Under the cyber sun...

This was an interesting bit of information. Or was it? Yes, internet did make “dialogue, debate and consensus through communication” possible, but at the same time internet made information symmetry possible which may always be a good thing? I mean..terrorists checking out the exact directions on Google maps before bombing is known to happen. And as for the whole 'dialogue, debate and consensus' part...well, this here is an excellent example of that going for a toss! 

But yes, there is no denying the power of Internet (Kindly insert - With great power comes...blah blah). Being the most adaptable of the digital migrants, my generation is blessed to be witnessing these miracles unfolding before our eyes. For the digital natives to come, these miracles would be as commonplace as a telephone or TV set is to us. 

One of the most intriguing aspect of Internet, for me, has been the phenomenon of blogging. To be able to read a stranger's thoughts, ideas, stories has now become possible. Exhibitionism, the need to be appreciated by others and a sense of ownership seem to drive this phenomenon. For some, blogging is an outlet for their emotions channelized into some form of art. For others, a self-improvement project. For yet another, a way to keep in touch with their dear ones - a chance to form a far deeper connect than mindless social networking, if I may add so. But most  importantly, we like this 'my very own space under the cyber sun' . The whole 'My name, my domain, my shit-posts!' thingie.  And not to forget its free!!

So here's something I have been toying with for a past few months, which I thought I would share with my exactly 3 followers (Yes, I thank thee, each day :D) and any bonus random visitors (delurk guys!) This is part of my dissertation and I thought I would share it on my blog since its about 'blogs'.  So here is my grand idea in a easy-to-digest form: 

YT: Yours Truly
RG: Random Guy

YT: Hey dude, you blog right?

RG: Yes

YT: And you read others' blogs too?

RG :*Yawn* (Nodding)

YT: So when do you read them?

RG: When boss is busy.

YT: Ok great! So do yuo have a sort of list of blogs that you read often?

RG: Yes...come to the point now!

YT: OK,ok..sorry..so why do you visit just a few of them regularly? 

RG: 'Coz they are all my friends who coerce me to read and comment and throw a major tantrum if I dont!

YT: yeah, but you must have eventually explored a lil' and gone on to read some strangers' blogs?

RG: Well, there was this blog with a cute girl's profile pic...

YT: Not for those reasons!! Something you genuinely liked and wanted more of it!!

RG: Definitely the cute girl!!!!

YT: Aargh..I meant the content dude, ever liked any posts so much that you blog-rolled/RSS feed the blog?

RG: Oh that way!! Yes, yes..quite a few - Sidin, Parul, SwB...why even our very own Bhale!

YT: Great! So tell me...why do you like these blogs so much? Is it only the content?

RG: Man you ask a lot of questions!!

YT: (weak smile)

RG: Ok, ok...well, it was only for the content initially, but then other things came into being after that..

YT: Like??

RG: That's for you to find out - Go figure!!

Well if you managed to reach here (virtual hugs!!) you will realise that I am trying to find out the reasons for people liking a particular blog, apart from the content ofcourse. I believe that blogs over a period of time, amass some potential for future earnings (as blogs can be monetized in various ways). Lets call this 'web equity' which can be similar to 'brand equity' but for a we entity wherein a customer is willing to pay a premium for a particular brand vis-a-vis the competing brands. So if tomorrow, blogs become Pay-per-view or if the bloggers decide to publish their content in other paid forms - say a book/movie, the same audience would generate revenue for the blogger. Which means that if we identify the reasons for people liking a blog ie if we identify the 'sources of web equity' for a particular genre of blogs and improve upon it...viola! we can actually improve the web equity of a blog!! 

Oh who am I kidding, its not as simple as it sounds! I know it doesn't even sound simple, but yes, my dissertation topic it is!

Well just to support my idea - quite a few bloggers have published their first novels, Parul being one of them (Oh! She is brilliant! You have to read her blog and she is MICAn too!). Sidin is gonna follow soon. Infact, Parul's novel seems like an extension of her blog - like a brand extension, if we can say that she has established her online brand. 

