Showing posts with label My Take. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Take. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

The various names of India


"What's in a name?" The famous quote from Shakespeare's world renowned 'Romeo and Juliet' talks about the little difference a name makes to things stating that a 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet'.

Taking this into equation lets take a look at all the names the world has called India ever since it was discovered. From Ancient books to Independent India, India has been named and renamed numerous times often by travelers of the world.

In recent times, I have seen my friends fighting over these silly and nonsensical issues like why India should be called Bharat and not India as the word India means the Independent Nation declared in August (Based on what they read on Whatsapp). 

Well for those guys just stop using WhatsApp and call our country whatever you like whether it is India or Bharat or Hindustan because, at the end of the day, all those names will still remain our 'Country'.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

What is this new Blue Whale Challenge engulfing the internet?

The Blue Whale Challenge is an internet suicide game that has been allegedly linked to the deaths of several children worldwide.


A new social media phenomenon has engulfed the internet reportedly called has suicide game or ‘The blue whale challenge’, named after the beached whales that are linked to suicide. The game allegedly consists of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators during a 50-day period, with the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide.

Things you need to be aware of about the game:

Blue Whale is not a downloadable game, application or software. It's a social media phenomenon like ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the Harlem Shake. It enters social media networks from secretive groups.

The challenge allegedly started in a secret group of Russian social media network ‘Vkontakte’. It is said to involve 50 challenges that includes watching horror movies and inflicting self-harm which are monitored by a curator. They are expected to take photos of them undertaking the challenge and upload them as proofs for the curator's approval. The 50th challenge of the game is to commit suicide

There are claims that over 100 teenagers have killed themselves because of the challenge but there is no evidence to suggest that the number is real.

Also Read: Did you know MS Office font Calibri is now a reason for a Country's PM to resign?



Philipp Budeikin, a former psychology student who was expelled from his university, claimed that he invented the game. Budeikin stated that his purpose was to "clean" the society by pushing to suicide those he deemed as having no value. 

The list of tasks, to be completed in 50 days, includes waking up at 4:20 A.M., climbing a crane, carving a specific phrase on the person’s own hand or arm, doing secret tasks, poking a needle to the arm or leg, standing on a bridge and roof, listening to music, and watching videos sent to the challengers by the administrator.

One of the reason, kids performing the stupid 50th challenge is a possible blackmail or a death threats to their loved ones. Ten days ago, Rakshit Tandon, a cyber security expert, got a disturbing phone call from a 13-year-old boy, who confided in him about “death threats directed towards his parents by strangers in a chat room” after the boy initially showed interest in the ‘Blue Whale challenge’.



On Reddit, where the challenges were shared, Redditor diugo88 came up with a set of “anti-challenges” designed to boost your self-esteem. These are the challenges that should be spread around:

·         Write on a white paper ‘I’m strong, I can do everything I want!’ for 50 times.
·         Take a walk listening some electroswing (parov stelar for instance)
·         Wake up at 10 am, open the window and listen the outside sounds thinking, ‘I’m happy to live’ many times.
·         Go see a sunset while listening some jazz (bossanova, coltrane for instance). Experience its beauty.
·         Try to cook some food you like, eat it with some friends\parents\others you like.
·         Wake up at 5.30 am, have a good breakfast and then go out watch your city waking up. No music here.
·         Try to talk with at least 5 different unknown people about something for at least 5 minutes each.
·         Try to talk with someone who does not like you and try to make him a friend.
·         Take a walk in the afternoon with some music.
·         Take a whole day to do what you like. Life is beautiful; don’t throw it away.
·         Spam these rules to other people.
·         Force yourself to talk with another gamer (or friend or person) about your problems.
·         Try to help another gamer with his/her problems. You can make the difference, you are special.
·         Take a walk with someone, talk about your hopes and desires, and ask about his/her hopes and dreams.
·         Repeat all the above points again. 
·         You are ready for the last test. Think about your progress, write your feelings about all the steps previously addressed, and give it to a person who you think would appreciate it.
·         Live your life happily. You really do not need a curator to control you. You are free, you are special, remember it whenever you are sad and you feel no way out. I love you.

Be sensible; don’t let a stupid game destroy your life

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Did you know MS Office font Calibri is now a reason for a Country's PM to resign?

