Bamboo Lounge

A Walk in the Mist!

noreply@blogger.com (Tituraj) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:23:00 +0000

It looked like a typical chilly Delhi morning as I prepared myself for the last working day of 2011. Time flies that's alright. But it seems now time is cruising at a supersonic speed. I felt a tremendous rush of adrenalin in my body when I had a deja vu moment this morning. As I walked out of the Metro Rail coach, there was a gush of mist that soaked me in. This was incredible. I was never this romantic while going to work. It felt like I am in some remote place of my homeland, the North East India, and I felt a backpack and my Nikon D3100 around my neck. But, alas! That was not the case. It was a moment that I have lived many times but yet I want to live a thousand more times.

The mist is so dense today that it is almost impossible to even guess what it is beyond a certain point. As I walked out of the metro station and out in the open, I walked. I walked through a chilly air and some lovely London music in my ears. They said, "We are the Sultans" and I sang back yes, "I'm the sultan." Suddenly, I glanced around and I saw myself walking in the cloud. All the tall buildings in this business district of Gurgaon suddenly vanished. The mist consumed their visibility and gave me the feel that its an open field.

A gust of chilly breeze swept across the street and the small droplets of mist danced along. I watched them in awe. Am I really going to my boring workplace? Is it the same place that I walk everyday? I pinched myself and I realised that it is indeed. I wish I could keep on walking. I wish I could ignore the watch. I wish it was not a Friday. I wish I had a camera.

I wish it last forever!

Kahii Door Jub Din Dhal Jaaye

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 10:55:00 +0000

Saanjh Ki Dulhan

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The Last Page of My Notebook

noreply@blogger.com (The Aimless Drifter) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 07:10:00 +0000

Through sunshine and storm

my tireless fingers carried on

leaving behind splayed footprints

in the last page of my notebook.

Whining and ranting amid hastily taken notes

i scribbled my mindless fears and uncried tears

and flooded the frayed page in the gory ink of sorrow

while it listened to me with the patience of Job.

Now that the dusty clouds have parted

the once familiar din inside a classroom

lingers in my ear

I miss the talks i had with it

And how with a soothing touch

It sheltered me like a new born.

The memories of the half-lived yesterdays still litter

The time-kissed last page of my notebook.

Ghosts - A Nostalgia

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:47:00 +0000

Ghosts, like ladies, never speak till spoke to.

-Richard Harris Berham

Have you ever come across ghosts? Probably not, or even if you did it will be difficult for you to say that in public. I don't know if I ever came across ghosts but many a times I felt that there is someone near by and I believed it was a ghost and most of the time I felt that they came in groups. As Arthur C. Clarke in A Space Odessey said that behind every man alive in this planet stands 30 ghost, I also felt that when they were around they came in huge numbers. Believe me, it was a scary incident each time but I dared to go to their place again and again to see if I can meet one ghost someday.

I spent my childhood in Shillong. I lived in Govt. Quarters and those were built over an old graveyard. Though ghost stories were not to be heard but since a part of the graveyard which stayed on and which was the window view from my bedroom, I got those ghost feelings at times. When there was no one around, as in no one in my home and the neighbourhood, I got all those strange thoughts which are still cryptic to me. I often felt that there are people around me and they want to be my friends. They talk in some strange language that I donot understand and I keep looking at them trying to understand. As soon as I get conscious of this, everything goes off and I felt so stupid. I told this to my friend who happened to be a firm believer of ghosts and he convinced me that ghosts exist and because I have a pure mind they talk to me. I was a pure soul and that is why I was born on the "All souls Day". I really liked this idea for best known reasons.

It had been a long time after my childhood since I met Ghosts. As I came to Jorhat, I heard many stories of Ghosts and sometimes I also liked to believe them, with highly rational people claiming they came across "Goodwilled Ghosts" when they were child. Well, I don't know why we meet ghosts in our childhood only. Leaving that there I move on to my most adventurous ghost experience.

