Lost symbol effect!!!

At last I found the lost symbol ;)

The much awaited moment was ended when my Anna gifted me with Dan Brown’s Lost symbol (my Rakhi gift). I dint get the chance to read it first because Pinki had already booked it. Let me say, this book is awesome!!!

Whenever I read a Dan Brown book, it develops some sort of strange interest in me. Each sentence awakes the info seeker in me….and I feel am the one, who is searching for the so called precious info in the story. I know my imagination is too kiddish.
If I keep my fantasy stuff apart, Brown's style keeps the pages turning as readers try to connect the dots, which is the crucial thing in this book. All his thrillers are known for its style and its relation to Christianity.

Narrating a story is something really great and I lack that art. That’s why am so much interested in reading those kinds of books which are very strong in narration. The plot, situations, and characters move along with you when you read through the text. Isn’t it a great art? (Off course it is!!! I am struggling to create continuity in whatever crap I write :)

And another important fact is the book’s relation with catholic conspiracies. Being a catholic, am interested in Catholicism and it’s so called ‘church secrets’. The plot is set in such a way that the Symbols and mythology provides a fun chance to toy with conspiracy theories. I never knew there were so many secrets behind the Catholic Church. (Hope it’s not true :)

The book didn’t consume my much time as The Lost Symbol' does not require much effort to read. Some words did need a Google search; still it never spoiled the continuity of the plot.

I am so much impressed by the writing style of Brown. But I read a few reviews criticized the narrative as witless, adjectivally-promiscuous and addicted to using italics to convey excitement. Is that really true? I don’t read many thrillers and not familiar with the adept thriller writers. If you can invoke interest through your own writing style, then why need to follow other writers. I did have great time by reading the book, then why to worry about the critics.

Let me tell you one thing frankly, I didn’t like the ending :(
but no comments ;)

All the best Boss!!!

It is almost one year since I joined Congruent. Ganesh helped me to find this job and he is my boss too. I am kinda of enjoying the life here. This office is so different from my previous one, where I started my communication career. I feel happy when I think about this organization. It teaches me a lot and does give me the opportunity to flourish my career.

Marketing department is the best in Congruent. Rashmi, Subu, Durai and myself are so fortunate to work under Ganesh (he heads marketing). He encourages us a lot and never complains about anything. My other colleagues feel the ‘J’ factor for us.

For me, he is a role model. I adopt many things from him, especially his sincerity, commitment in work and passion to train his subordinates and all (it’s actually a never ending list:). I have noticed one thing that he never hesitated to appreciate anyone of us even in our small achievements.

You know some people say they have the greatest boss, but they don't unless they work with mine. My boss is more than just a boss, he's my friend. He will do anything for anyone and is always there when you need him. If All Bosses were like him, the World Would Be a Happier Place.

It is sad thing that he is leaving to another firm for a better career. It gives me disappointment but I would like to wish him a great career.

Wishing good luck in your new job dear Ganesh!!!

Oh my God who’s gonna come next??? :(

Twitter, a new trend among the social networking sites has grabbed a lot of attention from people all around the world. When I first heard the name Twitter, I found it funny but interesting. Later Ganesh asked us to start an account, we (Durai, Rashmi and myself) loyal subordinates, promptly joined Twitter. The novelty in the words and functions made it more interesting.

The creators have developed it as a simple tool that makes it user-friendly. Though, it took almost 4 months to understand the concept behind this micro blogging site. The more you explore it, the more interesting you find it. Funky tools, statistics, information…

So what is Twitter? It is a free networking service that lets you keep in touch with people through an exchange of quick and short messages. Suddenly we realize the power of communicating in 140 characters.

I am an active tweeterer, do tweet everyday and have 500+ followers  for me it’s just a past time and a popularity contest (Ganesh likes to pull my leg a lot). While preparing a presentation on Twitter for Ganesh I realized that Twitter was not a simple “past time” tool, but an effective and impactful business/marketing/PR tool. During my research on Twitter, I found a wide variety of information about Twitter. That just fascinated me. It is interesting to note how businesses are investing on Twitter for promoting themselves.

