The ultimate soapbox

This is the article I wrote on blogging for the college mag. I promised that I'd put it up here. So, here it is, no changes, no cuts, no censoring :)

Blogs, or “weblogs”, are the new buzzword in communication. And blogging is an amazingly large phenomenon. Don’t believe me? Sample this: I did a Google search for the term “Microsoft”, and I got around 980,000,000 results. A search for the term “blog” returned over 2,200,000,000 results. And according to a recent survey, there are over 400,000 registered bloggers in India alone. That’s how big it is.

Now that I’ve got your attention, here’s a little history. Blogs have been around for some time now. The very first one (called links.net) was started by Justin Hall in 1994. But the blogging boom really took off only after Pyra Labs launched Blogger.com in 1999. Blogger.com (now owned by Google) is a blog hosting space. When it was launched it let people who knew very little about HTML coding create blogs for the first time. And as it turned out, everybody’s got a lot to say.

Different flavours
Broadly, blogs fall in three major categories. The first and most common is the personal blog. These blogs are about the author’s personal/professional lives, their hobbies and the like. The more popular authors write wittily and usually have a dedicated fan following.

The second category is the social commentary blog. The authors write about social/political events in their region and their analysis of what happened. These blogs can be very influential. In fact it is said that some of them had a major influence on the voting patterns during the 2004 US Presidential election.

The third category is the review blog. The authors review gadgets, software, books, movies, restaurants, tourist spots… you name it. Often, these blogs include local information that you won’t find even in the manufacturer’s official website. Although some of these blogs can be biased, the better ones give you a neutral, authoritative overview of what’s being reviewed.

Emerging categories include the PR blog, which complements an organization’s official website. Also you’ve got photo blogs, video blogs (or vlogs), news blogs… it’s a full house out there. Blogs are a great source of information and entertainment if you choose wisely.

The way I see it
I’m rather passionate about blogging, since I think it’s a great way to say whatever it is that you want to say. The ultimate soap-box for everybody’s opinion. And recently, I’ve started a blog of my own. It’s a personal blog. I don’t think I’m mature enough for social commentary, and not knowledgeable enough about anything to do a review J I find blogging to be very satisfying for many reasons. First, it’s the anonymity that the internet gives you. That means I can write about things that are close to my heart and not have people tell me, “You’ve talked about it (whatever it is)for the umpteenth time. Will you please just shut up?” Secondly, it’s a great feeling when someone you don’t know writes a positive comment on your blog. It means someone cares about what you think enough to tell you how they feel about it too. And thirdly it’s a challenge for me to top my previous post every time I write a new one. I’d like to think that my writing has improved since the time I started blogging regularly.

There are some clarifications I must add here. One, the ‘net is not truly anonymous. A fellow blogger told me about the time someone put an IP trace on him, and had information about all the sites that my friend had visited. Stalkers, either online or in the real world, are a threat for the more popular bloggers. Also, blogging can be fairly addictive. The whole process of writing all those little details and following up on comments can very easily wreck your routine if you don’t have the self control for it.

Now, if you think you have something to say that the world should know about, and if I haven’t scared you off blogging yet, you should start a blog of your own. I’d recommend using an established blog hosting space like Blogger.com or WordPress.com. Both have very clear, step-by-step instructions on how to create a blog. They also have comprehensive FAQ sections, which should help clear most doubts that you may have about blogging.
And finally, here are handy webpages on the facts of life – for bloggers! http://simonworld.mu.nu/archives/037779.php
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jul02/gak16.htm

Welcome to the blogosphere! It’s a wonderful place. I hope I’ll see you around!
(atlthough if you're reading this, the last line is pretty pointless)

No time for losers, 'cause we are the champions...

I've been into quizzing for as long as I can remember (well, since the 4th standard, at any rate). And it's when I quiz that I get into my "show-the-bums-no-mercy" mood. Which, as people who know me would say, doesn't come by very often. Anyway, quizzing is my sport. My playground. It's where I play hard, and play to win.