I have seen things like that countless times during the winters. [Pic Courtesy: Ghost Pictures]

While I was doing my post graduation, I had to go to college through a route that seems like straight out of some Ramsay Brothers movie. At day time, it was pretty normal and passing through that route was a soothing experience. The route was besides a river and had various flora and fauna which fascinated the eyes of a nature lover like me. During exams, I used to return late and sometimes I would return past midnight. Now, since the route was near a river so stories of ghosts wandering in that area are quite widespread. However braveheart you might be, but ghosts are able to frighten you in places like that. The route was filled with 1 feet sand so walking becomes very difficult. And the more you want to cross that area faster, the more it becomes difficult and all sorts of problems are faced. This makes you believe that ghosts are trying to stop you and the claws of scariness start getting you. Now, as you start walking the sound of your footsteps alerts the bats and they start flying from all over the trees. That is the scariest part. If that was enough and your luck is worse, there would be vultures sitting in trees and they would also start flying and you feel like running with all your might but it becomes more difficult. Now as I pass through I come across a place where there are 5-6 banyan trees. As you know, Banyan trees in India as popular in India for religious reasons and equally known for its notoriety in the nights as it is believed that Ghosts reside in those trees and they like to mislead in wrong paths. My exams were held in June and December. In June, the nights are darker while in December, the nights are foggier. So, getting mislead is quite likely but again the ghosts stories come. I somehow cross that route and also the river. If I'm lucky nothing happens but on a bad day, it would rain and bamboo would be obstructing your path. Now, the case with bamboos is that with heavy rains, they bend and often obstruct your path but if you shake it a little bit it would slightly raise up if not completely. But, ghost stories have not even left those bamboos. It has been ageless story that ghosts obstruct your path by bending bamboo.

There has been countless such stories which I don't remember now but the basic storyline is same. The ghost that we claim to see exist in our minds and they are mostly generated because of the countless ghost stories which we listen with great attention and of course the movies that tell us that how ghosts look like or behave like. Probably, if I ever come across a ghost in real life, I won't be able to identify him or her. I would however like to meet one before I die.

Dil Garden Garden ho gaya

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:57:00 +0000

I started gardening as my Ma always asked me to do it whenever I asked for work. As a child, that was the only task Ma could give me without worrying. Gradually, I found gardening very relaxing and as I looked at the blooming flowers, I got happiness and satisfaction. With more and more flowers that my brother brought me to cultivate, I fell in love with the flowers.

The first flowers that I cultivated were Daisy Flowers. I planted them in alongside the side walk to my home and a normal person would enter my home smiling. Daisies look wild as plant but when they bloom it seems like they always sport a smile and you cannot stop smiling back at them.

Another flower that I cultivated was Marigold. Marigold is perhaps the most under-rated of all the flowers perhaps for its scent. Their bright colours are really appealing to the eyes. Marigolds however last very long and they are available when no other flowers can be found. Perhaps, this was the reason why it is used in religious functions. Another of such under estimated flowers is the flower in the picture below.

There were a variety of lilies or simply white flowers which I thought to be lilies. My brother was particularly fond of those flowers and brought me those flowers and I planted them. Having them meant some wonderful scents in the air.

There were a quite a number of flowers of which I did not know names, but as Shakespeare said, "What's in a name?". There were a group of flowers I called Night Queens. These flowers bloomed in Night. You could see the flowers blooming as the evening grew older. There is no sight better than seeing those flowers blooming. There was one such Night Queen, to which I named it Desert Queen. The plant was some variety of cactus and it looked very ugly. When the flower bloomed, you simply feel ecstatic. It was a pink flower with multiple levels of petals and a very large one. It had all the qualities of a Queen.

I found this picture in Flickr. Frankly speaking, it was unable to capture the beauty of my "Desert Queen"

We had a few Forget me Nots in my garden. To them, I simply want to say, "Even if we have left you there in Shillong, your memories still linger in my times of loneliness." So, that is the story of my friends of loneliness.

Tribute to a Childhood Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Sat, 28 May 2011 18:53:00 +0000

The greatest love is a mother's; then a dog's; then a sweetheart's. ~Polish Proverb

I don't exactly remember when she came to our lives as I have seen her old as far as my memory takes me too. I was too young to remember the moment but it was told to me that a neighbouring boy, Joy, who was 5-6 years older to me found her when she was still a puppy. There was no point in questioning the authenticity of this claim as she seemed to be more loyal to him then any other person in the Pool. Not that she was not loyal to us, but she felt more at home in his backyard and gave birth to numerous children in the mango squash shed at his backyard. She was Tomy. The Pool's Pet Dog.

Tomy had a character of her own, and over the years she not only earned love for her but a lot of respect. She was not like other dogs that I know. The children of the Pool loved her and the respected her. The elders loved her.

There was a kind of sitting area in the Pool. So, whenever people used to sit there in the evening time, she used to join us and give us company. Even if there was someone sitting there lonely she used to come there and her company kept us away from loneliness. As I had almost no one of my age at one time, I was often found sitting there alone and she would join me. In those moments of solitude, her company meant a lot to me. There were even cases when I was sitting away from the crowd and she sit beside me. We could not talk with words so we gazed towards the endless world with no thought in mind for hours. She was a true friend in my days of solitude.

