When Facebook friends replace friends and when life is nothing but a long cruel wait between notifications, you need a digital detox. I am on one. Started today. What do I plan to do on my detox? Document every day so I can write a digital article at the end of the quarantine, whenever it is. Day 1 It’s a Monday. After a hard night of partying, woke up with two good old friends, went for a famed chole bhatura breakfast and streetside chai. Fantastic…Continue Reading “My digital detox”
I don’t like reward programs. They remind me of giving up my bachelorhood. They are all about giving up the freedom and being tied up. There was a time when having a Shoppers Stop loyalty card seemed like an achievement. I kept one for three years and earned myself a pair of socks at the end of it. There were clear reasons why it didn’t work for me. One of them being that the card was store specific. And, Shoppers Stop was not alone. I…Continue Reading “MoMark Rewards APP & what mobile based loyalty programs are”
The world is coming to an end. At least, for bloggers, it is. Never before in the history of mankind had a vocation attracted so many talented people without the promise of any tangible rewards. You may argue that hundreds of thousands run to Bollywood to become film stars, even more enroll for doctor and engineer courses, may be, as many stow away in ships and travel to the developed world. That argument sounds solid, so let me tear it apart, one example at a…Continue Reading “6 indisputable reasons why every blogger should go on a strike”
I don’t remember how I stumbled on this one early year, but have been ordering from this store quite consistently. They have not given me a chance to complain, yet. Started in 2010, Zovi has been one of the silent runners among all the brand names. They launched a TVC campaign recently but I will say they have been doing quite well without burning too much of that fund money on marketing. Started in 2010 by Satish Mani, formerly senior vice-president at Cleartrip, Kavindra Mishra…Continue Reading “My experience with online shopping: Zovi”
The last few months of my life have been very exciting. I suddenly have a very happening nightlife. Every night, me and my wife finish up our chores, surround ourselves with bowls of snacks, connect the laptop with the TV and go shopping. Online shopping is not a new idea in India. Times Shopping and Rediff Shopping have been offering this for a few years now. But it has become a practical idea now. Most of the shopping sites are funded today. They have the…Continue Reading “My experience with online shopping: Snapdeal & Flipkart”
In one of my last posts, I mentioned that I am not the adventurous types. I know that new things are fraught with risks and take care to stay away. Don’t judge me, I am a nice guy otherwise. For last two months, I have been researching to write on the Indian e-commerce scene. I ordered from almost all major e-commerce sites – Myntra, Infibeam, Zovi, Yebhi, Homeshop 18, Snapdeal. I took photos of their packaging, tracked delivery time, had to return a few and…Continue Reading “Pepperfry won’t deliver, won’t refund, won’t listen. Help me interneters!”
When in Rome, if everyone behaved like the Romans, Rome will end up being a pretty boring place. Same with Lajpat Nagar in Delhi. We all love Punjabi food (don’t we?) and can’t thank God enough for the fact that every block in Lajpat Nagar has a restaurant that serves exactly the same food at slightly different prices. But even my adorable neighbours can’t deny that a little change in palate is not such a bad thing. In fact, if it is the Colony Bistro,…Continue Reading “The Colony Bistro – How social media is changing the dining scene in Delhi”
Visitors? Of course. Comments? Too obvious. Fame? When you get it, yes. Appreciation? This is the currency that works in the blogging world. Give some, get some. It makes bloggers happy, but that’s not the answer. Money? Even in movies, where all improbable things happen, I have never seen a rich blogger. I have been writing about what makes us blog and how we blog for sometime now. Mostly about the Focused Vs. Freestyle blogging. There are no definite answers, so I can never be…Continue Reading “What makes a blogger happy”
The idea of charity has embarrassed us throughout our lives. We have always been conflicted between taking the easy way or the tougher one for virtue. Spending a Sunday with friends scores over going to teach in a community school. Walking on is so much simpler than staying at a blood donation camp. Buying a mass produced discounted product is more tempting than a locally produced slightly more expensive one. We fell wretched when we have to make such decisions. Most of the times, we…Continue Reading “Freerice.com – Play a game and feed the hungry”
What do you do when you are stuck with a half done design… you have been taking a walk, you have been smoking, you have done both together, you have browsed through the .net magazine or done whatever queer little habit that you had. Now, try Sortfolio. Originally, a site to find web designers in your local area, this also doubles up as a great resource to check the latest design standards, trends and design items that you can use. Surf thousands of designs, browse…Continue Reading “Sortfolio – when you need some design inspiration”
I wrote about freestyle blogging in my last post, which was a way getting my foot in the door. This post is about throwing an arm after it. I have been wondering about the extent to which we have the power (sociologically correct term will be ‘agency’) in deciding what to write on our own blogs and if that affects the success of our blogs. My last post raised the question about the theme of the blog – should we be subject matter experts who…Continue Reading “Focused Vs. Freestyle Blogging Part 2: Comments or No Comments?”