So here it is!! My lil' idea - to develop a framework to identify sources of web equity.  So let me know what you think of it - bouquets and brickbats both welcome :) Thanks!!

A turn in the road.

One more bites dust. I fell for the trap and would succumb to the corporate life. Congrats to me! The offer rescued me from an even crazier jamboree called Placement week. You know the one, when we all dress the same, walk the same, talk the same and yet trying to ‘differentiate’ and sell ourselves? So have I finally arrived in life? Shete says I need some ‘self realisation’. My brain registers a big ‘’Huh?!’ but then again the man greets me with a ‘Aye marr na’ instead of ‘Hi!’ So I won’t pay much attention to him.

I need some time and space - may be a trip to Bhutan. But joining date is less than a month away. So here I go, compromising from the word go. The wish-list is made and it sits pinned to my notice board till the pay day. My first one it would be. But the future is dark.

No more bunking classes.
No more leisurely breakfasts.
No more walking it in the middle of classes.
No more late night walks.

I don’t know if I learnt much here. Definitely not much when I was doing the above things. But those were the best of times. A rewind please? Somehow going ahead is going to be painful.

The New Yahoo! - What do Y!ou think?

On 5^th October 2009, 4 major daily newspapers of the country – TheT imes of India, HT, Mint and DNA greeted us with a full page bright yellow jacket advertisement saying, ‘The Internet is under new management. Yours.’ Prime time slots on all major as well as niche television channels like Discovery, NatGeo played the Yahoo! Anthem – a minute long advertisement focused on the international spirit and interactivity of Yahoo!

Earlier this month, horizontal portal giant Yahoo! launched a global branding campaign ‘It’s Y!ou’ focusing on the user now being in charge of his internet experience through Yahoo! Personalization of homepage and other products are the ways in which Yahoo! wishes to offer superior web experience to its users. Costing them a little over $100 million, the campaign is seen as a long term transformation for Yahoo! who wishes to be at the centre of all internet-based activities for the users.

This brings out several interesting issues for discussion:

1. Conventional media – still alive and kickin’– It is interesting to see an Internet company leveraging conventional media – Print, television, radio to drive people to its website.

2. ‘Product innovation precedes the branding campaign’, so claims Yahoo! Yes, there have been several up gradations and add-ons, and the collaboration with Microsoft for the search engine Bing has been a huge step. The Homepage too has undergone a makeover, looking much sleeker, cleaner and appealing. The biggest feature that the Homepage now offers is the personalisation of content that one wishes to see on his/her homepage. There are also similar features in the other core products like mail, messenger and search (through choice of filters). But is personalization of content such a breakthrough innovation that it justifies a budget of $100 million? More so, can an entire branding strategy be based on this development in the product? In the past, iGoogle has offered similar options without so much as a ruffle.

3. Horizontal vs. Vertical portals – where are we heading?

In an age where digital immigrants are fast turning into digital natives, we all wish to become ‘specialists in information’ rather than being simply ‘well-informed’. Similarly, we tend to rely more on vertical portals for the depth and variety of content that they offer. For an avid internet user, a horizontal portal is increasingly being seen as a platform for the internet noobs to start off from. So the moot point is as the consumer preferences change as one becomes more adept with the internet, does a horizontal portal still offer us a reason to stick around? And more importantly can Yahoo! do that?

4. ‘Centre of peoples’ online lives’ is the positioning Yahoo! intends to achieve. But in current times where every digital native has 4 or more social networking ids (Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) not to mention multiple mail accounts and other personal favourite websites can one website become the centre of users’ online lives? Interestingly, even Google seems to be in the race for this coveted position. It would be exciting to watch if Yahoo! can match up to the expectations it has set for itself.

In recent times, Yahoo! has undergone a plethora of changes both in its management as well as product portfolio. Streamlining of products, identifying and communicating the role of Yahoo! in cyberspace are a few tasks carried out by the feisty CEO Carol Bartz after coming on board. Agreed, that the company has had its share of tumultuous phases and even more may come, but one would be foolish to discount Yahoo! as it gears up for the challenge of becoming the centre of people’s online lives. Not to mention, Yahoo! sites are after all, the third most visited websites on the planet!*

*Source: June 2009, comScore

To be or not to be - no, no nothing that dramatic!

