Ever since people discovered the web, the web has been discovering people.

 Over the past couple of months, I’ve been living a second life… Engrossed in Social Media over the web. Connecting with real people, transcending geographical boundaries, learning a lot of things in the process, broadcasting my opinions, and acquiring a new set of thinking skills. Really, the journey has been fulfilling.

The First Steps

When did my first brush with the Social Web happen? It was three years ago, when I had started a blog on Blogger. Although I don’t remember the URL, what I do remember is that, at that time, I was wondering what to write, and I ended up abandoning the blog with no posts! First attempt… Unsuccessful.

Yet, I wanted to blog. But how? I started rajat-arora.blogspot.com in 2006, and uploaded all the contents of my small book, I Me Myself, to it. However, I wasn’t satisfied with the output and ended up deleting it. The link now points to somebody else’s blog. Second attempt… Unsuccessful.

 Quite recently, in 2007 I started another weblog, herespeaksthemind.blogspot.com, and used to update it – albeit for only some days (over a month, I think). The link is still active. You can pay it a visit and read the posts. Interesting? Umm… quite! Third attempt… Partly successful.

 What I can really say, is that with three failed attempts, I realized what blogging really is. I started to get a hang of things, and with each passing post, I got better. I have always loved writing, and blogging gave me a platform to make myself heard. (It was a pseudo-feeling though. Nobody was reading my blogs at that time!)

Why Only Blogs?

To tell you the truth, I was quite a layman at that time to think of Social Web in general. I knew about the Web going in a different direction with user-generated content, I had heard of the term Web 2.0, and I wanted to be a part of it. However, blogging was the only activity I knew about. I never dared to go beyond. I knew about Social Bookmarking Sites like del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and Digg – but never checked them out. I knew about Social Networks like MySpace, Facebook and Orkut – but never created a profile. Neither did I venture outside sites like Yahoo! and Rediff. My online activities were limited, so I never learnt about new and upcoming, killer apps. It was a big, big mistake from my side.

On a Discovering Spree !

Another reason for my web-ignorance, apart from my reluctance, was the fact that I used to connect using Dial Up, which was expensive. The moment I got a broadband connection, I was hooked to the internet, and within no time I was on a discovering spree! I created profiles on the websites mentioned above, got on to Twitter and learnt to enjoy it (You can follow me here). Discovered BitTorrent and made use of it in full steam. Discovered SlideShare, YouTube, HowStuffWorks, eHow, TechCrunch, LifeHacker, ThinkDigit, … the list is endless. Broadband Zindabaad!

Yet, my most useful discovery has been that of Google Reader. 

Apart from writing to my blog, I have developed a passion for reading a lot of them, and I read them through Google Reader. At this point of time, I subscribe to more than 40 blogs, of various shapes and sizes [ read : blogs belonging to various niches. ] And I just love it! The first thing I check when I fire up my PC is Google Reader (yes.. Email is second priority!) Thinking Axe!, The DreamGirl Diaries, Weaving A Web, My Heroes, … these are some of the blogs on my must-read-list. Suddenly, there’s so much to read.!

Twit! Twit!

Ah.. how can I forget Twitter? When I discovered it in February, I did it purely acting upon some newspaper reports. When I signed up, I was at loss about what to tweet. Worse.. I did not tweet anything for two months.! Now, I’m a self-confessed Twitter Addict. Twitter is the place where I found out so many people to talk to. @maverick3400, @JMowery, @Aakriti, @baxiabhishek, @kapilb, @rahul286, … Again, the list is endless.

 What makes me love Twitter this much? Microblogging, of course!

Twitter is a channel of conversation. Twitter makes you answer the question – What are you doing? You answer it, and the world knows it. You can broadcast your mood. You can share some interesting anecdote. You can ask a question. You can disseminate news. You can share your joys, your sorrows. You can market your product. There are just so many opportunities for you to experiment. Twitter is an app the next-gen should be excited about.

If you look at Twitter’s Wikipedia Page, people and companies have been realizing the true potential of the service lately. Moreover, its social justice implications has left me dumbfounded. People are using it to get out of crisis situations, and even the American Red Cross is using it to share information about local disasters. Commendable!

By the way, why am I going elsewhere when a live example is here at home! When serial blasts rocked Bangalore and Ahmedabad, @baxiabhishek was tweeting the news reports live. And he did a great job with that.

Talking Talking

This weblog came into being on May 21, 2008, and I published my first post three days later. This is my fourth attempt with blogging, and I’m determined not to let it fail! This is my twelfth post here, and I can assure you that hundreds more are going to follow. 