And win I did. Almost. P and I came 3rd in the Economic Times quiz held here today. I can't tell you how good it felt. Considering that our opposition included people doing their MBAs. Considering that only a year ago, I failed to make the cut for the same quiz, by just one point. Considering that my last big result came in 2005, with estarra (we were great, girl. You were probably the best teammate I ever had). But mostly, considering that it was a business quiz. And I'm a biology student. (I know I said I'd never do a business quiz again. But I guess not listening to myself pays off once in a way!)

Additionally, last year the quiz master called us on stage, as the team finishing 7th, and gave us t-shirts. When he found out that we were first-year students he said, "You guys are just babies in quizzing terms, I ought to give you diapers". Cute. But what can I say. I grow up pretty fast :D
Yes, I realise all of this doesn't make much sense to you. So what? I'm a winner and that's all that matters now.

P.S. We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'cause we are the champions
of the world
and all of it in Freddie Mercury's voice. God, that song's been stuck in my head all evening

(Update 28/3/08: A more structured post coming up soon. Please don't go away. I need the readers!)

Coolness

Was just looking through some of my old chat conversations and I found this one that I had with soupy sometime in January. We somehow switched to how nearly everyone we know went through a "Backstreet Boys! Aaaaaaaa! OMG! I LOVE them!" phase. To quote her:


soupy: some of it was ok. actually. if you look at it. it was the thing then, cheesy bubble boy lyrics. backstreet boys were actually late on the scene. if you look at it.
and everyone who grew up then, had "i love the backstreet boys" phase.
even though you hate to admit to it now! ;p
but it explains how you know all the lyrics when they play them randomly somewhere and you sing along! ;p


And that reminded me of this episode of "How I met your mother" where the following exchange happens:

Barney: Marshall, you look like a Backstreet boy. And not even the good Backstreet boys, the lame comeback tour boys.
Ted: The "good" Backstreet Boys?


And that got me thinking. How did the boy and girl bands of the '90s become so big? How did people even think lines like "Get down, get down and move it all around" or "I wanna see you out that door. Baby Bye! Bye! Bye!" were cool? I guess we all know why they faded away (their songs are plain stupid). But how did they capture our minds (me included)in the first place?


I guess this sort of thing's been happening since the time of the Beatles. Sure, they did play some good music. ("Yesterday"'s one of my favourites). But how could a song with lyrics like this become popular:
"Oh please, say to me, you'll let me be your man
And please, say to me, you'll let me hold your haaaand
You'll let me hold your haaaand
I wanna hold your hand"
I mean, are you kidding me? This song was on Vh1's list of 100 most popular rock songs of the 20th century. And for the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would listen to it.


I suppose every single fad works that way. Bell bottoms, hula hoops, floral print shirts,denim jackets, disco dancing, baggy jeans (which are making a comeback, btw). And every subsequent decade we talk about how lame people were "back then". Why is it that till date nothing has achieved any kind of lasting, eternal cool?


Maybe it has something to do with the fact that "cool" is defined by "young" people. Being young and rebellious, we naturally reject anything that's not ours. That we can't claim to have "discovered". All of it seems so old-fashioned, awkward....uncool. It's only after we're "older" and "wiser" that we realize what's actually useful and worth keeping. But by then we're too old to decide what's cool and what isn't. And there's a new bunch of youngsters to reject everything we liked. (this coming from me when I'm still in a position to decide what's cool)


Of course, that's not to say that adults don't have fads as well. What can one say about the sudden emergence of veganism, new-age living, strange far-eastern martial arts and all the myriad mutations of yoga. Nothing but fads. Not many people have the commitment it takes to keep at something like reiki or t'ai chi. They're just looking for a quick fix. What's the problem? no one knows.


