Why do guys get angry when the subject of marriage is overtalked....

it's been a long, long time. I have forgotten totally of places where i need to blog. I have started blogging here as well - TG Blog
There is another account at LiveJournal, that seems to be going down, into the ocean, if you know what i mean. Now to the title.

I have often seen in my friend circle that whenever the subject of marriage is overtalked by elderly people, they get furious (Let me add myself to that list of people-who-get-furious-on-marriage-talks). The topic of interest [for the elderly] comes into ..errr...interest when the guy's age is over 21 years. The subject catches heat when it gets closer to 25. What's more? If age does not come into picture...His [the subject who is subjected to ....] educational qualification [MBA's preferably], bank balance or if he's settled in the US for very long are the major factors for the marriage talk to resurface with greater ferocity.

Boys will be boys and boys love freedom [i'm not saying marriage takes away freedom. i'll say that some other time!] It's the ways guys have grown up. Don't mistake me when i talk about freedom. The thing i mean is;

• Boys grow in a friend circle which loves cricket, wrestling, F1 and rant about each event after it's telecast on TV! You can not talk to someone who watched saas bahu episodes.
  
• Boys have grown up trusting their close pals and that's the reason why you see them pleasantly scream at each other when they meet after several years.
• Boys do multitasking [even girls do that but the subject here is us - boyzzz] which also includes flirting and saying a hot girl - Hot girl!
• Boys do not like one dimensional path. That's the reason why we never ask for directions even if we are lost!
• and boys, not all of them, love BEER!
  

See, when the topic of marriage pops up, we are afraid of losing all these. What else do we lose?

• Stop drinking beer. You know how much money can be saved?
• Can't throw clothes on the floor.
• Can not watch cricket match without being interrupted by ekta kapoor's soaps.
• Drive straight home. Your friends drive straight home. There is no need to catch up for a drink.
• Cannot call a Hot girl - hot girl! no more. There is only one Hot girl and she is in your life.

we do lose a lot.

Wait! as i think of more, i am really feeling sad of losing my bachelor's degree!

But as they say you lost some, you get some.

Why being an editor is not an easy job!

I am the newsletter editor of a leading adventure club in hyderabad. the job of an editor is not really an easy one. Why? simply because of the sheer amount of editing to do. Wow shishir, i couldn't have expected a better answer!

Alright, hear the best one. My experience and understanding ever since i suggested the idea and took the responsibility of implementing it.

The first newsletter i designed was so so. It was so, so so, that the response i expected during the release of the newsletter, in a local pub, was nothing more than a dud. This was my entry in to the 'making' of the newsletter for the club. The first newsletter that i designed was on microsoft document and used an online tool to convert it into a PDF.

For the second newsletter, the organizer suggested me to use Publisher 2007. I did not know how to use it and i wasn't very keen on using it, having acquainted myself with the tedious work on document. Fine, shun the tediousness and try using a sample and modify it to suit to your needs.

The basic idea of a newsletter for me is this -
1. Keep the number of pages as less as possible. Unless you have too many stories to cover. This too is bad as too many stories ruin the movie.

2. Give a great deal of attention to the way the content is to be placed. This includes images, story, any gyaan that needs to be given, reminders, sectional division in pages.

3. Give credits to people who have contributed in writing. After all, it's their writing why not appreciate them for the effort. What's your problem? There might be lot of sentences cut out during the process of editing but make sure the contributor's name is shown and the link to the original post is given at the end.

4. Make it readable. your writing should reflect the fun quotient that people always expect from you.

5. Uniformity through out the newsletter - give a page to every article. The design of second article layout should be similar to first article layout. The synchronousness should reflect.


With these thoughts, i picked up a template, modified it to suit the need. Since i was new to publisher, i took a lot of time arranging - rearranging the layouts. It happened N number of times. I was glued to it. i would start with first page, make sure the boxes, story, images are in place and onyl then move onto next page and continue doing the same. I never realized the amount of time i'm killing! That's precisely the reason why it took me so long to prepare the second issue. When the work was completed and released boy oh boy wasn't it a hit. The second one was very much appreciated and that helped me move onto the next step of introducing small features like hyperlinks. Ever since, the second addition, the appreciation have been pouring in.


Wait i haven't told you the worst part. After this painful work, the pricking work is 'editing' the material people have submitted. I understand usage of few ellipses but using it after every sentence makes you delete the file. The exaggerated, exuberant and glamorous sentences that people prefer to use makes me sleep! Keep it simple yaar. I understand few are excited with their first writing. It's good. Nothing against it. The only reason why it annoys me is that I HAVE TO FIT IT WITHIN A PAGE AND I HAVE TO READ ALL THAT AGAIN AND AGAIN, DELETING THE LINES WITHOUT REMOVING THE ESSENCE OF THE MESSAGE. See, how angry i get?


Nonetheless, for all the moments of anger and frustration in it, it still appears to me to be a wonderful job with lots of creative ideas to build in. Since, i am in-charge i have the freedom to make the way i want it but with a responsibility - the newsletter should serve a purpose, which is, Summarizing the activities in the most comprehensive way that makes the reader go till the very end of the newsletter!

Pink Chaddi Campaign

I googled for this word: pink chaddi [No. I'm no pervert. Mark that]. I heard of the pink chaddi campaign on television and also had read it in one of the blogs. The 'pink chaddi' campaign, as it is popularly now known, is a campaign by group of women [there are men in that group too] to respond to the violence unleashed by the self-proclaimed moral police of indian culture, the shri ram sene, in a non-violent [guess, munnabhai must be one kinda-of-a source of inspiration]. How would they do that? by sending pink chaddis[of whatever size] to Mr. pramod muthalik. The consortium of pubgoing, loose and forward women [they should get a good abbreviation for this] have raised a strong voice against the violence that took place in the city of mangalore on 24th of january this year where women, having a good afternoon drink, were beaten up by men of shre ram sene, all in the slogan of protecting indian culture.
The campaign had caught the news limelight and the membership has been growing ever since. Way to go ladies. This is what they call girl power or in indian culture, nari shakti.

kudos.
Check their site: http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com

It's been a week for Mumbai.

It's been a week since the terrorists unleashed their terror on civilians of mumbai, killing 179 people and injuring many more who are recovering from serious wounds. The "spirit of mumbai" is less spoken off and the demand to see actions and justice is seen more. The "chalta rahega", "baad me dekengey" attitude has striken.

I have been watching the news channels for updates ever since the tragedy struck the "maximum city". There are more controversies picked up everyday than the dire need of the hour - solutions.....practical solutions for preventing another terrorist attack. Swift actions taken now by the govt. of india, in response to the anger of people and more so with the future election dangling. Pressurized politicians resigning in the wake of the event for their inefficiency in handling events and they never are short of peoples' expectations when it comes to 'public' work. Politicians not sensing what to speak at this hour of crisis with remarks ranging from 'lipsticks' by a senior leader of the opposition party to insulting statements from chief minister of a state who was refused to let into a martyr's house, to a casual remark on the terrorist incidence by the deputy CM of the tragedy struck state. These are the kind of people who have been elected to rule and have their final say on laws to make public life better.