Here, I blog about things I like, and things I care for. It is a personal blog, so I like to keep things personal. 

However, there is one first associated with this – Talking Talking is being hosted on my own server – rajatarora.info. I bought this domain name in March, this year. Self Hosted? Gives me a high! 

I bought a cheap Linux Hosting, installed WordPress (actually, at first I wanted to build this site in Drupal, and even installed – but common sense prevailed and I was back to WordPress!). Common sense? Well, I just wanted a small blog, and for that Drupal seemed to be overkill. (By the way, the way I’m using WordPress, even that is seeming to be an overkill!)

That’s for personal blogging. What’s next?

APS2.0

APS2.00 is my latest venture in the blogosphere. Though still on the drawing board, the first post is expected in a couple of days. APS2.00 will be focused about life in my college. And that includes academics. I shall post to the blog each and every thing I learn in college, plus some extras, if required. It will be an all-out-academic-blog, with content from subject like Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science.

Why such a blog? There are two reasons. First, that B.Sc. Applied Physical Science (the one I am currently pursuing from University of Delhi), is a bad course, and is drawing a lot of flak. In the middle of this, the students find it hard to study – there are very less books to refer to, and the course content is just too heavy. It will be a kind service to all people who study, or want to study, Applied Physical Science.

The second – when I write something academic, for a blog, I shall be making my own set of digital notes! I’ll just have to go through my blog archive while studying for a test! 

PS : You might have got the acronym, APS. But what about 2.0? Something to do with Web 2.0? No! I’m currently in my second year, so…

Yeah! The post is just too long…

 The feeling comes many a times. No matter how long you try to piss it off. Still.. It comes. Many a times…

Sometimes, even after a short acquaintance with somebody, you get used to the person. In a moment you get along, talking as if you haven’t talked in years. In a minute you start enjoying your company. In an hour you are laughing like anything. In a day… Everything seems to have changed.

Talking together. Walking together. Chilling out together. Hanging out together. Sharing thoughts, opinions, and secrets. Making each other laugh. Chatting for hours. Getting to know each other in a unique way – like nobody has done before. Weaving magic with the thread of happiness…

You find out that you two have a lot in common. And why not! Why Not! For so many days you have been together. You can pick up some habits, can’t you? That’s the magic – the Magic of Friendship.

Good things come to an end… Why??

What happens when your dearest friend goes away? This blog post!

Its her shadow in the picture above.

She’s gonna leave this city in a couple of days. And I’m gonna MISS HER A LOT. :’(

May God bless her for every venture she undertakes.

Love You!

Ever since Delhi Metro saw the light of the day, “We The People of Delhi” are a blessed lot. No more dhakke kha-ing in the busses, no more fear of life from Bluelines, no more haggling for fare with auto-rickshaws, no more scared-to-go-to-distant-places looks, no more cursing the Delhi Transport Minister… In short, “The Daily Commute” just got better. No surprises when I tell you that Metro soon became popular, with lakhs of people using it every single day.

A typical metro rail has about 200 seats, but can easily accommodate more than 2000 people due to the large standing space inside the coaches. Seats are hard to find during a typical metro journey, so people resort to various tactics to get one! However, in order that the needy are not deprived of a seat, a message keeps playing inside the train during the journey :

Please vacate seats for the Physically Challanged, Senior Citizens, and Ladies.

That’s where the problem starts!

Picture this:

After a hard day’s work, you decide to get back home in Metro. An obvious choice, if it connects your office to your home. What you really want is a comfortable journey, and lo! you are lucky enough to have got a seat. You sit back and relax, trying to picture the scene at home when you finally reach there. Then the metro comes to a station where a lot of people board it (Rajiv Chowk or Kashmere Gate). The seats are full, and getting one is possible only if you get the tag of being “Physically Chalanged, Senior Citizen, or a Lady”. We live in India, dude, where the sole aim of people is to twist-and-turn things to their advantage.

You get a tap on your shoulder. You look up. Its a lady, in her mid-thirties. And she tells you to vacate the seat for her. Why? Because, as she tells you, “metro says so.” Fearing embarrasement, you get up. Your idea of a comfortable journey gets fucked up. And the worst part : you cannot help it.

