help are also neatly categorized into causes, like Children, Disabled, education, elderly, employment etc which makes your decision simpler. There is a saying in Tamil regarding Charity. Translated into English, it says, “Check the beneficiary prior to making your charity”. GiveIndia takes adequate care to do precisely that and one need not have any inhibitions to donate under their Aegis. Conceived by Shri.Venkat Krishnan, an IIM-A Graduate and supported by a team of dedicated professionals ,the organization is said to have involved over 75000 donors to impact over a million lives through 200+ organisations . Amazing indeed.
“The organisation must disclose in its annual report the total cost of international travel by all its personnel (including volunteers) - segregating those incurred on organisational expense and those that were sponsored, along with the name and designation of the person(s) who traveled, and the purpose(s) of travel.”
Well you cant ask for more!
SELECTION OF BENEFICIARY
The choices of beneficiaries that you would like to help are also neatly categorized into causes, like Children, Disabled, education, elderly, employment etc which makes your decision simpler. There is a saying in Tamil regarding Charity. Translated into English, it says, “Check the beneficiary prior to making your charity”. GiveIndia takes adequate care to do precisely that and one need not have any inhibitions to donate under their Aegis. Conceived by Shri.Venkat Krishnan, an IIM-A Graduate and supported by a team of dedicated professionals ,the organization is said to have involved over 75000 donors to impact over a million lives through 200+ organisations . Amazing indeed.
TAX ON DONATION - CAN IT INFLUENCE
Yes, Indeed. In a country like India, despite the fact that a good majority are below the poverty line, there is no denial of the fact that lot of people have enough money at their disposal over and above their needs. You just visit a Jeweler’s shop and you will be amazed to see the crowd that is clamoring to purchase Gold. The crowd comprises of all stratas of society and not necessarily from the affluent alone. While marginal Tax incentives, like current I.Tax provisions, may induce them to make some donations because of the Tax saving, it will not bring the desired effect of making people give substantial sums as donation. In my opinion, the Act should provide for “Weighted Deductions” (like what we used to have for Export Promotions etc..earlier) that would give twice the amount of donations made as the deduction from taxable Income. This I am sure would result in greater quantum of Donations. The Government can think of introducing some recognitions like “Golden Heart Donor” plaques, for people who make donations exceeding certain amount and publish their names on a “Govt. Roll of Homour”along with "Padma" awardees!
To visit the site of GiveIndia, clik this link: http://www.giveindia.org/t-abtus_whatwedo.aspx and open up your hearts and make that donation you always wanted to give.
To visit the site of GiveIndia, clik this link: http://www.giveindia.org/t-abtus_whatwedo.aspx and open up your hearts and make that donation you always wanted to give.
Labels: Values
Wind flowing gently
Kissing all plants
Sweet smell Roses
Dance baby Dance
Roses smell sweet
Plants all kissing
Gently flowing Wind
Kissing all plants
Sweet smell Roses
Dance baby Dance
Roses smell sweet
Plants all kissing
Gently flowing Wind
Labels: Naisaiku
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
MEANDERING HERE AND THERE
YEARNING FOR LOST HAPPINESS
SHADES OF PAST MEMORIES
USHERING IN SOME SOLACE
RAPID PACE OF LIFE
VARIED FORMS OF INCIDENTS
INDUCING MIND TO THINK
VISTAS OF UNEXPLORED SPACE
ADDING MUCH NEEDED HOPE
LEST I FORGET SURVIVAL
For Acrosticonly
Labels: Acrostic
It was almost 25 years since the Rahuls were settled in USA, migrating to a different country, different culture and perhaps different perceptions. Rahul was the President of a leading Software Giant in LA and had everything one would aspire for. Excellent Job, Adorable wife, Priya, and a cute daughter, Sanjana, who was so very smart and intelligent for her 16 years. Having been brought up in USA from birth Sanjana grew up acquiring all the native habits, qualities and the manners of a typical american child.
Right from her 5th year Sanjana’s mother did try her best to imbibe some Indian culture, habits, language etc., into Sanjana but to no avail. Though Sanjana was very good at school and other academic exploits she developed a kind of vanity and a haughty nature which Rahul and Priya could not understand. She would want to do things in her own way unmindful of the fact as to how it may affect others. Her dressing style, although within limits of decency, was so bold that it worried Priya. There was a silver lining in the form of Robert Junior, who was a friend and classmate of Sanjana, with an exceptional maturity and good upbringing for his 18 years! Priya always felt comfortable when Sanjana was in the company of Robert and began to like him.