Dichotomy. One moment I think about doing something I have never tried out in life and at the other the sheer amount of pending work exasperates me. How does one choose between the two? Between what needs to be done and what one wishes to do. The choice between responsibility and what pleases oneself.

For long I have postponed things that I really wanted to do. It started with simple stuff - blog posts, taking pictures, writing poems, reading a good book and it went on to form a habit, a really bad one. I postponed calling friends on their birthdays and talking to my parents for days at a stretch. On campus one tends to live in a world of bubble - a world visible to others yet so aloof that making a contact with the outsiders takes an effort. Efforts which I thought could be postponed.

How does one make a choice?? I want to make the right choice but how? There is so much going on acads-wise that I dont wish to fall behind. So much to read, to learn and so less time! But then there is this empty feeling that next months are going to be the last 6 months of my life when I will get to do what I really want to! 4 am walks around the campus, late night grub at Chota, watching movies all night and then heading for breakfast, playing badminton at absurd hours, writing silly poetry and living life my way!!

The whole 'balancing act' is sucha farce, I tell you. There is no such thing as the middle path and if there is one - then I am clearly miles away. Sigh!

Time for updates!
1. We (Siddhesh, KK and I) won the Arbit Presentations, an event at Prayaag '09, the annual B-fest of JBMIS. Yay!! The competition was tough with singing, dancing, acting and prancing around involved. (Dont ask!) Who would have thought those number-crunching Fin-majors of JB would be so good at cheeky one liners!

2. After an eventful vacation (one of the longest - almost deserves a new post) I am finally back on campus. The weather in Gujjuland is pleasantly cold. One can clearly make out the Mumbai junta with their sweatshirts and socks from the Delhi ones walking around in their shorts and skirts.

3. On the dissertation front - I managed to get the faculty I wanted as my internal and external guides. It wasn't an easy task with the moronic admin people FORGETTING to CHECK my mail and alloting guides to everyone else except me. I almost had a 'WTF!' moment but then diplomacy took over. It was good to know that politeness still works - especially when the other person is at fault! :P

Aah! So I finally manage to write one entire post without answering the question I started off with. I guess, the deadlines are hinting the answer not-so-subtly. Well, I did blog today and played baddy, hit the gym, watched a movie so now a little padhai wont do much harm.

Tada!!

Yo MICA Yo!!

So I hit the 'publish' button on the previous post, switched off the laptop and crashed on to my bed some 5 minutes back and then I remembered!! Of course I could not sleep knowing that I had forgotten to update my loyal fan base of 10 about one of the most historic events of all times!

MICA THRASHED IIM AHMEDABAD AT FOOTBALL (2-1)

Yay!! Remember you read this here first! Though we have already seen to it that tomorrow's DNA or Ahmedabad Mirror will carry a dramatic, 'will-make-you-sit-at-the-edge-of-your-seat' half-page story on the same. (Go Team Interface! ;))

Aah! First match of the season and the boys have already made me proud.

P.S: MICANs/ IIM A junta - kindly ignore the fact that we didn't win a single match last season cause as darling Celine Dion croons 'A new term has cometh!' :)

All I remember is 'Addhi haddi di nangi chudail!' :D

Its 3 am and this is when I am my widest awake.

• I won 3 baddy matches today!Yay! No the opposite team wasn't a limbu-timbu. It's just that my partner was, you know, good :)
  
• My MICARE (On-campus, students-run provision store) bill was only Rs.53 and I actually felt bad that I didn't contribute much so had two Maaza to alleviate the guilt. With a 30% sudden spike it now stands at Rs. 69 :|
  
• A case-study writing competition on which I had worked with a bunch of junees declared its result today. We didn't make it. Not because we weren't good enough but because the guy heading the competition decided to shelve our case topic on his own whim and fancy!! I mean ya, WTF!!
• Viraj was slightly mad at me for not doing things that I had promised him some time back (3 weeks back :| He sombrely reminds). I gave him a dozen excuses and prayed he will understand :D No wonder he calls me 'nalayak' :(
  
• It's Garba time in Gujjuland!! And do you know what am I doing tonight? Sitting on my bed typing out this silly post which no one except my great grand child will one day read! Hmph!
  
