Onyo Durga (The Other Durga)

Don't they have all the rights to celebrate?
Image Courtesy: parent24.com, meribaat.wordpress.com

Durga Thakur - Clipping from Joy Baba Phelunath

Pujo Ads - New and Old

Shalimar Pujo TVC 2010




Shalimar - Old Ad



Titan Pujo Ad



Wild Stone



Thums Up



Peter England



Margo

Why I love Blogging

The informal approach is what I love most about the blogs. The best thing about blogs, they just keep going - however, I know that I need to be consistent with writing - more frequent and regular write-ups would make this blog more attractive and will appease my hunger for knowledge...let's see...

Gays are not perverts

And writers are not robots. But most people with typical and century-old SEO orientation believe that a writer can write 4000 words a day. They believe that a writer can come up with striking and impactful 100 articles using same set of keywords.Sick.

They also believe that a writer can write on any topic; otherwise how can they ask to make use of key phrases which are grammatically wrong? Pain.

Such people (read client) just create more online garbage and do not add any value at all. They belong to the 4th group of 4P - lol!

By the way, I am planning to approach Suhel Seth with this issue; will keep you all updated on what he says.

4P - 4 Types of PEOPLE you will meet in Life

Type 1 - They know that they know

Type 2 - They do not know that they know

Type 3 - They know that they do not know

Type 4 - They do not know that they do not know (DANGEROUS)

U.S Tax Regulations and Indian Freelance Content Writers

Freelance content writers from India and other Asian countries are losing ground to U.S. writers just because they are not from U.S. Even when they write good English they cannot get project. Due to the U.S tax regulation many American companies are not working with non U.S freelancers.

For example, an Indian freelancer cannot join Text Broker as the company is strictly following the tax regulation.

Now the question is: who are losing to whom?

Commitment comes from LOVE

People have again started asking me why I am not moving this blog to a custom domain. I refused; I will stick to my plan to stay with blogger.com. I simply LOVE the typical blog-like ambiance that I get with blogger.com. So I will not shift to anywhere!

I understand that a hosted blog is like having own house and a free blog like this one is like staying in a rented apartment! The land lord can mark you as spam, ban your account and do many other things. But still, I will not shift to anywhere!

I understand that with a free blog I cannot do a lot of things; I have no access to the server, I need to depend on blogger.com for a lot of things. But still, I will not shift to anywhere!

It's my LOVE for blogger.com that has made me committed to it :)

Somewhere Someday We Will Reunite

Saikat with Mummee (Grandma)

6 months over, I am living without you. Tough for me. I believe in re-birth and I am sure somewhere, someday we will reunite.

I will tell you all the episodes of your favorite TV serials that you missed...how little Anandi of Balika Vadhu transformed and how the new Jagadish look like :)

Have a LOT of thing to share with you, Mummee...

Ikir Mikir - Flash Game Portal Launched

It's good to see Ikir Mikir, the website of flash games going live. Lots of work to do with the site! Stay tuned.

Why I never wanted to be in Service Industry - SEO

Reasons are many:

- It is difficult to work with clients who have just NO IDEA about SEO but they think that they know a lot. Since they believe that they know a lot, they are not ready to listen to your advice. And they find mistakes in whatever you do.

- When you are offering SEO Service to hundreds of clients, it is difficult to be imaginative and sometimes impossible to offer high-end work. For a startup it is a big challenge.

- Even when you make it clear to your clients that you will be reporting monthly they call you everyday to know when they are going to get leads.

- Even when you can foresee huge opportunity with a website, you have to follow what your client believes best for the site.

- Then you will start developing your own website based on the concepts you like, and suddenly feel that you are actually not working on your ideas because some urgent work has popped up from your clients’ side and the entire team, including you, has got busy with that. This will repeat again and again.

- You will have a tough time when it comes to build up a good SEO team, especially if you are in Kolkata. If you hire freshers, train them and build a team the smart guys will leave to start their own company; others will be caught doing freelancing during office hours.

- You will want to give more time to your clients’ projects, so that you can do something really good for them. Sometimes you will come up with EXCELLENT ideas; but you will not get time to implement the same as you will be busy with business development, client handling, corporate communication, billing, recruitment and all.