During the summer holidays Sanjana wanted to go for the “Wild Life Camp” with her friends. The camp was in a forest area far away from LA and not a well developed one. Priya found out that the other members of the team were four boys aged between 20 and 24 and 2 of them were drop outs from school. There were no girls in the team. Priya requested Sanjana not to go for this trip and promised her a trip to Florida. Sanjana threw a tantrum saying, “Mom this is the problem with you people, you do not understand the feelings and desires of a youngster and try to force the kid within the confines of your unfounded tradition and beliefs which are outdated. I need some space of my own mom please understand.” After this outburst she rushed out to meet her friend Robert,
Seeing Sanjana leaving to see Robert, Priya rang up Robert and explained in detail the entire episode and pleaded with him to dissuade Sanjana from going to the Camp. Sanjana narrated the details to Robert and said how frustrated she felt that her Mom would not understand her feelings and need for freedom. After listening to her patiently, Robert started explaining to her that the issue needed more detailed look. For example, the camp was at a far off place from LA and was not in a developed area. Even basic facilities like a Police outpost or medical facility was 50 miles away. There were only 4 boys and out of them two were drop outs without any care. Without another girl being there in the team, would Sanjana feel at ease to spend 7 whole days. While Robert agreed that Sanjana had every right to have her “Freedom and Space” , he explained that Priya’s genuine concern on the above issues and her fear for her daughter’s wellbeing was fully justified. Listening to his matured analysis with rapt attention Sanjana realized her mistake and felt ashamed for her behaviour, She understood that she had all the “Space” she needed which was perhaps filled with so much Love and Affection that it appeared to exert pressure!!
Labels: Short Story
Gopi and Madhu’s families were living in Adyar, Chennai for over 25 years and were very close to each other. It is no wonder that Gopi ,a budding Doctor doing his final year Medical Degree, and Madhu a very pretty girl doing her Masters in English Literature became thick friends. Being a brilliant student Gopi was a topper in his college and Madhu was equal to the task by obtaining a Gold Medal in her Masters from University! They were very fond of each other that they spent a lot of time together discussing about everything under the sun. They fell in love and decided to get married after Gopi completes his M.S.
After completing his M.B.B.S with Honours, Gopi was selected for M.S in tune with his ambition of becoming a top notch surgeon. Gopi’s father, who suffered from cancer, died on the operating table and this left an indelible impression in his mind. He completed his M.S with flying colors and promptly married Madhu. Soon after marriage Gopi got an offer for a Job in the leading hospital in Washington. He and Madhu were happy to go to USA and Gopi liked his Job. The hospital boasted of having the top surgeons on their rolls and was very famous for its capabilities.
Madhu spent her time attending to household chores and doing some on-line teaching assignment for a local polytechnic. She gave birth to a healthy and pretty girl. Gopi soon became very famous and a sought after surgeon for his excellent skills in performing complicated Heart Surgeries with 100% success record. However his continued fame and expertise made him stay more and more at the Hospital and he came home hardly for a few hours in a day. This began to take its toll on Madhu who felt very lonely despite the time she had with her kid. Small quarrels began to surface when she accused Gopi for not spending quality time either with her or the kid. Gopi’s efforts to make her understand the need for his extended hours at the hospital were in vain. With her frustration Madhu fell into a depression and Gopi began to virtually reside at the Hospital not wanting to hurt Madhu by entering into arguments.
On a Sunday when she felt the baby lying next to her, she was shocked to notice that the baby was having high temperature and was getting convulsions. In panic she grabbed the baby and drove to the hospital and asked for Gopi. The staff, who knew the Gopis well, immediately admitted the child in ICU and started the treatment while sending word to Gopi about it. After 3 hours the baby was brought back to normal ward when its condition was stable and Madhu was fuming since Gopi had not come till then.
Madhu lulled the baby to sleep and asked the nurse where Gopi could be reached. She was told that he is busy doing a most complicated heart operation of the rarest congenital defect. The nurse also told her that four such cases in the past 10 years were unsuccessful, all surgeries ending in failure. This news made Madhu more angry and she set out to reach him in the surgery wing. When she was nearing the post operative ward area, she heard Gopi telling a woman that the Heart Operation was a success and the woman was saying something to him. She went closer to the half open door where she could hear the conversation clearly.
