Miss you, Nands!

She was a great friend of mine,
She helped see the world and life,
Still a source of fun and frolic
Though far, yet close to heart.
Miss you Nands!

This is her favorite hero and song. I chanced upon it in another friend's orkut album and that triggered all sweet memories of school, innumerable badminton matches, the fun life of 7th, 8th and 9th standards, the final farewell party at her place, dance practices, Guides club planning sessions, crush talks and of course, our farewell to our seniors! Man! I miss those days!



And yeah, Dino Morea still looks good in this song :D

Where do we go from here?

Blogging, for me, has been a really fun thing to do. I've come a long way from the first post to now. I've done some really good posts and some bad ones. But overall, I see that my writing has become better and more importantly, I love doing it! But, as I move from being a college student (that thought is still so new to me!!) to a professional, I feel that I need to make a few changes to my blog. And I need your opinion on it. 

I want this blog to follow my life experiences and my opinion on anything that I think is worth it. But, at the same time, I value my privacy. I blog anonymously for that same reason. However, I know that my blog is frequented by my friends (and I love hearing their opinion!) but certainly, one part of my reader base is tainted with preconceived notions of me. I think that a mind without any preconceived notions is the best receptacle that an author can hope for! 

If you've been following my blog closely in the past few months, you would see that I had tried a variety of things. I tried stories, poems, technology, finance, link posts, opinion posts, about-me posts, forwards posts and even the Voice series. Though I liked all of them, there was nothing (save the Voice posts and opinion posts) that I really loved writing. Frankly, stories and poems are good but I need to wait for that creative streak to come (that type of creativeness is rare in my case! I might still belt out an occasional story or poem.. but thats about it!). Technology and finance, I think I'm more suited to reading about them than writing about them (for there are already experts in these fields who can write them better - I might bring in my opinions and usage reviews but not much else!). Link posts are good but I feel that they don't really come under 'My posts' category and certainly do not want my blog to be a bunch of bookmarks!!

Opinion posts!  Ah! Here comes the Pandora's box! I basically have only one tenet that I live with "do whatever you want to as long as it doesn't affect others' lives in a big way!". So when I apply this tenet to all the problems in this world, it sometimes ends with solutions that are not accepted by all in this world. And that has led to some fun wars offline!! :D I really want to hold peace with my friends and hence don't think that it is a good idea to put all my opinions on my blog and get rap for it. Why ruffle feathers when you don't have to do so? I can live with my opinions, the other person can live with her opinions and we can still be friends. We wouldn't discuss politics or abortion or any other touchy issue when we meet in real life. So, why do it in the blogworld? I've seen that most people (me included!) become a tad defensive when our beliefs are challenged. We may be right or we may be wrong, but we turn defensive. And try to come up with reasons to hold on to our beliefs even when we are proved wrong! Sadly, losing graciously is a quality that most of us have to learn. And its hard to make someone change their opinion on any issue when they don't have an open mind (too much work and too less returns!). So, I don't think I'd want to fill my blog with it. Maybe, I'll pepper my blog with it just to spice things up occassionally ;)

About-me posts, these are among the really easy ones to write (well! who would find it hard to write about their favorite subjects, themselves? :D) but of late, its becoming harder as I don't feel really comfortable writing about myself. Call it growing up, call it being cynical but it's a fact. I'd rather write about something I saw or heard or read than something I felt or wanted or liked. It does change people's opinion of you. Once, I had a friend refer to one post of mine and ask me something at a party. It was ok but I was a tad annoyed. It was right out of the blue and I wouldn't have willingly shared all that info in real-life setting. Further, I think its not necessary to tell all about yourself to the anyone and everyone in the world. Some things are best kept off the line. Else it takes the spice off life for there is nothing to explore about the person! Though, sometimes, its really good to get people understand without you being explicit! But it's too much a price to pay for this convenience. So, this would be minimal from now on.

Forward posts, they are easy to do too. But, sadly there are very less forwards or articles that I feel are really worth sharing. Not that others are not good or something, but I don't feel like putting them up. And, they have the same horror of link posts - not really coming under "my posts" category! So, this too would be occassional from now on.