The infamous leak of 2015 called Panama Papers, which had 11.5 million financial documents from law firm and corporate service provider company Mossack Fonseca, revealed its high profile politicians across the globe. It included reports that 12 national leaders are buying overseas assets for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was one of the accused in the leak.

When you realized what brought your downfall


Panama leak connected Nawaz Sharif with two objectionable properties in London. When the case went to Pakistani supreme court, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz submitted two documents in the court that were dated back to 2006 and they were supposed to prove that Sharif’s family has nothing to do with the properties in London.

The FontGate scandle:

The documents submitted to the team dated to 2006, but were written in Microsoft office’s Calibri, a font that was not commercially available before January 31, 2007. Microsoft word used Times New Roman font as the default font before 2007. It was after MS office 2007 came out that Calibri was made the default font for Microsoft Word.
The Font mess up
This proved that the documents submitted by Sharif’s family were fake and forged. There were also other evidences against Sharif, but the font blunder significantly weakened his case in Pakistan Supreme Court.

As a result, Nawaz Sharif’s family lost the case and On 28 July 2017, Sharif was disqualified for public office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Sharif submitted his resignation on the following day.

Its true I guess, Simple things can make a difference. A simple Microsoft word font changed a government!




Monday, July 17, 2017

3 Movies that outshined Books

There are numerous examples of movies that couldn’t live up to the books and failed miserably, so let’s credit the movies that managed to capture the audience better than the books


Over the years, there have been plenty of books that are adapted and brought to life by movies. Right from the birth of motion pictures, there have been adaptations after adaptations, from Shakespeare’s Romeo Juliet to modern day George R. R. Martin’s Game of thrones or the upcoming Augusta Christie’s Murder on the Orient express. I have read many novels, which have been later made into films, some of them have been good some not. But very rarely comes there a movie that surpasses expectations of the book.

Jaws

Even if fake, the sharks still manage to give audience some chilling moment
Adapted from Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel of the same name, Jaws (The novel) tells the story of a great white shark that preys upon a people of a small town and the voyage of three men trying to kill it. The novel was massive public hit but was criticized for its poor characterization of protagonists. The movie too like the book, concentrated on Great white Shark's menace yet it had a more deeper impact on the audience. Spielberg brought magic in the movie with his artificial Sharks and chilling music, such that people actually got scared of visiting beaches afterwards, something words in the novel cannot have done. As a result, it was no wonder Spielberg’s Jaws with its heightened action and tense music delivered better than the books.
Click on Image to buy the book at just Rs. 110

The Jurassic Park

During the first visuals of dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park', it wasn't just Dr. Alan Grant that gasped at what they saw
Another Spielberg classic that came out better than the books was The Jurassic Park. Michael Crichton’s novel with the same name talks more about dinosaur, genetic engineering and mathematical concept of chaos theory. The movie however while showcasing dinosaurs also had amped up the action, characters, and all around plotlines with some amazing special effects. Although the book was a massive hit, the movie made it even bigger hit thanks to its awesome visual effects that made the extinct species almost real. Without the movie, there wouldn’t have been so much of excitement for Jurassic world that brought the franchise back to life 14 years after its last film.

Also Read from this site: 'The other World' in the books

Click on image to buy the book at Rs.259

3 Idiots


Even in India there have been some movies that take inspirations from books, like Saif Ali Khan starrer 'Phantom' inspired from Hussian Zaidi’s 'Mumbai Avengers', Sonakshi Sinha’s 'Noor' adapted from 'Karachi you are killing me' and numerous Chetan Bhagat novels. Very few of these films actually manage to find success; one such movie that comes to my mind is '3 Idiots'. Although based on Chetan Bhagat’s Five point someone, the film had lot to offer of its own from social message to inspiring generations. 3 Idiots's Rancho was more inspirational than the book's Ryan. The best part of the film was its connection to this generation and their struggles, one of which is the now classic moment of Farhan confronting his father about his future choice. Both five point someone and 3 Idiots were a huge hit among its audience, but while Bhagat’s novel was termed as the Masala-film version of books, the movie was more on the side of coming of age inspirational film.
Click on image to buy at Rs.149

While the magic of words, details of life and sometimes the depths of a story can be enjoyed better in the novels, which cannot be replaced by films, there are certain books that deserve a film adaptation so that everyone can at least visualize the story and enjoy it more.

