Bloggers Vs. Journalists

Who is better?  Blogger or Journalist - this is not this post about.  This post is about who is the 'best' out of the two. The blogger vs. journalist debate has been going on for quite sometime and probably ever will.  I am an infrequent and casual blogger and still my opinions are not biased.  I have great respect for reporters and journalists (though not all of them).  It is obvious that bloggers evolved from journalists.  Journalists have been existing long before the internet and digital age.

I am more famililar with blogs and I do feel most of the bloggers are not biased (not all).   Bloggers have the habit of writing what the news is from a reader's perspective - as it is mostly.  Journalists do have a tendency to be biased (there are good ones too) on what they write because they do not want to create unwanted feedback.  They are very cautious. The bloggers on the contrary never mind about the positive or negative feedback they get on what they write.  Journalists write down articles only to be read  by the public.  Journalists never get any reader's views on their articles.  They analyze and write the article keeping in mind who are involved and how to write it out in a professional manner (extrinsic factors).  The blogger on the other hand keys words straight from his heart (heart usually speaks the truth) - and it is definitely amateurish but good.

I Googled and came across a study which I would like to share.  PR Week and PR Newswire in its study done in mid-2010 came out with a fact that 52% percent of bloggers considered themselves to be journalists.  This shows bloggers are not at all casual in what they do even though they sit and write from home.  Bloggers consider themselves to be journalists because they understand their responsibility in bringing out real facts.  Most bloggers are more famous than journalists who cover news from the same stream.  Political views of certain  influential bloggers are gaining great momentum lately.

Let us dig a little about technology news now.  Basically, the way people search for news and reviews have changed lately.  Technology magazines just cover the specifications of a specific product.  Bloggers do a detailed review of a product and key down the pros and cons from a user perspective.  Most of the buying decisions are based on reviews on blogs rather than articles on magazines or newspapers.  This means bloggers have more influence on the consumers than technical writers and journalists.

Bloggers spread the news much faster than their main stream media counterparts.  Once a news hits on a specific blog - we could find it being exploding in Twitter, Facebook and other major social medias.  The blogosphere also brings diverse opinions (people-centric) on the same topic.  In the case of journalists, mixed opinions can be found (biased to either party involved in the news) very rare.  This is because main stream medias are owned by influential persons who have biased views (this is purely my perspective - correct me if I am wrong).

Blogs are taking over main stream media and this has led to all major main stream medias to have a number of dedicated blogs written by eminent journalists and bloggers.  If a journalist writes on a blog it is a news article on a blog - not a big change.  These main stream media companies should hire fresh talent available in the blogosphere who would be able to create unique content which would not reflect the news article.  Most mainstream media blogs have blog posts which reflect their news article (Mirror).

This post is not intended against journalists.  There are lot of good journalists around and they always will.  There are reporters and journalists who are not biased and bring truth the way it is.  They are persistent and determined to bring the truth and in order to bring it out they work in unpleasant and life threatening environments (journalists in conflict zones).  Internet is the lifeline of this century where people with diverse opinions connect and you cannot give a news based on journalism ethics - you have to understand the audience and transform.

Journalists and bloggers are doing the same thing but in different formats but their target is the audience.  Journalists have a "PRESS PASS" and bloggers have a "BLOG PASS."  The first one is physical and hard to get while the latter one is a piece of cake.  You can easily start a blog on Blogspot, TypePad, WordPress and more. Now, who is the best?  both, because they both are one (almost except method of exporting the news).  I have seen credible, reasonable, misleading (3 major types) of journalists.  Likewise, I have also come across honest, reasonable, doubtful and misleading bloggers.  So where are we now? Bloggers Vs. Journalists again.

Why I don't vote - voting does not change anything . . . . .

I have been reading a lot about elections lately in the newspaper.  I am a kind of person who does not put in new posts quite often.  I know it has been quite a while since I updated something on my  blog and here comes a post  - "Why I don't vote?"

No caption needed - picture tells it all

Some years back, like the majority of us, I too believed in voting even though we knew the fact that our single vote would not matter  (statistically).  I never believed that my vote could change something nor felt like I am part of a large group of people deciding on who would guide the country for the next few years (deep in my heart  like everyone of us, I always yearned for better conditions for everyone).  It gave me a feel like, may be your vote matters, so do vote.

My views on elections started to change as I discovered more and more about what is reality.  I believe people are good (I mean the voters) but not the politicians.  I do not want to blame the people, but the reality is they are easily tricked by extremely corrupted politicians.  Every time we vote, we vote with good intentions hoping for something good for everyone.  The candidates (some people are seasoned politicians - some others may represent common people) of the election may sound good until the elections are over.  Once they win the elections, they are not the person we thought them to be (we are tricked as usual).  We have to understand the basic fact that we all have evil in our hearts (including me) and when someone passes a test called election - he or she signs a contract with Satan (sorry to bring you in) and evil dominates their good intentions (even if they have any).  Sadly, it is obvious that even good people cannot contribute anything good to the society after being elected.  These people transform so quickly and starts enjoying decayed politics.

When you do not vote - YOU WIN

In the recent years, I have made a strong decision  that I won’t vote.  I never will cast votes again to select evil again.  My decision on not to vote anymore may seem 'pretty unfair.'   I do not care about anything you might say because I have heard enough arguments from people on this regard.  I am very much convinced that what I do is right.  You can call me liberal, antisocial, impassive, apathetic and more - I feel very much the same for people who vote and never witness any change - you gotta be on my side.  Most of us believe that voting is a process through which we can change things.  I feel sorry for people who think that people who don’t vote are not even fighting.  People ask me why I don't vote and during the end of the conversation tell me not to complain because I am not taking part in the democratic system.  Sorry folks! this isn't complaining - this is explaining my stance and how I feel sorry for you.

