New Look…!!!New Author….!!!

Atlast here is my new template. Sorry I couldn't add the header for which I asked your suggestions. And this template for sure cannot replace the looks of my old one. The glitzy sliders, which attracts everyone at their first sight is no more available. But there are other issues to be dealt with too. There has to be a compromise and balance between looks and performance.So this time I tried to concentrate in decreasing the loading time of my blog neglecting the looks. I don't know how many of you like this template. So you can pour in your suggestions. But please don't say to change the entire template. It has consumed all my time.

Further this is not a single persons work. However I invite minor suggestions like fonts,size etc. I have to thank some of my friends who were really helped me and suggested me about the good and bad at each step. I sincerely thank my friends Venky, Shruthi, Karthi for being a part in successfully creating this template.

 

I sincerely thank EVO, a very good designer who helped me with SEO and page elements column. He prepared the page elements as I wanted and imagined. I just mailed him about the changes I need and within 2 hours the design was ready.

 

Once again I invite suggestions regarding fonts and its sizes and possibly whatever change that can be made within layout. I still have to add some widgets.

 

And I am happy to announce a new author to my blog.  You all know her probably. I think everyone in my network follows her blog too. So again I am happy to announce that Shruthi one of my very close friends will be the guest author of my blog and I am very happy to announce that in future you all can see 55 fictions in my blog too. A person cannot be good in everything and cannot satisfy everyone. I tried writing 55’s. But every attempt ended in failure. So I recruited shruthi to write 55 fictions for my blog. I asked her to write a 55 fiction each month,starting from OCT 1.  My friendship with Shruthi is a very weird one. We both studied at same school. She is put up at a place which is hardly 5 mins from my home. But till date I haven't seen her. And also Venky.. His place is hardly 2-3 mins from my home. Till now I haven't met him in person. But I am very happy to say that I got some great friends through this blog.Some too close… Some too far…. and this blog has given me a greater exposure to outside world. Last but not least, this blog has done things which I wouldn't have imagined in my life time.

 

And sorry for those intensedebate comment form. I had problems with the blogger comment form especially the picture display.So I have added this intense debate comment form. Please let me know if you genuinely have any problem with the comment form. After confirmation from venky and after trying it in all browsers, I think this comment form is compatible with all browsers. Do let me know if any problem exists.

 

So thank you all again. Waiting for your valuable suggestions.

Technorati Tags: templates,friends,SEO,new template,author

Friendship Day Wishes!!!!

First I wish all my friends & fellow bloggers in this network a “Very Happy Friendship Day”.

But very sorry I don't know to write any poems.. Actually I tried,but its a great flop…So never mind..Hope there are fellow bloggers here who can write poems about friendship too. I guess pawan or vipul could do it…A few quotes always comes to mind when I think about friendship…Ofcourse they are not my original ones.But they come to my mind whenever I think of friends and Friendship…

“Life is Partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends whom we choose”.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed”.

A life without a friend is unimaginable. Let it be any stage of life, can anyone exist without any friends? or friendship?

The most important thing is Friendship don't know cast,creed,status or anything. And ofcourse my life is no different. A life without friends can be compared to a pen without ink. Its useless..

And the friends I got over the past few months with this blog..they are also very special too…These friends are ofcourse a step ahead I have to say.Because I haven't seen them before. And they Haven’t seen Shankar too… But still they praise me,appreciate me,teach me,criticize me and they also have read the pages of my life. But they never expect anything in return.This is the world where even close relations expect something in return. But these friends who do not expect anything should be given a note..And I dedicate this post to all my friends in this world..Once again wishing you

“A Very Happy Friendship Day”

Image Courtesy: www.google.com

Technorati Tags: Friends,friendship day

Another reason to celebrate!!!

So,Its been 2 months and 2 days since I started blogging. In these few days I got some small, small achievements which is very worthy of celebrating. And today there is another reason for me to celebrate.

If you want to know the reason just take a look at the sidebar section.. Can you notice the number of Hits?

Yes..It crossed 1000 today. Not a big achievement, but according to me small achievements cumulatively make it a bigger one in future.

