A Poem on Suicide

Some time back a girl I knew committed suicide (I am not telling you the reason why). The news came as an absolute shock to me as I never thought that she will take such a drastic step. I got very disturbed when I was told that she died due to overdose of sleeping pills. Various thoughts started crossing my mind. I started remembering some old moments I had with her. Although I didn’t know her well enough, I can say that she was a very kind lady. So I had that saddening feeling somewhere deep inside me. For the next few days, I used to think of her and her family. I was wondering how sad her family would be. Yeah! I could only wonder how sad they would be. Only her family would know how painful it is to lose someone so dear.

One morning while I was using my laptop, all of a sudden I started thinking of her again and about her family too. I was visualizing stuffs and my sentiments rose so high that I knew it was time to pen it down (or type it down as I was using my computer). I opened up Word and started typing…. Following is what I typed while thinking of the girl and her family. The poem is not based upon her but is actually based upon “repentance after suicide”. I’m not saying much as I want you all to figure it out yourself.

Nothing could really bring me a pleasure

I traveled great oceans, I traveled great lands,

I hiked tall mountains, and sailed great seas,

But nothing could really bring me a pleasure -

Animals, birds, or lush green trees.

I wandered through the dense forests so wild,

I roamed through the cities' streets;

But nothing could really bring me a pleasure -

People, houses, or drummers' beats.

I entered my home, to meet my mother,

My father, and sleep in my suite,

But nothing could really bring me a pleasure -

My crying parents, or my silky bed sheet.

I could see them, but they see me not,

I could hear them, but they hear me not;

Nothing could really bring me a pleasure -

My helplessness, or my nostalgic thought.

I loathe that day when I jumped off the cliff,

And plunged deep into the sea beneath,

Nothing could really bring me a pleasure -

My death, my casket or the beautiful wreath.

More to follow on this topic.

Pain… Is it really painful?

The other day I was having a painful conversation with my friend. No, not literally "painful" but a conversation about living life with pain. I told him how boring life would be if we didn’t suffer pain. He nodded his head in agreement. Pain is one of the many feelings that we human beings have and a deficiency in it, just like in any one of the feelings, will make us feel so incomplete. I agree nobody like suffering from pain but just think how boring life would be if we didn’t feel pain.

“Pain is not just a feeling; it is an emotion, a very strong one.” – Tariq Akhtar

Imagine this… you are crossing the road, a speeding car comes by and knock you down. You lay there with fractured bones and a smile on your face. Yes, a smile on your face! Because there’s no pain, so no point of crying out with ‘pain’. Or imagine this… you are playing a game of soccer and a player of your opponent team tackles you and you glidingly fall to the ground. You badly scratched your arms and legs; blood is oozing out of your limbs and you are ‘okay’ with it. Because you do not feel pain! Boring yeah? Still not convinced? OK – I agree that you would love to have a life without pain where you badly hurt yourself and you feel nothing.

Now let’s have a different picture here. You are out on a date with your girl at the garden (ahem!) that is filled with sweet-smelling flowers. She likes roses: the red ones! You forgot to bring one along with you but you see there are shrubs of roses in the garden. In order to impress her you pick one, or a bunch of them, but you forgot to take their thorns off. Now when you gift them to your girl, the thorns prick her soft hands but there’s nothing that happened to her. Now let’s look it differently. After you gave her the roses and the thorns prick her hand and blood starts flowing, she cries out loud as she’s experiencing pain. Now you have a good chance to hold her hands and console her, isn’t it? So you see how important is pain and how it can lead to romance? ;)

Alright, the above example was just for lovebirds: exclusive! But under normal conditions pain is really not painful. I mean it is painful but it is still a pleasure to suffer from pain. It’s all in the psyche – the way you perceive it. If you want to feel pain as painful then it will be painful but if you try to find pleasure in your pain then you wouldn’t really feel the pain. Try it and let me know! :)

P.S. This blog post was completely written at the branch of ICICI bank while I was waiting my turn to talk to the Privilege Banking representative.

