Pixie tagged me. Never been tagged for a long time. I am supposed to reveal 9 things about me that are unknown to the outside world out of which only 8 would be true. Here we go:
Your turn now. Tell me which one you think is not true!
Tags
Tags16 Oct 2006 10:30 am
‘Jeevan’ se bhari, teri aankhen, yeh tag kiya hai maine sirf tere liye…tere liye! :)
Jeevan dedicated this tag to me. I accept it humbly. Here it is.
1. Are you happy / satisfied with your blog, with its content and look?
# I am happy with my blog. Satisfied? Well no. I don’t think I will ever be satisfied with it. I am always finding some area for improvement somewhere. Sometimes, I am not happy with the content, sometimes it’s the look. Recently I changed the template of my blog because I just wanted a change.
2. Does your family know about your blog?
# Yes. My wife rarely reads it. But whenever I tell her that I have written something about Surya or some such personality she really likes, she makes it a point to read.
My father, mother and brother regularly read it. And sometimes I do get some brickbats from them. For posts like this one, I even got phone calls saying what the $#&*%^ are you writing?
My Father-In-Law keeps in touch with this space sporadically and we discuss a few of my posts too.
3. Do u feel embarrassed to let your friends know about your blog or you just consider it as a private thing?
# No. Never. In fact I keep marketing my blog wherever I go! ;)
4. Did blogs cause positive changes in your thoughts?
# Yes. Definitely.
5. Do you only open the blogs of those who comment on your blog or you love to go and discover more by yourself?
# I do open blogs of those who comment on my blog. I think that’s the barest minimum I can do for those who comment on my blog. If I find myself reading their blogs then I too leave a comment telling them what I felt.
I rarely search for blogs on a random basis. I have done that once or twice in the past but don’t generally find the time for it. Instead I would like to read the archives of the known bloggers so that I can know more about them.
6. What does visitors counter mean to you? Do you care about putting it in your blog?
# Frankly, not much! In fact, when I started blogging I didn’t have a sitemeter/ hit counter on my blog. Then I began copying a few other bloggers and thought that it was a basic element on a blog. Though now I have a completely different outlook about it, I don’t want to take it off. Call me lazy if you want! ;)
7. Did you try to imagine your fellow bloggers and give them real pictures?
# Sometimes I do. But don’t really think about it much. If they have put up their pictures it’s fine. Otherwise I don’t really bother. I have come to have certain ideas about certain bloggers and the way they post or comment. But that’s it. Nothing pictorially gets formed in my mind. I guess my mind is also as lazy as I am! ;)
8. Do you think there is a real benefit for blogging?
# Well, I don’t know if there is a real benefit for blogging, but I think there is definitely a benefit that we bloggers derive out of blogging. Sometimes it may be tanglibe sometimes it may be intangible. Can’t really put a finger on that.
9. Do you think that bloggers society is isolated from real world or interacts with events?
# Mostly yes. Except for stray events like BlogCamp, nothing really happens that connects the bloggers to the real world.
10. Does criticism annoy you or do you feel it’s a normal thing?
# I like and desire to have constructive criticism. I keep asking people to give me critical feedback about my blog. Sometimes there is criticism that gets personal and I don’t really react to such stuff but I do make a mental note of it that such & such a person is capable of making personal attacks. But that’s it.
Many a time, I have criticised a lot of bloggers and they have responded too. We have had discussions and arguments too. But never has anything ended in bad taste, because rarely did we lose perspective of the issue.
Sometimes, I lose my cool and get personal. But I do apologize. I don’t like people who don’t apologize for their mistakes.
There was one person called “Aatma” who used to comment regularly on my blog sometime back. His comments used to really make me think and I used to take his feedback seriously. I don’t know where he is today, I hope he comes back and takes his unspoken reserved place as my partner in an endeavour to blog better. Oh yeah Aatma, wish you a very very happy married life mate!
11. Do you fear some political blogs and avoid them
# I would like to read a few political blogs to know what stuff they write. As of now, I have no opinion because I don’t know of any such blogs.
