Trashcan

Google Wave Invites

2009-11-12T22:29:00.003+05:30

First you need to find someone with the invites, request for one and make sure they have sent it to you. Just because someone sent you an invite, doesn't mean you will get an invite. Google evaluates you and decides whether or not you deserve a wave invite. This is because Google wave is in developer preview, which is one step before an official beta, which is one step before a full fledged release. So yes, it will have bugs. And if you want an invite, you need to choose "will report bugs" here.

And I suggest you do it multiple times just to be sure you get your invite. That's how I got mine.

And yes you will not receive any intimation via mail before two days. My invite took five days to get processed. So please be patient and cross your fingers

Ramblings of an infectious mind

2009-11-08T23:03:00.002+05:30

How does it feel to achieve something?

To put in hard work and effort to see something come out. To rejoice in it's sheer beauty and dwell in its glory. To look at everyone go gaga over it and take pride in your creation? How does it feel to create something? To complete something?

How does it feel to watch your creation outgrow you?

Would you do it all over again? Would you do it better? Would you not do it at all?

Need More Time

2009-10-17T14:07:00.000+05:30

Need a new Dispaly Picture

Need to cleanup Online Social Media profiles and update

Need to Work hard on TEDx

Need to make more time

2009-10-17T11:21:00.001+05:30

TEDxChennai will be held on the 29th November 2009, see below for the Facebook event and check out http://tedxchennai.com for all the details.

My first web design

2009-10-10T08:48:00.004+05:30

Today is one of the most exciting days of my life. It marks the culmination of one month of toil towards my first ever web design project http://www.naviniyer.com

I have got so many people to thank I don't know where to start. So a general thank you to all.

I got this project through twitter, where I have found so many wonderful people. I strongly recommend it to anyone who does not use it actively.

Starting from scratch, I made decisions on the overall layout, colors and typography. I learnt so much photshopping during the course of making this website. Although I found jquery library to be exciting, I feel CSS is king.

Will put up comments and reactions in a follow-up post.

Disheartening

2009-10-08T09:30:00.003+05:30

Its been a tough week so far. I have been working overtime on current projects to get them all completed before the weekend. I have also been refusing to take up new projects owing to time constraints.

It is one of the most disheartening things to turn down a project due of lack of time. Especially if the project and the people you deal with are highly interesting.

Design is Sacred

2009-10-07T20:46:00.002+05:30

I love Minimalistic web designs.

I love websites that put a lot of thought into what they create. I like un-cramped websites with most of the screen real estate filled with whitespace. I think whitespace is by far the most important part of any design layout. Next comes typography and color schemes.

All these factors contribute to the overall theme of the website. A design layout should inspire a certain mood in the visitor. The overall design should have an aesthetic appeal.

I have been following several web design showcases these past few months and 2 of the best web designs I have ever seen are:

1. http://www.volll.com

2. http://blackestate.co.nz/

In some ways, Design is as sacred as God.

Hold your reply

2009-10-06T00:25:00.002+05:30

I learnt one of life's biggest lessons yesterday. Don't give an answer immediately. Whether it's the most lucrative offer of your life or a grave decision that you simply must take, do not answer right away. Take some time out, think and then make a decisions. I have no idea what these few extra minutes hold but they definitely bring a completely different perspective to the whole picture.

MP3 Resources

2009-10-05T10:51:00.003+05:30

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life"

Ever woke up to a day when you just start humming a song? You start your day with a random tune and you have this sudden urge to listen to the song asap. And it always turns out to be one of those not-so-easily-available songs. I woke up today with an urge to listen to this old SPB song "Unakenna mele ninrai oh nandalala".

You search on youtube. Either no one has uploaded it or there are copyright issues and the vids have been taken down. EKSI! and you're just desperate that you need to ask all your friends for the song. But that's a long shot.