Like all good things, her life also came to an end. I still remember the day, as if it was only yesterday. It was a winter morning sometime in late 90s. She did not look well and was trying hard to walk but kept falling on the ground. A Nepali neighbour of us gave her some medicines but he told that she won't be living more than an hour. She was fighting with the forces who came to take away her life. She visited each one of us as she knew that she will be dying. She took her last breath in the hands of Joy and she was still loyal to the person who gave her a second life.

May her soul rest in peace.

Although, a random thought, this post is also an entry to the 'What does real beauty mean to you contest' brought by Dove in conjunction with Yahoo and you can promote it in Indivine if you feel it deserves to be. The link to my Indivine post is http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=60123

Also read my post on the same series. My First Love

My First Love

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Thu, 26 May 2011 07:07:00 +0000

It was a day, somewhere in the late 90s. It was a fresh day for I was feeling better that day and could get out of the bed and move around. After trying to do some random work, I felt tired and switched on the TV. They were showing “Saahib, Biwi aur Ghulaam”. It was a slow movie and I liked it for its pace. I have always been a fan of the road roller, for its slow but solid progress. The movie also progressed slowly but left permanent marks in my mind and soul.

Although, there were many things in the movie that inspired me, there was one scene that would be with me till the last breath. It was the scene where Guru Dutt Saheb first saw Meena Kumari Ji for the first time. It was a very intense moment for him and a myriad of emotions were crossing his mind. Surprised, happiness, shock, non-belief, admiration and many others. The same emotions were experienced by me at the same time. I was surprised to see someone as beautiful as beautiful as Meena Kumari Ji. Happiness accompanied the feeling of surprise. At the same time, I was shocked as I have never seen so much beauty thrust into them in someone before. Obviously there was non-belief as imagining a mortal so beautiful is not easy. Admiration to the beauty came as an afterthought when I realised that everything was true, and gradually I fell in love with her. The love of a Bhakt and a Devi. Till date, the love continues and I wish that it continues forever.

Also read my post on the same series. Tribute to a Childhood Friend

Shillong

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:19:00 +0000

(*This post was written for Fried Eye but due to some unknown bug it could not be displayed. So, we are posting it in Bamboo Lounge. )

-Vidhu Priya Bhadgal

Travel. As Huxley famously said, “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries”.

Shillong.

Just the bare thought makes me smile.

With sobriquets like “Scotland of the East”, “Abode of Clouds”, and “Garden of Eden”, Shillong is a treat for both imagination and the senses. The air filled with its own joyous music plays over the serpentine roads curving along the hills. The picturesque Shillong has both, the rugged beauty of a small hill-village, and the graceful charm of a historic city. A city of peaks, waterfalls, lakes, groves and valleys, Shillong mesmerizes and inspires one.

The small journey from Guwahati to reach Shillong prepares you for the frenzy that waits ahead. The roads curve through and around the pine forests with birds chirping around on wildly colorful flowers and fruits. The first to come to sight is the majestic lake of “Barapani”. Heavily curtained by clouds, with some sun rays peaking through, the lake is calming enough to transform long hours into mere seconds. Time, literally, flies away.

Umiam Lake (Barapani Lake)

And crossing that placid lake, you finally enter Shillong. The city with its pleasant weather invites you to a time of leisure. The city’s contours are marked by houses with many small flower pots and quiet lanes. The beauty of the city is not merely due to its interesting locales, but also connected with its people. Inhabited mostly with the Khasi, Garo and Jaintia tribes, Shillong possesses a healthy mixture of people from all other north-eastern states. The predominant Khasi tribe (which is Matriarchal) shows off its ladies with panache. Walking around the city, not travelling in any vehicle is the way to experience its true essence. Pretty ladies carrying around babies on their backs, the young crowd happily chatting away, men chewing on their betel nuts, all silently carrying on with their day attract not only your eye but your imagination.

DAY- 1

Accompanied by three close friends, I embarked upon knowing and seeing as much as I could about and of Shillong. My first visit was to the famously known POLICE BAZAAR – the noisy, boisterous, crowded centre of the city. The ‘Glory’s plaza’ with its fashionable clothes, the open fruit stalls with their colors and smells, the hot aroma of the momos, the occasional opening and closing of the restaurant doors, all invite one for a busy day! Police Bazaar is an ideal shopping center where you can buy anything from clothes, to fruits, to handmade local knives to cut those betel nuts! Truly a place with most melodious noise!