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Half Knowledge is dangerous

When you don’t know about something you better not speak about it. ‘Half Knowledge’ is dangerous or as in this case ‘no Knowledge’ is dangerous

We are living in a generation of high Insecurities, people with little or no knowledge of something are just making it worse. Be it in religious fanaticism or technological fear, there are always increase in number of people giving their expert advices.

In the following video, Former IRS and Income Tax officer Vishwa Bandhu confidently explains how data's can be extracted from the Air, yes actual surrounding Air, SIM card memory transfers to Batteries of Mobile and effect of Bad weather like rain and storm on cloud computing.



Border lining on being one of those spoof or funny interviews as you hear it, in this actual interview, the lack of knowledge of this former officer is appalling, but what is more shocking is his confident explanation of a technology that he has no idea about. Even in engineering viva’s, Student are never been this full of shit and they have a record of giving answer which makes no sense.

While us being educated guys will understand and looked through his interview, imagine the shock, an uneducated person would have when he hears it, knowing that his Aadhar or bank systems are computer based now a days.


‘Half Knowledge’ is dangerous or as in this case ‘no Knowledge’ is dangerous. Rather than blabbering about something that you don't understand it is better to listen about it, Yes Listening Something that is the need of the hour for this current society.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Are the popularity of other Indian sports back?

Recently in an interview former Olympic gold medalists Abinav Bindra remarked, "I'd follow Team India's performances, but have stopped doing so after Sachin called it a day... He was different, definitely, a cut above the rest," For once the focus in Indian sports seems to be shifting from cricket, ever since Sachin's, Saurav's, Dravid's retired, the Indian sports audience seemed to look for new alternatives. With new sporting hero coming up in every other sport.

This week saw Indian sporting fraternity achieve new heights, while some were historical, some were regulars, while one was a game against arch rivals. We all know Indian cricket team has won the third one day International against New Zealand and that the heroes were Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, probably one of the few reasons Cricket still has huge followers in India. But there were few others that were worth the news.

1. Indian Kabbadi team wins World Cup beating Iran 38-28


India won an unprecedented third successive Kabaddi World Cup title defeating Iran 38-28 in the final. After suffering a shocking defeat to South Korea in the tournament opener, the Indians came back strongly winning all their games to the final. In the final, there was little slip up at half time, when India were trailing by 5 points, but came back stronger to win the game.


2. Bengaluru FC creates history to become first Indian club in the AFC CUP finals


For Indian football, Sunil Chhetri's two goal burst ensured Bengaluru FC script history by becoming the first Indian football club to reach this far till the final of AFC Cup, Asia's equivalent of UEFA Europa League. What was more heartening to see was, the game got support from all corners of the country from celebrities, sports ministries, Athletes etc. Rival clubs too came out in support of Bengaluru's FC's asian venture with age old legacy clubs Mohan Bagan FC and East Bengal FC issuing club statements regarding thier support.

The game itself had a good quality football as the Indian champions managed to defeat the defending champions Johor Darul Tazim from Malaysia 3-1(4-2 Aggregate). The Match was witnessed by more than 21000 fans who came down to the game to witness history.


3. India come from behind to defeat Pakistan in their Asian champions trophy Clash



Although It was just a group stage match, a game against arch rival Pakistan is always meant to be won. And after trailing 2-1 at one point, Indian team came strongly to win the game 3-2, as they moved to the second spot on the Table below only to host Malaysia. India are still unbeaten in the league and looks like they would qualify for the semifinal and being one of the top ranked team in the competition, they maybe even expected to win.

As the final of Hockey result are awaited so is the final of Bengaluru FC's game in the AFC cup. A win at both the ventures will surely open up more doors for Indian sports enthusiasts to enter.



Over the last few decades, Cricket was one reason when the entire country stood together, Now its changing, the support this games garnered has ensured the other Indian Sports fraternity as a new opportunity to rise up, with the Bengaluru FC's game against JDT, India's Kabbadi world Cup Victory and the victory over Pakistan becoming the top trending topics in the country.

It's Time Indian sports media start mentioning other sporting achievements in their news channel. While the Kabbadi world cup victory and Indian Hockey's victory against arch rivals is getting coverage by mainstream media, its time Football and others get the same mentioning too.

