NeoBluePanther

Writing, Among Other Things

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How did you start Blogging?

September 23, 2007 / / 0 Comments

This is one question I am often asked whenever someone I know in real life comes across my blog. The answer to this question is I really do not remember when it was that I started to blog. What I do know is that it was a gradual process.

It happened a couple of years back. Everyone was talking about blogs, and I wanted one but, being technically challenged, I found one excuse or another to shy away from it.

Then one day, I came across an advertisement in Reader’s Digest about a humorous short story writing contest. The prerequisite to enter the contest was that one had to have an blogging account with the site sulekha.com. So, left with no other choice, I opened an account with them and started to blog. I never regretted starting that blog or submitting the story for the contest.

In fact,  sulekha, in alliance with Penguin books, is running another contest called Blog Print for bloggers right now. You can check it out,  if you are interested in having a shot at getting published.

As I delved deeper into the world of blogging, I discovered blogspot or blogger, and had a blog on there. After a length of time, I felt the need for having my own domain name for my own blog and, thus, this blog was born.

That was my story, what is yours?

The Ghost – Concluded

September 20, 2007 / / 0 Comments

( This is the concluding part of the story that began here)

One night, as I sat there, at about midnight two men came along, From their dresses, they appeared to be Fakirs of some sort and, as they came near, I realized that I had seen the men before. These were Tantriks that lived somewhere in the area and, these ones, in particular, had claimed that they could rid the people of the Ghost, if the people let them perform certain rites at the haunted place.

“Let’s do it quickly Ramu,” the taller man said.

Ramu, the short, thick guy seemed in no hurry, “No one is going to come here at this time of the night… we have scared them enough.”

“We have, but who knows some one might get the urge to be brave, or some stranger passing by sees us and spills the beans.”

Ramu was not concerned in the least. “If someone comes by, we can always scare him. It will be better and we can get more out of people tomorrow.”

“This greed will cause your downfall. We get enough already… and these people have been nice to us always, why do we have to dupe them, we cannot use the money anyways, we have to live like fakirs and that’s our destiny.”

“You can live like this. I am going to make some money and live better off in some other town. These people are foolish and what if we make a little money of them. Not that we are hurting anyone, or robbing anyone, or killing anyone. Most of the people that will pay us tomorrow have earned their money through dubious means; it’s the same if we take it from them.”

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Twenty Twenty Cricket – Fun in SA

September 18, 2007 / / 0 Comments

I have to begin by saying that I was very skeptical about the Twenty- Twenty format of cricket. And with Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly – all seniors players for the Indian cricket team – opting out of the Twenty -Twenty format, my belief about the frivolousness of this new format of the game was further strengthened.

But now, with about a week into the Twenty20 world cup, I stand corrected. Not only is this format more interesting and fast paced, but it also takes up less time of the spectator.  In the fast paced world of today this is a really good thing.

This move of introducing the Twenty20 form of cricket should help in popularizing the game in  countries like the USA where it is still relatively unknown.

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Blog Rush – More Traffic for your Blog?

September 16, 2007 / / 2 Comments

One thing  important for any blog is traffic. You write something,  and then you wait for  readers for what you have written. There are different methods bloggers use to get traffic to their site.

One of the methods is to use some sites that can be grouped together under the head of “traffic exchange” sites.  I have not used them seriously on this blog, but one of my other blogs uses them and, from my experience, I can say that they are useful to a degree. If you are not getting a lot of traffic, then these sites can help you get your blog out there. From there on, it is what you have to offer that counts most.

Blog Rush is another site that has been launched recently to help bloggers get more traffic and exposure. How different it is from other similar sites, and how much success it meets with will be known only with time. Right now, one can only sign up and see if this thing works?   Continue reading

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