My celebrations started when I saw a small dot appearing over India in cluster maps.

Then there were few comments which encouraged me to stick on to blogging.

Then few members joined my network, some followers, repeated comments,tags etc..etc..

This blog also gave me an opportunity to meet some great personalities too.. Which would have never been possible without this blog.(http://ballat.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-day-at-raj-bhavan.html)

I also would like to thank IndiBlogger as many of my followers and networks are from IndiBlogger only.

And ofcourse I had few problems in the past week regarding comments and was not in a position to celebrate my 50th post of this blog.But I am sure to celebrate my 100th one.

Image Courtesy: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/the_breaks/1000.jpg

HarDum!!!

Social networking is not new to us. We have seen a lot of networking websites such as Orkut,Facebook,Tagged,MySpace etc. I read today’s Hindu Newspaper. I found a new social networking website. You might think what's new in that. Everything is same. I felt the same way when I read the paper.

The website was created and designed by Harshavardan and Laksmi Parkavi of Chennai..So I entered the site and registered my account.Let me furnish the unique advantages of that site.

First advantage is that Signing up is so easy.It takes only a few seconds to sign up for that site.

We say first impression is the best impression and this easy sign up process created the first and best impression.

Profile creation is simple without asking much details and unnecessary things.

Some features of facebook like wall and twitter has been combined in this site. So we can enjoy the advantages of orkut,facebook,twitter at same place.

We can post our talents like, we can post our good photos, post our blog links,post anything creative and points are awarded for your unique talent. There is also a vote system through which you can vote to others talents.

There is a column called power ideas were you can post your unique ideas. The ideas may be about cookery,science,projects etc..

The most amazing thing which differentiates Hardum from other websites is that you can buy products for free.You can donate free products,You can sell your products and you can even exchange your books and other products from others in your locality.

There are lots of free vouchers too. Do you think its over not all. Here you can search for latest job openings.Apply for the job and post your resume too. This site directly bridges Employers and job seekers.This site also provides the latest news from your Tinsel Town.

I am new to this site and still there is a lot more to explore. The website has just been started and it looks cool.So don't wait.Register Immediately.

http://www.hardum.com

Image Courtesy:http://www.hardum.com

Technorati Tags: hardum,social networking,buy,sell products,vouchers,freebies,job search,resume

Blogs Behind My Blog

Hello friends

This post is dedicated to all my friends who have helped me in designing this blog.Also to those who were commenting,appreciating,criticising and keeping track of whatever is happening around in this blog.

I decided to write one post each day and i fulfilled it successfully for the month of June. This is my 30th post for the month of June and of course I am writing it a day earlier.I am not sure what might happen tomorrow. May be i might be busy with a work or else even I might face my end tomorrow(i.e) death. So I have planned to write my 30th post a day earlier.

Everyone must have come around this saying atleast once in Life.

“Friends and Books should be few and good”.

I started blogging with no prior network or followers. Now after a month and half I have 12 followers to my blog and there are few who visit my blog daily and write their views on my post. I was always jealous when I see blogs with huge networks. But now I am not. I have a very small network,but still the network around me is one of the best. I visit everyone’s blog daily and some have been really inspirational,some informative and there are some blogs which are innovative.So here I take the pleasure to notify some great blogs in my network which are really worth reading. I assure you these are some blogs which makes you to visit and read again and again.

Here I have categorized the blog according to their contents.

Best Informative Blog:

Sky has no limits!!! So Do I?

Author: Sriram. This blog is the best informative blog. It has various information regarding Astrophysics, Creativity,Illusions,Aerodynamics etc..etc.. If you want to have a nice knowledge in science and facts then this is blog is the best one for you. Further if you want to know about anything in science you can comment and you will be responded shortly(or_ you can find a new post about the topic you have queried.