Going into adulthood is a little scary actually. It's like exchanging one set of fads for another. Here's hoping that FRIENDS stays cool for ever. And that BSB never become cool again. Or the Spice Girls, for that matter.

This just in

Ok, not quite "just in". I didn't want to use "Story of my life" again so soon. But this is a quick recap of all that's happened during the last two weeks.

*College annual day on the 16th. And yours truly went thru a whole gamut of duties, starting off as quizmaster (of a quiz that was never held, finally), to compere, to curtain-man, and finally ending up as the de-facto stage manager. It was loads of fun overall. We had students over from our sister institute too to join us. And it was only after talking to them that I found out just how much better off I was in Pune. Their workload is pretty tough. It's almost like 12th standard (before the rush for the board exam begins, that is)over there. Yesterday some of us took the "tourists" out to see some places in Pune. Mind you "tourists" includes me. These were places that I'd only heard of, but had never been to. and I gotta say, it's very cool to see a fort like Shaniwar Wada in the middle of a city

*College mag released on the 15th. And the article I wrote about blogging is in there. I'll put it up here sometime soon.

*Laptop conked off on the 9th. And it seems to be a hardware problem. I've tried searching the net for info on what the problem is, but I haven't had much luck. Some websites say that it may be a problem with the hard disk, or the RAM module, but I can't be sure. If anyone has had trouble witha Toshiba Satellite A15, let me know.
And besides all this, the classes have just been passing by. Haven't been paying too much attention this past week. I hope it doesn't come back and bite me. Also I just found out that Fred Epstein and Evel Knievel are dead (hopelessly behind the times, that's me)

Oh yes, and Ferrari had an awful weekend. Here's hoping things go better next weekend at Sepang.

Letting go

When I’m in my room, and bored (which is often) I like to sit back and re-read “The Know-it-all”. I’ve mentioned the book in an earlier post too. I like it because no single story in the book goes on for more than two pages. Each piece is part of a larger mosaic, but you can read each entry for its own merit.

It’s probably an inherited thing. Dad likes to re-read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. I tried reading it once, couldn’t get thru it. There is far too much philosophy in there for me to handle. Not in the actual text, but in the implications of what Pirsig says. Guess I’ll have to grow up a little more before I REALLY get what he’s saying. I am a teenager after all. For the next three months, at any rate.

Anyway, the reason I brought up “The Know-it-all” was this piece I read about Petrarch. A. J. Jacobs (the author), talks about what a loser Petrarch must’ve been to be hung up about a woman he never had a chance with, for a very long time (she was already married). He goes on to add that Dante and Byron were also hung up about women who never loved them. And how in the 21st century, those women would’ve got restraining orders slapped on those “stalkers”.

Then, he says it’s not so uncommon and talks about his friend who’s still hung up about his college crush, even though it’s been over 15 years since the guy graduated. Which brings me to the whole point of this post. Why is it so hard for us to let go of something we value, even if we can’t use it, reach it. To let go of something that was never ours to begin with. A false sense of ownership, of belonging. And when we “lose” it, be it a person, position or an inanimate object, it eats you from inside.

The reason I brought it up was that it hit me just how much this sounded like my own relationship with Rags. To be honest, there never was any real romantic love there. It was almost entirely platonic, most of the time anyway. And yet, when we decided that there was no real chance of it working out, it killed me. And I was hung up over it for a pretty long time.

That’s not the only thing that hangs me up. Another major hang-up is the fact that I’m in the college where I am. I may have had a chance of going into another college. But where I am isn’t a bad place at all. Yet in my weakest moments the “what if I’d been elsewhere?” question comes back. I’ve been fighting it for over a year and a half now. Haven’t been entirely successful till date.

Sigh, maybe the fact that there are no worthwhile women around here is really getting to me. I’ve already brought this up with two different people over the weekend. It doesn’t look like these feelings are gonna go away without a fight. Guess New year resolutions aren't so easy to keep after all.