The woman, whose child was being operated for congenital heart defect, was saying, “Doctor, when they told me that Sam’s case was terminal and they had no known cure by way of surgery, my heart sank and the whole world came crashing down. I ran to our church and cried before Jesus Christ and begged HIM to save my son. The Father told me that HE would always help those who were helpless by sending his Angels. I am sure he was right because he has sent you to save my son when everyone else had given up. You are so very special to us and we will add your picture in our Altar of worship. May you have a wonderful life with your beloved family”
Madhu was stunned into silence listening to this outburst and the words of that woman kept ringing in her ears. Yes indeed, Gopi was very special and was needed by the helpless patients more than by her. She felt so proud of being his wife and drove back home with the kid. She prepared “Kheer” to celebrate his historical feat and called him on phone to congratulate him. Gopi was pleasantly surprised to hear Madhu congratulating him and sounding like the bride he knew when she invited him to come home for the celebration.
Story I wrote for Indimag
Story I wrote for Indimag
Labels: Short Story
Summer rain pours down
Pitter patter on the roof
Hmmm… I could smell sand
SUMMER RAIN POURS DOWN
Hmmm… I could smell sand
Pitter patter on the roof
Summer rain pours down
My desperate attempt at Naisaiku
Syllable count 5-7-5 Title 5-7-5
Labels: Poetry
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Use IndiBlogger forum
The Forum provided by IndiBlogger for the bloggers to showcase their products among the community through Indivine, assessment and ranking of the blogs scientifically through Indistats, providing a variety of subjects for discussion to educate budding bloggers are really unique and praise worthy. Renie Ravin and his dedicated young team of engineers are doing a great Job. Please make full use of this excellent facility and improve the overall rating of your Blog.
My Blog roll of Honour
http://nimbupani.com/
http://techblissonline.com/
http://digitalelectronics.blogspot.com/
http://krishashok.wordpress.com/
http://blog.mahindrahomestays.com/
http://tnmg4u.com/
http://www.kamalascorner.com/
http://mohanbn.com/
http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com/
http://www.chutneycase.com/
http://musememoir.blogspot.com/
http://nalinihebbar-poetry.blogspot.com/
http://zeenatsyal.wordpress.com/
http://zillion2ndinnings.blogspot.com/
http://www.indimag.com/
Keep Blogging and have fun!
My Blog roll of Honour
http://nimbupani.com/
http://techblissonline.com/
http://digitalelectronics.blogspot.com/
http://krishashok.wordpress.com/
http://blog.mahindrahomestays.com/
http://tnmg4u.com/
http://www.kamalascorner.com/
http://mohanbn.com/
http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com/
http://www.chutneycase.com/
http://musememoir.blogspot.com/
http://nalinihebbar-poetry.blogspot.com/
http://zeenatsyal.wordpress.com/
http://zillion2ndinnings.blogspot.com/
http://www.indimag.com/
Keep Blogging and have fun!
Labels: Tips
Friday, 5 March 2010
Part-2 Technology
The most important item is the choice of a suitable Blog skin for your Blog. The templates are distinctly made for various kinds of subjects from Culinary blogs to High tech blogs. Wrong choice of the template could kill a blog even if it has a decent content. For a good selection of templates my suggestion would be to see the popular blogs on the subjects and choose the right one for you. If it is a standard template then you will have no problem in customizing your content in it otherwise you may have to study the design of the template by viewing its source HTML / XML code and writing your own template code. Examples of Simple no frills Marketing Blog Designs:
http://tnmg4u.com/, http://www.ceveni.com/, http://marketerskaleidoscope.com/, http://www.msigeek.com/ Examples of Culinary blogs: http://www.kamalascorner.com/
Designing of the layout into 3 column or 2 column type would depend on your basic aim of blogging. For example, if you are intending to make some money as part of your objective then you need to provide spaces for fielding advertisements and sponsored logos etc and perhaps a 3 column design would suit you. For a simple blog on poetry, family, etc a 2 column design without much clutter would be ideal. Again there is no hard and fast rule for this selection. It is upto you to choose the correct design in tandem with your subject.
Feeds are the most essential part of your blog. An interested reader would like to subscribe to your posts so that he does not miss any new posts in future. Ensure that your feeds are properly configured by joining agencies like "Feedburner" etc and test your feeds for coverage of content. As people prefer to read them at leisure it would be advisable to provide a email link also.
When you post some pictures, videos etc from internet do provide the information as to its source to give credit to original authors/owners.