Why Aircel's 3G bug has bitten me

Dear Readers,

You might protest that I’m going a little offbeat with my blog this time but let me tell you that it is very much in accordance with the theme of my blog i.e. ‘Random Thoughts and Observations’. So you can’t really complain that my post is different ‘cause in the next few minutes you’ll realize that this is actually one of my thoughts and observation. :-)

Well, as I said “different” so here comes something that is very different than everything of its class. Presenting Aircel’s Unlimited 3G plans. Now you must be wondering that as it is an unlimited plan, it will burn a big hole in your pocket. Believe me! I too thought the same. I mean ever since 3G has come to India, we have seen how telecom operators charge us a “whale amount” to enjoy internet at superfast speed. We common people couldn't afford such costly plans. But there’s nothing to worry! You needn’t spend most of your pocket money to take the pleasure of browsing at high speed as Aircel has come up with revolutionary new 3G plans (called PocketInternet Smart), just like it did during the times of 2G by providing unlimited 2G (Pocket Internet). With Aircel’s 3G plans, Mango Man (आम  आदमी :-D) like you and me can actually take full advantage of superfast internet that may shoot up to 3.6 mbps. Cool huh? Keeping the Common Man on mind, Aircel has launched 3G @ 8 which means we can have the privilege for as low as 8 rupees without getting a kilobit low speed as we are paying less. Fair Deal, I say! :-)

Okay! You guys might accuse me of cheating Airtel, a company whom I’ve been loyal since 2006. The reason why I’ve still stuck to Airtel is because I didn’t want to lose my number. Alright, I know MNP exists; but I don’t know what the reason behind it is but I feel so attached with Airtel. However, now with such a mouth-watering deal from Aircel, my loyalty to Airtel is put to test. I’m planning to switch to Aircel just to enjoy its irresistible deal: 3G @ 8. WOW!

I’ve already started making plans what I’m gonna do with Aircel’s cheap 3G service. Some of the things that are on my list after adopting Aircel 3G are as under:

• Watch videos on YouTube on the go without worrying about hitting the limit as I’m on unlimited plan.
• Skype-ing with my relatives to be in touch, and my foreign friends to help them with their English (as I’ve been doing since July last year). Most importantly, be able to continue my Spanish lessons with my Venezuelan teacher no matter where I am.
•  Post photos in SNS faster than I blink my eyelids. ;-)
• Be connected with my networks 24x7.
• And of course, be able to blog with ease and communicate with you guys as it will be BLAZING FAST!!!

Aircel: Opening world of possibilities for me!

The Titanic

Each one of us must have watched the movie ‘Titanic’ at least once ever since its release in 1997. And now to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the ship ‘Titanic’ its 3D version has launched; many of us might have seen it too. Well, this week my blog post is dedicated to the “ship that was not supposed to sink”, but unfortunately did. I’m not going to do much talking here; my poem dedicated to Titanic will take you through the journey of the movie and make all the memories afresh.

The Titanic

Behold how she sails out of the dock,

To see her move everyone flock.

Standing tall as she'll touch the sky,

Moving with her head held up so high.

Swiftly she starts her journey long,

With people onboard singing song:

They dance; they rejoice and party long,

Amidst them was growing a love so strong.

The love was between Jack and Rose,

Social class couldn't stop them from getting close.

The first class Rose, and third class Jack,

Were so close even Cal couldn't pull them back.

Jealous Cal tried hard but all in vain,

Couldn't help but live with the pain.

The romance between the lovebirds went on,

When all of a sudden they were all drawn;

The magnificent ship had swaggered along,

And hit a massive iceberg: things go wrong.

There was hue; there was cry and chaotic scene,

Oh! That iceberg disturbed the sea serene.

Oh! What happened before the destination arrive,

Making everybody scared - wishing to be alive.

The lifeboats could save but a number few,

And the rest would go into the deep sea blue.

Rose was in a boat but she jumped back in,

How could she leave Jack alone within!

Jack hugged her tight, and asked her "why,

She got back in", uttering a sigh;

Rose couldn't leave him alone behind:

Oh their love - so eternally destined!