Here're a few websites that could solve your problems:

1. Tamil: the mp3 database at http://www.oruwebsite.com & http://www.cooltoad.com

2. Hindi: Guriji

3. English: I generally use torrents to download whole discographies but http://www.mp3000.net generally satisfies most such urges

Dumb is Good

2009-10-04T23:31:00.001+05:30

There's just a thin line between smart and clever. Usually people are a mix of both. It's just a natural change. Once you're smart, you develop and then you become clever and then you become cunning. So being dumb is not so bad after all :P

2009-10-03T21:35:00.003+05:30

I really enjoy connecting people. Most often one subset of people from my network require help from another subset. In connecting these people, it helps me become more connected and reestablish my connection with both sets. And the feeling u get when u fill in a requirement is plain bliss.

Burst communication

2009-10-02T19:17:00.002+05:30

In a bid to update my blog regularly, I am planning short bursts of blogposts. Of course this won't be on par with microblogging, but I intend to update my blog with lot of stuff. Right now there's so much happening, I really need to sit down, organize, think and write about what I am doing. Am working on that direction but most of those posts are on draft. Three updates a week is what I am looking at.

Desperation

2009-09-30T11:26:00.003+05:30

"You can't build your reputation around what you want to do"

This past week I met with people who are ambitious and talented. I want to be this. I want to do that. How far does one mean it when they say they would like to be a model or a photographer or something like that? Are they willing to go the distance? Are they desperately looking for opportunities? Given a chance now, would they grab it with both hands or would they rub their chins and think "Do I really want to do this?".

"Nothing splendid was ever created in cold blood. Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart" -Arnold H. Glasgow

Na romba busee

2009-09-28T20:56:00.002+05:30

Just came across this quote:

"The perplexity of life arises from there being too many interesting things in it for us to be interested properly in any of them."

Fingers in many pies. All equally tasty.

5 SEO Tips to be Top Two in One week

2009-09-09T12:29:00.010+05:30

I'm extremely pleased and excited today. My colleague Srinath and I (@rvinay88) found a pleasant surprise.

We had decided to perform Search Engine Optimization for a website. We were actually planning on outsourcing the entire process to an SEO expert. While we were gathering required intelligence and logistics, we started simultaneously working on the few techniques that we knew.

Here are the five steps we followed to get a wesbite from NOWHERE to positions 2, 3 and 4 on google search!

SEO Code - This is a very often overlooked strategy for SEO. The use of the meta tag is considered boring by several designers and since most people don't hand code, it is easy to overlook this section. We decided on a list of keywords we wanted to be searched for and included it in the meta tag section. This is for the site crawlers to use and index the page. Of course most crawlers are really smart and look for relevancy. So your website has to be genuinely relevant to the keywords you choose.
Blog - It is good to have regular updates on the website. This is why we installed a wordpress blog and started putting up one article per day. Which is a pretty decent posting rate. The trick here was to include all the keywords in every blog post of ours. What is essential though is to ensure that these blog posts make for some meaningful reading. The tags and categories were another area we used effectively to improve keyword density.
Inbound links - It is really important to have your website listed in as many directories as possible. Just to increase visibility. If the website has a link on a page with a higher rank, that in turn increases the PR.
Search Engine Resubmission - Our web host had options to resubmit our website to major search engines. I found this to be especially useful because we had revamped the entire website and included the new SEO code. I have a feeling web crawlers like it when there are newer things to find in an old website. And every time we updated content, we resubmitted to the search engines, which got us better visibiltiy.
Social Media - We decided to use the power of social media, which both of us were aware of. We were constantly using facebook and twitter to drive traffic to our own blogs. So we started a youtube, facebook and twitter channel to have regular updates and information regarding events. The day we announced the launch of our social media channels, our page visits shot up. From an average of 30 visits per day, we had over 200 visits in one single day.

The keyword was robotixlab and the results can be seen here. Results 2, 3 and 4 are our results. In one week! We still aren't on top but we are confident of making it up there.

I need to end with a note of caution: SEO stands for optimization. Optimize do not abuse. Only genuine content will take you to heights. Don't give in to the temptation of going into mindless SEO techniques, with no original content to back you up.