On being idle

This was supposed to be the very first post on ymitif. (Come on, that one post in July '07 doesn't count, does it?) I wrote this piece in September '07, but I never got around to publishing it. Here goes.

So, here we go then. My very first piece. What better way to start off this blog than through idle thoughts on idling?

Idling is no less an art than time management. And somehow TM gets much more attention than idling. If someone came out with a book on, “How to cook, plan your grocery list, answer the phone, groom the dog and drive all at the same time”, it'll probably be on the top of every bestseller list for a year. That is, until someone comes out with something even more outrageously impossible.

Mind you, I don't have a problem if things get done quickly. But tell me, what are you saving all this time for? More free time for yourself? Hardly. If “time managers” are left to themselves with plenty of time on their hands and nothing in particular to do, they fidget. They tense up. They sweat. They worry about work that needs to be done by Tuesday, the week after next. In short, they drive themselves crazy.

On the other hand, these time-saving devices let you get more work done. And you end up doing more work. Burning your candle not merely at both ends, but like inserting tiny wicks all along the side and lighting them up as well. Like some macabre Christmas tree. Hot stuff.

That's where idling comes in. It lets you bring a bit of sanity into your life, when everything around is unraveling faster than wrapping paper at a kid's birthday party. I'm sure you've idled sometime recently as well. A few extra minutes with your coffee at work. Half an hour with the old newspapers in the attic while supposedly cleaning it up (For the record, there's no such thing as a clean attic. All of us just keep it an inch from spilling over into the rest of the house. A home with an empty attic is a sad home)

And as I said, idling is an art. There's no fun in idling when you are SUPPOSED to be idle. If you laze around and daydream while on vacation, and call that idling, you're missing the point completely. In any case you won't be able to do that for very long either. You'll fidget, sweat, worry and generally make a mess. Trust me, I've seen my fair share of summer vacations. The euphoria of being free from academics passes quite quickly, and I eventually end up joining some kind of class, or short-term programme. And I proceed to daydream there!

That sums up the first and foremost rule of idling. You should idle ONLY when you have something “BETTER” to do. The definition of “better” is entirely up to you. An extra ten minutes spent in bed is so much more enjoyable when you're supposed to be in early that morning. Doodling comes much more easily the evening before an important exam. Trash on the tube seems so much more palatable when there's laundry to be done... you get the drift.

Of all known ways to idle, I find the daydream to be the most convenient. It's entirely self-contained, in the sense that you don't need external gadgets like a TV. And it leaves no evidence, like doodling. This is especially important while in class. Writing is good too. Not “creative writing”, but just making a note of the random thoughts flitting in and out of your mind. Although eventually following the thoughts seems like too much work. So I wouldn't recommend it to the novice idler. Gotta start off easy and get into the spirit of idling.

So, daydreaming it is. Nothing quite matches the gossamer stories you can weave in the depths of your mind, when you have “important” things to do. It can be anything. Usually, in my daydreams, I'm the protagonist of whatever's playing in my head. I might be Terminator, using my steel fingers to scare the hell out of the pizza delivery guy(“Hasta la vista, punk”) . I might be a modern-day Rhett, making an impression on Scarlett (aka, my latest crush) without even trying. Or I'd have just beaten Federer at Wimbledon, with the perfect serve-and-volley game (Note to self: Gotta fish out tennis racket, it's been in the attic (!) for ages). Even the best role-playing video games can't give you ALL that. And there's so much more to dream about too. I think that's the best part of having an active imagination. It keeps you entertained for hours.

So get started. Time’s a-wasting. Every minute you spend doing something is one less minute to idle! And since you’ve just idled the last 10 minutes by reading this, I’d say you’re off to a good start!

A small piece of advice. Not everyone will give your idling the space and respect it deserves. Some might even go so far as to say, “What the blankety-blank do you think you’re doing?!!” Say you’re preserving your sanity. Or if you’re really into the daydream, just say, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” :D