As I do not vote - it does not mean I approve the person who is elected (I am also familiar to arguments like these).  I would like to present another perspective on how your vote counts.  When you vote and someone is elected - it means you are giving them the right to rule you and whatever they do it  reflects your will (all the evil things like scandals, wars, unwanted policies, extra layer of taxes and more).  When you vote, you become a creator.  Unfortunately, you are creating something evil.  I wish to live in a world where my hands are clean and not bloodstained - so I do not vote.  People campaigning for votes are the people who have a lot of time and a lot of money.  Election is a process which measures who is more professional in "tricking people" and common people march towards the polling stations like scapegoats.

I ain't against democracy.  I encourage referendums to be conducted in all war torn regions to form new nations and elections to be conducted to select their own leaders.  Unfortunately, all democratic countries are not ready to conduct a referendum because if they give this right to be exercised - they will fail and majority of the people would vote against them.  This is the reason why a referendum is not conducted either in Kashmir or Tamil Eelam.  Mass graves are solid evidences of genocide in Lanka and so do other media evidences - but the International Community turns a blind eye and is not ready to conduct a referendum there.  That makes democracy a scam.

Stop coining words like young democracy, biggest democracy and hoping things will get better.  The bottom line is we all have tried for a change through generations and it has not worked out.  Even if I cast a vote - it would be nothing different, statistically also.  Politicians give fake promises during campaigns relying on your vote and after elected do not work based on your vote, but they work based on their own desire, party's desire, community, regional, or other special interests.

I never expect to bring any change to the world.  I consider elections to be disgusting - waste of time and money (mainly because it is not serving its purpose).  I have made up my mind that I will not be a part of the damage it creates deliberately through generations and I will never participate in this process to keep my hands clean from selecting evil people in power.  I feel free when I do not vote and I know I am different than most of the others - I love to stay that way.

I am winding up this post with a quick quote,

        Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. ~ Jerry Garcia

Celebrating Women's Day

The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. 

~ Roseanne Barr 

I strongly believe in this quote and find myself privileged to key in a special post for women on International Women's Day.   Every women around the globe will be celebrating this day and we could see on news lot of rallies all through the world on March 8.  I wish every single woman around the globe Happy Women's Day (sad fact is everyone cannot be happy while the world celebrates - that is reality - we will try to dig a little more in this post on that) . I consider this day to be a great opportunity to express my gratitude to every women in my life; family, friends, and women at work place and every single woman I have met and will meet throughout my life - you could find them almost everywhere.

Not only celebration:  There is nothing wrong in celebration - who said girls should not party?  party hard ladies -  you got to celebrate this day because being a woman is a great boon given by God - I believe.  But aside from all the celebrations, the main focus should be on establishing and maintaining equal rights and opportunities for women.  I have seen Women's Day being observed like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day - giving gifts to women of importance and praising women and so on.  I may sound a little different - no quite different, Yes, I am.  I believe Women's Day is all about taking the women's issues seriously and addressing them.

Autonomy:  I find this is the right time to key in a few words on autonomy.  Women should enjoy the quality of being autonomous - yes 'enjoy,' I mean it.  In a patriarchal society, autonomy is enjoyed only by men.  Women are foolish (sorry to say that) if they expect their male counterparts to give them permission to enjoy autonomy - that kills the definition of autonomy.  If you expect someone to decide what you do - it means you are dependent and not autonomous.  The term 'womanhood' according to me means an adult woman who is autonomous and not dictated by neither men or women.  The main reason for me stressing on autonomy is that if women start to function autonomous most of the feminist's issues will be addressed and we could witness a positive change - a welcome one.  Sexism would try to hinder the autonomy of women, but women should take a pledge this Women's Day to be autonomous.

Women in India:  Okay lets take quick peek at status of women in India.  Women in India are held back mainly by the gender roles they are expected to play in a patriarchal society.  Most men regard themselves to be more powerful and superior than women and this leads to prejudice.  History tells us that in ancient India, queens enjoyed equal power and sometimes even greater power.  We could also find a variety of goddesses being worshiped by Indians for centuries - powerful goddesses.

Today, the status of women has tumbled down.  We console ourselves by reading about a few successful women in the media, but still the status of women  in India is in now way comparable to other western countries.  We still read about women being tortured, raped and killed on an everyday basis.  This shows clearly that India is not shining.  If a country records frequent violence against women - it reflects the human values of the whole country.  We could find the female body being used commercially to bring in more sales to a wide range of products and flesh sells like hot cupcakes in the cinema industry.  Women are merely considered to be entertainers and puppets in the hands of sexists.

Signing off:  I would like to wind off this post with a few things that  I feel women are unique about.  The unconditional love they provide has no 'ifs' and 'buts' - no strings attached love.  Next one is the smile they are armed with.  When a man smiles its just a couple of muscle moving on his face, but when a woman smiles it is the smile in her heart which moves her lips to give out a smile.

Keep smiling ladies :)

Budget 2011- What is in store for common man?

Food and Fuel prices may come down because they are exempted from central excise duty.  Food prices have come down a little in the recent times, but definitely fuel has seen historical rises.  May be the cut down in central excise duty will make the regular fuel price hike a bit slower than being turbocharged. The price hike will try to grow with inflation and not over beat it in the short run.  Not much expectations from the government in this sector because the government always fails to stabilize these prices.

