Oh!

Oops.

The Network

 

   Twitter, Facebook, Google+, WordPress, Tumblr and more! How do people manage this stuff? Always replies, always mentions, always tags, always comments. Some people go the route where they act as an information distributor, posting things but never really coming back to interact, and I don’t really like that. I figure if you’re going to be using a social network, you might as well, I dunno, be social. There’s also the fact that if you’re using social networks to promote yourself or what have you, it’d be nice to interact with people who follow you so you don’t come off as some faceless billboard. Who knows? You might make some friends along the way. I know I have.

  But sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of all these things. I remember back when I first got internet, the concept of email was so fascinating that I signed up to random email lists just so I could gasp at the new mail notification. What could it be? What’s inside? It’s a secret! I loved that moment where I couldn’t wait to load the single email I had gotten that week.

   I know, I know. The best way to avoid dealing with all the social network nonsense in the first place. ‘I don’t even have a Facebook,’ some proudly proclaim. And I genuinely think that’s cool. But I thrive on the social aspect of things, especially since I’m no longer going to school or a place where I can see these people every day. There’s also the fact that having an internet presence is beneficial to getting my name out there, something that’s helpful if I ever want to sell more than one copy of my books. A lot of people are trying to accomplish things like promote their art, band, whatever, and social networks help. It’s not just a promotion tool, but in this age, it’s kind of a must (but if you’re using a network just to promote yourself and ignoring everyone, I think you’re doing it wrong).

Things Creative Souls do apart from writing

   I have been on a blog-reading and tweeting spree lately. Of course, I should have been writing this blog(of late, this has been a neglected space), and exercising my creative juices.

    Point is, I have been doing the otherwise. And here I am, back to 'Ad new post.' So I decided to share this graphic, regarding the things that actually distract the Creative souls from doing their work.

   

The funny side of SEO

   Spam emails often make their way into the inbox. And mostly succeed in providing me the laugh of the day. Ones that advertise “search engine optimization” are one of my personal favorites. What exactly IS search engine optimization? Google will provide you with numerous interesting results, however I thought I would come up with a short (yet not complete) list of the funny side of SEO:
 
  
SEO is:

• A complete scam
• A common subject of spam WordPress comments.
• A common subject of robot Twitter accounts
• A common subject of spam emails
• Not taken seriously by anyone
• A way to make your “firm” look like it actually does something
• A often hilarious gimmick

      Above all, SEO < Nigerian fax scam.
      Have your fill of the laugh! 

Thursday Challenge "STAIRS" (Straight, Spiral, Indoor, Outdoor, Fire Escape,...)

 Here's a shot I took a while ago. Submitting it for Thursday Challenge "STAIRS" (Straight, Spiral, Indoor, Outdoor, Fire Escape,...)

  This was taken at Tihar Jail, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.

Make your computer speak whatever you type

Hi there, just want to share this trick to all of you. This trick enables your computer to speak whatever you enter in the textbox, it’s also fun hearing how your computer pronounced the words. You can also use this trick to amaze your friends.
This trick will work on all Microsoft Windows operating system (i’m using windows 7). This trick is really simple all you have to do is follow 3 simple steps below:

  

1. Open Notepad

Open notepad, copy the code below and paste it in notepad.

Dim message, sapi
message=InputBox("What do you want me to say?","Speak to Me")
Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
sapi.Speak message

        2. Save the file with name speak.vbs at your desktop.

  

3. Execute / Run speak.vbs

   Hope you enjoyed the trick!

   

The Genuine humor

    How do people write truly humorous stuff? I might add that I laugh quite easily, but still, you could make my humor count.

   I have always believed that humor should be taken in a pure and fun form. And for me, it's like the greatest gift from God. One needs to laugh, because it never hurts. Of course, I have come across a lot of people who have mastered the skill of creating quality-class humor.

    Nothing is as enchanting as good humor. What is brings forth is golden laughter, something that has to be cherished.

     I feel awed by people who have this ability to create infectious humor.

Reading News

    I was reading the news the other day. And I'm angry at myself for doing so.Big mistake. I generally don't find myself clicking on certain headlines. You know right? That kinda headline, which keeps you hooked. Do I really care about the gossip of a celebrity? No. Do I want to know how many people are dying in other countries around the world at the hands of other humans? No. Do I want to hear every sad tale about murders and car wrecks? No.

    This, my friends, is the sorry state of the news media these days. They ain't evolving. I choose to be a leader of the new evolution….note, I did not say revolution.