For more of my work on Indian Football, visit Football Counter

Share your opinions on what do you think about the Indian sports present situation.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

A Recycling Vending Machine that feeds Homeless dogs

A company in Turkey called Pugedon has created a vending machine that takes bottles deposited for recycling and dispenses food for the city’s stray dogs.


Inventor Engin Girgin believes that it’s a somewhat bizarre but effective way to kill two birds with one stone. Pugedon Company created the vending machine that feeds stray animals in return for people recycling bottles. The machine works because the profit from the recycled bottles covers the cost of the dog food that the machine dispenses while also being Eco-friendly as it works on solar power

The station has two insertion holes, one for plastic bottles, metal soda cans and carton containers and one for the water which the plastic bottles may contain. When a plastic bottle or can is dropped into the hole the unit releases some food to the feeding container below, while the water that is poured down the separate hole goes directly to a container below for the animals to drink.

Istanbul is known for its high number of stray dogs – some estimates say that there are as many as 150,000. Some locals love having the dogs around, who have adjusted so well to city life that they stop at traffic lights and walkways, but others want to get rid of them because of their aggression and their role as disease vectors. There were fears among residents that these food boxes may lead to parts of the city being flocked with packs of hungry dogs, but that has not been the case, as all dogs have their own territory, which they do not leave for any long time, even for food.

While it is one way of getting rid of garbage, there are certain concerns that come with it. Over here in India the same machine can make wonders. Vending machine that takes in garbage and gives out food for homeless people, this way we can get our city cleaned to a certain extent and feed the homeless in the same side of coin. Although there is a chance of the same unruly lazy homeless people breaking in the whole machine for more food. If could be supervised can help in not just cleaning the city or feeding the hunger but also providing a certain level of work to the homeless.

An Initiative worth trying!!

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Tata Tea Kanan Devans-The Photography Escapade

Tata Tea Kanan Devan has launched a new venture, 'The photography Escapades - For the Love of Chai', for the lovers of both Tea and Photography. A competition were the participants have to send in their 3 best clicks, along with a Caption and a story behind the click. 18th July being the last day I came to know about it today when a causal surfing in twitter I found it trending. So Digging up my photo albums of the various trips, I have sent in my 3 best clicks with a backstory consisting of a simple Chai behind it.

1. A game on foots
During a monastery visit of my Sikkim Trip, while enjoying a cup of Tea across the lawn, I saw bunch of young monks playing with a cloth ball . smiling all along they spoke less but enjoyed more a moment for this click and a moment to enjoy with a Tea. after a while we joined along too for few minutes.

2. A routine during long journeys
Every long distance journey has 3 things in common for me, A camera, a good book and a cup of Chai. This was taken during my Chandigarh trip, the early morning cold weather carries a different experience for tea along with giving me a foggy view outside but cool pic for the cam. I so feel sorry for the Non-Tea drinkers, They would never know what they miss.

3. Even Trees follow a queue
During one of the breaks for tea, had this beautiful tea garden across the road on view, where these trees were grown in a straight line as if they are following a queue.

Rules are pretty simple send in your 3 best clicks alongside a good caption and a backstory to it regarding tea, Also you get to show your other Photography talent by sharing your other works from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Website and other such links

The winner of this competition could win a trip to click and sip Kanan Devan's glory for 4 Days 3 nights to Munnar, Kanan Devan hills, Kerala. For Participation visit today at Kanan Devan Tea 

Pictures by: Chittaranjan Shetty

Friday, July 1, 2016

Top 10 Game of thrones memes from Season 6

As the season 6 of Game of thrones has ended, creating with it enough fan theories, mystery and thrills to last till next year. There were moments that became a sources for many memes for the fans to enjoy.

Here are the top 10 GoT memes that came from season 6:

1. Meet the dragons


2. And the Mystery continues....


3.Find a Cure Dude, you are never gonna get her


4. Is there a chance


5. Changed the meaning of heroes and holding the door.


6. What White walkers? I am tired Let me rest.


7. WTF? Missing since ages, Maybe abducted by Aliens or White Walkers


8. And then there is this little lady with Swag


9. Saw invades GOT


10. Superhero Landing... wait what?


Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Covering up with Quoted words

Pic courtesy: http://www.narendramodi.in/

"For my government, the Constitution is its real holy book. And, in that holy book, freedom of faith, speech and franchise, and equality of all citizens, regardless of background, are enshrined as fundamental rights," Modi said during his recent 45 min long speech in the joint session of US congress. Back home, We have just witnessed a Film being almost banned by a censor board for showcasing the drug problem of certain state, when the film director denied to adhere to their 89 cuts. A city in Uttarakand is looking at a communal clash, one of his own party members claiming in a viral video that he would make this country 'Muslim Mukt'.