• Ok, let's try once again..it's Garba time in Gujjuland!! And do you know what I had for dinner? White, bland, oily rubber balls that also go around by the name Sabudana wada!! A culinary rape, to say the least. Grr..
• Ok, for the last time..it's Garba time in Gujjuland!! 'Abe stop yelling and start that Retail wala assignment due day after' ' Are you done transcripting the FGDs? chal insights likhne baith' 'Kya hua? insights nahi mile? Toh findings likh aur insights bolke thok de :P' ' Media laws & Ethics ka assignment hua?' "Fir SCM kaun uncle karega?'
  
• Sigh! So even though it's Garba time in Gujjuland..(dil pe dagad rakhke) Do I look like I care? :(
  
• Oh how could I forget? (actually one must try to.. but harrowing memories!) Yesterday a bunch of us frustrated souls went for a late night show of 'Dil Bole Hadippa!' Well let me just say - the company was good, the ambience was good and I am still wondering why the heck was Sherlyn Chopra wearing a muffler over a bikini top and hot pants? Rani - get married, have kids! It's high time. Shahid - Don't get married, you are totally drool-worthy right now.
  

Exam's in 3 days..no wait, 2 days :0
And home* in 6 days!! :)

*Home - place where Sabudana wadas are like Sabudana wadas.

There's something about him...

I saw him again tonight. He was nervous, yet smiling. His smile radiated from across the distance and I quickly forgot that I was in a foul mood. He grabbed my bowl of hakka noodles and threatened to devour it all by himself. I simply turned around and said go ahead. He was perplexed and returned it sheepishly. I smiled knowing that I am never so generous to others.

He came up to me to talk about his worries, the tension was obviously killing him. I was only too glad to be of some help. He promised that I would be the first one to know of any good result of his impending predicament. I knew then that I had been a good friend. He put a hand around me and shook me by arms. Silly boy, he doesnt know that his playfulness had won me over a long time back.

He wishes to talk more but I know I should leave. I can only be a friend and that's all can he be to me. I am happy to have him as a friend and can't complicate things in either of our lives. Sometimes it's only fair to keep it simple.

I think of that special someone he has back home and curiously I feel no animosity towards her. How could anyone not like him? But then she was the blessed one and so was he to have her.

But I cant leave without telling him of all that he has meant to me. Someday I will tell but today's not the time. Let me be the friend that he needs right now. Let me be the support that he seeks. Not because I want him to like me. Not because of what I want him to think..may be because I need a friend too. Yes, just a friend in my life. That's all.

Gunda..no, not the movie!

Yesterday the happiest moment in the day came at 4.25 am. The Chandni junta (if awake) must have thought I am seriously demented to laugh my head off in the dead silence of the wee hours. All this over one pic of a 'gunda'.

If the above lines don't make any sense, well they aren't supposed to. Thanks Abhijit. You know you were my best friend once...and now I know why :)

*****

Ever since 2nd year has started, I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that my MICA days have remained largely un-jotted. Apart from the few idle evenings, Mathew movies and random bakwaas nothing is recorded :( Memories are fading fast! Need to hold on to them...coz there is nothing worse than forgetting about a good time you once had!

Chandni Raatein!

(This post was written a month back but forgot to publish. It's an insane one, mind you - one of my random moods when the lukkhi in me had taken charge. I still don't believe I am about to publish this.)

No, I am not into corny blue films, as yet! It was either this or 'O meri Chandni'. You take the pick!

So finally landed at my latest haven - Room # 16, Hostel - Chandni, MICA, yesterday. I loved my earlier room a lot - everything was just perfect about # 5, Parijat...the location, the view, the furniture arrangement, the storage space, even the position of the electric switch.