Farm equipments to cost less as customs duty is reduced from 5 percent to 4.5 percent.  The government has subsidy schemes but it reaches only the big land lords and small time farmers are having a hard time staying alive in India.  It is a day-to-day challenge for them to survive.  Surely, the Zamindars will add more tractors and equipments and reduce the man labor – and not pay back the agricultural loans..

Packed food items and snacks like flavored milk, chips, supari and ready to eat (microwave and eat stuff) will attract more excise duty.  This might result in less obese people in India – lets see.

Branded dresses will cost more as they attract excise duty of 10 percent.  Already, people are paying more for the brand value and thanks to government for making things much better (sarcasm).  Non-branded guys – make your collections bigger – we love you.

Raw silks will definitely be cheaper as excise duty is slashed from 30 percent to 5 percent.  I think this would not apply to designer bridal collections – see above (brand).  More weddings? Yes definitely, we need to contribute to the “GROWTH” of India – I meant population.

Quality treatment to cost more as the government has proposed service tax for treatment in private hospitals with more than 25 beds and air conditioning facility under the service tax net resulting in 5 percent tax.  Health check-ups will also attract service tax.  Doctors and Government have joined hands in stripping the patients.

Prices of Vaccines other than those which fall under National Immunisation Programme, will increase as they will attract a concessional duty of one per cent.  Vaccine prices are already rocket high – may be will chip in a little more with the grace of government.

Textbooks and stationery will cost more because of new layer of tax without CENVAT credit facility.  The government has been very kind enough to give importance to education (sarcasm).

Steel prices to come down which would reflect drop in prices of items using steel.  Steel prices are greatly influenced by international market and demand – so not much to come down.  My digestive system is not programmed to digest steel – don’t know about my readers.

Legal proceedings will also become costly (more costlier) affair – thanks to Mukherjee (sarcasm) for proposing service tax to cover all legal consultations, except individual to individual.  Lawyers can milk their clients better now.

Mobile phones to be costlier because of being listed in 130 items which would attract 1% hike in Central Excise Duty.  It would not have an effect because of other factors which constantly brings prices of mobiles down like technology becoming cheap.

Cars could cost less or the same as per budget because of no change in excise duty rates, but a rise in car prices is being expected because of various factors.  I feel there is no chance of car prices going down and chances are there for a small hike in prices.

Hotel accommodation will definitely be costlier with hotel stays attracting service tax of 5 percent (if tariff >1500).

Jewellery is exempted from central excise duty.  It might stabilize the hike in prices, but not bring the prices down because of continued demand.  The budget states labeled jewellery (I do not know what they mean – may be BIS marked or 916 KDM or branded ones like Tanishq) now attract 1% excise duty.  This hike in excise will definitely not make women happy.

Liquor is again a big victim to budget.  Air conditioned bars and permit rooms attract more service tax.  I think more people will move towards the famous TASMAC playing the role of landmarks in every cities in Tamilnadu.

Hybrid cars would cost less because of reduced duty.  Not applicable for CBU (Completely Build Unit) fuel guzzlers.  Hybrid cars are just entering the Indian market, so it would not reflect much among car enthusiasts.

Air travel will become much costlier due to raised service tax.  Business class tickets would set pockets on fire.

Raw silks will definitely be cheaper as excise duty is slashed from 30 percent to 5 percent.

 “Money is like a sixth sense - and you can't make use of the other five without it” -  Somerset Maugham

Spirituality Vs Religion (I am not an atheist)

I would like to begin this post with a quote which made me 'THINK' a lot,

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." - Steven Weinberg

I would like to open this post with a note that I am not an atheist.  I have strong faith in my religion and my religion has taught me a lot about virtues like peace, love, compassion and definitely no violence at all.  My religion is all about showing love towards fellow humans.  I would like to not to boast on my religion as I am afraid that my valuable readers would find this post to be biased towards my religion.  This topic is a  very critical topic which I believe would be valuable to diverse group of people having different religious faiths.

RELIGION = PEACE [Is it reality?]

Basically, religions date back to thousands of years and so do religious scriptures.  Every religion has its  major divisions with conflicting opinions on their scriptures.  Religion and spirituality sound like similar terms, but they are not.  I strongly believe religion should always be accompanied by spirituality to make the  world a better place.

What is religion?

We all know what religion is, but still I referred many dictionaries and came across so many definitions.  The main keyword is 'belief' in something that one strongly believes to exist and abide by its way - God.  Religion is supposed to control one's life, steer his or her life in the right direction.  So basically there is nothing wrong in religion - then why do conflicts rise in the name of religion.  A religious person believes in rituals - obviously rituals are not wrong as they are part of religion (but not spirituality) . Likewise,  some religious people spend more time in reading scriptures and tend to misinterpret them.  This leads to chaos and shakes the fundamental purpose of religion - peace and a better world for everyone.  Religion does not encourage doing something bad or evil in the name of God, it reflects love and love and hate can never coexist.  Some people are very good enough to find "hate scriptural lines not based on God or religion but by their own perspective."   This  is done by so called religious leaders of all religions. The love of a particular religion and the set of beliefs should never lead to formation of evil cults which indulge in fighting and killing people in the name of religion.  One cannot achieve martyrdom by being a suicide bomber  and destroying other religious monuments - no offense intended on any religion.  Religious conflicts are like a chain reaction and it is very hard to break the chain - but can be prevented.

What is spirituality?