Next, my local friend advised us to visit the Shillong Café at Lymo (short for Laitumkhrah) - a cozy café with live music and some delicious dishes and stimulating coffee. We were also asked to visit the Swish, MOT (matter of Taste) and many more such interesting dining places, but the free Wi-Fi at Shillong Café is what attracted me most! I admit to being a spontaneous traveler who forgot to do her homework before visiting Shillong. I had no knowledge that pre-paid networks from states out of Meghalaya do not work in the state, and hence I was out of communication from my world outside Shillong. It did have its advantages! I was at peace! And yet, I felt unconnected, and hence, the attraction to the free Wi-Fi! We also happened to meet a famous singer at Shillong café, one by the name of Lou Majaw- who is credited to have brought the “hippie Movement’ and Rock Music to Shillong. (So I finally met a famous musician, and had the chance to talk to him for whole 10 minutes! Yes!)

Ba Lou Majaw (Photo Courtesy: Vidhupriya Bhadgal)

The eventful day ended with birthday celebrations of my friend’s father, the family with which were staying in Shillong, and dinner at the famous City Dhaba.

DAY- 2

Early next day, we all set out to explore the Golf Links at Polo Hills. Located just below the Ward’s Lake, and India’s biggest Golf Course, it is a dream come true for the putters for it is the first golf course to have 18 holes in it! It’s beautiful location holds it up to be known as the “Glen Eagle Course” of India (the comparison to the golf course in US itself speaks volumes about the place’s majesty). A quick lunch at Merin’s (a famous restaurant at Polo Hills- try the momos – they are awesome!), and then we were off to visit Shillong Peak!

Shillong Peak is the highest point in the whole state of Meghalaya standing at 1965 meters above sea level, offering a breathtaking view of the city! A canvas with its own view- Lush green hills, Pine covered, sounds of nearby waterfall, and the general humming of the birds! The scenic vista on the way from Shillong Peak to The Elephant Falls, offers a striking similarity to the Scottish highlands. The Elephant Falls is a name given by the British because of the presence of a huge elephant like rock near the fall. This rock however, was destroyed in an earthquake in 1897. The original Khasi name, The Three step falls, describes the location much more accurately. The water column carves its way down the hills in three successive steps, accumulating so at each step that it comes crashing down with all force at the next at very deep gorges! The sight of crashing water is surrounded by intense green vegetation, an apt backdrop, I must say!

Elephanta Falls (Photo Courtesy: Vidhupriya Bhadgal)

A most amazingly tiring day! It’s funny how sometimes feeling tired and exhausted gives you a feeling of contentment and inner joy! Travel sure is a seductive temptress!

With an early dinner, we all retired to bed, eagerly waiting for another day of sweet exhaustion, at Cherrapunjee!

DAY – 3

The third day welcomed us with heavy rain and hailstorms! Coming from hot cities like Delhi and Hyderabad, the falling water was a great respite! This is one feature that is most interesting about Shillong. One single day holds all seasons of the year! The morning winter chill, the afternoon summer breeze, the occasional rains and hailstorms, the spring flowers! And we were lucky enough to see all that. March indeed is one of the best times to visit this place.

And with a heavy breakfast, we set forth for Cherrapunjee, located 60 kms from Shillong. Famous as the place that holds the world record for the highest rainfall in a calendar year, Sohra, as Cherrapunjee is locally called, is famous for waterfalls and limestone caves. The first thing we saw here were the Noh-Kalikai Falls. One of the largest waterfalls in India, it also has one of the most intriguing stories behind it. The legend holds that a woman named Ka-Lakai, a widow, got remarried to a man who was jealous of her love for her daughter. One day, while Ka-Lakai was out working, the new husband killed the daughter, cooking her flesh as meat. Upon being questioned by the worried mother about the missing daughter, the jealous husband refuses of any knowledge, and asks her to eat before she sets out to look for the girl. As she sat down to eat, Ka-Lakai found her daughters fingers in the betel nut basket. In despair, she threw herself off the cliff giving the fall its name – Noh-Ka-Lakai (Fall of Ka-Lakai).

Photo Courtesy: Vidhupriya Bhadgal

Our next stop was Mawsynram, situated 56 Kms from Shillong, which in recent years has recorded more rainfall than Cherrapunjee itself. The Mawsynram caves, a famous tourist spot, boasts of a gigantic stalagmite formation which resembles the shape of a “shivalinga” housed in the caves. The peak of this rock can be reached by upward trekking. The valleys that surround this region, the rivers of Bangladesh and the plains can be easily viewed from the tip of the rock! Trekking through the caves is an experience in itself!

On our way out from the caves to another destination, we were lucky to have seen the first Church ever built in the whole of the North East of India by the British themselves, at Nongsawlia (near Cherrapunjee). Consecrated during 1846, the imposing structure and beautiful bell tower give the Presbyterian Church an impressive appearance.