Slowly The Atlantic gobbled the ship,

Rose got a wreck to her grip,

Poor Jack float there in icy sea:

Waiting for someone to hear their plea.

No navigator did pass by yet,

Making Jack fret, his life at threat;

Slowly the frosty sea covered him,

Freezing him up: his body numbing.

Rose lay there singing "Come Josephine",

And Jack still float with a chilly spine.

A boat did came there passing by,

Rose, on the plank she still lay,

In her, a ray of hope came alive,

She thought with Jack she'll strive.

To live a life filled with love,

And enjoy life's beautiful trove.

But Fate had other plans in store,

Jack went deep into eternal snore,

Poor Rose tried to wake up Jack,

Crying, "Come back! Come back!"

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Choosing my blog platform!

As mentioned in my previous blog post, today I’ll talk about choosing my blog platform. One of my friends read my previous blog post ‘choosing my niche’ and said that people do not want to read this kind of boring stuff. They want to read something interesting and informative, and something that they can relate to. I agreed with him and said not to worry as I’ll be soon changing tracks. I have just started up and before I gain momentum, I’m getting things ready. The blog posts I’m making now is to help people gain knowledge regarding starting up their own blog and how to choose their niche and a platform. This is to help them if they ever want to start blogging.

Everything needs a platform: blogging is no exception. If we want to showcase anything then we need a platform to highlight it. After I finalized my decision of starting up my blog and choosing my niche (Believe me! It wasn’t easy), the next challenge for me to face was choosing a blog platform. There is a multitude of blog platforms available but I shortlisted only three of them: Tumblr, WordPress and Blogspot. I was badly stuck with this for a couple of days. I asked few people regarding this and I finally decided that I’ll go with Blogspot.

The reason why I chose Blogspot… Suspense! Ha! Nothing really of a suspense but I’m just having a storytelling feeling. So I thought I’d use it here to hone it and entertain you a bit. :) I’ll come to it but before that I’d like to talk about the importance of choosing a good blog platform.

A good blog platform determines the success of a blog. When a blogger hosts his/her blog in a blog platform in a less famous blog provider then chances are low that he will gain required exposure. Now if a famous person hosts his/her blog in a less common blog host then that is a different thing. The blog will be popularized due to his name and fame, and not due to the blog platform’s popularity. Usually, when a regular person hosts his/her blog in a popular blog platform then it gets a higher ranking as compared to other blogs of lesser known blog platforms. The reason behind this is its high ranking in search engines. Typically, search engines give more preference to popular blog platforms’ blogs while indexing it together with some other factors.

The strong reason why I chose Blogspot is that it is owned by Google. I am hopeful that Google would give more preference to my blog because I’m using its service. Nothing of a suspense, you see! :D Another reason is that it is easy to use as compared to many other blog platforms. Till the very last moment I considered using WordPress but then I stuck with Blogspot. I didn’t give much importance to Tumblr simply because it doesn’t sound good, although it is a very popular one. 

Okay, I’m not going to be too technical in here and bore any of you, my blog readers. If you want to know more then you are free to contact me. I’d love to elaborate so that you understand about the way it works.

Choosing my niche!

Hi guys! I’m back here with something new for you this week. Last week I talked about ‘starting up my blog’. This week I’m going to talk about choosing my niche i.e. how I chose my blog’s niche. I hope most of you know about what ‘choosing a niche for blogging’ means. For those who are still unaware about that needn't worry as I’ll be explaining about it here anyway.

For starters, choosing a niche for blogging is very important. Niche is a topic on which a blogger writes about regularly. A blogger has complete freedom of choosing any niche which interests him/her. A blogger may choose from travel, education, sports, current affairs, fashion, lifestyle, politics, video games, technology, and whatever he/she is interested in. It is just that he/she has to stick to that niche.

After much thinking about my blog’s niche I finally chose ‘random thoughts and observations’ because I can simply not stick to one niche. With my current niche I can blog about anything – random thoughts that cross my mind and little observations that I make in my daily life.