Most people equate being spiritual with being more religious, being more close to God, believing more in God and more.  That is true and acceptable, but spirituality cannot exist without reverence.  Reverence is the feeling of profound awe and respect and often love (American Heritage Dictionary).  Spirituality is a simple concept than religion - but hard to understand.  Spirituality looks upon scriptures using inner mind's enlightenment.  Only a person who has discovered himself or herself will be able to take the path of spirituality.  Religion closely coexists with spirituality.  Spirituality is never influenced by extrinsic factors, so it is more divine.  To define spirituality in a sentence, spirituality is the feeling of accepting God in one's heart and believe that God lives inside them.  All scriptures portray God to be very kind and forgiving and through spirituality a person can attain this perspective of looking at life.  When religious beliefs  are powered by spirituality a person would have no hate towards members of other religions.  This leads to peace in a community, city, state, nation and world.

What is religious tolerance?

Religious tolerance helps to control the bloodshed based on religion.  Spirituality helps a person to be more tolerant towards other religions as spirituality is based on reality and inner mind - inner mind is always pure and good in a spiritual person.  Religious persons are not very tolerant towards other religions because they rely more on literature and inspired by speeches given by their religious leaders.  Still many religious leaders have been able to have considerable amount of tolerance towards other religions - but far less than the spiritual ones.  In reality, spirituality increases religious tolerance and thereby unity.

I don't want to extend this post any further as there is no shortage of religious and spiritual leaders across the globe.  They preach to millions of people.  If these individuals are able to embrace spirituality plus religion, human race will never be divided based on religion.  If people follow their religions with a spiritualistic approach, it is the path of love which would lead the world to peace.

All religions must be tolerated... for... every man must get to heaven his own way. 

~Frederick the Great

 

Lovecriminal also knows to cook - Recipes On Demand

Eating good food is great, but making good food is even great.  When I cook, I feel like an artist, painter, sculptor, engineer, programmer, writer, singer and more - I am not crazy.   Luckily, most of my trials at kitchen turn out to be good - I have had bad burnt ones too :(.  When the recipes turn out to be good, people often ask me to write those recipes for them or send them via e-mail.  I am not good at writing (especially writing recipes :P) so I have barely written any recipes (except the KFC one for which I got mixed responses - some say it cannot be called as a recipe because of lack of exact measurements).   I am not  like the famous Captain at KFC who deliberately want to hide the recipe.  I love open source and hate proprietary softwares.  I strongly believe that ingredients and measurements are "eater-specific."  I also do not measure things while I cook.  To make sure everything is good to my taste or the people who eat them (I ask them how hot, salty they want it - texture, MSG, more soy and more) and do a "Nakkify test."  I hope people know what test I mean.  A few drops on your hand and lick it - you will never go wrong and if it needs a fix, make changes and repeat the test again.

I would like to quote something here to support my point,

Good painting is like good cooking; it can be tasted, but not explained. - Maurice de Vlaminck

The good news is that I am planning to put in recipes in this blog on demand.  I also have a couple of guest bloggers who are willing to share their recipes here.  The most notable and notorious one is going to be  my friend Aarthi's blog called Yummy Tummy.  She tries new recipes over weekends.  She says she is inspired towards cooking by so many cooks like Nigella Lawson, Anjum Anand, Aarti Sequeira, Rachel Allen and many more.  Honestly, I have no clue who these people are - will Google and do some research on these guys.

You can request for recipes using the comment box widget.

This photo stream has a few pictures of Lovecriminal @ work in the kitchen.

Thats all on this post folks.

Life is a roller coaster . . .

I regularly come across people who say life is great, good and very good all the time.  They say they are happy always.  I envy them (not much) - at the same time I have a serious doubt in what they say.  No one can sustain being excited and happy about life always (just like 24x7).  We are supposed to have a few good times, a few or more bad times coming in cycles (random cycles) - that is life.  Life is like a roller coaster ride - definitely not smooth.  If a roller coaster ride runs straight and swift - it would definitely be called as a train ride that means nothing.  The real excitement of life is the unexpected happenings it has in store for us.

We have to understand the fact that life is filled with ups and downs.  We cannot help changing it - things happen eventually.  We are charged up when something good happens to us ; on the contrary we totally get drained out when something bad happens to us.  Actually, you have to stay charged high when you are down to push you out of it.  Likewise, do not waste your energy when you are having a great time - cos as you are feeling good you need no extra charge to propel yourself.  If you are too charged ,  you would get high and start to tailspin or burn yourself out because of the extreme charge.  Reserve the power for a tough day - it may not be that far.

There is no 'brake' available during the ride to take a pause in life and think, but before you strap yourself you know that you are in for a wild ride.  Everybody knows the fact that life in reality will not be fair all the time - but they forget the fact that they sometimes have time for preparation. 

Sometimes life will just go like a swift ride - circling the same place (you do not even know what direction are you headed too) - sit back and relax because you might either get a spike or a downfall after this short circling. which would need more of you.  You have to realize the fact that the ride is gonna be wild and you gotta stick with it till the end.

 This video does not reflect anything written in this post.
The title of this song inspired me to write this post.

Tips and strategies to face this ride?

Take the ride with a pessimistic approach (preparing for the worst) which would season you to face difficulties better as you are planned.  During the ride you will have spikes like marriage, children and a whole lot of good things in life - you do not need any help during that time.  During the worst times - transform into an optimist and start looking at brighter things in life like,

• if you have money problems - you have a job and you are healthy, you can come over it through time.
• if you lose your job - you could find a better job, may be it was time for you to change your job.
• you fall sick - you know you could regain your health or at least you are not dead.
• (you can approach all the problems this way)

A small tip is to look at yourself in a mirror and say "this is worse but definitely not the worst - that makes this worse a little better."