Review - Gran Torino

2009-09-01T15:36:00.001+05:30

Gran Torino is a Clint Eastwood movie. For diehard fans, that alone should do. Clint Eastwood is a loner, an old and pathetic Vietnam War veteran. The movie opens with his wife’s funeral and goes on to show that his family more or less detests him and for good reason. He is a sour old man, who can’t stand anyone. He lives alone in his apartment, which is set in a Korean neighborhood.

The way he expresses his distaste for most of them is humorous. However, he ends up befriending his neighbours through an event where he protects a boy from a local gang. The entire neighbourhood starts bringing him gifts to show their appreciation and he ends up getting very close to the boy and his sister. The girl is sensible and shares several emotional moments with him, where she seems to be completely immune to his sour nature. While the boy joins him as an apprentice to show that he is sorry for trying to steal his Gran Torino.

Clint Eastwood shares dating tips and advice about life in general to the Korean boy, who seems a little incapable of handling life himself. The movie takes a smooth ride about how they move on from complete strangers who dislike each other to good friends. Then out of the blue, an unexpected event and an even more unexpected ending that will shock you.

Optimize don't abuse - SEO Vs Genuine Content

2009-08-16T14:07:00.003+05:30

SEO is just a tool. It's optimization. Which means, you need something to optimize. That is content. Truth be told, if you have genuine quality content, you do not need any SEO done at all.

Your content should be of value to the reader. It should be worth their time. They shouldn't regret spending time reading your content. This necessitates two things.

You should have something to write about. Something that you are passionate about.
You should know what you're writing about. You should be an expert in your field.

Once you have those two, SEO techniques can take you places.

SEO is only for the search engine bots and the computers. Content is for people. In the end, only people matter. If you make someone's life better by sharing your expertise, there is nothing more satisfactory than that. If you have the expertise, let people know. Start a blog. Generate quality content. Perform optimization. Don't abuse it.

4 steps to a better Google Reader Experience

2009-08-12T19:54:00.006+05:30

Have you ever stopped using google reader bacause there are simply too many unread items? Can't clear the clutter? Over a billion unread items, that google kindly says is 1000+? So you mark all as read and then come back a month later to have a feeling of deja vu? I think I have finally figured out how to manage an unruly 1000+ items on your Google reader. All it takes is some good old common sense.

To begin with, do the following:

1. Mark all as read - From today onwards you will be having a more organized approach to your reader but we need a clean slate to begin with.

2. Go to your subscriptions and kick out unnecessary websites i.e. ones you subscribed to by mistake, unintentionally, are not interested in anymore, is irrelevant to you or more importantly has a dozen updates in a single day. I subscribe to Mashable and they are by far the most updated blog that I know they have atleast five blog posts per day and I still have them because I enjoy reading them.

Now that we have worked on how to clear out the existing clutter, here's how you can avoid posts piling up in your unread list. If you subscribe to a website or blog, not every post of theirs is going t be interesting. If you're like me you log in and out of reader several times in a day as opposed to being online all the time. The following tips when implemented would give you a very enjoyable google reader experience and does not allow items to pile up.

# 1:Avoid viewing All items

Browse Unread items Category wise. This is because all items have all posts from several websites interspersed. It tends to be confusing, especially if there are multiple interesting articles. So view them category wise. Browse each website's update separately.

# 2: Read only those posts you are really interested in

Headlines are a good way of judging the content. So just browse through all the headlines and open only those posts that interest you. People spend hours figuring out how to title their posts because you are worth it. So don't open unless you like the title.

# 3: Read from the actual source

Open the post in a separate tab. Reading from the actual website/blog is far more pleasurable and efficient than reading from Google reader. The reader is just a place that collects articles that might interest you. so launch each interesting article in a separate tab.

#4. Mark all as read

Don't start reading once you have launched separate tabs. Before you do that, it's time to "mark all as read" for this category. This is because you have already seen the articles and opened the interesting ones. So mark them as read immediately.