Speed of loading of your Blog content is very vital for sustaining viewer's interest in your blog. Too much of widgets, CSS, Pictures (not optimized), java scripts, etc would tend to slow down your page loading time considerably. After selecting the most essential ones be sure to compress the CSS code by using suitable CSS Compressor. I am using CSS Compressor at this url:
http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/main/csscompressor/ as recommended by my fellow blogger Shri.Karthikeyan and my loading time is between 0.11 to 0.17 seconds which is quite good. For guidance on compression please go to this url: http://technoalley.blogspot.com/2009/12/reduce-loading-time-of-your-blog.html
Meta Tags are the important portion of your blog template / source code because they make the Title, Description etc appear in a way that best describes your blog.
What are Meta Tags
These are information placed in the <head> area of your html code, mostly for instructions regarding how the information about your page has to be displayed. Title meta Tag however displays the title of the page. Examples of Meta Tags:
<head>
<title>My Musings</title>
<meta name="description" content="Saras blog, post and musings on human values, life, childhood, acrostic, poetry, short stories" />
<meta name="keywords" Content="Saras blog, post and musings on human values, life, childhood, acrostic, poetry, short stories" />
<meta name="auhor" content="Saras" />
</head>
</head>
<body>This is my First HTML file!</body>
</html>
Save the above into a file called "my file.html". The file extension "html" or "htm" is very important because it tells the browser that it is a HTML file. Clik it to run in your browser! This is just a simple HTML file and you need to learn more codes for making it robust and add more types of content like Pictures, Tables, Sub-Routines etc.
Posting articles in your blog should be done with care. Instead of writing long and tortuous content continuously split them into neat paragraphs and always format them by using html "justify" format so that it looks neat. You can do this by choosing the html option in your posting tool (I am talking about Blogspot domains) where all the html codes can be used and check the output in "compose" mode before publishing the same. You can also use the Justify button in compose tab to do this formatting.
It would be a good habit to use online dictionary to run spell check on all your articles before publishing them. The readers love well written articles with a good command over the language. Incidentally Blogger tools provide you with an opportunity to write in various languages, like Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil by just using the drop down button for languages. For example: வணக்கம் नमस्कार ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ were all produced using this tool!
Adding widgets
When adding widgets ensure that you put only the essential ones like "About You", "Feed", "Archive", "Labels", "Email-Subscription" etc besides display of your Pagerank and Alexa Rank perhaps. Unnecessary widgets could affect the page loading time and scare the visitors away! Blogger provides a very convenient tool for adding a lot of widgets. Clik the layout button and goto "Add and Arrange Page elements" page and clik on "Add a Gadget". See pictures below:
Choose HTML/Java Script from the gadget popup and paste the code for your gadget.
To change the "Fonts", "Color", "Size" etc of the content, clik on "layout" in editor and choose the "fonts and Colors" Tab which will open a window with options to make all the changes.
Part-3 Promoting your Blog
In the initial phase of your Blogging do not feel dis-heartened by the lack of visitors or Traffic to your Blog. There are so many of them that it takes lot of efforts to woo the audience to your Blog and greater efforts to retain them! Please visit other Blogs relating to your interest and read the posts sincerely and give your considered views on them as comments with a backlink to your Blog. A well drafted comment will surely attract the author to visit your blog as a reciprocal gesture. Apart from the Author, even other readers who are impressed by your analysis will start visiting your Blog to see your posts. Do list your Blog in "Yahoo", "Google", "MSN", "AlltheWeb", "AltaVista" etc which are popular search engines. Reasonable backlinks to your Blog will get a good Pagerank for your Blog.
Submit your Blog to "Webmaster - Tools" Google, "Alexa" etc to get the advantage of receiving Vital statistics about visitors to your Blog, their Location, type of browser, pages viewed etc etc. Google, Yahoo and MSN normally give you a code and request you to put them in your Meta Tags Area for their verification and authentication of your ownership of the domain. Ex:
Google Verification code
STOP PRESS!
Blogger has introduced a great feature in the form of "Designer Templates Design" in the layout option from where you can choose various designs of templates, layouts, size, width etc., It is amazing, Folks! Hold on before you rush to see it. It will not show up in your existing Blogger Dash Board yet as it is in draft mode. To use it follow this guideline. go to http://draft.blogger.com and log into your blogger. You will find a message "Choose to make this your default dashboard" with a radio button. tick the radio button and you are done!!