While I was under the ‘thought process’ of choosing my niche, I had a lot of problems thinking which one to go for because I have varied interests. I thought for few days but I couldn’t finalize the one that interests me as I’m interested in more than one niches. I considered multiple niche blogging but I’ve read in most places that choosing one niche is very important to survive for long. Blogging without any one niche will eventually lead to failure of the blog as it will die in need of attention. A blog needs visitors for its success – my blog is not an exception. My blog, just like any other blog, is hunger for visitors like you. Without visitors my blog will be like one of those many blogs struggling for limelight. So I’m very thankful to my visitors – you! And I’ll be certainly waiting for more of them. So share the word please! :)

Let’s talk about how the success of a blog depends upon one particular niche. Suppose I’ve chosen fashion niche. I’d have to regularly write only about fashion related stuffs – clothes, jewelries, footwear, accessories and other fashion related items so that Google will recognize my blog and index it. This way my blog will be targeted by visitors interested in fashion and other fashion bloggers which will eventually lead to the success of my blog.

I think this is enough for this week. I hope you guys got the basic idea behind blogging. If you’re still confused then you’re free to comment here and ask me. I’ll be glad to answer all your queries.

P.S. I know this is irrelevant to my blog’s niche but I just “thought” about sharing my experience so that you guys might find it helpful – if not now then sometime in future. I hope. Next week I’m going to come with another thing that will be helpful for you if you are considering blogging. I’ll be talking about ‘choosing a blog platform’. So watch out!

Starting up my blog!

Alright guys, after years of thinking whether I should start blogging or not I have finally set up my own blog. Yes! MY OWN BLOG. And here I am making my first blog post. But what should the first blog post be about? What do I write about? OK, I’m not going to waste our time with this one; I know what I shall write about. Read on!

“First impression is the last impression”, they say, and I believe. People usually remember their firsts. So I’ll try to keep this as interesting as possible so that we remember it. To move on and to start, let’s talk about ‘starting up my blog’.

The idea of setting up my own blog crossed my mind sometime in 2007, although then I didn’t know what exactly it is. I had a basic idea; I just knew that I have to write about anything and post. I’ve also heard people making money blogging; that tried to lure me into writing blogs but couldn’t. Even the people around me suggested to blog and earn some money as I’ve been spending a lot of time with my computer. I didn’t. There were other things that occupied my time, and mind, so I couldn’t set up my blog. Also I didn’t really know how to go about blogging; I knew I have to write about something regularly but I didn’t exactly know what. I could have written about anything but somehow I couldn’t – the idea soon fizzled out. My studies, leisure and laziness were enough to keep me occupied. And yes, not to forget, my thoughts.

Over these years I’ve been metamorphosed into a thinking guy. Now you’ll say, “Who doesn’t think?” I agree! If one has a brain then he/she WILL think. Well, my thinking is not the ordinary thinking; it is a deep one. Really deep. No, not deeper than the Mariana Trench. But quite deep. I love embarking on the journey of thoughts and enjoy the adventurous ride in my world of thoughtfulness. It’s so great to think whatever, whenever and wherever I want – without any limitations! It is this thinking of mine, among other things, that has helped me reach where I am today. It is the thoughts of mine that have made me start up my blog. This blog has been set up to share my thoughts and observations in my daily life. Verily thoughts lead to ideas, and ideas to implementations and eventually, success. Alright, I’m not yet successful, but I guess I’m standing on the threshold of success. By the way, this one is the broadest threshold that I’ve ever come across. I’ll have to work too hard to cross this threshold and get into the house of success. I know success doesn’t come easy. One has to work really hard in order to succeed. I WILL!

Thoughts, ideas, success… it’s time I shall bid adieu. Too much of anything is undesirable – even the length of my post. I promise to be back soon and with something better. And I will. I’d just like you guys to stay hooked on to my blog. I assure you that there are lots of interesting stuffs coming along – my thoughts and my observations. Stay tuned!

P.S. I’ll be glad if you guys let me know how you found my first posting. This will inspire me and help me write better. Good or bad: I’m open to all that you have to say. Please leave a comment below.