    

Damn it, mosquitoes

    Darn it, I can't stay here any moment longer. Oh, these mosquitoes!

     They move fro like professional long jumpers and successfully enter my abode. At this point, you're probably thinking that my 'abode' is near the pond. No, it isn't. And the irony is that, just like the FBI, they collect information too. Yes, with intelligence agencies.  When I was sitting on my chair, staring at the computer screen, they tried to place themselves on my body, and I heard something like Frmmm....Frmmm.

     I tried moving in a different direction too, but it followed me wherever I went. In short, it stuck to me. Just like a parasite. And soon enough, the mosquito revealed the eagerness to suck tasty blood.

      By now, a rage caught me and I was in damage mode. I wanted to rip apart their fluttering wings and if their dead body could have been of any use to the ants.

      I immediately bought a mosquito coil; and thus, I have finished my post. Their sound never to be heard again. At least, for now. 

Mr.Humble

    I'm sure you too accept your own labels, keeping in mind certain self-accepted notions. Some might by imposed by others too. People's ideas as to who we are. And while some of these imposed-ideas could be permissible, some are flat-out.

   I ask all this because I contemplate on this daily. Some people refer to me as 'Giver of Sarcasm.' Not that I reject it, but I honestly don't prefer embracing mockery. Yes, it might be of my most obvious(say, 95%) traits, but at other times, I want to be kind too.

   The reason I started these thoughts into my mind is that I've stepped into another role; a new label.  Blogger-and writer. For one, I truly admire words.

    There is something distinctively magical I find in all words. The way they evoke emotions, thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions. At least, the only such other thing in life is music. At least to me.

    Words. Are. Powerful. And putting them down isn't a job to be taken lightly either.  In most cases, I mean.
   
    And yes, even as I let my keyboard loose while putting down these thoughts, I'm marveling at the significance of words. 

Addicting

    I love fiction. I love stories. In fact, I get a buzz from it. Reading it, watching it, and thinking about it. All this came can come even from a 30 second advertisement.  I mean, I feel in a foggy state whenever I finish a great movie or a book. And after one book or movie, I just want MORE.
 
   So, as mechanical and silly as it seems, I try to pace myself.  I reward myself with bits of fiction for doing the things I know I should be doing.  Twenty minutes of getting ready for the day followed by one song.  Ten minutes of work before I check my blog stats.   When I do this, I am actually happier because I’m getting the real work done and I can enjoy the fun without guilt.
   
   

The April Fool's Day

  Was getting bored last night..So I did what I do best: Log on to Blogger and Twitter at the same time, and hope that sleep would find me soon.

   And it turned out it was April Fool's day..not telling 'whatever it means.' I mean, I've never found the origin of this day.

   And my timeline and Home were flooded with people's desperate attempts to crack a prank on friends. It was quite funny, and satirical at the same time.

   I too joined the race. I tried playing a prank on my Twituniverse friend..but it turned out my friend was well versed with April Fool's Day.

    I miss the good old days when every prank was supposed to be epic.

    This day is trully foolish.

    So I woke up this morning and quite paranoid about everything. Don't expect me to take to pranks lightly.

    So how the day for you people? Hope you made a good prank. Or did you end up being the fool yourself?

That rectangle shape

     That awkward thing you have to do to get the blanket in the right way.
  
       During my childhood, I fondly remember, I found it strange that there was a shoe specifically designed for each foot. Why couldn't the left shoe fit on the right foot?  Gradually, I started thinking about other things too. And realised that many things don't make sense.

       For one, beds are usually shaped like rectangles. Why must sheets and blankets be shaped this way too? Maybe it looks better? But I guess blanket designers need to keep in mind he benefit of the person, not the bed.

       Suppose it's a cold night and wake up feeling cold in your legs. You try to cover the whole body by adjusting the blanket over your legs. Now you do a kick-thing to get it the correct way. So why can't have be square-shaped or even circular blankets? It would be worth it.

       

The online life

  Isn't it kind of passe that one wants to spend the whole life on the Internet these days- Facebook, Twitter, and the other army of social networking sites that get updated every second by people. And guess what, people lap it up too.
 
    I don't understand the way people think their lives are historical, that they share every single moment of it; most of them useless updates to be frank. What, are they waiting for some historian to look up their electronic diary?

   Well, I guess it's the will to communicate.