While it must be applauded that Modi as a PM maybe trying his very best to get all the foreign relations in the good place, it must also be noted that the religious violence, social crimes back home is still our concerns. It should also be noted that there have been cover ups to such reports, National crime records bureau counts more then 1200 communal Incidents in 2014 while government records suggests just 644 cases. There has been numerous incidents of mob lynching, celebrity bashing's by politicians over their statements (some going up to violent measures openly) or communal hate speeches, these numbers doesn't seem to decrease.

Also Read: Rituals-where does it come from?


While I understand that Foreign policies and ties are necessary for a country to make its mark on the world, there must be peace within the country too. Why is it that the whole country comes together only when there is a national tragedy, festival or a cricket match, and then starts distinguishing itself back to its religion, caste, race once its all over. I think, for the betterment of country, PM must start with a clear statement of what he expects form his own party members. He should not be worrying about losing support, because he has enough support from the common people and that's what matters.

Also its the people who have to do their part, there are certain sections of society who believe that anything Modi does is right and anybody questioning him is wrong. if you think that, he is the only person who is trying or has tried then that isn't true. Former PMs have also done speeches and received standing ovations, created fear in our enemy countries, signed important deals, Modi is not the only one. No doubt Narendra Modi is a very good orator and you would love to hear him speak, but their is difference in a good speaker and a good leader and a PM who could not control his own party members, will not be able to help anyone. There are plenty of cases in India that needs his attention and for that he needs to be here.

Its time Mr. PM.

P.S. These are my opinions, you are welcome to share yours.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Protagonists or Antagonists: Walter White aka Heisenberg

Some actor are meant to bring life in to the fictional characters and make them feel like they exists for real. While the characters of fantasy series like Harry potter or LOTR are obviously Imaginary and can only be Imagined, there are some that borders on reality and possibility of existence. One such series is Breaking Bad that gives us a protagonists or antagonists, whichever way you call him, who, when confronted with eminent death, turns to illegal ways in order to secure his family's future but then started liking it.
From a Simple chemistry teacher 'Walter white' to Drug Kingpin 'Heisenberg'.

Walter White AKA Heisenberg

Breaking Bad is a TV series that focus on a character who after being diagnosed by the terminal cancer, the mild mannered school teacher gets turned in to a ruthless criminal mastermind and Drug lord. What started out as a quick money making route before dying for Walter White ended with him building an entire drug empire, so big that he himself states that it could be listed in Nasdaq. What's interesting and at the same time, disturbing about the character is, that as he gets deeper, he becomes more heartless, his fear from threats to his family are always dealt by him with someone's death. The pseudo name Heisenberg, becomes a known name around the Drug cartels or underworld, Such that although not everyone has seen the Heisenberg, the name stroked fear.
An Explanation or a threat to his wife's worries
 Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Walter White is spot on, he makes you feel sorry and completely root for the guy. At the same time, he makes you doubt his morality like in scenes when Walter white aka Heisenberg is striking fear, even when he is talking to his own family or friends. Few such scenes are the ones against his wife, "I am not in Danger, Skyler. I Am the Danger. A guy opens the door and gets shot and you think that of me? NO! I am the one who Knocks!" or the one against his own lawyer, who wants to get out of the business and he replies,"You are out, when I say You are out" or the one in final part of the series against his own confronting DEA Brother-in-law,"...Thread Lightly." and many such iconic dialogues that has now become famous Quotes.
In short, Stay Out of my way

The show is critically acclaimed and so is the character, with Actor Bryan Cranston winning numerous award (total four Prime-time Emmy Awards from five seasons of shows) so is the show. What's interesting about the show is at the end it shows, 'Karma catches up with you eventually'.
Final confessions
Also the most interesting and to some extent influential part of the character or human behavior is, when a man is pushed to a brink of his end, the fear of being 'nothing' entire his life and failing his family can make him look for more, take risks in new ventures and try his best. And that is when he follows his heart and does what he feels he is really good at. But the thread of Right and Wrong is what holds him, and in case of Walter white he didn't care about the line. What went wrong with Walter white is he started to feel proud of work. Being the best in it, despite being provided with numerous opportunities to get out, he stays. As he admits it that he liked it and he felt alive.