Our next, and final, spot for the day was the Thangkharang Park, situated 12 km from Cherrapunjee in East Khasi Hills District. The park houses a bird sanctuary and offers an almost 180 degree view of the plains of Bangladesh! An interesting picture below shows how our phones were unable to catch any Indian cellular networks, and showed all networks of Bangladesh! (Almost an International trip, I daresay!)

Almost in Bangladesh

After another absolutely energy-spent day – we went home to our beds, satisfied, happy, and mesmerized by the sheer beauty of this place!

DAY – 4

The last day of the short trip. To be very honest, I wanted to extend my stay, but my budget did not allow me. I hate the concept of “finance”. Really!

On our last day, we mostly roamed about the city in local taxis. While the best way to go round the city is on foot, most people use the local taxis to commute within the city. One can take ‘shared’ taxis, or reserve for oneself. There also run two kinds of buses in the city – City buses and Bazaar buses. City buses are the option for tourists. The Bazaar buses are for villagers who come to Shillong to sell their products.

Shillong City Bus (Photo Courtesy: Samrat Ray)

Our first stop this day was The Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians located in Laitumkhrah. The church stands tall with its high arches and stained glass windows. Adding to its grandeur, directly below this church is carved out of the hill, the Grotto Church.

This Cathedral is named after Mary the mother of Jesus Christ. Besides being the pride of the Catholics of the region, the church has also become a great tourist attraction. In 1980, the centenary year of the Catholic Church in North East India, the then Archbishop, the late Rt. Rev. Hubert D’Rosario, declared the Cathedral Church a shrine, duly approved to be a pilgrimage centre. Its high location and alluring design has also made the church a prominent landmark of Shillong.

Shillong has a number of churches and cathedrals which elucidates the desire of the British to make the city of Shillong a little England. The churches here are so spacious that they can easily accommodate a few thousand worshippers at one time! To mention a few, there are -the Mawkhar Presbyterian Church, the Laitumkhrah Presbyterian Church and the All Saints’ Cathedral as prominent landmarks of the City. The city’s population is predominantly Christian, and most are of the Khasi tribe which is a proud matrilineal society!

Our next stop was at NEHU, North Eastern Hills University. Apart from being surrounded by absolute beauty of nature, and the presence of a lake within the campus itself, the place exudes a calm, relaxed environment most conducive for studying. (Already impressed with the standard of education in the University – I have known individuals who are/have been both students and faculty member of the University- and having seen the surroundings, I have known individuals who are/have been both students and faculty member of the University- and having seen the surroundings, I almost decided to continue my further education there!)

Next, we visited the Don Bosco Museum of Indigenous North East Culture

which is an amazing storehouse of information on ‘the seven sisters’ (a name given to the seven north-eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura)! The museum consists of a total of 17 galleries which provides detailed information/knowledge about various aspects of the lives of the people in these states- attire, accoutrements, weapons, ornamentation, physiological features, religions and many more. The museum is full of various anecdotes, folklore, tales of the people of these states, which are telling about their culture and society. Completing our learning visit to the museum, we next went back to Police Bazaar for some shopping, and then a light dinner at Bombay Bites, another famous restaurant.

Early next morning, we were back on our way to Guwahati, from whence we took a flight to Delhi, happy and content.

SEO Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:37:00 +0000

I have been very busy so I have not been able to continue the series.

I'm posting this link for SEO basics. The link is from Yahoo Style Guide. Yahoo Style Guide is very useful when writing content for internet.

http://styleguide.yahoo.com/resources/optimize-search-engines/seo-basics

http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html

I'll get into the details of SEO and LEO in a few days.

Till then Bye.

