Handicraft by my 3 year old daughter

Last week, we had parents meet at my daughter’s school. My daughter is doing good this term as her teacher is all praise of her.

We happened to see my daughter’s file in the school and I thought why don’t I snap it as I am thrilled, amazed to see some my 3 year old daughter’s work :)

So we borrowed the file for a day and I did photoshoot with my old Kodak 3.2 MP point and shoot camera.

File Cover

Art work done by Kamali’s teacher..

My daughter’s handicraft starts from the next picture :)

Hand Impression

I never knew my daughter's right hand can be a masterpiece :)

Free Drawing

To me..not bad…amazed to see that she got the sun,ladder and lollypop almost right..

And I can see her modern art creativity on ball, balloon :)

Coloring

Fruits and vegetables looks good and seems fresh , because my angel colored it :)

Free Drawing

Wow..all the right hand side work are a touch of modern art by my cute little angel..

Look at the grapes for an example.. You agree with me :)

Finger printing

Hope you enjoyed my daughter’s work :)

Meet you soon….

How to become a Speaker from shouter

In this post, I am just sharing my thought of how to become a speaker from a shouter

No..No.. I didn’t mean speaker and shouter in the real sense

• By speaker..I meant an interesting blogger who work hard to have a decent audience to listen to his posts and
• By shouter..I meant a new kid on the blog world who tries to grab the attention through some weird/gimmick posts

Don’t be a shouter

• As you all know, all of a sudden, if one guy shouts on the road, immediately he will grab the attention of the people on the road. They will rush to him or try to listen why he was shouting. But if there is no specific reason for his shout, they curse him and move on their way
• If the same person, on the second day, shouts on the same road almost to the same people, some people might listen to him but most of them will already start ignoring him
• If he continues to shout similarly in following days, hardly anybody is going to notice him, leave alone listening to him…

Have you got it..?Yes..If you are new kid to the blog world, it is most obvious that you will try to

• Put some weird/wacky/gimmick posts which is potential enough to gain curiosity
• Send out/blast series of emails to your nears and dears that you have started blogging and inviting them to visit your posts
• Through social networking sites like twitter, Facebook, you continually start posting/spamming about your new blog posts

These are basic methods aka grave mistakes that a new blogger will try to do to drive traffic without knowing its consequences ..

But when the visitors come to your site and if your content stinks….mate..they are gone from your blog space…might be for ever..To some people..you might be even marked as a spammer…

These tactics may very well work in the beginning. But if you don’t change, one day you will become the only reader who reads his own blog

So what I have to do???

Be a speaker

• A speaker might get a low/limited audience at his first few gatherings
• At end of every gathering, a good Speaker
  • will note the audience reaction and take feedback/notes
  • will focus onto bettering his content,
  • will develop presentation skills after each event
  • will support fellow starter speakers and grow together
• Slowly over the period of time, his audience will be growing and one day he might be one of the better speakers in the world where people will throng in huge numbers to hear him

Yes. I know you got it..but let me put it for a blogger. As a upcoming blogger

• You have to continuously post some sensible, useful, interesting content. Don’t ask me how :( as I am a beginner and too early to suggest about that…
• Send invitations (in a sensible, non pestering way) to nears and dears first and let them be your initial audience. Ask them to openly give feedback to your posts.
• Build a decent network through some popular social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
• Start sending invitation/tweet/message (again..stressing in an sensible, non pestering way) to your network on your new posts and await feedback. Don’t pester them for comments/feedback
• Note your mistakes in the past and current posts, correct it and improve your content in your next blog post
• Slowly over a period of time, if you have interesting content, you can see your blog traffic going up/steady in an progressive way..

Who Am I

Well, at this stage,, I still consider myself as a shouter who realizes that he is just keep on shouting and now started taken steps to convert himself to be a entry level speaker…

To be frank, I used to shout sometimes to get new people but always work for becoming a better speaker :)

What I shared in this post is my experience and I hope this will help to some extent for new bloggers

So, be a good speaker and rock…and don’t remain as a shouter for ever

Go speaking :)

P.S

Thanks to Angsuman for his feedback tweets on my blog which was quite inspiring in making me write this post which I have been thinking for some time. You can follow him on twitter here

Shortest blog post ever posted on web

.

How to get comments to your blog post?

Seriously I don’t know :(

You may ask

Then why did you write this post?

I am a new kid on the blog world (just 25+ days as a serious blogger) and curious to know on how to make my blog readers respond aka comment to my posts..

ok..ok..I know that they are in small numbers now and you might say that I have to give it some more time..Agreed..But like to learn the trade of getting responses from my blog readers at the early stage itself and will strive to improve upon it as I blog.

Please write your ideas as comments here so that it helps me…I know that you will respond/comment this time [won't you :) ]

Know your twitter grade and rank

Today morning, I got an interesting tweet from Deepak Rajanikanth that he got a Twitter grade of 97/100 from Twitter Grader

Got curious and visited Twitter Grader site. A very interesting site where one can see his twitter grade and rank.