    I like the way people present a specific though, opinion or idea in the form of a tweet or a blog post, as long as its sane enough to be read. That said, I have read some wonderful things on the net as well as some bad things. It all, comes down to the writing.

   Finally, I hope this ain't something hat hard-hitting. No, I haven't intended it to be. Just the fuelled ramblings of a man.
 
   

Dissatisfied

   I guess I haven't really enjoyed a book since the last two months. I read this somewhere: "When was the last goo book you read?" My answer to this would be Stones of Fire. Then on, most books have been average or not as fulfilling as I expected them to be.
   There are various of books on my shelf I want to read, but yet not doing so most of them would involve catching up on the previous story, so that my memory in that context is refreshed and I can fairly judge the story.
   I want to feel attached to the books I read. I want the plots to be as immersible as possible, and I want to care for the characters and want to lose myself in the story.
   The book worm is calm. At least till then. 

CyberCensorship

After browsing through Reddit for a few hours, I came across this though-provoking picture, quite relevant in today's context.

AfAf

After my death, please post this on Facebook

I am dead.:-)

Have you ever thought about what would happen to your Facebook page after you die? While researching about algorithms used by Facebook, I came across an app “If I Die”. This app enables the user to upload a post or video that will be published post mortem. The death has to be confirmed by 3 trustee friends named by the user when he uploads this message.


If you think about it, the idea for this app is not revolutionary or even new. They are simply making use of social media to publish the final message to a larger audience. The mediums used by If I Die, like video and text, have been around for a long time.
What other purpose could a final message via Facebook serve? I can think of one. Many people have hundreds of friends on Facebook, who only connect online. For these people, a last message would spread the information that the profile owner is dead. How else are they to learn about the death, without someone informing them via Facebook? Who better to do it then the owner of the profile themselves? After all, the close family and friends are probably busy mourning.

Would I use this app? At this point in time, I would have to reply with a negative. I have no secrets or vendettas I want to air after my death. Furthermore I tell those I care about that I love them, while I am still alive. I do not see the need to do it after my death.

Are you interested in or already using this app? What were the motivating factors for you to do it?

Contrast

  Took this photo while a couple of friends were racking their heads at chess.

 

   

Stats

    Search engines are odd things sometimes. I logged on this evening to read a comment by someone who actually comments (I really do appreciate that), and saw an odd blip in my stat-o-meter. More people had viewed my blog in an hour, than during the previous five or so days combined. I clicked for more info (isn’t it amazing that even lazy non-programmers can do things like this, and for free, too?); they were mostly from the United Arab Emirates and interested in Palmyra. Apparently the town is under siege in the sort of civil war thing that’s going on? I didn’t know that before. Well… I’m sorry to hear that (and, in retrospect, not so very surprised, since that was where they said the people in the area had moved to and set up camp when at war with the French). The things one can learn from following odd stats pattern on their blogs…

The World seriously needs a Superman

 

The very idea of having a Superman to save the world may be Utopian. Hence, it becomes a bit difficult to judge the reason for having him. And it becomes even more difficult to answer ‘why we need him?’.

But for once, only once, lets try and think that Superman is real.
That there really is a person out there, wearing a blue-red attire with his ‘S’ signature, who flies high in the infinite, tearing the wind with his whetted, muscular body. A man who has the extra-ordinary power of resisting anything. A not-so-ordinary man who, with his powers, can rotate the earth in the opposite direction just so that he can bring things back to normal. Go to the past, and change it. The bullet when hits his eyes, turns into a mere metal plate, worth nothing.
Fascinating but, unreal. Imaginary.

But, a Superman need not look and be the same for all. He need not have the power to stop a plane from crashing neither does he need to have the power to swiftly cut the wind to reach the little but huge globe falling, due to the earthquake, to save a hundred lives.





Your Superman, need save only YOUR life. And when every person has their own Superman, we’re all gonna be safe. We’re all gonna be loved by him and he’ll be loved by us.



My Superman doesn’t have the power to turn the globe around in order to change the bad of the past. But, I know that he HAS the ability to pull me out of the fast running stream while I’m drowning; help me escape a building that has caught fire; and protect me from almost every evil on this earth, without even thinking about his own life.

My Superman is my Dad. And I have complete and utter faith in him. I know that he’ll rescue me each time I’m in trouble.

I’m sure everyone of us have their own Superman. We only need to trust him and realise his value

So, who’s your Superman?