Do the same for every other category you have subscribed to. This way you would probably be having at the most ten new tabs and zero unread items in your google reader every session. Now comes the best part. Close google reader and go to the tabs and READ. After all, that READING was the whole point.

Virtual Identities

2009-08-05T14:44:00.000+05:30

A person renamed herself as princess-rainbow.com. She introduces herself as that. That’s the name on her business card. A few years ago, I read this news article that some person changed his surname to .com or “dot com”. This way, he builds traffic to his website every time he hands out his business card or shakes hands and says “Hi, I’m myself.com”. A Chinese couple allegedly named their child “@”. Now of course that’s taking it a little too far. But this is how the future is going to be.

I was at a tweatup. (I don’t know how many twitter words are out there. Maybe they should come up with a twictionary). A tweetup is an officially recognized word, twitter just released a Twitter 101 handbook to get you started on using twitter. A tweet up is an in-person meet up that’s organized by people via twitter. A tweatup is when you meet up to eat. Anyway, at this meeting, people were more interested in finding out what my twitter handle was. “Hi, I’m Vinay” returned strange looks and people demanded to know what my twitter handle is. What my @username was.

This is the future. You’re going to be known by your facebook profile or your e mail. Earlier when people wanted to keep in touch, they exchanged telephone numbers or addresses. Not long ago an e-mail was a fresh idea. Having an e mail was considered cool. Now not having one is a crime. Today they exchange twitter handles and web addresses. This too will soon pass till the next big thing in the dot com world will burst and we’ll all run to it like a pack of hungry dogs rush towards food.

We keep creating our own virtual universe and we get so caught up in it that we sometimes forget who we actually are. It’s like that sms joke where the dad mails the son to come downstairs for dinner. Think about it, technology is supposed to connect people around the world but was it meant to disconnect the person right next to you? Haven’t you pinged your friend on an IM when you could have walked down the hall? Even if it was just for the fun of it, this has serious connotations.

For one thing, virtual identities are exactly that: They’re virtual! They can be created. They can be faked. And one person can have several identities. “Rats in the real world can pose as elephants in a virtual world”. Once the initial excitement of knowing someone through the web faded away, we realized how many scammers were out there. How many people got fooled. How this technology could be misused. So we bettered it, improved security and added privacy features. Then, it became a chore to enter jumbled text into a box. Then, you had to show off how many scraps you had, how many tweets you have and how many comments you receive on your blog. We are so stuck up into this world we created that we sometimes forget to live in the world we live in. This one’s real, not virtual. So go out there and say hi to mom. Eat your dinner at the table. Read the papers instead of reading it over the internet. Watch tv. Play cricket instead of stick cricket.

Everything you needed to know before buying a Beginner (Acoustic) Guitar in Chennai

2009-08-04T11:13:00.005+05:30

This article is a guide to buying a beginner guitar. It is a follow up on my most famous post "Beginner Guitar (Acoustic) Shops in Chennai". It deals with Everything you needed to know about guitars before buying. Consider this as a homework before you set out buying a guitar for yourself or your friends. When I wanted to buy a guitar at Chennai in February 2009, the first thing I naturally did was google it. However, I realized that there was no official help for buying a guitar in Chennai.

I did not know:

§ Who sold guitars?

§ What type of guitar to buy?

§ Which brand to buy?

§ What to look for in a guitar when buying one?

§ What the price range will be

§ Which shops are the best?

I went up and down every single major guitar dealer in Chennai. I’ve written a memoir of my experience here. In this post, I’ve written about EVERYTHING you need to know before you buy a guitar. Although the post is specific to Chennaites, I think it suits all Indians. I personally found out everything on this post and I want to share it with other people who are interested in buying a guitar but do not know how to.

Make up your mind:

If you are buying a guitar, make up your mind. Are you planning to buy an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar? If you’re a beginner, you should go for an acoustic guitar. You can upgrade to an electric guitar later. If you are buying an acoustic guitar, there are two options for you. Going for branded and going for custom made guitars. Two other options that branch out is buying a brand new guitar or buying it second hand. I personally feel if you’re a beginner, buying a brand new guitar motivates you to learn far more than anything. If you’re on a tight budget a second hand guitar is perfect. All you need is something to practice on but ultimately you’ll end up buying your own guitar. Why not get it now itself?