Exhaustive info on this is posted by Sri.Karthikeyan in his "Technoalley" Blog at this url:
http://technoalley.blogspot.com/2010/03/blogger-template-designer-new-feature.html
http://www.cssdrive.com/index.php/main/csscompressor/ as recommended by my fellow blogger Shri.Karthikeyan and my loading time is between 0.11 to 0.17 seconds which is quite good. For guidance on compression please go to this url: http://technoalley.blogspot.com/2009/12/reduce-loading-time-of-your-blog.html
Meta Tags are the important portion of your blog template / source code because they make the Title, Description etc appear in a way that best describes your blog.
What are Meta Tags
These are information placed in the <head> area of your html code, mostly for instructions regarding how the information about your page has to be displayed. Title meta Tag however displays the title of the page. Examples of Meta Tags:
<head>
<title>My Musings</title>
<meta name="description" content="Saras blog, post and musings on human values, life, childhood, acrostic, poetry, short stories" />
<meta name="keywords" Content="Saras blog, post and musings on human values, life, childhood, acrostic, poetry, short stories" />
<meta name="auhor" content="Saras" />
</head>
While Title Tag displays your Title on the screen, the other tags are for instructions for the browser to display information on a search being made about the webpage. Ensure that your description gives full information about your webpage to the viewers upon a search made. Please be careful to see that you do not include any "prohibited words" like "Marijuana", "viagra", "porn" etc which are looked upon with askance by many search engines and your page will be ignored.
HTML Primer
HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is a simple way of writing your content to be read by a Browser and displayed on the computer screen through Internet. The syntax is so very simple and user friendly that even a school kid can master it. Example of a Basic HTML file:
<html>
<head>
<title>
</title>
<meta />
<meta />
<meta />
..............
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
The above codes are called "Tags" and are used to instruct the browser what to do with the content included between them. In order for the Browser to know that it is a HTML file it starts with the Tag <html> at the beginning. Tags are always enclosed between "<" and ">" for the browser to understand. Each Tag begins with "<>" and ends with "</>" containing some content in between. Note how the "html", "head", "title" and "body" Tags begin and end. You begin to add content now as follows:
<html>
<head>
<title>My Musings</title>
<meta name="description" content=",,,,,,,,, ......., ......" />
<meta name="keywords" content=",,,,,,,,, ......., ....." />
<meta name="author" content="your name" />HTML Primer
HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is a simple way of writing your content to be read by a Browser and displayed on the computer screen through Internet. The syntax is so very simple and user friendly that even a school kid can master it. Example of a Basic HTML file:
<html>
<head>
<title>
</title>
<meta />
<meta />
<meta />
..............
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
The above codes are called "Tags" and are used to instruct the browser what to do with the content included between them. In order for the Browser to know that it is a HTML file it starts with the Tag <html> at the beginning. Tags are always enclosed between "<" and ">" for the browser to understand. Each Tag begins with "<>" and ends with "</>" containing some content in between. Note how the "html", "head", "title" and "body" Tags begin and end. You begin to add content now as follows:
<html>
<head>
<title>My Musings</title>
<meta name="description" content=",,,,,,,,, ......., ......" />
<meta name="keywords" content=",,,,,,,,, ......., ....." />
</head>
<body>This is my First HTML file!</body>
</html>
Save the above into a file called "my file.html". The file extension "html" or "htm" is very important because it tells the browser that it is a HTML file. Clik it to run in your browser! This is just a simple HTML file and you need to learn more codes for making it robust and add more types of content like Pictures, Tables, Sub-Routines etc.
Posting articles in your blog should be done with care. Instead of writing long and tortuous content continuously split them into neat paragraphs and always format them by using html "justify" format so that it looks neat. You can do this by choosing the html option in your posting tool (I am talking about Blogspot domains) where all the html codes can be used and check the output in "compose" mode before publishing the same. You can also use the Justify button in compose tab to do this formatting.
It would be a good habit to use online dictionary to run spell check on all your articles before publishing them. The readers love well written articles with a good command over the language. Incidentally Blogger tools provide you with an opportunity to write in various languages, like Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil by just using the drop down button for languages. For example: வணக்கம் नमस्कार ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ were all produced using this tool!