You must be thinking how bad a person I am – only negative words about the industry! What will one do with their SEO knowledge then? There are 2 options:

If you understand SEO and other online marketing strategies and want to do creative work, find a job where you have to work for a specific product or brand. Yes, I am taking about in-house job.

If you believe that thousands of SEO companies are there, what is the use to be another face in the crowd – then do something different!

• Think of some revenue generating models that can work online.
• Build the resource and promote it online.
• You can start an online media house with various online channels which are active.
• You can earn money from blogs.
• Start an affiliate website.
• Start a lead generation website.
• Create a website, make it popular and then sell it off.

However, few things are required to be successful in this business model:

• Initial investment so that you can survive as a startup; if you start offering service to cover your back, just remember, it may be a vicious loop for you.
• A good team (friends preferred).
• Dedication and motivation.
• Ideas!

Disclaimer: My opinion; written from a startup’s perspective, sorry if it hurts you.

Google moving towards Artificial Intelligence

This post is about an observation. Searched for mini netbook today and see what Google did. The screenshot says it all:

Web Security - are you protected on Web?

Identity theft, hacking, phishing, online theft - all such incidents make us nervous! We think that installing an antivirus is all what we need. But is that true? Can an antivirus software give us 100% protection?

What about those who have a website that deals with sensitive customer data? How do you assure your online clients that their information will not get hacked through your end!


Aji Issac, an entrepreneur and a member of WebMasterWorld Forum, will be visiting a top notch Web Security and Penetration Testing Company to ask such questions. If you have web security questions to ask, please comment here, send me email or contact Aji directly.

Volcano Traffic Control - If you were the pilot

I am a nervous kind of person; I get puzzled even while crossing roads. I cannot even imagine flying airplanes in my wildest dream – and NOT during Volcanic eruption!

But what if it is a virtual ride? Hmm, I may like to tie the seat belt, put on the mask and kick start. I am talking about the browser game Volcano Traffic Control by Games2Win :)

Image Courtesy: Games2Win.com

While playing the game, I remembered how the Bush Shoe Throw Games spread over the web virally in 2008. Even we got domains like http://www.ThrowAShoeAtBush.com/

Image Courtesy: technomoz.com

During IPL we got some cricket games online keeping IPL in mind.

Image Courtesy: Games2Win.com

It seems the gaming world revolves around the latest happenings. So, what’s the topic of the next game? Sania Weds Shoaib? LOL.

Wright vs. Rong - Heights of Typing Error

Rong: Hi Pee, how are you? 
Wright: Hi Pete, how are you?

Rong: How to design a full sleeve shit?
Wright: How to design a full sleeve shirt?
(Courtesy: Roy)

Rong: Lick the image displayed at the bottom of the page.
Wright: Link the image displayed at the bottom of the page.

Rong: We will do it to get her.
Wright: We will do it together.
(Courtesy: Anirban Sen)

Rong: Please come for a sex.
Wright: Please come for a sec.
(Courtesy: Anonymous)

Rong: Let's take a small step towards paining kolkata green.
Wright: Let's take a small step towards painting kolkata green.
(Courtesy: _anamus)
... and when _anamus was told about the typo, she wrote "That's a mojor typo."
(Since the typo is not making a funny sense, not including it in the Rong-Wright series.)


By the time I post more Rongs and Wrights, why don't you share your Oops moments?

Kolkata Twestival 2010 and Ong BONG Chong

The Sanskrit mantras delivered by the priests during pujas most of the time sound like Ong BONG Chong; the reason can be either the priest cannot pronounce properly or the understanding level of general people is very low or both (the third option seems most sensible).

We had Greatbong in the Twestival Kolkata 2010 as the chief speaker and he speaks as good as he writes I must say. However, as I had lots of things to do here and there, could not concentrate much on what he was saying. Parts of his Speech that I managed to listen to were like this:

1] Greatbong suggests to have a blog on something you know and like - good point indeed.

2] Greatbong believes that most of the tweeters who have huge followers are successful in some fields - either they are celebrities, politicians, writers or bloggers. Twitter does not bring you fame, but, once you are famous, you can become popular on twitter too - point to be noted, I never thought this way.

3] The topic comes in his mind first, then he writes. Hence, writing a blog post does not take more than 30 minutes for him - justified, he writes on what he knows.