Easy to say, very difficult to follow, lets try taking life this way.....

Valentine's Day Special - Lovers for year 2010-2011

"Sorry for this title St. Valentine, I have great respect for you."

I analyzed the most famous romantic couples on screen and off screen (reality in India).  I found that Nithyananda and Ranjitha took over Internet like a storm with the love making tape (not a scandal :)) last March 2010.  Because of Lenin's tape, they together qualify as the Most Famous Lovers for Year 2010-2011 (Romantic Year - Feb 14, 2010 to Feb 14, 2011).  I have statistical data to support how much they were  popular on the Internet.  Searches regarding both of them and the alleged tape topped  Google Trends for many days continuously and also searched extensively on YouTube (Check This for Google Trends report for 1 day alone).  The followup news on their alleged sexscapade are still selling hot whenever it happens.  People are interested on news about these lovebirds made popular by Lenin and his tape (lovecriminal's perspective).

Nithyananda and Ranjitha

Unfortunately, Nithyananda was accused of rape charges based on the sex scam video (actually love making video) by Lenin - though Ranjitha herself registered a complaint against him.  Most of us watched the video repeatedly aired on  national networks.  I did not find anything nonconsensual happening between both of them in the alleged video.  It seemed like it was happening with mutual consent at their own privacy.  Lenin got into their private space and exposed the fact that they were lovers - media interpreted it as rape, scandal and so on.  May be Lenin was motivated on extracting money from the God Man - I hope he would have got decent money from the news network that aired this video first.  The video looked like as though Nithyananda as a guru teaching Ranjitha how to attain 'eternal bliss' through him (no obscenity intended).  The video looked like one of the intimate moments between lovers (except Ranjitha was cheating on her husband on the alleged tape - I have started to understand difficult quotes  like "everything" is fair in love and war).

Lot of people accused Nithyananda of other rape and murder charges - not much have been brought into light and it seems like there is not much truth in it.  It might have been like that he fell in love with a voluptuous actress - may be true love.  I don't know whether he was in love, if he was, falling in love was the only mistake he did.

Nithyananda and Ranjitha still continue calling the tape expertly crafted and engineered.  No matter what  they say, this alleged video tape had made them very popular and the Most Popular Lovers for Romantic Year 2010-2011 in the Internet.


This is going to be a very small post - work is calling me.  I think I have made my point in this post and time to stop keying. 

How Indian women use Social Media

Social networking has become a daily activity with people being able to network even using entry level mobile phones.  Social networking activity is not restricted to using PC alone and we could find people posting from mobiles quite frequently.  Along with checking e-mail and internet search, social networking has become a vital everyday activity for both men and women.  People are spending less time in reading newspapers as they prefer going through news websites and reading blogs to keep themselves update.  These blogs can be technology related, politics, general news and more - blogs belong to the social media family.

Social networking between women depicted using vector graphics

Okay, let me get into to the core of the topic.  Around a decade back, men were considered to be major users of internet in India.  Things have changed now with every home having access to broadband internet and most mobile users powered with mobile internet.  Women along with spending time on television and shopping (both working and housewives - most of them, not universalizing) have allocated a significant time for internet - mainly Social Networking.  This blog is gonna present a few lines on how Indian women use social media from Lovecriminal's perspective.  Let me put down a few points which are not in order as they come to my mind.

• You could find very less profiles of Indian women on dating websites.  Even if they exist, they are mostly fakes.  You could find a considerable number of matrimonial profiles.  Indian women are serious on getting married than dating - correct me if I am wrong.
• Indian women prefer Facebook over Orkut (which is very popular in India).  I think it is because of some added privacy, extra features and definitely games.
• Women spend more time on social network games.  We could find them at top levels in most of the games.  Farmville according to me is ruled by women.
• If you find a profile having picture of an actress, doll, baby, flowers - you can confirm it is indeed a profile of a woman.  These people are newbies to social networking and you could find their portraits to be uploaded in the near future if they are hooked on to networking.
• I believe the reason why women spend more time on social networking is . . . . . . . . should I disclose it?.....Ya, will....We know women are good interacting with others and they start conversations pretty good among themselves even thought they have varied interests.  I think the quality of being able to gossip (suggest me another word) efficiently and naturally have made them use social networking more intense than men.  This does not mean they gossip is their main agenda on networking sites.
• The main categories of blogs they follow include food/recipes, fashion/beauty, arts/crafts, interior decoration, and surprisingly gadgets (used to be known as boys toys - not anymore guys).
• Women frequently updates message on walls or status messages and use social media networking sites more frequently.  You can find lot of women posting during office hours too - I previously worked from home and that is how I know it.  Verdict - women use FB, Orkut @ office (so do guys but not as much as women).
• Ebay and other shopping websites are gaining popularity among women, but Indian women still like to go to different shops, do a small research and buy a product.  It does not mean they go through shopping outlets posts on social networking sites.  They do go through them but I do not think they buy a lot from them.

Social Networking - Making Women Happy

Read This (Very Important):  I would like to conclude this post saying that Indian women are very active in social media.  Along being a part of social media, we could also find them contributing a lot of content through blogs, videos, and posts.  YouTube is filled with recipes from Indian women both living in India and abroad.  Likewise, there are thousands of blogs regularly being written by Indian women under various categories.  One cannot also deny the fact that Indian women have been regularly contributing some quality content in Internet through their posts on Facebook, Orkut, Twitter and more.