Best  Tech Blog:

Tech Explorer

Author: Jaladhi Desai. This is one of the best tech blogs. If you want to know anything about computers,Windows vista,Windows 7. I recommend you this is the best place. I once asked for a little help from a help from this guy regarding designing a favicon for my blog. I wanted to replace my ugly looking orange Blogger Icon into my own style. I just asked this guy to design me with two letters BT. The next day he gave a link to one Icon. I saw and I was surprised it was way better than I imagined. You can look at my gorgeous favicon near the address bar. Only very few offers such helps to members. What is so special about him is, he doesn't know me.I haven't spoken to him before.Just posted a comment in my blog to me and he instantly helped me. In this world no one offers to do even small help to others. But he does it.

Best Blog About Politics:

This section consists of two blogs.

A Naked Opinion         By Bharathi Subbarayan

The India Of Today      By Shree Venkatraman

If you are interested in politics and Issues then these are the two blogs that you must spend time with. The blog by shree consists of various categories but I mainly categorized it under politics as most of it contents reflected the politics in India.

Best Personal Blogs:
There are several blogs under this category as each one has its own beauty. In these blogs you cannot find any words,sentences paragraphs etc. What you can see is the Imagination and creativity taking the form of words.

Over Cups Of Coffee           By Psych Babbler

A rose is a rose is a rose     By Shilpaa Garg

The World Of An Engineer   By Srinath

Wrahoolz Wramblingz         By Subhayan Mukherjee

Devils Workshop                By Swetha


Newcomer:
So there is a newcomer to my network and to the world of Blogosphere. I welcome Lavanya to the world of blogging. She has been toping my list of commentators for more than a month. She has almost written comments for all my post. And atlast she herself started a blog to express her views. Hope she still write comments to my blog even after starting her own blog.

My Opinion  By Lavanya

I thank everyone for being in my network and I hope everyone will stay in touch forever.


Picture Courtesy: blog.zoneforum.com

The 15 Books Tag

I was tagged by Shilpa Garg for the 15 Books tag:
The rules are:
"Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag up to 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose."

So this is my list of 15 books:

Harry Potter Series By J.K.Rowling

The Joy Of Laziness By Peter Axt/Michaela Axt-Gadermann

A Matter Of Honour By Jeffery Archer

The Dragons Of Eden By Carl Sagan

Da Vinci Code By Dan Brown

Beloved By Toni morrison

Digital Fortress By Dan Brown

Angels And Demons By Dan Brown

Deception Point By Dan Brown

The Lord of the Rings By J.R.R. Tolkien

Gone with the wind By Margaret Mitchell

Nothing Lasts Forever By Sydney Sheldon

Are you Afraid Of Dark By Sydney Sheldon

Tale of Two Cities By Charles Dickens

The Chronicles Of Narnia By C.S.Lewis

I am tagging the following members:

Shilpaa Garg, Srinath, Bharathi, RM, Swetha, Sheba, Gauri Mathur, Kim Sethi, Subhayan Mukherjee, Kunu

RIP- MICHAEL JACKSON

Technorati Tags: Michael Jackson,Michael Jackson Dead

Michael Jackson- The best Dancer the world has ever seen,passed away  on the morning of June 25, 2009 due to a cardiac arrest. He is referred to as the “King Of Pop”.

His music Videos "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and Thriller were the best among his albums.His stage performances and music videos such as Moonwalk and Robot which involves lot of complicated dancing techniques made him so popular. The magic in his voice attracted and brought crowds at his feet.

He has won multiple Guinness records and he is one of the few artists who have been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

However there is also the other side of Michael Jackson. He has involved himself in lot of Child abusing cases. Apart from his personal life, he is considered as one of the greatest legends the world has ever witnessed.

For more info about Jackson Click Here

Image Courtesy:Google

From Hero To Zero

Have you ever wondered how things have changed in the last one year? There has been a tremendous change in almost everything around us. Let it be economy,let it be sports.. there has been a drastic change.

The pictures shown below are funny examples which portrays the reactions of leading companies in world towards recession.

Sports:

Cricket:

Now Lets see the change in sports from last year to this year.

1)Last years ICC Champions T20:India

This Year Failed to Qualify for Semi-finals.

2)The Cricket Legends Australia Ranking Number One in ICC last year.

This Year they face continuous Failures. I never felt like they played this years T20Championship. Knocked out in the first round.

3)Pakistan, I never thought this country would ever play International cricket again after Srilankan players were shot at Pakistan. But they are the T20 Champs this year.