There was a question-answer session with the audience, he must have covered many other good points that I missed :( Let's see if somebody can help with a video.

The Greatbong part of Twestival Kolkata was something that I enjoyed. The presentation by Twitsnaps team was impressive and the speech by SOS Village was good (the paintings of SOS village children deserve a special mention).

Rest of the event was somehow Ong BONG Chong. A lot of people left the venue when the Band was performing. Overheard the comment made by an attendee while leaving the venue when the Band was on stage - "Ei hobe janle ashtam na" (I would not have come had I knew such thing was on schedule). It hurts; the good memories of Kolkata Bloggers Meet 2009 are still fresh in mind!

Got to see some old friends - that was the best thing in this festival. Returned home sleepy; special thanks to Samiran for helping me get back my cell phone charger.

And my apologies to the employees of Natya Bhavan for extending the event so long; they commuute huge distance every day and it becomes difficult for them to return home if a show ends late in night. They requested us to close it latest by 8:15 PM which did not happen.

How to Start a Bangla Band?

Are you one of those who nurture the dream of being associated with a Bangla Band? Here are some easy tips that will help you make your dream comes true:

1. Look for some friends who have ponytail.

2. The lead singer must be able to shout loud so that it seems like screaming badly in pain.

3. It's not essential to know Bangla (Bengali language) properly, but you must know English - that's very important when it comes to start a Bangla Band.

4. All the members must have a passion for torn and dirty-looking jeans.

5. All the members must have a 'don't care' attitude.

And you are done. No matter whether you have a musical sense or not, the above-mentioned aspects make you eligible to start a Bangla Band.

Disclaimer: the intention is not to hurt anybody's sentiment; just wanted to share my own thoughts about the Bangla Band Culture.

Indian Cities Participating in Twestival - Follow them online

Bangalore
Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/Twestivalbang
Hash tag: #twbang

Chennai
Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/Chntwestival
Hash tag: #chntwestival

Cochin
Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/cochintwestival
Hash tag: #cochintwestival

Delhi
Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/DelTwestival
Hash tag: #DelTwestival

Goa
Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/TwestivalGoa
Hash tag: #TwestivalGoa

Kolkata
Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/TwestivalKol
Hash tag: #twestivalkol

Mumbai
Twitter Channel: http://twitter.com/MumTwestival
Hash tag: #mumtwestival

Blogging is Bad? Who says?

Blogging can reveal the writer in you (iff there is one inside)! Who says blogging is bad?

So, ladies and gentlemen: May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss – let me congratulate Greatbong Arnab Roy on the event of his first book release at Kolkata just before Kolkata Twestival!

Twestival Kolkata - March 25, 2010

Twestival (Twitter Festival) is a worldwide event that is celebrated on March 25 every year. This year Kolkata is going to celebrate Twestival for the first time! Other Indian cities such as Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi have been organizing Twestival for a couple of years now – finally Kolkata is going to join them!

Twestival Kolkata is all about bringing tweeters (twitter members) in Kolkata together with a generous aim to help the under privileged. Here are the details of the event:

Venue: Natya Bhavan, EE – 8, Sector II, Salt Lake, Kolkata - 91. (On the way from Karunamoyee towards Sector V, near Wipro Crossing, between the petrol pump and Jalpaiguri Bhavan)

Date: March 25, 2010 – Thursday

Time: 5:30 PM

Duration: 140 minutes

Chief speaker: Great Bong – an international figure, reputed blogger-turned-writer and Twitterati (we are lucky that he is in India now)

Main Items:

• Painting Exhibition; Courtesy: SOS Village
• Cultural Programme; Courtesy: SOS Village
• Speech by Great Bong (More on him: http://greatbong.net/)
• Slot for the Kolkata tweeters

This is a charity event. The fund raised will be spent for a noble cause. There will be one donation box so that people can contribute and extend a helping hand to those who need it.

On behalf of the WebReps.in and Kolkata Tweetup Team, I request you to spread the words about the event in all possible ways so that more and more people can come to know about this. Also, do drop in at the above mentioned venue on March 25 and be a part of this global event.

More on this from official Twetsival Kolkata website.

Where is Kolkata in Indian Blogosphere?