Brands of guitars

There are two major brands: “Pluto” and “Givson”. A Pluto is superb. A Givson is decent. I prefer Pluto over Givson. Beware of cheap duplicates that have a logo similar to “givson” only they read “grason” or “givsom”. They look exactly like givson, and most shopkeepers told me this:

“They are the same company, they change the names to avoid tax problem”

“Givson is the father, Grason and Grasom are his sons. They started their own guitar manufacturing companies”

I don’t know how far these stories are true, but I figured, if you’re spending the money, you might as well go for good stuff.

Price Range:

Givson guitars are cheaper than Pluto. They start at Rs. 2500. That is the actual rate. But no dealer will start with that price. He’ll start with Rs.2650 or some weird number like that. A little bargaining helps. A Pluto starts from Rs. 3000. Custom made guitars start from Rs. 1800. Second hand guitars from a shop will start at Rs. 1500. If you know some friend of yours who’s selling a Pluto or Givson, you can grab it for around Rs. 1500. The non branded ones start from Rs. 1800 to Rs. 2500. This includes those Grasom and other weird named brands.

Sizes:

Guitars come in three sizes.

§ Normal: The normal ones are what you’ll need to most probably buy.

§ Jumbo: If you’re a big guy, you might want to buy the “Jumbo” guitar. This is thicker at the base. Tall and hefty guys need to buy the jumbo guitars because the others look very kiddish in their hands.

§ Semi-Solid: If you’re a small guy, you need to buy a semi solid guitar. It is very thin version of the guitar. The base is very thin.

Baby Guitar:

The baby guitar is for kids under the age of thirteen, who are not big enough to hold the normal one. It looks very small. Avoid buying this because once the kid grows older he can’t use it. So make sure you don’t buy this for someone who might grow soon.

Shapes:

There are two shapes:

§ Symmetrical: Some guitars are symmetrical. They have the same shape on both the sides.

§ Cut- Guitars: There are some guitars that are not symmetrical. On one side they have this little cut. This little cut enables you to play the lower frets easily. It’s optional because it costs Rs. 200 extra. It doesn’t really matter if it isn’t there. If you are specific about getting the perfect guitar then look for the cut as well.

Vendors:

I’ve compiled a master list of Guitar shops in Chennai. Try Justdial.com. Or if you want to just look at the list online, read my “Beginner guitar (Acoustic) Shops in Chennai” post. This was the original post, I wrote it immediately after visiting all the vendors and how responsive they were. It might tell you where you want to head. I suggest you call up and enquire at these places before you buy. You will know if they have stock and what ranges they offer guitars at. Sometimes, you’ll know whether you want to make a deal with the guy on the phone or not.

Freebies:

When you buy a guitar, make sure you demand for the water-proof cover and some picks free. Most dealers are upfront with the picks because they cost around Rs. 2. The ones they give you are generally cheap ones. You can buy some decent picks from them. They start at Rs. 10 and go up to Rs. 35. What most dealers will do is tell you that they will sell the guitar for Rs. 3000 and the bag will cost you another Rs. 200. Don’t agree. Bargain, demand, request or do whatever it is to get your guitar and the bag for Rs. 3000. If they don’t give you a decent bargain, I suggest you walk out.

Tutors:

This is by far the most important part of the process. I actually started going for classes before I bought my own guitar. So make sure there are tutors nearby and that they are good tutors. Once you have bought a guitar, you will need an excellent tutor to start taking lessons. I personally know people who play guitar exceedingly well by just learning from the internet. That takes a lot of patience and time. But I really can’t stress enough the importance of learning proper western classical music from a trained professional. Look into the classifieds or look for banners or ads.