Happy Birthday BL

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:35:00 +0000

Happy Birthday Bamboo Lounge! Well yes ! this was supposed to be a birth day post, but I got the dates mixed up (even after quite a number of reminders) and I confused very happily the date to be 24th instead of 23rd. Happily because 24th happens to be World TB day and I thought what a beautiful correlation it would make and how convenient it would be for me to correlate both ( me being a dry , insipid, boring medico)and write a write up. But I guess Hashan was a few hours early in posting his first post. So the TB angle goes poof! So what do I write! Pramathesh had even asked me to repost an old post from my blog, but do we gift old stuff to a birth day boy, err I mean blog? Never! I decided to write a fresh post no matter how silly it may sound or how minimum I may have to say. Because it is a fact that I am just three posts old in Bamboo Lounge and was hardly one or two months into the lounge when I was relocated to Fried Eye. I hardly interacted with the other writers, err and I could not even catch up on all the articles, past and present , (which I plan to do seriously one day)before I got caught up so much with Ginger Chai and Fried Eye. So frankly speaking I really don't have much idea about BL and suffering incurably from slothism , I couldn't or rather didn't even research the history of Bamboo Lounge , in spite of Pramathesh, Hashan, Rakib being a phone call away. See , I really am the worst person to write a birth day speech? Nothing except the Balaatkar speech from the movie 3 Idiots can surpass my article today in the run for worst blog post.(at least the 3 idiots speech was high on the fun-o-meter).
So it comes back to the milion dollar question , what do I write? Do I write how BL had instilled confidence in me to write when I participated in the photo story contest and won a DVD (its another matter that there weren't many contestants) or the fun I had while writing for the missing e contest? Or do I mention the time when BL was one of the few blogs which had the courage to allow a pro common wealth games write up , when the whole world was bashing it, giving me complete creative freedom? Or do I write about the people I came upon through BL with whom I formed some long lasting bonds. Great friends- some very lazy, some volatile , some moody, but great they were and mini power houses of talents. or maybe I should instead speak about the personalities whose names I came across in the member list who were already established in their respective fields? Naaah! It will sound too cliched. Should I instead lament about the bygone golden era of BL and write an inspiratory "gather your arms, lets build a new we"type of post, a la Independence day movie style? err I think I I will just stick to what I had in my mind initially. A simple-
Happy Birthday to you . I love you, Bamboo Lounge. Just keep going!

Speed Up Your Site: Optimize your Widgets, Buttons, etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:00:00 +0000

(*Note: The following post have been inspired by other similar posts found in the internet. I don't claim the originality of the content. I don't remember the source as it was a saved in one of the documents that I have been using to refer. )

Being a blogger, you must have used various widgets and sometimes even stopped using some important widgets because it slows your website. With social media demanding more widgets, plugins, badges and buttons etc available every day and a lack of awareness on the part of developers about how to make sure that their buttons are as affective and valuable as possible, sometimes performance concerns are overlooked. This social media widgets and buttons are used for better visibility and they will be of no use if your site is slow. Visitors lose interest in your blog if your site is slow.

You must have noticed that adding the Facebook fan box will dramatically slow a page in many cases, slow down the browsers due to large memory usage and usually lots of additional download time making the page “not ready” until everything is downloaded. You also might have noticed that sites like Mashable which inspite of being loaded with all the social widgets and buttons are fast. How do they do it? Surprisingly, it is very simple and we are going to see how to do that in the article. What I am going to say is also applicable to general websites.

Also, saying that the following tips will help you speed up your site does not make your site loading time to zero but minimize the time and sometimes give a fake impression to the visitor that the site is loading faster.

First thing first, any external JavaScript page that has been called with the tag, should be called at the end of the page, i.e., just before the line containing . The content of the blog is more important than the widgets. Let the content load first and the widgets can come afterwards. This makes the visitor able to read the contents while the scripts are loading.

Tweetmeme:

This is perhaps one of the most popular buttons that you come across in blogs and various other content websites. The best way to use this widget is via <iframe> as iframes do not block the render of a page, too many though can still slow down a page render or cause other anomalies in some browsers.

 
<iframe scrolling="no" height="61" width="50" frameborder="0"
        src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/widget.js?url=http://yoururl.com/&amp;style=normal&amp;source=yoururl&amp;service=bit.ly"></iframe>

Twitter:

The official twitter button is considerably a recent addition and works pretty well.

Put the following code at places where you want the twitter button

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="friedeye" >Tweet</a>

Put the following code just before the line containing </body> tag. You can use as many tweet buttons as you like in your page and your speed won't be effected.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Facebook plugins:



It seems the future belongs to Facebook. The whole internet seems to converge into Facebook. No website seems to be untouched by it. Use the XFBML implementation described on the various plugin pages; this implementation does interfere with page render and positioning it after the <body> tag means that each of the plugins used in a given page will load at the same time as soon as the scripts have loaded. No need for multiple scripts, which have to be downloaded repeatedly and slow down the page render etc etc.

Add support of the XFBML markup to the document:

 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US"
        xmlns:x2="http://www.w3.org/2002/06/xhtml2"
        xmlns:fb="http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml">
<head>





Add the Like Button

<fb:like href="YOUR LINK" layout="button_count" show_faces="true" width="100" font="verdana"></fb:like>









Add the FanBox










<fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/YOURFBPAGE" width="292" colorscheme="light" show_faces="true" stream="false" header="false"></fb:like-box>















Add the following code just before the line containing </body> tag All FB social Plugins use the same Javascript Library so all plugins will load at the same time. You can use all the social plugins available without effecting your site loading speed.