This new place is amazing as well. My own room! No one to share it with..ALL MINE :D :D :D Okay enough gloating . No wait, did I mention it is the biggest room on the floor! Just my luck :) The room is spacious to say the least..not like those crammed hostels in the otherwise thik-thak college in Mumbai I once visited to meet a friend..what was that again? IID..no wait IIT, I think. Wateverr :D

Its a first floor corner room - the door well hidden behind the pillar. Privacy you see. You open the door and a neat and tidy room greets you warmly. The colour scheme is yellow-green-orange with a touch of purple.

Books (by the virtue of being seldom handled) are arranged neatly on a black rack and a green-yellow dari (carpet) on the floor reminding me of home.


To add just the right touch, a yellow sitting cushion!...for those idle mornings and lazy afternoon reading sessions.


For the more demanding times (say one night before the exam) there is this study table with just the right number of table-top show pieces - 3. A clock, a mug for stationery and one Ganpati bappa (He had to come along...exams jo paas karni hai).


And then there is this one piece of furniture where I shall be spending 91.472% of my non-lecture time - the bed! With a green-n-yellow bedsheet with yellow-n-white cushions. Call me crazy, but I brought along all 'wonly yellow-worange' bedsheets with me!! O wait! The bestest part...my oh-so-lovely curtains! Green..very chic and soothing.


There is this huge tree just outside my window (all 11th/12th botany gone waste..i failed to identify the damn tree!) and a path that leads to the mess on one hand (how strategic) and the classrooms (tragically, how strategic again) on the other.

So what do you think? Kya meri room aapki room say behtar hai? Just say so darlings and be my life-long friend (Did that just sound very cheap?)

So let me end this really insane post on a slightly senti note (blog ke TRPs* badhane ke liye kya kya karna padta hai!!). An ode to #16, Chandni - for the great times we shall share!

For the times we spend, in the times to come
Moments that are happy and sad are some
This heart and mind may wander and roam
When comes the night, it will find a way home
So cheers to you and a cheers to me
My heart will always be where you shall be :)

Aah! Enuff said..the bed looks gloomy, I think its yearning for my company ;)
Tada!!

1. * @ aagau Media majors at MICA, mala mahitiye blog la TRPs*** nastat, ugaach akaleche taare todu naka**
2. ** - Mala mahitiye ha Dighe madam cha dialogue aahe. Mi ithe tyala credit detey. Sue karaycha vichar tala.
3. *** BTW, fyi, Blog la Page Views and Unique Users astat - Sessions ani Time spent per session pan astat^
4. ^ - Hyala VDCP mhantat, VDCP = Virtual DCP^^
5. ^^ - Aata hey atti hotay. Somebody stop me :D

Religion is flawed only because man is flawed.

I spent two of my best hours today watching 'Angels & Demons' ...the experience still giving me goose bumps as I write this...



The age-old debate of Science vs. Religion.

How do you explain the existence of one to another?

How to explain the co-existence of both? And for how long ??

As the mysteries of one century become the logic of the next - one may say it’s a losing battle for Religion but then look around you...the faith in the Faith is stronger than ever!!

Karl Marx wondered (and wondered aloud) if religion was opium of the masses...which may have led few of us to question the need for religion. Isn't the world a much simpler place to live? When all the phenomena stand perfectly rationalized? When the miracles of old world are nothing but scientific wonders waiting to be discovered? And then why do we need the religion to sedate us, delude us providing illusions of an existence that life certainly isn't! Isn't science just the perfect answer for the rationalists amongst us? Almost like an antidote for religion, isn't it?



But then how do you explain the faith? ..the belief that ran across the world for centuries in one form or other. Yes, blaming the Pope and his Vatican running like a smoothly functioning corporation selling us hope, faith, peace and respect towards that one Big Guy sitting up there; is a very tempting option. But then is religion nothing more than the biggest con job that mankind ever faced?



In the closing scene of ‘Angels & Demons’, Cardinal Saverio Mortati says something so profound that it almost explains the age-old fallacies of religion. Almost. He says, 'Religion is flawed only because man is flawed.'