12. Did you get shocked by the arrest of some bloggers?
# Arrested?!?! That’s news to me! The worst I heard was a blogger was forced to resign his job for cricticising some management institute. That really shocked me! Is it wrong to have an opinion and put it up on your blog? What else are blogs for?
13. Did you think about what will happen to your blog after you die?
# Nope. Never thought about it. Let me think now: It’s an avenue of expression for me. After I am gone, I don’t think i will want it to be there. In any case, no one will have the password to it na, so it will become dormant. And once it’s dormant in this blogsphere, it will die it’s own death.
14. What do you like to hear? What’s the song you might like to put a link to in your blog?
# I like to listen to A R Rahman’s music. There are so many songs that I would like to link through my blog that it’s tough to pick one. Since I have to do it, it would be this song:
“Dil Se re…” sung and composed by A R Rahman (from Dil Se…)
Now it’s my turn to dedicate this tag to three more people:
1. Pavan (Because I love his sense of humour and sarcasm)
2. Shastri (Because he has stopped blogging for a long time and I hope he gets back to it with this tag!)
3. Vijay (Because his posts are so interesting, I would like to know his thoughts on these questions)
Tags12 Jul 2006 04:13 pm
How wierd am I and How about you?
Got tagged by Shastri.
Five Wierd things about me:
- Avoid piracy: Buy only authentic CDs and books. I am against piracy even if it means I am a poorer man!
- Indecisive: I cannot make a decision about high-value purchases (> Rs. 5,000/-). I look for recommendations desperately. If something is recommended by a person I respect, then you can be rest assured I will buy it.
- Obsessive Compulsive Eating disorder: Even if I need to go on a diet to save my life, I will not avoid eating my favourite food if it’s within an arm’s distance. I take decisions on vacation destinations based on the quality of food available there!
- One coffee per day: Staying in the heartland of filter coffee, I have only one cup of coffee per day. Final objective is to refrain from having all milk products. It’s called being a vegan or something!
- Laziness personified: I can sleep for hours together without any reason. I always look for some place to stretch my legs and close my eyes and am off Zzz…
Five people I would like to do this tag:
Divya tagged me again! Thanks again! :) Here we go…
Five movies which I like the most
1. Anand (Hindi)
2. Black (Hindi)
3. Kshana Kshanam (Telugu)
4. The Matrix trilogy (English)
5. Titanic (English)
Five things I can never live without
1. Acceptance
2. Happiness
3. Peace of mind
4. Love
5. Satisfaction
Five most favourite celebrities (Div, sorry I changed it to my convenience)
1. A R Rahman
2. Amitabh Bachchan
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Venkatesh (Telugu film star)
Five things I miss now
1. My parents (They stay in Hyderabad, I work in Chennai)
2. My brother (He stays with my parents)
3. My little cousin – Gauri (She stays in Dubai)
4. My grandmother (She is presently on tour!)
5. My 3 closest friends (Two are in Bangalore and one in Mumbai)
Five things I plan to do in near future
1. Restart Yoga and meditation
2. Investing in the stock market
3. Buy a helment and Raincoat (The heavens are pouring in Chennai I tell you!)
4. Write the sequel to my post on Novatium
5. Enjoy the weekend
Last movie I borrowed to watch & still not given back
I don’t watch movies on CD’s!
Five books I love
1. Bhagavad Gita – C. Rajagopalachari
2. Animal Farm – George Orwell
3. Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
4. The Goal – Eliyahu M Goldratt
5. Five-point someone – Chetan Bhagat
Five people I pass this HIGH FIVES to
1. Veda
2. Lisa
3. Sudhu
4. Cb
5. Kasthuri
The Story tree – The journey continues
Thanks divya for tagging me. It’s my first ever tag. And I like the feeling that somebody thought of me first among the list of people to tag.
here’s my part of the story tree..
But this woman was different. She reminded him of someone he knew. In an instant he realized who and the painful memories came flooding back. She looked exactly like his childhood sweetheart Madhu. As teenage lovers in a conservative society, they had often met secretly and had declared undying love for each other.