Adding widgets
When adding widgets ensure that you put only the essential ones like "About You", "Feed", "Archive", "Labels", "Email-Subscription" etc besides display of your Pagerank and Alexa Rank perhaps. Unnecessary widgets could affect the page loading time and scare the visitors away! Blogger provides a very convenient tool for adding a lot of widgets. Clik the layout button and goto "Add and Arrange Page elements" page and clik on "Add a Gadget". See pictures below:
Choose HTML/Java Script from the gadget popup and paste the code for your gadget.
To change the "Fonts", "Color", "Size" etc of the content, clik on "layout" in editor and choose the "fonts and Colors" Tab which will open a window with options to make all the changes.
Part-3 Promoting your Blog
In the initial phase of your Blogging do not feel dis-heartened by the lack of visitors or Traffic to your Blog. There are so many of them that it takes lot of efforts to woo the audience to your Blog and greater efforts to retain them! Please visit other Blogs relating to your interest and read the posts sincerely and give your considered views on them as comments with a backlink to your Blog. A well drafted comment will surely attract the author to visit your blog as a reciprocal gesture. Apart from the Author, even other readers who are impressed by your analysis will start visiting your Blog to see your posts. Do list your Blog in "Yahoo", "Google", "MSN", "AlltheWeb", "AltaVista" etc which are popular search engines. Reasonable backlinks to your Blog will get a good Pagerank for your Blog.
Google Verification code
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="LwS2kdSvejWNEJJR-63juUlmZPrbp_aqyKvhHlZrxOo" >
Once you register with webmaster tools you can get a lot of information about sites linking to you, pages indexed by search engine, details of subscriber to your feeds, crawler data of webbots from search engines etc.
You can organise your promotional activities based on these vital inputs for better chances of success.
Once you register with webmaster tools you can get a lot of information about sites linking to you, pages indexed by search engine, details of subscriber to your feeds, crawler data of webbots from search engines etc.
You can organise your promotional activities based on these vital inputs for better chances of success.
STOP PRESS!
Blogger has introduced a great feature in the form of "Designer Templates Design" in the layout option from where you can choose various designs of templates, layouts, size, width etc., It is amazing, Folks! Hold on before you rush to see it. It will not show up in your existing Blogger Dash Board yet as it is in draft mode. To use it follow this guideline. go to http://draft.blogger.com and log into your blogger. You will find a message "Choose to make this your default dashboard" with a radio button. tick the radio button and you are done!!
Exhaustive info on this is posted by Sri.Karthikeyan in his "Technoalley" Blog at this url:
http://technoalley.blogspot.com/2010/03/blogger-template-designer-new-feature.html
(to be contd....)
Labels: Tips
Thursday, 4 March 2010
I notice that the budding bloggers have a lot of difficulty in putting up their blog covering the technical requirements and have been asking for help in the forum time and again. I intend posting some simple guide for various aspects of putting up a blog, adding widgets,building links,pagerank, alexa rank, indiRank etc. I welcome questions which I will try to answer to the best of my ability. It will be in parts, divided topic-wise. In this post I start with Part-1 Basics
Part-1 BasicsBefore you start your Blog please know a few things about it which are very important. Blogging is a serious activity and calls for some preparation and lot of PR activities! There are so many bloggers around writing on a variety of subjects. To capture your own audience for your blog is not easy and calls for hardwork. You should be able to write something new, your own views in an interesting manner so as to attract the people to read your posts lest you are forced to close your Blog. Make sure you have the necessary knowledge, sources of information, capacity to write simple, grammatically correct articles.
Choose your Domain where you want to host the blog. There are so many like Blogspot, Wordpress etc who offer free sub-domains in your name or your own domain. You should decide whether you want to go for a pre-designed template that is available with lots of choices for 3 column or 2 columns etc or write your own HTML/XML. While the former is a relatively simple exercise the latter calls for some knowledge of HTML/XML.
Choose whether you want to write in your real name or go for an ananymous pen name. Serving employees often find it difficult to freely discuss the issues for fear of antagonizing the bosses or employers and would like to remain anonymous. In any case never disclose any personal information like telephone number, email or bank information.
Be careful that you do not violate the copyright act or get into controversies by criticizing anyone personally or by using abusive language. Whenever you write review about a commodity or service make sure to put a disclaimer that it is your own personal opinion only lest you get into trouble with the manufacturers / service providers. Taking the issue of your dissatisfaction with a manufacturer or service provider on an one to one basis directly is one thing but writing about it in a blog which is read by everyone and making the company unpopular is quite another.
(To be contd....)
(To be contd....)
Labels: Tips
