Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Comment OK Please !!

Okay, now if you haven't figured out from where the title comes...there you go. Actually...to be quite frank it came as a real revelation, a surprise for me too....

Anyways....now that you are done pondering and exclaiming over those three simple looking words...let me draw your attention to the topic i have at hand....

In the times of fb statuses, twitter updates and Buzz....blogging seems to be a thing of the past. Now, im still a newbie in the field of blogging and so will not take the been-there-done-that tone and dole out lamenting comments on the state of affairs. But really, with one being able to post thoughts, statuses, snippets, videos et al. in just a few clicks; in a matter of seconds- and be able to connect with a known/reliable audience, is surely more enticing than typing out figments of ones philosophy, thoughts on life etc into the world wide web and then also take efforts in drawing traffic to the blog.
Another aspect that sets apart the 2 forms of connecting is the feedback and comment system. Traditionally bloggers stay connected and get feedback and reader opinions through the comments for each blog or a new post on the readers own blog. While on the other hand inline comments, immediate notifications to all previous participants keeps the discussion alive and engrossing. Even though tools such as GoogleReader, RSS feeds and syndicates have simplified the blog discussion and made the updates much easier to follow for the reader by bringing the blog quite literally into the inbox, it doesnt quite much match up to the elegance of fb/ twitter and the lot.

But..hold on all you Twitter and fb buffs.....theres always a second side to everything...Blogging does have an edge and thats reach and readership. fb/twitter/buzz updates could be followed, discussed by only a bunch of people, though personally known to the 'poster'. A blog on the other hand is your very own personal space in the web, open to one and all(although a privacy protected registered readers blog exists as well). So a blogger stands to get readership and /or opinions from any prying eyes that care to wander over his page.This also enables one to engage in publicity strategies such as linking to other sites, signing up with traffic monitors and controllers like FeedJit, Digg, StumbleUpon etc, that inculcates a healthy entrepreneurial nature. ( Oh Gosh this sounds straight out of some B-school)


PS: So moral of the story: Comment OK Please ! ;)

Friday, June 4, 2010

Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown ? or does it?

'Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown'.
This is an age old adage that has been shown true time and again. In day to day activities too one might have subconsciously attested and or demonstrated this. Whether its the class monitor in school or the chairman/head of some local body or the President of a nation, each one wears their own symbolic crown and carry its burden. Now the term burden is relativistic. One may 'enjoy' all the perks/powers that indeed come with the crown and not display or hint at any of the associated burden. This case could imply two things. That the bearer is highly efficient and has dispensed off all his duties well or he is a smart little person who turns tables on all burdensome events and avoids facing them. Or on the other hand one may get literally /figuratively burdened down by the crown. This, in my opinion shows up immediately, and i feel is dangerous for all parties involved, however a very fast self correcting mechanism exists that definitely results in replacement of the bearer.

Now..now... there have been centuries worth of stories, real life incidents and personal memoirs on this topic. However my intention, dear reader , is to draw your attention to the Uneasy Head that doesn't wear the crown.

So having startled you,hopefully, and woken you up, not hopefully, from the monotonous rant above i present to you the uneasy, restless, burdened and troubled head of the uncrowned head.
To those; who wonder what i mean by head that doesn't wear the crown...i speak not of the vast majority, the public... but of each individual each human. There comes a time in every ones life when each moment is like a wait...a wait to being crowned. Crowned is not necessarily a public position...but i feel at an individual level signifies the personal goals or targets set both short term and long term. The uneasiness before a courtroom trial, restlessness for getting your first job, burden of the future, and troubled times before a crucial event happen to one and all. These manifest themselves in different ways such as changing sleep and food patterns, restlessness in day to day activities, loss of patience and lack of interest. The mind plays games....and the brain joins in too....and what happens next is what people call philosophy and/or psychology and/or emotional intelligence.

A cynic might say...uneasiness with or without the crown...so screw the crown! Yes, that too is a philosophy found in abundance on the banks of the Ganges and the tops of the Himalayas. But for the other vast majority... its part and parcel of routine life. Being in a similar state myself ...im sort of restless now...and need to do something else....