Then someone had found out and all hell had broken loose. The elders in the village Panchayat had ostracized Madhu’s family as she was from a lower caste. Unable to bear the humiliation, she had committed suicide by drowning. That was twelve years back…
Could it be? Could it really be him? He seems different, weary and downcast. Oh no will he recognise me? No, I am dead to the world. Still she cautiously wrapped her saree end around her head and across her face. Behind the cotton screen, her mind drifted to happier times, languid strolls in the corn fields, games at the riverbed, his gentle caress, whispered sweet nothings, stolen glances at the temple fair.
Tempted to take one last look, she consoled herself that he wouldn’t notice. Slowly
she lifted her eyes only to find Rupak staring back at her.
She quickly glanced the other way.
‘No, this girl looks too close to be any other person. She is infact Madhu!! “Hey, Madhu!” he called.
She struggled hard not to respond to that call. And successfully managed it too.
“Hey Madhu, you forgot me?” he inquired her and came closer.
The old lady sitting opposite to him was looking at this unapprovingly.
“No, you are mistaken, My name is not Madhu.. I am Supriya” she lied.
His heart told him it was Madhu, followed her, all thoughts about going to the city vanished; he was on delighted to have met Madhu after such a long time. He was filled with memories of their time together. He finally caught up with her. Looking into her eyes he said ‘ Why Madhu? Why this to me?’
“Please dont lie to me anymore”; sounding more like the Mani he used to be ten years back when he had first met her at the Village temple, rather than the arrogant side that seemed to rule his life now. “I know it is you, nobody else but you Madhu”. Tears roll down her cheecks as she tries to remember why they ended up this way. Was it destiny or fate that they had to meet now?
As she speaks up, the train which for a while had be at a halt, slowly starts to move.
She couldn’t speak out even a word. All that was seen , tears rolling down her cheeks out of happiness.
Now,he was not in a state to loose her again .Though they didn’t speak any word ,everything was clear .Now also ,they were able to read what was running in each others mind.
He slowly held her palms into his. She couldn’t stop him though she wanted too.
For a moment ,they forgot everything.All that was felt,they want to live a new life together.
He later discovered that both were going to the same construction site for the job..
God was not fair to Rupak Mani. His life seemed to be a bouquet of forced choices. At birth, his father had to choose between Mani and his mom. During childhood Mani had to choose from school or agriculture. He chose agriculture to support his ailing father and grandparents. But he burnt the midnight oil and completed his matriculation. And at the same time he ensured prosperity of the household.
Mani was a role model to everyone in the village. He started going to the college in the nearby town for his degree. And that’s where he had met Madhu. Mani knew that Madhu (a girl from the lower-caste) would never be accepted at his home. This time he had to choose between respectability and Madhu.
Mani married Meenakshi. A traditional South Indian girl who was suggested by a friend of Mani’s father. The marriage went fine till Mani had to decide between his wife and Munni.
And now God re-introduces Madhu back into his life. With both of them heading for the same construction site, the journey ahead looked more exciting than the journey they had been through.
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Everything below the dashed line and above should be copied and pasted with every accepted tag)
This is a Story Tree and is best nurtured as follows:
1. A blogger can add only 90-100 words (not more or less) at a time
2. All previous snippets of 90-100 words need to be copied before the new set of 90-100 words are appended.
3. Each entire snippet should be linked to the respective author (and not just the first sentence or so)
4. Characters, scenes, etc. can be introduced by an author5. Bizarre twists, sci-fi, fantasy sequences are best avoided.
6. A tag must be accepted within 7 days else the branch is a dead branch
7. After appending 90-100, the Story Tree can be passed on to at most 3 bloggers.
8. If more than 1 branch leads to a blogger, s/he is free to choose any one of them but cannot mix the snippets of the individual branches.
9. The Story Tree is best left to grow than concluded
10. Please attach the image of the Story Tree below with each accepted tag (the link address can be copied and used).
I would like to tag