In the home page, enter your twitter user name and click on the big Get Grade button and voila…you will get your twitter grade and rank

How is it calculated?

It is calculated as a percentile score. A grade of means that @ scores higher than percent of the users that have been graded.

• The number of followers you have
• The power of this network of followers
• The pace of your updates
• The completeness of your profile
• ...a few others

I am not sure and very clear on how their algorithm works and if it meets the standards but I found the grading and ranking concept interesting, funny and encouraging for new twitters like me :)

What more..?

• Based on your rank and grade, they also suggests list of folks to follow
• There is a Twitter Elite section which lists out top most powerfully ranked/graded tweeple. Have very interesting people in the top grades like Michael Arrington(tech crunch), Pete Cashmore (mashable), Darren Rowse(pro blogger) to name a few.
• They offer you twitter grader badge which you can put in your blog/website. It will look something like this…

Yep..that’s my grade..44/100 at present and ranked 352,288 out of 1,035,703 as of January 19, 2009.. As you can see.. I have long way to go.. You can see my updated grade and rank here

As I have to set myself a benchmark to improve my twitter grade and rank in the coming days, I am now targeting to better my friend Anand Nataraj whose grade is it at present 96.1/100 and ranked 28,947 out of 1,035,703 as of January 19, 2009. You can see his grade and rank here

Hey Anand…here I come…be prepared :) and be alert as long as you can as I might take even years for me to beat yours :) :)

Happy twittering…

Make your blog a must read and avoid first blog pitfalls

I started blogging seriously just since December 24, 2008 (although I created this blog on April 2007 :) ) for following reasons

• Past few years, I was really inspired by
  • technical blogs of Scott Gu , Omar Al Zabir , Matt Berseth
  • personal blogs of my friends Sobee(this guy stopped writing for past 3 years or so..not sure why..) , Yagyaraman & recently Anand Nataraj
• One day, I want my blog to be inspiration to other bloggers :)

Since new to blogging, have browsed around web for things like

• how to make a blog interesting
• do’s and don’ts
• how to drive traffic
• possible pitfalls etc.,

After reading a bunch of articles, I thought why don’t I share the info which I found useful to me. After all, essence of Web 2.0 , Web 3.5 is all about sharing. And more so, I read that every desktop/laptop is a data center in the age of Web 3.5 :)

Hence I am starting with the first post in this series ‘blogging for beginners’ where I am going to share my views about

• Making your blog a must read
• Avoid first blog pitfalls

Make your blog a must read

Although this topic is not for beginners, it is useful for us to know how to make your blog a must read so that we are all prepared from our first few posts itself :)

On this topic, I came across an interesting article 5 Ways to Imitate the 10 Most Popular Blogs by Easton Ellsworth where he says following are 5 unmistakable ways to make your blog just like the 10 most popular blogs in the world

• Publish frequently.
• Have a team. Note that this might not apply to beginners…
• Offer hot news.
• Have an attitude.
• Be visual.

Avoid first blog pitfalls

As a first time blogger, we always try too many things by adding series of plug-ins, widgets, gadgets, images, videos and sometimes even ads where we might not now if they are useful or distraction to our blog readers.

Here is good article titled Avoiding First Blog Pitfalls by timethief where she advises us to avoid these pitfalls

• Too many posts on the front page (too slow to load)
• Too many images (too slow to load)
• Too many animated icons, embeds, etc.
• Broken links
• Not updated frequently enough

After 20+ days of some serious blogging, I realized that blog is like a wine and does take time to taste better for you and more so to your readers(by the way, I am a teetotaler :) )

Your writing, vision, ideas gets better and better as you start writing posts regularly. You can see this difference by going through your previous posts and clearly feel how much you have improved over your posts. As you became older… you became wiser and intellectual :)

So don’t expect heavy traffic to your newly started blog… allow it to grow by taking care, nurture it and after some time, you will reap the benefits…

Happy blogging…

How to succeed in your software services startup with clearly aware of its pitfalls

Today afternoon, I got a tweet from my friend Anand Nataraj (who is an entrepreneur and founder of Cogzidel groups, Agriya)

happy to advice two college folks on their desire to become an entrepreneur... they look how i behaved 8 years back. students means raw enthusiasm... when i advice them something they show results the next day... it is nice to groom people like them

This made me to write this post where I want to point out on

• how to achieve success in your entrepreneurship
• with clearly aware of its pitfalls which you shouldn’t let them to stop you

For the past few years, I can see a trend where many of the college/university teens like to become entrepreneurs especially in IT field. This is a welcoming trend but there isn’t much direct and simple guidance/info available for them which lists out the pros and cons for starting software services startups

Myself and my friends did some freelancing work during the recession time on 2001-2002 but we didn’t pursue it after we failed in bunch of our initiatives and landed up in jobs due to various factors(family pressure, unable to get new projects etc.,)

During the same period, Anand was also running up Agriya with his friend Aravind and their venture is a successful one. They achieved success despite coming from an moderate background and now Anand is onto Cogzidel, his second online initiative after he sold his stakes at Agriya.