Book Review- only Time will Tell by Jefrey Archer

 Archer’s latest novel is the first part of a generational trilogy centering on Harry Clifton in the gritty city of Bristol, England. His father goes mysteriously missing one day, leaving Harry in the care of his mother, grandparents and drunken Uncle Stan who, like Harry’s father, works on the docks. Only time will tell if Harry will better his lot in life? Fortunately for him, a host of guardian angels hovers — a choir mistress, a generous and forgiving teacher, a considerate prep school master and an eccentric outcast who lives in an abandoned railroad car — doling out words of wisdom.
Blessed with a heavenly singing voice, Harry is accepted to the nose-in-the-air St. Bede’s school. Think Charles Dickens meets Jane Austen. Only time will tell . . . if Harry will be accepted and eventually successful? Thanks to his new best friends and his own “cleverness” at academics, he is, on both accounts.
But here he meets the first villain: Mr. Barrington, his best friend’s father, his mother’s first lover and the boss who had a role in Harry’s dad’s disappearance.
Harry is a caricature in a cast straight from central casting. Despite his ghetto background, everything Harry touches turns to gold. Even when he learns his mother is turning tricks to pay for his education, he loves her even more. In British fashion, the story is driven by the white lies they tell. Heaven forfend the truth be told fully for fear it will offend someone.
And even when the truth comes out (Harry learns he may be the first-born son of the evil Mr. Barrington and heir to his vast estate), secrets remain.
Harry runs away to spare his friends and family from harmful truths and winds up in New York, where his story will continue.
Will that be enough to drive two sequels? Only time will tell.

Fun with telemarketers

“Hello, this is – “

“IS THAT YOU?” (sounding excited).  “I’ve been waiting so long for your call.  I got the body chopped up and stuffed in the bag like you told me – now what?”

Wait for the long silence.

Then have fun with them.  Try to convince them they need to help you hide this body. Give suggestions (“There’s a swamp nearby,” you can say kinda thoughtfully.”).  When things get too serious – or they are suggesting you call the cops, tell them: “But it’s one of THEM!  He told me to do it.”  Make up some story about blackmail from a county commissioner; or that you did a ‘hired hit’ – not as a professional – and now you got this body. In a bag.

Or do what my mom did:

“OH MY GOD!” She cried.  “HOW CAN YOU CALL ME AT A TIME LIKE THIS!  MY HUSBAND JUST DIED!  HE’S LAYING ON THE FLOOR RIGHT THERE!  THE AMBULANCE HASN’T EVEN COME!”  And then go into a screaming crying raging fit, trying to elicit as much sympathy – and instill as much guilt for calling her at this time – as humanly possible.

And then you can take it two ways.
1) Ask them if they are selling a life insurance policy. You need one now that your husband died.  And yeah – you wanna take it out on him.  (You can even play the ‘blame game’ – claim you were doing CPR and stopped to take the call, thinking it was the ambulance – and now HE’S DEAD! (cry).
2) Suddenly stop, and in a casual way, become interested in buying their product – whatever it is they’re selling.

and then there’s this one:

“shhhh!” you say quietly the moment you realize who it is.  “There’s a man/stranger in my house. I think he wants to kill me.”  And then go on to tell the telemarketer she/he needs to call 911 – and no, you won’t hang up, you want someone to talk to while this is going on – and occasionally stop to say ‘hush!’ while pretending to listen around.  Then somewhere along the line (before things get TOO serious) – SHRIEK! (real loud, right into the phone) – scream, bang the phone on the counter or floor (but not TOO hard – it’s easy to ‘get into the moment’ and get into the role of this kind of thing – but you don’t wanna be buying a new phone as a result.  That is NOT too funny.)

Then you can either:
a) long silence.  Then do a man’s heavy breathing into the phone. Then hang up.
b) Just let the phone lay around until THEY hang up.

Then be prepared to handle the cops.

Remember: Denial is everything. You don’t know what they are talking about; it must be somebody playing a prank.  Deny, deny, deny.  Give a soft laugh.  Encourage them ‘in’.  If they’ve found ‘evidence’ (e.g. a phone record) – it must be a wrong number.

Liar liar pants on fire, he’s the one who runs as a free man. 

Have fun with them.  I do.  Nothing better on a cloudy rainy day . . . when ‘they’ make the mistake of calling me – and I decide to have some evil fun. (evil grin!)

’nuff said.

“Breaking News”- Is it really BREAKING?