Am I averse to giving away my prized possession (read: my seat) to other people? Hell No! But I like to give it to others only if they need it. Mind you — Only If They Need It. The lady in question asked for it, just because Metro requests people to vacate seats for ladies. Was she in a dire need of a seat? Hell No! She took advantage of a so called ‘rule’. Is it a rule? Hell No! It is a guideline for people to follow out of choice. Was she morally right in asking for a seat? Again, Hell No!

Recently, Metro introduced another feature in its trains. From now on, four seats in each coach (a total of 16 in each train) are labeled as “Only For Ladies”. The lady in the above example would have been morally right if the person was sitting on one of those seats. Else, its the survival of the fittest — or rather, earliest.

Talking of personal experience, I have always vacated seats for the Physically Challenged, Senior Citizens, Pregnant Ladies and People with Small Children. These are the types of people who really need a seat. Those who need it, should have it. Those who don’t need, and don’t get — should keep standing. Just because a person belongs to the fairer sex does not mean that she is entitled for a seat in the train. What metro announces in not an order, but a guideline.

Its high time these mean ladies know it.

Ekta Kapoor’s Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki launched this week, with much fanfare — so much of it that I was actually looking forward to it. Reading Mahabharat has always been my dream, and with a screen adaptation during Prime Time TV was like living in heaven. However, for that the show has to be good. Sadly, this one isn’t.

You get the picture on the very first episode. It starts with Draupadi’s vastraharan (Why? So as to make the serial appeal to the youth. Sex sells, remember?). On top of it, the woman girl playing Draupadi is screaming at the top of her lungs — as if making people deaf is her birthright. And nobody winks she mouths indescent dialouges (Listen to this : “Tum mujhe mere patiyon ke saamne nanga kar rahe ho&quot. C’mon guys, you’re supposed to be filming The Great Indian Epic. You ought to have some sensibilities, isn’t it?

Thirdly, the SFX. When the first episode was in progress, a Twitter user baxiabhishek posted this status : WTF! The sfx in mahabharat are probably done by a group of graphic interns… pathetic quality. The show is so so lame. (Don’t believe me? Check out for yourself). I agree with him. In total!

Meanwhile, after Draupadi’s devil-may-care-about-my-throat screaming while wearing a look-at-my-navel costume, the story starts where it is ought to — Ved Vyasa requesting Lord Ganesha to write the epic while he narrates. Lord Ganesha is played by a strange fat man, in a strange costume altogether (his trunk looks like a giant inflated condom!). He takes an arial route to reach Ved Vyasa, riding his mooshak (rat — his vehicle). While this is obvious, what is not is the fact that he struggles to travel in between the trees in a forest. I mean, if Ganesha is a devta, why culdn’t he take a route above the trees? Why did he travel through the forest, ? Maybe the director wanted to create some unneeded dramatization. This is insane!

 Moving on to characters and costumes. The King of Hastinapur, Shantanu, is played by Kiran Karmarkar (more popularly, Om Aggarwal in a K-Serial). His wife, or rather Goddess Ganga, is played by Sakshi Tanwar (Parvati Aggarwal, in the same K-Serial). While they used to look convincing as a couple in that family drama, they don’t really create the same effect in this one. Sadly, though. Also, the now-infamous Draupadi is played by Anita Hassanandani (have I got the spelling right?), who has a reputation of screaming and crying in all the characters she plays on TV. (Ah… She’s merely kept up that reputation. Hmmm…) The costumes are as bad as they can get. Although they’re designed by Manish Malhotra, still — as bad as they can get.

Till now, all it seems that Kahaani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki is just another K-Serial. If it does run to its full course, I can only imagine what will follow. I can’t imagine the scenes when Lord Krishna gives Gita Updesh to Arjuna. Will justice be done to it? Draupadi’s vastraharan we’ve already seen, so expect that every opportunity will be grabbed vociferously to impart sleaziness in the story. A likely candidate : When the Pandavas undergo their ajnaatvaas, one of them (Arjuna, I think), takes up the role of a bisexual cook. In this serial, I bet he’ll behave like Bobby Darling. Pun intended! Sex sells, remember?

Although one might argue that this version of the epic is adapted to be in sync with the times, still, you are not to forget the basics, right? Let Ms. Ekta know that this is not one of her regular, fictious K-Serial, whose story can be twisted and turned at her will. Extra care needs to be taken while dealing with a literary work of such stature. And you are not allowed to deviate from the script (although it hasn’t happened yet, it can, isn’t it?)

I’m not watching the show anymore. (BR Chopra’s Mahabharat is out on DVD, you know…)

Guys.. Meet my Newest, Tiniest and Cutest Nephew! Cho Chweeeet!