<script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script>










Google Buzz:






Implementing the Buzz button like many others that are reasonably well done allow for a single JS embed to support multiple button instances in a single page:
 
<a href="http://www.google.com/buzz/post" class="google-buzz-button" title="Google Buzz"
        data-message="Here's Buzz!" data-url="http://www.google.com/buzz" data-locale="en"
        data-button-style="normal-count"></a>




Although not asynchronous the JS embed can still be placed above the </body> tag as shown

 
<script src="http://www.google.com/buzz/api/button.js"></script>

I could not share details about other widgets as I have not used most of them but the basic thing remains the same. I will try to help you if you want some help. My Next post will have some more Speeding Techniques.

My Experiments with Wordpress - Must Have Plugins

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:24:00 +0000

In my last post, I have already told about plugins.I also mentioned two important plugins that we should all have. Today, I would list a few other plugins that all wordpress blogs should have.

Akismet - This plugin comes with wordpress at the time of installing. Akismet is the plugin that blocks the spam comments. The plugin needs an API key for activation. If you have a wordpress.com blog then you can get your API key from here.
Yoast Wordpress SEO - This is the best SEO plugin in my knowledge. Will come with another chapter on SEO and will touch on the utilities of the plugin. Yoast guys are so conceptually clear that a subscription to their blog comes automatically with the installation of wordpress.
Wordpress Super Cache - WP Super Cache is a static caching plugin for WordPress. It generates html files that are served directly by Apache without processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts. By using this plugin you will speed up your WordPress blog significantly. My Readers have told me repeatedly that the site loads faster than before after I installed this plugin.
WPTouch - A simple, powerful and elegant mobile theme for your website. WPtouch automatically formats your WordPress blog for smartphones.
Simple Tags - Tags are keywords or terms assigned to piece of information. Tags were popularized with Web 2.0. Tags help in categorization of content by bloggers to help in searching. Simple Tags help in better management of tags.

In the next post, I will be tweaking the themes to make your site faster even after having multiple widgets.

My Experiments with Wordpress. - Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:12:00 +0000

It has been a long time since I promised for starting a new series on Wordpress. I was a little busy, March Blues. I'm not going to sell you wordpress and assume that you are already a wordpress user. Since, we are going to be on an experiemental mode, we will need a few plugins installed.

Plugins extend the functionality of WordPress. Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine. There are more than 13K plugins in the Wordpress Plugin Directory. Plugins are not part of the Wordpress Core modules. The core of WordPress is designed to be lean, to maximize flexibility and minimize code bloat. Plugins offer custom functions and features so that each user can tailor their site to their specific needs.

To Install a plugin click the add new button as marked. Search the required plugin and install. After it gets installed, activate it. To know more about plugins click here.

Wordpress Database backup - provides a button to quickly back up specified database tables and can be scheduled to back up to a specified directory. I recommend that you create a backup of your database before importing content or upgrading WordPress to a new version. You should create a backup before each of the experiments you do.
Maintenance Mode - displays a simple maintenance message to everyone except administrators. At times throughout this book, I’ll recommend that you put your site into maintenance mode while performing operations on the database or filesystem. While it’s possible to do so without a plugin, this plugin gives you a simple button to turn maintenance mode on and off. If you don't want your readers to see ugly changes, you should use this plugin.

So, that's all for now. Keep checking me.

My Experiments with Wordpress.

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:55:00 +0000

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

A quote from the About page of Wordpress.org.

An open source project by Automattic, it is one of the most popular blogging platforms and soon it will be a full on CMS. Although, it seems odd that I'm using blogger platform for telling you about wordpress, but we can talk about blogger later on.

From today, I will be starting a series, a kind of log of my experiments with wordpress. They may work or they may fail. The aim for this series is to acquire knowledge and share it with my friends. My friends, who are mostly bloggers and I hope this series will help them in making their blog better.

Before we start, I would like to state a few things:

The series might not be structured well. As I said, this is an experimental series, so whatever comes to my mind is likely to be published.
I don't claim the content to be original. I learned most of the things from other people and I would be merely reproducing what I learnt. If I learned well, that will be a perfect copy, if not things may be different.
Sometimes, I would be saying things without a base. There are a few things, we have to do with our gut feelings. Gut feelings don't have a base.
If you happen to lose any of your data due to experiments, I'll not be liable for it.

I will not go into the basics of wordpress, considering that you already use wordpress. However, if needed I will also touch them with each topics. So, get ready for some experiments, I will be coming soon with my first post.