 

BREAKING NEWS!!! What comes to your mind when you hear these two words? These are not just words but Powerful Words because the moment we hear them our eyes, ears & mind are all focused towards “What is it NOW”. Just like a coin has two sides, these two words also have inverse effect. Thanks to our Indian Television News Channels that managed to completely change the sense of these words. Today every other news is a BREAKING NEWS. Be it a “celebrity buzz” or Train accident – Both are shown on same platform and with equal importance.

So friends, the so called latest BREAKING NEWS is Actor Saif Ali Khan arrested for assault. Even your favorite English Channel is airing it under BREAKING NEWS section.

It was so surprising to see almost all news channels showing this as Breaking News. Reporters were asking the camera man to show the fans who had been waiting to see the star at the police station. The irony was that in current scenario when we have a burning issue about NCTC (National Counter Terrorism Centre) where at least 13 chief ministers voicing concerns over, don’t this powerful media need to focus on the REAL news. Don’t worry, we will not be getting into any political debate, but the point is should Media be selling “What is just another entertainment “or news on burning issues “Which is actually a BREAKING NEWS”.

But the surprising aspect is that such news over powers the real news that is important to the nation. Do you think the news channels should be wise while flashing the word “Breaking News” in their respective channels?? Or do you think they should have the liberty to sell anything and everything as news?

Remember- “Media is one the strongest tool India has which can change Lives which has the power to change Nation”.

As Spiderman once said “With great power comes great responsibility”. Hope the media also understands their responsibility while using their power.

The Strange Names Celebrities Give Their Kids

       There seems to be a long-standing tradition among some celebrities to give their children unusual and, sometimes, truly bizarre names. Rapper, Jay Z, and his wildly popular Pop singing sensation, Beyoncé, christened their newborn daughter Ivy Blue. In fact, the music world power couple are in the process of securing a trademark on the little tyke’s name in case they want to release lines of merchandise bearing the infant’s handle

        And while Ivy Blue may seem a bit peculiar, it actually sounds downright normal compared to the names other celebs have chosen for their youngsters.
  .
 

Why we need a National Year of Reading more than a Year of Writing

 

“Nearly half the population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work."



This sobering quote comes from the website devoted to the 2012 National Year of Reading officially launched on February 14. The website is here http://www.love2read.org.au/about-us.cfm




Unless we have readers, writers have no one to write for. I believe writing – like all communication – needs a sender and a receiver. Until the writing (the message) is received/read by a reader, the transaction isn’t complete.




I can very well recall, that, in my very young days, reading books was never seen as a waste of time. It was our entertainment. It was also education but we didn’t know that then. Reading was just fun.




As a reader, my only hope is this culture continues.

The Chinese New Year

When I discovered that the Chinese New Year begins on January 23rd, the first thought that popped into my head was, “Whoa! Another new year, another chance for a do-over!” The second was, “We should go out for a Chinese dinner." The third was, “Oh wow! I should check out my Chinese Horoscope." Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t even checked my horoscope for 2012.


The fascination for astrology had started way back in 6th grade. I would flip magazines and newspapers for my dose of daily fate. But soon, the interest waned.


It's back. After googling Gemini 2012 forecast, I found tat the first and most reliable would be Ask Ganesha, a forecast provider.


The report was not bad: http://www.askganesha.com/gemini/gemini-daily-horoscope.asp





By the way, Happy Chinese New Year 2012!

Kapil Sibal and his censorship; Dear, Keep it Sibal, Silly.

 

   #IdiotSibal is back. Yes, such hashtags have been doing their daily rounds. Earlier this week, Kapil Sibal, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology expressed his desire to web services like Facebook and Google to pre-screen material that may be considered offensive, inflammatory and/or defamatory. He examples he showed the services, included a Facebook page where Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were not portrayed in a very good light, as well as examples of religious intolerance on the social networks. Facebook and Google already have facilities in place to report offensive content and removal of offensive content. However, setting up a human task force to pre-screen content and ensure its removal is a task too big for the tech giants. For one, the amount of content that Indian web users produce on a daily basis is far too much for the services to possibly screen. The other problem is that their employees cannot be held responsible for deciding which content is offensive and which isn’t.

   The two giants, Facebook and Google, have been silent on the matter. Thanks for that.

    I guess it's time to dish out real fast at Sibal now. So it's screening content after it's uploaded now. Been getting objectionable dreams about Sibal these days. He is never quiet. According to media reports, Sibal met top executives of companies like Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and told them to find a way of screening and thus preventing disparaging comments or imagery about himself or his ilk from appearing on the internet. (Normally what happens is they first appear, then some idiot takes offence, and they are taken off.)