Generally, the guitar dealers have a good list of teachers in and around that area. You can ask them for contact details. They will be more than willing to help. I can’t stress the importance of a good tutor. One who is patient and knows stuff. Most guitar teachers are genuine guitar players. They charge around Rs. 500 per month. The best way to know about the tutor is to ask one of his students. Hang around the class for a while and ask the students. There was this tutor once, who refused to teach me because I was an engineering student. He said:

“Engineering students lack dedication. They will come till their exams and run away during semesters. My classes are by design, very tough and require a lot of practice. I generally don’t take college students at all. If you’re really dedicated enough to learn for a year, come and join.”

I was dedicated but I refused to join this fellow, because clearly he was impatient and I did not want to go into a military to learn the guitar. There are thousands of other great musicians who are patient and respect the students. I joined one such place. My tutor is excellent with kids. There are kindergarten children learning guitar from him and he is extremely patient. He’s a grade four guitar player and does recordings. So choose your tutor wisely. Make sure the place is close to your house or if you can afford it go for home tutors. Mind you they are expensive.

Another guy said: “If you’re learning guitar from me, I suggest you pay me the money, I will buy you a guitar. Only then I will teach you.”. It is obvious that I did not want to join this fellow.

You usually do not have to inspect what the tutor knows. Just make sure he’s an amicable person and someone you can sit with and learn. Not some rough and tough, impatient, money minded guy.

Warnings:

Most guitar dealers make their money by having tie ups with major music academies. They sell in hundreds. So you are not special because you buy a guitar. They generally don’t treat you like a king and you better not expect to be treated as one. I bought two guitars, one for myself and one for my friend. I thought buying two would fetch me a decent bargain but there was no concession at all. One particular dealer said:

“There is no big profit for me in this. Either you take it or leave it.”

But I managed to get a good deal elsewhere. So be ready to leave a dealer who is unwilling to sell you the piece. It’s a waste of your time and his. Usually a phone call before you go in helps learning about the dealer’s people skills.

Also most tutors suggest places to buy guitars. This is fine as long as its only suggestion. Don’t go to tutors who demand that you buy the guitar only from where they ask you to.

Make sure they tune the guitar once you have bought it. Ask the dealer to tune the guitar for you, even if you don’t know what that is. Generally they do this themselves, but just to be sure don’t feel shy to ask.

Practice:

It definitely takes a lot of practice to play the guitar. It’s not difficult. It simply won’t come unless you try and keep trying. That’s all. So make a schedule and stick to it. Start going for classes and attend them regularly.

ATM Woes

2009-08-01T21:19:00.000+05:30

There are several concerns if you’re using an ATM and the worst of them is the lack of a security guard in the premises. Secondly, most of these guards are either Nepali or non native people (they don’t speak your language) or extremely old to give any assurance of safety.

The Problem in concern is this: If the ATM machine makes an error, what should one do? I have been using ATMs for the past seven years and I know for certain that these machines do not make mistakes. I have even advised several people to trust the computer and stop counting the money dispensed from the ATM because it’s always correct. Let’s just speculate here. What if this amount was incorrect? What if the computer made a mistake?

Supposing one punches in a request for Rs. 1000 and receives only Rs. 900, what should one do? The odds of that happening are low. Still, there has to be a mechanism in place to address this issue. How can one prove to the bank that the machine did not dispense the amount fully? The machine dispenses Rs. 900, prints a receipt and dutifully updates the account saying Rs. 1000 was withdrawn. What should be done?

Talking to the security guard is an obvious option but save those ATMs adjoining the banks, security guards are found to be having at least one of the following qualities:

1) They are Uneducated

2) They speak a different language and hardly understand what you say

3) Are not around except when they either Sleep or Eat inside the ATM vestibule

Plus, they don’t come across as the types that would side with the customer in any case. No guard would know what’s to be done anyway. All one can expect is a nonchalant shrug or a suspicious stare. So what is the solution? How can one prove to the bank that the machine made a mistake?