Family-Work Equilibrium

Maintaining equilibrium between family and work is critical because these two are opposing influences in life.  Permanent equilibrium is not possible in a short term; it is a continuous process persuaded by ever changing demands of work and family life.  Financial goals, gender responsibilities, lack of time, cultural and family background tends to sway away the equilibrium and one has to work on a tailor-fit solution based on their needs, goals and priorities.

The first step is that one has to be very professional in the work they do.  Starting work a little early will help prioritize the day’s work and deliver it in time.   Never bring family work or worries to the office because a clear mind is mandatory to excel at work.  Prioritizing work at office makes the chance of taking work back home very lean which provides invaluable after-work time to be spent with the family. 

The second step is to prioritize all family responsibilities and make use of the weekends and holidays fulfilling them.  Marriage and parenthood has to be planned.  Sharing of housework and child care among partners is vital for working couples.  Decisions are to be made jointly by the couples to avoid any future confusion.  Equal value has to be given to career goals of both.  Having a weekly schedule is very essential to plan and prioritize the weeks’ work.

Finally, never restrict the way of life too much.  Take a break and go out for a movie, dinner, or a windy drive.  Make sure these breaks do not collapse the equilibrium (a little shaking is fine – it happens).  It is hard to maintain the equilibrium but one will come up with efficient strategies once they start working on it.

Levi's CURVE ID - Jeans gets transformed again

Jeans needs no introduction to anyone.  They are trousers made out of denim - some prefer it thick and some prefer a bit thin.  In the recent times, I could see people wearing more tight ones.  If you go back and take a look at history, jeans were considered to be workman trousers and have transformed a lot lately (but it continues to be the heartbeat of many generations).  You may wonder what is the heart in a jean - it is it's color (every jean lover would have a couple of blue jeans definitely).  I am talking about the famous blue color which has become a symbol of jeans.  Indigo dye was used to dye those jeans traditionally, man would have definitely found something more synthetic and durable these days (educate me if ya know about it).  Talking more about jeans would need at least a couple of posts more, but most people know everything about it.

Why Levi's Curve ID was launched?  Levi's understood the fact people wearing the same sized jeans were different (basically at the back and do not forget the curves).  It is a truth which had never been looked upon this deep. Levi's has come up with some kind of formula which categorizes their jeans mainly into 3 types, Slight Curve, Demi Curve and Bold Curve.

Lovecriminal finds himself privileged to dig in this topic and wish you good luck in getting your own Curve ID.

Levi's supermodels showing their CURVE ID

Who are these Curve IDs for?  & What do these Curve IDs do?

Slight Curve is for women who have a almost straight figure (not completely straight because women do have a curve - I believe).  The common issue of these petite (most cases) straight figured women are that the jeans are too tight in the waist and loose on their thighs and seat.  Levi's sports nice back pockets (cutely sized) to give a balanced look at the back.  The jean engulfs the thighs the way it is supposed to be (not loose like most jeans).  The jean has a straighter side seam which tries to show off the very thin curve the almost straight figure types have.

Demi Curve is for women who are equipped with a show kinda waist (no obscenity intended).  Demi means half - like half of earth (hope you got an idea about the shape).  Most jeans fits these women but will not enhance their looks.  Levi's has come with a back to front waste band specially designed to squeezes these curves the right way.  The side seam is slightly curved to promote the looks of the curve (remember they are not straight figures - have some shakin' curves).  Levi's has also worked on this jeans to make the legs look a little elongated (long legs guaranteed).

Bold Curve is for women who are a little bigger on the back side (some people call it Booty - no obscenity intended here either).  The common problem faced by these type of women while wearing jeans the the waist usually gapes or pulls back.  Levi's Bold Curve is dedicated in enhancing the curves (already enhanced curves by God).  The higher back rise holds the jeans without gapping or pulling (happy :)).  It is equipped with a tilted front pocket which compliments your curves.  It also has a small curved waist band and side seam to make it more perfect (too much curves and a big waist band would make it look more bigger and not the right size).

All these 3 curves are available in different fits like leggings, skinny, straight, boot cut, flare, classic fit and more.  To add more denim color to your wardrobe they are also available in different colors and different washes (yes the famous washed out looks which can define you).

Easy KFC chicken bucket clone - homemade KFC

Colonel Sanders needs no introduction and so do KFC chicken bucket.  People have been trying to crack the secret herbs and spices which is told to be stored in a very secure safe in a very secure location.  After dining at KFC, people would always want to clone their chicken at home.  I never wanted to try cloning it (I don't know why), but when I had a kinda KFC clone at my Chithi's place I wanted to give it a try.  Wow !! it was yummy and gave me a spark to try it with my own twist to make the only and the best KFC clone I have ever had a little more better.

Before getting into cloning, I asked myself a question first.  Why do I like KFC chicken?  Aside from KFC being a popular fast food chain (I believe brand name definitely has an impact) I really liked the chicken they served.  It was mainly because it was crispy and tasty outside and at the same time it was juicy and tasty inside.  I wanted to try my hand on cloning after my mom informed me there was a chicken waiting in the freezer (obviously not alive - without skin).