Contests in the Air

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:59:00 +0000

Come February, and Spring announces its arrival with a BANG!!! With Spring, comes celebrations. To celebrate this, we in Fried Eye have decided to announce two contests.

Contest – Something Special for your Love - If you have to make a day special for your loved one, how would you do that. Write us about it. If we find it innovative, we will gift you a prize.
Spot the Movie - Read this issue's Horrorscope. Count the Number of movie names used in the Horror predictions. If you can do it correctly. You become eligible for a prize.

So, don't miss this opportunity.

Regards,

Fried Eye Team

Happy New Year 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tan) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:30:00 +0000

A small message to all my readers. Wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year. May this New Year bring you health, joy and prosperity. May God bless you with all that He has for you. This new year, let us take a pledge to make this earth a better place to live in. Let us move from darkness to light, from lies to truth and from death and stale living to a vivid and constructive life! May all of you have a great year ahead.

Happy New Year 2011. Let us welcome the new year with a smile on our faces.

God Bless!

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:43:00 +0000

Today's Prompt: Write a love letter to God and tell him why you love Him.

How to participate:

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Today's Prompt: Write an essay - "My Long Nose"

How to participate:

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:28:00 +0000

Today's Prompt: Write a short story where the protagonist is a cow.

Happy Diwali

How to participate:

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 10:14:00 +0000

Today's Prompt: Describe your day, in the form of a fiction.

How to participate:

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:54:00 +0000

What if your body parts start talking? Have you ever thought about that? Think and you will have a new post ready.

Today's Prompt: Write a scene where your body parts discuss about their problems.

How to participate:

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:48:00 +0000

Today's Prompt: Write a scene in which two of your most important characters learn something shocking to them. 1, 000 words.

How to participate:

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:31:00 +0000

Jugaad is the ultimate technology available to mankind. Since the beginning of mankind, we have jugaad. Jugaad is everywhere. So, if it is everywhere, then why not have a post on it?

Today's Prompt: Write an essay on Jugaad.

How to participate:

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

Prompt of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Pramathesh™ Borkotoky) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:44:00 +0000

We have been receiving complaints that being a multilingual blog, we have not done much for other languages. To clear off things, we would like to say that all the prompts could be used to write in any language. Today's prompt is however based on a form of poetry that was invented by Gulzar and he wrote in Urdu using this form. It is Triveni. A triveni consists of three misras (lines). The first two are complete in themselves, but the addition of the third misra(line) gives a new dimension all together.

An example of Triveni

ज़ुल्फ़ में यूँ चमक रही है बूँद

जैसे बेरी में तनहा एक जुगनू

क्या बुरा है जो छत टपकती है

Translation

The (water) glitters so in (your) hair

As a lone firefly in (a) bush

What's so bad if the roof drips

Another example of Triveni

माँ ने दुवाएं दी थी...

एक चाँद सी दुल्हन की...

आज footpath पर लेटे हुए हैं.... यह चाँद मुझे रोटी नज़र आती हैं

Translation

Mother blessed me

for a bride as beautiful as moon

Lying on the footpath... the moon looks (like a) Roti (a kind of bread)

Today's Prompt: Write a Triveni (Any Language)

P.S. - Sorry for the terrible translation.

Write in your blog (With the same title or something else related to it).
End the Post with "I write for Bamboo Lounge" providing a link to Bamboo Lounge.
Label it BL POD.
If you are a member write a new post in Bamboo Lounge with the same title as 1) and a brief description of the Post or a part of the Post with a Read More Link to your blog. Label it with your name and "Prompt of The Day"
If you are not a member of Bamboo Lounge, send a mail from your Google Account mail id to bl@friedeye.com. We will send you an invitation to Join Bamboo Lounge. Join and follow 4)

A Housefly

noreply@blogger.com (Shubhadeep Paul -aka- Aasween) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 01:02:00 +0000

After missing a dangerous hit from a heavy bound book, I went to hide under the table and found a piece of bread that the little boy had pushed there while having his breakfast; I had a little of it and attempted to peer above but I felt something hard hit me, discovered that the mother had traced me again and let out her sandal at me which struck one of my back-limbs and narrowly escaped another and let out a silent murmur, “I fly coz I am a fly..”

I write regularly at http://aasween.blogspot.com

Links for 2010-07-02 [Digg]

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:00:00 PDT

In Conversation - Jim Ankan Deka | Fried Eye
Sankhya Samhita gets to know Jim Ankan Deka and learns about his love for Music and Northeast.

Links for 2010-03-06 [Digg]

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PST

Open Mind
A long standing relationship has its own charm...it's like a boxing match...read to find out more