Review 21st Century Breakdown

2009-07-29T06:33:00.000+05:30

21^st century breakdown is a fitting sequel to American Idiot. Be it, in terms of musical ability or lyrics Greenday have outdone themselves. The album 21^st Century breakdown is organized into three acts. It falls under the Rock opera genre. All the eighteen songs revolve around two central characters, namely, Christian and Gloria.

The lyrics come out with emotions of a rebel, an angst-filled cry against being controlled by a government. It’s about being “born into a Nixon”, being “a non believer”, having a restless heart syndrome and how people were before the lobotomy. Ranging from direct accusation to subtle hints, Greenday brings out the anger and passionate rebellion in a way that reminds you of your teen days.

In terms of song quality, there are no eight minute songs and the lyrics are loud and clear. Sometimes, a little too loud but that’s excusable. Lyrics stick to the central theme and the songs are organized in an operatic fashion. The orchestration brings out the grandiose of opera in some songs while in others rock is more prominent. In all, the tunes are very catchy and you’d find yourself humming them in no time. Some chord progressions are extremely melodic. The drums could have been better. Needless to say, Greenday do their thing with the guitars.

Special mention for the album art and cover design, which is typically Greenday. Geenday have managed to strike a balance between maintaining their brand image and include some experimentation into their music. Best songs of the album would be Peacemaker, East Jesus Nowhere, Viva la Gloria, 21^st Century Breakdown and know your enemy. I find that the songs in the third act seem to bore you a bit. Overall, this is an explosive album.

Pub Culture

2009-07-29T06:17:00.000+05:30

A woman was sexually harassed in public in a very well known pub in Chennai. She was with her husband and she was a regular at the pub. The people who harassed her were also regulars at the pub. They beat up her husband and tried to strip her off her clothes in public.

The pub now claims that security interrupted and the two groups separated amicably. The police refused to take action in the beginning because the accused had high connections. They blamed the woman and her dressing for the incident.

I don’t want to side with any of these groups, because I denounce the pub culture completely. Pub hopping in the middle of the night is a very bad idea for both men and women. I was discussing with a cousin of mine who asked me this disarming question: “How does going to a pub compromise your culture?”

Well here’s your answer: It doesn’t take moral policing by Shiv Sena to understand what happens when you toss in men and women into a dark room in the middle of the night and get them all drunk. Well? But I refuse to take the culture angle because we are the land of Kama Sutra.

The police definitely should have behaved better. Would have saved them some unwanted bad publicity and would have saved the woman more embarrassment on having to recount the incident to several people and provide details in print.

So when I denounce the pub culture, I mean it. If you’re a girl who hops regularly, then you better have your pepper spray and karate lessons ready because we can’t change who these people are. If they can survive stripping a woman in full public and the police sides with them, you make your choice. If you’re a guy who takes your wife to a pub, be sure you are man enough to protect her.

Getting that perfect Resume

2009-07-13T15:18:00.008+05:30

Writing a resume is an immensely important. I'm listing out some of those factors that I consider while designing my resume. Mostly these are just rules, although certain considerations listed out here make for a better aesthetic appeal. Rest assured, I have failed a million times before getting my resume right. Follow these steps to ensure getting that perfect resume:

1. Contact Information

The primary purpose of your resume is to get people to notice you and give you that much-awaited call. For that purpose, your contact information should be right on top. I generally have my name and contact information at the header level. This ensures easy access to information regarding how to get in touch. One shouldn't try to get too creative with the design and obscure or hide this information. It is perhaps, the most critical part of your resume. Also please avoid writing “Resume” on top of your resume. It is utterly pointless and unprofessional.

2. Objective and Summary

Objective and summary are both meant to be short, crisp and to-the-point. It's like adding tags or labels to you. Your summary should compulsorily contain your education background and your experience. Eg: "Computer Software Fresher, Software Professional with one year experience". Your objective should be very specific, preferably, a job title where you would like to see yourself in five years. Eg: "To be a System Analyst in a Software firm".

Please avoid objectives such as "Seeking a challenging position where I can harness my skills", "climb up the corporate ladder". Not only are they clichéd, they also convey that you are clueless about where you are headed in terms of your career. If you can't find a suitable objective, it would be better if you skip this part.