Did anyone notice during the match between Pakistan and Srilanka(finals). One of the spectators waved something towards camera. It was written “India Are You Watching This” . It was really hard to believe India back home and Pakistan going for Title.

Formula One:

Lets get into the World of Formula one. Honda which was one of the Giants in car manufacturers,announced their retirement from Formula one Championship.

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren the Champions of 2008 now struggling at the back of the grid trying to get some points and often lap defeated by Jenson Button.

Brawn GP, Ross Brawn bought the last years Honda team. With Mercedes powered Engine They establish themselves as supreme heroes of Formula One this Year.

Ferrari, The best team formula one has ever witnessed struggles like McLaren this year to get some points. But with their experience and Hard Work they are fighting their way ahead.

Felipe Massa- Last Year proved his supremacy and talent.But lost championship by one point. This year struggling in the middle of the Grid.

Kimi Raikkonen- The champion of 2007 and one of the costliest players in whole world.Earns around 130million$ a year. He is a disaster this year.

From Heroes To Zeroes

From Zeroes To Heroes

Picture Courtesy:Google,www.smarthelpinghands.com, www.news.thomasnet.com

Technorati Tags: Heroes,Jenson Button,sports,Economy,Afridi,Ferrari,Mclaren,Hamilton,Massa,ICC T20,Pakisthan,Dhoni,India

God and Ghost

Most have you would have endless debates about the existence of god and existence of ghosts. I have debated and queried about the existence of god and ghosts.But till now I never found a definite solution.

Some say Its just a belief, while others make fun of me whenever I raise this issue. But none gave me a concrete solution with proof.  Very recently I saw some horror films which convinced me about the existence of ghost.

We all know Newton's Laws of motion. And third law is the most common law. “FOR EVERY ACTION THERE IS AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION”.

Our world consists of both men and women. We have oceans and opposite to that we also have deserts. We have birds which can fly in the air, at the same time we also have fishes which can swim underwater.

We have protons as well as electrons. So everything is balanced with opposing forces.

So If god exists then why there cant be an opposing force called ghosts and devils. If you say ghost doesn't exist, Then there is no god…

I sincerely apologise for wasting your valuable time if you think this doesn't make sense.

I am a firm believer of the existence of god. But I can neither accept nor deny the fact about the existence of ghost..

Do you think that ghost exists?

The word recession is not in their dictionary!!!!

Have you ever wondered about the influence of recession in the department of world sports. I am a great fan of formula one races. I love formula one than any other sport.

A few months back I was discussing about last years Brazilian grand prix with my friend,My friend asked me “Do you think recession would have a major influence on Sports especially formula one?” I replied “I don't think so. The teams running formula one are giants and this is not going to affect them anyway.”

The next day when i saw the newspaper I was shocked, one of the worlds leading car manufacturers Honda quitted formula one due to large expenses. From that instant formula one association has implemented budget cap,cost cutting measures and lot of steps to handle recession.

On the other hand one of the greatest sport proved that the word recession is not in their dictionary. I am talking about the worlds greatest game “SOCCER”. The recent headlines from the community of football proved that they are unaffected by recession.

Day before Yesterday, One of the Spanish teams Real Madrid transferred the veteran Ac Milan player for the record price of 58million Pounds, the worlds best and costliest deal ever made in the history of soccer.

Today, the same Spanish team once again transferred Christiano ronaldo from Manchester United for record price of 80million Pounds. This is the worlds costliest deal ever made.

Could you imagine the worlds two costliest transfers were made during the time of recession?

Technorati Tags: recession,transfer,football,soccer,christiano ronaldo,kaka

Women Biased Society

Before starting with this topic,I convey my sincere apologies to women and girls of this society.

I personally feel that today's society is getting women biased. Everyone around in our society fights for women's rights and freedom. But taking into consideration the recent happening and events every where around India, I personally feel the women are having a lot more freedom than men in this society.

Actually women faced a lot of troubles right from their birth. From female infanticide to sati,Ragging to sexual harassment Women faced all the cruelties. This is a fact that everyone should accept. But I feel those days are gone.