So, mine is a case of failure in software services startup(though seriously I should admit that we did more of freelancing as getting jobs is really difficult during the 2001-2002 recession) and Anand’s a successful one.

How to succeed?

On how to succeed in your initiatives, I strongly recommend to read Anand’s article titled Tips for Software Services Startups as he shares his hard earned USP :)

This might not be a traditional technical/Harvard type of write up but it is indeed a powerful collection of words from a experienced entrepreneur who has gone through the hardships of startup and wants to share his success for others to benefit.

Here is the gist of his tips

• At least one founder must be a techie
• Use power of Reverse Auction Systems
• Hire fresher’s or students
• Communicate with clients regularly
• Work on shared office
• Outsource Non Core Functions
• Cross Sell
• Promote your corporate site & Blog
• Update your blog regularly
• Tie-ups
• Partnering
• Participate in forum
• Start Developing Products

Mind you, above is just a gist and I recommend to read his article where he talks about the above tips in neat and concise way

For new/want to be entrepreneurs, above article might pep you up and inspire for sure… but you should also be aware on the possible pitfalls of software services startups.

What are all the pitfalls?

I initially thought of listing my experience on this but changed my mind as I came across an interesting article by Eric Karjaluoto where he talks about Why your Web Startup will fail which also included the mistakes I did in my freelance period.

Here is gist of Eric’s point on possible pitfalls

• You won’t have an audience
• You're going to run out of cash
• You’ll get frustrated
• The emotional rollercoaster will beat you
• You’ll get excited about something else
• But it probably won’t be the competition

As told for Anand’s tip, above is just a gist and read Eric’s article for details

Closing note…

My intention is to encourage the new/want to be entrepreneurs to succeed in their venture and also being aware of potential pitfalls which they have to keep in mind in their endeavor. And definitely, not to stop or discourage anybody in try their hands on entrepreneurship.

My thing is one should

• always go positively in his endeavors with knowledge of pitfalls/cracks in the journey so that he is aware of it in advance and ready with the plan to tackle
• rather than facing it suddenly and then you will be falling from the mountain and it is difficult to get up again and continue the same journey

My wife Chitra always tell me that 18-28 years is a best time for anyone to achieve their dreams.. be it to become a entrepreneur, music composer, singer, sports professional etc., because during this period, they will be

• fresh and raring to go out for their dreams without much hesitation
• they are raw and will be hugely self motivated
• more possibility of not worrying about taking care of their family financial needs as their parents might still be working

And I do agree with her thought though it might vary by slight margins to different people in different countries…

Hope this helps…

Wishing you all the best :) and don’t forget to share your story with me :)

When will our home’s wall clock sleep??!!

Whenever my 3 year old daughter Kamali awakes beyond 10:00 p.m., myself and Chitra always telling her that let’s go to sleep as it is getting late… I know it is usual in any house and you may ask what so new in this… wait...

Yesterday, when I was telling her to go to bed as the time is 10:30 p.m.; she asked me an question which just amazed me… The question is

‘Papa…. when will our clock (wall clock) sleep as I see it is always running even when we go to sleep?’

Kids are just brilliant. I was wondering how their thought process works which is very unique and amazing…

What do you say??!!!

Relive (y)our NIIT Vadapalani Days

My dear NIIT Vadapalani mates,

As promised, here I am sharing our precious NIIT photos.

First and foremost, sincere thanks to our Ronald for taking the strain of preserving these memories so long. Without him, we won’t have a chance to relive these moments.

Ok, let’s jump to action… !!!

Trailer :)

Here is quick trailer of our NIIT moments. Just click the play button below and get start your journey….

Movie

Ok… Ok.. I know you will not be satisfied to just see trailer. Don’t worry… We have just started.

Movie first half

Click here to view the original pictures and what more…. you can download the full resolution(yes… full res pictures) pictures to your Hard Disk. Isn’t great.

Interval :) Have a coffee and do come back :) :) I have lined up few more interesting stuff in the second half

Movie second half

I know all though you will be happy to see our mates again, you will definitely think of below

“Although nice to see everyone, how to identify and download only my pictures or my close friends pictures?”

Well, you can :)

Click here to see all our NIIT mates. Click on your face or any of your mates to see set of photos where just you/your close friends present.

And what more…. move the mouse over any face in the photo, it will display their name. I made my best to name all the people. If I miss anybody, please let me know and I will update it.

End Credits

First of all, thanks for you to spend your time to read this far :) Just kidding.

Hope you have enjoyed the show. Please leave your comment on this post so that I will be glad to know that my message to you has been reached and you have seen our precious NIIT days. Please let us know if you have any other additional pictures(scanned or not scanned, whatever) and I will contact you in making sure those pictures are also included in our collection

If you like my blog, please join yourself in Google Friend Connect which can be located on top right corner of this blog.

If you like this and make it a hit, we might also release a sequel :)to this (provided Ronald able to locate rest of our NIIT photos)

Ok NIIT mates, hope you enjoyed the show. Please keep in touch.