Religion and Science. Yes, both are outcomes of Man's imagination and creativity. Both man-made; yet so different - one appeals to the heart and the other to the mind. It’s up to us to choose - heart over mind or mind over heart. Religion has made blunders in the past - the propagators of religion can almost share a bench with Hitler in hell for their atrocities and impositions. We still pay for it and would continue to do so for ages to come. But science functions no better. Its blunders are going to be the blunders of mankind in the future.



And may be..just may be..when man is tired of science one day - he will look back and seek solace in religion as we do now seeking solace in science from the misgivings of religion. Is this why they are meant to co-exist? To offer man some respite when he has had enough of the other? Well, who knows..Maybe.



When Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opium of masses," one might wonder if he was asking us wean ourselves from it. May be not! For a man who learnt from the sufferings of others - maybe he found the key to the existence and sustenance of religion. May be he found a reason for religion in man's life. In the full context his words were:

“Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.” (Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.)

How difficult this mortal human life would be if not for the illusory happiness that Marx talks about! How would life be if all things stood perfectly well explained and rationalized! ‘The Logic’ would then be our God and we all devoid of any hope or fear. (On second thoughts – Why does mankind always need someone/something to look up to? We remove God and replace it by Logic but the truth remains we replace it. But then again, it’s a better place to be – the last time one race made the others look up to it – it nearly wiped out the ‘others’!)

So are we saying that a flawed religion is better than none at all? Of course, it would be same as a flawed science (we are moving towards it) better than none at all. And since the situation of perfect religion and perfect science (just like a perfect competition) almost never exists..man has to make do with one of them...leaving the choice either to himself or going with the flow as per the societal context of his time and place.

Phew! That’s a lot of unanswered questions! But may be the point is to question rather than a muted acceptance! And yes, like all man-made creations – religion and science included, one needs to accept their flaws instead of overlooking them.

To quote Karl Marx again – ‘Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand.’

Maa kasam!

So it finally rained in the lands of Modi!
and yes, motherhood beckons!

Before you raise your hairy eyebrows..lemme explain.
At MICA, we have this tradition that the junior who occupies your 1st year's room, becomes your Room-Beta/Beti which effectively makes the senior his/her Room Baap/Maa. Its an unsaid, unspoken version of Mentor-mentee but yes, much more fun than the formal protocol.

So for every tuccha (senior) there is a faccha (junior) who is his/her baccha! :D

This new on-campus relation is very sweet. During the notorious 'culturization', Room-parents take their kiddos' unlimited case and the kiddo has to run around the campus deciphering his new-found family tree. So if I have a brother on campus he becomes the Room Mama and a boyfriend - then the Room Baap. My best friend - the torturous Room Maasi and so on and so forth...

On the surface this may seem a lil' frivolous, even childish. But it isnt either. A junie - say a fresher, first time away from home, away from friends and family in a faraway place can get easily lost in the crowds. First year brings with it a wave of insecurities and self-doubt. In such times, it feels nice to have someone keeping an eye on you. The assignments, groupisms, grade-cuts and occasional incidents of being thrown out of class can get to you. The insane company rankings (they never matter!), summer placements and wrath of professors can drive anyone to the verge of insanity. Add to this, that we stay on a campus far away from civilisation and see the same 300 people every single day!! Phew!

So you do need someone...apart from your batchmates - whom you can crib and complain about the workload, bitch about your batchmates and go running for notes one night before the exams.

My room-ma was the non-interefering kind. A sweet soul who always inquired how things were with me. I wish I had known her better but yeah, she was known to be a bit of a loner.
I hope I am good to my room beti. I have already ragged the poor thing during the 'interaction' and made her run all over the campus during the Treasure Hunt, but she took the whole thing so sportingly! It felt nice that she tagged along with me introducing me as her Room ma..it just felt so nice that Parijat Paanch is now in safe hands. I hope that place showers her with same love, warmth and homeliness that I got from it...moreso, wonderful memories to last a lifetime and a legacy to pass on to someonelse...

I cant put it any better than this - (which btw, was written on the ceiling of Chandni Chaar - my favourite senior Bhatter's room)

They were the worst of times;
They were the best of times.