Bloggers in Bangalore - 1783
Bloggers in Chennai - 1566
Bloggers in Mumbai - 1490
Bloggers in Delhi - 1404
Bloggers in Hyderabad - 821
Bloggers in Kolkata - 506

Image and Data courtesy: IndiBlogger.in

A friend finds out Celebs on Twitter

Dipanjan, a friend from school days, has just followed me on twitter. Good to see him tweeting; it will be easier for me to get in touch with him.

I am also happy to see the profiles he is following on twitter as of now :D



1. Rhithik Roshan http://twitter.com/iHrithik
2. Aparna Sen http://twitter.com/senaparna
3. Saikat Sengupta http://twitter.com/saikatblogger

@Dipanjan you are really great at finding out celebs on twitter. Good job buddy!

By the way - My IndiRank went UP

The person sitting beside you

...matters a lot. It is true that I love to travel alone. You may think that I want to travel fast and that's why I want to travel alone - NO. When I travel, whether it is coming home from Raniganj or simply commuting to my office, I get a chance to be with myself. If I find a familiar face in the bus, I generally feel bad because I have to talk to them and I have to sacrifice a golden opportunity to spending some quality time with myself.

But that did not happen today. One of my office colleagues was with me when I went to Jadavpur from Airport this evening. And surprisingly I revealed this softspoken and introvert person to be a great speaker! I am glad that he was with me; we discussed a lot of things and shared many ideas.

If the person sitting beside you can add some value to your thoughts, the journey becomes enjoyable. Same holds true for your professional life. The fact can be compared with an SEO company (@Amrita don't curse me for citing this example). A good SEO leader may not be able to deliver quality output if he is not working with a dedicated team. A talented writing team and a passionate marketing team are essential to make the projects successful. The person sitting beside you matters a lot!

Same is true for life. I need good people around me so that life becomes easier. I am really thankful to those who have made my life beautiful. The person sitting beside you matters A LOT!

Oxygen-like Elements

Went to Ronoda’s class (Rono Guhathakurta) today after almost 2 months. Missed a lot of great lessons, still felt good – as if I am back home after a long slot of indisciplined activities. He taught "E ki labonye purno praan" – what a coincidence! Will call Ruchiradi as early as possible and make it to her place this week only – can’t live without the swaras.

And while returning home from Dakshinee, I felt that I should write an article, a blog post or something as early as possible. Otherwise I am losing focus. My work does not involve extensive writing any more, but I cannot live without writing – seems I have to start writing regularly on this blog or on w3guru.

And I re-discovered the two things without which I cannot do: 1) Music and 2) Writing. Don't know why I repeat the mistakes of going away from these two oxygen-like elements of my life!

Know Who Are You - Test your Personality

Find more free games online at games2win.com!

2010 – A Cold Start

The masterminds who attended Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009 are awesome; I do not know exactly what they did, but the winter is colder this year.

Several parts of US and UK got record snow-fall; temperature remains below average in many countries including Germany, Russia, China, India and many other. Here is a PTI weather forecast for India’s mountain states.

Doesn’t it look like a natural thermostat? Melting glaciers, cyclones, tsunami and threats of sea level going up due to global warming – it seems THE SYSTEM is trying to adjust itself to maintain the balance.

However, this does not mean that we should use plastic bags more than before! We should take it as a lesson; it may not be too late yet. So take care of this planet; this is our home in this universe. Let’s make it greener. Happy living!

Jyoti Basu's Health Condition

Latest updates about the health condition of Jyoti Basu, veteran politician and ex-C.M of West Bengal. A lot of rumors are floating around. The saying "Basu critical on Google dead on Twitter" went popular overnight. Even I got misguided after reading an erroneous wikipedia update. Get the true and real news about him.

Is Jyoti Basu no more

According to Wikipedia Jyoti Basu is no more. Look at the screenshot below:

Screenshot of wikipedia page

Update 1:

Wikipedia article has been modified - compare the versions: http://bit.ly/77GbHT


Update 2:
It is difficult to get the right information; here are some news articles:
Jyoti Basu Dies At 95 - http://bit.ly/4BMoVb
CPM Patriarch Jyoti Basu Reportedly Dead - http://bit.ly/8uc7Jt


Update 3:
According to the Medical Bulletin of 6 PM Basu's condition is better. http://bit.ly/8yPtDs