It is mind boggling when you look at the plethora of Apps that have been developed for Twitter.

Even though, people call twitter a simple site, I cannot say it’s just simple; it has a whole lot of tools which makes it unique and complex. If I talk about the concept of an ideal social site, that would vary from person to person but a few characteristics of your choice will be same as mine. Twitter is ideal to me because of its strong tools and perfect services. Isn’t it fabulous that small site can do whole lot of things than any other social sites giants.

Back to the role of twitter in business, that’s what our presentation is all about. Experienced hands say that Twitter helps corporates and business organizations to build their brand effectively. If one can follow the basic concept of Twitter i.e., Follower/Following effectively, that can make extensive changes in your company’s brand image. Twitter provides corporates with good marketing opportunities that can be translated in to business or fame.


So try twitter, Learn Twitter and tweet, tweet and tweet to make your network bigger (visit my boss’ blog to learn about twitter)


By the way, I put together the presentation well!!! (Got a brownie point too)

Networking through Social Sites!!!

I have been thinking of writing a post about social networking sites for so long. I never had enough time to do a research on that. Last week, just out of curiosity, I checked the list of social networking sites in Google, the universal search engine, and got surprised by the numbers. Oh God, more than 350! The names I was familiar with were a handful - Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, Yahoo 360, My Space, bebo, hi5, netlog, Tagged. But the rest were alien to me.

When I started using Orkut, about 4 years back, I didn’t know what it was. I signed up coz of peer pressure. My friends said that Orkut was a great way to communicate and be in touch; unlike the old ways - chats or mails! They said it was quite transparent. “everybody can see everybody” and “everybody can read about everybody’s information”. That was more than enough for a college girl. I took the plunge and joined Orkut. I must admit that I haven’t uncovered it completely, yet. The immediate benefit that I could discover my long last friends at Orkut.

Then so many invitations started coming in. Asking me to join a network or other. I in a temptation to find old and new friends, did give to couple of requests. But I must admit that after some point it is a waste of time. I would find the same set of friends in every social networking site. Why would I need so many platforms to keep in touch with same set of friends?

Let me come back to social networking sites, what are they? Theoretically one can say social network websites focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. (Am so fond of definitions:)). Most of the social network sites provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services and keep adding more features to their sites to make the sites more vibrant and popular.

Most of the social sites do follow the theory and more. You have a myriad of features to hold your interest to the sites. But still I really don’t understand how one can manage many sites at a time!!! I have many friends who use more than 10 social sites at a time and I am struggling to use just two. (Actually am an active Orkut member, but once in a blue moon, I check facebook).

On the business front, social media play an important role. Building brand through social media is gaining importance. Companies are investing in ensuring they have an impactful presence.

When it comes to individuals, “it is popularity contest” (Ganesh’s opinion), people are so keen to sign up with many sites and keep adding more friends to win this contest!!! Otherwise I don’t see any benefits out of it :) (apart from getting connected and winning the popularity show!)

I adore Sylvia Plath’s poems!!!

I don’t know when I started loving her poems. If I remember right, it was during my language classes (which was my favorite subject/class) where I was initiated into Sylvia Plath. Her beautiful verse “Tulips” captivated me. The protagonist and her thoughts are still fresh in my memory. It has taught me that nobody can.

I was not a literature student or followed poems before. But now I have developed a liking for her poems. Her words kindle my imagination, cast a spell and lead me into a fantasy world.

Sylvia Plath’s dedication to poetry and the intensity of her words is unparalleled. Her words drew heavily from her personal life making it attractive and analytical. She handled painful and intense subjects such as suicide, self-loathing, shock treatment, and dysfunctional relationships, and made it simpler to her readers to relate. The controlled flow of images in her poems captivates me.

In a strange way she had fallen in love with her depression which led to poetic madness and the outcome was fabulous.

It is amazing how a troubled passionate mind can fabricate such masterpiece!!!