Voice series, now, here is something that I'm sure would still remain in my blog. It is a nice snapshot of various emotions that I see in life. It's quasi-personal in that I can tell about people's emotions without really telling about them and endangering their privacy. But I'm sure that a blog with just these posts would be similar to a poem blog and I don't want that monotony in mine. Or, rephrasing, I don't think I'm that passionate about it yet. For, posts in Voice series are more spontaneous and they just "strike" when I see an emotionally charged situation. I can't wait around for the mood to strike. So, using only these posts is not a good idea.

So, it brings me back to the question: What do I do in my blog now? Any ideas? Anything that you'd like to see more/less/added/removed/changed? Do give your suggestions and we'll try each of it out. Oh! this is going to be fun and I'd get to try out different stuff. So, readers, pour in your ideas!

PS: On a personal front, I'm moving NeverLand from B__ to R__ in a few days. So, I'd be busy moving stuff, walking the 'Walk' to get my degree (at long last! Phew!) and spending time with family (I'm so glad they are making this trip! I'd get some more time to spoil my nieces :D). I did a really good farewell trip to most places in and around Neverland, met with almost all friends, did all the stuff I wanted to (too many last-time-points in these days). So, I'm all set after the farewell trip. Nothing like a good farewell to make you get ready for a good welcome! I'm going to miss B__ for it has been my home for the past two years. I've learned so much, grown a lot and had various experiences that made life interesting. In all, I'm glad I decided to come here and do my MS. I'm proud to be part of this great university, its people, labs, traditions and all. With this, I'm signing off! See you next soon!

The 'Indian' Way!

Interesting Article!

Would you want to do things the 'Indian' Way?
For me, I'd love it if we can have both the state and people working towards our goals. But I guess that day is still a distant dream!

Secret Seven!!

Being under hibernation, I hadn't filled up a tag from a friend. Now, being the VO of Neverland, I finally dug into the forgotten to-do list and brought out the tag. Here it goes:

Tag rule: Tell seven things about yourself that you want to share! (he had just listed some characteristics of his... So I made this up! You can make it spicier/saucier/sexier when you do this tag - no restrictions!) And pass it to 5 friends!!

Tag:
1) I think I'm going to end up with the nice-girl-of-the-town title (I don't mind that as long as I have fun) and hope I don't finish last.
2) I can't stand people who are hypocrites. If you stand for something, do stand for it till the end. Don't change it ever so often. And stand for your principles even if it hurts. I'd respect you more a person for sticking up to your beliefs even if I see you have been in the wrong. If you change your principle about something, do so only on the basis of a solid reason. Don't change it for every whim and fancy! Please spare the world from it!!
3) I want to give everyone a fair chance in explaining what they did and why they did something. Everyone has a reason to act as they did! And certainly no one is stupid, just that the priorities are different! We should respect the differences and give people a fair chance! Seen too many breakups because of lack of it.
4) Am fairly easy to get along until you try to encroach on my private life. Just because I talk a lot to you doesn't mean that I give you permission to discuss other parts of my life(unless I explicitly do!). I prefer to keep different parts of my life secluded from one another (mixing never helps!).
5) Despite having a HUGE friends list, the number of close friends is less than 10 at any point of time in life. You need to have traveled with me in life for a considerable distance of life's journey before you can hit that list.
6) I love to eat anything red: right from strawberries to beetroot(my mom would be tired of making beetroot poriyal ever so often when I was a kid!). I think that anything red is lot tastier than others.
7) The basic things of my life have remained a constant despite all the experiences I've got. I'm glad I got them right the first time.

Tagging: Aths, Arun, Madhan, King Vishy and Dream Chaser.
Others, if you are interested, tag yourself and leave a link in the comments section.

P.S:He! He! You thought this was a post about my childhood-favorite detective gang? (though, I'd love to do it).

Incredible India

One of my friends forwarded Aamir's Incredible India video link. After some more youtubing, I came across another one that more closely resonated with what I think is a better glimpse of India's myriad differences. Our country truly stands by the slogan "Unity in Diversity". Here is the video:


India has so much to give, so much to share and so much to live for!! Missing every fibre of it! Love India!!

That's a dog??

One of my friends sent this picture by mail. Kudos to whoever thought it up!

Captures people's different perspectives beautifully!! Just my $0.02!