3. Length

A resume gets a maximum of 5 minutes of a recruiter's time. Your resume should be very specific and direct. Your resume should be an answer to the question "Why should we select you for this job". It should contain all mandatory information such as your qualification, year of passing et al. At the same time, it should not contain irrelevant information. More in next point. An ideal resume should either be one or two pages long. That’s all.

4. Relevance

If you are applying for the job of a trainer, the part time you held at McDonald’s does not count as experience. Most people advice to have job-specific resumes. Maintain a master resume that lists out all your awards, additional qualifications and work experience. When you are applying for a specific job, list out ONLY those sections from this master resume that matter for this job. List out only relevant work experience and additional qualifications, which make you all the more suitable for the job.

5. Chronology

Dates of graduation, year of passing, the duration of your education or work in an organization should be specified clearly. Eg: Worked from 2005 – 2009 or Passed out – June 2005. Also, when you list out your work experience or educational qualification it should be in reverse-chronological order. Your latest degree should come on top. The last job you held should come on top.

6. Proof reading

The importance of Proof-reading cannot be stressed enough. Nothing can be more embarrassing than a spelling error or a grammatical error on your resume. Spell check on word processors can only detect obvious mistakes. Many of us are still not clear about the difference between “its” and “it’s”. Minute details like that can change the course of your interview. Imagine having to explain a mistake to your interviewer. Or being told that there are inconsistencies in your resume. Check, double-check and triple check every single sentence in your resume.

7. Consistency

Your resume should be consistent i.e. in terms of grammar, tense, formatting and alignment. Your resume should always be in third person. “I participated in a writing competition and won second place” is not accepted. It should rather be “Participated in Writing Competition. Secured Second place”. Also, spellings of schools, colleges and people should be the same throughout. Sometimes, silly errors such as change in font size or font-face in certain places can result in a very awkward looking resume.

Twitter is going Places

2009-07-13T14:29:00.003+05:30

One question that has been projected at me everytime I tell someone "Twitter is going places" is how? How do they profit from it? First up, thats an excellent question. Twitter does not make much money right now. Because, they haven't figured out what they are going to do with it. But what they do have is a HUGE database of users and their 140-character updates. This information is any social marketer's dream.

Think about it. You have a 1000 updates. And 400 friends. If I can sit patiently and read through all your tweets, won't I get some sort of idea about what you like and what you dislike? If I could go through all those links you posted and pictures you uploaded, I can profile you. Not just you, I can profile your friends as well. If twitter can do this for every single user, what they have is comprehensive intelligence for targeted marketing. Content/Context based marketing. If you tweet, say,

"Just finished GTA San Andreas"

Twitter can use this information to understand that you are a computer gamer, and you like role-playing games, specifically GTA. Also they know which version you played and hence your potential interest in upcoming versions of the game. If the producers of GTA now want to do some targeted marketing via ads all they have to do is send you a direct message or an @reply on twitter. As simple as that. This is one tweet, one user, one marketer. Now magnify that into the number of twitter users multiplied by the number of updates and raise it to the power of number of potential targeted marketeers. That is the potential of Twitter.

As of now this potential remains just that. Potential. Twitter has no definite plan as to what they are going to do with all this information. They haven't figured out how they're going to generate revenue. As of now, people really admire twitter because there are no irritating ads. Take facebook or google, established giants but they generate revenue through ads. Twitter's different mainly because there are no nagging ads. There's no clutter. Once they start, there'll be some changes in people's opinion. "After Boom comes Recession".

Truth is, 60% of the people who sign up on twitter do not return. They simply sign up cuz all their friends talk about it. Cuz they say its the next big thing. Add to the mix spammers and targeted marketeers already on the prowl, the number of genuine twitter users would only be a fraction of the total.

Twitter has great potential. If they don't figure out what they are going to do, they will burst away as just another web 2.0 bubble. To my support though, twitter is still going places. Where are they headed? Only one way to find out.