   But the executives let him down. They told him pre-censorship was impossible because Facebook has 25 million users in India, and Google, 100 million. Anyway, why can't he get a life, and solve what really are problems and which also happens to be your job. Not gagging netizens! Henceforth all song lyrics containing sonia/soniye will be banned! Live, up Sibal! That's my advice to you.

   PS: Do check out this picture below:

Aakash (Okay, Ublislate 7)- miracle or bitter?

   I know I've watched the video of Kapil Sibal gleefully raising his hand to unveil the Aakash, or Ubislate 7, the world's cheapest tablet and computing device.

   But after the watching the video every time, it was not difficult to as one question: who gave the HRD this brilliant idea as to name a tablet computer on a high profile surface-to-air missile which cost the government tens of thousands of crores? That apart, Aakash(yeah, I'd prefer to call it that way), raises quite a lot of questions.


  When Kapil Sibal distributed 1.750 tablets to hundreds of schools, he made a huge promise: to put India's digital natives; he put us on the information superhighway.

   If one closely watches and follows the tech world, it is easy to understand that the introduction of cheaper tablets, gadgets and gizmos always becomes the talk of the day. And Aakash is no different.

   It's a promising device- a resistive touchscreen, an SD card slot fitted with a 2GB card and supporting up to 32GB capacities, two USB ports, Wi-Fi, video conferencing, 3-hour battery life, 600MHz processor, 256MB RAM and Android 2.2 - are enough to dazzle the India on the wrong side of the digital divide.

   "This is for all of you who are dis empowered. This is for all of you who have no access. This is for all those who are marginalized," Sibal said at the launch as eager applause followed. "Our goal was to break the price barrier for computing and internet access," he said. "The Aakash is proudly made in India, and is destined to revolutionize computing and internet access for the world."

   No doubt, India has beaten the world in creating the world's cheapest tablet. No doubt, Aakash has the potential of being a game-changer as it can empower India's poor - just the way the PC did in the 1980s in the West.

   WE have also, often seen the demise of cheap laptops and tablets. Okay, let s not go into bitter nostalgia. But the potential of a gadget must not be confused with performance. The government has thrown open a lot of claims, and in this case, let's call it, possibilities to this Tech world, but that's not the end of it.

  With just a three hour battery life, recharging would become the order of the day; it would practically mean plugging the device into the charger all day. With just 1 GB of memory, most of the content would have to be cloud-based, and this would again add to the burden of Wi-fi costs. No thought has been given to this issue. Among the emerging economies, India has the worst per capita power consumption. There are thousands of schools without electricity. How will the students recharge their tablets," says an official in the ministry of science and technology. You just can't dump technology on rural communities and hope it will work.

  There has been a lot of hype around the launch of Aakash, leading to a lot of questions left out unanswered. In 2002, The government had the laughable "Sakshat" pendrives. There was another failed project called the 'Simputer.' My only hope is that Aakash doesn't land up in that Hall. With a little more thought to it, Aakash has a long way to go. For that, the government has to make it more than a deadly missile.

Acronyms and Acrimony

    In one of Chetan Bhagat's more readable novels, 2 States, the protagonist Krish Malhotra is on board to a marriage hall named Arulmigu Kapaeleeswar Thirumana Mandapam, and has almost 50 letters to it. He struggles on the streets and finally reaches the venue, based in Chennai, thanks to the locals. Guess what, the locals to called it AKKT Mandapam.
    
   It seems Tamilians love to keep complicated names but in the end clutter it up and simplify them...

   2 States was published in 2009. Today, look across any daily, newspaper, magazine or news source and you find dozens of bizarre acronyms, ready to take you back to your brainy part. It's not only the choultries, chatrams, but also the politicians like MGR or NTR.

   And yes, how do you explain the reference to NaMo as Narendra Modi? NaMo(meaning 'bow down') sounds more like the Tatas' Nano car, whose main plant was shifted to Gujarat following agitation against it in West Bengal. Why, I wondered, to keep a short name for a person who has name with twelve fine letters in it?

   Is it to avoid confusion with similiar Former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi, who keeps appearing in the news for being controversial in cricket matters? Or is it a sign of Indian political unity to assign abbrievations?

    Acronyms are always preferable to acrimony!

Surreality