Apart from this social issues now lets go to our day to day life. I don't know whether everywhere this is happening, But some events happened in front of my eye, which made me to write this article.

So lets start from a smaller issue.This is actually about a small game played in our classroom.It started as a game,But ended up in a disaster. This happened in my second year of my college(third semester). Our class girls played a game called ‘Dare game’. According to this game a girl has to propose to a boy in our class. A stupid game played by girls. So,one fine evening one of my class girls after classes came to my close friend and proposed. Of course he didn't take it seriously. We just knew its a game and didn't make it a issue. The following day, My classmates(i.e.) boys in our class, wanted to play the same game and did the same back to a girl of our class. But our class girls took the matter seriously and went to our college principal. I don't know whether there was any vengeance or revenge in girls mind. Girls gave an official complaint to our principal.

Great Principal of our college without any enquiry sent a letter to the parents of those involved in the scandal.The letters were written by our class girls. Several copies of the letter were taken and sent to the parents. You will be really shocked what was written in the letter. The letter stated that your ward is involved in activities such as handbag snatching,eve-teasing,sexual harassment,ragging etc.. the letter went on. What the parents would have thought on reading this letter. Our great principal and other officials without any enquiry decided in favour of the girls. When everyone went and justified what happened in our class,Our principal merely said “ Any girl wont do such things as dare game. You guys are lying. Its the guys who always make troubles.” This is the first example. This clearly pictures how girls are supported by society.

Now this is second example. This event took place outside a busy shopping complex. A women aged around 35 to 40(approximate) came out of the shopping complex. Two guys around the age of 20(resembled like college students) came in a bike and unknowingly the helmet which was in the hand of the person sitting at the back of the bike hit the lady’s hands. she dropped the box she was having in her hand. The biker got down from bike,sincerely apologised to the lady and gave her things which she dropped. But the lady didn't leave. She made a loud noise and called the nearby persons. She complained that the bikers tried to steal and snatch her handbag. The boys argued and told what happened.But everyone acted like they are deaf. No one even tried to hear what the boys were saying. They were taken to police station. I don't know what happened to those two.

Now taking the second condition, If any guy or a male complain about a women will the society believe? will the society take necessary action against the women's? I would probably say no to this answer. That's the power of women in this society.

Here I am not specifying every women in this society is like this. Generally the women's have an upper hand than men in this society.

Image Courtesy: http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/Glamour%20graph.jpg

Accept Life As It Comes!!!

Hello...

This has been voted the best email of this year. I have edited the mail in my style and presented it over here.Please have a look at it....

Does Academics Alone Matters?

 

Technorati Tags: Tution,Education,education system,academics,Marks

Atlast I have successfully completed my four years engineering. So, now when I look back the four years I have spent in my college, I wonder what I achieved in last four years. What I learned? Will it help me in the future corporate atmosphere?

When I was studying eighth standard, The period when engineering was started as a professional course in India, My dad told me you should become a civil engineer like that person, So that you can earn more and You can be successful in life. I asked to my dad “What should I do in order to become a civil engineer?” I thought my dad would say you have to study well. But instead my dad said you have to get top marks in my board exams. So, I thought everything depends on the marks we get.

When I was in my 11th standard my mom came to me and told “you know one of our neighbours got a seat in the best engineering college. So work hard and get 90 percent, So that you can also get a good college”. Once again marks were predominant.  So, I got good marks in my twelfth standard and accordingly got a seat in good college.

This not only happens at my home. This is the situation in each and every home. Everyone needs marks. Does this academic mark alone judge or decide a potential of a person?

According to our Indian Educational System, The marks alone are important. In one of the news papers recently, I read one article in which the writer specified a mother sends her ward to IIT coaching so that he might write the exam and walk into IIT for a better future. You might ask what's wrong in that. But the irony is that the boy is in his fifth standard. Can you imagine a fifth standard boy preparing himself for IIT? So parents urge their child to go to tuitions right from their fourth and fifth standard. Students go to school, then come back and heads directly to tuition. Spend two to three hours in tuition, comes back home at 7’o clock. They eat, do their home work etc. But Is there anything which makes the child to think? The analyzing capability, the creativity everything gets spoiled. They start to mug up their subjects due to the pressure from the society for getting good marks. So by the time they finish school they lack the creativity. They don't know to implement what they have read. 