There are many other such characters that are equally awesome and amazingly portrayed but for me, right now, Walter White with his trademark Black glass and Black hat with Black coat as Heisenberg, stands on top.
"Heisenberg?" - You are goddamn right
P.S. Inspired by Indibloggers IndiSpire 119 topic. Give your opinions about it.

A modern story with a lot of old life lessons
Available at  Rs.199 & Free for Kindleunlimited

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Rituals-Where does it come from?

How can tossing a baby bring good luck?
Ever Imagined how did it start, when did it began, who said it first, or why was it started? we knew many of those rituals is not something that came with life on earth, not something that existed in stone age times or even during the times when gods graced the earth to teach righteousness. Some of the rituals are downright ridiculous and unbelievable still we followed them just because it was said by elders who were told by their elders. Rituals like widow burning or Sati was eventually banned, while baby tossing is something that has existed till the recent past.


Some rituals was results of clear misinterpretation.
When questioned why? they would probably tell that these rituals are meant to cleanse you or bring good luck and health, but how? They are not sure. A lot of rituals that our parents told us probably had no meaning because when you question them, they would not know and turn us down by saying that we are not meant to question it. And that is not true, I had once read a story- Devils tree about a child being stopped by a elderly from climbing trees by saying that it was haunted in return the child did not heed and said that so far he had been doing it for long time and nothing happened, so probably you are wrong. that child was Swami Vivekananda. Can you Imagine what would have happened if some other kid had listened to it and continued the word of haunted to his other friends and then his kids in future, this is how rituals grows, they are baseless but would have still stopped kids from doing it in the name of god or devil or what not.

Read them and be your own judge
Some are clear cases of misinterpretation, one regarding Sati is cleared out in the following site https://www.vingle.net. Religion and its rituals were meant to teach us about what's good and bad, what's right and wrong and not to live in fear. Sometimes religious rituals or teaching can be wrong, or it could be depended on the situations, if you can see and understand what is wrong and your religion teaches you to do otherwise, then think about it again. Even back in Mahabharata, all the elders like Bhisma, Dronacharya and others knew what was happening to pandavas was unjust but they still stuck with kauravas because it was their so called dharma to the motherland and king that was stopping them So it was not surprising that Lord Krishna wanted Arjun to fight them. While even In Ramayana, Vibhishan left his evil brother Ravan  and came to Lord Ram because he knew what was wrong and took side of the right.

So that's what i took from those stories that religion and their teaching depends upon what is right and what's wrong and with relevance to these times I guess we all are smart enough to distinguish that.



P.S.: All the stuff I wrote here about Gods and rituals are my opinions, and meant no disrespect to anyone.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Few Big Plans and a small step towards it

In other worlds, How I came across the blogging world.


In every Indian engineering students life there comes a time when they decide to do some think extraordinary or something different, something that is unique (which actually is not). These are the Times when these guys think of Starting a Websites or Becoming a freelancer Photographer or writing a book, Starting a band etc. But unless you start striving for it, it will only remain an idea and later a regret, that you did not even try.


So similarly we decided to start an Educational website. Planned for couple of days of how to do it, what to do for it, what are the needs, stats, data, money etc. One of us decide to use his money, while other decided to use is coding skills. Few days later, the planning was still going on. Finally it was decided to start a blog get some viewers and then convert it to website
Writer's block will sometime question you, but don't give up

So I decided to start writing myself about topics like the poor education system of the country. Two articles down and end of contents didn't knew what more to write on education system, eventually we dragged it along for few months and the plan was dropped. Few months later I started my own blog and started writing on variety of content. It was not easy, I have yet to get the continues flair to write. Sometimes it is easy, the mood sets me in, but sometimes it is not, the writers block in other words.

So, a year after all the big plans and talking eventually my small step has got this blog started. And Now I don't regret it.