Being indiscriminate has not done any good to anyone. So, is blogging any different? When I started this blog, I had no idea what I will write about. I didn’t even know whether a personal blog should be limited any one interest area or whether it can be about anything at all. I still don’t know. Looking at the blogs I read and follow seemed like a good idea and that’s what I did. Despite the fact that I can never write about food, most…Continue Reading “Focused Vs. Freestyle: Is There A Formula For Successful Blogging?”
Come on, tell me the truth. How many of you aspire to be liked? And, to be liked by friends! If your friends like you, I can bet you never get invited to parties. Girls use you to drive them to places but you have no idea how their place looks from inside. You get a lot of smiles but no hugs. No has been nasty to you but no one has ever told you a meaningful thing either. And, you have never been part…Continue Reading “Like is for losers. I want you to love me!”
The Airbnb episode is all over the internet already. So, most of you know all about it. Now, for those who are just back from vacationing on Pluto here is a very short summary. Airbnb is a platform that puts travelers looking for a place to stay with and local people who have a place to offer. A woman in San Francisco, known only as “EJ” offered her apartment to a traveler known only as “DJ” (Pattrson ) for a week. When she came back,…Continue Reading “The AirBnb San Francisco Episode – How A Story Becomes Viral”
Google loves blogspot over wordpress. Every mother will say that’s fair. Thank god, mothers don’t run the world. There is room left for reason and rationale. I registered theyoungbigmouth on wordpress.com and blogspot.com around year back. Like all people who take blogging seriously, it had a disastrous effect on me. I had nightmares about writing and feared I can never do it. So, I promptly forgot all about it. (About) nine months later, I started posting my first few blogs. I decided to use the…Continue Reading “Google’s motherly love & why it’s not fair!”
Most other organisms are topical, we are not. We can grow anywhere and everywhere, so much like ants and cockroaches. It’s a strictly zoological reference, no offense. Man is an animal. In fact, not! We have a much more complex composition. A large part of us is defined by “personality,” most animals don’t have to contend with it. A lot of you will try to punch me with the animals are humans too but not in the same way argument. But I will dodge that….Continue Reading “Why The Facebooks & The Walmarts Will Never Win The War.”
There can be two scenarios when it comes to logos. Your logo can be a duplicate. It might have a evil twin somewhere, only born earlier. So you are the thief and the violator. The second scenario – some one has been inspired by your logo, loved it so much that he wanted to give it his name. Now, you are the violated. Previously, there was no way to know. When I was working for an ad agency, logo designing was one of the most…Continue Reading “Trademarkia: Find out if your logo is a fake!”
No matter how many discount coupon sites we have, most of us will love to see LivingSocial in India. I did. And I was not imagining too hard. I was searching for some coupons and came across the paid ads for LivingSocial. The ads were for Lucknow, which is a city in India. And, LivingSocial does not operate outside US. PPC is not for sales, it is not for exposure or for branding. So, no matter how this one crept in, it does not make…Continue Reading “LivingSocial – who is running your PPC campaign?”
I have been using it for some time now. Trust me, if you are technologically challenged like me, this is like magic. I could never get the sequence right when it came taking a screenshot. .. Press Print Screen Button…Paste on Paint or any image editing software…cut what you want or whatever. It’s child’s play to many of you, a day’s work for me. Big deal. Jing is free, easy to use, edit and share. You can take screenshots or you can create videos. Share…Continue Reading “Jing: Instant screenshots and screencasts”