The process flow for my version of KFC is as follows:

• I am very confident that KFC uses chicken with skin (lot of people disagree with me on this), but only skinless chicken was available during the time of trial.
• I marinated the chicken using dark soy sauce, some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, ginger garlic paste, and lemon juice.
• I let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
• I lost some interest after this initial process as my day gotta little busy while the chicken was getting marinated.
• After I was happy with the marination process (a few hours), I took some all purpose flour (maida) in a bowl and added a few tablespoons of dark soy sauce, some MSG (avoid it if you believe it is carcinogenic - I believe MSG cannot create more damage than the smoke you inhale in thick traffic everyday), Italian seasoning again, some ground pepper, salt to taste, a little ginger garlic paste ++++ my favorite Maggi Magic Masala (it is high in sodium, so please HANDLE WITH CARE).  I have read in various blogs people using chicken soup cubes in their clones - I skipped because of Magic Masala.
• After adding the above contents to your flour, a few lumps would form because of soy sauce and the ginger garlic paste (they are not dry).  It would be very easy to break them.  Also I added some small amount of corn flour to the entire mix.
• I had a beaten egg ready in a saucer.
• Then it was time for the BIG TEST.
• I dipped the marinated pieces of chicken in the egg mixture, then coated it with my flour mixture, and shallow fried the pieces (half of the chicken pieced was dipped in the oil and half above the oil) in a slow flame.  I turned them a few times to make sure that they never got burnt.  I even tried frying them without the egg mix.  I personally liked the one without the egg, but my nephew and niece loved the one with egg+flour mix. 

KFC Clone Trial #1

Result:  I believe it turned out to be a good try and my efforts paid me back good.  I really had made a chicken fry which was crispy outside and juicy inside (the marination helped it to remain juicy and soft inside and the flour mix made it crispy and tasty outside).  It was not exactly a KFC clone (I called it Kanyakumari Fried Chicken - it's finger nakkin' good), but it is definitely something like KFC which my family enjoyed very much as we don't have an KFC outlet here.  They want me to give it an improvised shot again.  I will be updating about the improvisations in my future posts.

Technology Distraction

Distraction is something that takes you attention from what you are doing. Distractions can be interesting, amusing, relaxing – yeah definitely anyone would love that. But distractions are irritating when you don’t want your attention to be diverted. Just like passive smoking, sometimes a person addicted to electronic gadgets not only is distracted by own self but also wastes valuable time he is expected to spend with others (kids on video games, men hooked onto laptops, women chatting away on their mobiles are classic examples of the above – lot of passive damage involved).

Some of us know about technology distraction and some of us really are not aware of the same.  I wanted to write about technology distraction in this blog after a few instances which forced me to blog about this.  Sometime back the status message of my "Anni" got my attention, her facebook status message read like this "Bryan (her son) said to his DAD (my bro) you are like Scrat (Ice age - needs no introduction) and his NUT - Pappa and Laptop."  Most of the dads are hooked onto the laptops, me too, but my daughter is a toddler and just tries to distract me and grab attention and does not say statements like my nephew.  You may think I am cruising off topic, it is not.  I am keying here about technology as a distraction for quality family time.  Many years back laptops were not quite common but still everyone were doing their job.  When people came back home they spent valuable time with the family.  Nowadays with wi-fi enabled homes and laptops becoming cheap everyday, most of the homes have a laptop.  To be honest, people who use laptop at home should ask themselves a question first.  Is it really needed to use the laptop now?  I think most of them would say yes, but in reality it is not true.  Some people like to take home work (I am talking about people who spend time chatting in office versus people who like to work more, more, more, more even if they are assigned regular work).  The technology distraction in the family does not stop alone with the grown men alone.  Kids on the other hand are hooked onto gaming consoles or PC games.  Social media has made stay-at-home moms busy and they either tweet, scrap, post on the wall, or share photos, videos, among friends.  To make everything worse social media is available in most of the phones to bring in more distraction.  Okay let me stop talking about home.

Happy Life with no technology distraction

 In office many people like to show off their fancy ringtones, it is good if you like that particular ringtone, but think if you are in middle of a very important job or a business and you hear Black Eyed Peas "My Humps" on the next desk, to add more flavor to it MORE LOUD.  Not to mention the SMS we receive on our own phones (we have to check on it because it might be an important one from the spouse or family).  The same applies to the marketing calls also.  Even if it is in the vibration mode, it makes us to turn our heads to the phone and then realize that it is not the call for you.  I remember reading somewhere that it takes you 10 minutes to regain concentration if you are distracted.

I think I have keyed in enough for the day, would like to key in more regarding the same in the future.  To all GPS users, I have a question for you all, how you guys are able to concentrate on the road and also look at GPS (don't say you listen to the voice commands because I have seen people using GPS and having their car stereo on).  I would like to know how you could multitask the stereo, the GPS, the traffic, and in India (shift manual gears).

Hunger Strike - Behind the Scenes II

As said before in my previous post, I would like to share about another real example of hunger strike which was unfruitful even after he laid down his life.  It is about Cpt. Thileepan, member of LTTE political group.  This incident dates back to 1986 when LTTE was not a banned outfit in India and other countries.  The reason for Thileepan's fast was certain unwritten agreements between the Indian Government and the LTTE before signing the accord were not implemented.  There was no visible change even after the accord was signed.  Thileepan was one of the delegates who visited Delhi before signing the accord.  Thileepan started his fast on September 14, 1986 at the Nallur Kandasamy Temple. The main objectives of his fast were,

1) Tamils detained as terrorists should be released (even journalists who wrote about Sinhalese atrocities, family members of LTTE, and other people were arrested on suspicion).

2) He wanted the Sinhalese colonisation to be stopped until interim government was formed (The government was making Sinhalese to move into Tamil areas masking it as rehabilitation).

3) New military camps should not be opened in the Northeastern province until interim government was formed.

4) Srilankan army should move out of schools.