A post for Indiblogger contest edition 114. #IAmABlogger

I am Re-Editing this post to inspire myself and other bloggers: I started blogging sometime around September 2013, My view count was around 5-6K when this post was written(24 April 2016). Today(2 Aug 2017) just over an year later, my blog is now a website and the view count is around 47K seems like a exponential growth and I would like it to continue in future too.

For all the new bloggers out there I would say just keep writing, it will grow and even if does not look like it, still keep writing, remember your reason for starting it in the first place and keep working on it

Saturday, April 16, 2016

'The other World' in the books

Time worth spent
Since childhood, reading fictional stories is something I would love after all they took us to this other world where the time is sometimes a 16th century french country or present day alternate universe of magic, dragons and superhero. It started with comics of Tinkle and Champak and then slowly growing into stories and jokes sections of Reader Digest.

Sir Alexander Dumas
The first big book or novel that I read was as a 12 year old, 'The 3 musketeers' followed by 'The count of monte cristo' which made me a fan of Alexander Dumas, this made me interested in more such big stories and I started reading a lot of storybooks that i could get my hands on from the school library. The last of the Mohicans, Adventures of Robinson cursoe, Enid Blyton's The Secret seven and famous five series or Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The craze of such adventurous stories has made me write a lot of thriller stories myself only to stop it midway because it does not come out as good as them. One of the many such writing attempt ended up with a finished short story about a detective, which was read by some of my friends and got praised too only to lose the book forever, As a 12 year old I never had a serious ambition in writing it again and so it ended with me never to write again.

Although I stopped writing stories, I never stopped reading one and soon I began reading science fiction. 'H. G. Wells' was one author who I think was best in these genres. For me, it is hard to believe someone born around 1860 would write stories of Moon landing, Alien Invasion, Invisibility, Time Travel. His works in The first men in the moon, The Invisible man, War of the the worlds and The time Machine has made me wonder whether he himself is a time traveler, travelling 100 years back to write stories about future conspiracy theories. No doubt, Along with Jules Verne, he is considered the father of Science fiction novels.
Alien Invasion 100 years back
Talking of Science fiction, I realized that Arthur Conan Doyle, the man who brought Sherlock Holmes into life, wrote an adventure story based on dinosaur almost 100 years back around 1910 aptly titled 'The lost World' Spawning a series of movies of the same name over the course of a century, some good some bad. When I got to know about it, I looked for it in the internet and finally found a ebook and ended up reading it through my mobile's 4.3 inch screen, which needs extra effort I would say but in the end the 120 odd page ebook was worth a read for sure.

One of my favorite author of all time has to be Sidney Sheldon. His first book that I read, 'The naked face' was apparently the first novel by the writer. Although the book wasn't a hit of its time, I still loved it, more than the story, it was the way of his story telling that I liked. Soon I started reading a lot of Sidney Sheldon novels Windmills of god, Sands of time, Are you afraid of the dark,  the split personality character in tell me your dreams, and the best one Masters of the game, which eventually spawned a sequel 'Mistress of the game' from a fan author Tilly Bagshawe. Most of his stories are Suspense, Crime-Thriller which is one genre I love. I remember, few years back, my cousin suggested me to read a romantic Indian novel by someone I don't remember, he was not Chetan Bhagat, According to her he was a very good author who covers reality in love, when I read it I wasn't Impressed, which she didn't like, So eventually I suggested her 'The other side of Midnight' a Sidney Sheldon Novel to try out. Few weeks later, She messaged me," 'The other side of midnight is awesome, One I suggested is kachara(Waste) in front of this".

Of the present generation, I have read the controversial novels like Da vince Code and Angels and Demons from Dan Brown, John Grisham's sad ending stories in King of TortsThe Partner and Testament and the spiritual Paulo coelho novel The alchemist. Although they are all good books and very good author I would still rate Sidney Sheldon and H.G.Wells as my favorite authors.

Of the huge list of Indians Author I liked Munshi Premchand's short stories collection Although more than being a fiction they are based on the sad realities of life during British Era, Other on my list are couple of Chetan Bhagat's book and Arvind Adiga's The white Tiger. 

The authors on my wish lists for yet to read are: Sharadindu bandyupadhya's Detective Byomkesh Bakshy series, Amish tripathi's Mythological Shiva Trilogy, George R.R Martin's A song of Ice and fire series.
These are the author for me who have taken us to this 'other world' for a moment through their stories.

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