So everything in this education system depends only on marks. That's why after completing our degree we run behind various MNC’s for getting a job, instead of starting our own company.

I personally feel every parent should insist each and every child to be creative. For this I am not saying marks are not at all important. They are only basic criteria to prove yourself in front of others.

Image Courtesy: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/biology/images/academics.jpg

Its time to vote!!!! Now In Nxg(may21/2009)

Do u remember my post titled "Its Time to vote!!!!!" ? That topic was my first official post. I started writing blogs exactly a week ago (i.e) from 13 may 2009.Nxg is one of the supplementary Of the daily newspaper" THE HINDU". Last Thursday I saw few articles in Nxg. They were really good.Articles were published in the penultimate page of the supplementary with title MY SPACE.But it was specified only best three articles would be selected and rest will be displayed in website.Seeing the level of some writers I thought my article would not stand a chance to get into papers.

But i decided to post my first ever article i wrote in my life time. I did it too. I never told anyone about this. Today morning i got up from bed and took Nxg. But was disappointed at first because I didn't see the title "ITS TIME TO VOTE" anywhere in the page. But suddenly, I noticed my name at the bottom of one article with my college name. Actually the title was modified by the EDITOR of the page.

When my father saw my article, He was really happy and soon i started getting both appreciations and criticism from neighbors,friends etc....Actually i had my Final year exams today,But i totally forgot about that.Instead my mind started thinking about what made me to write such an article and post it to"The Hindu".


First is my brother sriram. He actually insisted me to do something useful,which ended up in starting my blog, Which in turn helped me in writing the post. So indirectly with or without his knowledge he is one of the reasons.

Second is one monthly magazine: "THE FROZEN THOUGHTS". This magazine boosted my self confidence and the articles in the magazine was awe inspiring. Especially the Unposted letter of the April edition.

Thanks To Nxg for posting my article.It serves as a huge encouragement and kindles the flame within me to write more articles.

Teaching a service or a profession?

I wonder whether teaching is a service or just a profession to earn money....

For me everyday starts with hot coffee and Newspapers.I usually read The Hindu and Times of India.Last week I was shocked to see a news.... Guess what? Its a 17 year old girl in her XII standard died in school due to severe asthma attack.

Staff reports say that the student suffered an asthma attack while she was attending a class.The school authorities delayed in taking the girl to the hospital. And the medical facilities in the school were not adequate to give first aid.

Acoording to the sources,When the girl complained of her breathlessness,the school authorities instead of calling for an ambulance,instead called to her parents and waited for them to come.When they arrived she was taken to hospital and she was reported dead. Parents claim that why the school authorities waited until a car arrived from her house.

This happened last tuesday.

Then again this week one boy drowned in swimming pool and died.Once again lack of good coach and various facilities were the primary reasons.It took place in chennai and the coach was arrested.

And today I was really shocked to see a 10 year old girl died in school due to severe punishment.This took place somewhere near calcutta.

According to sources, The teacher punished the girl with duster for making a mistake in her bengali lessons.The girl vomited four times and when taken to hospital,she was found dead.

Three children dead in two weeks time.This is due to negligence of teachers,coach and lack of facilities. I wonder whether teachers work only for money and income, neglecting childs safety and future. 

I personally feel schools are no more a safe place for childrens. Everyone used to say Mother,Father,Guru,God(MATHA PITHA GURU DEIVAM).Does the teachers still hold a place ahead of god?Are they still eligible for the position ahead of god? I dont think so.....

My first Post

Hello friends

This is my first post.

I dedicate this Blog to my sweet bro(sriram).He insisted me to start a blog and start writing.This is mainly for improving my writing skills.

So this Blog is dedicated to my bro and all my friends who encouraged me to do this.Instead of wasting my time in chatting,... I prepared myself to do something useful.My brother came up with this idea of blogging. I took my first step which is nothing but creating a blog and posting my first post.