During this time, the LTTE was very much working on surrendering their arms and taking part in the peace talks.  Eelam Tamils felt a kind of backstabbed when the Indian government did not push on to support what it promised them.  J. N. Dixit is being blamed by most of the commanders in the IPKF for being a catalyst and igniting the fire between IPKF and LTTE.

Thileepan was very much focused on continuing his fast despite requests from his fellow Tamils (Jaffna people still adore him).  Thileepan firmly believed that Indian government and the IPKF would help in some political development for the Tamils, which unfortunately did not happen.  Thileepan grew weaker day by day.  During his early days of fast, he would make speeches in the podium.  His last days of his fast, he spent most of the time lying down hoping that a political change would happen for the suppressed Tamils.

On September 22, 1986, on the 8th day of Thileepan's fast, LTTE leader Prabhakaran met J. N. Dixit, Indian High Commisioner to Sri Lanka and told him to meet Thileepan.  J. N. Dixit called Thileepan's act provocative against the Indian government.  If J. N. Dixit would have met Thileepan and some political development would have been promised, Eelam Tamils would not be instigated against the IPKF and the Indian government.

Thileepan sacrificed his life for what he believed in and fought for on September 26, 2010.  His tragic death tumbled the peace process as Tamil people were infuriated by his death and blamed India for the same.

Old image of Thileepan Memorial (destroyed by the SLA after Eelam War IV)

I would just like to make a comparison between the FAKE HUNGER STRIKES we read in the newspapers and watch in the television every now and then.  This man laid down his life believing in 'Ahimsa' made popular by Mahatma Gandhi (Father of Indian Nation) which became unnoticed.

PLEASE COMPARE THIS HUNGER STRIKE WITH TODAY'S POLITICIANS.

I would like to wind off with a quote:
"It gives me great satisfaction and contentment that I am fulfilling a national responsibility to the nation." - Cpt. Thileepan

Note:  Lovecriminal wanted to share this information as he had been following this civil war for years.  He in no way supports/supported the activities of the organizations and governments described above.  Lovecriminal is an antiwar activist and hates war and never like people dying.  To know more about the civil war one could google and research (we live in an information era where we get every reliable information easy like a piece of cake).   

Hunger Strike – Behind the Scenes I

Who wants to write about hunger strike in the middle of the night? Definitely no one. I would love to key in a few things before I hit to bed. I would like to share a few things about hunger strike and its hidden agendas - both good and bad.

You may wonder why lovecriminal wants to write about this stuff while lovecriminal is munchin’ his favorite chocolate bar at the middle of the night. The reason is politicians never know the meaning of hunger strike. Hunger strikes are considered to be an peaceful way of opposing and fighting for a point. It isn’t true. In reality, most of the hunger strikes broadcasted in television and covered by the newspapers are faked realities (make a wild guess here). These politicians very well know that they won’t survive if they continue the hunger strike for long and would eventually end it at some point with some juice in a hospital (because the people wanted them to stop it). Lovecriminal is very much sure that it would be followed by a discreet cocktail party in a very discreet location based on the way they have shaken the present government (mostly hunger strike is all about getting attention).

I would like to share about 2 hunger strikes by 2 people I admire in this post. I hope most of the readers won’t know them. The first example I would like to share in this post is Sharmila Irom. Political followers who follow the happenings at Manipur would know her, but certainly not others (majority people). The government has been very successful in hiding this ‘Iron Lady' from the public. This woman is not like the above mentioned politicians, who screw people’s life for a living and then go on a hunger strike to cover that up. Sharmila is a political activist who is on fast demanding justice for her own Manipuri people. She wants the Indian Government to withdraw the AFSPA act from Manipur and its nearby regions. AFSPA Act provides the armed forces right to eliminate anyone in Manipur who is suspected as an insurgent (no judicial involvement and no appeals). The Armed Forces repeatedly had been, has been, and will be misusing this AFSPA Act (this is a proven fact). The Malom Massacre (to know more about it, you can google) forced Sharmila Irom to go on a political fast in demand of justice for the slain innocents of the Malom Massacre by the Armed Forces deliberately on November 4, 2000.

Sharmila Irom was subsequently arrested, hospitalized, and forcefully nasal fed by AIIMS under judicial orders. If Indian Government could do this to Sharmila Irom who is a citizen of India, why cannot it do the same to the famous Chandrasekhar Rao who will go on a hunger strike soon (Lovecriminal believes he will go on it for a strike and will stop it after sometime). They forced Chandrababu Naidu to quit fasting, but never tried anything like they tried with Sharmila Irom. Several police cases have been filed against Sharmila Irom like suicide attempt, working against the integrity of the nation, and so on. She is not allowed to speak to outsiders and is often taken into judicial custody every now and then.

Sharmila Irom being taken into judicial custody with nasal tube

Sharmila Irom still lives with a nasal tube and is losing weight gradually. She paid floral tributes to Gandhiji in 2006 hoping that her fight would have a meaning.

Her letter of request to lift AFSPA Act (A very harsh act which is supposed to be used temporarily, but is permanent in the North-East) still remains unanswered by the President, Prime Minister, Home Minister and a whole of people in power.

Sharmila Irom's 10-year long fast is not responded by the government while politicians are able to find easy solutions through hunger strike in a few days - a sad reality which proves the power of politics.

'Iron Lady' Sharmila Irom should indeed be a noble prize winner for peace in the eyes of all peace lovers.

The second example I would like to share in my future post laid down his life for freedom of a nation from genocide (which also became unfruitful)…..will be continued soon….